Galactica Lives - Has anyone seen my Battlestar?

For those not in the know there's been a bit of a tug of war recently between two opposing forces who both wanted to be the player to blow some life back into the Battlestar Galactica franchise.

In one corner was Glen Larson, the 1970s series' original creator, and his friend actor Richard Hatch, aka Apollo. This was the team that seemed to be favoured by the fan community … no doubt influenced by Hatch's numerous appearances at various Fan Cons, most recently touting some CGI concept ideas for his vision of a new series of Galactica.

On the other hand there was the forces of big business represented by Universal, which sold the rights to the show to Studios USA (whose parent company, USA Networks, also owns the Battlestar-sized SciFi Channel, a veritable titan in the SF world).

Well, while in the fantasy world of Galactica, Hatch could take on a thousand Cylon fighters and wipe the floor with them - in the real world the corporate jackals and the big guns had a little more luck shooting down his chances.

It has now been reported that director Bryan Singer and his chum Tom DeSanto, who crafted the hit success of last year, X-Men The Movie, have been given the opportunity to produce the new series.

Singer is currently looking at his scheduling of the X-Men II film, to see where he can cut some time to concentrate on the Battlestar Galactica pilot. Bryan was a big fan of the first series when it screened in 1978, and can recite the plot and cast lists of entire episodes by heart.

He is, however, very keen to expunge the last series of Galactica (and associated made for TV movies), where the crew of everyone's favourite Battlestar ended up in orbit around the 1980s Earth, along with an odd little kid dressed in white who was some kind of friendly Q-like ET entity.

The plot direction Singer wants to push the series in will return to the original premise of the fleet fleeing the Cylon menace in search of a lost Earth, which gives the series a lot more legs & interest in terms of visiting different world etc (the last series was sadly set on Earth to save money and cut down on expensive FX).

Bryan is keen to pull a STNG trick and focus the action on the second generation of Galacticans, who have never known any life except that of cosmic refugees on the run from the Cylon Empire. It's been rumored that Singer would like to get a couple of the original series characters to fill the role of the fleet's leaders, council members and hoary seniors.

Sadly, with Lorne Greene, the actor who played Admiral Adama being dead, one of the key characters has already moved beyond even the reach of TV. Adama's role will not be reprised in the new show, except by reference to his heroic death saving the fleet (a possible CGI recreation using stock shots?).

The new pilot will be a lot darker in tone than the original show. The colonial fleet is now showing its age, and there is violent dissent among the civilians, many of whom can't understand their aging parent's obsession with finding Earth.

They just want to find an out of the way planet or half-friendly neutral system, scatter, and settle down. Elements of the fleet command are now leaning towards repression just to keep the refugee wagon train on the road.

As well as the enemies within, the enemies without have also progressed. Some new models of Cylon are promised for specialist roles … with a diverse range of pilot-types, soldier-types, leader-types, diplomat-types and the like. No doubt this diversification will help swell the ubiquitous line of toys and merchandising which will accompany the new show.

More details on the magnificent Galactica revival as we get them.

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NEWS ARCHIVE

OTHER CONTENT - March 2001

SFX Network gets a lightsaber thrust through its heart
(NEWS)

Galactica Lives - Has anyone seen my Battlestar?
(NEWS)

2001: Filming The Future
(REVIEWS)

Architectural Survival
(FICTION)

Swine Before Pearls
(FICTION)

A Convention called Willy
(NEWS)

ET. Real visitors, or real mad?
(ARTICLE)

Peter. 01/03/2001
I don't care who makes this new series ... just that it gets made and that it's good!

Ash4. 01/03/2001
The original series was a little too cheesy for my new adult tastes. But then I guess they all were in the 1970s. Who remembers Buck Rogers?

Bouncing Stan. 01/03/2001
Let's hope airfix re-release their cool Viper model. I really enjoyed making that one.

Jerryn. 01/03/2001
If this new Battlestar Galactica series is going to be as dark and depressing as Star Trek Deep Space Nine, you might as well can it right now.