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Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)

Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Downloading . . . now.
Review: Forget everything you ever knew about the original series. The old references no longer apply. New facts need to be downloaded. Remember to download safely, use virus protectors -- If by chance the old, original series is not indelibly downloaded into your memory, then this miniseries is a wonderful production.

If however, the old series and its mythology are what you were looking for, nevermind . . . those motifs and mores no longer exist in this universe. Fans of the original series will be disappointed -if not down right outraged- with the liberties taken against the name Battlestar Galatica. New fans will not understand the fond memories held by the old fans and believe this miniseries is a long awaited and impressive undertaking for the genre. Unfortunately, the miniseries subtracts the mythology of its origins and interprets the formula into a grossly different and even devasting product. Sex anyone? There is a lot of it. Changed characters, got those types of modifications too.

What I don't understand is this: why call this miniseries Battlestar Galactica? Must be for the name recognition since this miniseries had all the elements of a great production, minus the sex, and nothing to do with the original series. We could have had toaster ovens change into the "Terminators" of the human race after forty years and call it The Final Bake-Off -or, whatever. Not to say the miniseries wasn't well thought out, scripted and acted, the film was. Not to say that the CGI was terrible, the special effects were just fine. Even though this miniseries has many positive qualities, the negative attributes stem from the complete lack of comprehension for the original quest that was forced upon our heroes looking for that small planet called Earth.

For an original miniseries, this telefilm would rate slightly above average. For a rendition, even a new one, this miniseries rates below average. Nice concept; wrong expression.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not good, not bad
Review: In my humble opinion, the success of the original series was the result of a good mix of drama, action and comic relief (aka the cigar smoking, booze swilling, womanizer named Starbuck - played by Dirk Benedict). The characters had chemistry. The new series lacks the comic relief aspect and is over-dramatized. The action is still there though.

Characters:
The three amigos: Who didn't love the camaradarie between Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer in the original series? Well, adios amigos! The Starbuck character is now a tough, foul-mouthed femme fatale who is almost as annoying as Jar-jar Binks. When "Starbuck" is on a mission, I find myself routing for the Cylons (no luck yet). Boomer is also a female but I actually like her character. Apollo is now the epitome of uncool. I can only hope that Adama (Edward James Olmos) will smack him in the head (then they can hug and have a good cry). I love the new Adama character - great scene when he beats the human-cylon to a bloddy pulp with a flash light.

Lastly, what's the deal with the Mary (Dance with Wolves) McDonnel (sp?) character? She's a former teacher that became the Secretary of Education. The Cylons attack and she's the only cabinet member to survive and thus becomes the President? WHAT? I'm not buying that. And why is everybody calling her "SIR". Crikey, she's a woman !!(though slightly mannish). I will admit that I am entertained by her "It's my way or the highway" attitude - She definately "Stands With A Fist". Let's just hope for a military coup.

The overall story is decent. It's the same premise as the original series with a different twist. It's slow and uneven in parts, but overall it's watchable (well, except with the scenes with Jar-Jar Starbuck.) I give thumbs up for the special effects. PS - why haven't I seen any (non-human)Cylons yet?

Now the big question: will I keep watching it? It's up in there air but if there is nothing better on, I'll give it s shot.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Baby with the bathwater!
Review: As a science fiction this is passable. Nothing great but not complete garbage either.

As an updated 'Battlestar Galactica' this is a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, all you're left with is an empty tub. This production tries to hide what's missing from the tub by filling it with lame sex scenes [not essential to the story], the offensively disturbing killing of an infant[again not integral to the plot], sub-par CGI and a majority of unlikable characters. It further tries to camouflage it's failings by resorting to a documentary style shaking camera and quick "zoom and pans" during the space battles. Gone is the mythology & terminology that made the original intriguing. Prominent roles have had their genders and/or races radically altered. If you're looking for SCI-FI you should rent this before you buy it, If you looking for 'Galactica' STAY AWAY!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Battlestar Galactica mini series
Review: If you try to compair it to the old series it isn't a good compairison. They maintained many references to people and themes in the old series but this should be looked on as a new work. As a new work I liked it. It seems to have a lot of small subplots and mysterious happenings that they only begun to explore.

The battle sequences were more of what you expect in the physics of space. The ship was built in a technologicly sound manor...

My major disappointment was this wasn't a real "mini series". Mini series is multiple episodes. This seemed to be more like a "movie" (if you take out all of the commercials) spread over two nights, how is that a mini series? Then it ended not like a mini series or movie but it looked like they ran out of money and stopped filming! If you want it to be a "mini series" it isn't that, a movie, it is a movie but one without an ending.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Epic For A New Generation
Review: Having never seen the original series, save for parts of re-runs on various television channels over the years, I had no real concept of what the "Battlestar Galactica" franchise was. When the Sci-Fi channel began to advertise that a new "Galactica" series was going to launch in December 2003, I was not overly interested, though the promotions for it made it look appealing. Now, though, having seen the new mini-series, my opinion has been completely swayed.

Battlestar Galactica is an imaginative re-birth of a classic series and the beginning of, what I hope, will become a new television series that continues where this two-part pilot ends.

The premise, based on the original television series by the same name, follows the storyline established by the 1970's drama. Humanity has nearly been eradicated after the Cylons, a race of androids originally built as a slave race for humans, attack the human home-world. In a desperate attempt for survival, the remaining stragglers unite and flee the Cylon masses, led under the direction of Commander Adama, captain of Galactica, a spaceship/aircraft carrier that becomes the flagship of this fleet of human fugitives. The Cylons, who have returned for vengeance against their human creators after centuries of exile, pursue the Galactica with the intention of completing the annihilation of humanity.

This new series has received mixed praise and criticism. Fans of the original series complain that this new series takes many liberties with the original concept, changing the interpretation of many key characters, such as "Starbuck" who is now a woman. However, these changes add a level of complexity to the story that the original series apparently lacked. There is a great deal of drama, sexual tension and a vitality that makes this one of the most sophisticated "human" dramas of the sci-fi genre. The story relies on character development and a complicated, completely evolved storyline that is engaging and immensely entertaining. The special-effects serve to evolve the story, instead of replace it, and though the audience of this film will find the effects dazzling and completely convincingly real, they will not be bombarded with "eye candy" but effects that are as much an integrated part of this story as the actors who play the characters from this famous story.

Leading the cast are two veteran actors of the screen and stage: Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama, and Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin. Each of these characters has their own personal agendas, and a tension arises between the two as Adama, a veteran commander seeks vengeance against the Cylon while Roslin, newly appointed to the Presidency, wants desperately to flee, salvaging the last remnants of humanity. Other members of the cast include the beautiful Tricia Helfer as Cylon Number Six; a sensual, gorgeous android sent to infiltrate the human race and obtain information vital to the pending Cylon attack. Playing against her character is James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar, a genius scientist whose self preservation leads him to inadvertently aid Number Six in learning the codes to the security mainframe on the human homeworld.

Rounding out the cast are: Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama, surviving son of Commander Adama; Katee Sackhoff as Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, a loner Viper pilot, considered to be the best in the fleet. The obvious sexual tension between Apollo and Starbuck add a new level to the complexity of these characters.

For fans of the original television series, this new two-part mini-series (and potential series pilot) pays homage to the original show by remaining faithful to the essence of the original story, and by retaining much of the original "look" of the show. The Cylons, some of whom look human, have other counterparts who closely resemble the shiny, metallic robots with the "Knight-Rider" style red eye. The Galactica, and fighter craft closely resemble the designs used in the original series as well. Although this series is far more than a "facelift" of the original series, it should be embraced by anyone who was a fan of the original.

The one disappointment to this series is that the Sci-Fi Channel has not, as yet, released any dates for future installments of the series. This two part mini-series ends rather abruptly, leaving many questions unanswered, and it is obvious that it is not a complete tale, but rather the beginning of something far larger. Providing that the Sci-Fi channel maintains the quality of this two-part mini-series, this may be the finest science fiction television program to ever grace the small screen.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: quit whining
Review: Ok people. The show had some flaws, but it also had some really good points. I loved the original series, having watched it since I was a child. However it is very much a victim of being almost 30 years old. This new show has beautifully rendered space battles, better than the repeated showings of the same 20 clips. The Viper makes sense with its attitude correction jets. The cylons are more threatening instead of bumbling shuffling, metal boxes. Sometimes it's fine to shake things up. I can't believe that no one out there thinks that you can't just enjoy both. However if some people can't look past their own hang ups, let me quote William Shatner "Get a life people!"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best remake ever
Review: I loved this remake. I liked the fact that it didn't stink like the original, has hot chicks, and kick butt special effects. I hope they make it into a good regular series!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Different doesn't mean bad
Review: Is this the Battlestar we grew up with, not quite? Is it awesome? Oh, yeah.
The story was good, in some ways better thought out than the original. I never quite swallowed the peace conference/surprise attack scheme working after a 1000 year war. The effects were magnificent. The characters were the same and different from the original. Edward James Olmos is a different Adama in many ways but he makes the show and filled Lorne Greene's shoes very well. Personally I missed Athena but oh well we had Number Six. She makes the idea of Cylons seem almost palatable.
I won't spoil the twist to the ending, but it bodes well for a series.
It's not perfect but just give it a chance. It took nearly three years for DS9 to find their footing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A waste of film by the Sci Fi channel
Review: If the producers' intentions were to make a new and improved "Battlestar", they failed miserably. I felt like I was watching a war documentary as opposed to a sci-fi film. Why did the Galactica need bullets? Why did the Cylons use nuclear bombs and heat-seeking missles? You'd think they'd have graduated to lasers by then. The Cylons (following attempts to update them) looked like they came out of a Terminator movie. Special effects (given current technology) was severely lacking compared to the original series.

With all the background info. on the Cylon Wars, they failed to answer why the Cylons were so hell-bent on destroying the humans to begin with. Were they disgruntled servants, a faulty computer chip? No one knows...

And I'm sorry, but if you're going to ruffle feathers by making Starbuck a woman, why have her be so masculine, that it's hard to tell the difference? I thought the original series was cutting edge in making one of the superior officers and lead characters, African-American. And yet in this version, only a tech. and some priestess with minor roles show any hint of diversity. The costumes (not to mention the entire colonial culture) looked like a re-hash of the American military culture. This isn't Earth folks! They haven't found it yet, because, just when things finally start to get interesting, the mini-series ends.

The actors were like cookie-cutters. There was nothing about them that made you want to root for them. If anything, I was hoping the Cylons would kill them all and put them AND me out of our misery. Horrible... just horrible! I'm getting the DVD set of the original series to put this travesty of a film out of my mind.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Politics
Review: Apparently the remakers have a fixation with dominant women. Starbuck - woman; President -woman; Priest - woman. Soemone either has a left wing agenda or a fixation with dominant women. Too much story is cramed into too little time. Technical aspects will not please purists although I personally don't care about that. The flying is not great and the notion of high end equipment getting knocked out by a virus is annoying.


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