I’ve been watching the new Battlestar Galactica series since it started and whilst it started off a little weak, it has more than made up for it throughout the first two series, ignoring the odd blip where they get away from the main storyline. I had missed the last 3 episodes of season two because of a video recorder breakdown, and hadn’t managed to get them from friends initially – in the end I got them on a home-burned VCD from a friend but initially had problems getting my DVD player to read it. I messed around a bit but in the end put the disc on a shelf and forgot about it for a while whilst I was busy and never got back to it.
Sky started advertising season 3 since it starts in a couple of weeks so I thought I’d better catch up. So I dug out the disc and watched it on my PC through VLC instead – not ideal since I don’t particularly like watching TV on my PC, but it was well worth it. The last 3 episodes were absolute dynamite and I’m really glad I didn’t start watching the 3rd series without catching up since the changes would have been most confusing.
It reminded me how damn impressed I am with this series overall. They’ve really raised the bar for sci-fi everywhere, shoehorning so much moral, social and political commentary into what could have been a very ordinary machines-vs-man tale. I was also glad to see Dean Stockwell cropping up (probably best known for being Al on Quantum Leap, but has been around almost forever – I was wracking my brains for ages when I recognised a very young version of him in The Dunwich Horror a little while back but couldn’t place him), only a small part so far but he carried it off very well indeed. All the actors/acresses do an extremely good job in fact, injecting the whole series with a credible emotional weight far beyond what you’d expect from a popular sci-fi series. Serious kudos, and I can’t wait to catch the next series.
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 am
Yeah, I liked seeing Al in BSG
, I liked his character in Quantum Leap (though, I was dissappointed how that series ended).
As for catching up on BSG before watching the 3rd season, definitely a good idea. I had also missed the last few episonds of that season, so didn’t really uderstand why the season premier they were stuck on some planet and prisoners of the Cylons. Good thing, there was a little marathon of BSG before the season premier here – so had a chance to catch up.
As for season three, I really liked the first few episodes, but I think it started going a bit downhill (not to ruin your viewing, plus I won’t give any spoliers
… Hopefully, the next season will pick up a bit more 
Though, even with my complaints, it is still one of the better shows on TV now adays… good action, good story, doesn’t have as many commercials interupting as other shows, relatively decent season length.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Glad to hear that you’ve finally got around to watching the last few episodes of series 2 of BSG… Quite a sudden change in the story don’t you think! The thing that I like about the series is that it is constantly surprising. I find it downright depressing how damn predictable the majority of TV programs are today that its nice to be surprised once and a while.
Unfortunately, as I have no SKY anynore, I’ll have to wait forever for series 3 to come out on DVD to watch it!
pjcast : How could you not like the ending of Quantum Leap? I thought it was fantastic that they left it that he never reached home! Then again, I prefer things to end slightly downbeat… Hence, I loved the endings of Babylon 5, Blakes 7 and Twin Peaks (all great programs)
January 3rd, 2007 at 1:02 am
@Bazlurgan
Well, from what I recall of the ending, been a longgg time since I saw it, he ended up at some bar/way station surrounded by miners and some know it all bartender (supposed to be the one guiding him?)… and, I forget exactly what happened.. But, dammit, he should have reached home!!!
Can’t say I’ve ever seen Blakes 7. Twin Peaks was good (odd, but good). Babylon 5 was excellent; however, I didn’t watch that show anymore after John Sheridan left as Captain… Mostly because I was in the Navy at the time and didn’t have much time.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:57 pm
I think Season 3 is pretty good so far. It has aired here in North America but stopped half way through the season and continues Jan 21st, or 24th or something.
I won’t spoil anything, but one episode has the coolest single tactical manuever I’ve seen in any sci-fi show ever
I like how Al from Quantum Leap was first introduced as a preacher (or whatever they’re called in BSG) to councel Chief, and was very likeable. Then it turned out he wasn’t who he seemed
January 3rd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
@Steve, yeah, BSG is great. I’m glad you like it. I’m sure you are strapped for time, but you may also like listening to the BSG podcasts by Ronald Moore, they’re really cool and give you an idea of how the show is heading behind the scenes. They keep my optimism up when so many people diss the show for “going downhill” or “going to be cancelled due to ratings drops.”
@pjcast, Quantum Leap ended in a bar of time or something to that effect, they wanted to leave it metaphorical, and I don’t think that they intended to end it there. But it was a cool ending anyway, and it gave us an answer to why he always wound up in someones place in life which could be fixed (if he couldn’t fix their life he was stuck). Some “higher calling” had to be responsible, and that was what was suggested at the end of Quantum Leap.
@Falagard, yeah, that was one of the greatest moments in Scifi history I’d ever seen. Just, wow. (Don’t click ‘wow’ if you haven’t seen the second episode of the premier!)