Oolite Bulletins

@FSOneblin. It was orginally a camp 70s TV series, then a camp 80s TV movie. However it was re-imagined in 2003 and is now in season 4. Its non-episodic, with no re-sets to get characters out of tricky situations, so you really need to watch it from the start. Love ST though I do, it always bugged me that whatever happened to a character in the first ten minutes of an episode (paralised, falls in love whatever) everything would be back to normal by the end. BSG is very dark, with propper characters and explores grown up ideas. I'm amazed that they actually got away with what a clearly comments on 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, is suicide bombing (by the good guys) acceptable if it the only way you have to resist?, to what extent do emergency situations justify depatures from the rule of law? Is torture ok?, what are war crimes and why aren't they war crimes when your side comitts them? The dangers of religion over rationalism - the Cylons belived their policy was directed by God long before Sarah Palin came along! Can't recomend it enough. The best and most intelligent Sci-Fi I've seen in a long time. You can pick up the season one boxed set at amazon for about $20. Go and buy it right now! Make sure you get the 2003 - present remake though rarther than the orginal 70s version!

I'm with Virgin Media and lost access to BSG when Vermin Mediocre and Sky fell out over Sky One - so I've only seen, I think, Seasons 1 and 2 (the last episode I saw is when Apollo thinks he can see/hear Starbuck and she is inticing him to follow her). I know VM and Sky have struck a deal to get Sky One back, but I've just put the DVDs of BSG on my Christmas list instead.

I enjoyed the pilot and season 1 of BSG a lot, well everything more or less up to the occupation. I find it strange that they got away with such a low age limit in the Uk for the DVD's considering the sex and more so the torture, weird.

It all got too religious for me and that was one of my gripes with DS9 too. Sci-fi to me as well as being entertainment is about escaping from day to day real world stuff and when they start to focus so much on religion (and current affairs like Iraq and terrorism etc) it loses it's appeal for me.

I continued to watch seeing it conludes soon anyway but I haven't enjoyed it much and neither have my family and friends that I got interesting in it. it's just got really weird now (will not go into too much detail seeing some here are not up to date with it) with characters taking the most stupid of stances on some issues.


DaddyHoggy
There are some sites online where you should find the episodes you have missed to stream or in some cases even download although quality varies and it's easier to find better quality sooner after airing. The sites are legal as they do not host the material. I would post a couple of links for you but I don't know if that is ok here?

Hmm, like HD I'm with Virgin Media, so watched seasons 3 and 4 on DVD (in a mamoth weekend each), but I can see how the plot could drag rather if you were watching an episode a week. I'm a card-carrying sci-fi geek, but I've often found sci-fi charaters a bit too idealised. Terrorism (or freedom fighters depending on your POV), religion, sex, war and politics are part of the human condition and not modern issues. Any Ancicent Roman citizan would recognise all the issues in realition to restrictions on civil libeties in the interest of "wars on terror", dangerous cults arrising worshiping new proffits, whether or not the military should be involved in polictical desions etc. And I suspect we'll still be dealing with these issues in the year 7,000 AD!

I agree to an extent with you there, these issues will always exist. My problem is dwelling on them too much and making them part of the core too much. While all the treks had some appeal to me (except Enterprise) I enjoyed TNG the most because it was more of a complete package for my tastes.

The character building was good like Worf intergrating and having to keep his temper under control and how Klingon politics affected him. The humour was there and often quite a lot of it with Barkley, Q and the crew interactions in general for example Klingon Worf giving dating advice to Human Geordie La forge. The action was good with the budget they had. The stories were intelligent etc, etc.

They did touch on stuff like religion (Edo), torture (the Cards capturing Picard, how many lights do you see episodes) and terrorism with the high ground episode that was shown at a later date then it should have been if I recall correctly here in the Uk for a reason I can't remeber. The difference is that when they touched on these subjects it was in a stand alone episode format and not as an overall core part of the series so much.

DS9 had some of these same qualities when they got going and didn't focus on the religion so much. Some of the Quark and Rom stuff was great as well as the chief and doc and doc and Garak but in the end it always seemed to come back to the religion and concluded with it big style, it's looking like BSG is going that same way which I find sad.

Just incase I came across as a prude or something with my comment about wondering how they got away with not being a higher age rating for BSG that's not the case. I just find it odd the way things are often rated. If they show a nipple it's a 15 but you can show more or less the full act as long as you don't see the bits and it's a 12a. It's a similar thing with violence, running or gushing blood gets an instant higher rating but torture and even decapitation in tv or film is a lower rating.

"There are four lights!" - Big Fan of STNG and DS9 was good once it got going. I know what you mean about BSG being very dark and parts of it are not easy to watch. The premise of BSG is very dark though. I always thought the 70s version treated the almost complete extition of the human race, 100s of billions wiped out and reduced to a mere 46,000 aboad a small fleet pretty lightly. The Characters were just too darn perky in the circumstances! I'm not religious myself, but I didn't find the religion in BSG irritating (which to be honest I usually do!). Seems natural that people would turn very much to religion in this hyperthetical situation. Its a far darker premise that Trek and although ST touched on issues such as torture, its something used by the the bad against the good. ST and Dr Who (of which I'm also a big fan) present morally flawless heros, wheras BSG goes for morally uncertain ones. Without wanting to give spoilers, I thought things like the way the govenment was presevered, even though it meant that a schoolteacher became president by default as the one elected offical left alive and Appollo's secret defence of the Rule of Law when in conflict with the chain of command were touching and morally affirming. But is is a very different show to ST and some of it is pretty harrowing stuff, without there being much on screen violence.

LittleBear wrote:

"There are four lights!" - Big Fan of STNG and DS9 was good once it got going. I know what you mean about BSG being very dark and parts of it are not easy to watch. The premise of BSG is very dark though. I always thought the 70s version treated the almost complete extition of the human race, 100s of billions wiped out and reduced to a mere 46,000 aboad a small fleet pretty lightly. The Characters were just too darn perky in the circumstances! I'm not religious myself, but I didn't find the religion in BSG irritating (which to be honest I usually do!). Seems natural that people would turn very much to religion in this hyperthetical situation. Its a far darker premise that Trek and although ST touched on issues such as torture, its something used by the the bad against the good. ST and Dr Who (of which I'm also a big fan) present morally flawless heros, wheras BSG goes for morally uncertain ones. Without wanting to give spoilers, I thought things like the way the govenment was presevered, even though it meant that a schoolteacher became president by default as the one elected offical left alive and Appollo's secret defence of the Rule of Law when in conflict with the chain of command were touching and morally affirming. But is is a very different show to ST and some of it is pretty harrowing stuff, without there being much on screen violence.

I've seen BSG from season 1 to 4

I think my basic problem (well - one of many ) is that I just don't like these 're-imaginings' of shows.

ST:TOS will always be bright dayglo colours, plastic rocks, rolling, tee-shirt ripping He's-dead-Jim stuff for me. Kirk is Bill Shatner, period!

Likewise, Battlestar Galactica will always be a camp frakkin-daggit-shining-planet-called-Earth 70s tv series. Starbuck is a bloke, period!

Both are too embedded in my childhood for me to accept a 'new and improved' version. I wish people would just 'move on' from these classic shows and leave the originals alone.

Same with the new 'Survivors' on BBC.

I'm assuming the new ST film will be in the same league.

I watch them, because there is never enough Sci-Fi on, but these shows are so different from the originals they bear no real resemblance to the originals - I'd much prefer if they used their imaginations and came up with a new premise.

For example, Homeworld (one of my favourite games) is basically BSG, but with a different ship, different background etc - makes for a totally different feel and experience, though its instantly acceptable. That would have made a great film/series.

That's what I like about Oolite. It's not a revisit of Elite - it's 'what happened next'.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

Likewise, Battlestar Galactica will always be a camp frakkin-daggit-shining-planet-called-Earth 70s tv series. Starbuck is a bloke, period!

You gotta admit, though, that Katee Sackhoff is a dead ringer for Dirk Benedict.

Ahruman wrote:

You gotta admit, though, that Katee Sackhoff is a dead ringer for Dirk Benedict.

Ralph McQuarrie's Battlestar Galactic Concept Art
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heilemann/ ... 003191330/
Lovely stuff!

I would be amazed if there was anything new or inspiring, or even pleasantly surprising about the new film.
It just doesn't seem to happen in SF in film or series media anymore which is a shame because for me the main entertainment strength of SF is to feel that somehow I have had my perspective or knowledge increased by it, or at least been introduced to a unexpected point of view.
Babylon 5 achieved that without getting heavy.
TNG achieved it with some if not original then well executed existential freakery episodes.
I count myself lucky if the characterisation is good - I like to feel inspired by good deep yet believeable and not 2d characters that fit the plots and again Bab 5 Excelled there.
BSG has good acting but it is a shame that the stories, both serial and episodic are just boring, uninspiring rehashes of somebodys religeous and political agenda.
Ho Hum, I will start to rant if I am not careful.

I was musing on sci-fi sequels today, and the only films that I could think of where the standard of the original was matched/bettered were "The Terminator" and "Star Wars" (well, that was until the second half of ROTJ turned into The Muppet Show... ).

P.S. I'm not counting the 3 latest prequels of Star Wars here -- they are a prime example of a movie company churning out utter dog-shite just to make money. As far as I'm concerned, those films have nothing to do with the "Star Wars" that blew my mind as a 6-year-old.

I think "Aliens" was as good as, although totally different from, "Alien". The first was an excellent sci-fi horror, the second was an excellent sci-fi action flick. Of course, it was all downhill from there...

JohnnyBoy wrote:

I was musing on sci-fi sequels today, and the only films that I could think of where the standard of the original was matched/bettered were "The Terminator" and "Star Wars" (well, that was until the second half of ROTJ turned into The Muppet Show... :roll:).

Wait, you’re saying Wrath of Kahn isn’t better than The Motion Picture? Philistine. :-p