DVD Review: Battlestar Gallactica (Season 1)

Again this is the “New Battlestar Gallactica” rather than the original 1970’s version. The first season follows on from the “mini series” [see below] released a year earlier, and was shown on Sky during 2004.
This really follows the same theme as the mini series, introducing new story lines and interesting twists on the journey to find earth.
Baltar really takes a prominent role in the episodes in the way he is being controlled by the Cylon that exists in his head, and whether he believes in God or not. This is quite a hard thing to grasp, and could either be a interesting thread in the story, or a constant distraction to the action that makes Battlestar so good.
Many of the characters take on more of an active role almost having their own threads. This is well balanced so as not to overcomplicate the story, but creates more rewarding viewing.
I don’t watch much TV (watching more DVD’s both bought and rented) and so had only seen the first couple of episodes when they were on Sky. I watched most of these back to back either on the same day or within a couple of days of watching the previous one. As a result it’s noticeable that there are some significant jumps in time between some of the episodes. Many of the episodes leave bits unfinished and instead of bringing them to completion it just jumps ahead a few weeks / months so that they don’t have to finish tying up the loose ends. This is done to keep the next episode focused on the new story, and I’m sure works very well on TV where it’s a week before watching the next episode, but is a minor distraction when watching back-to-back.
I really enjoyed this season and can’t wait for the next one. Partly because of how entertaining it is, but also because it leaves a major cliff-hanger at then end of the last episode that I want to see how it works out. I strongly hope that there will be a happy conclusion to the cliff-hanger as I’m concerned it may damage the second season if not, but I can’t say anymore without spoiling the story.