Galactica '03, season 1

FOUR-STAR EPISODES: 3
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 3.0
-mini-series ****
I'm a diehard devotee of the original, but this one had me at hello. Humans create cylons, cylons attempt to exterminate humanity, survivors flee into space. The hat-tips to the classic are exciting, understated, and touching. Starbuck is a hard-drinking, rule-flaunting hellion - and a woman (katee sackhoff - RIDDICK, BIONIC WOMAN). As are boomer and the new president of the colonies (mary mcdonnell -DANCES WITH WOLVES, MUMFORD), whose featured presence gives the show a more realistic political reality than the original. The cylons now have models that look human, some of whom may be sleeper agents. Baltar is a young, amoral genius who is hoodwinked by his cylon lover into betraying humanity. As adama, edward james olmos (BLADE RUNNER, STAND AND DELIVER) finds the role he's been waiting all his life to play.
-33 ****
How do you follow up a stunning mini-series? With this searing crucible of a series debut. Any doubt i was going to watch every episode, is gone. The cylons locate the fleet every 33 minutes. No one has slept in days. Vipers are forced to destroy a colonial ship that reappears, after possibly having been captured. Are the 1300 passengers still aboard?
-Water ***
Sabotage wipes out 60% of the fleet's water reserves. Was it boomer? Does she even know?
-Bastille Day ***
The need to use the inmates of the prison ship into mining duty sets off a revolt. The leader? RICHARD HATCH! The new apollo (jamie bamber - LAW & ORDER: UK, BAND OF BROTHERS) and the old (as revolutionary tom zarek) face off. Zarek demands free elections. Deckhand cally (nicki clyne - SAVED!, JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE) bites off a rapist's ear.
-Act of Contrition ***
Starbuck trains viper recruits. The scenes between her and adama cement olmos' owning of the character. And who is that crusty, ciggy-smoking ship's doc? Why...it's donnelly rhodes (SOAP, HILL STREET BLUES)! Hot damn, it's nice to see him. Doc cottle. Perfect.
-You Can't Go Home Again ****
Starbuck crashes on an uninhabited planet, and must figure out how to fly a downed raider. Grippingly, rippingly fantastic...this episode cements sackhoff's status as a fanboy dream.
-Litmus **
Whose negligence allowed cylon sabotage? A passable meditation on civil liberties.
-Six Degrees of Separation ***
Tricia helfer (TWO AND A HALF MEN, BEHIND THE CAMERA: THE UNAUTHORIZED STORY OF 'CHARLIE'S ANGELS') as number 6, the cylon ex-lover who lives in baltar's brain, demonstrates real acting skill, playing an ice-queen version of herself. Back on Caprica, marooned raptor pilot helo (tahmoh penikett - DOLLHOUSE, CONTINUUM) has been on the run with another copy of boomer (whom he thinks is the original), as part of a cylon experiment on human love. This plotline reaches a high point, as they have rainy forest sex! Whee!! What's all this fuss over identifying cylons? Testing everyone will take sixty years? Hey idiots, their spines light up when they hump! If you institute a fleet-wide copulatory test, you'd have those toasters sussed out within a month (and several demographics, particularly octogenarians, teenagers, and penniless writers, might get laid for the first time in years).
-Flesh and Bone **
Having starbuck, an unstable viper jock, assigned the task of cylon interrogation is a bit of a stretch. Roslin's tossing this cylon out the airlock is a nice piece of sanity, when weighed against the touchy-feely treatment over the next few seasons. In real life, even pacifists like myself wouldn't quibble with an "airlock first, questions later" policy.
-Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down ***
Col. tigh's wife (kate vernon - PRETTY IN PINK, MALCOLM X) appears. Is she a cylon? Would a cylon grab Apollo's ass? This episode is the most loosey goosey silly of the series. The cast show their acting chops in a puckishly different way.
-The Hand of God ***
The fleet is running out of tylium fuel. They find some on a cylon-controlled asteroid, and go on the offensive for the first time since the attack. With starbuck sidelined, apollo shines in battle like never before. The raid visuals are flat-out striking.
-Colonial Day **
The new Quorum of Twelve demands that a vice-president be elected. This one feels a bit out of left field, considering that genocidal robots are hot on their heels. But the dance scene is wonderful - and zarek's machinations leave roslin no choice but to have baltar (james callis - EUREKA, BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY) as the new veep.
-Kobol's Last Gleaming ***
They discover the home planet of the Colonies. The show's spiritual yammerings get a little tedious. Starbuck's one-afternoon stand with baltar gives you that queasy, joe jackson "is she really" feeling. At least it makes for nice tension with apollo. Can someone please make priestess elosha go away? Starbuck's religious defection with the raider is a bit of a stretch. Naked boomers and the boomer assassination attempt on adama are two of the most enduring images of the series. Plus a starbuck/6 knock-down drag-out? Stop the bus.