Customer Reviews

Battlestar Galactica: Man With Nine Lives [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the better episodes of Galactica. They useFred Astaire in a roll that is basically Starbuck as an old man. It'slight-hearted for the main part and one of the 6 or 7 episodes that holds up so many years later.

I think this one lived up to its potential. I hated this one as a kid; like it as an adult. Funny how your opinions and perceptions change from 13 to 33.

This is one of the best episodes of the series, not because of the science fiction aspects, but because it is one of the few where the characters are fleshed out. Fred Astaire guest stars as an old scoundrel with many of the mannerisms of Starbuck and after testing, it turns out that he is in fact his father. It is great to see the elder Astaire in a character role, where he relies on dialog rather than body movements. Of all the episodes of BG, this one probably has the best dialog and Astaire is definitely one of the most interesting, entertaining characters that appeared in the series.
Unlike many of the other episodes, the plot is not a complete clone of a story that is already overdone. It has traces of originality and introduces a gambling ship, which helps to alleviate the overbearing goodness found in other episodes. I was a young adult when the series aired and loved all episodes, even the clunkers. This was one of my favorites back then and it still ranks very high, even though I have a basic attraction to stories with a great deal of space-like special effects.

It's nice to see Fred Astaire make a guest-appearance. This episode helps reveal some of Starbuck's background and begins to flesh out the character somewhat (Unfortunately, this never happened with most of the characters during the series' limited run).

The story of discovering Starbuck's father is a good one, and it's actually better than a number of other episodes, yet it still ranks as another episode that didn't measure up to the series' full potential.

Still, it's entertaining and watchable for any fan of sci-fi cult classics.