Rating: 
Summary: a departure that stands on its own
Review: Battlestar Galactica began as the movie "Saga of the Star World", which was distributed as a theatrical release in Canada in 1978. With some re-editing, it was aired as the pilot of the short-lived television series on ABC. While the series only lasted one season, it inspired a cadre of fans who have sought its revival for the last 25 years. While several people have sought to revive and continue the series, for various reasons these efforts have been unsuccessful. The Sci Fi channel announced that it would do a Battlestar Galactica project, but ultimately decided on a remake of the original pilot rather than a continuation.The original Battlestar Galactica told the story of the fleeing survivors of the space faring "twelve colonies of man" in the wake of a genocidal attack by the evil cylons. Loren Greene, best known for his role as Ben Cartwright on the Western series "Bonanza," played Adama, Commander of the Battlestar Galactica. Richard Hatch played Adama's serious and responsible son, Apollo. Playing foil to Apollo was Starbuck, whose character has become synonymous with Dirk Bennedict's light hearted, devil may care portrayal. Over the course of shows season, these hero's looked for clues to find the planet Earth, home to the lost thirteenth tribe and a potential refuge for the surviving colonists. Ronald Moore, who made his name with the latter seasons of "Star Trek, Deep Space Nine "and "Start Trek: First Contact", was tapped to write the remake. His interpretation makes significant changes in the background story, the character relationships and even the sexes of some of the principle characters of the original series. The result is a show that keeps the central premise of the original series but throws almost everything else up for grabs. While the original series relied heavily on a mix of Greek, Judeo-Christian and Central American traditions in its background, the remake is more contemporary and urban. Instead of the Moses-like Adama of the 1970's, leading his tribe of space-Israelites to the Promised Land; this Adama is like Sitting Bull leading his tribe to the safety of Canada with the US Army at his heels. Edward James Almos as Adama has a quite dignity and presence that makes him the emotional center of this new Galactica. Mary McDonnell plays Laura Roslin, who is propelled from being the Secretary for Education to the President of the 12 colonies as the last surviving official of the colonial government. Her struggle to assert her authority and take the leadership role over the 50,000 human survivors makes her the most interesting character of the show. These two actors truly are the core around whom the rest of the cast, most relative newcomers, add layers around. Katie Stackhoff has the unlucky job of playing Starbuck; who defined the swashbuckling space hero for a generation of boys who grew up to be science fiction fans. Despite her youth, she has an emotional intensity and a sense of mischief that is appealing. She gives a fine performance despite being under tremendous scrutiny. This is not a girl trying to act like Dirk Benedict but a young woman trying to own the role. Jamie Bamber plays a more uptight and rigid Apollo, which creates a tension between he and Starbuck beyond merely being foils for one another. The original BG pilot spent the first half of the show detailing the destruction of the colonies and then moved on to the fleeing survivors encounter with an alien race, the new BG focuses strictly on the destruction of the colonial home world and their escape. In that sense it is a more focused story than the original pilot, leaving more time to devote to character development and exploring the terror of a civilization being wiped out. There is a palpable tension in the show as the characters realize and react to the enormity of the destruction visited upon them. The characters in this new Galactica are rife with flaws, misgivings and mixed motivations. We see tensions between a father and son, between subordinates and their commanders, Faust-like traitors and machines that believe in God. These are not the hero's you may have looked up to as a kid, but they are people you can recognize as an adult. It's not often that one gets to see a childhood favorite remade with adult sensibilities. Die-hard fans of the original series have expressed considerable opposition to the remake, and there is little here to persuade them from their view. The religious and mythological emphases of the original series are given token reference or are simply gone. The characters are not the iconic heroes of the original. There is more overt sexuality. This is a grittier, less sweeping, more edgy and intense BG than the original. None of this is necessarily bad, but viewers who were hoping for more reverence for the original will be disappointed. Like the characters portrayed in it, I found myself truely enjoying this show despite its flaws. This is not the Battlestar Galactica of the 1970's, but a different vision of the core concept that has strengths and an appeal all it's own. If you're a thirty something hoping for a faithful homage to the original, this is not it. If you like suspense, good special effects and realistic characters in a familiar story with interesting villains, take a look. Like the original 70's pilot, this mini series left me asking the question "what happens next?" The story leaves plenty of room for development in a regular series and creates enough interest to want to go along for the ride. I will watch this show if it becomes a series. I will be sorry to hear if this is the last we will see of these folks.
Rating:
Summary: Great television
Review: This reimagining of an SF "classic" is light years superior to the hokey, ridiculous original. Ron Moore was a major creative force behind "Star Trek: DS9," which is one of my favorite TV shows, and here he provides the basis for what could be a truly great series. All of the elements from the original are here (except, thank the Lords of Kobol, that silly robotic monkey/teddy bear), but tweaked to increase the drama and reality of the situation. It may seem odd to mention reality in a show about genocidal robots pursuing the last remnants of the human race, but Moore and company play the emotions and character dynamics absolutely straight within the context of a grand space opera. Among the cast, special mention goes to Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonell, Katee Sackhoff, and James Callis. I've read that the mini-series garnered high ratings with the second installment doing better than the first, so I can't see why a full-blown series wouldn't go into production right away. I'm looking forward to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Such a disappointment
Review: I thought this was awful. Okay, what I watched was so bad I didn't watch all of it, so all I can really say is what I watched (two nights) was awful. I didn't even care what happened to the characters.There were so many problems with this I can't even remember all of them now. But for starters, any show which has to resort to blatant sexuality as readily as this one did is usually short on real substance, and this was no exception. Reworking things like making Starbuck a woman is another sign they didn't have much of a story to offer. Really, some of us have no interest in watching a woman who is not particularly attractive, crude, obnoxious and smoking cigars playing a hero...or anything else for that matter. Oh, and that conflict between Adama and Apollo, boy wasn't that an original idea? Gee, let's have some sex, a crude woman, and put Apollo at odds with his father, that should earn a writer the big buks, right? The whole thing was one lame plot device after another. What a disaster. I couldn't bring myself to care about a single character in this thing, and really, I tried.
Rating:
Summary: The bar has been raised for TV Science Fiction
Review: Let me first start by stating what the new Battlestar Galactica is not: - It is NOT a predictable, hokey 70's TV show.
- It is NOT another bad Andromeda/Farscape clichéd Product.
- It is NOT for die-hard fans of the 70's TV show. What it IS, is for fans of the 70's TV show who have grown up, and moved out of their parents' basement. Although the overall dramatic shape of the series is severely flawed, there are enough charismatic actors, great writing and truly effective SFX to make this a landmark in filmed Science Fiction. If you're one of those people who petitioned for Richard Hatch to play Apollo in a new fan-enslaved TV Series, please stop reading because I will consistently offend. If one is to be truly honest, the best part of the original BG was the overall concept, the ship design, and the special effects. Lorne 'Bonanza' Green, Richard Hatch and Dirk 'A-Team' Benedict had very little to do with the appeal of the show. The great part about watching the new series is that in a strange way, it was made for fans of the original series. Not die-hard maniac fans who throng around Hatch at conventions, but Sci-Fi fans who after the big tease of Star Wars (and the relative disaster of Star Trek: The Motion Picture), hungered for a good looking, well acted Science Fiction show, and tolerated BG with affection. What Moore and Co. have wrought may well herald the next generation of SF television (if we're lucky). Gone are the "Space Opera" rescues and victories, the white hat hero mythos that since Lucas, has infested SF film and TV for decades. Gone is the non-sexual deadness of most SF, gone are physics-insulting space battles. And most refreshing: gone are the Joss Whedon-esque post-modern ironics that have ruined SF in recent years. Instead we have characters who have to make very hard choices and visibly suffer from those choices, reconciliations that do not occur as we would wish, a seriousness that ignores the current trend for self-reflexiveness in media, and plot points that could have easily given in to cliché and sentiment but refused and did not fear to tread on a hard-edge. You know you're in the hands of people who care right from the start. The first twenty minutes is refreshingly sober and portentous, without being pretentious (this is greatly aided by the wonderful drum-heavy soundtrack). But it was in the space battles and ship movements that really make you feel like you were in new territory. The makers of this mini really played to true SF fans out there by showing us how a ship like a Viper would move in space. They played with the idea of dozens of thrusters all around the ship (not unlike NASA's Space Shuttle), allowing it to move in many different planes of attack (they didn't tackle the huge design flaw of having Vipers have wings and air intake engines for space flight'but hey, I nitpick now). The choice to favor missles and projectiles over lasers was also a visual triumph. The main directorial coup was politely lifted from "His Majesty" Sir George ala Star Wars: Episode II. This is a camera trick with quick zooms and jagged verite movements when tracking space flight ' as if a documentary filmmaker was tagging along in another Viper and filming the action. This has the effect of rendering the movements of spaceflight seemingly more realistic and actual, instead of the usual static-frame shots that we're all so used to. These battles, when they do occur, are masterful to watch, and a true delight to SF fans everywhere: the high point of the viewing experience. The characters, while interesting and well mounted, are not all developed evenly. Baltar and Adama fare best in the character department with Starbuck and Apollo and The President faring a bit worse. Yet they are left as intriguing possibilities, were this mini to be made into an ongoing series. And Starbuck...ohh, don't get me started...she smokes, simple as that. Try to get this baby on DVD if you can, the visuals are well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent pilot; for hard SF fans, purists will hate it
Review: I heartily recommend this miniseries for hard or military science fiction fans, looking for more of an edge than what appears in most media SF (film and TV). Those who are interested in character development and strong dramas will also not be disappointed. In a nutshell, if you loved Babylon 5, you'll probably enjoy this tremendously. Ronald Moore's miniseries differs substantially from the original 1970s television show. That show, featuring a dose of Mormon theology and family-friendly characters, was feel-good enjoyment more similar to the original Star Wars trilogy and its Joseph Campbell-influenced storyline. The flaws and changes made to some of the major characters from the original series have particularly upset some fans and invigorated others. "Starbuck" is now a woman, albeit played by Katee Sackhoff, a young woman who manages to convey arrogance, a smart-ass attitude and vulnerability all at the same time. In fact, along with the realistic military overtones (the miniseries even used some set elements that will be familiar to real life servicemen, and Aaron Douglas shines as a believable, solid crew chief), fraternization is one of the overriding themes. Just as in real life, relationships and emotions complicate military and civilian duties - tragically, in the case of Baltar, whose lust and arrogance brings death upon his civilization. (Fans who feel Starbuck should have been another man might do well to watch "JAG", where former BSG writer Donald Bellisario developed the character of Harmon Rabb - like the original Starbuck, searching for his father, gorgeous, womanizing, a hot dog pilot, and loyal to his friends. Interestingly, Rabb's foil "Sarah 'Mac' McKenzie," a troubled but professional woman Marine, seems to be a more popular character.) Frankly, by making Starbuck a woman, this adds a new dimension to the relationship between Apollo and Starbuck. These tensions no doubt take place on a daily basis on America's real-life aircraft carriers, staffed with women and men. Unfortunately, of all the strengths of the original series, quality airtime for its female characters (and later, favorite characters who were black, such as Boomer) was not one of them. The original character of Athena was set to be written out; Serena was killed off; and Cassiopeia was introduced in the first episode as a "sociolator," a nice euphemism for prostitute, which fortunately did not return with the 2003 miniseries. BSG features a lot of interesting themes that are rarely touched on in media (TV, film) science fiction: the disagreements between civilian and military leadership (thanks to strong performances by Olmos and McDonnell); androids who believe they are motivated by a higher power (instead of Asimov's laws of robotics); maintaining a species' existence after Armageddon. It's been 25 years, with an entirely new generation of science fiction fans having been born since the first BSG. Purists wishing for a kinder, gentler "Galactica" can enjoy the full series on DVD. Meanwhile, as an original fan, I enjoyed both a great deal - the kid in me remembering my love for the original series, the adult appreciating the more mature themes and "shades of grey" overtones of the miniseries. A number of the reviews on this miniseries have been truncated or discarded, so please keep this in mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Battlestar Galactica
Review: I would just like to say that as a fan of the original series I was a bit wary of the show being a remake instead of being a continuation as I and alot of other fans wanted but having now seen it on Sky Movies I must admit I had to give it the benefit of the doubt and watch it for myself and I have to say that I enjoyed it and I have just bought the DVD which has been released in the U.K. before the U.S. I would have preferred that Starbuck and Boomer were still men but I suppose that's a sign of the times.The FX were first class and I liked the inclusion of some of the original models including the old Galactica shuttlecraft at the beginning (...)
Rating:
Summary: Like anything else, try before you buy.
Review: Battlestar Galactica was originally distributed as a theatrical release in various parts of the world. With some re-editing it became the pilot of a short lived science fiction series on ABC. While airing for only one season, it inspired a fan base which has fought for it's revival ever since, some 25 years. Several attempts have been made to resurrect Battlestar Galactica, along the lines of a continuation of the original story line: a "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of survivors from a devastated civilization, under the protection of the last surviving battlestar (think space aircraft carrier) seeks the mythical planet Earth, home to lost descendants of their destroyed civilization. For various reasons, these efforts failed to produce a motion picture, until now. The trouble is, they got a remake, and the old time fans are not happy. Ronald D. Moore, who made his name with the Star Trek series "Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: First Contact", was tapped to write a "re-imagining" of the original pilot for the Sci-fi channel. A version of this script was leaked and has been posted on several internet sites. This leaked script, which Mr. Moore has publicly stated is true to the final draft, makes several significant changes to the story emphasis and characterization of the show. The relationships, even the sexes, of some of the main characters of the original series have been altered in the remake. Instead of sleek, romanesque metal robots pursuing the fleeing humans; there are now calculating, attractive but synthetic young men and women bent on destroying the human race. Many of the devoted fans of the original series were deeply dissapointed by the idea of a remake. This disappointment has turned to anger for many of these fans. This forms the basis for many of the unfavorable reviews, all of which (including this one) pre-date the airing of the remake. Like any movie you might see listed on Amazon, you should probably wait to see it shown on TV (the Sci Fi Channel) or rent it from your local video store before deciding to purchase. Not many people buy a movie before seeing it, and this movie should be no exception. If your a thirthysomething who remembers the original BSG from you childhood, your in for some major surprises. This may not float your boat, but why not see for yourself?
Rating:
Summary: I LOVED it
Review: This was a great re-make I think.
I was not to hung up on the characters as were some.....but with the music score and the heart felt nature of the actors, I give it high ratings personally
Rating:
Summary: The bar has been raised for TV Science Fiction
Review: Let me first start by stating what the new Battlestar Galactica is not: - It is NOT a predictable, hokey 70's TV show.
- It is NOT another bad Andromeda/Farscape clichéd Product.
- It is NOT for die-hard fans of the 70's TV show. What it IS, is for fans of the 70's TV show who have grown up, and moved out of their parents' basement. Although the overall dramatic shape of the series is severely flawed, there are enough charismatic actors, great writing and truly effective SFX to make this a landmark in filmed Science Fiction. If you're one of those people who petitioned for Richard Hatch to play Apollo in a new fan-enslaved TV Series, please stop reading because I will consistently offend. If one is to be truly honest, the best part of the original BG was the overall concept, the ship design, and the special effects. Lorne 'Bonanza' Green, Richard Hatch and Dirk 'A-Team' Benedict had very little to do with the appeal of the show. The great part about watching the new series is that in a strange way, it was made for fans of the original series. Not die-hard maniac fans who throng around Hatch at conventions, but Sci-Fi fans who after the big tease of Star Wars (and the relative disaster of Star Trek: The Motion Picture), hungered for a good looking, well acted Science Fiction show, and tolerated BG with affection. What Moore and Co. have wrought may well herald the next generation of SF television (if we're lucky). Gone are the "Space Opera" rescues and victories, the white hat hero mythos that since Lucas, has infested SF film and TV for decades. Gone is the non-sexual deadness of most SF, gone are physics-insulting space battles. And most refreshing: gone are the Joss Whedon-esque post-modern ironics that have ruined SF in recent years. Instead we have characters who have to make very hard choices and visibly suffer from those choices, reconciliations that do not occur as we would wish, a seriousness that ignores the current trend for self-reflexiveness in media, and plot points that could have easily given in to cliché and sentiment but refused and did not fear to tread on a hard-edge. You know you're in the hands of people who care right from the start. The first twenty minutes is refreshingly sober and portentous, without being pretentious (this is greatly aided by the wonderful drum-heavy soundtrack). But it was in the space battles and ship movements that really make you feel like you were in new territory. The makers of this mini really played to true SF fans out there by showing us how a ship like a Viper would move in space. They played with the idea of dozens of thrusters all around the ship (not unlike NASA's Space Shuttle), allowing it to move in many different planes of attack (they didn't tackle the huge design flaw of having Vipers have wings and air intake engines for space flight'but hey, I nitpick now). The choice to favor missles and projectiles over lasers was also a visual triumph. The main directorial coup was politely lifted from "His Majesty" Sir George ala Star Wars: Episode II. This is a camera trick with quick zooms and jagged verite movements when tracking space flight ' as if a documentary filmmaker was tagging along in another Viper and filming the action. This has the effect of rendering the movements of spaceflight seemingly more realistic and actual, instead of the usual static-frame shots that we're all so used to. These battles, when they do occur, are masterful to watch, and a true delight to SF fans everywhere: the high point of the viewing experience. The characters, while interesting and well mounted, are not all developed evenly. Baltar and Adama fare best in the character department with Starbuck and Apollo and The President faring a bit worse. Yet they are left as intriguing possibilities, were this mini to be made into an ongoing series. And Starbuck...ohh, don't get me started...she smokes, simple as that. Try to get this baby on DVD if you can, the visuals are well worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: okay
Review: I'm not really sure what all the positive reviews are about. It seems a lot of people are happy that this isn't their dad's Galactica. This isn't much fun either. It's just okay. I've seen worse. The effects are nice. It's supposed to be more adult, but I dont want to watch something that seems like a meeting at my job. That's how this made me feel. It's okay, but it's rather slow. I guess that makes it "adult". The old show was corny, but it was goofy fun. What's wrong with goofy fun? I guess the new show is good if you hate goofy fun, or if you just want something that's not like what your dad would watch.
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