Glen here...
...still struggling to get back on-line after a complete system crash. God what a mess! If anyone out there has an installation disk for a HP Colorado Back Up T-1000 tape drive...and can loan it or send it to me quickly...my recovery process would be tremendously accelerated. I'll send it right back to you if necessary. If you can help out, please drop me a line!
Several orders of business today: starting with this week's TV Guide (dated January 2-8, featuring Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters on the cover). This week's issue has an interesting article about how the Internet covers television programs. The piece written by a guy called J. Max Robins, and is part of an ongoing column named "The Robins Report". It's on Page 49 this week.
Within this article you will find a discussion about how television producers & studios view the Net's coverage of their television series. The article includes quotes from people like Babylon 5 and Crusade overlord J. Michael Stracsznski, Star Trek executive producers Ira Behr and Brannon Braga, Millennium executive producer Chip Johannessen, Strange World executive producer Howard Gordon, an anonymous source from ABC's NYPD Blue, and Glen Oliver of Aint It Cool News.
((big smiles))
Did a pretty long interview with Max, he's a really cool guy by the way. My quote is limited to one paragraph, but in company such as this - I'm honored and flattered to have even that. Especially given the number of interviews I've done where were never used at all! So check it out if you're interested. It just went on-sale today.
Galactica: The Second Coming
Got this message in over the weekend.
It's no secret that Richard Hatch (who played Captain Apollo in Battlestar Galactica) has been very vocal and assertive in his effort to revive the series which debuted on ABC back in 1978. And it seems that Mr. Hatch has been putting in a little over-time to make this desire become a reality. A brief aside, first.
Since the show's cancellation, there have been many approaches and retreats on the way to returning Galactica to the airwaves. Me? I'm all for it! I saw some of the "Galacticathon" aired by the Sci Fi Channel over the recent Holidays, and I still think there is plenty of room to either re-tell the story, or bring it to an interesting and definitive resolution. Personally, I'd start the series from scratch - but that's a different article altogether.
Sure, there area lot of cheesy things in Galactica, but there are also a lot of interesting and smart things in the show, too. For example: the episode where they encounter Count Iblis (Patrick Macnee) - who turns out to be something akin to the devil, and has trapped the "rag tag fugitive fleet" in a battle between angels and demons; the implication therein that the Galacticans were more or less chosen ones; that the "devils" had actually had some involvement with the human's robotic Cylon enemies thousands of years ago; that "angels" and "devils" were not necessarily religiously based as much as creatures who have attained a staggering level of technical advancement? Methinks it's pretty interesting stuff for television, even if some of the material has been touched-on in previous literary exercises.
Also, Galactica had a hint of story arc running through it, especially in the later episodes of the first season. This arc pre-dated by many years the arcs run by Babylon 5 and Earth: Final Conflict. There was an earthy reality to Galactica, as the refugee fleet coped with the ideas of being ill-supplied, feeding the poor and hungry, and over-crowding in ships too small to be carrying so many people. There were touches of science fiction / science fact coolness as space fighters were propelled out of their launch tubes on powered catapult sleds, and ground crews rushed to meet incoming fighters to plug them into ground systems, fuel lines, etc.
It was not a perfect show, and it had many faults. But it also had many strengths: both technically, conceptually, and in characterization. Strengths which might be well exploited if the show were to be granted revival status.
There have been little rumors...here and there...that a Galactica revival might be in the works. For example: a few years back, I came across indications that Foundation Imaging had done a preliminary FX reel (test effects reel) which was Galactica oriented (this was back when Foundation was still doing the effects for Babylon 5). Foundation says they never produced such an effects reel, but one employee did confess to me "Foundation's keen interest in seeing such a project realized."
And now, this:
Seems Richard ("Apollo") Hatch has just completed directing a five to ten minute "trailer" for a proposed Galactica revival. Apparently, this project is called Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming. The short-film / trailer will make the convention circuit at some point next year, but its main purpose is to convince The Powers That Be at Universal that Galactica is a property which is still viable. Appearing with Hatch in this maxi-trailer is Jack Stauffer (who played Bojay in the original series), John Colicos (Baltar ), Terry Carter (Colonel Tigh), plus a few new faces.
THIS....is cool.
Do I feel a letter writing campaign coming on?
FI bye bye!!! (for real)
A short acknowledgment to several message which have come through the last few days:
YES, Fantasy Island has *really* been canceled by ABC. Happened several weeks ago, when Harry and I were unable to access this site for a few days.
Seems the network was simply not happy with its performance. The series' producers offered to work with the network to make some changes to the series, but ABC summarily pulled the plug without hesitance.
There was brief talk that the series might be shopped around to other venues, but due to the location filming involved...and the high costs of making that happen on a weekly basis...it's unlikely the series will find salvation.
As such, it seems unlikely we will ever find out why Roarke & Co. were enslaved on that island, what they had to do to find redemption and freedom, and exactly how spiritual / religious the whole shebang really was.
All that set-up, and no resolution? Not since the unresolved cliffhanger of NBC's Crime Story has network insensitivity of this magnitude been manifested.
ABC is now in the process of showing the last FI episodes it is planning to air, if it hasn't finished doing so already.
This sucks, in my humble opinion.
This really sucks.
