New Battlestar Galactica Movie

[Skywalker]

If not that, then trilogies are all the rage, in which case the first film can be about the initial attack and the ragtag fleet's escape, with hints that the Cylons are still in pursuit. Second film would probably be a great opportunity to tell the Pegasus story, which is really one of the best stories in the BSG mythos. Third movie can be the quest for Earth.

I think with franchises being so important in movies these days, a trilogy is almost guaranteed (assuming the presumptive first movie performs well, of course). And I would lay it out exactly how you described: the first movie depicts the holocaust and Galactica pulling together a ragtag fleet of survivors. Maybe there'll be some big battle at the end to give the audience an emotional lift and end things on a hopeful note. The Pegasus story would be perfect for a middle chapter. And then the fleet finds Earth in the third film (I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of epic 'battle for the fate of humanity' where they have to defend their new world, or something).

To be honest, just thinking about the possibilities has gotten me excited. A three-movie story could be great, if executed properly.

 

[kirk55555]

This could be interesting. I'd hope that they try for a diferent tone than the last series. We don't need to se stuff like that again, it already happened. I'd like to se more of a space opera type thing. Cut out the ridiculous religious stuff of NuBSG, and to be diferent also don't have human cylons. So, a bit closer to the old series I guess, but with a tone that is more inbetween th two shows. I think that could make for a good movie.

 

[Maestro]

The Cylons should be created by lizards.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I hope this version is more TOS-like.

 

[Saga]

i hope for the hilarious misadventures of Boxy and Dr. Zee.

 

[Guy Gardener]

They should make the Cylons the heroes this time, and man needs to be wiped out.

 

[Sindatur]

If they plan a Trilogy as has been suggested, and the first two perform well enough, they could even expand it to 4 Movies, and slide in an extra Movie with Count Iblis and The Angels of Light. I think if handled properly, they could be done very well, without it being cheezy. I wouldn't expect the Movie to be about nothing but them, though.

Would the Exodus First Movie, or The Pegasus Second Movie contain The Kobol Arc (Or would we drop it?)

 

[Guy Gardener]

This is what I find odd, did the Reptile Cylons die out, or were they murdered dead by the Robot Cylons... Why was the magic Ghost Cylon played by Patrick McNee so prorobot-Cylon if his people had been butchered by the Robot Cylons?

But can you imagine the nice robot Cylons trying so hard to serve and save the Reptile Cylons as they are passing through some sort of extinction that they cannot counter?

Reminds me of the mechanoid Kryten from Red Dwarf still making meals for the skeletal crew of the crashed star ship he was on, a thousand years after they had died.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I think the premise is nicely suited to a movie, especially a trilogy. Both series got bogged down with having to stretch and explain the Cylon harassment over the long haul. I think BSG has two big moments: the Cylon holocaust and finding Earth. Both can be done memorably in the movie(s) without having to add all the oddball stuff in the middle.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there for several reasons.

1. If the only big moments are the holocaust and finding Earth, then that's the ballgame. There's no story to tell after finding Earth that's both worth telling and something we're familiar with. On the other hand, if there's nothing in between the holocaust and Earth, that leaves nothing to tell at all.

2. If you look at the original series, finding Earth isn't even a beat at all. That doesn't happen until the disastrous 1980 show. The takeaway point here is that finding Earth isn't something that would happen until the very very end, certainly not in the first film if there's going to be a sequel, at least assuming either the original or nuBSG is a model.

3. Comparing the original show to nuBSG, there is an important common beat in the middle of the journey: meeting the Pegasus.

I forgot the Pegasus, there ya go, second movie. And I agree finding Earth would likely be the final installment. I just think they could do OK with movies hitting big events without all the black markets and Cylon cowboys in between.

 

[shivkala]

I think the premise is nicely suited to a movie, especially a trilogy. Both series got bogged down with having to stretch and explain the Cylon harassment over the long haul. I think BSG has two big moments: the Cylon holocaust and finding Earth. Both can be done memorably in the movie(s) without having to add all the oddball stuff in the middle.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there for several reasons.

1. If the only big moments are the holocaust and finding Earth, then that's the ballgame. There's no story to tell after finding Earth that's both worth telling and something we're familiar with. On the other hand, if there's nothing in between the holocaust and Earth, that leaves nothing to tell at all.

2. If you look at the original series, finding Earth isn't even a beat at all. That doesn't happen until the disastrous 1980 show. The takeaway point here is that finding Earth isn't something that would happen until the very very end, certainly not in the first film if there's going to be a sequel, at least assuming either the original or nuBSG is a model.

3. Comparing the original show to nuBSG, there is an important common beat in the middle of the journey: meeting the Pegasus.

Agreed, the story is not "Cylons destroy the Colonies, then the Colonists find Earth." The story is, well, Lorne Greene said it best:

"Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a ragtag, fugitive fleet, on a lonely quest—for a shining planet known as Earth."

For me, the series is about the quest.

 

[Guy Gardener]

How many Basestars compose the Cylon?

Three followed the Galactica, and it would have been silly to think that there were less Basestars than there were Battlestars, 12 I believe is number represented, one battlestar per colony, which is odd since Galactica was hundreds of years old that it would have been in a constant state of renovation back when they had the resources... How long does it take to build a battlestar that you think it's okay to get by with just one to guard an entire planet? But then since a couple dozen fighters can "easily" destroy a Battlestar, it hardly makes sense to take them into battle, when really the fighters should do all the fighting, which is why they can get by with so few becuase it's never in a osition to be destroyed.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I personally hope they make no attempt to adapt material from Caprica, a.k.a. the Galactica 1980 of nuBSG. The Cylons deserve a decent and intriguing backstory, which that wasn't.

Another aspect of the overall premise that was handled differently between original and nu is the nature of the gods involved. The original had Count Iblis, who had some relation to the origin of the cybernetic Cylons. The original also had the Ship of Lights, but the overarching mythology was quite sketchy, really.

Even though the mystical aspects were handled differently in the original and nu series, mystical aspects are nevertheless (so far) also essential aspects of BSG.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

This is what I find odd, did the Reptile Cylons die out, or were they murdered dead by the Robot Cylons... Why was the magic Ghost Cylon played by Patrick McNee so prorobot-Cylon if his people had been butchered by the Robot Cylons?

The original reptilian Cylons were wiped out by the robotic versions. IIRC, the Imperious Leader had Macnee's voice because it was Count Iblis (also Macnee) who enabled the Leader to have that kind of power.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

If Richard Hatch isn't in it, I'm not watching it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I wonder how long it will take Dirk to alienate the new Starbuck this time?

 

[BigJake]

It would admittedly be interesting to see a Battlestar Galactica variant that handles the finding of Earth in a non-silly, non-disastrous way for once. I honestly don't even know what that would look like. I know the original series didn't get to it because it got cancelled and then screwed it up horribly when it did get a shot, and that NuBSG made an unholy mess of it, too, a culmination of a depressingly silly third season.

In the space of one movie it wouldn't work, but I don't know what they're going for. If they shoot it right out of the gate as a trilogy (or even just a duology), which is possible if not common in the post-LOTR world, then it might happen.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What about a Terminator Crossover?

A Basestar gets ahead of the Galactica, finds Earth first in 2028 and hugs it out with Skynet?

But then Skynet is a dick, so who really knows that it would get along with another machine intellect better than it did with man?

 

[Starkers]

It would admittedly be interesting to see a Battlestar Galactica variant that handles the finding of Earth in a non-silly, non-disastrous way for once. I honestly don't even know what that would look like. I know the original series didn't get to it because it got cancelled and then screwed it up horribly when it did get a shot, and that NuBSG made an unholy mess of it, too, a culmination of a depressingly silly third season.

Actually I think NuBSG came up with the best solution, the only trouble was they then pissed it away. Finding Earth as an irradiated wasteland, and it being inferred that their Earth wasn't our Earth wasn't what I expected. Unfortunately the show didn't end there, so they were able to find our Earth and we got the dumb ending we got.

Whatever tone the film(s) took there are really only four main outcomes re Earth IMO:

They find Earth and it’s the dim distant past and they’re our ancestors, which is obvious and a bit rubbish as it means the characters we’re followed effectively give up every element of who they were, so what was the point.

They find Earth and it’s now, and you risk BSG:1980 all over again.

They find Earth and it’s our future, which either works as a burned out husk ala NuBSG, or else as a version of Terra/the Eastern Alliance- I guess it could be a society even more advanced than the Colonials as well.

They don’t find Earth. In many respects I think this is the best option. They discover Earth is a myth, or at least appears to be, but they decide to keep searching for a home anyway.

I suppose they could arrive during our 14th Century or something, but that implies they either pass us by, or you have them mucking up our timeline. Actually one of the (few) interesting ideas 1980 had was the notion of the Colonials manipulating Earth to raise our technology to a level where we could potentially stand up to the Cylons. I can’t see that working in a film however, but would, potentially, make for a cracking tv series.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What if the Cylons created several bait worlds? Fake Earths designed to draw the Colonials out?

How difficult would if be for some dupe to figure out that the world as we know it was built by alien robots 15 years ago and that we were all just programmed clone meat that thunk it had a rich history?

I seriously love cross-pollination.

Decepticons vs the Cylon. The winner gets Earth.

The Machines starts sticking Cylons and Colonials into the Matrix.

Mars Attacks Galactica.

Gi Joe and Cobra join forces with the Colonials to defeat the Cylons.

Fuck me. Men in Black (Earthican Customs) vs Galactica.

Tron vs the Cylon?

The Zombie plague in every Zombie movie ever made, and Michael Jackson's Thriller Music Video, was sprayed form orbit at Earth by the Cylcon, and the Colonials can't claim their new homeworld until they clear the Zombies.



"Alien Nation: Again!"

 

[C.E. Evans]

I wasn't talking about dedicated sci-fi fans. I thought it was clear from the context of our conversation.

Nope. The only actual context is how many people are really familiar with BSG. It's still not as well-known beyond the sci-fi community like Star Trek and Star Wars, but enough that the name might strike a bell with some like so many other cult classic properties.