Battlestar Galactica Reboot from Sam Esmail (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

NBC announced today that a flagship property on its new streaming service, Peacock, will be a reboot of Battlestar Galactica from Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot, Homecoming).

The reboot has been "blessed" by Ron Moore, who noted that Sam is a "rabid fan" of Moore's re-imaging. News is still dripping in, and it's unclear exactly where this will fall (will it be a true reboot, fit within Moore's version, something else?).

Earlier today Esmail tweeted:

BSG fans, this will NOT be a remake of the amazing series @RonDMoore launched because... why mess with perfection? Instead, we’ll explore a new story within the mythology while staying true to the spirit of Battlestar. So say we all!

Personally, I'm looking forward to this. BSG is one of my all time favourite shows (in my opinion one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever), and Esmail is one of the two most talented guys making TV right now (the other being Noah Hawley). Mo

 

[joshEH]

Wondering if this was something Ismail himself personally pitched to Universal as a passion-project, or if it was something that the Universal execs just dug out of their ever-mounting reboot slushpile one day and called Ismail in for a meeting on. Ronald D. Moore's version is still a foundational text.

The way I imagine Hollywood producers coming up with these things is that one scene in The Producers, where they're digging through scripts looking for something terrible and come across Kafka's Metamorphosis, and have no idea what it is.

"We need a hit! Ummmm...what's this? 'Battletanks Galactia'? Sure! It's got robots! Give it to that Mr. Robot-guy! He made a thing with robots people liked. While we're at it, here's some old nonsense called 'Metropolis.' That's like Superman, right? It's got robots too! Give Ishmael all the robot-stuff from now on!"

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

When RDM quoted Peter Pan's "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again" in his version, it was both a tip of the hat to the fact that his show was a remake and an acknowledgement that the franchise would likely be rebooted again.

That being said, a spinoff or a companion series is more interesting to me than a straight reboot.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I know all of this has happened before and will happen again. I was just hoping we had a little longer before the next again

 

[Sam Favate]

I know all of this has happened before and will happen again. I was just hoping we had a little longer before the next again

It has been 15 years. Yes, the Moore series came 25 years after the original, but given the speed at which studios reboot these days, that's practically restrained.

 

[joshEH]

I'm slightly more enthusiastic for this than the announced Princess Bride-remake, I guess.

 

[Gary Seven]

It is not a reboot, a continuation apparently.

https://www.superherohype.com/tv/466363-battlestar-galacticas-new-series-wont-be-a-reboot

 

[Josh Dial]

It is not a reboot, a continuation apparently.

https://www.superherohype.com/tv/466363-battlestar-galacticas-new-series-wont-be-a-reboot

That quote is in my first post.

 

[Gary Seven]

Ah... so it is. Sorry for the redundancy.

 

[Greg.K]

Maybe the title of this thread should be edited to clarify that it's not a reboot.

 

[Josh Dial]

Maybe the title of this thread should be edited to clarify that it's not a reboot.

I think people are misreading Esmail's tweet. He wrote that he won't be remaking Moore's version. That is very different from saying it's not a reboot. If the show has a ship named the Galactica and characters named Adama and "Starbuck" then it's a remake or re-imaging.

 

[Greg.K]

I think people are misreading Esmail's tweet. He wrote that he won't be remaking Moore's version. That is very different from saying it's not a reboot. If the show has a ship named the Galactica and characters named Adama and "Starbuck" then it's a remake or re-imaging.

Well I don't think anybody ever thought that he was going to remake Moore's version exactly with a reboot. What would be the point of that?

"Explore a new story within the mythology" to me means it's not a reboot at all, but more likely a spinoff, prequel, or sequel.

 

[Josh Dial]

Well I don't think anybody ever thought that he was going to remake Moore's version exactly with a reboot. What would be the point of that?

"Explore a new story within the mythology" to me means it's not a reboot at all, but more likely a spinoff, prequel, or sequel.

The internet's seemingly collective outrage against a possible remake of Moore's version is precisely what prompted Esmail's tweet.

 

[tempest21]

I've never been convinced of Ron Moore's series. The fact that they turned it into some kind messiah-religious type show with Starbuck being a literal angel was so convoluted that I was left rolling my eyes. While I wasn't sold on the whole 'Starbuck is now a female character', I was more disappointed that they race-reversed Colonel Tigh. I've never been a fan of gender swapping or race-swapping characters from movies or TV shows that are often rebooted more-so for the shock value and to create controversy than in moving the story forward. The first two seasons were okay but then it went overboard.

But, Ron Moore's version was never considered the baseline for this franchise. The original series is the one that should be considered the baseline and I'm just glad that it isn't going to be a reboot or a continuation of the Ron Moore series or the original series. I'm actually hopeful because this will undoubtedly be an original take on the franchise as a concept and not, hopefully, a reboot just for the sake of creating a reboot.

Personally, I would like to see Universal continue or conclude the story that began in the original first season with either a movie, television series or mini-series (adding the fact that they would need to recast the characters since they couldn't do that with the original cast).

 

[Josh Dial]

I've never been convinced of Ron Moore's series. The fact that they turned it into some kind messiah-religious type show with Starbuck being a literal angel was so convoluted that I was left rolling my eyes. While I wasn't sold on the whole 'Starbuck is now a female character', I was more disappointed that they race-reversed Colonel Tigh. I've never been a fan of gender swapping or race-swapping characters from movies or TV shows that are often rebooted more-so for the shock value and to create controversy than in moving the story forward. The first two seasons were okay but then it went overboard.

But, Ron Moore's version was never considered the baseline for this franchise. The original series is the one that should be considered the baseline and I'm just glad that it isn't going to be a reboot or a continuation of the Ron Moore series or the original series. I'm actually hopeful because this will undoubtedly be an original take on the franchise as a concept and not, hopefully, a reboot just for the sake of creating a reboot.

Personally, I would like to see Universal continue or conclude the story that began in the original first season with either a movie, television series or mini-series (adding the fact that they would need to recast the characters since they couldn't do that with the original cast).

This post would be at home in the original "they changed the frakkin' helmets!" thread.

 

[tempest21]

This post would be at home in the original "they changed the frakkin' helmets!" thread.

When I read your post, I almost blew snot out of my nose it was so damn funny. But, seriously. I didn't mind, so much, the first half of SyFy's reboot, I just didn't like the fact that it was being so over-hyped that SyFy's media machine kind of turned me off on the series. I felt the same way about The Dark Knight, the way that movie was being hyped to death. It was funny because I felt the same way about Captain Marvel and the way that Lucasfilm seems to market their Disney Star Wars films with agenda-driven storytelling. While I don't mind Rogue One, Solo and Star Wars Rebels, the way these franchises, these days, overhype their movies and television content, it just doesn't impress me all that much anymore.

At any rate, I'd rather Universal just pick something and just build onto Battlestar Galactica and create an integrated franchise. Even if they were to ditch the whole "search for Earth" concept, I would be happy with that because I think Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers ans Flash Gordon have such a rich history that nobody knows how to approach adapting it into a full fledged franchise.

 

[Sam Posten]

Neat:

 

[Lord Dalek]

Is this dead? Please? Pretty please?

 

[Sam Favate]

Pretty sure it’s still intended to be the anchor show of the Peacock streaming service. COVID delayed it, like everything else.
Like you, I’m wary of anything messing with the 2004-2009 version.