Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5 (Episodes 11-20)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnellBrand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Norwegian (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 521 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sci-Fi Channel, The
Movie Reviews of Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5 (Episodes 11-20)
Movie Review: The Best Show on TV just gets better and better
Summary: 5 Stars
People who have an opinion about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA tend to fall into three camps. First, there are those who dismiss it because it is Sci-fi and as a result have no interest in it. After all, those Trekkie types have no real aesthetic judgment and will like just about anything as long as it has spaceships, lasers, robots, and aliens (nevermind that BSG has neither lasers nor aliens). Second, there is the extremely small but rather fanatical group of fans of the original show (widely referred to as TOS) who are adamant that the new show (or GINO as they love to refer to it--"Galactica in name only") simply must be a horror because, well, STARBUCK is a guy in the new series! There is a third and rapidly growing group: those who consider BATTLESTAR GALACTICA either the best show on TV or at the very least among the best. Within the latter group there is a not insignificent group who wonder whether it might not be the best show in the history of television.
The most important misunderstanding about BSG is that its appeal is primarily to the Sci-fi crowd. It is one of those shows that absolutely destroys the limitations of genre. That it is Sci-fi is almost irrelevant to its intrinsic importance. Its being Sci-fi bears as little on its value as it does to Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD, or Orwell's 1984. Imagine taking something like an IQ test. You are given two columns. Column One has listed THE SOPRANOS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, THE SINGING DETECTIVE, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, AND THE WEST WING (the early seasons anyway) and Column Two is STAR TREK, STARGATE SG-1, ANDROMEDA, and FARSCAPE. The question is: In which column is it more appropriate to place BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. The correct answer is: Column One, with other shows considered among the greatest achievements in television history. Sure, it also belongs in Column Two with other Sci-fi series, but we are talking about which is more appropriate.
One of the most astonishing things about BSG has been the way that it has gotten better and better as it has gone along. The miniseries that started things off was very good, but I wouldn't have described it as great. Season One quickly entered the realm of greatness, but the first half of Season Two was even better. And the shows on these discs, making up the second half of Season Two, are yet another step up. And to show that sometimes you just have to trust the creative powers that be, while many fans were disappointed with the last few minutes of Season Two, with the series suddenly leaping forward a year to find a small human settlement on New Caprica, including many of the central crew members of Galatica. Instantly some started crying that the show had jumped the shark (one of the least felicitous expressions in discussions of television). Just as instantly with the start of Season Three, the sceptics have been proven wrong, as an already great show has gone to an even more spectacular level.
Even though this set collects only ten episodes, almost everyone is memorable. A few are among some of the finest individual episodes I've ever seen of any show. The three-episode sequence featuring Michelle Forbes as Admiral Helena Cain, commander of the previously missing Pegasus, are especially strong with Forbes doing an amazing job as the heavy-handed and amoral Cain. The final episode contains one of the most intense and disturbing sequences I've ever seen, as Adama, at Laura Roslin's urging, tells Starbuck to assassinate Cain upon being given a code word, unaware that Cain has similarly instructed one of her security officers to assassinate Adama upon a similar command. It is a scene of almost unrelieved tension. I've rarely been so completely on the edge of my seat as when watching that for the first time, as well as horrified by the real politik driving the characters' motives. The episodes also feature a terrible moment when Sharon is about to be "questioned" by some human interrogators who view rape as an appropriate method. There is also a great Starbuck-oriented episode involving the hunt for an especially gifted Cylon raider named Scar and some great plotlines about the rescue of the remaining humans on Caprica. The season winds down with a presidential election and controversy surrounding the discovery of a planet capable of sustaining human life.
More than anything--and this is what people who have not seen the series do not understand--this is a character and not a plot driven serial drama. It does contain surprising and arresting story arcs, but the show is always more about the people who are participants in the drama than about the drama itself. There has perhaps never been a Sci-fi series in which subtle facial expression has played such a crucial and central role. The series does contain some amazing action sequences and some of the epic battle scenes can rival or surpass anything we've ever seen in the movies, but nothing can efface the centrality of the individuals--whether human or Cylon--at the heart of the story.
To the distress of many on the political right, the show is also amazingly topical. Yes, the perspective of the show as a whole is leftist, but there is no propaganda and never, ever an easy answer to political issues. Many pressing contemporary issues are taken up on the show such as the role of torture in a democracy, the grasping of more power by an executive than allowed in a constitution, abortion, resistance to occupation, the relationship of the military to the civilian in a time of war, and a number of other issues. But the show never provides answers to any of these questions. I think the creators would like to do one thing for those on the Right. The Right in America is astonishingly simplistic in its thinking, frequently couching issues in clear cut, black and white terms. What I think Ron Moore and David Eick want to do is to complicate things, to show that things really are not black and white but a series of grays on a dark, foggy night. If there is a political message in BSG, that is it: things are never as simple as they seem. The show doesn't want to provide answers, but merely make us suspicious of easy answers. Season Three has gone on to create a situation that is remarkably similar to the current one in Iraq, with Cylons as the occupying force and humans employing suicide bombers in resistance.
This is the best show on TV. In both scope and ambition it has tried to do more than any other show I know and it has managed to do so magnificently. As Matt Roush in TV Guide recently wrote, if you care about quality programming on television, this is the show you should care about. The critical accolades have continued to barrage the show, with one critic after another proclaiming it the finest show on TV and even getting some amazingly prestigious awards such as its very own Peabody. If you don't know this show, you need to. It doesn't matter whether you like Sci-fi or not. In fact, not knowing Sci-fi might be an advantage. Sci-fi fans are often burdened by trite and sometimes silly loyalties ("Starbuck is a guy!" is a prime example). Those best in a position to love and care about this show are probably those who simply love quality TV regardless of the particular form that takes. You really need to see this show.
Summary of Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5 (Episodes 11-20)
Rejoin Sci-Fi's most action-packed TV series as Battlestar Galactica 2.5 flies on to DVD in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Featuring an extended version of the cliffhanger episode "Pegasus," this continuation of the epic second season follows the ongoing battle of President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) in their heart-pounding crusade to save humanity from the deadly robot Cylons. Packed with special features, including deleted scenes, podcasts and Producer David Eick's video blog, Battlestar Galactica 2.5 is an explosive thrill-ride that's not to be missed! Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jaymie Bamber, Tricia Helfer, Katie Sackhoff, Grace Park, Katee SackhoffSimilar DVD Movies
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