I knew we were in store for a treat when I saw the 2 part miniseries back in early 2004. But now having watched the whole of the first season - I can say it's the one of the best sci-fi series ever made. Those of you in the US and other places where it's just started screening - watch it!!!
There are just so many cool things about it, it's silly to try and list all of them so I'll just go over the few that I think really bring it above the level.
Characters spot on, a great mix of lots of different characters and widely spread out over the season so you don't feel overwhelmed by the same old ones in episode after episode. Story and scripting spot on, I won't go into this to avoid spoilers, but we all know the story from the original - take the core from that, burn away the rubbish, throw in a deeper background to it all add several advanced plot lines, mix them around a bit and you've got the new one, the episodes individually are put together brilliantly. The way it's filmed is quite unique and adds a more immersive factor to it all. The space scenes are spot on, no stupid OTT physics going on all the craft handle and look quite believable - a big plus in my opinion since I love to nit-pick with things like this.
Overall rating - kick ass, go watch! It's also got no silly robot daggit thing in it, +3 points!
Best of all two weeks or so ago Ronald D. Moore, creator and executive producer of Battlestar Galactica, announced he was doing up the scripts for the second series. God job too the first ended with, shall we say, unresolved things... So let's get this new one on show pronto!