Battlestar Galactica-Season 1 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Deleted Scenes Trailer-Buck Rogers Season 1
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	546:15
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Marita Grabiak Rod Hardy Allan Kroeker Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Edward James Olmos Mary McDonnell Katee Sackhoff Jamie Bamber James Callis Tricia Helfer Grace Park Paul Campbell Kandyse McClure Michael Hogan Tahmoh Penikett Aaron Douglas
Case	?
RPI	$59.95	Music	Richard Gibbs Bear McCreary

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

'They Evolved. They look and feel human. Some are programmed to think they are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan.'

    This new or 'reimagined' version of Battlestar Galactica certainly generated some debate on its release, originally as a mini-series. The review for the mini series can be found here. As the previous reviewer, SeanB did an excellent job of comparing this new series to the old, I will not weigh into the 'which one is better' debate. The fact that I have never seen any of the original series would also make me unqualified to comment. On the other hand, what I can say is that this new series is an excellent example of modern television science fiction, featuring believable and multi-dimensional characters, excellent acting, great action, interesting scenarios and very high production values.

    The series opens with the ever dwindling fleet of spaceships carrying the last remnants of human civilization trying to evade the ongoing attacks of the Cylons. The humans have two leaders, one military, Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) and one political, President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell). The ongoing tensions between these two characters is one of the main story arcs which covers the entire first series. Most of the main characters are part of Commander Adama's military staff, including fighter pilots Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama (Jamie Bamber), estranged son of the Commander and Lt Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace (Katee Sackhoff); the Commander's XO, Col Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan);  Lt Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii (Grace Park) a pilot who we found out in the mini-series is actually a cylon; Lt Karl 'Helo' Agathon (Thamoh Penikett) who is stranded on one of the destroyed planets, Caprica and Chief Petty Officer Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) who is in charge of fighter maintenance and has an ongoing romance with Boomer. Non-military main characters include Dr Gaius Baltar (James Callis), a gifted scientist who is at least partially controlled by a cylon called Number Six (Tricia Helfer) and an increasingly important character who only appears in some episodes, Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch who was in the original series).

    The other story arcs which continue throughout the first series include the relationship between Commander Adama, his son and Starbuck; the relationship between Col Tigh and Starbuck; Boomer and Chief Petty Officer Tyrol's romance; the level of control which Number 6 has over Baltar; the health and mental state of President Roslin and the adventures of Helo on Caprica. All of these stories are interesting and add significantly to the overall quality of the series. Besides this each episode also has a specific and interesting story line, although one episode left me a little cold. In each episode summary I won't discuss the ongoing story lines, just the specific basis for the episode to avoid spoilers. In total there are 13 episodes, each of approximately 42 minutes. The last two episodes are two parts of the same story. The episodes are spread over 4 discs.

    In detail, the episodes are:

1. 33 - A great kick off to the new series sees the fleet being attacked ever 33 minutes by the Cylons, causing them to need to jump to another system every 33 minutes which means that the pilots and military personnel have had no rest for 5 days. Each attack sees the fleet lose some people or one of the many ships and the total number of surviving humans has dipped under 50,000.
2. Water  - Another excellent episode in which Boomer, who does not know she is a Cylon, wakes up and finds herself wet and in possession of a stolen detonator. As she tries to work out what is going on an explosion rocks the ship, causing damage and chaos.
3. Bastille Day  - The fleet needs to find water urgently and they offer prisoners led by Tom Zarek, a revolutionary, a chance for freedom if they agree to help recover the water. A tense stand-off ensues. Another top quality episode.
4. Act of Contrition  - An accident during a celebration results in the death of 13 pilots. Commander Adama wants Starbuck to take charge of a training exercise for new pilots but something in her past gets in the way. Not as much action as the other episodes but it provides some interesting background on the characters and is just as good.
5. You Can't Go Home Again  - A search is organised to rescue an important member of the crew who is stranded. I can't say any more without spoiling this excellent episode.
6. Litmus  - A Cylon, Doral, slips aboard and blows himself up. An inquiry investigates recent security breaches.
7. Six Degrees of Separation  - Number Six comes forward in disguise to accuse Baltar of treason.
8. Flesh and Bone  - One of the ships in the fleet finds a Cylon stowed away onboard. Starbuck is sent to interrogate it. This episode is quite tense and includes some significant religious overtures and a major revelation at the end.
9. Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down  - Commander Adama is suspected of being a Cylon and there is a major surprise in store for Colonel Tigh.
10. The Hand of God  - The fleet is fast running out of fuel and they find some on a planet which is guarded by Cylons. They need to determine a strategy to get control of it.
11. Colonial Day  - A celebration of Colonial Day also includes an election and a political meeting of the quorum of 12, one representative from each previous colony. Tom Zarek gets elected to this body but more surprises are in store. This is the only episode which I found a little disappointing, maybe because the setting was a resort planet which seemed just a little too much like Southern California. To be fair it is still very good television, just not quite up to the standard of the rest of the series.
12. Kobol's Last Gleaming - Part 1  - First half of a double episode in which the fleet finds Kobol, an ancient planet which was supposed to be where 'Gods and Men lived together in paradise'.
13. Kobol's Last Gleaming - Part 2  - An excellent finish to this series which includes some excellent developments and a great cliffhanger ending!

    One of the great strengths of this series besides what I have mentioned above is that it includes great roles for women as well as men, including the strong and skilled Starbuck, the resourceful and resilient President and the confused Boomer. This makes for a more balanced series than many other action/adventure/Sci-fi television series which only seem to have women in less important roles.

    All-in-all this is great television and is highly recommended for fans of the genre. Non-fans of Sci-fi should at least consider giving this a go.

Video

    The video quality is good but certainly has some faults.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was generally clear and sharp although there was an occasional softer scene and some which looked a little smoky/grainy. There was no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was excellent except where it was intentionally murky. The bitrate was quite high.

    The colour was generally excellent, however I did notice some minor colour bleeding from time to time. I also felt that some scenes seemed a little overbright.

    Aliasing was the only really annoying artefact present, but unfortunately it was common and  affected the ships, grilles, edges, chains, walls and many other things. There was also some moire to be seen here and there.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which were clear and easy to read. Some lines were slightly summarised.

    I did not notice any layer changes.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is excellent, probably the best for a television series I have heard.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 384 Kb/s, and despite the less than ideal bitrate it comes across very well, better than many feature films.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by various composers including Bear McCreary is fantastic, featuring some great middle eastern touches and by turns haunting and dramatic. Fantastic stuff.

    The surround speakers were used regularly and very well, really pulling you into the various space dogfights and other action. They also featured some great atmosphere effects such as wind and rain. Great Stuff! 

     The subwoofer was also very well used, adding significantly to the score and various explosions.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This is a pretty disappointing collection of extras to be honest.

Menu

    The menu was very simple, still and silent, which considering the high quality of the show itself is a shame.

Disc 4

Deleted Scenes (48:28) 

    Nearly 50 minutes of deleted scenes, most of which should have stayed that way. In amongst the dross there are some interesting subplots and some worthwhile moments, however it is not really worth the 50 minutes of your life to find them. Fans will be keen to watch this anyway.

Trailer - Buck Rogers Season 1

    This series is due for release in Region 1 on 20 September 2005. The differences are significant and are as follows:

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• The mini-series being included in the set
• Commentary tracks on 8 episodes including the mini-series
• A large selection of featurettes

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing 

    The Region 1 version will clearly be the version of choice once available. At the time of writing no reviews of the Region 1 set were available. The Region 2 version is identical to ours. If you already have the mini-series then the local set is probably worth considering, but if you haven't bought that one, then the Region 1 is the way to go.

    The video quality is good but has some issues.

    The audio quality is excellent for a television series.

    The set has only one extra which is nothing special, especially considering the great range of extras included on the Region 1 release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall