I thought it did what it sought to do very well. Pity it didn't seek to do much. It's just more military sci-fi, which we have way too much of. Remember back in the days of the original versions of "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek" when science fiction was about ideas, themes, and emotional impact? When it showed human beings interfacing with the strange and uncanny? Remember metaphor and allegory? Hell, remember striking visuals? Laugh all you want about when Adonis' giant hand stopped the Enterprise dead in space, but it was memorable. We can create special effects much more believably now, but to what end if there's no inspiration involved?
This show had strong storytelling mechanics, decent dialogue, solid acting (especially from Mary McDonnell and James Callis), fluid exterior dogfighting visuals--smooth yet chaotic--and the balls to (A) be sexy (I saw Tricia Helfer's "privacy patch" in that first love scene-hell, yeah!), (B) shock the viewers (snapping a baby's neck, showing military figures making the tough decisions to sacrifice lives, and revealing in the end that the most sympathetic character harbors an insidious evil), and (C) best of all, make two middle-aged people its leads (the maturity of Olmos and McDonnell was a welcome refreshment).
Unfortunately, it lacked the ambition to explore ideas and bend our brains into pretzel shape the way the best S.F. does. The sets and costumes, however believable, were dull to look at--it needed more visual punch. I know that headstrong, adventurous characters like Starbuck are supposed to excite us but they're tiresome, even when they're women. Apollo was bland. Most of all, I never got why the Cylons hate humans at all to say nothing of hating us to the point of genocide. But I missed the first minute or two. Was there a narrative scroll prefacing the story?
I liked best the interesting camera work, Mary McDonnell's subtle but self-assured portrayal of President Roslin's worldly-wise dedication, the balancing of military with civilian concerns (rare for military S.F. and thankfully received by this viewer), and James Callis' balanced delivery of Baltar's dilemma. He actually seems helpless in the face of his own selfishness and cowardliness, and that makes him wonderfully sympathetic despite his flaws, because, ultimately, aren't we all more like Baltar than Apollo or Starbuck? And I like the casting of insanely gorgeous Tricia Helfer as the heavy. Why shouldn't she be a hot sexpot? Her mission is to seduce. Wouldn't you give in to her? I thought she acquitted herself well in the part; not just another pretty face overreaching her grasp.
I was bewildered by the decision to remake the 1978 show as it wasn't really good to begin with. Even at the age of 12, I found it unoriginal in both conception and execution. (Actually, it's not bewildering: they smelled money.) But now I'm glad they did, because even with its shortcomings, it finally brings some true value to the name "Battlestar Galactica". If it becomes a show, I'll probably watch it for what it does well, however limited that is. But I wouldn't call it "appointment television". Honestly, current science fiction television is so bland and uninspired that the only show I definitely try to see each week is "Smallville". The Sci Fi Channel was supposed to save us from all the mainstream mediocrity. What happened? How did our culture become so bored with the future?
This show had strong storytelling mechanics, decent dialogue, solid acting (especially from Mary McDonnell and James Callis), fluid exterior dogfighting visuals--smooth yet chaotic--and the balls to (A) be sexy (I saw Tricia Helfer's "privacy patch" in that first love scene-hell, yeah!), (B) shock the viewers (snapping a baby's neck, showing military figures making the tough decisions to sacrifice lives, and revealing in the end that the most sympathetic character harbors an insidious evil), and (C) best of all, make two middle-aged people its leads (the maturity of Olmos and McDonnell was a welcome refreshment).
Unfortunately, it lacked the ambition to explore ideas and bend our brains into pretzel shape the way the best S.F. does. The sets and costumes, however believable, were dull to look at--it needed more visual punch. I know that headstrong, adventurous characters like Starbuck are supposed to excite us but they're tiresome, even when they're women. Apollo was bland. Most of all, I never got why the Cylons hate humans at all to say nothing of hating us to the point of genocide. But I missed the first minute or two. Was there a narrative scroll prefacing the story?
I liked best the interesting camera work, Mary McDonnell's subtle but self-assured portrayal of President Roslin's worldly-wise dedication, the balancing of military with civilian concerns (rare for military S.F. and thankfully received by this viewer), and James Callis' balanced delivery of Baltar's dilemma. He actually seems helpless in the face of his own selfishness and cowardliness, and that makes him wonderfully sympathetic despite his flaws, because, ultimately, aren't we all more like Baltar than Apollo or Starbuck? And I like the casting of insanely gorgeous Tricia Helfer as the heavy. Why shouldn't she be a hot sexpot? Her mission is to seduce. Wouldn't you give in to her? I thought she acquitted herself well in the part; not just another pretty face overreaching her grasp.
I was bewildered by the decision to remake the 1978 show as it wasn't really good to begin with. Even at the age of 12, I found it unoriginal in both conception and execution. (Actually, it's not bewildering: they smelled money.) But now I'm glad they did, because even with its shortcomings, it finally brings some true value to the name "Battlestar Galactica". If it becomes a show, I'll probably watch it for what it does well, however limited that is. But I wouldn't call it "appointment television". Honestly, current science fiction television is so bland and uninspired that the only show I definitely try to see each week is "Smallville". The Sci Fi Channel was supposed to save us from all the mainstream mediocrity. What happened? How did our culture become so bored with the future?