Blu-ray Box Set Review: 'Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series' (UK Import)

On September 21, 2009, Universal Studios Home Entertainment (UK) released Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series, a 20-disc Blu-ray collection that presents all four seasons of the 2003-2009 "reimagined" military science fiction television series that originally aired on the Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Channel. Based on Glen A. Larson's original Battlestar Galactica TV series that aired on ABC during the 1978-79 season, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's was grittier, darker, and was geared for a more adult audience than its 1970s forerunner. 

The plot of Moore and Eick's re-imagined Battlestar Galactica follows the outline's of Larson's original version. In a distant corner of our galaxy, humans live in the star system of Kobol, on 12 planets they call the Colonies. The Colonials have developed faster-than-light space travel, advanced electronics, and even a race of highly intelligent robots called Cylons that serve many of their needs. 

"The Cylons Were Created by Man. They Rebelled. They Evolved. They Look and Feel Human. Some are programmed to think they are Human. There are many copies. And they have a Plan." - Season One opening title cards.

Starting with the 2003 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries and continuing with the series that followed, Battlestar Galactica chronicles the Second Cylon War and its aftermath. After the Colonials defeated the Cylons in a long and bitter war, the two sides signed an armistice and the Cylons broke all contact with their former human masters. The resulting "peace" held for many years, and the Colonies eventually decided to demobilize most of their fleet, including the aging battlestar Galactica, which is to be preserved as a museum ship. 

But the unsuspecting Colonies are doomed. Unwittingly aided by an egotistical scientist, Gaius Baltar (James Callis), Cylon operative Six (Tricia Helfer) accesses the Colonial defense computer system and tampers with it to facilitate a devastating nuclear attack against all twelve worlds in the system. Of a population that once numbered in the billions, only 50,000 men, women, and children survive the Cylon holocaust. 

The surviving humans flee their home solar system aboard a ragtag fleet of civilian spaceships, protected by the only remaining battlestar, Commander William Adama's (Edward James Olmos) Galactica and her complement of Viper fighters. Knowing that humanity won't survive in the radiation-contaminated Colonies, Adama, acting President Laura Roslin  (Mary McDonnell), Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber), and Lt.Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) must evade lead the remnants of the Colonies out into deep space, evade the Cylon pursuers, and reach the legendary Thirteenth Colony: Earth. 

Though Moore and Eick borrowed some of the series' basic concepts from Larson's original TV show, Battlestar Galactica was a more serious, less campy tale. It tapped deeply into America's post September 11 zeitgeist and delved into such themes as religious fanaticism, the role of the military in a wartime society, the duality of human nature as portrayed not only by the Colonials but also by the Cylons, and the meaning of life after a great tragedy. 

And in contrast to Star Trek, the franchise where Ron Moore started his career as a writer and producer in the mid-1980s, Battlestar Galactica eschewed many science fiction tropes and went for a more realistic approach to its storytelling. Unlike Star Trek and the original Galactica series, the 2004-2009 series depicts space warfare without the usual laser cannon or proton/photon torpedoes. Here, the Cylons use computer viruses, infiltrator units, and nuclear warheads to destroy the Twelve Colonies, and both factions use kinetic energy weapons and missiles instead of the clichéd lasers seen in Star Wars and other space-war movies and TV series. 

Although Battlestar Galactica originally aired on the Sci-Fi cable channel and not a traditional over-the-air network or on syndication, it outperformed its competition on UPN, Enterprise (later known as Star Trek: Enterprise). Where the original Battlestar Galactica series and its lackluster sequel, Galactica 1980 were both canceled after only one season, good reviews, and healthy ratings allowed the Moore-Eick reboot to run for five years. 

In that time, Battlestar Galactica not only earned a loyal fan base and many critical laurels, including a Peabody Award, several Emmy nominations for writing, costume design, visual effects, and acting, and a spot in Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."  Not only that, but the series also changed the way that science-fiction shows portray the future, with less fantastical settings and a more grown-up storytelling approach. 

The 2009 Universal Studios Home Entertainment (UK) Blu-ray box set. Note the British-style age rating logo on the lower right side of the box. (C) 2009 Universal Studios Home Entertainment

The Box Set

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released several iterations of Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series since 2009. The latest one was issued in 2010, with different packaging and includes the series' first two supplementary TV movies, Razor and The Plan.  It is, at least for Amazon customers, the more expensive edition; as of this writing, the 21 Blu-ray disc (BD) set costs between $97.49 and $101.99. Those are the reduced prices; Universal Studios Home Entertainment's manufacturer suggested retail price is a whopping $169.98.

When I purchased my Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series set in 2016, I couldn't afford to pay $101.99 for a Blu-ray box set. The British import, which like the U.S. edition is region free, was, and still, is more affordable: the current price at Amazon for this box set is $47.01 plus shipping and sales taxes.  (Caveat: this box set is offered only through third-party sellers, so prices may vary.) 

What's in the Box?

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series divides the 20 BDs that contain the 2003 miniseries and the 2004-2009 series among eight plastic multi-disc cases. The series is presented thusly:

Note: Two-part episodes are presented separately, just as they aired on Sci-Fi. 

Multi-Disc Case 1:

• Season One : Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries - Parts 1 & 2
• Season One: 33; Water; Bastille Day; Act of Contrition; You Can't Go Home Again

Multi-Disc Case 2:

• Season One:  Litmus; Six Degrees of Separation; Flesh and Bone; Tigh Me Up, Tie Me Down; The Hand of God
• Season One: Colonial Day; Kobol's Last Gleaming - Parts 1 & 2

Multi-Disc Case 3: 

• Season Two: Scattered; Valley of Darkness; Fragged; Resistance; The Farm
• Season Two: Home, Parts 1 & 2; Final Cut; Flight of the Phoenix; Pegasus
• Season Two: Pegasus Extended Episode; Resurrection Ship - Parts 1 & 2; Epiphanies

Multi-Disc Case 4:

• Season Two: Black Market; Sacrifice; The Captain's Hand
• Season Two: Downloaded; Lay Down Your Burdens - Parts 1 & 2

Multi-Disc Case 5:

• Season Three: Occupation; Precipice; Exodus - Parts 1 & 2; Collaborators
• Season Three: Torn; A Measure of Salvation; Hero; Unfinished Business

Multi-Disc Case 6:

• Season Three: Taking a Break From All Your Worries; The Woman King; A Day in the Life; Dirty Hands; Maelstrom
• Season Three: The Son Also Rises; Crossroads - Parts 1 & 2

Multi-Disc Case 7:

• Season Four: Razor (Broadcast and Unrated Extended Editions)
• Season Four: He That Believeth in Me; Six of One; The Ties That Bind; Escape Velocity; The Road Less Travelled
• Season Four: Faith; Guess What's Coming to Dinner; Sine Qua Non; The Hub; Revelations

Multi-Disc Case 8:

• Season Four: Sometimes a Great Notion; A Disquiet Follows My Soul (Original & Unaired Extended Editions); The Oath; Blood on the Scales
• Season Four: No Exit; Deadlock; Someone to Watch Over Me; Islanded in a Stream of Stars (Original and Unaired Extended Editions)
• Season Four: Daybreak - Parts 1, 2, & 3; Daybreak (Unaired Extended Episode)

Each disc includes a bundle of extra features, such as behind-the-scenes featurettes, quizzes, on-screen information pop-ups with facts and trivia about the series' characters, situations, and setting, audio commentary tracks, and a lot of other good stuff. 

In addition, each box set comes with a booklet that contains a brief history of Battlestar Galactica, an episode guide, and a glossary of Battlestar Galactica's military and space travel-related terminology and slang. 

The only thing this box set doesn't have that its 2010 counterpart does is the Cylon-centric TV-movie, The Plan, which aired on Sci-Fi after Universal Studios Home Entertainment made and shipped the first Blu-ray sets to retailers. 

On the whole, Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (UK Import) is a nice box set that presents 99.9% of the groundbreaking science fiction epic that gave viewers a grittier, more thought-provoking look at space wars than Glen A. Larson's original version ever could. Obviously, you'll need to get The Plan to get the remaining .01% of the show, but since the price difference between this version and its 2010 U.S. counterpart is considerable, I recommend getting the UK import set and then buying the Razor/The Plan two-BD set to complement it. 

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (UK Import) is definitely worth adding to your video library. It doesn't matter if you are a fan of the original show, a fan of this re-imagined version, or if you have not seen Battlestar Galactica at all. If you like well-written, well-acted drama and want to be provoked instead of just being entertained, this science fiction may be right for you.