I still love the original series, don't get me wrong. :-)
But I love it for the animal it is: cheesy, fun, non-angsty (usually), adventure, space opera, SciFi. It's designed for you to shut off your brain and go along for the ride, and really not much more than that. What I think did make it unique is that it did have a "show mythology," which most U.S. television shows in the 1970s didn't have. Certainly, what few U.S. genre shows existed didn't have it, with maybe the exception of Dark Shadows, but Dark Shadows was a 1960s soap opera that showed during the daytime.
As for why Starbuck/Dirk Benedict got the attention, I think it was the confluence of several events:
1) The iconic good guy rogue with a heart of gold was all the rage (see: Han Solo)
2) The writers for the 1978 series have repeatedly admitted that an active character like Starbuck is just easier to write for than a reactive character like Apollo
3) Part of it is Richard Hatch's fault. He wasn't shy at the time and even later on in saying that the original series should have focused less on "the leads" and more on "the fleet." He frequently shared this opinion with the writers and the production staff.
And, to be fair to Hatch, I remember seeing him at a con yeeeeeaaaaaars ago when even the idea of reviving the series was met with derisive laughter (thanks to Galactica: 1980, ptui, letusnotspeakofitagain), he said outright that if he could re-write the original series, it would've been more an anthology series ala The Twilight Zone where you had more stand-alones with different people in the Fleet rather than just an adventure romp focusing on one or two characters. So, he hasn't actually evolved on that opinion at all just because he's got a small role in the new series.
As for the hardcore fans of the original series...
*rolls eyes*
Dude, I was one of the founding members of the original Battlestar Galactica mailing list, wrote fanfiction, and was considered something of a minor BNF (such as they existed way back when) at one point. I actually knew some of the really big BNFs in the fandom.
Yet (and this to me remains totally hysterical), I had some snot nose kid wasn't even alive when the original series aired on ABC tell me that I wasn't a "real fan" of Battlestar because I was willing to give the new series a chance, let alone actually liked the series.
Fuck that noise.
I should also add that I hated the original plan proposed by DeSanto (which was essentially Battlestar the next generation using the original cast). The second Moore took over, I decided to give it a chance because 1) Moore's a damn talented writer; 2) I like Moore's work overall; and 3) Moore is a fanboy made good and he never forgets that.
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But I love it for the animal it is: cheesy, fun, non-angsty (usually), adventure, space opera, SciFi. It's designed for you to shut off your brain and go along for the ride, and really not much more than that. What I think did make it unique is that it did have a "show mythology," which most U.S. television shows in the 1970s didn't have. Certainly, what few U.S. genre shows existed didn't have it, with maybe the exception of Dark Shadows, but Dark Shadows was a 1960s soap opera that showed during the daytime.
As for why Starbuck/Dirk Benedict got the attention, I think it was the confluence of several events:
1) The iconic good guy rogue with a heart of gold was all the rage (see: Han Solo)
2) The writers for the 1978 series have repeatedly admitted that an active character like Starbuck is just easier to write for than a reactive character like Apollo
3) Part of it is Richard Hatch's fault. He wasn't shy at the time and even later on in saying that the original series should have focused less on "the leads" and more on "the fleet." He frequently shared this opinion with the writers and the production staff.
And, to be fair to Hatch, I remember seeing him at a con yeeeeeaaaaaars ago when even the idea of reviving the series was met with derisive laughter (thanks to Galactica: 1980, ptui, letusnotspeakofitagain), he said outright that if he could re-write the original series, it would've been more an anthology series ala The Twilight Zone where you had more stand-alones with different people in the Fleet rather than just an adventure romp focusing on one or two characters. So, he hasn't actually evolved on that opinion at all just because he's got a small role in the new series.
As for the hardcore fans of the original series...
*rolls eyes*
Dude, I was one of the founding members of the original Battlestar Galactica mailing list, wrote fanfiction, and was considered something of a minor BNF (such as they existed way back when) at one point. I actually knew some of the really big BNFs in the fandom.
Yet (and this to me remains totally hysterical), I had some snot nose kid wasn't even alive when the original series aired on ABC tell me that I wasn't a "real fan" of Battlestar because I was willing to give the new series a chance, let alone actually liked the series.
Fuck that noise.
I should also add that I hated the original plan proposed by DeSanto (which was essentially Battlestar the next generation using the original cast). The second Moore took over, I decided to give it a chance because 1) Moore's a damn talented writer; 2) I like Moore's work overall; and 3) Moore is a fanboy made good and he never forgets that.