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

[DigificWriter]

Having gotten to personally meet Richard Hatch and hear him talk about BSG on two different occasions, I can say with full authority that the IP was his one great passion, and so it was incredibly fascinating to hear him talk about both the original BSG and the RDM/Eick BSG and how he'd come to view the latter with as much reverence as the former despite having originally been quite critical of and opposed to it.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Sadly, he initially took a lot of flak from a sizable chunk of the TOS fan base for that, calling him a turncoat for jumping on the RDM bandwagon, despite being the sole standard bearer of the original for decades. Fortunately, he was professional enough to weather the storm and brought a lot of TOS party-faithful into the fold before the end.

 

[DigificWriter]

It's a testament to the type of person that he was that he was able to genuinely recognize the immense love of the BSG property that everyone involved with the new series had once he had an opportunity to speak with and interact with them by accepting the 'olive branch' that was the role of Tom Zarek, and I honestly believe that the property's legacy was better for it because it allowed him to create a bridge between the original series and the reimagined series that I'm not sure any other then-surviving actor from the original series could have even if they'd been given the opportunity.

Regarding the new Sam Esmail-produced series, time will tell whether or not it's a third from-scratch retelling of the story or the RDM-connected telling that Esmail said it was going to be when he was the writer and showrunner rather than just a producer, and while I would prefer it be the latter rather than the former, I'm still going to try and keep an open mind and just let them give me what they're going to give me.

 

[Skipper]

Agreed. Hatch played that character well. Most importantly, it helped that he was well-written, too, and not some over-the-top bad guy that Baltar frequently was, in both series.

At least RDM Baltar had some kind of discernible motivation. What the heck the TOS one was thinking? That he could be the winning party in a deal with a killer robot race devoted for thousands of years to the destruction of all life forms?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

At least RDM Baltar had some kind of discernible motivation. What the heck the TOS one was thinking? That he could be the winning party in a deal with a killer robot race devoted for thousands of years to the destruction of all life forms?

IIRC, oldBSG Baltar had made a deal with the Cylons to rule over his colony of origin, which was to be spared. The Imperious Leader reneged on that, and destroyed the colony anyway.

By the way, originally, Baltar was to be beheaded in the oldBSG opener. That would have dispensed with the question of his motivation, literally and permanently.

That was changed, to turn him into a recurring villain. Besides keeping his head attached to his body, I think his motivation is to rule the leftover humans.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Exactly. When he realized that was untenable, he went to the Colonials eventually for protection, but he kind of waffled back and forth between capture and escape.

I think that Hatch’s continuation story was going to give Baltar an opportunity for redemption, but I unfortunately don’t know details as I’ve never seen the full 30 minute trailer.

 

[Skipper]

IIRC, oldBSG Baltar had made a deal with the Cylons to rule over his colony of origin, which was to be spared. The Imperious Leader reneged on that, and destroyed the colony anyway.

Exactly. Beyond idiotic. But I know that I can't expect a lot of nuances from a 70s show for families.

I mean...

"Let's bring a kid with us on the Casino Planet!". Yeah, great idea.

 

[Skipper]

Indeed, it's the perfect opportunity to resign from the military and become manager of a group of alien singers.

I just re-watched some bits of "Saga of a Star World" and yeah, it's just terrible.

One of the first thing Starbuck does after learning he is one of the last humans alive is to go to a casino and try and arrange to get singers aboard the Galactica to make some money. Really, writers don't even seem to recognize how tasteless this is and how sociopathic it establishes Starbuck.

 

[Marc]

That was changed, to turn him into a recurring villain. Besides keeping his head attached to his body, I think his motivation is to rule the leftover humans.

Pity Baltar never stopped for a minute to think about it.

If he destroyed the Galactica and the fleet who's left for him to rule over? Not that there would have been that many left.

Btw did they ever give a number of for how many survived in the original series?

 

[Skipper]

Pity Baltar never stopped for a minute to think about it.

It seems to me that he spent all his free time on a ridiculously tall swivel chair. In theory he would have had plenty of time to think.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I just re-watched some bits of "Saga of a Star World" and yeah, it's just terrible.

One of the first thing Starbuck does after learning he is one of the last humans alive is to go to a casino and try and arrange to get singers aboard the Galactica to make some money. Really, writers don't even seem to recognize how tasteless this is and how sociopathic it establishes Starbuck.

If I recall, the singers knew the colonials were a dead species, and if they followed Starbuck, then they were as good as dead as well, so they laughed at his offer.

 

[137th Gebirg]

The singers were more scared of pissing off their current employers (the Ovions) than hooking their wagon to Starbuck. They knew the Ovions were part of the Cylon Alliance and that their reach was long if they decided to run with the Colonials.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's interesting that that Casino used cubits.

Bait or interplanetary currency?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

 

[137th Gebirg]

It's interesting that that Casino used cubits.

Bait or interplanetary currency?

There was a mention of Orion Checks (Cheques?) being used as currency - they were circular with a hole in the middle, but that may have come in a later episode.

 

[Skipper]

The singers were more scared of pissing off their current employers (the Ovions) than hooking their wagon to Starbuck. They knew the Ovions were part of the Cylon Alliance and that their reach was long if they decided to run with the Colonials.

Definitely scared.

 

[RandyS]

There was a mention of Orion Checks (Cheques?) being used as currency - they were circular with a hole in the middle, but that may have come in a later episode.

Yep. "The Magnificent Warriors". Not one of the good ones.

 

[Jayson1]

This reminds me of "Land of he Dead" where zombies have taken over but in the small community that humans have people still value money. When Dennis Hopper tries to escape towards the end he is carrying a briefcase of money. Never made sense to me. I believe it must have been some George Romero social commentary where even when society falls apart people will still be clinging to the idea that money still means something because we are such capitalist.


Jason

 

[137th Gebirg]

In the pilot of NuBSG, when Athena and Helo landed on Caprica and were trying to save some people in their Raptor, one guy was trying to pay them off with their version of cubits so he could get on board. Same concept of mass denial of what's going on around them - then end of all things.

 

[Jayson1]

I remember that. Plus in season 1 Zarek made a good point about how you still hade waiters and janitors etc still doing their jobs in the pleasure ship despite the fact they weren't getting paid. Even when everything falls their will always be in the early aftermath still some semblance of normal people will try and hold onto until it finally kicks in the old world no longer exists.

Jason