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

[Ar-Pharazon]

"A Day In The Life Of The Ship Of Lights".

Of course the neighbor who borrows their power tools and lawn mower will be Count Iblis.

Oh the hijinks.

 

[Skipper]

Why not an adaption of this comic? It's a win-win!

 

[137th Gebirg]

Ugh... that was one of the worst ones they've ever done. They kept erroneously flipping back and forth between TOS and Nu character and ship designs to a degree that you completely lost context of who was saying what. Thoroughly confusing visual queues. It also looked like actual artist design styles changed several times throughout the span of that particular series. Usually the one saving grace in situations like these was that the underlying story was able to salvage the sub-par artwork. They didn't even have that, either.

The whole thing was a profound disappointment, particularly to those of us who loved both series.

All IMO, of course.

 

[Skipper]

Ugh... that was one of the worst ones they've ever done. They kept erroneously flipping back and forth between TOS and Nu character and ship designs to a degree that you completely lost context of who was saying what. Thoroughly confusing visual queues. It also looked like actual artist design styles changed several times throughout the span of that particular series. Usually the one saving grace in situations like these was that the underlying story was able to salvage the sub-par artwork. They didn't even have that, either.

The whole thing was a profound disappointment, particularly to those of us who loved both series.

All IMO, of course.

Yes, but this was worth it.



(They are Starbuck & Starbuck)

 

[137th Gebirg]

Forgot about that! Probably the most narcissistic scene in science fiction comic book history.

 

[Skipper]

Forgot about that! Probably the most narcissistic scene in science fiction comic book history.

Yep!

About your criticism, I almost agree with you. The biggest problem was the artist who drew the issues from 4 to 6. He was atrocious.

 

[Reverend]

Interesting concept - I like that! It's certainly in keeping with the mythology of ancient gods that wish to be adored and admired by forcibly establishing their own lore.

It always bothered me that they never circled back to the Gods of Kobol thread in nuBSG. One of the Boomers (I think it was the one that ended up as Athena?) went on about how the Cylons know more about the human tribes' history than they did, as if it was going to play some role in the larger mythos.

This is why I get irritated when I hear writers and certain movie directors extol the virtues of "The Mystery Box". All it really means is: "be cryptic as and mysterious as you like, but don't actually bother to do the actual work to come up with a coherent mythology...you know, like actual fiction writers are supposed to do."

BSG had a lot of cool ideas but not much in the way of follow through, which makes rewatching the show feel oddly hollow. Twice over the years I've made the attempt and twice I never got further than the escape from New Caprica.
Compare that to rewatching the likes of B5 where you suddenly see just how much was planned right from the beginning...

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ That very thing ruined it for me in the end. I remember that podcast quite well when they admitted the "throw random shit against the wall to see what sounds cool" model of writing they adopted. I was always waiting to see whom the Book of Pythia was referring to in "he who must not be named". Many of us were SURE it would be Iblis, and there were even rumors at the time that Roger Moore might have gone into that role which, of course, never happened.

So many missed opportunities with that show.

 

[Reverend]

^^^ That very thing ruined it for me in the end. I remember that podcast quite well when they admitted the "throw random shit against the wall to see what sounds cool" model of writing they adopted. I was always waiting to see whom the Book of Pythia was referring to in "he who must not be named". Many of us were SURE it would be Iblis, and there were even rumors at the time that Roger Moore might have gone into that role which, of course, never happened.

So many missed opportunities with that show.

That approach works well in a writers room, but at the START of a project while you're hashing out the premise, not when you're in the 3rd or 4th season....
And it's not like they didn't have a lot of time to work it out; there was what, a year or so gap between production of the mini to the series proper? It was a conscious choice to NOT do the work.

I mean it's still good to be open to new and potentially better ideas as the show progresses, but you still need the bones of it clearly defined. The way they went about it is just lazy storytelling.

To be clear though, I don't mind a bit of mystery or some unexplained elements. I'm OK with the nature of "God", Head Six & Head Baltar being deeply ambiguous. Possibly transubstantiated Starbuck though...I mean what was the point of that exactly? It felt like they just did that for sheer shock value (and risked a cast revolt in the process IIRC.)

 

[cultcross]

That's not what the quote says. The exact wording is: "we’ll explore a new story within the mythology while staying true to the spirit of Battlestar."
Combined with the assertion that it's not a "remake", I'm taking this to mean it's not a retelling of the story (i.e. not the ragtag fleet premise) but a new one of some kind set somewhere within the mythology of the franchise, but dealing with the same core themes. That could be literally anything from "a less boring version of Caprica" to: "a direct sequel taking place in our future, because all this has happened before..." or "the fall of Kobol", or anything in-between. There's nowhere near enough information to be more specific than that.

Yup. The internet (not just here) has read a lot into that comment that isn't there - pretty much read in what they wanted to hear, I suspect. The quote is very vague, and pretty much only rules out another straight reboot. "A new story within the mythology" could mean almost anything else. For my part, if the show is called Battlestar Galactica, I'd lay odds it's going to have a Battlestar in it named Galactica.

This is why I get irritated when I hear writers and certain movie directors extol the virtues of "The Mystery Box".

I get quickly tired of mystery boxes, especially when the mystery doesn't actually advance the plot, and just fills in backstory (two recent examples, Rey's parentage, and the reveal in the Doctor Who finale). Things the audience doesn't know yet can be great, but it's hard to pull off well.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ Yep. Generally speaking, "it says X, therefore it could mean only Y" is pretty much almost always wrong.

 

[Skipper]

Well, everyone knows what the line means. The reboot that we really wants.

Galactica 1980.

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, everyone knows what the line means. The reboot that we really wants.

Galactica 1980.

Except updated for a modern audience.

Galactica 2020

"We've found Earth."
"Patch us into their media transmissions. Let's see what this planet is like before we introduce ourselves."
Five minutes later.
"Frak this, get us out of here."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from Earth. They're asking if we've ever heard of...something called Amway?"

 

[JD]

I honestly forgot just how much stuff there was in BSG that was set up but never really resolved.
As much as people rip on Lost, I'm starting to think it might have actually done a better job of giving answers in the end.

 

[Skipper]

Except updated for a modern audience.

Galactica 2020

"We've found Earth."
"Patch us into their media transmissions. Let's see what this planet is like before we introduce ourselves."
Five minutes later.
"Frak this, get us out of here."

It's the plot of this comic. A lot of people die.

 

[EnderAKH]

"Sir, they said we can come to the surface, but we need to do a temperature check, wear a mask, and practice something called social distancing?"

 

[Reverend]

I get quickly tired of mystery boxes, especially when the mystery doesn't actually advance the plot, and just fills in backstory (two recent examples, Rey's parentage, and the reveal in the Doctor Who finale). Things the audience doesn't know yet can be great, but it's hard to pull off well.

I'm not sure I'd classify Rey's parentage as a mystery box exactly, that's more just incoherent storytelling topped with some good old fashioned lack or originality. Whether it was the intent or not, I rather thought TFA answered the question quite succinctly: "whoever you're waiting for...they're never coming back..."
Then TLJ for some reason felt compelled to underline said point and circle it in big red marker pen: "They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing." You know, just in case anyone wasn't paying attention the first time.
But then TRoS doubled back on it and was all like: "No, actually, it was Palpatine all along! Oh no wait, that's the explanation for who Snoke is! I know, it was REALLY Palpatine all along! Huh? What do you mean that's our explanation for why Ben fell to the Dark Side? Oh hey, I have a much better idea about Rey's family...it was Palpatine all along!"
There's no mystery box here, just blather.

As for the Timeless Child...honestly it didn't especially bother me, but then I was rather 'meh' and the last few seasons anyway, so not massively invested.
That said, it was a damn sight more interesting than "the hybrid". DW just doesn't seem to be able to have really compelling arc twists. I mean it worked once rather well with Bad Wolf, but ever since then it's all been very hit and miss....mostly miss.

As much as people rip on Lost, I'm starting to think it might have actually done a better job of giving answers in the end.

Sort of a quantity over quality argument though, isn't it? I mean is it better to have no answers, or tons of answers that are flaming hot garbage?

Both BSG and Lost and the persistent problem of introducing new "mysteries" without ever solving or significantly advancing the old ones. The difference is that BSG just ditched the old threads and kept moving forwards, whereas Lost spent the last season or two frantically running around desperately attempting to knot all the dangling threads together until what they were left with was a rambling, incoherent gordian knot of a narrative that could *never* have a satisfactory solution.
On top of that, Lost committed one of the cardinal sins of constructing a mystery: "thou shalt not bottle out and change course on the central premise mid-flow just because the audience figured out the island is purgatory almost straight out of the gate...then spend several seasons reversing course only to circle back and be like: NOW they're in purgatory for really realsies!"

BSG never ran into that problem because they the audience could never guess what even the show runners didn't know going in!

 

[The Wormhole]

"Sir, they said we can come to the surface, but we need to do a temperature check, wear a mask, and practice something called social distancing?"

"Social distancing?"
"Apparently everyone's required to stand six feet apart from each other."
"But we've been watching their news and perusing their social media. No one's doing that."

I'm not sure I'd classify Rey's parentage as a mystery box exactly, that's more just incoherent storytelling topped with some good old fashioned lack or originality. Whether it was the intent or not, I rather thought TFA answered the question quite succinctly: "whoever you're waiting for...they're never coming back..."
Then TLJ for some reason felt compelled to underline said point and circle it in big red marker pen: "They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing." You know, just in case anyone wasn't paying attention the first time.
But then TRoS doubled back on it and was all like: "No, actually, it was Palpatine all along! Oh no wait, that's the explanation for who Snoke is! I know, it was REALLY Palpatine all along! Huh? What do you mean that's our explanation for why Ben fell to the Dark Side? Oh hey, I have a much better idea about Rey's family...it was Palpatine all along!"
There's no mystery box here, just blather.

I think a lot of it is because everyone assumed there was some grand secret regarding Rey's identity, or rather the identity of her parents despite of what was said. Especially after TLJ, an overwhelming majority of people on the internet were all "Kylo Ren is totally lying! Rey's parents are totally Somebody!" So while you are right in that the movies themselves didn't really try to build up a mystery concerning the identity of Rey's parents, fans everywhere assumed there was one regardless.

 

[JD]

Sort of a quantity over quality argument though, isn't it? I mean is it better to have no answers, or tons of answers that are flaming hot garbage?

Both BSG and Lost and the persistent problem of introducing new "mysteries" without ever solving or significantly advancing the old ones. The difference is that BSG just ditched the old threads and kept moving forwards, whereas Lost spent the last season or two frantically running around desperately attempting to knot all the dangling threads together until what they were left with was a rambling, incoherent gordian knot of a narrative that could *never* have a satisfactory solution.

I was actually pretty happy with the answers we got on Lost. They didn't answer everything, but they answered enough to satisfy me, and I liked most of the answer we got.
In general I'd take any attempt at an answer over no answer.
I'm still pissed BSG didn't give us any kind of real answer to what the fuck Starbuck was at the end.

On top of that, Lost committed one of the cardinal sins of constructing a mystery: "thou shalt not bottle out and change course on the central premise mid-flow just because the audience figured out the island is purgatory almost straight out of the gate...then spend several seasons reversing course only to circle back and be like: NOW they're in purgatory for really realsies!"

I'm not sure about what the original plan was, but they were definitely not in purgatory at the end.