Battlestar Galactica : Season 1

by Todd Lipska · Published September 28, 2005 · Updated

Even before the mini-series first aired, a flurry of fans of the original series were yelling & screaming about changes to the new Sci-Fi Channel series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Even one of the cast members of original series, Richard Hatch (who played Capt. Apollo) wasn’t happy about this new version. After the successful run of the 4hr mini-series, many of those voices were silenced. Most likely left in awe. While it strives to re-invent/re-define the Sci-Fi genre, fans will notice various homages to the original series.

For those who don’t know, much like the series from the late 70’s, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA follows the journey of a “rag tag fleet” after their planet was invaded & conquered by a race of machines. Unlike the original series, like humans, the machines have evolved, now looking like humans. Also unlike the original, it’s not constant escape from their enemies every week. The wonderful re-birth/re-imagining of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is thanks to a veteran of great Sci-Fi shows, Ronald Moore. Much like Joss Whedon’s shows, Ron Moore’s show is wonderful written & character driven, without requiring new viewers to see past episodes. However, newcomers will be so enamored, they’ll want to see the episodes they missed.

It’s very hard to fine anything wrong with these DVDs. In fact, the only complaint I have is the commercial for the other Universal Studios TV shows on DVD that runs when you first put the disc in. In terms of audio, each episode has a full rich Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack with a base track that will appropriately thump your sub-woofer. Dialogue, music, and sound effects all come thru clearly and never detract from an enjoyable viewing experience.

Thanks mostly to the fact this is a show shot in digital, the picture is flawless. From the deep dark black of space to the bright and vibrant colors of the planetside scenes, the video of this series finely tuned like a musician makes sure his instrument is finely tuned. Also, as it should be, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is presented in widescreen.

Now, the extras. One of the good things about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is that main guy behind the show, Ron Moore, is a fan of Sci-Fi & DVDs. This box set is PACKED with extra stuff. Just to name a few:

* Disc 1 contains the 4 hour mini-series that started it all
* More than half the episodes have audio commentary
* 8 nicely produced featurettes & more

While the menu’s aren’t the most exciting (no animated or motion menus), the menus do their job & make navigation easy. Overall, I strongly strongly suggest getting this DVD for those of you out there even thinking it they might be interested in the show. For those fans of the show reading this, I’m sure you already got it when it came out.