It's been 20 years since Battlestar Galactica's initial 2 hour release, and even back then it was considered bad. I, on the other hand, had fond thoughts of the late tv show... I remembered Lorne Greene as Adama, and those shiny Cylon baddies, and Starbuck, Apollo and the gang... and I remembered them well. I used to have action figures which I'm sure I broke just as quickly as any of my other ones, but BG was a big part of my early childhood... almost as big as Star Wars.
Delving into my more current years, I carried along with me my great admiration for the tv show, and seached deparately for a copy of the initial 2 hour pilot/film. But reading up on the show, I saw that it was not highly regarded in sci-fi circles, it was sued by 20th Century Fox for infringement upon Star Wars copyrights, and the most striking thing, it has no real cult following. There are no Battlestarheads out there, no Galactikkers, no Starbuckeroos... this told me something - "Maybe the show isn't so great as I remember." Upon buying the long saught premier, I watched it immeadiately, and realised I was right.
Battlestar Galactica has not aged well at all over the years. The acting isn't bad, just unconvincing. The outfits are more outdated, looking like a cross between Logan's Run and CHIPS. And still, the camerawork is extremely shoddy, with many scenes playing in that "one-colour-spotlight-atmosphere" the 70's loved so much. It really sucks to see all the actors faces and clothes be red... or green... or blue for such prolongued periods. Even the special effects, while competent enough for their day (and for low-budget productions today) are quite jerky, and Ed Woodish. In fact, the only thing to really stand the test of time on the show is its fantastic model spaceships (and the Cylons, natch). They truly are amazing, even by todays standards. The Cylons too still make cool villains, their ruthless and dominating presence in the universe of BG is lording much the way that the Empire and the Borg have in their respective universes.
Overall, the Battlestar Galactica pilot is boring. I found myself uninterested in the characters, all more annoying than I remember. The dialogue too was quite bad, the writer(s) coming up with some really stupid and roundabout terms for everyday things (I guess so that they're human, but not "our" human).
Unless you're like me and you really want to see the thing, I suggest you otherwise skip this one.