Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The battle for survival continues in the second, and arguably best season of Battlestar Galactica. It begings with Galactica separated from the rest of the fleet and Colonel Tigh must fill in for Commander Adama. On Caprica, Kara and Helo must join a band of resistance fighters waiting for an eventual rescue from the fleet while political tensions rise when Baltar faces Roslin in the Presidential election, but will backroom dealings pick a winner?

Universal released the complete series on Blu-ray last summer and is now releasing the individual season sets. Unfortunately the packaging isn't the greatest. In lieu of a standard multi-BD case the studio has gone the cardboard flip-out route. In the grander scheme of things, this isn't a big deal, but I much prefer the multi-disc Blu-ray cases.

Packaging aside, this is a very intriguing series and is highly entertaining. Out of the 20 episode in season two, only "Black Market" is a stinker with the rest very consistently good to excellent, particularly "Resistance," "Pegasus," and "Downloaded." The two-part season finale "Lay Down Your Burdens" sets up the third season and takes the show in an entirely new direction with mixed results, but we'll discuss that when the third season is released later this year.

Video Highlights

• VC-1/1080p encodes on a BD-50 discs
• Interior shots are very grainy with hazy detail
• Exterior shots really shine
• Inconsistent black levels
• Obscured shadows

Audio Highlights

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack
• Excellent dynamics
• Clear and concise dialog
• Strong LFE when appropriate

Video quality within each episode is very inconsistent depending on the shooting location. Interior shots of Galactica and other spaceships have a documentary look to them but the encodes are faithful to the source.

Bonus Materials

Battlestar Galactica Career Assignment Quiz
• "Pegasus" Extended Episode commentary with executive producers Ronald D. Moore and Devid Eick
• Ronald D. Moore's podcast commentaries
• David Eick's video blogs
• Deleted scenes
• BD Live enabled with Trivia and Strategy games
• U-Control with "The Oracle" interactive guide to ships and characters

I'm glad Universal is releasing each of the seasons individually for a number of reasons. It's easier on the household budget to spring for one season at a time and for viewers who haven't seen the show it broadens its universal appeal to not have to spend a couple of hundred bucks on something they may not like, although in this case I'm sure that number will be small. Recommended.

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Release Date: April 6, 2010
Studio: Universal

Movie: 9/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Panamax M5400PM power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics