Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance

This page covers the webisode series titled "The Resistance," which follows the exploits of the New Caprica Resistance. For other meanings, see "Resistance".

"Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Special Episode
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson David Weddle
Story by
Director	Wayne Rose
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	2006-09-05 through 2006-10-05
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	Not yet available in the UK
DVD release
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II	Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance	Occupation
Related Information
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]

Overview

Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance will be web-based series that claims to fill in the gaps between season two and three of the re-imagined series. The webisodes can be viewed from the official web portal at SciFi.com. An official FAQ is provided there to answer questions about availability and technical issues.

The webisode series is written by veteran BSG writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, and directed by Wayne Rose. The entire series is about 25 minutes long in total, and divided into 10 episodes.

Summary

Episode 1

• Running time: ~3:19
• Starts on the 67^th day after Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II

Tyrol and Tigh organize the budding resistance movement on Cylon-occupied New Caprica, but they find recruiting new soldiers is becoming dangerous and difficult. The Cylons have instituted a curfew. Violators go to jail, which is the first thing the Cylons built on New Caprica. New Capricans are shot on the spot if weapons are found in their tents. A stash of weapons belonging to Longo was confiscated by the Cylons, but the resistance was able to retrieve some of them which were hidden underneath his latrine. The Cylons are also setting up a human police force to take over for the Cylon Centurions, who are doing most of the police work.

Episode 2

• Running time: ~1:54

Duck has refused to work with the resistance, on the grounds of his relationship and intended child with Nora. Tyrol is highly displeased at this, particularly his reasons, as they parallel Tyrol's own situation; Jammer suggests respecting Duck's decision.

A ritual for protection of the crops from blight is said in the temple. As the priestess leaves, Jean Barolay abruptly shifts the conversation to the movement of the weapons stash into the temple; Jammer strongly objects, but he is overruled by Tigh.

Episode 3

• Running time: ~2:42

In the evening, Nora prays to Aphrodite to bless she and Duck with a child. He tells her his decision about joining the resistance. She is pleased that he refused Tyrol.

During the night, Tigh, Tyrol, Jammer, and Barolay move the weapons into the temple disguising them.

The next morning, Nora wakes Duck saying he will be late to work. She tries to convince him to go to temple after work with her. He refuses, saying he talks to the gods in his own way.

Episode 4

• Running time: ~1:57

Cally and Nora visit the temple. Nora is holding Cally's baby while Cally is performing a ceremony. At that moment Cylon Centurions can be heard outside, and a Number Five announces that they will enter the temple. Several men try to block them, but the Cylons force their way in and gunfire can be seen and heard. While trying to run away Cally falls to the ground protecting her baby, but Nora is shot and killed when she tries to retrieve her bag.

Episode 5

• Running time: ~1:56

Tyrol, Cally and Jammer return Nora's bag to Duck, and inform him about the death of Nora. Duck is physically sickened by the news. He becomes angry and demands to know if there were weapons in the temple. Tyrol tries to avoid the question, but Duck doesn't relent until Tyrol admits the truth. At that point, Duck orders them out of his tent.

Episode 6

• Running time: ~1:37

Three days after the attack on the temple, Tigh, Barolay, and Jammer discuss the results of the attack, which has brought about positive effects for the resistance. The general population has started to side with the resistance and 1,000 people protested outside Colonial One over the attack on the temple. Since the attack, recruitment has become easier with 150 Colonials signing up. Tigh thinks that this was a good deal because the loss of a few weapons was worth the propaganda victory. However, Jammer is upset that the loss of 10 lives was not worth it. Tigh comes down hard on Jammer, stating that people die in war, nice people, and the resistance has no room for crybabies.

Episode 7

• Running time: ~1:58

Tyrol and Tigh discuss the capture of Jammer by the Cylons. Tyrol insists that Jammer won't reveal the work of the resistance. Jammer is imprisoned in a Cylon detention center and is visited by a Number Five, who frees him of his bonds and says he wants to talk to him about what happened in the temple.

Episode 8

• Running time: ~3:56

Number Five proposes to Jammer that the massacre at the temple may have actually been planned by the Resistance. Number Five reminds Jammer of the good that has been accomplished by working together in peace, offering him juice from produce grown on farms tended by both Cylons and humans, and noting that the New Caprica power grid is almost finished due to the efforts of human and Cylon engineering teams. He offers Jammer the chance to stop further bloodshed by informing the Cylons of potentially life-threatening actions by the Resistance. Jammer balks at the idea of becoming a traitor to the Resistance, but accepts a key card which will let him enter the Cylon detention center to report the Resistance's secret plans if he chooses to become an informant.

Notes

• The original title of the webisode series was "Crossroads"

The Chinese Characters behind Tyrol in Webisode 7

• Three Chinese characters can be seen on a crate behind Tyrol at around 2:10 (in the countdown-style timer used by the SciFi.com Video Player) in the seventh episode. They are somewhat too blurry to readily identify.
• Currently, for legal reasons, attempting to view the webisodes from outside of the USA will present you with a frozen video player stating either two messages:
  • Your video will begin playing after a brief advertisement (in the case of the webisode splash page currently on scifi.com)
  • We're sorry, but the clip selected isn't available from your location. Please select another clip (if the user opens the video on Sci Fi's Pulse website. Users outside of America will have to wait until a DVD release, television broadcast, or some other means becomes available to view them).
• Originally it was stated that new webisodes would be available midnight on Tuesday and Thursday. This no longer appears to be the case, but rather new webisodes appearing in the afternoon of those days.
• In the sixth episode, Tigh states that 20 billion humans were "burned" by the Cylons. Also, he uses a new slang term for Centurions, "chrome jobs."
• During Episode 7, Number Five asks Jammer if he can address him as James or Jammer.

Noteworthy Dialogue

Episode Six

Jammer: What about the ten innocent people? Why don't you tell Duck what a bargain you got for Nora's life?
Saul Tigh: You got that ass-backwards, sonny. We didn't shoot those people, the chrome jobs did...
Jammer: Because we hid weapons there!
Tigh: Hey! We're not playing pattycake here. These bastards burned up twenty billion of us, you gonna say that's our fault, too? Instead of bawlin' like a little girl, you should focus on getting some payback.
Jammer: Is that all this is about to you? Blood for blood?
Tigh: We're at war! War is messy! People get killed- good people, nice people. Get that through your head, or get out! We don't need any cry-babies in this outfit.

Official Statements

When Battlestar Wiki asked Bradley Thompson about the webisode series, he said:

"It's true that David Weddle and I wrote the webisodes. Ron Moore and David Eick assigned them to us during the production of Exodus. The ten short segments combine to tell one story, which takes place during the Cylon Occupation that ended Season 2. The webisodes plant seeds that come to fruition in Season 3. They were all directed by Wayne Rose, the veteran director who's been doing 2nd Unit and 1stAD work for the series. The original title of the story was "Crossroads." The running lengths will vary with what's necessary to tell each segment of the story. The first cut I saw of all ten ran about 25 minutes. The run plan we were told was that they'd put up one a week as a countdown to the season premiere -- but SciFi may have other ideas on that by now."

"Nora is played by Emily Holmes. Longo is spelled the way you have it." -- contents of September 5, 2006 message from Bradley Thompson

Contract Disputes and Production Delays

According to Bradley Thompson, the webisodes were originally meant to be aired once a week, for the 10 weeks preceding the Season 3 premiere on October 6th. This would have resulted in the webisodes premiering in mid-August. However, their release was delayed due to a labor dispute between the Writer's Guild of America and NBC/Universal regarding extra pay for the writers doing the webisodes.

In August 2006, news began to leak out that the release of the webisodes would be delayed, though they were essentially finished at the time. NBC-Universal did not want to pay the writing team for webisodes content, holding that they were not actually covered under Guild contract, and were technically just promotional material. The Battlestar Galactica writing team embraced the new story opportunity, but other NBC-Universal series such as The Office felt that webisodes were nothing but extra filler they were being forced to crank out. According to Thompson, the writing team was given extra pay for vaguely described "extra work", but no long-term resolution was ever reached. The WGA is concerned about the long-term implications of online content: writers are not specifically compensated for their work on them, and NBC/Uni might argue that they have no claim on redistribution profits if they try to classify it as "promotional" material. In any event, by August 2006 the negotiations between the WGA and NBC/Uni broke down, and the WGA ordered all series producing webisodes (such as Battlestar Galactica and The Office) to refuse to physically deliver the webisodes to NBC/Uni for distribution online. NBC/Universal, who produces both shows, has filed a complaint with National Labor Relations Board, claiming that this writing is included in the current WGA contract and urging the NLRB to make the series release the material.

However, several weeks later the finished webisodes were handed over to NBC/Uni. The first of ten webisodes is due to be released on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, and subsequent installments are scheduled for every Tuesday and Thursday until the Season 3 premiere on October 6, 2006.

Cast

These are listed in the order they appeared during the 10 episodes.

Cast Member	Character	Episode(s)
Nicki Clyne	Cally Henderson	1			4	5
Aaron Douglas	Galen Tyrol	1	2	3		5		7
Christian Tessier	Tucker "Duck" Clellan	1	2	3		5
Dominic Zamprogna	Jammer	1	2	3		5	6	7	8
Michael Hogan	Saul Tigh	1	2	3			6	7
Emily Holmes	Nora	1		3	4
Alisen Down	Jean Barolay		2	3			6
Carmen Moore	Sister Tivenan		2
Matthew Bennett	Number Five							7	8

Crew

This article or section has been marked for cleanup and revision. Should there be a need to discuss the merits of the claim, discuss them on the talk page.

In his September 6^th 2006 official blog post, Ronald D. Moore recognized all the crew involved in the production of the webisodes.

References

Sources for this page may be located at: Sources:One Million Streams

Re-imagined Series definition: Battlestar Group ^{(TRS: "Water")}. It also doubles as an acronym for the television series itself.