Monday, April 09, 2007

Why are most "cult classics" never really, you know, good?

Are you watching the original Battlestar Galactica on Ion?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I confess I am not.

Irene Done said...

I can't say you're missing anything. I happened to catch it over the weekend and that was enough.

HighJive said...

It may have to do with evolving expectations. As entertainment has advanced, so has our criticism over whether or not something is cool.

When Battlestar Galactica first came out, it featured cutting-edge sfx, straight out of the studios responsible for the original star wars. But now every sci-fi program minimally has those sfx — the visuals are no longer special. It’s like comparing Grand Theft Auto to Pong. It looked cool a few decades ago. But now it’s just awful.

Plus, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict were always lousy actors.

Irene Done said...

As someone who is always more into the fi than the sci, I can overlook dated effects. What's startling about the old BSG is that after just a few minutes, you really sense how the thing got made. Obviously, network executives wanted to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars. Obviously, they grabbed the first sci-fi script that was in the file drawer, obviously grafted some faux Star Wars elements onto it, obviously threw a couple bones to the kid viewers and ve-oh-la: a prime time hit! I mean, you can see the seams on the thing.

That, and the acting was uniformly lousy. Porno-level lousy.

Anonymous said...

Sci-Fi porno... YEAH. The titles are limitless.


Dirk Benedict may have tanked on BG, but it’s his work on A-Team that remains the pinnacle of his career for me.

HighJive said...

Now at Blockbuster Video:

Battlestar Caligula

Battlestar G-spotlactica

Bootystar Galactica

Battlestar Galactating

Bukkakestar Galactica

Buttholestar Gaylactica

Irene Done said...

If you present it as a send-up of BOTH sci-fi and 70s blaxpoitation films and somehow work Will Farrell into the deal, I think you can actually get funding for "Bootystar Galactica."

You know, just trying to think like Hollywood here.

Anonymous said...

Heh, heh. She said HollyWOOD, Get it? Wood, heh, heh.