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This new version of the 1970s TV series is very much like
the movie of Lost in Space - far less campy and much darker
than the original - and you get the benefit of not having
daggy 1970s clothes and hairstyles to put up with.
There are a few other changes to the modern remake - like
Starbuck is a cigar-smoking, hard-drinking woman (Katee Sackhoff),
Boomer is also a female, and the baddie Baltar (James Callis)
isn't out to rule, but rather is delusional and unthinking.
Still commanding the Battlestar Galactica is Adama (Edward
James Olmos) and it is his job to protect humanity from a
renewed war against the Cylons - the machines created by mankind
that now want to destroy all humans.
His oldest son Apollo (Jamie Bamber) has big issues with
Adama over the death of his brother and the tension between
the two adds a nice little side story.
The main action, however, is that the Cylons have a new secret
weapon and one that makes them almost impossible to tell apart
from humans. They have a secret agent in place (Tricia Helfer)
who deceives Baltar into betraying his people and that leads
to human military defences being sabotaged during the attacks.
Fortunately for everyone the about-to-be-mothballed Battlestar
Galactica is not affected - it being too low-tech - and so
is able to escape the destruction and live to fight another
day.
As the only major weapons platform left, the Galactica needs
to not only hit back at the Cylon forces, but protect the
armada of smaller space craft filled with refugees from mankind's
12 colonies.
Into the story mix is thrown a president of the 12 colonies
Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), who takes charge when all of
the 42 candiadtes above her die during the Cylon attacks.
She and Adama do not see eye to eye and this makles for a
good save-the-people/kill-the-enemy split.
The production values for Battlestar Galactica are very good
and the space battles are terrific.
The video transfer is fine, a tad grainy at times, but clean
of artefacts and the sound is pretty good.
If you liked the original series then put away your prejudices
and give this new effort a go - you'll find it well worth
the viewing time.
Conclusion: Movie 85% Extras 50%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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