BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (TV SERIES) - DVD review

Okay, I'll say it jut so there isn't any doubt over the course of this review. The new "Battlestar Galactica" is the best show on TV, period. It's chock full of action, suspense, drama and romance; all intelligently written and brilliantly acted. Executive produced by David Eick and Ronald Moore, this "Battlestar Galactica" leaves the campy leanings of its predecessor behind in lieu of some bigger ideas, told with a healthy dose of grown-up gusto.

Moore and company have pilfered the original of its best concepts, holding onto many of the characters, but re-imagining them in a new and exciting fashion. The Cylons have been reworked in three distinguishable ways, the first being a nod to the original "toaster" models, chrome plated bad asses done up in nifty CGI. Then there's the "pets," the Cylon raiders, who fly just as impressively as any of the humans "sticks" they go up against. The cream of the Cylon crop rests with the 12 humanoid models they've created, who seem to come off a never ending factory line.

The basic story is the same; humanity is on the run after having nearly been wiped from existence in a giant onslaught set off by the Cylons, who found their way into the human defense network through an unwitting pawn in the form of Dr. Baltar (James Callis). Season one and the first half season two found the humans searching for the legendary birthplace of the human race, Earth, while encountering a myriad of obstacles along the way.

Season 2.5 picks up where 2.0 left off, the Galactica and her crew encounter the Battlestar Pegasus, which they first assume to be a ploy by the Cylons to trap them, but the ship is in fact one of the nastiest in the human fleet. Everyone rejoices, but the good feelings are short lived. You see, the Pegasus is commanded by one mean cuss of a woman, Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes), who will go to great lengths to fight her war against the Cylons. Soon after finding the Pegasus, Commander Adama, and everyone else on the Galactica for that matter, realizes they were better off without her.

The strength of the series rests in the way it has no remorse for the situations it places its heroes in. The show is hard on its characters, very hard. There heroes themselves are often force to straddle the lines of morality, often having to choose the lesser of two evils in a given circumstance. Witness the way Commander Adama orders Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) to assassinate Admiral Cain, because they know Cain will tear the fleet apart. In the episode "Blackmarket," which is probably one of the worst episodes in the season but is still better than most shows airing on TV, Apollo (Jamie Bamber) is assigned to track down and "handle" a black market dealer (played by Bill Duke). Instead of dismantling the black market operations Apollo decides it's in everyone's best interest that they keep it going, but only under the watchful eye of the Galactica. Even the Cylons get their shades of gray, as featured in the episode "Downloaded," the Cylon lifestyle is touched upon as Boomer (Grace Park) and Caprica 6 (Tricia Helfer) find themselves at odds with the rest of their cybernetic brethren because of their love of two humans, Helo and Baltar.

Every episode is chock full of drama, always raising the stakes for our characters in some way. Being a sci-fi show it'd be easy to write it off but the sci-fi element is never cheesy or of the "let's put a guy in alien makeup this week" variety. It's a way in which Moore and Eick work in allegorical (and metaphorical) storytelling into virtually every episode. Everything from terrorists, revolutionaries, abortion, the duality of man, religion, and politics (and more) are all touched upon. This is truly a balancing act for any show to handle, but it handles these things well, making it all look effortless.

The set is broken up as follows: Disc One: "Pegasus: Extended Episode," "Resurrection Ship: Part 1," "Resurrection Ship: Part 2," "Epiphanies," Disc Two: "Black Market," "Scar," "Sacrifice," "The Captain's Hand," Disc Three: "Downloaded," "Lay Down Your Burdens: Part 1," "Lay Down Your Burdens: Part 2," Extras

Video
The DVDs for "Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5" is presented in a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The image looks good through out. Shot on HD, the show has very little grain unless it's been filtered that way. Otherwise the image is crisp and clean with colors vividly popping off the screen, with the blacks looking deep and rich. To say the least, it's a great looking set.

Audio
The set is also presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which is great. The sound is immersive with zero distortion in any of the channels. Dialogue comes through clean and clear. The surrounds are put to great use in the action scenes and even in some non-action oriented scenes, creating a great sound experience.

Extras
As with the 2.0 many of the episodes feature podcast commentary from Moore, and sometimes Eick as well. The commentaries are interesting because they're done in conjunction with the original air date of the episode, giving the commentary a slightly more critical touch.

Also included are seven of David Eick's video blogs, all concerning various aspects of the show. Eick takes us through the writer's room, a read through of the script and even looks at the special effects and set decoration as well. Each runs between 5-7 minutes in length and offers up a nice glimpse into the making of the show.

The set also features a fair amount of deleted scenes, all housed on the third disc of the set. Scenes included are for: "Resurrection Ship Part 1", "Black Market", "Scar", "Sacrifice", "The Captain's Hand", "Downloaded" and "Lay Down Your Burdens."

Running a few minutes long, the RND logos for every episode have also been compiled into an amusing little feature.

Film Value
Being the best show on television is no easy task but Moore and his cohorts manage to deliver the goods. The worst the show gets is in the use of the word "frak" instead of the usual f-bomb. Hey it's the future, even cussing has evolved. Still, this is a show so cool that even other shows are starting to quote it (see the season 3 premiere of Veronica Mars as evidence). Most importantly, the show thrives because it manages to make the characters as rich and dramatically explosive as the action scenes, if not more so.