Talk of Bryan Singer's BSG project resurfaces

[Admiral Buzzkill]

DigificWriter wrote:

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I expect that Larson's involvement will be largely the same as JKR's was with regards to the last two films in the HP franchise and with regards to her involvement with the franchise as a whole.

Not even close. Rowling had a great deal of control over HP because she had a lot of leverage based on how badly Warners wanted the property. Larson has none, really, because Universal can take or leave something like BSG. There's just no significant public clamor for it, but it's not costing them an arm and a leg to acquire and if the first one succeeds it's got franchise potential.

You are making it sound like they'll cut him out of the loop entirely and rely solely on Singer while simply cutting him (Larson) a check for the rights to the BSG franchise...

Yep.

Expect a lot of talk from Singer and others about what "great ideas Glen has, he's lived with this for forty years, he's not just here to rubber stamp what we do blah de blah blah blah..."all of which means the opposite or wouldn't be said at all.

...neither of the two announcements we got with regards to the project show any indication(s) of this whatsoever.

No announcement ever will. Gene Roddenberry got a credit and was "consulted" on movies that he disliked and had no real influence on whatever. He did get paid, though.

[DigificWriter]

Why would Universal make the announcement concerning the BSG reboot movie - which specifically mentions Larson's involvement and the particulars thereof - if they were later going to turn around, hire Singer, and exclude Larson from the process entirely aside from paying him for the rights to the property? Why not go after Singer directly and follow a similar process with what they did for RDM's BSG (give Larson a concialiatory credit)?

[Robert Maxwell]

DigificWriter wrote:

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Why would Universal make the announcement concerning the BSG reboot movie - which specifically mentions Larson's involvement and the particulars thereof - if they were later going to turn around, hire Singer, and exclude Larson from the process entirely aside from paying him for the rights to the property? Why not go after Singer directly and follow a similar process with what they did for RDM's BSG (give Larson a concialiatory credit)?

They play up Larson's involvement in order to get the original BSG fans on board, obviously. I, too, find it unlikely his participation will extend beyond a credit and a nice check.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Voice of God wrote:

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They play up Larson's involvement in order to get the original BSG fans on board, obviously. I, too, find it unlikely his participation will extend beyond a credit and a nice check.

Exactly so. Flattering Larson in the context of the announcement doesn't make him harder to deal with, either.

Apparently - and online reporting on this goes way back to the 1999 project - Larson's separable rights with regard to a BSG movie are more substantial than as regards television.

Offering him a credit on nuBSG may have had less to do with generosity and more to do with not being able to predict how much credit a WGA arbitration might have awarded him. Credits are money.

[DigificWriter]

Voice of God and My Name is Legion: If Universal cuts Larson out of the project entirely beyond just giving him a concialiatory credit, they'll have lost the original BSG fans anyway, so this idea that they'd play up Larson's involvement and then not have him involved later on down the line defeats the purpose of announcing that he'd be involved.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

No it doesn't.

First, they have to make a deal with him because he owns the rights they need. So offering or not offering him something isn't an option they have.

Secondly, as long as he's well-paid, on board with a title and saying nice things about the project they're not going to lose a single fan among the three or four dozen who actually still constitute oldBSG fandom.

If you think the studio is relying on the original fandom even for WOMs on this thing, you're very much mistaken - they're not going to spend big bucks on an exercise in nostalgia on any level, but on a state-of-the-art summer blockbuster that they hope will put youngsters' butts in seats the same way that Transformers and its ilk do.

I have no idea what a "conciliatory credit" is in the context under discussion, much less what a "concialiatory" one might be - people get credits for something, even if it's just their enthusiastic endorsement of a project.

[CorporalCaptain]

Word.

[The Wormhole]

Lord Vader wrote:

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[Obvious Casting Joke]Chris Pine for Starbuck and Zachary Quinto for Apollo![/Obvious Casting Joke]

Strangely enough, that could work.

[Sindatur]

The Wormhole wrote:

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Strangely enough, that could work.

And now that Zach has come out as Gay, it would ignite Slash Fan Fiction

[Kegg]

milo bloom wrote:

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Was never big on the original, and I loved the Moore version, but I wouldn't mind a tidy little film trilogy reboot that could stand on it's own also.

I'm basically in this camp. The original show was a little silly and mostly only worth watching for the modelwork, the Ron Moore series was fantastic, and if Bryan Singer wants to make a space opera movie that just happens to borrow this franchise name (which is in effect what would happen) I'm pretty okay with that. Not one of Singer's biggest fans, but I vaguely like the idea we'll see more space opera movies in the cinema.

Frontier wrote:

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Those who like the old, those who like the 'nu' will both have to accept: we've had our fun. Anything new will be directed at the kiddies.

Come now that shouldn't be that much of a problem. The original BSG was quite markedly a juvenile show. BSG skewed to a more older target audience, I'd guess, but I'd find it hard to belive there's many nuBSG fans here who automatically hate space opera because it's targeted at younger moviegoers (as, really, most all space opera cinema is).

This could be a blast. Could be a big, splashy, bombastic space epic. And that'd be alright with me.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I'm all for a big space movie, if it's good. I don't care that much whether it's similar to or different from the other things that have been called Battlestar Galactica.

[46379.1]

Bryan Singer’s ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Gets Airborne With John Orloff Scripting Deal
http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/brya...cripting-deal/

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is closing a deal with John Orloff to write Battlestar Galactica, a feature based on the Glen Larson 1978 TV series that Bryan Singer has long wanted to direct. Orloff seems equally pumped. What is it about Battlestar Galactica that turns grown men into exuberant kids?

“I have wanted to write this movie since I was 12 years old, and built a Galactica model from scratch out of balsa wood, cardboard, old model parts and LEDs,” Orloff told Deadline. “I love BSG, and I would pass on the job rather than frak it up.”

[Temis the Vorta]

Well life is going to get a bit more interesting around here.

Wouldn't it be funny if the movie were successful enough to spawn a TV series based on it? I wouldn't turn up my nose at it. I love Ron Moore, but I love space opera on TV more.

The nuBSG fans have to accept that our show is more or less done. We may get some drips and drabs here and there, but nothing much more of meaning.

Yeah they had their shot with Caprica, they blew it, time to move onto other things.

The oldBSG fans really, honestly, need to accept that nothing new will ever come from the old show.

Mmmm, I wonder about that. Abrams' brought back the spirit of TOS pretty effectively, without catering only to old fans. This BSG movie could do the same. Since I have no very strong opinions about what oldBSG should or shouldn't be, I'll be happy as long as it doesn't suck in the general sense.

I've thought for a while now that there's a market - in movies and on cable TV - for a kick-ass, adrenaline-pumped military space series that doesn't indulge in excessive naval-gazing and to the extent that it has any political leanings at all, leans rightwards. So if this new movie adopts that approach, they could have a surprising hit on their hands and maybe even a revived franchise.

[Sindatur]

Temis the Bleeding Aorta wrote:

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Well life is going to get a bit more interesting around here.

Wouldn't it be funny if the movie were successful enough to spawn a TV series based on it? I wouldn't turn up my nose at it. I love Ron Moore, but I love space opera on TV more.

Yeah they had their shot with Caprica, they blew it, time to move onto other things.

Mmmm, I wonder about that. Abrams' brought back the spirit of TOS pretty effectively, without catering only to old fans. This BSG movie could do the same. Since I have no very strong opinions about what oldBSG should or shouldn't be, I'll be happy as long as it doesn't suck in the general sense.

I've thought for a while now that there's a market - in movies and on cable TV - for a kick-ass, adrenaline-pumped military space series that doesn't indulge in excessive naval-gazing and to the extent that it has any political leanings at all, leans rightwards. So if this new movie adopts that approach, they could have a surprising hit on their hands and maybe even a revived franchise.

Ron Moore's BSG was very good, but, at times was rather depressing, so, I wouldn't want to see another go at BSG so dark. If this does come off (and especially if it really takes off) I'd like to see it a bit lighter in tone than Ron Moore's.

If it's based on the original, as it appears they want to do, that would likely mean no Skin Jobs and maybe even the Lizard Aliens and Lucifer type models

[Temis the Vorta]

I've thought about this a bit more, and rather than right-wing per se, I think the movie could do very well with a tribal mentality. I think that would have huge appeal globally right now, casting the Cylons and their human helpers as a purely evil "other," something audiences can use for a stand-in for their ire. No attempt should be made at understanding or coming to terms with the Cylons, or seeing their point of view. Just frakkin' kill them all. Nice and simple.

This isn't "right-wing" because for instance, I can see the Cylons and the human quislings being interpreted by audiences as analogous to evil, greedy bankers or globalism or whatever else the Occupy Wall Street types are against. Alternatively, the Cylons could be the forces of liberal humanism who are tearing down this great nation etc etc. And in other nations, the targets will be somewhat different - movies are a global business after all - so it's important to leave it very open ended just who the Cylons "really are."

How about a fantasy-casting game? Who do you see as Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, et al?