Battlestar Galactica Blu-ray review

This review is about the product itself, and not the Battlestar Galactica series. If you are reading this, chances are you like Battlestar Galactica enough to be considering purchasing the Limited Edition Blu-ray boxset so I am sure you would rather not hear another Battlestar Galactica fanboy pouring praises on his blog.

Picture quality is brilliant when played back on my PS3. The 1080p transfer is fantastic and I am delighted to finally be able to watch my favourite Sci-Fi series in HD. There is a real problem with noise, but I attribute that to the limitation set by the digital cameras used to film the. There are also film scratches and grains (probably intentional) that can be seen from time to time though that is not a Blu-ray limitation but more about Universal not archiving one of their better investment properly.

Audio is available in the form of 5.1 DTS-HD.

The series comes in a tin box. Not very practical, but the Cylon on the front is pretty. It is actually taller than a DVD case, so you would not be able to store them in purposed built DVD shelves.

But here's the real (physical) problem - the discs are stored in multiple red plastic holders that are itself stored inside cardboard sleeves. Removing the discs from the sleeves can be difficult as they are too tight. In fact I had to damage one of the sleeves in order to gain access to the discs. So be prepared to destroy your limited edition boxset if you want to watch it. If Universal had any sense they will send out replacement disc cases - as there are plenty of space inside the tin case to keep proper sized Blu-ray cases.

The first season here is actually the American version, and not the UK version with the more superior opening music, so that is another thing to keep in mind - but to me it is only a minor issue. If there is one upside to the package, it is that the discs are region free making importing and exporting a breeze.

The biggest issue I had with the 'Complete Series' boxset however is the lack of 'The Plan', the final TV movie in the Battlestar Galactica series. Sure, it aired after the final episode was aired, but is still pretty much the same series - it shares the same cast for one and the same production company and storyline. So I am pretty peeved that my Battlestar Galactica 'The Complete Series' isn't actually complete and that I have to pay more to get it actually complete. I suspect Universal will re-release another ‘Ultimate Complete’ version. Gullible consumers will probably gobble it up, but I'll resist.

+ brilliant series
+ great picture quality
+ region free
- silly packaging
- pretty pricey

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 OST cover art and track list

One thing you can almost from every Battlestar Galactica fans to agree upon is the brilliant score by Bear McCreary. My personal favourite is season three's soundtrack, but rest assured all three soundtracks are worth buying and listening to.

Bear McCreary has finally confirmed that the two-disc season four/finale soundtrack will be released next month on 21 July. According to Bear, the second disc will include virtually every second of the "Daybreak" score and almost all tracks will be "nice and long", with one in excess of 15 minutes!

DISC 1:

1. Gaeta’s Lament “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner”
2. The Signal “Revelations”
3. Resurrection Hub “The Hub”
4. The Cult of Baltar “He That Believeth in Me” and “Escape Velocity”
5. Farewell Apollo “Six of One”
6. Roslin Escapes “Blood on the Scales”
7. Among the Ruins “Sometimes a Great Notion”
8. Laura Runs “A Disquiet Follows My Soul”
9. Cally Descends “The Ties That Bind”
10. Funeral Pyre “Sometimes a Great Notion”
11. Roslin and Adama Reunited “The Hub”
12. Gaeta’s Lament (Instrumental) “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner”
13. Elegy “Someone to Watch Over Me”
14. The Alliance “Revelations”
15. Blood on the Scales “The Oath” and “Blood on the Scales”
16. Grand Old Lady “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”
17. Kara Remembers “Someone to Watch Over Me”
18. Boomer Takes Hera “Someone to Watch Over Me”
19. Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1 “Someone to Watch Over Me”
20. Diaspora Oratorio “Revelations”

DISC 2 "DAYBREAK":

1. Caprica City, Before the Fall
2. Laura’s Baptism
3. Adama in the Memorial Hallway
4. The Line
5. Assault on the Colony
Featuring Raya Yarbrough, vocals
6. Baltar’s Sermon
7. Kara’s Coordinates
8. Earth
9. Goodbye Sam
10. The Heart of the Sun
Contains “Theme from Battlestar Galactica”
by Stu Phillips and Glen A. Larson
11. Starbuck Disappears
12. So Much Life
13. An Easterly View
14. The Passage of Time

You can pre-order the epic season four soundtrack now from Amazon.com or Amazon UK

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak part two (spoilers)

I'll be lying if I said I haven't shed a tear. Such is the greatness of the Battlestar Galactica (2004) franchise and its profound effects it has on me. Sure, it is just television, but boy was it great television. Nothing comes close to BSG.

Like the previous episode (the first part of "Daybreak"), the finale is intertwined with flashbacks of main characters. Not an awful decision I have to admit, but I did have my doubts about the air time. Some previous plot holes were plugged, and it is nice seeing Tory getting her comeuppance. The CGIs were actually underwhelming actually. I do hope they fix those in the DVD or Blu-Ray release - especially those old school Centurions.



Best part of the finale? Too many to list. It had that good feel ending, where everyone finally settled down (even Helo!) but also some emotional moments. The scene where Adama realises that Roslin was dead was just heart wrenching to watch. It would be daylight robbery if Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnel does not win any awards for this finale. Oh, and Cavil going "frak", then blasting his head off was also memorable.

I do have a little beef with the way it ended. I do not buy Apollo's reasoning that the only way of ending the cycle of violence is through the total abandonment of technology. To me that is just too cheesy and unrealistic. First they had no proof that Cavil's forces were totally wiped out, and second, no matter how sincere people are, they would not just abandon their comfort (at least forever).

Still, I love the finale, and I love BSG even more. It wasn't the greatest ending (nothing will ever come close to beating Six Feet Under's finale), but at least it tied up some loose ends, even if it took some pretty uneven writing to do so.

8/10

Adama chastised the UN regarding 'race'

Too frakking right.

So say we all.

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak part one

Oh no. Come this Saturday, Battlestar Galactica will be no more. Sure, we still have The Plan to look forward to, and possibly the Caprica spin-off, but there will be no more new story of BSG75. I am actually pretty sad about this...

The first part of "Daybreak" revisits the pre-war lives of some of BSG's principal cast. Kinda a bit like Lost, but a bit less convulted. We get to witness the characters life coming full circle from their pre-Cylon happy lives to their impending doom (sort of given that the majority will indeed die). Already the episode has confirmed to me that Boomer will redeemn herself by saving Hera, possibly getting herself killed in the process. Baltar on the other hand has proven himself that he remained unchanged since the mini-series (he did not volunteer for the rescue mission), but I remained in hope that he eventually will.

Sigh, I've just realised how shit TV truly is. What after this? Apart from Dexter and Weeds, I have no idea. Heroes is on its deathbed, The Sarah Connor Chronicles goes from bad to worse and Dollhouse still hasn't got that Joss Weadon magic in it yet. And the fact that BSG's home, Sci Fi, has decided to rebrand itself as SyFy (and then insulting their audience) gives me no hope that any new good stuff can come from that channel.

Battlestar Galactica: Islanded in a Stream of Stars

Islanded in a Stream of Stars is a set up for the final battle between Galactica and Cavil's faction. There isn't much to write about. The Galactica battleship is dying, that much we knew about. I thought Kara Thrace taking the piss in front of Baltar was great. Slapping him in a later scene was even better.

I can still see hope of Boomer's redemption from her behaviour in the last episode. She has shown passion and the ability to care for someone other than her, thus a prove that she is no better a machine than Athena and Caprica Six. While I see no hope of her making out alive by the season's finale (with Athena probably kicking her ass), I do think she will redemn herself by sacrificing against Cavil. Well, at least I do hope.

Tahmoh Penikett was very impressive in this episode. We haven't been seeing a lot of Helo lately, and even in this episode his appearance was minimal. But Tahmoh's performance as a heartbroken Helo was just sublime. Finally Anders getting plugged into the Galactica like a hybrid is likely a plot device to have him jump the Galactica into Cavil's homeworld.

Anyway, two more episodes folks. Just two more. Try to savour the moment. I can now imagine how fans of Lost are feeling at the moment.

Battlestar Galactica: Someone to Watch Over Me

The nineteenth episode of the final series of Battlestar Galactica examined two different story arcs.

The first involved the Kara Thrace, who seems to be slowly breaking down. Helped by a mysterious piano player at Galactica's local bar, we see traces of Kara's past regarding her father. Kara and the piano player uses a drawing of stars, given to Kara by Hera, to create musical notes that happened to coincide with the All Along the Watchtower sequence heard by four of the Final Five. The storyline ends when Kara realises that the piano player never existed and Saul and Tory confronting her about the sequence.



Meanwhile at the brig, Boomer tricked Galen into helping her escape. The Chief's run of bad choices continues as he kills another Eight which he uses to swap with Boomer at the brig. Any hope of redemption by fans of Boomer is dash as she kicks Athena's ass, fraks Helo, kidnaps Hera and finally caused some nasty damages to Galactica as she FTLs away to Cavil.

All in all, I quite enjoyed this episode. I am glad that the producers are finally tackling Starbuck's arc. Hopefully we will see a resolution within the next episode, due this Friday. I was however disappointed by Boomer's action. Still I am looking forward to Athena getting her revenge.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock

As expected the final five Cylons finally reunites, and just as we were starting to warm up to Ellen, she goes all sluttish on us again. Still at least we have Boomer back! Oh, I can't wait for a Boomer/Athena showdown, though I do not mind her getting back with Galen. Speaking of Galen, I found him to be out of character in Deadlock when he voted with Tory that the Cylons should abandon the fleet.

Overall a pretty weak episode, in my opinion. For example Adama arming Baltar's cult seems to be a rather foolish act by the Admiral. Hopefully this is merely a set up for a grand final episodes.

Battlestar Galactica: No Exit

So it has finally come to this. For four years we have waited and finally today the history of Cylon skinjobs was revealed in this episode. The revelation that the final five, who originally hailed from Earth, were creators of the Cylon skinjobs is pretty plausible even if it is pretty obvious that the writers are sort of making them up as they go along...

The relationship between Ellen, the brain behind the technology, and Brother Cavil (whom she refers as John) is particularly intriguing. The episode features some memorable scenes such as when Cavil in his best Agent Smith of The Matrix persona attempts to justify his hatred and vengence against the human race, hating his organic and limited humanoid ability in contrast to his other Cylon ancestors (the Centurions).

It would be interesting to see where Battlestar Galactica heads next. The fact that the ship itself will be repaired using Cylon basestar biological material itself will no doubt be used as a plot device within the final five episodes. I also can't wait to see Adama's reaction when he finally comes face to face with Boomer.

Then there is the revelation that there is yet another boxed 13th Cylon model (number seven) dubbed as 'Daniel', whom many has speculated to be either Starbuck or Baltar. I have my theories which you can read on my Twitter feed.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood on the Scales

This episode concludes the Zarek/Gaeta mutiny two-parter arc that began in The Oath. Personally I found it to be a less than satisfying episode due to the speed in which the mutiny was defeated. Do not get me wrong, I do not want to see the coup arc stretched seeing that there are only six episodes left. But I do want to see some resolution - like what will happen to Seelix, Racetrack and all the other mutineers. Hopefully such deleted scenes will make it to the DVD/Blu-Ray box-set.

Despite my issues this episode still have some great memorable scenes. Everybody will remember the performance of Mary McDonnell as a now battle hardened Laura Roslin, whose speech from the Basestar frightens Gaeta and even gains the respect from the rebel Cylons. The final conversation between Gaius Baltar and Felix Gaeta was also an effective way of saying goodbye to the traitor.

Battlestar Galactica: The Oath

Adama and Tigh looks pretty bad ass. That's all I will say about this episode.

Battlestar Galactica: A Disquiet Follows My Soul

The 14th episode (or 12th not counting Razor) of the final season of Battlestar Galactica is actually the directorial début of series creator Ronald D. Moore. Like the previous episode, A Disquiet Follows My Soul is a bottle episode, meaning it is relatively action-free episode with very few special effects. In this episode we see the crew of Galactica and the fleet increasingly frustrated by the discovery of Earth as well as Adama's decision to alliance with the rebel Cylons. The need to upgrade the Colonial fleet's FTL technology, that would mean the boarding of the ships by Cylons, also causes a political fallout with Tom Zarek leading a revolt.

Re-cap (with spoilers)

• Galen Tyrol isn't the biological father of Cally's child. Hera thus remains the first and only Human-Cylon child.
  
• Nicky's real biological father is Hot Dog.
• Roslin seems to have given up. She is also bald.
• Zarek leads a revolt in the quarom and a vote bars Cylons from entering the fleet without prior permission.
  
• Felix accuses Kara as a Cylon colloborator. I wished she socked him then and there.
  
• The Trylium ship jumps away under orders by Zarek, though it was quickly recaptured.
  
• Felix proposes a mutiny with Zarek.
  
• Adama and Roslin gets it on.

Battlestar Galactica: Sometimes A Great Notion re-cap

Holy frak.

The 13th episode (or 11th not counting Razor) of the final season of Battlestar Galactica did not disappoint. I know that some has been lamenting the lack of cohesive direction the series has been heading, but boy am I happy that finally some questions are finally being answered even as new ones are being created. The revelation of the last Cylon may prove significant just yet (and I have a theory on that - see below). But with just nine full-lenght episodes to go I question whether or not the series can afford to play around with new plots and story arcs. We will see.



Some spoiler-free re-cap:

• Earth was nuked, that much we have always known - but how long ago was revealed.
• Starbuck and Leoben finds something that freaks Starbuck.
• For the first time ever Leoben looks genuinely puzzled and frightened.
• Tyrol remembers something.
• Anders remembers something.
• Tigh remembers something.

Proper re-cap (the one with the spoilers)

• Earth was nuked 2000 years ago.
• All bones so far has been found to have once belonged to Cylons.
• Basically the 13th Colony were Cylons. Earth's humans were Cylons. Just a different form of Cylons to the one the Colonies created.
  
• Starbuck and Leoben finds the wreckage of Starbuck's Viper, and her charred remains.
• Dee gets back together with Lee for one final date, then kills herself.
  
• Tyrol, Anders, Tigh, Tory lived on Earth 2000 years ago.
  
• William Adama, griefed stricken, did not succed in killig himself via a Cylon. Great scene.
• Ellen is the fifth Cylon.

Some theories:

• Earth's Cylons can reborn, or at least the so-called final fives.
• In fact Ellen is being reborn. She is the baby inside Caprica Six.
• Kara isn't a Cylon, but she isn't human either. My guess is she is the first Cylon/Human hybrid.
  
• The ones who nuked Earth were humans, possibly Colonists. If not a schism has developed between the Earth's Cylons (who by then has forgotten they were Cylons).
• There is no 'Final Five', everyone is a Cylons. In fact we will see Dee, Cally, Billy, pretty much everyone whom we thought was frakked - back. Lame but Cally kicking Tory's ass would be wonderful.
  

Battlestar Galactica: Season Four review + recap

If you remember correctly, I named the third season of Battlestar Galactica as my favourite television series of 2007, and with good reasons. Even despite facing other numerous quality television shows like Dexter season two, Weeds season two and especially Heroes season one, Battlestar Galactica remains the single biggest television event that year. The lost and re-emergence of Kara, Gaious political fall out and the unveiling of four of the Final Five were brilliant television moments.

Season four of Battlestar Galactica, like the majority of shows coming out from America early this year, has been hampered by the writer’s strike. However unlike the second season of Heroes, the makers of the series has done the admirable thing by not speeding things up to close plot holes and instead set up a brilliant finale for season 4.2/5. The DVD boxset contains all 10 episodes from the rudely interrupted season four in addition to the Razor extended cut version that I reviewed last week.


Despite some criticism levelled at season four by the critics, I can honestly say I love it. The series has been slowing down for a while and is very evident in season four that the makers are taking their time flushing out minor background characters, storyline and the frailty of humanity. It is great for character building, which is something other writers should take note off rather than introducing tons of new characters every episode, only to kill them off soon after.

Recap with spoilers follows:

Season four begins immediately following the return of Kara Thrace as we’ve seen during the cliffhanger finale of season three. Despite being presumed missing and dead for months, she claimed to have only been absent for six hours. Even more importantly and bizarely to the fleet at least, she claimed that she has been to Earth. Naturally, with the exception of Lee Amada, the fleet suspects her as a Cylon and Kara was immediately placed under arrest.


In the meantime Gaius Baltar has since taken up residence with a group of females who quickly places him as some sort of prophet. Gaius being Gaius, adapts accordingly and his religious message soon spreads like a plague throughout the fleet. Perhaps a commentary on religious cult in itself, a episode even featured Gaius retaliating a rival mainstream religious sitting. Oh Gaius, how will you entertain us when the series end. The four of the last Five: Saul Tigh, Samuel Anders, Tory Foster and Galen Tyrol has since taken to having discreet meetings to discuss their plight as humanoid Cylons. Tigh, in a show of passion alliance with the humans, declares that he will never betray the fleet.

The Cylons on the other hand have a far greater problem to deal with than petty religious civil war. They have learnt that the Final Five Cylon models are on the Galactica, but Brother Cavil (Number One) is having none of that. Instead he intends on lobotomising Raiders against the wishes of Sixs and Eights whom later staged a coup against Cavil by removing the A.I. limiter on the Centurions. This soon descends into a full out civil war between the two warring Cylon factions.


Despite misgivings by the administrations, Kara is eventually given command of the ship Demetrius in search for Earth. Lee on the other hand has joined the Quorum, though the political uproar remained centred around the discovery by media on the (secret) military assignment by Starbuck. Our favourite drunk Colonel Tigh has also developed a bizarre relationship with Caprica Six, whom we later learn in the final episodes to be carrying a baby Cylon - his baby Cylon. Tory, the other humanoid Cylon, instead murders Cally through the Galactica's air lock when she discovered that Cally was on to them.

Back at the Demetrius, the crew encounters Leoben Conoy who informs Kara about the need for her to seek the Cylon Hybrid. After battling through a mutiny, and finally convincing the crew, Starbuck goes to check out Leoben’s damaged Basestar. Upon arriving at the Basestar graveyard, the crew is met by the rebel Cylons seeking a truce with the humans. The rebel Cylons are now truly lame ducks, especially a couple of Number Eights. A couple of deaths later, they agree to meet the Galactica to table their proposal.


The rebel Cylons and humans are naturally wary of each other (who wouldn't?). However despite having trust issues, the alliance agrees on a mission to destroy the Cylon resurrection hub and capture D’Anna Biers (Number Three), who is said by the Hybrid Cylon to have seen the last Five. Athena almost cocked up the mission by killing the rebel leader Natalie because of a vision she had about her child Hera being taken away by a Number Six and Gaius, the same vision that the President had and was predicted to happen by Number Six in Kobul. The mission did not go smoothly due to a jump happy Hybrid, but it was successful nonetheless, even a tender loving moment when Roslin saved the preacher despite his insane admission and self-attempt of exonerating his (partial) guilt. Eventually Roslin declares her love for William Adama, who quipped back romantically "about time". Ahh... (bulgh)

In a slightly cramped out finale, Biers holds President Roslin hostage while demanding for the four of the Final Five Cylons from Galactica. Three of the four (Tory Foster has already defected to the Cylons) are drawn to the Viper Kara was in when she returned from the 'death'. Despite Biers threatening to kill all the hostages, Lee (who now knows the identity of the remaining three) uses Saul as a bargaining chip by threatening to execute him. In what is a slightly cliché scene, Kara upon inspecting her Viper and finding that it was capable of picking up a faint signal that possibly originated from Earth, dashes through the ship and halts the execution in the nick of time. Go Starbuck!


After a bit of soul searching, Lee Adama and D’Anna Biers agrees to form an alliance seeking Earth together. The fleet of former enemies FTL’ed to Earth with Admiral Amada at the helm, jubilant that their three year journey in search of the mythical 13th colony has finally come to an end. A band of humans and Cylons flew down to the surface and lands in what is left of a desolated city (New York?), now ruined in the waste of nuclear winter. While the ending was rather expected particularly when you have a good 10 episodes and a TV film left, it was still a rather good cliffhanger. Still, the key question remained - what happened to Earth?

Season four has some misses even some absurdity that threatened to derail it, but on a whole proved to be extremely entertaining. It isn't a classic season like the first two - that remains to be seen, but I am optimistic that the writers and producers can deliver a script that will satisfy us all. The DVD boxset comes with four disc over three plastic thin cases (ugh). As I mentioned earlier the DVD set contains the Razor extended version with audio commentary and seven webisodes detailing the final day of the first Cylon war through the eyes of a young William 'Husker' Adama.


Battlestar Galactica remains the pivotal television programme of our time, a series that transcends anything we've seen yet in both drama and social commentary. I personally can't wait for season five, though being a person who is reluctant to subscribe to Sky or cable, I'll likely have to wait for the DVD boxset to be released. In either case do not, for the frakking world, miss this. So say we all.

Key summary

• The fleet thinks that Kara has gone all apeshit, or worse, is actually a Cylon
• Gaius Baltar is now a religious cult leader
• The Cylons has descended into civil war
• Apollo seeks new political challenge
• Starbuck goes mental searching for a way to earth
• Felix loses something
• Felix can sing
• The final Cylon isn't on the Galactica, or so we were led to believe
• The rebel Cylons and humans forms an alliance
• They find Earth not that appealing really

Season: 8/10
DVD Boxset: 9/10

Battlestar Galactica: Razor DVD review

Battlestar Galactica: Razor is a rather good made for TV/DVD film that is actually accessible for both none-BSG fans and established fans alike. While fans of the re-imagined series will likely enjoy Razor the most, none-fans will probably find themselves intrigued by the mythology while at the same time is rewarded with a film that brings actual closure to the Pegasus mini-arc. Fans on the other hand will be happy to be given additional plot information concerning season four.


While Razor premiered between the end of season three and four, the events of the film is actually set around the Pegasus battlestar arc of season two. It covers Lee 'Apollo' Adama's helm as Pegasus's Commanding Officer and new character Kendra Shaw as the ship's X.O. The film also weaves through two past events (through flashbacks), that of Kendra Shaw's service during Admiral Helena Cain's reign at Pegasus ten months before as well as the events surrounding the then Viper pilot William Adama and the young Cain during the final day of the first Cylon war.


Lee Adama as the new commander of the Pegasus battlestar decides to recruit Kendra Shaw as his X.O. due to her connection to the late Admiral Cain. Kendra, we learn, is a bit of a lame duck who tends to hide her feelings very well. At no one time did I feel much connection with her character, but that is just as well as we continue unravelling the deeds she performed under the command of Admiral Cain. Ten months before Lee's takeover, Pegasus was nearly annihilated but through Admiral Cain, the crew rises through all though their methods were often questionable. A second sub-plot exists in the present day where the Pegasus stumbles upon a Cylon Basestar that happens to host defunct human Cylon hybrids that young Bill 'Husker' Adama himself witnessed being experimented upon during the first Cylon war.


Like other Battlestar Galactica episodes, Razor is a very competent Sci-Fi flick that far outstrips anything we've ever seen before (outside of Firefly of course). The plot is gritty and dirty, and isn't afraid of tackling issues we humans may deem as not worth talking about. While the story is very good, Razor is filled with unlikeable characters like the infamous and hypocritical Admiral Cain, but particularly the X.O. Kendra Shaw. It doesn't help that Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen plays the character rather stiffly and the lack of any sort of emotional response can be off putting. Special effects are wonderful, rivalling many big budget Hollywood feature films like Indiana Jones 4 and Star Wars I-III. The shaky camera effect also does lend an added realism to the series. We also get to see old school Cylon centurions but they were rather poor CGI to be honest.


The region two DVD itself is part of the first half of season four Battlestar Galactica boxset and makes up as the first two of season four episodes. You can also buy it standalone or rent it (like I did - though I am planning on getting season four - you can help). Picture quality is excellent as far as standard definition goes and the stereo soundtrack is supplemented with 5.1 Dolby Digital mix and commentary by series creator Ron Moore and writer Michael Taylor. Seven Razor flashbacks webisodes were also included, though they were already integrated into the extended feature.


Despite its flawed storyline and choice of narrative, Razor is a rather enjoyable DVD movie. It would be even better if it was released on Blu-Ray, but we all have to make do with what we have. If you are just getting into Battlestar Galactica I suggest you start from the mini-series upwards. But there is nothing wrong into watching Razor though, and if that gets you into the BSG lore then that is great. For the rest of you avoiding this series out of fear of watching more 'Sci-Fi cliché', well it is your lost.

8/10

Best of 2007: TV

It is December, so expect to see many 'Top 10' 'Best of' 'Worst of' and other useless blog fillers popping up here. First up: the best of 2007 television on offer (to me).


Ever since Firefly got cancelled, quality science fiction fans have very little to look forward to. Then came along the reboot of Battlestar Galactica and it changes how we perceive Sci-fi. Simply put it, its intelligent, engaging and character driven storyline, the third season of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica is not only the best Sci-fi drama - it is the best current television series period. I only pity the people who are missing this due to the negative genre stereotyping often associated with Sci-fi dramas.


After Dexter's battle with the Ice Truck Killer from season one, the truth of his inner demon gets closer to the surface - literally! Season two of Dexter isn't nearly as good as season one (review), but Dexter's subsequent creation of the Dark Defender and Doakes' uncovering our killer's night-time hobby means more quality airtime for our favourite anti-hero. Michael C. Hall as always continues to impress as one of the best TV actors in recent history.


There is no denying that season/volume one of Heroes was a great, if not a rather long TV spectacle. Heroes proved that the super hero genre does not need larger than life characters in colourful tights and red underpants to work well. It had all the ingredients for good TV: great writing, plots and characters that the audience can relate to. Even if you aren't into super hero genre, season one still deserves your attention. Too bad volume two is a bit of a whitewash.


Showtime's Weeds has got to be the most underrated American TV import this side of the Atlantic. It follows a mother who, after her husband dies, tries to maintain her middle class status by selling coke to her affluent law-abiding neighbours. Hilariously dark and highly recommended. This and Dexter are living proof that you do not need HBO to enjoy quality drama.

British:
Life on Mars season two

Animation:
Family Guy season five (six on DVD)

Factual:
Even for a person like me who doesn't give a toss about cars, Top Gear is just wildly entertaining and season ten does not disappoint.

Episode of the year:
Dexter "Morning Comes"

Actor of the year:
Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan, Dexter)

Actress of the year:
Marcia Cross (Bree Hodge, Desperate Housewives)

Supporting actor of the year:
Christian Camargo (Rudy Cooper, Dexter)

Supporting actress of the year:
Natascha McElhone (Karen van der Beek, Californication)

Villain of the year:
"Ice truck killer" (Dexter season one)

Hero of the year:
Hiro Nakamura (Heroes season one)

Character of the year:
Dexter Morgan (Dexter)

Funny clip of the year:
George Takei responds

Advertisement of the year:
Sony Bravia "PlayDoh"

Cliffhanger of the year:
Heroes "How to Stop an Exploding Man"