Battlestar Galactica (TRS)

This article refers to the 2003 re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica. For information on the 1978 Original Series, see Battlestar Galactica (TOS).

Some of the central cast of the new "Battlestar Galactica" series.

Summary

The 2003 Miniseries debut of Battlestar Galactica was a "re-imagining," or updated version of the 1970s "Battlestar Galactica" made more suitable to the modern sensibilities of the 21st Century. Aiming to tacle issues of civil rights, survival, terrorism, and religion, "Battlestar Galactica" is an sci-fi drama following the survivors of the human race—which number under 50,000. A familiar but different battlestar Galactica finds herself leading a refugee fleet on a lonely (and initially fictitious) quest for Earth, with turmoil from within and danger from without.

On the "Battlestar Wiki," the show's most common abbreviations are "the Re-imagined Series," or "RDM" for the initials of its executive co-producer and chief writer, Ronald D. Moore (as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is often referred to as "TNG"). It was also initially disambiguated as "TNS" (for "The New Series"), or "BSG", but this has become rarer over time as it distinguished itself more from the 1978 series, or the "Original Series" as it is commonly called on Battlestar Wiki.

"Battlestar Galactica" began (or, "re-began") as a four-hour Miniseries pilot that showed the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, but in a style more familiar and disturbing to today's viewers, making its events eerily reminiscent of feelings felt by many viewers to the sporadic and inconsistent news and chaos shown during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

While the ship was probably the most familar element derived from the Original Series, many elements of the new show were very, very different. The commander, William Adama, is a battle-hardened, secularly-minded commander on the eve of retirement for himself and his combat-decorated old battlestar. The names of Original Series characters are now the pilot call signs for his son, Lee "Apollo" Adama and the crack-pilot, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. Starbuck's change into a female character initially became a torrid issue to Original Series fans who feared this and other changes would render an inferior series.

However, some fans became pleasantly surprised when the series aired. Unlike its Original Series counterpart, this new series has not only survived, preparing episodes for its third season beginning in October 2006, but has received many awards and nominations. These include several Emmy nominations, a Peabody Award, a Saturn Award, and a Hugo Award. Its popularity has even given the show its own spin-off series, currently in development. However, it has received some criticism from fans who feel it bastardized the original series, and some critics disliked it for various reasons.

As of the end of the regular 2006 television season, "Battlestar Galactica" was the Sci-Fi Channel's highest-rated program, beating out the venerable SF series, "Stargate SG-1" and its spin-off, "Stargate Atlantis."

Noted Changes from the Original Series

The basic story is still present: robotic Cylons surprisingly attack the Colonies resulting in a holocaust, thus forcing a "rag-tag, fugitive fleet" to coalesce around the last surviving battlestar, Galactica, to seek a mythical 13th Colony where refugees hope to find shelter from the Cylons.

However, many of the fine details are changed, such as:

• The Cylons were created by Humanity, not by a reptilian race (also called Cylons) who hated Humanity. This makes their origins similar to those of the machines of the Terminator or the The Matrix.
• Battlestar Galactica is a 50 year old relic on the verge of decommission.
• The names of "Apollo", "Boomer", and "Starbuck" are changed to call signs. Most characters have standard first and last names; some first names were not given until later in the series, such as Felix Gaeta's or Anastasia Dualla's.
• The futuristic (and often confusing) terminology used to denote units of measurement, such as distance and time, in the original series has been replaced with understandable terminology. For instance, "year" was replaced with "yahren" in the original.
• The ship designs, save for some revisions to the Mk. II Viper and Galactica and a few noteworthy background ships (such as the Astral Queen and the Botanical Cruiser), have been redone.
• The Quorum of Twelve is not mentioned in the miniseries, and is apparently supplemented by a government body similar to the United States executive branch. There is a president, vice president, and secretaries. The Quorum does not make an appearance until episode 1.11 (Colonial Day).
• Instead of the other-worldly, Egyptian-esque clothing and city designs (i.e. pyramids) seen in the original, the clothing and cities are more contemporary in design and function.

The relationships and characters also differ significantly from the Original Series.

• Boomer, who was played as a male character by Herb Jefferson Jr. in the original, is now the call-sign of a female Lieutenant Sharon Valerii (Grace Park).
• Starbuck, who was played as a male character by Dirk Benedict in the original, is now the call-sign of a female lieutenant named Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff)
• "Adama", "Tigh", and "Baltar" are now surnames.
• The character of Adama, portrayed by Lorne Greene in the Original Series, becomes William "Husker" Adama (Edward James Olmos). Adama's beliefs are far more secular than his TOS counterpart.
• Apollo, portrayed by Original Series star and continuation activist Richard Hatch, is the call sign of Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber).
• Baltar, who was willingly complicit in the destruction of the Colonies due to his thirst for power, is now a scientific genius named Gaius Baltar.
• The character of Colonel Tigh, portrayed by Terry Carter, is now separated from his wife and seeing out the rest of his career from inside a bottle in the form of Colonel Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) who hasn't seen military action in a long while.

The show has taken a more realistic turn. Realistic science, which was painfully absent in the Original Series, is applied in this series.

Certain models of Cylons appear human, right down to the blood -- it takes complex tests just to screen for these Humanoid Cylons. This generates some very disturbing questions. For one, the Cylons have now managed to merge in with human society, making it easier to manipulate from within. This mirrors terrorist methods of infiltration and delivering destructive results to heavy population centers (a la suicide bombers).

Official Statements

• Ron D. Moore discusses using the Original Series as a template:

I approached the original show and looked at what workedd and what didn't work. I tried to keep as much of the original show as possible. I kept all the essential elements of Battlestar Galactica: the aircraft-carrier-in-space; the rag-tag fleet; the Cylon attack, the escape and the search for Earth; Commander Adama; Adama's son "Apollo", who's the Galactica's lead fighter pilot; the rogue pilot, "Starbuck"; their friend, "Boomer"; and Baltar, the traitor. Those were the main things I knew I had to keep – it wouldn't have been Battlestar Galactica without them.

I changed the things I knew didn't work. The original Baltar didn't have a motivation for betraying his race, so I knew I'd have to change that character. I also never understood why the Cylons were so intent on pursuing these humans across the galaxy, so I changed the background of the Cylons and their relationship with the human beings. Making the Cylons the creation of humanity enabled the Cylons to have a much more complicated love/hate relationship with humans, and also provided us with a way to use humanoid Cylons in the series, which was something we knew we wanted to do because there would be limits on how much we could use CGI Cylons.

Athena didn't seem to serve any funciton in the original show other than look beautiful and be a love interest for Starbuck, so I just got rid of that character. And while I thought Boxey was part of the family and decided it would be nice to include him in some peripheral way, I never considered keeping Boxey's dog for a second. The dog was just absurd! it was right out from the moment I took the show.

• Moore discusses the religious aspects of the series:

The religious aspects of the show developed naturally out of my intention to reflect every aspect of the human experience. I was delighted because I'm fascinated with this notion of monotheism versus polytheism, and I felt its addition to the show enriched it and helped make it unique.

Cast

Stars

• Edward James Olmos as William Adama
• Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
• Katee Sackhoff as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
• Jamie Bamber as Lee "Apollo" Adama
• James Callis as Gaius Baltar
• Tricia Helfer as Number Six
• Grace Park as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii/Number Eight

Co-stars

• Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya (2003-2006)
• Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta

Production Crew

Producers

• Ronald D. Moore - Developer / Executive Producer / Writer
• David Eick - Executive Producer
• Toni Graphia - Co-Executive Producer / Writer
• Harvey Frand - Producer
• Glen A. Larson - Consulting Producer

Directors & Writing Staff

To view the list of all the directors and staff, see the Battlestar Wiki Crew Portal.