Richard A. Colla
20 connections found
Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Directed by Rian Johnson
influenced by Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Plot Themes
The impossibly British General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) has found a way to track the rebels through hyper-speed, meaning that the good guys have to constantly keep leaping to safety—an idea that recalls the first episode of the Battlestar Galactica reboot.
It's reminiscent in some ways of the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries where humanity is being rapidly blown to bits by cylons who can track them anywhere.
In a plot point that feels cribbed from an episode of Battlestar Galactica, The First Order now has the ability to track the Rebel fleet through their lightspeed jumps making it only a matter of time before the Resistance fleet runs out of fuel and is overtaken by the First Order.
And while the plot of the First Order chasing down the resistance fleet was exciting, it felt very much like an episode of Battlestar Galactica entitled “33” where the Cylons doggedly pursued the refugee ships through faster-than-light jumps.
Instead, the events with The Resistance take on more of a ticking-clock space opera more similar to the 2004 Battlestar Galactica series.
Poe is faced with issues related to the chain of command, especially in times of crisis – there’s a not too subtle influence of Battlestar Galactica present here.
There are distracting vibes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Wall-E, Total Recall, TV’s Battlestar Galactica, the underrated Moon — even Star Wars.
Star Trek (especially The Next Generation) frequently addressed this question as did the reboot of Battlestar Galactica.
As TV's much-mourned "Battlestar Galactica" reminded us, the best sci-fi turns a mirror on ourselves.
Filmed almost entirely in one house on a very low budget with two almost-name actors (Katee Sackhoff from TV’s Battlestar Galactica and Rory Cochrane from Dazed and Confused), it adheres to the high-concept micro-budget ethos that has built Blum’s reputation in Hollywood.
(Credit where credit’s due: Katee Sackhoff, of Battlestar Galactica fame, tackles the thankless role of the heroes’ doomed mother with more conviction than was probably strictly necessary.)
Before things start going crazy, Cochrane and Sackhoff make for a fine pair of parents (Sackhoff, so often cast as a tough chick after her killer run on Battlestar Galactica, is refreshing as a nice, cheerful mom).
Sci-fi geeks will enjoy both Karen Gillan (who played the companion Amy Pond in recent seasons of “Doctor Who”) as well as Katee Sackhoff (who played Starbuck in the re-imagining of “Battlestar Galactica”).
Katee Sackhoff was Starbuck in Ron Moore's reimaging of Battlestar Galactica.
Still, the five-year flash-forward — a trick borrowed from the “Battlestar Galactica” playbook — allows for significant, and in some cases amusing, changes to Iron Man, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, who’d had trouble transforming when last we saw him), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth, still plenty sarcastic but looking the most different).
Defying all logic and probably inspired by the pilot of Battlestar Galactica, the floating museum is quickly returned to fighting shape and the old guys - with all of their vet gravitas - help win the day.
Adopting the jerky handheld technique from the Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica", but apparently learning nothing from the teachings of "Jaws", Mr. Darabont lets his creatures roam free in broad daylight in all their computer-generated fakery.
Actually, the script by Jack Paglen (his limited writing background includes "Battlestar Galactica"), is not a bad premise --- an entity that can reverse physical damage to the human body, even cure blindness, and who knows what else?
Some stories successfully straddle the divide (Star Trek is a good example, and the newer Battlestar Galactica) or reinvent it.
This time he turns over the reins of confusion to his Inception cameraman, Wally Pfister, with a screenplay by Jack Paglen, who word processed the submental Battlestar Galactica.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
influenced by Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Themes
Al desarrollar pacientemente la premisa del bunker, el director Dan Trachtenberg, de la mano de un grandioso soundtrack y las composiciones grandilocuentes del aclamado Bear McCreary ( Battlestar Galactica , The Walking Dead ), acumula la tensión con inventividad y soltura.
From The Walking Dead to Battlestar Galactica , the end of the world brings out people’s true colors.
For all its little movements away from the Trek-ian formula it, “Serenity” – much like the early episodes of the recent “Battlestar Galactica” – essentially uses the exact same mold and merely changes its window dressing into something a little less polished, rougher and grittier to try and pass itself off as something new.
This is one of the key elements that separates the Star Trek camp from the (new) Battlestar Galactica one.
“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” hasn’t seen the big screen in decades, originally a popular TV show in the 1960s which had a few big screen releases of extended episodes similar to what was done with “Bonanza” around the same time as well as “Battlestar Galactica” and “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” later in the 70s.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Directed by Peter Jackson
influenced by Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Themes
Like so much art of that time—Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, the Jason Bourne series, Battlestar Galactica —they reflected a new era of troubling, inexplicable wickedness, except that in the case of Lord of the Rings , the good guys and bad guys were a little easier to tell apart, lacking some of the moral complexity of its peers.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
influenced by Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Themes
In cinematic form, the series roils eerily with the grand cheesiness of “The Running Man,” “Logan’s Run” and even “Battlestar Galactica,” but where those vehicles could be tongue in cheek, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” continues to be either dead-on serious or wholly over-the-top spectacle.
It’s the last segment, though, that’s most creative, offering some of the niftiest sci-fi since “Battlestar Galactica.”
When you say it like that, it all sounds kind of foolish, particularly next to the gritty, tactile realism of disparate speculative works such as "Game of Thrones," "Battlestar Galactica" and the "Lord of the Rings" films.
Precise in his details—the clothes, hair, excess of the film community, and a great Battlestar Galactica cameo—this film is a document of the time as much as a captivating story of true unsung American heroes.
In addition to completing his mission, Colter decides to save Christina and determine why someone who should be in Afghanistan is trapped in something that looks like it was created for Battlestar Galactica.
However, the strongest synergy I can think of is with the TV series Caprica (the prequel to Ronald Moore's Battlestar Galactica remake), which uses a similar approach to the one employed in Inception to explore virtual realities.
Sometimes this approach works: Just look at Ron Moore’s terrific revamp of “Battlestar Galactica” or Christopher Nolan’s suitably dark take on The Dark Knight .
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
Directed by Julius Onah
influenced by Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Plot
Manically riffing on “Sunshine,” “Interstellar,” “Alien,” and then “Event Horizon” in a mad dash to obscure the fact that the film looks like a basic cable episode of “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Cloverfield Paradox” illustrates the dangerous cognitive dissonance that can result from a painfully derivative movie about a situation where anything is possible.