Ronald D. Moore on GALACTICA Feature Film and Future Episodes (SPOILERS)

[Qasim]

http://trekweb.com/articles/2005/10/...9702dd57.shtml

An exclusive interview with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA producer Ronald D. Moore, in which he talks about the possibilities of a GALACTICA movie and a third season and the future of the show. Here are a few excerpts.

Q: Have you considered making a movie out of BSG (like Joss Whedon's SERENITY)?

Ron: I don't know. I'm not sure that the show lends itself to a feature film. One of the strengths I think of the show is all the serialized elements of it. All the continuing storyline. All the character work and the fabric of the show and the myth, and all the textures of it. With a feature you're doing a big one off, here's one big flashy film, and I'm not sure that's really what this show is about. So I haven't really seriously considered that.

[dec55]

Serentity is struggling right now....as with all theater movies. Even Star Wars III
didn't make more money than Star Wars I, so I think the future is in TV and
DVDs. The theater experience may go in the way of the drive in movie.

NO Feature film.....not worth it....

[SG-1ssm]

I agree, a film is a bad idea.

[the fifth man]

Yep, going to the "big screen" doesn't carry the same weight anymore. I say just let the show keep going from season to season. I much more prefer 20 eps in a year than one two-hour movie every few years anyway.

[Carbito]

TV is a far superiour format to movies. In a movie you have like 90 minutes in which to establish characters, develop a plot and then end it in a nice little resolution. The worst part about the idea of BSG going into a movie is that you have to re-introduce everything for those viewers who have not seen the TV show.

Thankfully I don't think we will ever see a BSG movie.

[anotherquestion]

I am too old and too fond of movies to reject them as being inferior to televison for depicting large or complex storylines. TV's virtues are also pitfalls: true, you have more time over the course of a season or a number of seasons to explore "in depth" a rich arc of plot, to slowly reveal characters, and to lend richness, texture, and nuance to individual portrayals and plot elements. You could argue that these virtues are trumped by novelizations or bodies of novels (Dune, Discworld, Foundation, and Niven's Tales of known space all contain rich material that elude depiction in movies or even long series runs).

At the same time pressures of sponsors, fans, and Network executives can stretch out a story arc longer than its "natural" lifetime (think of the post-Mulder X-Files) or prematurely bring things to an abrupt end with a lot of loose ends (think of Space Above and Beyond, or Firefly). Even mundane issues, like an actor departing from a series, can have serious effects to a larger arc playing out (like the departure of Sinclair from Babylon 5, or Fox Mulder).

For me, a darkened theater is still the best place to watch SciFi Special Effects (mainly because I don't have an expensive plasma HDTV with bone-shaking subsonic speakers). It is also the place to have an "immediate" community experience, unlike this forum where the community is real enough, but the reactions are more disjointed.

To me TV remains the best venue for the more "story arc" oriented series, but the basic bedrock has to be the scripting, production, and acting. The Trek franchise became increasingly arc-oriented, with little or no arcs in the "stand alone" episodes in the original series and even the Next Generation, to the more theme based later variants (DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise). But the arc "architecture" itself can be confining as well as liberating, the stolid blandness of Federation ethos was, in my opinion, stultifying and repetitious over time. The exploration of the flaws in the major characters in BSG seems much more interesting.

Many times the strength of the arc itself isn't enough to sustain a full episode, so a lot of "B storylines" supplement the stingy revelations that advance the arc itself. This has been done very well by BSG.

Movies have done arcs well too, starting with the serials and later playing out in many of the "franchise" titles (Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, and, of course, Star Wars).

[Jump237]

wow! anotherquestion! I think you just hit on why I never could get into Enterprise, although i tried on many occasions. every time i attempted to watch it i'd find myself lost and it was not interesting enough to make me hang around long enough to figure it out. Voyager and DS9 were very similar in that regard, although i discovered Voyager being played at midnite weeknites on the local UPN channel so i was able to see enough episodes in a short time so that it grew on me. I never did see if they ever got back home... I liked that show, they even had a screw-up on the crew, which is very unlike Generation where they were all so damn perfect. Every episode was a standalone, although it was so formulaic u can watch the clock and see the plot points happening right on cue. Here's a typical ep: everythings gravy, something happens, it gets worse, it looks like they are about to die, somebody(usually Data) figures out a solution, they are saved from doom in the last 2 minutes, everything's ok again and they're off to the next adventure - "Engage." It was formulaic, but it was accessible and a decent way to waste an hour.

[Blue Banrigh]

Kinda glad they aren't considering the silver screen, too arc based.

[SlytherinGal]

i much prefer BSG as just a series on TV instead of a movie

thanks Qasim for the linky

[Cathara]

I would agree that having BSG as a TV series is much better - for several reasons - than movies on the big screen.

But when the BSG universe is getting ready to go off the air - I would love to see them do a two parter episode with both parts being 2 hours.

That way whatever incredible finale is in store for us could roll out without being too rushed...

[Giantevilhead]

If they do make a BSG movie, I want James Cameron to direct it, I want it to have a $200 million budget, and I want it to be 4 hours long.

[SGA4ever]

If they do make a BSG movie, I want James Cameron to direct it, I want it to have a $200 million budget, and I want it to be 4 hours long.

2.5 would be good for me.
i will hope there do a movie and it goes to theaters

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

2.5 would be good for me.
i will hope there do a movie and it goes to theaters

I don't know if that many people would go and see it, I know my friends certainly wouldn't. I would though

[Trek_Girl42]

Woah.....actually went to that link thinking this was something new, turns out this thread is two years old.

[Oreo]

Woah.....actually went to that link thinking this was something new, turns out this thread is two years old.

You should read the quote where it says "he talks about season 3". :-p