A friend of a friend's dog walker lent me the new Battlestar Galactica the other week. Being a fan of the cult retro original I thought I should give it a go.Firstly, I always preferred Battlestar to Buck Rogers (in the 25th Centuary). It just always seemed more real. Also Dirk Benedict was in it and he rocks. Buckrodgers was alright, I think it didn't take it's self seriously. That or I never liked Twiki.
Looking into it more I have discovered that they both shared the mighty Glen A. Larson. Battlestar was first, probalby taking a cue from the highly succseful Star Wars films that would have domitated the film charts at the time. Larson is a very succsessfull producer, oftern very cheesy but certatly very memorable. He had a hand in Knight Rider and Quincy M.E. As I grew up with Battlestar I was a little aprichensive of watching the new verion, dismissing it origianly as another lazy remake. I later discoved that Larson is an excutive producer on the show and decided to try it.
It's rather good, insead of starting again, it has picked up 20 odd years later, the Cylon war is in submission, all of the Battlestars are being decommisioned and Galactica's being used as a museum. Of cource this dosen't last long, the Cylons return and the war picks up. The writing is slick, tight and the twists are good. Keeping enough of what we already know to satisfy the fan boys but still introducing new and deep problems to overcome. Starbuck is a fiesty girl and some of the Cylons are human. There are still robots and smart writing means the old Viper Mk II fighters have to be used instead of the current ships. I was also pleased to watch well defined characters, in personality and in looks. There is nothing worse than not really knowing who's who. At the same time you don't want outlandish, obvious 2D characters. Some of them are hot too. Not that it has any thing to do with it... It also revits the old cast with an apperance from Richard Hatch the original Captain Apollo.
I rember in the original series the SFX was good, not Star Wars but good, Buck Rogers was faily poor in comparasom. Of cource with the avalibility of CG I was worried the new show was gona loose the hand crafted feel of the origninal. But they seem to have pulled it off. The space stuff is good. A 'documentry' feeling camera gives the CG a real feeling, as if we are ther and lucky to be getting the shot. Compleate with crash zooms, reframing and almost loosing the subject in frame.
Check it out...
Looking into it more I have discovered that they both shared the mighty Glen A. Larson. Battlestar was first, probalby taking a cue from the highly succseful Star Wars films that would have domitated the film charts at the time. Larson is a very succsessfull producer, oftern very cheesy but certatly very memorable. He had a hand in Knight Rider and Quincy M.E. As I grew up with Battlestar I was a little aprichensive of watching the new verion, dismissing it origianly as another lazy remake. I later discoved that Larson is an excutive producer on the show and decided to try it.
It's rather good, insead of starting again, it has picked up 20 odd years later, the Cylon war is in submission, all of the Battlestars are being decommisioned and Galactica's being used as a museum. Of cource this dosen't last long, the Cylons return and the war picks up. The writing is slick, tight and the twists are good. Keeping enough of what we already know to satisfy the fan boys but still introducing new and deep problems to overcome. Starbuck is a fiesty girl and some of the Cylons are human. There are still robots and smart writing means the old Viper Mk II fighters have to be used instead of the current ships. I was also pleased to watch well defined characters, in personality and in looks. There is nothing worse than not really knowing who's who. At the same time you don't want outlandish, obvious 2D characters. Some of them are hot too. Not that it has any thing to do with it... It also revits the old cast with an apperance from Richard Hatch the original Captain Apollo.
I rember in the original series the SFX was good, not Star Wars but good, Buck Rogers was faily poor in comparasom. Of cource with the avalibility of CG I was worried the new show was gona loose the hand crafted feel of the origninal. But they seem to have pulled it off. The space stuff is good. A 'documentry' feeling camera gives the CG a real feeling, as if we are ther and lucky to be getting the shot. Compleate with crash zooms, reframing and almost loosing the subject in frame.
Check it out...
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