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Rewatching Battlestar Galactica 2003-09


Zathras
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I was lucky enough to get a good deal on an unwatched and sealed bluray box set of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series  the other day, which includes all the episodes, and The Plan.  I went ahead and sprung for Razor, after that.  I loved the show when it was on the air, but outside a couple episodes here and there, I haven't seen BSG since 2010ish.  I also saw the Plan and Razor, but I remember nothing of those shows.  I know it's on in syndication, but I can't watch shows like that with commercials...or the poor video quality.  

SO, my question is this...What order should I watch the movies?  Should I watch the entire show first, then Plan and Razor?  Or should I see Razor somewhere around Season 2.5?  

Also, I never saw Blood and Chrome.  Anyone recommend that?

 

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I loved the show at the time, and have often thought of rewatching, but I was so unhappy with the end that I every time I think about it I decide not to. Kind of like how every time I think about rewatching Firefly I cross paths with a Joss Whedon fan who puts me off it.

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26 minutes ago, Dark Wader said:

Watch Razor between S3 and S4. It’s set in different times through the series but it’s meant to be seen between those 2 seasons.

Watch the Plan after it’s all finished, it’s a ‘fill in the gaps’ movie. 

I figured Plan was best saved for last.  Thanks for the recommend on Razor

22 minutes ago, Dark Wader said:

Also if you have the Blu rays, you’ll probably have the extended episodes. They aren’t available to stream anywhere and a couple of them are well worth it. 

Yeah, I got an awesome deal! $25, and I saw the same set for $50 on Amazon!  I spent another $10 on Razor.

I'm looking forward to the extended episodes!

12 minutes ago, Tank said:

I loved the show at the time, and have often thought of rewatching, but I was so unhappy with the end that I every time I think about it I decide not to. Kind of like how every time I think about rewatching Firefly I cross paths with a Joss Whedon fan who puts me off it.

Well, I already bought it! :lol:  But seriously, I think I put it off for similar reasons.  Firefly, too! But, I think enough time has passed, I will be OK with it.  THe thing that REALLY broke the 4th wall for me was the Tuvok rendition of the Watchtower song.  I actually liked it, but that being the Operation Mindcrime telephone ring to activate the final 5...meh!  

 

It will be an interesting rewatch! Curious to see if the things that bothered me before, still do or not.  

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I loved BSG and I am one of the few that really loved the ending.  I watched it when Netflix was still primarily DVDs and I was going through them so fast I had to up my subscription. 

If I remember, there were a few bottle episodes I disliked, but other than that it was solid. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK SO I am now in the middle of diving into this show.  I took a detour to rewatch the original BSG and Buck Rogers.  Currently 2 episodes into the initial miniseries.  I forgot how well and tight the writing is, for this relaunch.  Everything looks awesome on blu ray...way better than my DVDs were. Characters are all likeable, especially Adama and Starbuck.  The thing that I like most?  STARSHIP PORN!!!!! I didn't know how much I missed that!  Something modern Star Trek Discovery and Picard has little to none of.  Love the design of the Galactica.  Man, when they are leaving Ragnar Station, the shot is turned 90 degrees.  Effing beautiful!  I gotta say the CGI might be older, but mostly holds up. 

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57 minutes ago, Tank said:

Discovery’s ship designs are such a blobby mess, awash with low light and lens flares and fast quick cuts. It’s all just eye-noise. Give me the Enterprise vs Reliant forever.

Yes SIR!   Best space battle, Ever.  I sort of got the sense that the whole Ragnar Station was an homage of sorts to Enterprise VS Reliant!

 

Disco has few ships I am even interested in.  Discovery itself is lack luster, and actually, I liked the concept CGI initially released, better.  I don't like the spinning around effect at all. Picard was VERY WEAK on starships.  The Starfleet had generic looking ships, barely noticeable.   La Sirena was aweful.

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On 2/1/2021 at 7:36 PM, Tank said:

I loved the show at the time, and have often thought of rewatching, but I was so unhappy with the end that I every time I think about it I decide not to. Kind of like how every time I think about rewatching Firefly I cross paths with a Joss Whedon fan who puts me off it.

That's why I'm having a hard time going back to it. I have season 1 on HD DVD and only made it though about 2 episodes before putting it away.

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So I just finished the Pegasus/Resurrection ship arc, and watched Razor immediately after.  Seems I should have waited a couple episodes, until after Apollo took command of the Pegasus, but otherwise it flowed pretty well.  I liked Miichelle FOrbes as Cain. I actually like the fact Galactica is OLD and was about to become a museum ship.  The Pegasus crew feeling superior, both because they have a newer ship and fighters and because the cult of (or fear of) Admiral Cain makes sense to me.  

Before diving into BSG 2003, I watched the original BSG, at least the good episodes, like Saga of a Star World, Lords of Cobol, Living Legend, and the Superman ship one, War of the Gods, then Galactica 1980's Return of Starbuck (which was more like the END of Starbuck).  In the Living Legend episode, Cain (played by Lloyd Bridges), while not a villain like  Michelle Forbes' version, was arrogant and his crew also had somewhat (though not as pronounced) superiority complex.  

Also, backing up to season 1, when Starbuck used the cylon raider to get back to Galactica, I can't help but think that was a callback to Return of Starbuck, as well as another original BSG episode where he flew the raider and like the 2003 episode, wiggled his wings so he wouldn't get shot down.  

While they did reinvent BSG, I always did like the Easter Eggs that were subtly put in as a nod to the original series. 

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The lack of White Ship shenanigans, especially to help explain what happened with Starbuck, seemed like a glaring omission to me.

Also, making Tigh a Cylon... I always thought the coolest thing ever would have been if crusty, angry Tigh goes out killing Colons... then wakes up on a Resurrection ship. How mind blowing would that reveal have been.

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I agree with you on the white ship, but they probably couldn't figure out a way to resolve a "war of the gods" when the Cylon GOD is supposed to be the only God.  If I remember right, there was a Starbuck painting that had what looked like the White Ship to me, but ended up being nothing. 

Yeah, Tigh being KIA during the rescue Battle of New Caprica, then waking up on a resurrection ship and then grumbling "Oh, Frak me," once it sinks in to him he is a cylon would have been classic!

 

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3 hours ago, Zathras said:

So I just finished the Pegasus/Resurrection ship arc, and watched Razor immediately after.  Seems I should have waited a couple episodes, until after Apollo took command of the Pegasus, but otherwise it flowed pretty well. 

They made it between S3/4 - that thing about Starbuck at the end with the Hybrid was kind of a teaser for what her return meant, or why she returned in Season 4. Which we never ended up getting a good explanation for anyway. 

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OK finishecd season 2, and now 2 episodes into Season 3.  Gotta say the time jump between Baltar being elected president and the Cylon occupation was a little jarring, and I had forgotten there was a time jump.  Then again, probably the best way to go.  Love 1-eyed Tigh!

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Finished Exodus Part 2.  Much Starship Porn.  Galactica decelerating through the atmosphere to drop fighters and then FTL jumping out of the atmosphere!  Galactica then taking on 3 Base Stars, and the rescue (and sacrifice) of the Pegasus.  Saul Tigh doing the hardest thing, ever. Poor One-eyed Tigh.  

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It’s a fantastic set of episodes but I feel like that’s where the show hit its peak. After that, there are some fantastic episodes - the mutiny in S4 in particular- but it never really reached those highs again.

But yeah, Adama’s speech before the jump, Galactica jumping into the atmosphere, Pegasus to the rescue, Tigh and Ellen....Sci Fi on TV never was or has been that good since, imo. 

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Without a doubt, Exodus part 2 is peak BSG, and peak sci fi.  The irony is that Gaeta was accused as a treasonist, and spared, only to commit actual mutiny and finally getting executed in season 4.  In some ways, I wish they had saved exodus for part of the series finale arc and had not done the time jump.  It would have been interesting to seen what went on during that missing year.  I LOVED Galactica screaming on fire in the atmosphere as it dropped in, delivered the fighters, and jumped.  That showed what an atmosphere could do to a capital ship, as capital ships are so huge, they need to remain in space because the gravity will strain their hulls.  I always hated Star Trek Into Darkness for that reason...The Enterprise in the atmosphere on an alien planet hiding in the ocean? It should have destroyed her like in Star Trek 3!

But yeah, BSG forever changed sci fi.  The realism and grittiness killed the Star Trek style of sci fi (it was competing against Enterprise in its early seasons, even). Stargate Universe wanted to BE BSG. Vipers in the atmosphere seem borrowed by JJ Abrams for TFA.  BSG was gods damned awesome!  

 

....And now I enter the SLOOOWWW PART of season 3.

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I hate the boxing ring episode.  Liked the Bulldog episode.  But, we are about to get into the final cylon models.  Which I have to ask, if you have the tech to create armies of various models of humanoid cylons with resurrection ships, why can't you disguise cylons as actual Galacticans? I get that there are specific models, but how hard is plastic surgery or just growing a new face for a cylon at that point?

 

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