User Reviews

As the first season of Battlestar Galactica comes to a close things are getting dramatic to say the least. After the previous episode I was expecting most of this episode to take place on Kobol; as it turned out only a relatively small part of the story was set there as the survivors got out of the crashed Raptor and decided on the best course of action to take while waiting for rescue. Back on Caprica it looks as though Helo as come to trust Sharon even though he knows she is a Cylon although this may be because she has told him that she is baring his child. Sharon also tells him that they must get the Arrow of Apollo if they are to find Earth... having missed Adama's speech Helo doesn't believe that Earth exist. Starbuck is also after the Arrow and manages to get her hands on it, just as she is found by a Cylon Six.

Adama is furious that President Roslin has overstretched her authority by persuading Starbuck to abandon her orders and return to Caprica on what he considers a fool's errand. He orders his troops to head to Colonial One and take her into custody. With Starbuck and the raider on Caprica he must come up with a new plan to attack the Basestar. Having one Cylon ID device left he has it fitted to a Raptor and sends Boomer to deliver the bomb. When it fails to launch she lands on the basestar and sets the bomb manually, while doing that she meets many copies of herself who surprisingly don't stop her setting the bomb. When she gets back to Galactica it becomes apparent why they let her leave!

This was a great season finale leaving the viewer to wonder if one of the key characters will survive, who will be president now Roslin is in the brig and Baltar lost on Kobol, whether Starbuck, Helo and Sharon will get back to the fleet and if they do what will they do to a known Cylon? It was quite a surprise to see Adama have the president arrested and an even bigger surprise to see Apollo side with Roslin and point his side-arm at Colonel Tigh.

To be completely honest, I stumbled upon this show while searching for my next "TV show DVD" fix after finishing LOST, what I consider to be the greatest show in television history. After typing in "shows like LOST" on multiple Google searches, this show was the one that kept popping up. As I have always been a fan of science fiction (Star Trek, primarily), I decide to give it a chance. I may not (yet) have found "LOST redux", but Battlestar Galactica is a solid show in its own right.

For a basic plot summary, BSG Season 1 sets the groundwork for the entire series. The Cylons, a "race" of mechanical beings created by humans, return after years away to destroy the human planet Caprica and ultimately take over the galaxy. The only survivors are a small fleet of space vessels led by the warship Galactica. Escaping into the far reaches of the galaxy, the fleet must simultaneously keep one step ahead of the Cylons, set up a government structure, and deal with the fact that the Cylons look, feel, think, and sometimes may not even realize that they are not, indeed, human. Ultimately, the fleet is heading towards planet Earth, a mythical place that may or may not exist.

What makes this show so interesting is that it is much grittier than most science fiction TV fare, containing none of the flash of Star Trek or the pompousness of Star Wars. Simply put, this is a human drama played out on spaceships instead of back yards. Space may be the backdrop, but all the events and characters are quite relatable and very human.

The acting is also top notch, especially the parts of Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos), Captain Adama (Jamie Bamber), and Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff). By the end of the first season, you will truly care about what happens to each of those figures, the mark of great acting performances.

In terms of comparing this BSG to its earlier counterpart, I cannot because I haven't seen a minute of the original version. However, suffice it to say that the 1970s version is not requisite viewing before this version. The new one here stands very much on its own.

About the only reasons I can't give this show a full five stars (4.5 would be a more accurate rating) are because the drama (at times) was actually a bit too sparse (the middle of the season dragged a bit), and some plotlines were severely underdeveloped. Perhaps those issues will be resolved in coming seasons, and I'm probably even nitpicking a bit.

Thus, overall, while it may not quite measure up to season one of LOST, it is a fine creation with strong writing, good plots, high drama, and evolving characters. I see tremendous potential for BSG to vault even higher in its sophomore attempt.

During the first season, it was a given that eventually Sharon Boomer Valerii would "get turned on" and become a danger onboard the Battlestar Galactica. It wasn't a matter of if but when. The conclusion of "Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 2" leaves Sharon tackled to the floor of the bridge after shooting Commander Adama in cold blood as he was about to congratulate her on the successful explosion mission, boarding and destroying the Cylon Basestar orbiting Kobol, thanks to a transponder that tricked the cylons into believing a Raptor was commandeered by a cylon agent. The trick works, but Sharon realizes when meeting numerous clones that she is a cylon, later unloading her gun on Adama when he allows her to get close. Her mission was indeed a dangerous one, but her ability to both board and bomb the Basestar seemed all part of a bigger cylon plan. When a Raptor crashes on Kobol, certain officers (and Gaius Baltar) escape the burning wreckage, including bloodied and wounded Crashdown and Tyrol, having to recover from the harrowing experience. While on Kobol, Gaius goes off with Helfer's Six, her leading him to the ruins of a temple, but he sees it as if it were almost brand new and ornate, brought to a crib and told that he must "now choose". Their kiss appears to determine that answer. It does seem to tie into what is happening all the way on Caprica, the other Sharon cylon model telling Helo she's pregnant! And if that wasn't enough, Starbuck indeed arrives in the Cylon Raider, landing without incident, encountering a Trish cylon model in a physical confrontation over the "Arrow of Apollo". Helo reunites with a pummeled and injured Starbuck, happy to see each other-her Raider could be the means of escape Helo has so desperately needed-while recognizing their dilemma involving pregnant Sharon. This was a great chance to see Helfer and Sackhoff in combat, obviously a bit of a one-sided affair due to it being a cylon against a human, but ultimately a flight from one floor to another ends it...Starbuck, worse for wear, is still victorious. Tyrol realizing Crashdown, despite being his superior, is in over his head tries to offer advice, particularly when Crashdown's first order of business is to get to higher ground so the Galactica could see them, having to be told that it was also threatening them due to cylon activity. With all of this in the episode, there is also Roslin defending her decision to send Starbuck to Caprica while Adama needed her for the Basestar mission...Roslin is to be placed under arrest and put in the brig, as Apollo challenges this "threat to democracy" by pointing a gun to Tigh's head, ordering Adama's military police to standown! With Roslin seeing how it was all losing control, her own presidential staff with guns out to protect her, feels her imprisonment was better than resulting violence. So Apollo is now cuffed, Tigh telling Adama of his son's actions, taken to the bridge where he sees Sharon gun down his father. The cliffhanger was quite shocking, seeing a severely wounded Adama seemingly dying right there in the middle of the bridge as Sharon "comes out of it" once the deed is done leaves the viewer wondering what will happen in the second season...great hook. Adama having the audacity to imprison the President certainly was enough of a stunner to build on in the next season, but his being shot multiple times direct in the torso was just additional WOAH certain to have left a jaw-drop.

As a fan of 1978 Battlestar Galactica I originally dismissed this remake series. I tried watching it in 2005 and didn't make it very far before disappointment set in. Now in 2014 I can let go a little and try to judge it on its own terms. I enjoy the high production values and some of the performances but it always leaves me wanting a little.

Olmos and McDonnell carry the show and are the reason to watch. I find it sort of amusing that Apollo and Starbuck have been limited to supporting characters in this version. They do okay, I suppose, but they are fairly one-dimensional characters which stand in contrast to Roslin and Adama.

Baltar is perhaps the most frustrating character. In the beginning of the miniseries he has the opportunity to steal the old blind woman's winning lottery ticket, thus saving his own life at the expense of hers. He does not do this, presumably because his morality will not permit him. Yet by the end of the miniseries he does that very thing, accusing an innocent man of being a Cylon in order to save his own skin. So when did Baltar's change in moral compass occur? Off-camera? Was his own skin ever really in danger, though? Adama wanted a Cylon detector so Baltar framed an innocent to prove he had a working detector. What if he hadn't? What would Adama do? He didn't have anyone else who could build one. He'd be forced to work by Baltar's timetable not the other way around. So Baltar put himself in a position of saying he had a working detector when he really didn't which would throw suspicion on himself later when they wanted to use it again. He always makes choices like that; he lies when no lie is called for and then has to squirm his way out of it. He's the dumbest smart guy I've ever seen. He also has a habit of talking to a person whom no one else can see, yet no one ever comments on this. He is the craziest acting person on the show yet everyone trusts him implicitly in positions of great power. You can only assume conversations are taking place off-camera where the other characters question his motives but the audience is left to fill in the blanks.

Now, in the season finale, we get another such instance. Boomer tells Helo she's pregnant. Helo's first reaction should be "you're lying, you're a robot, you can't get pregnant" or just "prove it." Boomer has lied about everything else she's said to him. Now she tells another lie, so he should think, to get him on her side. He doesn't wrestle with this decision, at least not that we see. In the next scene he's telling Starbuck that Boomer is pregnant and he's rushing to her defense. Again, it seems like the most dramatic part of the Helo-Boomer relationship has been left on the cutting room floor.

Why can't you just cut open a Cylon and see that it's not human? If it's indistinguishable from a human, then isn't it in fact human? The idea of a Cylon detector is talked about in vagaries and these questions are never answered. Helo asks if the Sixes he sees on Caprica are some kind of clones, or humans coerced to work with the Cylons. Then, presented with no evidence either way, he decides they are robots.

Was Adama lying about Earth or not? It doesn't really matter. What matters is early on he seems to discuss it with Roslin as if they both believe Earth is real. Later, they both believe it to be a myth. It feels like so much happens without letting the audience in on the secret. We're supposed to just enjoy what's presented without question, but that's difficult.

Does Baltar really have a chip in his head? Is that how Six talks to him? If so, why doesn't he scan for it and see if it can be taken out?

Cylons can appear at will on board the colony ships including Galactica. Yet once they have a real working detector they never test Roslin, Adama, or Baltar, who should be one of the first. Of course if Baltar's a Cylon then his test is invalid and they should know this, and have a second scientist working on a second test. So much is left undone.

Early in the season we wonder if the Boomer on Galactica knows she's a Cylon. What's of more concern is the Chief who knows that she is and never does anything about it. With all the angst and drama over his being accused of planting the bomb, of letting one of his men take the fall for the incident, when he finds out it's her he just lets her go? Continuing to put the rest of the fleet in danger? It seems so out of character. It might make sense if he was going to continue a relationship with her, but if he's not, then what exactly is his motive?

What is the Cylons' plan? Not to exterminate the human race, obviously, because with the access they have to Galactica they could do it at any time. So I guess they are herding humanity to a specific place. Why? To breed with them? Why not just kidnap a few humans and conduct breeding experiments? Hopefully their goal will make sense because so far it seems like a series of unrelated incidents.

The pace of the show is already somewhat slow and methodical yet it feels like if each episode had been expanded, even 10 minutes, they could have answered some of these questions and satisfied the viewer a little more. I just have a feeling that they left the best scenes on the table at the writers' meeting.