Kampfstern Galactica

for over 20 years poeple have slammed BSG for not being as good as star wars.......excuse me? but sci fi series is. QUIT SLAMMING IT AND WATCH IT AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME.what you'll discover is a wonderful tale about tragedy,exodus,survival,conflict,strategy,and even romance.you'll find a group of people who are forced to draw a line in the stars and fight back when all odds are agianst them . the story is actually better than star wars. and maybe even better acted than star wars. what it fails to do is capture your immagination the way star wars did. the specail effects hold up even by todays standard. i'm going out on a limb to say that the 2 1/2 hour pilot movie is arguably the best space opera ever behind the star wars trilogy.if you love great looking space battles,good special effects, and a great story. this film is a must see.you owe it to yourself to own a copy of this movie. it is a classic treat your gonna wanna see over and over and over...and just like star wars you'll never get tired of it

I quite enjoyed this film, so at first it may seem strange that I only gave it 5 stars, but there is an explanation for that. The story is original and intriguing, and the special effects are good with great model work and vector based computer graphics. You get more than two hours of worth while space adventure, but there are a couple of things that makes me to deduct a star or two. Many of the special effects scenes, while gorgeous, are reused more than once in the film, which is sometimes a bit of a distraction. Especially a couple of times where whats taking place in the story does not match the reused effects scene. Also, as this is essentially a TV-show tie-in, the movie ends somewhat abrupt leaving a bit of an empty feeling if you do not plan on watching the show. It can definitely be watched on its own though, and it is possible to look past the things i mentioned here, but my rating here has to be fair and comparable to other movies in the genre. The obvious comparison is Star Wars which came out the year before, and Battlestar Galactica the movie is definitely not near that level overall.

I would recommend any sci-fi fan to watch Battlestar Galactica.

Having just seen a "restored" theatrical print a couple of months ago and now having seen the new DVD, I can say that it is virtually flawless. The subtlety of color makes many sequences appear almost three dimensional (especially on the Galactica). They appear to have removed most of the annoying matte lines from some scenes, although a few garbage mattes are visible. Some scenes that were almost unviewable blurs on the VHS have been restored to almost crystal clarity. Also visible are occasional film scratches, but it is far superior to anything I have seen since the 70's theatrical release in "Sensurround" or however they spelled it.

If you are a Galactica nut or even a fan, you will cherish this in your collection.

P.S. I don't work for Universal!

Give the people who made "Battlestar Galactica" credit, it took a lot to make what they did. The concept was good, a war between humans and "cyborgs" (although they seem more like simple robots) to survive, as the humans flee in a collected fleet trying to find the lost colonies of humanity, namely Earth.

That would have been a novel idea for a theatrical movie, and for a TV show it was outer limits. The special effects were (by 1978 standards) top notch, the set design was good, and they even tried to create a different system of measures, since I think even in Star Trek they refer to things by minutes, hours, and years.

What let the movie (and later series) down was the same limits that affected most of seventies television. Schlocky dialogue, storylines sticking on personal and relationship problems, and somebody had the bright idea to put in a kid and a robot dog to go with him. If the series had been made today, or had simply been let free to explore ideas rather than stick to the "conventions" expected of series television, it might have been great. Instead, it's hardly remembered today.

This is one of my favorite sci-fi shows, but I certainly recognize its flaws.

The Good:

* the concept

---> I liked the historical context of the 12 tribes of Kobol, the Pearl Harbor-like attack, the "ragtag fugitive fleet" seeking Earth. This really framed the series well.

---> The look of the Ceylon base ships and the bat-wing Ceylon fighters was terrific. I also liked the look of the battlestars and Colonial vipers. The command center of the battlestar seemed believable.

* the casting:

---> Lorne Greene as Adama brings a commanding screen presence

---> Richard Hatch as Apollo is well-cast and believable as a leader/captain of a fighter wing

---> Dirk Benedict as Starbuck the amiable sarcastic sidekick

---> John Colicos as Baltar oozed evil with perfection

---> other minor cast members like Herbert Jefferson Jr as Boomer and Terry Carter as Colonel Tigh were very well cast too

---> I thought the three most visible female characters were all good, though not standout. Maren Jensen, Laurette Spang, and Anne Lockhart just also happened to be beautiful too.

---> visiting cast members like:

-------> Lloyd Bridges as Commander Cain was truly memorable

-------> Patrick McNee as Count Iblis was also highly memorable

-------> Ray Milland and Fred Astaire were good guest stars too

* the costumes

---> I liked the Colonial Warrior uniforms - they still have a style to them today. I liked the Warrior helmets with their Egyptian-like motif.

---> The Ceylon warriors with their shiny armor, had a great look to them too. The red strobe they used for vision was a great menacing concept.

* some episodes with great plot lines

---> the return of Commander Cain and the Pegasus stands out

---> I thought the visit to the "home" planet of Kobol, with its Egyptian motifs, was terrific. This is part of the pilot's introductory three episodes.

---> I also liked the encounter with the Ship of Lights and Count Iblis - this was especially well done.

* the music - I still like the theme song to Battlestar Galactica

* the behavior of the Ceylons was entertaining. "By your command" spoken in a tinny voice was a favorite.

The Bad:

* some cheesy special effects (by today's standards)

---> ...and reuse of the same special effects

---> why was Count Iblis' crash site off-color in one moment, and clear blue the next?

* quite a lot of cheesy cringe-inducing dialogue

* the little kid Boxie and his robot dog

* some of the episodes had really horrible plot lines, especially later in the series

---> the Lost Warrior where the kids attack the Ceylon outpost

---> why did Baltar return to the human fleet again?

The Ugly:

* the original show was cancelled after one season

* Galactica 1980, the follow-on show in which the battlestar finds earth, was pretty horrible

All in all, I am willing to forgive Battlestar Galactica's flaws and remember with fondness its strengths.

Rick