(Editorial note: Perhaps this is boring you. But I’m enjoying writing it. So off I go, knowing that comments will not be thick on the ground.)<\/p>\n
When I entered the Battlestar Galactica discussion,\u00a0I didn\u2019t use my real name, of course. I didn\u2019t want these people to know who I was or where I lived. But I, like everyone else on the Internet, had a fiery opinion that I needed to share, so I did it under the pseudonym that had served me so well back in my college days.<\/p>\n
Stallion Cornell made his first appearance on the SciFi.com Galactica bulletin board on September 15, 1999, on a particularly boring day of not working. Here\u2019s the gist of what I said. (It\u2019s surprisingly restrained as I look back on it all these years later.)<\/p>\n
Before I get flamed by Hatch supporters, let me establish my bona fides at the outset.<\/p>\n
I was 10 when Galactica hit the airwaves, and I’ve loved it all my life. I grew up in Southern California, and I toured the Buck Rogers set the year after Galactica was canned. They still had the original Galactica model in storage, and they let me see it. It was the thrill of my pre-pubescent life. I even watched Galactica 1980 religiously, hoping for a few scraps of the old show I loved amidst the steaming poo of Superscouts and Wolfman Jack. I remember watching the theatrical release of the pilot at the old Valley Circle Cinema in Woodland Hills, CA – in Sensurround! (Anyone else remember that? It involved turning up the speakers loud enough to be able to feel the reverb – a low-tech THX.)<\/p>\n
I have nothing but respect for Richard Hatch and his efforts. I haven’t seen the trailer, but I’ve devoured all the still photos at battlestargalactica.com. Mr. Hatch has certainly demonstrated an affection for the show that makes him a great warrior for the cause.<\/p>\n
So why the concerns? Two reasons – Richard Hatch\u2019s Galactica books: Armageddon and Warhawk. All the trailer info I’ve seen indicates that Hatch’s new project is based on his execrable novels, which all but the most rabid fan should recognize are fundamentally flawed.<\/p>\n
I would hope that Hatch would recognize his limitations and seek additional input from writers and authors who can complement his vision. If he does, he’ll hit it out of the park. If he gets too caught up in a Quixotic ego trip, he may transfer the problems of Armageddon and Warhawk to the screen and do irreparable damage to his efforts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
See? It could have been whole lot nastier! I did manage to work the word \u201cexecrable\u201d in there, though.<\/p>\n
I was flamed instantly. \u201cStallion Cornell is an ass,\u201d said a guy named BSGDan. That was one of the more printable responses. Having tried \u2013 and failed \u2013 to engage in rational discussion, I went back to lurking. I soon discovered that the dominant personality on this board had no tolerance for opposing points of view.<\/p>\n
His name was Languatron. He was large and in charge.\u00a0And kind of nuts, too.<\/p>\n
Here’s an example of his early work.<\/p>\n
I just filed a complaint against Universal Studios with the
\nNational Consumer Complaint Center on the Internet. I
\nstated that the Galactica DVD is falsely advertised as being
\na Widescreen release when in fact it is not. I stated that
\nthe whole purpose of a Widescreen release is to allow you
\nto see the entire frame of the movie, just as you would
\nwhile sitting in the movie theater. I then urged that the
\nGalactica DVD be recalled from store shelves on the grounds
\nof false advertising. If any of you would like to file
\na complaint against Universal Studios as well. Go to
\n“Yahoo”, type in consumer complaints, and the National
\nConsumer Complaint Center will be listed. After I submitted
\nmy complaint, a message stated that it would be forwarded
\nto the appropriate Federal Agancy.<\/p>\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Languatron, \u201cComplaint Filed\/Universal Studios,\u201d www.scifi.com, 8\/11\/2000<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is no word on what finally became of this particular complaint. I remember, as I\u2019m sure you do, the public outcry about the false advertising surrounding the DVD release of the original Battlestar Galactica<\/em> television pilot. I remember the fiery editorials, the scathing televised debates, and, of course, the famous Galactica DVD riots of 2003\/2004. The Internet\u2019s National Consumer Complaint Center was under fire from all quarters, and everyone took sides. I, personally, became a conscientious objector and watched old reruns of Columbo<\/em> instead.<\/p>\n
What? This doesn\u2019t strike a chord with you?<\/p>\n
Well, if you don\u2019t remember such things, you were probably living in the real world at the time, where nobody either knew or cared whether or not a DVD release surrounding a long-dead TV show was, or was not, in proper widescreen format.\u00a0 You also live in a world where the only reference to a National Consumer Complaint Center you can find on Google is a website with the subheading, \u201cPUSAT KHIDMAT ADUAN PENGGUNA NASIONAL.\u201d Although, here in the real world, I\u2019m sure that upon receipt of Languatron\u2019s complaint, the Pengguna Nasional was truly up in arms.<\/p>\n
This message is representative of much of Languatron\u2019s earlier work, and I recognize that I\u2019m being somewhat harsh in my mockery thereof. The writing style here is strident, yes, but it\u2019s not insane. It\u2019s more the work of a focused, belligerent crank than a full-fledged loon. It also doesn’t demonstrate the contempt for standard conventions of grammar and punctuation that would characterize much of Languatron\u2019s portfolio in the years to come. Yes, there\u2019s a period where there should be a comma; inappropriate words are capitalized, and \u201cagency\u201d is misspelled, but these are but quibbles.\u00a0 The guy who wrote this may be stuck on topics that interest few others, but there\u2019s no real indication that he\u2019s incapable of intelligent discourse, or that he\u2019s as loony as he would soon prove to be.<\/p>\n
Sadly, yes, there’s more to come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Editorialnote: Perhaps this is boring you. But I'm enjoying writing it. So off I go, knowing that comments will not be thick on the ground.)When I entered the Battlestar Galactica discussion,\u00a0I didn\u2019t use my real name, of course. I didn\u2019t want these people to know who I was or where I lived. But I, ... Read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5198,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions\/5198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}