All considered, this is a film about the human will to survive, redemption and the spirit of hope. ![]() From this dire premise, Battlestar Galactica proceeds. The few vestiges left of the once thriving human population are those who were fortunate enough to have been in space at the time of the attack. The invading force has infiltrated all of the defense networks by positioning key agents in positions where they can easily exploit vulnerabilities, and has basically disabled all planetary defenses, leaving everybody and everything vulnerable. The story begins just before an invasion of 12 planets colonized by humans. This is more than a reinvention of BSG, it is a vast improvement over the silly cowboy histrionics the first series devolved into. To say the least, I was very pleasantly surprised by the production quality, intelligent script, and the cast. If anything convinced me to give it a shot, it was the fact that E J Olmos was hired to play Adama and that Mary MacDonnell was on-board. So, I was not inclined to go into this with an open mind. SciFi hypes their productions heavily, and they are almost always disappointingly silly. I was never a big fan of the original Battlestar Galactica TV show, and I have only seen a few SciFi originals which did not embarrass me on behalf of the entire genre of science fiction (Farscape and both Dune Mini-series being the exceptions). The shots alternate between a hand-held documentary feel and a more standard dramatic presentation. Nevertheless, it works in this film partly because it is not overdone. Hand-held photography- pioneered in groundbreaking series like ER and Firefly - has started to become cliché. This is REAL science fiction, not cheap shock effects strung together with a mediocre plot. The head-rush whoosh as the fighters launch along glittering tubes into the battle was just ace.Those who are used to SciFi's standard fare are likely to be a bit bored by the realism, character development, intelligent dialog, and lack of explosions, mutant organisms and/or poor special effects. The effects too, while never touching Star Wars’ galactic ballet, are vigorous and exciting, the human’s spacecraft designed with natty Aztec motifs. ![]() It may just be a launching pad for the popular series that jetted onto BBC2, but there is thoroughness to the script that allows the pilot to stand-alone. ![]() ![]() Here, the plot hides a particularly nasty about-face for the do-gooder heroes. Their adventure rattles on at a great pace, dividing its attentions between the initial escape after human betrayal leads the forbidding Cylons, with their oscillating red eye-bulb, warbling computer speak and shiny metal hides, to crash the human party, and a pitstop on decadent planet Carillon. John Ireland’s dialogue even manages a sly reflexive irony: “Ten thousand light years from nowhere, our planet shot to pieces, people starving, and* I'm* gonna get us in trouble?” smarts the ever-chirpy Starbuck. Larson fully obliges here: Richard Hatch as the noble, straight-faced hero Apollo, the splendid Dirk Benedict as smart-tongued Han Solo clone Starbuck, and leathery Lorne Greene lending his wise basso-tones to their leader Adama. Larson’s keen nose for a story, and grasp that what made Lucas’s blockbuster sing was fundamentally a punchy set of memorable characters with really cool names. Although evidently a rip-off - there were hints of Lucas even taking the matter to the courts - this spacebound wagon train, whose limits are readily apparent, is great fun. Although a pilot for a subsequent American TV series, Battlestar Galactica was released as a full theatrical movie in Britain to cash in on the demand for sci-fi cowboy movies in the mould of George Lucas magnificent Star Wars.
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