(no subject)

I love the original Battlestar: Galactica. I love it enough to completely get over the cheesy aspects of it (well, ok, not completely ... Fire In Space still makes me roll my eyes ... then fall asleep), because even though it had some really bad episodes, and some really bad acting at times, it had a premise I loved -- a devastated people searching for their lost brothers on a world that may not even exist.

The new Battlestar is not only a worthy successor, it's better in some ways. I'm going to avoid spoilers, since I know at least one person who wants to watch it later.

Space combat is more realistic, with the attitude jets of the ships visible when they maneuver. Radio static abounds. There isn't a single bad actor on screen.

In the original show, the Cylon massacre wasn't shown in much detail -- you saw Cylon fighters attacking, and things going boom, and a few dead people who basically (it being the 70s, after all) were made up with smudges and told to fall down. You saw vipers and battlestars exploding, but the true horror of what had happened was mostly hinted at.

Not so in this version. You see Caprica being devastated, though you never see the ships that are launching the attack. You see the pilots in vipers die, and though it's never gross, it's realistic.

Most importantly, you see characters make hard decisions that could very well cost the lives of others -- or themselves. In the original, that was a rarity; I suspect it won't be here.

It isn't the same show I grew up watching (it makes a few nods to the original), though the core elements of the story are still there. It's damned good, and if it goes to series I'll keep watching it. I'm definately looking forward to tonight's finale.

(no subject)

( Fear me, for I am ... )

Thanks for the link, waiwode

(no subject)

In the race to be The Next Game Michael Runs, we have a new entrant:

Battlestar: Galactica (Set 20 years after the original show, but modified with some elements of the new show) using the Alternity ruleset.

(no subject)

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order

And All the Stars, Afire
Episode XLVI: Lines of Communication
Part Two: "The More Things Change ..."

Saturday, 20 December
6pm - ???

No shit, there I was!

I'd just delivered a food shipment to the Oman when I got the call -- the Kong were pissed at the Hoffer's Wake police force, blaming them for attacks on their stations, and had decided to ram a freighter full of antimatter into the police station off the Alexander jump point.

Well, hell, I couldn't let them do that. If they wiped out the Police force, not only would hundreds of innocents die, but the League would fall apart -- and if the League couldn't stop the Marauders, they'd wipe everyone out, eventually.

So I fired up the Southern Cross and loaded some disruptor missiles and headed out. After some fast talking, I got the Kong to realize that disguised Marauders had been attacking them, not the Police. Whew -- crisis averted.

On the way back to base, I noticed the MCA had asked me to help run a blockade so they could get some supplies into Mwari. I decided to go there and help out first. Once I linked up with the convoy, they sent me through the Toad jump point first.

Holy mother of shit-for-brains spacers. I came out of the jump in a shitstorm of Marauder fire. Bastards not only had a fleet waiting for me, but the place was mined six ways to Sunday. My wingmen were dead within thirty seconds; I lasted about ten more before my ship shattered and I had to try to learn to suck vaccuum.

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The preceding message was brought to you by the game Independence War 2, my favorite space-sim. The moral of the story is: Always return to base and save your fracking game.