# give a crappy series/concept the BSG treatment

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-a-crappy-series-concept-the-bsg-treatment/540985>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 27, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-a-crappy-series-concept-the-bsg-treatment/540985 "2010-05-27T20:00:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-a-crappy-series-concept-the-bsg-treatment/540985/61 "2010-05-31T23:38:17Z")

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The “wild men” in Buck Rogers were basically an early version of the Reavers from Firefly. Buck Rogers had his “life support accident” in May 1987. Nuclear war devastated the planer Earth in November 1987. The “wild men” are mutants, they are no longer human, but evolved from a few centuries roaming the radio-active wasteland outside the City. Buck encountered them when he left the City to visit his parents’ grave sites.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-a-crappy-series-concept-the-bsg-treatment/540985/62 "2010-06-07T22:00:49Z")

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> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#):
>
> One of the things that a BSG type show needs is a big story arc. Space 1999 never had this, but its predecessor, [UFO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_%28TV_series%29) did. How about …

… giving it a [Hollywood do over](http://www.ufo-themovie.com/shado/)?

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**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-a-crappy-series-concept-the-bsg-treatment/540985/63 "2010-06-08T00:40:20Z")

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It’s important that the show being given the “BSG treatment” not just be a complete subversion of the original (as in **Lust4Life** ’s “Star Trek”). Moore’s genius idea for the reimagining of BSG wasn’t taking an old show and gritty-fying the shit out of it - it was recognizing the potential for dark, complex drama within the original’s premise.

The original BSG _could_ have been a meditation on the apocalypse, survivorhood, and the desperation of being the last of your kind with an implacable enemy on your heels. It could have wrestled with questions of identity, what it means to be human, and how we as a civilization interact with our technology. Instead, we got campy monsters of the week and a casino planet. But the potential was _there_, right from the moment Lorne Green watched in impotent horror as the Cylon fleet annihilated the Battlestar _Atlantia._

So a “BSG-style” reimagining needs to be one that adheres to the basic concept/ plot summary of the original, but takes the premise utterly seriously and focuses on exploring what it would _really_ be like for people placed into that situation. **Lumpy’s** “Land of the Lost” is a perfect example (and I would personally love to watch that show!).

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