Battlestar Galactica getting rebooted (again) for NBS's streaming service

[JD]

I think that’s less true for Lost than BSG. They came up with the outline for the last three seasons between seasons three and four. And in the first three they didn’t know where they were going to end up but clearly had at least a general idea what every weird thing they introduced really was.

When I try to watch BSG again I can never get much past the New Caprica arc. Not cause it didn’t have good payoff so much as they got thematically repetitive and lost the intensity of the best arcs.

They also overkilled their secondary cast in ways that the payoff was not worth the loss, and the show suffered for it to near-24 extents. For example, the episode where they killed Cat was just a weak episode and then they lost a good character. And they made Cally from one of the most likable characters to totally unlikable and killed her in a forced way too.

I love both Lost and BSG, but I think between the two Lost probably had the more cohesive story. While they left a lot unanswered at the end, I do think they did a better job of following through on things that were set up.

The Cylon God (Zoey Greystone.) had a plan, and it worked out gangbusters. She lead the humans to Earth II, as they interbreed with Cylons and the anthropoids of Earth 2.

Is this an official thing from an interview or commentary or something? I've never heard that before.

 

[bigdaddy]

No it shows he actually did. The writing staff and RDM himself admitted there was no plan (as if the retool attempt in Season 3 didn't make it obvious enough) and that they added the:

"And they have a plan"

Line to the opening narration because it sounded "cool".

I have never, not once heard they added 'and they had a plan' because it sounded cool'. I remember it as Sci-fi Channel wanting it and the writers went 'whatever'.

And comparing LOST to BSG with plans is amazing. LOST they had a shit plan that made no sense they made up while clearly high on something more than halfway already through the show. BSG weirdly had a basic plan until the elections then just bullshitted it.

 

[Jayson1]

Instead of doing a exodus journey again I wonder if they might do a story were humans are now slaves to the cylons and you do a story from the POV of terrorist or freedom fighters using Cylon tech to fight back. Of course part of me would love a archeology based show were humans go back to the colonies and explore the ruins of these ancient cities. Maybe use it as a chance to explore how finding out the truth of where humans came from means religious conflicts between people who still believe in the organized religions we have today and interesting enough how even the theory of evolution is under trial seeing as how these humans were created along way from earth.


Jason

 

[Noname Given]

I have never, not once heard they added 'and they had a plan' because it sounded cool'. I remember it as Sci-fi Channel wanting it and the writers went 'whatever'.

O'RLY:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/battlestar-galacticas-ronald-d-moore-admits-the-cylons-1796020590

Moore said this was, essentially, just something co-executive producer David Eick thought sounded cool, that audiences would love and that they could figure out later. They never did and, said Moore, “For the next 14 years of my life people have asked me ‘What was the plan?’” In short, “There was no… plan.”

Further:

And comparing LOST to BSG with plans is amazing. LOST they had a shit plan that made no sense they made up while clearly high on something more than halfway already through the show. BSG weirdly had a basic plan until the elections then just bullshitted it.

Where did I mention LOST in my post above? I've never even seem a single episode of LOST as that type of show doesn't appeal to me.[/QUOTE]

 

[DigificWriter]

The problem with relying on the statement that they only added "and they have a plan" because it sounded cool and that there wasn't actually anything behind it narratively is that the series itself and the telefilm spinoff called "The Plan" contradicts it.

RDM and Eick sort of stumbled into explaining the Cylons' plan, but they did ultimately did offer an explanation.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I really stopped watching shows with a "plan" or mystery plot because almost no series has the ending planned. What made Babylon 5 so satisfying, even when it sucked, was that JMS made it clear he had the whole thing mapped out. Maybe not to the smallest degree, but he knew he how he wanted it to endand would actually answer questioms posed in the pilot along the way and start new ones. It was like every season was a novel in a 5 book series. The final episode was one of the most satisfying finale's I've ever seen.

Now I wait for the shows to end and then go back and catch up if they didn't totally fall apart along the way. Or get cancelled on a cliffhanger, my personal pet peeve, especially for shows on the bubble (I'm looking at you Alphas, V remake and The Fugitive remake).

 

[137th Gebirg]

O'RLY:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/battlestar-galacticas-ronald-d-moore-admits-the-cylons-1796020590

Excellent post. All (or at least most) of these things were mentioned during the course of the episode commentaries/podcasts attached to the DVD/BRD box sets. I remember specifically getting really annoyed at the apparent lack of vision they had, when there was ostensibly a clear indication to the contrary. Very frustrating.

 

[crookeddy]

The problem with relying on the statement that they only added "and they have a plan" because it sounded cool and that there wasn't actually anything behind it narratively is that the series itself and the telefilm spinoff called "The Plan" contradicts it.

RDM and Eick sort of stumbled into explaining the Cylons' plan, but they did ultimately did offer an explanation.

Seriously? The Plan movie was clearly tacked on at the end with several retcons just to give some semblance of the Cylons having a plan.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Did the Cylons plan on the Galactica escaping the genocide?

Did The Cylon God (Zoey Greystone) plan on the Galactica escaping the genocide?

Who put 4 of the final 5 on the Galactica, becuase that seems like a plan.

How many years does it take to make a replacement Starbuck? If the answer is 5 years, then someone definitely had a plan, becuase they had a replacement Starbuck ready, a couple months after she died, with a course to Earth 1.

 

[The Wormhole]

The problem with relying on the statement that they only added "and they have a plan" because it sounded cool and that there wasn't actually anything behind it narratively is that the series itself and the telefilm spinoff called "The Plan" contradicts it.

If anything the movie The Plan proves the Cylon Plan was just something tacked on. Even within the show itself, I'd say it's obvious how tacked on it is by the time they get to the New Caprica storyline and the Cylons suddenly have a New Plan without it yet being clear what exactly the Old Plan was.

Did the Cylons plan on the Galactica escaping the genocide?

I remember this was a popular theory in the early seasons, though Ron Moore denied it at the time.

 

[saddestmoon]

How many years does it take to make a replacement Starbuck? If the answer is 5 years, then someone definitely had a plan, because they had a replacement Starbuck ready, a couple months after she died, with a course to Earth 1.

I could be mistaken, buuuut wasn’t Starbucks return completely unrelated to anything cylon - instead related to a spiritual resurrection / angelic appearance?

In other words, she wasn’t a cylon - instead some kind of angelic being guiding the fleet?

Deus ex machina?

 

[Fred617]

Starbuck? Angelic? Never thought I'd hear that.

 

[Awesome Possum]

If anything the movie The Plan proves the Cylon Plan was just something tacked on. Even within the show itself, I'd say it's obvious how tacked on it is by the time they get to the New Caprica storyline and the Cylons suddenly have a New Plan without it yet being clear what exactly the Old Plan was.

I remember this was a popular theory in the early seasons, though Ron Moore denied it at the time.

The “plan” seemed to be kill all humans. But the Galactica got lucky and Cavil being an asshole of legendary levels decided to take advantage of it to twist the knife in the Final Five because he was mad at his parents for making him a skin job. That allowed Galactica and the Fleet to escape, if he hadn’t been so obsessed with revenge it would’ve succeeded. Cavil despite being so convinced that machines were superior was destroyed by the worst human traits.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I could be mistaken, buuuut wasn’t Starbucks return completely unrelated to anything cylon - instead related to a spiritual resurrection / angelic appearance?

In other words, she wasn’t a cylon - instead some kind of angelic being guiding the fleet?

Deus ex machina?

The angels of the cylon god are head 6 and Head Baltar.

The Angels of the Cylon God were manipulating the Cylons, and manipulating the humans, to get them to bang, and make babies on Earth II because as it stood they were all doomed.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The “plan” seemed to be kill all humans. But the Galactica got lucky and Cavil being an asshole of legendary levels decided to take advantage of it to twist the knife in the Final Five because he was mad at his parents for making him a skin job. That allowed Galactica and the Fleet to escape, if he hadn’t been so obsessed with revenge it would’ve succeeded. Cavil despite being so convinced that machines were superior was destroyed by the worst human traits.

"Kill all Humans" is hardly a cohesive plan. Sometimes it's nothing more than a hobby.

 

[The Wormhole]

The “plan” seemed to be kill all humans. But the Galactica got lucky and Cavil being an asshole of legendary levels decided to take advantage of it to twist the knife in the Final Five because he was mad at his parents for making him a skin job. That allowed Galactica and the Fleet to escape, if he hadn’t been so obsessed with revenge it would’ve succeeded. Cavil despite being so convinced that machines were superior was destroyed by the worst human traits.

As a retcon, that works, but it doesn't change the fact that it was a retcon. Really, the whole Cylon Plan thing always reminded me of the old South Park episode with the Underwear Gnomes. "Step one: Attack the Colonies. Step two: ? Step three: Victory!"

"Kill all Humans" is hardly a cohesive plan.

And if you're going to use "They have a plan" as a tagline for the series, this plan better be something more than "basically what they've been doing all along."

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It's like with the Daleks and Cybermen. Kill absolutely everything but themselves and......then what?

 

[JD]

The angels of the cylon god are head 6 and Head Baltar.

The Angels of the Cylon God were manipulating the Cylons, and manipulating the humans, to get them to bang, and make babies on Earth II because as it stood they were all doomed.

Where are you getting this stuff?

 

[Guy Gardener]

I watched the show.

Zoey was the first Cylon.

Head 6 said that she worked for God A LOT, then at the end Baltar says that SHE doesn't like being called God.

The Cylons are monotheists, the Colonialists are pantheists.

We saw a religion/church being founded in Caprica season 2 preview, based on the Zoey AI, were humans and robots congregating together.

It's pretty obvious.

 

[Awesome Possum]

It's like with the Daleks and Cybermen. Kill absolutely everything but themselves and......then what?

Whatever they were doing between the end of the war and the attack.