Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

For all of the controversy surrounding this series when it first premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel on December 8 - 9, 2003, I immediately got onboard and took the journey with this story. The actors, the visual effects, and the musical score by the awesomely talented Bear McCreary all work perfectly together. Everything you want in an apocalyptic science fiction story is here.Every character is deeply flawed. Every subject covered from suicide bombings to political maneuvering, black markets, religious beliefs, man-made technology, etc., mirrors our own society of overabundance of everything. This shows us how we as people may respond when our world falls apart and we must work with each other instead of against each other, to survive nuclear annihilation.Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell lead an incredible cast of human and Cylon characters, that play off of each other flawlessly. The writing is the best that a science fiction series has ever had. Ron Moore intentionally changed a few things – particularly the character of Starbuck becoming a female – so that fans of the original would not be able to compare the performances of the two actors. It was a brilliant move, and I must say, it was the right choice. Katee Sackhoff is incredible in the role.Also along for the search for Earth is Jamie Bamber, Grace Park, Michael Hogan, Michael Trucco, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Dean Stockwell, Aaron Douglas, Lucy Lawless, Tahmoh Pennikett, Kandyse McClure, Bodie Olmos, Donnelly Rhodes, Nicki Clyne, Callum Keith Rennie, Mark Sheppard, Kate Vernon, Allesandro Juliani, Rekha Sharma, Richard Hatch (from the original 1978 – 1979 series), and enough amazing guests to make this water cooler TV. Two feature length movies are included, RAZOR and THE PLAN.For science fiction thrills, dramatic cliffhangers, shockingly surprising “nobody is safe” character exits, and brain-bending suspense, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA cannot be stopped or topped. It continues to remain relevant twenty-two years after its premiere. Pick it up and join the masses of die-hard fans who have embraced and enjoyed this story in all its fantastic glory. You’ll become a fan faster than it takes the Galactica to make an FTL jump.Stick around after the credits have ended for hilarious little cartoons of Ron Moore and David Eick killing each other after every episode.So say we all!Box Set Running Time: 69 hours, 31 minutes. and hours of bonus features.

This is one of the best shows ever made!This is a review of the refreshed silver Region 1 Blu-Ray "The Complete Series" set (current as of 2015). This is a nearly perfect set. The box is nice, the discs are not mounted in the most easily accessible way... but they are secure and are not going to fall out any time soon. My only real complaint is that it is missing "The Face of the Enemy" web miniseries, which are 10 episodes that have yet to be published/released. My understanding is that they can only legally be watched via Hulu in the US, but I am sure that will not stop most people interested in watching them. It is just annoying when publishers don't include everything.This series Includes 5 cases in the set:Case 1: Labeled "Season One", it includes the Mini-Series Parts 1 and 2 on one disc, and Season 1 Episodes 1-13 over the next 3 discs.Case 2: Labeled "Season Two" is just Season Two Episodes 1-20 over 5 discs. Do note that Disc Two ends with the originally aired version of Episode 10 "Pegasus", while Disc 3 starts with an extended version of that same episode.Case 3: Labeled "Season Three", it includes Season Three Episodes 1-20 over 5 discs, and "The Resistance" webisodes as an extra on disc 2. Similar to season two, disc 2 ends with the originally aired version of Episode 9 "Unfinished Business", while disc 3 opens with an extended version of the same episode.A word of caution; the webisodes of "The Resistance" are extremely poor quality, not even proper SD quality. It literally looks as if they lost the original footage, re-downloaded a 360p stream from youtube, interlaced it, and slapped it on the disc. Still, some interesting story points and world building, so it is worth seeing at least once, but if you can't stand the quality then you are not missing much. All 10 webisodes are set as a single title on the disc separated by chapter breaks and title cards.Case 4: Labeled "Season Four" Includes the Razor movie, the "Razor Flashbacks" minisodes (because calling them 'webisodes' would be too consistent) on one disc, with Season 4.0 across 2 discs, and Season 4.5 across 3 discs. Episodes 12 "A Disquiet Follows My Soul", and 18 "Islanded in a Stream of Stars", have the original episodes followed by their extended versions; but this time they are each on the same disc rather than being split across discs which is much less confusing. Also, the last 3 episodes (Daybreak parts 1, 2 & 3) are all cut together as a single 150 minute episode with extended content at the very end.Lastly, the minisodes, while still interlaced SD footage, are of much MUCH better quality than "The Resistance" webisodes. They are all strung together as a single title with fades and chapter breaks between each minisode. Certainly worth watching as part of the series.Case 5: Labeled "Battlestar Galactica, The Plan" is merely the retail box version of "The Plan" made for TV movie included in the set.As stated before, the only thing missing are "The Face of the Enemy" webisodes/minisodes/web miniseries that takes place between Seasons 4.0 and 4.5.Viewing Order for the BSG universe:Outside of this BSG collection there is also the 2 season show Caprica, and the web series turned movie Blood and Chrome. With that said, this is the order that I would suggest watching things:1) Caprica, Seasons 1 & 2. To be honest, the show is not great, and it is completely understandable why it was canceled, but it does fill in some back story and is not entirely awful. It is unfortunate that it is only available on DVD as (for all it's faults) it is a pretty show that would have looked good in 1080p. While made after BSG it is simply not as good, so watching it after BSG just makes it seem even worse than it really is, and it is chronologically first. It just makes the most sense to start here if you are going to watch it.2) Blood and Chrome movie or web mini series. This takes place between Caprica and BSG during the first war. Fun show, and it is unfortunate that they did not turn it into a full series as they intended.3) Battlestar Galactica Season 1, and Season 2 Episodes 1-17. Nice simple chronological viewing order.4) Razor movie and Razor Flashbacks. Razor Flashbacks were released first, but a lot of the content is in the Razor movie, so it is optional viewing. There is a bit at the beginning and ending of Flashbacks that are not in the movie that make it worth watching once, but otherwise I would just watch the movie and be done with it.Also, the Razor movie is technically the first 2 aired episodes of Season 4, and there are some minor spoilers for Season 4 at the end, but at the same time it makes more sense to view this as history from Season 4's perspective, so it makes a good deal more sense seeing it here so it feels older when it is finally referenced.5) Season 2 Episodes 18-20. Finishes up the Season 2 story arc.6) The Resistance webisodes. As mentioned earlier, these are horrible quality, but it is a good little story arc that sets up Season 3 so it is worth watching at least once.7) Season 3. Nice and simple, nothing to break up here.8) Season 4 Episodes 1-11. To be clear, this is "He That Believeth In Me" through "Sometimes a Great Notion". Note that if you are looking at an 'aired' order then these would be episodes 3-13 as the Razor movie is technically Season 4 episodes 1-2. Also, if you are going to watch the Razor movie 'in order' then it would be right before Season 4.9) The Face of the Enemy webisodes. While difficult to find (only legally available in the US on Hulu) they are great and set up Episode 12 very nicely. Certainly worth finding and I wish it was available on DVD or BluRay (though I would not repurchase the entire series just to have this as an extra).10) Season 4 Episodes 12-15. This would be "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" through "No Exit".11) The Plan movie. This is essentially a recap of the first few seasons from the Cylon's perspective. Rather than watching it after Season 2 where it is placed chronologically, it acts better as a recap of the series and a reveal of what the Cylons have been up to just before the series climax and finally.12) Season 4 Episodes 16-19.This is the end, no more to tell. Sucks for the next show or few movies you watch after this as they probably won't measure up!