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What is Battlestar Galactica?

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What is Battlestar Galactica? MAIN HomeWhat is Battlestar Galactica?LinksContact Us GALACTICA.TV Site ObjectiveMagazineWhenIssuesSite Interviews BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 1978 NewsMain CastGuest Stars / EpisodesCrewConcept ArtMiniaturesSets / Props GALACTICA 1980 NewsMain CastGuest Stars / EpisodesCrew BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 2003 NewsMain CastGuest Stars / EpisodesCrewConcept ArtCGI What is Battlestar Galactica? THE ORIGINAL BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SERIES ORIGINS The megacosm of Battlestar Galactica is attributed to prolific television writer / producer / composer, Glen A. Larson, moreover 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 flipside science fiction series walk at the time, Star Trek. Glen Larson described the original concept as follows: "Adam's Ark was sort of well-nigh 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 well-nigh 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 lanugo to where I now have stock-still on what my point of view is on how all humans throughout the galaxy probably evolved from some mother colony." Then, in 1977, the no-go 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 ripened into "the next Star Wars." For Paramount, it was of course, Star Trek. For Universal, it was time to take flipside squint at Larson's Adam's Ark project, which was quickly placed on a fast track as a series of movies for television (or telefilms), which was now titled Star World. With Star World as a working title, main notation named Skyler (Skywalker) and Lyra (Leia), there was no doubt Universal was trying to make Star Wars for ABC television. To stave major lawsuits the initial pilot script that was pitched to the studios got re-titled into Galactica: Saga of a Star World and notation names like Skyler and Lyra were reverted into Apollo and Serina. Essentially, Larson's idea was a marriage of theological motifs and epic themes culled from many sources and serried in a universally recognizable tale.Two-facePatrick MacNee's voice-over narration at the whence of the pilot set the stage for the audience: "There are those who believe that life here began out there, far wideness 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 unconfined pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who plane 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 wayfarer cybernetic race known as the Cylons launch a devastating, genocidal wade on twelve colonies of humanity. The survivors of this attack, led by the only remaining warship, the battlestar Galactica, set off wideness 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 It's well documented that Glen Larson, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, widow 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 virtually 600 BC, without the tie-up 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 Battlestar Galactica "canon," reference is moreover made to the planet, Kobol, the mother world from which all humans originated surpassing environmental disaster forced them to migrate to the stars and form the Twelve Colonies of Man (all prior to their mismatch with the Cylons). The name "Kobol" draws its inspiration from "Kolob", which equal to a volume of Mormon scripture tabbed The Book of Abraham, refers to the star "nearest unto the throne of God." The same warmed-over Egyptian influence of The Book of Abraham that informed Battlestar Galactica's mythology was moreover in vestige 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. Battlestar 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 stimulating found in the diamond 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 stuff perhaps the increasingly scholarly), both of which postulate the proposition that civilization on Earth was heavily influenced during warmed-over times by human siblings who came from the stars. CAST From the start, Battlestar Galactica had a familial feel, welded by Glen Larson's tossing of veteran two-face Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. Perhaps weightier known for his role as paterfamilias Ben Cartright on NBC's enormously successful western, Bonanza, Greene's soft-hearted but supervisory presence and wonderfully resonant voice lent Battlestar Galactica an firsthand Sunday night familiarity, setting the tone for the series. Joining Lorne Greene in the series' tint 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 Battlestar 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 increasingly influential in the embryonic minutiae of Battlestar Galactica than is wontedly held. However, this interjection is still unsubstantiated.] Battlestar Galactica was originally designed as a television miniseries, whence with a three-hour premiere credited to Glen Larson, and then pursuit with twin MOWs (Movie of the Week), the first written by Leslie Stevens. But without 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 tint and hairdo to transmute 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 mucosa theatrically in Europe and Japan. It was a considerable success, and approximately ten months later, Universal released Battlestar Galactica as a full-length mucosa 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 widow to the pilot to remoter tease the audience. Count Baltar, that had betrayed the human race, was now spared (in the theatrical movie he was beheaded) to star in the series as the nemesis leader that helps the Cylons to venery lanugo the humans that had escaped the genocide. Over the next eight months seventeen episodes of the series were produced, resulting in a total of twenty-four hours of television, wrenched lanugo 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 without walk its final episode, "The Hand of God." In retrospect, the receipt seems premature, as the series was only whence to find its legs -- worldwide for fledgling television shows. Moreover, renowned science fiction tragedian Isaac Azimov was set to join Battlestar 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 forfeit of approximately $1 million per episode, Battlestar Galactica's production overruns and ramified weekly effects shots, coupled with what the network viewed as insufficiently upper ratings, ultimately sounded the series' death-knell. THE STAR WARS CONNECTIONScrutinizinglyfrom the outset the inevitable, and largely unfair, comparisons to Star Wars began. This had increasingly to do with unrepealable resemblances in production design, art direction and visual effects, than with any legitimate story similarities. When Battlestar Galactica went into production, veteran Star Wars names like Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren -- all of whom were misogynist at the end of Star Wars and looking for other projects -- quickly became associated with Universal's new space epic, lending it their originative sensibilities and recent Star Wars production experience. Gifted conceptual versifier Ralph McQuarrie provided numerous designs for Battlestar Galactica, including the ship herself. For the Battlestar Galactica, McQuarrie drew his inspiration directly from nature.Squintclosely, and you'll notice that the battlestars withstand a striking resemblance to an alligator, which was by design. Though both McQuarrie and Johnston moreover provided the initial designs for the Cylons, it should be mentioned that the final squint 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. The Cylon costume was made in tropical collaboration with versifier / sculptor Ralph Massey (who moreover helped create the initial designs of the Ovion and the Daggit on the series). Effects tableau and diamond (i.e. storyboards, scene layouts, and shot designs) were created by Joe Johnston. Other (non-Star Wars) conceptual versifier involved were Dan Goozee, Martin Kline and Steve Amos. To handle the ramified visual effects that Battlestar 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 throne of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Dykstra was the visual effects supervisor on Star Wars, and together with senior miniature and optical cameraman, Richard Edlund, had pioneered a new and innovative form of visual effects technology tabbed "motion control." This technology had revolutionized the photorealism of space shots for Star Wars and was quickly employed -- and in some respects remoter 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) withal with miniatures cameraman Dennis Muren and a miniature workshop led by Grant McCune. Battlestar Galactica was now poised to unhook Star Wars level visuals to the small screen-and, unfortunately, to vamp the ire of producer George Lucas. Dykstra and his team began work on the visual effects for Battlestar Galactica using unseeded effects stages willingly leased to Universal Studios by 20th Century Fox. The initial idea was moreover to alimony the ILM team together during the production gap between the first and second Star Wars film. Yet despite assurances made by Glen Larson to Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz that Battlestar Galactica would stave duplicating unrepealable effects techniques, Fox-joined by Lucasfilm Ltd. -- sued Universal anyway. The reasons were tangibly to do with Universal's nomination to release the mucosa theatrically, and George Lucas' weighing that there were simply too many similarities between the two properties. This led to a series of unfriendly and largely groundless counter-suits when and withal between the two studios. Finally, on August 22, 1980, the original dispute was settled by a Los Angeles Federal magistrate 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 sparsity from the Star Wars' sequels, The Empire StrikesWhenand Return of the Jedi and starting his own visitor tabbed Apogee. CONTEXTUAL SIGNIFICANCE The original Battlestar Galactica was very much a product of the time in which it was made, and it is perhaps untellable not to place any television series within the historical context of its era. In the specimen of the original Battlestar 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 unprepossessed war had yet to thaw, and the former Soviet Union was still stuff characterized through propaganda designed for public consumption. (A review of the episode "Experiment in Terra" will quickly withstand this out.) GALACTICA 1980 A massive write-in wayfarers began with the receipt of the original Battlestar Galactica.Consideringletter writing campaigns in favor of restoring cancelled television programs were uncommon in 1979, it prompted ABC to re-think their reasons for canceling the show.Withoutsome deliberation, they contacted Glen Larson to see well-nigh reviving the series, albeit in some modified and less-expensive format. Both Larson and the network felt the show needed some major transpiration of focus to re-launch it as a spinoff, and Larson and Donald P. Bellisario decided to set the new series five years without "The Hand of God", the final episode of the original series. This would indulge them to weed out many supporting notation who were now considered superfluous. To bring lanugo production financing plane more, Galactica would discover "present day" Earth, completely unable to defend itself from the Cylons. This would stave towers expensive sets and the wide-stretching use of special effects. Time Travel to yo-yo Earth's history so its technology would develop increasingly rapidly up to a Colonial level would wilt the main witchery of the revived Battlestar Galactica series. Episodes would full-length a new "Time Mission" every week, often with Apollo at some variegated time in the past, and Starbuck flying when and withal between "Now" and "Then" to requite information and support to Apollo (much like Irwin Allen's ‘60s successful TV series The Time Tunnel that sadly moreover lasted one season). ABC tried this pitch, and gave the go-ahead to develop a pilot for the series. However, Dirk Benedict (Starbuck) was theoretically unavailable at the time of filming and Richard Hatch (Apollo) turned it lanugo since he wasn't sure what his part in the series would be now that all the notation had changed. It was then decided the series would take place thirty years without the end of the original series, and that Boxey would be renamed Troy and take Apollo's role, while a weft named Dillon would take over the Starbuck part. President Baltar was written out entirely, and Commander Xavier or Doctor Xavier was created to take up his role as the resident bad guy.Withoutthe pilot was completed, the network was unhappy with the time travel aspects of the story, and well-set to pick up the series only if that subject was dropped. Larson and Bellisario reluctantly agreed, and the series instead became focused on Troy's and Dillon's attempts to protect some Colonial children on present-day Earth. Bellisario later re-tooled the original time travel concept and re-used it as the understructure of the considerably increasingly successful Quantum Leap. The low-rated show was canceled without only ten episodes (due to fierce competition from CBS's 60 Minutes, the highest rated program at the time), many of which were multi-part stories. The final episode shown was "The Return of Starbuck" which featured a guest visitation by Dirk Benedict from the original series. Larson plane began to develop a sequel to this episode, but the series was canceled during production of episode 11, "The Day They Kidnapped Cleopatra", which remained unfinished.Pursuitthe series demise, a full-length tabbed Conquest of the Earth was stitched together from sections of the three "Galactica Discovers Earth" episodes and the two "The Night the Cylons Landed" episodes. A scene of John Colicos, playing Baltar, was moreover spliced into this release. The latter footage was unquestionably taken from an episode of the original series -- Baltar makes no visitation in any Galactica 1980 episode -- and is partially dubbed, so as to make the speech sound relevant to the Galactica's new situation. Several early scenes involving Adama and Dr. Zee are moreover partially dubbed, to add increasingly explanatory detail and to explain why two actors towards playing the role of Dr. Zee (they're now brothers). The full-length was released in cinemas in Europe and Australia and on home video elsewhere. THE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA REVIVAL ATTEMPTS The cadre premise of Battlestar Galactica endured. Despite walk for only one season, syndication of both the original and Galactica 1980 series (which was given the same name as its parent program) in the mid '80s breathed new life into the property, ultimately spawning an ongoing series of books, periodicals, comics and versicolor merchandise. There are myriad websites devoted to the original series and a defended fan-base virtually the world. This emerging groundswell of support would ultimately lead to one of the most fiercely zippy revival campaigns in the history of television. Moreover, it has moreover engendered one of the most hotly contested disputes in fandom over which direction the franchise should take. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE SECOND COMING TRAILER As Battlestar Galactica began to enjoy a resurgence of popularity thanks to syndication, former star Richard Hatch (Apollo) 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 Battlestar Galactica comic books and novels. He moreover attempted to put together a deal for a CD-ROM venture game and a DVD. It was without overwhelming fan response to his visitation at a Star Trek institute in the mid '90s, that a wink of inspiration struck Hatch.Increasinglycertain than overly that Battlestar Galactica and its notation were far from forgotten-and indeed, fondly remembered-he gambled that this unwashed 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 moreover employed the talents of former series stars Terry Carter (Col. Tigh), John Colicos (Baltar) George Murdock (Dr. Salik) and Jack Stauffer (Bojay), who, withal 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 notation and themes. In his version, a number of the original notation mentor a new generation of Galacticans born in space, some of whom are offspring of our minion heroes. Though the trailer has only overly been seen at sci-fi conventions, it has wilt a cult favorite, unchangingly 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 sensation and helping to facilitate a rebirth of the property. GLEN LARSON/TODD MOYER ABORTED FEATURE FILM In the spring of 1999, it was spoken that Glen Larson was making plans to bring Battlestar Galactica to the silver screen. Impressed with the visual effects and style of the independently financed mucosa Wing Commander, Larson paired with its producer, Todd Moyer, on an unscientific $40-50 million mucosa 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 trendy Earth, which, equal 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 Battlestar Galactica's ships, including giving the Vipers the worthiness to morph into mechanized walkers -- à la The Transformers -- when on planet surfaces. Moreover, he and Larson planned to expand the Battlestar 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 moreover been suggested that the mucosa 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 supposed plans to bring when Battlestar Galactica with the cooperation of Studios USA (Vivendi Universal). Suddenly, the studio/network were enthusiastic well-nigh 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 year-end of the original series' debut), a deal was struck to air a two-hour when door Battlestar 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 tint members in concert with new notation and situations. In this version, Adama is deceased, Apollo has been captured by the Cylons and presumed dead, and Apollo's stepson Boxey has unsupportable writ of the battlestar Galactica.Withoutalmost 20 years without Cylon contact, and weary of their extended search for the mythical planet Earth, the "rag tag" squadron decides to establish a new colony in a secure asteroid field. Perhaps predictably, the Cylons return to launch a massive thumping -- 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 upkeep of $10 million, writers Dan Angel and Billy Brown (The X-Files, Goosebumps) were hired to mankind out Tom DeSantos' story concept. DeSanto moreover 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 protract through spring for a May 2002 premiere. Former ILM art director Guy Dyas was hired to produce a new diamond for the Cylons. Several visual effects companies such as Foundation Imaging and Eden FX started work on effects tableau and design. And set construction began at a warehouse wideness the street from Mammoth Studios in Vancouver. Then, on September 11, 2001, the wade on the World TradePart-wayin New York reverted everything. "It was devastating," DeSanto recollects. "No one was worldly-wise to function. It was difficult to focus, and we lost well-nigh a month, and that caused the schedule to shift." By November 2001, with the Battlestar Galactica project now falling overdue schedule, Bryan Singer's contractual obligation to uncontrived 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 moreover believed that Star Trek alumnus Harve Bennett was solicited. Nevertheless, despite DeSanto's weightier efforts, with Singer's throw-away Fox lost conviction in the project and pulled the plug. By December 2001, production offices in Los Angles and Vancouver were sealed and the sets were demolished. Just like that, the production had moved from front-runner to footnote. SCIFI CHANNEL'S BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MINISERIES The previous revival attempts, particularly Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto's x-rated project, had an unexpected side benefit: they reversed the inertia that Universal had maintained with respect to the Battlestar Galactica property. Finally enlightened that a resurrected Battlestar Galactica could be viable, Vivendi-Universal -- who moreover own Studios USA and SciFi 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 preliminaries in television was formidable. During the mid to late '90s he held several positions at Renaissance Pictures where he had been instrumental in the minutiae and production of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In 1995, Eick moreover served as a producer on CBS' critically well-known series, American Gothic. David Eick then spent increasingly than two years as senior vice-president of original series minutiae for USA Cable. There, he was responsible for overseeing the megacosm and production of all original series for USA Network and SciFi Channel, including Cover Me, The Huntress, Manhattan, AZ and The Invisible Man. By September 2001, Eick had been signed to a multi-year minutiae deal with Studios USA to develop programming with the network's producers. From the outset, David Eick was well-spoken well-nigh one thing: he did not want to do a sequel to the original Battlestar Galactica. Instead, he wanted to unravel with the previous approaches and reimagine Battlestar Galactica for a new regulars 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 stuff washed-up perfectly elsewhere?' And we decided to take this existing mythos and reinterpret it without stuff married to any preexisting formula or template. We said, 'Let's infringe 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 increasingly than a half-dozen shows -- including increasingly than a decade with the Star Trek franchise -- Moore first entered the merchantry 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 increasingly prolific and gifted writers, Moore soon found himself stuff 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, up-and-coming to co-executive producer.Withouta stint as an executive consultant on SciFi Channel's critically well-known series Good vs. Evil in 1999, Moore's proficiency with television science fiction was remoter 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, Ron Moore was approached by David Eick well-nigh writing a new Battlestar Galactica. As Moore recalls: "David Eick made the initial approach. David and I had a relationship that went when 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 unchangingly wanted to work together. He tabbed 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 well-nigh 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 unshut to it, if not encouraging it. It was just sort of a confluence where we were all on the same page. The rencontre from the whence was in deciding how much of the original to alimony and how much to let go." REINVENTING A GENRE While waxy to the vital premise, ultimately the project would depart significantly from the original in a number of key respects. In wing to starting with a wipe sheet of paper and retelling the story over from the beginning, Moore moreover opted to make controversial gender changes to the notation of Starbuck and Boomer in order to increasingly virtuously reflect the male/female dynamic of today's modern military. The Cylons are no longer the zipped wayfarer antagonists of the original series-rather, they are an incubation of human engineering run amok; a trendy parable illustrating what can happen if technology is unliable to whop unchecked. The prologue at the start of the Miniseries sets the stage: "The Cylons were created by man. They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies. And then the day came when The Cylons decided to skiver their masters.Withouta long and underdone struggle, an ceasefire was declared. The Cylons left for flipside world to undeniability their own. A remote space station was built......Where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations. Every year the Colonials send an officer. The Cylons send no one. No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years." In this new version of Battlestar Galactica, humanoid Cylons wreak havoc upon their human creators-believing with an scrutinizingly 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 Battlestar 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, reverted irrevocably-a fact not lost on Ron Moore, who knew as he wrote the script that a reworking of Battlestar Galactica's inherently visionless premise would be experienced in a whole new light. From the beginning, Moore was single-minded that this new Battlestar Galactica would be a radical throw-away from what fans of the genre had wilt used to. His mandate was well-publicized: No increasingly clichéd characters, no increasingly aliens with putty-headed foreheads, no increasingly "thespian histrionics," no increasingly "planet of the week" stories-no increasingly 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 requite fans-not to mention the demographically lulu 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.Withoutreworking the original plot into one which was grimmer, increasingly serious, and of greater import in a post-9|11 world, Moore then set well-nigh interchange 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 notation in favor of increasingly 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 weft of President Laura Roslin discovers she has breast cancer shortly surpassing the Cylon attack. CAST Much like the original Battlestar Galactica, the new show was tint with a small complement of veteran actors to vise the series, withal 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 BestTwo-faceOscar for his performance in the mucosa Stand and Deliver, Olmos was moreover 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 increasingly 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 two-face to join Galactica. Mary McDonnell, who plays the new weft of Laura Roslin, has been nominated for an Oscar twice: the first time in 1990 forWeightierSupporting Actress in the Kevin Costner epic, Dances With Wolves; the second time in 1992 forWeightierActress in the film, Passion Fish. As the newly scheduled President of the Twelve Colonies-dealing with both sudden responsibility for her people and the revelation she has cancer-McDonnell's weft provided an interesting counterpoint to Adama's traditionally militaristic approach. Joining Olmos and McDonnell in the major tint 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 Saul Tigh, Aaron Douglas asSeniorPetty Officer Galen Tyrol, Alessandro Juliani as Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta, Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Second Anastasia "D" Dualla, and Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya. PRODUCTION DESIGN With the story elements, notation and undulation locked in, it was time to turn to the project's stimulating and visual signature. Noticeably woolgathering from this Battlestar Galactica's "look" are the not-so-subtle references to warmed-over Earth civilizations. "We don't have the very strong diamond elements that were in the original," offers Ron Moore. "But we have retained the cadre 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 tabbed 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 sooner discover within the Colonial society." Former Stargate SG-1 production designer, Richard Hudolin, was hired to revamp the squint and finger of Battlestar 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 variegated kind of reality. I mainly looked at things relating to World War II. Battlestar Galactica was supposed to have been designed a number of years earlier. It's out of stage and well-nigh to be mothballed."Whencewith the Battlestar Galactica's interiors, the production team thus ripened a squint increasingly unreceptive to today's ocean or space-going vessels, as opposed to a fantastic craft set in the far-flung future. Moore elaborates: "The diamond 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. SciFi Channel ultimately didn't want to go that far with the look, so we all compromised on a increasingly 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 watercraft carrier, from NASA, from 2001, and created a tousle 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 plane the modern day. You'll see some somewhat retro items like the old-style telephones and old style maps slantingly computer screens, and other elements that would take you into the 1980s and 1990s.the idea that the Battlestar Galactica is out of stage [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 widow 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 vital shape.Vastitudethat, 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 megacosm of a whole new craft, the Raptor. "The Raptor is the Galactica's reconnaissance ship," Hudolin says, "and I wanted it to squint nasty. One of the coolest looking ships is the Apache helicopter. So we basically took the Apache and well-timed it and enlarged it." "The Raptor wasn't just computer-generated," Hudolin goes on, "we unquestionably made the Raptor, so that we could powerfully get it to fly using a crane. We built a frame into the diamond of the plane, which could be lifted by a crane and swung around.Theoreticallythe actors were quite surprised by that, considering they were expecting to just have to move virtually [and fake the ship's movement]. So when this thing lifted them up to well-nigh 80 feet, everyone was going, 'Oh my God! How well did they build this thing?'" "NATURALISTIC SCIENCE FICTION" THROUGH CINEMA VERITE Ron Moore believed that the dramatic underpinnings of his increasingly "naturalistic" story would be weightier wide using the talkie 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 talkie vérité, documentary style." Largely lamister television's ubiquitous "master, two-shot, close-up, close-up, two-shot, when to master" pattern, Moore chose instead to treat viewers to a increasingly frenetic style of cinematography; one that provided an organic relationship to the story itself. Hand-held camera work and extended takes are thus in vestige throughout the miniseries-pulling the regulars into the narrative and making them finger as though they're part of the action. For perhaps the first time in science fiction, the production team elected to unravel 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 mucosa with a real camera. That ways no 3D 'hero' shots panning and zooming wildly with the touch of a mousepad. The questions we will ask surpassing every VFX shot are things like: 'How did we get this shot? Where is the camera? Who's holding it? Is the cameraman in flipside spacecraft? Is the camera mounted on the wing?' This philosophy will generate images that will present an regulars jaded and bored with the same old 'Wow -- it's a CGI shot!' with a variegated texture and a variegated cinematic language that will gravity them to re-evaluate their notions of science fiction." Visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel was immediately on side with grounding the visual elements of the series in reality. An 18-year VFX veteran who had worked as visual effects supervisor on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hutzel was thoroughly familiar with the conventions of the genre and what he wanted to see changed. "David [Eick] and [director] Michael [Rymer] really embraced my ideas of taking the Battlestar Galactica technology when a couple of steps and having them deal with the real physics of space, the real physics of rocket engines," remarks Hutzel. "This was something I was looking to do as far as the type of space work I'd washed-up in other shows, particularly in Star Trek, where primarily, everything is motivated by magic engines; [i.e.] we don't know how they work, we just go real fast whenever we finger like it. [In Battlestar Galactica] we take into worth what needs to happen [physically and mechanically] surpassing you get into your Viper and fly away." Since Star Wars, audiences have wilt conditioned to watching space fighters maneuver through the stars the way watercraft maneuver through the air-à la TheWrestleof Britain. "When they need to turn to the right, they wall to the right and then go to the right," says Hutzel. "Obviously in space, no such thing would exist. There's no wind self-glorification on you, there's no lift. [In Battlestar Galactica] everything is motivated by small rocket engines firing, rotating the ship, and bringing the mainline onto an turning that you want to fly on. There's an intellectual level to what the [ship's] pilot has to do." Hutzel worked with a talented group of visual effects artists at Zoic Studios, including Emile Edwin Smith (Firefly) and Lee Stringer (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Director's Edition) to bring the Miniseries' startling effects shots to life. In the end, the team succeeded in creating visceral gainsay sequences with a "you are there" finger to them. THE RE-IMAGINED BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SERIES David Eick and Ron Moore had set out to reinvent the genre of space opera by breaking the mold and turning Battlestar Galactica into an epic, yet recognizable allegory; a study of ordinary people in no-go circumstances. They succeeded vastitude their expectations. In December 2003, the regulars voted with near unanimous transferral to the effort: Battlestar Galactica attracted approximately 3.5 million viewers, making it the third-highest rated program in SciFi Channel's history. In the end, the Battlestar Galactica Miniseries pays homage to the original series while presenting a 21st century viewpoint, stimulating and visual effects. The re-imagination was not without its share of detractors, however, supremely die-hard fans of the original series who had fought for several years to see a continuation of their minion archetype story. Vehemently opposed to Moore's iteration at every turn, they felt disenfranchised overnight. Ironically, this polarized realm of fandom is partly subject for Battlestar Galactica's longevity. PLOT Battlestar Galactica unfurled from the 2003 Miniseries to relate the journey of the last surviving humans from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol without their nuclear near slaying by the Cylons. The survivors are led by President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama in a ragtag squadron of ships with the Battlestar Galactica, an old but powerful warship as its writ ship. Pursued by Cylons intent on wiping out the remnants of the human race, the survivors travel wideness the galaxy looking for the fabled and long-lost thirteenth colony: Earth. Unlike most space opera series, Battlestar Galactica has no aliens (the antagonists are man-made Cylon robots), the primary armaments used by both military forces utilize bullets, rail guns and missiles instead of lasers and the series intentionally avoids technobabble. Instead, most of the stories deal with the testatory fallout of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies upon the survivors and the moral choices they must make as they deal with the ripen of the human race and their war with the Cylons. Stories moreover portray the concept of perpetuated cycles of hate and violence driving the human-Cylon mismatch and religion with the implication of a "God," whose uncorrupt teachers intervene on behalf of the main characters, most notably Gaius Baltar. Over the undertow of the show's four seasons, the war between the colonists and the Cylons takes many twists and turns. Despite the unfriendliness on both sides, the Cylons and humans slowly turn yonder from their hatred for each other. Part of this is due to a growing schism within the humanoid Cylons, led by the disgruntled Cylon "Number One" named John Cavil. Cavil's obsession with hiding the true genesis of the humanoid Cylons (the "Significant Eight" created by the "Final Five," who themselves are humanoid Cylons from Earth, who had their memories erased by Cavil) leads to a starchy war among the Cylons, with a faction of the robot race forming an syndication with the humans. Other plotlines involve the mysterious destiny of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, who is the subject of a prophecy involving her as the "Harbinger of Death" who will "lead humanity to its end", as well as the redemption of Gaius Baltar through the Cylons' monotheistic religion, without he becomes a pariah within the squadron (after stuff forced to interreact with the Cylons). In the final episodes, a resurrected Kara Thrace leads the surviving humans and Cylons to a new planet, which is revealed to be Earth, with the first colonists landing in Africa. Adama names their new home planet "Earth," as a tribute to the "real" Earth of legend, which had been originally sought by the survivors. The original Earth was revealed to have been a variegated planet, one which had wilt an uninhabitable wasteland by a nuclear war waged by its Cylon creations thousands of years before. The new Earth is found to be inhabited by early humans, who are genetically uniform with the humans from the Galactica and the rest of the squadron but who possess only the most rudimentary civilization. Human beings had theoretically naturally evolved on Earth and Kobol, the original home world of the humans who settled the Twelve Colonies. The surviving humans and humanoid Cylons decide to live on the new planet and discard all technology, destroying the squadron by flying it into the Sun. Kara Thrace, theoretically an "angel" since her purportedly fatal crash on the "Earth" of legend, disappears. The surviving Cylon Centurions are given possession of the remaining Cylon basestar and proceed to jump yonder from Earth, never to be heard of again. The series finale concludes with an epilogue set 150,000 years later in trendy Times Square of New York City as two "angels" in the form of Caprica Six and Gaius Baltar, muse on the origin and fate of humankind and on whether or not the trundling of violence between human and machine will repeat. It is revealed that humans on Earth are in some small part descended from the half-human, half-Cylon girl named Hera Agathon who lived out her life in Africa, rhadamanthine Mitochondrial Eve. The series has won widespread tout among many mainstream non-genre publications. Time and New York Newsday named it the weightier show on television in 2005. Other publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, National Review and Rolling Stone magazine moreover gave the show positive reviews. The show has received a Peabody Award for overall excellence, several Emmy Awards for Visual Effects, and Emmy nominations for Writing and Directing. Time Magazine named it one of the 100WeightierTV Shows of All Time. REFERENCES TO MODERN SOCIETY Time described the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica as "a gripping sci-fi segregation of the war on terror-reign of terror, well-constructed with monotheistic religious fundamentalists (here genocidal cyborgs tabbed Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and plane a prisoner-torture scandal". The show has attempted to maintain its realism by referring to familiar elements of trendy history -- Laura Roslin's swearing in on Colonial One directly "cited the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson without the Kennedy assassination" -- and the developing political situation since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Many people have drawn parallels between the Cylons and Al Qaeda" and equal to The Guardian "Battlestar Galactica is the only topnotch drama that dares tackle the war on terror". The show delves into the emotional rationale of terrorists who act out of rage and vengeance in the produce of their oppression. The show has moreover tackled issues regarding terrorist sleeper cells with stories involving the reality and fear of Cylon suicide attacks, Cylon Number 5 (Aaron Doral) in the episode tabbed "Litmus", sneaks aboard the Galactica and blows himself up in the middle of the corridor and 'sleeper agent', Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii activates without destroying a Cylon basestar at the end of Season One and shoots Commander Adama. Similar themes are revisited in Season Three (Episode "Occupation") with a far variegated perspective with the humans, rather than the Cylon 'enemy' rhadamanthine the suicide bombers. It has been suggested that these plotlines extensively "hinted at war-on-terrorism overtones". The show moreover quotes starchy liberties crackdowns during Season Three when the 6 members of The Circle without the Exodus from New Caprica wilt judge, jury and executioner of the people who were accused of aiding the Cylons during the occupation on New Caprica. They moreover touch on prisoner torture during Season Two when Cylon 6 is attacked, raped and tortured by Lt. Thorne from the battlestar Pegasus.Without9/11, the original series' "broad premise - the human military's struggles in the wake of a massive terrorist wade -- suddenly gained resonance" and let the show tackle issues like suicide bombings, torture ("evoking the darker side of the war on terror") and "civil liberties crackdowns". Executive producer Ronald D. Moore points out that the Cylons and Al Qaeda are not necessarily intended to be allegorical: "They have aspects of Al Qaeda and they have aspects of the Catholic Church and they have aspects of America" and in contrast, with the New Caprica storyline the show's humans have been discussed as an segregation not for an America under wade but for an occupied people mounting an insurgency and turning to suicide bombings as a tactic. There is a consensus that with "its third season, the show has morphed into a stinging unverifiable critique of America's three-year occupation of Iraq" as the "cameras record Cylon occupation raids on unsuspecting human civilians with the night-vision untried familiar to any TV news viewer. The reasoning of the Cylons is horrifically familiar, they would prefer not to be inclement but they won't winnow the failure of a glorious mission."Equalto Slate "If this sounds like Iraq, it should", and "In unmistakable terms, Battlestar Galactica is telling viewers that insurgency (like, say, the one in Iraq) might have some moral flaws, such as the whole suicide bombing thing, but is ultimately virtuous and worthy of support." The "really upstage stroke of this season was showing us a story well-nigh a suicide bomber from the point of view of the bomber and his comrades... considering the rationalization of this terrorist was unquestioningly our own. We sympathize with the insurgents wholeheartedly." If the Cylon occupying gravity is an segregation of the Coalition Forces in Iraq, then some of the other references are equally controversial; the "scene of the shiny, terrifying Cylon centurions (a servant matriculation of robots that unquestionably squint like robots) marching lanugo the main road of New Caprica while the devastated colonists looked on was the Nazis marching into Paris." Although David Eick has said the production staff "don't need to say 'OK, let's do the episode where we're gonna do the Abu Ghraib scandal'" and points out that events depicted on New Caprica "are as much a story rooted in political tales like the Vichy France or Vietnam" rather than current events, he acknowledges that they "do gravitate in those directions when it comes to the storytelling" CAPRICA Ideas well-nigh a prequel series to the Re-Imagined Battlestar Galactica originated during production of its second season. Series developer Ronald D. Moore and production partner David Eick speculated well-nigh a phase of the Battlestar Galactica universe prior to the Cylons, naïve and self-absorbed, leading to the fall. As Battlestar Galactica's creators were unable to dedicate serious time to the notion, it remained in the concept stage of development. Then in early 2006, screenwriter Remi Aubuchon, unaware of the ideas well-nigh a Battlestar Galactica prequel, proposed a mucosa well-nigh strained intelligence to Universal Pictures Though Universal Pictures turned lanugo the project as a movie, Universal Television executives felt Moore and Eick might be interested in Aubuchon's take on the subject and serried a meeting. Merging the existing thoughts for a Battlestar Galactica prequel with those Aubuchon brought to the table, a unstipulated outline for a series and production set up emerged. While the Sci-Fi Channel management was enthusiastic, they were engaged in a plotting struggle with Moore well-nigh Battlestar Galactica. The show, though it was lauded by critics, was not pulling in the Nielsen ratings that the network wanted. Sci-Fi was convinced that the show's long storylines kept new viewers from joining, and pressured Moore into retooling the second half of the third season to consist mostly of standalone episodes. The measure backfired, garnering negative criticism from fans and printing alike, and Moore revealed in the Season 3 finale podcast that the network had grudgingly admitted that standalone episodes did not work within a story-arc format. Still, with the proposed prequel series to have a story-arc-heavy format like its predecessor, the network was reluctant to greenlight the project, and as a result, a possible prequel series got stuck in "development hell". With David Eick and Ronald D. Moore's utterance that Battlestar Galactica was going to end with its fourth season, and without a drawn out pre-development cycle, on March 18, 2008, the Sci-Fi Channel spoken that a Battlestar Galactica prequel series, named Caprica, had been picked up as a two-hour backstairs pilot event, indicating a possible transferral to a series, contingent on ratings. On July 20 of the same year, Sci-Fi spoken it was considering picking up Caprica directly as a weekly series, and would make the pilot an extended season premiere. Finally, on December 2, Sci-Fi gave the go-ahead to expand the project into a full series. Production was resumed in July 2009 for a series premiere in January 2010. PLOT Caprica differs significantly from its parent series, for both creative and commercial reasons Ronald D. Moore had strong feelings on the matter, explaining that his starting point was, "...you don't try to repeat the formula," and going on to say, "...everything well-nigh Caprica was designed specifically to not repeat what we had washed-up in Galactica." Although a hair-trigger success, Battlestar Galactica had a predominantly male audience, and both Moore and the network felt the "war in space" scenery was a major deterrent to sexuality viewers. With these considerations, and Caprica's storyline once focused on events taking place prior to the two Cylon Wars, the series has a variegated tone, content, and style. While Caprica contains references to elements of the Battlestar Galactica universe, the series was intended to be wieldy to new fans. Whereas the dark, post-apocalyptic reimagined Battlestar Galactica series revolved virtually a final struggle for survival, Caprica is concerned with a world intoxicated by success. Ronald D. Moore states: "It's well-nigh a society that's running out of tenancy with a wild-eyed glint in its eye." The Twelve Colonies are at their peak: self-involved, oblivious, and mesmerized by the seemingly unlimited promise of technology. Framed by the mismatch between the Adamas and the Graystones over the resurrection of loved ones lost in an act of terrorism, the series was meant to explore upstanding implications of advances in strained intelligence and robotics. Caprica is grounded in urban locales rather than in space, and focuses on corporate, political, familial, and personal intrigue, similar in tideway to a Greek tragedy. With the troubled relationship between two breaking families at its center, Moore himself has likened Caprica to the 1980s prime time soap opera Dallas," Like Battlestar Galactica, Caprica had a story arc format. PRODUCTION Universal Media Studios ripened the show, in conjunction with Aubuchon and the executive producers of Battlestar Galactica, Moore and Eick. Aubuchon co-created the show and worked on the pilot, then left to wilt executive producer of Persons Unknown. The pilot was directed by Friday Night Lights veteran Jeffrey Reiner Battlestar Galactica's Jane Espenson, Michael Taylor, and Ryan Mottesheard, Pushing Daisies' Kath Lingenfelter, and Friday Night Lights Patrick Massett and John Zinman joined the writing staff. Moore ran the writers room initially, but handed off to Espenson, who expanded into executive-production and was Caprica's showrunner until November 15, 2009 when it was spoken that Kevin Murphy, who had joined as co executive producer in October, would seem the role. On October 27, 2010, Syfy canceled the show, citing low ratings, and pulled the remaining five episodes of the series from its unconcentrated schedule. However, the series unfurled to air as scheduled on Space, finishing with the series finale on November 30, 2010. The remaining episodes were released on DVD in the US on December 21, 2010 and aired on Syfy in a shrivel off marathon on January 4, 2011. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA CONTINUATION Ron Moore and David Eick and the unshortened wondrous creative team who did bring Battlestar Galactica when to television managed to not only get a new show on the air, but they completed their run and geared up the studios for the Caprica prequel. As a result, Universal seemed to finger that there's increasingly life in the property, and that there is room for flipside interpretation.Surpassingthe Caprica series aired (or was plane taken into production), in February 2009, the utterance was made that original series producer and Battlestar Galactica creator Glen Larson had signed a deal with Universal to develop a Battlestar Galactica mucosa that was not tied to any previous version and would have key notation like Starbuck, Adama and Baltar. Director / producer Bryan Singer was long rumored to be a part of the production. On August 13, 2009 it was confirmed that Singer was indeed.onboard to helm a well-constructed re-imagining of the original 70s lore created by Glen Larson. Experts said that by withdrawing Ron Moore's take on Battlestar Galactica when it's not only so fresh in our minds, but the defining take in our minds, it's scrutinizingly dooming Larson/Singer's version to failure surpassing he's plane started production. As of November 2011 this version isn't spoken of in the media anymore. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD AND CHROME The series was first mentioned by Syfy executive Mark Stern on March 15, 2010, who said that Syfy was working with Ronald D. Moore to develop a second spinoff of Battlestar Galactica, which would "mark a return to the franchise's space-opera roots" and "not necessarily be a traditional series." Michael Taylor compared the series to The Hurt Locker in how it would depict the war and its reactions, and said that it would possibly be filmed in 3D using reconstructions of the Battlestar Galactica sets scanned surpassing they were dismantled without the end of the show. Syfy greenlit the two-hour pilot of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome and production began on February 10, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia PLOT Blood & Chrome is set during the First Cylon War, which takes place between the shows Caprica and Battlestar Galactica and the end of which was depicted in the 2007 webisode series, Razor Flashbacks. The main weft will be William Adama, and one other weft from Razor Flashbacks will moreover be featured. The rest of the notation will be new. Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the wrestle between humans and their creation, a sentient robotic race, rages wideness the 12 colonial worlds, a unwary rookie viper pilot enters the fray. Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20s and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself prescribed to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet... the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the drastic fleet.   Next > Battlestar Galactica and all related notation and images are the property of NBC / Universal. No copyright infringement is intended nor implied. GALACTICA.TV is a non commercial fan site of all Battlestar Galactica series, created solely for the information and enjoyment of the Battlestar Galactica fans. © 2006-2011 GALACTICA.TV