Galactica 1980, anyone?...Anyone? (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

Hey Jeff*H i will go ya one better. The Galactica will find Moya, and help John Chriton find his way back, and the Peacekeepers will kick some Cylon AZZ! And Kent McCord, hell thats Johns dad, and Apollo's step-son! Maybe we can also get a Stargate on the Galactica and eveyone can be happy. And Jimmy i noticed i didnt get a REAL answer from Eric on my question. You can like Classic Galactica, new Galactica, and if you REALLY need your fix, Galactica 80. I think we have room for all. maybe

 

[Kevin M]

.....at the series finale the entire cast will sit down in a theater on the satellite of love and make fun of the Alan Smithy version of Dune.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

No even better, they use flying Segway's!

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

No, Eric, what it means is that you can't abide any criticism of the original Galactica. It was cheesy and campy, as was the original Trek (and new versions), as was Buck Rogers, as was Doctor Who, as was Blake's 7, as were many, many more. That doesn't mean that they were bad programmes, in fact the cheesy campiness was probably a great deal of their charm; the endlessy recycled effects shots in Galactica, the hammy over-acting of Shatner et al in Trek, the endless corridors and quarries in Doctor Who, I could go on and on. I appreciate all those old programmes for what they are, cheese and all, but equally I can see something worth returning to watch in the Galactica remake.

Oh, and with my pedant's hat on, the original Trek cannot be classed as being of "the same era" as the original Galactica, given that there's over a decade between the two.

 

[Tony J Case]

However - despite the cheese (and sometimes Galactica 1.0 serves up a HUGE slice of cheddar - just look at ANY nightclub scene), all of these shows succeed. Dubious special effects and way over-the-top acting can be overlooked for sharp writing, good stories and solid characters.

Yes a monster on Doctor Who is a man wriggling around on the floor wrapped up in bubble paper painted green. Yes, that brand new alien planet in Star Trek is just the same backdrop lit with different colored gels and the Styrofoam rocks moved to the other side of the set. And yet if you bring intelligent writing to the table, then we can overlook those flaws.

 

[Bob-R]

You know, to be honest, I have never noticed the so-called "cheese factor" of Battlestar or Star Trek and never will, if I want to watch something for the "cheese factor" I will buy the upcoming Batman and Robin 1949 Movie Serial DVD release because that is true "cheese".

As I have said before in this thread, I take shows as I see them, as-is, and I agree that the story should take center stage. But, I like the FX of the earlier shows, I like the so-called "over the top" and "hammy" acting, which, by the way, is called theater acting.

I say, before anybody else says anything about the subject, think about what "cheese" really is:

"Cheese" - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Batman and Robin 1949 Movie Serial.

"Great Television" - The Original Battlestar Galactica, The Original Star Trek.


Now, lets get back to the original topic about the possibility of getting Galactica 1980 on DVD before we get too far off-track.

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

"Cheesy" is without a doubt the most overused word, aside from the usual four-letter suspects, on the Net, IMO. People use this word to describe something made in an earlier time period (regardless of the money & effort put into it), or something whose visuals and overall style of presentation are clearly of an earlier time, or something rushed due to time constraints, or something colorful and very glossy, or something that misfired critically due to some concept oversight, or something with a few instances of theatrical acting, or just something they don't like. The word's been used so much that it's lost its meaning.

Cheesy used to mean something cheap, with effort spared in a number of areas in its production, and intended as an eminently vapid throw-away.

Camp is another word that has fallen victim to this overuse. Used to be that Batman and Lost in Space were camp, but now the word applies to dated, theatrical, or
farfetched TV and cinema, whether they were intended as satire or not.

 

[Randy*S]

I agree!
I wish we did have more classic Galactica to look forward too!
I mean some of us want it released, we don't need to defend it and debate with the fans of the new stuff over it. That could go on forever, we simply want it on dvd! If you want it great, if you don't then don't bother and let it be.

 

[Sam Favate]

I hope G80 sees the light of day for those who want it, but I won't buy it. I enthusiastically bought BG when it came out in 2003, and I've enjoyed it for the most part, but sometimes I am struck at how much I don't appreciate the writing and acting. Last night I watched "Messages from Earth," one of the 2-part episodes, and was stunned at how bad it was. BG had some great moments like the pilot and the first two-parter, but it also struck some real lows too. G80 simply flatlined, IMO.

 

[Rutgar]

Yes, if you take an honest look at the original Galactica, it's not quite the "shining beacon" that Eric makes it out to be.

 

[DougFND]

The original Galactica has some great episodes along with some stinkers. But, it's the rare show that doesn't. The original Star Trek had it's share of crap.

Plus, Galactica only got to run one season. I'd give anything to see what would have been made in a second or third year.

Imagine if Star Trek: The Next Generation had only run for one year. People wouldn't even be talking about it today. The first year of TNG had far more stinkers than the one year of classic BG.

 

[Kevin M]

As a fan of the original it will always hold a place in my childhood heart just as Space:1999 does however after watching the marathons on Sci-Fi a few years ago I was amazed at the sloppiness of the script writing, essentially they took Roddenberry's original pitch for Star Trek (a wagontrain to the stars) and ran with the concept but then proceeded to fill it with standard cliche non-sci-fi plots...only with "In Space" tacked on...such as "It's like The Guns of Navarone...IN SPACE!" or "It's like Shane...IN SPACE!" or "It's like Perry Mason....yep you guessed it...IN SPACE!"

Mind you there were some gems such as The Living Legend, Parts 1 & 2 with Lloyd Bridges as the commander Cain of Battlestar Pegasus, that was a favorite, and Patrick Mcnee playing Count Iblis in The War of the Gods: Parts 1 & 2 was very good as well. But on the whole I have to say that the show's shortcomings were too large to ignore even for this fan...if it had been an absolute smash and went on for a few more seasons they probably would have gotten better...we will never know.

The new BG is an odd offshoot of the original concept (not all that original to begin with mind you) but one that I still enjoy as there is too little in the way of adult oriented Sci-Fi these days, it may bastardize some of the original's good points but IMO it is still good sci-fi nonetheless and that is what matters to me.....hell, they both use the word frak...and the new version doesn't have any chimp's in electro-dog suits...that's gotta count for something.


....gosh....I..I wonder if Eric will disagree with this differing viewpoint... Just kidding...

 

[Kevin M]

As far as a DVD treatment for Galactica: 1980 goes, I think if they brought in Mike Nelson to do a few commentary tracks for the cheesier episodes that would be a better selling point if they wanted to make any money off of the set.

 

[Jeff*H]

NOW we're talking! I'd love to hear Mike Nelson's rants on the show, much more than the show's real audio tracks! Hell, I'd even settle for Charles Nelson Reilly's thoughts on the show...

 

[Kevin M]

"Oh My Guad! This is just plain Auuuful boy's & girls...A-Hnnn Hnnn Hnnnnnnn!"

 

[Randy*S]

Well, if everyone is going jump on the "I hate Galactica" bandwagon let's just forget this topic altogether.

Noone is going to like every episode of every series.
Can we move on?

 

[Kevin M]

I thought the last three posts did just that....hell..we even discussed Charles Nelson Reilly's thoughts on BG:80!

 

[Martin Rendall]

Did anybody say that? Did I just miss it? Everyone who's posted to this thread likes BG!

Martin.

 

[Eric Paddon]

"but then proceeded to fill it with standard cliche non-sci-fi plots...only with "In Space" tacked on...such as "It's like The Guns of Navarone...IN SPACE!" or "It's like Shane...IN SPACE!" or "It's like Perry Mason....yep you guessed it...IN SPACE!""

That isn't the best way of writing, but it's also something that Star Trek was guilty of as far back as "Balance Of Terror" which is just "Enemy Below....In Space!". And so too is "Court Martial" an example of "Perry Mason....in space!" This gets back to my point of why Galactica's greatness in terms of its basic premise, concept and the potential offered by its great stories like "Living Legend" can not and should not be dismissed because of its shortcomings in other areas that were not unique to Galactica but were in fact representative of ALL forms of sci-fi TV in the era before and during Galactica's lifetime. The difference though would seem to be that Star Trek was allowed to get a free pass from its shortcomings as a 1960s TV series and was still allowed to survive with its core essence intact into the movie continuation realm and the spinoff series realm, and its the loss of what made Galactica special that has engendered the hatred of the new series to begin with.

 

[Kevin M]

I never dismissed it's gems but the basic premise is hardly new and the execution of most of the episodes scripts were not as well rounded as Trek's first season scripts (on a much smaller budget as well), at the end of the day IMO it's turkeys outnumbered it's hits & the only thing that has kept me a fan is the nostalgia of remembering watching it in my childhood...that and the technical achievement...and the babes. Mmmmm Maren Jensen....