Battlestar Galactica
DVD cover
Also known as	Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries
Genre	Science fiction Drama
Based on	A teleplay by Glen A. Larson
Written by	Ronald D. Moore Glen A. Larson[note 1]
Directed by	Michael Rymer
Composers	Richard Gibbs Bear McCreary (additional)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	2
Production
Executive producers	David Eick Ronald D. Moore
Producer	Harvey Frand
Production locations	Vancouver, British Columbia
Cinematography	Joel Ransom
Editor	Dany Cooper
Running time	180 minutes
Production company	USA Cable Entertainment
Original release
Network	Sci Fi
Release	December 8 (2003-12-08) – December 9, 2003 (2003-12-09)
Related
Battlestar Galactica (2004) Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries is a three-hour televisionminiseries (comprising four broadcast hours) starringEdward James Olmos andMary McDonnell, written and produced byRonald D. Moore and directed byMichael Rymer. It was the first part of theBattlestar Galactica remake based on the 1978Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as abackdoor pilot for the2004 television series. The miniseries aired originally onSci Fi in the United States starting on December 8, 2003. The two parts of the miniseries attracted 3.9 and 4.5 million viewers,^[1] making the miniseries the third-most-watched program onSyfy.^[2]

After a 40-yeararmistice in a war between theTwelve Colonies of Kobol (the homeworlds populated by humans) and theCylons (human-created robots), the Cylons launch a surprise nuclear attack intended toexterminate the human race. Virtually all of the population of the Twelve Colonies is wiped out. Most of the Colonial military is either rendered ineffective or destroyed due tomalware in the military computer network that renders it vulnerable to cyber attack. The malware was introduced byNumber Six (Tricia Helfer), a Cylon in the form of a human woman, who seduced the famous scientistDr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and exploited their relationship to gain access codes under the cover of an insider contract bid.

TheBattlestarGalactica, a hybridbattleship/aircraft carrier in space that fought in the earlier war, is in the final stages of being decommissioned and converted to a museum when the attack occurs. During her decades of colonial service theGalactica's computer systems had never been networked so theGalactica is unaffected by the Cylon sabotage. Its commander,William Adama (Edward James Olmos), assumes command of the few remaining elements of the human fleet. He heads for the Ragnar Anchorage, a military armory station where theGalactica can resupply itself with weaponry and essential supplies.

Secretary of EducationLaura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) is sworn in as President of the Twelve Colonies after it is confirmed that the President and most of the government have been killed (Roslin is 43rd in the line of succession). The government starship carrying her (Colonial One) manages to assemble a group of surviving civilian ships.

When aColonial Raptor shuttle from theGalactica lands briefly for repairs on the Twelve Colonies' capital world of Caprica, the two-person crew,Sharon Valerii (callsign "Boomer";Grace Park) andKarl C. Agathon (callsign "Helo";Tahmoh Penikett), offer to evacuate a small group of survivors. Helo remains on the stricken planet, giving up his seat to evacuate Baltar, whom he recognizes for his celebrity status as a scientific genius.

The Cylons locate the human civilian fleet, and Roslin is forced to make the decision to order all of the ships capable offaster-than-light (FTL) travel to jump immediately to escape. Unfortunately this means abandoning many of the survivors who are aboard ships without FTL engines and, as Roslin and the FTL ships jump away, the Cylons launch an attack on the remaining ships.

At the Ragnar Anchorage space station, Adama is attacked by a supposed arms dealer namedLeoben Conoy who claims to be simply bootlegging supplies, but who is clearly being affected by the radiation cloud surrounding Ragnar, which humans are immune to. Adama deduces that he is facing a new type of Cylon that looks, sounds, and acts human.

As the civilian fleet joins theGalactica at Ragnar, President Roslin appoints Dr. Baltar, who has not disclosed his suborning by the Cylons, as one of her scientific advisers to combat the Cylons. Number Six reveals herself to Baltar in hallucinatory form while attempting to direct his behavior. She suggests that she planted a microchip inside Baltar's brain while he slept, allowing her to transmit her image into his conscious mind. Responding to one of her suggestions, he is compelled to identifyAaron Doral, a public relations specialist, as a Cylon agent masquerading as a human. Despite his protests and the lack of any evidence to support the accusation, Doral is left at Ragnar when theGalactica departs.

As the Cylons blockade Ragnar, theGalactica and its fleet of Vipers engage the Cylon fleet in order to allow the civilian fleet to escape by "jumping" to a distant, unexplored area outside of their star system. TheGalactica and the colonial fleet make good their escape. At a funeral, Adama announces his plan to reach a legendary thirteenth colony called "Earth", whose existence and location have been closely guarded military secrets. Roslin is skeptical and later confronts Adama who admits that Earth is simply a myth but he used it as a means to give people hope for the future.

Returning to his quarters, Adama finds an anonymous note has been left for him stating "There are only 12 Cylon models." On Ragnar, Doral is rescued by a group of Cylons consisting of multiple copies of the Number Six, Leoben and Doral models, confirming his identity as a Cylon. When the group discuss how to track down the human fleet, a copy of Boomer arrives and reassures them that they will find them.

None of the previous attempts to remake or continue the story ofBattlestar Galactica byTom DeSanto and original series starRichard Hatch were successful. From the mid-1990s onwards, actor Richard Hatch (Captain Apollo from the original version of the series) madenumerous efforts to revive the series, including co-writing several novels and a comic book series, and even went as far as to produce a proof-of-concept trailer calledThe Second Coming. Hatch's campaign was based on the continuation of the original series, set several years after the final episode. DeSanto's planned version, which went into pre-production before being delayed and subsequently scrapped following the events of the9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001, was also a continuation, set some 25 years after the original series. Both versions ignored the events that occurred inGalactica 1980.

In 2002,Universal Pictures (the legal rights holder toBattlestar Galactica), instead opted for a remake rather than a sequel. David Eick approached Ronald D. Moore about a new four-hourBattlestar Galactica miniseries for Universal. Moore developed the miniseries with Eick, writing the scripts and updating the old series, also developing a backstory that could work for a regular weekly series, should the miniseries be successful. At the same time, Moore was approached byHBO about running a new television series,Carnivàle. While Moore worked on the first year ofCarnivàle, Eick ran the day-to-day production of theBattlestar Galactica miniseries in Canada.Battlestar Galactica aired in 2003 and became the highest-rated miniseries on cable that year, and the best ratings that year for any show on Sci-Fi. AfterCarnivàle reached the end of its first season and the Sci-Fi Channel ordered a thirteen-episode weekly series ofBattlestar Galactica, Moore leftCarnivàle to assume a full-time executive producer role onBattlestar Galactica.^[3]

The special effects of the miniseries were created byZoic Studios, who previously worked on theFirefly television series. In the opening minutes of Part 1, as the character of Laura Roslin sits in her doctor's office, a Firefly class ship is seen flying above the city. However, the ship does not appear in the Season 2 episode "Epiphanies" in which Roslin reflects on her wait in the doctor's office.

The regular series also contains effects by Atmosphere Studios,^[4] Enigma Animation Productions and the production's own effects team.^[5] Executive producer Ronald D. Moore said the outer space battles were created and rendered to look like a Discovery Channel crew was actually shooting footage.^[6] Filming took place inVancouver,British Columbia.

The soundtrack for the miniseries was largely scored byRichard Gibbs.

OnRotten Tomatoes the miniseries has an approval rating of 83% based on reviews from 12 critics.^[7]

Brian Lowry ofVariety wrote:Battlestar Galactica takes a while to find its directional heading and build up steam, but once it does, this proves to be a surprisingly engrossing odyssey."^[8] Ned Martel ofThe New York Times wrote: "The project might all be an exploitative departure from theBattlestar Galactica brand name, but it's hard not to like where the spacemen (and spacewomen) are going."^[9] Sonia Saraiya ofThe A.V. Club reviewing the miniseries in 2014 gave it a grade of A−.^[10][11]

Wins

• 2003 Visual Effects Society Awards – Outstanding Visual Effects in a Television Miniseries, Movie or a Special
• 2003 Saturn Awards – Best Television Presentation

Nominations

• 2003 Visual Effects Society Awards – Outstanding Compositing in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial
• 2003 Visual Effects Society Awards – Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial
• 2004 Emmy Awards – Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Miniseries, Night 1)
• 2004 Emmy Awards – Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Miniseries, Night 2)
• 2004 Emmy Awards – Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Miniseries, Night 1)
• 2003 Saturn Awards –Best Supporting Actress on Television,Katee Sackhoff

In 2005,Tor Books publishedBattlestar Galactica (the miniseries), byJeffrey A. Carver—anovelization of the 2003 miniseries. The book incorporates deleted scenes and gives background information not seen on screen.^[12]

Wikiquote has quotations related toBattlestar Galactica (2003).

• Official website
• Battlestar Galactica atIMDb
• Miniseries andMiniseries, Night 2 at theBattlestar Wiki

• 2000s American science fiction television series
• 2000s American television miniseries
• 2003 American television series debuts
• 2003 American television series endings
• Battlestar Galactica television series
• Military science fiction television series
• Television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore
• Television miniseries as pilots
• Television series set on fictional planets
• Television shows filmed in Vancouver

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