It's Alien vs. Predator vs. Borg vs. Cylon in Bryan Singer's aborted Battlestar Galactica re-boot. The article says that in the wake of 9/11 the storyline hit too close to home, but frankly I think this thing would have collapsed under the weight of its own awfulness without any executive interference being necessary. Blecch.
Since the actual BSG reboot has played it pretty loose and free with our post-9/11 world, I think the lesson here is: don't go all skiffy until you understand your themes and don't get excited about concept art until you know who your characters are.
The worst part is, you know they were totally jazzed about the Cylon Apollo plot twist. I can just see the high fives now ... and we zoom in as a cheezy prog rock version of All Along The Watchtower plays in the background. Oh wait.
Since the actual BSG reboot has played it pretty loose and free with our post-9/11 world, I think the lesson here is: don't go all skiffy until you understand your themes and don't get excited about concept art until you know who your characters are.
In the abortive 2001 version, it was 20 years after the original series, and the humans had taken a vote and decided to abandon the search for Earth. They'd found an asteroid field and set up the New Caprica colony there, and over the following two decades they'd gotten decadant and become obsessed with glitz and pleasure domes and gambling. According to producer Tom DeSanto, it was as if the Jews had stopped at Mount Sinai and set up Las Vegas. And then the Cylons show up and attack [emphasis mine].Ponder that for just a second, if you will. Your brain hurts a little, doesn't it? Now try this:
In the end of pilot, we would go to the planet Cylon, and the camera would dive through the mysterious clouds, down through a tangle of mechanized buildings, and you'd hear the voice that has been instructing the Cylon attackers earlier in the show. You would zoom in on the source of the voice as it talks about the future and the need to convert humanity. And it turns out the Cylons are led by a group of humans who have been "converted" into Cylons. And the leader of this group is none other than Richard Hatch, aka Apollo. It turns out Apollo was captured and became part of the "Cylon collective." (Yes, just like the Borg.) The series would have been about the relationship between Apollo and his son, who's the new Commander of Galactica. The son would have been struggling to redeem his father's humanity and bring him back from Cylon-hood.Oh noes. Do not want.
The worst part is, you know they were totally jazzed about the Cylon Apollo plot twist. I can just see the high fives now ... and we zoom in as a cheezy prog rock version of All Along The Watchtower plays in the background. Oh wait.
