Starbuck Is A Girl?  A Fan's Observation on Fandom

Marshall L Smith Jr (marshallsmithjr@pobox.com)

February 14, 2005

 

 

So you really like the new Battlestar Galactica series on the Sci Fi Channel, right?  Great, it's a fantastic show.  But before you start lobbing insults to the original and its fans, read on.

 

It all started about 18 months ago when it was announced that a new, re-imagined Battlestar would be produced by ex-Star Trek scribe Ron D. Moore and produced by David Eick (of Hercules The Legendary Journeys fame).  The mere mention of Mr. Moore's name sent epileptic shockwaves through some corners of sci-fi fandom since he is unfairly associated with the decline of Star Trek.  That, coupled with the fact that the new show would cut all ties with the old was enough to enrage and organize fans into a massive online offensive against the Sci Fi Channel, Mr. Moore, and even the new cast.  Of course, the inexcusable behavior of a few does not define the typical Galactica fan.  Some new fans are just as indignant, only for them it's about how anyone in their right mind could possibly like the original show and why those fans were so mad about the re-imagining.

 

In 1978 we were in the afterglow of Star Wars (Episode 4 in case you are very young).  Science fiction was now stylish and everyone was trying to get in on the action one way or another.  While Paramount was studying the idea of a new Star Trek series (which eventually became Star Trek The Motion Picture) Universal was working on Galactica.  Since there was no public internet at that time the only information you could get was from TV Guide or Starlog magazine.  When information about Galactica began appearing we saw something never before seen -- science fiction TV with established star power (no pun intended) and a large budget.  It was going to be epic, and ABC/Universal played it up that way.  To their credit they promoted it well.  There were cover stories in Newsweek, TV Guide, and Starlog and plenty of TV spots in advance of the premiere.

 

Those of us who eagerly soaked up anything Galactica prior to the debut hit paydirt when it finally arrived.  It was better than the hype, better than our expectations.  It was about struggle against an unreasoning and relentless enemy, recovery from a cataclysm (the disaster genre was also in vogue at the time), family, friendships, and yes ' cool ships and battles.  It had its share of good episodes and some quite silly ones, but always the themes were relevant and interesting and the actors consistently in character.  Finally, the sci-fi genre was treated with seriousness and dignity on TV.  But somewhere during our collective hyperventilating the network decided to cancel the show, the history of which is too involved to repeat here.  Suffice it to say that after a serious miscalculation by ABC and Universal we had to suffer a completely retooled 2^nd season called Galactica 1980 for 6 excruciating episodes before it was thankfully euthanized.  Just as Star Wars had The Star Wars Holiday Special so we had Galactica 1980.  With any luck this will never be released on DVD so we may continue our campaign of denial.

 

During the 80's you were very lucky to find reruns of Galactica since it only ran for one season and wasn't very viable as a syndicated property.  The fans just kept to themselves and their video tapes.  But then in the early 90's two important things happened: the Sci-Fi Channel was born and the internet was opened to the public.  Very soon Galactica web surfers found each other, formed sites and mailing lists, and began openly postulating the prospect of a revival.  There were a number of false leads and rumors during the 90's regarding revivals, spin-offs, movies, miniseries, and even animation.  This was further fueled by the successful use of computer graphics for special effects in Babylon 5.  Suddenly one of the most expensive aspects of sci-fi production was possible at half the cost.  Eventually Richard Hatch, the original Apollo, took up the cause of reviving the show. He wrote Galactica novels and worked Hollywood for years trying to make it happen.  Using his own money he was able to cobble together a proof-of-concept trailer using mostly donated help from friends and industry insiders who were also fans.  In 1999 at the San Diego ComicCon he showed the 4 ½ minute trailer to a packed room and received an enthusiastic standing ovation.  When news of this and the fact he was pitching his trailer to Universal got around all of fandom was energized.  Finally, a grassroots effort that was paying off after 20 years.

 

Between 2000 and 2003 various Galactica projects were pitched by different people, all of which fell through for different reasons until it passed to the Sci-Fi Channel with Ron Moore and David Eick attached.  We had witnessed years of Sci Fi Channel flops and missteps and were fearful that this was another that would doom Galactica forever.  That fear turned into quiet rage as more details of Ron Moore's ideas were released.  We were just utterly dismayed that we, the core fans, were being cast aside as inconsequential.  We were afraid they would sell out to get younger demographics, hence the nickname “Galactica 90210” took hold (a not-so-flattering reference to Beverly Hills 90210).  Fortunately, it was nothing of the sort.  The new miniseries aired to great success, and season 1 is now enjoying stellar ratings.

 

So, to the original point, why do we fans still hold so dearly to our show? After over two decades of emotional investment we expected more of a compromise between the old characters and a new vision, something more along the lines of that proposed by Richard Hatch or Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto.  We never expected the clean slate we got, and felt like it was all for nothing.  That's why.  We are not fanatics, and we know you can't go home again.  But we did have certain expectations that any reasonable fan would have in our situation.

 

I look at the new show as a homage to the memory of the original rather than to the original show itself.  Many fans, including myself, have questioned the logic of calling the new show Battlestar Galactica when it really has very little in common with the original.   When you have a title like Battlestar Galactica that carries a specific semantic context and start introducing radical changes you are begging for trouble.  When Star Trek The Next Generation debuted in 1987 it was clear from the beginning that this was "the next generation" and not a continuation of the Kirk era.  The creators were able to start with an existing foundation and mythos and update it for a 1987 audience.  There were no false expectations from fans of what to expect.  If the Picard/Riker era was billed as a re-imagining of Star Trek then the guilty Paramount suits would have been dragged from their beds by angry mobs and never seen again.  These incongruent references are responsible for angering old fans and emboldening new ones to take sides and that need not be the case.

 

Semantic confusion not withstanding, the new Battlestar Galactica stands on it's own as a fantastic achievement in acting, production, score, special effects, directing, editing and writing.  Characters are grimly facing the prospect of their extinction and coping with one crisis after another, while being hindered by people with their own agendas.  It is a much grittier and darker vision that is well suited for 2005 whereas the simpler and more optimistic take of the original suited a 1978 audience very well.  Some have complained about the happy endings and lack of angst of original episodes as indications of “kiddie” entertainment but it just happens to be a different take on the same subject matter.  You can either watch brooding characters with real-world problems you can relate to, or you can watch something more uplifting that strives for the positive.  It's simply a matter of taste and there are still plenty of fans that love the respective qualities of both shows.

 

But with each diehard original fan there is an obsessive anti-fan who feels the need to drop into fan discussions for no reason other than to complain and disparage anything that has come before.  It has happened in each new Star Trek series and even in the Star Wars community.  It is rampant in the Galactica community of late.  The psychology of these miscreants is not important, only that a case is made for why both series have their strengths.  After all, the original did only have one season in which to establish characters and plots.  Most shows don't hit their stride until season 3, as did Star Trek The Next Generation.  Galactica may be "stupid" and "campy" to the hardcore self-righteous out there but I could cherrypick some season 1 and season 2 Star Trek The Next Generations episodes that would make the original Battlestar Galactica look like The Sopranos.  Television of 1978 was very much different than today, as it was in previous decades.  Standards of good taste and morality change from decade to decade and those mores shape creativity.  We had yet to be desensitized to violence and serious adult themes in prime time television.  What we saw was the norm, and to judge the original as campy by today's entertainment sensibilities is utterly unfair and naive.  Whether something is sophisticated or urbane is not the only measure of a show.

 

The new vision from Ron Moore is quite good and being based more on a contemporary American model.  It's important for stubborn original fans who still refuse to give it a chance to understand that in today's television economy you must reach a broad base of highly desirable demographics in order to justify a show that costs over 1.2 million per episode.  The average cost of one hour of TV is dropping as cheap reality-based shows become increasingly popular and networks are even more critical of how they spend their production dollars.  The highly coveted demographic happens to be the same people who watch sophisticated shows like 24 and the various crime dramas and who reject the ex machina of “candy” TV.  Moore and Eick have taken the hard science element out of their science fiction show and replaced it with more drama.  This, to me, is a winning formula and long overdue in sci-fi.

 

Those of us who love the original should make room for the new, as it brings incredible creativity to the table.  The remake had its chance and, for whatever reasons good or bad, it did not come to pass.  As for Mr. Hatch, it is obvious there would be no new series without his tireless efforts spreading the gospel and keeping a buzz going in the industry.  He has even appeared in two new episodes with the possibility of more in the second season.  Let's enjoy this great new chapter in sci-fi history while holding vigil that the original may some day find new life.

 

So Say We All.