Differences in Battlestar?

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Ive only ever watched the new Battlestar Series, I was wondering what the similaritys and differences between the old and new are?

I know Starbucks a guy in the original and I dont thnk the Raiders where organic in the original either?

[Crazedwraith]

Earth exsisted in the original. In NeoBSG it doesn't. The raiders and cylons where off different designs. There where no human cylons, no stranded pilot back on Caprica. Umm what else....? There was only one modfel of Viper no Rapters, no FTL drives. The list goes on...

[Elite Anubis Guard]

significanly interesting ones then!

[DownFallAngel]

Apolla and Adama were not father and son.

Starbuck, Apollo and Boomer were names not call signs.

The Rag Tag fleet never had colonies only battle ships in the original.

Thats three I can think of.

[Taonas]

Apolla and Adama were not father and son.

What are you talking about? They were father and son in the original!

Starbuck, Apollo and Boomer were names not call signs.

That part is right

The Rag Tag fleet never had colonies only battle ships in the original.

The fleet had only ONE battleship, the rest were colony ships, frieghters... CIVILIAN ships

[Taonas]

Earth exsisted in the original. In NeoBSG it doesn't.

As far as I know it exists in the new one.

no FTL drives.

Yes, they had an FTL drive, they just didn't use it. Check out the episode where they thought they found Earth, they use it there.

[Madeleine]

As far as I know it [Earth] exists in the new one.

I don't think we know yet. The President said that she knew whare it was, but later admitted to Adama that as far as she knew Earth was a myth, just as everyone else had presumed.

[Matt G]

In the new one I gathered that Adama doesn't BELIEVE Earth exists! Whether it actually exists or not in the NBSG universe we haven't a clue!

[DownFallAngel]

I don't think we know yet. The President said that she knew whare it was, but later admitted to Adama that as far as she knew Earth was a myth, just as everyone else had presumed.

Actually, its the other way around. In the new one Adama tells everyone that he knows where Earth is (that the coordinates where given to all fleet admirlas just incase anything where to happen to the colonies), and Rosslen confronts him and says 'When are you going to tell them?' and he responds with something like 'We need to live, so let it be for Earth'. It was like the last line in pilot.

Taonas, in the original, they were all designed like battleships, thats why I pressumed they were all battleships. There was no diversity among thier designs. Simple mistake. As for Adama and Apollo in the original where is it stated that they are family?

And Earth did exsist in the original BSG. In the 1980s version, they ended up finding Earth in a six part miniseries, although many fans dismissed that series, it was still cannon. So Earth does exsist in BSG (old).

[Shipperahoy]

This is interesting stuff to know. I love the new Galactica but I keep being told that if I had seen the old one that I wouldn't like the new one. In that case I'm glad I didn't see the old one. It came out about the year I was born and I never caught any of the reruns either. So far it seems like the only big difference is making Starbuck a girl. Other than that it seems little things.

[yaaayoubetcha]

The biggest difference for me....and I know..it's so obvious nobody is mentioning it.....

the intro and exit themes.....

It just seems strange to not have somebody speaking to end the show (fleeing the cylon tyrany, the last battlestar, galactica........) and I'll always associate the orchestral with BSG rather than what currently airs in the intro


That said, it's really great to see a modern interpretation....the original was great but the new version i think is just as good....had all the models when i was a kid and hopefully there will be a couple galactica toys out for next xmas!

[Matt G]

This is interesting stuff to know. I love the new Galactica but I keep being told that if I had seen the old one that I wouldn't like the new one. In that case I'm glad I didn't see the old one. It came out about the year I was born and I never caught any of the reruns either. So far it seems like the only big difference is making Starbuck a girl. Other than that it seems little things.

Yeah well I started recording the new series for my Dad out in Romania but it was a slow starter and I stopped doing so(the fact that he didn't rate the original series also played a part in this premature call). I've now put in an insane request to a reliable contact of mine to fix up the whole series. Judging by the lack of response, I'll assume she's fainted for the time being!

As someone who has seen the original film but not the original series,The only big difference for me is the theme tune! I'm STARTING to get used to the new arrangment but...

[SaberBlade]

Original - New

• starbuck is a guy - starbuck is a woman
• Boomer was a black man - Boomer is a asian female
• Col. Tigh was black - Tigh is white
• Cylon ships were flown by 3 Cylons - Cylon ships are organic inside and fly themselves
• cylon ships did not have faster than light drives - they do in the new series
• Adama has a daughter who works on the galactica- adama has no daughter
• Zach Adama was killed when the cylons attacked - Zach died before the series because he was a crap pilot
• only 1 human cylon was ever seen and that was in the sequel series set 20 odd years after the original - human cylons seem to be everywhere from the begining
• they had faster than light drives but didn't use them (i don't think all ships could) - all ships can travel faster than light
• the music and the opening titles are very different
• boxie had a mother who fell in love with apollo - boxxie is an orphan
• boxie had a dagget (an artifical dog) - no dog (thank TPTB)
• galactica had a lot of female pilots - only 2 pilots that i know off

those are the differences i can think off

[Xzyl]

There was a thread like this a year ago and I started a response but by the time I had finished it the thread had been buried a few pages back and I did not feel like bumping the thread back up after it was that far back. I'm glad it was brought back up again. It will be more fun when the remake episodes air. Sorry about the length.

Almost forgot, there is a site with a realy good episode guide http://battlestarfanclub.com/battlestar/bgeps.htm . It does it like the way Gateworld does SG episode reviews a detailed synopsis, an analysis, and some nitpicks and tidbits (not afraid to point out the warts and complain about them).

The major differences between the remake and the original:

The cylons were not man made but created by a reptilian alien race also called the cylons. The original idea was to have the enemy soldiers also be reptilian but ABC would not allow it because they felt it was too violent having them get shot up every week(?). The original cylon species had become more and more cybernetic overtime until they finally became extinct. The cylons started the war with humanity when humanity started to help and liberate other civilization that were either at war with or being dominated by the cylons. The war had been going on for a thousand years (yarhns) by the beginning of the series.

The cylons are ruled by an individual called the Imperious leader. When it s destroyed to is replaced with another. Some sources suggest that the cylons upgrade a high ranking cylon rebuild it into an Imperious leader when they need to. The ruling imperious leader at the beginning of the pilot is destroyed at the end of the episode when its basestar is destroyed in a trap.

Some cylons posses emotions while others don’t. The centurions did not have any but nonmilitary cylons including the Imperious leader did. There were no humanoid cylons. When a cylon is destroyed it is dead, there is no mental transfer into another body. It is however possible for a nonfunctioning cylon to be repaired provided that the damage is not too extensive; since this was rarely done it could possibly indicate that a shot would normally damage a cylon beyond repair. A blaster shot would blast a fist sized hole through the cylons armor and destroy the underlying systems. Presumably this could cause secondary damage that would destroy the cylon's main systems.

Adama appears to be the supreme commander of the entire colonial fleet and a member of the council of the 12, the ruling body of the colonial government, he also is the representative of his homeworld Caprica.

The Galactica is 500 years (yarhns) old at the beginning of the series, it has undergone several upgrades since then.

Zak is killed is the pilot episode. Zak was fresh out of the academy and had not flown his first patrol yet and wants to fly with his big brother Apollo. Starbuck half heatedly pretends to be sick so Zak can take his place. Apollo relents, and they leave the fleet to patrol an outlying sector. They stumble onto a large formation of cylon fighters over a moon, the fighters had been snuck in by a freighter. Adama's sons can not warn the fleet because they are being jammed and must fly back to warn the fleet. As they finally reach the fleet Zak's fighter is crippled and Apollo is forced to leave him behind, moments latter the cylons catch up to Zak's fighter and destroy it.

As in the remake a combination of factors led to the destruction of the colonial civilization and fleet. At the beginning of the pilot episode the entire colonial fleet is meeting up with the cylon fleet to finish up a peace settlement that was allegedly initiated by the cylons and brokered by Baltar. As per the agreement the colonial fleet is in a stand down state not prepared for a fight. When Apollo and Zak's fighters return with a large, but unidentified from the fleets point of view, force Adam tries to get the fleet battle ready but is over ruled by the president and forbids the fleet from going to alert. He thinks that going to alert would provoke the cylons and that the force behind the fighters is nonhostile.

Adam follows orders and does not put the Galactica on alert, he does however order the Galactica's crew to start performing battle drills so that the weapons, fighters, and the crew can be battle ready. When Zak’s fighter is destroyed the president is caught off guard and thrown into shock when he realizes they just walked into a trap. During his shock the president forgets to give the order the fleet to come off of stand down status. Adam puts the Galactica on alert and launches its fighters. He then withdraws the Galactica to get back to the colonies. But it is too late, the cylons have simultaneously attack the colony worlds at the same as the fleet is ambushed. In a latter episode it is revealed that Caprica did have a planetary defense network but it was sabotaged by an agent of Baltar's. When the Galactica returns to the fleet it finds that it is the only remaining battlestar, until the episode living legend but that battlestar was thought to have been lost in an earlier battle.

Adama was still married but his wife was killed in the attack (there is a nice scene where Adam is going through the wreckage of his home and picks up family pictures).

Adama also has a daughter, Athena, who is a bridge officer and is one of Starbuck's girlfriends. She later becomes a fighter pilot.

Baltar's betrayed the colonies on purpose, the survivors learn of this early on. He had made a deal with the cylons. He would help the cylons destroy the other colonies if they would spare his and back him as the supreme ruler of the human race. They double crossed him by destroying his colony with the others and taking him prisoner. The imperious leader refuses to allow any human survivors on the basis that "As long as one human remains alive it threatens the empire".

That imperious leader is destroyed and immediately replaced by a new one with a different reasoning. It feels that humans are no longer in a position to be a threat and it would be easier to keep them under control than to hunt down each one. It releases Baltar believing that he would know best how to track down his own people. The new Imperious leader apparently decides to honor his predecessor’s agreement with Baltar and tells him that he can govern the remaining humans, on behalf of the cylons, once they have been captured.

Later in the series Baltar is eventually captured and sentenced to life imprisonment. In the last episode Adama needs information from him and agrees to make a deal with him. Baltar wants to swap prisons, instead of remaining on the prison ship he wants to be left on a nearby habitable planet with supplies, gear, and a transmitter. Adama refuses the transmitter but Baltar tells that "Even a condemned man needs hope of a reprieve" . Adama agrees but requires that the transmitter only be capable of only short range transmission. Baltar agrees and gives the information that is needed to give the Galactica an additional advantage in fighting a basestar in the area. Its unknown if Adama keeps his agreement and Baltar as this was the last episode of the original series.

A main character from the original series that has not made it into the new series is Cassiopea. She was Starbuck's other girlfriend. In the first episode she was a prostitute, but in all episodes afterword she was a medtech and her original ocupation was never referenced again.

Getting tired, I'll have to fininsh up latter.

[Blue Banrigh]

In the old one Adama was both the civilian and military leader, they didn't have a civilian president.