B5 influenced by Battlestar Galactica?????

[JDSValen]

In lue of the new series about to premier, I just finished re-watching the original Battlestar Galactica, and I was surprised to find what a good show it was. If you can get passed all the cheesy FX and hair, it is really good.

Anyway, the show, and one episode in particular (War of the Gods) delt with some really cool mythological issues. Basically, in the ep, a guy, who is supposed to be the devil, comes to the fleet and makes all these promises to the people of the fleet to become their leader. The only people who see through this is Apollo and Adama. In a stuggle with the devil, Apollo is killed. Starbuck goes to bring the body back to the ship, when a Ship of Light comes and tells them that they are fighting the dark forces and that it was not Apollo's time to die. They resurrect Apollo and send them both on their way, giving them the coordinates of Earth.

Later in another episode this Ship of Light appears and asks Apollo to stop a war on a distant planet.

Anyway, when I saw this what immediatly came to mind was the whole Vorlon/Shadow conflict. I'm not sure if the beings in BSG were as controlling as the Vorlons and Shadows, but it could have easily evolved that way if the show continued.

So, do any of you know it JMS was influenced in anyway by this?

[Capt.Montoya]

I haven't watched Battlestar Galactica in decades and still remember that episode as a good one...

Most likely both writers were influenced by the same mythical stories and sagas.
The polarized struggle between good and evil is not an original concept of Galactica after all.
The real source for the Vorlon and Shadow conflict is in the show title: Babylon.
The Babylonian mythology (from what I've heard) featured a struggle between the forces of order and chaos.

[JDSValen]

That's true.

The creator of BSG, Glen Larson, was influenced by dead civilizations (hence the whole look of the show), so that could very well be the case.

I was just curious to see if JMS was a BSG fan

[Capt.Montoya]

>Any chance we can burn the Galactica 1980 tapes and have a repeat shot at
>the original concept with JMS at the helm?

I'd sooner stick an ice pick in my ear.


jms

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-566&query=galactica

I think that answers your question.

Glenn Larson was influenced by Erich von Dõniken's speculation and nonsense about ancient civilization being a product of alien influences, similar to Stargate in that aspect. As a child I could swallow the idea, as an skeptic adult that BSG concept seems so much like BS that I don't think I could suspend my disbelief to appreciate the original show.
(But I'm willing to give a try to the reimagined BSG.)

[Paul]

I believe that JMS was influenced by BG. Even Michael O'Hare admitted in an interview that the show was a cross between BG and the UN in space. The Starfury launches reminded me of viper launches.

[bakana]

Galatica offended a Lot of long time SF Fans because of the Blatant plagiarism evident in so many of their scripts.

They stole ideas left and right and never credited the authors.
But people familiar with the literature could watch the episodes and Name the authors and books the episodes were stolen from.

Which might account for the tone of JMS reply.

He's one of those Long Time Fans who knows the authors and books.

[The One to come]

Well for BSG it was based on the Bible and thye 12 tribes of Isrial, not much more thatn that realy, but I don't know that much more about BSG.

Marco

[Darth_librarian]

No obvious similarites bar the common origins. The re-imagined show is rocking!

[sketh]

On a similar theme i have been watching some of the remake on sky, and i do think its the best sci-fi show since b5, and i get the feeling b5 has infulenced the remake in a positive way! Anyone agree?

[B5_Obsessed]

Originally posted by Paul
I believe that JMS was influenced by BG. Even Michael O'Hare admitted in an interview that the show was a cross between BG and the UN in space.

As we've learned from the cast commentaries, the actors are not usually the best source for this type of information. During the years jms was formulating the B5 storyline, O'Hare was working off-Broadway in "A Few Good Men". The official description by jms was a cross between "Casablanca" and the UN. O'Hare only got it half right.

Originally posted by Paul
The Starfury launches reminded me of viper launches.

Well, they do fly out a little door and fly into a bigger one, but B5's ships simply drop and are thrust out via centrigugal force rather than the balls-to-the-wall Viper exit. The Viper launches were more based on conventional aircraft carriers, right down to the catapults that help help to propel them down the launch tube. The same goes for the flight deck landing sequence. B5's ships land in Zero G.

Both show DID have a casino, though.

[B5_Obsessed]

Originally posted by bakana
Galatica offended a Lot of long time SF Fans because of the Blatant plagiarism evident in so many of their scripts.

They stole ideas left and right and never credited the authors.
But people familiar with the literature could watch the episodes and Name the authors and books the episodes were stolen from.

Which might account for the tone of JMS reply.

He's one of those Long Time Fans who knows the authors and books.

Galactica stole from EVERY genre. My favorite title was "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero". Even at 13, I was prescient enough to know that they were ripping off "The Guns of Navarone" and "Ice Station Zebra" in one fell swoop. Of course, when it came to plot, they recruited the men for the suicide mission from the prison ship, which allowed them to borrow from "The Dirty Dozen".

The episode with the gunslinging Cylon was a straight adaptation of "Shane".

And what everyone calls the only redeeming episode of Galactica 1980, the Starbuck story (although I found it to be overnarrated by Benedict), was a straight ripoff of "Hell in the Pacific" starring Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. The concept was used again for "Enemy Mine".

[z^3]

Originally posted by sketh
On a similar theme i have been watching some of the remake on sky, and i do think its the best sci-fi show since b5, and i get the feeling b5 has infulenced the remake in a positive way! Anyone agree?

I would agree that the new BSG is genuinely one of the best science-fiction televisions shows in recent times, probably the best since B5. In terms of apparent B5 influence, new BSG has an incredibly tight story-arc and an authentic, almost cinematic, feel about it - something that I haven't seen for quite a while.

Where new BSG it falls down, I think, is in adherence to science and detail. B5, for example, paid careful attention to scientific items such as artificial gravity (or lack of until a certain level of technology), whereas BSG pays attention to certain themes (such as no sound in space) but doesn't offer an explanation for other, seemingly inconsistent facts (such as artificial gravity - which, in my opinion, seems above their level of tech). But, in the scheme of things, this doesn't really matter, and doesn't seem to distract from the series at all.

One more thing, though I won't go into details as our American cousins shouldn't have yet seen the series, but some of the themes are shaping up to be incredibly interesting, and potentially as thought-provoking as some of B5's (assuming they are realised.)

(Just a caveat, please note that I haven't seen the original and am therefore judging the new BSG on its own merits exclusively).

[jal]

i did see the original and i really wish i hadn`t, i thought it sucked back then and still do.

but this new version is definately something else, i think it is the best show since B5 finished it`s run and i`ve been hooked on it since the pilot episodes.... happy days!!

[Garibaldi's Hair]

I have seen both the original and the new one, and they are so dissimilar that the BSG name just seems bolted on.

The new show is a proper SF show, the original was a piece of Saturday tea-time television fluff, in much the same vein as Knight Rider or Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Entertaining fluff, but nothing more than that.

Not surprising really considering they were all Glen A. Larson productions.

After a while, the most fun could be had counting how many stock shots of vipers launching/fighting/whatever you could spot that were repeated from previous eps (or even earlier in the same one).

[Towelmaster]

I haven't seen the new version but you're right : the original sucked bigtime. I collect SF(books as well as vids and dvds). Costs a lot of money but hey! it's fun to watch that stuff on a rainy sundayafternoon!

So over the years I have stocked my videowall with things like :

StarTrek:TOS complete
StarTrek:TNG about three seasons of the best eps.
StarTrek:Voy : complete except for 1 video ( )
StarTrek: DS9 : First season and last season, can't be arsed about the in-betweens(B5 rulez)
Babylon-5 : Everything except fof S5(soon to be released)
Crusade : "Complete"
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy(check my nickname).

And the list goes on and on and on... I even collect SF that isn't so brilliant. And lots of SF-movies of course...

But I draw the line at BSG:TOS. Or rather at all Glenn A. Larsson-stuff. That guy didn't do anything worthwhile after 1975. It is just not worth the money :

BSG -> repeat-shots all over the place, no original storyline in sight for miles, no crediting the proper writers, crappy acting, etcetera.

Sorry about the rant. Do I come across as anti-Larsson enough yet?

So if somebody else remade BSG I must check out the new version, see if it's any better. Is it out on dvd yet?

Another one worthy of a f*ck*ng rant :

Mr. Gerry Anderson(plus wife) :

Space:1999? -> Every time the moon paused at some alien planet and neatly took off again after our heroes had their adventure I cringed, I wanted to puke. The guy had no shame. Oh, and most of the actors couldn't act. It was a StarTrek rip-off anyway : take 4 or 5 main characters and a couple of stooges to fill the screen, write all the dialogue around these main characters, don't don't don't use too many effects because they cost money, re-use the sets so obviously that people recognize the stain on the wall of room #1 to be the same as the stain on the wall in medbay, etcetera.


Sorry. you triggered my "bad SF"-button...


Addendum : http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0488991/