The Battlestar Galactica TV Series
Jason and I sat down to watch the first season of Battlestar Galactica on sunday. We had both been impressed by the miniseries, but the show was better than we expected.
The production quality is good. The acting is generally good. There are a few actors I'm not happy with, but that is to be expected on a show with a large number of major characters. The special effects are generally good (my biggest gripe with the show right now is that the spaceship explosions are rather similar to the ones from B5 - I'd expect that they could do better with more modern techniques. There are generally too few chunks of spaceship sent flying to make it look good.).
I really like the ship designs, especially the new Vipers and Cylon Raiders. I don't like the exterior of the new Galactica as much as I do the old one, but it has definitely grown on me as I've seen it more. The rest of the fleet is generally good.
One of the nice things about the series is that the DVDs are reasonably priced. $45 for the first season (including the miniseries) and $35 for the second season. That compares nicely with what I paid for B5 (though to be fair, there were twice as many episodes in the B5 seasons). I'm popping both seasons onto my Christmas list for this year. :)
They changed the story from the original show. The basic story is the same, but the details are very different.
The production quality is good. The acting is generally good. There are a few actors I'm not happy with, but that is to be expected on a show with a large number of major characters. The special effects are generally good (my biggest gripe with the show right now is that the spaceship explosions are rather similar to the ones from B5 - I'd expect that they could do better with more modern techniques. There are generally too few chunks of spaceship sent flying to make it look good.).
I really like the ship designs, especially the new Vipers and Cylon Raiders. I don't like the exterior of the new Galactica as much as I do the old one, but it has definitely grown on me as I've seen it more. The rest of the fleet is generally good.
One of the nice things about the series is that the DVDs are reasonably priced. $45 for the first season (including the miniseries) and $35 for the second season. That compares nicely with what I paid for B5 (though to be fair, there were twice as many episodes in the B5 seasons). I'm popping both seasons onto my Christmas list for this year. :)
They changed the story from the original show. The basic story is the same, but the details are very different.
- There is still a war with the Cylons, with the colonists being virtually wiped out in a sneak attack.
- The Galactica is still leading a fleet of the remnants of humanity, looking for hope.
- Baltar is a much more complex character. We're still guessing exactly where they are going with him.
- The Cylons can impersonate humans, but the catch is that they only have a limited number of models. Somehow their knowledge gets back "home" when they die, but each Cylon from a model series looks identical. Also, some of the Cylons think they are human unless "activated" to perform a mission. The human persona forgets the Cylon persona's actions.
- Several of the Cylons talk about God (a singular one, rather than the multiple 'Gods of Kobol' whom the Colonists worship) and keep trying to get humans to believe in him.
- The Cylons appear to be studying human behavior by playing games with their lives. At least, that's the best explanation Jason and I have for some of their actions. I have to wonder if there is a connection between this point and the previous.
- Starbuck is now female. Making the original show's greatest womanizer in the universe into a woman was a bit jarring at first, but they have done a lot with the character. I've been impressed with her acting.
- The actor who played the original Apollo is brought back as a terrorist who becomes a political leader (apparently for self-serving reasons).