BSG: Prequel Movie Cash-in Freak Out

[nacho]

Some news:

Universal has put the long-rumored Battlestar Galactica movie on the fast track. Variety says the movie will be a "a complete reimagining of the story," which will be written by Transcendence screenwriter Jack Paglen.

No director has been attached to it yet, although since former rumored director Bryan Singer will be working on X-Men: Apocalypse for the next couple of years, he would seem to be busy. More as it develops.

I like how this goofy 70s show has become a severely troubled franchise that seems to be weirdly at war with itself.

[RottingCorpse]

Everyone has forgotten it was a Star Wars rip off too, which after 35 years of Star Wars rip offs makes sense I guess.

[nacho]

Everyone has forgotten it was a Star Wars rip off too, which after 35 years of Star Wars rip offs makes sense I guess.

Sort of a myth, actually. Larson wrote the original screenplay ("Adam's Ark") in the late 60s, about surviving humans (Mormons!) fleeing a dead/dying/war torn/something Earth and heading on a generational ship to Kolob, the human homeworld, under the guidance of the Council of the Twelve. The Cylons were bad aliens or whatever hokum the Mormons buy into.

The only real rip-off element is the idea of manned fighter craft dogfighting in space. One could argue that the show isn't about the space dogfights and, instead, is an interesting take on character-driven journeyman sci-fi and, originally, had more akin, story-telling-wise, to Star Trek, which would have been a major influence on the Adam's Ark script.

[RottingCorpse]

The dogfight thing was a real controversy because John Dykstra had a falling out with Lucas and took a lot of his design work ( and moon control technology developed for Star Wars) to BSG. I'll find some links to the story. It's one of those "Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Never Made" type stories.

[nacho]

Ooh! I didn't know Dykstra was attached to Star Wars!

(I always thought BSG looked better -- especially on modern TVs -- than the OG versions of Star Wars.)

[RottingCorpse]

Here's some brief info on it. Careful. Deep internet procrastination hole here.

http://www.kobol.com/archives/BG-FAQ.html#G6

[RottingCorpse]

And now I have to buy this book:

Hollywood's Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet

http://www.amazon.com/Hollywoods-Copyright-Wars-Internet-Culture/dp/0231159463

[nacho]

Sadly...a site that I'm familiar with. Though haven't visited in ages. I'm glad to see its design is unchanged from 1995!

And now I have to buy this book:

Hollywood's Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet

http://www.amazon.com/Hollywoods-Copyright-Wars-Internet-Culture/dp/0231159463

Now who's in the hole?

[nacho]

Didn't we have a "Glen Larson's Revenge" thread? Or did we merge at some point?

Anyway, the Galactica movie is a go, though we don't know which series it's going to pull from or if it's going to be a straight-up redo.

[nacho]

Jesus... So set in the same universe at the same time? Which means...it won't be on the Galactica? Ten bucks says it's a Cylon POV story largely built around getting Tricia Helfer to come by and sleep with the producer.

The upcoming Battlestar Galactica reboot will have an unconventional episode structure, according to producer Sam Esmail. The beloved sci-fi franchise initially began as a television show in 1978, which only ran for one season. However, it became a cult favorite among fans and later spawned additional shows and tie-in materials like video games, web series, and comic books. The most notable was a 2003 miniseries on Syfy that became such a hit, the network created a whole new Battlestar Galactica from it that ran for four seasons starting in 2004. Much like the original series, the 2004 Battlestar Galactica centered on the war between humans and the cybernetic Cylons after the Cylons launched a devastating attack on the humans' Twelve Colonies.

Last fall, the latest Battlestar Galactica reboot was announced for NBC's upcoming streaming service Peacock. Esmail, best known for his work on Mr. Robot and Amazon's Homecoming, will produce the new series alongside Michael Lesslie. Further details have been few and far between, though the reboot is said to take place within the same world as the 2004 Battlestar Galactica. This means the newest series likely won't be centered on the same characters and events, but will instead explore other areas of the universe.

Esmail has offered up a new tease about what fans can expect from this Battlestar Galactica, though it might not quite be what they're expecting. While participating in THR's TV's Top Five podcast, Esmail hinted that his take on the sci-fi franchise won't follow a traditional episodic format. Esmail explained:

There might be episodes that are longer than others. There might be a three-episode arc. There might be a standalone episode that's a half-hour long. We don't want to put guardrails up at all. We want to do whatever's best for each episode. And because I do believe in the episode model, I maybe share the frustration some critics have when showrunners go on an say 'Well, it's a 10-hour movie.' That's silly. It's not. What we're doing here is every episode you have the opportunity to change up the tone, to change up the story, to change up the point of view. So we're going to lean into that, not shy away from it.

Peacock is set to launch in July, but Battlestar Galactica won't be included among the new offerings available. It's actually not clear when Battlestar Galactica will launch; Peacock has delayed several original programs until 2021 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but Battlestar Galactica wasn't included among the shows being delayed. It sounds like the series is still in its early development stages, which means it'll be a while before it actually premieres on Peacock. Still, Esmail clearly has a lot of plans just waiting to come to life.

Battlestar Galactica fans are probably eager for the arrival of this new reboot, especially since plans for a feature film adaptation seem to have fallen to the wayside. The last update came in December 2018, when Jay Basu joined as a writer. For the time being, though, it sounds like the streaming reboot is getting all of the focus for the franchise. Hopefully, another update will come soon that can give a better idea of when fans can expect to see this latest adventure.