science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...
Galactica 1980
''Galactica 1980'' is an American science fiction television series and a spin-off from the original '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series. It was first broadcast on ABC in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980, lasting for 10 ...
''), a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games. A re-imagined version of ''Battlestar Galactica'' aired as a two-part, three-hour miniseries developed by Ronald D. Moore and
David Eick
David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced ''Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Ch ...
in 2003. That miniseries led to a weekly television series, which aired until 2009. A prequel series, '' Caprica'', aired in 2010.
All ''Battlestar Galactica'' productions share the premise that in a distant part of the universe, a human civilization has extended to a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies, to which they have migrated from their ancestral homeworld of Kobol. The Twelve Colonies have been engaged in a lengthy war with a cybernetic race known as the
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 '' C ...
, whose goal is the extermination of the human species. The Cylons offer peace to the humans, which proves to be a ruse. With the aid of a human named Baltar, the Cylons carry out a massive nuclear attack on the Twelve Colonies and on the Colonial Fleet of starships that protect them. These attacks devastate the Colonial Fleet, lay waste to the Colonies, and virtually destroy all but a small remaining population. Scattered survivors flee into outer space aboard a ragtag array of spaceworthy ships. Of the entire Colonial battle fleet, only the Battlestar ''Galactica'', a gigantic battleship and spacecraft carrier, appears to have survived the Cylon attack. Under the leadership of
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 ...
, the ''Galactica'' and the pilots of "Viper fighters" lead a fugitive fleet of survivors in search of the fabled thirteenth colony known as
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
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 o ...
of ''Battlestar Galactica'', claimed he had conceived of the ''Battlestar Galactica'' premise, which he called ''Adam's Ark'', during the late 1960s. As James E. Ford detailed in "''Battlestar Galactica'' and Mormon Theology", a paper read at the Joint Conference of the American Culture and Popular Culture Associations on April 17, 1980 (and published as "Theology in Prime Time Science Fiction: ''Battlestar Galactica'' and Mormon Doctrine", ''Journal of Popular Culture'' #17
983
Year 983 ( CMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II (the Red) declares war against the Byza ...
83–87), the series incorporated many themes from
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
theology, such as
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
for "time and eternity", a " council of twelve", a lost thirteenth tribe of humans, and a planet called
Kobol
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" is the two-part first-season finale of the reimagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series.
In the first part, the human fleet discovers the abandoned planet Kobol, the mythical birthplace of humanity, who left her ...
(an anagram of
Kolob
Kolob is a star
or planet described in the Book of Abraham, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Several Latter Day Saint denominations hold the Book of Abraham to have been translated from an Ancient Egypt, Egyptian Joseph Smith Pap ...
), as Larson was a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
. However, he was unable to find financial backing for his
TV series
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 betw ...
for a number of years. ''Battlestar Galactica'' was finally produced in the wake of the success of the 1977 film ''Star Wars''. The original Cylons of ''Battlestar Galactica'', robotic antagonists bent on destroying all humankind, owe much to Fred Saberhagen'sberserker stories, including Saberhagen's fictional race the Builders whose "sliding single red eye" became the signature design element for the Cylons.
Larson had envisioned ''Battlestar Galactica'' as a series of
made-for-TV movies
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
(a three-hour
pilot program
A pilot study, pilot project, pilot test, or pilot experiment is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...
and two two-hour episodes) for the
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
(ABC). A shortened version of the three-hour pilot, ''
Saga of a Star World
"Saga of a Star World" (or "Battlestar Galactica") is the pilot for the American science fiction television series of '' Battlestar Galactica'' which was produced in 1978 by Glen A. Larson. A re-edit of the episode was released theatrically as '' ...
'', was screened in Canadian theaters (before the TV series was telecast) and in American, European and Australian theaters later on. Instead of two additional TV movies, ABC decided to commission a weekly TV series of one-hour episodes.
In 1979 at the sixth annual
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
, the TV series won in the category of "Best New TV Drama Series".
The first episode of the TV series (the long pilot TV movie) was broadcast on September 17, 1978. About 30 minutes before the scheduled end, that broadcast was interrupted by the signing of the Egyptian–Israeli Camp David Accords. After the interruption (which was nearly an hour in length), the episode picked back up where it left off.
During the eight months after the pilot's first broadcast, 17 original episodes of the series were made (five of them two-part shows), equivalent to a standard 24-episode TV season. Citing declining ratings and cost overruns, ABC canceled ''Battlestar Galactica'' in April 1979. Its final episode "
The Hand of God
"The hand of God" ( es, La mano de Dios) was a handling goal scored by Argentine footballer Diego Maradona during the Argentina v England quarter finals match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The goal was illegal under association football rules be ...
" was telecast on April 29, 1979.
''Galactica 1980'' (1980)
During the autumn of 1979, ABC executives met with ''Battlestar Galactica''s creator Glen Larson to consider restarting the series. A suitable concept was needed to draw viewers, and it was decided that the arrival of the Colonial Fleet at present-day Earth would be the storyline. A new
TV movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
called ''
Galactica 1980
''Galactica 1980'' is an American science fiction television series and a spin-off from the original '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series. It was first broadcast on ABC in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980, lasting for 10 ...
'' was produced. Again, it was decided this new version of ''Battlestar Galactica'' would be made into a weekly TV series. Despite the early success of the premiere, this program failed to achieve the popularity of the original series, and it was canceled after just ten episodes.
In this 1980 sequel series, the Colonial fleet finds the Earth, and then it covertly protects it from the Cylons. This series was a quick failure due to its low budget (e.g., recycling footage from the 1974
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
movie ''Earthquake'' during a Cylon attack sequence), widely panned writing, and ill-chosen time slot (Sunday evenings, a time generally reserved for family-oriented programming and, more specifically, also for the ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' newsmagazine program). The TV series also had to adhere to strict content restrictions such as limiting the number of acts of violence and being required to shoehorn educational content into the script and dialogue.
To cut costs, the show was set mostly on the contemporary Earth, to the great dismay of fans. Another factor for fan apathy was the nearly complete recasting of the original series:
Lorne Greene
Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Ad ...
reprised his role as Adama,
Herb Jefferson Jr.
{{BLP sources, date=March 2013
{{Infobox person
, name = Herbert Jefferson, Jr.
, image = Herbert Jefferson, Jr. by Gage Skidmore.jpg
, caption = Herbert Jefferson, Jr., at the 2012 Phoenix Comicon
, birth_date = {{birth date and age, mf=yes, 19 ...
played "Colonel" Boomer in about half of the episodes (with little screentime), and
Dirk Benedict
Dirk Benedict (born Dirk Niewoehner; March 1, 1945) is an American film, television and stage actor, philosopher and author. He is best known for playing the characters Lieutenant Starbuck in the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' film and telev ...
as Starbuck for one episode (the abrupt final episode, though his character was to have also appeared in the unfilmed episode "Wheel of Fire", which was a semi-sequel to "The Return of Starbuck"). Richard Hatch (Apollo in the original series) was sent a script for ''Galactica 1980'', but he turned it down since he was not sure what his part in the series would be now that all the characters had changed.
Some
TV syndication
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...
packages for ''Battlestar Galactica'' incorporate the episodes of this series.
Miniseries (2003)
Despite attempts to revive the series over the years, none came to fruition until it was reimagined in 2003 by
Universal Television
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...
as ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'', a three-hour
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
where a long-standing armistice following a war between humans and Cylons is broken by a second Cylon War, when the machines launch a sneak attack wiping out virtually all of humanity. Commissioned by the
Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...
David Eick
David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced ''Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Ch ...
were the creative forces behind it.
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated actor
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...
was cast in the role of
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 ...
, while two-time Academy Award nominee
Mary McDonnell
Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in '' Dances with Wolves'' and May-Alice Culhane in ''Passion Fish''. Mc ...
was cast as President Laura Roslin. Starbuck and Boomer were now female characters, portrayed by
Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for playing Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on the Netflix series '' Another ...
and Grace Park respectively. Other cast members included
Jamie Bamber
Jamie Saint John Bamber Griffith (born 3 April 1973), known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in ''Battlestar Galactica'' and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in the ITV series '' Law & Order: ...
(Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama),
James Callis
James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is a British actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in '' Bridget Jones's Di ...
(Dr. Gaius Baltar), and
Tricia Helfer
Tricia Janine Helfer (born April 11, 1974) is a Canadian-American actress and former model. She played the enigmatic Cylon model Number Six in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series (2004–2009). She also voiced Sarah Kerrigan in ''S ...
The new television series was co-funded by the UK's Sky Television, and premiered in the United Kingdom on the
Sky1
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 1989, ...
satellite channel in October 2004. The series was then broadcast in North America on the Sci-Fi Channel in January 2005. Continuing where the 2003 mini-series left off, the main cast all returned to reprise their roles. Several new characters were introduced, and Richard Hatch, who played Captain Apollo in the 1970s ''Battlestar Galactica'' TV series, also appeared in several episodes as
Tom Zarek
These are lists of characters from the various '' Battlestar Galactica'' incarnations.
Original 1978 movie and series
People from the ''Galactica'':
* Commander Adama - played by Lorne Greene
* Commander Cain - played by Lloyd Bridges
* Capta ...
, a former political terrorist who later becomes part of the new Colonial government.
An edited version of the pilot miniseries was aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
on January 9, 2005, five days before the Sci-Fi series premiere. NBC also aired three selected first-season episodes to promote the show in advance of the second-season premiere in July 2005. The series ran for four seasons between 2004 and 2009. The second season was split into two halves screened several months apart. Due to production delays caused by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild strike, the fourth season was also split into two parts, with a seven-month hiatus in between.
The series has won widespread critical acclaim among many mainstream non-SF-genre publications. ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' and ''
New York Newsday
''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of ''Newsday'', a Long Island- ...
'' named it the best show on television in 2005. Other publications such as ''The New York Times'', ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for overall excellence, several
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s for Visual Effects, and Emmy nominations for Writing and Directing. ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named it one of the 100 Best TV Shows of All Time.
Webisodes (2006–09)
The first set of
webisode
A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available as either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or c ...
s were a series of shorts produced in 2006 to promote the third season of the re-imagined show. Made as an "optional extra" to Season 3, the webisodes filled in some of the events between the second and third seasons and featured some of the main cast, though did not reveal what would happen in the beginning of Season 3, nor was viewing them essential to follow the story of the third season. Each of the ten webisodes was approximately three minutes long, and they were released twice a week leading up to the U.S. Season 3 premiere in 2006.
The ''Razor Flashbacks'' were a series of seven webisodes produced in 2007, set some 40 years earlier during William Adama's fighter pilot days during the later stages of the
First Cylon War
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series (''Galactica 1980''), a line of ...
. They were released on the Internet as "webisodes" leading up to ''Razor'' release. They are now available on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of ''Battlestar Galactica: Razor'', and some are inserted into both the broadcast and extended cuts of the movie on DVD and Blu-Ray. The installments that did not make the final cut include 1, 2, and the latter half of 7.
A set of ten webisodes were released during the seven-month hiatus between episodes 10 and 11 of Season 4. Titled ''The Face of the Enemy'', the web series premiered on December 12, 2008 on SciFi.com.
''Caprica'' (2010)
''Caprica'' is a
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
television series to the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica''. It premiered on Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi) on January 22, 2010, and was described as "television's first science fiction
family saga
The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often ...
". It was a two-hour back door pilot for a possible weekly television series, but on December 2, 2008, Syfy gave the go-ahead to expand the project into a full, 20-episode series. ''Caprica'' is set on the titular planet, 58 years before the events of ''Battlestar Galactica''. The show revolves around two families, the Adamas and the Graystones, and the creation of the Cylons.
The pilot was directed by
Jeffrey Reiner
Jeffrey Reiner is an American film director, editor, screenwriter, television director, and producer.
Career
Since the late 1980s, he has amassed a number of credits in the film and television industry. He edited the films ''Cheerleader Camp'' ...
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films '' Bad Boys'' with Sean Penn and '' La Bamba'' with Lou Diamond Phillips (1987). His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series '' ...
,
Paula Malcomson
Paula Malcomson (born 1 June 1970) is a Northern Irish actress. She is sometimes credited as Paula Williams. She is known as Trixie in ''Deadwood'' (2004-2006), Maureen Ashby in ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2010), and as Abby Donovan in '' Ray Donovan' ...
,
Alessandra Torresani
Alessandra Olivia Toreson (born May 29, 1987), known professionally as Alessandra Torresani and prior to 2007, Alessandra Toreson, is an American actress. She is best known for playing Zoe Graystone in the science fiction television series ''Capr ...
, and
Polly Walker
Polly Alexandra Walker (born 19 May 1966) is an English actress. She has starred in the films '' Enchanted April'' (1991), ''Patriot Games'' (1992), ''Sliver'' (1993), ''Restoration'' (1995), '' The Gambler'' (1997), and '' Savage Messiah'' (20 ...
. The pilot was released on DVD on April 21, 2009 and the series was broadcast in January 2010.
On October 27, 2010, Syfy canceled ''Caprica'' due to low ratings. The final five episodes were aired in the US on January 4, 2011 though they had aired a couple of months earlier on the Canadian network
Space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
. The entire series was released on DVD in 2011.
''Blood & Chrome'' (2012)
''Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome'' was to be a spin-off series from the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series.Syfy Greenlights "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome" , ''TV By the Numbers'', October 22, 2010 Syfy approached show runner Ronald D. Moore to produce another spin-off set in the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' universe, which was to begin as a two-hour pilot focused on William "Husker" Adama (portrayed by
Luke Pasqualino
Luca Giuseppe "Luke" Pasqualino (born 19 February 1990) is a British actor of Italian descent. He is best known for his portrayal of Freddie McClair in the television series '' Skins'', d'Artagnan in the television series '' The Musketeers'' a ...
) during the First Cylon War (as was glimpsed in ''Razor'' and the corresponding webisodes).
Syfy decided against moving forward with the ''Blood and Chrome'' TV series, but aired a 10-part webseries over four weeks via
Machinima.com
Machinima, Inc. was an American multiplatform online entertainment network owned by WarnerMedia. The company was founded in January 2000 by Hugh Hancock and was headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
It originated as a hub for its namesake, m ...
, beginning on November 9, 2012. The webseries was also aired as a 2-hour movie on Syfy on February 10, 2013, and was released on DVD shortly afterwards.
Upcoming Peacock series
In September 2019,
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primari ...
was planning a new series as part of their
Peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
streaming service, set in the same continuity as the 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'' series, and produced by
Sam Esmail
Sam Esmail (born September 17, 1977) is an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter who runs the production company Esmail Corp. He is best known as the creator, writer and director of the award-winning USA Network televi ...
. In March 2021, writer and producer Michael Lesslie had reportedly left the project, leaving production plans in doubt.
Films
''Razor''
''Battlestar Galactica: Razor'' is a 2007
television movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
produced and broadcast in the gap between Seasons 3 and 4 of the re-imagined series. ''Razor'' is also the first two episodes of Season 4 though it chronicles events on Battlestar ''Pegasus'' in two time periods, both of which are "in the past" with respect to the Season 4 continuity. The "present day" framing scenes are set during Lee Adama's command of the ''Pegasus'' in the latter half of Season 2, while "flashback" scenes depict Helena Cain's command in the period between the Cylon attack (shown in the 2003 mini-series) and the reunion with the ''Galactica'' in the second season. It aired in the United States and Canada on November 24, 2007 and in the UK and Ireland on December 18, 2007. An expanded version of the movie was released on DVD on December 4, 2007.
''The Plan''
Sci Fi Channel produced a two-hour TV movie which was planned to air after the final episode of the series in 2009. The movie began production on September 8, 2008. The movie premiered exclusively on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on October 27, 2009 and aired on January 10, 2010, on Sci Fi. Written by
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson (born July 14, 1964) is an American television writer and producer.
Espenson has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and shared a ...
and directed by
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...
, ''The Plan'' storyline begins before the attack on the Twelve Colonies and shows events primarily from the perspective of the Cylons.
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...
reprised his role as Adama, and ten of the eleven actors who played Cylons appeared, including
Michael Trucco
Edward Michael Trucco (born June 22, 1970) is an American actor known for his role as Samuel Anders on the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' and his recurring role as Nick Petteruti in ''How I Met Your Mother''. He also appeared on the 2017– ...
Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
,
Tricia Helfer
Tricia Janine Helfer (born April 11, 1974) is a Canadian-American actress and former model. She played the enigmatic Cylon model Number Six in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series (2004–2009). She also voiced Sarah Kerrigan in ''S ...
Rick Worthy
Richard "Rick" Worthy (born March 12, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a variety of science fiction and fantasy television shows. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Simon O'Neill cylon model number fo ...
,
Matthew Bennett
Matthew Ray Bennett (born April 9, 1968) is a Canadian actor, writer and director. He is best known for portraying Detective Len Harper on ''Cold Squad'' and his recurring roles as Aaron Doral cylon model number five in the reimagined '' Battle ...
,
Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie (born 14 September 1960) is a British-born Canadian actor who started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski on the television series '' Due South'' was his firs ...
Rekha Sharma
Rekha Shanti Sharma is a Canadian actress of Indo-Fijian descent, best known for her role as Tory Foster on ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica,'' and List of Star Trek: Discovery characters#Guest characters, Ellen Land ...
. The only "Cylon" actor not present was
Lucy Lawless
Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', as D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' seri ...
(although previously filmed footage of her was included).
Feature film
Creator Glen A. Larson entered negotiations with
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
for a film adaptation of the 1978 series in February 2009.
Bryan Singer
Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Singer d ...
signed on to direct the
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
the following August, but was obliged to direct ''
Jack the Giant Slayer
''Jack the Giant Slayer'' (previously titled ''Jack the Giant Killer'') is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney, from a story by Lemke and David Dobki ...
''. In October 2011 John Orloff was hired to write the script. "I have wanted to write this movie since I was 12 years old, and built a Galactica model from scratch out of balsa wood, cardboard, old model parts and LEDs", Orloff told ''
Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...
''. By August 2012 the script was being rewritten, with Singer explaining that "It will exist, I think, quite well between the Glen Larson and Ron Moore universes". On April 7, 2014, the studio hired Jack Paglen to write the script for the film. On February 12, 2016, Universal signed
Michael De Luca
Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. The former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks, De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Best ...
,
Scott Stuber
Scott Stuber (born December 13, 1968) is an American film producer and head of original films at Netflix.
Career
After graduating from University of Arizona with a film degree, Stuber worked at Universal Pictures as a publicity assistant to Lew ...
and Dylan Clark to produce the ''Battlestar Galactica'' film. On June 9, 2016,
Lisa Joy
Lisa Joy (born May 23, 1977) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and attorney. She is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series ''Westworld'' (2016–2022). For ...
was reportedly writing the film, and
Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an Austrian-born American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thrille ...
was in talks to direct. On December 18, 2018, it was reported that Jay Basu (''
The Girl in the Spider's Web
''The Girl in the Spider's Web'' (original title in sv, Det som inte dödar oss , lit=That which does not kill us) is the fourth novel in the ''Millennium'' series. It focuses on the characters Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Written by ...
'') had been hired to rewrite Joy's script. On October 22, 2020, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that
Simon Kinberg
Simon David Kinberg (born August 2, 1973) is a British-born American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film franchise, and has also written such films as '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' and '' Sherlock Holmes''. He ...
will be writing and co-producing the film with
Dylan Clark
Chernin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded and owned by former News Corporation president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin, also CEO and chairman of the company. Jenno Topping is the current Head o ...
.
Cinema releases
Besides a re-edited version of the pilot, released in Canada, Europe, parts of Latin America, and, following the broadcast of the series, in the U.S., two other ''Battlestar Galactica'' feature films were released in cinemas. ''Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack'' and ''Conquest of the Earth'' were made up of various episodes of the original series and ''Galactica 1980'' respectively. (See List of ''Battlestar Galactica'' (1978 TV series) and ''Galactica 1980'' episodes § Theatrical releases)
Attempted revivals
The original series maintained a
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
fandom, which supported efforts by Glen A. Larson, Richard Hatch, and
Bryan Singer
Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Singer d ...
(independently of one another) to revive the premise.
Richard Hatch produced a demonstration video in 1998–99 which featured several actors from the original series combined with state-of-the-art special effects. This video, titled '' Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming'', was screened at some
science fiction convention
Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expres ...
s, but it did not lead to a new series.
In 1999, the producer of ''Wing Commander'', Todd Moyer, and the producer of the original TV series, Glen Larson, planned to produce a
motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
based on the TV series. It would have featured Battlestar ''Pegasus''.
In 2000, the director and an executive producer of the ''X-Men'' movie, Bryan Singer and
Tom DeSanto
Tom DeSanto (born January 1, 1968) is an American film producer and screenwriter.
Career
DeSanto is a founding writer/producer behind several of the biggest franchises in movie history (''X-Men'', ''Transformers''). DeSanto's films have gross ...
, began developing a ''Battlestar Galactica''
TV miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
under the auspices of
Studios USA
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predece ...
for the Fox TV network. A continuation of the original series but set 25 years later, Singer and DeSanto's version included several members of the original cast reprising their original roles and the introduction of newer characters. It was intended to be telecast as a
backdoor pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
in May 2002, and pre-production commenced and sets had even been partially constructed with a view to filming starting in November 2001. However, production delays caused by the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
meant that Bryan Singer had to drop out, due to his commitment to direct the ''X-Men 2'' movie. This caused the executives of Fox TV to cancel the project.
Books
Both the original and the reimagined series have had books published about the series, academically oriented analysis, novelizations, and new works based on the characters.
Original series books
These ''Battlestar Galactica'' softcover novelisations were written by Glen A. Larson with the authors listed below. They were critically disparaged, but proved popular, with the first novel selling over a million copies within its first year. The first ten novels adapt the episode of the same title except as indicated. All novels except ''Battlestar Galactica 14: Surrender the Galactica!'' (ACE publishing) were originally published by Berkley, and have been republished, recently, by I Books, which called them ''Battlestar Galactica Classic'' to differentiate it from the reimagined series. The episodic novels featured expanded scenes, excerpts from "The Adama Journals", more background on the characters, and the expansion of the ragtag fleet to almost 22,000 ships as opposed to the 220 in the TV series.
A new book series written by series star Richard Hatch starting in the 1990s continued the original story based on his attempt to revive the series, and ignored the events of ''
Galactica 1980
''Galactica 1980'' is an American science fiction television series and a spin-off from the original '' Battlestar Galactica'' television series. It was first broadcast on ABC in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980, lasting for 10 ...
''. His series picked up several years after the TV series ended, and featured Apollo in command of the ''Galactica'' after the death of Adama, a grown-up Boxey, who was now a Viper pilot, and the rediscovery of Commander Cain and the battlestar ''Pegasus'', who had started a new colony and was preparing to restart the war with the Cylons.
Episodic novels
* ''Battlestar Galactica'', with Robert Thurston (novel version of "Saga of a Star-World")
* ''Battlestar Galactica 2: The Cylon Death Machine'', with Robert Thurston (novel version of "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero")
* ''Battlestar Galactica 3: The Tombs of Kobol'', with Robert Thurston (novel version of "Lost Planet of the Gods")
* ''Battlestar Galactica 4: The Young Warriors'', with Robert Thurston (adapts "The Young Lords")
* ''Battlestar Galactica 5: Galactica Discovers Earth'', with
Michael Resnick
Michael Diamond Resnick (; March 5, 1942 – January 9, 2020) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He won five Hugo awards and a Nebula award, and was the guest of honor at Chicon 7. He was the executive editor of the defunct ...
(adapts the ''Galactica 1980'' three part episode)
* ''Battlestar Galactica 6: The Living Legend'', with
Nicholas Yermakov
Simon Hawke (born September 30, 1951) is an American author of mainly science fiction and fantasy novels. He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also writt ...
* ''Battlestar Galactica 7: War of the Gods'', with Nicholas Yermakov
* ''Battlestar Galactica 8: Greetings from Earth'', with
Ron Goulart
Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author.
He published novelizations and other work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson, Con ...
* ''Battlestar Galactica 9: Experiment in Terra'', with Ron Goulart (adapts the titular episode as well as "Baltar's Escape")
* ''Battlestar Galactica 10: The Long Patrol'', with Ron Goulart
Original novels
* ''Battlestar Galactica 11: The Nightmare Machine'', with Robert Thurston
* ''Battlestar Galactica 12: "Die, Chameleon!"'', with Robert Thurston
* ''Battlestar Galactica 13: Apollo's War'', with Robert Thurston
* ''Battlestar Galactica 14: Surrender the Galactica!'', with Robert Thurston
Original novels by Richard Hatch
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Armageddon'', with Christopher Golden
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Warhawk'', with Christopher Golden
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Resurrection'', with Stan Timmons
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Rebellion'', with Alan Rogers
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Paradis'', with Brad Linaweaver
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Destiny'', with Brad Linaweaver
* ''Battlestar Galactica: Redemption'', with Brad Linaweaver
Reimagined series books
Tor Science Fiction has published the following works in both hardcover and paperback format.
* ''Battlestar Galactica'' by Jeffrey A. Carver
* ''The Cylons' Secret'' by
Craig Shaw Gardner
Craig Shaw Gardner (born July 2, 1949) is an American author, best known for producing fantasy parodies similar to those of Terry Pratchett.
He was also a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of Her ...
* ''Sagittarius Is Bleeding'' by
Peter David
Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Greatest Hits" Co ...
* ''Somewhere Beyond the Heavens: Exploring Battlestar Galactica'', by Rich Handley and Lou Tambone
* ''Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica''
* ''So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica'', edited by Richard Hatch
* ''Battlestar Galactica and International Relations'' by Nicholas J. Kiersey and Iver B. Neumann (editors)
* ''An Analytical Guide to Television's Battlestar Galactica'' by John Kenneth Muir
Comic books
A series of comic book publishers have adapted ''Battlestar Galactica'' since its inception.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
published a 23-issue comic book series based upon the show between 1978 and 1981. Walt Simonson, who later wrote and drew ''Thor'' and had a long stint on Marvel's ''Star Wars'' comic, was the artist for the series at its conclusion. Other comics have since been published by
Maximum Press
Awesome Comics or Awesome Entertainment (also known as Awesome-Hyperwerks when briefly joined with Hyperwerks Entertainment) was an American comic book studio formed in 1997 by Rob Liefeld following his expulsion from Image Comics, a company he c ...
, Grandreams, ''
Look-in
''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior ''TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.Dynamite Comics.
Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptation ...
was the last company to publish comic books featuring both the classic and reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series. They also released a 4-issue ''Galactica 1980'' comic miniseries written by
Marc Guggenheim
Marc Guggenheim (born September 24, 1970) is an American screenwriter, television producer, comic book writer, and novelist. He is best known as the creator of the television series ''Eli Stone'' (2008–2009), ''Arrow'' (2012– 2020), and ''Lege ...
. The limited miniseries was a re-imagining of the original series but at the end featured a second, smaller ''Battlestar'' (replacing the original which was destroyed) also named ''Galactica'' but strongly resembling the ship seen in the reimagined Sci-Fi Channel series.
Games
Video games
In 1978,
Mattel Electronics
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, ...
released a handheld electronic
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
game based on the series. The player tries to defend ''Galactica'' from
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
Cylon Raiders by manipulating a switch on the game unit to direct their fire, triggered by a red button to the left of the unit.
In November 2003, shortly before the premiere of the re-imagined TV series, Sierra released a 3D space combat ''Battlestar Galactica'' computer game for the original
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
,
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
, and PC. The game took place 40 years before the original series and featured an ensign Adama flying a Viper during the Cylon war. The game was developed by Warthog.
There is also a 2D Xbox 360 Live Arcade title called ''Battlestar Galactica'' wherein players can co-op or dogfight with up to 8 people over
Xbox Live
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...
.
''
Battlestar Galactica Online
''Battlestar Galactica Online'' was a browser-based massively multiplayer online game (MMO) loosely based on the 2004 television series '' Battlestar Galactica''. Released in open beta on February 8, 2011, it was developed by Bigpoint Games and ...
'' is a defunct 3D
browser-based
A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection.
History
In earlier computing models like client-serve ...
MMOG
A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...
released as an
open beta
A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
on February 8, 2011, by
Bigpoint Games
Bigpoint GmbH is a German video game developer. The company develops stand-alone browser-based games as well as social network games. Bigpoint has over 200 million registered users (announced in June 2011). Bigpoint.com states that 337,104,419 ...
.
''Battlestar Galactica Deadlock'' is a 2017 3D turn based strategy game (released on PC, Xbox One and PS4) featuring the First Cylon War. The game is developed by Black Lab Games and published by the Slitherine Software.
Tabletop games
The original series inspired a ''Battlestar Galactica'' board game. The game is set during a training mission, where two to four players maneuver pieces representing Colonial Vipers to capture a damaged
Cylon Raider
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 '' C ...
. Play includes using terrain elements and a number of special-ability cards to the players' advantage.
In 1979,
FASA
Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...
released a tabletop counter piece game for ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'' based on the fighter combat, which included the ''Galactica'' and a Cylon Basestar to be launched from, attack with and be attacked/defended. The counters for the Vipers and the Raiders included three model versions MKI/MKII/MKIII, not just the MKII Viper and Raider MKI.
Wiz Kids, Inc. (a collectible game manufacturer) produced the ''
Battlestar Galactica Collectible Card Game
Battlestar Galactica Collectible Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the Battlestar Galactica science fiction media franchise. The game, published by WizKids, saw first release in May 2006 and was officially canceled in ...
'' based on the 2003 mini-series and 2004 TV show. The premier set of this game was released in May 2006. After the release of one expansion set, Wizkids cancelled the game on March 13, 2007.
A ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
''
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
was released in August 2007 by
Margaret Weis Productions
Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. is a games publisher located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States and founded in 2004 after Margaret Weis and Don Perrin, the two founders of Sovereign Press, divorced.
Games
Margaret Weis Productions is pr ...
at
Gen Con
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playin ...
.
In 2008 Fantasy Flight Games produced '' Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game'', based on the 2003 re-imagined series. It is a semi-cooperative game of strategy for 3–6 players with some players being Cylon agents, either aware at start of the game or become aware later, as
sleeper agent
A sleeper agent, also called sleeper cell, is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization not to undertake an immediate mission but to act as a potential asset if activated. Even if unactivated, the "sleeper agent" is still an asset ...
s. Each of the 10 playable character has its own abilities and weaknesses, and they must all work together in order for humanity to survive, as well as attempt to expose the traitor while fuel shortages, food contaminations, and political unrest threaten to tear the fleet apart. The game had three expansions, ''Pegasus'', ''Exodus'' and ''Daybreak''.
In 2018, Ares Games released ''Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles'', a miniature game by Andrea Angiolino and Andrea Mainini simulating space duels between Vipers and Raiders, with expansions including further models. The game is based on the 2003 re-imagined series, but the license will also allow use of spaceships from the original series, with a game approach similar to
Wings of War
''Wings of War'', by Andrea Angiolino and Pier Giorgio Paglia, is a modular boardgame collection published by Nexus Editrice and dedicated to air combat. A new edition is published by Ares Games as ''Wings of Glory''.
The games mix card ga ...
.
Theme park attractions
Battle of Galactica opened June 9, 1979 as an event on the Studio Tour at
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusemen ...
at a cost of $1 million, the most expensive special effects attraction ever built at the park at the time. This high-technology attraction featured animatronics and live actors in a spectacular laser battle based on the television series, with a 200-foot long spaceship that "swallowed" the passengers. This was the first themed attraction to feature
Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics (also known as simply Animatronics, and sometimes shortened to AAs) is the registered trademark for a form of robotics animation created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subse ...
characters outside
Disney Parks
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
, and was the first
dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live special effects, special e ...
roller coaster
A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...
opened March 18, 2010 at
Universal Studios Singapore
Universal Studios Singapore (abbreviation: USS) is a theme park located within the Resorts World Sentosa at Sentosa, Singapore. It features 28 Theme park#Rides and attractions, rides, shows, and Theme park#Rides and attractions, attractions in ...
List of space science fiction franchises
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to science fiction:
Science fiction – a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting. Expl ...
References
Bibliography
* Chris Klassen "Research Note: Rejecting Monotheism? Polytheism, Pluralism, and ''Battlestar Galactica''". ''Journal of Contemporary Religion''. 23,3 (2008), 355–362.
* Eftychia Papanikolaou. (2007). "Of Duduks and Dylan: Negotiating Music and the Aural Space". i in America: Critical Studies of Battlestar Galactica'' edited by Tiffany Potter and C. W. Marshall, 224–236. New York and London: Continuum.