Originally posted by ReaperSorry, I can't wait... Now how can I get to your house in 4 days..... Hmmmmm...
Hi. At the moment all that I can see is that they say premier in USA in January 2005. So we in the UK will get it about 3 months before you in the US.
I cannot wait, and it is only 4 days now!
Gerrit
😉
P-
Originally posted by ReaperYup, saw the mini!
Hi. If only I had a video machine! I'll tell you what, I'll let you know how the episodes are. I take it you have seen the mini series?
Gerrit
I wonder why US is taking so long to show it? Must have better things on Sci-Fi right now like SG1 and Scare Tactics?!
Yeah, don't give too much away... but let me know how it goes!
P-
Galactica Promises Topical/Controversial Themes: Moore and cast talk candidly with the UK's Times
HollywoodNorthReport: As Battlestar Galactica prepares for its long-awaited debut Oct. 18th on SKY ONE in the UK, Fiona Morrow of the Sunday Times interviewed producer Ron Moore and a handful of the cast. What resulted was an insightful, topical—occasionally partisan—and revealing insight into what this new version of Galactica offers for viewers. The bottom line: this show isn't afraid to take some risks and tackle some controversial subjects. HNR presents the highlights below:
"For those of us who take our sci-fi with a pinch of salt, however, there are far more interesting things going on here. There is great safety in genre and, at a time when the American media stands accused of soft-peddling news and hard-selling patriotism, Battlestar Galactica is taking some risks.
‘Conceptually, the best science fiction has always been socially and politically relevant,’ argues Moore over breakfast on set in Vancouver. ‘The original Star Trek was famed for that, as was The Twilight Zone.’ Still, he was surprised at the network’s enthusiasm for current parallels. ‘At script stage on the pilot, I got a note back from the top of the network supporting the references to September 11, the War on Terror and al-Qaeda, and encouraging me to take it further. And I thought: The network’s telling me to do this? I’d be more than happy not to have to hide my evil plan.’
Most controversial so far is an episode in which a Cylon is tortured and humiliated; a direct reference to Abu Ghraib.
‘Discussions on that one were about as charged as you’re going to get,” Moore admits. ‘But there was never any suggestion that we shouldn’t go near the issue.’
Much credibility has come from the casting. Like The West Wing,which hired Martin Sheen to play its Democrat president, Eick and Moore have chosen a visible figurehead to steer Galactica. Edward James Olmos—the human rights campaigner and environmental activist—is Commander William Adama, who is forced to put aside his desire for revenge in order to give the human race a chance of survival.
‘This is the most serious role that I’ve taken,’ Olmos says between takes. ‘It deals with the annihilation of the human species and what happens afterwards—and we’re looking straight in its face right now. Anyone who knows about atomic weapons knows that Pakistan and North Korea have the capacity to knock the Earth off its axis.
Olmos believes that the premise of Galactica cannot help but resonate with the audience: ‘They should be able to imagine it happening,’ he sighs. ‘It’s too close for comfort—there are major problems on this planet that we don’t even care about: overpopulation, pollution…the next big war is going to be over water. It’ll be the single most devastating time in the planet’s history when they start selling water in a bottle for money that you cannot afford; water will be the new oil.’
Not only is he directing some of the episodes, Olmos also has creative control over his character. ‘It comes down to the writing,’ he explains. ‘If the writing falls short, then Adama has to be killed immediately. The first three-eyed creature I see, I’m outta here.’ And that’s no empty threat. ‘Eddie is a man of conviction and I have no doubt that he would walk,’ judges Jamie Bamber, the British actor who plays his son.
As Captain Lee (Apollo) Adama, Bamber has the unenviable job of re-creating the role formerly inhabited by Richard Hatch. If it wasn’t bad enough that Hatch had made it so publicly clear that he was the only true Apollo, Moore finally managed to convince him to take a cameo on the new show.
‘When I first heard that Richard was going to be in it, I really was quite cross,’ admits Bamber. ‘I thought it was a marketing gimmick or some idea to bring the original fans on board. And I did get quite defensive. I thought: ‘What do I need less than a hole in the head than the original Apollo—who everyone is saying is Apollo—turning up and stamping all over my little patch?’ But I read the script and I loved it. He plays a dissident freedom-fighter/terrorist who has been in prison for years and I am sent to persuade him to help us. It was very clever and cheeky writing by Ron Moore. And,’ he adds, ‘Richard admitted to me that we were doing exactly the things he wanted the original to do. He said he didn’t like the way that his character had been pushed, that ABC were really difficult to work for and that he hated his time on the show.’
Moore concurs: ‘Even as a kid watching the original, I knew there were things that didn’t work. Glen Larson starts with this incredibly dark idea—the genocide of an entire race by robots. Our heroes flee into the night, scrabbling for survival, hunting for this mythical place called Earth. That’s a great premise, but it’s ABC in 1978 and you ain’t doing that every week. So one week we’re at the casino planet, the next it’s a rip-off of Shane, then the Towering Inferno—it became popcorn escapism.’
Though he was booed at last year’s 25th anniversary Galactica convention, Moore isn’t fazed: ‘I got death threats when I killed Captain Kirk in the Star Trek movie, and I survived, so none of this sweats me,’ he laughs. ‘The Battlestar Galactica fans have a way to go before they impress me with how frightening they are.’