Was Caprica always meant as a spin-off? And just how many colonies are there really? For more awesome content, check out: whatculture.com/ Follow us on Facebook at: / whatculture Catch us on Twitter: / whatculture
As a kid, I loved the original show. As an adult, I absolutely loved the new show even more. The new BSG show was a huge part of my life - especially Bear McCreary's music for the series.
I have read that when the battlestars were first built that several of the colonies felt slighted or threatened by the fact that there was only one colony building them and keeping them around their planet. It was decided that each colony would get a battlestar named after the colony and dedicated to providing protection for that colony and that colony alone in case a Cylon ship managed to get through and attack that colony.
The final five are more cylons from a different cycle, which is how I always understood it. The aren't the same as the twelve colonies cylons. How it was explained here was more complicated than it needed to be.
@@stuartbagley2586 some of them were shown to have known the song before their memories were lost. It could also be the god like being pulling the strings a bit, nudging the pieces into the right places they needed to be, like how the final five needed to be aware by the time of the cylon civil war.
As someone who watched both the 1978 BSG and the reimagined BSG, the reimagined series is my favourite TV series ever. Literally the perfect ending. Great video, the only other thing I would've included was the fan theory that Starbuck's dad was the Daniel cylon model 💖
Yes!! I always believed that Kara was in fact the first Colonial-Cylon hybrid that was prophesised, as Daniel was her Father. (Not only a musician, but wrote _that_ piece of music. Did something to infuriate 1 (had a baby with a human), then left Kara's life (after being boxed & wiped).
Baltar (as played with villainous relish by John Colicos) was, in fact, killed off in the theatrical release of the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. That scene was obviously cut out so that he could continue to play the role in the series.
@@Barry.Hughes Not sure on this one. They didn't originally plan on weekly shows. The original format idea was to have mini movies like the premiere. What role was she to have, originally?. Maybe the same? If so, the idea would be "redeeming herself", either way. Check out what Apollo said to Sheba about Cassie in "The Living Legend".
Dunno where I got it from, but I thought in the reboot there were 12 Jupiter-class (aka Galactica) Battlestars built during the first cylon war, rather than there being only 12 capital ships total?
My theory is that Battlestar Galactia and Star Trek take place in the same universe, and the Cylons became the Borg, and the location at the beginning of Battlestar Galactia is the Delta Quadrant of Star Trek.
BG redux was such an amazing series and so stressful, that I haven't rewatched the series since it first came out. I just don't want to ruin it. I'll probably give it a shot in the next winter.
04:50 Wing Commander...the movie! One of my favorite sci-fi movies! "...You got a problem with my friend Lieutenant Hunter?" Although the movie "bombed at the boxoffice", i can assure you that it gets a regular viewing with me.
I remember watching it as it aired, the marathons they'd run on Scifi network. It was a bad time for me, lots of stress, life changes, and BSG was a huge escape for me, stress relief. Someone asked me if it's the greatest scifi TV show of all time and I said it was likely one of the best TV shows of all time, period. It would give The Wire a run for its money. Definitely top 5 of all time.
Not in current climate of Hollywood it shouldn't. Every character would have to be gay, bi or trans, their could be no strong white males, no evil women and no pro family, pro Christianity or pro western culture messaging. It would be intellectually, thematically and logically removed from the original series. Otherwise sounds great.
during the possible run of "The Second Coming" the had a run of BSG toys that my dad, a huge fan of the original, decided I needed. He was not wrong, I had Apollo Viper as my favorite. Now I have some of the last Eaglemoss LTD BSG models before they went bust and still watch the RDM series annually, the Original series is still beloved, but more camp and comfort, than complex and compelling. So say we all.
From the series, at least considering the Earth 1 episode, the final five were originally part of one of the cycles of creation and destruction that the "angels" of baltar and five mention in the end of the last episode of the reimagined series. In that cycle however they as you mentioned were cylons however they were also considered to be the decvendents of the 13th tribe of humans. This (13 tribes of isreal narrative) was resurrected from the original itteration but reimagined to the 2003 series as the lost tribe built up technology at a very quick pace. They then fought their own cybernetics style conflict that ended up in the destruction of Earth 1 via nuclear weapons. The final five were scientists, leaders, and heroes that found a way to make themselves effectively immortal by gradfting their intelligence into these robotic bodies. The Caprica series itself shows how this cycle repeats with cylons as the daughter of the cylon's inventor has her persona merged with the cylon program to create the cylons of the 2003 itteration. During the first war/conflict with the 12 colonies the cylons were very attempting (as seen in the web series) to create their own bodies. This was due to the problem that the narrative that the daughters persona created a necessity to fulfill her life within the confines of the cylon communial structure. This was taking a particularly long amount of time as this new cycle of destruction was at it's infancy. Cylons and humans were still at war and there really was no motivation on the cylons part to pull back as they saw their conflict more in terms of a religious crusade and not a military endeavor. The Colonies were not only holding their own but fighting back the stalemate slowly so it was inevitable (in the cylons perspective) that they would eventually have to make a change or at least temporary armistice. This is where the Earth 1 terrains come into play. They being now immortal but drifting through space seeking out a new place to call home were found by the cylons. These five were more akin to cylons than humans (something the cylons would discover) and saw the cylon and human conflict for what it was, a play of their own conflict of destruction. seizing on the cylons desire to be more organic in nature a decision was reached. The cylons would pull back from the conflict allowing the colonies to survive and the five would share their technology and understanding of human machine hybrids with them. Because the five were so advanced the cylons grabbed ahold of this offer and capitulated to the colonies demands for a ceasefire. Pulling back to their own territory won during the war the cylons and five set forth to create the many models and copies seen in the main series. Once this was done they went down into the colonies culture and assimilated new persona's from individuals they found in the colonies. The genetic profiles of the choices were then sent back to the cylons who automatically made many copies. Unknow to the cylons however a directive was implanted by the five that would deny them access to these individuals who now wished to live peacefully in the colonies blissfully unaware of their past enjoying their stolen lives. Meanwhile the cylons would attempt to fulfill their goals. Only one model knew who the five were and didn't allow the others to discover it until each one was awakened following this plan. The complexity of these stories is why BSG is one of my favorite sci fi second only to Doctor Who.
I noticed that there was basically no mention of the FIRST revival of the 1978 BSG that actually did happen: BSG 1980. Though, with the exception of the final episode, "The Return of Starbuck", that may be for the best. That said, the two part episode "The Night the Cylons Landed" marks the first appearance of skin jobs in any BSG show.
The original BSG is still one of my favorite tv shows ever and I watch the first (and only) season every few years. And you're right, other than the episode you mention; "The Return of Starbuck", Galactica 1980 was really pretty bad. I think most BSG fans like to pretend it doesn't exist.
@@bipolarminddroppings The end of HHGTHG. ( Radio/ BBC TV production), features the Golgafrinchams, the future/ technologically advanced humans stranded in the Earth's past becoming the progenitors of humanity. Basically, it's the same concept as in the BSG finale. ( Not exactly the same, but close enough, that's why I said it was a "re-skin")
Yes - The Battlestar Solaria was in the first printed book of BG in 1978 about the Cylon attack atvthe beginning of the show. While the Cylon Baseships were destroying the twelve colonial worlds, MANY Cylon fighters were attacking the 12 Battlestars. The Battlestar Solaria was the last Battlestar destroyed just after the Battlestar Galactica left the fleet to see about returning to the twelve colonial worlds. In the book, Starbuck, Greenbean and Jolly were all considering landing on the Battlestar Solaria to quickly refuel when the Solaria was then destroyed wth the Cylon Pinwheel attack. :)
The Re-imagined BSG series regularly said things like "Originally there was one Battlestar produced for each colony", "Initially there were....." , etc.
My grandma love this series, I didn't get into watching them till after she past/while in college. But have not finished them. I need to find all of the series an movies again so I can do a binge, lot of the characters I had seen in other tv shows or movies (like the actress that plays Starbrook... probably spelled wrong). She was in a few movies and shows that I've seen and I've always loved the characters she plays.
The 12 Battlestars were built after the 12 colonies unified after their Civil War as a symbol of unity each one named to represent a colony. Nothing about just 12 were ever built.
And those were just the Jupiter class (of which Galactica is part of) all other classes including Mercury and Valkyre, follow different rules. Why is this even a thing, there are like 5 in orbit of Caprica during the Cylon attack?
@@davidlewis5312 yeah I'm not too sure where people came up with the rumor or innuendo that they're only 12 Battlestars. Maybe from the original series? In that there were only 12 at the time of the attack, Galactica being the flagship due to it being the representation of Caprica.
Ah, yes. I remember that episode in BSG that "directly" referenced 9-11. When Starbuck turned to Odama and said, "Hey, this is just like that terrorist attack that happened...in the future...on that distant planet...that we're going to call Earth...for some reason." Classic. (it's been 13 yesrs - no spoiler alert)
We shouldn't discuss Starbuck's origin without mentioning Starbuck's ending. I realize mid-show the actress went to do other work so they had to rewrite that character to account for the absence, but they tied it up beautifully in her final scene where she said goodbye and then just vanished.
Actually, Starbuck'a death mid-show was not the result of her wanting to do other things. It was a creative decision by Moore. Something that was kept secret even from the other cast members in order to get authentic emotional responses from them. Edward J. Almos confronted Moore after he learned of it and was the only other person to learn that Starbuck would return later on shortly after the episode was shot.
@@strongblade So to appease the actress and ensure she was available to return to the show they put together another series in which she would star but was so bad it was discontinued at just the right time? That's too conspiracy theory with too many moving parts for me to believe.
@@l00k4tstuff She was missing only 3 episodes, was a publicity stun to keep audience on their toes because the difference between filming and release of the finals episodes of the season was 6 months or something like that . Also during BSG she played in other movies beside Bionic women to appear in a pilot episode doesn't meant you become a part of the main cast even if the show get to be picked up(which was the case).
This is Sean from BattlestarCulture? Dunno if that'll come off the tongue as much as TrekCulture. Sean will have to dress up in all the uniforms from the show also, that's mandatory.
Baltar was actually killed off in the theatrical release of the premier ( and I think in the OS pilot movie), but they edited the ending so he could be in the show.
We needed to see more ships I hope theirs another fleet also looking for a new planet and only hearing about echos of the galactica through the cylons finding a planet themselves
I've always disputed the Five being Cylon! Cylon is the product name copywrited on Caprica by Graystone Industries. Supposedly, it stands for CYbernetic LifefOrm Node! Therefore, the Earthlings certainly called themselves *something,* but it probably wasn't Cylon. They're the descendants, via procreation, of the synthetic lifeforms who'd fled Kolbol.
BSG is my favourite TV show of all time. The name sadly puts many people off the show. I know many people who'd love the show but the name just makes them think of Star Wars or Star Trek. BSG is way more than those IPs. Its about family, humanity and faith. I wish all the spin-offs worked out. I'd have loved to see this show grow. Sadly many are too old now to continue making the shows that could have possibly come.
@@therealunclevanya yeah, I loved B5 too. Though I heard they're doing an animated show of B5 with the remaining cast and new people to replace the voices of the people who aren't here anymore. It's sad that they aren't but I'm happy that the story can continue.
I say the same all the time. I as a Sci-Fi fan, took me forever to pick up the show and watch it specifically due to its name. I literally thought would be some jankey version of some Star Wars crap and never had interest until I kept reading articles about how great it was. I watched the mini series and then season 1 and couldn’t stop. I have never cried during a show or movie but no joke for BSG truly teared up several x. Point is I tried to convince even my non sci fi friends and family to watch it and they are put off by the name. I kinda wished they would have given it something else to include a much broader audience but then again it wouldn’t be appropriate since its literally about the journey of a Battlestar named Galactica. Once I finished I couldn’t even believe this was produced and from the sci-fi channel. Bananas man, even Stargate started off on Cinemax I believe as did West World on HBO. That higher quality type of Sci-fi doesn’t usually start on Scify channel. Literally could of been on HBO. The name of it truly takes away from the people that would have fallen in love like I did. To this day it is My favorite show - not my fav sci fi show- my favorite show. The name doesn’t do it justice. It’s beautiful and always will be. I don’t even think the actors who played all these characters understood the depth and themes in it. Amazing. I hope a new one can live up to what this one did but then again we received some beauties like the Expanse- which lacked the metaphysical themes which is in my opinion the whole point of “Sci-Fi” genre.
I thoroughly enjoyed the re-imagined series as well as Blood & Chrome but, the original 1978 BSG will always be my favorite. By todays standards it may seem very dated and campy but it created a world and characters that obviously had staying power and resonated with many people. At it's core it was a show about values and loyalty and the worth of the human race. That still shows through today despite the dated CGI and the sometimes campy scenes. It was a show with a lot of heart.
@@M2Mil7er Fine, then visual effects, done by John Dykstra btw. CGI has become a kind of catch all phrase but point taken, they were visual effects, not true CGI...
I grew up here in the UK - England, watching the original series, well, after going to the Cinema seeing Battlestar Galactica and sequel Mission Galactica:Cylon Attack. The sequel movie, featured the Galactica discovering The Pegasus also survived the Cylon massacre, but at the end of the movie, The Pegasus decided to take a different path, going further into the cylon empire to recruit other survivors to create a rebellion force. While the Galactia went on to find Earth. I always wondered even back then, there should be a series, or movies, on the further adventures of the Pegasus and its eventual fate, would have been a brilliant move. Thanks to you with this presentation I found out about the Solaris! So, in today's modern culture of Shared universes, we have 3 surviving Battlestars, with the potential of 3 seperate series to be staged in the same univere! IF this is ever rebooted again, I hope the powers that be take this into consideration to expand the IP into!
One point of contention/confusion that I've come across is the question of whether the epilogue at the end of Caprica ("The Shape of Things to Come") was made knowing that the series was cancelled and was therefore made to be its definitive ending in response to that, or it was meant to set up the next season. It can really work either way. It serves as a compelling epilogue to season one's story, but also presents some mysteries and unanswered questions.
FAN FACT: At the end of season one, when everything was still up in the air they had a much different original ending planed. In the "dream sequence" at the opera house, Baltar and Six were originally not going to find a baby, but instead they were to meet The Cylon God! The team had had such success bringing Richard Hatch into the series that they wanted to bring in another actor from the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978). Their choice for the Cylon God? DIRK BENNEDICT!!! He said no however, so you got a baby instead, changing the whole direction of the series.
The BSG reboot joined the ranks of shows, like: "Firefly" ,"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"' "Falling Skies", "Alien Nation", "Gene Rodenberry's Earth: Final Conflict", etc.
lots of prop crossovers happen like that intentionally. a Starwars ship (Mobquet medium transport) was in the Firefly episode 'Shindig' and lets not forget the Millennium Falcon made it into a couple of frames of Starship troopers.
They used all sorts of things, including one of the greenhouse ships from Silent Running. Hell, if you watch Phantom Menace carefully there's a 2001 space pod in Watto's junkyard.
I never knew that Hatch went into so much debt trying to re-launch his version of the show 😔 At least he got a chance to return to the franchise, although I have to admit I wasn't that happy with him being portrayed as a Bad Guy, but he acted the role to his utmost, because I REALLY hated Tom Zarek 😅
@@FallenStarFeatures At the end, though, he Zarek was executed for his actions, and part of me can't help but feel this was kind of a middle finger to Hatch, for trying to get his version off the ground first.
I would argue that the Battlestars Atlantia, Triton, Solaria and Columbia were not among the first 30 destroyed. Those 30 ships were destroyed in the opening of the attack. Admiral Nagala took command from Atlantia as Fleet HQ was also destroyed in the opening attack. What remained of the fleet launched a counter attack above Virgon (this would require coordination from leadership) and it was only some time after that the message informing of the destruction of these ships was received by Galactica.
You would be correct. The notification of Admiral Nagala’s death and the destruction of the Battlestar Atlantia came at the same time as Triton, Solaria and Columbia. It would be reasonable to assume that, with the Admiral, they’re the latest in a very long list of losses
John Colicos' Baltar from the 1978 was not known as "Gaius Baltar". He was only known as "Count Baltar" or "Baltar". The 1978 characters had only one name. Great for television, but hell to pay if you are keeping records of any kind over a long period of time.
Herein lies the problem with BSG. They literally created much of their own canon and destroyed a lot of it from the original BSG series. A large part of this is because of trademarks and copyrights. If you don't own the trademarks and copyrights related to a movie or tv show, you have to either purchase them or more likely, lease them from the owners. If they can't work out a deal, then they simply create much of their own canon (new names and concepts) for an established movie or tv show with established canon. The countless reiterations of Superman are prime examples of this. There are so many different people and companies that hold trademarks and copyrights to certain things involving Superman it is literally impossible to keep them all straight and there are STILL lawsuits pending regarding many things, Superman.
The 12 Battlestars would refer only to Jupiter-class Battlestars (the class of ship the Galactica belongs to), not Valkyries etc. Valkyries and Mercury-class Battlestars (The Pegasus) were not constructed until after the first Cylon War. During the first Cylon War there was the older Artemis-class Battlestar as well as the Minerva-class which is sorta a Mercury prototype. These would not be limited to 12.
Given the 120 battlestars in service before the Fall, I'd like to see a web series of one of these battlestars besides Galactica or Pegasus. Because unlike Blood and Chrome, Deadlock covered the story of the First Cylon War brilliantly.
You should read the "Battlestar Prometheus" fan made novels. Not only you get stories about the colonial fleet, but a brilliant story blending both series (original and re-imaginated)
Actually, according to the author, the image was just an alien spaceship, and not the Enterprise-D. However, she also went on to say that she was rather upset at her publisher for outsourcing the cover art to an artist who was totally unfamiliar with popular SF. Apparently the artist simply grabbed an image of a space ship he found (amusingly, he was looking at it upside-down) and used it as a reference. That image was of the Galactica.
FUN FACT: I met Edward JAMES Almos. He was a very kind person and he talked to me for about fifteen minutes. Then later in a here.Sense of luck. I met the actor who played Edward's younger self.On caprica.
Probably couldhave added the video game Deadlock as it is part of the RDM re-imagined BSG series set 5 years into the first Cylon war and is essentially cannon. The game touches a bit of Blood and Chrome as you control the ghost fleet in cylon space and ends at operation Raptor Talon from BSG Razor when the Armistice is signed.
I thought it was 120 battlestars destroyed and Galatica was one of the first 12 and was due to retire, but I would think it would not be that many outside the 120.
I don't recall much of the BSG lore, plot of the newer SYFY version but I remember how the Galactica by design was stored, maintained to become a "museum" or historic memorial of the 50yr + era of missions, support. Adama was going to retire, leave. He by choice, said to save a few class 2 Vipers, logistics, resources to transport the ship, final crew, etc to the holding area. That's when the cylon battle started.
There were definitely only 12 Battlestars in service in any given time. Originally the term meant "colonial flagship". Every colony had only one flagship at a time. Other capital ships had other categorization. In the Reimagined series they forgot about this. Olympic Carrier hasn't hijacked. It was tagged, or there were a cylon onboard with active transmitter. The takeover only happened after the leaders of the fleet deducted that that is the ship the cylons track. But at that time the hijacking was pointless, Apollo shoot the ship in pieces. They thought humans won't destroy a civilian ship deliberately. They were wrong. The cylons believe in a single god is close to all the Abrahamic religions. Not just christianity (catholicism is just one part of christianity), but judaism and islam as well. And yes, all of the three aformentioned religions believe in the same one god. Christianity is the 2nd iteration of the same religion, islam is the 3rd. The final five are definitely cylons. That was the name of the 13th tribe/colony, and the final five are the sole survivors of their own nuclear armageddon, thanks to the fact they were the original inventors of digital resurrection. They built the original resurrection ship, not long before the demise of the colony. This is why only they were able to use it. The rest of the population uses land based resurrection hubs.
There were definitely more than 12 battlestars. In service at more than one time, we know that at least 12 Jupiter battlestar but there were battlestars classes that came before like the artemis class and battlestar classes that came after like the Minerva and valkyrie classes.
@@admiralshadowofasunderedst3068 Yes, in the reimagined. But they simply called every colonial warship battlestar. From the smallest to the largest. (Nope, Raptors and Vipers are not warships. Boats at best.) No real categorization. They made the term 'battlestar' pointless and meaningless.
@egyeneskifli7808 not really the only thing that got called battlestar thay clear wasn't of the typical battlestar design was the orion class but that was basically retcon by the game battlestar galactica deadlock to be a frigate the Artemis class is a battlestar the colonials also had frigates carriers corvettes and crusiers
In the miniseries Adama says to Kara that they "lost 30 battlestars in the opening attack" Kara responds by saying "That's a quarter of the fleet" So we can safely say there are around 120 battlestars of various classes in service when the Cylons attack.
@@blueskiestrevor5200 Yes, that is in the reimagined series (the miniseries is already reimagined). The writers just simply used the battlestar as a warship synonym. Because they know absolutely nothing about warships and fleets. Practically dilettantism.
Sean, you forgot that Battlestar Galactica and one other Ship "The Pegasus" were two of the older Ships from the original Cylon War 40 years before and did not have all the bells and whistles as the newer ships which were digitally interconnected with each other. That is why they did not get taken over by the Cylons.
Half right; Pegasus was about 15-20 years old- it was under maintenance (was going to get an extensive overhaul) and its computers were pretty much down during the initial Cylon attack.
@@geoffreysmith3941 Yes, the Pegasus was a newer ship (20ish yrs old vs Galactica being 40 yrs old) but she was still not as modern as the newer Battlestars (10 yrs or newer). I had just watched the mini-series again a few months ago.
@@Screamingtut I believe the Mercury class was the newest class and is probably the only post First Cylon War class. Valkyre class (the only other class shown in the tv series (mostly being blown out of the sky by Cylon basestars) is just a little older than Mercury's and made up the bulk of the fleet.
Might be worth giving the failed Bryan Singer 'reimagining' the old deep-dive treatment in the future... there were countless AICN articles about it way back in the day and apparently they even got as far as prop design in Vancouver.
I’ve wondered for some time now… was the Original BSG inspiration, in some or great part to the anime Space Runaway IDEON? That would be an interesting side research project. ❤
Glen Larson is Mormon. If that got your attention, please read on. In the original series, he actually put a lot of LDS (Mormon) culture and practices in the show. It absolutely blew my mind. It's actually one of my favorite facts about the creator of this world. I myself am a non-practicing member, but the story and word that he built and continued with Eick and Moore is in my top 5 favorite sci-fi series I've ever seen. It's a fun fact, I suppose. Also, I hate that Richard Hatch died so young. His ideas were so epic!
I never thought the Cylons in the reboot were meant to be Al-Qaeda, I do however thing the Krill in The Orville are. The original series explains how the Cylons came into being and it's a cautionary tale that is even more relevant today than it was then.
Number 9 includes the following phrase: "At least 30 battlestars including the atlantia, triton, solaria and the columbia are lost in the first cylon attack" Then number 8 is introduced... Number 8: Is there a battlestar named Solaria? Yes... Yes you just 20 seconds ago mentioned that it was recently destroyed... Probably should have put those 2 points the other way around 😂
Uhm. The Final Five were pretty clearly described in the series. They were from the 13th tribe that settled on Earth- a synthetic people. They re-engineered resurrection when they saw how their world was teetering on the edge of self destruction and we saw that world's version of a Centurion be dug up in the rubble. They arrived towards the end of the first Cylon war and offered resurrection to get the Centurions to stop. Technically, the Final Five are the creators of the 7 Cylon models; but they too can be resurrected (because Helen Tigh was in series; and it was made to sound like all of them were after John made 'modifications' then dumped them in the colonies. Of course that breaks in the storyline because we have Adama saying he served with Colonel Tigh during the war; but how?
Ok, while I LOVED the new BSG, there is a HUGE problem with it (same for X-Files). It is an OBVIOUS problem to anyone who pays attention. The writers don't know what they want to do!!! They CLEARLY haven't made their minds up about which way the season will go, let alone the entire show!! From one episode to another, we see them continually changing their minds about the nature of what Baltar's 'Ghost-Six' really is, or about the meaning of this vision/ that vision, etc... They just keep switching back and forth between telling us one thing and then changing their minds and telling us something completely different in the next episode!!
the "al-quaeda parallels" aren't exclusive to BSG and appear in sci-fi stories long before BSG or even al-quaeda. i thought the most referential situation on the show was the colonials in the prison camp as a comment on palestine and what actions are justifiable under horrific circumstances. either way, i love that the showrunners tried to make all situations debatable and avoided black-and-white idealogical force feeding.