Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Battlestar Galactica: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Movie Review

By Their Command

Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 6, 2013

I still recall the excitement of seeing the original Battlestar Galactica pilot, which was first broadcast on September 17, 1978. Glen Larson's outer space adventure offered effects, production values and a level of imaginative detail never before seen on television. (Twentieth Century Fox must have thought so too, because they sued, claiming that Larson had borrowed too liberally from Star Wars.) The series quickly garnered a devoted fan base, but as with Star Trek before it and Firefly after it, the fans weren't numerous enough to convince ABC to keep the show on the air. The original Galactica lasted only one season, with a short-lived continuation in 1980. It wasn't until 2003, after TV and its audience had been finely sliced into narrow demographics by cable and satellite, and ancillary revenues from home video and overseas sales allowed cult shows to flourish, that a rebooted Galactica became a long-running phenomenon on what was then known as the SciFi Channel.

The 1978 pilot ran 148 minutes and was designed for a three-hour timeslot. (On the east coast, the broadcast was interrupted for the signing of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.) But several months before the U.S. broadcast, a shorter, 125-minute version of the pilot was released as a standalone film in countries outside the U.S., including Canada and Japan. As would later be attempted more extensively with David Lynch's Twin Peaks pilot, the edited version tied up loose ends that had been left dangling for further development in the continuing series. In May 1979, after the now-canceled TV series finished airing, U.S. fans finally got their chance to see Battlestar Galactica on the big screen.

Fans of the rebooted series developed by producer Ronald D. Moore in 2003 will be in for a shock, and not just because the Seventies costumes are dated and effects technology has progressed by leaps and bounds. Science fiction cannot help but reflect the era in which it was created, and the 21st Century Galactica was a study in shades of gray, where almost everyone's motives were questionable and every major character, at some point, had to do something at odds with his or her better nature. No such dilemmas beset the characters in Larson's original creation. Its moral universe is drawn in black and white, and the lines between right and wrong are clearly delineated.

In a distant galaxy, humans live in twelve colonies, all descended from a single source, the planet Kobol. The thirteenth colony, which is the stuff of legend, inhabits a distant planet known as "Earth". A race of machines known as the Cylons are humanity's sworn enemy. Unlike the Cylons of the rebooted series, these are all genuine machines. There are no android-like creations that can pass as human. Only rarely does the original Galactica delve into such challenging existential questions as what it truly means to be human and whether we are our own worst enemies.

As the film opens, the Cylons have petitioned for peace after a thousand years of war. Their chief contact is a human named Baltar (John Colicos), who has convinced the council of the colonies that the offer is genuine. Only Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) of the Battlestar Galactica remains skeptical. (Although it is never spelled out, each colony is guarded by a "battlestar", the space-based equivalent of an aircraft carrier.)

Overruling Adama, President Adar (Lew Ayres) leads the entire fleet of battlestars to what is supposed to be a ceremonial signing of a peace treaty. Instead, it is a trap arranged by Baltar and the Cylons. The fleet is caught unawares by a wave of Cylon fighters, and every ship is destroyed except for the Galactica, which has received an early warning from a reconnaissance mission flown in combat Vipers by Adama's two sons, Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Lieutenant Zac (Rick Springfield—yes, that Rick Springfield). Realizing that the removal of the battlestars has left their home worlds defenseless, Adama immediately sets course for the planet Caprica, but he is too late. The planet lies in ashes, along with every other planet in the twelve colonies.

Pockets of survivors exist on each planet, and Adama sends out word for anyone who can find a functioning ship to rendezvous with the Galactica, which will lead them to safety—if there is any to be found.

The second half of the film deals with getting the "ragtag fugitive fleet" organized. The first order of business is provisions, as famine rapidly spreads throughout the population. In a daring move devised by Apollo, he and Viper pilots Lieutenants Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) and Boomer (Herbert Jefferson Jr.)—in this version, both were men—lead the fleet through a mined and superheated region called the Nova of Madagon, which brings them directly to the planet Carillon. There they hope to find both provisions and fuel. What they find seems even better: a warm welcome by the native insect-like race, plenty of food and drink, a luxurious resort with casinos where no one seems to lose, and the promise of however much "tylium" (their basic fuel) the fleet might need.

An influential citizen named Sire Uri (Ray Milland) proposes that the fleet settle permanently on Carillon, rather than adopt Adama's proposal of embarking on a long and perilous journey to find Earth. Once again, Adama is the skeptic who believes refused to believe in something that looks too good to be true. He's right, of course. Carillon is another Cylon trap, but this time Adama is not caught unprepared.

In the TV series, the traitor Baltar was given his own ship (a Cylon "basestar") and commanded by the Imperious Leader (voiced by Patrick Macnee) to hunt down and destroy the fleeing human survivors. For the two-hour movie, Baltar's fate is less open-ended. Numerous other characters are introduced without having major parts to play, because they were originally written for future development in the series. Adama's second-in-command, Colonel Tigh (Terry Carter), doesn't get to do much other than consult with Adama. Adama's daughter, a bridge officer named Athena (Maren Jensen), doesn't get to do more than weep over the destruction of Caprica, when she's not busy mooning over Starbuck. Boxey (Noah Hathaway), a kid who attaches himself to Apollo, is clearly there to broaden the demographic, especially when Apollo prevails on a ship's scientist to replace the boy's lost "daggit" with a mechanical dog. (Boxey's mother is played by Jane Seymour, who left the series after a few episodes.) The blonde "socialator", Cassiopeia (Laurette Spang), provides a love interest for Starbuck and screams admirably when sinister forces capture her on Carillon. After the pilot, however, she was quickly converted to a medical technician, and her past "profession"—regulated and legitimate in this world—was rarely mentioned. (I have always wondered whether Joss Whedon based Firefly's licensed courtesan, Inara, on the Cassiopeia character.)

Battlestar Galactica: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal's 1080p, VC-1/encoded Blu-ray of Battlestar Galactica is an interesting effort. The source material is in excellent shape, and the image is clean, detailed and as sharp as the many optical effects will allow. It also looks very much like TV, which might seem the appropriate appearance for a project originated for broadcast, except that this version was shot on film and created for theatrical exhibition. Was it always this flat and two-dimensional?

I never saw Galactica theatrically and only know it from broadcast. It's possible that this is the look the series creators intended, but it's more likely that Universal, which handles its own transfers in-house, has once again opted for the conspicuously video-like appearance that has become its hallmark. At the very least, the work has been expertly done, so that there is no apparent loss of detail, no motion artifacts and none of the ghosting or waxiness that betrays the heavy use of artificial sharpening or noise reduction software. Black levels appear to be accurate, and the colors reflect the subdued hues that were common for Seventies filmed TV. Galactica did push the limits of NTSC video in one respect, which was the wash of red light over the entire frame whenever the giant ship went to battle stations. On broadcast, these scenes often crackled with noise, but on Blu-ray they are rock steady.

Galactica was filmed for broadcast at 1.33:1, and every so often the cropping required to achieve a 1.85:1 projected image becomes obvious (usually when a terminal readout is shown in closeup). In general, though, the framing is acceptable, and the altered aspect ratio should not distract the viewer.

Battlestar Galactica: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Battlestar Galactica was one of four films released theatrically in "Sensurround", a short-lived venture between Universal and speaker manufacturer Cerwin-Vega that attempted to enhance the theatrical experience by adding low frequency effects that were intended to be felt more than heard. The process premiered with Earthquake in 1974 and was used on only three more films, of which Galactica was the last. The format was abandoned for a variety of reasons, including the cost to theater owners and the tendency for the Sensurround vibrations to damage ceilings, especially in older structures, and cause fragments of plaster to fall on patrons' heads.

According to the Blu-ray cover, the main audio track is "2.1 with Sensurround" in lossless DTS-HD MA. In fact, the track is formatted as regular 5.1, but three of the channels are not used. The original mono track is routed equally to the front left and right mains, with additional support at key moments from the LFE channel.

I never experienced Sensurround in a properly equipped theater, but those who did have been disappointed with the home theater equivalent, which uses the system's low-frequency "control tones" to indicate a deep bass presence but doesn't vibrate the environment as the original system was intended to do. (For that, one would have to install additional equipment such as a tactile transducer or d-Box system.) In any case, the additional bass extension certainly does add impact to key scenes, especially battles and moments of planetary destruction. But today's audiences, especially those with even medium-quality home theater systems, are less easily wowed by LFE than were audiences of the Seventies. It's a pleasant change to have a soundtrack from that era with deep bass extension, but it's nothing we haven't heard before in a contemporary track.

Otherwise, the dialogue is clear, and the sound effects are sufficient for their purpose. Like the visual effects, their dated quality is part of their charm. The series' signature theme and incidental music by Stu Phillips, who would go on to compose for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, sounds just fine, although a stereo presentation would have been better.

Battlestar Galactica: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No extras are included. At startup the disc plays a trailer for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and is not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Battlestar Galactica: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For those who recall the original Battlestar Galactica fondly, this Blu-ray will be like a visit with old friends. For those experiencing it for the first time, the reaction will depend on one's ability to set aside expectations and enter into the spirit of a different era, both in mindset and in cinema technology. For its time, it was groundbreaking television. Despite a few qualms about the video presentation, recommended.