The SciFi Channel will release Battlestar Galactica, Season 2 DVD on December 20th, 2005.  With thirteen episodes in it's first season and ten in it's second, Battlestar Galactica is half as long as the other Friday Night SciFi series.  Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis both have ten episodes and then take a three month haitus and return in January for ten more episodes.  I had rather hoped that Battlestar Galactica would return for a second half of a season also.

While I haven't seen any official announcments yet, I'm confident that Battlestar Galactica, as well as SG-1 and Atlantis will all be around next year.  Although it's quite possible that SG-1's outlook past Season 10 is cloudy.  Depends on how many people watch the show this year, huh?

Battlestar Galactica, Season 1 will be out on DVD on September 20, 2005.  It will also include the miniseries pilot episode that was already out on DVD.

Complete Season: 
Miniseries: 

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Stargate SG-1, Season 8 will be out on DVD on October 4, 2005.

Complete Season: 

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Stargate Atlantis, Season 1 will be out on DVD on November 15, 2005.  The pilot episode, Rising, has already been released on DVD.

Complete Season: 
Pilot Episode:  

Col. Tigh's imposition of martial law threatens to split the crew and the fleet. He's thrown Chief Tyrol into the brig on suspicion of being a Cylon and his dismissal of the Quorum has provoked the other ships to refuse to send fuel and other supplies to the Galactica. His judgment blurred by drink and the goading of his ambitious wife, Ellen, Tigh sends armed troops to one of the ships to take supplies by force, a move that ends in disaster when civilians are killed.

Amid this chaos, Lee schemes to free President Roslin to establish a democratic opposition. He makes a break for freedom with Roslin, while Roslin's close aide Billy chooses to stay behind. Tigh threatens to shoot down the Raptor carrying Roslin away from the Galactica, but he can't bring himself to kill his friend's only surviving son, and Lee and Roslin escape into the fleet at large.

Meanwhile, Baltar uses Sharon's love for Tyrol to intimidate her into revealing how many Cylons are lurking in the fleet.

On Cylon-occupied Caprica, Kara and Helo find themselves in a standoff against other humans. Cooler heads prevail, and the pilots meet their new allies: a group of 53 survivors, led by Anders and Sue-Shaun, members of a professional pyramid team that survived the nuclear holocaust because they were training in the mountains. Kara enlists their help in her mission to get off Caprica.

As Doc Cottle works to save Commander Adama's life, Col. Tigh is beginning to realize that there's more to being a leader than giving orders. The press is clamoring for answers, everyone wants a decision now, and he feels himself being drawn to his old friend and enemy, the bottle.

Worst of all, the Quorum of Twelve has arrived on the Galactica and is demanding to see President Roslin. Tigh resists, but his wife Ellen convinces him that the president has lost her mind and that letting her meet with the Quorum will only cement Tigh's power.

The plan backfires: Roslin's odd behavior was only a symptom of chamalla withdrawal, and when she meets the other leaders she has recovered her composure. She condemns Adama's action and announces that she is the leader, spoken of in the Scrolls of Phylia, who will lead the people to Earth. Livid, Tigh orders the Quorum off his ship.

Meanwhile, Lee Adama leads a search-and-rescue mission to find the Raptor crew lost on Kobol, unaware that the Cylons have set up a missile battery in anticipation of such an effort. It falls to the beleaguered survivors on the ground to knock out the Cylon artillery before Galactica's rescue team flies into the trap.

Unfortunately, Chief Tyrol has serious misgivings about Crashdown's plan to destroy the missile battery — and about the lieutenant's ability to lead a team of non-combat personnel against high-tech killing machines.

Vice President Baltar has even graver doubts — because Number Six has warned him that one of their number will betray the others on Kobol.

The Galactica has succeeded in reuniting with the fleet, but it has paid a terrible price: A Cylon computer virus has penetrated its computers, robbing the ship of power, and Cylon Centurions have boarded the Galactica and are battling their way to the ship's vulnerable centers.

Lee Adama, in the brig with President Roslin, persuades some marines to release them. He orders Billy and Vedder to take the president to the sickbay disaster shelter, where she'll be safe, and heads off with a squad of marines to defend the ship's magazines.

In the CIC, however, Col. Tigh knows from bitter experience what the Cylons are planning. The Centurions aren't going to blow up the ship; they're going to kill the crew by venting the ship's air and then turn its guns on the rest of the fleet. And only Lee — whom Tigh despises for his "disloyalty" to Commander Adama (i.e., support for the president) — and his small squad of marines are in position to stop the Cylon boarding party.

Meanwhile, on Cylon-occupied Caprica, Starbuck and Helo break into her old apartment and fire up her old pickup truck.

Light-years away on Kobol, Chief Tyrol and his crew return from their risky mission to get medical supplies for Socinus, only to realize that the wounded man isn't going make it. Number Six warns Baltar that Socinus won't be the last of the stranded Raptor crew to die — and that of all the humans, Baltar alone will live to see Earth.

With Commander Adama fighting for his life after being shot by the Cylon infiltrator Sharon, and President Roslin languishing in the Galactica's brig after losing the power struggle with Adama, Col. Tigh is thrust into the unfamiliar role of the sole leader in a time of crisis.

The situation worsens quickly. First, Tigh sends Lee to the brig for siding with Roslin against Commander Adama. Then an emergency jump to escape an incoming Cylon force goes wrong, leaving Galactica alone in space, separated from the rest of the fleet — and from the medical help needed to save Adama's life.

As Tigh struggles to come to terms with this crisis, he thinks back on his relationship with Adama, who saved him from oblivion and from his own fierce temper, and tries to tap into some of the wisdom that his old friend offered him.

It soon becomes clear that to reconnect with the fleet, Galactica must jump back into danger over Kobol and network its computers, a highly risky move that will make the ship vulnerable to attack from both the Cylon fighters and their crippling computer viruses.

Meanwhile, on the surface of Kobol, Chief Tyrol and the rest of the downed Raptor crew fight for their lives against an unseen enemy while Vice President Baltar seeks solace in his visions of Number Six, only to find those visions turn dark and haunting.

Light-years away, on Cylon-occupied Caprica, Kara and Helo must find some way to bring the Arrow of Apollo back to the fleet — but first they have to get it back from the avatar of Number Six who has found it in the Delphi Museum.

When Commander Adama learns that Kara disobeyed orders and Jumped to Caprica on orders from President Roslin, he demands the president's resignation, with the implied threat of a military coup. Roslin refuses his demand and sparks a confrontation.

As civil war simmers in the fleet, the conflict on Caprica heats up. Kara completes her mission for Laura: She finds the Arrow of Apollo that, according to prophecy, will lead the fleet to Earth. No sooner does she pick it up, however, than she is thrust into a battle to the death with Number Six.

Meanwhile, Adama sends Sharon and Racetrack in a Raptor equipped with a Cylon transponder, to fire a nuclear warhead that will destroy the basestar. But when the missile release jams, Sharon lands the Raptor deep inside the basestar, to deliver the warhead manually.

Once outside her ship, however, Sharon is greeted by dozens of Sharon avatars, all Cylons like her, welcoming her home. She retreats, but is told that she and her fellow Cylons will meet again. She and Racetrack escape the basestar, which explodes.

Mission accomplished, Sharon returns home to the Galactica. She warmly accepts Commander Adama's thanks and praise for a job well done — then she coldly shoots him, point-blank, in the chest.

After she learns that Adama lied about knowing where Earth was, Starbuck made an unauthorized jump back to Caprica to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo.  Commander Adama asked President Roslin if she asked her to do so.  When the President said yes, Adama initiated a coup to remove her from office and prepares to declare martial law.

Sharon, barely well from her attempted suicide, takes on the mission that Starbuck was supposed to be doing, destroying the Cylon basestar guarding the newly-found Kobol.  After dropping the bomb manually in the hold, Sharon walks off and is confronted with her reality, a dozen Cylon copies of herself.

She protests that she is NOT a cylon, that she is human.  The copies tell her not to fight her destiny, that they love her, and that they will see her again.  Back on the ship, her greatest fear comes to reality.  Her Cylon side took over and she shot Commander Adama twice.

Baltar's Cylon Ghost saved him from the fire when the Raptor he was in crashed landed on the planet.  Calling his name, he collected himself enough to walk through the wall of flame and into safety.  He thanked her for saving his life when he saw her later, and she said, "Care to return the favor?"  She then leads him down the path and shows him why he was chosen...  to the cradle in which lays a newborn baby, half Cylon, half human, all graced by God.  "Number Seven" (My word, not theirs.) is the grand plan of the Cylons, to nearer themselves to God, and to perfection, by finally having true life.  The Caprica Sharon copy is pregnant, and Baltar and Number Six are left in each other's heat of passion as the credits roll.

 

While flying a supply patrol, Crashdown and Sharon Valerii discover a bountiful planet that can support human life. Indeed, it might be Kobol, the legendary "home of the gods." The discovery prompts Commander Adama to send a ground team to investigate; it also gives new life to President Roslin's belief that she is a tool of destiny and that this discovery, like her rapidly spreading cancer, is part of an ancient prophecy.

However, things are not well on the Galactica. Gaius Baltar, the new vice-president, has a one-night stand with Kara Thrace and finds himself at odds with both Lee Adama and a deeply jealous Number Six.

Meanwhile, both Cylon Sharons struggle with their dual natures. On Galactica, she contemplates suicide when she realizes her programming will lead her to betray her comrades; on Caprica, she tries to convince Helo that her love for him is stronger than her loyalty to the Cylons.

After a Raptor carrying Vice-President Baltar is shot down over Kobol, Commander Adama must find a way to destroy the Cylon basestar that guards the planet before he can send a rescue team. He orders Kara to fly a dangerous mission against the basestar, using the captured Cylon Raider — but Kara makes an unauthorized Jump home to Caprica instead, abandoning Adama and the stranded Raptor crew.

Everything is falling into chaos.  Sharon is coming to terms that she is probably a Cylon and that eventually she will be made to betray Galactica.  She feels that the only way out is to take herself out.  She sits with gun in her mouth several times, but is never able to pull the trigger.  After speaking with Baltar and him telling her to "follow her heart" she pulls the trigger.  Luckily it was non-fatal.

Baltar finally gets Starbuck in bed, and in the heat of the moment, right at the wrong time, she calls out "Oh, Lee!"

Back on Caprica, the Helo finds out that his Sharon is a Cylon copy.

The fleet finds Kobol, the planet that is supposed to lead them to Earth.  When they go back to survey, there is a Cylon baseship in orbit.  When Starbuck hears of the fulfillment of the prophecy, she asks Adama if he really knows where Earth is.  He said that Earth was a lie, so she followed the cleric and President's wishes of jumping the Cylon raptor back to Caprica and retrieving the Arrow of Apollo, which it is said will point the way to Earth.

 

When President Roslin calls an Interim Quorum of the Twelve Colonies, she discovers that democracy brings its ugly stepsisters — politics and deadly intrigue — to the party. Tom Zarek, the charismatic convicted terrorist, is elected as the delegate from Sagittaron and immediately proposes elections for the vice-presidency.

Roslin encourages her trusted adviser, Wallace Gray, to run against Zarek, but when he proves less than popular, she turns to the suddenly popular Baltar as her candidate.

Meanwhile, two shady and heavily armed characters, Grimes and Vallance, have infiltrated the Quorum site. Lee and Kara foil the assassins' plot, but then Vallance mysteriously dies in custody.

Light-years away, on Cylon-occupied Caprica, Sharon must make an impossible choice — if she is to save Helo's life, she must finally reveal to him that she is a Cylon.

Trying to do her job by the law, she finds cornered by it in that she must now hold public election for a Vice President.  A convicted terrorist, Tom Zarek, winds his way into the delegation and gets nominated for Vice.  His agenda is dangerous and he cannot be allowed to win.  But how can we stop the victory without violating the law, or alienating the people?

When her trusted advisor bombs in the polls, she picks Dr. Baltar to run as her Vice.

The part of Tom Zarek is played by Richard Hatch, who was Lee Adama ("Apollo") in the Original Series.

 

As its fuel supply dwindles, the fleet must seek out a new supply of tylium ore or risk becoming sitting ducks to any Cylon attack. A recon patrol finds an asteroid full of the fuel, but there's a catch — the Cylons have found it first and established a heavily guarded refining plant.

Kara devises a plan: Jump three decoy ships near the asteroid; when the Cylons attack, destroy their bases, leaving them stranded in space. It's a bold tactic, but it will take luck, skill and daring to pull it off.

Meanwhile, President Roslin begins to hallucinate as a result of the Chamalla she's taking to combat her breast cancer. When she consults Elosha, a priestess who has used Chamalla to induce visions, she learns that her circumstances fulfill a 3,600-year-old prophecy.

On Cylon-occupied Caprica, Sharon and Helo's flight from the Cylon overseers suddenly becomes more complicated when Sharon discovers she's pregnant.

The raw fuel asteroid they found was crawling with Cylons.  Starbuck devises a bold, daring, and risky plan to destroy the Cylons.  Just when it appears all is lost and the Cylons ignore the bait and come running for the fleet, Starbuck pulls her Ace, a hidden Viper deployment inside the bait ships.

Baltar starts to realize and believe in what Number Six has been telling him the whole show... that he is an instrument of God and is following God's divine plan.  The plan that leads to the victory of the Cylons.

Roslin's hallucinations and fatal cancer are found to exactly follow the 3600 year old prophecy.

 

President Roslin's fears that Commander Adama is a Cylon are stoked when she learns he's making secret wireless calls to other ships. Then, to make things worse, a single Cylon raider appears near the Galactica and begins acting strangely after being damaged in battle.

When Adama returns to the ship with Tigh's wife, Ellen, an earthy temptress and irrepressible flirt who claims to have been in a coma since their civilization was destroyed, Roslin's suspicions increase. She orders Baltar to screen both Ellen and Adama with his newly completed Cylon-detector.

Meanwhile, Col. Tigh and the rest of the crew watch warily and gather data as the wounded Cylon raider jumps in and out of space.

On Caprica, the Cylon overseers fear that the Cylon Sharon is developing a strange feeling toward Helo — love.

After Leoban told the President that Adama is a Cylon, the fears build in her as he takes secret calls and unauthorized shuttle trips.  Things come to light when Colonel Tigh's missing wife Ellen is found newly awake after a coma.  Adama is wary of her and has Baltar test her tissues in his new Cylon detector instead of his, against the wishes of the President.

The irrepressible Ellen drags Tigh back into the destructive behavior of the past, especially the drinking to excess.  There is a tense scene as everything comes out that Adama suspects Ellen is Cylon and everyone else suspects Adama is.  Baltar announces that Ellen tested green and that she is human.  When Number Six questions him about what the test result "really" was, he answered that he'd never reveal the real answer.  So is she a Cylon?  We don't really know yet.  Only future episodes will tell.  Of course one of the things about this series is that you can never really know that what you know is the truth.  There's always a question about the reliability of we are seeing.

Interesting, but one of my least favorite episodes.  The Ellen story just didn't fit into the drama of the rest of the series.  It could of played up the witch hunt portion of the story.

 

A Cylon, who calls himself Leobon, is discovered on one of the ships in the fleet. Commander Adama sends Kara to interrogate him — or, rather, it. The Cylon tells Kara that he planted a nuclear device on one of the ships. Although she doesn't believe it, Kara passes on the warning.

As her colleagues search for the device, Kara engages Leobon in a battle of wills. Theological debates about souls and the humanity of Cylons lead to mind games, threats, and, ultimately, torture. Taking a personal interest in what Leobon has to say, President Roslin joins the interrogation.

On Galactica, Sharon asks Baltar to try out his new Cylon-detecting technology on her.

Meanwhile, on far-off Caprica, another Sharon conspires with her Cylon associates Doral and Number Six to convince Helo to remain on the planet and start a new life.

Leobon preaches religion to Starbuck, while Starbuck preaches reality to the toaster.  Starbuck uses various forms of torture, including beating and dunking his head in water.  She explains that while the the Cylon strives to be human, it could simply turn off the pain receptors.  But to turn them off would serve to prove that it's only a machine and violate everything the Cylon is yearning for.  He gives her a gift, a prophecy.  That the fleet will find Kobol, and that Kobol will lead them to Earth.

Leobon explained that God, in his wisdom, created Man.  But then Man turned their back on God.  God then created the Cylons, a "new" Man.

As his last act of defiance, Leobon told the President that Commander Adama was a Cylon.  She orders the him put out the airlock.

Sharon volunteers to be the test sample for Baltar's new Cylon detector.  She's eaten up with the thought, the fear, that she may be a Cylon.  When the detector reports red, that she is a Cylon, the Doctor lies and tells her that it's green and that she is "very human."  He's not sure what she would do if her secret gets out.

Baltar's Ghost directs his actions, bending them to his will.  But to what end?  What do they really want?

When Baltar and the Number Six who lives in his head have a falling out, she abandons him, only to surface a short while later aboard the Galactica. But now she's called Shelley Godfrey, everyone can see her, and she's telling them that she has evidence, passed on by the late Dr. Amarak, that will prove Baltar sold out the human race to the Cylons.

With Baltar in a panic and trying to save himself, Number Six focuses her charms on Commander Adama. But the Commander is wary of this stunning stranger and has her followed while her evidence is analyzed.

Kara struggles to recover from her injuries while Chief Tyrol and the crew try to reverse-engineer the Cylon raider she piloted home.

Meanwhile, dual Sharons face their own challenges — on Caprica, she and Helo are on the run from Cylon centurions; on the Galactica, she's terrified of being exposed as a Cylon herself.

Baltar looks through the microscope, and explains to his Ghost that he cannot see the Hand of God, "divine digits", in the cell samples he's looking at.  Number 6 explains the Nature of God, and is taken back by his blasphemy against God.  She leaves his fantasy world, and appears on the command deck of the Galactica as Shelley Godfrey, the assistant to Dr. Amarak that was killed onboard the Olympic Carrier.

Dr. Amarak was on the way to explain about Baltar's role in the Cylon invasion.  Shelley came to explain to Adama what the Doctor knew.  When things come to light, Shelley's evidence is discredited, Baltar is relieved of suspicion, and has now had his trial by fire, leaving him in a higher standing, and above suspicion publically.

Lt. Sharon Valerii thoughout the series gets hints that she may be a Cylon.  During the "Water" episode she finds evidence that she is the one that sabotaged the water supply.  Many other things have happened that leads her to believe that she may be a Cylon.  When she talked about the Cylon raider, not just being alive, but being a life, a pet, and that you have to treat is as such, that it would respond.  She talked about the raider as if it were a friend.

We know that Sharon is a Cylon, or at least has been copied by the Cylons.  We don't know if the one on Galactica is the real Sharon or not.  However, I suspect that the real Sharon has been destroyed and replaced by the copy.

The role of God, especially the Cylon's view of Him, plays a major part in the series.  The robotic forms of Cylons have tried and failed to become more human, closer to God.  It's plain to me that their overall goal that they have been referring to throughout the series is to mate a humanform Cylon with a human -- to truely have a hybrid lifeform.  Not the machine-imitated life, but true God-given life.  Then, the Cylons will be perfect.

When a new copy of Doral, a Cylon who had been previously exposed while serving as the Galactica's public-relations officer, sneaks aboard and blows himself up, killing three people, Commander Adama and President Roslin must finally make public the terrifying secret known only to a select few: Cylons now look like humans.

Adama also appoints an independent tribunal to investigate the recent security breaches and names Sgt. Hadrian as lead investigator. When Hadrian discovers a hatch was left open, even after Chief Tyrol had reported that all were closed, she focuses the investigation on him and his relationship with Sharon.

Tyrol's crew covers for their chief, taking the blame for his failure. When Hadrian tries to expand the inquiry, haranguing Adama about his decision not to reveal the truth about Cylons, the commander shuts down the tribunal.

Meanwhile, on Caprica, a trio of Cylons observe Helo as he tries to save himself and find the woman he thinks is Sharon.

After the explosion, President Roslin tells the secret that previously only a few people knew.  That Cylons now look like us.  A tribunal is set up to investigate the suicide bomber, which quickly degenerates into a witch hunt.  Everyone is a Cylon, or helping the Cylons.  Everything is nit-picked, every action analyzed.

When Lt. Kara Thrace goes missing in action after encountering a Cylon patrol while on a training mission, Commander Adama feels responsible — especially in light of her recent admission that she blames herself for his son Zak's death.

Both Adama and Lee devote the full resources of the fleet to search for their missing fighter ace, causing some to wonder if it's worth risking the lives of 45,000 people to save one downed pilot. When President Roslin questions their motives and points out that Kara's oxygen was exhausted hours ago, they reluctantly call off the search.

But they haven't counted on Kara's resourcefulness and courage. Stranded on a red moon, her knee a twisted wreck, she struggles to relaunch a damaged Cylon fighter and return to Galactica.

Because of Commander Adama's coming down on Starbuck about Zak, he cannot leave her behind if there is any chance of her still being alive.  He expends every effort, along with 43% of the reserve fuel, in the search for Starbuck on the moon.  Even after her oxygen reserves ran out, he continued searching under the possibility that she may have packed an extra bottle, even though that's never happened in the past.

Meanwhile, unknown to the fleet or searchers above, Starbuck as located the Cylon raider that downed her in relatively good condition.  But dead.  Dead?  Expecting that the raider was a ship flown by Cylons, she was surprised to find out at the ship was, in fact, a living, breathing Cylon, a creature.  The Cylon ship had to breathe also, so she was able to tie into the ship's oxygen supply.

She ripped out it's dead brain, having "luckily brought one of her own."  She was able to locate the four basic flight controls and figured out how to fly the ship.

The President had finally gotten Commander Adama to clear their head and call off the search.  Minutes before jumping to lightspeed, the lone Cylon raider appeared on radar.