Battlestar Galactica

[Izzy]

Any fans of the new series of this?

I stumbled across it one day, and have been hooked ever since

The best sci-fi i've ever watched - and i've watched alot over the years i'm ashamed to admit

As opposed to the camp, Star Wars rip off that was the original series this new show is very gritty and down to earth.

Its the polar opposite of Star Trek, completetly doing away with the techno babble, cliched ethics and transporters - used to be a big Star Trek fan but its increasingly contrived nature eventually had me looking for something more 'realistic' - which is where B.G fits in

Superb acting, i love every character, great effects and does a superb job of exploring the realities of a vessel cut off from any supplies.

Edge of the seat stuff,

Any fans here?

[Timothy]

best Sc-Fi show ever .

And probable the best show on tv right now.


great writing , acting and everything else .

[Izzy]

best Sc-Fi show ever .

And probable the best show on tv right now.


great writing , acting and everything else .

Its the acting that really blows me away, its a ship of real people with all the quirks real people have - for me the most intresting character is Colonel Tigh. In sci-fi we're so used to our leader characters being superb leaders and super confident, this doubt prone character is such a breathe of fresh air,

I hope it does well - people need to give it a chance, its not the piss-poor sci-fi we've been forced to endure for the past decade

[Timothy]

the acting is very top notch .


But I really got to credit the writers , for not following all the typical furmual that most Sc- Fi shows follow.


The only other Sc-Fi show in the past decade that was worth a damn was Firefly.

[Axls Locomotive]

im definitely a fan, but its certainly not the best scifi show ever...if you want realism go watch a soap...scifi is science "fiction" meaning its not real...

the show certainly makes you feel that you are in the ship...and is certainly unique in the way it tells its stories...the acting is certainly good but the plots leave me feeling like little effort has went into creating a complex story...and a complex story it certainly isnt...one of the episodes was about searching for water...that episode was awful...babylon 5 has so many layers and overlapping storylines it really is far superior

i dont agree with your assessment of star trek...cliched ethics? the stories tend to get star trek fans debating rights and wrongs of decisions, there are no absolute ethics and ST fans will be the first to tell you that...transporters are theoretically possible(and someone has i believe created a mini working transporter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleportation )...just like every object on star trek where the designers consult a team of scientists to make sure it can at least be theoretically created...

Timothy, did you not watch Farscape?...i had doubts about it but i got all the dvd's off a friend and i must say its fantastic...

so firefly is worth buying? ive never seen it

[Grouse]

babylon 5 has so many layers and overlapping storylines it really is far superior

I couldn't agree more, It's one of my favourtie series of all time

[Timothy]

I enjoy babylon 5 and Farscape. I just like Battlestar Galactica bettter.



Yea Firefly is worth checking out. Also check out the Firefly movie "Serenity"

[Izzy]

im definitely a fan, but its certainly not the best scifi show ever...if you want realism go watch a soap...scifi is science "fiction" meaning its not real...

Shame u think that - because i repeat again, Battlestar Galactica has moved my beloved Babylon 5 to no.2 - and its currently my fav tv show ever.

I want a sci-fi show that is down to earth - believable, something i can relate to - borg nanoprobes? Hmmmm

the show certainly makes you feel that you are in the ship...and is certainly unique in the way it tells its stories...the acting is certainly good but the plots leave me feeling like little effort has went into creating a complex story...and a complex story it certainly isnt...one of the episodes was about searching for water...that episode was awful...babylon 5 has so many layers and overlapping storylines it really is far superior

One mans meat...eh?

I adored that episode - thats exactly what i want from my sci-fi - plots i can relate to, about real things, i want to see what life is like for them, the ordinary problems they encounter are so much more intresting than saving a bunch of actors from a doomed Rigel VIII by defusing the particle emiters at a 0.5 phase variance

Episodes about Pah'wraiths, Q like beings, telepathic entities and holodeck Sherlock Holmes fantasies - leave me feeling hollow

B5 is great but the acting, effects and gritty realism in BG is so refreshing, so totally new that i like it more than B5 (which in turn i like more than Star Trek)

I find it far more edge of the seat, how the hell are they going to get out of the latest mess they find themselves in?

I loved B5 because of its down to earth nature - the poverty, the xenopobia, the wars and murder - and the TOTAL lack of endless moralising - i find BG has taken what made B5 so good, and made it even better.

i dont agree with your assessment of star trek...cliched ethics?

I suppose i am generalising - after 11 seasons worth of Enterprise and Voyager i have come to condemn the whole thing for the crimes of just two of the series -  but Voyager did have cliched ethics and hypocrisy as the building blocks for every episode - every dilemna had to be solved by doing the ethically ''right'' thing - never was pragmatism factored in or whether these 'rules' were of relevance.

Voyager especially, (but not exclusively) was invariably patronising, pretentious and annoying - goody-two shoes crew being nice and doing the right thing like it was sponsored by the Catholic Church - 'No Mr Klingon, abortion is wrong!' FFS just shot the bastards.

Ethics and stuff is intresting in moderation, i.e The Next Generation, but delivered in the style of a teacher telling off a small child is infuriating i.e Voyager - ''we can't use this way to get home because it would hurt some race we didn't know existed 5 mins ago' - is that even remotely plausible? It grew ever increasingly?contrived

Seems like an enternity ago Star Trek was pushing the buttons Battlestar Galactica now does....

the stories tend to get star trek fans debating rights and wrongs of decisions,

Indeed - but i want to see that in the episodes not on the internet - can't they EVER be evil, and do something selfish? Its just annoying - a ship full of nuns

there are no absolute ethics and ST fans will be the first to tell you that...

Hell, i've been a Star Trek fan for about 15 years, and i'm only 22 now....i know what they say, and i have seen the episodes for myself - hell, i own the episodes!

transporters are theoretically possible(and someone has i believe created a mini working transporter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleportation )...just like every object on star trek where the designers consult a team of scientists to make sure it can at least be theoretically created...

But each little technological addition places us further away from the human drama - it becomes so artificial i can no longer relate, and cease to care.

As for what they talk to scientists about - ha! There isn't an episode or film in which they don't break their OWN scientific rules a hundred times

Battlestar Galactica used telescopes instead of scanners - what a breathe of fresh air, finally, a new idea, something down to earth - technology in the service of the actors, not the other way around - the clever devices should be to make it intresting - not be what the show is about

''if we re-route power from the deflector to the anti-matter storage....'' Enough, we get it. Time for a change. BG is that change.

I suppose to be fair i like BG so much because its what i wanted Voyager to be and because it seems so unbelieveably good compared with the awful Voyager and Enterprise series

so firefly is worth buying? ive never seen it

Tricked by reviews of Serenity i rushed to see it and bought the series - after 2 hours of Serenity i was pretty confident this show was rubbish. I watched the first few episodes of the series to be sure - and, while its much better than the terrible film, its a long way behind BG, ST, and B5.

The crew are pretty dull - and the camera work is crazy, so many objects ur left wondering - what the hell does that thing actually look like? Firefly is a bit too down to earth - its like a flying caravan with a WW1 gun emplacement - hell, we need SOME computer screens....

[Axls Locomotive]

Shame u think that - because i repeat again, Battlestar Galactica has moved my beloved Babylon 5 to no.2 - and its currently my fav tv show ever.

I want a sci-fi show that is down to earth - believable, something i can relate to - borg nanoprobes? Hmmmm

the development of nanomachines is not that far away...

believable like cylons? robots that can look exactly like humans? interstellar travel? programmable human beings...all very safe concepts too

Episodes about Pah'wraiths, Q like beings, telepathic entities and holodeck Sherlock Holmes fantasies - leave me feeling hollow

B5 is great but the acting, effects and gritty realism in BG is so refreshing, so totally new that i like it more than B5 (which in turn i like more than Star Trek)

I find it far more edge of the seat, how the hell are they going to get out of the latest mess they find themselves in?

I loved B5 because of its down to earth nature - the poverty, the xenopobia, the wars and murder - and the TOTAL lack of endless moralising - i find BG has taken what made B5 so good, and made it even better.

holodeck, hollow...witty man...i must admit it raised a smile...

if you think that way then you might as well watch eastenders, lots more drama and realism in half an hour...

imo...intereacting such soap opera ideas into science fiction leaves me feeling cold...its watered down scifi and not true scifi...

lets look at season 2 episode 1
adama is shot...doc reaches him just in time for the credits ...yawn...seen it before
firewalls almost breached...just in time...not new
incessant use of sex between baltar and that damn woman (in every episode)...scifi? not..blatant rubbish
lost the fleet, jump in find coordinates, jump out...its been done before

its like a soap opera

but youre right, star trek became far too much of a cliche at the end, same old structure of plots etc, and far too many episodes..that was down to brannon braga and that other twit who ran the show...but enterprise s3 and s4 are both excellent and broke away from that repetition thanks to writer manny coto...pity it didnt happen sooner...

yea i guess tng were goody too shoes but it was a sign of the times and it sat excellently in the late 80's...but with ds9 and voyager doing the same thing and with the changing 90's it just didnt fit anymore...

you mean battlestar has taken out parts babylon 5,w atered it down and borrowed elements off of soaps...i dont think that makes it better in any way over B5...B5 changed not just scifi but introduced a new way of storywriting over a series of episodes...battlestar offers little thats new

Indeed - but i want to see that in the episodes not on the internet - can't they EVER be evil, and do something selfish? Its just annoying - a ship full of nuns

hmmm, they did plenty wrong or right...you just cant see it...tuvix split back into neelix and tuvok for instance, who was right? plenty of episodes of voyager where janeway made the wrong decision in my eyes

As for what they talk to scientists about - ha! There isn't an episode or film in which they don't break their OWN scientific rules a hundred times

you know fine well thats not true...they stay true to cannon as much as possible...sure they have to break it now and again but who really cares about the fine details apart from the geeks

telescopes?...i think ive stepped back in time  ...thats just going a bit too far methinks



ill check out firefly when i find the money and the time

[Izzy]

lets look at season 2 episode 1
adama is shot...doc reaches him just in time for the credits ...yawn...seen it before
firewalls almost breached...just in time...not new
incessant use of sex between baltar and that damn woman (in every episode)...scifi? not..blatant rubbish
lost the fleet, jump in find coordinates, jump out...its been done before

its like a soap opera

But everythings been done before if u look at it like that I'm puzzled by your post no end

Of course Adama can't die - but by your logic ANY action is ''yawn'' because we know we have 22 more episodes of just about any series and our plucky cast will be back fighting for democracy next week...

Winnining at the last second is ''boring'' as its all been done before? - what, pray tell, would they do instead? Lose? Opps...season over already. They kill of enough crew member sto keep u wondering who's going to make season 3...

What could they do that u would consider new?

Every episode of Star Trek was a remake of a TOS episode, only the planet under threat or the crew member infected with Rigellian flu changed - TNG had about 5 main story types in use for every episode - but, there are only so many things u can do with any tv series - of course underlying ideas will resurface - person x is injured/on trial...persons y and z must save them.....moral at the end....credits.

As for soap opera - again How so more/less than Star Trek or B5? I don't consider any of them to be soaps...

We've seen Star Trek's take on sci-fi, its mostly good, 60% of all ST shows from TOS to ENT are worth watching - but its run out of steam, has grown tired, BG comes along with something new, a new approach to sci-fi (or as new as its posisble to get in a world where everythings been done)

I loved one version of sci-fi - but now its time for a change and BG does that - surely it emulated Star Trek it really would be a 'been there, done that show'? Surely u don't just want the Star Trek formulae churned out again and again - hell, thats what happened, and look where it ended up

How could BG improve to meet ur demands?

[Prometheus]

lets look at season 2 episode 1
adama is shot...doc reaches him just in time for the credits ...yawn...seen it before
firewalls almost breached...just in time...not new
incessant use of sex between baltar and that damn woman (in every episode)...scifi? not..blatant rubbish
lost the fleet, jump in find coordinates, jump out...its been done before

its like a soap opera

But everythings been done before if u look at it like that I'm puzzled by your post no end

Of course Adama can't die - but by your logic ANY action is ''yawn'' because we know we have 22 more episodes of just about any series and our plucky cast will be back fighting for democracy next week...

Winnining at the last second is ''boring'' as its all been done before? - what, pray tell, would they do instead? Lose? Opps...season over already. They kill of enough crew member sto keep u wondering who's going to make season 3...

What could they do that u would consider new?

Every episode of Star Trek was a remake of a TOS episode, only the planet under threat or the crew member infected with Rigellian flu changed - TNG had about 5 main story types in use for every episode - but, there are only so many things u can do with any tv series - of course underlying ideas will resurface - person x is injured/on trial...persons y and z must save them.....moral at the end....credits.

As for soap opera - again How so more/less than Star Trek or B5? I don't consider any of them to be soaps...

We've seen Star Trek's take on sci-fi, its mostly good, 60% of all ST shows from TOS to ENT are worth watching - but its run out of steam, has grown tired, BG comes along with something new, a new approach to sci-fi (or as new as its posisble to get in a world where everythings been done)

I loved one version of sci-fi - but now its time for a change and BG does that - surely it emulated Star Trek it really would be a 'been there, done that show'? Surely u don't just want the Star Trek formulae churned out again and again - hell, thats what happened, and look where it ended up

How could BG improve to meet ur demands?

really anyone can die... or worse /better be a cylon, why i like lost no one is safe...... adama coud have died im sure of it... but its not time to reveal hes a cylon


Q are you up to the latest in viewing? Resurrcation ship part 2.....

[Axls Locomotive]

lets look at season 2 episode 1
adama is shot...doc reaches him just in time for the credits ...yawn...seen it before
firewalls almost breached...just in time...not new
incessant use of sex between baltar and that damn woman (in every episode)...scifi? not..blatant rubbish
lost the fleet, jump in find coordinates, jump out...its been done before

its like a soap opera

But everythings been done before if u look at it like that I'm puzzled by your post no end

Of course Adama can't die - but by your logic ANY action is ''yawn'' because we know we have 22 more episodes of just about any series and our plucky cast will be back fighting for democracy next week...

Winnining at the last second is ''boring'' as its all been done before? - what, pray tell, would they do instead? Lose? Opps...season over already. They kill of enough crew member sto keep u wondering who's going to make season 3...

What could they do that u would consider new?

Every episode of Star Trek was a remake of a TOS episode, only the planet under threat or the crew member infected with Rigellian flu changed - TNG had about 5 main story types in use for every episode - but, there are only so many things u can do with any tv series - of course underlying ideas will resurface - person x is injured/on trial...persons y and z must save them.....moral at the end....credits.

As for soap opera - again How so more/less than Star Trek or B5? I don't consider any of them to be soaps...

We've seen Star Trek's take on sci-fi, its mostly good, 60% of all ST shows from TOS to ENT are worth watching - but its run out of steam, has grown tired, BG comes along with something new, a new approach to sci-fi (or as new as its posisble to get in a world where everythings been done)

I loved one version of sci-fi - but now its time for a change and BG does that - surely it emulated Star Trek it really would be a 'been there, done that show'? Surely u don't just want the Star Trek formulae churned out again and again - hell, thats what happened, and look where it ended up

How could BG improve to meet ur demands?

as i said i agree its a different way to view a scifi series but lacks any significant invention beyond that

id agree with the 60% of all star trek is worth viewing...most of them from the first 2 series

no i dont agree that every show had a moral ,an episode like the inner light only shows how to appreciate life more...not a moral but philosophy...some people dont realise how much philosophy is a part of star trek just as much as morality...morality only exists when youre expected to take a certain view of a situation thats deemed more acceptabl than the other, the real view of star trek is that youre left to decide which decision is right or wrong or neither

and very few TNG episodes draw from the original storylines...i can only remember about 3...by your reckoning TNG did the same storylines twice for each episode of TOS which is ludicrous...Ronald Moore, (producer of Battlestar) wrote about 30 of the TNG episodes btw, including some classic episodes

i agree ST run out of steam....but not because its being going on for so long...because the wrong team have been in charge of it for far too long, thats why its formulaic...if the script writers were as good as the effects teams then it would still be the scifi leader...hell even i had better ideas in my head than braga and berman

soaps...ok i find that storywriters that dwell upon everyday events, everyday tasks and elongate elements just to appeal to women or to the guy in the street ...the ones that really cant bring themselves to be that imaginative that have to have 90% of everything a part of their reality and 10% beyond reality...its not scifi...scifi imo should always be escapism...it weakens the genre imo...like watered down rock music to appeal to the masses if you want an analogy...and yes star trek later series had similar problems

im not a scriptwriter...i dont have the thought processes to create ideas like that, i am of the opposite side of the brain...i like the series but its not the best, but at this moment in time i think its the best scifi series out there that i have seen...what isnt new?, yes they been saying that for decades but there has always been something new...scriptwriters now rely on what has been done before more than they choose to think of some wild concept, because safe is almost always profitable if you use the right techniques...the original star trek and babylon 5 were both steps into the unknown and financially risky, the first because it was a major concept never done before, the second because no one had ever used cutting edge cgi in a tv series before...BS well, nothing much is new is it?...i would like to see far more subplots in BS...i like to watch not knowing what to expect, a lot of BS is pretty obvious although there have been some surprises but not enough...the female starbuck has certainly grown on me for someone who used to watch the original BS series, praise where praise is due

i think stargate has much more originality, so much of the ideas are new, although later series have drawn some of their scripts from other scifi shows

[Axls Locomotive]

really anyone can die... or worse /better be a cylon, why i like lost no one is safe...... adama coud have died im sure of it... but its not time to reveal hes a cylon


Q are you up to the latest in viewing? Resurrcation ship part 2.....

no, nowhere near that episode, series 2 episode 2 is on tomorrow...i do want the series to get more complex...are those 2 still snogging? lol

well if adama was a cylon he could have been activated a long time ago...bye bye series...

cylons ships are definitely cool though

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Great show, I got hooked on it immediately. I like the fact that its more dare I say " down to earth" compared to most of the other stuff out. In other words, the technology is not what carries the show, the story & the actors are at the forefront. It does have some nice special effects but does not overindulge in them.

[Jessica]

bidibidi bidibidi

tht stupid robot sound ( the sound it makes in french ) stuck in my mind.

didn't know other people liked Galactica...

Nice yto know i am not alooooone 

[makane]

Definitely one of the best shows on TV 

[Izzy]

soaps...ok i find that storywriters that dwell upon everyday events, everyday tasks and elongate elements just to appeal to women or to the guy in the street ...the ones that really cant bring themselves to be that imaginative that have to have 90% of everything a part of their reality and 10% beyond reality...its not scifi...scifi imo should always be escapism...it weakens the genre imo...like watered down rock music to appeal to the masses if you want an analogy...and yes star trek later series had similar problems

Don't u think though that humans in Star Trek are invariable more alien than the strange creatures they meet?

A society in which no one gets paid - everything is free - where does the motivation come from? In a society where no one gets paid who cleans the toilets, who would want to? But yet surely it gets done!

Why would anyone go into space when they could just buy a holodeck and do it that way? And as ships cost nothing to build, surely each crew member could have their own?

Battlestar Galactica is a 'human' crew - the lot in Star Trek aren't humans in any sense we can truly relate to, their culture and attitude are totaly alien - and thats a big problem I have with the show - no longer being able to relate

With Battlestar Glactica we have real people doing realistic things - in Star Trek its usually the aliens that show more human tendencies - when u do away with greed, revenge and selfishness - surely u lose vital components of humanity that managed correctly are vital to our behaviour?

Humans in the 24th century will be as wicked/good as they are now and in space to colonise new planets for their resources/provide new homes, any other view of our future is ultimately contrived and childlike. BG society is easy to imagine being our own in a few hundred years, and as such its a fascinating commentary on our present culture and what ist likely to become later

[Jim]

I have a question, sci-fi geeks.

Was Deep Space 9 any good?

I know...nothing, about Star Trek.

[Axls Locomotive]

Don't u think though that humans in Star Trek are invariable more alien than the strange creatures they meet?

in some ways i agree with what you say but again you exaggerate...braga and berman imo were responsible for most of the problems the series had...chronic yes men who do everything their bosses say in order to appeal to the masses and ultimately failing in the end...does picard act alien? data explored far more human facets than battlestar could ever hope to explore, janeway? sisko? bashir? not human? youre kidding me...if you want to watch characters with drink/attitude problems, go 4 it...sure sexual encounters every episode is obviously human but appears as shallow and its obvious ratings gimmick...i would call it exploring the overdone....BS is like the wagon train being chased by the indians...star trek deals with not just human traits but from psychology to racism, to drug abuse to advancement to genetics to war to peace to imbalanced societies to morality to possibility...

A society in which no one gets paid - everything is free - where does the motivation come from? In a society where no one gets paid who cleans the toilets, who would want to? But yet surely it gets done!

learning is the motivation, achievement is the motivation, these are both my main motivations in real life...there are no restraints and you can learn what you want without worrying about paying for it...is it possible...im not sure as im not an economist...i do something for you, you do something for me...no payment required right? on a global scale as long as there is a balance of the workforce its probably possible...but it requires a major shift in thinking

toilet cleaning is automated on the only toilet on the enterprise so there

Why would anyone go into space when they could just buy a holodeck and do it that way? And as ships cost nothing to build, surely each crew member could have their own?

play the sims or go outside and socialise? your choice
the ships dont cost nothing btw, you need resources

Battlestar Galactica is a 'human' crew - the lot in Star Trek aren't humans in any sense we can truly relate to, their culture and attitude are totaly alien - and thats a big problem I have with the show - no longer being able to relate

With Battlestar Glactica we have real people doing realistic things - in Star Trek its usually the aliens that show more human tendencies - when u do away with greed, revenge and selfishness - surely u lose vital components of humanity that managed correctly are vital to our behaviour?

greed and revenge is vital to our behaviour? ummm...i dont know where you get that from but thats, to coin a glaswegian phrase, pure total pish by the way...

the stories are written by humans arent they? so what if its the alien that exhibits a certain emotion or attitude everything comes from the writer...Q is selfish, arrogant, impish and frankly funnier than your average BS actor...BS humour? where?...cylons exhibit greed revenge and selfishness dont they? the sexually obsessed cylon clone isnt human is it? 

every series is good in its own way, you just have to look closer

Humans in the 24th century will be as wicked/good as they are now and in space to colonise new planets for their resources/provide new homes, any other view of our future is ultimately contrived and childlike. BG society is easy to imagine being our own in a few hundred years, and as such its a fascinating commentary on our present culture and what ist likely to become later

300 years ago we still followed kings into war, living conditions were horrendous and disease rife, education was only for the elite, communication was by horse and rider, ships were made out of wood, slavery, etc etc
not much more than a 100 years ago there was no such thing as a phone and now it only costs a few pence a minute to call someone on the other side of the world and thanks to star trek and the people inspired by it that is now possible...
100 years there was no such thing as an aeroplane and in 50 years we have already sent probes across much of the solar system

cylons arent contrived?
travelling between star systems isnt contrived?
destruction of planets isnt contrived?

its science fiction dudio, its not real...but human emotions appear throughout all characters in every book...that wont change

[Axls Locomotive]

I have a question, sci-fi geeks.

Was Deep Space 9 any good?

I know...nothing, about Star Trek.

yep, from about series 4 onwards its excellent...unfortunately to see the back story you have to watch the first 3 series which are a bit slow

im sure izzy would like to know that ronald d moore who rejigged BS wrote many episodes of the last few series of DS9 (and also TNG), many of them being my favourites...