The New Series on TV
Moderator: Spectrum Strike Force
As for the new 'Battlestar Galactica', it's blown both Kim and myself away by being a stunningly unpredictable drama series of outstanding quality. A true and worthy revisioning...
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shaqui
- Major
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As far as I know, nobody has any real bitter thoughts about the new show. Some might be a little disappointed, but still willing to give the show a (slight) chance. Others are over enthousiast by it. It's normal that each of them would clash! But all, we hope, in a feeling of mutual respect and friendship.
In any case, the Mysterons are watching closely - they are our ultimate moderators on this forum. They'll make sure everyone will behave and that no rocket will be launched from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
(:shock: Although knowing them, they might launch that same rocket themselves simply to resolve the argument)
Webmaster and administrator of http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com
"This is an operational base, not a rest centre!"
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chrisbishop
- Colonel
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'Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons' has been a favourite of mine ever since it started in 1967 - but there were aspects in the original series that irritated me - most notably Captain Scarlet himself - who was humourless and priggish (and still is in the original series - Bless him )
The new Captain Scarlet does seem to have a spark of humour in him - which has to be a point in his favour. I'm grateful that even given the stated 'target ages range' for the show - Gerry Anderson has kept the tradition of including something for older viewers too.
There will be aspects that'll be an improvement - no doubt about it - and there will be aspects I will miss dreadfully - particularly the voices which became an intregal part of my enjoyment of the shows.
I accept that a new series is going to be different - how could it not be after almost 40 years? I'm not so naive that I expected it to be a carbon copy. I shall continue to regret the way some things have been changed and I won't blindly accept that everything in the new show has to be better because it is new - and nor, I suspect , would anyone else on this forum...
Yet I'll be there watching the episodes - I shall even buy the DVDs - and I'll be cheering every time Spectrum foils another Mysteron plot!
Its a TV show - my life goes on whatever it does or doesn't do. But this is a forum dedicated to Captain Scarlet - in all his manifestations - so it's understandable that 'passions' might run high when discussing things.
I respect everyone's opinion, I would never try to stop them voicing it and I certainly don't think it will come to 'missiles at dawn', Chris! I hope that the more fervent CGI fans will extend a similar courtesy and tolerance to the 'old'uns' when we say - 'wasn't like that in my day'... - we are really quite harmless -
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Marion
- Cloudbase Captain
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Kambei
- Captain
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As for the quality etc. of the new series, I will hold my tongue (or should that be 'fingers'?), as I haven't seen it yet, either. However, at risk of igniting the arguement again, I think the point that most people were trying to make was that it's not so much the changes to the background characters, like Green and Ochre, that they are concerned about. In fact, a lot of us had no problem with new characters. It's the fact that they were given the same names as the original characters...
The issue with Scarlet and Blue is totally different, and I refuse to comment (as it definately WILL ignite the arguement again)...
Caption Game results.
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Captain Indigo
- Cloudbase Captain
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Shaqui said:
Doc Denim... Siobhan... let's bury the hatchet here
Aside from he fact that I didn't really think there was a hatchet to bury, of course! By all means, lets! End of that story....
Moving on - some interesting points here, happy to discuss them:
Shaqui said:
you cannot expect Gerry Anderson to do 'the further continuing adventures' of the original.
Hmmm - well, I'm not sure why I couldn't expect that (I obviously did) but I suppose I shall have to digress for a moment and explain where I was coming from....
I grew up a big GA fan - loved pretty much all the shows - but CS was always my fave. But they disappeared from the local airwaves, not to return for nearly 20 years, and this isolated fan was left pretty much high and dry, save for her own imagination, some memorized info from the first CS annual and some badly taped audio cassette copies of most of the episodes that I'd made when I was 11. Much to my delight, the 90's brought a re-run of both TB's and CS, and about the same time the advent of CGI animation. (Reboot, in particular, the best eye-candy I'd ever seen! Though it probably seems primitive now.)
And I said to myself, wow - wouldn't it be great if only they could do Captain Scarlet with this?! For the Classic Captain Scarlet was and still remains my all time fave programme. Just think of what those poor puppets could have done!
Lo and behold - the wish came true - and I was thrilled silly and flying high with the thought. My long wait hadn't been for naught!
So silly-thrilled, I suppose, that it just never once crossed my mind, never for even a single moment, did it ever occur to me, that anyone would want to change anything about the show - update it a bit, of course, give it real computers and some high-tech stuff for the characters to use in their long battle with the Mysterons. No more of that 60's inexpensive pseudo-prop stuff.
But change the characters? Change the concepts? Change the entire framework in which I had been adventuring for more than 30 years?
Oh, man - did I crash and burn when I heard what they'd done! Never even saw it coming!
So, yes - naively, and very much to my own deep and continuing disappointment, I really DID expect that they were going to do 'the continuing adventures of...."
And so, with that background - I will revisit yet again, the commentary that seems to have touched such a raw nerve - these are not and never were meant to be taken as selfish admonitions to the producers of the CGI CS and/or its would-be fans.
1. If it aint' broke don't fix it
2. The only thing worse than having something you love stolen from you is in getting it back broken.
These are merely 1. my Honest Opinion and 2. my Sad Lament: it plain didn't need to be fixed, just polished up a bit, and whether they meant it or not, something that I personally deemed precious is now lost and I really don't know if what's coming is going to measure up anywhere near enough to replace it. This remains to be seen. In every sense of the word. But I never said anywhere that anyone had to agree with me. It's not my show - and it never was - no one here ever claimed any ownership to it - and I am truly saddened by the changes that have been made.
Moral of the story: Be careful what you wish for....
C'est la vie.....let's go on to the last point I'll make tonight - because I'm running out of time to play
Shaqui said:
But, and answer me honestly, if they had kept the original Grey, Magenta, Ochre etc, and suddenly introduced new traits or characteristics to them which clashed with your 30-odd years of fannish enjoyment, how much more upset would you be?
First off, I've never posted anything but my honest opinions in the forum - it seems to get me into trouble from time to time - and I'll be happy to give you an equally honest answer to this particular (and actually rather interesting) question:
I would be far less upset. No question. For one thing - as minor characters they probably would have been as much in the background as they were in the Classic series, and for another, at least I would have had the enjoyment of seeing them come to life in CGI. (I'm not anti-CGI as a medium, in fact I quite like it.)
But it's a moot point now, isn't it, and even I'm getting a little bored of belabouring it----
'til next time....
Doc Denim - Becoming Resigned to the Inevitable
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Doc Denim
- Cloudbase Captain
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I am interested in:
The new look Mysteron Complex (…the pic I’ve seen also makes a great screen wallpaper… )
The exterior look of the new version of Cloudbase (kind of a 1920s-30s retro look maybe?)
Comments suggest the show is still pitched at a level adults can appreciate.
Ideas the new adventures will bring (and I’m quite happy to see some of those ideas blended with the original characters in fanfic). Re-engineering the plots to fit - I’m with you Marion!
Attempts to humanise ol’ Scarlet himself (bit of a challenge maybe… )
As a Babylon 5 fan I like CGI (mind you it’s surprising what emotion can be conveyed in a puppet by good voice actors and carefully synchronised movement - especially with the eyes. I never found the puppets limiting, but then I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Fireball XL5 fan too )
The real possibility the new show will cause renewed interest in the original one!
I’m not keen on:
Changing the name Cloudbase to Skybase (which sounds a bit dull)
The theme ‘music’. While I knew and accepted Barry Gray’s music would not be a feature (alas!) I really expected something more tuneful from Crispin Merrell!
Getting rid of the token Aussie (but I had a feeling Dr Fawn would be a casualty)
I’m really cross about:
Changing the nationality of Captain Scarlet (my personal opinion - that’s really woeful) You’d think they could have found an actor with a Brit accent somewhere…
Substantially changing Lieutenant Green and Captain Ochre, especially as Green at least was quite a major character (oh, and Ochre was kinda cute… )
Changing the nationalities and/or real names/bios of the remainder of the Captains and Angels. If the original code names stay - why not the rest?
Here’s one (probably daft) idea. What I know about the CGI process could be written on a postage stamp …but… maybe it’s easier and cheaper to create new characters than to be locked in to rendering ALL the original puppets accurately in CGI. (Totally fictitious CGI office scenario - “Right, here’s our version of Harmony Angel” “Does she look like the original puppet?” “Er, not exactly. And some of the others look a bit different too.” “No problem just swap ’em round.” “Further instructions : repeat process with Captains if necessary.”) And remember - I did say FICTITIOUS!
Just a note about Star Trek - it’s true a period of adjustment was needed to get used to ST:TNG, but at least we weren’t looking at new actors playing James T Kirk, McCoy, Spock etc. They opted for all new completely different characters … and it paid off. The new CS basically has most of the original characters (the main ones anyway, and at least their names for the rest), but in some cases significantly changed, which is quite a different thing to what happened to Star Trek. I’m not convinced a comparison between the fates of CS and ST can be assessed ‘on a level playing field’. The Stargate and Buffy situations hmmm, maybe… but they were adapted from single movies - not 32 TV episodes (and re-screenings over the years for some lucky countries). The Thunderbirds Movie vs TV situation is possibly even closer but I haven’t seen the movie to comment. (I’m not a big movie goer plus I saw enough in the ‘Making of…’ special that I decided I will wait and see it when it comes to free-to-air TV.)
Not worried about:
The new look vehicles. Some of the new names sound a bit twee but that’s probably OK for little kids. Historically, military equipment ‘in real life’ has had some funny names too (Leopard tanks, various aircraft over the years etc).
The new look interior sets, upgrading in look of computer equipment etc, fight scenes, explosions etc etc. CGI is probably an advantage for that aspect of the show.
Re spoilers and overseas Forum members - my personal wish:
As much detail about the episodes as you like please! I’m hoping by the time I do see the show it WON’T seem too strange as I’ll know more or less what to expect (both good and bad).
BTW - I’ve seen some conflicting pics of Captain Blue - after viewing some more episodes perhaps someone can tell me - what DOES he look like?
I can’t be in a drastic hurry to see it because living in Australia, you HAVE to be patient about these things… Watching the new series here could be months away, could be a year, or it might not even happen at all. At this early stage it’s much more interesting reading all the different points of view on the Forum.
Just as I’ve watched other Gerry Anderson shows, I guess I’ll watch the new series of CS:TAV (The Alternate Version) if it comes to Oz TV …
…though nothing can change the fact I know where my heart really lies…
- J.M. Straczynski (during commentary on ‘The Fall of Centauri Prime’)
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Elentari
- Cloudbase Captain
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Elentari,
These are two pics I have posted on the Spectrum Archives site. (They'll be bigger there) I apologise for the wobbly editing of the first one - I'm a novice at this graphic-stuff and can only envy the far greater talent of my friends on the forum!
The appearance of Captain Blue was a topic of great interest to me too.... . The thought that I was going to see my hero walking and moving like for real was exciting. I saw an interview with Gerry Anderson on TV - where he said they had based the CGI likenesses on the original puppet's features - so I was in transports of delight! That was before news began to filter out about the changes to Green and Ochre and the others. Still, I continued to hope.
I have to say that I don't think the new one is a patch on the original - and (so far) he seems to be a complete misery too. He has 2 expressions, grim and miserable.... (when his mouth disappears completely and he looks as if he's about to burst into tears.) Mind you - if he went about laughing his socks off as Scarlet and Black get killed and Mysteronised, maybe we'd be saying he's a heartless hedonist, so he can't win, I guess. I have seen a picture of him 'smiling' (well 'leering' was closer to it) and that didn't fill me with much hope either.
Still, we are frequently being told that 'things can only (and will) get better in future episodes', so I am hoping he'll have a face-lift and a personality transplant and maybe - just maybe - he'll come close... (I can dream, can't I?)
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Marion
- Cloudbase Captain
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Kambei
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Blue appeared to have a more measured personality and as you say, he came over as a compassionate man. Or so he seemed to me - and I think a great deal of the credit for that impression belongs to Ed Bishop for making the most of his dialogue to create a distinct character.
Francis Matthews (a favourite actor of mine from his Paul Temple days) - never made Scarlet seem that approachable - maybe he wasn't trying to, of course - but Blue, I think I could've got on with...
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Marion
- Cloudbase Captain
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One thing I forgot to mention in my list...
....I think the new uniforms are quite OK.
- J.M. Straczynski (during commentary on ‘The Fall of Centauri Prime’)
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Elentari
- Cloudbase Captain
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Kambei
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If your going to have female Cpts and Lts then you should also have male fighter pilots, after all who looks after Skybase when the five angels are on leave? Fine keep the five angels an all female squadron but have a few all male squadrons as well.
This new series is less international than the old one, come on nearly everyone is either British, American or both. In the original Lt Green was from Trinidad and Destiny was French, now they are American and British/American. The original five angels came from 4 different countries, US, UK, Japan and France. So far the only non Brit or American has been Dr Gold (replacing Dr Fawn an Australian) an Austrian (even then he has dual US/Austrian citizenship), a Chinese or Japanese angel (I am no expert on accents) and Lt Silver who might be from Australia or New Zealand. We have been told Captain Magenta is Italian, great how about a bit more other nationals?
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ROBE
- Cadet
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I agree with you that it's odd that all 5 are on duty though. Must be some standby pilots we don't see on the night shift.
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yorkie
- Lieutenant
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yorkie wrote:I agree with you that it's odd that all 5 are on duty though. Must be some standby pilots we don't see on the night shift.
I'm also a bit unsure about the need to launch all five at the same time now... three were usually quite adequate previously.
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shaqui
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