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 SyFy (at the time called Sci Fi Channel) in the United States starting on 8 December 2003. The two parts of the miniseries earned, respectively, 3.9 and 4.5 million viewers,[1] making the miniseries the third-most-watched program on SyFy ever.[2]
Plot
After a 40-year armistice in a war between the Twelve Colonies, the homeworlds populated by humans, and the Cylons, human-created robots, the Cylons launch a surprise attack intended to exterminate the human race. Virtually all of the population of the Twelve Colonies is wiped out. Most of the human defense force is rendered ineffective and destroyed because Number Six, a Cylon android in the form of a human woman, has seduced the famous scientist Dr. Gaius Baltar and exploited their relationship to introduce malware into the military computer network and render it vulnerable to a cybernetic attack.
Caprica under bombardment during the Cylon attack.
Because the computer systems of the battlestar Galactica are not networked, the warship is unaffected by the sabotage. Its Commander, William Adama, assumes command of the few remaining elements of the human fleet. Laura Roslin, the senior surviving member of the Twelve Colonies government, succeeds to the human presidency; the civilian starship carrying her manages to assemble a group of surviving human ships. Baltar manages to escape the capital world of Caprica when a Colonial Raptor based on the Galactica lands briefly for repairs and evacuates a small group of survivors.
Although Roslin hopes to transfer all the surviving refugees to ships capable of interstellar travel, the Cylons quickly locate and attack the surviving ships. Roslin is forced to abandon many of the survivors, as only the ships capable of faster-than-light (FTL) "jumps" are able to escape the attack and rendezvous with the Galactica at Ragnar, a military armory station where the Galactica is resupplying itself with weaponry and essential supplies. On Ragnar, Adama learns of the Cylons' newly developed capacity to appear in human form.
Roslin appoints Baltar, who has not disclosed his suborning by the Cylons, as one of her senior advisers. By unexplained means, Number Six manifests herself to Baltar in hallucinatory form and attempts to direct his behavior. Responding to one of her suggestions, he identifies another masquerading Cylon, Aaron Doral, who is left on Ragnar when the Galactica departs.
As the Cylons attack Ragnar, the small human fleet escapes by "jumping" to a distant, unexplored area of the galaxy. Adama attempts to lift the morale of the surviving humans by announcing plans to reach a legendary thirteenth colony, "Earth," whose existence and location have been closely guarded military secrets. Roslin later convinces Adama to privately admit that his announcement was simply a ploy.
Adama finds a cryptic message in his quarters reading simply, "There are only 12 Cylon models." On Ragnar, a group of humanoid Cylons retrieve Doral. One of the group appears to be Galactica crew member Sharon Valerii, indicating that her counterpart on the Galactica is a Cylon as well.
Cast
Production
Development
None of the previous efforts to remake or continue the story of Battlestar Galactica by Tom DeSanto, Bryan Singer, and original series star Richard Hatch (which involved using either the original cast or the original characters and plot) proceeded beyond the development stage.[3]
Filming
The special effects of the miniseries were created by Zoic Studios who previously worked on the Firefly television series. The regular series also contains effects by Atmosphere Studios [4], Enigma Animation Productions and the production´s own effects team [5] although near the end all visual effects were done by the in-house team[citation needed].
Awards
Wins
Nominations
- 2004 Emmy Awards, Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Miniseries, Night 1)
- 2004 Emmy Awards, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Miniseries, Night 2)
- 2004 Emmy Awards, Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Miniseries, Night 1)
- 2004 Saturn Awards, Best Supporting Actress on Television, Katie Sackhoff
- 2003 VES Awards, Outstanding Compositing in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial
- 2003 VES Awards, Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial
Tie-in novel
In 2006, Tor Books published Battlestar Galactica (the miniseries), by Jeffrey A. Carver — a novelization of the 2003 miniseries. The book incorporates deleted scenes and gives background information not seen on screen. Because much of this information conflicts with much of what is later revealed in the series, the novelization is not considered canon.
See also
References
External links
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Battlestar Galactica |
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Original
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Reimagined
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Caprica
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Original
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Reimagined
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Caprica
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Joseph Adama · Daniel Graystone · Amanda Graystone · Zoe Graystone · Lacy Rand · Sister Clarice Willow · Sam Adama · William Adama
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