Back in the Day…
Since we at GWC have taken the opportunities recently to pine over our favorite stuff from back-then, from action figures to TV shows, we’d like to hear your own stories about how you got acquainted with BSG. In Podcast #47, Chuck remembered running around a gymnasium as a little kid with a toy Cylon raider. And I admitted I wasn’t alive yet at that point, so my intro to BSG came, well, about three years ago.
Did you watch the original series (first run or re-runs)? Did you own any of the action figures? Ever have a crush on Dirk Benedict? Time to let down that tough BSG-fan exterior and come clean about your first time–with BSG, that is.
Galactic Watercooler 
Modern Geek 
Save Eureka 
Eff This Week 
FitSmart
It was on on a Sunday nite at 7 pm back in the pre VCR days when if you didnt actually sit down and watch it…you missed it. I had a crush on Maren Jensen (aka:Athena) and Laurette Spang (the Socialator Cassiopeia). I thought the FX were COOL STUFF, and they were for that time.
I was aware of the series peripherally from mags like EW, who in particular were really pimping it out.
However, I was totally, vehemently opposed to it. I wanted nothing to do with it and I think I vaguely thought SG-1 and BSG were the same thing for a while. Then EW had BSG on the cover and I was just like “Dammit!” because it kept getting tossed in my path and finally, I broke down and read the article and was like, Hey that sounds cool. This Starbuck seems like a cool gal and that Apollos sure is hot.
So the first episode I ever saw, and it was on it’s original broadcast date, was A Measure of Salvation. And I had no earthly idea what was going on. And I had been all excited to see Starbuck and instead I got diseased Cylons.
Luckily, I was home sick that night and I quickly got on ITunes and got the Catch Up episode. Then I downloaded about five more.
My biggest regret is that I watched them out of order. I did some S3 before I saw any S1.
Still, I caught up very quickly, and even forced my brother in law to do a marathon sitting where we did all of S1 on a Thursday, then S2 on Saturday morning into evening, had his brother go pick up 2.5 at Best Buy, then at six o’clock in the morning we went to my house where I had S3 eps up to the then-current Unfinished Business that we watched on his computer.
It was dorky. But I’m proud.
I watched the series when it first came out, 30 years ago , ouch!. (Damn I’m getting old)
In college they filmed an episode at CSUN (Calif State Univ at Northridge), it was the one where they parachuted into some Cylon(z) base. The Cylon(z) base was the Oviatt Library at the CSUN campus. They were always shooting TV shows at CSUN, Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Eight is Enough, ..etc.
Jim
I’m right up there with you Jim. My first experience was when I was 5 years old, seeing the original BSG in the movie theater. I’m not sure but I think it was just the pilot episodes combined together and realeased in the theater. I just remember the explosions so loud in the dogfight scenes you could feel the vibrations in your lungs and thinking that this was the greatest movie in the world. After that we always saw it on TV whenever it aired.
Nick, I think that was my first BSG experience too (and yes, the movie was the pilot episodes edited together as a feature…but still cool). What I liked about the design of the original BSG was that my friends and I could make a viper out of toilet paper and paper towel tubes (there were very few BSG action figures available in Puerto Rico, where I grew up, though I do think I had a Cylon. The ones I did see were nowhere near as cool as my Star Wars figures, which I still, 30 years later, collect). We did, however, get the original series in Puerto Rico about a year after it ran in the U.S. Dubbed in Spanish, no less! The only episode, other than the pilot, that I remember is the one where the ship is on fire and they can’t put it out (I can’t help but think of that episode when Tigh has the launch tubes or whatever it is that’s on fire vented into space to prevent the fire from spreading in the mini series. The things they couldn’t get away with in 1978!).
Then I caught re-runs of the original series on Sci-Fi as an adult. Pee-ewe! BLECH! What a corny old show it was. I couldn’t believe how lame this show, which I remembered so fondly from my childhood, seemed now (in fact, I caught a re-run on cable last night and decided that repeats of the original series should be banned from airing in perpetuity). So, when I heard they were remaking it five years ago, I avoided it.
Then I spent a week in Eugene, Oregon while having a piece I wrote premiered by the University of Oregon’s wind ensemble. The rehearsals were every other day, so there were a couple of nights where I had nothing to do. So one night I stayed in, ordered dinner out and decided to watch TV. The most interesting thing on was a marathon of the first five episodes of the new BSG on Sci Fi, and the first episode I saw was “Bastille Day.” By the time I got to “You Can’t Go Home Again” I kept thinking (after trying really hard to find it derivative. “Hey, the centurions kinda look like Super Battle Droids! It’s STILL a rip off of Star Wars!” That’s the best I could come up with) “man, I hope Starbuck gets off the planet…wait, I actually CARE FOR THESE CHARACTERS AS PEOPLE! DAMN! This show is good.”
I was hooked after that. Best show on TV. There isn’t any other show (and I really don’t much care for science fiction on TV, other than Futurama, which doesn’t really count, does it?) that has hooked me as BSG has. What a cool show!
I was around ten when BSG hit the small screen for the first time. It went a long way towards filling the craving that Star Wars had created in all us kids. Of course, I had Starbuck, a Viper and a Raider. (Starbuck and the Viper disappeared relatively early, but the Raider was still around as of a couple years ago.)
It didn’t get a lot of time in reruns when/where I was growing up, and I began to remember it dismissively (Boxy! Muffit!.) I caught some reruns on Scifi a year or two ago and I was suprised to find that it was still watchable. It was nice to see that they grabbed some plot points (like the Pegasus arc) from the original as well.
Nick, I’m not suprised that you remember the experience so well. The theatrical BSG was the last film released in Sensurround.
First saw the original BSG in the cinema back in dark ages of the ’70’s. In Australia, the original movie was shown in cinemas: then we got the series on TV.
Back then it was the greatest thing: I had the T-shirts, toy Viper (which shot real missiles! – no choking hazards in the ’70’s, apparently) and even one of those cool viper launchers that flung a pair of vipers across the room and you were supposed to hit a cardboard cylon raider. My brother got the Battlestar Galactica electronic game. Cutting edge in it’s day, it consisted of red dashes moving towards a Battlestar and you had to shoot them….with other red dots…
I hired the original movie a few months back…my Gods it was BAD! I am sure in it’s day it was cutting edge but…crikey! If the re-imagined BSG reflects society today (and I believe it does), the original BSG surely reflected a much more naive era, where the only agenda was entertaining the masses. Then Star Wars came, and rewrote the record books.
I remember watching the classic show every week with my brother around 1982-83 (I was only 6 or 7 at the time) back in France. I seem to remember the pilot and 2 episodes edited together were released in theaters in 1979 in France before the show aired on tv (the tv show was just called ‘Galactica’).
Hi Yorick, I have a question for you.
What on earth did the Cylons sound like with a French accent??
Sacre Bleu! “By Your Command…Mon Capitan….”
“I shine my chrome in your general direction!”
Pike: Nice.
I didn’t know anything about BSG – new or original series (I was only 3 when it was out originally) until mid season 2 – “The Farm”, actually “Home Part I” was the first one I watched and was able to concentrated on.
See I went to visit my friend, and after a 5 hour drive, and not having seen my friend in awhile we had it on, but didn’t get a chance to really watch it. She filled me in on a little bit of the history and I was interested, so the next week I tuned in. And I was hooked – although I had no idea what was going on.
So a weekend later there was a snow storm predicted – so what did I do – ran out and got Season 1 – 3 days later I had seen all of Season 1, and hungry for more.
As soon as they replayed Season 2.0 I taped them – so I would be completely caught up by the time the new half returned.
Now I regularly listen to the RDM podcast, the GWC cast, participate here (although not that much) and am active on the SciFi.com boards – and loving every minute of it.
lol
Gafra, it must have been something like “A vos ordres” or “A votre commande”. I couldn’t find a video of this, but I think you can find the french version of the original introduction monologue on dailymotion.com 🙂
Thanks Yorick,
Well done Mr. Pike. I just had a vision of King Arthur galloping through the forest with a cylon clapping coconuts behind him.
On another Month Cylon bent:
Gaius is NOT the messiah…he’s a very naughty boy!
i was in grade school when the original BSG was on tv. my mom was a sci-fi head–a real down ‘n durty STAR TREK fan–so she watched BSG from time to time as well. I HATED IT. and you know why? that damn BOXEY AND DAGGIT. i remember being a kid, looking at the Cylons and thinking, “oh wow those guys are SO COOL LOOKING!” and then the special effects exploded on my mom’s little B&W tv, and i thought, “coooool!!!!” and then the stupid kid and that “man bear pig” showed up. i went back to my room to draw. CRRAAAAAAP!
Armando says it best!:
” (in fact, I caught a re-run on cable last night and decided that repeats of the original series should be banned from airing in perpetuity). So, when I heard they were remaking it five years ago, I avoided it.”
this is exactly how i felt when my best friend said i HAD TO WATCH THE “NEW” BSG. i’m glad i did.
thanks for the trip down memory lane, Watercooler!!
Well I was about 10 years from being born when the show aired, but I do have vague memories of the reruns on SciFi in the late ’90’s. I used to wake up early to watch their reruns of Irwin Allen’s “Land of the Giants” (loved that show!) and “Lost in Space”. I do watch the old show on Netflix from time to time for kicks and giggles. Watching the daggit bite the Cylonz’ legs makes me laugh really hard (on the last disk of season 1, I think). Hmmm.
I didn’t want anything to do with the new show for a long time because of the name. For a long time I thought Battlestar Galactica sounded so silly (I prefer BSG). I figured that the main characters would be wearing spandex suits- thankfully that’s not the case (Eddie Olmos in bright blue spandex lol). Of course, my brother bought the season 1 DVD set for Christmas in 2005 and I fell in love with it. Though I do mention the show occasionally, part of me loves that it’s a diamond in the rough. It’s like it’s my very own show that only 2 million other people watch from week to week.
My First memory was watching this show with my dad as a little kid and it was re runs. I remeber it was re runs since after BSG was on I was watching A-Team and thinking wait how is Starbuck on Earth…. Then When I was in college I got a hold of the whole set of the old series and loved it even with the cheese… Then At first like most I was scared with the mini series but watched it anyway and was hooked right away…
I was 6 when BSG premiered, and I can remember my mom telling me I would like it because it was “just like ‘Star Wars’,” so I got to stay up to late that Sunday night premiere. I didn’t watch it after that, though, and don’t actually remember if I enjoyed it or not, but I do remember thinking the Cylon raiders were cool — and, frankly, I still prefer the original raider design to the reimagined series design. Same goes for the basestars, too. So there. 😉
The only BSG product I remember from back then was BSG silly putty. I think it was just ordinary silly putty but backed on a card with the BSG publicity photos. Someone in my local H.E.B. (a Texas grocery store chain — I lived in San Antonio at the time) had stolen the silly putty and left the card, and I asked the cashier if I could have the card. I could but, alas, have it no longer.
I also had the storybook of the pilot episode, which I know I read a few times, but the only thing that stuck with me, that I remembered when seeing the show on Sci-Fi Channel reruns, was the sequence filmed through the red filter when they are doing something in a nebula… I think….? I remember the red, not the plot. 🙂
I was 11 when TOS first came on. I remember watching every episode, including G 1980.
At 11, I wasn’t very discrimiating about what science fiction I watched; I watched whatever was on. The Japanese monster films, The Time Machine, UFO, Space 1999, ST, ST cartoon, Land of the Giants, Far Out Space Nuts, even Sigmond and the Sea Monster.
I remember liking TOS, but I got real tired, real fast of the repetitive space battles and dumb stories like Towering Inferno in Space and Shootout at the Red Eye corral, etc.
When I heard that there was going to be a reimagining of BSG, I was pumped. I always thought that the premise was great. I was more than pleasantly surprised at how well done the Mini was (considering the quality of other “Original” craaaap that SciFi did/does/continues to do. Gryphon anyone?).
So, I never miss a show and I send copies to Germany so my Bro-in-law (an Engineer and Sci-fi nut) can enjoy the show as well…
I did have the original Cylon Raider, that had one mini cylon and shot the two red projectiles. It was much cooler than the Vipers. which just shot the one. I remember distictly when only a few months later, when they no longer made the ones that shot their projectiles, they only sorta clicked and then you had to push them back in to reset them. I felt lucky to have purchased my fully shooting Raider just in time. Don’t know where it is now though…
First off–nice one Pike!
I was one of the freaks who loved the original show. I watched the premier on TV and saw the “movie” in the theater several times. I was always a huge Starbuck fan and watched Dirk on A-Team years later. I could sense the cheese even though I was 9 and in 4th grade. Didn’t care. Those bastards at Lucasfilm said no sequel til 1980? I couldn’t wait and BSG filled my mind w cool thoughts. Even at a young age I wondered why the Centurions(z) couldn’t hit water from a boat.
Like John B I had a thing for Maren Jensen’s Athena and Cassiopea to an extent. I thought it was lame she went from hooker to nurse overnight. Naughty Nurse would have been just fine.
I thought Muffit was cheesy until I learned there was a chimp in there. That was kinda cool. Boxey was annoying; esp when he snuck on board super dangerous missions.
As bad as they were, I miss Count Iblis and the Imperious Leader. That dud had a cool voice.
I got the boxed (what a pun!) set of the 78 series for Xmas. Gotta love memory lane.
I feel old! I was just shy of 20 when the original came out on TV. I was already hooked on anything science fiction. It was great for it’s time. The special effects that look so cheesy now were so fresh back then. I recognized the agro ship from the movie Silent Running right away. Was disappointed when it ended back then. And I remember getting really ticked when Buck Rogers in the 25th came out a year later and they used the same sound effects from BSG. Grrr. Then they ran the nightmare called Galactica 1980. So bad! When I heard about the new show I almost didn’t watch the mini … boy am I glad I did.
Dude. Iblis had a cool voice. Not a “dud”.
Nice call Gryper. Buck Rogers sooo ripped off the sound effects of BSG! Of course I watched Buck Rogers for The hot Princess and Erin Gray in spandex. Oh those crazy disco years!
Gal 1980 is dead to me. It never existed. It should never have happened. It put the long A in Craaaaaaap. The horror, the horror…
Well being a chick I didn’t watch BR to see Wilma or the Princess. If it was sci-fi, I was watchin. 🙂
Craaaaap….thanks to Pike I now have Monty Python lines on the brain! And I’m at work…not good.
Run away! Run away!
Trak101 sez:
“I was more than pleasantly surprised at how well done the Mini was (considering the quality of other “Original†craaaap that SciFi did/does/continues to do. Gryphon anyone?).”
I’ve got one word for you, Trak: Manskito! 😉
I’m exactly as old as the original series, so I didn’t quite catch that when it aired, although I do remember t being in my cognitive periphery while growing up. By the time I was actually old enough to know what’s what, though, I guess the whole BSG thing had died down.
After having gotten into RDM’s BSG, I Netflixed TOS just t see what was up, and sadly, I wasn’t too engaged. I don’t think it’s aged too gracefully. Then again, I only watched the first few episodes (probably one or two DVD’s worth, if memory serves) so it may have gotten better afterwards, but I never found out. What I did like was discovering all the little touches and homages to TOS that RDM has thrown into his version, from the visual cues in costumes (good thing they eschewed the capes, huh?), to the designs to the vipers, etc.
I discovered RDM’s BSG right at the midpoint of S2. One of my schoolmates at the time recommended it to me, and I put off watching it for a while, since I was fully expecting a cheesy, Skiffy-B-Production type show (I never got into the Stargates, so I couldn’t vouch for the quality of their other long running, successful shows at the time). I checked out the miniseries, and boy, was I blown (away. You forgot to say ‘away’ again).
X_O
I, too, was a fan of TOS (god, I’m old too) and watched it religiously. Loved, loved, loved Dirk Benedict and wanted to grow up to be Cassie (without the hooker past). I missed the miniseries (ashamed to admit I refused to watch in protest of Starbuck being a girl), but quickly realized the error of my ways and am solidly hooked.
I must give props to Timbuck for hooking me up with this site, as if I needed any other distractions at work! 🙂
So, when do we get a Logan’s Run reimagining?
Well, Sci-Fi Channel certainly does put out its fair share of craaaaaaaaap, but did anyone catch the episode of “Sciography” — there were only two episodes in all — that dealt with BSG (the original, which was the only series at that point)? It wasn’t a half-bad production. I wish the series had continued — they did “Quantum Leap” and next up was the “Twilight Zone,” but the show folded for some reason. I wish they’d revive it. (Much as I wish they’d bring back “Exposure” on a weekly basis. Once BSG goes, there will be nothing to keep me watching Sci-Fi … unless something good comes along, oh, say, “Caprica”? )
Speaking of Caprica anyone hear any more news if anyone is picking that up?
Melissa: WITHOUT the hooker past? Hmmm. Nice to see you posting!
re: Caprica. I think we collectively need to harass Sci-Fi until they deliver it. Anyone know what link to use? We could do a blitz if we knew whom to contact. So say we all!
Hey if someone knows a link I will sign it and try and get as many people to sign it as possible!! come on if they can do a flash gordon series they can do caprica! even if it was a min-series it would still rock!
I’m about half a year younger than the original series, and I grew up without cable (weep for me), so I never saw reruns. I think I remember vaguely catching an episode once in a hotel during a family vacation. I knew what the series was, though, so when the announcement was made that a reimagining of the series was being done in a realistic, “documentary”-style, my interest was piqued. It sounded like sci-fi meets Robert Altman (my favorite film director, BTW).
We still didn’t have cable, though, so the first time I saw the miniseries was when it reaired on NBC a few weeks before the debut of season one. Actually, my first sight of it was when I walked in on my brother watching it and saw Sharon enter Ragnar station with the other Cylons. Darn it, surprise ruined! But I watched the miniseries and thought it was interesting enough to stay tuned to the series (by now we had cable; beautiful timing, that).
I didn’t care about the Starbuck controversy or any of the original series fans’ complaints–I was just interested to see good sci-fi. By this time, I was sick of the last two boring Star Trek series, the lame Star Wars prequels, the rotten Matrix sequels, and even the state of the silly Stargate series (I know there are fans of all on GWC, so forgive me; that’s just the way I feel). “33” blew me away; as Jamie Bamber called it in the roundtable podcast, a nearly perfect hour of television. By “Act of Contrition”/”You Can’t Go Home Again”, I was in love with Starbuck, and the show had already carved out a niche in my weekly schedule that felt empty when season one ended after thirteen weeks. RDM and crew had saved sci-fi for me.
A few weeks ago, my brother picked up some OLD original series toys at a garage sale and gave them to me: a 10″ Viper model, and a launch bay that fires foam rubber Vipers from a trigger/rubber band mechanism. They’re beat up and missing half their stickers, but they’re kinda cool.
i was around seven or eight years old, when i saw the original series for the first time. i was really into it all things bsg. i had the toys, and when my family was visting some of our relatives in california, we toured universal studios and went on the bsg ride. it was complete with the old toasters and some guy dressed like starbuck who saved us all at the last minute. it was pretty awesome.
i have to say that as much as i enjoyed the original, i can’t even watch it now. it just seems really awful. but i’ve been watching rdm’s bsg since the mini-series..
Like Audra, I wasn’t alive at the time. My first experience was seeing Hand of God after a friend told me about it about 2 years ago. I’ve never seen any of the original show.
Melissa says: “So, when do we get a Logan’s Run reimagining? ”
Not soon enough!
I always wanted one of those sandmen shirts and the flame-shooting guns.
But back to BSG… I’ve tried watching a few of the TOS episodes fairly recently, but I just can’t get through them. It’s kinda interesting to see Loren Greene and feel the gravitas he gives to the show, but too much of that show is cringe-inducing now over-the-top. (Young Lords anybody? And what is Starbuckin’ anyways?)
dharmabum wrote:
“toured universal studios and went on the bsg ride. it was complete with the old toasters and some guy dressed like starbuck who saved us all at the last minute. it was pretty awesome”
That rides sounds cool they need to bring it back then make another one with the NEW BSG stuff!
*** ALERT! ***
Sorry if this is just slightly off-topic, but Amazon is offering a resurrected toaster for $30!
Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KI470G/ref=nosim/?tag=fatwalletcom&linkCode=as1
Couldn’t resist . . . want one in a red dress. . .
Oh, I loooooved Starbuck (Dirk Benedict). And we played BSG on our bikes. The carports in my apartment complex were empty during the day and we’d peddle as fast as possible through them as if we were vipers launching from the Galactica.
@BernUnit~
Not interested unless it comes with a tupperware container full of downloading goo. And not the crappy goo they used on the Cylon Baseship- I mean the good stuff from before S3. . . . 😉
X_O
Back in the day… in 1978 I was a pre-teen and BSG was the “coolest!” (Apologies to Audra.) I built a 3 foot long model of the Galactica (with Vipers) and some of the RTF out of LEGO and spent many hours fighting the Battle of the Algae Living Room. Good times…
This is my first post and although “it’s been said before and it will be said again” I wanted to compliment y’all on building a wonderful community. The podcast and postings are always interesting and thought provoking and a great balance of “humour” and information.
I’m inclined to agree with EJO’s comment on how the quality of this show will make it a stand-out for years to come and I can see your website, with podcasts, as being an important part of the BSG experience for “nuggets” as well as current fans, for many years to come. (I say this because I have been about 8 weeks behind on Season 3 since December and thanks to your website I always felt “current”.)
So, when do we get a Logan’s Run reimagining? >>
Dunno. But apparently we’re getting something of a Star Wars “reimagining” by George Lucas himself, who says that the live action TV series will be more adult and deal with serious themes (as well as have more action).
Has he been watching BSG? (I hope so!)
I had never even heard of the original BSG. My dad watched the mini-series on tv and I saw about 10 minutes of it. I hate starting shows in the middle, so I watched it the next day before the second half of the miniseries and I loved it.
zzzzz Kill all humans zzzzz kill all humans, Hey Bender wake up. Hey Fry I just had a dream about you
My favorite line from “Futurama”
Jim
isaw it on some funky network, at least the poilot it was chezzyyyyyyyyyyyy
cylons werent cool
neither was dirk benndidict
or Lorne Green
Like many, I saw the pilot for the original BSG at the movies as a kid with my friends. We were all big Star Wars geeks, like pretty much every single boy at the time. I remember being disappointed with the special effects. They kept repeating the same shots of the Vipers. The lower budget really showed. Also the story made no sense. They are escaping a holocaust and then you see Starbuck and Apollo on some night club planet, listening to a singer with either 3 mouths or 3 heads, I’m not sure. The 3 breasts were on Total Recall, that I remember. Anyway, I watched the TV show a while to see if it had improved and then lost interest.
Didn’t have toys from BSG or Star Wars. Initially, that stuff was rare and expensive up here in Montreal. Anyway, I have 11 older brothers and sisters and they just would have nagged me with it. I did have some Star Wars cards. The ones they sold over here were sooooo lame, Ooooohhh! Grand Moff Tarkin looks at blueprints! Luke walks over to his Landspeeder! Jawas exchange small robot parts! Wish I still had them, they might be worth something…
When I heard about a new BSG, I thought that was the stupidest idea, never planned to watch it. Caught part of the miniseries channel surfing, stopped channel surfing. Tuned in to “33â€, appointment watching since. The only sci-fi show I like as much is Firefly, and I caught that one almost exclusively on DVD. Oh, and Red Dwarf and Futurama, as comedies. My fav Red Dwarf is the “Better than Life†episode. Futurama, the Star Trek spoof and the “What if†machine episodes come to mind.
I think Boxy was drinking w Ellen before he made that last post. Yikes!
re: BSG toys–was I the only one who didnt have them but was at the right age? I did have the X-Wing, TIE fighter and the Death Star. No one but me had the Death Star! I saw one in a shop window in Greenwich Village a few years ago–$150.
Lorne Greene and Dirk Benedict rule!
Audra is coolest.
Logan’s Run was awesome. If you liked the movie than read the book! The book is better like most books are (e.g. Dune) but the story and technology are slightly different. The second Logan book was cool too.
The original age they whacked you was 21, not 30.
Speaking of Logan’s Run, there’s a movie that’s in (some state, I can’t keep track) of pre/production. So, yeah, you’ll get your reimagining. Eventually. (And yeah, from what I understand, the new one is going to be closer to the book.)
A friend of mine does physical effects for movies when they film on the east coast. As a side project, he recreated the Logan’s Run blaster, which was actually a functional prop. (It spat green flame, that is, it didn’t kill runners.) Part of his motivation was that it would be a good way to get onboard with the LR production, if it ever got that far. Meanwhile, he’s got the killer LR toy. Every time I think my life is sucky, I try to remember walking into a local bar and having a ‘friend’ blast me with a Sandman’s Blaster. (I’m trying to convince him to do a demo for youtube, but no luck so far.)
Armando- Speaking of Star Wars (!), George has said that he does watch BSG and did watch Firefly. According to an IGN and IESB (among others) report, Uncle George’s peeps are currently gathering up writers for the series. This article says that they’re rounding up writers from BSG(!), Lost, and Heroes. He’s been mapping out the storyline the past 9 months and wants to film it all at once- an interesting and very bold move. I was a little worried the show might come off as cheap, but they say it looks like each episode will be between 2 and 4 million dollars (BSG reportedly costs between 1.5 and 2 million per episode lol). He gets the ILM discount, I suppose.
And back to toys, when I was a little tyke, I was all into the Star Wars action figures. I kept them all and they’re a riot to look at! Hasbro brought the line back after a long hiatus in 1995 or so and made the characters look like superheroes. Han and Lando, look like they might burst out of their shirts at any moment. Very funny, Dr. Jones!
And for those posters wondering about Caprica, RDM has said that it’s on the back burner. SciFi’s not too interested in it, but may make a tv movie or miniseries out of it and see where it goes from there. The weird thing is that they absolutely jumped the gun and said last year that it was getting made for sure, but I guess they changed their minds. They might change it again when BSG is over to try and capture the audience. BSG has brought a lot of credibility to the channel and they’ll need to keep it going. No disrespect to Stargate fans, but it’s not winning them any Peabodys or making TIME’s list of favorite shows.
Speaking of Star Wars toys, who else had the first edition, mail in to get it, you haven’t even heard of him yet because the second movie isn’t out, Bobba Fett?
And who still has it?
Wow, you guys tell great stories! I especially like EnoNomi’s story about the carports. 🙂
For Pike: D’Anna is Boxed. She is an EX-Cylon.
Timbuck: Thanks! 😉
Luc: “Better than Life” is one of my favorite Red Dwarf episodes too! My favorite part, other than when Cat and Lister speed off on the bike and thumb their noses at Rimmer, is when Rimmer’s imagination is so lousy he creates a nagging wife and a brood of screaming kids. Lol!
Gryper, Melissa, EnoNomi, IceCap, and Ashley – Welcome! (Hope I didn’t miss any other new posters!) Glad to have you here.
Hollah to all the other ladies here! It’s always cool to see smart chicks who enjoy good sci-fi.
Re: the Star Wars action figures – I was just a little too young for Star Wars and BSG when they first came out, so I always felt behind the curve when I hung out with my older cousins. The boy cousins had all the gear – the Death Star, Darth Vader (not to mention Castle Grayskull, Matchbox cars, and all the best GI Joes).
As a girl, I tended to receive softer, pinker things as birthday gifts. So I finally begged my dad, and he got me a pack of the little green army men. Rock on! I loved those things. And one discerning aunt, who was a bit of a tomboy herself, gave me a huge plastic M-16 with real firing action for my fifth birthday.
So finally, when I was in high school and the Star Wars movies were re-released in theaters (eps. 4, 5, and 6) I was determined to get the action figures I never had. I scouted around and found an entire SET of them at a garage sale for 10 cents each! Now they sit on a shelf near where we record the podcast.
Arriving at the country house as a near toddler, I have foggy memories of Friday night tv with Hulk, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers – I don’t even know how accurate these are.
I’ve nursed one tv sci-fi memory my whole life, I wonder if anyone knows it:
It was an episode of BSG or something, where a scary alien would place his fingers on the outside of your throat and leave 2 bruises and turn you into some sort of zombie (think Gnat! Gnat! Smurfs). Am I crazy? I never thought I’d find out what this was but someone here might actually know!
SS 😀
>
Timbuck, I had a death star playset too. That thing rocked!
My most mourned toy is the Micro Collection Millennium Falcon (I think I was the only kid at the time into the Micro Collection. Those things were great and I’ve managed to track down a couple of the sets in the collectors market in recent years. They still rock). My mother gave it away (but kept the little die cast figures because my brother, the non collector, told her that it was just the figures that were valuable!) to a relative who proceeded to destroy it and throw it away. That thing is worth close to $500 in its box and half that opened (and I kept mine in very good condition).
Needless to say, my mother’s going into a home the first chance I get.
(Kidding, kidding! I love my mom!)
Pike: >
Oooh! OOOH!!!! I DO!!! I DO!!!! (Although it’s in pretty beat up shape.)
13th- Thanks for the scoop on the SW show. I’m glad to hear it. I’m actually something of an apologist for the prequels, but they are definitely more kid friendly than old fogie original fanboy (like me) friendly, so it’ll be interesting to see a more grown up take on that universe, particularly if they’re looking at shows like BSG, Firefly and Heroes for inspiration. Very cool.
As for the action figures, they got better after the bulky 1995 run. They now go for realism in the sculpting and do a very nice job of it.
(Ah yes, I AM an ubergeek!)
Audra, you were in high school when the SW special editions were released?!?!?! I was in my second year of graduate school.
I feel old!
I think I was in middle school when the SW got rereleased. I know I was in eigth grade when PM came out. I wasn’t really into Star Wars that much.
The first time I saw A New Hope I was about four or five and I think I was really just confused by it.
I was in 3rd grade when the films were re-released and in the 5th grade when Ep I was released. lol All you old farts! Of course, Boxy has us all beat and that’s why we had to box him.
I was a huge fan of the original series as a kid. Couldn’t believe they put such cool stuff on a tv show in that era. Absolutely blew everything out of the water at the time. I had a cylon raider toy which I think I wore out by playing with it so much. The wings exteneded to reveal cannons and I think if I remember right, it made laser noises too. I also had a Viper model rocket which, sadly, plummeted into a local swamp/ pond after the chute failed to deploy. Went up like a banshee though! A lot like the episode “You Can’t go Home Again”. Did my little Starbuck make it out alive? I guess I’ll never know. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
david
Audra said: gave me a huge plastic M-16 with real firing action for my fifth birthday.
Audra is the coolest and most heavily armed! Disagree w her and she’ll go postal.
The real question is whether or not she has the accuracy of a Centurion…
Audra- I felt the same way about Star Wars. My first memories of SW were of my older cousins going nuts over the movies and toys, but I just didn’t get it, since I was like five or six. Granted, these are some of my earliest retained memories, so maybe I *did* get it, in some sort of subliminal, proto-geek way.
And yeah, smart girls who dig SF are so.frakking.cool. Always brings a smile to my face when I meet one.
You know, I was four when I saw Star Wars for the first time (in the theater in 1977) and it blew me away then.
It seems that I only caught bits and pieces over the yers of the Orig. BSG. I guess I had name brand loyalty to Star Wars. That and not a big TV junkie. However, the DVD box set has recently found it’s way into my hands and I am watching them from the beginning. Just finished the ” Man with Nine Lives” the one where Fred Astaire masquerades as Starbuck’s father.
Both painful and fascinating. Certainly it really makes me appreciate the current BSG no end. But (if you can stand it) it’s fun to see the antecedents echo. The Crash of a Cylon raider into the hanger. The out of control fire threatening the crew. The Pegasus arc and Admiral Cain. So many echoes, but now done with interesting twists. Even creatures of light!
I so much prefer the current version, but I guess like geneology, you have to deal with that crazy uncle in the closet to appreciate where you came from.
Oh I should say that since I was *ack* 27 when BSG came out, it had a much smaller pull. Didn’t get into action figures or that sort of stuff. Post college, mid ’70’s end of Vietnam and that whoe scene didn’t resonate with collecting.
Now for me it was Captain Midnight (and the secret decoder ring) and the ORIGINAL Fess Parker Davey Crockett. Coonskin cap and all, Bucko!
Thanks Dainin , now feel younger 🙂
Jim
Back in the day, I used to love Boomer (Herbert Jefferson, Jr…. how many people can remember THAT name??) on BSG. He was my role model. But, Boomer was THE MAN. Of all the original Colonial Warriors, Boomer was the most mature and definitely had his head on straight. If there was a fight between Apollo and Starbuck, it was Boomer that set them straight.
But, of course, what drew me to the show was the Viper action. My dad would get every single Viper model he could find. As a matter of fact, the Viper was the first model I ever put together. I used to have four Vipers and a couple of the original Cylon fighters. I would have mock fights and bang them up.
I remember one time I tried to get them to fly by trying to put some gasoline in the Viper exhausts and light them. I ended up with Zak’s Viper and some minor burns on my hand. Hey, I was nine.
I was a wee tot but my folks watched it. I have a fairly vivid memory of when Lorne Greene passed away and then one of the networks running Battlestar again in syndication for while after. But, being in Canada, most people were more interested in the nature documentary, Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness, he narrated. Even now I still have a stronger association of him with that show than Battlestar.
I’m also fairly certain we had a pair of Cylon toasters that my brother and I intermingled with our Star Wars figurines and GI Joes. Take that Cobra Commander!
I was born in 1970 and watched the original series, but I don’t remember much about the stories, just the characters and ships and stuff. I don’t remember the ‘beings of light’ at all. The only thing I remember for Galactica 1980 is that the Colonials could jump really high on Earth because it had lower gravity than they were used to.
I had the usual star wars stuff, might have had a Cylon ship in the 70’s, pretty sure I did. Also had a centurion I think and a daggit too!
I know that I had a Millenium Falcon.
This is for Chuck, Audra, or Sean –
I found an article on IGN that would be cool to discuss on the show entitled “Galactica: Five way the show may end.”
http://tv.ign.com/articles/794/794020p2.html
Its pretty cool and relates to the still fresh news that season 4 means the end. Just thought I’d share in case no one had mentioned it.
Hey Armando Says:
My most mourned toy is the Micro Collection Millennium Falcon …
I used to the whole micro set of cloud city with frozen Han… but an evil cylon squirrel chewed his way into my storage unit and chewed into the box and chewed up all of the plastic pieces… I still have the small figures but to this day I think squirrels are evil!
Shrekjdr, I’m with you if you want to committ squirrel genocide. Just let me get my blowtorch…
(Oh man, now people are gonna think I’m a clod who is insensitive to animals…)
Armando ,well I dont think that and anyone who has a squirrel probelm would understand. Me I love animals I have 2 dogs and some cats.. Just Squirells to me are cylons with there eyes.. thats it the 5th cylon is the squirrell!
I was to young for the Original BSG. In fact I was just on the brink of being born. In a way, I think that makes me (in comparison to myself) a better supporter of the show than if I had seen the original. I am one of those people that the movie adaptation never does it for me after reading the book. Except for Lord of the Rings. ( For as much scifi and fantasy as I read I never could get into Tolkin’s writing style)
Anyway, I started from the mini series and loved the drama. I was really interested when I heard that the mini series was going to be a new series.
And I think having a community like the watercooler helps heighten the excitment since we all share the same love (and because everyone on this board is so positive!!! There were a couple of other casts I had tried and all they could do was spew negativity… Why???)
Elspeth very good point this post is very postive about BSG and its amazing how many people out share the same passion! its great to know there are others out there like me that need there BSG fix….
shrekjdr sez: ” thats it the 5th cylon is the squirrell! ”
I always suspected what Bullwinkle really had was a Head-Rocky….
Bullwinkle: Watch me pull the way to Earth out of my hat!
Head Rocky: Aw that rick_never_works!
Now to put me down on the BSGS (Battlestar Galactica Spectrum) –
I was cusping 13 and 14 at the time of BSG TOS. That made me “too old” to get all the toys… er “collectables”, but still I was young enough to yearn for them (and play with makeshift substitutes behind the closed door of my bedroom).
Asteroids just came out about the time we’re talking too. I remember walking to school and imagining – if I were equipped like an asteroid ship rather than with legs – how I’d have to swivel-and-thrust in order to get there. Now that’s the Projection we ALL had as little kids. “I guess we’re all Cylons.”
Dixi.
writch Says: always suspected what Bullwinkle really had was a Head-Rocky..
Okay now I have that picture in my head with Bullwinkle… hmm I bet that would be an awesome robot chicken ep…..
I think Boxy was drinking w Ellen before he made that last post. Yikes!”
Only a liiiiiiiiiittttttttey beeeeeeeeeeeet*stumbles on chair*
I saw some more and its OK i gues it would be pretty good for a 8 year old
I think squirrels are not only the 5th Cylon but also the 5th horseman of the Apocalypse…. gophers, too.
I was trying to rid my yard of the above-mentioned vermin in creative ways long before Caddyshack. Was never successful… But “I’m Alright…”
You know one of the things I think keeps us positive on this forum: nobody seems to take themselves or their love for the show too seriously around here. It’s a great show, but it seems like all of us keep the fact that it’s just a tv show in perspective. Or is that just me?
One story I have on how good this show is concerns my mother-in-law, who has very different television tastes than I do (mostly police procedurals and inspiring dramas. The only show we have in common is Boston Legal, and that’s more of a guilty pleasure than anything else). Anyway, while they were visiting last Easter I’d started watching the show from the beginning, since season three had just ended (don’t worry, I’m waiting to start season 2 till GWC is caught up on the rewatch…that and I don’t have TIVO so I have to wait till season 3 comes out on DVD for THAT rewatch) and I was in the middle of the miniseries one night, after dinner and my mother-in-law, who doesn’t care for science fiction at all, got positively hooked and now wants to borrow the dvd sets so she can follow the show.
So say we all.
I think you guys were right about the squirrels:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070614/od_nm/germany_squirrel_dc;_ylt=AuAhiuBGRvTbn2EXvraCSqDMWM0F
Back in the day my husband was in one of his college classes…I think physics… Anyway many the TA’s were foriegn born from all over. The day that the Russian born TA, named Borris, asked “How much current must we run through this coil?”, but with his accent sounded like “How much current must we run through the squirrel?”, was a day that always brings a smile to his face.
Run, Rocky, Run!
Well I NEVER had a crush on Dirk Benedict, but he was always my favorite character in the original series. As a result, I was at first upset when I head the new Starbuck was going to be a woman. I want to add that I was NEVER more wrong. I like the new Starbuck much better than the old.
As I mentioned before, I was very young when the series came out; that is likely why I never had any BSG toys. However I did watch the show in reruns whenever I could find it. I can remember watching the show in the house my family was living in long before my parents divorced when I was seven.
Believe it or not, my first experience with BSG was on an afternoon; I can remember my mother sitting me down to watch it. I didn’t remember it, but she said something to the effect I used to watch it with Dad. (I am guess she was refereeing to when I was a baby) So I starting watching it and was hooked ever since.
Anyways, that for what it is worth was my beginnings BSG.
I first remember watching the original BSG on reruns with my dad after my parents got divorced. My mom would only watch the dramas – Dynasty, Dallas, etc. With dad I could watch what I wanted. I have a vivid memory of Muffet running across rocky terrain while Dad and I ate hot dogs, mac-n-cheese and baked beans at the coffee table. And that never ending shot of a thumb on a viper joystick. I never knew pilots had time to keep their nails so well manicured.
My favorite (non-Daggit) moment of the old BSG is when Starbuck goes into the computer to change the patrol or something like that so that the gang (Apollo, Boomer, and himself) can go on some adventure. It’s so obvious that Dirk has NO clue as to how to type. It’s so very 70’s.
A cool side note is that one episode involves some place called Serenity. It’s a small agro community and apparantly tacky lights decorate their doors.
http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Serenity
Armando – Yep, I think I was going into my senior year when they came out.
Timbuck – Hard to say, but Centurions probably had better aim than me. I was only five. But now – I could knock a flea off a dog’s back at 500 yards!! (hehe)
Writch – A head Rocky! lol!
Trak101 – I was thinking the same thing. I want you to KILL all the golfers! 😉
And I just want to say again, you all tell great stories. It’s a lot of fun to read them and reminisce, even vicariously. Thank you all!
Welcome, 8r4d and Tiscrene!
I was 9 when the original BSG movie was released here in Scotland, if memory serves me correctly the show wasnt aired in the UK till sometime in the early 80s so I didnt realise that it was actually a TV show, as many have said in this thread everything at that time was compared to Star Wars, and for the most part failed miserably. The selling point of BSG at the cinema was it was broadcast in Sensorsound, so you fel the theatre shake as the atlantia and galactica came on screen, back in those days the story didnt require substance, cylons were bad, colonials were good, robes and greek references were obligatory (though I will never understand why!!!!), As a kid it was good, not as good as star wars, but that didnt matter.
Moving forward to 2003 I happened to notice that there was a documentary on about the making of the new battlestar galactica, oh no I thought, this is going to be terrible like every remake that had preceeded it, but I watched the documentary (The Lowdown) and as soon as I seen Ron Moore was involved I was relieved as I knew his work from TNG amd DS9, I also thought it was good that they let richard hatch state his opposition to the remake, it was a brave thing to do. The following night the miniseries premiered and I was glued, the difference between the original and this was it felt real from the start, no lasers, aliens, effects were stunning the peril was tangible and the enemy (especially listening Leoben) had depth, simply put I loved it, I forgot all the hype that Starbuck was now a women, it worked, I was delighted when it went to series, ive never missed an episode and never will
Now since most people thing the squirell is the 5 th cylon someone open the airlock!!
Oh geez, I just got a vision of a whole bunch of squirrels flying out of an airlock. A flurry of furry, hapless rodents spinning out into space.
Didn’t watch it as a kid, but I recall having a pair of Battlestar sneakers, with a Cylon on the bottom.
As far as I can recall, they did not make me run faster, nor did they lower my AC.
Tangent from this topic: I used to watch Buck Rogers, and I thought it always hinted at a level of emotion and drama that no show really delivered on (in my opinion) until the new BSG.
-ferris
When I was a kid in Nova Scotia my parents used BSG to blackmail me. They weren’t very religious at all, but were very concerned with what the neighbours would think all the time. We would go Roman Catholic church, usually early on Saturday evenings, and if I didn’t go up and take the dreaded, tasteless communion wafer without making a big fuss, then I wasn’t allowed to watch BSG later. This was despite the fact that mom didn’t even go up herself! Taking away “Space 1999” wouldn’t motivate me in quite the same way. I would say that my parents didn’t have an evil bone in their body, except for the blackmailing legacy that has scarred me to this day.
I remember having a 12 inch tall Cylon centurion doll, a couple action figures and some ships. But what I remember most was being 9 years old and standing in my room listening to the BSG soundtrack and pretending I was a conductor.
I think I may not be a TRUE fan though. Since there are no new episodes…I find myself not all that interested in the rewatch. Don’t get me wrong, I love BSG and you guys, but I’m just kinda not thinking that much about the show and characters this Summer. I started watching Lost from the beginning on iTunes and that’s been a pretty satisfying distraction. That and waiting for my darn iPhone!!!! First thing I’m gonna do on my iPhone is watch “Exodus Part 2”.