Rating: 
Summary: Great Remake of an Old Classic
Review: I think the new BG is fantastic. I was a big fan of the original series but I'm very enthusiastic about the new show's potential. The campy theatrics haves been replaced by a compelling sense of drama. The cardboard, black-and-white characters are replaced with living, believable individuals with realistic flaws. This combination makes for a dynamic storyline with interacting subplots. Even without the sci-fi setting this show has good actors, good writing and great editing.
Rating: 
Summary: Too negative in outlook for my tastes
Review: I was excited to see SciFi Channel taking a new look at one of my old favorites. I was hoping for a new series. Instead, I found only a micro mini series.What was good? Special effects, James Edward Olmos, and Mary McDonough, and the musical salute to the original series' theme song in the fly by sequence. What was not so hot? Gratuitous sex with a machine, the frankly tedious pace. What was bad? A cigar-smoking female Starbuck and the overall completely downer tone (no hope, we're all dead) to the whole thing. I taped it and watched it three times, hoping my initial impressions were colored by my love of the original series. Nope, sorry, this just didn't do it for me. Why did they feel a Starbuck clone was necessary, anyway? Yuck. Now, if this turns out to have been a pilot, and there really is a "to be continued" series in the offing, there's still hope -- even though the show ended with none on board the ship, apparently... This one won't be in my library -- unless it does become a series with the potential hinted at here.
Rating: 
Summary: too little heart, & too little to go on
Review: The first half of the 2003 remake certainly did strike me as being well thought out and logical, but it also struck me as lacking heart and likable characters. To top it off, it seemed sex scenes and relationships were thrown in without rhyme nor reason ... before any real character development had taken place! Why in the world would a viewer care about these people, let alone the fact that they had gotten together/lost each other? I truly didn't find myself caring about anyone the way I did with the original series. In addition, I found the general look and design to be very lackluster. They could have at least TRIED to make Caprica clothing and architecture look different from Earth, but no ... it seems high heels and neckties are a universal truth. This sort of thing becomes very irritating when a viewer has to keep reminding themselves "It's Caprica... not Earth ... CAPRICA..." That being said, if they continue the series they have the opportunity to grow and change, and perhaps viewers like myself will warm up to the show. As a big fan of the original series, I'd like nothing more than a worthy successor.
Rating:
Summary: steal rather than create
Review: The hardest part of creating a story or a script, is the whole issue of backstory, character relationships, character names, concepts and theme. Good writers can readily do this and invent great stories. Ron Moore, has a great ability to tell a story, but seems to lack ability to create and originate. Thus he takes the names, and general events of the original series and plops his own ideas into the middle. Not clever nor creative. Even the director stole shots and visual ideas from Joss Whedon's far superior but short lived FIREFLY series (now on DVD -- so compare the zooms and camera angles). Indeed it seems like the core of the original BG was raped to tell a wholly different sci-fi story. Granted, it was a compelling story that I thought was good on it's own merits. But that's just it. It doesn't stand on it's own merits. It stands on an established name (as if they feared the story would not stand alone as an original creation.)Note that they also heavilly steal from THE TERMINATOR'S concepts. The original was classic sci-fi. It has strong Egyptian and ancient myth subtexts, as well as biblical scope. It was a unique type of story told in an often unique way. The new one looks too much like our modern society or what it could become. Not the ancient world so richly depitcted in the original. I am curious to see where this new one might go from here. It's good. I only wish Moore and company had just created their own characters and worlds to tell the story that bears little resemblance other than common names from that which I hold dear from my youth. Shame on the theives for not trusting their material could stand on it's own name. I think it could have. But we will never know.
Rating:
Summary: An instant classic in its own right
Review: I grew up a 'fan' of the original 70's Battlestar Galactica, just as most were also fans of anything resembling the ground-breaking original "Star Wars" film that came out at the time. The trappings were cheesy-fun and while enjoyable, wasn't exactly sophisticated science fiction - but that was okay for its time. This remake, however, takes the spirit of the original and blows you away with its intelligence and execution. It takes the original premise of "what if the world were destroyed and had little to no hope for the survivors" and executes it with such commitment and reality that it's hard not to get goosebumps watching this miniseries. I know that many 'Battlestar' loyalists are up at arms against this remake because it doesn't have the adolescent charms of the 'fun' wisecracking stock characters that are still fun in the right mindset - but what's substituted is a complex drama with fascinating characters. Will seven year olds love this show? Well, it certaintly doesn't aim for it, and maybe that's what the loyalists dislike about it. Instead, it poses difficult situations on the price of survival and shows imperfect characters struggling to make the best choices they can, with the science fiction elements to enhance these ideas, rather than being the reason for the show to exist, like the original. You can think of this as a mix of "Independence Day" and "Starship Troopers", only with intelligence and tough moral questions with chilling sequences that linger and stay with you days after viewing. I only wish this show got more attention. In many ways it's a groundbreaker. And hopefully more will follow.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent show
Review: I'm a huge fan of the original series - I own the Cylon Head package of all original episodes. I heard a lot about the changes in advance, thanks to SciFi's documentary on the new series prior to its airing (called "the lowdown" or something). It explaied a lot and you get into the minds of the new actors. You really get the feeling that this is a new generation's Galactica, and I became totally OK with the changes, mainly because I stopped thinking of it as the same show. There are still enough direct references to specific things in the original series to keep the hair on your arms from getting too relaxed. It was a tragic story before, and it's still tragic today. They tell it very well - and do things that they could not do back in the 70s. The beginning of the story is all about sadness, defeat, and desparation, and this new series captures all of that. I'm looking forward to owning the DVD so I don't have to put up with the commericials during the strong scenes. Well done, SciFi!
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, liked it better than the original
Review: While ardent fans may be unable to accept change, I remember watching the original in my youth. The new Sci-Fi take on the story breathes new life into a series which would have been too camp for a contemporary audience's higher demands. The new Battlestar managed to achieve a greater degree of believability in its characters than the original managed. This is Battlestar Gallactica grown up. Despite having watched the entire old series, I found the new Sci-Fi version engrossing both visually and dramatically. The two disappointments I had were the shortness of the "mini series" only two movies instead of 6 to eight hours. "Micro series" would be a better descriptor. The second thing I disliked with the new Starbuck character so closely mimicking the original Starbuck. While some character continuity is understandable, the degree of mimicry was excessive and failed to allow the current character to take on any of her own substance. Overall, it was enjoyable and I will certainly obtain it on DVD when it becomes available. The old series won't be joining my disc collection because it no longer engenders a sense of desire. Its time is past. Time to let go and let the new exceed the old.
Rating:
Summary: Very original, and interesting, but...
Review: I'm not a hardcore fan of any of the original Battlestar Galactica versions. In fact, I've never seen them. But I have to say that this miniseries was very original. Yeah, there are some changes, from what I've heard of the original, but they worked quite well. Not only that but the special effects were really good. The problem is, I don't know if this qualifies as a mini-series. It was only two episodes long! I was expecting something as long as Steven Spielberg's Taken, which was about ten episodes. But, as creative genius has it, they ended it in such a fashion that I wanted to see more of it. It might become a series, but if it does, I would be disappointed. This should have been a five or six episode mini-series, in my opinion. Some things are better that way. But, to stick to the topic - I enjoyed watching it. It was short yes, but the acting was good, and the writers did a very good job emphasizing the philosophical and emotional concepts that the dying humans had to face. It came out much more powerful than I expected, and the music complimented it very well. When it's released on DVD, I will buy it. It would have been nice if it was a complete mini-series, with a happy ending, but I suppose it will have to do for a while. I hope the Sci-fi channel decides to make a few more episodes to finish it off dramatically.
Rating:
Summary: Galactica 2003 mini series
Review: Well let's be truthful, all of us thirty somethings who grew up on a diet of Star Wars, Tron, Battlestar Galactica et al were waiting for this for a long time. With Star Wars prequels being as good as they are (in my opinion) Galactica fans were crying out for an updated version of the classic series. No THX updates were ever going to be released & several attemps to restart BG met with little success.
Approaching the new series with an open mind I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the plot & the line that the oppressed Cylons rebelled against their masters & how they return after four decades for revenge & their goal of ultimate victory. The reason for war was never adequately explained in the original series & the total surprise achieved against the entire Colonial fleet was a little too much to believe. This series answers some questions that many of us had for years but obviously leaves some unanswered, such as...when can we expect more? For all the fans that have waited this long we should be pleased with what has been achieved in the latest incarnation. Let's hope that the story is allowed to continue. I for one can't wait until it reaches UK shores as I have only seen a tape of the show from Sci Fi US. Let's not throw mud around about this fact & that fact, just be glad that at long last we have seen what we thought was impossible be achieved. Top marks to the directors & production team for a sterling effort. Long may the voyage continue to the shining planet. Ten out of ten from me.
Rating: 
Summary: Battlestar Galactica 2003 miniseries
Review: This was a lousy show, and Amazon would have you believe that everyone truly loved it by removing most of the bad reviews. This is one show that if you do watch it or buy it, all I can say is I told you so. They'll probably pull this review too.
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