Battlestar Galactica: Season 1/Ep 1 "33 Minutes"

c0y0te

Overall - I gotta say I'm very happy with this first foray into a new series. They start off 5 days after the end of the mini series and without giving any plot away (for those who haven't seen it yet) - it keeps the same pace/edge imho.

Hot Stuff:-

Camerwork
Physics
Pace
Music
Beards:)

Not so hot:-

Robots with religion?

I was a bit curios mind you about the pretext for the episode (e.g. 33 minutes). While it worked from a pacing perspective...

I wasn't quite sure why it took the cylons 33 mins to find them, or why the fleet didn't just jump again immediately each time. Did it take 33 mins to calculate the jump? If so - surely the cylons can 'calculate' a lot quicker:).. Anyone get why it took 33 mins each time?

Would be interested in other points of view on this - although lets not spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Use the spoiler tag where appropriate.

c0y0te

BattlingCheese

I got the impression that the 33 minutes was just a random number that the cylons used as part of the mind game to run them ragged. Knowing they had only had 33mins of relevant calm gave them no time for sleep, relaxation etc and much more an effective mind game then jumping in at random.

Agree with your points though and looking forward to next episode.

David Stewart

You left out one thing from the Hot Stuff list: writing. You can have the best actors, special effects or production values in the world but they count for nothing unless you have a well written script.

c0y0te

I generally reserve judgement on the writing until at least half way through the season, given that I beleive it's tough to make a call on the writing from the first few episodes alone.

But so far so good. Let's hope they keep it up and get a decent fan base to keep it going.

c0y0te

Stark

Do we need spoiler tags since this is already aired over here?

anyway

I wasn't quite sure why it took the cylons 33 mins to find them, or why the fleet didn't just jump again immediately each time. Did it take 33 mins to calculate the jump? If so - surely the cylons can 'calculate' a lot quicker.. Anyone get why it took 33 mins each time?

It took them 33 mins each time to calculate the jump.

What I liked in particular:

Karl/Helo's plight on Caprica

davej

Not so hot:-

Robots with religion?

Well Isn't it the case that the cylons some how believe that they have replaced humans as God's "chosen ones" (or whatever way you want to put it) ?

What i like about the show is the seriousness of it. None of the jokey / sentimental crap you get from the likes of stargate or other such rubbish.

davej

Fenster

Great episode. Top-class effects, writing and acting especially. There were some real camraderie between the characters and well-placed moments of absolutely black humor, such as when the President is informed that the Olympic was lost. She sighs, calmly wipes the board, puts down the new number and says in a deadpan, "right, next crisis?"

On the Olympic, it really bugged me today as to why the Cylons didn't jump after the Galactica after they captured the liner, until I realised that without the spy on the Olympic providing coordinates they'd only be able to follow for one jump.

Either way, I can't wait for the next episode.

c0y0te

Stark,

I can understand that it might take

the humans 33 mins to calculate each jump, but what I don't get is why the cylons took exactly 33 mins to jump after them each time??? Machines surely could figure that stuff out...and if they were using the olympic ship to track them, once it arrives they would simply jump immediately after it. Yet they set the clock and waited for the arrival of the cylons every 33 mins.

Does that make any sense to you?.. or am I just missing the point?

c0y0te

Mountjoy Mugger

Stark wrote:

Do we need spoiler tags since this is already aired over here?

Yes

Some of us missed it on Sky1, waiting to catch it on Mix

Boston

Great episode. How long before they cancel it for session five of stargate or andromeda

AngryBadger

ok I for one like Stargate.

And I F*&#ing love the new galactica series. It was fantastic. The mini-series was mind blowing, and the first episode of the new series was a totally original thrust. they mention nothing about the history, and just assume you've seen the mini, throwing you right into the middle of it. Brilliant stuff.

Oh yeah,andromeda sucks the hairiest of balls

Matt Simis

Mountjoy Mugger wrote:

Stark wrote:

Do we need spoiler tags since this is already aired over here?

Yes

Some of us missed it on Sky1, waiting to catch it on Mix

Wait a minute.. I thought Sky1 have only shown the two parts of the mini series (that were on Sci Fi ages ago) so far.. not the first part of the series proper?


Matt

GuanYin

I commented on this in the Television forum, its basically a decent premiere for a sci-fi show but as a remake it misses alot of the charisma of the original.

They could have maintained the current darkness without sacrificing characters like Starbuck who was originally the reluctant hero, pessimisting and wisecracking, but did the job he had to, for a loner with a huge anti-authoratarian streak or Apollo, a born leader in the shadow of his father, for an insecure son who is lost in his role. They switched Adamas and Tigh's personalites for no apparent reason too. So in characters, its much weaker than the original, you don't care as much for any of the new personas.

The storyline is done better though, with the original series going for the "stuff that happens" with the greatest worries being resources dwindling and overcrowding, this series deals with human emotion, the reactions as mistakes are made, the effect the loss of life have on the moral and the realisation that the future is bleak.

FX is minimal, which is probably good. I always thought best to use them wisely and sparsely.

c0y0te wrote:

I was a bit curios mind you about the pretext for the episode (e.g. 33 minutes). While it worked from a pacing perspective...

I wasn't quite sure why it took the cylons 33 mins to find them, or why the fleet didn't just jump again immediately each time. Did it take 33 mins to calculate the jump? If so - surely the cylons can 'calculate' a lot quicker:).. Anyone get why it took 33 mins each time?

Would be interested in other points of view on this - although lets not spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Use the spoiler tag where appropriate.

c0y0te

My take is that it took the cylon spy time to calculate the position and then send the message. The ships travelled at "faster than light speed" so the signal back probably doesn't go that fast and then the cylons need to plan the jump. So 33 minutes for all this to happen isn't bad.

ixoy

Boston wrote:

Great episode. How long before they cancel it for session five of stargate or andromeda

Andromeda is crap but don't diss Stargate. Firstly, it'll be how long they cancel it for season nine of Stargate and secondly, it's a different type of show. It's more light-hearted and certainly more character based than other sci-fi shows.

Matt Simis wrote:

Wait a minute.. I thought Sky1 have only shown the two parts of the mini series (that were on Sci Fi ages ago) so far.. not the first part of the series proper?

Nope, Sky One launched into the series proper whilst US Sci-Fi have to wait until January 2005 (hah!). I'm sure Sky will repeat it later in the week.

As said elsewhere, I like the gritty nature of the episode. The

tactical decision to destroy the civilian craft was great. It was precisely the cold, clinical reasoning that needs to be employed at such times but often gets over looked for dewey-eyed moralizing. It matched the decision to leave the non-FTL ships behind in the pilot too. The grim sense of despair, the edge and tension all worked wonderfully. Characterisation is a little poor so far but the atmosphere of the show works well. Using a device like a countdown effectively is a smart trick but we can't see the same thing next week, so the pace may be altered.

Closest show, in my mind, is still Space: Above & Beyond, although this has a tougher edge than the Morgan & Wong baby. So far I'm still intruiged. Well done crew. Best new show of the season along with 'Lost'.

bus77

Matt Simis wrote:

Wait a minute.. I thought Sky1 have only shown the two parts of the mini series (that were on Sci Fi ages ago) so far.. not the first part of the series proper?


Matt

The first part of the series proper was shown on monday night. looks like somone missed it after all

SPOILER SPOILER DONT LOOK!
Maybe it took the cylons 33 mins to get the signal from their spy on the olympic.
It only took the galactica a few minutes to set the coordinates for the first jump they made from the ammo depot planet.

Edit: grrrrr must type faster

Matt Simis

bus77 wrote:

The first part of the series proper was shown on monday night. looks like somone missed it after all

Edit: grrrrr must type faster

Thats confusing, even Sky1 mix is repeating the mini-series today, not the proper series. Ill have to keep a closer watch. Really like the new series btw.


Matt

secret_squirrel

Watched the mini-series and wasnt sure about it - seemed a bit too clinical and cold for my liking. Then after the first episode Im kinda liking it. Didnt like how they revealed who the cylon infiltrator is tho...although I guess its gonna will they/wont they reveal her (to the crew) for the season.

Not sure about the Hilo sub plot - cant see that going anywhere.

I would guess 'GOD' is going to be the cylon mainframe or something.

Did like the base stars - although would have liked more than a 10 second view at them.

Not sure about sex mad cylons - although them having more human flaws than the humans is a good idea. They can also churn out some more android eye candy with a fresh bird if the series lags.

Also Dr Gaius is the spit of Dr Bashir from DS9 dont you think? Very simlar character too - although I do like his evil/selfish side.

Seeing physics and reaction jets was a novelty.

Am I the only person who liked andromeda?

Fenster

secret_squirrel wrote:

Am I the only person who liked andromeda?

Deviant

TCamen

Didnt like how they revealed who the cylon infiltrator is tho...although I guess its gonna will they/wont they reveal her (to the crew) for the season.

Firstly, the miniseries was a backdoor pilot for a further series, so the writers had to end with a teaser to bring viewers to the series proper, if one was commissioned. I personally really liked the ending, and had the miniseries just ended with the promise of Earth, it would have left me a lot less excited about seeing more Galactica. At any rate, it's not like Boomer is the only Cylon sleeper in the fleet. I mean there's 12 models of human-looking Cylons & we've seen what less that half of those look like. When I originally watched the miniseries back in February, I was DYING for Boxie to be the Cylon agent revealed @ the end, and I'm still hopeful-- just so's he can be dealt with accordingly

As for the first 60mins episode, I really liked the pace and the constant threat of the Cylons was effectively handled. The large cast all looked nicely haggered & exhausted and they were all given a bit of screen-time. The Caprica scenes were a nice surprise and a welcome break from the space-setting of most of the series.
The F/X were up to the same standard as the miniseries which was good to see considering the smaller budget for the series proper. Granted though, that the producers would want a flashy-looking first episode to draw in viewers. I guess we'll see in the remaining 12 episodes if the same level can be maintained with the smaller budget.
I'm glad the CGI Cylons were given more screen-time than in the mini-series, and actually did more than walk into a room & stand still
I'm intruiged to see how intense the series will be over 13 episodes, as Ronald D. Moore has promised there would be an season-long arc, so hopefully it'll have a strong on-going story that advances ever week. Judging by this first episode the writers don't seem to concerned with recapping everything for new viewers and getting right into it.
One thing I wasn't overly fond of was the opening titles & the logo for the series. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I prefer the classic 'Battlestar Galactica' logo used in the original series & the mini.

All in all it was a brilliant & consistent continuation to the miniseries and I'm dying to see some more! I'm inclined to agree with ixoy that Galactica is right up there with 'Lost' as must-see TV :cool:

Oh, and just to add, for those who missed the episode on Monday, it's repeated Friday @ 8pm on Sky One

monkeyfudge

Yep. The title sequence was horrible. It wasn't even a well edited together series of clips. Just look at how well Farscape does the little montage of clips in it's title sequences.

The music is good though. But it deserves a montage that is actually edited to match the rhythm of the music.

davej

secret_squirrel wrote:

Also Dr Gaius is the spit of Dr Bashir from DS9 dont you think? Very simlar character too - although I do like his evil/selfish side.

I thought this too, in fact I was convinced it was him for a while.

Check this out:



VS



davej

ixoy

Funnily enough, after watching DS9 for its seven years I never thought it was Siddig. I just thought he looked a bit like him but the voice wasn't the same and Gaius' face is less sharp.

Nukem

I for one thought BG was really well put together.allthough they keep using the same bloody Shots over and over.-The cylons coming from the mother ships.

Hate that :mad:

And as for that 33mins thing. New idea - interesting.Going to play a part d whole way through the series.

Corben Dallas

Really liked it as well, the Sub plot of the Dr (Who indeed looks like Bashir form DS9) with the well fit chick, Damn i want one of those holo babes!!!!

Really Gritty, they looked wrecked like the 33min deal, didnt get to see what the Cyclon fighters looked like at all. +++ Really liked that there was 2 different types of Vipers. I'd like to see a collection of different Viper ;types like Mark1 11 111 etc.

Also what is this Pilot series u speak off was it on Sky?

Overall v good
Andromeda is really really crap
Stargate can be pretty cool somev good some v average episodes.
Tilk is gay btw! LOL
Only joking!

Sooner or Later

I was a bit wary after the mini-series but I have to say I really enjoyed 33 Minutes. Tense, lots of action and they really conveyed the sense of exhaustion of the crew very well. Totally different in style to the original, far grittier. If they maintain this standard it could be a cracking series.

secret_squirrel

Corben Dallas wrote:

I'd like to see a collection of different Viper ;types like Mark1 11 111 etc.

Also what is this Pilot series u speak off was it on Sky?

The pilot we speak of had a number different vipers in it. At least a mark 1 (that apollo flew) Think starbuck was flying a mark 2, and most of the cannon fodder were flying the New Model. (The idea being that BSG was going to become a museum.)

That one thing that was skipped over in the New series - all of a sudden the new vipers were immune to the cylon Electronic Warfare. I presume we were meant to come to the conclusion that good ole genius Dr Gaius fixed em up.

TCamen

The pilot we speak of had a number different vipers in it. At least a mark 1 (that apollo flew) Think starbuck was flying a mark 2, and most of the cannon fodder were flying the New Model. (The idea being that BSG was going to become a museum.)

The 2 types of Vipers featured in the series so far are Mark II, which are the older models that were in the museum, and Apollo flew in the miniseries.
The latest model is Mark VII, which Starbuck flies.

In the miniseries/pilot Baltar went through Galactica's systems to remove any trace of the security program that the Cylons used to shut down defenses. Although it wasn't specifically said (as far as I can remember) surely he did the same to all the Vipers, considering that they don't have too many of them. :cool:

Fenster

TCamen wrote:

The 2 types of Vipers featured in the series so far are Mark II, which are the older models that were in the museum, and Apollo flew in the miniseries.
The latest model is Mark VII, which Starbuck flies.

In the miniseries/pilot Baltar went through Galactica's systems to remove any trace of the security program that the Cylons used to shut down defenses. Although it wasn't specifically said (as far as I can remember) surely he did the same to all the Vipers, considering that they don't have too many of them. :cool:

They mentioned that Galactica didn't even have the program loaded, which begs the question as to why the vipers that got shut down would..

Either way, the older Vipers were museum pieces until pressed back into service and when you're desperately rushing to get old vipers combat ready I guess the last thing on your mind would be loading Service Pack 2.

Nukem

Ah ya beat me too it :mad:
And ya there are 7 types of vipers and the mini series covered the virus (beat me to that 2)
Here are 2 clubs i found quickbattlestargalacticaclub & galactica2003 but there are loads more just do a yahoo search

Nukem

Oh and Stargate is class !!!!!!!

Zaph

Have to say that I gave the series a miss after watching the mini-series last week. I thought the script was poor, acting was worse, the characters were weak, even without comparing them to the originals (with the exception of Edward James Olmos who I thought was a much better Adama than Lorne Green) and the pace was plodding - it seemed to take ages for anything to happen. All in all I was really disappointed, especially as I'd been looking forward to it for ages.

Stark

I thought the first episode of the series was better than the mini actually.

TCamen

They mentioned that Galactica didn't even have the program loaded, which begs the question as to why the vipers that got shut down would..

They said that Galactica had the security program in its memory bank but that the computers on board aren't networked so the Cylons electronic hacking wouldn't cause a system-wide failure. Baltar was still instructed to remove all traces of the program nonetheless.

The Mark VII Vipers were shut down because they were heavily dependent on the computer program that Baltar had allowed Number Six/The Cylons access to, so they were susceptible to the electronic hacking. The Mark VII Vipers were probably manufactured elsewhere outside Adama's control and given the program as Fleet standard.
The older Mark II Vipers didn't have the program so they weren't affected.

I'm sure you could assume that Adama ordered all the Mark VII Vipers to be stripped of the program sometime in the days between the miniseries & the series proper, or during one of the 33 minute cycles since they would be needed. At any rate Baltar didn't seem to take too long removing the program from Galactica's memory bank. Either way, I think it's slightly on the side of nit-picking to expect the Viper debugging to be given screentime, even though a throw-away line would've been nice

AngryBadger

I thought the galactica only had Mark II vipers? And since they were just sitting in a museum, they never had the program loaded, where di all these mark VII references come from?

Nukem

AngryBadger wrote:

I thought the galactica only had Mark II vipers? And since they were just sitting in a museum, they never had the program loaded, where di all these mark VII references come from?

Eh the Mark VII is the latest and the MArk II is the old one fomr the old series.
The Mark VII was affected and then stripped of the comp hardware as were all the other ships in the fleet
(well at least thats what you are to think i presume) Other wise every time they were attacked they'd be sitting ducks????

Thats my view - Anybody got anymore views?

secret_squirrel

AngryBadger wrote:

I thought the galactica only had Mark II vipers? And since they were just sitting in a museum, they never had the program loaded, where di all these mark VII references come from?

In the mini series we saw a squadron of mark vii vipers from Galactica

blown to pieces

whilst apollo and others were poncing about in mark ii's for the flyby. The Raptor flown by Boomer then tells the Galactica that the mark vii's arent any good coz they are compromised. So everyone then runs around getting the mark ii's ready.

However we can assume that not every mark vii the galactica had was in the one squadron - therefore there are at least some spares for the pilots to fly in the series.

BTW I got the impression that since Galactica was going to be a museum that there were examples of every viper model in the hangar bay - Im also sure some of the hangar shots in the miniseries had more than 2 distinct viper marks. But this could also be wishful thinking on my part. I also got the impression that Apollo's viper (his dads old one) was the oldest there and was therefore a mark i, whilst the rest of the flyby contained a mix of mark ii's and above. But again it could just be me brain playing tricks on me.

Fenster

I've been thinking on the whole Amarak and Baltar thing and could it be that the Cylons regard the Six who is with Baltar a traitor? After all, she's admitted she's in love with him and has helped him on several occasions...such as providing the number of Cylons infiltrator models, the device in CIC, etc.

Amarak didn't get mentioned until the Olympic Carrier jumped back in, at which point it had been captured by the Cylons and filled with nukes.

So it could be that they're trying to get at Six through Baltar. I'm basing this on the fact that later on in the season there's an episode where Six turns up on the Galactica and accuses Baltar of being a traitor.

savemejebus

Really liked the first episode, much more so than the mini series, though i think that the mark VII vipers look like crap beside the mark II( they look like the bastard child of a viper and the mir spacestation.)

Gummy Panda

When baltar is i the command centre he says that the cylons used his navigational program to invade the ships systems. But the program was never loaded into Galactica's main memory so Baltar wipes all references of it from their databanks. The guy who calculates the jumps informs him that he'll retrofit the new vipers aswell.

so thats how they can now use mark VII!!

The Corinthian

secret_squirrel wrote:

I would guess 'GOD' is going to be the cylon mainframe or something.

The original series started going all mystical towards the end; it introduced the enigmatic Count Iblis (played by Patrick Macnee, better known for the Avengers) who turned out to be some form personification of the Devil and Baltar recognizes his voice as that of the Cylon Emperor.

Of course, that was the old series...

Did like the base stars - although would have liked more than a 10 second view at them.

If you only catch a glimpse of them, they remain all the more wonderous/frightening. Ridley Scott did much the same with the original xenomorph in Alien.

Also Dr Gaius is the spit of Dr Bashir from DS9 dont you think? Very simlar character too - although I do like his evil/selfish side.

I actually thought it was the same actor at first, although apparently not:

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0130536/
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0796502/

As for his evil/selfish side, that’s because he’s a sociopath. In the pilot he was quite coldly willing to sacrifice someone he believed to be innocent rather than admit his part in the Cylon invasion.

monkeyfudge

The Corinthian wrote:

As for his evil/selfish side, that’s because he’s a sociopath. In the pilot he was quite coldly willing to sacrifice someone he believed to be innocent rather than admit his part in the Cylon invasion.

He's not all bad though. Remember when they were having the lottery to see who would be able to escape on the ship. He had the opportunity to use the old woman's number, but he couldn't do it.

The Corinthian

monkeyfudge wrote:

He's not all bad though. Remember when they were having the lottery to see who would be able to escape on the ship. He had the opportunity to use the old woman's number, but he couldn't do it.

I never said he was perfect

Ivan

secret_squirrel wrote:

Am I the only person who liked andromeda?

I quite like it too. Once you strip away all the crap Kevin Sorbo as Executive Producer has added (may not be his fault but its easier to blame him)

Episodes S01E05 & S01E06 alone make the show worth watching.

Especially when you watch how they tie in with the overall story arc, later on in the series.

Some fantastic episodes and some poor filler ones. Reminds me alot of Babylon 5 in many ways, but thats a debate for another day.

Already commented on the episode "33" on the "water" episode thread, didnt notice this one

secret_squirrel

monkeyfudge wrote:

He's not all bad though. Remember when they were having the lottery to see who would be able to escape on the ship. He had the opportunity to use the old woman's number, but he couldn't do it.

He also wanted the ship blown up in 33 simply because it had the scientist on that could prove him evil :eek:

Fenster

secret_squirrel wrote:

He also wanted the ship blown up in 33 simply because it had the scientist on that could prove him evil :eek:

Indeed. 1,300 civilians had to die if what he did was to remain secret and he got upset over the possibility of getting uncovered.

Ivan

The Corinthian wrote:

I never said he was perfect

In fairness, it seemed the reason he didnt steal the old womans ticket was because he thought they were accusing him of something. He seemed very defensive when he said she won. Also perhaps as an attempt to redeem himself to himself.
Which at the end of the day is just another form of selfishness. So I think you could say, he is perfect

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yeah, he did look *very* worried when the pilot dude recognised him.. he seemed to want to draw the attention away from himself and on to her.