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A Great Beginning I guess I should start off this review by saying that I've never seen any part of the original Battlestar Galactica, so I cannot compare this to the original. Having said that, I think that this miniseries was amazing; probably the best sci-fi I've seen since Firefly (and there are some similarities, such as the CGI effects, which were done by the same company). This is, for all intents and purposes, more of an extended pilot to a TV show rather than a complete miniseries, and it is an excellent beginning. It begins with a textual prologue explaining how humans built the Cylons, which are large robots, for menial labor, but the Cylons eventually turned against their masters (big surprise). There was a war, an armistice, and then 40 years of peace. The Cylons were sent to live on a planet of their own, while humans remained on the 12 colonial planets (12 seems to be a recurring theme number in this, much like 47 on Alias). But now, the Cylons are returning to the colonies to take them from humanity, and they have a new advantage: the Cylons now appear human. There are 12 models, with limitless copies of each model. Furthermore, they are essentially unkillable; when one body is destroyed, the conciousness of that particular copy is sent to another identical body. Meanwhile, the Battlestar Galactica, one of the 12 original Battlestars, is about to be decomissioned and turned into a museum, and its commanding officer, Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) is planning on retiring. Things with the crew aren't so well either. The XO, Colonel Tigh (Michael Hogon) is an alcoholic, Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) is a trouble-maker, and Adama's son, Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber) has just arrived, and he and his father have been avoiding each other since the death of Apollo's brother Zac. In other parts of the galaxy, Secretary of Education Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), who is flying to the Galactica to oversee the decomissioning ceremony, has just been diagnosed with cancer. Obviously, this is not a good time to be attacked. Unfortunately, this is exactly when the Cylons decide to begin the new war against humanity. Unknowingly aided by Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis), who gave unrestricted access to the defense mainframe to model Number 6 (Tricia Helfer), the Cylons are able to simultaneously take out every significant human outpost, city, and ship, with the exception of the Galactica. Rounding out the cast is Grace Park as Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii. After an initial defeat, the humans try to rally together, only to be beaten back some more. Things continue to get worse and worse for humanity, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Also, with the rest of the governing body gone, Secretary of Education Roslin, who was 42nd in line to become president, now holds that office. The special effects in this film are great. As I said earlier, they were done by the same CGI company that worked on Firefly, and it is apparent that the style carried over (you can even see Serenity, the ship, in one scene). There are pans, zooms, and shakes, as if someone were actually shooting the ships, as opposed to them being computer graphics. While the acting isn't great (though I've come to accept that from the Sci Fi channel), it isn't bad, and it's definitely a lot better than the acting on many shows that I've seen. Finally, one of the great things about this show (and also similar to Firefly) is that the show derives its greatness from the characters, not the effects or technology. This is a story about the humans, and that is what makes it interesting. It isn't focused on the tech (in fact, the Galactica is a very outdated ship), it centers on the human side of things, which is what good storytelling should do. After seeing this great beginning, I cannot wait to see where the weekly series takes us.