Take 4 TV: Battlestar Galactica Revisited
Battlestar Galactica: Seasons 2.0 and 2.5 (2006)
What's Going On: As I covered in the review of the first season of Battlestar Galactica, mankind created a bunch of robots called Cylons. A while back, the robots rebelled, and mankind drove them off, forging an uneasy truce. Well, over time, the Cylons (big, fierce, metal things) created a new kind of robot...still Cylon, but indistinguishable from humans (except for the fact that they only have a limited number of templated human "looks"). These new Cylons infiltrated human colonies, making way for an all-out strike, which drove the human survivors of the onslaught into space. The series follows a fleet of colonial ships, overseen by Galactica, a military Battlestar-class ship. In the series, they flee from Cylon raiders as they try to make their way to the mythical planet known as "Earth," which according to legend, will help save the human race. In these seasons, the crew faces figuring out how to deal with a pregnant Cylon, the discovery of another Battlestar...and the ever-present question of "Who is Real and Who is Robot?"
Familiar Faces: All your favorites from Season One, most notably Edward James Olmos (who plays Commander Adama) and Mary McDonnell (who plays President Laura Roslin). There's also a brief cameo by Lucy Lawless (aka Xena) as a news reporter who gets behind-the-scenes access to Galactica to do a report on the men and women who are in charge of protecting the fleet on a daily basis. Richard Hatch (who played Starbuck in the original series...as opposed to the winner of the first Survivor) also returns to play Tom Zarek, a freedom fighter who tries to undermine Roslin at every turn.
Three Things to Look Out For: 1) An interesting documentary-like film style, that makes you feel like you're witnessing the action as it takes place. 2) Coverage of topical issues, such as when a pro-choice President has to deal with whether or not to permit the termination of a pregnancy when a vital goal of the fleet is repopulation of the human race. 3) A good balance of on-ship, in-space, and on-planet action: it's not just a bunch of ships shooting lasers against a black background.
And the Winner Is...: (Major Season One Spoiler Ahead): In the category of Strangest Love Triangle, the winner is...Helo, Tyrol and Sharon. See, Tyrol and Sharon were an item on the Galactica, but unknown to either of them, she was a Cylon. Simultaneously, trapped back on the home planet of Caprica, Helo hooked up with another Cylon version of Sharon, who had the same memories as the one on Galactica (he didn't know that she was a second copy of Sharon...he thought she had come back to rescue him). This version of Sharon, however, got pregnant from Helo, and both returned to the Battlestar, where it was immediately recognized that Sharon was a Cylon agent. Now, there is major friction between Helo and Tyrol because both love Sharon (just different versions of her), but one of them is carrying the robot baby of Helo. Aaaaawkwaaaaaaard...
Random Trivia: The subplot set on Cylon-Occupied Caprica with Helo and Sharon was not originally planned; after being left of Caprica in the mini series, Helo was supposed to never be seen again: the audience would be left to assume that he died. Only after seeing the audience's reaction to Helo did the show producers decide to bring him back, and introduce another Sharon, and the Cylons' experiments in creating a Cylon/Human Hybrid, which eventually became an integral part of the Cylon "plan".
And I Quote: Starbuck: "I never wanted this kind of responsibility." Commander Adama: "The Cylons never asked us what we wanted. Welcome to the big leagues."
Curt's Take: Must See - Again, very glad my buddy Dave turned me on to Season One of this series. Like I said in the previous review, I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but really got sucked into the character interaction, the story and the rest of the drama. It's not overly teched out, and almost has more of a "military drama" feel to it than a science fiction show. I loved the first season, and these next two seasons (Season 2.5 originally appeared online as "webisodes," but is vital to see before watching Season 3.0) didn't let me down either. I strongly recommend you check out the first season, and see if you don't get hooked, even if sci-fi isn't your thing.
What's Going On: As I covered in the review of the first season of Battlestar Galactica, mankind created a bunch of robots called Cylons. A while back, the robots rebelled, and mankind drove them off, forging an uneasy truce. Well, over time, the Cylons (big, fierce, metal things) created a new kind of robot...still Cylon, but indistinguishable from humans (except for the fact that they only have a limited number of templated human "looks"). These new Cylons infiltrated human colonies, making way for an all-out strike, which drove the human survivors of the onslaught into space. The series follows a fleet of colonial ships, overseen by Galactica, a military Battlestar-class ship. In the series, they flee from Cylon raiders as they try to make their way to the mythical planet known as "Earth," which according to legend, will help save the human race. In these seasons, the crew faces figuring out how to deal with a pregnant Cylon, the discovery of another Battlestar...and the ever-present question of "Who is Real and Who is Robot?"
Familiar Faces: All your favorites from Season One, most notably Edward James Olmos (who plays Commander Adama) and Mary McDonnell (who plays President Laura Roslin). There's also a brief cameo by Lucy Lawless (aka Xena) as a news reporter who gets behind-the-scenes access to Galactica to do a report on the men and women who are in charge of protecting the fleet on a daily basis. Richard Hatch (who played Starbuck in the original series...as opposed to the winner of the first Survivor) also returns to play Tom Zarek, a freedom fighter who tries to undermine Roslin at every turn.
Three Things to Look Out For: 1) An interesting documentary-like film style, that makes you feel like you're witnessing the action as it takes place. 2) Coverage of topical issues, such as when a pro-choice President has to deal with whether or not to permit the termination of a pregnancy when a vital goal of the fleet is repopulation of the human race. 3) A good balance of on-ship, in-space, and on-planet action: it's not just a bunch of ships shooting lasers against a black background.
And the Winner Is...: (Major Season One Spoiler Ahead): In the category of Strangest Love Triangle, the winner is...Helo, Tyrol and Sharon. See, Tyrol and Sharon were an item on the Galactica, but unknown to either of them, she was a Cylon. Simultaneously, trapped back on the home planet of Caprica, Helo hooked up with another Cylon version of Sharon, who had the same memories as the one on Galactica (he didn't know that she was a second copy of Sharon...he thought she had come back to rescue him). This version of Sharon, however, got pregnant from Helo, and both returned to the Battlestar, where it was immediately recognized that Sharon was a Cylon agent. Now, there is major friction between Helo and Tyrol because both love Sharon (just different versions of her), but one of them is carrying the robot baby of Helo. Aaaaawkwaaaaaaard...Random Trivia: The subplot set on Cylon-Occupied Caprica with Helo and Sharon was not originally planned; after being left of Caprica in the mini series, Helo was supposed to never be seen again: the audience would be left to assume that he died. Only after seeing the audience's reaction to Helo did the show producers decide to bring him back, and introduce another Sharon, and the Cylons' experiments in creating a Cylon/Human Hybrid, which eventually became an integral part of the Cylon "plan".
And I Quote: Starbuck: "I never wanted this kind of responsibility." Commander Adama: "The Cylons never asked us what we wanted. Welcome to the big leagues."
Curt's Take: Must See - Again, very glad my buddy Dave turned me on to Season One of this series. Like I said in the previous review, I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but really got sucked into the character interaction, the story and the rest of the drama. It's not overly teched out, and almost has more of a "military drama" feel to it than a science fiction show. I loved the first season, and these next two seasons (Season 2.5 originally appeared online as "webisodes," but is vital to see before watching Season 3.0) didn't let me down either. I strongly recommend you check out the first season, and see if you don't get hooked, even if sci-fi isn't your thing.
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Next Time on Take 4: I still want to get more horror movies in, because I think I shortchanged Halloween a little bit. But next time, I will be changing things up. The last horror review I did featured both The Grudge and Dark Water. But did you know that both of us these were originally Japanese horror films? In my next review I'll be reviewing four horror flicks from the Far East that we here in the States felt could use an American twist, and were thus remade for English-speaking audiences.
posted by Curt at 11:29 PM
1 Comments:
Season 2.5 did not originally appear online as webisodes.
They were normal episodes. There was just a 6 month break between the last episode of season 2.0 and 2.5 and they released a DVD set.
The webisodes that did appear before Season 3.0's debut were 10 3ish minute snippets that add up to 1 complete episode that explains the back story of two new characters that appear in the first episode of Season 3.0.
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