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[ManaByte]

Please use this thread for any discussion about SciFi's Battlestar Galactica. Until an episode airs in the US please use

Spoiler

tags when discussing any plot details.

Spoiler

SciFi's Battlestar Galactica makes its US premiere on January 14th 2005 at 9:00pm.

Synopsis (from the DVD of the miniseries)
Forty years after the Cylon Wars, humanity’s deadliest enemies have reemerged with a vengeance. In a sudden, devastating nuclear attack, the Cylon robots - who have now taken human form - wipe out billions of people. Only a handful of Colonial forces are left to shepherd the few survivors to safety. Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos), the highest-ranking military officer left alive, reactivates the Battlestar Galactica to once again face humanity’s greatest nemeses.

Outnumbered and outarmed, Adama reluctantly concedes that the newly sworn-in President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) is correct - this battle was lost before it had begun. With no choice but to flee, the ragtag fleet of survivors and humanity’s only hope set out in search of the mythic 13th Colony of Kobol... a legendary planet known as Earth.

The series is helmed by Ron Moore (one of the best series writers Star Trek: The Next Generation ever had) and the result is a dark and gritty sci-fi series that's excellent.

The Miniseries
The Pilot episode of the new Galactica was a three-hour miniseries that aired on the SciFi channel in 2003. This has been released on DVD on 12/28/04. The disc features deleted scenes, commentary, and the Battlestar Galactica Lowdown that will air on SciFi before the regular series begins.

The Series
Battlestar Galactica began airing on SkyOne in the UK in October of 2004. It premieres on the SciFi channel in the US on January 14th 2005 at 9:00pm. Here are reviews of the Season One episodes:

Note: The AICN episode reviews contain SPOILERS
1.1: 33 (AICN Review *****)
1.2: Water (AICN Review *****)
1.3: Bastille Day (AICN Review *****)
1.4: Act Of Contrition (AICN Review *****)
1.5: You Can't Go Home Again (AICN Review ***1/2)
1.6: Litmus (AICN Review ***1/2)
1.7: Six Degrees of Separation (AICN Review *****)
1.8: Flesh and Bone (AICN Review ****1/2)
1.9: Secrets and Lies (AICN Review ****)
1.10: Hand of God (AICN Review *****)
1.11: Colonial Day (AICN Review ****1/2)
1.12: Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I (AICN Review)
1.13: Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II (AICN Review ***** HOLY FRAK!)

 

[calder]

I really liked the miniseries so I downloaded the first eps and it was *great*. Decided to hold off and watch it on TV because I need a good weekly show and this could be it. Can't wait!

 

[ManaByte]

I really liked the miniseries so I downloaded the first eps and it was *great*. Decided to hold off and watch it on TV because I need a good weekly show and this could be it. Can't wait!

Yep and so far every episode has been getting really good reviews as they air in the UK. I believe the first season is 18 episodes.

 

[Ghost]

It is great, i watch it every week, best sci-fi show in a long while. How they handle the earth stuff will be the making or breaking of it though, it has just really been introducing everything so far.

 

[SpoonyBard]

I've seen all the episodes. Usually scifi series start slowly, but Galactica has been great from the beginning. About the only thing I hate are the camera zooms and shakings during the CGI space scenes, they got old very fast.

 

[Gorey]

My favorite thing on the airwaves these days. I really expected it to suck- initial impressions of the changes they'd made didn't reassure. But damn, it really comes together.

Spoiler

Adama and his whisper is great stuff. Female Starbuck actually comes across well. I love the semi-newtonian physics the Vipers demonstrate in the dogfights. Weakest character thus far is probably Apollo, although the whole boomer plotline is off-putting at times. In some ways it actually feels like an improvement over the original, in that there are several strong characters as opposed to just a handfull.

 

[COCKLES]

Six Degrees of Separation is the best episode so far.

Balter is hilarious, in his utter desperation to get off the hook.

Olmos is just plain fucking awesome in every episode.

 

[ManaByte]

SciFi has been running the original series recently and I honestly like the new one a lot more.

 

[maharg]

How can it be SciFi's when they didn't even get first run rights?

 

[ManaByte]

How can it be SciFi's when they didn't even get first run rights?

IIRC SciFi is owned by Universal (along with other networks like USA and now NBC) and as such they own the rights to the series since Universal owns the franchise.

 

[maharg]

Bah, that doesn't count. Media conglomerates own everything, and being owned by the company that owns the company that produces something has never garaunteed you rights.

Sci-fi just puts their name on everything they can.

 

[UltimateMarioMan]

Lets hope if they ever reach Earth its like the 40th century and Earth can crush the Cylons with ease.

 

[maharg]

Better that they never reach Earth, I think, than either of the possible eventualities for if they do. Unless they've got a really good plan in mind. Like Earth gets nuked too.

 

[ManaByte]

As long as they don't do Galactica 1980 again...

 

[Crazymoogle]

As long as they don't do Galactica 1980 again...

Exactly what I was thinking. :lol :lol It would be A-Team vs. the Cylons all over again!

 

[ManaByte]

Exactly what I was thinking. :lol :lol It would be A-Team vs. the Cylons all over again!

But they could do Walker Texas Ranger vs. The Cylons and Conan would have enough material until 2009.

 

[ManaByte]

Just finished watching the miniseries DVD. The transfer is bad since it's heavily compressed. Lots of very very grainy shots too. The Dolby 5.1 is decent though.

 

[Crow357]

Just finished watching the miniseries DVD. The transfer is bad since it's heavily compressed. Lots of very very grainy shots too. The Dolby 5.1 is decent though.

Wow, what'd they do, take an xvid version and convert it to DVD?

 

[Che]

The new series is actually better than the mini series. I expect it to become very popular in the US when it starts there.

 

[Gorey]

Just finished watching the miniseries DVD. The transfer is bad since it's heavily compressed. Lots of very very grainy shots too. The Dolby 5.1 is decent though.

Crap, so much for that purchase.

As far as liking the new show...hell, I even dig the newer, sleeker Galactica. Woo.

 

[ManaByte]

The thing I don't get is that the Miniseries DVD is a two-disc double sided set. The entire miniseries is crammed on side one of disc one. There's only commentary, deleted scenes, and a 30-minute making of. I have no clue what's on the other disc space. I'll check it out later on today.

 

[maharg]

Double sided? Ew.

 

[calder]

Damn, I saw that mini-series set at the store yesterday and almost picked it up. Glad I held off, but who knows if it'll ever be given a better release.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Hmm, the PAL DVD was released before the R1 one, and there's nothing wrong with it. Normal single sided RSDL disc, no commentary track though.

 

[ManaByte]

Correction, it isn't double sided. The menus say to flip the disc over for extras, but that's what the second disc has. The other side of each disc has nothing on it.

 

[ManaByte]

NBC Universal released their Galactica schedule for this month:

“Battlestar Galactica” 1978-79:
Jan. 10 9am-4pm SciFi: 1.1-1.7
Jan. 11 9am-4pm SciFi: 1.8-1.14
Jan. 12 10am-4pm SciFi: 1.15-1.20
Jan. 13 9am-1pm SciFi: 1.21-1.24

“Galactica 1980”:
Jan. 13 1pm-4pm SciFi: 1.1-1.3
Jan. 14 9am-4pm SciFi: 1.4-1.10

“Battlestar Galactica” 2003 Miniseries:
Jan. 8 8pm-11pm NBC: 3-Hour Version
Jan. 11 9pm-11pm SciFi: Part One
Jan. 12 7pm-9pm SciFi: Part One
Jan. 12 9pm-11pm SciFi: Part Two

“Battlestar Galactica” 2005:
Jan. 14 9pm-10pm SciFi: 1.1
Jan. 14 10pm-11pm SciFi: 1.2
Jan. 14 11:30pm-12:30am SciFi: 1.1
Jan. 14 12:30am-1:30am SciFi: 1.2
Jan. 17 4pm-5pm SciFi: 1.1
Jan. 17 5pm-6pm SciFi: 1.2
Jan. 19 1am-2am SciFi: 1.1
Jan. 20 2am-3am SciFi: 1.2
Jan. 21 10pm-11pm SciFi: 1.3
Jan. 22 1am-2am SciFi: 1.3
Jan. 24 10pm-11pm SciFi: 1.3
Jan. 28 10pm-11pm SciFi: 1.4
Jan. 29 1am-2am SciFi: 1.4
Jan. 31 10pm-11pm SciFi: 1.4

 

[ShadowRed]

I guess i should have posted this an hour and 45 minutes ago, but they are showing the pilot movie on NBC now. I never got to see it and justrecent;t started watching the new tv series. It's a lot better than the play by play that was being done on this board when it aired on Sci Fi at first.

 

[Doc Savage]

Totally thought this show would suck but watched it tonight and was uber impressed. I am actually looking forward to the series now.

 

[GashPrex]

wow that was great - funny i just ordered the battlestar miniseries dvd too

edit: I watch this series with a bit of sadness as I just finished watching the firefly dvd's. How come they were able to get this series a running season but not firefly ? It's a consolation firefly is getting a movie, but its future rests on how it does as its supposed to be a trilogy.

Regardless, I am very happy to see a good, successful space show on tv not named star trek.

 

[Doth Togo]

This show kicked ass. Really good. It had definite STTNG vibes in it. Didn't realize that there were STTNG writers on board. Good job.

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

I was flipping through channels during the commercials of the Jets/Chargers game and I noticed that one of my NBC stations was showing the widescreen version of this and the other one was showing the pan & scan version. I always assumed that which version that gets shown was up to the network, but I guess it is actually the individual station?

 

[CloudNL]

It was shown on Sci-Fi Channel yesterday, right?

 

[Gorey]

I find some sense of irony in the fact that Apollo is the one of the weakest characters in the new show....

 

[Archaix]

It was shown on Sci-Fi Channel yesterday, right?

Yeah, the first two episodes aired last night.

 

[calder]

For any Canadians interested in the show... well those of you who were able to avoid the temptation of downloading it last month too anyway.

Space's official page
The debut episode "33" is TONIGHT, Saturday at 8pm Eastern time, and if you miss it it's on tomorrow again at 6pm ET/3pm PT.

 

[Phoenix]

SciFi must assume that people who are football fans don't watch Battlestar Galactica... unfortunately watching the Falcons take on the Rams is more important. I'll have to catch a repeat.

 

[COCKLES]

Appolo gets some decent episodes along the way. He gets a good action packed episode near the end of the season. Moore has done a good job of covering pretty much all the characters. Baltar is the current fan fave tho. Nice to see Richard Hatch appearing in the show, hopefully they'll work in Dirk Benedict in season 2.

 

[Gorey]

Appolo gets some decent episodes along the way. He gets a good action packed episode near the end of the season. Moore has done a good job of covering pretty much all the characters. Baltar is the current fan fave tho. Nice to see Richard Hatch appearing in the show, hopefully they'll work in Dirk Benedict in season 2.

I was impressed that they got Richard Hatch in there. Dirk Benedict...well...that'd be interesting.

Is it true it's the Firefly people doing the visual effects work? The shaky cam stuff, for instance.

 

[pulsemyne]

As us UK sky viewers know, the series gets better a whole ass load better. The best sci fi in many years. Oh and Baltar is the best character in the whole thing, you'll find out as the series progresses.

 

[MmmBeef]

I was impressed that they got Richard Hatch in there. Dirk Benedict...well...that'd be interesting.

Is it true it's the Firefly people doing the visual effects work? The shaky cam stuff, for instance.

Yup, Zoic. In fact in the miniseries, if you look closely in the background of one of the shots, Serenity can be seen.

http://www.buffy.nu/IMG/jpg/3F99F4D04A501127C11B979B1E1.jpg

Check it out.

 

[ManaByte]

Apparently tonight's episode (Act Of Contrition) is really, really, good and focuses on Starbuck. It also is a cliffhanger.

10:00pm on SciFi after Stargate Atlantis

Also, tonights SG-1 has Claudia Black.

 

[trilobyte]

It sucks that I love Battlestar Galactica so much but hate the shit load of commercials Sci-Fi plays :/

 

[Gorey]

I continue to be impressed with the new show. It not only completely trumps the old one, but it's easily the best sci fi on TV right now, in my opinion.

Olmos makes it for me, but the rest of the cast holds up surprisingly well and expands on the core.

/gush

 

[maharg]

For people who have already seen the whole season for various reasons,

Spoiler

holy shit what a cliffhanger

!

 

[Che]

For people who have already seen the whole season for various reasons,

Spoiler

holy shit what a cliffhanger

!

Every TV show has

Spoiler

a cliffhanger ending

at the end of every season. Btw I really liked the last episode. What I love about this series is that it's not the usual brainless shoot and kill scifi. The show philosophizes in many aspects of human nature and many times the scenario gets complicated, which is what I really appreciate about it.

 

[maharg]

Eh, that's not really true. B5, for example, only had

Spoiler

one at the end of one season

. And it was also not a typical brainless sci-fi show. Although BG's production values and acting easily trump B5.

I wasn't complaining either. I was saying it was a really fucking big one. Way better than any Star Trek ever had, for example.

 

[ManaByte]

Holy fucking shit that episode was good.

"And walk out of this cabin while you still can."

If it weren't for 24 this would be the best show on TV.

If SciFi doesn't renew it for a second season they are braindead retarded.

 

[Gorey]

^^^^
Here's hoping they renew.
Far and away exceeding my expectations. And it only gets better.

 

[Belfast]

Its certainly not a bad show, but its a bit too dire sometimes. Makes me long for Firefly, poor Firefly. I wish Sci-Fi could somehow pick it up and convince Joss to come back to TV. Even if the movie is good, there's no way he can tell everything he wanted to tell in 2-3 hours. :\ If they need some extra money for the budge, why not nuke their weekly POS Sci-fi original movies?

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

If they need some extra money for the budge, why not nuke their weekly POS Sci-fi original movies?

But... but... the Chupacabra. How is is John Rhys-Davies going to pay the rent?