1y ago

NBC is planning to reboot Battlestar Galactica for the second time. What do you think?

‘Battlestar Galactica’: Derek Simonds Set As New Showrunner Of Peacock Reboot In Works From Producer Sam Esmail

I am personally against it despite Sam Esmail's involvement (I really liked Mr. Robot). It's not that I don't think it could be a good show, it's that NBC has plenty of other properties from former science fiction shows they could redevelop, but they're redeveloping this one instead.

If they want to reboot a show for the third time, why not V considering the first reboot was so disappointing? Or maybe go for the 90s nostalgia and reboot SeaQuest DSV or Earth 2.

And then there's all the Sci-Fi Channel/SyFy properties they have at least some stake of ownership in.

I realize asking for something original is asking too much these days, but can't we at least do something other than Battlestar Galactica every 20 years?

I'm willing to be open-minded and give the show a chance if it gets produced, but I don't think it should be produced in the first place.

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1y ago

‘Battlestar Galactica’: Derek Simonds Set As New Showrunner Of Peacock Reboot In Works From Producer Sam Esmail

deadline.com /2024/01/battlestar-galactica-reboot-derek-simonds-showrunner-peacock-sam-esmail-1235695526/

112 comments

Yeah I agree with you. A second reboot of BSG is just unnecessary. The first reboot was almost perfect (except for some of the subplot conclusions, which they botched).
And yes, there are so many other good intellectual properties out there. But not just ones they already own, but many other ones where a screen adaptation hasn't yet been attempted. For example Gateway, and Hyperion. Both of those were planned by someone but they've never materialized. And there's also William Gibson's entire Sprawl series, which would be very cool to see on a screen.
- And there's also William Gibson's entire Sprawl series, which would be very cool to see on a screen.
  I love the Sprawl books, and Neuromancer has been in development hell a few times IIRC, but I'm hesitant.
  Reading Gibson's words, they're so evocative, but a lot is left unspecified and the reader kinda fills in the blanks based on the feeling he is conveying. A show pins everything down visually and I'm afraid even Neuromancer would get rendered as generic cyberpunk without Gibson's unique style.
  
  OTOH that's an opportunity for someone to show us something fresh but still true to be books. Not that I really think that will happen, but it's at least a possibility.
- Oh I agree with you, I'm just saying if they must reboot an NBC property, there are other science fiction properties they own that they could go with instead.
  And that doesn't even go into all the Universal science fiction movies. If they must make a TV show based on their properties, let's see what a good showrunner could do with The Thing or They Live or The Last Starfighter.
  
  I didn't know how much I needed a Last Starfighter show until right now...

The last reboot was so well casted, acted, scored, written, and is even more culturally relevant now then when it came out.
It's a hell of a pipe dream to imagine making something better at this point.
- If Sam Esmail was showrunner, I'd think he might do something interesting with it, but since he's only producing, I'm guessing not. But even if it does end up being good, it should still never have been greenlit in the first place in my opinion. It might be good despite that. I'll keep an open mind and watch the pilot because I will give practically anything taking place in space a chance, but I wish something else was given a shot instead and I'm not hopeful.
  
  I'm sure I'll check it out and something else should have been given a chance, on board with both of those myself
- As an example, you see a lot of high-budget TV and movie productions scored by Bear McCreary nowadays. The dude made his chops with BSG, and has done a ton of work since.
  
  Black Sails was glorious
  
  His BSG music was terrific, but the McCreary music I find myself always going back to for comfort is his Eureka music. It's just so cheery in a happy synth way. It's like if Devo wrote Disney music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKf916cAcgc
- It won't be hard beat the last season or two.

"All this has happened before, and all this will happen again."
- I guess we should have listened to Ronald D. Moore when we had the chance. Now let me ask ChatGPT what it thinks of a BSG reboot.
  
  It's probably writing it, so it'd definitely be in favor.

Stop with the lazy rebooting of everything!
- Feel better?
  
  lol… yep. You?

"As of this moment, we are at war"
The miniseries was at the peak of what is achievable in sci-fi IMO. The follow up with "33" just cemented it.
While watching it at the time the later seasons faltered, I rewatched it all just over a year ago and it flows better as a binge despite some of the shortcomings.
All of this is to say I don't think a reboot is necessary but I'm keeping a hopeful, open mind.
- The miniseries was at the peak of what is achievable in sci-fi IMO. The follow up with “33” just cemented it.
  That's exactly why they shouldn't reboot it. It's hard to make good TV. Reboots are rarely good, because you don't just have to beat the average, you have to beat the previous show. The odds of beating that original BSG are essentially nil.
  There's plenty of things they could reboot instead. Do a reboot / spinoff / prequel of Stargate. Re-do Sliders. Buy the rights to Babylon 5 and do a spinoff of that (also, re-release the full quality original, which has been locked up for decades now). Re-make Day of the Triffids, but as a series. The concept there is pretty open-ended so you could go for years.
  Or, there's a whole lot of superhero-comedy stuff that could do well. Less extreme than The Boys, but stuff like Misfits of Science, Greatest American Hero, My Secret Identity, etc.
  Or adapt something new, like Ringworld, Hyperion, make an Ender's Game series.
  Don't try to re-remake one of the most successful remakes ever.
  
  Re-do Sliders.
  Yes! Imagine a reboot of Sliders that actually explores all the fascinating possibilities of parallel dimensions. The concept always had so much more promise than the show actually delivered. Also, don't do the whole Kromag thing this time around.
  
  Reboot of Stargate? Sir, drop your keyboard on the ground and put your hands above your head! Nobody has to get hurt!
  
  Ringworld on HBO with all the rishathra handshakes you can handle would at least hit a niche, I guess
- Just finished a rewatch. Definitely not as good as I remember it.
  That poor left Viper always landing crazy!
  
  Fair enough. Did you watch it as it was airing originally?
  I ask because I felt the writers strike really hampered it at the time. Just felt like it lost a lot of momentum that I thought it retained on a rewatch.

Isn't this the second reboot and the third version?
- Pardon me, you are correct. I will adjust the title.

Okay, deal. But they keep everything from Season 1 and 2 exactly the same, and then take seasons 3 and 4 in a new direction.
- Right? Being stuck planet side with a shitty self-preserving President is too close to the future potential of real life, and a reminder of four+ years ago.

I don't think they should reboot a show or remake a movie that was initially successful and still holds up. Ironically it seems like that's the criteria for rebooting a show or remaking a movie.
- Well yeah, because, you know, money. A whole different logic. 🙄

I would love to see Sea Quest rebooted!

I just want a Babylon 5 reboot! Goddamnit!
- There is the animated movie coming out.
  
  Already came out months ago, it was terrible.
- Yes!
- Who are you? What do you want?

Earth 2 had so much potential too! It doesn't have a cult following, so would be a good candidate to reboot. seaQuest was just weird/goofy (I liked it despite the campiness), but if done right, could work

I'm looking forward to it. Yes, it's dumb they are going for the third reboot but at least it kind of fits the existing story for it to all happen again. An Earth2 reboot would be awesome and I would be a lot more happy with that. New IP would be even better, but also probably have a higher chance of not being good or finding an audience. I just hope the new show makes it for a full run even if it's not great. I'm so sick of shows that die after the first season or two.
- I want to know why Earth 2 went down the memory hole. Was I just looking at it through rose-tinted glasses and it was actually awful or something? I thought the worldbuilding alone made it a good watch.
  
  It wasn't awful, it was just hapless. It probably would have gotten its sea legs in a second season.
  Sad story: the actress who played the little girl died a day after her honeymoon and 8 days before her 22nd birthday, from a heart attack. (She'd had a heart transplant when she was 15.)
  
  If they’re gonna reboot Earth 2 they also should reboot Space: Above & Beyond
  
  I actually rewatched it a few years ago and it wasn't awful.

I hope they go back to the original source material and come up with something that actually makes sense this time. Maybe take a few details from the newer version that "worked", but otherwise discard it and try again from scratch. Do something new with it.
And if you're going to put "they have a plan" in the tagline for a series, actually have a frickin' plan in mind.
- BSG and Lost were both going on around the same time and they both had a lot of intriguing puzzles and twists that never ended up actually paying off.
  But hey, good to know that Asimo was the beginning of the robot revolution and the new Cylon 2.0 (or... 3.0?) uprising.
  
  "Mystery box" storytelling is the name for it and, yeah, Lost, especially, is the poster child for not executing on it particularly well. It can be exciting, and it does a good job of making following a story feel like a communal experience that everyone can participate in - speculating on where things will go next, for instance - but it also often feels like shows using it end up over-promising and under-delivering (and often leaves viewers feeling a little soured at the end).
  I feel like Dark was a good example of it being well-executed, and proves it certainly can be done well. But yeah, BSG definitely didn't end up paying off for me either.

I would actually like to see a new V show. I actually liked the last show ( never seen the original). I think NBC did Heroes, maybe they could make a new series in that world or something.

Hmmm do they also have Stargate? It was on sci-fi channel
- Amazon bought MGM who owns Stargate.
- Yes they do. I hope they don't try to reboot that too.
  
  No they don't, Amazon bought MGM who owns Stargate.

3rd time... Everyone forgets Galactica 1980.
- That was a sequel, not a reboot. And it wasn't even really a sequel. It was a next season that they slashed the budget massively for, recast and retitled. Also, it's best forgotten.
  
  That was the classic "Oh Fuck! No Budget! Time travel to LA!" move. See also, Picard, season two, though I wonder if that was more to do with the cast not wanting to deal with sci-fi shit.

And where's the Firefly reboot?
- Beware what you ask for.
- I don't know that I'd want them to reboot it. That show was lightning in a bottle.
  
  I'd like to see spinoffs in the universe but agree about trying to recapture the original cast. And they're too old now to come back and just keep being space outlaw cowboys like nothing happened.
- That show could only be made worse.

Why not make it a continuation instead
- I'm not sure how you could continue from the either the original or the reboot's storyline, but years ago I worked very hard (and ultimately failed) to get NBCU to agree to a pre-podcast era (i.e. sold on CD) radio drama about a different ship in the reboot BSG fleet and it's adventures while the main show went on, and you would feature all the fleetwide broadcasts from the show at the right times to fit everything chronologically and I still think that would be an amazing idea. Oh well.

Hunh. You know, it hadn't occurred to me that the original reboot was at NBC. Which is interesting, because it originally was an ABC show.

My original reaction still stands - ‘but why though?’ The first reboot was almost perfect and definitive.

I'm pretty much against it because I feel like it's an opportunity to have to explain which BSG is actually the good one of them all to everyone you ever talk to about it. (Also, way way too soon for another reboot!)

Yeah I'm not in favor of it. The old one (reboot) still holds up well.

The zeitgiest would love the 12/13 tribes storylines. Absolutely no way they get convoluted with contemporary middle eastern issues. Nope. Not at all.
- Of course, the original 1970s one was Mormon propaganda.
  A Mormon blogger explains it quite well- https://www.millennialstar.org/battlestar-galactica-and-mormonism/
  
  So Mitt Romney is leaving the Semate to take over the Lorne Green role?
  Must see TV indeed, Jedediah
- Well, last time, when they were doing terrorist attacks against the cylons, it was reflecting the middle east at that time. Except the good guys were the terrorists. I thought it was quite brave as there was still a gung ho spirit about the invasion.
  I agreed that it will be topical again. Maybe they won't be as brave. Or maybe they'll be braver.

Buck Rogers would be a cool one to reboot; plus it already has the " we're going to trash the world " backstory.
- I don't think that's NBC though. NBC does own Flash Gordon I think. Or at least they keep trying to make Flash Gordon happen.

Surely it is Buck Rogers turn
- NBC doesn't own it and there's apparently a whole rights issue thing going on-
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers#Future_films_and_conflict

It wasn't good the first time around with all the religious hokus pokus. If they god rid of that crap, maybe it might be good.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

I'd watch a new BSG for sure. I'm not exactly hopeful that it will actually happen. But if it does, I'd still watch it for sure
- I love the idea of a V reboot was so disappointed when they canceled the last one.
  
  That would be pretty cool.
- I'd watch it because I distinctly remember being let down by the ending of the last version -- everything after the writers' strike was hot garbage. American TV really needs to learn to do tight seasons and series instead of dragging everything out until fans give up on it.

If you combined the last reboot with Esmail's mindfuckery, it would be spectacular. IDK why anyone would be against another run.
Giver.
- Esmail isn't the showrunner though, he's only producing it. So I'm less optimistic than you are.

They should do Galactica vs Ender’s Game.

Instead of rebooting everything let’s get another few seasons of westworld (like season one of course)
- Even Westworld is a reboot. There were two movies in the 70s and a TV series based on those movies in the 80s. Everything is a damn reboot.
  
  The first movie, with Yul Brenner, is friggin awesome. That said, I have read a LOT of great sci-fi series in the last couple of years that are screaming for movie/tv treatment, and are NOT BSG.
- They should stop making reboots and reallity shows. There are so many shows killed after 1 season that should get more. Or maybe extent the bsg universe or something
- Yes to more Westworld and a very big NO to any more reboots.
  
  Let's just hope they leave Lexx and Farscape tf alone.

Everything has happened before, and everything will happen again.

I'm indifferent.
My care about BSG died when they ended the last reboot with them salivating over finding tribals they could fuck and use as breeding stock.