Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 – Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

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When a pal told me that his producer boss was reviving Battlestar Galactica, it was not the most exciting of news. The original series was fun to watch as a kid, but was hopelessly dopey when viewed with adult eyes. Why did this show deserve to be dragged out of the grave? It lasted one full season in 1978 (along with a couple attempts to retool it). Word leaked out that Starbuck and Boomer would be women and the dreaded Cylons would appear as human. The producers seemed bent on defiling my youthful memories on par with the vigor of a George Lucas director cut. What could they possibly do to make this more than revisiting nostalgic kitsch with updated haircuts? Then I saw the pilot movie. All my preconceived fears were completely laid to waste. They made Battlestar Galactica into a great production from a piece of interstellar kitsch. Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5, Blu-ray crowns this show as the king of Sci-Fi TV.

The revival almost starts the same way the original begin. A sneak attack by the robotic Cylons wipes out the 12 human planets leaving only the Battlestar Galactica and a handful of other ships to wander space looking for a new home. Their hope for survival is reaching the mythical 13th tribe that headed to Earth. Their journey keeps getting interrupted by Cylons bent on finishing the extermination job. The original had the Cylons as pure robots. But in the 21st Century, the Cylons have created hybrids that are nearly human. Their ability to infiltrate allowed them to pull off the sneak attack. It is also lets them keep tabs on the Galactica by blending . However there’s only 12 different body types for the hybrids.

This is a TV series that rates up there with The Sopranos, The Wire and Dexter in both quality and the necessity to watch it from the first episode. If you haven’t followed Battlestar Galactica, it’s best that you stop reading this review and start watching the series from the beginning with Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series, Blu-ray. You don’t want to know what happens at this point. Have you stopped reading? I don’t want to ruin your surprise as to what happened when they arrived on Earth. Now quit reading. I don’t want to read any posts about how this review ruined the experience for you by spoiling the surprise.

“Sometimes a Great Notion” opens where Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0 ended, with the landing on Earth. What was supposed to be salvation has turned out to be a nightmare. Mankind ended 2,000 years before in a nuclear annihilation. The planet is still radioactive. After years of looking for the lost tribe, they are now stuck without any direction. There’s less than 40,000 humans left along with a batch of renegade Cylon hybrids. What happens without a real goal is a complete meltdown. Adma (Edward James Olmos) creates a new myth about where the humans went, but nobody buys it. There is a massive uprising on the Galactica when the humans get upset that the hybrids will be allowed to install Cylon technology on the jump drives. There’s bullets and blood flowing across the ship’s corridors. When order is restored, Adma learns the hull of his ship is collapsing. It can’t take too many more jumps. Starbuck (Tricia Helfer) can’t figure out why she encountered herself on Earth. She also discovers a song written by her father hits strange notes with the Cylons. We discover the face of the final Cylon. The Daily Show‘s John Hodgman pops up as a brain expert, but isn’t the 12th Cylon. The last battle is set up when the evil Cylons abduct Hera, the human-Cylon child. Adma decides to retrieve the child since she holds the true hope for humanity. Everything is set up for the three part “Daybreak” finale. There is an option on the Blu-ray to watch the entire film as a single 153-minute episode. There seems to be minority of fans that were disappointed in the ending. But it didn’t involve a Journey song and cutting to black so I didn’t feel cheated. It finishes off the tale of what happened to the crew of the Galactica with equal amounts of action and goodbyes.

The new Battlestar Galactica has done wonders for the perception of Richard Hatch. In the original series he was Apollo, the flyboy son of Commander Adama (Lorne Greene). He was a bit fluffy in the role like a mature Luke Skywalker. In the new version, Hatch plays Tom Zarek, a prisoner turned vice president. He’s intense and cut throat on the screen this time. He completely turned around his screen image in this re-imagining. Three decades after his first time aboard Galactica, he’s gone from a goofy ‘70s icon to a 21st Century badass. His transformation represents what the new series was able to accomplish. When the original Battlestar Galactica aired in 1978, it seemed to be cashing in on Star Wars and Star Trek. Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 proves this series is beyond Star Wars and Star Trek in scope, sophistication and story. The producers transformed a hunk of cheese into mound of sci-fi gold.

The Episodes
“Sometimes a Great Notion,” “A Disquiet Follows My Soul,” “ The Oath,” “Blood on the Scales,” “No Exit,” “Deadlock,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Islanded in a Stream of Stars” and “Daybreak.”


The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The 1080p image averages above 25 Mbps. The transfers look stellar. The audio is DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1. A great sound surround system will make the room feel like it’s aboard the ship. There’s also a Dolby Digital 2.0 track for people who just have TV speakers. The subtitles are in English, French and Spanish.

U-Control lets you get guides to characters, ships and terms while watching the episodes.

My Scenes allows you to mark the beginning and ending of parts of the episodes for when you want to fast forward to certain parts at later viewing.

The Journey Ends: The Arrival (12:47) lets Executive Producer Ronald Moore discuss how he came around with an ending for the series. He didn’t want to leave it open ended like Gilligan’s Island. Don’t watch this before watching the finale.

Deleted Scenes (42:41) covers snipped moments from all the episodes.

Evolution of a Cue (23:14) has composer Bear McCreary take us through the process. We’re in the room during the spotting session when the director and producers discuss the music to them. He lets us understand the character themes. This is much more informative and educational than any scoring lecture you’ll get in film school.

What the Frak Is Going On With Battlestar Galactica (8:17) is a really quick refresher that covers the first three seasons of the series. This might be one of the best clip show ever produced since they give all the main highlights without giving us talking heads.

Podcast Commentaries are brought over from the website. Producer Ronald Moore gives us the skinny on each episode.

David Eick’s Video Blog (44:47) is a series of short films that get us behind the scenes. The focus is about wrapping up the series. The cast is

A Look Back (37:05) discusses what made the series special with testimonials from cast and crew.

And They Have A Plan (4:27) is a teaser for the upcoming movie that explains why the Cylons attacked the humans. The DVD comes out on October 27.

The Musicians Behind Daybreak (30:29) takes us into the scoring stage. Bear talks about getting to work with a full orchestra after only having three musicians on the original episode. For anyone curious about composing for TV, this is mandatory viewing.

Extended Versions of “A Disquiet Follows My Soul,” “Island in a Stream of Stars” and “Daybreak.”

BD Live lets you play the online card game.


Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5, Blu-ray is the perfect ending for an unexpectedly great series. The show was able to balance tales of battle, politics and religion without getting as dopey as the original. Even with all the special effects, the characters were never lost in the CGI. This is the standard for what can be done with a Sci-Fi series. This is a must buy.




Universal Studios presents Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5, Blu-ray. Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff and Grace Park. Boxset Contents: 10 episodes on 3 DVDs. Released on DVD: July 28, 2009. Available at Amazon.com

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.