BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Like the Stargate franchise, Battlestar Galactica was spawned from a film(OK, so the "film" that got shown in non-US cinemas circa 1978 was actually the pilot ep for the TV series). And like Dr Who, it has a previous incarnation as a TV series. But that's where the similarities end.
I remember watching the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica film/pilot ep as a kid. The film had a very cool themetune and despite the fact that it dealt with the last remnants of humanity trying to find a certain mythical planet called Earth, had a very upbeat feel to it as the Colonial fleet, headlined by ace pilots with the callsigns 'Apollo' and 'Starbuck' fought off the android Cylons.
The original TV series that followed on from the movie only lasted one season and though it has it's fans, plently of the older generation of scifi fans have ripped it to pieces as well. And apparently the less said about 'Battlestar Galactica 1980'(the follow on from the original TV series) the better.
So let's move on to the new series, run by ex-Star Trek writer Ron Moore. Upbeat it certainly ain't, with a completely new tribal-sounding themetune, new look Cylons, a female Starbuck and slightly more sexual than your average scifi. Setting the scene through a 2003 mini series, it's inaugeral 2004 season certainly packed a punch.
So where do we start? Well we started off with our two ace pilots: Lee 'Apollo' Adama and now Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace. Lee has only just started getting on with his father, Admiral William Adama and didn't really want to be on the great 'Battlestar' Galactica in the first place. He was originally there simply to fly his Dad's old 'Viper' fighter plane in a ceremonial parade, celebrating the Colonies' victory over the Cylons 40 years previously, before the ship was retired. But when the Colonies got toasted by the Cylons, Lee wound up serving as the ranking fighter pilot on board Galactica before getting an unbelievably rapid promotion to Commander, commanding the recently found(and newer) Battlestar Pegasus untill Lee sent it into a suicide run. The crew all survived but Lee's now been busted back to Major and resumed his former Viper duties only to quit the military to serve as an associate lawyer at Baltar's trial.
On the flipside 'Starbuck' was a rebellious slightly nutty tomboy who goes way back with the Adamas having had an affair with Lee's younger brother Zak who she trained and passed for basic flight due to her feelings for him rather than any piloting skills he may have had. His lack of skills got him killed and she's still hurting from that. Recently she'd settled down with sports star Steve Anders only to fall victim to Cylon mindgames after they took her prisoner during the occupation. As a result Anders has had to leave her alone though after a rant from the Admiral, she's returned to Viper duties and was supposedly killed after seemingly losing the plot on a Viper run, only to turn up again, claiming to know the way to Earth!
Other than Admiral Adama(who runs the entire fleet from the Galactica) the other main power player in Colonial society is President Laura Roslin, even if she has never won an election to officially claim the position. A former school teacher and cancer survivor(though she has recently relapsed), Roslin regained her current position mainly due to her being the only civilian politician the military(and particularly Admiral Adama) would work with. In return she's recently pinned a 45 year service medal on his chest despite him guilt-tripping over a decsion earlier in his career that he feels provoked the Cylons to attack the colonies in the first place.
Oh yeah I forgot! The latest generation of Cylons look human, with many copies of each 'model'. And some don't even know they're Cylon. Like Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii, she knew that there was something wrong with her mentally from the early stages of the series - and she didn't even know about her equally nervy copy still on Caprica(who at least knew she was a Cylon). 'Galactica' Sharon got herself killed after an assasination attempt on Adama only to be downloaded into a new body. 'Caprica' Sharon then arrived on Galactica pregnant, only to have her child taken away and passed of as dead, something she has only recently forgiven the Colonials for and signed up at a Colonial fleet Lt in her own right, under the callsign "Athena".
In the meantime the fleet found the location of Earth. However once elected, then-President Gaius Baltar(who defeated Roslin in an election) effectivly forced the fleet to resettle on a recently found planet, seemingly protected from Cylon detection by a nebula. A year later and both Galactica and Pegasus were just ticking over, with most of the former crews having settled on 'New Caprica'. However the Cylons tracked them down, Baltar surrendered and with Galactica and Pegasus having jumped away to points unknown, the remainder of humanity suffered under Cylon occupation.
Since then, New Caprica has been evacuated after an Adama led rescue. So now the hunt is on once again for Earth despite there still being tensions between the former New Capricans and those that stayed on the Battlestars. The fleet looked to have found the Eye of Jupiter, a temple that was supposed to pint the way to Earth. However Galactica left with only a sudden supernova as a clue. However what everyone in the fleet has been talking about has been Baltar's trial, a tribunal exonerating the ex-President of trason against the odds. A mass power cut though has sent the fleet into chaos while revealing five sleeper Cylons(including Galactica XO Colonel Tigh, Anders and Chief Tyrol Galen) who were previously unaware of their true nature.
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