Dude, I know loads of brown sci fi fans! They outnumber my white friends who are into geeky pursuits. Example.

We were deciding where to eat one night in Vegas and flicking through a catalogue or guidebook thing. Lots of pictures. Me, another Bengali, a white guy and an Iranian. The Iranian and white guy didn’t even register when one restaurant went by – both Indians instantaneously said “we’re going there”

Where?

Quark’s Bar on the DS9 Promenade. Yeah baby! Oh man we geeked out so hard that night – but the people we met put us to shame. My TNG knowledge is four pip but I fall down when it comes to TOS and ENTERPRISE. I refuse to watch that spunk.

Geeks rule. Man I had a whole conversation with a Borg drone, he never came out of character no matter how hard I tried to make him laugh. I think one line I used was “I bet you’d like to assimilate her ass”

I remember the Starbuck/Cylon/baby episode you mentioned, apparently it was the only one in Galactica 80 which matched the spirit of the first series.

Adama is becoming very similar to the Lorne Greene version but I don’t think he was originally — from what I understand of the background context to the story, he began to change after he was shot and actually died on the operating table. The experience has supposedly made him much more sensitive and emotional as a person, as he was a bit of a hard-nut when the new BSG started. So it’s basically made him less of an unfeeling military-type but a better all-round human being.

With regards to how advanced Earth will be when (if ?) they find it, as I mentioned in my previous post, it depends on exactly what timeframe the story is set in (past/present/future). It’s not necessarily set in the present day, unlike the original version.

I stumbled across SG1 several years after it started and although I don’t really follow it, I do catch the occasional (repeated) episode now and then, mainly for Jack O’Neill’s sardonic character and his wry one-liners. I do think that show has developed well too, along with Daniel’s character and his interplay with O’Neill which is usually amusing, but the new post-O’Neill version hasn’t really done anything for me.

With regards to the new BSG, here are some websites which you should find interesting reading:

http://www.battlestarwiki.org

http://www.battlestargalactica.com

They also include episode reviews & summaries along with quite a lot of interesting background information on the new show (philosophies, aims & motivations of the show’s creators etc), although be forewarned that they include plot spoilers too.

The current series has some interesting and unexpected developments, including w.r.t Pegasus — stay tuned

I think the credits sequence of Matrix: Revolutions also features Gayatri Mantra albiet in a barely recognisable western classical form.

Godzilla as in the cartoon ? With that ship “the Calico”, and Godzuki ?

Yeah man, I remember it well

The old Adama and new one there is nothing much to distinguish them but Edward does carry the role well as the father figure to the fleet. The earth contact like you said my not happen till a few seasons have gone past but I just wonder how technologically advanced they will make the earth? I like the fact they did not get rid of the Pegasus like they did in the original, of course it was left to our imagination what happened to it during its battle with the cylon base stars but it never made another appearance which was sad. Yes you are right the opening song is a mantra and your right about that episode, makes the series even more cool.

My other favorite show is stargate SG9 which I also follow religiously ever since the first episode, are you fan?

One of the major characters in the impending episodes is also an Asian woman (ethnically).

Re: “heck the effects still look great even if you use modern standards as a bench mark.”

*laughing* For a second there I thought you were going to say something like “the effects still look great if you squint, hold one hand up to your face and look at the TV screen through the gap between your fingers”

It’s Starbuck who’s a woman, not (ex-Captain, now-Major, soon-to-be-…..Ah, plot spoiler) Apollo. Starbuck’s character’s grown on me too — for a while I vastly preferred Dirk Benedict’s cigar-chomping rogue, but — now that the series has progressed — I can actually see the new Starbuck as a female, 2006-sensibilities version of the old one. Heck, if the original had had a daughter, she may well have been a lot like the new one.They’ve made her quite a complex character.

Apollo’s obviously a lot more conflicted than the old version although there are flashes of the original’s calm cool-headedness and good nature. Adama is increasingly becoming like the previous Lorne Greene version — increasingly sentimental, emotional and idealistic.

Yes you’re right about the Pegasus arc too, very gritty stuff indeed at times.

=>”I’m just looking forward to their first contacts with earth.”

I doubt that’s going to happen for a very long time indeed, if at all (horrible flashback to “Battlestar Galactica 80). Also, there are still many unresolved questions about whether the new version’s set in the present day or actually in our distant past, or even possibly the far future.

There are quite a few desi sci-fi fans around although I’m not one of those people who jumps at anything sci-fi related (eg. I never watched Firefly, Andromeda, or similar shows). I loved DS9 though, although that had more to do with the convoluted politics and psychological issues it addressed. Apparently one of their major writers is also involved in BSG, hence some of the similarities in the general ‘theme’ of the show (albeit much more adult, of course).

I don’t know if you also visit the American “Sepia Mutiny” blog but there are a hell of a lot of hardcore desi sci-fi fans there, you might want to occasionally check it out if you’re really into this genre. It’s obviously not a sci-fi blog but the topic occasionally comes up.

Yes you are right about the changes, I nearly wrote the series off when I watched the pilot and found out that Lieutenant Apollo is a woman….Anyway I have to say it is picking up well and with the “Pegasus” story line these past few weeks the action has been non stop. I’m just looking forward to their first contacts with earth.

It is nice to converse with fellow Asian Science Fiction fans. I always thought I was strange being so much into Science Fiction which only my white mates loved.

If they do go for a remake let’s hope they go down the ‘BSG’ route rather than ‘Enterprise’. I was initially a little sceptical about the new BSG — especially considering all the changes they made to most of the major characters — but it’s actually really grown on me. It’s turned into quite gripping stuff, and of course it deals with a lot of our present 9/11 issues too. Apparently Time Magazine voted it the number 1 show of 2005 (google it).

No idea about Emilio. Ah, “The Breakfast Club”, I remember it well……

Oh man I heard about the remake, I hope they do a good job especially with the enhancements in effects and the bigger budgets they work with.

The new battle star is good as well I follow the episodes

Where has Emilio Estevez got to?

Remember the first time they showed Diana swallowing a rodent whole, like a snake ? I’m sure lots of (male) adolescents had fun imagining the possibilities…….”Ah, dislocatable lower jaws, go for it Diana……”

Okay that’s enough smut, I’m just joking around.

Apparently a remake is in the works too. I wonder if it’ll be a good as the new Battlestar Galactica, and along similar lines. Definitely not for kids.

Charlie Sheen basically just plays himself in 2 1/2 Men, but he’s still great in it though. It’s a very chilled-out show.

Lol I was getting to Diana as well she was one hot lizard bitch. Remember when she was conducting sexual experiments between that human chick and the lizard guy and they produced that child? I bet plenty of dudes had dreams of being Diana’s next play thing.

oh and Charlie Sheen still rocks so what he says about 9/11 is right.