Saturday, August 1, 2009

On my shelf - Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray



At a time when spending should nothing but on an "as needed" basis, I have done something I have been preparing for since the trumpets announced it's creation months ago; I have bought Battlestar Galactica: The Completer Series on Blu-Ray and I have to tell you all, money well spent. (Although I do not consider it "complete" since the epilogue telefilmThe Plan was not included on it... errrr) I sold off almost all of my remaining DVD collection (the times have hit us all hard), including the individual seasons of Battlestar Galactica, in order to purchase this sweet gem.

Why on blu-ray? Well, let me address this question first by addressing a comment a fellow fan of the show had made. "What's the point? it all looks grainy" Yes, it does, but only in the first season and a half and only on purpose. In a recent interview about the release, Producer David Eick stated that they added the grain in the early seasons to make everything look more gritty. When the HD technology become available to them [the show] around the end of Season 2 they made the transition. After watching the earlier pre-HD seasons on blu-ray I can tell you first hand that a lot of the grain (but not all) has been cleaned up and the HD seasons are BREATHTAKING. The final episode of the series is so crisp and gorgeous that I thought Roger Deakins had shot it, but no, it was Stephen McNutt. He and his team did an amazing job, I simply can not wait until he works on something else that gave him that kind of freedom.

The other major reason to own the set is that is contains 95% of all the extras, special features and bonus content of the previous DVD releases as well as online videos and footage, over 10 hours worth, but it lacks the recent "Face of the Enemy" webisodes that aired online during the Season 4 mid-season break. Regardless, its worth the buy.



I also recently came across a copy of Season 4's Soundtrack- the best of the series to date- and some of its tracks have made their way onto almost all of my playlists. Bear McCreary is a musical genius. Sadly, he was overlooked by the Emmy board and not nominated (like most of the show every year so far) but trust me, he is a outstanding. I recommend that as well.

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