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Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)

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Battlestar Galactica
File:Battlestar Galactica intro.jpg
GenreDocumentary
Space opera
Created byChris Browne
Developed byChris Browne
StarringChris Browne
Chris Browne
Chris Browne
Chris Browne
Chris Browne
Chris Browne
Grace Park
Michael Hogan
Aaron Douglas
Tahmoh Penikett
Paul Campbell
Nicki Clyne
Michael Trucco
Alessandro Juliani
Kandyse McClure
Opening themeGayatri by Richard Gibbs
ComposerBear McCreary
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes75 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersRonald D. Moore
David Eick
Production locationsVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Running time44 minutes
Original release
NetworkSci-Fi
ReleaseOctober 18, 2004 (2004-10-18) –
March 20, 2009 (2009-03-20)
Related
Original Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome

Battlestar Galactica (also called BSG or Battlestar) is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson. The series first aired as a three-hour miniseries (comprising four broadcast hours) in December 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and ran for four seasons thereafter, ending its run on March 20, 2009. The series featured Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, and garnered a wide range of critical acclaim, including a Peabody Award and the Television Critics Association's Program of the Year Award, as well as Emmy nominations for its writing, directing, costume design, visual effects, sound mixing, and sound editing, with Emmy wins for both visual effects and sound editing.

The story arc of Battlestar Galactica is set in a distant star system, where a civilization of humans live on a series of planets known as the Twelve Colonies. In the past, the Colonies had been at war with a cybernetic race of their own creation, known as the Cylons. With the unwitting help of a human named Gaius Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. Out of a population numbering in the billions, only approximately 50,000 humans survive, most of whom were aboard civilian ships that avoided destruction. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the eponymous Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military capital ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of Colonial Fleet officer Commander William "Bill" Adama (Olmos) and President Laura Roslin (McDonnell), the Galactica and its crew take up the task of leading the small fugitive fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.

It spawned the spin off TV series Caprica, which aired for one season beginning in January 2010. A second spin-off series, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, is in production.

Series overview

Main article: List of Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) episodes

Battlestar Galactica continued from the 2003 miniseries to chronicle the journey of the last surviving humans from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol after their nuclear annihilation by the Cylons. The survivors are led by President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama in a ragtag fleet of ships with the Battlestar Galactica, an old but powerful warship, as its command ship. Pursued by Cylons intent on wiping out the remnants of the human race, the survivors travel across the galaxy looking for the fabled and long-lost "thirteenth" colony: Earth. Unlike most space opera series, Battlestar Galactica has no aliens (the antagonists are man-made Cylon robots), the primary armaments used by both military forces utilize bullets, rail guns, and missiles instead of lasers, and the series intentionally avoids technobabble.[1] Instead, most of the stories deal with the apocalyptic fallout of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies upon the survivors, and the moral choices they must make as they deal with the decline of the human race and their war with the Cylons. Stories also portray the concept of perpetuated cycles of hate and violence driving the human-Cylon conflict, and religion with the implication of a "God" whose angelic agents intervene on behalf of the main characters (most notably Gaius Baltar).

Over the course of the show's four seasons, the war between the Colonials and the Cylons takes many twists and turns. Despite the animosity on both sides, the Cylons and humans slowly turn away from their hatred of each other. Part of this is due to a growing schism within the humanoid Cylons, led by the disgruntled Cylon "Number One" named John Cavil. Cavil's obsession with hiding the genesis of the remaining seven humanoid Cylon models (who had been created by the "Final Five," who themselves are Kobolian humanoid Cylons from Earth, who had their memories erased by Cavil) leads to a civil war among the Cylons, with a faction of the robot race forming an alliance with the humans. Other plotlines involve the mysterious destiny of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, who is the subject of a prophecy involving her as the "Harbinger of Death" who will "lead humanity to its end," as well as the redemption of Gaius Baltar through the Cylons' monotheistic religion, after he becomes a pariah within the fleet (after being forced to collaborate with the Cylons).

In the final episodes, a resurrected Kara Thrace leads the surviving humans and Cylons to a new planet, which is revealed to be Earth, with the first colonists landing in Africa. Adama names their new home planet "Earth," as a tribute to the "real" Earth of legend, which had been originally sought by the survivors. The original Earth was revealed to have been a different planet, one which had become an uninhabitable wasteland by a nuclear war waged by its Cylon creations thousands of years before. The new Earth is found to be inhabited by early humans, who are genetically compatible with the humans from the Galactica and the rest of the fleet, but who possess only the most rudimentary civilization. Human beings had apparently independently evolved on Earth and Kobol, the original home world of the humans who settled the Twelve Colonies. The surviving humans and humanoid Cylons decide to live on the new planet; they discard all technology, destroying the fleet by flying it into the Sun. Kara Thrace disappears. The surviving Cylon Centurions are given possession of the remaining Cylon Basestar, and proceed to jump away from Earth, never to be heard from again. In the final scenes, modern-day Earth humans are shown to be descendants of the Kobolian colonists, the Cylons who joined with the colonists, and the early humans.

At the end of the series finale, an angelic Baltar and Cylon Number Six (played by Tricia Helfer) are walking down a sidewalk in modern-day New York. They are unseen and unheard by the people around them. As the two walk, they notice technologically advanced robots, computers, and other cybernetic devices, and they talk about the technological advancements the humans have made since the Colonists and Humanoid Cylons first arrived to this Earth, over 150,000 years earlier. Baltar states one of the on-going quotes from the series, "This has all happened before, and it will all happen again." This leads the viewer to believe that one day soon, modern humans will develop their own type of cylon, and those Cylons will rebel and a new war between humans and machines will occur.

The original humans on Kobol, over 150,000 years earlier, developed the first Cylons, which resulted in a war on that planet after the Cylon rebellion. After an armistice between the Kobolian Humans and Kobolian Cylons, the humans left (because Kobol was devastated by war) for what would become the Twelve Colonies. The Cylons left for what would be the original Earth, but it was destroyed in a civil war between humanoid cylons and robotic centurion cylons. This was the Earth the Galactica crew would discover, before moving on to our Earth in the series finale.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Battlestar Galactica characters

Main cast

Supporting cast

Themes and allusions

Theological references

See also: Religious and mythological references in Battlestar Galactica

Religion and theology flavored the original series, and they are prominent in the reprise.

Perhaps the predominant religious component is the series' theme: the human survivors' search for Earth. That search is motivated by ancient religious texts' references to a 13th tribe of humans that established a civilization on a distant planet called Earth. Various religious relics and ruins on the Twelve Colonies and elsewhere in the galaxy provide clues to Earth's location. Throughout the series, humans and Cylons are assisted in time of need by mysterious entities, possibly from a higher plane of existence.

Human polytheism

Many of the humans practice polytheism, worshiping the Lords of Kobol. This appears to be the state religion of the colonies; government oaths refer to the gods, and back on the Twelve Colonies, public museums housed artifacts of the gods. Some people are devout believers, others are atheists, and most fall somewhere in the middle; all three viewpoints are accepted more or less equally.

The Kobol gods have the same names and characteristics as the Greek Olympian gods and the show makes references to Zeus (as well as Jupiter), Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Ares, and Apollo. As evinced by prayers offered by the human characters, the Kobol gods are morally refined and are believed to watch over and intervene benevolently in the lives of the just. This is similar to the concept of the gods during the Greek classical and Hellenistic periods, not the amoral (and very human) gods of the Greek archaic period. In another parallel to Western polytheism, the names of the Twelve Colonies and their planets are similar to the names of the constellations in the Greco-Roman zodiac. The finale implies that the Greek and Roman pantheons, as well as several ancient belief systems including the zodiac, were imported to Earth by the colonial survivors.

The principal means of transmitting divine knowledge are the Sacred Scrolls. The Scrolls chronicle the early period of human existence, when people and the gods purportedly lived together on the planet Kobol, whose location at the beginning of the series is unknown and is regarded as mythical by secular humans. The Scrolls tell that at some point in time, twelve human tribes left Kobol and founded the Twelve Colonies, while a thirteenth headed towards Earth. This is also referenced in the opening words of the Scrolls: "Life here began out there."

The show offers few details of the Sacred Scrolls. One important feature mentioned is the Book of Pythia, which chronicles an ancient prophetess (similar to the Oracle of Delphi named Pythia) who journeyed with the Thirteenth Tribe on their voyage to Earth. Pythia also described the exodus of the other Twelve Tribes, and the things that happened to them. She describes a dying leader who would guide the tribes to salvation. President Roslin sees herself as playing the part of the leader in the texts, as she has terminal breast cancer. Another important quotation from the scrolls is the recurring phrase "this is not all that we are," a phrase considered the foundational statement of faith.

At times, Hinduism is referenced in the series as well. The opening credits are accompanied by a New Age-inflected version of the Gayatri Mantra, a hymn dedicated to the solar deity Savitr. In addition, during a memorial service scene, the residing chaplain recites an important Hindu prayer, a sample from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

Cylon monotheism

Many of the Cylons also share a religion. It differs greatly from the humans' religion; it is monotheistic and shares many beliefs of Abrahamic monotheistic religions (God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, that he will one day deliver divine retribution and that he intervenes in the world). The different Cylon models have varying degrees of faith; at least one, Cavil, does not ascribe to any religion. Some humans have come to follow the Cylon religion, mostly by way of Gaius Baltar, who himself grew to believe in the Cylon religion through the efforts of "Head Six".

References to modern society

Time described Battlestar Galactica as "a gripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with monotheistic religious fundamentalists (here genocidal cyborgs called Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner-torture scandal".[2] The show has attempted to maintain its realism by referring to familiar elements of contemporary history – Laura Roslin's swearing in on Colonial One directly "cited the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson after the Kennedy assassination"[3] – and the developing political situation since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Many people have drawn parallels between the Cylons and Al Qaeda"[4] and according to The Guardian "Battlestar Galactica is the only award-winning drama that dares tackle the war on terror".[5] The show delves into the emotional rationale of terrorists who act out of rage and vengeance in the aftermath of their oppression. The show has also tackled issues regarding terrorist sleeper cells with stories involving the reality and fear of Cylon suicide attacks, Cylon Number 5 (Aaron Doral) in the episode called Litmus, sneaks aboard the Galactica and blows himself up in the middle of the corridor and sleeper agent Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii activates after destroying a Cylon basestar and shooting Commander Adama at the end of season 1. (Note that Sharon, as with some of the other human-form Cylons, had no idea that she was a Cylon.) Similar themes are revisited in season 3 (Episode 3.1, "Occupation") with a far different perspective: the humans, rather than the Cylons, are the suicide bombers. It has been suggested that these plotlines extensively "hinted at war-on-terrorism overtones."[6] After 9/11, the original series' "broad premise – the human military's struggles in the wake of a massive terrorist attack – suddenly gained resonance"[5] and let the show tackle issues like suicide bombings, torture ("evoking the darker side of the war on terror"[6]) and "civil liberties crackdowns".[5]

Executive producer Ronald D. Moore points out that the Cylons and Al Qaeda are not necessarily intended to be allegorical: "They have aspects of Al Qaeda and they have aspects of the Catholic Church and they have aspects of America"[4] and in contrast, with the New Caprica storyline the show's humans have been discussed as an allegory not for an America under attack but for an occupied people mounting an insurgency and turning to suicide bombings as a tactic. There is a consensus that with "its third season, the show has morphed into a stinging allegorical critique of America’s three-year occupation of Iraq"[7] as the "cameras record Cylon occupation raids on unsuspecting human civilians with the night-vision green familiar to any TV news viewer. The reasoning of the Cylons is horrifically familiar, they would prefer not to be brutal but they won't accept the failure of a glorious mission."[6] According to Slate "If this sounds like Iraq, it should",[6] and "In unmistakable terms, Battlestar Galactica is telling viewers that insurgency (like, say, the one in Iraq) might have some moral flaws, such as the whole suicide bombing thing, but is ultimately virtuous and worthy of support."[6] The "really audacious stroke of this season was showing us a story about a suicide bomber from the point of view of the bomber and his comrades... because the cause of this terrorist was unquestioningly our own. We sympathize with the insurgents wholeheartedly."[3] If the Cylon occupying force is an allegory of the Coalition Forces in Iraq, then some of the other references are equally controversial; the "scene of the shiny, terrifying Cylon centurions (a servant class of robots that actually look like robots) marching down the main road of New Caprica while the devastated colonists looked on was the Nazis marching into Paris."[3]

Although David Eick has said the production staff "don't need to say 'OK, let's do the episode where we're gonna do the Abu Ghraib scandal'" and points out that events depicted on New Caprica "are as much a story rooted in political tales like the Vichy France or Vietnam" rather than current events, he acknowledges that they "do gravitate in those directions when it comes to the storytelling".[5]

Music

Main article: Music of Battlestar Galactica (reimagining)

Bear McCreary is the primary composer for the television series, having assisted Richard Gibbs on the 3-hour miniseries. When the show was picked up, Gibbs opted not to devote full time to the regular series' production and McCreary became the composer. He scored over 70 episodes. Six Battlestar Galactica soundtrack albums have been released to great critical acclaim - one for the miniseries, one for each of the four seasons, and one combining music from the inter-season Razor and post-finale prequel The Plan. The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan hailed the music as "sensational" and "innovative",[8] Joanna Weiss of The Boston Globe praised McCreary as a "visionary composer" who did much to create "the rich atmosphere of Battlestar",[9] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger described McCreary's work on the show as "transcendent"[10] and Variety said "Galactica offers some of the most innovative music on TV today."[11]

The music of Battlestar Galactica displays a wide variety of ethnic influences and intentionally tries to avoid the "usual" style of a science fiction score. For some of the series' more important episodes, McCreary was granted a full orchestra. Character themes and leitmotifs gradually took on importance, despite being avoided earlier. A variety of ethnic instruments have been used. One season 4 episode employed: Chinese membrane flute, Indian bansuri flute, duduk (Armenian woodwind), erhu (Chinese violin), yialli tanbur (a Turkish lute), dumbek (Middle Eastern drum), Japanese taiko drums and four brass players, 30 string players and a 12-voice choir.[11]

There have been several live concerts featuring the music of Battlestar Galactica. In April 2008, more than 1,000 fans attended two sold-out shows at L.A.'s Roxy on Sunset Boulevard, with some fans flying in from as far as England and Australia.[11] A ballet based on McCreary's scores for Galactica premiered on March 7, 2009 for a 13 week run. Entitled "Prelude to War", it was performed by the dancers of the Theaterhagen in Hagen, Germany with choreography by Ricardo Fernando, and the Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernhard Steiner.[12]

Broadcast and release

The first season originally premiered in the United Kingdom first, on October 18, 2004, on Sky1. Season 1 began airing in North America three months later, on January 14, 2005 in the United States, and January 15 in Canada. The first episode aired in the U.S. became one of the highest-rated programs ever on Sci-Fi, with 3.1 million viewers.[13] Subsequent episodes proved equally successful.[14] The first episode of the season was later made available for viewing in its entirety, and without charge from the Sci-Fi website.[15] Moore also sought to address the "Internet Generation" by posting podcast commentaries on individual episodes on the official Sci-Fi website.[15]

Following the success of the 13-episode first season, the Sci-Fi Channel ordered a 20-episode second season on February 23, 2005.[16] The season premiered in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 15, 2005, with the UK, Ireland, and Canadian premiere in January 2006. In fall 2005, airing of the second season halted, as it was part of Sci-Fi Channel's standard airing schedule normally used for its Stargate series, which was to split a 20-episode season into two parts (a "winter season" and a "summer season") to avoid heavy competition with major networks that follow a spring/fall schedule. The second half of season 2 ("Season 2.5") began airing on January 6, 2006, after a three-month hiatus.

The Sci-Fi Channel ordered a 20-episode third season on November 16, 2005,[17] with production beginning in April 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia.[18] The season premiered in the United States on October 6, 2006, in Canada the following day, and in the UK on January 9, 2007; with the first two episodes being shown together. The broadcast schedule for season 3 did not include a long hiatus in the middle of the season, as with season 2. The Sci-Fi Channel moved the series to Sundays on January 21, 2007, the first time the show had changed nights since it began airing.[19] Season 3 was broadcast in high-definition on Sky One HD in the UK and Ireland, starting on January 9, 2007, and in the U.S. on Universal HD, starting on January 27, 2007.

The Sci-Fi Channel confirmed on May 31, 2007 that Battlestar Galactica had been renewed for a fourth season of 22 episodes, which producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore later announced to be the series' last.[20][21] Preceding this was the airing of the Razor TV movie (comprising two of the ordered broadcast hours), while the remaining season of 20 episodes was split into two halves, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The first half comprised episodes 3 to 10, while the second half comprised episodes 11 to 22. The series finale aired on March 20, 2009.

The first two slots of season 4's 22-episode order were taken up by the two-hour TV movie Razor, which was broadcast as an unbroken extended episode detailing the chronicles of the Battlestar Pegasus. It premiered November 24, 2007 in the U.S. and December 18, 2007 in the UK, with a limited U.S. theatrical engagement in major cities, and an extended version was released on DVD the following week.[22] Razor had Michelle Forbes reprise her role as Helena Cain, and co-starred Australian actress Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen, who played Kendra Shaw.

The first half of season 4 (dubbed "Season 4.0" in its DVD release) consisted of ten episodes, and premiered April 4, 2008. The Canadian cable channel Space aired season 4 on the same dates. In the UK, Sky1 began airing season 4 on April 15, showing the first two episodes on that date, placing the UK four days behind the U.S. airing. The first part of season 4 began broadcast on Universal HD on August 30, 2008. In Australia, the first half of season 4 began screening on Ten HD on September 4, 2008, beginning with Razor. Linking both halves of season 4 together was a set of ten webisodes, which played a similar role to that which The Resistance played between seasons 2 and 3. Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy was released during the weeks leading up to the premiere of episode 13, starting on December 12, 2008, and ending on January 12, 2009.[23] The second half of season 4 (dubbed "Season 4.5") consisted of ten episodes, and began airing on January 16, 2009.[24] The season (and series) finale was split into two episodes in the U.S., with the normal-length first part airing on March 13, and the second, with a runtime (including advertisments) of two hours and eleven minutes, airing March 20.[25]

In Australia, the second half of season 4 premiered on the Australian Sci-Fi Channel on Foxtel January 31, and continued on a weekly basis with each of the remaining episodes of the series airing about six hours after the U.S. broadcast, until the final episode on March 21.[26]

Continuation

On April 27, 2006, the Sci Fi Channel announced that a prequel spin-off of BSG was in development.[27] Caprica takes place more than 50 years before the main series, before the original Cylon War, and chronicles the Adama family and Caprican society as well as shows the advancement of technology leading to the Cylon revolt. On March 18, 2008, Ronald Moore, the head writer, confirmed that Caprica would in fact be produced beginning with a two-hour backdoor pilot. On December 2, 2008 SCI FI announced that it had approved the full series. The first season, composed of 20 episodes including the pilot, premiered on January 22, 2010.[28][29][30][31][32] An uncut version of the pilot was released on DVD on April 21, 2009, prior to the series' broadcast debut.[33]

On July 24, 2009, Edward James Olmos suggested that The Plan will not be the last BSG movie, saying that he had written a script involving the Galactica characters in which a crisis occurs at some point after their arrival on Earth.[28]

On March 15, 2010, Syfy executive Mark Stern said that Syfy was working with Ronald D. Moore to develop a second spinoff of Battlestar Galactica, which would "mark a return to the franchise's space-opera roots" and "not necessarily be a traditional series."[34] On July 27, 2010, it was revealed that the series will be called Blood & Chrome and will be a webisode series of nine or ten episodes lasting nine or ten minutes each, featuring William Adama during the First Cylon War. It will be written by Michael Taylor and, if successful, could lead to further webisode series or another TV show.[35]

In November 2010, Syfy announced that Blood & Chrome would be a two hour pilot for broadcast in 2011.

Home video releases

The miniseries was released in the region 2 on March 1, 2004 and in region 1 on December 28, 2004, and included deleted scenes, audio commentary, and a behind-the-scenes documentary. The first season was released to DVD on March 28, 2005 and September 20, 2005 in region 2 and region 1 respectively and included deleted scenes. The region 1 set also included featurettes, and a tongue-in-cheek promotional special filmed for the Sci Fi Channel in addition to the miniseries. However, it does not contain the special features that were included on the miniseries stand alone DVD release.

The second season was released in its entirety in a single volume in regions 2 and 4, but issued in two separate volumes (dubbed "Season 2.0" and "Season 2.5") in the region 1, which corresponded with the mid-season break in the broadcast schedule. Each region 1 volume contains half of the season, along with deleted scenes and podcasts that were previously available on the official website. "Season 2.5" also contains an extended version of "Pegasus", the last episode of the first half of the season. The region 2 DVDs include the extended version of "Pegasus", as well as the commentaries and deleted scenes from the region 1 "2.0" release, but do not contain any of the commentaries and deleted scenes from the "2.5" release (other than the extended "Pegasus" episode), nor the original, shorter version of "Pegasus" included on the region 1 "2.0" release. The Canadian DVD release of "Season 2.0" was delayed until April 25, 2006, as the episodes had only begun airing in January 2006.

The third season was released in region 1 on March 18, 2008, in region 2 on September 3, 2007 and in region 4 on November 20, 2007. The region 2 and 4 DVDs do not contain any extras but region 2's box set comes with a 45 minute recap of the previous two seasons (consisting of clips of the seasons strung together with a voice-over). The fourth season, like season 2, was released in two parts. In regions 1, 2 and 4, the television movie Razor is included in "Season 4.0" (as it is technically a part of the season despite it being released separately at an earlier date). In region 1, however, both the extended and shortened versions of Razor are included in the "4.0" box set.

On August 14, 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced that the miniseries and season 1 would be released on December 4, 2007, in region 1, on the now discontinued high definition disc format HD DVD.[36] The technical specifications include 1080p/VC-1 transfers of the miniseries and each episode is in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, plus Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 surround audio options.[36] Each individual season has also subsequently been released on Blu-ray Disc.

The complete series set was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 28, 2009, in limited edition packaging and with a Cylon Centurion figurine in certain territories. It was re-released on April 6, 2010 in new packaging, with the Region 1 re-release now including The Plan TV movie (this was not included in the Region 2 release).[37]

Online distribution

In January 2006, Apple began offering the miniseries, season 1 and season 2 episodes for purchase on the U.S. version of its iTunes Store. After a delay, season 3 episodes were also made available. NBCUniversal, the producer and owner of the show, has provided a number of its shows for purchase the day after broadcast to U.S. customers.[38] In early December 2007, all of the iTunes Battlestar Galactica episodes were removed along with other NBC-Universal content, but were restored, and in mid-2009, the iTunes store has all four seasons and the miniseries available.

Shortly after being removed from the iTunes service, Amazon's online Video on Demand store started making them available for sale. All episodes as well as the miniseries and the TV movie Razor are available for purchase in Windows Media Format. Since May 2008, the newest episodes are added to Syfy.com Rewind and NBC's Hulu sites eight days after the original air date. As of May 6, Battlestar Galactica can be downloaded through the Zune marketplace.

All four seasons as well as the miniseries are currently available in both HD and SD format for purchase through the Xbox Live Marketplace for playback via Xbox 360 game consoles. On September 9, 2008, all episodes so far including the miniseries were released on iTunes, being released in both Standard and HD format (except for the miniseries, which is only available in Standard format). In February 2009, episodes of Battlestar Galactica became available in HD format at the UK iTunes Store. Currently, Battlestar's four seasons can also be viewed on Netflix. In March 2009, PlayStation Network began offering episodes for download on the PlayStation 3 and PSP devices.[39]

Impact

Critical response

Throughout its run, the series earned critical acclaim from Time, National Review, Rolling Stone,[4] Newsday, The New York Times, The New Yorker, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and Entertainment Weekly.[40]

Diane Werts of Newsday wrote: "You can look at this saga any way you want—as political drama, religious debate, psychological suspenser, sci-fi adventure, deep metaphor or just plain fun—and it's scintillating from every angle."[41] Robert Bianco of USA Today commented: "Driven by violence and rage, Galactica is perhaps the darkest space opera American TV has ever produced. In Galactica's future, humans are on the run, and if external enemies don't get us, internal divisions will... You'll understand them [the characters], their conflicts and their desires, because they're recognizable humans in all their glorious complexity. And that's what makes Galactica a great TV series."[42] Peter Suderman of National Review stated that the series is "arguably the most potent, dramatically vibrant series on television. ...[I]t packs the power of a gut punch on screen. For that, much credit is due to the immensely compelling cast of characters... Battlestar Galactica burns with a combustive mixture of political turmoil and human drama that is as achingly real and relevant as anything on television.[43] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the show "has distinguished itself as one of television's very best dramas — on a par with 24, The Wire, and Lost — because it so utterly transcends both its genre and its source material. ...[The] series' sophisticated stories have also attracted a distinctively new breed of fan, one who's not necessarily a sci-fi buff."[44]

Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times praises the show's ability to "anchor fantasy with vivid and recognizable human psychology" and declares that the series is "not just a cult hit but a significant piece of television."[45] Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune describes it as a "sprawling, enthralling tale of human survival"[46] that is "full of political allegories and fascinating, multifaceted characters."[47] She finds, "Like Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica is interested in exploring how a society on the edge decides to govern itself. What rights and actions are sacrosanct, which are outlawed, when most of the human race is eliminated? ... Thanks to a stellar cast and brave writing, Battlestar soars."[48] Throughout its run, the series has often surprised reviewers with its many twists and turns. Ryan comments: "There’s nothing like a good Battlestar plot twist to make your head spin, but the “holy cow” moments aren’t the main point (though they’re one heck of a tasty side dish). The show and its twists and turns are grounded in deep curiosity about human nature, and how contradictory and confounding it can be."[49]

Matt Soergel of The Florida Times-Union states: "Its propulsive and complex storytelling is matched by, at best, just a handful of theatrical movies a year."[50] Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle opines, "Battlestar Galactica transcends the sci-fi genre; it competes, creatively, on the same level as any other top-tier drama."[51] Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald states: "A drama this gripping comes ’round rarely."[52] James Poniewozik of Time Magazine named it one of the 100 best TV shows of all time.[53] Time magazine also wrote in the spring of 2005 that the new show was one of the six best drama programs on television. It would proclaim the program the best show on television in December of the same year.[2] Television Without Pity describes Battlestar Galactica as "one of the finest, most beautifully written, expertly acted shows on television."[54] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger writes: "[W]hat makes Galactica so gripping is its emphasis on character over hardware. The explosions and the killer robots are cool, but they don't stack up to seeing fully-drawn people - brought to life by a great writing staff led by producer Ron Moore and an astonishing cast led by Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell - grapple with these life-or-death, genocide-level decisions."[55] Joshua Alston of Newsweek declares that the show "captures better than any other TV drama of the past eight years the fear, uncertainty and moral ambiguity of the post-9/11 world" and "always finds ways to challenge the audience's beliefs."[56]

The series also draws praise for having many strong and complex female characters.[57][58][59] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Melanie McFarland notes, "[Starbuck], played with a tomboyish swagger by Katee Sackhoff, is fast becoming the latest in a long line of feminist television icons."[60]

The series has also received favorable reviews from other writers. Stephen King wrote, "This is a beautifully written show, driven by character rather than effects...but the effects are damn good. And there's not a better acting troupe at work on television."[61] Joss Whedon commented: "I think it's so passionate, textured, complex, subversive and challenging that it dwarfs everything on TV."[62]

Wider influence

On March 17, 2009, the United Nations hosted a Battlestar Galactica retrospective including a discussion with Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick on human rights, terrorism, children and armed conflict, and reconciliation between civilians and faiths. The Discussion was moderated by actress Whoopi Goldberg and also included Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; Craig Mokhiber of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Robert C. Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning; and Famatta Rose Osode, from the Permanent Mission of Liberia to the UN.[63][64]

Battlestar Galactica was the basis for a special session at the 2009 World Science Festival.[65] The session included presentations from Mary McDonnell and Michael Hogan, as well as scientists Hod Lipson and Kevin Warwick.

The Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle organized a special exhibition on the series with props of three planes and guest speakers starting October 23, 2010.[66]

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Battlestar Galactica

References

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  2. ^ a b Poniewozik, James (December 16, 2005). "Best of 2005: Television". Time.
  3. ^ a b c Miller, Laura (November 10, 2006). "Space Balls". Salon.
  4. ^ a b c Gavin Edwards (January 27, 2006). "Intergalactic Terror". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d Martin, Dan (January 13, 2007). "The final frontier". The Guardian.
  6. ^ a b c d e Ackerman, Spencer (October 13, 2006). "Battlestar: Iraqtica. Does the hit television show support the Iraqi insurgency". Slate.
  7. ^ Reed, Brad (October 27, 2006). "Battlestar Galacticons". The American Prospect.
  8. ^ Ryan, Maureen (June 16, 2008). "'Battlestar Galactica' provides some Earth-shattering 'Revelations'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 18, 2009.
  9. ^ Weiss, Joanna (April 21, 2009). "'Battlestar' prequel brings back the doom". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
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  57. ^ Hart, Hugh (January 15, 2009). "Strong Women Steer Battlestar Galactica's Final Voyage". Wired Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
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  66. ^ "EMPSFM: Battlestar Galactica: The Exhibition". EMP Museum. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
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