Battlestar Galactica S4 Pt 2: DVD Review

Battlestar Galactica S4 Pt 2: DVD Review

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Part 2
Starring: Tricia Helfer, James Callis, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber
Rating: Restricted to Over 13
Universal Home Video
After four seasons of tumultuous acclaim and critical praise, the updated version of Battlestar Galactica comes to an end.
Trouble is, how do you end a show which has been such a part of the blogosphere and sci-fi world for so long?
Well the answer it appears is in a slightly disappointing manner. (But to be fair, it was never going to satisfy everyone)
The final ten episodes wrap up the saga - after the last surviving humans found what they believed was earth and discovered it was ravaged by nuclear radiation, they set back out - along with their foes and uneasy allies, The Cylons - to find somewhere new to call home.
However, the psychological toll of nearing ultimate destruction and failing to locate what was believed to be Earth sees the survivors ripped apart by civil unrest as they all try to come to terms with uncertain times.
Can they find a place to call home and reconcile with their arch nemeses?
This 4 disc final season set of BSG had a lot of the weight of expectation and the hope of the resolution of the show's mythology on its shoulders.
As with many shows of this genre, it's never going to satisfy the hard core fans - although in fairness, these last 10 wrap up some of the threads which have been dangling since the start of Series 1 (who is the fifth Cylon? What exactly is the deal with Starbuck?) - and some of them are tidied up neatly while others are left without definitive resolution.
The only major disappointment with this clutch of episodes is how exactly they choose to end it - I guess there's some kind of poetic justice that the fate of the human race depends on a hybrid of a human and Cylon - but an awful out of nowhere kidnapping seems to have been shoehorned into the plot to help it finish.
That said - as a fan of the original series, it's very cool to see old school Cylons battling new school Cylons.
And for a series with a long term plan, this has stayed true throughout and never changed what its creators wanted for it.
Where I think BSG will be remembered is in its look and feel - all of the characters have a weariness about them and a humanity which has seeped through the writing all through out - as a show in its entirety it developed deep themes about man, gods, fate, destiny and saw them through to the bitter end.
It will be frakking missed.
Extras: Unrated version of episode A Disquiet Follows My Soul, A sneak peek at Caprica (the show's prequel), Video blogs, a doco

Rating: 7/10