A friend of mine turned me onto BSG just after Season 2 ended. I was aware of it running on the SciFi channel, but after four Star Trek series, ten Star Trek movies, six Episodes of Star Wars, and five seasons with three movies from Babylon 5? I was a little drained on science fiction. Also when BSG was first lurking on the airwaves I was consumed with The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

Priorities after all…

New season starts Friday. *dROol*

To be honest, I didn’t want to get into another series… Steve convinced me to watch Heroes after much proding; I caught up on Season 1 online and watched Season 2 in real time… Yet I still haven’t watched Farscape (which he reminds me is a huge mistake but pft!) Anna convinced me to watch 24… starting with Season 5 – talk about a latecomer. It’s not that I don’t like new shows – I just know what it’s like to get sucked into one. Especially a shaky show – there’s nothing worse than having a season buzzcut and go off the air without an ending. Besides, even with TiVo, you still need to watch the show – I have my TV on a lot but I often listen more than watch it.

With BSG, I started with the DVD’s of Season 1 and 2. Great show from top to bottom. I don’t remember the original series all that well, but even if the story was as good, there’s no way that it could compare to the recent series… nothing like the controversy when comparing Star Trek to the Next Generation at any rate. There’s a clear winner in this contest. Either way the “shock” of Starbuck’s character going from male to female was totally lost on me and now I simply cannot picture a male Starbuck. She’s been great in her role and the role has been great. Then consider Boomer and Athena which are played by the same actress for both: the differences between the characters is very noticeable, even down to the body language… simply shows off the quality of acting and directing… it’s a very well done show.

Yet, starting with Episode 1.1, I felt like I was being dropped into the middle of a storyline. Yeah, I watched the opening credits: I knew there were Cylons, I knew they blew the shit outta Caprica, and I knew there was a caravan of ships with humanity on the run… over the three seasons I’ve been able to follow the storyline fairly well, but I always felt like there was a hidden backstory that they were pulling information from…

And I quote my own thought: “Wait – there was a mini-series?”

The reason why I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a storyline is because I was. The mini-series isn’t just a pilot or proof of concept… it’s like a prologue to the actual show. I didn’t need to see it. In fact, it was kinda neat having to piece the past together, but now I get so much more from the storyline… the mini-series plugged holes that I knew nothing about and wouldn’t have thought to. Like seeing how broken the Adama family actually is. If you start with Season 1, you know they don’t get along well, but it was so much more… antagonistic in the mini-series.

Amazon Unbox had it, so I sent it to my TiVo: $15 and three hours later and I now feel like I’m ready for the last Season’s episodes…

If you decide to experience BSG through the DVD’s, make sure you get the mini-series [and the movie, Razor] as part of the investment because you’ll want them.