Battlestar Galactica

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Battlestar Galactica is a franchise of American science fiction films and television series, the first of which was produced in 1978. There are also a series of book adaptations, original novels, comic books and video games that have been based on the concept.

All of the Battlestar Galactica productions share the same general premise: In a distant part of the universe, there exists a civilization of humans who live on planets known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. For a thousand years, the Colonies have been at war with a cybernetic race known as the Cylons, and are about to negotiate a peace treaty with them. (In the reimagined series the war lasted approximately ten years after which the Cylons withdrew and did not contact humanity for forty years.) However, it was all a ruse, and with the help of a human named Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden, coordinated, sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. A few thousand of the human survivors flee into space aboard any spacecraft they can reach. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of famed military leader Commander Adama, the Battlestar Galactica and her crew take up the task of leading the ragtag fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.

Contents 1 Battlestar Galactica (1978) 1.1 The original film 1.2 The second film 1.3 The original series 1.4 The third film 1.5 Galactica 1980 2 Revival 3 2003 re-imagining 3.1 Miniseries 3.2 Television series (2004—) 3.3 Webisodes 3.4 Caprica 4 Comics and games 5 Religious and mythological references 6 Political references 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Glen A. Larson, the Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica, has stated in interviews that he originally conceived of the Galactica premise in the late 1960s, which he originally called Adam's Ark. However, he was unable to get the project greenlit for many years.

Battlestar Galactica was finally produced in the wake of the success of the 1977 film Star Wars. In fact, 20th Century Fox sued Universal Studios (the studio behind Battlestar Galactica) for copyright infringement, claiming that it had stolen 34 distinct ideas from Star Wars. Universal promptly countersued, claiming Star Wars had stolen ideas from the 1972 film Silent Running (notably the robot "drones") and the Buck Rogers serials of the 1940s. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 1980.

Initially, Larson envisioned Battlestar Galactica as a series of made-for-TV movies (a three-hour pilot and two two-hour episodes) for the ABC television network. A shortened version of the three-hour pilot was released in Canadian theaters (before the series aired) and American theaters (after the series aired), and instead of two additional movies, a weekly television series followed.

As this press photo shows, Tektronix, Inc., manufacturer of test and measurement equipment (especially known for their oscilloscope product line) and computer equipment, supplied their 7000-series of oscilloscopes, TM500-series of test and measurement equipment and their 4000-series of computer graphic equipment and associated software for the show's Galactica props. The "radar" style images of Cylons attacking the battle group were Tektronix graphics displays. In the photo, a Tektronix 4051 graphics computer system is shown.

In 1979 at the 6th Annual People's Choice Awards, the series won for Best New TV Drama Series.

[edit] The original film

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (film)

The two-hour-long film starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict. To defray costs, the film was recut from the pilot episode. It played in Canada, Europe and Japan. Airing on July 7, 1978, the episode brought in many viewers considering the modest expectations.

[edit] The second film

The Battlestar Pegasus episodes were edited together as a 1978 TV Movie entitled Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack[1], released in cinemas in Europe and Japan.

[edit] The original series

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)

During the eight months after the movie was released, 17 original episodes of the series were aired (five of them two-parters), totaling 24 hours of broadcasting. Citing declining ratings and cost overruns, ABC cancelled Battlestar Galactica in April, its last episode "The Hand of God" premiering on April 29, 1979.

Further information: List of Battlestar Galactica (1978-1980) episodes

[edit] The third film

Several episodes of Galactica 1980 were edited together and released as a movie title Conquest of the Earth[2] in cinemas in Europe and Australia.

[edit] Galactica 1980

Main article: Galactica 1980

During the autumn of 1979, ABC executives met with Galactica's creator Glen A. Larson to consider a relaunch of the series. A suitable concept would be needed to draw viewers, and it was decided that the arrival of the Colonial Fleet at contemporary Earth would be the storyline. A new television movie entitled Galactica 1980 was rushed into production. Again, it was decided this new version of Galactica would be made into a weekly series. Despite the early success of the premiere, this new weekly series was unceremoniously cancelled after only ten episodes.

In this 1980 sequel series, the fleet finds Earth and covertly protects it from the Cylons. This series was a quick failure due to its low budget (e.g., recycling footage from the 1974 Universal Studios film Earthquake, during a Cylon attack sequence), widely-panned writing, and ill-placed time slot (Sundays at 7:00 PM, a time slot generally reserved for family-oriented programming and, more specifically, 60 Minutes). The show also included obviously recycled space battle sequences from the original program, to the great dismay of fans. Some syndication packages for Battlestar Galactica incorporate the episodes of this series.

[edit] Revival

The original series maintained a cult fandom, which has supported efforts by Glen A. Larson, Richard Hatch and Bryan Singer (independent of each other) to revive the premise. Hatch even went so far as to produce a demonstration video in 1998–1999 which featured several actors from the original series combined with state-of-the-art special effects. This video, titled "Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming," was displayed at science fiction conventions but did not lead to a new series.

In 1999, Wing Commander producer Todd Moyer and original series producer Glen A. Larson revealed plans to produce a motion picture based on the television series.^[1]

In 2000, the director and an executive producer of the X-Men film, Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto, began developing a Galactica television miniseries with Studios USA for FOX. Intended to air as a backdoor pilot in May 2002, filming was scheduled to begin in November 2001.^[2] However production delays caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks meant Bryan Singer had to drop out due to his directing commitments on X-Men 2. This led Fox to lose interest and redirect their attention to Joss Whedon's Firefly television series.

[edit] 2003 re-imagining

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (re-imagining)

Despite attempts to revive the series over the years, none came to fruition until it was reimagined in 2003 by Sky One and the Sci-Fi Channel with Ronald D. Moore as the creative force behind it. Edward James Olmos stepped into the role of Commander Adama. A weekly new Galactica series followed, premiering on Sky One in the UK in October 2004, and on Sci-Fi in the U.S. in January 2005.

[edit] Miniseries

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)

In December 2003, the American Sci Fi channel broadcast a three-hour miniseries that reimagined Battlestar Galactica. This miniseries was so successful that Sci-Fi opted to develop this new, reimagined version of Galactica into a television series.

[edit] Television series (2004—)

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)

See also: List of Battlestar Galactica (re-imagined series) episodes

Featuring critically acclaimed veteran actors such as Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, the new series began in earnest in October 2004. Many fans of the original series were disappointed in how different in tone, style, and content the reimagined version was from its original source material. On Internet message boards, many came to refer to the show as GINO, an acronym for Galactica In Name Only. In the second season episode "Pegasus," Ronald D. Moore named one of the Cylon characters GINA as a reference to the show's dubious nickname.

Unusually, the reimagined series was aired first in the UK and Ireland on Sky One, and then later in North America in January 2005. The reason for this was that Sky provided the financing to shoot the first season and, because of this, Ronald D. Moore agreed to give Sky the first showing. Unlike NBC, Sky had faith in the success of the show, mainly due to the mini-series having been a hit in the UK and Ireland. However, due to massive downloading from BitTorrent sites by North American broadband users, any further seasons will air in North America first.^{[citation needed]}

A highly edited version of the miniseries was broadcast on NBC—a corporate sibling of the U.S. Sci Fi Channel—on January 9, 2005, five days before the American debut. NBC additionally aired three selected first season episodes as a sampler, to entice new American viewers in advance of the second season premiere in July 2005. Unfortunately, the NBC-TV network showings were not as high in ratings as the producers had hoped for. The second season episode that was shown in July, 2005 was rank #115 in Neilsen Ratings out of 115 shows that week.

The series won widespread acclaim among many mainstream non sci-fi publications. Time magazine, Rolling Stone magazine and New York Newsday named it the best show on television in 2005. Other publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker and National Review also gave the show glowing reviews.

In January 2006, the second half of the second season began broadcasting in the United States, while the full season premiere ("Scattered") aired on Sky One in the UK on 10 January 2006. The second season ended on 10 March 2006 with the two-part season finale episode "Lay Down Your Burdens".

In the spring of 2006, the show was awarded a prestigious Peabody Award for its creative accomplishments.

Renewed for a third season, production began in April, 2006 in Vancouver. The season premiered on October 6, 2006 and then went on mid season hiatus on December 15, 2006. The show then returned on a new day and time in 2007. Sci Fi Channel has changed the show's time slot to Sundays at 10:00pm EST/PST starting on the show's mid season premier in 21 January 2007.

The third season ended on 25 March, 2007 with "Crossroads, Part 2". The Sci-Fi channel announced officially on February 13, 2007 that the series would be renewed for a 4th season.^[3] The 4th season is currently slated to include 20 episodes beginning with the season premiere expected to air in January of 2008. In addition to the renewal of the fourth season, the Sci-Fi channel has announced that it is working on two special one-hour episodes to air in fourth quarter of 2007 and will subsequently be released on DVD. ^[4]

[edit] Webisodes

Main article: Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance

The webisodes were a series of shorts produced to promote the third season of the show. They filled in some of the events between the second and third seasons, and featured some of the main cast. However, the webisodes were carefully made so as to not reveal what would happen in the beginning of season three. Also, the beginning of season three was made so that viewers did not have to see the webisodes. There were 10 webisodes, each approximately 3 minutes in length, released twice a week leading up to the U.S. Season 3 premiere.

[edit] Caprica

Main article: Caprica (TV series)

Caprica is an upcoming television series described as "television's first science fiction family saga," based on the fictional universe of Battlestar Galactica and set on the fictional planet Caprica, around fifty years before the events depicted in the 2004 re-imagined series. It will tell the story of how the Cylons are researched and built, ultimately leading to the Cylon War. It will revolve around two families, the Adamas and the Graystones.

[edit] Comics and games

Dynamite Entertainment will be publishing comic books featuring both the Classic and Re-Imagined Battlestar Galactica series.

A number of Battlestar novels based upon the series have been published over the years, including a mixture of novelizations based upon televised episodes (including the pilot episodes of both the original series and Galactica 1980) and original stories. In the 1990s and on into the 2000s, original series star Richard Hatch co-wrote several new novels based upon the series as part of his efforts to spark a revival. That series is still ongoing.

Marvel Comics published a 23-issue comic book series based upon the show between 1978 and 1981. Other comics have since been published by Maximum Press, Grandreams, Look-in Magazine, Realm Press and, currently, Dynamite Comics. Of all these series, the one by Marvel was the only one to actually complete its storyline and bring the story to some sort of conclusion. All the other series were cancelled at various points during their run, with no real resolutions whatsoever. Interestingly, the Marvel series was arguably set in a somewhat different continuity than the series it was based on. The first four issues generally followed the plot of the first two episodes of the 1978 series, but the remaining nineteen were set in the "magnetic void" encountered in the "Lost Planet of the Gods" episode, and culminated with them (finally) leaving the void. Some have suggested that these episodes took place between the second and third stories of the TV series, but it seems more likely that this 'alternate timeline' diverged from the series early on, and never synched up with it again.

Both the Grandreams and Look-In comic strips take place early in the series, and even contain Serina. All the other comic series involving the 1978 series have been set in the period after the final episode of that series, and all of them have completely ignored Galactica 1980. The Maximum press series began with the discovery of a completely unpopulated Earth some fifteen years after the conclusion of the TV show. The look at the feel of the comics had been changed considerably from the series, to give the stories a "more nineties" feel. The Realm Press series picked up immediately after the conclusion of the final episode of the original series in an attempt to present what they called "Season two" of the original show, in print form. It used airbrushed art and was extremely faithful to the look and feel of the original show, but the stories were all rather incoherent and hard to follow.

A Battlestar Galactica video game has been published on the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox platforms. It didn't repeat the success of the series and movies.

Wiz Kids, Inc. (a collectible game manufacturer) produces a collectible card game based on the 2003 mini-series and 2004 TV show. The premier set of this game was released in May 2006.

The original series inspired a Battlestar Galactica board game. The game is set during a training mission, where two to four players maneuver pieces representing Colonial Vipers in order to capture a damaged Cylon Raider. Skillful play includes using terrain elements and a number of special-ability cards to the players' advantage.

In December 2006, it was announced that Margaret Weis Productions had reached an agreement to create a Battlestar Galactica role playing game based on the re-imagined TV series. [3]

A community-created project called Beyond the Red Line released a multi-player demo, including three single-player missions. Work on the full version of the game is continuing, using the open-source Freespace 2 game engine. Players can participate in deathmatch-style dogfight missions, or in team-based missions, on either the side of the Colonials, or the Cylons.

[edit] Religious and mythological references

• The twelve colonies are named after the astrological signs of the Greek zodiac; for example, Scorpia (Scorpio), Caprica (Capricorn), and Aquaria (Aquarius).
• Several of the characters in the series have names or call signs corresponding to significant characters in Greek mythology, including Apollo, Athena, and Cassiopeia.
• The name of the battlestar Commander, Adama means earth (or ground) in Hebrew.
• Much of the original mythological template is drawn from series creator Glen Larson's Mormon theology. The planet Kobol is an anagram of Kolob, which, according to the Mormon Book of Abraham, is the star nearest to where God dwells. The Mormon marriage ceremony, where couples are "sealed" for "time and all eternity" is approximated in the original Galactica episode "Lost Planet of the Gods."

[edit] Political references

The show also seemed to reflect contemporary political anxieties, especially with regard to the Cold War and the 1970s detente between the United States and the Soviet Union just before the latter's invasion of Afghanistan a year after the pilot's premiere. More obliquely in the pilot, and more obviously when the fleet encounters the Terrans a subtle commentary is presented about the Eastern Bloc gaining prominence and unilateral disarmament as represented by the SALT II treaty. These sentiments are particularly prominent in the episode "Experiment in Terra".

The current series continues this tradition, commenting on concerns about terrorism, religious fundamentalism and other current political topics. In the first episodes of Season Three, some humans serve as suicide bombers in their resistance against the Cylons on New Caprica.

From Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2, Chief gives a speech that mirrors a famous speech concerning Free Speech given by Mario Savio, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, just prior to the beginning of a three day sit-in in December 1964. http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/mario/mario_speech.html

In Collaborators, Roslin proposes a council of Truth and Reconciliation in order to record the stories of the resistance and to avoid endless divisive court trials about collaboration. This is a reference to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.

[edit] See also

• Comparison of Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Battlestar Galactica (2003)
• Battlestar Galactica units
• Battlestar Galactica (ship), which appears in the above works of fiction
• Battlestar Galactica (video game), the 1978 and 2003 video games
• Battlestar Galactica Collectable Card Game
• Battlestar Galactica (comic book), the various comic book adaptations.
• Battlestar Galactica terminology

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Battlestar Galactica (pilot movie) at the Internet Movie Database
• Battlestar Galactica (1978 series) at the Internet Movie Database
• Battlestar Galactica Hub
• Battlestar Galactica (1978) site on SCIFI.com
• BattlestarWiki — Battlestar Galactica Wiki