Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0 (DVD)
Developed by: Ronald D. Moore
Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer, James Callis

In recent years it seems that science-fiction hasn’t been quite the major draw it once was. Sure it’s had its ups and downs, but lately the genre has been feeling somewhat bland and (dare I say it) formulaic. The new Star Wars trilogy was, for the most part, a bitter disappointment, and Enterprise was cancelled leaving the first Star Trek void in as long as I can remember. Even Joss Whedon’s space western Firefly, which was miraculously “revived” for a feature film, barely broke even at the box office despite its fervent fan following.

Just when it looked like no one was interested in seeing spaceships and robots on screen anymore, along came producer Ronald D. Moore and his re-imagining of the cheesy 1978 classic series, Battlestar Galactica. I must admit, I’ve never seen the original series, and it took me a while to overcome the biases I had against it. It also took me a while to overcome all the fanboy praise that was being piled on the show, because as we all know, there are way too many mediocre Stargate and Andromeda shows out there. Presumably some crazy die-hards are still watching them somewhere, but I suppose that’s only because they had to settle since there wasn’t any quality SF to watch. Certainly nothing like the new Battlestar Galactica.

The new series takes the basic premise of the old series but makes it gripping, smart and most of all, believable. In the future, man has invented robots called Cylons. Originally they were intended to do man’s bidding, but as highly intelligent machines often do, they eventually banded together and rebelled, waging war on humanity and wiping out all human-inhabited planets. This leaves a small ragtag fleet of space vessels on the run, lead by Battlestar Galactica, carrying the sole human survivors. The plot thickens when it is revealed that the Cylons have adapted themselves to look and act like humans, and some have even managed to blend in with the human ranks aboard various ships.

Battlestar brings sci-fi to the same level of production quality that HBO has achieved with many of its flagship shows such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Rome, and that should come as no surprise considering Moore was executive producer and writer on the acclaimed HBO drama Carnivale (not to mention his involvement in other sci-fi shows from Roswell to Star Trek: TNG and Deep Space Nine). In fact, Star Trek: DS9 bears some resemblance to Battlestar and not just because of Michelle Forbes’ appearance in this season. They both share an epic war storyline and mystical undertones; on the other hand, Carnivale’s influence can be felt in the masterful storytelling and slow build towards climactic events. It is a highly character driven show, delving into the many complex personalities and relationships that include the grizzled and stoic Commander Adama, his son Lee, hotshot female pilot Starbuck, and the newly appointed president of the human colonies Laura Roslin (a former minister of education, now afflicted with terminal cancer).

The show also does seem to follow in the footsteps of Firefly in terms of the gritty, realistic style of the show. This is a believable future that feels inhabited by real human beings and, important to note: no goofy alien races. They use the same documentary handheld method of shooting that was used in Firefly, and even in the space battles the quick zooms and shaky camera work adds an element of realism and tension not normally seen in SF. Of course, instead of the macho western vibe, Battlestar goes for a more serious military drama angle.

The second season of Battlestar Galactica picks up from a one of the coolest cliffhangers ever, and immediately picks up the frantic pace and intensity of the first season. There is a shift from the many space battles we saw in Season 1 to more ground-based action, lending to a WWII drama feel at times. There is also more emphasis on some of the religious/mystic undertones and exploration of the emotional issues regarding humans and Cylon spies. One of my minor gripes with the show is that they aren’t entirely consistent from episode to episode; things get conveniently forgotten and priorities shift gears at a moment’s notice. The second season does also get a little more “out there” with some of the plot threads, but I’ve still gotta give them credit. For a sci-fi show that’s this dark and serious in tone, it’s pretty tricky to maintain complete believability all the time. As soon as plot loopholes and contrived characters begin to seep into the story, the whole thing runs the risk of derailing. Thus far, the quality of writing has been maintained surprisingly well.

The only real issue I had with this DVD set (and it’s a pretty big one) is that the title is deceiving since it only contains only the first half of Season 2 (10 episodes). When compared with the value-packed Season 1 box set, which also included the mini-series, this definitely feels like a bit of a scam. The despicable habit of dividing up TV season sets just to soak the consumer for more money is becoming a real plague in the industry. Now technically this DVD set hasn’t been released in Canada yet, presumably because Season 2 is still airing on Space, and perhaps they will release a complete season 2 set afterwards. I’m just not sure if that would make me happy or more ticked off.

All that said, however, you definitely want to see this show on DVD if you can, because between the cinematography, special effects, lighting and colour, it’s one of the most visually stunning TV shows I have ever seen. More proof that TV is truly coming into its own as a serious and respected medium rather than just cinema’s ugly younger brother.

The special features are so-so, with audio commentary tracks from Ronald D. Moore and varying crew members for each episode (originally released for free online as downloadable podcasts) and deleted scenes. All in all, for a volume of one of the best non-HBO shows on television, and possibly the best sci-fi show ever… damn, it’s pretty hard to complain. — Sean

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