I lived just outside of Vancouver and got to go to the set of BSG with my high school film class in 2004. There wasn't much going on that day but two actresses happened to be there. Katie Sackoff (Starbuck) was bumming around the set chatting with the PAs, and quickly turned sour when she saw she had to play meet and greet to a bunch of teenagers. She basically said hey hows it going, hope you like the show, then she quickly peaced out. We were all rather disappointed and even the PAs said she was a handful on set. Later, just as we were almost done the tour, Tricia Helfer (Six) came around the corner unexpectedly, gave us all a big smile, a genuine welcome and shook all of our hands. She chatted with us for a few minutes and answered a few questions about the show and the industry. Pure Hollywood class, as our teacher put it then.
I crossed paths with Katee once near Mayfair Mall in Victoria. She was incognito, so I respected that and left her alone. I got to work as a PA on the pilot for 13th Precinct, with the wonderful Tricia Helfer. She is indeed as lovely on the inside, if not more, than she is on the outside. Very kind, considerate and personable. A pleasure to work with, I assure you.
God bless Michael Hogan. ✊ Colonel Tigh was _far and away_ my favorite BSG character: deeply flawed, conflicted and uncompromising, but in the end resolute, loyal and the ultimate wingman. Tigh is the ULTIMATE embodiment of “I am not merely a witness to my fate, I am who I _choose_ to be”. POWERFUL stuff, and Mr. Hogan played that character like a fiddle. *So say we all.* ✊
What a small world we live in. I'm rewatching the show. I'm in the 3rd season right now. Love it. Richard Hatch was a regular customer at a music/video store back in 2002-04. He was a cool guy. He told me he was working with others to try to get a new BG show going. RIP
@@liahfox5840 Agreed! Society values female beauty so much that it tends to blind the viewer to other talents. I don't know how old you are...but there was a very memorable 80s commercial that had the tagline "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."
In 2008, my girlfriend and I went to our first DragonCon. Edward James Olmos led the crowd in the big auditorium in a rousing chant of "so say we all!" It was amazing. 2 years later, we got the congregation at our wedding to repeat it back to the officiant. Our older relatives were confused but our nerd friends were beaming.
McCreary deserves plaudits, but people should remember that it was Richard Gibbs who came up with the signature sound of the show, for the miniseries. McCreary was his assistant/understudy, and took over when Gibbs was unavailable for the main show when it received a green light the following year.
I was one of those fans of the original series who was irked by, say, a female Starbuck and other changes. I resisted watching it until a few years later I picked up the 4-hour miniseries cheap on DVD...and was totally blown away. They paid homage to the original series while removing the campy silliness and improving virtually every aspect of the show. I bought it all on Blu-ray and never looked back. Easily one of my favorite sci-fi series ever!
@@Strideo1 wow, too bad. That sequence provided some of the most gripping moments of the entire series, culminating with the now-legendary Adama Maneuver.
I was one of those fans of the original series. I was 14 when it came out. I was damn near 40 when this came out and I was willing to see what they would do with a female Starbuck, and Boomer. I ended up liking both of them. Now that I am posting I don’t remember a black character in the new series. Oh wait, there was a Cylon male and Dualla.
I think new BSG set the gold standard for a lot of modern scifi and fantasy shows. And the casting choices were abolutely perfect. Just frakking amazing!
I loved this show so much! I was deployed to Iraq in 2005, but my Uncle sent me "dubious" copies of the series on dvd, and we watched it in the FOB. My entire squad was 100% on board. This is maybe the most consistently amazing sci-fi series ever produced...tbh....there hasnt been anything even close to this good in the sci-fi series genre except maybe the Expanse and Altered Carbon, but BSG is always going to hold my #1 spot!
Was never a huge fan of the original despite my mother loving it when I was younger and having it on every time it was on TV. I loved this reboot though it actually manages to do something many Sci-fi shows don't and that is keep you gripped and does not run for too long before becoming a watered down version of what started. One of the few times a reboot has worked for me and not just done to cash in on the name it is using.
But last season were sleeping pill and the eding the same -but logical .I I bought them on DVD relese and last season i dont watch - bad produced and uninterresting plot
What about the day Galactica 2003 got a pinball table? Dropped last month on Pinball FX and it's really good. Before anyone asks, yes there is a "FRAK" ramp.
@@kaibotski4939 Oh, yes. I know. I honestly hope that after doing the military grit with the 2003 Miniseries and Show, that they go back to the adventurous tone of the 1978 series.
10:11 Also Edward James Olmos read the initial script and said 'The second you write a alien into the script, I'm done. I will see the alien, I will scream, faint, they can carry me off set, then I'm done with the show entirely'.
@@TerranIVtotally get what you’re saying. However, Olmos’s point was that he wanted to be a part of a show that was about characters and their experiences in extraordinarily stressful circumstances with a definite end, but not a monster-of-the-week, deus-ex-machina, VFX-fest that makes new episodes just to keep going. (Think of what The Flash TV series on WB became)
Ok Olmos, how about angels, God and a human resurrection? Just joking. At this point the writers weren’t sure if the religious themes would turn out be be true. I wonder how he felt about it as he took on a father role for the crew as it went in and often helped the younger actors in scenes (they often mentioned it). I get what Olmos is trying to say, even though I disagree. At that time, sci if tv within aliens was looked down in in some corners of the old school of acting. The actor for Baltar and Lee Adama also had doubts about the series and mentioned they had images of the 1970s camp series. Olmos revealed on a panel discussion of the show that during the reveal of the final 5 in the script, the actor for Tigh walked out of the room when he found out he was one of them. He kind of implied that he didn’t like the choice.
🔔 TRIVIA: EJO was utterly convinced that he could bring a BSG sequel into existence. He even had a script. It starts out with him in his cabin on (our) Earth and there's a knock at the door and it's Saul Tigh, who says, "Bill, we've got a problem."
The fact that the alleged tech genius got literally honeypotted by technology might be the most trenchant insight of the entire show. I do love that looking back at every "controversial" classic reveals: humans aren't getting worse, the worse ones are getting louder.
I always thought of the new series as a "sequel to an imaginary reboot." Like, it still felt like there was a story that came before it, only the details were all different from the original.
The prequel Caprica series was just shoehorned in. I could definitely see that originally as another "AI gone bad" show set in our future, maybe 20 years out. Someone must have realized it could pass as a prequel the BSG and they renamed it Caprica. If you were to place that whole show on Earth in 2040 you really wouldn't need to change that much. Replace all the other planets with other countries and keep all the racial tension. It was a pretty interesting story, but it might not have been funded if not for the tie-in to BSG.
@@protorhinocerator142 I tried really hard to like Caprica. I stumbled on a thing somewhere where the... producers? I think it was the producers. Anyway, it turns out that there were two scripts floating around, one for a virtual reality AI gone rogue thing, and another with a Galactica prequel thing with AI gone rogue thing, and those producers just decided to smoosh them together into one show. It showed. It was a long time ago I watched that show but there was this jarring back-and-forth between stuff that felt like Battlestar and stuff that felt completely different. It was such a botched project right from the get go.
That why they call it "Reimagined" to place the old Battlestar as the first war against the cylon but yeah some detail are no more canon like that they discovered modern earth back then and probably some other things as well.
@@Yvory6 If you listen to the original opening for the show, it took place in the sixth millennium of time. From a biblical view (and probably Mormon) the current time is in the sixth millennium. Basically the idea for the show was Space Mormons. The new show takes place over 100,000 years ago, which is completely different time-wise. The newer show isn't as Space Mormon as the original.
I can't believe what kind of delusional pampered baby someone would have to be to see 9 11 as the end if civilization. Completely unaware of the rest of the world, too.
While I have MOST of this series on disc downstairs, the one thing that still is interesting is how well it translated to a tabletop game. In 2008, Fantasy Flight Games adapted it to board game form using the then latest craze, secret roles given to each player on top of character sheets so that you could play as most of the regulars in the cast. The base game only covered the first season, with expansions covered a season each, meaning it had four boxes the size of Ticket to Ride by the time they released the final box in 2013. However back in 2007, it had already been adapted into an RPG by Margret Weiss Productions that had all of a single core book using the same system they had already tested out in 2006 with the now cult classic film Serenity which was the film finale for 2002's Firefly. While the RPG is not all that sought after, the Board Game and its expansions are. The one problem with a tabletop RPG is that most people coming to the hobby are coming to it from the co-operative storytelling side, and might not want to deal much with PvP unlike board games.
This was the very first show I ever watched from the day it priemiered to the series finale. Even used a VCR back then to record the episodes. It utterly blew my mind---I was instantly hooked. I know when I'm watching quality spaceship television and when I'm not, and this show delivered. The only other show in this genre that gets even remotely close is The Expanse, with a dash of Space: AAB and Firefly.
Very good show. Own all DVD'S. What I love the most is there is no background music in the scenes unless they are actually playing it ona device during recording. No distractions. And it's more realistic to how we would truly fight in space. Just like how some anime like PLANETES & INFINITE RYVIUS do similar.
I was slightly disappointed that Cylon Centruions never spoke in this version. Their distinctive electronic monotones always gave me a chill as a kid, a bit like the Daleks from Dr Who but less strident and less obviously intended to echo the vocal character of Goebbles.
I loved the show but it definitely suffered from a lack of planing out the story from the beginning. It’s ironic that they said the Cylons had a plan in the opening of every show but even the writers didn’t know what it was and made it up as they went along. What saved the show for me were the characters, universe building and pretty good sci-fi action for its day.
When it premiered, it was just when sci-fi channel was turning into a pay channel on my cable netwrk, so I didn't get to see it until years later on DVD. It was then that I binged the entire thing, including The Plan (which I'm surprised you didn't mention.)
Really enjoyed the 03 version for the most part; had an absolutely amazing cast. Felt like the story got a bit weird in season three (I believe), but it was still worth the watch.
I watch the entire series at least every 2-3 years, just finished my fifth iteration. Such a phenomenal series, I could (and have) write pages on how marvelous I think it is. And as much as I pay attention to, I always run across something new. What I have not done yet is immerse myself into the BSG Lore channels as I’ve done with The Old Republic of Star Wars, and the Alien franchise. That should really make my sixth viewing so much better than the previous five. 2003 is done so well, it’s difficult to realize it’s over 20 years old. It has aged well, better than Star Wars, I think. I think the only other opera that will age nearly as well is The Expanse. BSG is such a complex story, with such good writing, brilliant acting, and excellent effects. What I always liked about the series’ effects is while they’re fantastic eye candy, they don’t overwhelm the story and character development. They complement them perfectly, letting the writing and the acting be what’s central to the storyline. Shoot, here I go…
I guess, for me, both concepts of the show appealed at the right age and right time. I was kid in the 80s when I watched the replayed episodes and in 2004 I was 10 years into a career in the Australian Army. The remake didn't "Destroy my childhood" It showed me I had one.
I appreciated the re-boot and watched every episode. The series was well made and I was invested in the characters. At the same time, it was unrelentingly dark and heavy and for that reason I've never had the urge to re-watch even a single episode. I watched the series, glad I did, but never want to see it again. Life is too short.
I watched the new show because of Portlandia. Then I understood the Portlandia sketch. It was really good, really addictive. I was bummed when it was over. I definitely need to sit down and re-watch it someday. I loved Katee Sackoff on it.
I grew up with the '78 version and loved it, loved the science fiction and the mystical religious themes. Battlestar Galactica 1980 was largely a waste except for the final episode, which was so good that I misremembered it as being part of the original series. I was one of those who was skeptical of the reboot and all of the changes but man, when I started watching it, I was hooked. It was my favorite TV series at the time and I loved the cast. I loved the space ships, and I have a collection of a bunch of the die cast vehicles that came out. The Galactica is to this day one of my all time favorite spaceships. An absolute brick of practical design. And the space combat was up there with Babylon 5 as being the best in science fiction (sorry, Star Wars). The ending of the reboot was hard to watch because of how emotional it made me, but I loved it for how beautiful it was. I have the soundtrack and those final pieces of music transitioning from the past to the present still makes my eyes water. "So much life."
I am a fan of the original, and I was deeply skeptical of the reboot especially the changes that were rumored about prior to its broadcast. But I gave it a chance, not knowing what to expect. On boy was I hooked after watching the pilot and the first episode "33" I don't think I have ever watched a show that exceeded all expectations and surprised me as this one did. Season 3 and 4 were not as good as 1 and 2, but first 2 season were of such high caliber that really couldn't be sustained. Those seasons were as close to perfection as one can get. And the last 2 seasons are better than the best seasons found on most other TV series. A testament to its longevity in popularity is that the blu-rays sill sell pretty well on Amazon and anyone who is in to good television that hasn't seen it yet would like it today.
Yes. I think it will continue to age well for decades. I’ve watched the entire series five times, and probably will continue doing so every 2-3 years. I’ve just started getting interested in Lore channels about Star Wars and Aliens, and have seen a few BSG ones, but before I watch BSG again, I want to immerse myself into all the fan content that’s out there. I find it really enhances the enjoyment of watching a series again.
My now ex-husband was always trying to get me to watch new shows, I always vehemently refused, until I gave in. I'm glad I did because I fell in love with the show and binged it all much like the Portlandia characters. Same with Farscape.
One of the best videos that this channel has done, and that's saying something. Great work on this, and many thanks for putting it together and sharing it with us. So say we all! :)
I was VERY underwhelmed by the 4-hour miniseries when it was released, but I still gave the new show a chance when it went to series and I'm glad I did! The first episode of the series is named "33" and the premise is that the Cylons have found a way to track the Galactica and they show up and attack them EVERY 33 MINUTES! Once I saw that episode I said "I'll watch anything these guys make!" Dan, I will take issue with one line... you said that "Diamond Select Toys produced a full line of action figures." Only it WASN'T a FULL line as they never ended up releasing the 2 pack of President Rosilyn and Baltar, two main characters that were sculpted, and never produced leaving a huge hole in all of our collections!!! Enjoy your watch of the show. I really think you will dig it.
Finally watched it the whole way through last year after a lifetime of having it in the background. Fantastic television, great performances from a perfect cast giving career-best performances, incredible space combat and fulfilling character arcs. The only thing that holds it back for me is any mystery plot associated with the Cylons - it never really convinced me that there were satisfying answers to any of the questions they were asking (and it turns out I was right). That and the fact the series lands quite awkwardly in its last moments...
For me the crux of the show was its willingness to "go there". Many other shows like Star Trek TNG would race back to the safety of the status quo. Not BSG, no sir. Like when they found that arrow and magically teleported to Earth. Wow. The Adama Maneuver, of course. One of the best maneuvers in all sci-fi history. I liked the thing where Starbuck was captive in that "house" and finally killed her Cylon captor. Only to have him re-emerge from the bedroom and call her up. And then he said, "Either way you'll be sleeping with me tonight." TWISTED! There was another point that really stood out for me, mainly because of the F-ed up situation and the strong acting. Baltar was sent to examine that Cylon ship with the disease that was killing Cylons. And that one model 6 started screaming at him, "You're the one who killed us! This is all your fault!" And so he shot her. Then he just stood there, trembling, and contemplating what he just did. Wow.
I really didn't like the ending when I was much younger, it did feel wrong to me and irked me. However I rewatched it through fresh eyes this year in a much shorter time frame it felt much more fitting and things I missed before as a kid, themes I didn't understand came through. Still won;t give it a 10/10 but its a solid 8 for me now.
to me the BSG Epilogue (if that's what you're referring to) is just RDM "I need to finish this off with my trademark" schtick. if you've watched DS9 and some of his TNG episodes it's a lot of the same "is God real? or is it just some regular person with powers? are you a God? can this person be God? Religion is fun!" I don't think it needed to be there and when I originally saw it I rolled my eyes. It was just typical Ronald D Moore shit, he couldn't resist. I'd take that epilogue with a massive grain of salt. dont' get me wrong RDM is a talented guy and made some fantastic sci-fi but story wise, he's a one trick pony.
For all his skills Ron D Moore is like Jar Jar Abrams. He plays with mystery boxes (the Cylon plan), but as he makes the show up as he went along he did not have a coherent satisfying ending planned out. So the Cylon plan was never answered or addressed, it was all just deus ex machina, and it all revolved around getting some human/cylon hybrid DNA into our ancestors. The story and history of the Colonies snuffed out. They might as well have all been obliterated in the pilot. Now RDM is WAY better at it then Jar Jar Abrams, but that is still no substitute for planning a story with such big mysteries out from start to finish before you begin. Like Straczynski had done with Babylon 5. Now the ending of Galactica proved as divisive as the Star Wars Prequels, as we fought bitter online debates about it at the time. And unlike the SW Prequels time has not been kind to the BSG reboot, as while most SW fans have come to terms with the Prequels, no small thanks to Disney, half of the then BSG fandom walked away at the time and never looked back, leaving a much diminished fandom to carry the torch against cultural forgetfulness. At the time I religiously watched every episode as soon as it became available. I have not seen a single episode since. I just can't be arsed. Still love Bear McCreary's music though.
the New BSG is a TOP 5 of All Time, the topics, characters, all the twists and turns, I watch the ENTIRE SERIES at least once every few years, DAMN GREAT SHOW! I also do this for Farscape 🙂
I was in grade school when the original was airing. It was ALL we talked about after each episode. I was so desperate for a Colonial warrior's jacket (and sidearm) that I tried to make my own out of a brown cardigan . . . which failed miserably. My parents got me the Starbuck Halloween costume, those PVC things that ripped all over the place and the mask that made your face sweat. I was really invested in the series, and pretty crushed when it didn't return. I was SUPER skeptical of the new series, but was a part of a fandom forum, and we all agreed to give it a shot. It was NOT the original, which sucked. It WAS it's own thing, which was awesome. I'm glad that I watched throughout the series, and even if the finale was less than satisfying, it was all very good, and well worth the effort. Would watch again. I'd also watch a new series if it was offered. The show now lends itself to pretty much any current set of obstacles and issues we are facing.
Just started binge watching this with my wife and daughter (20). The three of us typically watch NCIS, but all are on hiatus. My daughter and I have already watched Supernatural, all of modern Doctor Who, and Firefly, plus she and I are just starting TNG. I decided this was next for the three of us. Wife and I loved it back in the day, and I'm glad that daughter is enjoying it too.
paper without corners man... My friend and I were addicted to that show. 2009ish. We were exactly what that portlandia skit was. every moment we had off together we would be watching that show. he was just like, hey, i heard this show is good, lets watch it.
I seem to recall that one of the unexpected production events that caused a lot of trouble for the show involved sound stage availability during season 3. Basically, they found out they couldn't keep the Pegasus sets up at the same time they needed to build lots of Basestar sets for the Cylon arcs. Originally they had the Pegasus survive as a twist on the original show, where Pegasus vanishes / is destroyed shortly after meeting the fleet. Unfortunately losing the Pegasus sets forced them to quickly and dirtily write the ship out and changed the rest of the show. It's hard to say how much they had planned out though, so perhaps not a lot had to be re-written.
I frakking LOVED this show and am so glad I got to watch it each week. The 78 version came out when I was 5 and I watched it along with Buck Rogers and later Voyagers. Looking back as an adult those all seem corny and tried to insert contrived comedy, but BSG 2003 focused on true human-condition feelings and any humorous scenes felt organic without dorky music to let you know to laugh. Gods I frakking miss these characters!
I watched the first season and gave up because it was too depressing, but I keep thinking I should go back and give the series another shot because I've heard so many good things.
Something I took issue with at the time was the way *some* fans of the RDM show would rag all over the original BSG. I’m fully aware of the problems and embarrassing bits of the original, hell, I’ve made fun of it myself from time to time, but the good outweighs the bad and it was spectacularly ambitious at the time, with it large ensemble cast, VFX, occasional arc-driven stories, etc. So it naturally bothered me when some of the fans of the new show would shit on the old when it became extremely obvious that they had never even seen it. I remember talking to this one guy and said, “well the original show couldn’t have been without some good qualities or else they wouldn’t be remaking it” to which he responded, “this isn’t a remake. They’re going back to the original source material, not the goofy show with the robot dog and the disco haircuts.” I pointed out that the show was the source material, that it’s not based on the series of books or whatever, he did not take that bottle. Insisted I was wrong. I really hate those kinds of exchanges. If people don’t like something that’s fine, that’s a matter of taste, bothers me when people tear things apart without even knowing what they’re talking about
Wasn't the original a film, and they based the original series on that (and endelssly resued the same VFX clips) I may be wrong, it was a long time ago
@@jocramkrispy305 no. The show was originally a series of three TV movies in one season, which was a fairly common way of testing out a new series in those days (for instance the Love Boat had two, Fantasy Island had two, the six million dollar man had three, and man from atlantis had four) midway through the filming of the third of these TV movies, the show got picked up as a full season. John Dykstra did the FX for the three tv movies, but they couldn’t afford him for the series proper, so subsequent FX were created in house by Universal, who were frankly not up to the challenge. So they reused FX from the movies *endlessly.* The first TV movie was released theatrically in some markets after the show ended, so that’s probably where you’re getting that idea from.
Reimagined BSG was grossly overrated and derivative - basically Space: Above and Beyond meets The Terminator meets Blade Runner! The GINOids (the toxic gatekeeping segment of RDM BSG fandom) would always trash the Original Galactica and troll its fans while insisting and proclaiming it's more original than the Original as you rightly say! 😵🤪🙄 Personally I thought RDM BSG was a mistake and should have been its own IP franchise altogether with nothing to do with the (One and Only) Battlestar Galactica! May the Lords of Kobol bless Glen A Larson's Battlestar Galactica always! 😇😎💪👏👍
@ I think the RDM Galactica made a lot of mistakes. They went way too heavy on the grimdark, and it is pointlessly over sexed for no reason. And it is clear that he had no exit plan, which is always a mistake when you’re doing an epic (though to be fair the original Galactica clearly also had no exit plan). I think it would’ve been a lot better if the show had started out with everybody being a perfectly functional crew who gradually get beaten down by the situation over the course of the journey and fall apart and become dysfunctional, and then gradually pull themselves back together again and become Even better and stronger than they were at the beginning. You stretch that over a few seasons it becomes really powerful. But instead, the show starts off and everybody pretty much a bastard, during the course of the series they’re all pretty much bastards, and at the end of the series, they are all still bastards. The only exceptions are Hilo, boomer, and Starbuck. And the character development of Starbuck is very odd… Alternately, if they had done the Stargate universe thing and started off of the completely dysfunctional crew that gradually pulled themselves together into a cohesive unit, that could have been very powerful as well. My biggest beef with the show is that the Cylons are not as interesting as the Cylons in the original show. I mean if the silence have mutated into human forms, fine, whatever, I don’t really object to that, that was something that was gonna happen in the second season of the original Galactica anyway for budgetary reasons. But the ones in the original show we’re about as interesting as you could do cybernetic lifeforms on TV. I mean, they are machines, they know they are machines, however, they consider themselves alive. They appear to be significant differences in intelligence between different types of them that we meet. The average grunts, then there’s the gold silence, which are obviously officers, there are Cylon civilians! (and we are told that the colonies consider a war crime to go after those) where is the series who appear to operate based on a form of natural selection, revolving around duplicity and lying, and in the unlikely event that an imperious leader dies, the most dishonest of them gets to be the new Leader. Lucifer was positively giddy about working with Baltar B because Baltar was so duplicitous. “ we have much to learn from him!” I mean, that’s all fascinating, right? And the human silence in the new show are interesting, I will give them that, but they lack the qualities that may be originals interesting. Myself, if I were remaking Galactica yet another time, I would probably use the humanoid thingies add some point, but I would not have them be salons. I would probably use them as the ship of lights folk. Anyway. I’m re-watching the series now for the first time since it was originally broadcast, and it is a little better than I remembered, but I’m not in love with it. There are some elements I do really like, but I doubt I’m gonna last to the end of the series.
To this day I find the greatest thing about the remake was the journey of Gaius Baltar. Began the series as a detestable cockroach. Despite everything he survived while many in the audience (including myself) would have cheered for his demise, only for him to become more and more relatable. The 'Dirty Hands' episode was that moment I realised he was destined for greatness and it paid off in the finale when, after everything he went through, after trying to be something else for so long, it was his family upbringing that ultimately secured his survival. That moment he broke down after saying 'You know, I know about farming...' had me tearing up with him. Powerful scene. Callis NAILED it.
My dad, who turned 34 in 1978, had the opposite problem. He remembered watching some of the episodes from the original Battlestar Galactica and thought they were cheesy and dumb. He figured that the 2003 iteration would be the same. I kept trying to convince him that a show could not get more far away from cheesy and dumb than the new BSG but he never has watched it. Maybe someday. To me it is the best show ever.
No intro music beats the '70s one, and I feel all the feels with that long build-up of the horn instruments to that crescendo as the whole orchestra booms in! Chef's Kiss from me for giving me that feeling every time I hear it!
I'll be honest, the scene with Caprica riding Balthar only to bring death to entire worlds afterwards set the tone and had me hooked. That and for me the relationships felt "real", and the in your face documentary style camera, perfection. Though sometimes I wished for some less shaking and constant wobbling.
The title also says controversy in print. Only the nattator says "History". So now we have a controversy over the title. And in true nerd fashion we will debate it until the fall of man and eventual victory of the cylons. When they will declare...
I am a SciFi nut. I watched the Original BSG when it originally aired, watched the Sequel show, and couldn't wait to watch the reboot. I thought it was amazing, and better than the original. The darkness of the themes, and the quality of the actors far surpassed the original series. And as for Katie Sackhoff as Starbuck, Dirk Benedict's version was my favorite character from the original series, I always played Starbuck when we would play BSG in the backyard, but, Katie was amazing, I loved her in the role, her sassy nature was a perfect fit for the character, absolutely amazing. I was unaware that razor was a prequel, nor was I aware of the web series. Thanks for the info, I shall now make it a point to watch those as well.
I watched pretty much all of this BSG reboot, but when they got really close to the end, for whatever reason I just stopped. Never did finish season 4... Probably should go back and watch it all again. 🤔
I had a friend who was big into the original BSG fandom - her objection to new BSG was that she had young kids and she felt fine sharing the the goofy first one with them, but she couldn't share this one with them (and that she'd lose the fandom that was passionate enough to want the Richard Hatch reboot). I much prefer the first few seasons of RDM (until about New Caprica) but I can see what she felt she was losing and I still think about it more than 2 decades later.
I literally just finished watching the 4 seasons rebooted BSG 3 days ago. Crazy timing for this retrospective to come out when it has. Other than it being a highly billed role for Katee Sackhoff, I didn't know anything about the show. I can't overstate how pleasantly surprised I was at how good it was. It's not often a television show manages to maintain a driving, action filled narrative while maintaining the ability to ask questions about so many aspects of the human experience. Top level episodic storytelling, IMHO.
I was one of those opposed to the reboot series, having been a fan of the original when I was a small child. However, after watching the mini-series a few years after it was released; I was absolutely hooked. It didn't matter that Starbuck and Boomer were now women; the story they told was amazing. To this day, I try to watch the series from start to end once a year.
This is the first series I ever binged on Netflix, like ten years ago (!) and loved every minute of it. I was just recently thinking about it again and this video pops up, great timing! I think it's due time for a rewatch.
go back to the 70s and compare it with other sci fi shows - it looked great. They had the special effects guy from Star Wars John Dykstr. It was the most expensive show on tv at the time.
I was late to BSG - I didn't have cable TV at the time, but a friend raved about it. I finally started watching when it was in the middle of season 3. Loved it. The funny part is that the friend who hooked me on it somehow missed that season 4 was split in to two parts. He finished "Season 4 part one" then just stopped watching, not knowing about the second half. It was me to told him about it a good year after it had finished airing! My wife was not hugely into SciFi, so this was a "me" show. I ended up with the whole series on HD DVD and Blu-ray. (Yes, this show's release spanned the move from one format to the other.) Then the episode of Portlandia came out. Portlandia was an "us" show. We both watched it. She thought that episode was hilarious, and asked "hey, we have that on disc, right?" Yep. So we binged it. In less time than the characters in the show Portlandia took to binge it.
I LOVE your Cylon shirt. Loved the 1978 series. Hated the 1980 series. Initially resisted the reboot because no cool 1978 Cylon centurions, Raider ships, or duel wheel Base Stars, but soon reconsidered and LOVED the show. The reboot was very good drama, but I still love the costumes, practical effects, and charm of the 1978 original.
Loved the OG back '78, yes I'm ancient, but the reimagined is my favourite show of all time especially the miniseries and razor movie just absolute perfection
@@Sephiroth144 That was pretty lame, because "daggit" just means dog. They had some conveniently swapped out words, like "centon" meaning minute. A daggit is a dog.
Never liked the original show much, did not look real enough, the 2003 reboot was superb as well as the stand alone tv films that came out later. Favorite character? No. 6 of course, cannot get any better than Tricia Helfer.
I grew up with the original series as a kid and it had quite an impact on me. When I watched the mini-series I thought it was awful; it was so different and low budget. Years later some guys convinced me to give the show a chance (then in third season). When I watched "33" I became hooked and I accepted the show for what it was. Watched it all the way to the end including through the very long breaks. I still rewatch the series every couple years and it has become one of my all time favorites.
I lived just outside of Vancouver and got to go to the set of BSG with my high school film class in 2004. There wasn't much going on that day but two actresses happened to be there.
Katie Sackoff (Starbuck) was bumming around the set chatting with the PAs, and quickly turned sour when she saw she had to play meet and greet to a bunch of teenagers. She basically said hey hows it going, hope you like the show, then she quickly peaced out. We were all rather disappointed and even the PAs said she was a handful on set.
Later, just as we were almost done the tour, Tricia Helfer (Six) came around the corner unexpectedly, gave us all a big smile, a genuine welcome and shook all of our hands. She chatted with us for a few minutes and answered a few questions about the show and the industry. Pure Hollywood class, as our teacher put it then.
Nice insight.
I crossed paths with Katee once near Mayfair Mall in Victoria. She was incognito, so I respected that and left her alone.
I got to work as a PA on the pilot for 13th Precinct, with the wonderful Tricia Helfer. She is indeed as lovely on the inside, if not more, than she is on the outside. Very kind, considerate and personable. A pleasure to work with, I assure you.
@@NotoriousNickNorris Tricia Helfer is clearly S+++ tier actress as well as so clearly a consummate professional.
God bless Michael Hogan. ✊ Colonel Tigh was _far and away_ my favorite BSG character: deeply flawed, conflicted and uncompromising, but in the end resolute, loyal and the ultimate wingman. Tigh is the ULTIMATE embodiment of “I am not merely a witness to my fate, I am who I _choose_ to be”. POWERFUL stuff, and Mr. Hogan played that character like a fiddle.
*So say we all.* ✊
You know, there are people alive now, working/going to college who hadn't been born when this show came out. I feel so old.
My back hurts while reading this.
There are grandparents that weren't alive when the original came out in the 70's either😂
time passes, it always has
@@ChagrinElectric you dont have to be a grandparent to be old enough for the 78
I graduated from college a year before the miniseries aired.
What a small world we live in. I'm rewatching the show. I'm in the 3rd season right now. Love it.
Richard Hatch was a regular customer at a music/video store back in 2002-04. He was a cool guy. He told me he was working with others to try to get a new BG show going. RIP
Tricia Helfer lived an actor's dream to nail their first big role like that, so iconic!
She is one of my favorite actors.
I agree with you. I think her acting ability gets over-shadowed by her beauty, or she'd get more credit.
@@liahfox5840 Agreed! Society values female beauty so much that it tends to blind the viewer to other talents.
I don't know how old you are...but there was a very memorable 80s commercial that had the tagline "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."
She is such a kind person!
@@ocularpatdown Would be great to meet her!
No person could have played that role better than she managed. Magnificent performance. Stage play one room scenes (in space).
The fact that this came out days after I finally finished watching this show proves that I'm living in my own Truman Show.
Are you gonna break out?🤔
@@frankgesuele6298 Look behind you. Hi.
We live in a simulation.🐿
@@christopherneufelt8971 👋🏻
truman show, i dont get it
In 2008, my girlfriend and I went to our first DragonCon. Edward James Olmos led the crowd in the big auditorium in a rousing chant of "so say we all!" It was amazing.
2 years later, we got the congregation at our wedding to repeat it back to the officiant. Our older relatives were confused but our nerd friends were beaming.
My wife and I were there for that chant at D*Con 2008. Best times ever.
Mandolorian pretty much ripped it off
Did ye, aye?
Weirdly I've been to three different weddings where that happened lol
Loved to have been at your wedding just to say, So say we all... It is a great bonding confirmation.
I'm surprised there was no mention of Bear Mcreary.. AMAZING and innovative score to the show and this one really kicked off his career.
Bear Mcreary also did the music for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Walking Dead. Immensely gifted artist.
especially how the music itself becomes part of the story in season 4!
McCreary deserves plaudits, but people should remember that it was Richard Gibbs who came up with the signature sound of the show, for the miniseries. McCreary was his assistant/understudy, and took over when Gibbs was unavailable for the main show when it received a green light the following year.
One of the last shows to air before the network changed to SYFY.
Not really. You also had Stargate Atlantis and Eureka and Sanctuary and others
Sifee
Cee fee
Where my Being Human and Lost Girl fans at?
@@seibervideo Being Human ❤
I love that you including the Portlandia stuff. It’s because of that episode that I watched BSG and I’m so glad I did.
I was one of those fans of the original series who was irked by, say, a female Starbuck and other changes. I resisted watching it until a few years later I picked up the 4-hour miniseries cheap on DVD...and was totally blown away. They paid homage to the original series while removing the campy silliness and improving virtually every aspect of the show. I bought it all on Blu-ray and never looked back. Easily one of my favorite sci-fi series ever!
I never got past the season where they give up and settle on the crappy planet. That totally killed the show's momentum for me.
@@Strideo1 wow, too bad. That sequence provided some of the most gripping moments of the entire series, culminating with the now-legendary Adama Maneuver.
I was one of those fans of the original series. I was 14 when it came out. I was damn near 40 when this came out and I was willing to see what they would do with a female Starbuck, and Boomer.
I ended up liking both of them.
Now that I am posting I don’t remember a black character in the new series. Oh wait, there was a Cylon male and Dualla.
I think new BSG set the gold standard for a lot of modern scifi and fantasy shows. And the casting choices were abolutely perfect. Just frakking amazing!
I loved this show so much! I was deployed to Iraq in 2005, but my Uncle sent me "dubious" copies of the series on dvd, and we watched it in the FOB. My entire squad was 100% on board. This is maybe the most consistently amazing sci-fi series ever produced...tbh....there hasnt been anything even close to this good in the sci-fi series genre except maybe the Expanse and Altered Carbon, but BSG is always going to hold my #1 spot!
Farscape is fantastic
The Expanse was a worthy successor to BSG. I was hooked right away by both of them.
@@LukeJohnson-tw5bo Farscape was about the best puppet sci-fi ever made. Loved the show, hated the puppets.
Altered Carbon was overrated schlock, imo. The Expanse was great, but BSG still holds the #1 spot in my heart.
Was never a huge fan of the original despite my mother loving it when I was younger and having it on every time it was on TV. I loved this reboot though it actually manages to do something many Sci-fi shows don't and that is keep you gripped and does not run for too long before becoming a watered down version of what started. One of the few times a reboot has worked for me and not just done to cash in on the name it is using.
But last season were sleeping pill and the eding the same -but logical .I I bought them on DVD relese and last season i dont watch - bad produced and uninterresting plot
Never thought I'd see the day when the Galactica 2003 show gets proudly featured on Secret Galaxy.
What about the day Galactica 2003 got a pinball table? Dropped last month on Pinball FX and it's really good. Before anyone asks, yes there is a "FRAK" ramp.
We all knew it was coming…
A new reboot is coming btw.
@@kaibotski4939 Oh, yes. I know. I honestly hope that after doing the military grit with the 2003 Miniseries and Show, that they go back to the adventurous tone of the 1978 series.
10:11 Also Edward James Olmos read the initial script and said 'The second you write a alien into the script, I'm done. I will see the alien, I will scream, faint, they can carry me off set, then I'm done with the show entirely'.
That's actually funny.
I hate when actors dictate story. You are in a sci-fi show, sir! Get off your high-horse about aliens being "too nerdy" for you to handle! Sheesh.
@@TerranIVtotally get what you’re saying. However, Olmos’s point was that he wanted to be a part of a show that was about characters and their experiences in extraordinarily stressful circumstances with a definite end, but not a monster-of-the-week, deus-ex-machina, VFX-fest that makes new episodes just to keep going. (Think of what The Flash TV series on WB became)
Ok Olmos, how about angels, God and a human resurrection?
Just joking. At this point the writers weren’t sure if the religious themes would turn out be be true. I wonder how he felt about it as he took on a father role for the crew as it went in and often helped the younger actors in scenes (they often mentioned it).
I get what Olmos is trying to say, even though I disagree. At that time, sci if tv within aliens was looked down in in some corners of the old school of acting.
The actor for Baltar and Lee Adama also had doubts about the series and mentioned they had images of the 1970s camp series.
Olmos revealed on a panel discussion of the show that during the reveal of the final 5 in the script, the actor for Tigh walked out of the room when he found out he was one of them. He kind of implied that he didn’t like the choice.
an alien
🔔 TRIVIA: EJO was utterly convinced that he could bring a BSG sequel into existence. He even had a script. It starts out with him in his cabin on (our) Earth and there's a knock at the door and it's Saul Tigh, who says, "Bill, we've got a problem."
Followed with, "That twat Baltar invented some shit called disco, some other shit called cocaine and all hell is breaking loose!"
plottwist: BSG 2025 will be 100% written by AI
It's so frighteningly possible.
By cylons you mean?
Considering the job the humans have been doing recently, sounds like a good plan
Ironic🤖
And played by AI actors to cut costs😂
"What the Frak!" I hope they have this T-Shirt that was featured on 30 Rock in the 80sTee shop.
The fact that the alleged tech genius got literally honeypotted by technology might be the most trenchant insight of the entire show.
I do love that looking back at every "controversial" classic reveals: humans aren't getting worse, the worse ones are getting louder.
I always thought of the new series as a "sequel to an imaginary reboot." Like, it still felt like there was a story that came before it, only the details were all different from the original.
The prequel Caprica series was just shoehorned in. I could definitely see that originally as another "AI gone bad" show set in our future, maybe 20 years out.
Someone must have realized it could pass as a prequel the BSG and they renamed it Caprica. If you were to place that whole show on Earth in 2040 you really wouldn't need to change that much. Replace all the other planets with other countries and keep all the racial tension.
It was a pretty interesting story, but it might not have been funded if not for the tie-in to BSG.
@@protorhinocerator142 I tried really hard to like Caprica. I stumbled on a thing somewhere where the... producers? I think it was the producers. Anyway, it turns out that there were two scripts floating around, one for a virtual reality AI gone rogue thing, and another with a Galactica prequel thing with AI gone rogue thing, and those producers just decided to smoosh them together into one show.
It showed. It was a long time ago I watched that show but there was this jarring back-and-forth between stuff that felt like Battlestar and stuff that felt completely different.
It was such a botched project right from the get go.
That why they call it "Reimagined" to place the old Battlestar as the first war against the cylon but yeah some detail are no more canon like that they discovered modern earth back then and probably some other things as well.
all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again....
@@Yvory6 If you listen to the original opening for the show, it took place in the sixth millennium of time. From a biblical view (and probably Mormon) the current time is in the sixth millennium.
Basically the idea for the show was Space Mormons.
The new show takes place over 100,000 years ago, which is completely different time-wise.
The newer show isn't as Space Mormon as the original.
I can’t believe it’s 20 years old.
Yeah, it looks like it's about 60 years ago...
I can't believe what kind of delusional pampered baby someone would have to be to see 9 11 as the end if civilization. Completely unaware of the rest of the world, too.
Everyone was nuts for Tricia Helfer, but for me, it was all about Grace Park 😍
It was Kandyse McClure who played Dualla that did it for me. She was-GORGEOUS-and-FINE-and those pretty,green eyes had me in orbit. LOL.
The dimples.
I didn’t like her with the 6 hair. But she was fine with her real hair.
Nicki Clyne for me. Before all the NXIVM unpleasantness.
I was definitely on the Grace train- that said, much like Baltar, I could branch out.
While I have MOST of this series on disc downstairs, the one thing that still is interesting is how well it translated to a tabletop game. In 2008, Fantasy Flight Games adapted it to board game form using the then latest craze, secret roles given to each player on top of character sheets so that you could play as most of the regulars in the cast. The base game only covered the first season, with expansions covered a season each, meaning it had four boxes the size of Ticket to Ride by the time they released the final box in 2013. However back in 2007, it had already been adapted into an RPG by Margret Weiss Productions that had all of a single core book using the same system they had already tested out in 2006 with the now cult classic film Serenity which was the film finale for 2002's Firefly. While the RPG is not all that sought after, the Board Game and its expansions are. The one problem with a tabletop RPG is that most people coming to the hobby are coming to it from the co-operative storytelling side, and might not want to deal much with PvP unlike board games.
Alien Nation please
YES!
Absolutely
Don't forget the TV movies too. Those are solid too.
Hell yeah!
@@excessmaterial there were plural movies?! I only saw one
This show seemed ahead of it time on what topics it was talking about
Ahead of its time, and now nothing dares touch on what it did. We regressed.
Anyone else here ever play the BSG board game? Shit rocked.
"When does my Alcoholism take effect?"
super good, but cant get it anymore. its been reskinned as a game called "Unfathomable", also good
Still own the complete game and all expansions. It's literally a crown jewel of my board game collection :)
Gala Games are working on a Battle Star video game, I don't know it if will be good.
Meh. I liked it better the first time I played it when it was called Shadows Over Camelot".
This was the very first show I ever watched from the day it priemiered to the series finale. Even used a VCR back then to record the episodes. It utterly blew my mind---I was instantly hooked. I know when I'm watching quality spaceship television and when I'm not, and this show delivered. The only other show in this genre that gets even remotely close is The Expanse, with a dash of Space: AAB and Firefly.
What the hell!? Where have I been? over 20 years....gone in a flash!!
I only realized the 20years after reading the comments, I know he said the dates but seeing it written made me feel old. 20 years wow
As if it were a dream🤯
Very good show. Own all DVD'S.
What I love the most is there is no background music in the scenes unless they are actually playing it ona device during recording. No distractions. And it's more realistic to how we would truly fight in space.
Just like how some anime like PLANETES & INFINITE RYVIUS do similar.
It's my favourite show.
The first two and a half seasons are absolutely amazing.
Video title 'Controversy of Battlestar Galatic' introduced during video 'History of Battlestar galatica.' Nice clickbait.
SO SAY WE ALL!
SO SAY WE ALL !!!!
SO SAY WE ALL!
I was slightly disappointed that Cylon Centruions never spoke in this version. Their distinctive electronic monotones always gave me a chill as a kid, a bit like the Daleks from Dr Who but less strident and less obviously intended to echo the vocal character of Goebbles.
This was one of my favorite shows, ever. Right up there with DS9 and Babylon 5.
I watched the original and 1980, loved them both. I didn't have cable when this reboot came on. I see it's on Tubi now, so . . .
I loved the show but it definitely suffered from a lack of planing out the story from the beginning. It’s ironic that they said the Cylons had a plan in the opening of every show but even the writers didn’t know what it was and made it up as they went along. What saved the show for me were the characters, universe building and pretty good sci-fi action for its day.
Yes. Definitely an early victim of the "mystery box" style of writing.
I watched all of them except for Blood & Chrome... as a kid I really wished the hover bikes in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 1980 existed lol
When it premiered, it was just when sci-fi channel was turning into a pay channel on my cable netwrk, so I didn't get to see it until years later on DVD. It was then that I binged the entire thing, including The Plan (which I'm surprised you didn't mention.)
There were some great characters in the reboot but Edward Olmos's Adama was really the core of this show in my opinion.
Absolutely agree, Olmos was right on cue as Cmdr Adama. I liked the realism, especially military prodicols
@@PaulHFleming protocols*
I just watched a clip the other day and was thinking I could go for a rewatch of this. I think you've just confirmed that's what I need to do.
Earth:Final Conflict or Space:Above and Beyond are two hidden gems.
Space: Above and Beyond is one of my all time favorites.
Reimagined BSG rips off much of Space: Above and Beyond!
Really enjoyed the 03 version for the most part; had an absolutely amazing cast. Felt like the story got a bit weird in season three (I believe), but it was still worth the watch.
I watch the entire series at least every 2-3 years, just finished my fifth iteration. Such a phenomenal series, I could (and have) write pages on how marvelous I think it is. And as much as I pay attention to, I always run across something new.
What I have not done yet is immerse myself into the BSG Lore channels as I’ve done with The Old Republic of Star Wars, and the Alien franchise. That should really make my sixth viewing so much better than the previous five.
2003 is done so well, it’s difficult to realize it’s over 20 years old. It has aged well, better than Star Wars, I think. I think the only other opera that will age nearly as well is The Expanse. BSG is such a complex story, with such good writing, brilliant acting, and excellent effects. What I always liked about the series’ effects is while they’re fantastic eye candy, they don’t overwhelm the story and character development. They complement them perfectly, letting the writing and the acting be what’s central to the storyline.
Shoot, here I go…
I guess, for me, both concepts of the show appealed at the right age and right time. I was kid in the 80s when I watched the replayed episodes and in 2004 I was 10 years into a career in the Australian Army. The remake didn't "Destroy my childhood" It showed me I had one.
I appreciated the re-boot and watched every episode. The series was well made and I was invested in the characters. At the same time, it was unrelentingly dark and heavy and for that reason I've never had the urge to re-watch even a single episode. I watched the series, glad I did, but never want to see it again. Life is too short.
I watched the new show because of Portlandia. Then I understood the Portlandia sketch. It was really good, really addictive. I was bummed when it was over. I definitely need to sit down and re-watch it someday. I loved Katee Sackoff on it.
I grew up with the '78 version and loved it, loved the science fiction and the mystical religious themes. Battlestar Galactica 1980 was largely a waste except for the final episode, which was so good that I misremembered it as being part of the original series.
I was one of those who was skeptical of the reboot and all of the changes but man, when I started watching it, I was hooked. It was my favorite TV series at the time and I loved the cast. I loved the space ships, and I have a collection of a bunch of the die cast vehicles that came out.
The Galactica is to this day one of my all time favorite spaceships. An absolute brick of practical design. And the space combat was up there with Babylon 5 as being the best in science fiction (sorry, Star Wars).
The ending of the reboot was hard to watch because of how emotional it made me, but I loved it for how beautiful it was. I have the soundtrack and those final pieces of music transitioning from the past to the present still makes my eyes water.
"So much life."
Thank you for talking about this show, this show really inspired me when it originally aired.
I am a fan of the original, and I was deeply skeptical of the reboot especially the changes that were rumored about prior to its broadcast. But I gave it a chance, not knowing what to expect.
On boy was I hooked after watching the pilot and the first episode "33" I don't think I have ever watched a show that exceeded all expectations and surprised me as this one did. Season 3 and 4 were not as good as 1 and 2, but first 2 season were of such high caliber that really couldn't be sustained. Those seasons were as close to perfection as one can get. And the last 2 seasons are better than the best seasons found on most other TV series. A testament to its longevity in popularity is that the blu-rays sill sell pretty well on Amazon and anyone who is in to good television that hasn't seen it yet would like it today.
Yes. I think it will continue to age well for decades. I’ve watched the entire series five times, and probably will continue doing so every 2-3 years. I’ve just started getting interested in Lore channels about Star Wars and Aliens, and have seen a few BSG ones, but before I watch BSG again, I want to immerse myself into all the fan content that’s out there. I find it really enhances the enjoyment of watching a series again.
My now ex-husband was always trying to get me to watch new shows, I always vehemently refused, until I gave in. I'm glad I did because I fell in love with the show and binged it all much like the Portlandia characters. Same with Farscape.
Leaving a Like for the Farscape reference :)
One of the best videos that this channel has done, and that's saying something. Great work on this, and many thanks for putting it together and sharing it with us. So say we all! :)
Glen A Larson (no relation) was the creator of many of my favorite shows in my childhood. Glad you covered this
I was VERY underwhelmed by the 4-hour miniseries when it was released, but I still gave the new show a chance when it went to series and I'm glad I did! The first episode of the series is named "33" and the premise is that the Cylons have found a way to track the Galactica and they show up and attack them EVERY 33 MINUTES! Once I saw that episode I said "I'll watch anything these guys make!" Dan, I will take issue with one line... you said that "Diamond Select Toys produced a full line of action figures." Only it WASN'T a FULL line as they never ended up releasing the 2 pack of President Rosilyn and Baltar, two main characters that were sculpted, and never produced leaving a huge hole in all of our collections!!! Enjoy your watch of the show. I really think you will dig it.
Finally watched it the whole way through last year after a lifetime of having it in the background. Fantastic television, great performances from a perfect cast giving career-best performances, incredible space combat and fulfilling character arcs. The only thing that holds it back for me is any mystery plot associated with the Cylons - it never really convinced me that there were satisfying answers to any of the questions they were asking (and it turns out I was right). That and the fact the series lands quite awkwardly in its last moments...
For me the crux of the show was its willingness to "go there". Many other shows like Star Trek TNG would race back to the safety of the status quo. Not BSG, no sir.
Like when they found that arrow and magically teleported to Earth. Wow. The Adama Maneuver, of course. One of the best maneuvers in all sci-fi history.
I liked the thing where Starbuck was captive in that "house" and finally killed her Cylon captor. Only to have him re-emerge from the bedroom and call her up. And then he said, "Either way you'll be sleeping with me tonight." TWISTED!
There was another point that really stood out for me, mainly because of the F-ed up situation and the strong acting.
Baltar was sent to examine that Cylon ship with the disease that was killing Cylons. And that one model 6 started screaming at him, "You're the one who killed us! This is all your fault!" And so he shot her.
Then he just stood there, trembling, and contemplating what he just did.
Wow.
I really didn't like the ending when I was much younger, it did feel wrong to me and irked me. However I rewatched it through fresh eyes this year in a much shorter time frame it felt much more fitting and things I missed before as a kid, themes I didn't understand came through. Still won;t give it a 10/10 but its a solid 8 for me now.
to me the BSG Epilogue (if that's what you're referring to) is just RDM "I need to finish this off with my trademark" schtick. if you've watched DS9 and some of his TNG episodes it's a lot of the same "is God real? or is it just some regular person with powers? are you a God? can this person be God? Religion is fun!" I don't think it needed to be there and when I originally saw it I rolled my eyes. It was just typical Ronald D Moore shit, he couldn't resist. I'd take that epilogue with a massive grain of salt.
dont' get me wrong RDM is a talented guy and made some fantastic sci-fi but story wise, he's a one trick pony.
For all his skills Ron D Moore is like Jar Jar Abrams. He plays with mystery boxes (the Cylon plan), but as he makes the show up as he went along he did not have a coherent satisfying ending planned out. So the Cylon plan was never answered or addressed, it was all just deus ex machina, and it all revolved around getting some human/cylon hybrid DNA into our ancestors. The story and history of the Colonies snuffed out. They might as well have all been obliterated in the pilot. Now RDM is WAY better at it then Jar Jar Abrams, but that is still no substitute for planning a story with such big mysteries out from start to finish before you begin. Like Straczynski had done with Babylon 5. Now the ending of Galactica proved as divisive as the Star Wars Prequels, as we fought bitter online debates about it at the time. And unlike the SW Prequels time has not been kind to the BSG reboot, as while most SW fans have come to terms with the Prequels, no small thanks to Disney, half of the then BSG fandom walked away at the time and never looked back, leaving a much diminished fandom to carry the torch against cultural forgetfulness. At the time I religiously watched every episode as soon as it became available. I have not seen a single episode since. I just can't be arsed. Still love Bear McCreary's music though.
the New BSG is a TOP 5 of All Time, the topics, characters, all the twists and turns, I watch the ENTIRE SERIES at least once every few years, DAMN GREAT SHOW! I also do this for Farscape 🙂
The Space Dock UA-cam Channel constantly praises BSG for how realistic the space battles are and how grounded the sci-fi tech-level.
I was in grade school when the original was airing. It was ALL we talked about after each episode. I was so desperate for a Colonial warrior's jacket (and sidearm) that I tried to make my own out of a brown cardigan . . . which failed miserably. My parents got me the Starbuck Halloween costume, those PVC things that ripped all over the place and the mask that made your face sweat. I was really invested in the series, and pretty crushed when it didn't return. I was SUPER skeptical of the new series, but was a part of a fandom forum, and we all agreed to give it a shot. It was NOT the original, which sucked. It WAS it's own thing, which was awesome. I'm glad that I watched throughout the series, and even if the finale was less than satisfying, it was all very good, and well worth the effort. Would watch again. I'd also watch a new series if it was offered. The show now lends itself to pretty much any current set of obstacles and issues we are facing.
Watched all, loved all, 2004 is still one of my favorite shows of all time
I liked the beginning and the end. Some in the middle dragged for me.
So refreshing to see a bit of love for a quality show with a quality cast and quality writing with a quality review. kudos
I watched all the series, including Caprica
Just started binge watching this with my wife and daughter (20). The three of us typically watch NCIS, but all are on hiatus.
My daughter and I have already watched Supernatural, all of modern Doctor Who, and Firefly, plus she and I are just starting TNG. I decided this was next for the three of us.
Wife and I loved it back in the day, and I'm glad that daughter is enjoying it too.
paper without corners man... My friend and I were addicted to that show. 2009ish. We were exactly what that portlandia skit was. every moment we had off together we would be watching that show. he was just like, hey, i heard this show is good, lets watch it.
They did a collectible card game of BSG, and the cards were cut just like their paper was. It was really weird holding them.
I seem to recall that one of the unexpected production events that caused a lot of trouble for the show involved sound stage availability during season 3. Basically, they found out they couldn't keep the Pegasus sets up at the same time they needed to build lots of Basestar sets for the Cylon arcs. Originally they had the Pegasus survive as a twist on the original show, where Pegasus vanishes / is destroyed shortly after meeting the fleet.
Unfortunately losing the Pegasus sets forced them to quickly and dirtily write the ship out and changed the rest of the show. It's hard to say how much they had planned out though, so perhaps not a lot had to be re-written.
I just finished another run through the BSG re-boot... Wrapped it up maybe 2 weeks ago. Fortuitous timing.
10:35 a fandom upest about changes to characters?
*IM SHOCKED! SHICKED, I SAY!*
That’s the real cycle that repeats itself 😂
I frakking LOVED this show and am so glad I got to watch it each week.
The 78 version came out when I was 5 and I watched it along with Buck Rogers and later Voyagers. Looking back as an adult those all seem corny and tried to insert contrived comedy, but BSG 2003 focused on true human-condition feelings and any humorous scenes felt organic without dorky music to let you know to laugh.
Gods I frakking miss these characters!
I am happy to say that I am old enough to have watched both shows live.
I watched the first season and gave up because it was too depressing, but I keep thinking I should go back and give the series another shot because I've heard so many good things.
Something I took issue with at the time was the way *some* fans of the RDM show would rag all over the original BSG. I’m fully aware of the problems and embarrassing bits of the original, hell, I’ve made fun of it myself from time to time, but the good outweighs the bad and it was spectacularly ambitious at the time, with it large ensemble cast, VFX, occasional arc-driven stories, etc. So it naturally bothered me when some of the fans of the new show would shit on the old when it became extremely obvious that they had never even seen it.
I remember talking to this one guy and said, “well the original show couldn’t have been without some good qualities or else they wouldn’t be remaking it” to which he responded, “this isn’t a remake. They’re going back to the original source material, not the goofy show with the robot dog and the disco haircuts.” I pointed out that the show was the source material, that it’s not based on the series of books or whatever, he did not take that bottle. Insisted I was wrong. I really hate those kinds of exchanges.
If people don’t like something that’s fine, that’s a matter of taste, bothers me when people tear things apart without even knowing what they’re talking about
Wasn't the original a film, and they based the original series on that (and endelssly resued the same VFX clips)
I may be wrong, it was a long time ago
@@jocramkrispy305 no. The show was originally a series of three TV movies in one season, which was a fairly common way of testing out a new series in those days (for instance the Love Boat had two, Fantasy Island had two, the six million dollar man had three, and man from atlantis had four) midway through the filming of the third of these TV movies, the show got picked up as a full season.
John Dykstra did the FX for the three tv movies, but they couldn’t afford him for the series proper, so subsequent FX were created in house by Universal, who were frankly not up to the challenge. So they reused FX from the movies *endlessly.*
The first TV movie was released theatrically in some markets after the show ended, so that’s probably where you’re getting that idea from.
Reimagined BSG was grossly overrated and derivative - basically Space: Above and Beyond meets The Terminator meets Blade Runner! The GINOids (the toxic gatekeeping segment of RDM BSG fandom) would always trash the Original Galactica and troll its fans while insisting and proclaiming it's more original than the Original as you rightly say! 😵🤪🙄 Personally I thought RDM BSG was a mistake and should have been its own IP franchise altogether with nothing to do with the (One and Only) Battlestar Galactica! May the Lords of Kobol bless Glen A Larson's Battlestar Galactica always! 😇😎💪👏👍
@ I think the RDM Galactica made a lot of mistakes. They went way too heavy on the grimdark, and it is pointlessly over sexed for no reason. And it is clear that he had no exit plan, which is always a mistake when you’re doing an epic (though to be fair the original Galactica clearly also had no exit plan).
I think it would’ve been a lot better if the show had started out with everybody being a perfectly functional crew who gradually get beaten down by the situation over the course of the journey and fall apart and become dysfunctional, and then gradually pull themselves back together again and become Even better and stronger than they were at the beginning. You stretch that over a few seasons it becomes really powerful. But instead, the show starts off and everybody pretty much a bastard, during the course of the series they’re all pretty much bastards, and at the end of the series, they are all still bastards. The only exceptions are Hilo, boomer, and Starbuck. And the character development of Starbuck is very odd…
Alternately, if they had done the Stargate universe thing and started off of the completely dysfunctional crew that gradually pulled themselves together into a cohesive unit, that could have been very powerful as well.
My biggest beef with the show is that the Cylons are not as interesting as the Cylons in the original show. I mean if the silence have mutated into human forms, fine, whatever, I don’t really object to that, that was something that was gonna happen in the second season of the original Galactica anyway for budgetary reasons. But the ones in the original show we’re about as interesting as you could do cybernetic lifeforms on TV. I mean, they are machines, they know they are machines, however, they consider themselves alive. They appear to be significant differences in intelligence between different types of them that we meet. The average grunts, then there’s the gold silence, which are obviously officers, there are Cylon civilians! (and we are told that the colonies consider a war crime to go after those) where is the series who appear to operate based on a form of natural selection, revolving around duplicity and lying, and in the unlikely event that an imperious leader dies, the most dishonest of them gets to be the new Leader. Lucifer was positively giddy about working with Baltar B because Baltar was so duplicitous. “ we have much to learn from him!”
I mean, that’s all fascinating, right?
And the human silence in the new show are interesting, I will give them that, but they lack the qualities that may be originals interesting. Myself, if I were remaking Galactica yet another time, I would probably use the humanoid thingies add some point, but I would not have them be salons. I would probably use them as the ship of lights folk.
Anyway. I’m re-watching the series now for the first time since it was originally broadcast, and it is a little better than I remembered, but I’m not in love with it. There are some elements I do really like, but I doubt I’m gonna last to the end of the series.
To this day I find the greatest thing about the remake was the journey of Gaius Baltar. Began the series as a detestable cockroach. Despite everything he survived while many in the audience (including myself) would have cheered for his demise, only for him to become more and more relatable. The 'Dirty Hands' episode was that moment I realised he was destined for greatness and it paid off in the finale when, after everything he went through, after trying to be something else for so long, it was his family upbringing that ultimately secured his survival.
That moment he broke down after saying 'You know, I know about farming...' had me tearing up with him. Powerful scene. Callis NAILED it.
My dad, who turned 34 in 1978, had the opposite problem. He remembered watching some of the episodes from the original Battlestar Galactica and thought they were cheesy and dumb. He figured that the 2003 iteration would be the same. I kept trying to convince him that a show could not get more far away from cheesy and dumb than the new BSG but he never has watched it. Maybe someday. To me it is the best show ever.
Me too. At the top with GoT and Lost. The close of the series was beautiful, unlike the fall off of the other two.
No intro music beats the '70s one, and I feel all the feels with that long build-up of the horn instruments to that crescendo as the whole orchestra booms in! Chef's Kiss from me for giving me that feeling every time I hear it!
This series has a remix of that theme that’s even better. The whole first three seasons is some of the best music ever written for television.
How did Jason Voorhees make it into an X-Men movie reel 🤔🤔
I'll be honest, the scene with Caprica riding Balthar only to bring death to entire worlds afterwards set the tone and had me hooked. That and for me the relationships felt "real", and the in your face documentary style camera, perfection. Though sometimes I wished for some less shaking and constant wobbling.
Tricia Helfer is also the voice of Sarah Kerrigan in Starcraft 2.
And Dare in Halo 3 ODST
(I prefer the original Kerrigan tbh)
Battlestar Galactica (2003) is one of my favorite tv series of all time.
Why is the thumbnail entitled "The controversy of Battlestar Galactica" but the video it's self is titled "The history of Battlestar Galactica"?
Meddling Cylon agents.
Was also wondering. Very little controversy was discussed. It was like 1 minute of the video.
clickbait?
@@dustinherk8124 This channel is popular enough it doesn't need to do clickbait, so it's sad and disheartening that they've taken to doing it.
The title also says controversy in print. Only the nattator says "History".
So now we have a controversy over the title. And in true nerd fashion we will debate it until the fall of man and eventual victory of the cylons.
When they will declare...
I am a SciFi nut. I watched the Original BSG when it originally aired, watched the Sequel show, and couldn't wait to watch the reboot. I thought it was amazing, and better than the original. The darkness of the themes, and the quality of the actors far surpassed the original series. And as for Katie Sackhoff as Starbuck, Dirk Benedict's version was my favorite character from the original series, I always played Starbuck when we would play BSG in the backyard, but, Katie was amazing, I loved her in the role, her sassy nature was a perfect fit for the character, absolutely amazing. I was unaware that razor was a prequel, nor was I aware of the web series. Thanks for the info, I shall now make it a point to watch those as well.
I watched pretty much all of this BSG reboot, but when they got really close to the end, for whatever reason I just stopped. Never did finish season 4... Probably should go back and watch it all again. 🤔
Eh
@@stein1919 oh
The ending's a bit controversial. Personally, I dug it.
I dropped out too. Not sure why. Maybe I'll dig my box-set out and finish it at some point
And to think i grew up through both of them. I loved how they made it through to the end in the reboot. It was a bittersweet ending.
I had a friend who was big into the original BSG fandom - her objection to new BSG was that she had young kids and she felt fine sharing the the goofy first one with them, but she couldn't share this one with them (and that she'd lose the fandom that was passionate enough to want the Richard Hatch reboot). I much prefer the first few seasons of RDM (until about New Caprica) but I can see what she felt she was losing and I still think about it more than 2 decades later.
I literally just finished watching the 4 seasons rebooted BSG 3 days ago. Crazy timing for this retrospective to come out when it has.
Other than it being a highly billed role for Katee Sackhoff, I didn't know anything about the show. I can't overstate how pleasantly surprised I was at how good it was.
It's not often a television show manages to maintain a driving, action filled narrative while maintaining the ability to ask questions about so many aspects of the human experience. Top level episodic storytelling, IMHO.
So glad my dad got me into this show, it’s a breath of fresh air from all the non stop Star Wars lately!
Don’t you find it funny that the special effects were a lot better than the prequels?
I graduated the same year in high school as Katee Sackoff.
She is one of my favorite actors.
I was one of those opposed to the reboot series, having been a fan of the original when I was a small child. However, after watching the mini-series a few years after it was released; I was absolutely hooked. It didn't matter that Starbuck and Boomer were now women; the story they told was amazing. To this day, I try to watch the series from start to end once a year.
Thanks for covering this series! Much enjoyed.
Controversy? Was it controversial for being too awesome?
I’ll find out more over the next 18 minutes🍿.
This is the first series I ever binged on Netflix, like ten years ago (!) and loved every minute of it. I was just recently thinking about it again and this video pops up, great timing!
I think it's due time for a rewatch.
I watched the original.
That big budget that got them cancelled wasn't spent on the episodes I watched.
Every episode was a minimum 33% reused shots. I imagine a lot of the money found its way into the coffers of the Mormon cult.
go back to the 70s and compare it with other sci fi shows - it looked great. They had the special effects guy from Star Wars John Dykstr. It was the most expensive show on tv at the time.
Battlestar Galactica Reimagined was such a brilliant show!!! Very well done concisely telling the history of a wonderful sci-fi series!
This was one of the only sci/fi series my wife actually wanted to binge into the morning. It was perfect.
I was late to BSG - I didn't have cable TV at the time, but a friend raved about it. I finally started watching when it was in the middle of season 3. Loved it. The funny part is that the friend who hooked me on it somehow missed that season 4 was split in to two parts. He finished "Season 4 part one" then just stopped watching, not knowing about the second half. It was me to told him about it a good year after it had finished airing!
My wife was not hugely into SciFi, so this was a "me" show. I ended up with the whole series on HD DVD and Blu-ray. (Yes, this show's release spanned the move from one format to the other.)
Then the episode of Portlandia came out. Portlandia was an "us" show. We both watched it. She thought that episode was hilarious, and asked "hey, we have that on disc, right?" Yep.
So we binged it.
In less time than the characters in the show Portlandia took to binge it.
fan of 78 version, never got into BSGino, but appreciate the insight and history breakdown that you always provide for the topic.
I LOVE your Cylon shirt. Loved the 1978 series. Hated the 1980 series. Initially resisted the reboot because no cool 1978 Cylon centurions, Raider ships, or duel wheel Base Stars, but soon reconsidered and LOVED the show. The reboot was very good drama, but I still love the costumes, practical effects, and charm of the 1978 original.
Loved the OG back '78, yes I'm ancient, but the reimagined is my favourite show of all time especially the miniseries and razor movie just absolute perfection
What was the Dogs name, Daggit?
@@tannerdowney2802 Daggit II; Daggit actually died in the Cylon attack on Caprica in the '78 pilot
@@Sephiroth144 you're awesome
Dis you also see "The Plan"? It was pretty much the entire BSG series, condensed, and told from the Cylon point of view.
@@Sephiroth144 That was pretty lame, because "daggit" just means dog.
They had some conveniently swapped out words, like "centon" meaning minute. A daggit is a dog.
Just finished a rewatch of this last week. Still holds up
Never liked the original show much, did not look real enough, the 2003 reboot was superb as well as the stand alone tv films that came out later. Favorite character? No. 6 of course, cannot get any better than Tricia Helfer.
I grew up with the original series as a kid and it had quite an impact on me. When I watched the mini-series I thought it was awful; it was so different and low budget. Years later some guys convinced me to give the show a chance (then in third season). When I watched "33" I became hooked and I accepted the show for what it was. Watched it all the way to the end including through the very long breaks. I still rewatch the series every couple years and it has become one of my all time favorites.
There must be some kind of way out of here. Said the Joker to Dafief
That was moment they FTL jumped the shark.