"Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest. A shining planet, known as Earth" - Commander Adama

When a race of merciless robots known as the Cylons all but wipe out humanity in a vicious attack, the last surviving members of mankind band together and, led by the Battlestar Galactica, set off to find the lost colony of man on the legendary planet of Earth.

Created by prolific producer Glen A. Larson, ‘Battlestar Galactica’ is fondly remembered as an alternative to ‘Star Trek’, featuring a large ‘family’ of cast members and some classic science fiction material. The show’s strengths come from it’s classic space-opera-meets-Greek-legends premise; the interaction between Starbuck and Apollo, played with gusto by Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch; the no-nonsense father-figure of Commander Adama, portrayed by television stalwart, Lorne Green; and some great villains, in the form of the menacing Cylons, one-eyed, chrome-clad robots reminiscent of ‘Doctor Who’s Cybermen. ‘Battlestar Galactica’ is one of those shows that people believe to have comprised of dozens of episodes, when in fact the original series only ran for twenty-two episodes before being cancelled.

The show was then brought back as ‘Galactica 1980’; various cast members were dropped in favour of new characters as the Galactica finally found Earth, only to discover that it was not as technologically advanced as was hoped. The show was, quite frankly, bloody awful, with some dreadful stories and toe-curlingly bad acting. After just nine episodes of scenery-chewing, not even an appearance by Dirk Benedict, reprising his role of Starbuck, could save the show from cancellation – which was probably for the best.

For years Richard Hatch, Apollo in the original series, attempted to get a new series off the ground, and even toured with a short promo episode he had made entitled ‘Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming’ to drum up interest (in fact he once appeared as a guest on a show I was working on, and promised to call me about directing the new series - I never did hear from him…). Other proposals from different producers came and went, all without success. Then, in 2004, Ronald D. Moore (writer on ‘Roswell’, ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Mission Impossible 2’) and David Eick (producer on ‘American Gothic’ and ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ collaborated with the SciFi Channel to create a two-part mini-series. Based on the original pilot by Glen A. Larson, it wasn’t a bad attempt, although fans of the original series were annoyed by the reinterpretation of some of their favourite characters and story premises.

Following on from the success of the mini-series, season one of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ premiered in the UK (before the US) and ran for fourteen episodes. The series quickly proved to be a worthy successor to the original – arguably even better than it! – and its ongoing storyline, well-rounded characters and gritty atmosphere make for particularly gripping television. The show’s popularity resulted in the production of two more seasons, a mini-season of ‘Mobisodes’, and a movie-length special, ‘Razor’. In 2007/8 production on the fourth and final season was halted due to a writers’ strike, and for a while it looked like the last few episodes would be abandoned, cutting short Eick and Moore’s plan for a four-season story arc; however, production on the latter half of the final season has now resumed, so we can look forward to more episodes in April!

But the story doesn’t end there; a spin-off prequel called ‘Caprica’ has been green lit, which will take place more than half a century before the events that play out in ‘Battlestar Galactica’, and is described by Eick and Moore as ‘Dallas’ meets ‘American Beauty’. The press release says: “The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high-technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better. But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot: a Cylon. Following the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William Adama, who will one day become the commander of the ‘Battlestar Galactic’a), ‘Caprica’ will weave together corporate intrigue, techno-action and sexual politics into television's first science fiction family saga.”


Battlestar Galactica - Season 1

Galactica 1980 - Season 1
Battlestar Galactica - Mini-series
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) - Season 1
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) - Season 2
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) - The Resistance - Webisodes 1-10
Battlestar Galactica - Season 3
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) - Mobisodes 1-7
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) - Season 4
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) - Season 4 Webisodes 1-10

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Legal Bit: 'Battlestar Galactica' is a registered trademark of MCA / Universal Studios. The 'Battlestar Galactica' logo and all images from the television series are copyright MCA / Universal Studios unless otherwise stated; music is copyright the original composers and producers; no copyright infringement is intended. All specially created images and text are copyright © Clive Banks 2003 – 2008; please do not use these without my permission. All rights reserved. No profit is made from this website, and any revenue made from using the banner-links featured goes straight back into the costs of maintaining it, which comes out of my own pocket in the first place. No profit advertising is accepted. This website was created purely to entertain and amuse, and any references to persons living, dead, comatose, in suspended animation, not born yet, or a figment of someone's imagination is purely coincidental. All opinions expressed are my own, so there...

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