[Lava Lamp Freak]

The website says "Battlestar Galactica returns to SCI FI in March 2008!"

Battlestar Galactica | SCIFI.COM

[Lava Lamp Freak]

This promo is slightly different than the last one I posted. I really like the simplistic approach on these.

Future | Videos | SCI FI Pulse

And a new trailer.

Destiny | Videos | SCI FI Pulse

[ThinkInsane]

Since it's Christmas time, I figured some of you last minute shopper types might be looking for a little something for that BSG fan on your list. Look no further

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

Since it's Christmas time, I figured some of you last minute shopper types might be looking for a little something for that BSG fan on your list. Look no further

Ordered two - one for each side of my front door. Should help keep the riff-raff away.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

Since it's Christmas time, I figured some of you last minute shopper types might be looking for a little something for that BSG fan on your list. Look no further

Why does that thing have that ingrown-head with '"Scream3" mouth, that wasp-waist with child-bearing hips, and girly Jack Skellington hands with fragile little pen-knife fingers??? Such a stupid design. Those toasters are the only really awful thing about this great show (aside from the season finale last year). How I wish they'd used the Cylons from the first series or eliminated the toasters alltogether.... they have no useful purpose in the new story whatsoever anyway. And they look totally fake because the CG is so bad. There I said it.

[Sourbook]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

Why does that thing have that ingrown-head with '"Scream3" mouth, that wasp-waist with child-bearing hips, and girly Jack Skellington hands with fragile little pen-knife fingers??? Such a stupid design. Those toasters are the only really awful thing about this great show (aside from the season finale last year). How I wish they'd used the Cylons from the first series or eliminated the toasters alltogether.... they have no useful purpose in the new story whatsoever anyway. And they look totally fake because the CG is so bad. There I said it.

I cordially disagree. I have no explanation or justification for my disagreement. I just disagree.


Oh... wait a minute. Maybe I can explain it. I think they're cool.

[ghporter]

The Cylon figure looks like what it is-an attempt to carry the original "guy in a suit" Cylon image into a new era. The face looks like an evolution of the original mask, and the rest of it looks distinctly NOT like a "guy in a suit." They are cool.

[Sourbook]

Moore is to be commended for not over-using the Cylon Centurions. When he created the Human/Cylon skin-jobs he put a face on the enemy. A face that could be reasoned with to a certain degree.

And by keeping the Cylon Centurions as the soldier, he kept the brutal killing machine that could not be reasoned with. But if the audience sees too much of them, they will lose any fear they were meant to bestow.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

I wonder if we will ever hear the new toasters talk.

[Eug]

I posted this in the format war thread, but I should probably post it here too.

----

Lame. On Disk 2 of the Battlestar Galactica HD DVD box set, there is a significant lip sync problem for a minute or so. It's best seen at 55'37" on the disc (second half of the mini-series) when that guy (whom I won't name, to avoid spoilers) is in the brig. This is on my Toshiba HD-A2 and on my Xbox 360, so this is an authoring issue, and not a player issue. Other parts of the same disc are fine, as are the other discs so far.

Somebody was asleep at the wheel.

OTOH, I think the disc packaging is fine, as is the image quality. Yes, the original mini-series pilot is VERY grainy, but the HD DVDs reproduce the grain faithfully. The grain is much more muted in the series itself, which is probably because it was shot on HD video. And yes, the detail present is excellent. I can't compare it to broadcast HD since I've never seen it on TV in HD, but it's quite nice, and a humungous step up from the DVD. Anyone who appreciates this show would love the HD DVD version... except for the lip sync issue at the 55 minute mark on Disk 2.

[reader50]

Eug, thanks for the report.

Are the bonus materials in HD also? Were any additional bonus materials added? For example, 4 of the promo sequences that were on SciFi never made it onto the standard DVD, possibly for space reasons:

Writing A Dark, Sexy, Political Sci-Fi Show
Women In Pivotal Roles
Like Father, Like Son
Director's Cut

[Buckaroo]

I just saw the extended version of Razors, and I must say, they butchered it when they cut it down for the Sci-Fi version. The extended version was outstanding.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Buckaroo 

I just saw the extended version of Razors, and I must say, they butchered it when they cut it down for the Sci-Fi version. The extended version was outstanding.

Have they ever broadcast Razor in HD yet anywhere? THAT's something I'd like to download! Unless the Canadian HD channel here that shows BG in SD ever realizes that it's filmed and distributed in HD in Canada and decides to show it that way. FarkinIdiots. I thought Canadians were a little smarter than that!

[Eug]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Eug, thanks for the report.

Are the bonus materials in HD also? Were any additional bonus materials added? For example, 4 of the promo sequences that were on SciFi never made it onto the standard DVD, possibly for space reasons:

Writing A Dark, Sexy, Political Sci-Fi Show
Women In Pivotal Roles
Like Father, Like Son
Director's Cut

Some details on the extras here:

Amazon.com: Battlestar Galactica - Season One [HD DVD]: DVD: Edward James Olmos

I've only seen SD extras so far, but I haven't watched all of them yet.

[reader50]

Highdefdigest has done a review of the HD-DVD version. It appears to answer all my questions. Looks like the best call is to wait for Universal to iron out the issues.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Highdefdigest has done a review of the HD-DVD version. It appears to answer all my questions. Looks like the best call is to wait for Universal to iron out the issues.

It's not necessarily the best transfer. Nonetheless I don't agree with that review of the video either. He seems to say he could overlook the intended noise and contrast, but he can't because it varies in areas. So in other words, he can't overlook the intended noise and contrast.

I also find it odd that he couldn't find the audio sync issues. They were totally obvious, right on the second disc, and they were completely reproducible on multiple machines. They are not due to scratches as he suggests. This tells me he wasn't paying very close attention.

In other words... Although there are definitely imperfections in the transfer, it sounds like he's confusing director's intent and transfer quality to a certain extent, yet at the same time wasn't paying close enough attention to notice the very obvious audio sync problem early on in the disk set. Definitely a flawed review.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by Eug 

yet at the same time wasn't paying close enough attention to notice the very obvious audio sync problem early on in the disk set. Definitely a flawed review.

Well that's not fair. How many HD disks that you own have audio sync issues that the studio's didn't even notice or even admit to after it was proven? From what I remember you noticed many of them first.

As strange as it sounds some people don't notice them just like some people don't notice rainbows on DLP sets.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Well that's not fair. How many HD disks that you own have audio sync issues that the studio's didn't even notice or even admit to after it was proven? From what I remember you noticed many of them first.

As strange as it sounds some people don't notice them just like some people don't notice rainbows on DLP sets.

Good point.

Just for clarification though, I didn't always notice them first. I was sometimes one of the first, but more importantly was one of the very vocal ones and actually contacted the companies. One issue was basically a player one - eg. Batman Begins playback on the Xbox 360 - which Microsoft then corrected several months later. The other issue is a disk problem - eg. like with BSG disk 2, and requires a disk replacement.