Comparison of Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Battlestar Galactica (2003)

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The new Battlestar Galactica miniseries and subsequent television series were a significant re-imagining and departure from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica. Since the 2003 miniseries and the 2004 television show were re-imaginings of the original series, as opposed to a spinoff or continuation series, the new Battlestar Galactica has many parallels and differences.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Characters 2.1 Adama 2.2 Apollo 2.3 Starbuck 2.4 Tigh 2.5 Boomer 2.6 Baltar 2.7 Characters added or missing in the new series 2.8 Other original series characters and re-imagined counterparts 2.9 Re-imagined series characters with no apparent original series counterpart 3 Technology 3.1 Military 3.2 Medicine 3.3 Domestic 4 Humans 5 Cylons 6 Central theme 6.1 Original Series 6.2 Re-imagined Series 7 Galactica 8 Earth 9 Miscellaneous areas of comparison 10 See also

[edit] Overview

The most notable deliberate changes from the original series include:

• The Cylons were created by man, and not by a race of reptilian aliens
• There are currently no alien races
• Cylons also now have a humanoid form that is biologically compatible and nearly indistinguishable from humans. There are many copies of each model
• Starbuck and Boomer are female characters
• Adama has two children, not three
• Baltar is an unwitting participant in mankind's destruction, not a (willing) traitor.
• Characters have been given birth and family surnames. Names from the original series, based on the names of stars and constellations, are often used as pilot callsigns
• There are fewer ships in this series (over 70 ships) versus the original (220). There are more human survivors — fifty thousand people are alive as opposed to the original series figure of only 6,000 (episode "Greetings from Earth")
• Spacecraft movement is largely modeled on realistic Newtonian physics, first seen on TV in the science-fiction series Babylon 5, as opposed to the Star Wars convention of portraying spacecraft as moving in space as aircraft do with the aid of gravity in a planet's atmosphere
• Conventional technology is used to downplay its importance and increase viewer's familiarity and comfort level with the characters.^{[citation needed]} Virtually all weapons of the 1978 series were lasers, while the 2003 series uses ballistic weapons and modern firearms. For example, the Colonial sidearm is a FN Five-seven semi-automatic pistol.
• The original battlestars had individual symbols representing their ships such as Galactica's spiked emblem versus Pegasus' depiction of its namesake on the Viper pilots' helmets. For the 2003 series, the characters use the symbol of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, which resembles a soaring bird.
• Many ships in the civilian fleet are modeled or named after its original series counterpart, but have different roles

[edit] Characters

Most of the central character archetypes from the original series are found in the new Battlestar series, others are changed significantly, and a few are unique to the new series.

[edit] Adama

William Adama, Galactica's commander, is a cautious, very duty-minded individual. In military decisions, the new series' Adama is much like his original series counterpart, Commander Adama. However, William Adama, unlike Lorne Greene's character, is a secular man who does not subscribe to the singular polytheistic faith based on the Colonial scriptures, the Sacred Scrolls, but is instead an aging war veteran of the first Cylon War. Greene's Adama was deeply spiritual and scholarly while Edward James Olmos' Adama is more cynical and pragmatic. Because of his secular beliefs, William Adama initially doesn't believe that Earth exists, but publicly claims that the route to Earth is a closely-guarded military secret to give the survivors a purpose to continue living. As of the third season, he becomes open to the possibility that Earth really does exist.

[edit] Apollo

Lee Adama (callsign: Apollo), the leader of the Viper pilots and son of William Adama, does not parallel his original series counterpart, Captain Apollo, in tone or manner.

Where, in the 1978 series, Apollo has a congenial, trusting relationship with his father, Lee Adama has a history of enmity and conflict with William Adama, related to the death of his brother Zak. By the second season, Lee and William have generally been very amicable, even to the level of trust of granting Lee command of the believed lost battlestar Pegasus. Lee Adama's relationship with Kara Thrace (callsign: Starbuck) is much more complicated; while the two began with a pseudo-sibling relationship, their sexual tension has increased, complicated further by the self-destructive tendencies of Starbuck. Despite the two becoming married to other characters, the third season finds Kara and Lee in an illicit affair.

[edit] Starbuck

Kara Thrace (callsign: Starbuck) mirrors the gambling, drinking, cigar smoking, card playing character elements of the original series Lieutenant Starbuck. However, in a controversial move, the most significant change was to redefine Starbuck as a woman.

Somewhat indiscriminate in romance, Kara was engaged to Lee Adama's brother, Zak, and was also his Viper flight instructor. Her love for him leads him to his accidental death, a fact that she hides for two years while the surviving Adamas' relationship fractures. While the original Starbuck was a lovable scoundrel in the tradition of Han Solo, Kara Thrace is a much darker figure driven by the demons of child abuse and of survivor's guilt as shown in several season 2 episodes, notably, "Scar." Kara is self-destructive as well as openly disrespectful and insubordinate when angered. Despite her darkness, Starbuck is a gifted pilot as well as a military strategist, having successfully planned two major battles that paid off well for the Colonials in the season 1 episode "The Hand of God", and the season 2 episode "Resurrection Ship, Part II."

[edit] Tigh

Saul Tigh is comparable to Terry Carter's dependable second-in-command, Colonel Tigh, in the original series in that William Adama often relies on his old friend's military and tactical knowledge.

Where little of the original series' failings are seen, Saul Tigh is an alcoholic. His darkly poetic personality and willingness to cross moral lines, to the point of ordering the deaths of subordinates for the sake of a speedy resolution of a problem makes him both an asset and liability. Tigh and his wife, Ellen, were estranged due to her rumored numerous sexual liaisons, but after she is found alive in the fleet, the two generally find their affections renewed. However, Ellen's tendency to carouse frequently leads Tigh to rash or dangerous decisions that appear to attempt to show his resolve or prove himself in his wife's eyes.

By season 3, Tigh has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, brought about due to his torture by Cylons (resulting in him losing an eye) and being forced to poison his wife when she betrayed the New Caprican Resistance in order to keep the Cylons from murdering her husband. As a result of this, Tigh was confined to his quarters by Adama to keep him and his bitterness at his current lot in life from causing a drop in morale amongst the crew of Galactica. After foiling an attempt on Adama's life and a reconciliation between the two, Tigh has returned to service.

In the final episode of season 3 he learns he may be one of the 12 Cylon models.

[edit] Boomer

Another major change, both in gender, ethnicity and purpose, involves the character of "Boomer." Herb Jefferson's character, Lieutenant Boomer, a young black man, was a loyal friend to Starbuck who aids him in many missions. In the new series, Sharon Valerii, a beautiful young woman with an Asian appearance, owns the callsign of Boomer.

Sharon is revealed as one of twelve Cylon humanoid agents, sent to infiltrate the Colonial worlds and their ships to destroy them. The first copy seen by viewers is a sleeper agent, unaware of her true Cylon nature until she finds herself arrested for the attempted murder of William Adama. Sharon Valerii is later shot and killed, but returns later, as the consciousnesses of Cylon humanoid agents can be resurrected into a duplicate body. This consciousness now lives and works with her fellow Cylons. In Rapture she is openly hostile to her former life on Galactica.

A second copy, found by Karl "Helo" Agathon on the ruined colony of Caprica, also assumes the alias of "Sharon Valerii" until she, after an elaborate Cylon plan to make Helo fall in love with her, becomes pregnant. To protect Helo and her child, this Sharon changes alliances and has now become a trusted and valuable member of Galactica. Mirroring the original series counterpart and her relationship as daughter to Adama in the original series, Sharon Agathon, now married, pilots the Raptor, a special multipurpose craft, with the callsign of "Athena."

[edit] Baltar

Dr. Gaius Baltar, a scientist rather than a count, is seduced and tricked into betraying humanity, as opposed to having made a conscious choice to do so as in the original series. Their personalities are also very different. The original TV series Count Baltar was portrayed as an archetypal antagonist who is outwardly cunning and deceptive, while Gaius Baltar operates with more of a sympathetic moral code and is often conflicted. While the original series character used his political influence to set up the Cylon attack, Dr. Baltar devised a revolutionary computer operating system which is used on almost all Colonial ships and fighters. The Cylons change the programming to allow a backdoor programming exploit which will disable any ship with the operating system for easy destruction.

Rescued from Caprica and living with the human fleet instead of the Cylons, Baltar lives in perpetual fear that his responsibility for the Cylon holocaust will be discovered, and he actively and often deviously takes steps to avoid that fate. Baltar is also portrayed as being somewhat mentally disturbed, though the main characters on the show often dismiss Gaius' mental problems as creative eccentricities, due to the fact that he is profoundly gifted. Baltar also seems to incorporate the scientist role of the original character of Dr. Wilker.

At the end of the second season, Baltar becomes an explicit Cylon collaborator. In the Season 2 finale, Baltar, having replaced Laura Roslin as president of the Twelve Colonies, surrenders to the Cylons, becoming a Vichy France-type puppet leader of the colony of New Caprica. The people of New Caprica begin to despise him and view him as a traitor. At the beginning of Season 3, when humans escape Cylon occupation, Baltar is left with the Cylons and returns with them to their basestar, a plot development more closely mirroring the original series. However he is left stranded on the Algae planet and ends up being pistol whipped and returned, ironically, to Galactica.

[edit] Characters added or missing in the new series

Laura Roslin

Added to the new series, Roslin is a central character unique to the new series. Formerly the Education Secretary under the administration of Colonial President Richard Adar, she was 43rd in the line of succession to President—and the only government official surviving the Cylon attack, thereby assuming the mantle of President. Adar is only seen in a flashback in the second season episode, "Ephiphanies," as a much darker and less beloved figure through recollections of Roslin, with whom he has an ongoing affair. Adar was purely a civilian leader, while Roslin must constantly resolve conflicting demands of her civilian constituency and Adama's military command.

Dr. Cottle

Counterpart to the original series character, Dr. Salik, Dr. Cottle is a heavy chain-smoker with a sarcastic tongue. But he always remains loyal to the principles of the medical profession, regardless of his personal feelings toward the patient.

Zak Adama

This character, son of William Adama, is already dead two years prior to Cylon attack. Kara Thrace was engaged to him, establishing a parallel father-figure relationship between her and William Adama until season 3, where Sharon Agathon becomes the daughter-figure, reinforced by her callsign, Athena, the daughter of Adama in the original series. In contrast, the character of Zac (note spelling) dies early in the original series pilot, "Saga of a Star World."

Boxey

A child character in both series. In the original series, Boxey is Apollo's adopted son and appears regularly throughout the series. In the re-imagined miniseries, Boxey is first discovered as an orphan (his father, with a picture of Boxey on his desk, dies at the start of the 2003 miniseries). Initially to be used in a family unit characterization with characters Sharon Valerii and Galen Tyrol, Boxey was seen again in the season 1 episode "Bastille Day," but has not reappeared since. The show originally included more scenes with him in. These can be seen on the deleted scenes from the series 1 boxset.

Cain

A character named Cain is the commander of the Battlestar Pegasus in both series. The original series' Commander Cain (played by Lloyd Bridges) is well known throughout humanity as a "living legend" and heroic leader, and clashes with Adama due to his risk taking. In the new series, Helena Cain (played by Michelle Forbes) is an admiral that outranks and clashes with Adama because of her ruthlessly draconian command style. While the original Cain's fate remains open, the re-imagined Cain dies after a three-episode arc.

[edit] Other original series characters and re-imagined counterparts

• Serina: No counterpart.
• Bojay: No counterpart.
• Cassiopeia: No counterpart.
• Greenbean: No counterpart.
• Count Iblis: No counterpart.
• Cylon Imperious Leader: The humanoid Cylons have a consensus command structure; there is no single leader.
• Lucifer: paralleled by Baltar's "innerSix".
• Bridge Officer Omega: Paralleled by tactical officer Felix Gaeta
• Rigel: Paralleled by communications officer Anastasia Dualla
• Sheba: No counterpart.

[edit] Re-imagined series characters with no apparent original series counterpart

• Galen Tyrol, Flight Deck Chief
• Karl C. 'Helo' Agathon, Raptor Electronic Warfare Officer
• Ellen Tigh, Wife of Col. Saul Tigh
• Tom Zarek, Terrorist turned politician
• Samuel Anders, Caprica Resistance Leader
• Brendan 'Hotdog' Costanza, Viper Pilot
• Louanne 'Kat' Katraine, Viper Pilot

[edit] Technology

The original BSG series was conceived in the aftermath of runaway popularity of the Star Wars (1977) franchise. The Star Wars universe, with its distinctly futuristic feel, obligated competing TV and movie productions to strive for a similarly distinct, if not equal, departure from 20th century reality. As such, the original BSG series' showed its characters routinely interacting and exploiting futuristic technology, with little regard for their apparent origin or sophistication. The assumption was that human society had developed to a point where many activities (such as warfare), call for yet-to-be-invented (fictional) devices and methods.

In an episode commentary, Ronald D. Moore, co-creator and executive producer of the reimagined series (and a past Star Trek writer), explained his decision to remake the Galactica universe with a look and feel close to contemporary (21st Century) society. Notably gone from the Galactica universe are the usual hallmarks of scifi genre; fancy laser-weapons, ships with futuristic aesthetics. In a break from the scifi genre defined by Roddenbery's Star Trek, BSG technology would be on par with the current real-world (except for the few obviously fictional devices, such as FTL drives.) The characters on his show survive using equipment and technology that is no better than their 21st century human counterparts; firearms that shoot bullets, wired telephones, hypodermic syringes and X-ray equipment, are regularly seen on the show. Many episodes deal with the consequences of the fleeing Colonials being deprived of a functioning civilization; day-to-day survival drives many episode plotlines (water procurement, emergence of a civilian black market, pilot recruitment due to war of attrition, etc.)

[edit] Military

Both series give the humans (and Cylons) military technology more advanced than contemporary (21st century) human society. Both humans and Cylons construct very large spaceships, called the battlestars and basestars. While their method of locomotion differs slightly (wormhole principle vs 'lightspeed' ability), they enable the story to move from one star to another. In the original series, combat used energy and beam weapons, which are the staple of science fiction. Both shipmounted and portable (sidearm) versions were routinely used. The reimagined Galactica universe foregoes any futuristic weapons; ships and personnel fight with familiar 20th century weapons: unguided bullets and artillery shells, bombs, and guided missiles. Thermonuclear warheads are the most destructive weapons in the combatants' arsenals. Colonial personal sidearms are copies of 20th century pistols and rifles, although conventional ball ammunition cannot penetrate the upgraded armour on some models of Centurions.

While not explicitly described, both basestars and battlestars feature life-support systems (to sustain humanoid life.) In the reimagined series, Cylons are known to mount boarding operations against battlestars. In order to gain control of the ship's guns, the boarding party will attempt to gain control of the decompression safety control (thereby negating life support), and secondary fire control.

[edit] Medicine

Not much time was spent on medical technology of the 1978 battlestar fleet, but medicine rarely affects a main plotline. More often than not, injuries (fatal or non-fatal) are miraculously cured by a waving scanner or other fictional device. In the re-imagined series, the state of Colonial medicine appears strikingly similar to 21st century Earth. Antibiotics, resonance imaging exams, and surgery with scalpels and sutures. The destruction of the 12 Colonies leads to scarcity of everyday supplies (such as antibiotics.) Present day scourges (such as cancer) remain lethal in the 12 Colonies, and the terminal-illness of a leading character is a recurring plotline in the first and second seasons.

[edit] Domestic

Domestic technology isn't a central theme in the original series. In the new series, Colonial society has achieved unparalleled advances in artificial intelligence, allowing creation of the Cylon race. Ironically, the Cylon ability to infiltrate virtually any computer system has placed the Colonial Fleet in the awkward position of having to cripple their own computer systems to prevent infiltration. In essence, the Colonial countermeasure to Cylon computer superiority is to simply deprive themselves of the usefulness of networked machines. This response to the Cylon threat, if it existed at all, was not obvious in the original series, because computers were simply not as pervasive in society at the time the show was filmed as they are today.

In the re-imagined series, survival of the orphaned Colonial fleet is a key theme. This setting has been explored in numerous episodes which focus on the day-to-day survival of Galactica and its civilian fleet. The Galactica itself is known to carry a nearly self-sufficient (100% efficient) water recycling system, with the remainder of the Civilian fleet periodically re-tanking with Galactica. However, the Galactica cannot create lost water (eg. water vented into space), so many recon-missions are devoted to locating and securing basic resources.

Colonial personnel (with the possible exception of Dr. Baltar) all exhibit some degree of technophobia. Even after 40 years, the trauma of the Cylon rebellion has not completely faded, and many ship-board policies reflect a distrust of automated and computer equipment. In general, Colonial life is more difficult than before due to the deliberate rejection of robotic labor to perform heavy labor (such as mining.)

[edit] Humans

• None of the made-up dialect of the original series, including the decimal time-measurement system of "centons" and "yahrens", appears in the re-imagined series, which uses conventional time measurements (although their calendar and dating system is inconsistent).

• Very few animals survived the destruction of the Colonies in the re-imagined series, although at least one dog is shown in the season 3 premiere two-part episode, "Occupation/Precipice."

• The "Quorum of Twelve" (also known in the original series as the Council of Twelve) reappears in the re-imagined series. The Quorum exists within a significantly different political system from the original series, playing the role of a legislative counterpart to the office of the President.

• The new Colonials themselves are clearly far more culturally and politically diverse. Before the first Cylon War, the Colonies behaved more as sovereign nations with political and military conflicts. The "Articles of Colonization," noted in the episode, "Colonial Day," established the Colonies as a federal republic 52 years prior to the events of the 2003 miniseries to unify the human worlds against the Cylon threat.

• Of the various profanities from the original series, such as "felgercarb" (shit) and "frack" (fuck)), only "frak" (note the difference in spelling) is carried over to the re-imagined series. Unlike its original series counterpart, "frak" is used liberally in dialogue with the same connotations as its Earth counterpart (such as "motherfrakker," and "what the frak?"). Its widespread usage can perhaps be attributed to the high tensions present in the show's military setting rather than to any reduction in the term's offensive value. Other pejoratives such as "toaster" and "skin job" (a reference to Blade Runner) to refer specifically to the humanoid models. "Toaster" is seen by the android Cylons as a racial epithet.

• Some unique or unusual terminology is used in the re-imagined series: Colonials use the word DRADIS to describe a technology apparently similar to real-world RADAR. Radio is referred to as "wireless", most notably the talk wireless news and entertainment radio broadcast across the Fleet. Wireless is a somewhat old-fashoned real-world name for radio not commonly used in general conversation, though it still used in some contexts, for example wireless networking.

• Several significant moments in real-world history are alluded to in the re-imagined series. For instance, the scene where Roslin is sworn in as president aboard her ship when she learns she is next in the chain of command is intentionally reminiscent of the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy's assassination. Likewise, the shooting of Sharon Valerii by the character of Cally Henderson in the second season episode, "Resistance," mirrored the killing of accused JFK assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

[edit] Cylons

The original and re-imagined Cylons have far more differences between them than their human counterparts.

• The word 'Cylon' in the original series referred to a different race whose primary shock troops were androids. The Cylons were presumably wiped out by their robots; no human had ever seen a Cylon. 'Cylon' in the re-imagined version refers to the sentient robotic creations of the Colonials.

• Cylon soldiers are significantly different from the "classic" Centurion design (also seen in the 2003 miniseries as an homage as used in the re-imagined series history in the first Cylon War). These new faster, streamlined units are more agile and carry integrated melee and gun weaponry. To keep these soldiers from forming a similar rebellion against their humanoid Cylon counterparts, the new Centurions are not sentient, as noted by William Adama in the third-season episode, "Exodus, Part I."
• Cylon Raiders, which are small fighter/attack craft, are not manned by three individual pilots as in the original series. The new series' craft contain a cybernetic organism for a brain, which shares their humanoid counterparts' ability to resurrect and download, granting the Cylon Raider the ability to learn from experiences up to and leading to its death.
• A second re-imagined Cylon form is a human-like, with similarities down to the organ system and even cellular level. Only a time-consuming labtest developed by Doctor Baltar can reveal the synthetic nature of the Cylon. Thus far, only twelve humanoid Cylon models are known to exist. Even with the same model, however, Cylons are not merely copies of one another. Like humans, each Cylon possesses its own self-awareness, life-experience, and personality, although it appears some personality traits are predisposed by the model in question. Cylon humanoids are absolute commanders of the Cylon Centurions. The Cylon basestar (also called "baseship"), is crewed by Centurions, but commanded exclusively by the humanoid Cylons, who form commands based on consensus. The original series Cylons, by contrast, had a color-coded command structure, with the command-chain ultimately starting from a single being, the Imperious Leader. There were no humanoid Cylons in the original series, but an android did appear in the Galactica 1980 episode "The Night the Cylons Landed." However, this android was only a cyber-mechanical entity with a human appearance, like the Star Trek character, Data.

[edit] Central theme

Both series share the same central theme: the survivors of the destruction of mankind's home worlds set out to search for a lost colony, who established a new home known as Earth.

[edit] Original Series

In the original series, the humans of the Twelve Colonies of Man have fought with the Cylon Empire for one thousand yahrens. Lord Baltar arranges a peace conference between Adar, Colonial president and commander of the Battlestar Atlantia, and the Cylons. In truth, Baltar has led the Colonial fleet of five battlestars to their destruction. The Cylons' two-pronged attack not only catches almost all of the battlestars off-guard, but leaves their basestars in place to pummel the Twelve Colonies, killing millions. The Battlestar Galactica survives, gathers the last remnants of humanity into any ship that can fly, and leaves the Colonial worlds in search of Earth, with the Cylons in pursuit. During the single season of the series, the Colonials encountered many habitable worlds, other humanoids and aliens, but never chose to colonize them.

[edit] Re-imagined Series

The re-imagined series uses the same theme as the original. However, executive producers Ron D. Moore and David Eick, with the September 11, 2001 attacks in their minds, greatly heighten the Colonies destruction by giving the viewers of the 2003 miniseries only bits and pieces of information, mirroring the sporadic news coverage during the event in New York two years prior. The use of conventional or familiar technologies (passenger liners that reflect airliners on the real-world Earth) increased the effect. Also changed were the destroyers: the Cylons were not an alien race, but an artificial intelligence created by the humans long ago, who fought the humans in a bitter war 40 years prior, and returned to destroy humanity and claim the worlds as their own. The Colonial military fleet was much larger than the handful of battlestars of the original series, with 120 battlestars as noted in the 2003 miniseries. Apparently all were destroyed but Galactica, destined for decommissioning as a museum piece similar to that of the USS Missouri, and designed to resist the Cylon programming exploits that doomed her sister ships. In the second season it is revealed that another battlestar, the Pegasus, was not destroyed.

Unlike the original series, the crew of Galactica is not the "best of the best," as executive producer Ron Moore noted. The character flaws in the re-imagined series were intended to increase the drama as viewers would witness that mankind could sometimes be a worse enemy than the Cylons that hunted them.

[edit] Galactica

The re-imagined Galactica ship differs from the original in several ways:

• Instead of being the flagship, albeit generations old, of the Colonial forces, the Galactica is one of the last of its class still in operation. Slated for decommissioning and conversion to a museum when the story begins, it survives the Cylon onslaught due to its reliance on older technology that could not be infiltrated as the Cylons did to her sister ships.

• Physically, the Galactica is far more clearly designed for combat. It has heavy armor plating covering structural ribs and water tanks under the plating to absorb kinetic damage from missiles or harmful radiation from nuclear-tipped Cylon missiles. Galactica is built to withstand many missile strikes.

• The Command Information Center, or "CIC" is much better protected, being located deep inside the ship (much like the Combat Information Center in a modern naval warship), rather than exposed on the outside as in the case of Star Trek's USS Enterprise, or the Galactica in the 1978 series. In fact, with the exception of the forward observation dome, Galactica does not appear to have a single window (though there are mysterious yellow lights throughout the middle decks of the ship. Whether these are windows or navigation lights of some kind is unclear).

• Galactica must retract its landing bays prior to executing an FTL jump, then extend them upon entering normal space in order to conduct flight operations.

• Operations are more militaristic on the re-imagined Galactica. Unlike the original, many new details are taken directly from present-day United States Navy aircraft carrier operations, such as standard operating procedures, combat air patrols, and the term "CAG" for the Galactica's command Viper pilot. The design of the Galactica even resembles that of current naval ships ("bitch boxes" and voice phones). Also many of the traditions of today's naval aviators are reflected, such as 1,000th landing celebrations, complaints about Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) and the like.

• The fighter pilots are simply referred to as Viper pilots rather than the more grandiose title of "Colonial Warrior" from the original series. There are also pilots of multipurpose military reconnaissance and warfare craft, known as Raptors. While each are specialized in their talents, Raptor and Viper pilots have exchanged roles in several episodes in the series.

• There is a marine contingent on Galactica which is primarily responsible for ground-based combat situations and has its own command structure. On the original battlestar, missions involving ground combat would be done by multitasking the fighter pilots.

• In the 1978 version, the uniforms of the colonial warriors and officers are reminiscent of World War II and are often personalized with individual touches, such as Adama's medallion or Cain's ascot. Dress uniforms were elaborate with capes and other ceremonial decorations. By contrast, the military uniforms for the re-imagined series are strictly modern and utilitarian in design, with non-regulation personalized touches discouraged.

[edit] Earth

The ultimate goal of the fleet in both series is to reach the 13th colony, referenced only in the scriptural literature of the Colonies as Earth. According to those scriptures, all humanity began life on a planet called Kobol. When they left the planet, 12 tribes went to form the Twelve Colonies, and a thirteenth colony set off far from its sister tribes. In the original series, all of the people in the fleet hold the scriptures as being true, and head for Earth on faith. The re-imagined quest for Earth is initially based on William Adama's use of scripture to create a falsehood, indicating that the military knew where the planet was. Eventually the quest is validated in both series when the fleet encounters Kobol and receives more concrete evidence that Earth exists. In the original series, Adama is stopped short of gathering the information for a heading to Earth, but the refugees of the re-imagined series successfully gather the information.

[edit] Miscellaneous areas of comparison

• The battlestar Pegasus has a vastly different representation in the re-imagined series. In the original, Commander Cain's battlestar arrives out of nowhere, having been MIA for some time before even the initial Cylon attack. The re-imagined Pegasus was in spacedock undergoing a repair and refit, which allowed it to escape the Cylon infiltrations that disabled other ships, as noted in the episode "Pegasus." The original Pegasus assists Galactica for a time, but then is presumed destroyed when it attacks two Cylon basestars. The re-imagined Pegasus is a modern advanced battlestar in comparison to Galactica, whereas the two battlestars are relatively identical in the original series. Pegasus in the re-imagined series remains in the fleet throughout season 2 until the episode, "Exodus, Part II," where the ship is abandoned to collide with attacking basestars to save Galactica and the rescued colonists on New Caprica. The fate of the original Pegasus is left unknown, Galactica losing contact after the Pegasus attacks two basestars.
• The space combat in the reimagined series pays more attention to Newtonian physics than in the original.
• The galaxy/universe in the original series was more 'crowded' than the re-imagined one; the original series had evidence of at least four alien species inhabiting various places in the galaxy, some of them familiar to the Colonial humans. The re-imagined galaxy has yet to show any more humanoid inhabitants other than humans and the Cylons (who were created by humans).
• The planet Kobol has been changed from a desert world very similar to (with scenes actually filmed in) Egypt, to a densely forested planet. This may be attributed to the fact that Kobol in the original series was suffering a global ecological catastrophe, whereas the exact reasons for the evacuation of Kobol in the new series have not yet been specified. It may also be for practical reasons, since the new series is filmed in British Columbia.
• The basketball-style game was called Triad in the old series but was renamed Pyramid in the re-imagined series. Incidentally the card game Pyramid is now called Triad. This reversal of names was accidental, per Ron D. Moore in his blog and podcasts that offer commentary on the show.
• The original Cylons only appeared with three ship models: the raider, the tanker, and the base star. The reimagined Cylons have added a type of armed troop transport known as the Heavy Raider and the Resurrection Ship, which holds inactive bodies of humanoid Cylon agents.
• Original series actor Richard Hatch, who played Apollo, is the only actor thus far to work in both series. Hatch plays Tom Zarek, an ambitious politician with a terrorist past.
• The mythological-religious references in the 1978 series were heavily based on Mormonism. The original Colonials seemed to be monotheistic, believing in God and in angels (as depicted in the episode, "War of the Gods"), while the Cylons were secular. There was also borrowing from Islam, Christianity, Egyptian, Greco-Roman Mythology as well as the once trendy ancient astronaut theories by Erich von Daniken. The reimagined Colonials now follow a polytheistic religion with parallelisms to Greek and Roman mythology, including many of the same gods, while the new Cylons follow a form of monotheism that appears to parallel the Abrahamic religions and the Judeo-Christo-Islamic God.

[edit] See also

• Battlestar Galactica units

Television:

• Battlestar Galactica (film), the 1978 U.S. science fiction movie.
• Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), the 1978 television series.
• Galactica 1980, the 1980 short-lived sequel series.
• Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries), the 2003 miniseries.
• Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), the 2004 television series directly following the 2003 miniseries.

Other:

• Battlestar Galactica (ship), which appears in the above works of fiction.