Why the Battlestar Galactica Reboot Was Canceled
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- A plan for a new series of BSG battlestar Galactica created by Sam Esmail was cancelled.. but was it because of money like Peacock said or were there a more sinister reason?
#battlestargalactica #samesmail #scitrek #tachyonpulse
Video mentioned in the video:
• New Series Dumped! Bat...
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They're not confident spending 70m on good sci-fi such as BG or Stargate but Disney will spend 300m on total shyte. 😂 Unreal. Hollyweird is done anyway, nothing good coming anytime soon.
Maybe they should just sell BG to Disney adn let them do it.
@TueSorensen Disney used to own Starblazers rights. I thought they would develop that but alas...
I still want a reboot of Space: Above and Beyond. Also, a reboot of Dark Skies. Both brilliant shows. Cancelled way too soon.
Screw a reboot. I want Season 2 of Space: Above and Beyond. The finale set up a completely new cast going forward pretty well.
@@Educated2ExtinctionI want the same cast. Just carry on like there hasn't been a 30 year gap.
@@G0Lg0Th4N Assuming that it wasn't all woke and had some very good writers on board, I would probably have it set say 20 years into the future. Bring back parts of the original cast to take on different roles within the fleet. So McQueen might be a general or commanding his own ship, Commodore Ross would be a general/Pres of Earth, maybe some of the 58th are commanding their own ship, While others are taking on the McQueen role commanding a new 58th. It could be a case some of the actors just have recurring roles appearing every now and again for special appearances, while the 58th is full of new recruits.
BSG really doesn't need a reboot, leave it where it is as it would be difficult to improve what we already have, I recently rewatched the 2003 BSG is still relevant and holds up well.
There are many great Sci-Fi stories out there that would be amazing if made for film or TV instead of reboots or remakes.
The 2003 version is good and I agree why remake that.
The 78 version is a totally different issue. The back story was completely different and where it was heading also different the 80 sequel doesn't count. In the 78 BSG the Cylons were not created by humanity. And towards the end of the season it was point to a larger conflict that was occurring. The characters in universe saw it as religious as it fit their myths. But are the gods actually gods at all or just really advance civilizations.
My point is the Moore reboot was in truth a different story. And if any is done it should be the 78 as we never saw that concept worked through. I think the greatest challenge for any show today is talent. Not of actors but writers and showruners.
The second BSG was a perfect story arc. No need for more.
Better than it had any right to be, lost its way a bit after the New Caprica story line, the ending, well, I was screaming at the screen saying the Estate of Douglas Adams ought to get a credit here.😉
it was terrible
I totally agree. But man we are getting old and we gonna one day. I wanna see more of what I love even though it will be shit.
Exactly it makes no sense. Why not make it a 90 minute movie and release it in theaters?
By the end of the 4th series everybody was a cylon - left it nowhere to go
I just don’t think there was a need or desire for it , The 2003 reboot is still great viewing , I see reactions on here all the time from Gen Z’s who think it’s the best Sci Fi series they’ve ever seen , Sometimes it’s best not to mess with perfection 😂❤
The problem wit friendly kid-friendly sci-fi is that we have all seen everything that can be done in space opera. I think we need science fiction that challenges us not bore us to death.
I'm not sure Galactica needs a reboot, it still feels fairly recent even 20 years on, and it still stands up. They tried a prequal series with Blood & Chrome which was pretty blah, and Caprica which was starting to find its feet when they cancelled it. I think an early Battlestar Galactica ship will just fall short due to no real stakes. They probably need to leave it another 10 years before a proper reboot.
I think the main thing that Babylon 5 has going for it is that it would still have JMS at the helm, the show is 30 years old and he could reboot the series and go another direction with it. But it still probably won't happen because whichever way it goes a section of fans will still be pissed.
Stargate is another one that I am not sure a reboot will work, do people want a new Stargate or do they want more Stargate? I think they want more, but where would it go next? They tried something different with Universe, which whilst good was not widely supported and was unsure where it was going. The Stargate world has advanced so far ahead of current tech that the show is no longer a plucky low tech Earth vs the evil superior aliens. I think you could do a show about the stargate becoming known by the public, but that would be one or two series, then where would it go? Whilst that may be a Stargate show within the world, it would not be Stargate.
I like the view Sam was trying to get on screen. And I hate most hard reboots but if they are written by JMS for B5 & Brad Wright for Stargate there is a lot more chance of having a hit show.
Peakok is incorrect, Sam had it right!
Thank god for dune, because it's been the only good sci fi of the last decade.
So many other old SciFi that could be redone and reenvisioned -
* Space Above and Beyond
* Outer Limits/Twilight Zone (this could be done with very little CGI, considering the stories told in the original series) Even the remakes in the 80s/90s werent super heavy CGI.
* A new Stargate series in similar guise as SG-1 and Atlantis... Let's face it, most SG-1 episodes were "planet that looks like Vancouver BC forest" so not huge costs there.
* Lost in Space
I'm sure there's a ton of other SciFi show concepts from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80's that were interesting ideas with crappy/questionable execution that could be reworked into something interesting today without breaking the bank. Particularly ones that take place on Earth and tell mostly human centric stories. Look at "Colony" - we went most of the way through that series with no sign of the alien invaders at all! Very little CGI/FX.
A series based on the events of the TET attack on Earth from Oblivion. A series based on the attacks from "5th Wave" (ok that one was weird). But you get my point... There are ways to do interesting, compelling HARD SciFi that doesn't have to break the bank on FX/CGI and makeup/costumes.
I'm not sure a show on the same level as Battlestar Galactica could be made to a decent budget in this day and age. Broadcast television is dying, TV watching is fracturing from what seems like endless options including streaming, over the air broadcasts, and cable television. In 1979 there were only three commercial TV networks in the US, in 2003 there were multiple broadcast networks and dozens upon dozens of cable networks. Viewership is splintering into smaller and smaller fractions as more avenues for entertainment are created. Unless you're part of a giant streaming network like Disney+ or Netflix, they probably won't get enough watchers to justify the enormous budget it'd take to get a new Galactica made.
You are absolutely correct. Peacock has an ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) of about 10.oo which is really good and about 30M subscribers which is really bad. The Galactica 79 had three quarter appeal and very little competition giving it an approximate peak viewership of 74M. BSG 03 had only one quarter appeal (largely Adult Males), was on cable limiting the audience, and failed to bring in a significant portion of the original audience even in its demographic giving it a peak viewership of 4.2M which dipped to 1.8 in season 3 causing its cancelation.
If we extrapolate, the new series would have a one quarter audience so the maximum viewers would be 7.5M. With an ARPU of 10 dollars per user this makes a maximum budget of 75M which is really good, but that's a maximum not a likely situation.
It's probably for the best it was cancelled. As 2 remakes is a bit too much
Original style could be cheaper if closer to the original. Nostalgia is popular at the moment
I've been thinking about this, and I actually think that gritty style had become a bit of a crutch. Bad shows try to be gritty without having anything behind it. Even SW Andor, as gritty as it is, ultimately has a very hopeful message of Star Wars at the core.
The viewership of Andor wasn't great when scaled to the budget. Andor's viewership was about 5.24M Compare this to the peak viewership of new BSG at 4.2 M and it looks pretty good, but peak viewership of new BSG was not that great given that it was an ad supported product. Kenobi had a viewership of 11.15 and Boba Fett had a viewership of 8.28.
Disappointing news; I had a feeling that Sam Esmail was going to make a show set on Kobol, thousands of years before the fall of the colonies, and I really wanted to see that.
The ending of BSG was a perfect setup for a new series. The cycle begins again except in modern day and we get to see how or if that changes/fix the cycle the way they hoped.
The reason why the previous one was canceled, was because the ratings started crashing almost immediately as the people who came to watch Battlestar Galactica found a violent, dismal, antithetical show to the original. these are space Mormons, and Adama was a spiritual leader of his people that served on the highest council of Cardinals. He was not an atheist, and Colonel Tigh was his secular voice of reason, not a drunk. As what always happens, when you destroy an existing property you chase off the existing audience and failed through a new one insufficient numbers replace them, destroying the franchise as opposed to revitalizing it. I can't believe you find strange new worlds acceptable, I lasted 15 minutes and two major continuity violations. They had a huge number of people that never watched the sci-fi channel that checked it out and left almost as fast
They should do something new that riffs on the ideas, I mean the original BSG was a riff of Star Wars (Used universe, definitely NOT a Flash Gordon a-like in look). It gives us a new franchise, but something familiar, but not laden with expectations of an existing franchise fan base. Gives the creators room to move, create, explore the ideas in a different way.
I’m going to say, peacock never really intended to do BSG. They just wanted the idea associated with their new streaming service, hoping it would get a bunch of people to sign up prior to the BSG show. That was never coming.
OMG, you can not use POS Star Trek as a base to judge how a new Galactica should be done.
They are not the same and should never be construed as such and if peacock doesn’t understand that about Galactica, they absolutely need to keep away from the franchise.
don't need a reboot. need a continuation.
A backlot would be cheaper than on location, since travel, set up, permits and union rules can make it more expensive, even if it's relatively close to the set.
It might've been confidence in if they could pull it off too. Both versions were very big in their own right and them having to follow up those two with their light and dark juxtaposition then where would it go next? I think the BSG story has been told and I really don't think it's necessary to do anything more with it. Although if it is then a movie telling the original story in an action space adventure style would be the way to go, regrettably.
They picked the WRONG series to re make...people sorry but orginal actor's of orginal. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA..ARE R.I.P.....YOU CANT DO THEM JUSTIC THEY WERE THE BEST...WASTE OF MONEY TO TRY
I remember that for a while there was the thought of a Voyager/Red Dwarf crossover!
If they brought back the original, and ignored 1980 and recast. either right where it left off or a little later. maybe even bring back some of the originals that are left
The 2000s reboot was successful in terms of critical reception but in terms of overall viewers it never came close to the original. It was good figures for the channel it was on and so hit what was needed to cover its cost, the OG though was very expensive for the time and while a lot of people watched it the network decided they could get similar or near similar numbers for a far lower cost. I grew up watching reruns of the original and loved it, I watched the reboot when it aired and at the time bought the dvds but thinking about it I don't think I've actually rewatched the show since it finished while I tend to do a rewatch of the original every few years.
Keep in mind, when the original came out in 1978, most people only had access to 3 channels + PBS. There wasn't as much to watch, so of course the viewing numbers were much higher.
Yes I agree it was a different landscape but it is also a fact that more people watched the original than the reboot. They were produced at different times and were very much of their times as well (late 70s cheese vs post 9/11 bleak). The reboot was more consistently written (rdm is a very good writer) but it's dark tone meant it wasn't something you would rewatch after it was all concluded for a fun watch
Enough of the reboots and just come up with something original already 😛
I was a fan of the OG version. So I never watched the second version until May 2020 during the lockdowns. I thought it was okay but felt really dated. And there was nowhere to go. Anything less than a complete reboot doesn't make sense.
So you put off watching BSG for 15 years a d then judge it as looking dated? 😂😂😂
@@andrewdavies3584 Not "looking." The storyllines, etc. felt very Aughts to me. The visuals were fine, though, although never as interesting as the Egyptian theme of the OG.
You loved Firefly didn’t you? It checked off all the boxes you mentioned.
Just get the special effects made in Asia. Where it costs less to for it. Whether that is Japan, China, India or south Korea.
BSG has never being big enough to have a movie for cinema release, I suspect it'll be straight to streaming services, call them other new shows popular, they don't seem to be to me, Disney are tempted to sell off lucas, Star Trak's , don't want them too serious, the themes are too serious to not have them anything but serious, it undermines the story to not have them serious, IMO BSG will end up more like Matrix, i'm fed up watching shows where one episode to the next, not a lot happens, slow paced moody scenes, close ups, flash backs, boring , Babylon 5 was aweful, only got interesting when the stakes were high and near the end,
How to improve something (BSG 2004) that is already good, and doesn't need a reboot in any way? And above all, why? Why not to do something NEW, for God's sake? The only mistake of BSG was not clearly showing the robotic civilization of the Cylons on their own planet, and their deep motivations against Humanity. Otherwise, BSG 2004 is already a perfect TV show.
Id go for a continuation on earth with Baltar and six controlling things in our future leading to them repeating the same mistakes as before
It sounds like Peacock had the right idea. You want to have a light hearted hopeful outlook. It worked for original Star Wars, original BSG, Star Gate, main cannon Star Trek, and several others. The dreariness was a stone around the neck of things like the new BSG and SGU. I personally liked SGU and the first season or so of the BSG Reboot.
As an addendum, every time you say that the BSG reboot was a success, I'm going to point out that the viewership at its height was a small fraction of the original and it was canceled for low viewership. As the series progressed the viewers of the original series dropped off and the viewership cratered. This is not the description of a healthy series and you keep describing it as though it was. By the metrics, a continuation of the new BSG is a bad idea. It is doomed from the start without something else to prop it up.
Caprica didn't work out either...
And the reason that quantum leap failed because the show runner studio and everyone else turned its back on Scott Bakula, if they had included him in the pilot or in the first show or something like that, they probably wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but they decided to give it to some Asian kid and that’s another issue. All of the identity politics that was led into that show failed and doomed, and you apologize for it all you want it the same problem
There's plenty of good sci-fi in book form.
I thought Caprica was a great start to another spin off series.
Esmail didn't have a plan
80s battlestar Galactica was soo gay and camp. It was terrible to watch. I gave up watching it after 15mins.
Ronald Moore'S reboot was awesome. Probably 1 of the greatest Sci-fi shows ever made.
You say that, but back in 1978 it was "WOW! This is amazing!". What let it down was the rushed production schedule after the studio changed it's mind from doing a miniseries every year to "Let's make this a weekly!" with ZERO prep time. Most scripts weren't even written until the night before they were shot. In fact in the pilot you see Boomer in his "Triad" uniform because wardrobe hadn't had a chance to make his Warrior uniform yet! It was a show of it's time. TV has evolved a LOT since then. (Go back and watch shows like AirWolf, Knight Rider, A-Team, etc... they're all equally camp because of the censorship rules, and the morals of the day (can't show violence - bad guys can't actually be shot/killed! etc.) So, the original BSG has it's place and it's charms. Galactica 1980 (except for the final Starbuck episode) was a dumpster fire and better left forgotten....
I have authored tis response. I think it was all of the above. th-cam.com/video/K4tkLshY0Pk/w-d-xo.html
Give me grit over woke 'happy' nonsense.
SGU SGU SGU SGU SGU 😀
I'm with you with wanting Stargate and/or Battlestar Galactic return shows to be light more suitable for older children/teenagers too, rather than darker like SGU and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. Life sucks for me at the moment and I find great escapism in watching Stargate SG1 and SGA, but really can't watch SGU or Battlestar much past the intial mini-series (or The Expanse - way to dark). Those shows end up giving out negative dark/depressing vibes with all the (a little over the top) emotionally screwed up character always arguing/having a go at one another with the scripts overly focusing on that rather than the storylines. It's unrealistc too as people in stressful situations naturally use humour as a copiong mechanism, like happens in SG1 and SGA and the original Battlestar Galatica.
I've often conversed online in comments etc. with others who watch shows like SG1 and SGA and can't watch SGA and similar while they're going through tough times in their life, so it's not just me. These big media companies really should think about how these lighter shows are good for people's mental health and stop this recent trend of making the majority of shows, across all genres, so dark and depressing with too much overall negative vibes.
That show could’ve continued on Earth. They were left off with meeting the locals. The sharing of technology or at least knowledge with the aboriginals in Tanzania would have been delightful
Good presentation.
I enjoyed the first two seasons of the re-imagined show, but the show fell apart at the end. Not a GoT level implosion, but still disappointing. The best thing to do is another iteration of the human/cylon cycle.
the future in these sci fi properties is in realistic animation. Star Trek Unification shows just how close we're getting to that.
I don't care why, I only liked the series up to the 13th episode of the second season and then no more.