Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, Galactica 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games. A reimagined version aired as a two-part, three-hour miniseries developed by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick in 2003, followed by a 2004 television series, which aired until 2009. A prequel series, Caprica, aired in 2010.
This article is about all the media that use the name Battlestar Galactica. For specific versions, see Battlestar Galactica (disambiguation).Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
1978–2012
- Battlestar Galactica (1978)
- Battlestar Galactica (1978–79)
- Galactica 1980 (1980)
- Battlestar Galactica (2003–09)
- Caprica (2010)
- The Resistance (2006)
- Razor Flashbacks (2007)
- The Face of the Enemy (2008–09)
- Blood & Chrome (2012)
All Battlestar Galactica productions share the premise that in a distant part of the universe, a human civilization has extended to a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies, to which they have migrated from their ancestral homeworld of Kobol. The Twelve Colonies have been engaged in a lengthy war with the Cylons, a cybernetic race whose goal is the extermination of the human species. The Cylons offer peace to the humans, which proves to be a ruse. With the aid of a human named Baltar, the Cylons carry out a massive nuclear attack on the Twelve Colonies and the Colonial Fleet of starships that protect them, devastating the fleet, laying waste to the Colonies, and destroying all but a small remaining population. Survivors flee into outer space aboard a motley fleet of spaceworthy ships. Of the Colonial battle fleet, only the Battlestar Galactica, a gigantic battleship and spacecraft carrier, appears to have survived the attack. Under the leadership of Commander Adama, the Galactica and the pilots of "Viper fighters" lead a fugitive fleet of survivors in search of the fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth.
Attempted revivals[edit]
The original series maintained a cult fandom, which supported efforts by Glen A. Larson, Richard Hatch, and Bryan Singer (independently of one another) to revive the premise.
Richard Hatch produced a demonstration video in 1998–99 which featured several actors from the original series combined with state-of-the-art special effects. This video, titled Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming, was screened at some science fiction conventions, but it did not lead to a new series.
In 1999, the producer of Wing Commander, Todd Moyer, and the producer of the original TV series, Glen Larson, planned to produce a motion picture based on the TV series.[35][36][37] It would have featured Battlestar Pegasus.
In 2000, the director and an executive producer of the X-Men movie, Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto, began developing a Battlestar Galactica TV miniseries under the auspices of Studios USA for the Fox TV network. A continuation of the original series but set 25 years later, Singer and DeSanto's version included several members of the original cast reprising their original roles and the introduction of newer characters. It was intended to be telecast as a backdoor pilot in May 2002, and pre-production commenced and sets had even been partially constructed with a view to filming starting in November 2001.[38] However, production delays caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks meant that Bryan Singer had to drop out, due to his commitment to direct the X-Men 2 movie. This caused the executives of Fox TV to cancel the project.
Theme park attractions[edit]
Battle of Galactica opened June 9, 1979 as an event on the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood at a cost of $1 million, the most expensive special effects attraction ever built at the park at the time.[56] This high-technology attraction featured animatronics and live actors in a spectacular laser battle based on the television series, with a 200-foot long spaceship that "swallowed" the passengers.[56] This was the first themed attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics characters outside Disney Parks, and was the first dark ride to combine sophisticated animatronics and lasers with live actors. It was replaced in 1992 by the foundations of Back to the Future: The Ride.
A Battlestar Galactica: Human vs. Cylon roller coaster opened March 18, 2010 at Universal Studios Singapore.