Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

To avoid any confusion let me make it clear that I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of the Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5 DVD Boxed set for review. I made no promises about what I would say in that review in return for the review copy however.

Pegasus

One of the big selling points for Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5 was the extended version of the episode Pegasus. It’s also conveniently the first episode on the DVDs so thats where I’m starting my review.

There is a considerable amount of new material in Pegasus, though if you’re looking for a list you’ll need to find someone with a better memory than me. The result of the extra material does create some additional depth to an episode that was already one of the strongest in Season 2.

The move shift in Admiral Caine’s attitude towards the Galactica seems more natural in this longer version of the episode and the resulting confrontation between her and Commander Adama becomes even more tense.

A couple of scenes particularly stick out, when is the rape scene which is ugly and unpleasant to watch (as it should be) and the other is the final confrontation cliffhanger where both sides launch vipers, a powerful visual accompanied by a strong drumbeat that just hammers home the tension.

Pegasus is a good example of why Battlestar Galactica is so highly regarded. It’s a science fiction show that instead of going for the cliches attempts to tackle the sort of subject matter that we might see in mainstream drama but not in sci-fi.

Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5 DVD Extras

There are a decent number of extras scattered over the 3 discs in the DVD set. They include deleted scenes, producers video logs and podcasts. Some of this material has been made available previously on the internet, but it’s nice to have it in an easily accessible form like this.

To be honest, bonus material has never been a strong selling point for me with DVDs. While I may listen to the commentary tracks once, I rarely go back to them. That’s not to dismiss the material presented here however, which I think is fairly strong.

The Boxed Set

I’ve got all of the new Battlestar Galactica DVDs that they’ve released so far and I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of the real pleasures of these sets is the ability to watch the episodes uninterrupted by adverts, in anamorphic widescreen and at a much higher picture quality than I would get on television.

The same is definitely true with this latest DVD set. The colors are crisp and the extra detail definitely adds to the pseudo-documentary style of the show, yet the CGI effects stand up to the higher resolution of the DVDs remarkably well.

Another advantage to the DVDs, which applies more to this set than to previous ones is that not having to wait a week between episodes, a lot of the smaller interconnecting details jump out at me where before they had drifted from my memory.

Of course the real selling point on any DVD is going to be the show itself and while the second half of season 2 maybe didn’t hit the same heights as season 1 of Battlestar Galactica there are still some strong episodes in there. Not least of which being Pegasus and Lay Down Your Burdens.

If you’re a fan of the new version of Battlestar Galactica then really you can’t do without this boxed set.

Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..

Like It? Share It!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•