YAY! FINALLY recieved my DVDs!

Last Battlestar · December 5th, 2003, 05:42 AM

At last! The DVD set was released here in Oz last Wednesday, but I had to wait until today to get the cool limited edition Cylon box. It looks great skating along the top of my subwoofer!

Overall, I'm very happy with the way the episodes are presented, although the limited chapter stops within each episode make it a little hard to get to a particular scene. The picture looks very nice with a crisp, clean, filmic-looking transfer (apparently, BG was one of the last TV shows to be actually shot on film) adding to the movie-look of the show we all love.

I was a little disappointed with the sound mix. It sounds a lot like one of those useless pseudo-surround effect functions found on most home theatre receivers these days than a proper 5.1 mix and a little light on the bass for my liking. But it's nice and clear; it is very difficult to get full discrete 5.1 from an original analogue mono track anyway. The opening score sounds HUGE! I was choking back the lump in my throat and pretending I had something in my eye when it came on. Then again, I think the GF was too.....(what a gal!)

Somehow I think that we get less extra features than you guys. A shock was finding the 7th extra disc in a paper cover slipped into one of the DVD cases! YUCK! It has the full load of deleted scenes (most of which I have already seen on our cable episodes), but only the GL 'Creation', Cylon, Daggit and 'Remembering' docos, the photo gallery and the mini series trailer. Did we miss out on some stuff?

On seeing the mini series trailer, I have to admit to being very impressed, for the first 30 seconds. That big score, sweeping views of space, short glimpses of the characters and heroic speech by Adama certainly had me sitting up and taking notice. But as soon as it was all replaced by electronic music and sex scenes, my hopes crashed. For an instant there I thought that they may have come up with something grand, but not for long. Nikki and I looked at each other and shook our heads. She commented at how the total spirit of the original had been totally ignored, replaced by another B5/SAAB clone. Oh dear.

Still, we now have our favourite show preserved forever in digital format to show our grandchildren what true sci fi was all about.

My ratings:

Picture transfer: 10/10
Audio: 7/10 (more bass while the G flies past would give it a 9!)
Extras: 8/10
Packaging: 10/10 Cylon box, 0/10 extra features disc.
Value: priceless to a die hard like me

Mike

shiningstar · December 10th, 2003, 08:03 PM

I love my set. I watch it all the time.

shiningstar · December 10th, 2003, 08:03 PM

My favorite eps of all time are the Living Legend and the
Hand of God.

Muffit · December 12th, 2003, 02:15 PM

So glad you got your set and are happy, Last Battlestar!

I am actually pretty happy with the sound, especially when compared to all my other late 70's/early 80's DVDs. Of course, it's not true 5.1, it's actually more like most conversions, stereo fronts with center channel conversation and subwoofer routing (is that Dolby 2.0?), a 3.1 format sort of. I wonder if some DVDs have better sound than others? My bass shakes the house when the big G goes by! I was pretty amazed at that.

Isn't it great to have these DVDs? Only bright side I see at all about the mini is it seemed to prompt Uni to release them. So glad of that.

Cheers,
Muffit

thomas7g · December 12th, 2003, 03:34 PM

I haven't had time to run throught it. I got it right before this flood at fleets, But god it IS good! Heavenly to be precise.

Yminale · December 13th, 2003, 09:23 AM

I have a question:

Is the piliot in widescreen format??

Starbuck · December 13th, 2003, 09:39 AM

Welcome Yminale!

No widescreen format. The pilot is presented in the original 3-hour format (minus the commercials

) as it aired on September 17, 1978. There's also an audio commentary track with Richard, Dirk, and Herb of the pilot episode.

Muffit · December 13th, 2003, 02:13 PM

Welcome to Colonial Fleets, Yminale!

Oscar · December 14th, 2003, 04:21 AM

I got mine yesterday, and they were well worth the wait.
So many great memories for me in a really worthwhile package - the extras in particular are wonderful. It's nice to know that SOMEONE at Universal is aware of the value of this property.

I haven't seen most of the episodes since childhood so it's been exciting for me to watch them again probably about 20 years later.

Muffit · December 14th, 2003, 11:54 AM

That's cool Oscar! Glad you got yours too.

lordpenquin · December 15th, 2003, 02:11 PM

If only they had a battery operated eye for the cylon cover...

Oscar · December 16th, 2003, 04:56 AM

How do you access the audio track on the Aussie DVD?

Terayon · December 16th, 2003, 08:58 AM

Mine should arrive any day! But I'll put it under the tree and wait 'till the 25th to open it. It's great to have the series preserved forever on DVD, and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the extras! I've read just about every review of the DVD's that I can find on the web, and they all say it's great.

Muffit · December 16th, 2003, 11:04 AM

Welcome to Colonial Fleets, Terayon!