Twenty-twenty hindsight is a peculiar thing. On the one hand, it enables us to look back and see where we may have made mistakes, where we might have improved upon something. On the other hand, such hindsight-given sufficient elapsed time-is often accompanied by that most bittersweet of emotions, nostalgia.
Nowhere is this irregular mix of clarity and sentiment more profoundly observed than in the ubiquitous domain of popular culture, specifically, film and television. From our new, 21st century perspective, we look back on the world of the 1960s and '70s with a mercurial blend of derision and longing: witness the recent plethora of remakes, resurrections and "reimaginations."
Like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, Battlestar Galactica is the latest television franchise to have been given a new lease on life. But unlike a number of warmed-over properties-whose relevance is perhaps marginal at best-Battlestar Galactica was, and still is in our post-9|11 world, relevant; at times, painfully so. Spread over an epic canvas, it is foremost a story of humanity's struggle to survive against tremendous odds, to triumph over adversity, to improve ourselves-often in spite of ourselves. These are unassailable dramatic themes that resonate with audiences of all ages.
In this primer we'll provide you with an overview of the Battlestar Galactica franchise, from the origins of the 1978 series through to the beleaguered revival attempts; finally examining the SCI FI Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica, currently filming in Vancouver.
THE ORIGINAL SERIES
Origins
The creation of Battlestar Galactica is attributed to prolific television writer/producer/composer, Glen A. Larson, also known for creating such venerable series as Alias Smith and Jones, Quincy and Magnum P.I.. Purportedly conceived and pitched in the late 1960s as a project entitled Adam's Ark, Larson's space epic was met with lukewarm enthusiasm, possibly do to the languishing ratings of another science fiction series airing at the time, Star Trek. Larson described the original concept as follows:
"Adam's Ark was sort of about the origins of mankind in the universe, taking some of the biblical stories and moving them off into space as if by the time we get them to Earth, they're really not about things that happened here, but things that might have happened someplace else in space. It was influenced by Von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods and some of those things... Adam's Ark helped bring a focus into what my concept had been. Ultimately, Battlestar Galactica is my original idea refined down to where I now have fixed on what my point of view is on how all humans throughout the galaxy probably evolved from some mother colony."
Then, in 1977, the extraordinary success of Star Wars opened up the floodgates for science fiction and space opera. Suddenly every major studio in Hollywood was combing their archives to see what property they had that could be developed into "the next Star Wars." For Paramount, it was of course, Star Trek. For Universal, it was time to take another look at Larson's project, which was quickly placed on a fast track and re-titled Battlestar Galactica.
Essentially, Larson's idea was a marriage of theological motifs and epic themes culled from many sources and arranged in a universally recognizable tale. Actor Patrick MacNee's voice-over narration at the beginning of the pilot set the stage for the audience:
"There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. That they may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive far, far away, amongst the stars."
From this lofty opening sprang the remarkably dark, but historically archetypal, premise: Somewhere out in space, an alien cybernetic race known as the Cylons launch a devastating, genocidal attack on twelve colonies of humanity. The survivors of this attack, led by the only remaining warship, the battlestar Galactica, set off across space on a kind of wagon train, searching for a legendary thirteenth colony where they can seek refuge amongst their brethren; a thirteenth colony known to their scriptures as Earth.
Mythology
a
It's well documented that Glen Larson, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, added a liberal dose of Mormon mythology to Galactica. Take the exodus of Colonial survivors in the pilot, for example: In The Book of Mormon, it is stated that a remnant of the Israelite tribe of Joseph traveled from Jerusalem to America sometime around 600 BC, after the amalgamation of the original twelve tribes and during the period of the Babylonian conquest. (The remnant of this tribe are said to be the progenitors of the Mormon faith.)
In Galactica "canon," reference is also made to the planet, Kobol, the mother world from which all humans originated before environmental disaster forced them to migrate to the stars and form the Twelve Colonies of Man (all prior to their conflict with the Cylons). The name "Kobol" draws its inspiration from Kolob, which according to a volume of Mormon scripture called The Book of Abraham, refers to the star "nearest unto the throne of God."
The same ancient Egyptian influence of The Book of Abraham that informed Galactica's mythology was also in evidence artistically. The helmets worn by the Viper pilots were a not-so-subtle reference to the headdress worn by Egyptian Pharaohs such as King Tutankhamun. And in the episode, "Lost Planet of the Gods," the structures on the planet Kobol are identical to the royal necropolis at Giza, replete with three pyramids and Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Galactica made use of other historical influences as well, including Phoenician and Hebrew-for example, Commander Adama leading the Colonials in search of Earth has been compared to Moses leading the Israelites in search of the Promised Land. Less often discussed was the Council of the Twelve, who looked remarkably like a depiction of The Last Supper, or the obvious Roman aesthetic found in the design of the Cylon mechanized soldiers, perhaps predictably referred to as Centurions.
Last, but not least, was the inclusion of thematic elements borrowed from the works of Erich Von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods) and Zecharia Sitchin (Sitchin's theories from The Earth Chronicles being perhaps the more scholarly), both of which postulate the hypothesis that civilization on Earth was heavily influenced during ancient times by human ancestors who came from the stars.
Casting
From the start, Galactica had a familial feel, anchored by Glen Larson's casting of veteran actor Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. Perhaps best known for his role as paterfamilias Ben Cartright on NBC's enormously successful western, Bonanza, Greene's benevolent but authoritative presence and wonderfully resonant voice lent Galactica an immediate Sunday night familiarity, setting the tone for the series.
Joining Greene in the series' cast were Richard Hatch (The Streets of San Francisco) as Captain Apollo; Dirk Benedict (Chopper One) as Lieutenant Starbuck; Herbert Jefferson Jr. (Rich Man, Poor Man) as Lieutenant Boomer; Laurette Spang (Airport 1975) as Cassiopeia; Terry Carter (McCloud) as Colonel Tigh; newcomer Maren Jensen as Athena; Noah Hathaway as Boxey; and John Colicos (Anne of the Thousand Days) as the Galactica's Judas-like nemesis, Count Baltar.
Production
Due to Glen Larson's inexperience producing science fiction, he teamed with veteran Outer Limits producer Leslie Stevens, who was hired as supervising producer. [Recently, Stevens-who is now deceased-has been rumored to have been far more influential in the embryonic development of Battlestar Galactica than is commonly held. However, this assertion is still unsubstantiated.]
Battlestar Galactica was originally designed as a television miniseries, beginning with a three-hour premiere credited to Glen Larson, and then following with twin MOWs, the first written by Leslie Stevens. But after viewing the first part of the pilot, executives at ABC were suitably impressed and elevated the project to regular series status. This forced the producers to scramble for stories, and the cast and crew to adapt to the rigors of a weekly sci-fi series unprecedented in its complexity.
In a clever marketing strategy, several weeks later Universal released a two-hour version of the pilot in Canadian theaters on July 7, 1978-simultaneously releasing the film theatrically in Europe and Japan. It was a considerable success, and approximately ten months later, Universal released Galactica as a feature film in the United States.
On the small screen, Battlestar Galactica premiered on the ABC television network September 17, 1978, with a three-hour pilot movie. Scenes that had not appeared in the theatrical version were added to the pilot to further tease the audience. Over the next eight months seventeen episodes of the series were produced, resulting in a total of twenty-four hours of television, broken down as follows: The three-hour television pilot, four two-part episodes, one two-hour special, and eleven one-hour episodes.
Unable to sustain its initial ratings momentum, on April 29, 1979, Battlestar Galactica was canceled after airing its final episode, "The Hand of God." In retrospect, the cancellation seems premature, as the series was only beginning to find its legs-common for fledgling television shows. Moreover, renowned science fiction author Isaac Azimov was set to join Galactica as senior story consultant in its second season, which would doubtless have provided the series with some outstanding creative direction. But at a then record cost of approximately $1 million per episode, Galactica's production overruns and complex weekly effects shots, coupled with what the network viewed as insufficiently high ratings, ultimately sounded the series' death-knell.
The Star Wars Connection
Almost from the outset the inevitable, and largely unfair, comparisons to Star Wars began. This had more to do with certain resemblances in production design, art direction and visual effects, than with any legitimate story similarities.
When Galactica went into production, veteran Star Wars names like Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren-all of whom were available at the end of Star Wars and looking for other projects-quickly became associated with Universal's new space epic, lending it their artistic sensibilities and recent Star Wars production experience.
Gifted conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie provided numerous designs for Battlestar Galactica, including the ship herself. For the Galactica, McQuarrie drew his inspiration directly from nature. Look closely, and you'll notice that the battlestars bear a striking resemblance to an alligator, which was by design.
Though McQuarrie also provided the initial designs for the Cylons, it should be mentioned that the final look for the series' chrome-plated antagonists ultimately fell to a talented new conceptual artist, Andrew Probert, later known for his outstanding work on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Effects illustration and design (i.e. storyboards, scene layouts, and shot designs) were created by Joe Johnston.
To handle the complex visual effects that Galactica demanded, Glen Larson turned to John Dykstra, a visual effects wizard who first made a name for himself working with Douglas Trumbull on Silent Running, and who served as the first head of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Dykstra was the visual effects supervisor on Star Wars, and together with chief miniature and optical cameraman, Richard Edlund, had pioneered a new and innovative form of visual effects technology called "motion control." This technology had revolutionized the photorealism of space shots for Star Wars and was quickly employed-and in some respects further refined-for Battlestar Galactica.
With John Dykstra serving as visual effects supervisor and producer, Richard Edlund was brought aboard as director of miniature photography (for which he later won an Emmy Award) along with miniatures cameraman Dennis Muren. Galactica was now poised to deliver Star Wars level visuals to the small screen-and, unfortunately, to attract the ire of producer George Lucas.
Dykstra and his team began work on the visual effects for Battlestar Galactica using dormant effects stages willingly leased to Universal Studios by 20th Century Fox. Yet despite assurances made by Glen Larson to Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz that Galactica would avoid duplicating certain effects techniques, Fox-joined by Lucasfilm Ltd.-sued Universal anyway. The reasons were allegedly to do with Universal's choice to release the film theatrically, and George Lucas' belief that there were simply too many similarities between the two properties.
This led to a series of acrimonious and largely groundless counter-suits back and forth between the two studios. Finally, on August 22, 1980, the original dispute was settled by a Los Angeles Federal court judge, who ruled that the two films were sufficiently different, subsequently defeating Fox and Lucasfilm's claim.
Nevertheless, it has been speculated that the relationship between John Dykstra and George Lucas was never quite the same again, perhaps evidenced by Dykstra's conspicuous absence from the Star Wars' sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Contextual Significance
The original Battlestar Galactica was very much a product of the time in which it was made, and it is perhaps impossible not to place any television series within the historical context of its era. In the case of the original Galactica, it was an era in which the United States was still recovering from the wounds of the Vietnam conflict, and thus still embracing larger-than-life heroes and heroics. A time in which the cold war had yet to thaw, and the former Soviet Union was still being characterized through propaganda designed for public consumption. (A review of the episode "Experiment in Terra" will quickly bear this out.)
Yet the core premise of Battlestar Galactica endured. Despite airing for only one season, syndication in the mid '80s breathed new life into the property, ultimately spawning an ongoing series of books, periodicals, comics and assorted merchandise. There are countless websites devoted to the original series and a dedicated fan-base around the world.
This emerging groundswell of support would ultimately lead to one of the most fiercely active revival campaigns in the history of television. Moreover, it has also engendered one of the most hotly contested disputes in fandom over which direction the franchise should take.
THE REVIVAL ATTEMPTS
Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming trailer
As Battlestar Galactica began to enjoy a resurgence of popularity thanks to syndication, former star Richard Hatch realized that there was still life in the property. Putting together a treatment for three movies that evolved the original story, he had a series of meetings with executives at Universal Studios. In the end, he was offered a contract to write storylines for Galactica comic books and novels. He also attempted to put together a deal for a CD-ROM adventure game and a DVD.
It was after overwhelming fan response to his appearance at a Star Trek convention in the mid '90s, that a flash of inspiration struck Hatch. More certain than ever that Battlestar Galactica and its characters were far from forgotten-and indeed, fondly remembered-he gambled that this army of fans could perhaps resurrect the erstwhile space opera cinematically with the aid of a catalyzing event.
That event came in 1998, when Hatch embarked on a $20,000, four-and-a-half minute "proof of concept" trailer that illustrated his ideas for a new Battlestar Galactica motion picture and/or television series/telemovie. Raising the money himself, Hatch engaged a variety of young CGI effects wizards and nascent filmmakers eager to donate their time pro bono. He also employed the talents of former series stars Terry Carter and John Colicos, who, along with Hatch, reprised their original roles.
With no help (or blessing) from the studio, the result was Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming. The first original Battlestar Galactica footage seen in 20 years, the trailer was an unprecedented private effort filled with impressive CGI shots, operatic grandeur, sweeping heroism, and perhaps most significantly, Richard's fervor for a continuation of the pioneering characters and themes.
In his version, a number of the original characters mentor a new generation of Galacticans born in space, some of whom are offspring of our beloved heroes.
Though the trailer has only ever been seen at sci-fi conventions, it has become a cult favorite, always playing to cheering crowds. And though never achieving its intended goal-support for an extension of the original story-it should be credited for raising awareness and helping to facilitate a rebirth of the property.
Glen Larson's Aborted Feature Film
In the spring of 1999, it was announced that Glen Larson was making plans to bring Galactica to the silver screen. Impressed with the visual effects and style of the independently financed film Wing Commander, Larson paired with its producer, Todd Moyer, on an estimated $40-50 million film that was to shoot later that year in Luxembourg. The story picked up where the series left off, but followed the exploits of Commander Cain and the battlestar Pegasus (made famous in the original series episode, "The Living Legend," guest starring the late Lloyd Bridges). In the concept, Commander Cain's search for the lost battlestar Galactica leads him to contemporary Earth, which, according to the story, was settled by humans who arrived here during prehistoric times on the very first battlestar, Atlantis. Special effects were to be handled by Moyer's company, No Prisoners 3DFX, utilizing several of the artists who worked on Wing Commander. Moyer planned to update some of Galactica's ships, including giving the Vipers the ability to morph into mechanized walkers-à la The Transformers-when on planet surfaces. Moreover, he and Larson planned to expand the Galactica franchise to include an Imax film, a theme ride, and a new line of merchandise. Then, as quickly as it had been announced, the project vanished from the radar screen. It has been suggested that Larson and Moyer ultimately found themselves at odds over significant creative issues. It has also been suggested that the film rights to Battlestar Galactica were still in some dispute. In either case, the project disappeared into the ethers.
The Bryan Singer/Tom DeSanto Pilot
On February 22, 2001, the writing/producing/directing team of Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer declared plans to bring back Battlestar Galactica with the cooperation of Studios USA (Vivendi Universal). Suddenly, the studio/network were enthusiastic about the property again, unquestionably due to DeSanto and Singer's proven bankability with such hits as The Usual Suspects and X-Men. In early September 2001 (the 23rd anniversary of the original series' debut), a deal was struck to air a two-hour back door Galactica pilot on the Fox Network. Planned from the inception as a continuation of the 1970s series, the DeSanto/Singer version picked up the story 23 years later, with a return of various original cast members in concert with new characters and situations. In this version, Adama is deceased, Apollo has been captured by the Cylons and presumed dead, and Apollo's stepson Boxey has assumed command of the Galactica. After almost 20 years without Cylon contact, and weary of their extended search for the mythical planet Earth, the "rag tag" fleet decides to establish a new colony in a secure asteroid field. Perhaps predictably, the Cylons return to launch a massive assault-and in a "Locutus of Borg" plotline unabashedly borrowed from Star Trek: The Next Generation-are now led by a cybernetically modified Apollo. With a budget of $10 million, writers Dan Angel and Billy Brown (The X-Files, Goosebumps) were hired to flesh out DeSantos' story concept. DeSanto also had a series of meetings with Glen Larson who offered his guidance on the project. The production was scheduled for three months: November 2001 to January 2002. Postproduction was to continue through spring for a May 2002 premiere. Former ILM art director Guy Dyas was hired to produce a new design for the Cylons. Several visual effects companies such as Foundation Imaging and Eden FX started work on effects illustration and design. And set construction began at a warehouse across the street from Mammoth Studios in Vancouver. Then, on September 11, 2001, the attack on the World Trade Center in New York changed everything. "It was devastating," DeSanto recollects. "No one was able to function. It was difficult to focus, and we lost about a month, and that caused the schedule to shift."
By November 2001, with the Galactica project now falling behind schedule, Bryan Singer's contractual obligation to direct X2 (X-Men II) forced him to leave Battlestar Galactica. In a last ditched effort to save the project, Tom DeSanto approached other directors, including Stephen Hopkins, Gary Fleder and Brian Henson. It is also believed that Star Trek alumnus Harve Bennett was solicited.
Nevertheless, despite DeSanto's best efforts, with Singer's departure Fox lost confidence in the project and pulled the plug. By December 2001, production offices in Los Angles and Vancouver were closed and the sets were demolished. Just like that, the production had moved from front-runner to footnote.
SCI-FI CHANNEL'S BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MINISERIES
The previous revival attempts, particularly Singer and DeSanto's abandoned project, had an unexpected side benefit: they reversed the inertia that Universal had maintained with respect to the Galactica property. Finally aware that a resurrected Battlestar Galactica could be viable, Vivendi-Universal-who also own Studios USA and SCI-FI Channel-began looking for someone amongst their ranks who could take the reigns of the franchise. The person they chose was David Eick.
Eick's production background in television was formidable. During the mid to late '90s he held several positions at Renaissance Pictures where he had been instrumental in the development and production of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In 1995, Eick also served as a producer on CBS' critically acclaimed series, American Gothic.
Eick then spent more than two years as senior vice-president of original series development for USA Cable. There, he was responsible for overseeing the creation and production of all original series for USA Network and SCI-FI Channel, including Cover Me, The Huntress, Manhattan, AZ and The Invisible Man. By September 2001, Eick had been signed to a multi-year development deal with Studios USA to develop programming with the network's producers.
From the outset, Eick was clear about one thing: he did not want to do a sequel to the original Battlestar Galactica. Instead, he wanted to break with the previous approaches and reimagine Galactica for a new audience living in a new era. He wanted to resuscitate space opera; a genre that he believed had become, for the most part, formulaic and predictable.
"I'm a tremendous fan of the genre," remarks Eick. "When an opportunity like this comes along, you have to ask yourself, 'What can you do that isn't being done perfectly elsewhere?' And we decided to take this existing mythos and reinterpret it without being married to any preexisting formula or template. We said, 'Let's borrow from this rich tapestry and then find ways to reinvent it tonally, visually and editorially.'"
Eick immediately realized that in order to succeed in his goal of reinventing Battlestar Galactica, he would need an experienced collaborator who was intimately familiar with the science fiction genre.
Enter Ronald D Moore. As a veteran writer/producer of more than a half-dozen shows-including more than a decade with the Star Trek franchise-Moore first entered the business in 1989 with a spec script sale to Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled, "The Bonding." A second Next Generation script entitled, "The Defector," landed him a coveted position on the writing staff. Proving to be one of The Next Generation's more prolific and gifted writers, Moore soon found himself being elevated to producer-which ultimately led to his joining the writing staff of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a supervising producer in 1995, and shortly thereafter, advancing to co-executive producer.
After a stint as an executive consultant on SCI-FI Channel's critically acclaimed series Good vs. Evil in 1999, Moore's proficiency with television science fiction was further honed that same year when he joined the series Roswell as an executive producer, penning ten episodes of the aliens-in-high-school drama.
Prior to serving as show-runner and executive producer of HBO's one-hour drama, Carnivale in 2002, Moore was approached by David Eick about writing a new Battlestar Galactica. As Moore recalls: "David Eick made the initial approach. David and I had a relationship that went back a couple of years when he was a network executive at USA Network and I was consulting for GvsE (Good vs. Evil). We kept in contact over the years and always wanted to work together. He called me and said, 'The Bryan Singer/Tom DeSanto version has gone away, and we're looking for someone to come in with a new take.' I thought about it over the weekend and watched the pilot again. My first instinct was I wanted to remake it. And I knew David wanted to remake it. The studio was definitely open to it, if not encouraging it. It was just sort of a confluence where we were all on the same page. The challenge from the beginning was in deciding how much of the original to keep and how much to let go."
Reinventing A Genre
While adhering to the basic premise, ultimately the project would depart significantly from the original in a number of key respects. In addition to starting with a clean sheet of paper and retelling the story over from the beginning, Moore also opted to make controversial gender changes to the characters of Starbuck and Boomer in order to more accurately reflect the male/female dynamic of today's modern military.
The Cylons are no longer the ambiguous alien antagonists of the original series-rather, they are an evolution of human engineering run amok; a contemporary parable illustrating what can happen if technology is allowed to advance unchecked. In this new version of Galactica, humanoid Cylons wreak havoc upon their human creators-believing with an almost ecclesiastical fanaticism that they are the next evolutionary step and that dispatching humans is their "manifest destiny."
If the newly discovered religious zeal of the Cylons or the terror of mushroom clouds depicted during the destruction of the Twelve Colonies seem somehow familiar, they should. The events of 9|11 lent an authenticity to this new Galactica that the producers of the original series could never have contemplated. On that fateful day in September 2001, everything we knew, or thought we knew, changed irrevocably-a fact not lost on Ron Moore, who knew as he wrote the script that a reworking of Galactica's inherently dark premise would be experienced in a whole new light.
From the beginning, Moore was committed that this new Galactica would be a radical departure from what fans of the genre had become used to. His mandate was well-publicized: No more clichéd characters, no more aliens with putty-headed foreheads, no more "thespian histrionics," no more "planet of the week" stories-no more clinging to the conventions of the genre. Instead, Moore stated unequivocally that the new Battlestar Galactica would throw real people, with real problems and flaws, into the traditional space opera mix. This juxtaposition, he believed, would shake up the tired and stale sci-fi genre, and give fans-not to mention the demographically attractive non-sci fi audience-the opportunity to enjoy stories with all the complexity and resonance of mainstream dramas such as The West Wing or The Sopranos.
After reworking the original plot into one which was grimmer, more serious, and of greater import in a post-9|11 world, Moore then set about altering the disposition of the major players. With the Cylons now the disenfranchised product of human technology, Moore next turned to the Colonials, often eschewing the motivations of the original characters in favor of more present-day human problems and idiosyncrasies. For example, unlike the original series, Commander Adama and his son Captain Apollo have an estranged relationship. Baltar is no longer a moustache-twirling megalomaniac, but rather, a self-absorbed egotist. The new character of President Laura Roslin discovers she has breast cancer shortly before the Cylon attack.
Cast
Much like the original Battlestar Galactica, the new show was cast with a small complement of veteran actors to anchor the series, along with several fresh faces to round out the ensemble. For this outing, the producers chose Edward James Olmos to play the role of Commander Adama. Nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the film Stand and Deliver, Olmos was also famous for his portrayal of the taciturn Lieutenant Martin Castillo in the hit '80s television series, Miami Vice. Olmos brought a new take on Adama. Less the patriarchal, quasi-religious leader, and more the tightly-wound, ruminative war veteran, Olmos' depiction of Adama is, again, very much rooted in our 21st century world.
Olmos was not the only Oscar-nominated actor to join Galactica. Mary McDonnell, who plays the new character of Laura Roslin, has been nominated for an Oscar twice: the first time in 1990 for Best Supporting Actress in the Kevin Costner epic, Dances With Wolves; the second time in 1992 for Best Actress in the film, Passion Fish. As the newly appointed President of the Twelve Colonies-dealing with both sudden responsibility for her people and the revelation she has cancer-McDonnell's character provided an interesting counterpoint to Adama's traditionally militaristic approach.
Joining Olmos and McDonnell in the major cast were Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama, Katie Sackhoff as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Grace Park as Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, James Callis as Doctor Gaius Baltar, Tricia Helfer as Number Six, Michael Hogan as Colonel Paul Tigh, Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Tyrol, Alessandro Juliani as Tactical Officer Lieutenant Gaeta, Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Second Dualla, and Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya.
Production Design
With the story elements, characters and cadence locked in, it was time to turn to the project's aesthetic and visual signature. Noticeably absent from this Galactica's "look" are the not-so-subtle references to ancient Earth civilizations. "We don't have the very strong design elements that were in the original," offers Ron Moore. "But we have retained the core idea that mankind on Earth are brothers to the tribes of the twelve in Colonial society, and that all thirteen sprung from a parent civilization on a planet called Kobol. So it's perfectly possible that there are things that relate to the Egyptians and the Mayans and the Aztecs, etc. that we might eventually discover within the Colonial society."
Former Stargate SG-1 production designer, Richard Hudolin, was hired to revamp the look and feel of Galactica. "We set out to make it spectacular and make it something that people have never seen before," he recalls. "We wanted to portray a different kind of reality. I mainly looked at things relating to World War II. Galactica was supposed to have been designed a number of years earlier. It's out of date and about to be mothballed."
Beginning with the Galactica's interiors, the production team thus developed a look more akin to today's ocean or space-going vessels, as opposed to a fantastic craft set in the far-flung future. Moore elaborates: "The design was started in a very Das Boot kind of world, where it was very mechanical, very claustrophobic.very used kind of machinery with Apple II levels of technology everywhere.that kind of interesting juxtaposition. SCI-FI Channel ultimately didn't want to go that far with the look, so we all compromised on a more NASA-like feeling to the space interiors. It's a little bit closer to Skylab and the space shuttle, where it's still a relatively low level of technology, but it's not quite Das Boot, where it's cramped like a tin can, it's sweaty, and there's dirt on the walls. So we took from the aircraft carrier, from NASA, from 2001, and created a blend of those ideas."
"For the interior, there's a lot of old technology mixed with the new technology," says Hudolin, "but nothing that takes you into the state-of-the-art, or even the modern day. You'll see some somewhat retro items like the old-style telephones and old style maps alongside computer screens, and other elements that would take you into the 1980s and 1990s.the idea that the Galactica is out of date [is] in focus all the time."
For the exterior ship designs, the producers wisely elected to retain some of the original series' feel, so as to help aid the audience's transition from old to new. To this, they added entirely new designs.
"We wanted to stay with the old Viper," Hudolin states, "because it's something everyone recognizes as Battlestar Galactica, and is the link to the past."
"The Viper still looks like the Viper, with some modifications," Moore adds. "The Galactica herself was modified, but not radically so, so it still retains the basic shape. Beyond that, the launch tubes are very similar, we used the old Cylons in little pieces, the basestars and Cylon raiders are influenced by the original designs.otherwise, we pretty much started with a new page."
That new page saw the creation of a whole new craft, the Raptor. "The Raptor is the Galactica's reconnaissance ship," Hudolin says, "and I wanted it to look nasty. One of the coolest looking ships is the Apache helicopter. So we basically took the Apache and adapted it and enlarged it."
"The Raptor wasn't just computer-generated," Hudolin goes on, "we actually made the Raptor, so that we could effectively get it to fly using a crane. We built a frame into the design of the plane, which could be lifted by a crane and swung around. Apparently the actors were quite surprised by that, because they were expecting to just have to move around [and fake the ship's movement]. So when this thing lifted them up to about 80 feet, everyone was going, 'Oh my God! How well did they build this thing?'"
"Naturalistic Science Fiction" Through Cinema Vérité
Ron Moore believed that the dramatic underpinnings of his more "naturalistic" story would be best advanced using the cinema vérité, or documentary style of filmmaking. "This was in the original pitch. It was one of the first things I said: Look, we're going to do this cinema vérité, documentary style."
Largely avoiding television's ubiquitous "master, two-shot, close-up, close-up, two-shot, back to master" pattern, Moore chose instead to treat viewers to a more frenetic style of cinematography; one that provided an organic relationship to the story itself. Hand-held camera work and extended takes are thus in evidence throughout the miniseries-pulling the audience into the narrative and making them feel as though they're part of the action.
For perhaps the first time in science fiction, the production team elected to break with the visual effects paradigms first established in the Star Wars films-and often imitated. Again, Moore references the documentary style: "Our ships [are] treated like real ships that someone had to go out and film with a real camera. That means no 3-D 'hero' shots panning and zooming wildly with the touc | 
