Battlestar Galactica (2003) Marathon on SyFy

Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama) is hot!

I only watched the first season, but I loved it.

Looks like SyFy is going to show all seasons.

The entire series, all in a row.

It's going to be a long haul!

The pilot miniseries and first season are incredible. The second season is solid. The third season has its ups and downs but it's still worth watching. The only reason to watch the fourth season is to see how it ends, but the ending is so terrible, you might want to skip it.

Any gay action, R4?

I remember the only thing I really liked was the episode where they found the lost city. Shame on the cute senator assistant leaving, because he thought he could do better with some comedy show that didn't get picked up.

It's a great improvement compared to the cheesy original series from the 1970s.

I watched the introductory miniseries and the first 2 seasons. Gritty, downbeat, large cast, complex characters, plot twists – it's a commitment. The show covered many themes that easily reflected the real world. The sci fi setting was only the framework.

Truly worth watching. Reboots of TV shows and movies should be more like this.

R5: Let's just say there was no "happy ending" for anyone, in all meanings of that phrase.

[quote] The sci fi setting was only the framework.

IMO that bothered me the most about the show. When I want to watch a syfy show I want syfy not some bait & switch BS. Same with Falling Skies starring Noah Whyle and Connor Jessup.

I don't mind the whole character drama when it doesn't make you feel like the showrunners are really embarrassed that they have to set it all up in space or in some fantasy medieval realm.

R5

An ancillary character gets a boyfriend in the fourth season, but it's pretty tame. They missed a lot of opportunities with the Cylons since they seem like they would be bisexual by default.

I thought it was easily one of the best shows on television. When it aired, post-9/11 hysteria was in full force. The show asked you to consider multiple uncomfortable perspectives about revolution, identity, justice. and torture. It was also exceptionally well acted. Because of Ronald D. Moore, I kept giving Outlander second chances until it was clearly the crappy kind of show people like r9 want to see.

r11, I hope one of these days the ending of BG makes you choke on your own self-righteous vomit.

[quote] it's a commitment.

That's what I was afraid of.

I can usually tell if I like a show or not, because I am instantly hooked to shows that I like.

I want to like BG because I loved the original series, but this one seems so much slower.

It's a commitment, indeed. However, I'm not sure that I can do it.

I've heard so many people say that Battlestar Galactica is such an awesome show, but nobody could explain why.

All they can say is that it's awesome.

So far, it just seems really slow. To me, at least.

I really enjoyed it. It's not your average sci-fi show - the performances alone raise it above your normal sci-fi series. A friend once described it as "The West Wing in space", which summed it up perfectly for me.

It can be slow in places, like any long-running show but I'd recommend it to anyone. Give it a go, OP - the worst that can happen is that you hate it and stop watching.

It’s terrific. R1 Jamie is hot. The cast is excellent.

"33," the first regular episode--which they positioned as a second pilot for people who had missed the miniseries--is honest to God one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen.

[quote]An ancillary character gets a boyfriend in the fourth season, but it's pretty tame. They missed a lot of opportunities with the Cylons since they seem like they would be bisexual by default.

Two of the female Cylons get into a throuple with a human character.

My favourite episode was the boxing episode in which Lee Adama and "Starbuck" relieve their sexual frustration by beating the shit out of each other. Absolutely stunning.

It’s annoying as fuck.

The show is a trashy space soap.

Great show, but the ending is a sucky cop-out almost as much as Lost. Watch it, and pretend the last 10-15 minutes don't happen.

Spoiler alert, Apollo and Anders don't fuck. Yeah, it sucks.

I’m not a big science fiction fan but I loved this show.

I loved the first season, but was disappointed in the following seasons, and by the last season, was really hating it, but hoping it would have a decent ending. It didn't.

My problem with this (and with The Wire) is that the first season gets you hooked into what you think are the main set of characters, who are largely ignored in following seasons and/or shown to be more than flawed characters, they're total assholes, while the focus is on the bad guys, most of whom are the same, so they are boring.

Loved it. Amazing cast, including DL faves Lucy Lawless and Michelle Forbes. Well worth your time, until the ending, which is incredibly terrible.

I watched the mini series and first three seasons on DVD. That was the perfect way to watch it. I wouldn’t have made it if I had to slog through commercials. I struggled to get through the fourth season because I had to watch it weekly, with commercials.

Very few programs ever went from so excellent to so terrible four seasons. The first season is amazing, the second terrific, the third good, and then it falls apart. So just don't watch the last season -- them third has kind of ending to it, and it's far better than the actual ending.

R23 Yes and my favorite Mary McDonnell. Jamie Bamber was young and delicious, Callum Keith Rennie bad and hot. All acted their parts very well.

R25 I am in tiny minority because I liked the ending and how it united faith and evolution. The final opera scene (no spoilers! for those who haven’t seen it) is total revelation. How about the biggest revelation of the entire series (S4E11. Again, no spoilers!) I admit season 4 was messy but there were some excellent scenes.

[quote] I’m not a big science fiction fan but I loved this show.

That's funny, because I'm a huge science fiction fan, and I'm not liking it.

I really need more sci-fi, for it to be interesting.

[quote] I wouldn’t have made it if I had to slog through commercials

SyFy Channel must have realized this, because they're doing the marathon with very limited commercials.

Personally, that makes it harder to watch, because it's a lot to take in over the course of 24 hours or more (not sure how long the marathon will last).

It's [italic]so[/italic] good, but only up until mid season 3. As soon as you hear the words "final five", prepare for the downslide. With that said, there are some great moments in season 4, just fewer than previous seasons. The ending is also.... meh.

A great series, when it was over I didn’t think I’d see something as good again. I don’t particularly remember the last season being a mess, but it’s been a long time since I watched it.

I don’t agree that the last season was a mess. Rollercoaster rides can’t keep up forever. I found the Baltar/Apollo resolution to be an outcome that was challenging to accept, for all the right reasons. The lines between heroes and villains was complex - maybe a lot of people found that frustrating or anticlimactic. It really captured the Bush era.

I can't wait to see the Sci-Fi show that's going to the be the BSG of COVID.

I really LOVED the first 3 seasons, it went all to hell after that.

Thank God for the actors, they helped to make the final seasons somewhat watchable.

Did Jamie Bamber last through the entire series?

R34 He's not in a towel nearly enough.

Jamie Bamber looks like he'd be the perfect little muscle bottom - too bad he's str8.

Tahmoh Penickett was the one who kept me motor running.

BSG marathons will lead you to ruin!

[quote] Tahmoh Penickett was the one who kept me motor running.

Me too, R37!

Except that I know him from Supernatural, and not BSG.

He only got one season on Supernatural, but I had no idea that he was a regular on BSG, or I would have watched it the first time it aired.

I have a huge crush on Tahmoh. lol

Is Tahmoh gay?

44 and not married. He always kind of set off my gaydar.

Sam Anders always looked like he'd fuck a guy cross-eyed.

Anders? Yes.

He was the one I noticed more than the others, and there were several attractive men on that show.

Thanks for reminding me, R41!

Tahmoh was also the male lead on Dollhouse.

Jamie Bamber is still looking very handsome in the between episode reminiscences.

It can’t be said enough how bad the ending was. If the show were more seen and mainstream it’d get regularly ranked as one of the worst of all time. The suggestions to stop before the final season is the best advice. Sackoff apparently getting to decide how her character ended (and the behind the scenes drama leading up to it) speaks to how idiotic the writers’ thinking.

I really prefer the original Battlestar Galactica.

It was way more science fiction oriented, and that's why people loved it in the first place.

Plus, there were really hot guys. I had a huge crush on Apollo, and often fantasized about Apollo and Starbuck getting it on.

Everything about the original was much cooler than the re-boot.

BG is one of my all-time favorite shows. It is well-acted. It is a four season rumination on faith and religious belief with a great conclusion.

We used to talk about it all the time at DL. I can't believe how long I've been coming here.

R45 Or Farscape, where the advice is to stop about 1 minute before the end of the last episode. Granted, they did a TV movie to fix things, but still.

I've been trying to watch this show for the past two days. I really wanted to like it, but I just can't.

IT'S SOOOOOOOO BORING!

I'm trying to see what you all see in it, but I just don't see it. It's just long, boring dialogue, and not very interesting personal relationships. No matter how hard I try, I just can't get invested. Then I end up changing the channel and watching something else.

It almost feels like torture, watching this show.

And don't even get me started on the lack of science fiction elements.

If you like scifi, you'll love it.

If you like drama but aren't a big fan of scifi, you'll like it.

It's depressing as hell which is why I don't really rewatch it.

Can people who think the ending is so terrible provide an explanation of why? Or what would have been more satisfying?

It was about technology overrunning humanity. In the end, humanity merged with their technology and started again from scratch. Unlike the Breaking Bad finale, which betrayed the show’s roots to satisfy the fan base’s lowest common denominator, BSG was true to what it always was.

R49, then don’t watch it. This is not a homework assignment.

I'm a huge fan of BSG and have seen the entire series three or four times. I'm also one of the people who loved everything about the series finale, even the wildly unexpected (or unexplained) parts.

In my experience, a new viewer only needs to watch the two-part Miniseries and the first episode of season one ("33") in order to know if they'll want to continue with the show. If you haven't enjoyed what you've seen in that first 2.5 hours (or so), then by all means, stop watching.

I can't imagine how it's possible to find this show boring.

Did they ever reach Earth, like the original series did?

I know this is a cryptic response, R55, but reaching Earth (or not reaching Earth) is quite the roller-coaster ride twists in the re-imagined series.

R40 and other Tahmoh enthusiasts, it seems he is not gay. He keeps things private I guess but is in a relationship with a professional stuntwoman, they have a kid or two.

The finale will be early tomorrow morning.

The BSG marathon will be followed by a Xena: Warrior Princess marathon on SyFy.

Ugh.

I'm watching the episode where they just arrived at Earth.

So what the fuck happened to the planet?

What year did they supposedly arrive on Earth, where it's a desolate waste land?

they explain it. Keep watching. Personally like I LOVED the first 2.5 seasons. Then it goes down hill.

Prepare to have your mind blown, R59, in the next episode ("Sometimes a Great Notion").

R61 the biggest revelations, there are two, of the series

Am I the only one who thinks that James Callis is kinda cute?

I know he's a pocket gay, but still......

Yes, R63.

He's one of only three guys on the show who I thought was attractive.

Jamie Bamber and Tahmoh Penikett being the other two.