BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 2.0 (2005)

Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0 (2005)

Actors: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis
Directors: Marita Grabiak, Rod Hardy
Format: Ac- , Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Widescreen Anamorphic
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 3

DVD Features:

• Available Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Deleted Scenes
• Episode Commentary
• Battlestar Galactica Sneak Peek
   

Movie: * * * *
Disc:    * *  

This Battlestar Galactica Season 2.0 DVD set kicks off where the previous Season 1 set last left us: with commander Adama in a critical condition after an assassination attempt by an undercover Cylon, Starbuck stuck on her now devastated home planet where she was searching for a religious artefact, a group of soldiers stuck on a deserted planet below, the fleet under military rule after a coup de tat. And with the Cylon fleet in hot pursuit . . .

If none of the above makes any sense to you it’s probably because you haven’t been following the new Battlestar Galactica series, probably the best show on TV right now — in any genre.

Tough, gritty and spending more time on in-depth characterisation and intricate plotting than most celluloid sci-fi nowadays, this new Galactica isn’t your father’s camp 1970s show. At times it seems more inspired by action movies such as Black Hawk Down than Star Wars, something which works to its benefit: this Galactica would only have been possible in the aftermath of 9/11 as it deals with issues that are facing America today such as how far does civilian jurisdiction and civil rights stretch when faced with an implacable enemy who has no time for such niceties?

One thing that this box set clearly illustrates is that this TV show is following the high standard of quality set by the 2003 mini-series and the first season. The writing is great and events flow like in a page-turning novel, the acting is spot on, the production values good and the music score rousing. One can only hope that there will be a Season 3 and even more. Hopefully the show won’t write itself into a corner like The X-Files did. Some sort of closure is needed and it can be hugely frustrating when each episode ends on a “to be continued…” basis.

THE DISC: This set doesn’t contain the full season hence the 2.0 moniker. It only contains ten episodes from season two and yes, it is (a) a commercial ploy by the studio to get viewers into the ongoing TV series and (b) we don’t care, since the show isn’t showing on any of the South African TV channels and we needed our Battlestar Galactica fix.

The special features are on the meagre side: we get some trailers, podcasts and deleted scenes.

WORTH IT: Yes.

RECOMMENDATION: Unlike Star Trek and most sci-fi TV shows Battlestar Galactica tells an ongoing story — miss one episode and you lose the thread of things. Thus it is recommended that if you haven’t check out the Battlestar Galatica Season 1 DVD box set yet that you do so immediately before purchasing this one.