Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.

The Cylons were created by man.
They evolved.
They rebelled.
And they have a plan.

It's not quite "Space: the Final Frontier," but it starts every episode of SciFi's Battlestar Galactica series, and it sets the tone for the dark, paranoid, intriguing series about mankind's struggle to survive in a hell they've created.

When I mentioned to a friend that I was getting into and enjoying this new "Battlestar Galactica" on DVD, he warned me that "it gets a lot darker" in the second season, and that his wife had stopped watching it because things got so bleak. So that had me worried. Was this something akin to Buffy Season Six? Angel Season Four? Every season of 24? Nope. Galactica doesn't get nearly that bleak--at its very core is the heart of humanity and survival, and that's what shines through even the darkest episodes.

The premise is that at some point in the future, people leave Earth, expanded into space, built robot "Cylons" to serve them. The Cylons rebel, killing all but a ragtag fleet of ships, led by the aircraft carrier-ish Battlestar Galactica under the leadership of Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) and Colonial President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell). Their goal is to survive, and to find Earth--which by that point in the future has become so lost that it's the basis of their myths.

The producers split up Season Two into two sets of ten episodes--so Season 2.0 is currently available on DVD, and the rest of the season should be out later this year. The cliffhanger from last year had Commander Adama getting shot by a Cylon agent, lying in a pool of blood, and President Roslin being arrested--the Colonies were on the verge of being thrown into a Civil War--hard to recover from when your whole society consists of 49,000 people. Some of the crew was struggling to survive on two different planets, some were in the brig, and some were trying to maintain control over a situation that was breaking apart. A great way to end the season--but a harder one to put back together.

It takes half of this set (the first five episodes) to get everyone back together...and those struggles make for some good storytelling. But it feels like there's not as much progress as there could be otherwise, and knowing it's a truncated system made me feel more impatient--if I only get ten episodes right now, make them mean something.

The stories seem more personal this season, and we get some character development for people who were only sketches in the first season. Characters like Col. Tigh and Mr. Geda finally get more to do than either be drunk (Col. Tigh) or say "hailing frequencies open," (Mr. Geda). Having the characters so spread out facilitates some of that, and having Adama out of commission for so long takes care of the rest of it. I realized what a powerhouse Olmos' character is, and how much I missed his presence while he was lying in a coma; without him the show just doesn't quite work.

Producer Ronald D. Moore cut his teeth on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Deep Space 9," and it shows--the relationship between the military and the civilian governments, and the dark paranoid conspiracies about the Cylons really come out this season. There are probably double the number of main characters (or more) than either of those "Trek" series, and "Galactica" stories are more arcing and intertwined than either of those examples...but there's an optimism at the heart of both franchises that I find appealing.

There are two notable new faces this season--first, Lucy Lawless comes onboard as Dianna Biers, a newsfeed reporter who wants to produce a documentary about the Galactica crew. In doing so she exposes some treachery, gets herself into trouble, and opens an enormous can of worms we didn't know about at the beginning of the season. She's a welcome addition, and comes off as both softer and better than I expected, given that I've never been a "Xena: Warrior Princess" fan. The other new blood comes in in the final two episodes of this DVD set. Michelle Forbes, who played one of my favorite "Star Trek: The Next Generation" characters, Ensign Ro Laren, comes in, guns blazing, as Admiral Cain--Adam's superior, thought long dead with the rest of the Colonial fleet. As with many of the characters in this series, she's a perfect shade of gray, and although we smart for Adama as she guts his crew for disciplinary action, reassigning heroes like Starbuck and Apollo, arresting others, and ignoring the authority of President Roslin--we can see where she's coming from. We can see why she'd be the Good Guy, and want to bring some sense of normalcy and decorum to this cowboy crew. It all bodes well for the second half of this season--which I can't wait to see.

If you've ever been a fan of "Battlestar Galactica," "Star Trek," "Stargate," or any of the other science fiction series of the 1990's and 2000's, you'd enjoy this season of "Battlestar Galactica." It has heart-pounding action, great special effects, and better acting than many of those older, cheesier series. And at it's heart lies not the heart of a Cylon, but of one of us.

Unless, of course, you're a Cylon.

MORE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA:

Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries

Battlestar Galactica: Season One





Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older