Battlestar Galactica - Season One - DVD Review

My miniseries post explains most of the exposition that would usually be in this part of the review. The bulk of the review will be short thoughts on each individual episode as I watch them.

33 - This first episode exceeded my expectations for the series completely. We meet the fleeing survivors as they continue to struggle for their lives from Cylon attacks every 33 minutes - a LOT of 33 minute intervals have passed. Nobody has slept, and it seems like nobody will be able to until they die, or some ridiculous deus ex machina occurs. This episode is extremely action-packed and very engaging. It also tells us the series will have a prominent sense of urgency and hopelessness.

Water - This episode had enormous potential, with the loss of 60% of the ship's water supplies, and Cylon Boomer trying to sabotage the ship. I felt this episode could have easily been drawn out over a few episodes, or a two-parter at the least. The episode was very fast-paced, wasting no time getting to the real point of each scene. This is something that I have admired during the first two episodes of the series. The audiences intelligence is not being insulted with repeated exposition, and scenes jump about without too much introduction. Still, the plot had bigger potential. Again, a very engaging episode.

Bastille Day - We are introduced to Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch), a political prisoner who has influence over all of the prisoners on the Astral Queen prison ship. Adama wishes for prisoners to labour the water from the site that has been found. Roslin sees this as slavery, so announces the prisoners can earn freedom points by working. Zarek and the prisoners refuse, and order an election. This episode centers quite heavily on Apollo having to choose between blindly going with the military opinion, or pushing for democracy. Roslin confides in him regarding her cancer at the end of the episode - they clearly have mutual respect. This episode turns into a political piece, asking the question of the role of democracy during a state of emergency. Also how prisoners should be contained and treated during immediate and ongoing crises.

Act of Contrition - This episode could be the best so far, the only thing that lets it down are the character thought reminder flashbacks - I just made a badly phrased phrase. The teaser flash-forward and the others throughout the episode were exciting, and remind me of Firefly. Starbuck feels guilt over the death of Adama's other son Zack, whom she was engaged to. Adam finds out the truth behind Starbuck's guilt and is deeply angered. Starbuck trains some new pilots after an accidental explosion occurs and kills thirteen in the teaser. The Cylon's show up just as Starbuck is training the newbies. The space fight sequence in Act of Contrition is the most suspenseful and involving so far. The episode ended with an exciting cliffhanger, where anything could happen next.

You Can't Go Home - Starbuck is missing. Adama and Apollo recruit all of the pilots to search for her, leaving Galactica undefended. When the verdict does not look good, people start to wonder whether Adama and Apollo are acting under personal influence. This was an entertaining episode, especially the scenes involving Starbuck. The concept behind the Cylon raider was awesome too!

Litmus - A humanoid Cylon suicide bombs on Galactica, killing and injuring several people. This episode was basically an interrogation into who let the bombing occur - who is responsible. The interrogation scenes were quite flat, and the military music was awful - reminding me of Stargate or some other similarly vile show. Helo is still on Caprica, being manipulated by the Cylons. The episode was pretty dull, the weakest so far.

Six Degrees of Separation - As usual, the Boomer part of the episode was uninteresting to me, made worse by the pretentious sex scene intercutting with Galactica Boomer rubbing crayon off a mirror. Great job! Apart from that, this episode was one of the best so far. Number Six kicks her plan further into action. It was quite tense seeing Baltar at the mercy of her and everybody else turned against him. Even as the episode ends, he is still weak, dumb, and completely at the hands of Number Six. James Callis takes full advantage of his large screen time in this episode, and really shines in comedic and dramatic scenes - unfortunately pointless cutting/jump-cutting, again, puts a stop to any emotional resonance which could have been realised.

Flesh and Bone - Baltar makes an interesting discovery. Starbuck interrogates a Cylon, and ponders questions of man vs. machine, and faith. It seems the machine, isn't completely inhuman as it has faith, but isn't completely convinced. I see parallels to religious fundamentalist terrorists, and the war on terror - which I guess is where all the fun allegorical talk comes from when people talk about BSG. This is an involving episode, however the cliffhanger pointing the finger at Adama is silly. I highly doubt he will be found out as a Cylon.

Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down - Adama is acting strange, and it turns out he has brought aboard Saul's wife, Ellen Tigh. That dispels suspicion of him being a Cylon (obvious red-herring), and casts suspicion over Ellen. Kate Vernon plays Ellen, quite unrealistically, and it doesn't help that the character is ridiculously flat. She is supposed to make this a comedy episode, but it was more lighthearted than anything - I didn't laugh once.

The Hand of God - Lost meets The West Wing. This episode was probably the most accomplished episode so far. Exciting!

Colonial Day - Roslin rebuilds the legislative branch of the government. Tom Zarek is elected as a member, and immediately attempts to gain vice-presidency. This is an exciting episode, as we see what Zarek is potentially capable of in the future. This episode also highlights the true idiocy of politics, with Baltar gaining large power, and Roslin's other strange decisions. Helo finds out the truth about Boomer.

Kobol's Last Gleaming: Part 1 - Great episode. The one thing that let it down was the Apollo and Starbuck angst. It was very pointless, tacked-on, and annoying. Character-driven story-lines are the best thing about fiction, but quickly collapse into drivel if they aren't handled with care. It will be interesting to see where fate and faith take the series.

Kobol's Last Gleaming: Part 2 - Very exciting and suspenseful. Boomer entering the Cylon base was intense, and the inside of the base looked amazing. The cliffhanger ending to the season was unexpected and immediately shocking. Number Six shows Baltar the shape of things to come.

Video

Like the miniseries release we have 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The video quality on the series release actually looks quite good, a tad better than the miniseries, in fact.

Audio

The sound in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, uses 5.1 to its advantage, and everything is mixed well. Not a complaint.

Extras

An episodes worth of deleted scenes that are interesting, but for the majority, it was probably better that they stayed on the cutting room floor.

Battlestar Galactica does not yet live up the hype and praise I have continuously heard about it. I feel there were missed opportunities around the middle of the season, considering the enormous potential a show like this has. 33 and these last couple of episodes have been real highlights - but the rest were not as engaging. Some of the deeper elements of the show such as allegory, philosophy, and morality often seem tacked onto the show. These elements may be worked into the show better in the second season, as the show finds itself a little more, but sometimes the writing wasn't as smart as it wanted to be. I will definitely watch the second season, but without the last two episodes, I may not have. Without a doubt, this is not your regular space-opera fare, and I do Recommend it to viewers who generally wouldn't watch a sci-fi show, as well as, of course, fans of sci-fi, with which it should be a surprising treat.