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DVD Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)
Despite voluminous protest and nitpicking criticism from loyal fans of the original 1978-80 TV series, the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica turned out surprisingly well for viewers with a tolerance for change. Originally broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel in December 2003 and conceived by Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus Ronald D. Moore as the pilot episode for a "reimagined" TV series, this four-hour "miniseries" reprises the basic premise of the original show while giving a major overhaul (including some changes in gender) to several characters and plot elements. Gone are the flowing robes, disco-era hairstyles, and mock-Egyptian fighter helmets, and thankfully there's not a fluffy "daggit" in sight... at least, not yet. Also missing are the "chrome toaster" Cylons, replaced by new, more formidable varieties of the invading Cylon enemy, including "Number Six" in hot red skirts and ample cleavage, who tricks the human genius Baltar into a scenario that nearly annihilates the human inhabitants of 12 colonial worlds.
Thus begins the epic battle and eventual retreat of a "ragtag fleet" of humans, searching for the mythical planet Earth under the military command of Adama (Edward James Olmos) and the political leadership of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), a former secretary of education, 43rd in line of succession and rising to the occasion of her unexpected Presidency. As directed by Michael Rymer (Queen of the Damned), Moore's ambitious teleplay also includes newfangled CGI space battles (featuring "handheld" camera moves and subdued sound effects for "enhanced realism"), a dysfunctional Col. Tigh (Michael Hogan) who's provoked into action by the insubordinate Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), and a father-son reunion steeped in familial tragedy. To fans of the original BG series, many of these changes are blasphemous, but for the most part they work--including an ominous cliffhanger ending. The remade Galactica is brimming with smart, well-drawn characters ripe with dramatic potential, and it readily qualifies as serious-minded science fiction, even as it gives BG loyalists ample fuel for lively debate. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)
What can I say? it was better than I expected and I enjoyed it!
The reviews for this like most other SCi-Fi shows these days are completely mixed and random. You get a bunch of viewers complaining about everything and trashing it and then you have the pre-programmed "We love it" robots reviewing it. So, the right thing to do is to view the show and use your OWN judgement. I did.
This is a pretty solid show and obviously someone put some thought into it. There are plenty of good characters I like the way each separate situation unfolds. Noone gets too much screen time, things roll along and the pacing is about perfect for a drama-based Space Show. The special effects are top notch for a TV show and probably even for decent movie. This show uses REAL actors and people with some experience instead of unknown nobodys. Its amazing how different it is when real actors are used for a show like this. The sets are good looking and the environments are well displayed. It is apparent that although the budget was not unlimited they certainly had a pretty big cash stash to use. Here are my Hits and Misses for this show:
HITS / THE GOOD:
- Real actors gave the show a credibility that most like it do NOT have.
- The character of Gauis is very interesting, dealing with his own desires and "bad boy" image and feeling guilty for potantially causing a BIG mess. Very cool!
- Enough plot twists and surprises to keep you saying "ahhhh" without getting over-done like M Night Shayalman movies.
- Some refereneces to vintage BSG like the Vipers and Launch Bays.
- Fairly intelligent science and character actions. No leaps of faith regarding behavior or actions taken.
- Edward Olmos as Adama was a great choice, he played that part just about perfectly.
- Good special effects and sets.
MISSES / NOT SO GOOD:
- Starbuck is now an obnoxious chick that I want to throw in a wood shredder. I can get past her.... but uggggh!
- Camera work during battle scenes needs to be more panoramic and less jittery. Some space shots were hard to follow and had me refocusing my eyeballs to see what the heck just flew by!
- Not enough actual war scenes. A few cool bomb clouds and light flashes but thats it. An attack of this magnatude needed to be shown much more in-depth. Lets see the suffering, see ther carnage. Alls you hear is that "We lost this city, that ship, etc, etc." WAY too under-dramatic for me.
- Nuclear weapons seem pretty antiquated for High-tech Cylons or any other space race for that matter. Lets get some new weapons shall we?
- Cylons didnt get enough screen time, IMO. The "human" looking ones did but not the original, VERY cool cylons in their native robot form.
- A little heavy on the sexual themes but it really didnt hurt anything. The "hottie" Cylon character was actully pretty creepy and completely untrustworthy. But still, there were a few overly sexual moments.
Overall, this is a great miniseries/ 1st effort and certainly sets up a series pretty well. Im going to watch more and see if it holds up and carries itself.
Dont read too much into the super-negative reviews that are coming in from 40++ year olds that are mad that its not more like the original show. The original show had its moments but was cancelled pretty quickly...and NOT just for financial reasons. The original was all in all pretty dorky and had that "cheese whiz" fakeness in large doses... sorry but thats the deal on the old show. It looks HOPELESSLY dated and 70's-ish.
I definitely recommended this first show or miniseries to any Sci-Fi fan.
Best Show on Television
I originaly saw this on the Sci-fi channel. Loved it. Perfect intro for an excellent series. Not to be missed.
Actually, less realistic than the original BG
People credit the new "Battlestar Galactica" with being superior to and more realistic than the original BG because it portrays complex human relationships between and within the characters. The problem with these new-millenium TV shows is that they try so hard to be realistic, that they end up exagerrating the complexities of human relationships to a point where the show is actually unrealistic. And this is exactly what the new BG does.
For example, in the original BG, Adama tells the people of the fleet about the rumored existence of Earth. Adama in the new BG lies to the people of the fleet about the existence of Earth. Why would he think to do that? To keep the people's spirits up? C'mon, that notion is just a little out in left field. It's highly unlikely that any such commander in real life would place such a huge lie on his conscience, even to keep the people's spirits up. He certainly would've thought of other ways to keep the people's spirits up. That lie is more of a fictional soap opera-like lie that provides entertainment for the viewer-as to have the viewer say, "wow, if the fleet finds out about the lie the commander told, he's in deep trouble." More fiction than reality. The original BG handled this in a more realistic fashion. And if you watch both the new and the original BG, and then think about how people are in real life, and how they react to and eventually learn to get on with their lives after a catastrophy, you'll actually see that the original BG illustrated this in a more realistic manner. The more simple ways of the original BG are actually more reflective of how we handle things in real life. Human are intelligent in real life, but we may not be quite as complicated in our thinking as the new shows like the new BG would have you believe.
Sure, the original BG did make a few embarrassing mistakes, like the inclusion of the Boxey and the daggat characters, but that was 1978-a more simple and a little more naive time. Had they known then that the new millenium TV shows had to place so much emphasis on gloom and doom, perhaps they would've done it a little different back then.
Finally, Sheba from the original BG, Wilma Deering and Princess Leia were just fine. I've always liked those strong female characters. And they were original female characters. But to change the sex of two well-liked male BG characters to women (Starbuck and Boomer) just to be politically correct, I just find too annoying. If they wanted to create more female lead roles, they could've just created new characters. Oh well.
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