Intense ship battles, tough and memorable crew and Cylons, oh the Cylons. Battlestar Galactia was the re-imagined military/ sci-fi TV series of the 1978 show/movie of the same name. It first aired as a miniseries in 2003, but got picked up to be a full series and lasted 4 glorious seasons from 2004-2009 with 75 episodes strong. When an old enemy known as the Cylons resurface, the small crew of the aging Battlestar starship must stop them from destroying the 12 colonies of the universe. As well as discovering the 13th colony…Earth.
I loved this show from the miniseries and continued to love it until the final episode. Battlestar Galactia is like Star Trek on steroids. The crew had a harder edge, the ship and every thing in it was modeled after a U.S Navy battleship, and the use of the word frak instead of the f word we all know really made the show unique. The Greek Gods serve as the main religion on this show, with everyone either believing or not believing in them. All except the Cylons who belive that there is only one God.
For the uninitiated, Cylons are walking mechanical killing machines created by humans, much like terminators. But the lure here is that there are Cylons that look and mimic human behavior to a tee, humanoids. And some are aboard the Battlestar Galactia. But they themselves don’t even realize what they are until later. Although the end of season 1 with Boomer and many other clones of her set the stage for what was to come for the Cylons in the series.
As mentioned, the characters on the show rock. Kara Thrace aka “Starbuck” is a top notch Viper pilot with sass. But it is her I don’t give a shit attitude that has hindered her from ascending the ranks in her military career. She more than anyone aboard the Battlestar frequently uses the word frak when she is frustrated.
Dr. Gaius Balter as the brilliant scientific mind who aids the Cylons in their attack on the twelve colonies. He is part genius, part womanizer and real only served himself. He later turned a corner and became braver and started to care more about all that was happening. He frequently hung around the first humanoid Cylon ever created, Number Six.
Six is a stunning blonde beauty who is always in Balters ear trying to convince him that there is only one God and such. She is one of six versions or models of her and she is the only one of them who doesn’t use one particular human alias for all copies. The last character I will mention even though are so many great ones is William Adama. The Admiral of the Battlestar Galactia with more military experience than anyone else aboard.
He was a veteran of the First Cylon War and seen much action. He is a tough, but fair man in his role as the head honcho on the ship. He may not be loved by all, but is highly suspected by his crew overall. personally, I think it would have been interesting if Adama turned out to be a Cylon just to see how that would play out.
Battlestar Galactia is firstly a drama, with a sci-fi backdrop. The relationships of the crew really felt organic and the more humorous moments with Starbuck telling someone to go frak themselves was gold. I dig the ship battle scenes with the Viper pilots too. Makes me think of Star Wars a lot in this respect, but Star Trek in many other ways.
Through all 4 seasons, Battlestar Galactia was a rollercoaster ride of high emotions, military inspired weapons and personal that became a science fiction masterpiece. Every week, I would wonder who on the ship would be revealed as a Cylon and who wouldn’t live to see next season. But more than anything, this show brought hope that sci-fi shows aren’t all 1 dimensional and the journey of the characters is more important than the destination. And what a hell of a journey it was for the crew of the Battlestar Galactia. “So say we all.”
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