Battlestar Galactica on SCI-FI.com - WOW!

Actually, the space people in Battlestar Galactica are very closely connected to Earth. There are a lot of strong cultural and religious ties to old civilizations; worshipping a Greekish pantheon of gods, characters with Greek and Roman names (Gaius, Valeri, Agathon, Thrace), the UK title has a woman singing in Sanskrit (I couldn't verify the actual language personally), and other such stuff. The original show's big huge theme of "life here began out there" was one of the neatest things about it, and is why there are all of these cultural references to old Earth culture in the current one.

I mean, it's OK if you don't like it. But I don't think that's a valid criticism due to the show's specific effort to incorporate ancient Earth cultural elements.
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In addition to being inherited from the original BSG, all of that (the names, the Greek-derived Gods and so forth) serves a singular purpose: imply a connection between Battlestar Galactica and a very specific ancient culture from which its civilization has evolved.

Celtic folk music does not. It doesn't play up that angle at all... and it's a cheap technique - oh, military stuff, lets remind everyone of Braveheart!

I google'd for more information on the 'UK intro' and found this quote from the composer: "It was more that we didn’t want to make it seem that we were anywhere. We wanted it to feel very warm and human but on the other hand we didn’t want it to sound like this is Western Europe circa 1975, we didn’t want to give it one time and one place. I played around a lot with odd time signatures for the same reason. I didn’t want it to sound like it had a home here and now. That was kind of the trick to make it seem unfamiliar yet comfortable too."

That, again, seems wholly contradictory to suddenly having an episode scored in an entirely different and completely modern way.

Trust me, I know. I wasn't being serious.
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I'm not clear on what you weren't being serious about. I bet any TV show would love to have a famous composer like the two you mentioned write their music.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
In addition to being inherited from the original BSG, all of that (the names, the Greek-derived Gods and so forth) serves a singular purpose: imply a connection between Battlestar Galactica and a very specific ancient culture from which its civilization has evolved.

Celtic folk music does not. It doesn't play up that angle at all... and it's a cheap technique - oh, military stuff, lets remind everyone of Braveheart!
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I don't understand your argument. The Greek and Roman references are OK, because they suggest a connection between space culture and Earth cultures. But the victory tune doesn't imply any connection? It seems to me that it does... are you saying that it's not a valid connection because we haven't seen any blatant examples of Scottish or Irish cultural influences included so far?

I google'd for more information on the 'UK intro' and found this quote from the composer: "It was more that we didn’t want to make it seem that we were anywhere. We wanted it to feel very warm and human but on the other hand we didn’t want it to sound like this is Western Europe circa 1975, we didn’t want to give it one time and one place. I played around a lot with odd time signatures for the same reason. I didn’t want it to sound like it had a home here and now. That was kind of the trick to make it seem unfamiliar yet comfortable too."

That, again, seems wholly contradictory to suddenly having an episode scored in an entirely different and completely modern way.
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That's not the same composer who scored this episode... perhaps that has something to do with it? And while I did write that they were similar in style, that was on the level of ethnicity and overall creative direction, not on the level of mode, meter, or even instrumentation.

I'm not clear on what you weren't being serious about. I bet any TV show would love to have a famous composer like the two you mentioned write their music.
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I was mocking the negative sentiment expressed in this thread towards the musical choice (the bagpipes and Gaelic vocals), suggesting that those who expressed that negative sentiment are still hung up on this show lacking a standard space opera soundtrack scored for a 100 piece symphony orchestra in the style of Williams or Goldsmith (for example). I was trying to imply that the criticism of the decision to go with this particular flavor of ethnic music was flawed because of the inability of those critics to accept something new and different in what is otherwise fairly familiar.

While I did name names, it was in a sarcastic fashion. I was referring to the distinctive sounds of those composers. It would be interesting to see how Williams would handle doing a style so different from he's used to (because Williams' ability to do styles and instrumentations outside of his normal range is often debated), but it would be a tragedy if, for example, the BSG show got a standard Williams score.
 
Your circular logic is so exhausting its not unlike watching the Indy 500 on fast forward.
 
LeHah said:
Your circular logic is so exhausting its not unlike watching the Indy 500 on fast forward.
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GOOD ONE. Adding the "not unlike" part made it sound less childish too.
 
I don't understand your argument. The Greek and Roman references are OK, because they suggest a connection between space culture and Earth cultures. But the victory tune doesn't imply any connection? It seems to me that it does... are you saying that it's not a valid connection because we haven't seen any blatant examples of Scottish or Irish cultural influences included so far?
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So... you *do* understand my argument?

The Greek/Roman references are very clearly there to imply to the viewer that BSG 'split off' rom Earth around that time... and this very clearly plays into their thus far completely inane religion thread. The humans worship something derived from their Greco-Roman pantheon versus Judeo-Christian Cylons.

The mass of proper nouns supports this ongoing thread - the sudden random appearance of Celtic music does not.

I was mocking the negative sentiment expressed in this thread towards the musical choice (the bagpipes and Gaelic vocals), suggesting that those who expressed that negative sentiment are still hung up on this show lacking a standard space opera soundtrack scored for a 100 piece symphony orchestra in the style of Williams or Goldsmith (for example). I was trying to imply that the criticism of the decision to go with this particular flavor of ethnic music was flawed because of the inability of those critics to accept something new and different in what is otherwise fairly familiar.

While I did name names, it was in a sarcastic fashion. I was referring to the distinctive sounds of those composers. It would be interesting to see how Williams would handle doing a style so different from he's used to (because Williams' ability to do styles and instrumentations outside of his normal range is often debated), but it would be a tragedy if, for example, the BSG show got a standard Williams score.
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You need to work on your sarcasm. Since I didn't (and haven't) said anything about a preference for 'classic' scores, ranting about how dare I do so is a dumb way to continue an argument.

My point is that (in addition to being out of place in BSG) there's absolutely nothing unique about Celtic music, which was part of my initial complaint - using it in your war story is very, very generic. This isn't remotely a case of mean old LOAF attacking BSG for being different - I'm complaining about a terrible cliche.
 
powell99 said:
Good lord thats real?
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Caught it about 10 years ago on my local WB network at 3 am. Wonderful movie to watch if you're in the mood for a good laugh and some cheap special effects.
 
I miss the old main theme, it is great.
I hope that the new BSG have those great flying-motorcycles and those cool watches (2005)
 
I whole heartedly agree with Ghost. Especially on that big main theme - weird considering that guy would go on to write the title theme to, say, Knight Rider.
 
I've been watching this thread for a while now, and it comes to the point where I really regret living in a very old house with no cable in a country which still has lots and lots of money to translate everything that's supposed to be on TV.

Whic means: Has anyone got an idea when/if BSG comes to the rest of Europe?
Germany, especially?
 
I've been watching this thread for a while and I have to ask:

Lehah, where does all this animosity toward a show you really haven't seen come from? I ask because as a science fiction fan, I'm very pleased with the quality and the potential of BSG, and as I've seen mentioned around here many times before, any good science fiction is good for Wing Commander. I mean, if people get excited about a space combat sci-fi show, maybe it'll translate into MegaGlobalHyperCom (er, EA) taking a chance on another sci-fi franchise to further enhance their dominance in the vid industry. I know the understand the fanboy stereotype, but so far, IMO, this show has certainly transcended it, and there's plenty of cause for excitement.
 
TheRedDuke said:
Lehah, where does all this animosity toward a show you really haven't seen come from?
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I simply don't like shitty science fiction. Thats not to say I don't like some cheeseball or guilty pleasure movies myself, but outside of ST - which is a totally different beast than other shows - science fiction shows are really, really bad of late. Even Stargate - which I use to love - has take dour turn after dour turn.

Andromeda? The newest incarnation of the Twilight Zone? That crappy Total Recall series that never got off the ground? Our market is overflowing with bad ideas by bad writers.

TheRedDuke said:
any good science fiction is good for Wing Commander.
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I don't know if I'd say that. It's a great idea on paper - but I've never heard anyone say "I love the original Outer Limits! I'm gonna play Wing Commander because of it!".

I absolutely want to see anything new come from EA for Wing Commander, don't even think twice about that. I just think that most people come up with some awful ways of supporting WC (Berating EA, online petitions, etc)

TheRedDuke said:
I know the understand the fanboy stereotype, but so far, IMO, this show has certainly transcended it, and there's plenty of cause for excitement.
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While I would never tell you you're wrong in linking the show ... well, not in ernest... BSG hasn't transcended anything. "Humanity is overwhelmed by an opposing force and only one ship of crack fighter pilots stands against them!" has been around in various forms - mostly WWII movies and Westerns.

Does that mean it's a bad idea? Heck no - but I think the presentation is about as three dimensional as a sheet of plastic wrap.
 
It'd be great if they made a Wing Commander series because Battlestar Galactica was popular. That in no way makes Battlestar Galactica good.

Ever go back to watch the X-Files pilot? You get really embarassed when you get to the scene where Scully is walking around in her underwear. Battlestar Galactica is like a whole show of just that scene.
 
Or Mulder saying "Do you believe in the existence of extra-terrestrials?" with the delivery of a paranoid Bobcat Goldwaith on crystal meth.

Or him spray-painting the big pink 'X' on some street because his car stalls?
 
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