I watched the first part of the SciFi Channel miniseries, Battlestar Galactica. I was impressed.

Of course, the special effects have really advanced since the original series premiered in 1979, and with it being on cable in the 21st century, the ability to take on “the real world” — sex, alcoholism, equality among the genders and races — is much more pronounced.

I really like the “newsreel” look to the show. I always called that “monkey cam” — the appearance of hand held cameras, with chimps at the helm — but for BSG, it works. I liked this view equally well in battle sequences in the last Star Wars film.

Overall, it seems like they got it right, although the gender bending of both Startbuck and Boomer is a little weird. I was happy to see, though, that they kept the swagger of the original Starbuck. You could almost see Dirk Benedict pulling the sames lines and playing out the same events. And, every once in a while, there was homage to the original series: a technical drawing and museum piece Cylon centurion, the original series theme during the Galactica retirement ceremony…. even the classic zoom up to the Galactica across the side that carried its name that many of the episodes featured.

This BSG is well worth the watch!