Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)

The Miniseries (pilot) is included as a "bonus" on Disc 1 in the season 1 package. Therefore ignore the "Great Buy" offer from Amazon when ordering and just head straight to Season 1. You will get this content anyway.

I have learned this the hard way & have a return in process.

There won't be any spoilers here (there can't be, as the series isn't finished yet), but the stage is set from the miniseries, which now serves as the series pilot. However, first a brief description of the original series is in order.

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Original Series
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In the original series, the saga opens at a peace conference, ending the 1000-year war between the humans, congregated mostly on twelve planetary colonies, and the Cylons, a machine race bent on galactic domination. Due to treachery by one of the colonial leaders (Baltar, played by John Colicos), the peace conference is in fact a trap, and a Pearl Harbouresque attack destroys all but one of the primary warships (the Battlestar Galactica). Meanwhile, the undefended colonies are similarly ransacked, left indefensible and uninhabitable. The commander, Adama (Lorne Greene), assumes leadership of a ragtag fleet of several hundred ships that sets out for a distant world known only in legend - Earth. The series continues throughout the course of the year with adventures of the human fleet encountering minor human settlements and lots of Cylons along the way - lots of space battles feature the Viper pilots Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Starbuck (Dirk Benedict), who have relationship situations with Casseopia (Laurette Spang), Serena (Jane Seymour) and Athena (Maren Jensen).

The original series ended before the journey ended; there was an earlier attempt at resurrecting the series in 'Galactica 1980' which mercifully fell victim to well-deserved bad ratings rather quickly, and purists never considered a true continuation of the series. This, of course, sets the stage for the new series criticism.

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New Series
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In this series, with a few nods to the original ideas, there are still humans on twelve planets who have an advanced civilisation, but an aging military fleet. They've been at peace for twenty years, since the Cylons (here the humans' own creation) departed, having never signed a formal peace treaty. There is no peace conference here - rather, the aging battlestar Galactica is about to be decommissioned, when an unexpected attack by dramatically more advanced Cylons takes place, incorporating not only direct military strikes but also computer internet/network hijacking, facilitated by the mentally unbalanced but ingenious Dr. Baltar. Adama takes the Galactica to a safe location while the rest of the colonies fall quickly to the Cylons; various ships in the interstellar routes survive, including one with a cabinet minister elevated to the presidency due to the emergency, Laura Roslin. The ragtag fleet assembles at a forgotten supply depot, and does a sort of light-speed jump to safety after fighting (and essentially losing) against a new Cylon death star.

There are small nods to the old series - on the Galactica preparing for decommissioning, a museum has been set up, which has models of old Cylon death stars (these are models from the original series). The specifications for Cylons show the old metallic storm-trooper, but we are also informed that no one has seen a Cylon in twenty years (they've outgrown their shiny metal armour). In one scene, the museum chatter about the history of the Galactica mentions a Commander Hatch as its first commander, an obvious nod to Richard Hatch, the star of the original series.

The character of Laura Roslin is new, and the figure of Adama is a very different one from the original. Perhaps the most shocking change is that Starbuck here, while still a cigar-chomping, swaggering, swearing, card-playing rogue of an ace pilot, is also a woman.

The pilot shows people to be very human - whereas in the original series, they were almost playing archetypes of hero, villain, father-figure, etc., in this new show the roles are nowhere as distinct. The characters have flaws, and not Persian-carpet flaws, but real, honest-to-goodness problems and personality quirks. Adama is adamant about keeping the Galactica safe but also in engaging the enemy; his clashes with the authority of Laura Roslin, a president essentially without a nation, promises to be an interesting one. Apollo is still the solid captain of the fighter squad, and Starbuck and Boomer his able lieutenants, but there are secrets lurking here, too. And then there is Dr. Baltar, in whom the line between genius and insanity is constantly being redrawn.

The fleet is assembled, and heading off toward Earth. Here, however, Earth is not the ancient migratory memory of Adama as in the original series as much as it a mythical invention to give people hope in the fleet - this could set up a very different character to their run from the Cylons. Also, the fact that the Cylons are ultimately the creation of the humans, and now look like the humans, will factor heavily into a revised story line.

Stay tuned!

Cast:
Edward James Olmos .... Commander William Adama
Mary McDonnell .... Colonial President Laura Roslin
Jamie Bamber .... Captain. Lee Adama (Apollo)
Katee Sackhoff .... Lieutenant. Kara Thrace (Starbuck)
James Callis .... Dr. Gaius Baltar
Tricia Helfer .... Number 6
Grace Park .... Lt. Sharon Valerii (Boomer)
Michael Hogan .... Col. Paul Tigh

The interplay between the characters, the tension, depth of characters and the one thing I love.. that blackhole suction that keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what the hell is next. I found myself spiralling down into each character as they were unveiled throughout the miniseries and then the first season. The human side of things is so well done you could expected to hear about the happenings in the news and not find them out of place. Well done indeed. Women I think would find this as enticing as well; although my wife has only seen a few episodes, the ones she does she is happy with. Explosions and cool effects.. oh yes but more importantly it has that gritty drama of refugees fighting to survive themselves and outside forces that makes for a truly great show. By far one of the best things on TV.