StarshipTitanic wrote:Oh please, the original had horribly campy "battles." Basically they show some Raiders flying, then Vipers, then a few lame fighting scenes from the pilot episode, then that's it. The best exterior shots was when they were just flying or making huge turns.
And new BSG didn't even have that. What did we get? A very brief exchange between Starbuck and a couple other pilots near the Galactica that lasts, what, a minute or two? And then a mediocre battle with some pretty good dogfighting at the end, but not nearly bloodthirsty enough to satisfy. Wheee. And Starbuck's screeching got on my nerves.
The Atlantia was OK. The Pegasus forcing it's way involved single shots of the Gala- I mean Pegasus model, then a shot of a single Basestar, then wimpy exchanges of fire. For at least one of the explosions they reused the Imperious Leader's ship's explosion and then the explosion of Carillon.
And again, new BSG can't even give us that. What does new BSG give us in the way of capship combat? The Galactica shooting down a couple missiles from horrendously deformed Basestars. I wanted to see the BSG plow into that blockade and rip into the nearest Basestars to distract them from the civilians. And why didn't the Cylons use any nukes in that one? When a single Raider is capable of carrying nuclear missiles that can threaten the BSG, why didn't they just launch a massive wave of missiles from both the Basestars and Raiders? I mean, criminey, the BSG was a stationary target! Fill the void with nukes and it can't possibly shoot them all down!
Sheer volume launching? You mean like 5-6 at a time? There were never more than ~14 Raiders on screen at once, and they were in such perfect double lines that I wouldn't be suprised if they just flipped the negative. The Galactica was never shown launching more than three Vipers at a time. Your glasses have some rose-colored crap on them, you should wipe it off.
Come on, for an 80s show with a limited budget, they did a decent job of with their battles. New BSG didn't even try.
Justify showing a battle that the Galactica was not, and should not have been, involved in. Especially when the Cylons are just flipping the off switch.
Simple. Imagine for a moment that the BSG had been stripped of all her new fighters and only had the old ones aboard, then delete the scene where the Cylons switched off the squadron's computers (a pretty good scene, I might add, but it could've been even better). Now imagine this:
TIGH: Commander, we've got a notice from the Atlantia. They've detected a Cylon attack force and the fleet is moving to engage.
ADAMA: Good. Keep me posted.
*CUT TO: a Colonial fleet in phalanx formation. In the foreground is a large, dangerous-looking battlestar that puts the Galactica to shame. Zoom in on the Battlestar until the lettering ATLANTIA can be made out. CUT TO the bridge of the Atlantia, similar to that of the Galactia, but with much more modern equipment*
ADMIRAL: Time to optimum firing range?
*camera begins to pan around the room*
SENSOR OFFICER: Fifty seconds, sir.
WEPS OFFICER: All defensive batteries report armed and ready, sir.
COMM OFFICER: Pegasus and Rycon are in position and are ready for a fight, sir.
ADMIRAL: Good. What's the status on our fighter screen?
FIGHTER OPS OFFICER: All squadrons are deployed, Admiral. Squadron leaders report ready.
ADMIRAL: Time?
SENSOR OFFICER: Thirty seconds, sir.
*CUT TO: the command center of a Cylon Basestar. Lighting is dark, but visibility is not drastically affected. Cylon Centurions sit or stand at their stations, and a Cylon IL-series (like Lucifer from the original) sits on a command throne*
COMMANDER: Report.
CENTURION: Twenty seconds to optimum firing range.
COMMANDER: Excellent. Transmit the code.
CENTURION: By your command.
*CUT TO the Atlania's bridge as lights begin flickering. Crew members look about in confusion*
ADMIRAL: What's going on?
*all crucial stations sputter and go out*
ADMIRAL: Report!
WEPS: Sir, weapon batteries just went offline!
HELMSMAN: Sir, helm refuses to respond!
COMM OFFICER: I've lost communications with the other ships, sir!
ADMIRAL: What the hell is going on? Re-establish our link with the Vipers, now!
XO: Sir, look!
*all eyes turn to the main screen. CUT TO space as the helpless Vipers are annihilated by a swarm of Cylon raiders. CUT BACK*
ADMIRAL: *shaky* Lords of Kobel...
XO: Sir, they're still coming!
SENSORS: Sir, sir! They've got nukes!
ADMIRAL: WHAT?!
SENSORS: Those leading fighters are arming nuclear warheads, sir!
ADMIRAL: HELM, GET US OUT OF HERE! EMERGENCY FTL!
HELMSMAN: I can't program a solution, sir! It's like the Cylons are...
*blood drains from the Admiral's face*
ADMIRAL: That's exactly what they did. They've turned our own networks against us. *he slumps* Now we can't even fire one single bullet.
*CUT TO space as the Raiders launch their missiles and peel off. CUT BACK*
SENSORS: Sir, Raiders are launching nukes! Impact in ten seconds!
*chaos erupts. People panic. Some try to dash out, but the doors are sealed. The Admiral stands in place, overwhelmed by the enormity of his defeat*
XO: Sir, what about the colonies?
ADMIRAL: There's nothing we can do now, my friend. The Cylons have us. *he looks up* We wanted to create the perfect warriors...and we succeeded.
*CUT TO space as the nukes hit home. Explosions erupt across the Atlania, tearing it apart. In the background, the other ships of the fleet are similarly hit. The Raiders launch a second wave of nukes, ripping the weakened Battlestars apart in a spectacular series of explosions*
Such a battle scene (more fleshed out than that, obviously
) would have been incredbile. But no, all we get is a little blurb about losing 30 battlestars and another blurb about the Atlantia's destruction. Thanks, new BSG.