Battlestar Galactica

As a standalone miniseries, this doesn't work at all - but who would ever watch it as such? It's a super-sized pilot to one of the best sci-fi series of all time, and it's fantastic. So say we all.

One of the best TV show pilots I've ever seen, most certainly due to it being handled as a mini-series. Great special effects, a large and impressive cast combined with a very impressive re-imaging of the original TV show. This is how you do a remake.

If Star Trek: Voyager had a spine. A glowing Cylon spine.

An epic start to one of the finest TV series ever created, and in my humble (and this case completely correct!) opinion, greatest TV sci-fi ever! Nice production values, well performed and very engaging. A cracking pre-cursor to the series, which would amazingly go on to improve on this excellent beginning. Perhaps my score is a little for the series as much as this pilot, but I dont care! Fraking awesome!

The show is off-the-hook awesome, and while this pilot mini is a very good introduction to the characters and situations, I can't shake the feeling that something is missing here, and that some things move just a little too quickly. Luckily, the series isn't bound by similar time constraints and can afford a more sprawling, epic feel. Gaius Baltar is one of the best characters in any medium right now. Honestly, what a great show.

Drab and overdrawn sci-fi epic no doubt plays better to fans of the show, and may itself work better as 4 x 40 minute episodes than as a complete feature, but is enjoyable enough if seen through the prism of 90s TV sci-fi tropes. Performers are adequate, ditto the fairly middling special effects; one would think this may have played as a decade too late relic even at the time of its release.

Does exactly what a pilot should do. I was hugely impressed with this at the time and it left me wanting more. The amazing thing is that the show went on to exceed the pilot in so many ways. It fundamentally understands that sci-fi is an abstract way to tell human stories that relate to the here and now, and isn't all about funky aliens and pew-pew laser battles.

I don't really get the hype. Currently, I'm screening as many television pilots as humanly possible, as part of an epic "Pilot Project". You usually get a pretty clear idea about whether or not a show will be likely to work for you. Two of the deciding basic factors are characters and cast, and I was impressed by neither here. So while the execution is rather nice and some ideas had potential, I'd be more inclined to delve into Tricia Helfer's filmography than to queue up the rest of the series.

This and the couple of episodes that follow are the best part of the series. Once it gets to the 'Final Five' it becomes ridiculous, and as stated in my review for the actual series, the ending is so terrible it's not worth investing the time in.

It's an interesting setting and does a very good job of balancing the big cast within a sprawling but coherent narrative. I'm not sure I see anything truly spectacular here, but there were few missteps and the series is now bumped up on my watchlist.