Glen here...
...with a brief review of Galactica alumni Richard Hatch's Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming trailer project, which screened last weekend at The Gateway Convention in St. Louis.
AICN has gotten a ton of mail about this project: a three minute trailer financed by Hatch himself. The trailer is comprised of live action footage intercut with boatloads of visual effects. The purpose of the trailer is multi-fold: to drum up fan support for Hatch's long proposed revival of the Galactica franchise; to establish Hatch as a person with enough passion and where with all to get a revival project done; to show potential executives and investors what a more contemporary Galactica project might look like (the TV series on which Hatch's revival is based aired in the late 1970s); and above all - to make people want to see more Galactica.
I'd heard a lot about this trailer, and have been told over and over again how much Hatch sacrificed to make the trailer happen, how he went to the mat to bring the project to fruition, etc. But to be completely frank: before I saw the trailer, the idea sounded a little flaky to me. I mean: when all is said and done, Hatch is trying to sell a major studio and bigtime investors on a mammoth project with what is...essentially...a glorified home movie?!?!?! The FX couldn't possibly work, the editing would be shabby, the live-action would look cheap. Visions of public access programming came to mind...
I was wrong.
It's important to understand: because the trailer is not well financed, there are some technical factors which intrinsically prohibit it from appearing as refined and glossy as a better funded theatrical film. It's just the nature of filmmaking: the more money one has, the easier it is to make one's product look better. BUT, given the guerilla filmmaking approach which brought this trailer to the screen, the product generated by Hatch and company is pretty amazing.
The trailer's premise is simple: Hatch's character (Apollo) is now in command of Galactica's "rag tag fugitive fleet". Discarding the Galactica: 1980 premise altogether, this fleet has never found Earth, and its citizens are getting tired of wandering. An opening voice-over / "Captain's log" (a la Lorne Green's voice overs in the original series) - conveyed by Hatch as he walks in the shadows of his quarters while silouhetted against the radiant starfield beyond his porthole - tells us that after years of peace, he must prepare his people once more for "The Second Coming" of the Cylons (the bio-mechanical enemy which drove humans from their home worlds in the original series). Hatch's narration is intercut with close-up images of Cylon body components, complete with a new, morphing gun which transforms into firing configuration as Hatch concludes his narrative.
The Cylon close-up shot "snaps" out several times - revealing more and more Cylons, red eys whirring, all ready for action. A fast-cut montage then barrages the viewer, incorporating Hans Zimmer's rousing closing music from Crimson Tide. Among the trailer's significant moments (many conveyed in character voice-overs or fleeting glimpses of scenes):
** A voice over from original series character Baltar tells us the Cylons have endured a Civil War and "evolved".
** Original series character Bojay tells Apollo "Your son is a great pilot" (we see a shot of Apollo's son in training). Apollo responds something to the effect of "He's going to have to be - none of these people have any idea what's waiting for them..." which cuts to:
** A sprawling space battle, with fighter craft flying through and between the ships of Glactica's fleet. Many dizzyning tracking shots over / under / around the larger ships.
** Galactica pilot whose helmet morphs around his head a la Stagate.
** A fighter craft from Galactica (a Viper) dropping out of a boiling sky to skim across the surface of a Mars-like planet; energy bolts rain down from above the craft, tearing up the ground around the Viper.
** Apollo's second-in-command telling him: "If you leave, I will replace you", to which he responds: "Prepare the fleet for battle".
** Apollo telling the fleet's governing council: "I will not bow down and watch the Human race be defeated once again!"
** Apollo consulting a hologram of his father Adama (Lorne Green). The hologram tells him: "They are in the midst of a life and death struggle for survival, they need heroes."
** Apollo rallying the Galactica troops and pilots, passionately asking: "Are you ready to lay down your lives so the human race can survive?"
Hatch's Galactica trailer is sometimes just a bit too much: there's an almost Cecil B. DeMilleian earnestness to some of the moments, which come close to negating the "true" emotions for which the trailer is actually striving.
It is not a great trailer, but it is effective: intriguing, intelligently assembled, and surprisingly well produced. The humans seem to believe in what they are doing, the narrative (as abstract as trailer narrative is) suggests a complexity of story which is rather refreshing these days.
Laserbolts have lens flares as they fly past the camera; the trailer's closing "hero" shot of the main Galactica crew walking purposefully toward the camera (think The Right Stuff's corridor march) is nicely accentuated as the Viper fighter - which had been resting on the ground behind them (out of focus and unobtrusive) - slowly rotates and rises out of the frame, but the camera stays on the people. Lots of nice details, little moments, and strong indications that the sensibilities of the people assembling this trailer had their brains and hearts firmly grounded in the right place.
The trailer currently being screened at conventions around the country is not the final product trailer. The finished product, boasting enhanced and replaced effects (and maybe a little more live action footage) should be unveiled at the San Diego ComiCon next month. This later version will likely become the version which is screened for The Powers That Be.
Hatch's Galactica trailer is imperfect, but it is a lot of fun and sometimes rather impressive. I would be very interested to learn whether or not the trailer is capable of swaying non-Galactica fans, or those who are still "on the fence" about whether or not a Galactica film should be made. For my money, this little number nicely serves the primary purpose for which it was created - it made me want to see more...
