Michael Rymer Gets Fresh About Galactica
Source Sci Fi Pulse
5 November 2003
With just a month to go before the Battlestar Galactica mini series launches vipers. There is mixed feelings among fans about the re - imagining and with these conflicted emotions in mind, the production team behind the series have been going all out to try and convert the die hard following on the original show to tune in with an open mind. One person who is very pleased with the production is director Michael Rymer and in the new issue of Dreamwatch revealed what fans can expect to David Bassom.
One of the things that drew Rymer's attention to the Battlestar Galactica mini series was the script.
"The thing that pulled me in was the script. I had just had a very intense year working on my first big - budget studio film, which was Queen of the Damned, and after that I told my agent and manager, 'I just want to do a character piece, with people talking in rooms. I don't want to do anything with special effects or big set - pieces.' So the next script I get is Battlestar Galactica, and I just said to them, 'What are you thinking?' But they told me to read it, I agreed and I just couldn't put the script down. I loved the characters and the realism of the piece, and I just said, 'OK, once more unto the breach!'"
Michael Rymer will readily confess that he is somewhat of a Science Fiction nut, however he never really had a great deal of time for the original 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica, and like many none fans of the franchise, he had always viewed the classic show as a cheap reproduction of Star Wars. So he was not really to concerned with this Galactica being a remake.
"I was a Sci Fi nut as a kid, but I always percieved the old show as a Star Wars knock - off, so I was a bit dismissive of it. And when I took this job, I hadn't actually seen the original show.
"I wouldn't have wanted to do a continuation of the original show because frankly I didn't think the original show warrented it. Having seen the original show now, I feel it was very much a creature of the 1970s; it was a product of its time. Ron Moore's script carries on all the good elements of the show - which are the relationships, the politics and the central idea - but it also has a great correlation with our world right now."
Rymer states that a lot of thought has gone into the production, and says that this Galactica is very much "a war story". He would also call it "a political drama".
One of the many things that has concerned fans is the human Cylons. Rymer puts some perspective on the actual premise and idea behind the re invented Cylons.
"The Cylons know what we are, they know what we're capable of and they know we're a danger to them. So they feel that the right thing to do for the sake of their own survival is to pre - emptively annihilate humanity.
"Number Six is a Cylon who is designed to be extremely sexually powerful and have great sway over men, which she uses to learn the secrets of the colonies' defenses fron Baltar. That fascinated me, because again it has a contemporary relevance - there was a series of scandals a couple of years ago involving secrets and compromising national security for sex, where American military personnel were giving away state secrets and companising national security for sex. But the thing to me that's most interesting about Number Six is that everything she does, both sexually and in any other way, is emotionally driven. In her own way, she's very much in love with Baltar and needs his love, even as she wants to destroy his world and everyone around him."
In spite of all the hassles that this production has brought from fans of the classic series Rymer is very, very pleased with the final product, and hopes that the 4 hour mini will win some of those die hard fans over.
"I'm very proud of the way it turned out. I feel we achieved what we set out to do. What I like most about it are the characters and the relationships. My only regret is that we had to cut so many great scenes to fit it in the four - hour time slot. I'm hoping they'll let me put them on the DVD.
"I have a feeling a lot of fans of the original show will enjoy our show - it's just a matter of them getting past their prejudices. Ron really took the best ideas from the original, so I think the majority of the fans will appreciate it."
You can read the complete version of this interview with Michael Rymer in issue 112 of Dreamwatch magazine which is out now in the all good newsagents.