A big-screen “reimagining” of Battlestar Galactica is reportedly picking up steam at Universal Studios.
Universal Studios looks like it’s getting serious about making a Battlestar Galactica film, as Variety reports that someone named Jack Paglen has been hired to write the screeplay. I say “someone named Jack Paglen” because, according to IMDB, his CV is rather light: He wrote the Johnny Depp vehicle Transcendence, which comes out later this month, and is also signed to write the script for Prometheus 2, and that appears to be it. Glen Larson, the creator of the original Battlestar Galactica television series, is producing.
Somewhat ironically, the film will be a “complete reimagining” of the story, which isn’t likely to impress fans of the decade-old miniseries and television series, which were themselves reboots of Larson’s 1978 effort. The 2003 remake met with some fan backlash prior to release (Starbuck is a woman!) but quickly won over audiences by being so damned good, at least over the first two or three seasons. Now that we’re looking at yet another do-over, I’d be willing to bet that the resistance will be even stronger, not because anyone wants to go back to the disco-era cheese, but because Ronald Moore and co. nailed it so well.
Are we really ready to see Starbuck as a man? Hey, it could always be worse: At least nobody’s talking about taking another run at Galactica 1980. (Although, yeah, I’d probably pay to see that.)
Source: Variety