The Pulps

[Buzz_Bumble]

The only Battlestar Galactica toy I have is the small Original Series Colonial Viper from Hasbro's Titanium Vehicles series (previously known as MicroMachines).

Last I read, Glen Larson was still working on his Battlestar Galactica movie (a sequel to his TV series and ignores the silly "reimagined" series), but I doubt that will ever get made.   

[WoodlandWarrior]

That would be awesome if something came of it...but sadly, I think you are right in that it will never come to fruition.

Though I think Dirk Benedict....or maybe Richard Hatch was trying something similar....though maybe not Hatch since he was in the 2004 series....

[Buzz_Bumble]

Richard Hatch has been trying for many years to make a continuation of the original series (obviously with the characters now older). He's produced books, comic books, and even trailers, but no studio was ever interested.

The original idea for the resurrected series was that it would be a continuation (not a silly "reboot"), but unfortunately the guy in charge had to pull out due to other committments, and the studio stuck their noses in making lots of changes and bringin in Ron Moore, and it turned into the awful, barely recognisable mess that ended up on TV screens. 

David Hasselhoff is another one who has been trying to get a new series of one of his old shows made (Knight Rider) for years, with the same lack of luck. There was a new series made, which wasn't too bad and one of the very few "resurrections" that Hollyweird has done (almost) correctly.

Then there was Paul Darrow who played Avon in the original UK Blake's 7 TV series who has also been trying for years with no luck to get a new series of that made. Unfortunately that's another one that has been killed thanks to a silly Americanised "reboot" version (a triple-whammy: a reboot and Americanised version of a Birtish show, and there's a New Zealander in charge! It's going to be absolutely awful!).

[WoodlandWarrior]

Heh, being an American I sadly have to agree with you.  Many of the American reboots are extremely terrible.  And not just television shows.  I do not know why Hollywood feels the need to scoop British, Spanish, and all kinds of great foreign titles and feels the need to try and do them better. 

They end up being worse and rife with Americanized melodrama.  Also, when I see an Americanized version of a foreign film, I feel insulted.  They intentionally dumb it down as if to say American audiences wouldn't "get it" otherwise.  It doesn't help our image to the rest of the world if we advertise we are dumb...

[Buzz_Bumble]

Americans have even tried to remake shows from Australia and New Zealand, which turned out utterly hopeless ... then again, the originals were incredibly bad to start with. 

According to John Cleese, Americans bought the right to remake Fawlty Towers (a comedy set in a hotel), and after all soret of idiotic changes the final airing result was Cheers - absolutely nothing like the original, but at least they changed the name too.

It often work the other way too. New Zealand versions of American shows are extremely bad, but likely short-lived. (There's a YouTube clip from the New Zealand version of Wheel of Fortune where some dimbulb sports celebrity says "O for Awesome".  )

[WoodlandWarrior]

I liked Cheers, Wings, and Frasier as their own shows.  Fawlty Towers is just excellent...one of my favorites along side Black Adder.

Though getting back on task with the pulps, have you seen the Conan movie that came out in 2011?  It starred one of the guys from Game of Thrones.

Edit-

Pertaining to pulp stylings....

Jack Vance, author of the Dying Earth series and an inspiration to Gary Gygax for D&D's magic system, has passed away today at 96 years old.   We've lost yet another great author.

[Buzz_Bumble]

Cheers is fine as a show in it's own right, but as a US remake of Fawlty Towers is abysmally hopeless. 

Nope, I haven't seen Conan and I stopped bothering to watch Game of Thrones after about 15mins when it became apparent it was just going to be "adult channel"-style X-rated garbage. I have seen Jason Momoa in Stargate: Atlantis though. He used to be married or was about to marry a woman in an Australian show I used to watch (McLeod's Daughters), then he got famous and big-headed, and she was tossed aside.

[WoodlandWarrior]

You are not missing much by not seeing the 2011 Conan.  It was terrible.  I cannot stand Game of Thrones.  I tried two episodes and came to the same conclusion.  Basically any of the shows on HBO, STARZ, or Showtime like that I'll end up passing on because they are just filled with garbage.

Deadwood, Spartacus, Borgias, Game of Thrones, Camelot, all had potential to be great but were just filled with as you said, explicit garbage, for the sake of having it.

[Buzz_Bumble]

Yep, Camelot was the same. I gave up on that before the end of the first episode. I also gave up on the new so-called Battlestar Galactica partly for the same reason. I didn't even bother with the others on your list there.

I don't know if the Game of Thrones books are like that, but if they are there are probably a few parents who bought them for their kids without knowing.

There's not much on TV here in New Zealand at the moment worth watching - Doctor Who finished its season last night. Merlin must be nearing the end of its final season. Falling Skies starts its second season on one of Sky TV's channels in a couple of weeks though.

[WoodlandWarrior]

The Game of Thrones books do have quite a bit of explicit content.  A common analogy is if Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy, Martin is the father of modern dark fantasy.

I personally would not even compare the two in the same bracket.  Martin is obviously successful and I'm not doubting his ability as an author...but the content is not my cup of tea.

[Buzz_Bumble]

io9.com has some great pulp sci-fi style versions of the Star Wars novel covers by artist Timothy Anderson.

[WoodlandWarrior]

io9.com has some great pulp sci-fi style versions of the Star Wars novel covers by artist Timothy Anderson.

Those...are awesome!!