Last Friday, one continuity ended. Galactica 1980 may not have been very good (you might even say it was fairly terrible), but it was the continuation of the still beloved Battlestar Galactica series from the late 70s. The BSG where the Cylons were metal dudes, Baltar was a supervillain of the highest scene-chewing order, and everywhere you looked was disco disco disco.
As of 1980, the series was kiddified, and not in a good way. Problems abounded behind the scenes, including a mostly absent showrunner, demotivated writers, and stars that were reading to go on strike there at the end when they heard Dirk Benedict had been asked to come back for a very special episode IN WHICH THEY WOULD NOT APPEAR! The next script to have gone into production would have been a time travel story with Xaviar screwing around with Cleopatra... we probably dodged a bullet.
Though Richard Hatch would campaign pretty consistently to bring Battlestar back (his trailer for a possible show will be covered in the next review post), and there were talks of doing a feature film as late as 1999. But it would not be until 2003 that BSG would return, not with the original cast, but as a complete reboot and re-imagining, which I do plan to cover in these pages.
I must admit I gave some thought to the question of chronology. Should I proceed with the 2003 mini-series and on to the series, followed by its spin-offs? Or should I attempt to look at the new BSG timeline as it happens, starting with Caprica, then Blood & Chrome, and end with Galactica proper? Because it might get a little confusing to fit Razor and The Plan in that latter structure, I decided to just go by air date. (I could still be convinced to do it the other way, but that window is rapidly closing.)
I do have some misgivings about reviewing the reimagined series. First, if I've kept away from it for so long despite my deep respect for it, it's because it's very eventful, and I would hate to spoil any of its twists and turns by spoiling everything on the Blog of Geekery. That concern has faded over time because the show's been over for more than 10 years. I would still try to keep spoilers out of post images if I could. Second, it's a bleak vision of the story, and when I marathoned it the first time around (I had missed it on television), it gave me bouts of depression. (It certainly didn't help that I followed it up with a complete watch of Six Feet Under.) Reliving that rough patch isn't at the top of my list, but then I'll be on a weekly schedule, not getting through a season every few days. Should be fine, but brace yourselves if you're going to shadow me.
So that's the plan (not The Plan, that's something else). The Second Coming (for fun), Battlestar Galactica v2 (using the DVDs' extended episodes whenever they come up), The Plan, Caprica, and finally Blood & Chrome. By the time I'm done, we might even have news of a new BSG movie that's reportedly at the writing stage now.
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