Product Description

One of the best shows on television looks better than ever as Battlestar Galactica: Season One arrives on HD DVD. Relive all 13 thrilling episodes plus the four-hour miniseries that started it all in this six disc set.

When a surprise Cylon attack scatters the remnants of humanity throughout the galaxy, it's up to steely President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and battle-hardened Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) to unite the desperate survivors and seek mankind's only chance for a future, a mythical planet called Earth. Presented in 1080P with Dolby TrueHD audio and showcasing U-Control features that allow you to go deeper into the BSG universe, Battlestar Galactica: Season One on HD DVD is gripping drama that explores the human condition at its worst ? and its best.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11560 in DVD
• Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
• Released on: 2007-12-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: French
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 755 minutes

Amazon.com

Battlestar Galactica's Edward James Olmos wasn't kidding when he said "the series is even better than the miniseries." As developed by sci-fi TV veteran Ronald D. Moore, the "reimagined" BG is exactly what it claims to be: a drama for grown-ups in a science-fiction setting. The mature intelligence of the series is its greatest asset, from the tenuous respect between Galactica's militarily principled commander Adama (Olmos) and politically astute President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) to the barely suppressed passion between ace Viper pilot "Apollo" (a.k.a. Adama's son Lee, played by Jamie Bamber) and the brashly insubordinate Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), whose multifaceted character is just one of many first-season highlights. Picking up where the miniseries ended (it's included here, sparing the need for separate purchase), season 1 opens with the riveting, Hugo Award-winning episode "33," in which Galactica and the "ragtag fleet" of colonial survivors begin their quest for the legendary 13th colony planet Earth, while being pursued with clockwork regularity by the Cylons, who've now occupied the colonial planet of Caprica. The fleet's hard-fought survival forms (1) the primary side of the series' three-part structure, shared with (2) the apparent psychosis of Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) whose every thought and move are monitored by various incarnations of Number Six (Tricia Helfer), the seemingly omniscient Cylon ultravixen who follows a master plan somehow connected to (3) the Caprican survival ordeal of crash-landed pilots "Helo" (Tahmoh Penikett) and "Boomer" (Grace Park), whose simultaneous presence on Galactica is further evidence that 12 multicopied models of Cylons, in human form, are gathering their forces.

With remarkably consistent quality, each of these 13 episodes deepens the dynamics of these fascinating characters and suspenseful situations. While BG relies on finely nuanced performances, solid direction, and satisfying personal and political drama to build its strong emotional foundation, the action/adventure elements are equally impressive, especially in "The Hand of God," a pivotal episode in which the show's dazzling visual effects get a particularly impressive showcase. Original BG series star Richard Hatch appears in two politically charged episodes (he's a better actor now, too), and with the threat of civil war among the fleet, season 1 ends with an exceptional cliffhanger that's totally unexpected while connecting the plot threads of all preceding episodes. To the credit of everyone involved, this is frackin' good television.

Customer Reviews

Fraking amazing
First off, the show is 5 stars or more. Best show currently on cable TV as far as I can tell. But this hd-dvd leaves PLENTY TO BE DESIRED.

First, they reused the same menus as were used in Heroes season 1 on HD-DVD, this is fine with me, as that menu scheme is very nice. The interactive parts of this hd-dvd release (the U control stuff) is great, but I'll never view the show this way but once, if that.

I own the original dvd of this (season 1 and the miniseries stand alone dvd), I was highly looking forward to watching this on HD-DVD. But I was sadly disappointed!

The video quality on the mini series is horrible, looks like 480p! Watching the miniseries on dvd upconverted generally looks better, save a few scenes. Also the audio gets out of sync quite a few times during the show.

The TV shows look substantially better than the mini-series, with many scenes looking very good, but not as noticeable of an upgrade as say, heroes or smalleville, which I also own, and are also on HD-DVD. Those releases are/were fantastic, with pristine transfers. This looks like it was rushed. And pity that, I would be fine with spending 40 dollars, 50 max for this, but 100? or even amazon's low price makes me feel like I'm apart of some cylon conspiracy.

If the video not being up to standards is not enough, the case arrived crushed due to be shipped in an envelope (first time this has ever happened to me from amazon) and the discs were scratched (seems this is the default, not the exception from others reviews).

With that said, I whole heartedly recommend this series to any and everyone, it is amazing. The best thing about the HD-DVD is the phenomenal sound, this was a huge upgrade, I cant really applaud any other parts of this release.



In closing, this show is fantastic, the video quality leaves much to be desired, they should re-master the mini-series, as this looks very bad here. The HD-DVD is still better than the DVD, but not by much.

I hope universal will release season 2, 3, and Razor on HD-DVD soon. However, I will not be pre-ordering those until after I read more reviews. The dvd's I have look fantastic as is (upconverted) so if the picture quality is no real improvement, I have no real need to spend double the money.

I must note, I am not against spending 70 dollars for a TV show (I do have both sopranos seasons in HD, and they cost far more) on an High Def format, but I am against getting sub-par transfers, Heroes, and Smallville both on HD-DVD blows this out of the water in terms of picture quality, and packaging. This show deserves better, we deserver better.

So say we all!


PS, if you are having problems getting the discs in or out of the case, twist the disc's and they come right off or on, pulling will likely pull the glue off of the packaging.

Scratched discs spoil value
UPDATE: Filling out a support request at universalhidef dot com (URL's apparently get deleted) for scratched disks seems to open up an RMA-replacement opportunity. I received an email saying they would exchange the scratched discs with new ones. Hopefully this works and hopefully they come in standard packaging. I'll let you guys know.

UPDATE2: I just returned the discs for a refund. I dislike the RMA process anyway, and the problems go beyond scratched discs.

I am not criticizing the show, but I am very disappointed with the packaging of the set. Placing the discs flat on paperboard does not jive with those who want scratch-free discs. Discs four and five have show-stopping scratches that the Toshiba HD-A2 can't read through, resulting in skippy playback.

I recommend you buy the set - many of the discs show no scratches. Move the discs immediately to standard DVD cases and COMPLAIN to Universal about the scratched discs. They should recall these and ship out new discs in adequate packaging.

Amazing show - HORRIBLE PACKAGING
I love BSG - what an amazing sci-fiction/drama epic. No complaints about the show, or their presentation on HD-DVD - they look wonderful.

But the packaging is ABYSMAL. Cheap cardboard flaps, little rubber nubs, and 6 very scratched discs is what I found when I opened my Amazon package. Thinking it was just a fluke, I went online to see other people's experiences. Nope, the forums are ablaze with complaints of scratched discs. Good job Universal!

Cutesy packaging is fine, but it needs to protect the discs first and foremost. These increasingly cheap boxsets with damaged discs are really getting old (I'm looking at you too Star Trek season 1 HD DVD....).