Top 5 Battlestar Galactica Ships

These are my picks for the 5 best ships of BSG; either series.

5. Pegasus

Glorious original series tribute turned bittersweet ally, the Battlestar Pegasus captured the 70's Battlestar design superbly. The only thing I don't like about it is the sound of the doors... However, it makes up for that by leaps and bounds in one of the best space battles ever. No, I'm not talking about the Resurrection Ship.

4. Resurrection Hub Basestar

Speaking of Resurrection, these guardians of heavily defended Cylon Resurrection Hubs are a menacing presence to say the least. Basically a technological fusion of a Resurrection Ship and a Basestar. 

3. Viper Mark II

In the fine Re-Imagined Series tradition of honoring the original series with retro ship designs, here comes the Viper Mark II. This is the fighter most frequently used on BSG due to the limited supply of supposedly-superior Mark VIIs.

2. Cylon Raider

It's alive. Literally.

1. Original Series Cylon Basestar

I love these so much, as well as the ominous music that plays whenever we cut to one of them. Utterly classic.

Star Trek XI: The Random Aliens

So in Star Trek XI, we had Romulans, Vulcans, and an Orion. I believe that there are also Klingons in a deleted scene.

All familiar Trek species, but in this movie there were several Random Aliens... 

1. Alnschloss K'Bentayr (A Kelvin Bridge Officer)

2. Kelvin Nurse

3. Long-faced bar alien (This actually might be a Markalian, but I'm not sure)

4. Cadets at Kirk's hearing

5. Enterprise Bridge Officer that Turns to Look When Sulu Can't Explain Why They Aren't Warping

6. Keenser (Scotty's Assistant)

Just a little overview... (and sorry that this isn't about TV but this movie is such a big deal that I had to say something about it)

The Top 5 of Babylon 5

It's time for my top 5 of Babylon... 5. This is in chronological order, and only concerns the show. 

1. The Coming of Shadows - A classic story balancing character, plot, and prophecy beautifully.

2. Severed Dreams - "The Babylon Project was a dream given form." Not anymore.

3. War Without End - This two-parter pretty much defines the word "epic".

4. Into the Fire - Anticlimactic to some, brilliant to others. Like me, of course.

5. The Fall of Centauri Prime - The title says it all. Gut-wrenching for a truly tragic character.

It is ridiculously hard narrowing down 5 seasons of brilliance to 5 episodes. I'm not even 100% sure that this is my definitive top 5. However, in the interests of spontaneity I shall leave it as it is.

SG-1 Season 4 Analysis Part 5

This is the final part of the analysis, where I briefly talk about the season as a whole.

Season 4, to me, is the best season of "Stargate SG-1". It is firmly entrenched in the golden years of the show and features great team dynamics and character episodes along with an unbeatable aura of classicness (which isn't a word but it works!).

This season, like every other season of "SG-1", expands on the mythology and story arcs while simultaneously creating new ones and producing episodes that are largely stand-alone.

"Small Victories", "Upgrades", "Divide and Conquer", "The Serpent's Venom", "Chain Reaction", "Absolute Power", "Double Jeopardy", and "Exodus" all continued existing story threads and wrapped up a big one: the Harcesis.

"Crossroads", "Watergate", "The First Ones", "Point of No Return", "The Curse", "2010", and "Prodigy" all started new threads and mini-threads by drawing on established ideas. Of these, the biggest one is the Russian presence began in "Watergate". "The First Ones" begins two stories: that of Chaka and that of the P90!

"The Other Side", "Window of Opportunity", "Scorched Earth", "Beneath the Surface", "The Light", and "Entity" were all largely stand-alone episodes.

Overall, a brilliant season with only a few sore thumbs (every season has a few). Long live SG-1 - the show, the team, the legend.

SG-1 Season 4 Analysis Part 4

This will be the penultimate post in this particular analysis, and after that, I'll move on to a different franchise. Here we go into the final stretch of the season.

16. 2010

This excellent episode is in my opinion one of the best of the series. The concept is played out beautifully in a believable near-future where the Earth is watched over by an advanced race of Humans known as the Aschen. The story and production values are sublime, and stylistically you can't go wrong with this brilliant offering. Balance this with some nice humor (at the mothballed Stargate Command) and you have a classic. Rating: 10 / 10

17. Absolute Power

Does the word "sublime" sound familiar? It should, because I just used it to describe the previous episode. Well, this is sublime as well! The scene where Shifu does his Ascension thing always gives me chills. This was the perfect way to end the Harcesis story, and a huge turning point for Daniel. I actually consider "Forever in a Day", "Absolute Power", and "Meridian" to be a sort of trilogy thematically bound by Daniel's "quest". Great stuff. Rating: 10 / 10

18. The Light

Hmm. I never found this episode particularly interesting or memorable. I consider it the weakest of the season. Of course, as with virtually every "SG-1" episode, I like parts of it. I like the concept of an addictive light and for the first time since Season 2's "Prisoners" we see some one obliterated by the kawoosh. But when one of the best things I can say about an episode is that I got to see some one die a reasonably horrible death never to return, maybe the episode just isn't that great... Rating: 5 / 10

19. Prodigy

A decent enough episode, but overall not one of my favorites. I have issues with the relatively numerous cliches in the story. In an episode like this, however, I prefer to talk about things I liked. The zat countdown, Bill Lee's first appearance, and the escape from the light bugs were all good. Also, if you have the DVDs with audio commentaries, be sure to watch at least the first 6 minutes of the commentary. You'll see what I mean. Rating: 6 / 10

20. Entity

A solid example of an episode that features decent plotting made great by characters and their interactions and emotions. If an episode like this turned up on a science fiction series without the heart of "SG-1" (I'm not going to name any names) it simply would not succeed, or at least not nearly to the degree that this episode works. On an unrelated note, I believe that this is the second time Walter is injured, the first being when the Goa'uld in Kawalsky messed with him in "The Enemy Within". Just some harmless trivia. All in all, a great one. Rating: 8 / 10

21. Double Jeopardy

The continuation of "Tin Man"! Com-traya! Bet-ter! Anyway, a solid action episode that does have some general issues (Cronus' underlord isn't exactly a memorable Goa'uld and I always found some of the story perspective a bit odd), but they are minor. I love the throwback to classic Season 1 haircuts, and anytime that SG-1 takes on a whole Ha'tak full of Jaffa and their Snakehead masters, you've got a formula for success. Rating: 8 / 10

22. Exodus

Ah, "Exodus". Why don't we blow up a sun and take out Apophis' fleet? One of the best ideas SG-1 ever had. Apophis had loomed like a beacon of impending doom throughout this season ("Upgrades", "The Serpent's Venom", even "Tangent") and now we're in the endgame. And by the way, it's a Jaffa Revenge Thing. 

Rating: 10 / 10

The final post for this analysis will be up soon, wrapping it up with some final thoughts; then, I jump franchises.

SG-1 Season 4 Analysis Part 3

Here we go into the middle of the season...

8. The First Ones

An enjoyable if flawed episode. There are many interesting things here such as aboriginal Goa'uld! However, what I must mention above all else is the introduction of the P-90. Anyway, regarding the episode itself, it is good but not outstanding. 

Rating: 7 / 10

9. Scorched Earth

An okay episode; the conflict between Jack and Daniel stemming from "The Other Side" is back, but by no means in full force. That said, parts of the episode were very well done.

Rating: 6 / 10

10. Beneath the Surface

Some improvements could have been made with this episode. The premise of SG-1's lost memories is not milked to its fullest extent, in my opinion. I liked what we got, but there should have been more. The resolution seemed lacking, as well. Another slightly above average but essentially okay episode.

Rating: 6 / 10

11. Point of No Return

Parts of this episode were great and other parts were generic, making the episode unbalanced. Tanner and his henchmen were not interesting to me, but the episodes had glimpses of brilliance. "Magnets" make their return from "Window of Opportunity" and as the image here indicates, Murray was great! Rating: 7 / 10

12. Tangent

A well-constructed triumph, unlike the X-301 itself. All of that "no joy" was certainly supplanted by a healthy amount of "joy" at the very end! Random comment: the matte of the planet's surface that Carter and Daniel find Jacob on is reused from "Need".

Rating: 9 / 10

13. The Curse

The look and feel of this episode is commendable. The story itself didn't carry its momentum to its fullest potential, but overall I enjoyed it. This is one of about two times that we see a Goa'uld in Egypt. An episode like this brings Stargate back to its roots in a lot of ways.

Rating: 8 / 10

14. The Serpent's Venom

"The Serpent's Venom", after "Upgrades" before it, emphasizes Apophis' rise to dominance. This is one of my favorite things about Season 4; Apophis' growing power makes Season 4 not only my favorite season, but my favorite era.

That said, the torture could have been a little better, but for the cause of the Jaffa Rebellion, it can be deemed necessary.

Rating: 9 / 10

15. Chain Reaction

There are a few questionable things about this one, but they are squeezed in between such great little moments as SG-1's triumphant return and General Hammond's farewell that I count it as firmly belonging in a stretch of great episodes.

Rating: 8 / 10

Many of these episodes were flawed but good. This marks the overall quality as less than the first third of the season, but the middle of the season is still a triumph even after a less than great stretch at its beginning. Even the less-than-outstanding episodes had considerable merits.

In Part 4, I'll go straight through the rest of the episodes.

SG-1 Season 4 Analysis Part 2

In Part 1, I mentioned the unbeatable Early Season 4 Atmosphere ™. This is hard to explain partially because it's an atmosphere and partially because it's not any one thing. It's something in the quality of the film the shows are shot on, the look of the special effects, the dynamics of the team, and last but certainly not least, Janet.

Seriously, she looks great! Anyway, this atmosphere is just a strange and delightful presence. 

The other thing to address is the comparison of Season 4's 1st 7 episodes to the first 7 episodes of other seasons. In my reviews of "Small Victories" through "Watergate", not a single episode received less than an 8. Let's go through the other seasons briefly. I'm looking for episodes in the first 7 of a season that in my opinion, warrant a rating less than 8.

Season 1 has "Emancipation".

Season 2 has "Need".

Season 3 has "Learning Curve".

Season 4 has none.

Season 5 has "Beast of Burden".

Season 6 has "Frozen".

Season 7 has "Enemy Mine".

Season 8 has "Affinity".

Season 9 actually comes the closest to not having any, but alas, there's "The Ties that Bind".

Season 10 has "Morpheus".

Of course, there were yet more in virtually all of these seasons, but I only picked what I considered to be the sore thumb in each. 

Season 4 has an outstanding first stretch of 7 episodes. Can it keep it up? In Part 3, I delve into the middle of the season.