Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Battlestar Galactica: The Remastered Collection

 

This is a box set containing the original Battlestar Galactica series that aired 24 episodes during the 1978/1979 TV season and the 10-episode spinoff series, Galactica 1980, which aired in the winter and spring of 1980. The original series starred Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Maren Jensen, Laurette Spang, John Colicos, Herbert Jefferson, Tony Swartz, Noah Hathaway, and Terry Carter. Jane Seymour had a guest starring role in the first handful of episodes but left the series early in the season, and Ed Begley Jr. had a supporting role in the three-part pilot episode. If you watch the bonus features, you will find out all the male cast members were bumed when Seymour left because they all had the hots for her. Galactica 1980 had an almost entirely new cast, with only Greene and Jefferson reprising their characters from the original series (although Benedict did appear in what would be the series finale). The main cast members in the spinoff series were Kent McCord, Barry Van Dyke, Robyn Douglass, and Robbie Rist.

The plot of both series involves a war between humans from a different galaxy and a race of androids called Cylons. In the pilot episode, the Cylons lure the leaders of the 12 human colonies (planets) to a peace conference, under the guise of negotiating a truce. The Cylons attack the conference and the 12 colonies, virtually wiping out the humans except for the crew of the Galactica, a battleship (called a Battlestar), and several colonial ships with refugees from the various colonies. The remaining ships start on a quest to find a lost 13th colony, Earth (which is in a different galaxy), while trying to avoid Cylon attacks. The original series was canceled after the first season without the Galatica reaching Earth. In the spinoff series, set 30 years after the events of the original series, Galactica arrives at Earth, only to discover humans on Earth are not technologically advanced enough to fight the Cylons. The Galactica drops off two crew members, (McCord and Van Dyke's characters) to integrate with the humans of Earth and help them advance their technology and then leaves the solar system to lead the Cylons away from Earth.

The Blu-Ray set is an eight-disc set. The original series has six discs and Galactica 1980 has two. Only the original series has bonus features. Those include a commentary track on the three-part pilot episode, including Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict. There are deleted scenes and outtakes for most episodes spread across the six discs, and then, on the final disc, a series retrospective that includes interviews with some of the surviving cast members and the series creator, and featurettes on restoring the series in HD. Galactica 1980 does not have any bonus features. The episodes can be played in a "play all" mode and you can pick up where you leave off if you stop in the middle of an episode. The A/V quality is good to excellent, but because computer-generated effects did not exist when the original series aired, you can definitely tell how fake the effects were when watching the series in HD, probably moreso than if you watched the episodes in standard-definition.

The original series is okay, but very dated and cheesy. Galactica 1980 is dated, cheesy, and mostly bad (although it has some okay moments). Neither series is as good as the 2004 reboot, not only because the special effects were not as advanced, but because Sci-Fi series at the time were not taken all that seriously, so the writing was not all that good and the look and feel of both series was very dated. Ultimately, while neither series is great, the original series is a Sci-Fi classic. If you are a fan of the 2004 reboot series, it is interesting to watch these series to see how the 2004 series changed and adapted the storylines and the various characters.     

4k-UHD/TV Movie Review: Battlestar Galactica

 

This is a TV movie version of the three-part premiere (the pilot episode and the two-part Saga of a Star World) of the original 1978 Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica, starring Lorne Green, Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Maren Jensen, Jane Seymour, Terry Carter, Laurette Spang-McCook, Rick Springfield, and Ed Begley Jr. (the latter two in smaller roles). This is essentially an edited version of the pilot episode of the TV series titled Saga of a Star World, with an alternate ending from what was shown in the series. The series would have been quite different if the movie ending had been used. It is set in a distant galaxy and involves a war between twelve human colonies and a race of robots called Cylons. The Cylons present a peace offer, and representatives of the twelve colonies and several Battlestar ships arrive for armistice talks. Commander Adama (played by Green), the commander of the Battlestar Galactica, suspects a trap, which the Cylons spring, destroying most of the fleet and killing the council of twelve. Adama uses the Galactica to rescue as many humans from the colonial worlds as possible. Then they set off to find the legendary 13th human colony, Earth, all while battling (and trying to avoid) the Cylons. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc (the original Blu-Ray version of the movie released in 2013). Both discs have the same content, just the movie and no bonus features. The video quality of the UHD disc is excellent. It does have some film grain, but the video is crisp and clear (mostly), which is sometimes a detriment because the special effects back in the late 1970s were not great (at least by today's standards). In general, the shots set on the planets and ships look fantastic, while the space battles did not look as good. Many of the costumes and makeup for various aliens look very cheesy, and you can tell how fake everything was when you see it in 4k resolution. The audio is okay, but not great. The same 2.1-channel surround track created for the 2013 Blu-Ray release is on the UHD disc and was not upgraded for the 4K release.

Ultimately, I would say the movie is okay but absolutely dated. If you have watched the 2003 reboot, you will recognize elements from the plot that were incorporated into the pilot episode for the rebooted series. While I have not watched the entire original series yet, this is definitely not as good as any of the episodes in the rebooted series. Part of that is, of course, due to the limits on special effects at the time. CGI did not exist in 1978, and even practical effects and makeup were more limited back then than they are now. Even so, this is a Sci-Fi classic, and if you liked the 2003 series, this is worth watching, if nothing else, to see the differences between the original series and the reboot.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome

 

Blood and Chrome is a 2012 TV movie that is a prequel to the rebooted Battlestar Galactica series. This tells the story of a young Adama (played by Luke Pasqualino), and one of his first missions after being assigned as a pilot on Galactica during the First Cylon War. The story takes place after the events of the Caprica series and long before the Battlestar Series picks up. You get some insight into what Adama was like in his youth, but you only get a portion of his backstory. The movie portrays him as a hothead who is always looking for a fight and not the more measured leader he grew into. At this point, the Cylons are still just the chrome versions, although see the beginnings of the "skin job" versions at the very end.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good and is on par with the blu-ray release of the series. The disc does have a couple of extras, but they are not extensive. The extras include deleted scenes and a short feature on the visual effects. It seems that people's feelings fall into a couple different categories when it comes to this story. Much like the Caprica series, people seem to either love the movie or really hate it. It seems like the people who hate it do so mostly because it does not include any other characters from the series. I liked the series but was not so devoted to seeing just those characters that any kind of spin-off would be awful. This movie is really just an extension of the new Battlestar universe. It is like a long flashback episode of the series that tells a single story involving Adama. It has a similar feel to the parent series and does have some twists and betrayals going on much like the series had. No, you are not going to get Edward James Olmos's version of Adama, but the point of the story is to show how that character changed from his youth. If you can get past that and just enjoy the story and the fact that you are getting a new Battlestar story, then this is worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Battlestar Galactica (2004): The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

 

As most are likely aware, this is a reboot/remake of the 1980s series of the same name that involves a war between machines called Cylons and humans. Many of the Cylons are made to appear human, and some even think they are human. Battlestar is one of the ships that is traveling through the universe both fighting the Cylons and trying to find a new home for humans after a group of planets known as the twelve colonies are wiped out in a Cylon attack.

The series starred a number of actors who were both well known, or at least recognizable, at the time (including Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan) and those who would become famous because of the series including Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, and Katee Sackhoff. The writing and acting were very good throughout the series, although some of the plot elements did get a bit silly at times. For the most part, however, the show was very strong. It did have a pretty controversial ending that people seem to either really like or totally hate.

For those who get the collector's set, it comes in a box that would take up a ton of shelf space and a Cylon action figure. But, the individual seasons are packaged in smaller boxes that fit on the perimeter of the large box, so you can remove those and put them on a shelf and save a lot of room. Each season has a lot of extras including commentary tracks on select episodes, making-of featurettes, cast interviews, and more. So, if you are a fan of going through bonus material, you get a lot.

Overall, if you are a fan of sci-fi shows, you will most likely like this. It does have adult language and a lot of sex, along with as much nudity that can be gotten away with on basic cable. So, if those things turn you off, then you probably want to skip this. In fact, the series starts out with Tricia Helfer stripping down and having sex in the first scene, which pretty much sets the tone for the sex content for most of the rest of the series. That said, sex does not dominate the series or the storylines, but it is prevalent. Those provisos aside, if you are a fan of the genre, this is definitely worth checking out.