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I missed on the new BSG series and was thinking about getting started. All I know is that is a highly recommended show and that there was a miniseries precedingit. Since I am a subscriber to Hulu Plus and they have the show, it seems like that's where I'll be watching. However, they do not have the miniseries--the earlier you can go is episode 1 of season 1.

Should I dish out the cost for the miniseries in iTunes and watch it first before diving in episode 1 in Hulu Plus or can I reasonably follow along the plot skipping the miniseries?

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    Are you a subscriber to Netflix? I believe the miniseries is on there.
    – CamelBlues
    Commented Jul 27, 2011 at 2:41
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    When you get to the last season you can skip the finale, though.
    – BBlake
    Commented Jul 27, 2011 at 20:07
  • Watch the mini series. It is the start of the show after all. consider it the pilot episode. Also you can find my response to the viewing order of all parts of the series; movies, mini-series, web series, etc... scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/3641/…
    – Alan Barber
    Commented Aug 29, 2011 at 14:15
  • Watch the mini series later, it looks a bit "disiorenting" but makes things far more exciting.
    – Fabiano Tarlao
    Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 7:57

4 Answers 4

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Watch the miniseries. The TV series assumes you've seen it, and hits the ground running. The first episode of the TV series will be extremely confusing if you haven't seen the miniseries.

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    I love the series, but I thought the miniseries was overlong and slow. Keep in mind that things get better - the first two episodes of season one are outstanding. (If you don't like those, you really won't care for the rest of BSG; it is a very melodramatic show, not to everyone's taste.)
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 27, 2011 at 0:25
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    @neilfein I agree that the miniseries is pretty slow. They could have cut it down by an hour or so and not lost any story, but the atmosphere would have suffered for it. Either way, the TV series relies on that introduction.
    – user1027
    Commented Jul 27, 2011 at 1:53
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    Interestingly, the first couple of "episodes" on Netflix are actually the miniseries. I didn't realize I had seen the miniseries until now since Netflix grouped them all together.
    – Chad Levy
    Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 19:51
  • I agree that without miniseries you lack the detailed background but without the Miniseries you disclose all the details in the series as you go, and personally I think that it has been for me far more exciting.
    – Fabiano Tarlao
    Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 7:56
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I'm going to controversially recommend watching it later. I started without even knowing there was a mini-series, and made it all of the way through season 1 before seeing it. I thought the first episode was daringly respectful of the audience's intelligence - assuming that we'd pick up things as it went along. You're forced to get to know the characters as they go around their duty, and various unexplained things seems mysterious and compelling, as opposed to a waste of time.

Then I saw the miniseries, and I realised that they'd done all of the head-beatingly dull character exposition in that, and the bits that I thought were exciting, daring and progressive were merely out of context.

It's still (mostly) a great show, especially the first few seasons.

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    What does first few seasons mean, considering that there's only 4.
    – tshepang
    Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 8:12
  • I also saw miniseries later, and I thought that starting with episode 1 -33- is far far better.. it's disorienting, like life, but you discover the roles and characters and the situation gradually and comprehensively throughout the series, personally I enjoyed it twice as much without the miniseries
    – Fabiano Tarlao
    Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 7:54
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I would recommend watching the miniseries. It sets up the universe.

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I know this is an old question, but maybe it'll help some other folks.

NO, do not watch miniseries

We've watched all seasons without watching miniseries. At first it was "WTH is this all about", but then you start to get all the details.

Few years have passed, and we've finally watched miniseries. This is amazing experience. It gives you all the nice feelings the series have given, and lets you appreciate whole 2004 BSG series even more.

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    You say no do not watch, and then say it was an amazing experience.
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 20:30
  • it was amazing experience to GET BACK to the series AFTER such a long period of time. and as other commenters stated, it gives up the details that you can figure out later (and have much more fun from that)
    – GiM
    Commented Jul 21, 2017 at 11:34

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