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An effort to relaunch the Battlestar Galactica series was formulated through the Sci-Fi Channel's former executive vice president, Bonnie Hammer, in June of 2000.
Director Bryan Singer and producer Tom DeSanto, who met over an air flight while Tom was watching the Original Series on DVD, began talking as well about a revival of the series around the same time. ("SDS" is Battlestar Wiki's shortcut designation, using the last initials of the revival leaders.)
By the start of 2001, the rumors increased of the likelihood of a new series. The rumors were confirmed by February of that year, and the holders to the rights for Battlestar Galactica, Studios USA, announced that Bryan Singer and his collaborative team were intent on maintaining the spirit of the original series. To reinforce this notion, the studio also indicated that original series creator Glen Larson had given an endorsement for the project, and had been brought to the development team as a creative counsultant.
Casting, crewing, set design, and a preliminary script were readied, and by April 2001, production was greenlighted by the studios. Fox television network offered to host the new series pilot.
Despite the enthusiasm of holding true to the nature of the original series, information from various sources indicated that original series cast members were not being considered for the nascent series initially. After what appears to have been a generous amount of negotiation, actors Dirk Benedict and Herb Jefferson Jr. announced they would be joining the cast. Benedict indicated he would reprise his role as Lieutenant Starbuck, but older.
With sets in place in studios in Canada (where production costs would be less than in America) the pilot was scheduled to begin filming in November 2001. But the events of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 occurred. Morale, as well as impacts and complications to scheduling and travel delayed events by over a month.
The creative lynchpin of the project (at least from the studio's perspective), Bryan Singer, was forced to leave the new BSG project as he was obligated in directing and managing pre-production of the second X-Men motion picture. With his departure, the studio's confidence in completing the new series unraveled, starting with Fox Network, who withdrew their support in favor of another TV series by Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon called Firefly. An attempt was made to locate another director, but by then support for DeSanto's original concept had faded.
Further driving the remaining nails in the project's coffin was Studio USA and the Sci-Fi Network itself, which began a second revival attempt, this time tapping veteran Star Trek writer Ron D. Moore and producer David Eick to lead a totally revived, or "re-imagined" version of BSG that paralleled many elements of the Original Series, but contained wholly distinct and diverse casting (including no Original Series cast initially), and a brooding, dire, character driven storyline using very few, if any of the typical SF cliches. This project was officially announced in April 2002.
The sets and other physical effects built for the Singer/DeSanto project were destroyed as the project died in utero while its fraternal twin was born, airing on the Sci-Fi Channel by year's end, 2003.
The Storyline[edit]
The continuation, built from the events of the episode, "The Hand of God," track the Fleet after Galactica and Pegasus shake off the Cylon pursuit. The storyline depicts a Colonial classroom where a teacher reviews the history of the Fleet, 23 years prior. Pegasus is confirmed as lost, and the Cylons themselves pay a high price from the battle.
The quest for Earth continues, but Commander Adama had died, and Colonel Tigh assumes command. The citizens of the Fleet tire of spacefaring life, and, after a civil uprising, convinces their leaders to settle the Fleet in an asteroid field that is rich in resources.
The new colony, named New Caprica, builds new ships, settlements and facilities from the asteroids.
The Cylons themselves reflected on their failures and determined that free will was a serious issue that caused problems in their logically-based civilization. When Baltar is found marooned, the Cylons initially held him up as a perfect example of their failures. Baltar convinces the Cylons that some qualities of humanity were useful, and undergoes a cybernetic transformation into a new Cylon model to prove this. More dissent arose among the Cylons as a result, leading into a civil war. Out of the ashes of their war came a new Cylon race that, instead of obliterating the remnants of humanity that it finds, begins instead to assimilate the conquered humans as Cylon cyborgs.
The character known as Boxey has grown up and assumed command of Galactica under the name of Commander Orin, who faces loss of his command from political pressure to decommission the battlestar as it has become outmoded and difficult to maintain. The political pressure becomes a command. The Colonial president, a female named Mara, visits the battlestar in her shuttlecraft to attend the battlestar's decommissioning ceremonies.
Just as the battlestar's systems are powered down, the Cylons, who have studied New Caprica in secret and devise an elaborate plan for success, strike.
See Also[edit]
- Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming, a proof-of-concept mock trailer created by Richard Hatch to boister support with Universal Studios for a series or motion picture revival of a complete original series continuation.
- The "Battlestar Galactica" Video Game, which was apparently created in anticipation of this series project. The game contains characters and situations derived in whole or in part from the Original Series, with some elements that later appear in the Re-imagined Series. The result of these derivations is a video game with a storyline in neither Original or Re-imagined Series continuity.