Battlestar Galactica

There aren’t many TV shows that get me really excited, not “you have to watch this” excited. FIREFLY was one, as were Joss’s other shows BUFFY and ANGEL (except maybe those episodes where they went into Pylea). THE 4400 is pretty good too, but the remake of the Seventies sci-fi classic, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, is one I recommend to everyone, whether they like sci-fi or not. To non-believers I describe it as WEST WING meets STAR WARS, except better. Unfortunately, for those people who don’t want to buy into Murdoch’s empire and can’t get SkyOne miss out on it, or at least until it comes to DVD, which is a much better way to watch it anyway. The Mini-series and Season One have been out for some time now and can be bought cheaply on Amazon, and Season Two is due to be released on August 28 from Universal Playback.

The whole series has brought its producers, the SciFi Channel in the US, and the genre in general new recognition, putting it up there with HBO as originators of groundbreaking and intelligent television drama.

When the re-imagined version first came out, fans of the original series were vocal in their disapproval, particularly with Starbuck being portrayed as a female and Cylons having human form, but their fears were soon allayed and discrepancies accepted. In contrast to the new series the original looks dated and tame.

For the uninitiated, Battlestar Galactica is a huge warship that was due to be decommissioned and turned into a museum following a prolonged ceasefire with the Cylons; robots, created by humans, that rebelled against their masters. This war was the basis of the Seventies movie and series. The new series is a mixture of those original concepts, with new ones added, such as the Cylons having human form.

In the mini series, Battlestar Galactica is returning to its home base when the Cylons attack the planets of the twelve colonies, all but obliterating them, with a handful of survivors escaping in a flotilla of ships under the protection of Galactica in a search for the mythical planet called Earth. Wrapped up in this action-packed shell is a show filled with politics (both governmental and sexual), religion, and the human drama that comes from familial and combat zone relationships, and broaches subjects as diverse as racism and reincarnation. All the lead characters are fully developed and totally believable, portrayed by stunning performances from the excellent cast. Edward James Almos as Adama, Mary McDonnell as the President, Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck, Jamie Bamber as Apollo and James Callis as the off-kilter Dr Baltar are all outstanding, which does not mean they outshine their co-stars, who all give equally commanding performances.

As with Season One, which finished on a shocking cliff-hanger (no spoilers here), this one is full of surprises and unexpected twists that keeps you absolutely riveted. I watched the mini-series in one sitting, then Season One I watched over three nights. The obvious advantage of waiting for it on DVD is not having to wait a full week for the next episode (and having it ad free), although you may find yourself stuck in front of the television for hours on end. Season Two is all 20 episodes spread over six discs, making almost 15 hours of viewing.

If you haven’t seen the mini-series or Season One, then get them while they are cheap and get primed for Season Two, because without knowing what comes before it won’t make a lot of sense. I simply can’t recommend it highly enough. All fans of sci-fi should watch it, as should anyone who likes watching high-quality drama, and judging by the ratings and awards a lot of people already are.

The DVD has episode commentaries, but if you want to find out more, Titan Books are publishing The Official Companion Season Two at the end of the month (review to follow).

Battlestar Galactica – The Movie
To coincide with the release of Season Two of the TV series, Universal PlayBack are releasing the original 1976 pilot movie. A contemporary of the first STAR WARS movie, and often seen as its poor cousin, it had concepts as big, if not bigger than Lucas’s film. Unfortunately it does not seem to have aged as well. The dialogue seems a little stilted and the costumes and production values have a distinct Seventies look and feel to them. The cast was strong, with Lorne (BONANZA) Greene as Adama, Richard Hatch as Apollo and Dirk (A-TEAM) Benedict as Starbuck. For fans of the original series, this will be a welcome release, to complete the DVDs of the series. For those only familiar with the current series it is a quaint curiosity that serves almost as an historical document, a precursor to something far greater. It certainly raised the bar for television special effects, but they aren’t even a match for what can be achieved on current low-budget movies using desktop computers (see review of THE PLANET). It is worth renting, but unless you are of a fan, it is not really worth buying when version 2 is available.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON TWO and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – THE MOVIE are both released on August 28 from Univeral PlayBack and are available from Amazon.

View the trailer here

Read Dirk Benedict’s blog where you can ask him questions and be in with the chance to win a one-to-one phone conversation with him. For all things Galactica on the web go to www.scifi.com/pulse, which has clips from the show and interviews with the cast.

To celebrate the release of these DVDs we have two box-sets and two copies of the movie to give away, courtesy of Universal, and also copies of the Season Two Official Companion, courtesy of Titan Books.