What The Frak Is Going On?

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"What The Frak Is Going On?" is a humorous but impressively concise 8-minute recap of the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries and the first three seasons of the Re-imagined Series.

Created by the Sci Fi Channel, the recap uses a series of clips from practically every episode of the Re-imagined Series to illustrate and connect the central plot points of the series for new viewers in preparation for the series's final season.

The narration, provided by a woman's voice, speaks with colloquial tones about plot points that include:

• Helo and "Good Boomer's" adventures in season 1 and 2
• Kara Thrace finds the Arrow of Apollo in the Delphi Museum of the Colonies where a Number Six approaches ("Girl-fight.")
• The enmity, friendship and romance between William Adama and Laura Roslin (A sequence of clips from "Resurrection Ship, Part II" shows Adama receiving his promotion and giving Roslin an improvised kiss in return as the narrator quips: "Roslin promotes Adama to admiral. He promotes her right back.")

Certain events that do not play a significant element to the central plot of the show to-date, such as most of the battles, are not discussed. Events from the special season 4 episode "Razor" are also omitted.

If the video is meant to be a chronological summary, it has minor story inaccuracies such as:

1. Leoben Conoy is not found first aboard Galactica, as the video states, but rather on Ragnar Anchorage. The Cylon found on Galactica is Aaron Doral, who is later abandoned on the munitions depot (Miniseries, Night 2).
2. The claim is made that "they (the Colonials) think Boomer is a Cylon". This is not the case. The only one who really suspects this is Galen Tyrol, only after "Litmus". However, the same explanation is given in The Story So Far to account for the "Cylon" writing on Boomer's mirror.
3. Later, the narrator connects William Adama's fight with Conoy to Laura Roslin's announcement that the Cylons look human, but Roslin's conference does not occur until "Litmus", some days or weeks later.
4. It is claimed that Lee Adama "wants to be a lawyer", when in fact he joins the defense team in the belief of justice and the rule of law. He was a child when he briefly toyed with the idea of stepping into his grandfather's footsteps.

In addition to these, a small mistake is made when Saul Tigh is identified as "Commanding Officer Tigh".

The producers of this recap video also assembled "Lost in 8:15", a similarly humorous recap of Lost commissioned by ABC shortly before that series's season 4 premiere. Both videos are narrated by Mary O'Brien, a senior writer and producer at Met|Hodder, the company that produced the video^[1].

As with much of the video content on the USA Sci Fi Channel web site, "What the Frak" will play only for United States residents. However, for everyone all over the world (with special thanks to the Sci Fi Channel), Battlestar Wiki now hosts the complete 8 minute recap video below. (To view, your computer may require QuickTime for Mac or Windows or similar software.)

A newer version was also made including new material from the first half of the Fourth Season. This video is also available from iTunes.

References