DBWI: What would you want to see in a Remake of Battlestar Galactica?

[Anonymous01]

Since we all know how horrible Battlestar Galactica: 1980 was. What sort of remake would you like to see Battlestar Galactica have? I found the main series to be alright but it was just another Star Wars rip off for me. What sort of things would you add what would you take out?
Here is my idea:
The humans created the Cylons
Cylons have been working on making human form Cylons
The Battlestar Galactica is a old rust bucket due to be retired and converted into a museum before the Cylon attack
The show would have more drama
Lasers, and energy weaponry would have been replaced by missiles and projectile weaponry.
This is what I have so far. What would you have wanted to see?

 

[Hoist40]

Hopefully they have thought out a complete story arch. Some of these programs start out good but then they seem to lose their way and try to continue on with drama piled on top of more drama and the end being an attempt to pull together too many different story threads.

 

[The Storyteller]

The humans created the Cylons

No. The whole 'machines turning on their creators' thing has been done so many times that having the Cylons be a Colonial creation would add nothing.
Now having the origin of the Cylons and the reason for their hostility towards Humanity a mystery that's gradually solved, THAT has potential.

Cylons have been working on making human form Cylons

One of the few good ideas Galactica 1980 had, since it increases the threat of the Cylons (i.e. the ever-present danger of infiltrators/saboteurs).

The Battlestar Galactica is a old rust bucket due to be retired and converted into a museum before the Cylon attack

Not sure about the museum thing, unless that's somehow important to the story, but the Galactica being old and in less-than-mint condition would definitely add to the show.

The show would have more drama

In this day and age, that's pretty much a given.

Lasers, and energy weaponry would have been replaced by missiles and projectile weaponry.

Not entirely sure about this one. On the one hand, it would help differentiate the show from other Sci-Fi shows, but on the other hand, you don't want to change too much about the show (otherwise, what's the point of calling it 'Battlestar Galactica' when you could just do a completely original show) and I don't really see how removing the energy weapons would make the show inherently better.
Personally, I would keep the energy weapons in some form or another, but tone them down from the Star Wars-esque 'lasers' of the original into something more grounded in reality, like Babylon 5's Plasma-based weaponry. The missiles would be a good addition too.

Other than the stuff I've mentioned above, one of the first things I'd do is remove Muffitt (i.e. that stupid robot dog). Boxey, I might keep since there is potential in that character if used appropriately.
The next thing would be to give Lord Baltar an actual reason for betraying the Colonies (tricked into it perhaps?) rather than just having him join the Cylons because the script says so. Here's a thought - what if Lord Baltar (after inadvertently playing a role in the Cylon victory) is left as the highest ranking political leader? Imagine him trying to lead the survivors while trying to conceal his role in the Fall of the Colonies AND butting heads with the military commander, Adama.
Athena would be a pilot and an actual character rather than the somewhat 2-dimensional Bridge-bunny she was in the original. Making her a pilot would also help address the fact that all the main character pilots from the original (Starbuck, Apollo & Boomer) are male (because you just know someone will point that out and make a fuss) without having to resort to arbitrary gender-swaps.
The Battlestar Pegasus, or some equivalent, would play a larger role (as it was supposed to in the original - there were plans for it to return in later episodes).

That's all I've got at the moment.

 

[Anonymous01]

Interesting responces so far. I like the ideas of story arcs over individual episodes.
Here are some more ideas that I have:
1. Starbuck will be a female. I have written AU fanfics about this and a lot of the people really liked the idea
2. Here is a early 3D aminamtion of the Battlestar Galactica that I made. What do you think? This is just a random Battlestar.

3. A 3D movie which I desinged of ships fighting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0GI2GHgwBI
4. The Cast of the show: This is who I think would be great for their role
1. Adama: Edward James Olmos

2. Starbuck: Katee Sackhoff

3. Apollo: Jamie Bamber

4. James Callis: as Baltar


I'll add more to see what you guys think.

 

[ArKhan]

Maybe. I's a good concept, but the original show is just to Campy to hold up in today's world. If they made it grittier, and less Campy, then sure.

 

[M79]

So what becomes of Earth/our history in this series? In the original the pilot headgear looked like the Pharoh's headdressings, maybe keep with the idea of "ancient astronauts" and have them come to Earth in 2015 or somesuch.

 

[Coalition]

Don't make it too gritty. They only have what is on the ships, and are constantly under attack from a remorseless enemy, and will eventually run low on supplies (aka food). That should be all you need to drive a sense of struggle.

The key will be organizing the fleet, and giving them a direction to go. Are they going to go to Earth? How are they going to know where to go, what to look for? Are there going to be other aliens (hopefully not, otherwise the series will end as Galactica takes position with its new allies)? Where will the fleet get fresh supplies? Raiding the Cylons for resources is an idea, but puts the fleet in range of the Cylon fleet as well. If the Cylons are all machines that means the Galactica and fleet will need another way to get fresh food.

You also have people still on the Colonies who were not able to make it to a ship, or were unable to fit on a ship. Will there be any episodes featuring them (hopefully not, otherwise we'd need two separate casts, sets, etc)? If they do feature them, how does the fleet get back to rescue them (so we don't have to deal with two sets), without getting killed by the Cylons?

 

[UrbanRedneck]

Having some alien races.

They did this in the comic books.

 

[Maniakes]

1. Adama: Edward James Olmos

I seem to recall that Richard Hatch had been one of the big advocates of bringing BSG back onto the air. Maybe he'd want to be involved in the show, and how cool would it be to have the old Apollo playing his old character's father?

4. James Callis: as Baltar

That would unfortunately mean he wouldn't be available to work on the new Doctor Who series. How about John Simm as Baltar instead?

 

[Some Bloke]

It´s just a cheap ass star wars ripoff who cares?!

 

[Glenn239]

The tactical justification for Vipers never seemed to click with propulsion technology the later series. In the original, fighters could seriously damage a battle or base star, and ships just didn't jump away, so it made more sense. In the later series, the battlestar seemed to have to hang around to pick up Vipers, when it could as easily just keep them aboard and jump. Why bother with fighters at all? They just slow you down.

Have more military ship variety. What does a battleship look like?

Blowing up the colonies in the very irst episodes seems unnecessary - why throw away a great story arc- the fate of the 12 worlds - in the first episode? Seems more like a whole 1st season sort of thing to me.

Give the Colonials more infastructure outside the home system - they should have bases and small colonies strung out over quite an area. Galatica has to choose what to rescue, what to let go.

Galactica should be one of the best and newest ships in the fleet, not a scow.

When the colonies are lost, more battlestars survive than just one. Heck, you could have 10 or 20 warships survive. Then, week after week, the grinding attrition starts.

 

[Johnestauffer]

The problem with BS is that the story arc we have seen in both the versions began with the Cylon attack and ended with the arrival at "Earth"
This really left limited options. You escaped, you travel and fought the enemy chasing you, and finally got some where.
The problem in both previous versions was how they handled the final episodes - neither some seemed complete.
Since it is difficult to predict how many seasons you will have, it seems difficult to create a story line that can carry the series for x number of years.
Maybe, there could be more focus on the colony worlds and outposts showing how the survivors fought to stay alive and join the Galactic's fleet.

 

[Athelstane]

Hopefully they have thought out a complete story arch. Some of these programs start out good but then they seem to lose their way and try to continue on with drama piled on top of more drama and the end being an attempt to pull together too many different story threads.

Hard to do that, of course, when you don't know if the network will even pick up your second season, let alone a third or a fourth.

Sad to think of Firefly in this respect, since Whedon *did* seem to have a lot of the story arc thought out, at least in rough outline.

 

[Athelstane]

Glenn,

The tactical justification for Vipers never seemed to click with propulsion technology the later series. In the original, fighters could seriously damage a battle or base star, and ships just didn't jump away, so it made more sense. In the later series, the battlestar seemed to have to hang around to pick up Vipers, when it could as easily just keep them aboard and jump. Why bother with fighters at all? They just slow you down.

I always thought the dogfighting made little technological sense. We don't dogfight now. You get killed dozens or even hundreds of miles out by AAM's. How much more true would that be of a space-faring civilization capable of building mile-long warships that FTL capability? Keep the vipers if you like, but make them conduct most of their combat by missiles or directed energy weapons.

But I guess that sort of thing makes for good TV.

Have more military ship variety. What does a battleship look like?

I would be nice to see Galactica have a few frigates (or whatever passes for that in the Colonial fleet) escorting her survive. I thought it was odd that Larson's series had the fleet putting all of its eggs in battlestar construction.

When the colonies are lost, more battlestars survive than just one. Heck, you could have 10 or 20 warships survive. Then, week after week, the grinding attrition starts.

That would also be more realistic. But I assume that this is another concession to the narrative structure of the program, as well as budget (although that is less and less of an issue now with CGI).