BSG so far ...

[Ran Targas]

Okay, after watching the first two episodes and rewatching the mini-series, I feel much better about BSG as a stand alone work of TV sci fi. It is in no way a master piece of fiction but it will do and holds up well to SG-1 and FarScape.

"33" was much better than I envisioned from the reviews I've read; the tension was palpable as was moral crisis at the end. "Water" was also good but a "B" episode in comparison. I'm looking forward to more.

 

[jappel]

Ran,

I had really low expectations of the miniseries but was pleasantly surprised with the final product. Missed the first two episodes as I was at an ASL (Advanced Squad Leader) tournament over the weekend - any clue if those episodes are re-airing this week?

John

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by jappel:
- any clue if those episodes are re-airing this week?

According to Skiffy's schedulebot:

01/18/2005 01:00 AM BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 33
01/19/2005 02:00 AM BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WATER
EST. Check your local listings and all. Oh and the way the schedulebot is set up that's actually late tonight and tomorrow (i.e. really early early am on the 19th and the 20th) I believe.

http://www.scifi.com/schedulebot/

HTH,
Casey

 

[Straybow]

I didn't see "Water."

ASL Tournament? I'm jealous.

 

[RandyT0001]

Hey Straybow and John, you can play ASL and SL, CoI, CoD, etc online in realtime using VASSAL. Check out this site for more info:
http://www.wargameacademy.org/

 

[jappel]

Randy,

Yep, VASSAL and VASL before it are great things. Rodney Kinney and the Map Cabal deserve a lot of credit.

No lack of players here locally, and in fact I was an MMP playtester for a number of years (as in playtesting every week in Brian Youse's basement) along with being part of the original "troika" of the DC Conscripts club. But I'm down to pretty much just one weekend a year at Winter Offensive.

Check the MMP website (www.multimanpublishing.com) for a brief listing of tourneys, and hit their links section for other sites that have a few more listed.

John
"Sgt Appel, Allied Minor 8-0 in Doomed Battalions"

 

[mike wightman]

Originally posted by Gaming Glen:
Re: Capital punishment. I bet the death sentence, if there was one, is no longer in force. But there may not be one since in the mini-series they didn't destroy the suspected Cylon in their midst but instead marooned it.

There is a death penalty for Cylons - trust me, you'll get to see it

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Matbe it has something to do with my advanced years on this planet but I prefer the original BSG series.
A Female Starbuck? PLEASE

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Gaming Glen:


about "33"

Why did it take so long for them to decide to make different jumps for the fleet? They should have suspected a spy aboard some ship after 2 jumps and taken actions to prove such.

I have no idea. I'd have certainly suspected something the first time the Cylons appeared. There was no other way but a spy or beacon aboard the fleet for the Cylons to have figured out where that first ultra-long range jump went at the end of the pilot (the pilot established that it's not possible to simply track/calculate a jump; by the Cylon's own statement at the end of the pilot). But Jump 200+? Nah.

If the Exec had said to Adama, "What's the next thing we try?" That would have gone a long way to establishing that they'd been trying lots of stuff, to no avail. The splitting the fleet option really is the last thing I would have tried, given that there is only one warship. If the Cylons followed an undefended group . . .

 

[Ben W Bell]

Originally posted by cweiskircher:
Matbe it has something to do with my advanced years on this planet but I prefer the original BSG series.
A Female Starbuck? PLEASE

Actually I think making Starbuck female was one of the smartest moves they made in the new series. Dirk Benedicts character was far and away the largest of the characters in the original and anyone replacing him would be constantly compared to his performance. Making Starbuck female, even keeping many of the same character traits, distances them from the original character and going someway to removing the comparisons.

 

[plop101]

Two questions:

Does a new BSG mean a new Earth as well? I hope we don't do BSG1980 again.

Anyone want to take a stab at who would be playing the new Commander Cain?

 

[Colonel Mac]

Originally posted by jappel:
Ran,

I had really low expectations of the miniseries but was pleasantly surprised with the final product...

John

I think I must be the only one with a reverse opinion here. I had the high end expectations but was really disappointed. I was looking for something in storylines more true to the original concept of the series without the campiness.

I do agree that the female Starbuck was better than ol' Dirk. That was a good change up in the storyline.

 

[Straybow]

Squad Leader was a game my brother got and we played it once. I thought it was great, but it was such a time hog we never played it again. Kingmaker was easier, quicker, and more fun in various ways. We even made a mod with additional nobles, etc.

Anyway, they couldn't just do a rehash of the original BSG. It was a bit too corny to translate to a modern audience. This grittier version is an improvement on that count. I like the speculative angle on quasi-biological cylon tech.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Originally posted by Ben W Bell:

QUOTE]Actually I think making Starbuck female was one of the smartest moves they made in the new series. Dirk Benedicts character was far and away the largest of the characters in the original and anyone replacing him would be constantly compared to his performance. Making Starbuck female, even keeping many of the same character traits, distances them from the original character and going someway to removing the comparisons.

__________________________________________________
OK Making a female Starbuck seperates the two series and keeps people from comparing the two characters; so why keep the same traits instead say making her a single mother type? Too typical?

 

[Ben W Bell]

Having just watched the season 1 finale here in the UK just a few minutes ago. All I can say is, umm, ah, ummm. ummm, aaa, ummm. I'm speechless over it.

You Americans better watch it to get the ratings for another series or you'll have a war on your hands.

 

[mike wightman]

So who wants to know what happens in the last episode?

And by the way, will all of you in the USA watch each episode as it is shown on four or five TV sets. That way they'll have to pick it up for a second series

 

[Ran Targas]

I think the actress playing Starbuck has done a good job of being a smart @$$ fighter jock with severe authority problems. Nobody could be Starbuck like Dirk Benedict though; he shamelessly played "Starbuck" on the A-Team, just under another name.

$$$$$ Warning: Spoilers Ahead $$$$$

Gotta speculate a little on the humanoid Cylons; could they be cloned cyborgs programmed to follow orders from the Imperious Leader instead of true androids? We find out that there is a biological component to the Raiders so melding bio and mech doesn't seem to be a problem physically or philosophically for them. Then we find out Boomer is pregnant which is virtually impossible for a machine! So have Cylons just learned to assimilate humans instead of replacing them?

 

[mike wightman]

Ben, do you want to mention the "Boomer inside the Base Star" scene, or shall I

Or better yet, not tell them and make them watch it to find out.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
And by the way, will all of you in the USA watch each episode as it is shown on four or five TV sets. That way they'll have to pick it up for a second series

Or better yet do this at your nearest friendly Nielson Household. You could have 10,000 people watching 10,000 sets all tuned into BSG at your house and it wouldn't make one bit of difference as far as ratings are concerned.

Case in point: Farscape only needed about one or two Nielson households more watching at one point to be renewed. So no matter how many fans watched or got new fans to watch none of it likely mattered ratings wise.

Personally I don't see why something couldn't be added to every cable and dish box. We already have the V-Chip and I suspect the individual companies already track this stuff, at least popularity of channels. Or at the least increase the sample size and methods used for Nielson ratings..

 

[mike wightman]

I wonder if the DVD sales and merchandising will affect the renewal decission?
And speaking of merchandising, I would love to get some minatures of the ships in this series.