Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Saturday, July 17, 2004

Speaking of Battlestar Galactica

What happened to the black people?

They've 're-envisioned' the series. I'll try not to judge it before I see it, but BG was my favourite childhood TV series, and we've already gone through the travesty that was 'Galatica 1980'.

So I'm looking at the new 'Galactica'. Adama is played by excellent actor Edward James Olmos (whose voice might actually make-up for a lack of Lorne Greene). Baltazar --> Baltar who looks like he'll make a good evil guy who maybe has more depth than in the original series. Starbuck's a woman...okay, I can deal with that...no one short of a young Dirk Benedict was truly going to be Starbuck for me, so it's good to have a different kind of character entirely. Boomer is an Asian woman. The original names have become nicknames. Okay. Tigh is a white guy...wait, actually, it took some digging, but I finally found a petty officer who will be on the bridge. I do believe casting should be fairly colour-blind, but one of the things I liked about Battlestar Galactica (and the British shows from the seventies I loved--Space: 1999 and The Tomorrow People) was an attempt to give a truly multicultural feel. I think if I were casting a show that represented humanity, I'd put in a good mix of actors from all sorts of backgrounds--including indigenous Americans, Indians, and others you don't see as much, in a non-caracatured way. But, hey, I'm not a casting director, so more good actors and actresses will have to claw their way up the top without my help. :)

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