BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 4.0 (2004)

Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.0 (2004)

Actors: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Number of discs: 4
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Release Date: January 6, 2009
Run Time: 755 minutes

Movie: * * * *
Disc: * * ½

Unfortunately the annoying studio practice of splitting complete seasons into separate box sets continues with Battlestar Galactica 4.0 . . .

This set only has ten of the 22 episodes that make up the fourth and final season of the critically acclaimed cult TV series. The upcoming Battlestar Galactica 4.5 box set will contain the outstanding 12 episodes. It also contains the full-length Battlestar Galactica - Razor movie which has been released separately before (expect standalone copies of Razor to swamp eBay soon).

The usual caveats apply: don’t bother with the fourth season if you haven’t been following the series from the very start. Rather buy the first season box and check out the mini-series that started it all. Battlestar Galactica isn’t the sort of standalone episode show like, let’s say, StarGate: Atlantis, where you can simply drop in somewhere in the middle of a season and can still catch the general gist of things. At times the plotting can be dense (as in complicated) and one almost feels as if you need a flow chart to keep up with the myriad of characters, particularly the various Cylons who interestingly doesn’t represent a single “hive mind” mentality as is the science fiction cliché when it comes to robot races.

This aside, this new Battlestar Galactica has been of the same consistently high quality since its inception back in 2003. Sometimes sci-fi fans don’t always appreciate just what a good show they have with it and by now it has had a longer run than the original late-1970s Glen Larson TV series that inspired it. It is also far, far better – this is genuine military SF (but with heart) brought to glorious life thanks to fantastic writing, good acting and top notch special effects. All of which makes it a pity that the studio is going the cynical split DVD box-set route. This is a show that deserves better, dang it!

Episodes:

- He That Believeth In Me
- Six Of One
- The Ties That Bind
- Escape Velocity
- The Road Less Traveled
- Faith
- Guess What's Coming to Dinner
- Sine Qua Non
- The Hub
- Revelations

Disc 1:

- Deleted Scenes
- The Look of Battlestar Galactica
- My Favorite Episode So Far
- Season 4 Sneak Peek
- Season 4 Trailer
- Razor Flashback Minisodes
Day 4,571
The Hangar
Operation Raptor Talon
Free Fall
The Lab
Survivors
Escape
- Commentary to the Razor Unrated Extended Edition with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Taylor

Disc 2:

- Deleted Scenes
- Ronald Moore's Podcast Commentaries

Disc 3:

- Deleted Scenes
- David Eick's Video Blogs
- "Faith" Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald. D. Moore and Supervising Producers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle
- "Guess What's Coming to Dinner Commentary" with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Angeli
- Ronald Moore's Podcast Commentaries

Disc 4:

- Deleted Scenes
- The Journey
- Cylons: The Twelve
- Season 4.5: The Untold Story - Untold
- The Music of Battlestar Galactica
- "Sine Qua Non" Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Taylor
- Ronald Moore's Podcast Commentaries