In an article posted on Wired.com, Xeni Jardin explores the initial fan reaction to the miniseries remake of Battlestar Galactica. Fans are aghast that producers are changing some basic elements of the show. Starbuck, for example, is now a woman. Thankfully, she won’t be played by Dirk Benedict this time.
We considered seriously how space travel might happen. In outer space, objects in motion remain in motion. You can’t bank against a gravitational pull. There’s a sense of organized chaos, you have to turn your craft around and fire jets in the opposite direction to slow down — just like the old games. When we were developing the show, I ran around telling everyone, ‘Remember Asteroids! Remember Asteroids!’- David Eick, co-executive producer
This kind of approach to science fiction is long overdue. Too many science-fiction shows have completely abandoned the “science” part in favour of cheesy space-opera, like Voyager, Andromeda, and (apologies to fans) Farscape. Any attempt to portray adventure in space that respects at least a few more laws of physics than the current batch of schmaltzy TV crap is more than welcome.
(Oh, and before the Farscape fans lynch me, I really enjoy the show too — more than Star Trek even, which is quite a revelation for me. It’s a great show, but you have to admit… it hardly qualifies as science-fiction.)