Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battlestar Galactica | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Science Fiction, Drama |
| Creator(s) | Ronald D. Moore |
| Starring | See Cast and characters |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 2 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 180 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Sky One Sci Fi Channel |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | December 8 – 9, 2003 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | 33 Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series. The miniseries originally aired on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States starting on December 8, 2003. The two parts of the miniseries earned, respectively, a 3.2 and 3.8 Nielsen rating, making the miniseries the third most-watched program on the Sci Fi Channel ever.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The miniseries opens with the following text, during a scene in which the Cylons make their first appearance in over forty years at a remote space station:
- The Cylons were created by Man.
- They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
- And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
- After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
- The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
- A remote space station was built...
- ...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
- Every year, the Colonials send an officer.
- The Cylons send no one.
- No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years.
It is revealed that the Cylons have gained the ability to mimic the human form. They proceed to destroy the space station.
The Cylons return from their forty-year absence in an attempt to exterminate the human race, beginning with a sudden, unexpected and simultaneous nuclear bombardment of the Twelve Colonies. The attack is made possible by the Cylons' infiltration of the Colonies' defense mainframe, through a Cylon agent known as Number Six who mimics a human woman both physically and behaviorally. Number Six is able to seduce a scientist working for the Colonial military, Dr. Gaius Baltar. Posing as an agent of a company bidding for defense contracts, in exchange for his access to government mainframes she helps him design his navigation program subsequently used by Colonial warships, covertly creating backdoors in the program. When the Cylons attack, they are able to penetrate software security firewalls, disabling entire fighter squadrons outright and sabotaging vital capital-ship systems (in one incident, a battlestar loses power, enabling the Cylons to destroy it easily).
The computer systems of the Battlestar Galactica are not networked and are unaffected by the sabotage. It was in the process of being decommissioned and converted into a museum to honor its role in the first Cylon war, when it receives news of the attack and learns that fleet headquarters, and a significant proportion of the colonial fleet has been destroyed. Commander Adama, Galactica's commanding officer, assumes command of the fleet after hearing that Admiral Nagala has been killed.
To avoid Cylon forces, Galactica makes a 'faster-than-light' (FTL) jump - an instantaneous teleportation - to Ragnar Anchorage, where it can restock on ammunition. Meanwhile, Colonial Heavy 798, which was carrying Secretary of Education Laura Roslin back to Caprica following Galactica's decommissioning ceremony, learns that Caprica City has been nuked. When all 42 government officials ahead of her in the presidential line of succession fail to check in per emergency procedures, Roslin assumes the presidency and Colonial Heavy 798 becomes Colonial One. In the aftermath of the attack, surviving civilian ships turn to Roslin for leadership, while Dr. Baltar manages to escape Caprica and join the ragtag fleet. Fearing an attack after they are spotted by a Cylon raider, Roslin orders those civilian ships with hyperjump capability to rendezvous with Galactica at Ragnar. She makes the agonizing decision to leave behind those ships with only sublight engines, including the Geminon Botanical Cruiser. Her decision is proved correct when the Cylons promptly appear and destroy every ship left behind.
Roslin eventually convinces Adama that the war is lost. He finally agrees that the best course of action is to escort the civilian fleet and find a new world on which to rebuild civilization. The stockpiles at Ragnar Anchorage are used to rearm Galactica and resupply the fleet. However, the ships cannot jump safely from the immediate vicinity of the base, which is surrounded by a radioactive gas cloud. The Cylons, more vulnerable to the radiation, besiege the cloud and wait for the fleet to emerge. Adama devises a plan: Galactica holds off the Cylon attacks long enough for the civilian ships to exit the cloud and jump to the Prolmar Sector, then joins them.
Afterwards, during the mass funeral for the dead, Adama lifts his crew's morale by claiming that he knows the location of the legendary thirteenth colony known as Earth.
In the final scenes of the miniseries, Number Six warns Baltar that Cylon agents, who may even be programmed to believe that they are human, could still be within the fleet. Adama finds a cryptic message in his quarters reading simply, "There are only 12 Cylon models." On Ragnar, a group of humanoid Cylons free Aaron Doral (Galactica's tour guide, who was left behind after Baltar "discovered" he was a Cylon). The last Cylon to enter the room is another copy of Lt. Sharon Valerii, revealing that the one on the Galactica is a Cylon as well.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Tie-In novel
In 2006, Tor Books published Battlestar Galactica (the miniseries), by Jeffrey A. Carver — a novelization of the 2003 miniseries.
[edit] Trivia
- After the death of President Adar, Laura Roslin is sworn in as President on space liner she is on, which is then renamed Colonial One. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on Air Force One after John F. Kennedy's assassination.
- The scene where the young girl, Cami, is seen playing with her doll as the Cylons attack, is a reference to Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy" campaign commercial against Barry Goldwater.
- During Laura Roslin's visit to her doctor about her breast cancer, a Firefly-class transport flies past the window, from the TV show Firefly and movie Serenity. The special effects company Zoic Studios was responsible for the effects of both shows.
- In one of the final shots of the miniseries, one can make out in the distance the Starship Enterprise, from Star Trek: The Original Series.
- Gabriel Köerner, who appeared in the 1997 documentary Trekkies, worked as a CGI model maker on the mini-series, receiving a Visual Effects Society award nomination.
- The name of the planet where the Anchorage is located, Ragnar, is an allusion to the mythic battle of Ragnarök (the battle at the end of the world). It is also a Scandinavian boy's name, "Ragn," meaning "god" or power of some sort; and "ar," meaning a "warrior" or "soldier." Ragnar therefore means "a warrior of the gods."
- A number of homages to the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series can be seen and heard. These include specs and models of 1978-era Cylons seen at Armistice Station, and aboard the Galactica (in the museum exhibit). The music played during the decommissioning ceremony is the opening theme music of the 1978 series. Adama's speech about Earth mentions that, according to the old scriptures, "Life here began out there." This is taken from the opening narration of certain episodes of the 1978 series. Finally, a Cylon utters the phrase "by your command" in response to orders from a Sharon Valerii. This is the same phrase that 1978-era Cylon Centurions use to acknowledge orders of Command Centurions and the Imperious Leader. These are covered to a greater degree as a Comparison of Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Battlestar Galactica (2003).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Battlestar Galactica miniseries site at SCIFI.com
- Battlestar Galactica at the Internet Movie Database
- Battlestar Galactica at TV.com
- Battlestar Galactica Wiki
Categories: 2003 television program debuts | 2000s American television series | Battlestar Galactica (2004) episodes | Science fiction television series | Battlestar Galactica | Military science fiction | Sky One programmes | Space opera | American television miniseries | Films shot in Vancouver | Television miniseries
