Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3499 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-01-12
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 7
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 7
• Running time: 999 minutes

DVD Description
The seven-disc Complete Epic Series Box Set features all 24 x 45min episodes of the original series and is loaded with over 3.5 hours of newly produced and never-before-seen bonus features. The entire series has been re-mastered from original source materials for optimal picture and sound quality. It features both a newly created 5.1 Dolby Digital surround track and the original monotrack.

Special Features

• Interview with series creator Glen A. Larson
  
• x 14 deleted scenes (3 ½ hours in length)
  
• Making of … documentary
  
• Working with Daggit
  
• Inside Battlestar Galactica: The Cyclons
  
• Composing the Score
  
• Photo Gallery

DVD Technical Information:

• Running Time (features): 5 hours
  
• Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track/original monotrack

Synopsis
All 22 episodes of television's answer to Star Wars from 1978. In a far-away galaxy 12 tribes of humans live a peaceful existence on separate planets. They are totally unprepared for a devestating surprise attack from the evil Cylon Empire, as a result of which the survivors are forced to flee their homeworlds in a rag-tag fleet of ships protected by the one remaining Battlestar, Galactica. Harried by Cylons who send base ships to destroy what is left of the humans; the mission for the Galactica and its convoy is to find the fabled 13th tribe of humans who live on a distant planet called Earth, only their can they hope to find peace again.

Customer Reviews

A modern classic
Now that the modern remake of this series is rapidly becoming the next big thing in TV Sci-Fi, many people are going to be tempted to pick up this boxed set to find out how it all began. You can’t go wrong here – this represents astounding value for money, and a great opportunity to discover or rediscover a series that really does deserve its classic status. It even has some decent extras.

Battlestar Galactica was created in 1978 a year after the Star Wars, and was essentially a brazen attempt by ABC television to cash in on the mammoth unexpected success of that film. Under conditions that may never be repeated, it was suddenly considered viable to create a full-blown big-budget epic primetime family-oriented science fiction extravaganza with a budget of $1m per episode (big money in those days). The series ran for a total of 24 episodes before being canned due to its expense and sliding ratings, but it had a huge impact and is remembered with great fondness even by those who aren’t rabid fans.

The story draws inspiration from diverse mythical and religious sources, including Ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, the book of Exodus, and the Mormon upbringing of its creator Glen A. Larson. When the 12 colonies of man are annihilated by the robotic Cylons, the only surviving Battlestar, Galactica, assembles a small fleet of dilapidated civilian ships and makes a run for it with the survivors, hoping to find the legendary 13th tribe who may have settled on a distant, mythical planet called Earth.

The series is often criticised for endlessly recycling stock footage, especially during the space battles where this reaches almost unreasonable levels, and for its cheesiness (plenty of cute kids and robots in this one), but on the whole it’s much easier to forgive such faults in retrospect. It also benefits enormously from its arresting premise, strong plotting, and above all its nigh-on perfect casting. It’s worth watching the 24 episodes through as well, because it does improve as it goes along, and is serialised to a degree (on balance I can see why it lost viewers, but it works much better on DVD). Considering it ran for such a short time, it does a surprisingly thorough job of exploring its themes, so it’s debatable what its natural life would have been had it been allowed to continue. Towards the end it becomes more cerebral and interesting, as eventually Galactica moves beyond its own space and begins to encounter worlds and cultures that bear an eerie resemblance to modern Earth. After cancellation there was a short-lived follow-up series, Galactica 1980, in which the Galactica did in fact reach its destination, but it was so irredeemably awful through its 10 episodes that it’s not really considered canon and is probably best left buried.

There are several documentaries on the seventh disc featuring interviews with almost all of the surviving cast and crew. These are fairly entertaining and informative, especially the production footage which reveals how hard the back-projection was to pull off (it's a shame there isn't more on the effects). It’s clear that Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict are still bitter that the plug was pulled so early, and they express this with some eloquence. Both campaigned vigorously, independently, to bring it back. Hopefully the current darker, grittier, edgier and more realistic BSG will come to a happier end. But somehow I doubt it’ll ever match the optimism and charm of the original, which belongs to a completely different age.

Don't buy the movie if you get this!
As others have noted, the first three episodes in this box set are joined together into a single long film, which is equivalent to the 1978 movie that's available as a separate purchase.

However, what's interesting is that the version in this box set is considerably longer than the separate release: I think about 9 or 10 minutes longer.

The most obvious difference is the presence of an Epilogue at the end that shows what happens to Baltar. However, there are other extra or longer scenes interwoven into the entire film, such as an explanation of where the Cylons came from (it wasn't humans who created them).

All in all, if you buy this box set, don't waste your money on the separate 1978 movie release as well. This version is 'the same but better'.

Ahh I enjoyed this
I grew up on this throughout the 80s - Battlestar Galactica, Mission Galactica and Conquest of The Earth were 3 of my favourite films but i didnt realize as a youngster that they were all cobbled together from various episodes of the t.v. show. Ok its a bit hokey in places and you just wish for Jane Seymour's son and that godammn dog/daggit to be sucked out of the airlock but its still great! Personal favourite is Living Legend with Lloyd Bridges as guest star. Its also noticeable that many of the episodes blatantly borrowed plots from other movies ie Dirty Dozen, Towering Inferno and Shane but who cares. The cast is great but the real scene stealer is John Colicos as Baltar who really does chew the scenery as he plots the destruction of Dirk Benedict and Co. Quality of the episodes is pretty good and there are plenty of extras - the deleted scenes should keep you going for a while even if some of them do come-across as "i'm glad that didnt put that in the show" quality.
All we need now is the Batman and Buck Rogers TV shows out on DVD and we'll be well away