"Battlestar Galactica" (2004) TV series 2004-2009

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

14 January 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The fight to save humanity rages on.

Plot:

After losing the war against the Cylon robots, the Battlestar Galactica crew speed toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth. Galactica Commander Adama and President Laura Roslin face waning supplies, crushed morale, ... and the credible threat Cylons aboard the ship.

Plot Keywords:

Cylon | Space | Guilt | Robot | Refugee

Awards:

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 14 wins & 41 nominations

Cast

Edward James Olmos	...	Admiral William Adama / ... (74 episodes, 2004-2009)
Mary McDonnell	...	President Laura Roslin / ... (74 episodes, 2004-2009)
Jamie Bamber	...	Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama / ... (74 episodes, 2004-2009)
James Callis	...	Dr. Gaius Baltar / ... (74 episodes, 2004-2009)
Tricia Helfer	...	Number Six / ... (74 episodes, 2004-2009)
Grace Park	...	Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii / ... (74 episodes, 2004-2009)
Katee Sackhoff	...	Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace / ... (72 episodes, 2004-2009)
Michael Hogan	...	Colonel Saul Tigh (70 episodes, 2004-2009)
Aaron Douglas	...	Chief Galen Tyrol (67 episodes, 2004-2009)
Tahmoh Penikett	...	Captain Karl 'Helo' Agathon / ... (65 episodes, 2004-2009)
Alessandro Juliani	...	Lt. Felix Gaeta (59 episodes, 2004-2009)
Kandyse McClure	...	Officer Anastasia Dualla / ... (54 episodes, 2004-2009)
Donnelly Rhodes	...	Dr. Cottle / ... (37 episodes, 2004-2009)
Bodie Olmos	...	Brendan 'Hot Dog' Costanza / ... (37 episodes, 2004-2009)
Michael Trucco	...	Ensign Samuel Anders / ... (36 episodes, 2005-2009)
Nicki Clyne	...	Crewman Specialist Cally Henderson / ... (36 episodes, 2004-2008)
Leah Cairns	...	Lt. Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmonson (34 episodes, 2005-2009)
Rekha Sharma	...	Tory Foster (32 episodes, 2006-2009)

Also Known As:

"BSG" (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
"Battlestar Galactica" (France) [fr]
"Battlestar Galactica" (Germany) [de]
"Battlestar Galactica" (Greece) [el]
"Galáctica" (Spain) (short title) [es]
"Galáctica, estrella de combate" (Spain) [es]
"Taisteluplaneetta Galactica" (Finland) [fi]

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:12 (Season 1) | UK:15 (Season 2) | Singapore:PG (Season 2.0 boxset) | USA:TV-PG (Some Episodes) | Canada:14+ (TV re-rating) | Canada:PG (TV rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Germany:12 | Malaysia:18PL | Singapore:NC-16 (Season 1) (season 2.5 boxset) (season 3) (season 4.0 boxset) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M (season 4 - part 1) | Australia:MA (some episodes) | USA:TV-14

Filming Locations:

British Columbia Railway, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)

Trivia:

In Hebrew the name "Adama" (last name of William, Lee and Zak) actually means "ground" or "earth" and pronounced almost exactly: "ada-ma". Hardly a coincidence since finding Earth is the main theme of the series.

Quotes:

Commander William Adama: Keep jumping.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Screenwipe: (#3.1)" (2007)

Loses its way

After a pretty good start Battlestar Galactica settles into a comfy crevice somewhere between Star Trek and a serious TV spin-off of Starship Troopers.

I managed season one, before which I saw the 3 hour miniseries (which is pretty much necessary). The end of the world is desperate and exciting place to be and the distended feature-prequel makes the most of it. One can also see the seed of the show's descent to complacency though: the scene in which the human finally meets a long-awaited Cylon diplomat has dramatic potential but is over-cooked with melodrama... and sex.

I think this is my biggest worry about Battelstar. As the newly incumbent president points out in an early episode, with only 50,000 humans still alive the species should be 'making babies'. How on earth there is so little actual sex in the close confines of a fleet of space ships under the emancipating trauma of near-collective death and the euphoria of (temporary) survival is something I found difficult to process, especially given the fertile ground of the explicit dramatic thread, the military vs the civil.

It has mixed production, although the space sequences are very up to date, with interesting camera post-production and sound design. The rest of the designs stick roughly to the original: materials are updated a little, although beloved, signature impracticalities, like the ubiquitous octagonalisation of everything from paper to picture frames is maintained. The acting is only average, I'm afraid. Mary McDonnell is a convincing emergency president and Edward James Olmos a stoic Admiral Adama. Tricia Helfer's half-Cylon no.6 is an interesting character in an under-exploited relationship with James Callis' equally interesting is excessively rendered doctor Gaiaus. Of course, naming Helfer's infiltrating harpie-ego after the principal character of TV show The Prisoner probably sets its own bar too high. Watchable but deeply imperfect. 5/10