Admiral Adama leads Galactica's final battle and rescues Hera from the Cylon Colony. Starbuck draws upon the meaning of Hera's musical notes to lead the fleet to a habitable world. The fate of the fleet and its relations...
Battlestar Galactica
Show summary:
The Best Show on Television? Yes, according to Time Magazine, The National Review, Rolling Stone and New York Newsday. Praised by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune and many other publications, Battlestar Galactica won a prestigious Peabody Award in the spring of 2006.
Ronald D. Moore, the producer of Carnivale and writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, boldly re-imagined the original 1978 space opera of humans versus the robotic Cylons. He teamed up with fellow executive producer David Eick on a powerful and dramatic update of the Galactica story.
Gone are the technobabble, disco-themed costumes and Egyptian helmets of the original series. The modern show introduces new elements to the Galactica story. The Cylons have developed human-form models that are indistinguishable from real humans. The Cylons have a monotheistic religion in contrast to the polytheistic religion of the human Colonies. The approach is serious and intense, with a focus on tough political, philosophical and religious issues set in a tale that manages to keep the focus on realistic and not always perfect characters.In the miniseries, the Cylons launch a massive attack against the humans and wipe out the Twelve Colonies, sending the 47,000 survivors on a desperate search for the fabled 13th colony -- Earth.
Season One Overview
The Cylons declare war on humanity, wiping out billions in an unprovoked first strike. The Colonial fleet is all but eliminated leaving just a handful of ships, including the soon to be decommissioned battlestar Galactica. Galactica is manned by a crew that never expected to be involved in real duty. With the president gone and the government all but eliminated, Laura Roslin, the Education Minister, takes on the mantle of President of the 12 Colonies.
Gaius Baltar, a top researcher in Artificial Intelligence, inadvertently betrayed humanity by allowing a Cylon agent into the defense network, rendering it and all of the Colonial military forces impotent in the face of the Cylon attacks. He sees her everywhere when no one else can. He initially attributes this to stress-induced hallucinations. She tells him that she implanted a chip in his brain during their time on Caprica, which enables her to talk to him. Over the season Baltar falls in love with the Cylon, Number Six, eventually betraying humanity again and again.
A lone soldier is trapped on Cylon-occupied Caprica, having given up his seat on a transport for Baltar, as he believes that his own life is not as important as one of the greatest minds of their time. He struggles against the odds, trying to stay alive amid the hostile Cylons. He is surprised to learn that Sharon Valerii, the pilot of the transport, returned for him. However, the truth is that she is actually another human-form Cylon. Sharon and Helo spend the season trying to escape Caprica. Sharon also finds herself falling in love with her human target. The season ends with her pregnant and fighting to save his life.
Meanwhile, the copy of Sharon onboard Galactica (known as "Boomer") has set off several bombs and engaged in other acts of sabotage. The season ends with a stunning turn of events after a successful mission to disable a Cylon base ship.
For a more detailed overview of the first three seasons, visit the pinned thread titled "Battlestar Galactica in Just Ten Minutes" located in the forum.Awards and critical praise
The 2003 miniseries was the highest-rated miniseries on the Sci Fi Channel (soon to be known as Syfy) at the time. It was also the most successful cable miniseries that TV season.The first regular season premiered to excellent viewer numbers and critical acclaim. After the midseason break in Season Two, the show received widespread recognition from the mainstream media, including several outlets not always known for their interest in science fiction. As mentioned above, Time Magazine named BSG the best show on television for 2005. Rolling Stone Magazine and New York Newsday also named BSG the best show of the year. Many other publications like the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune lavished praise on the series.The American Film Institute added the show to its list of the ten best television shows of 2005. The show won Emmy Awards in the usual sci-fi categories of special visual effects but it also received Emmy nominations for writing and directing. It also won a prestigious Peabody award for its general excellence in creativity in the television medium.
The Sci Fi Channel has used creative means to promote the series, including the release of certain episodes as free streaming video on the official website. In the month leading up to the start of Season Three, the Sci Fi Channel aired a Web-only series titled Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance. The brief, 2 to 3 minute episodes revealed key events from the time period between the Season Two finale and the Season Three premiere episode. Another Web-only series was shown on the official website in the lead-up to the Season 4.5 "final" episodes.
A Battlestar Galactica television movie, "Razor", was broadcast in late 2007, followed soon after with a release on DVD. The story followed the struggles of Admiral Cain and young Kendra Shaw as they tried to survive the Cylon attack on the Colonies. The hard-hitting movie was well received by fans and critics.
Even though the series "ended" on March 20, 2009, with the two-hour broadcast of "Daybreak, Part 2", the Sci Fi Channel (Syfy) will broadcast one final Battlestar Galactica television movie. "The Plan" is scheduled to air in the fall of 2009.
The Galactica franchise will live on, even after the final movie and DVD. A prequel series, Caprica, began production even before Battlestar Galactica ended. The pilot movie will be released as a stand-alone DVD in April 2009. The movie will later air on Syfy along with regular episodes of the new series in 2010. For more information about this look at the early days of the development of the Cylons on Caprica, please consult the separate guide for that series.
Original Broadcast History: Season One
October 18, 2004 - January 24, 2005 - 8:00 PM SKY One (UK)
January 14, 2005 - April 1, 2005 - Fridays @ 10:00 PM Sci Fi Channel (USA)
The Best Show on Television? Yes, according to Time Magazine, The National Review, Rolling Stone and New York Newsday. Praised by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune and many other publications, Battlestar Galactica won a prestigious Peabody Award in the spring of 2006.
Ronald D. Moore, the producer of Carnivale and writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, boldly re-imagined the original 1978 space opera of humans versus the robotic Cylons. He teamed up with fellow executive producer David Eick on a powerful and dramatic update of the Galactica story.
Gone are the technobabble, disco-themed costumes and Egyptian helmets of the original series. The modern show introduces new elements to the Galactica story. The Cylons have developed human-form models that are indistinguishable from real humans. The Cylons have a monotheistic religion in contrast to the polytheistic religion of the human Colonies. The approach is serious and intense, with a focus on tough political, philosophical and religious issues set in a tale that manages to keep the focus on realistic and not always perfect characters.In the miniseries, the Cylons launch a massive attack against the humans and wipe out the Twelve Colonies, sending the 47,000 survivors on a desperate search for the fabled 13th colony -- Earth.
Season One Overview
The Cylons declare war on humanity, wiping out billions in an unprovoked first strike. The Colonial fleet is all but eliminated leaving just a handful of ships, including the soon to be decommissioned battlestar Galactica. Galactica is manned by a crew that never expected to be involved in real duty. With the president gone and the government all but eliminated, Laura Roslin, the Education Minister, takes on the mantle of President of the 12 Colonies.
Gaius Baltar, a top researcher in Artificial Intelligence, inadvertently betrayed humanity by allowing a Cylon agent into the defense network, rendering it and all of the Colonial military forces impotent in the face of the Cylon attacks. He sees her everywhere when no one else can. He initially attributes this to stress-induced hallucinations. She tells him that she implanted a chip in his brain during their time on Caprica, which enables her to talk to him. Over the season Baltar falls in love with the Cylon, Number Six, eventually betraying humanity again and again.
A lone soldier is trapped on Cylon-occupied Caprica, having given up his seat on a transport for Baltar, as he believes that his own life is not as important as one of the greatest minds of their time. He struggles against the odds, trying to stay alive amid the hostile Cylons. He is surprised to learn that Sharon Valerii, the pilot of the transport, returned for him. However, the truth is that she is actually another human-form Cylon. Sharon and Helo spend the season trying to escape Caprica. Sharon also finds herself falling in love with her human target. The season ends with her pregnant and fighting to save his life.
Meanwhile, the copy of Sharon onboard Galactica (known as "Boomer") has set off several bombs and engaged in other acts of sabotage. The season ends with a stunning turn of events after a successful mission to disable a Cylon base ship.
For a more detailed overview of the first three seasons, visit the pinned thread titled "Battlestar Galactica in Just Ten Minutes" located in the forum.Awards and critical praise
The 2003 miniseries was the highest-rated miniseries on the Sci Fi Channel (soon to be known as Syfy) at the time. It was also the most successful cable miniseries that TV season.The first regular season premiered to excellent viewer numbers and critical acclaim. After the midseason break in Season Two, the show received widespread recognition from the mainstream media, including several outlets not always known for their interest in science fiction. As mentioned above, Time Magazine named BSG the best show on television for 2005. Rolling Stone Magazine and New York Newsday also named BSG the best show of the year. Many other publications like the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune lavished praise on the series.The American Film Institute added the show to its list of the ten best television shows of 2005. The show won Emmy Awards in the usual sci-fi categories of special visual effects but it also received Emmy nominations for writing and directing. It also won a prestigious Peabody award for its general excellence in creativity in the television medium.
The Sci Fi Channel has used creative means to promote the series, including the release of certain episodes as free streaming video on the official website. In the month leading up to the start of Season Three, the Sci Fi Channel aired a Web-only series titled Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance. The brief, 2 to 3 minute episodes revealed key events from the time period between the Season Two finale and the Season Three premiere episode. Another Web-only series was shown on the official website in the lead-up to the Season 4.5 "final" episodes.
A Battlestar Galactica television movie, "Razor", was broadcast in late 2007, followed soon after with a release on DVD. The story followed the struggles of Admiral Cain and young Kendra Shaw as they tried to survive the Cylon attack on the Colonies. The hard-hitting movie was well received by fans and critics.
Even though the series "ended" on March 20, 2009, with the two-hour broadcast of "Daybreak, Part 2", the Sci Fi Channel (Syfy) will broadcast one final Battlestar Galactica television movie. "The Plan" is scheduled to air in the fall of 2009.
The Galactica franchise will live on, even after the final movie and DVD. A prequel series, Caprica, began production even before Battlestar Galactica ended. The pilot movie will be released as a stand-alone DVD in April 2009. The movie will later air on Syfy along with regular episodes of the new series in 2010. For more information about this look at the early days of the development of the Cylons on Caprica, please consult the separate guide for that series.
Original Broadcast History: Season One
October 18, 2004 - January 24, 2005 - 8:00 PM SKY One (UK)
January 14, 2005 - April 1, 2005 - Fridays @ 10:00 PM Sci Fi Channel (USA)
A series of pre-Cylon attack flashbacks delve into past situations of Caprica Six's involvement in caring for Baltar's elderly father, Roslin's sudden loss of her family in an accident, and Lee Adama's passionate feeling...
Boomer's Raptor escape damages Galactica when she jumps too close to the hull. Admiral Adama makes the crucial decision to abandon ship and puts Lee in charge of offloading equipment to the rest of the fleet. As Starbuck...
Starbuck encounters a mysterious piano player in Joe's Bar and helps him work on his latest song. Realizing the musical notes match a series of dots drawn by Hera, Starbuck finishes the song which Col. Tigh and Tory Fost...
President Roslin faces off against Tom Zarek and Lt. Gaeta as they try to take control of the Colonial fleet. The alliance with the rebel Cylons as well as Adama's life are both at stake.
Gaeta and Zarek start an uprising in the fleet, leaving the commanders of Galactica with a crucial choice.
Laura Roslin begins to lose faith in the Pythian prophecy and her role as the dying leader. Tom Zarek intends to weaken the Human-Cylon alliance. Galen Tyrol is told that he is not the father of Cally's son.
Earth is revealed to have been populated by Cylons until a nuclear war, which occurred 2,000 years in the past. Starbuck tracks the homing signal and finds her own remains on the planet. The identity of the fifth of the ...
D'Anna reveals that there are only four of the Final Five Cylons in the fleet and holds President Roslin hostage while attempting to lure the four out of hiding. After a dramatic entanglement, the humans and Cylons join ...
In pursuit of the enemy's Resurrection Hub, a team of Viper pilots and Cylon rebels become uneasy collaborators in formulating a battle plan.
In the aftermath of President Roslin's abduction, a bitter power struggle erupts which threatens to tear the once-ordered world of the colonial fleet apart.
Bitter enemies must set aside their grudges as the Demetrius crew teams up with Cylon rebels to destroy a vital enemy target.
As Starbuck leads a mission to see the Cylon Hybrid who reveals more clues to finding Earth. On Galactica, President Roslin discusses religious faith with a dying woman named Emily.
Starbuck faces mutiny on board the Demetrius when she expresses her intent in cooperating with the Cylon Leoben, who has boarded the ship to help her find Earth.
Baltar's monotheistic cult activities expand, sparking political discord at the Quorum of Twelve, and possibly a religious civil war, while Colonel Tigh's mental state again becomes fragile.
While Starbuck commands a lone freighter in her desperate search for Earth, political intrigue and marital discord aboard the Galactica are paralleled by deep rifts in the Cylons' solidarity.
Starbuck faces the repercussions of her armed confrontation with President Roslin and loses the confidence of most of the crew. After learning the Final Five models are within the colonial fleet, a Number Six model named...
Starbuck returns to the Galactica and faces doubt from her former crew members as she tries to convince them she knows the way to Earth. Meanwhile Baltar takes up residence with a faction of his followers who believe he...
Starbuck returns to the Galactica and faces doubt from her former crew members as she tries to convince them she knows the way to Earth. Meanwhile Baltar takes up residence with a faction of his followers who believe he...
Gaius Baltar's trial concludes. The fleet jumps into the Ionian nebula, and four of the final five Cylons discover their own true identities.
Tensions mount as Baltar's trial begins. Caprica Six stirs memories of Colonel Tigh's wife.
When Baltar's representatives face assassination attempts, Adama asks Apollo to protect Baltar's lawyer.
Starbuck's past comes back to haunt her when Adama has doubts about her fitness for duty.
After an accident nearly kills President Roslin, Tyrol defies Adama to demand safer working conditions throughout the fleet - and makes himself the rallying point for a strike.
Cally and Tyrol are trapped in an area with a dangerous hull breach; Adama struggles with troubling memories of his wife on their anniversary.
Helo investigates a doctor tending to civilian refugees that may be harming Sagittaron patients.
Baltar is interrogated aboard Galactica, while a makeshift bar called "Joe's" in the hangar deck becomes popular and the relationship problems of Apollo, Dualla, Starbuck and Anders unfold.
The human-Cylon standoff over the mysterious Eye of Jupiter has reached a breaking point. On the algae planet, D'Anna, Baltar, Brother Cavil, and a team of Centurions prepare to assault the Temple of Five, where the Eye ...
While collecting algae on a barren planet to use as food, Tyrol discovers the Temple of Five, built by the thirteenth tribe. However, a tense standoff ensues when the Cylons arrive looking for the temple.
When the fleet's food supply is contaminated, Galactica's pilots must lead the ships through a hazardous star cluster. Meanwhile, Kat must suddenly confront a dark secret from her past.
In order to ease tensions among the crew, Galactica holds boxing matches between various crew members, while flashbacks detail Apollo and Starbuck's falling out on New Caprica.
Adama confronts one of the darkest moments of his career when "Bulldog" Novacek, a pilot who was thought to have died years ago during a secret mission, escapes the Cylons and arrives on Galactica.
With the discovery of a dying Cylon Basestar, Adama and Roslin debate the morality of deploying a biological weapon against the Cylons with the intention of eradicating them.
As Starbuck and Tigh seed discontent among Galactica's crew, Baltar attempts to help the Cylons deal with a virus spreading among their race.
Tyrol participates in the Circle, a secret tribunal on Galactica that tries and convicts in absentia those accused of collaborating with the Cylons during the Occupation.The death sentences--administered without the know...
The Circle, a secret tribunal onboard Galactica, decides the fate of Colonials who collaborated with the Cylons during the occupation of New Caprica.
With the return of the Galactica, the insurgents on New Caprica begin an all-out uprising in an attempt to evacuate the stranded colonists.
Both the resistance fighters on New Caprica and those within the fleet make final preparations for the evacuation of the planet, while Number Three has strange dreams which lead her to a human oracle.
Tigh's imposition of martial law sparks protests in the fleet. Meanwhile, Starbuck and Helo discover additional survivors on Caprica.
Tigh, overwhelmed by the responsibilities of command, deals with the growing political tension throughout the fleet.
A Cylon boarding party wreaks havoc throughout the ship, while the stranded crewmen on Kobol struggle to stay alive.
With Adama in sickbay, Tigh is forced to take command of Galactica, but is quickly plunged into a crisis when the fleet and Galactica jump to separate locations.
The political crisis between Roslin and Adama forces Apollo to make a difficult decision, as Starbuck returns to Caprica on a mission for Roslin.
The discovery of the lost birthplace of humanity causes a split between Roslin and Adama.
To celebrate the anniversary of the Articles of Colonization, Roslin reconstitutes the Quorum of Twelve; however, the election of Tom Zarek to the Quorum creates a political crisis for Roslin.
With the fleet running desperately low on fuel, the crew of the Galactica begin to plan an ambitious operation to capture a heavily guarded Cylon-controlled tylium asteroid.
As Roslin investigates the possibility of Adama being a Cylon, Tigh receives a visitor from the past.
Starbuck interrogates a captured Cylon as Roslin begins to have strange visions of the same Cylon.
Baltar comes under investigation when Number Six appears in real life, accusing Baltar of helping the Cylons achieve the genocide of humanity and destruction of the Colonies.
A Cylon suicide bomber prompts Adama to form an independent tribunal to investigate the Cylon threat in the fleet.
As Starbuck attempts to escape the barren moon she has been stranded on, Adama and Apollo risk everything to find her, putting them at odds with Tigh and Roslin.
An accident on the hangar deck forces Starbuck to begin training new pilots, bringing back old memories of her training of Zak Adama.
As water riots break out in the fleet, Apollo tries to convince prisoners aboard the Astral Queen to help with collecting the water; however, the appearance of a famous terrorist complicates his plans.
An explosion onboard Galactica forces an emergency search for water.
Following the exodus of humans from the Colonies, the fleet is attacked by the Cylons every 33 minutes as the survivors cope with their losses, compounded by their lack of sleep.
