"33" is the first episode of the
first season and the
pilot episode of the reimagined
military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that features the use of science fiction technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization involved in military a ...
television show
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...
''Battlestar Galactica'', immediately following the events of
the 2003 miniseries. "33" follows ''Galactica'' and its civilian fleet as they are forced to contend with constant Cylon pursuit for days without sleep; they are forced to ultimately destroy one of their own ships to foil the Cylons and earn their first respite of the series.
The episode was written by series creator
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek''; on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Award and an Em ...
, and the television directoral debut of
Michael Rymer. Moore and executive producer
David Eick made the decision to slot this episode as the first of the season because of its potential impact on the audience. "33" distinguished the themes of the new ''Battlestar Galactica'' series by following characters on the spaceships, on the planets that were fled, and in the minds of other characters. Attention to detail was prevalent in this first episode; the production team, the editing team, and even the actors themselves strove for authenticity of specific portrayals and moments.
Though there were compromises made due to concerns of the episode being too dark for audiences, the episode was lauded by both cast and crew in addition to winning the 2005
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. "33" originally aired on
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1 ...
in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004, and subsequently aired on the
Sci Fi Channel in the United States on January 14, 2005, alongside the following episode "
Water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...
".
Plot
Having fled the besieged Ragnar Anchorage, the convoy of refugee spaceships is relentlessly pursued and attacked by
Cylons
The Cylons are the main antagonists of the human race in the ''Battlestar Galactica'' science fiction franchise, making appearances in the original 1978 series, the 1980 series, the 2004 re-imagining, and the spin-off prequel series '' Ca ...
. The colonial fleet must execute a
faster-than-light
Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ...
(FTL) jump every 33 minutes to escape the Cylons, who consistently arrive at the new jump coordinates approximately 33 minutes later. After over 130 hours and 237 jumps, the fleet's crew and passengers, particularly those aboard
''Galactica'', have been
operating without sleep while facing the strain of nearly constant military action.
Upon the 238th consecutive jump, ''Olympic Carrier'' (a commercial passenger vessel with 1,345 souls aboard) is left behind and the attacks unexpectedly cease, allowing the fleet some respite. When the vessel arrives three hours later, President
Laura Roslin and
Commander Adama {{DISPLAYTITLE:Adama (''Battlestar Galactica'')
Adama is the family name of several fictional characters in the '' Battlestar Galactica'' sci-fi universe.
In the Original Continuity:
* Commander Adama, initially a member of the Council and then Pr ...
order
Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama and
Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace to destroy it, believing that it has been infiltrated by Cylons and now poses a threat to the fleet's safety. The colonial pilots destroy ''Olympic Carrier'' while the rest of the colonial fleet jumps away. Baltar's
internal Number Six explains to him that God is looking after his interests, implying that a scientist aboard ''Olympic Carrier'' was preparing to reveal Baltar's unwitting collusion with the Cylon attack on the colonies.
After the fleet's last jump, the Cylons do not return, and the President's survivor whiteboard aboard ''Colonial One'', the result of a fleetwide census, is updated with one additional soul (to 47,973) with the birth of the fleet's first child aboard ''Rising Star''—a boy.
Meanwhile, on Caprica,
Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon is captured by a Cylon patrol and then "rescued" from his Cylon captors by
a Number Eight in the guise of his crewmate
Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, who shoots a
Number Six to free him.
Writing
While preparing for production of ''Battlestar Galactica''s first season, writer and series creator
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek''; on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Award and an Em ...
wrote a short list of potential storylines, one of which was "the fleet jumps every 33 minutes; because the Cylons are relentlessly pursuing them, the crew gets no sleep." Conferring with fellow
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...
David Eick, the two decided that this story would be "the best way to kick off the season". Moore described writing "33" as a great experience; he wrote the whole script without a
story outline or much structure, because he was excited to begin the first episode of the first season already "at the end of the road".
Moore wrote the episode over his Christmas break before the series was officially picked up, and he later said that this aspect was what made the episode "one of the more fun projects that
ewrote all of the first season."
David Eick called the episode a "standalone concept" that did not require having seen the miniseries to understand it. Because the miniseries ended "at a very happy place", starting the series in the middle of a crisis without explanation, and showing the audience that "actually, while you—the audience—were away, really bad things have been happening" made for a much more intriguing and interesting story. "33s complex storyline was a harbinger for episodes to come, and laid the groundwork with the network and audiences alike.
Moore explained on his
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
that the number 33 had no hidden meaning or significance, it was just sufficiently long to allow minor functions like snacking, showering, or
napping, but was too short to allow anybody to gain any meaningful sleep and recharge their batteries. Further, Moore intentionally gave the number no meaning to avoid including unnecessary
technobabble into a drama-driven episode.
Production
"33" was
director Michael Rymer's first television episode. He accepted the job without reading the script, saying that based on his writing experience, "33" went well beyond his expectations and excited him.
Bear McCreary
Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in Los Angeles, California. His work includes the scores of the television series '' Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), '' A ...
originally composed the musical theme "Boomer Theme" for this episode; it was later expanded for use with
the Athena character, before becoming the "Hera Theme" for the character
Hera Agathon
Hera Agathon, also called Isis, is a fictional character from the reimagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' series.
She is the first, and only, known Cylon-Human hybrid child to be born and she first appears, at birth, in the episode " Downloaded ...
in the
fourth season episode, "
Islanded in a Stream of Stars".
Joel Ransom Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" and may refer to:
* Joel (given name), origin of the name including a list of people with the first name.
* Joel (surname), a surname
* Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Braz ...
was the director of photography for
the miniseries, but when Eick learned he was unavailable for the series, he turned to
Stephen McNutt
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...
, with whom he had worked on
''American Gothic''. In the interim, McNutt had moved on to shooting in
high-definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ( ...
; this was fortuitous for the production team because, while Ransom had filmed the miniseries on
35 mm film, the production team was switching to high-definition video for the series.
Executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...
David Eick opined that "33" was the "
silver bullet" that ultimately tipped the scales in their favor and convinced the
Sci Fi Channel to pick up the series. The network's biggest concern in picking up the series was that ''Battlestar Galactica'' would fall victim to the same trappings of
space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soc ...
as other television properties (''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vario ...
'', ''
Andromeda'', ''
Stargate''). Two aspects that assuaged these concerns were specifically discussed in the episode's
DVD commentary. First, "33" went into
Gaius Baltar
Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series ''Battlestar Galactica'' played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 ''Battlestar Galactica'' series. He is one of the show's primary characters.
Personality
...
's (
James Callis) mind and visited his house on Caprica (shot in
Lions Bay,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
); being swept away by the blue skies and beaches in his fantasy was not the sort of imagery expected of space opera-type shows. Second was going back to the devastated Caprica and following-up with Helo's (
Tahmoh Penikett) story.
As
sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary ...
was a major plot point of the episode, actor
Edward James Olmos (William Adama) liaised with an expert on the subject and the crew to best depict the actual effects realistically. Following up, director
Michael Rymer gave each main cast member a specific symptom to emphasize to avoid repetition on screen. To aid a realistic portrayal, Olmos and several other cast members took their study a step further by restricting their sleep patterns to about three hours a night.
In the episode's DVD commentary, Moore and Rymer related how there were endless discussion about the clocks to feature in this episode. Concerns over
digital versus
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...
, size and shape, the ratio of digital to analog clocks, whether they should run forwards or backwards, and whether any labels should be
stencil
Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...
ed or hand-drawn were all brought up. David Eick also noted that as of the commentary's recording, the clock at
Felix Gaeta's (Juliani) station still had its "33" label affixed.
Editing
The first cut of "33" was ten minutes too long. Despite this, the production crew took extra care not to eliminate "human moments" in their efforts to trim the episode. These included a shot of
Galen Tyrol (Douglas) and Cally Henderson (Clyne) walking across ''Galactica'' hangar bay, a shot of Crewman Socinus (Oyarzun) giving a bedraggled look over the shoulder of another crewmember, and a shot of
PO2 Dualla (McClure) walking through ''Galactica'' remembrance corridor.
In a question-and-answer session, Moore revealed a scene written for, but cut from, the episode. In the
cut scene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
, the recurring prop in the characters' briefing room was to have been explicitly introduced and explained; the prop remained in the series, but its
backstory
A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of ...
was cut.
There was a scene cut from "33" where we saw Laura being given her copy of the photo along with a card that said it was taken on the roof of the capitol building on Aerilon during the attack. The photo was inspired by the famous shot of the fire-fighters raising the flag at Ground Zero that became iconic. I thought the Colonies would have their own version of this—a snapshot taken in the moment that becomes a symbol of the day they can never forget and of all they had lost. The photo itself is of a soldier falling to his knees (possibly shot or simply overcome by emotion) as he stands on the rooftop over looking the devastation of his city, while the Colonial flag waves at the edge of frame. The inscription below the photo on Laura's plaque reads, "Lest We Forget" in itself a reference to the inscription on the watch presented to John Wayne's character in ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' is a 1949 American Technicolor Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. It is the second film in Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", along with '' Fort Apache'' (1948) and ''Rio Grande'' (1950). With a bud ...
''.
Other cut scenes included one shot in the pilots'
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may no ...
, showing the pilots "wrecked and exhausted
..with an exchange between Starbuck and Apollo", as well as several shots of Commander Adama (Olmos)
gagging and
vomiting
Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose.
Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteri ...
because of
acid reflux brought on by sleep deprivation. A line of Olmos'—an
''ad-lib'' about suicides in the fleet—was cut so as not to alienate audiences by being "too dark".
As originally written and shot, when Apollo (
Jamie Bamber) fires on ''Olympic Carrier'', it was made clear that he sees people inside. Moore wrote the scene to be strong and clear that the characters were making the decision to fire on the passenger liner in full awareness of the consequences to illustrate and emphasize "the uncompromising nature of the show." This was an "enormous fight" between Moore and the network, with the latter feeling this was another scene that was "too dark" and had the potential to turn away audiences; the network further implied that if the scene were left intact, they may have been compelled to air the episodes out of order. To placate the network, Moore and Eick changed the ending of the episode and "cheated". Instead, when Apollo flies by other ship, it is unclear whether or not there is anybody inside. In a "small act of defiance",
visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel snuck in small, indeterminate movement behind one or two of ''Olympic Carrier'' windows on behalf of the production and writing teams. The episode also originally ended with Helo's escape from the Cylons on Caprica; again tasked by the network to keep the episode from being "too dark", Moore wrote in an additional scene—President Roslin (
Mary McDonnell) learning of the newborn—upon which to end the episode with a hopeful note.
Release and reception
"33" first aired in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on ,
and in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
on ,
almost three months later. UK viewers obliged US ''Battlestar Galactica'' fans by
illegally copying the episode—via
BitTorrent—within hours of its
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1 ...
airing.
, "33" has been released thrice on
home video
Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming m ...
as part of the
first season collected sets; on as a
Best Buy
Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
exclusive, again on , and finally as an
HD DVD
HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to ...
set on . The episode was also released on as part of the entire series' home video set on both
DVD and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...
.
Both series creator
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek''; on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Award and an Em ...
and star
Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama) claim "33" as their favorite episode. Bamber described it as "...the perfect episode of ''Battlestar Galactica''." Emphasizing the dark, gritty, and nightmarish aspects of the episode, the actor felt it was a microcosm of the series as a whole.
In interviews with ''
Wired UK
''Wired UK'' is a bimonthly magazine that reports on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is ...
'' and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'', Moore opined that the episode subverted viewers' expectations and was a "fantastic way to open that first year."
"33" won the 2005
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form,
and drew a 2.6 household
Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
, attracting 3.1 million viewers and making it the number-two program on cable (8pm–11pm).
At the website
Television Without Pity, the staff review rated the episode an "A+", while () 546 of their readers awarded it an average grade of "B".
The ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
''s "10 Most Dramatic Moments of the '00s" included "33" in its #10 spot, describing it as the premiere episode of "a sci-fi show with high stakes and serious guts."
References
External links
"33"at
Syfy
*
{{Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
2004 American television episodes
American television series premieres
Battlestar Galactica (season 1) episodes
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form-winning works
television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore