Spoilers

“33”

Starting the actual series with season one of Battlestar Galactica, there was a real tense episode where the survivors only have 33 minutes after they executed a jump away from the Cylons before the would fins them and try to attack again.

I can’t imagine what that would be like for the people on these vessels. Almost immediately after an escape, you would need to prep for another escape.

The Galactica crew had to stay awake in order to execute their plan in 33 minutes. The show had them awake for 132 hours, which is insane.

It led to a difficult decision that had to be made by Adama and President Roslin. One ship was being tracked by the Cylons and, through a twist of fate, they were able to discover the truth. They had to destroy the vessel despite how many lives might be on board.

It was a tough choice and it highlighted the pains of war and the loss of bystanders very well.

This episode shows what a dark and gritty show Battlestar Galactica would be and as an opening episode in the first season, it really laid the groundwork for what would follow.

Spoilers

Tonight I started the next TV program to add to the watchlist. I have been doing rewatches of The X-Files and Bates Motel, but it felt as if I needed another one. However, this was not a rewatch as I have never seen any of the episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

I used to watch the original series back in the 1970s with Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict (Face from the A-Team) and Loren Greene, but it was never one of my favorites. So when there was a new version of the series starting on Syfy, I was not interested. I have heard tremendous praise for the series from lots of different sources, so when I was looking for a new series around the time that I finished up with Man from Atlantis, Battlestar cam eon my radar.

The thing is… I discovered that there was a mini-series that aired prior to the series and, when I found it on Amazon Prime, I saw that it was over 3 hours long. That was preventative to starting it and it was going to require a certain spot to watch this lengthy of a show.

I was able to find the time tonight to watch this show (which was presented originally in two parts, but just in one full episodes on Prime).

What an amazing three hours it was.

This mini-series took time to present a group of characters, a few of whom I recognized names (Starbuck. Apollo. Both names from the 70s show). I was aware of Katee Sackhoff was playing Starbuck as one of the standout characters of the series. Even I, who did not watch the show but was aware of its cultural place, knew that. I recognized the actor Edward James Olmos who was playing the role that Loren Greene had originated. Other than that, the cast was full of actors whom I did not know.

The cast was excellent and I started learning these characters. The show does a decent job of providing enough development to know who these people are and why I should care about them. Such as Mary McDonnell, who played Laura Roslin, who becomes the President after the Cylon attack of earth killed everyone ahead of her in progression. It was Battlestar’s own Designated Survivor moment. Giving this important character cancer before she had to step into this leadership role was quite ballsy of the show and connected the audience to her immediately.

The show was a war show, which was also something that I was not expecting. I knew that it would be sci-fi, but I did not know how much of a war show this would actually be.

The special effects were tremendous throughout the show, specifically with the moment at the end when the Galactica was holding off the Cylons so the civilians to ‘jump’ was amazingly shot. The final moment when Starbuck used her own ship to push Apollo into the Galactica before it jumped as well was exceptional.

Making the Cylons look like humans for this series is a stroke of genius. Not that the design of the robotic Cylons was bad, but this gives you more than just unexpressive robots to be antagonists. It was a wonderful decision for whomever made it.

This was a tense, exciting, anxiety-filled adventure with some new characters that I really liked out of the gate. I am excited to learn more about these people as this series moves along.

Battlestar Galactica has four seasons of around 74 episodes and I will be adding this to the watchlist starting this summer. It was a great start with this mini-series.