Some did, yeah. I think what we got there still kept the basic shape of the Galactica without deviating too much from the original. The thru-deck landing bays and multi-level launch platforms made a lot of sense, and I personally liked the retractable pods. What we might have gotten, however, could have been a lot worse. I think at one point (mentioned in one of the early commentary tracks) they were considering modeling the nuGalactica off of some kind of weird modern-art vase they had in one of their offices. Another conceptual design for Galactica, IIRC, became the Cylons' Resurrection Ship - that cathedral-looking thing. I think those decisions for a battlestar would have made even my stomach churn and I like to think I have a pretty open mind about ship designs in general. What we got, wasn't too bad.
I really liked the Pegasus and Valkyrie designs, too. Unbeknownst to some, the original idea for TOS was to have battlestars of all different shapes and sizes (much like what we got in NuBSG), but Larson couldn't get the budget to build multiple large-scale ships like that, especially if it was only just for the one opening "peace convoy" scene. So, we wound up with one battlestar miniature, filmed at multiple angles and with different name placards (sometimes they were blank) for the Cylon attack. NuBSG at least gave us some more designs.
I really liked the Pegasus and Valkyrie designs, too. Unbeknownst to some, the original idea for TOS was to have battlestars of all different shapes and sizes (much like what we got in NuBSG), but Larson couldn't get the budget to build multiple large-scale ships like that, especially if it was only just for the one opening "peace convoy" scene. So, we wound up with one battlestar miniature, filmed at multiple angles and with different name placards (sometimes they were blank) for the Cylon attack. NuBSG at least gave us some more designs.