Caprica: (all episodes)
Movie: Blood & Chrome (available on DVD/Blu Ray or digital download)
Webisodes: Razor Minisodes (available on Razor DVD)
Season 1: (all episodes)
Season 2: Scattered - The Captain's Hand
Season 4 Movie: Razor
Season 2: Downloaded - Lay Down Your Burdens
Webisodes: The Resistance (available on DVDs and online)
Season 3: (all episodes)
Season 4: He That Believeth in Me - Sometimes a Great Notion
Webisodes: Face of the Enemy (only available online)
Season 4: A Disquiet Follows My Soul - No Exit
Movie: The Plan
Season 4: Deadlock - Daybreak
If you're planning to enter the Battlestar saga for the first time, I suggest you follow the order I've laid out and tell me what you think. Caprica and the first two web series are optional, but recommended. It's also all or nothing. If you skip Caprica, then jump straight to Battlestar Galactica season 1. Neither Blood & Chrome nor the Razor Minisodes function very well as introductory material.
If you're familiar with BSG and are planning to introduce someone to it, read on and I'll outline my reasons for this order.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
As the earliest prequel, Caprica is obviously the beginning of the story and, unlike most other prequels, it functions pretty well on its own. The only giveaway of things to come is the text "58 years before the fall" at the beginning. It introduces new viewers to the 12 Colonies, as any good prequel should, and moves through the material so slowly that most people can keep up. The series is flawed to be sure and the story becomes very unfocused around the middle, but after that, the writers found their rhythm and it becomes a more engaging story and topical throughout. It lends itself very well to being watched marathon style since the episodes are more like chapters of a novel rather than stories of the week and, though it will forever be an unfinished work, the season 2 promo at the end functions as a helpful epilogue.
Young Adama: Blood & Chrome - Razor
With the conclusion of Caprica, Blood & Chrome transitions the story into the wartime setting. Blood & Chrome re-introduces the grown up William Adama that we met at the end of Caprica as he joins the Galactica crew as a cocky new recruit. He goes on his first mission and afterwards, gets his desired assignment with the Viper squadron. The Razor Minisodes pick up a short time later with Adama, still the squadron rookie, hooking up with another pilot before his first major op. Unfortunately, there are several glaring continuity issues between these two series. There is a change in actor playing Adama. The hanger set used in Razor differs from the bustling green screen hanger from B&C. Adama says a line in Razor about never being in combat. Lastly, Ben Cotton, who plays Coker, also appears as a civilian prisoner in Razor, though fortunately his face is partially obscured. This story marks Adama's final adventure and the end of the war as the Cylons mysteriously call an armistice. It ends with a flash forward to where the start of the Mini Series, with older Adama looking at the new museum displays aboard the Galactica. NOTE: If there are any further developments on Blood & Chrome as a series, the Razor Minisodes will probably get dropped from this viewing order.
The Story of the Last Battlestar, Galactica
Everything that I've listed above is ultimately optional. If you are introducing someone new to the series and are concerned they won't make through the weaker parts of the franchise, then it's best to skip straight to the Mini Series. The opening titles of that fill in all the necessary information and neither web series works as a first episode. B&C has too many references to Caprica, and the Razor Minisodes are partially used in the Razor movie, so there's no need to watch those alone. I do recommend giving the prequel material a try. Let's face it, they aren't as bad as the Star Wars prequels. Caprica is its own story and gives very little away. It's also very topical and thought provoking. The young Adama web series are pretty dumbed-down action pieces, but are at least brief. Regardless, all the story payoffs are safely within the main BSG series.
The Last Pegasus Story: Razor
The season 4 film, Razor, clearly takes place after Lee takes command of the Pegasus in The Captain's Hand. What is under debate is if the film goes before or after Downloaded since the director of Razor shot Grace Park from the chest up, so no stomach, pregnant or otherwise, is visible. I believe it goes before Downloaded for two reasons. One, the transition of Lee being assigned the Pegasus and then officially taking command in Razor is much smoother if Downloaded isn't in the middle. Two, after the events of Downloaded, Sharon is very distraught over the apparent death of Hera, and she still looks depressed at the beginning of Lay Down Your Burdens. In Razor, she doesn't look depressed or sad, which suggests she hasn't gone through the loss of her child. It also marks the last Pegasus story of the season before the beginning of the New Caprica arc.
Surviving New Caprica: The Resistance
The Resistance web series bridges the gap between season 2 & 3 and sets up the motivations of Duck and Jammer who would take important actions during early season 3. This is the only supplementary material that aired in the correct order with the episodes.
Seed of Insurrection: Face of the Enemy
Once the fleet finds and leaves Earth in season four's Sometimes a Great Notion, the web series Face of the Enemy preludes the three episode arc of Gaeta and Zarek's rebellion. The final scene of these webisodes leads directly into A Disquiet Follows My Soul.
Countdown to Finale: Cylons and The Plan
REVISION: Chronologically, The Plan takes place at the end of season 2 at the end of Lay Down Your Burdens. Unfortunately, it can't go there because of the one year jump that happens in part 2 and it gives away the identities of the final five Cylons. Watching it after the end of the series as it was broadcast sullies the finality of the last episode, so it has go to somewhere after Sometimes a Great Notion when the final Cylon is revealed, and before the finale, Daybreak. I originally thought the ideal place was after Blood on the Scales; right in between the Gaeta insurrection and Hera kidnapping stories. It would kick off a full chonological flashback sequence that carries over into No Exit, beginning with the Cylon attack on the 12 Colonies. There are a few production elements and dialogue that make this kinda rough, so I think it works a little better in reverse order, The Plan after No Exit. That episode begins with the better flashback intro of "All of this has happened before." It also presents a lot of information that The Plan assumes you know, such the Final Five creating the other models, and Cavil being aware of their identities. The transition is much smoother in this order as No Exit ends with Cavil seemingly abandoned by his "mother" and Sam in a coma, then The Plan flashes back to how they both got started. Lastly, Cavil's final voice over in The Plan is a line spoken in No Exit, and so makes more sense in that context. These two stories form a quasi two-parter that gives the audience a full summary of the major series events from the Cylon perspective before the final march to the finale.
Thanks for this! new to the series, nice to have a chronological breakdown
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