Glen here...
...with a follow-up to last week’s report about current efforts to revive the Battlestar Galactica franchise.
In my last report, I made reference to original BG series cast member Richard Hatch filming a new Galactica promotional "trailer" with the intent of using said trailer to drum-up enthusiasm for his Galactica revival, secure film or television distribution for his revival, etc. And, of course, this information was posted for all of twenty-five seconds before questions about Hatch’s trailer started pouring in.
Well, thanks to the BARNEY THE BORELLIAN, I will be able to provide a few answers herein. Those who are familiar with Borellians know that they aren’t exactly the most talkative folks - they’re aloof and detached at best. This being so, I was certain if I pushed Barney too much, he’d simply slice my head off with that laser bola of his and that would be the end our little conversation. But, after many hours of careful prying, I was able to glean the following information:
Hatch’s "trailer" was financed by Hatch himself. I was not able to get the trailer’s final budget out of Barney the Borellian, and I’m not even sure if he knew what the final budget was. Barney guestimated the trailers’ cost as being "well into the thousands". Almost no one on the trailer got paid. Pretty much everyone working on the trailer (from cinematographers to visual effects people) did so as a labor of love.
The trailer utilized many older props, costumes, and designs from the original Galactica series, along with some newer designs which were specific to the trailer itself.
The trailer will utilize new visual effects for many of its sequences. The Viper fighter craft from the original series make a prominent appearance. In fact, one sequence in the trailer (on Galactica’s hangar deck, if I’m not mistaken) utilizes "forced perspective miniatures" of Viper craft.
((Glen Note: For those unfamiliar with this process, it is an extremely cool way to do certain visual effects. In essence, it is an "in-camera visual effect" during which the camera films live action footage on-set while it also films a miniature in the foreground of said action.
So, for example, if you wanted to film (from a distance) someone walking into a castle, you would only need to construct the (life sized) areas immediately around the door the actor is going to walk through. A foreground miniature (of the rest of the castle’s structure) would then be positioned in front of the camera.
When the miniature is focused properly and lined-up with the live action component of the shot, you have a seamless real time image of a someone walking up to a castle door with the castle towering above them. The door is real...the structure around it is miniature...but it all melds together to look like a singular image when the camera films it simultaneously. Generally, foreground miniatures require little (or no) post production time - you can see the results immediately through the camera lens or on-set video playback.
The "forced perspective" I referenced above is, simply, creating an illusion of perspective and depth. For example, one might have a row of fighter craft lined up in the hangar. Not being able to afford fifty life-sized fighter craft...much less a hangar set to store them all in...you could simply make models of the craft...in receding size (larger to smaller)...and position them to create the illusion there are numerous fighters stretching off into the distance. It’s an artificial way to create the appearance of size and depth where it is cost-prohibitive (or impossible) to do so otherwise.))
The trailer is based on one of Hatch’s two recent Galactica novels. To be honest, I am not sure if it is "Armageddon" or "Warhawk", although I believe it is "Armageddon".
Roughly twenty eight minutes of footage was filmed for the trailer, but the final product is being edited down to a lean 3 minute running time (only slightly longer than the average theatrical trailer).
Hatch’s trailer directly continues the first season of the series, and ignores the second season’s bastardized Galactica: 1980 incarnation. So, for twenty years, the Galactica and her rag-tag fugitive fleet have been combing the cosmos in search of Earth - a place they hope to call home.
The trailer finds now-COMMANDER Apollo grappling with the fleet’s governing council. Seems the council is tired of wandering around looking for Earth, and wants to settle down. Apollo objects, tells them his (now-deceased) father’s search for Earth was not insane, had a purpose, and they need to continue searching.
Phil Brown, best known as Uncle Owen in Star Wars: A New Hope, plays one of the councilmen. Joining Brown and Hatch in this scene is Terry Carter as Tigh. In the original series, Tigh was right-hand man (second in command) to Lorne Green’s Adama. In the twenty years since the series, Tigh seems to have climbed the ranks - all the way to President.
Other sequences in the trailer include:
** Galactica ground forces entering a Cylon base in search of a missing Starbuck. The base is populated by Cylons, and a second kind of being which is described as looking like a cross between the Sleestacks from TV’s Land of the Lost and Lou Gossett’s Drac alien from Enemy Mine.
In this base’s prison, our heroes find Starbuck’s shirt, and one of his cigars. This gives a brief acting opportunity to one of the trailer’s new characters - Starbuck’s daughter.
** The human defector Baltar - who sold out the human race and set it up for extinction in the original series - comes groveling back to the good guys in Hatch’s trailer. John Colicos, who portrayed the character in the original series, reprises his role in the trailer. Baltar has now been disenfranchised, and comes to the fleet looking for safety. He is willing to divulge certain information to get it.
** A sequence visualizing the training of a new Colonial Warriors. If I understand correctly, Hatch & Co. actually brought in some military persons-in-training to do the physically exhaustive conditioning necessary to make this sequence feel convincing. I believe this is the same sequence in which the foreground / forced perspective miniatures mentioned above are featured.
** Finally, the trailer features the return of original series’ demonic overlord Count Iblis. Initially portrayed by Patrick MacNee (who also voiced the series’ prologue narration and the Cylon Imperious Leader for the original show), Iblis is played by Richard Lynch this time around. Barney couldn’t give me an answer as to why MacNee did not return for the trailer, although it is conjectured that MacNee’s commitment to a recently published book may have scuttled his ability to participate at this point in time.
Jack Stauffer - who played Bojay in the original series - also returns to his role for this trailer.
By no means does the above information reflect the entirety of the trailer’s content - these are just the moments Barney the Borellian elaborated on the most. Some of the above moments might not find their way into the trailer, or they may all be included along with more footage not described herein. For example, there is apparently a sub-plot (within the full twenty-eight minutes of original footage) which addresses Apollo’s maturing psychic powers - his father (Adama) having a form of latent telepathy was briefly acknowledged in the original series. Whether or not this element will make it into the trailer’s three minute streamlining remains to be seen.
The trailer was co-directed by Richard Hatch and Jay Woelfel.
Dean Cundey (cinematographer of the Back to the Future trilogy, Jurassic Park, Apollo 13, and many of John Carpenters’ earlier films) was involved with the trailer’s photographic requirements (the piece was initially shot on 16mm), and Brick Price ( Deep Impact, Star Trek, Armageddon, The Abyss) oversaw many visual effects for the piece.
Again, it should be pointed out that many of these people were not drawn to working on the trailer out of a hope for wealth and glory. Very few people got paid to participate in the making of this trailer. In short, it was a labor of love - and an expression of hope that somehow, in some way, Galactica may live again.
Post production on the trailer will be completed rather shortly. When it’s done, the trailer will be presented to numerous parties in the hopes of securing interest from a studio (Universal?), which could then give a green light for Hatch to proceed on a Galactica project (in whatever incarnation is agreed upon at that time).
While initial plans suggested Hatch would screen the trailer on the convention circuit, it now seems this might not be the case. As I understand the circumstance, many actors in the trailer worked through some sort of arrangement with the Screen Actor’s Guild. Apparently, there are some SAG guidelines which stipulate the trailer can only be used for purposes of securing investors and / or as part of a business-oriented presentation (i.e. screening it to potentially interested studio executives, and so forth). Presumably, this might prevent Hatch from screening the trailer at conventions, etc.
As such, it may be some time before the world gets to see exactly what Hatch and his cohorts are up to, although I’m guessing the trailer could well end up as some sort of supplementary material on a future video release (presuming his efforts are successful).
Meanwhile, work is progressing on producer Todd Moyer’s parallel Galactica project. To read my previous report on Moyer’s efforts, CLICK HERE!
Not that anyone has asked (and not that anyone particularly cares what I think), but if I were in control of these projects I would seriously consider re-inventing the franchise, rather than picking it up where the story left off twenty years ago. I would take some of the basic tenets which drive the Galactica mythos, re-tool & re-structure them, and pretty much start from scratch.
I have nothing against the original cast...nothing at all...and this is not meant as a slight against them in any way. But re-approaching the concept would address a great many issues which could trip-up this (apparently) soon-to-be-reborn franchise. Including: the complicated juggling act of incorporating original characters with younger heroes (which Hatch intends to do and Moyer has obliquely alluded to doing); diminishing the prejudice of a small but vocal core of people who think Galactica "as is" has no business coming back at all; etc. Re-invention would enable the concept to correct & adjust for the missteps it has already made along the way, and create a broader tapestry for writers to work upon this time around.
One direction I would head?
Back to the past. Check out some of Ralph McQuarrie’s original designs for Battlestar Galactica. McQuarrie is, perhaps, best known as one of the principal artists responsible for envisioning the Star Wars universe. His initial designs for Galactica were recognizably similar to...but remarkably different from...what ended up on screen in the actual series. Perhaps utilizing some of his earlier approaches would create a "new" Galactica universe which felt both fresh and familiar at the same time. A delicate (but wholly necessary) balance if Galactica is to be successfully reborn.
You can check out many of McQuarrie’s original designs (some of them are quite striking) by CLICKING HERE!
Now, I want to be perfectly clear here: the previous few paragraphs are just me reflecting a very humble opinion. Just because I have certain feelings about how I would orchestrate a Galactica resurrection in my make-believe world IN NO WAY suggests a lack of support for either Galactica project currently in active development. It is AICN’s sincerest hope that a kick-ass Galactica movie...TV show...whatever...will rise from the sudden fury of interest and activity which has surrounded the franchise over the last few months, and that such a product will be good and honorable no matter who makes it (or them). In fact, this is more than a hope - it is an expectation.
But after re-reading the cross-fire of press releases printed in last week’s article, I’m beginning to worry that Moyer, Larson, and Hatch all working on the same concept (a Galactica revival) but towards separate and different ends could be counter productive in the bigger picture.
Sure, competition sometimes makes people try a little harder. Who knows? Perhaps a horse race to film the first Galactica saga in twenty years would be the healthiest, most driving force either production could hope for. But in a case like this, when both teams are orienting towards the same idea...at the same time...playing off of so much of the same history...I dunno. Maybe Hatch, Moyer, Larson, and company should sit down for a nice lunch in a simple little out-of-the-way restaurant and talk this thing through. Perhaps there would be greater strength in unity than in divisiveness.
Or, perhaps the presence of two separate projects will make both parties more impassioned, better bring the franchise into the mainstream, and mathematically increase the audience’s odds of seeing a Galactica they may enjoy.
Comes close to being a "Catch-22"...
