Every good reviewer should always avoid even the appearance of impropriety or favoritism when personal issues are brought into his/her work. With that in mind I have three biases to get out of the way before I share with you my thoughts about Universal’s recently-released "Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Epic Series (1978)" DVD Box Set. One is that I’ve never seen a single episode of "Battlestar Galactica" from beginning to end. Other than a few scenes while channel-surfing the Sci-Fi Channel back in the early 1990’s (when "BG" was aired semi-regularly with other short-lived science fiction failures) the only knowledge I possessed of the show prior to watching these 24 hour-long episodes on DVD came from reading about it on books, press articles, Internet websites, etc. The second bias is that, for the past few years, the New York City TV production company I work for has had a business relationship with a company owned and run by Mr. Terry Carter. Yes, yours truly has had extensive one-on-one conversation with Colonel Tigh his own self! "BG" was never an in-depth topic of conversation between us though; for yours truly Mr. Carter was just a client I had to do business with and not a TV sci-fi icon worth looking at admiringly. The third is that I didn’t actually pay money for this Box Set. I borrowed it from a friend in exchange for my advance screener DVD copies of "Hulk," "Finding Nemo" and "The X-Files Season Eight." Did I mention I was on vacation all last week, playing videogames and watching DVD’s to my heart’s content?
That concludes the legal portion of this review. Now onto "BG," whose place in TV history has as much to do with its behind-the-scenes struggles to appeal to a 1970’s Network TV audience beyond little children (who ate this post-"Star Wars" serving of space soap opera crap like mad!) as with the show’s similarities with other forms of media (everything from classic Bible stories to George Lucas’ then-new movie franchise). "BG" series creator Glen A. Larson originally conceived the series in the late 1960’s as a Noah’s Ark-type of western wagon show. Only after the financial success of "Star Wars" in ‘77 did Larson’s idea (revamped from its original concept as a series of made-for-TV movies into a weekly hour-long show) get green-lit by ABC-TV executives. The show’s premise is pretty simple: ObiWa... oops, I mean Commander Adama ("Bonanza’s" Lorne Green) leads the remaining remnants of 12 Rebel Alliances... oops, I mean human colonies, aboard the giant Battlestar Galactica space ship looking for a unknown mythical 13th colony known only as ‘Earth’ (deeeeeep!). In their way stand the Empire Storm Troo... I mean, the Cyclons, led by the nasty and evil Darth Vad... yikes, I mean Count Baltar (John Colicos). BTW, is it me or does the red eye glow in a Cyclons’ helmet remind everyone of K.I.T.T.’s front panel display in NBC’s "Knight Rider" (another Glen A. Larson TV series)? Mmmphhh...
Anyway, the personal lives and adventures of the men and women that protect Battlestar Galactica from the attacks of the Cyclons (as well as an assortment of other outer space oddities they encounter) share screen time with the same dozen or so special effects shots recycled from show to show (the result of "BG’s" obscenely-high-at-the-time $1 million dollar budget per episode). Some "BG" episodes even went as far as recycling sets and premises from old Westerns (‘The Lost Warrior,’ ‘The Magnificent Warriors,’ etc.), a time-tested "Star Trek" method of stretching a series for a few installments more as well as an excuse to avoid showing the same space battles ten times too many. I’m exaggerating a bit about the frequency of the reused footage, but not by much. "The Incredible Hulk" TV show that ran on CBS-TV around the same time (and which we’re also reviewing today via Universal’s recently-released DVD Box Set) also recycled footage from show to show and went through old stock footage like mad; one shot of recycled footage, in particular, became affectionately known by fans of the "Hulk" show as ‘That Alley’. Unlike "Hulk" or "Star Trek" though, whose 80+ and 60+ episode runs allowed for enough episode separation between the recycled shots for them not to grate on viewers (though the advent of home video recording and day-to-day repeats negates the practice now more than ever), the 24 episodes of "BG" are too few for the repeating shots of the Clyclon Raiders being blown into space dust not to become a constant, distracting and running joke.
Almost as big a joke, mind you, as the cardboard-thin characters from the show that are clearly meant to ape their "Star Wars" counterparts without paying George Lucas for the ‘inspiration.’ If the acting from the relatively-large cast of "BG" regulars were in any way memorable or cool (even in a dated, 70’s type of kitsch) I’d understand why many people my age wax nostalgic about this and "Star Wars" as if they were one and the same. Instead the pseudo-Han Solo/Princess Lea/Luke Skywalker/etc. turns by the likes of Dirk Benedict (Lieutenant Starbuck), Richard Hatch (Captain Apollo), Anne Lockhart (Sheba) and the aforementioned Lorne Greene (in full Ben Cartwright patriarch mode as Commander Adama) reek of one too many clichés trying desperately not to crowd one another off the screen. There’s even a cute little kid (Noah Hathaway’s Boxey) with an adorable robotic sidekick (an android bear-like dog hybrid of some sort played by a chimp) to catch the eye of lil’ viewers, for heaven’s sake!
Ironically the dullness of the cast of regulars allows for the many guest stars "BG" had during its limited run to shine during their brief appearances. Jane Seymour’s ("Live and Let Die," "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman") turn as Serena in the show’s first four episodes sizzles, and Lloyd Bridges’ ("Sea Hunt," "Airplane!," etc.) turn as Battlestar Andromeda commander Cain in ‘The Living Legend’ episode are just two of the many big names that elevated ‘BG’ above its otherwise dreadfully-low weekly standard. Stu Phillips’ music score easily scored impressed me more than the TV show itself. While it’s obvious this reviewer didn’t like "BG" in the least (blame it on his childhood-inherited-and-still-latent-to-this-day bias against outer space science fiction that de-emphasizes the juxtaposition of human emotion and character over fantastic premises) those readers that remember watching "BG" and liking it will definitely dig owning these well put-together disc compilations. For an in-depth episode guide to every episode, plot twist, guest star and breakdown of these 24 hour-long TV episodes (many of which were two-hour movies split in half to pad the series’ running time) go to http://www.battlestarfanclub.com/battlestar/bgeps.htm=EpisodeGuide.
The Disc:
Despite my dislike of "BG" I can’t help but admire the effort that Universal Studios clearly put into this Box Set’s packaging and presentation. Too bad a tenth of the effort that went into this Box Set didn’t go into "The Incredible Hulk’s." The ‘Cyclone Head w/ Lenticular Red Eye’ Collectible Box Set is a far cry from the cardboard-thin packaging of the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" DVD Boxes our own Brian Gray has been bitching about for the past few months. It’s so damn huge, in fact, that I have no clue how my friend is going to fit it into his tight DVD storage facilities. The Digitally Remastered Full Screen (1:33:1) Video Transfer and Remastered English Dolby Digital 5.1 Soundtrack are pretty good despite the age of the original material clearly showing via lots of dirt specs and occasionally muffled sounds (particularly the dialogue between the characters and some of the Foley effects). There are also English (Closed Captioning), French and Spanish Subtitles available on every episode for Mexican non-English speaking illegal immigrants that buy this Box Set, point at their TV’s and laugh at how stupid and retarded "BG" is (compared with Mexican high-brow classics like "Chespirito," "Otro Rollo," "Cero En Conducta" and your run-of-the-mill Mario Almada revenge movie).
If you don’t speak Spanish or watch bad Spanish TV, mind you, the previous line was just the reviewer’s latest attempt at being snippy and plant yet another dagger into "BG’s" already bloodied corpse. So sue me! Extras in this Box Set include Commentary Tracks for Select Episodes by Cast & Crew Members (particularly Hatch and Benedict for ‘Saga of a Star World’), ‘Making of BG’ Featurettes (two of them, including one that aired exclusively on the Sci-Fi Channel), Deleted Scenes (tons of them, including outtakes, retakes and bloobers on every disc for just about every episode), Interviews with Glen A. Larson (‘Creation of BG’), John Dykstra (Special Effects) & Stu Phillips (‘Composing the Music’) and several still pages of in-depth Production Notes. Last, and certainly least, there’s a Sneak Preview of Sci-Fi Channel’s new ‘BG’ Mini-Series as well as an Interactive Game Trailer to tie in with the onslaught of "BG" merchandise that’s coming our way this Christmas season. Last, but certainly not least, a Collectible Color Booklet filled with pictures, episode guides and story synopsis will guide even the most clueless "BG" viewer into the promised land of useless TV knowledge.
bottom line:
Unlike Universal’s own "The Incredible Hulk" TV show (which remains a compelling and deeply moving science fiction drama despite its age), "Battlestar Galactica’s" cardboard characters, ridiculous costumes/hairdos and cliched-to-a-fault storylines date the TV series pretty badly. Only grown-ups that were kids back in the 1970’s (and enjoyed the show through the candy-colored perspective of innocence) will appreciate the effort that Universal put into the video transfer (decent), Remastered Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (passable) and bonus features (good) of this rather expensive Six-Disc Box Set. Strictly for fans of "BS"... "BG," I meant to say "BG"! Ooops, Freudian slip. Sorry! :-P.
By - J.M. Vargas
1/2
