Battlestar Galactica - Miniseries

I found this TV movie, miniseries, or backdoor pilot, or whatever people want to call it, quite entertaining - more than I thought I would. However there were some problems for me that I will address. The tone and music of the show do not seem to fit with the bleak screenplay - there are times in which it tries to, but that sense of the 'upbeat' space-opera television show feel (ala, Star Trek) is evident.. This surprised me as many reviews I have read, note that the miniseries is very dark and bleak. It wants to be, even the gritty hand-held camerawork tries to reflect the depressing nature of the show, but the other elements work completely against it, and the script. I was very relieved when the 'hope in Earth' speech turned out to be a sham as it dispelled the worry that the show would be even less bleak than I was led to believe. I have heard the old series in which this is based on was extremely cheesy, campy, and silly, so I have no interest in it and will not be comparing the two. Perhaps fans are calling the re-imagining especially dark in comparison with the old series, or that they weren't expecting it because of the source material.

I will just say that the teaser for the miniseries is absolutely amazing - it really surprised me. I was not expecting it to be so good so quickly. To outline the plot a little, I will say that humanity is now twelve colonies, and has come under attack from Cylons - rebelling robots that were originally created by humans. These robots have not been heard from in forty years, until now. They are staging an attack to wipe out humanity. They are quite successful and all that seems to be left of humanity are roughly fifty-thousand people, and a bunch of ships. Basically, they have nowhere to go and they are constantly being chased by advanced technology.

Edward James Olmos plays Commander William Adama, who operates Galactica and the colony's military operations. There is no doubting that he plays that character well, he obviously enjoys his role. There were some great moments for him in the miniseries, but they can test him further in the series, and I'm sure he will step up to whatever they give him. Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama (Jamie Bamber) is the Commander's estranged son - I will not give too much away, except to say that there is some conflict between them, and some interesting ideas that can be expanded upon in the series.

Securing Mary McDonnell for a lead role on Battlestar Galactica is a definite win for the show. In the featurette the producers say they were looking for a Mary McDonnell type - the real thing was inconceivable. She is the secretary of education and when the colonies are wiped out, she is next in a long line of next President's. To add to the stress she has also been diagnosed with cancer. McDonnell plays the role with naturalism and you can tell she has thought about the character, the situation, and the questions that arise from them. In my opinion, the best performance of the miniseries - the editor did cut a few of her reactions short, which was annoying, but mostly she was done justice.

Katee Sackhoff plays Starbuck, a masculine fighter, who doesn't respond well to authority. Katee Sackhoff pulls off Starbuck well in the miniseries, the best performance out of the 'young people' so far. I found most of the other performances to be unengaging - just kinda flat.

Number Six is played by Tricia Helfer, who is surprising a very good actress, at least in this role. She plays a number of Cylons, and also lives inside the head of Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis), a computer genius, who has some responsibility for the Cylon attack being successful. Number Six has been gaining information from his high-level security access, while they have been a couple. Number Six lets it be known to Baltar that he is responsible, and this is a heavy burden to carry. We see him on Galactica having Number Six talking to him and attempting to manipulate him, due to some sort of device she planted inside his head, so she could insert her consciousness into his. He comes off as quite crazy to the other passengers, and it will be interesting to see where his character goes.

Personally, I am not a fan of hand-held camerawork on television dramas, but I wasn't particularly put off by the use of it here. The 'seek and zoom' in space is a fun stylistic choice, I think I recall it being used in Firefly - which is probably the only other sci-fi show of this nature I have watched properly.

The scenes where everybody rejoins on Galactica at around the two hour mark didn't sit well with me. They came off as overly sentimental, and when you are trying for the gritty hand-held approach it comes off as contradictory, and a little more tacky - it definitely did not have a subjective feel.

Adama eating pasta was a highlight. Also, the cliffhanger was quite effective, even though it was inevitable. On a final note, the name of the show is kinda silly, it suffers from the Buffy The Vampire curse of being based on a previous work. Even though Joss Whedon wrote the original film too, the title is still misleading.

Video

Battlestar Galactica was released in 1.77:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Okay, there is the intentional grain in the hand-held camerawork that makes its way onto our screens - but I think the transfer could have been considerably better. There were a few instances where there was an abundance of grain, then it improved, and then it got worse again. However, the transfer still could have been a lot worse, and it did not detract from my enjoyment to any notable degree.

Audio

The audio is in 5.1 and sounds impressive, more so than the video transfer - no complaints.

Extras

Special Features:

• Battlestar Galactica: The Lowdown

The DVD comes with a 20-minute featurette. This offers some interesting insight into creating the miniseries, and the task of adapting it from the original series. Many of the cast speak about the series and their characters, as well as some of the crew - notably director Michael Rymer and creator/showrunner Ronald D. Moore.

I definitely Recommend this miniseries, even if you aren't a fan of sci-fi, you should find it engaging. It paints a bleak canvas, and there are many philosophical and psychological questions that can be raised in the following series and explored. I will definitely be watching the first season as soon as possible.