Post originally by Oliver at 2005-01-02 10:21:25
Converted from Phorums BB System

>Fidelity to the original isn't a concern of mine, though I understand loyalists' concerns - the classic show was a favorite of mine. Rather, I'm of the opinion that the new series *needed* to differ from the old in many important ways.

It's not as much an issue of loyalism but one of fraudulent advertisement. If you write BSG on it, people familiar with the term can expect certain things to be given. By writing BSG on it, you're taking these expectations into account. "The Life of Brian" was never advertised as a Bible movie, but as a Bible movie spoof, and as such, no one complains that the tone is entirely different from, say, "The Greatest Story Ever Told"

It is a big problem these days that people want to retell story the narrative mode of which they don't understand to begin with. An epic is an epic and critically dependent on epical characters, and if you drop those to make the story more "realistic", you're not telling an epical story anymore, and shouldn't claim to be telling one.

If you retold "Midsummer Night's Dream" as a Splatter movie, Shakespeare afficionados will JUSTLY be upset at your stripping the story of its essence and use its hollow husk as a vehicle to promote your own ideas. It isn't reinvisioning something, it is abusing someone else's creativeness for one's own financial gain, and potentially political goals.