Friday, January 28, 2005

Battlestar 1.04: Act of Contrition

Latest episode of Battlestar Galactica aired tonight, Act of Contrition.

It opens with Starbuck in a Viper Crashing in a yellowish world. Shortly before, an accident caused the death of 13 pilots celebrating Flat Top's 1000th landing. Nearly half of the defensive force of Galactica is now gone. Adama tells Starbuck to start training new pilots. She finds some trainees, but kicks them out when they don't preform well. While he does so, she has a flashback to when her lover, Zak, was killed because she didn't fail him in basic flight like she was supposed to. Lee hints this to Adama, who confronts Starbuck, and kicks her out when she tells him. He also tells her to get the new pilots back in the air. When they're back on their training, the fleet is attacked by 8 Cylon Raiders. Starbuck orders the pilots back, and takes them all on her own, although later backed up by another trainee, who takes out one. Starbuck however, is soon shot down, and the episode ends with a To Be Continued...

This episode was very well done, using both excellent cinamotography and story, tightly linking with the miniseries. From the mini, we saw Starbuck confess to Lee that his brother should have failed basic flight, and we see Lee's reaction to it. Adama on the other hand, had no clue and we see his reaction to Kara's confession. This was probably the strongest point in the series thus far, Starbuck's confession to what she had done. Both actors performed wonderfully.

Starbuck's flashbacks to Zak's death were also well done, just quick bursts of memory, not full blown scenes. I think that it made it a little more realistic, and it allowed us to focus on her, not her lover crashing to his death. This was followed by the funeral of the pilots, which was also very somber.

The pilots being trained are also an interesting point. I would imagine that we'll see them again, and I think that there's some real potential with this.

The beginning was cheerful, but quickly blown away when a bomb goes off. It's a good reminder that the human race is still on the run, and that this little celebration is just one thing to take their minds off of it. Paticularly chilling was the moment when the camera pans over the empty seats of the ready room, which had been full in earlier episodes.

The CGI of this episode was stunning. There were some great shots of the ringed planet and moons, which was really cool to see. In addition, there was some great stuff with the pilots training, and we could really see how they're needing training. The shot dogfights were also very cool, with some excellent work there, and once again, wonderful physics.

What bugs me the most is the To Be Continued. Next episode will focus on the fleet's efforts to find Starbuck, and her method of survival on the moon that she crashes on, which will have repercussions for the future episodes.

No comments: