The Show
I’m completely new to the Battlestar Galactica universe. In searching online, this show is a ‘re-imagining’ of the 1979 TV series. Apparently, there is a film in the works due out in 2011 as well. One of the included extras on the first disc of this three disc set, “What the Frank is Going On With Battlestar Galactica?,” was really quite helpful in getting me caught up. This eight minute video montage is voiced over by a very swiftly speaking woman who races us through the first three seasons, bringing us up to the contents of this release.
Season 4.5 starts with “Sometimes A Great Notion,” which is the eleventh episode of the season. The remaining ten episodes, taking us through “Daybreak,” are also included. Now, as always with my TV show reviews, I won’t provide episode summaries that you can already find at sites like tv.com or tvrage.com. Instead, I’ll comment on what I think about the show and then breakdown the details of this Blu-ray set.
Being first introduced to Battlestar Galactica with this final season was a bit difficult. I prefer to watch shows, and
play games for that matter, in chronological order by release date whenever possible. Not having the other three seasons handy, nor the time to watch them, that wasn’t a choice here. Doing my best to look past that, it wasn’t hard to see the appeal of this show. By this point, there are lots of well developed and interesting characters. I may not know a great deal about their past experiences in other episodes, but what I am seeing is still keeping my attention and it’s made me somewhat interested in going back to the older seasons.
On the other hand, I’m not as intrigued by the political and romantic subplots. I would think most people, at least myself anyway, tend to watch a sci-fi show or film for you know, more sci-fi related topics, as opposed to soap opera romance stories, political babble, or courtroom drama (ugh). Then again, Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica has always made it a point to go against that grain and keep things less focused on sci-fi tech.
Ultimately, I’m really not in the best position to judge the quality of this second half of the final season because I’m just not at all familiar with the show to this point. However, I can recognize good quality direction, acting, and writing when I witness it, and in that vein I can certainly appreciate what BSG has done.
BSG S04.5 BD (for the acronymn fans)
Season 4.5 is well packaged and each disc contains the same menu as all other Universal BD releases. Now, this is the first time Battlestar has come to HD, even though the show was filmed in HD. Director Rob Moore actually has a brief video introduction that preludes the first episode where he explains that this presentation of Battlestar is how it was always intended to be, and indeed how it was actually filmed. For ardent fans, that’s going to mean a lot, especially if you’ve already seen these episodes on TV. As someone who hasn’t seen these before, the image quality wasn’t outstanding, but it’s still very good. There is a significant amount of grain in lots of scenes, which may be intentional, but it doesn’t do the release any favors in my opinion. Outside of the grain, the image quality is very good and should please most HD viewers. The audio track is perhaps even more impressive, thanks to the wonderful score.
As for extras, there are quite a few. They are:
Disc 1
-U-Control (and My Scenes) – Universal’s great interactive module, U-Control, contains two categories: The Oracle and Battlestar Actual. You can enable and disable these on the fly like all U-Control features. Scenes that are tagged with The Oracle are capable of showing a pop-up tidbit. These tend to appear whenever a character is on screen for the first time. Very useful to brush up on your Battlestar character trivia. Battlestar Actual is also a pop-up feature, but its use isn’t as interesting in that it only displays definitions of terms.
-BDLive – If you register, you can check out the Ultimate Battle Card Game.
-Deleted Scenes (SD) – Three deleted scenes are included, totaling just under sixteen minutes.
-Journey Ends: The Arrival (HD) – A twelve and a half minute feature with lots of behind the scenes footage and cast and crew interviews. Most interviews pertain to the series’ end and how much it meant to them both personally and professionally.
-Evolution of A Cue (SD) – A twenty-three minute look at how a scene is given the sound treatment. Crew members talk about what goes into taking a scene and putting the proper music to it; fairly interesting stuff.
-What the Frak Is Going On With Battlestar Galactica? (SD) – An eight minute summary of the events in the series thus far, spiced up with bits of humor in the audio commentary that is complimented with a collage of scenes to help bring viewers up to date.
-“A Disquiet Follows My Soul” Unaired Extended Episode with Audio Commentary by Executive Producer and Director Ron Moore.
-Ron Moore Podcast Commentary on episode “Sometimes A Great Notion.”
Disc 2
-U-Control (and My Scenes) just like Disc 1.
-Deleted Scenes (SD) – Three deleted scenes totaling twenty-one minutes.
-David Eick’s Video Blog (SD) – This is an eleven part feature running forty-five minutes. Various behind the scenes footage, cast and crew interviews are included. Topics include Ron Moore going from Executive Producer to Director, the hotly anticipated 5th Cylon reveal, etc.
-“Islanded in a Stream of Stars” Unaired Extended Episode with Audio Commentary by Star and Director Edward James Olmos.
-Ron Moore Podcast Commentaries on all four episodes that are on this disc.
Disc 3
-U-Control – On Disc 3, the U-Control feature changes. It keeps The Oracle mode, but replaces ‘Battlestar Actual’ with ‘What the Frak Happened To You?’. This feature enables a picture-in-picture mode whereby viewers can learn an awful lot about a profiled character. This character is explained in text, scenes from other episodes, and is supplemented with a promo still, too.
-Deleted Scenes
-A Look Back (HD) – A six part feature running thirty-seven minutes. The cast and crew talk about their memories, share anecdotes, talk about working with each other, etc.
-…And They Have A Plan (SD) – A four minute piece where Moore and Eick explain what ‘and they have a plan’ means (pertains to the show’s main title). The purpose of this statement that Eick came up with is to ensure people that this show has a direction.
-Musicians Behind “Daybreak” (SD) – A thirty minute feature that talks about how the music of the show grew and evolved. Lots of behind the scenes footage with the show’s composer talking with a variety of different musicians.
-“Daybreak” Unaired Extended Episode with Audio Commentary by Director Michael Rymer and Executive Producers David Eick and Ron Moore.
-Podcast Commentaries with Ron Moore
Quite a collection of extras — now, to the summary…