Miniseries, Night 1

For analysis of the Miniseries see Miniseries (page 2)

"Miniseries" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Special Episode
Writer(s)	Ronald D. Moore Christopher Eric James
Story by	Glen A. Larson
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	See list on Page 1.
Production No.	Pilot
Nielsen Rating	3.2 (night one); 3.8 (night two)
US airdate	8 December 2003
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	17 February 2004
DVD release	28 December 2004 US 1 March 2004 UK
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
		Next
	Miniseries	33
Related Information
Continuity Errors Present – View
[[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]

Miniseries DVD box

Overview

After 40 years of peace with Humanity's bastard children, the Cylons, Humanity finds itself victim of a genocidal attack and the survivors are forced to flee from their solar system, home of the Twelve Colonies.

Backplot

• The Cylons were created by the Colonials as a labor and military force. Approximately 52 years prior, the Cylons turned on their human creators and the Cylon War ensued. After an armistice was declared, the Cylons were exiled from the Colonies and were never seen again in any known form for 40 years.
• Battlestar Galactica is one of the last relics from the Cylon War and is being decommissioned. Instead of being scrapped, the ship was slated to be turned into a museum.
• The Colonies, once technophobic due to the Cylon War, recovered from their phobia and had integrated technology back into their normal lives and their military vessels.
• The Cylons are capable of infiltrating any networked computer system by use of viruses and "backdoor" programming.
• The Colonials descended from a mother world, known as Kobol. Many Colonials believe this to be a myth.
• There is a legend in the Sacred Scrolls about a 13th Colony of Kobol, known as Earth.

Summary

• The Cylons use scientist, Dr. Gaius Baltar, to help one of their infiltrators, (Number Six) to penetrate the Colonies' master defense mainframes. Six covertly assists Baltar in developing the Command Navigation Program, or CNP, which is eventually deployed on almost all Colonial spacecraft.
• Baltar is reluctant, but smitten with Number Six, who appears as a woman of seemingly insatiable sexual desire. The result of their affair is a nuclear sneak-attack which annihilates billions of people on the Colonies and the fleet deployed for their protection.
• The CNP had backdoors written into it that allowed Cylon fighters to shut down the power and weapons systems of battlestars and other ships during the attack, leaving them defenseless and easy to destroy.
• One ship, however, survives; a less advanced battlestar designated Galactica, part of Battlestar Group 75, which had been scheduled for decommissioning and conversion into a museum to honor its role in the first Cylon war. After the destruction of their fleet headquarters on Picon and nearly 120 other battlestars and support ships in the Colonial fleet, Galactica's commanding officer, Commander Adama, assumes leadership of of the surviving fleet.
• Galactica's first task in its new life as sole remaining battlestar is to refill its munitions, which were destroyed as part of the ship's decommissioning ceremony. After an FTL (faster-than-light) jump to avoid Cylon forces, the ship arrives at the Ragnar Anchorage depot, a space station located deep within the upper atmosphere of a gas giant.
• Education Secretary Laura Roslin is designated by a Colonial government "doomsday" contingency computer program as President of the Twelve Colonies after the deaths of all other more-senior government officials. She convinces Commander Adama of the futility of continuing to fight and the importance of escaping with the last 50,000 humans from the Colonies who were fortunate to have been in space on FTL-capable ships during the attack. The Galactica must now lead the surviving humans on a quest for a new home world on which to rebuild humanity.
• Galactica holds back two Cylon basestars and their Raiders while the civilian ships jump away from Ragnar to a new location and to the void of space.
• After the escape, during the funeral for the dead crew on the ship, Adama inspires his crew by pretending to know the location of the legendary thirteenth colony known as Earth.
• They are not out of danger yet, Six warns Baltar that Cylon agents, who may even believe that they are human, could still be within the fleet.
• Adama finds a cryptic message in his quarters reading simply, "There are only 12 Cylon models," while on Ragnar, a group of Cylons rescue Aaron Doral. One of them is an exact copy of Lt. Sharon Valerii, revealing that Valerii is a Cylon.

Questions

• What happened to the Cylons over the course of their 40 year exile?
• What events transpired that made the Cylons hate their human masters? When did this occur?
• Where is the Cylon homeworld?

Spoiler follows, highlight to read.
Recently, in Now Playing Magazine, Moore is quoted, "another major thing that’s going to happen in the third season is we’re going to do an ongoing Cylon story where we’re going to be cutting over to the Cylon world for the first time and running a complete arc within the Cylon." [1] The exact meaning of this is unclear, as 'world' can actually mean the Cylon homeworld itself.

• Does Earth truly exist, despite Cmdr. Adama's disbelief? (Probable Answer)
• What happened to Helo on Caprica? (Answer)
• As of the Miniseries, viewers know of four of the twelve Cylon agent models: Sharon Valerii, Number Six, Aaron Doral and Leoben Conoy. What are the others? (Latest Update)
• Are there other Cylon ships aside from the Raider and Basestar? (Three answers so far: Heavy Raider, Unidentified Cylon Transport, Resurrection Ship)
• If the Cylons hate humanity with the passion that they do, why did they mimic human form? Was it for strategic purposes or was there something greater? (Likely answer from the Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii ("This form brings us closer to God...", "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"). Also note the experiment with Helo while on Caprica)
• Who was the unseen individual that Number Six met with on Caprica?
• When the Cylon device is discovered in the CIC by Baltar and eventually removed, Gaeta states that the device has been there for some time. Yet in the first scene in the CIC (when Adama is practicing his speech), there is a clear view of the bottom of the console and the device is not present. Was this a filming error, was Gaeta simply mistaken, or was Gaeta lying because he is a Cylon agent?
• Who was responsible for the note Adama received at the end of the miniseries informing him that 12 Cylon models exist? Baltar would be the likeliest, but how come there was no mention of the note later, or any debate over the veracity of the clue it gave?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Adama's Speech at Galactica's Decommissioning Ceremony:

The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but --

Sometimes it's too high.

You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed, spite, jealousy. And we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything that we've done.

Like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. When that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault, not really. You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore.

• Adama's Speech at the Funeral Services on the Galactica:

Adama: Are they the lucky ones? That's what you're thinking, isn't it? We're a long way from home. We've jumped way beyond the red line, into uncharted space. Limited supplies, limited fuel. No allies, and now, no hope? Maybe it would have been better for us to have died quickly, back on the Colonies with our families, instead of dying out here slowly, in the emptiness of dark space. Where shall we go? What shall we do? Life here began out there. Those are the first words of the sacred scrolls, and they were told to us by the Lords of Kobol, many countless centuries ago. And they made it perfectly clear that we are not alone in this universe. Elosha, there's a thirteenth colony of humankind, is there not?

Elosha: Yes. The scrolls tell us a thirteenth tribe left Kobol in the early days. They travelled far and made their home upon a planet called Earth, which circled a distant and unknown star.

Adama: It's not unknown. I know where it is! Earth. The most guarded secret we have. The location was only known by the senior commanders of the fleet, and we dare not share it with the public. Not while there was a Cylon threat upon us. For now we have a refuge to go to. A refuge the Cylons know nothing about. It won't be an easy journey. It'll be long, and arduous. But I promise you one thing: on the memory of those lying here before you, we shall find it, and Earth shall become our new home. So say we all!

• On the empty Ragnar Anchorage with a group of Cylon agents:

Sharon Valerii: Don't worry. We'll find them.

Number Six: By your command.

Cast

Starring

• Edward James Olmos as Commander William Adama
• Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin
• Katee Sackhoff as Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
• Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama
• James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
• Tricia Helfer as Number Six
• Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
• Grace Park as Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Matthew Bennett as Aaron Doral
• Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol

Guest Stars

• Barclay Hope as Transport Pilot (Colonial One)
• Lorena Gale as Priestess Elosha
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Tahmoh Penikett as Karl C. Agathon/Helo
• Connor Widdows as Boxey
• John Mann as Captain Jackson Spencer (CAG)
• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
• Nicki Clyne as Deckhand Cally
• Michael Eklund as Deckhand Prosna
• Haili Page as Cami
• Alonso Oyarzun as Deckhand Socinus
• Ty Olsson as Captain Aaron Kelly
• Ron Blecker as Launch Officer
• Ryan Robbins as Armistice Officer
• Tim Henry as Caprica Doctor
• Kwesi Ameyaw as Liner Captain of Botanical Ship
• Brenda McDonald as Old Woman (who thought she forgot her glasses)
• Suleka Mathew as Kellan Brody
• Erin Karpluk as Woman #1
• Jenn Griffin as Woman #2
• BJ Harrison as Woman #3
• Moneca Delain as Blonde Woman
• Zahf Paroo as Man #1
• Robert Lewis as Man #2
• Denzal Sinclaire as Man #3
• Nadine Wright as Chantara
• Michael Soltis as Chantara's Husband
• Fred Keating as Junior Reporter
• Lymari Nadal as Giana
• Biski Gugushe as Pilot #1
• Nahanni Arntzen as Pilot #2
• Nogel Vonas as Pilot #3
• Ryan Nelson as Pilot #4

Related Topics

• Soundtrack (Miniseries)
• Battlestar Galactica: The Lowdown (Miniseries)
• The Miniseries novelization

External Links

• Miniseries at scifi.com
• Battlestar Galactica Miniseries at IMDB.com