Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (2004–2009)
Trivia
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Spoilers (15)
The phrase "so say we all", which is used as a ceremonial affirmation in the series, was ad-libbed by Edward James Olmos in a speech given by Commander Adama in the mini-series.
Edward James Olmos had a clause in his contract that no strange aliens or monsters would ever appear on the show. He wanted to ensure that the story stay focused on human drama.
When Laura Roslin goes to the doctors and finds out she has cancer, the ship from Joss Whedons series "Firefly" can be seen landing through the main windows.
Bodie Olmos, who plays Brendan "Hotdog" Costanza, is the real-life son of Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama). Bodie was brought in during the first season for a bit part as a "nugget" (viper pilot trainee), and ended up being a recurring character through to the end of the series.
During the show's first season, it consistently remained Sci-Fi Channel's top-rated program, pulling in more than 3 million viewers. Its 10pm viewing even finished ahead of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) which aired at 8pm on Fridays on a non-cable/satellite network.
Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek in the new series and captain Apollo in the original series) is the only actor to appear in both this series and Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (1978).
Paper (and photos, books, and even picture frames) in the series have corners cut off. It is said that director Michael Rymer did this during the miniseries as a reference to how he had to "cut corners" financially to make the miniseries work on a limited budget. The practice was continued into the series, although the producers have said on numerous occasions that although it seemed like a "neat idea at the time", having to cut the corners off every document seen onscreen became a nuisance for the weekly series.
The network expressed apprehension at the casting of Tricia Helfer in the pivotal role of Number Six. At the time, Helfer was known primarily as a model, and had virtually no acting experience. Later, network executives were so impressed with her performance that they based the entire marketing campaign of the show around her character.
Edward James Olmos initially refused to read the pilot script, assuming the show would gear towards the campier tone of the original series. At the insistence of his family, he finally read the script. After reading the first four pages, he decided to accept the role.
In Hebrew the name "Adama" (last name of William, Lee and Zak) actually means "ground" or "earth" and pronounced almost exactly: "ada-ma". Despite finding Earth being the main theme of the series, this is coincidental, as the original Battlestar Galactica series was based on an idea called "Adam's Ark" by Glen A. Larson.
Lucy Lawless was originally offered the role of Ellen Tigh, but rejected it, feeling that she was wrong for the part. The producers so wanted her for a role on the series, however, that they later wrote the role of D'Anna Biers with Lawless in mind.
Because this series was based on the 1970's show he created, Glen A. Larson was credited as a consulting producer on every episode of the new series, ensuring that he receives a significant residual income. However, he had no part in the production whatsoever.
Both Ronald D. Moore and James Callis have said that all the lead actors were required to sign seven-year contracts when they were hired for the pilot miniseries.
Critical regard for the show was so high that the United Nations held a special symposium (unprecedented for a television show) to discuss the themes of race, gender, sexuality, religion and terrorism on the show and how they related to the modern era. Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos appeared on a special panel hosted by avowed fan Whoopi Goldberg for the presentation.
The term "skinjob", used to describe any of the humanoid Cylon models, is a reference to the movie Blade Runner (1982), in which Edward James Olmos also starred (and suggested Tricia Helfer watch to help her prepare) and the Nexus 6 models are described by the same moniker.
Ron Moore said in a podcast commentary that though his initial intention was to bring the card game "Pyramid" and the athletic sport game "Triad" from the original Battlestar Galactica into the new series, he mistakenly transposed the names, which is why in the new series the sport is "Pyramid," and the card game is "Triad."
Kerry Norton, who plays recurring character Layne Ishay (Doc Cottle's medical assistant), is the real-life wife of Jamie Bamber (Lee "Apollo" Adama). Whereas Bamber had to put on an American accent to play Apollo, Norton is able to use her own British accent in character.
The telephone handset used on the bridge of the Galactica is a US Army issues field telephone used since the Korean War, known as the TA-1.
The subplot set on Cylon Occupied Caprica with Helo and Boomer was not originally planned. After being left on Caprica in the miniseries, Helo was never meant be seen again; the audience would be left to assume that he died. Only after seeing the audience's reaction to Helo did the show producers decide to bring him back and introduce another Boomer. At first there was no looming reason for Boomer and the Cylons' interest in Helo, but eventually the Cylons' experiments in creating a Cylon/Human Hybrid was written as their goal, becoming an integral part of the Cylon "plan."
Ronald D. Moore cites Peter Pan (1953) as a major influence on this show, specifically the phrase "All this has happened before, and will happen again." Moore found the notion both pessimistic and pragmatic, and worked it into the Cylon mythology.
When the writers' strike happened, eleven episodes of season four had been filmed. Not knowing how long the strike would last or whether the show was going to return after it, the network and Ronald D. Moore decided not to wait and aired the first ten episodes, taking advantage of the cliffhanger that ended episode ten because it worked as a series finale. When the strike ended, the remaining nine episodes were green-lighted and the show could finish on Moore's terms.
Though other actresses were considered, the role of Laura Roslin was written especially for Mary McDonnell.
Commander Adama has a shaving mirror in his cabin. This mirror is made by IKEA, and is a model called "Fräck". This word is similar to "frak" which is the primary vulgarity in the Battlestar Galactica universe.
Religion in the show started as a line said by Number 6 in the script of the miniseries, and the producers liked it so much that they decided to expand it, so Ronald D. Moore and David Eick related the Cylon religion to their terrorist acts.
Ronald D. Moore and David Eick have said they adopted a largely improvisational style of developing stories for this series. Rather than plot out story arcs years in advance - a practice commonplace on sci-fi shows like Lost (2004) - the writers develop ideas for stories based solely on the themes present in current episodes, and try to take them in a totally unexpected direction.
The Battlestar Pegasus set is actually the recycled set of the Jupiter 2 from The Robinsons: Lost in Space (2004). The set was purchased when the latter's pilot failed to generate a series.
The characters Tarn and Selix, who first appear in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2", were named at the behest of Aaron Douglas, who plays Chief Petty Officer Tyrol. Douglas noted that the two were originally listed in the script generically (Technician 1 and 2) and, recognizing the potential of the two characters, consulted with others in the cast to give them proper names. Douglas then inserted their new names into his lines on every take.
Edward James Olmos recommended Kate Vernon for the role of Ellen Tigh.
Filming of the final season was disrupted by the 2007-2008 WGA strike. Unsure if the show would continue, the episode "Sometimes a Great Notion" was written as a de-facto series finale. When the strike resolved, the Sci-Fi Channel allowed the series to continue to Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore's desired end.
"Kobol" in the ancient Persian language means "Heaven". It is also an anagram of "Kolob", the name of the planet/star nearest the "throne of God", according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) - Glen A. Larson, the executive producer of the original television series, was a church member and incorporated a number of themes from Mormon theology into the show.
For the first season in the U.S., the opening theme was an instrumental piece. When broadcast in other countries, the opening theme was a completely different composition, a song with vocals, the same length as the instrumental theme. After the first season, the U.S. broadcasts used the same theme song as everywhere else. The vocals are a famous Hindu mantra, the Gayatri Mantra, taken from the Rig Veda; the words are "OM bhûr bhuvah svah tat savitur varçnyam bhargô dçvasya dhîmahi dhiyô yô nah pracôdayât", which may be translated in various ways but means approximately "may we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the God / so May he stimulate our prayers".
To prepare for her role as Gina, the captive Cylon, Tricia Helfer viewed the film Kaksi naista (1960) to give her a better understanding of a rape victim.
Richard Hatch, who plays Tom Zarek, played Apollo in the original Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (1978). He appeared in all 21 episodes of the original series, and in 22 episodes of the new series.
Number Six (Tricia Helfer) was named after Patrick McGoohan's character in the television series Saarroksissa (1967).
The theme from the original Battlestar Galactica has appeared a few times in the remake series, where it is considered to be the "Colonial Anthem".
Jane Seymour was offered the role of Admiral Helena Cain. When she turned down the offer, Ronald D. Moore offered the role to Michelle Forbes and she accepted.
In the classic series Battlestar Galactica (1978) the Cylons were created by a reptilian race. In this series, the Cylons are created by humans.
Doc Cottle is named after Michael Rymer's childhood pediatrician, who was actually a very nice person unlike his fictional counterpart.
Gaius was the actual name of the Roman emperor known as "Caligula", who was infamous for his extravagance and hedonism. The character of Gaius Baltar mirrors this, often engaging in self-indulgent practices with little concern for consequence.
The Battlestar Pegasus reused a design concept originally meant for the remake's version of the Battlestar Galactica. It more closely resembles the Galactica from the original series.
Before in a shot of the vortex at Ragnar station, you can see a rebel transport from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.
The phrase "By Your Command" has only been said twice by the Cylons: at the end of the mini-series, uttered by the "skinjob" Cylons and in Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007), by Cylons from the original Cylon war. The latter appear in the same design as the Cylons of the original television series.
Donnelly Rhodes auditioned for the role of Col. Tigh before landing the role of Doc Cottle.
The first season was aired in the United Kingdom on SkyOne months before it aired in North America. This resulted in an increase in North Americans downloading episodes on the Internet that were made freely available by British viewers of the show. Fearing that this widespread "previewing" of the series would diminish the show's ratings once it aired in North America, executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick made a written plea to fans to stop downloading episodes and wait for them to air in the United States and Canada.
Sci-Fi Channel ordered six scripts for a second season of the show before the first episode even aired in the United States. It ordered a 20-episode second season a month after it began to air in the United States.
It was planned to start Season 2 with a flashback about the life of the characters before the Cylon attack, but finally they just continued where Season 1 ended.
Amanda Plummer's role as Dodonna the oracle was meant to be a recurring one. Scheduling conflicts, however, prevented Plummer from returning, so the character appeared only once.
Starbuck, who is played by Katee Sackhoff, was a man in the original Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (1978) show, played by Dirk Benedict. It's also the name of the first officer aboard the Pequod in the book Moby Dick.
Characters carried over from the original series: Adama, Starbuck, Apollo, Boomer, Tigh, Baltar, Boxey (in only the miniseries and a brief appearance in one episode), Admiral Cain, President Adar, and Zak. Adar and Zak (Zac in the original), both of whom appeared (and died) in the pilot of the original series, were mentioned (but not seen) in the remake miniseries, and each later appeared in series flashbacks. Also, in the remake miniseries, during a dogfight, a pilot with the callsign of "Jolly" is mentioned, and later in the series, the Number Eight who marries Helo takes the callsign of "Athena".
Katee Sackhoff was able to continue wearing her thumb ring while shooting by explaining it away as Zak Adama's ring.
In 2007, ranked #2 by Entertainment Weekly in their list of the best 25 Science Fiction of the past 25 years.
The season 1 finale, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Parts 1-2", went through a number of changes according to the Podcast commentary for both episodes. Some of these early differences include:
- 1. Part One was to conclude with the Raptor crashing and Part Two would end with Starbuck stealing the Raider to finish the finale with a season-ending cliffhanger. This was changed when the original pacing wasn't working.
- 2. Originally, the ruins on Kobol were supposed to be a huge temple that was mirrored on Caprica. This was abandoned due to cost constraints.
- 3. What Baltar and Number Six experienced inside the ruins on Kobol went through a number of changes. Originally, Ron D. Moore proposed to the other writers that there was supposed to be a bright corridor of light. In a later version, there was to be complete darkness punctuated with music from a song recognizable by both the audience and the two explorers. Then, Dirk Benedict (Starbuck from the original Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (1978)) was supposed appear and say something like, "Hi. I'm God." followed by TO BE CONTINUED... However, the other writers quickly disparaged the idea as implausible, and Ron D. Moore reluctantly agreed.
- 4. One concept that the writers liked, but were forced to abandon was the idea that the interior room of the ruins was to be located in "otherspace" or in a different spatial or dimensional location.
Occasionally, the main musical theme from Kauriinmetsästäjä (1978) can be heard. For example, in the final scene of "Scar" (episode 2.15).
The series originally used names from Greek and Norse mythology. Later on, this was expanded to include other mythologies, including Roman.
The Cylons look nothing like the original series Cylons, but if you look at the Cylon Raiders ship, the center of it is in the shape of a head, that head is a replica of the original Cylons face, roving red eye and all
Original series star Dirk Benedict has refused to participate in this revival series.
The combat helmets worn by the Marines are actually Giro "Bad Lieutenant" snowboarder helmets. They're made out of plastic, not Kevlar.
Rekha Sharma's father, a Hindu priest, objected to his daughter's sex scenes on the show. Sharma, however, laughed off his criticism.
Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore maintained an ostensibly weekly blog on the Sci-Fi Channel's official Web site, talking about different aspects of the show and answering fan questions. Ultimately, updates were far less often, due to Moore's busy schedule. As a replacement, Moore began recording podcasts for each episode (starting during the third season), and Anthrax's Scott Ian wrote an ongoing blog series for the site.
In the original Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (1978), Viper weapons fire was red lasers and the Cylon Raiders fired blue lasers. In this version, both ships fire projectiles but both sides still fire the same colors from the original show.
The rank structure for the officers serving in the Colonial Fleet are as follows: OFFICERS: Admiral, Commander, Colonel, Major, Captain, Lieutenant, Lieutenant (junior grade), Ensign. ENLISTED: Master Chief Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer (1st, 2nd Class), Specialist, Deck Hand, Recruit. There are also Marines aboard Galactica which conform more closely to the traditional enlisted Marine ranks, with Sergeants, Sergeants-Major, etc. Unresolved is the question of whether the Marine officers would also adhere to the mixed rank structure.
Many of the weapons used in the series are actual modern firearms, and not custom props. The Marines often use Heckler & Koch G36 rifles and Beretta CX4 carbines, Anders frequently carries a Heckler & Koch UMP submachinegun and a Desert Eagle pistol, Helo sometimes carries a South African Protecta drum-fed shotgun, and Starbuck sometimes uses a pair of Skorpion vz 61 submachineguns. The fleet standard issue side arm is also a Five-Seven pistol with fake grenade launcher.
The executive officer was named Paul Tigh in original scripts, but this was changed to Saul Tigh in the final filming for legal reasons.
The Battlestar Galactica and the Viper fighters are similar in design to the old show, but were revamped for the new show. The Cylon Basetar, Cylon Raider, and Cylon Centurion each had a completely new design for the new show. Also, there are only four ships that appear in the remake but not in the original: "Colonial One" (the transport used by Laura Roslin), the Olympic Carrier, Cloud 9, and Zephyr (the ringed passenger liner).
Jon Cryer auditioned for the role of Baltar.
In the miniseries, the pilot of Colonial One is heard establishing contact with Gemanon Liner 1701, a nod to Star Trek. Ronald D. Moore was part of the production crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Katee Sackhoff can be seen in Starbuck uniform on the Big Bang Theory as Howard's fantasy lover before he married Bernadette.
Katee Sackhoff revealed in an interview with Looper in April 2021 that she had to fight hard for the role of Starbuck. She said, "I must've auditioned seven times... I was about 10 years younger than what they wanted and the job I'd gotten right before that, I had just come off the Max Bickford show. So I was fighting against this idea that I was the chubby girl from the Richard Dreyfuss show who had pink hair, and it was hard." Before auditioning, she started working out to shift her appearance to be right for the role. That and her unrelenting persistence finally helped convince producers to cast her.
The front or forward section of both of the 1978 & 2003 versions of the battlestar spacecraft owe their shape to the stylist Robert Opron. If you'll check out Opren's design of the 1970-75 Citroen model SM's rear end. (especially any car in light or dark grey shades) You will definitely see his design influence on the 1978 version by the model makers. This was then carried forward to the 2004 re-modeling.
The show reimagines several characters from the original show in radical ways. Colonel Tigh was an African American male in the original show, as was Boomer. Starbuck and Cain were also male characters, now reimagined as women. Athena was a Caucasian woman in the original, and is now portrayed by an actress of Korean descent.
Katee Sackhoff said in an interview that the main reason she wanted to play Starbuck was because she wanted to shoot a gun.
The large scopes used on the Marines' rifles are manufactured by Elcan and can be found on military service weapons around the world. Their Elcan product name is the SpecterOS3.4x. In particular, The M145 Machine Gun Optic is a variant of the C79 that was developed for the U.S. Army and is commonly mounted on M240 and M249 machine guns, although in Canadian service, it is typically referred to as the C79 or the C79A2 and mounted on their C7 rifles and C8 carbines.
Brad Dryborough, who plays Lt. Hoshi, also auditioned for the roles of Col. Fisk and Lt. Thorne.
Many actors of Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (2004), Battlestar Galactica: Razor Flashbacks (2007), and Caprica (2009) (a spin-off of the series Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (2004)) later were in Jälkiä jättämättä (2011). Among them: Michelle Forbes, Aaron Douglas, Callum Keith Rennie, Tahmoh Penikett, Don Thompson, Barclay Hope, Colin Lawrence, Patrick Gilmore, Shaw Madson, Bruce Dawson (Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (2004)); Brian Markinson, Richard Harmon, Eve Harlow, Andrew Airlie, Philip Granger, and Patti Allan (Caprica (2009)); Ryan Robbins (Taisteluplaneetta Galactica (2004) and Caprica (2009)); Ben Cotton, Peter Bryant, and Deni DeLory (Battlestar Galactica: Razor Flashbacks (2007)).
Katee Sackhoff felt physically weak towards the end of filming the final season. In 2008, after production wrapped, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Her thyroid was later surgically removed and the cancer was in remission by February 2009.
Both Aaron Douglas and Torrence Coombs stared in Killer Mountain together (in 2011) and also were in an episode (4.17) of Battlestar Galactica (in 2009), just 2 years after the series ended. During the movie Killer Mountain, Douglas's character stated: "Lets get the frak out of here." Using a common term (Frak) from Battlestar Galactica that his character Cheif Galen Tyrol and other characters used throughout the show in 2004-2009.
The 2nd TV series from NBCUniversal Television to star Lucy Lawless. The other series was Xena: Warrior Princess (1995).
4 years after the series ended, Katee Sackhoff starred Oculus (2013) and Riddick (2013) both released the same year. Katee Sackhoff's Oculus co-star Karen Gillan and her Riddick (2013) co-stars Vin Diesel and Dave Bautista went on to star in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), which Karen Gillan starred as Nebula. Vin Diesel provided the voice of Groot and Dave Bautista starred as Drax the Destroyer.
Katee Sackhoff would later star opposite Karen Gillan in Oculus (2013). Karen Gillan achieved fame as Amy Pond, companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the revived series of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2005). In that series, The Doctor fought the evil robots The Daleks and the Cybermen. Karen Gillan would also go on to play the evil half-robotic Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequel Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017).
Spoilers
When they created the sub plot with Helo and Boomer on Caprica the creators did not know why Boomer and the Cylons were interested in Helo. It was only about half way through the first season that they decided that the Cylons were interested in biological reproduction, an issue that has become very important to the series.
In the beginning of season 3, Jamie Bamber did not actually gain the weight for the role. Instead, a body double was used for some close-up shots of the rounded tummy, and Bamber wore a jowl-forming brace in his mouth. A few wide shots of his body were cheated out.
The concept of the "Final Five" Cylons came about from the writers wanting to depict Baltar living on a Cylon baseship. Since the identity of only seven Cylons had been revealed up to that time, Ronald D. Moore came up with the idea of the remaining five as sacred beings, and selected the four characters - Tigh, Tyroll, Tory Foster, and Anders - who would be revealed at the end of the third season. Moore also selected the identity of the Final Cylon as Ellen Tigh, and informed only Kate Vernon of his decision. Vernon and Moore had to keep the secret from the cast and much of the crew for nearly two years before shooting the episode which would reveal her identity.
The writers introduced the concept of Cylon "boxing" so that Number Three (Lucy Lawless) could be written out of the show, with the possibility of her return. Lawless had appeared as regular character on the show during most of the second and third seasons, but always received "Special Guest Star" credit. When she left the show to pursue other offers, her character had become integral to the "Final Five" Cylon subplot, and Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore insisted that her character have a way to return to the show, even though he was unsure at the time if Lawless would ever be able to do so.
Cavil's suicide in the series finale was suggested by Dean Stockwell. In the script, Col. Tigh (Michael Hogan) was supposed to kill Cavil during the final battle. Stockwell, however, said he thought the character would shoot himself, realizing that his Cylon faction had lost the war. Writer Ronald D. Moore and director Michael Rymer agreed.
The number of humans in the fleet is constantly updated in the opening credits. The count does not include Cylons (it did not diminish when Galactica's Boomer was killed, and only increased by one when Helo and Caprica's Boomer arrived). The arrival of the Pegasus increased the count by 1752 souls, one of whom was subsequently killed during the course of the episode. Similarly, at the beginning of episode 2.17, "The Captain's Hand", the count on President Roslin's "White Board" is 49,584 early on in the show but is 49,579 toward the end of the show, indicating that during the Pegasus' battle with the Cylon Base Stars, five people were killed.
Susan Hogan, who plays Captain Doyle Franks (captain of Prometheus, one of the civilian fleet vessels), is the real-life wife of Michael Hogan (Col. Saul Tigh). The Franks character has appeared several times, most notably as the lead judge in Baltar's trial.
The writers created Daniel/Number Seven, the "lost Cylon," from an accidental plot hole. When the series began, the writers had not established the concept of the Cylon Final Five, only that 12 Cylon models existed. With the Final Five subplot, the writing crew realized that they had designated Number Six (Tricia Helfer) and Number Eight (Grace Park) without naming a Seven. Noticing this plot hole, show-runner Ronald D. Moore came up with the idea that Number Seven had been permanently boxed, a plot point that later became vital to the series.
Despite improvising the story in ten episode arcs, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick always intended for the characters to reach Earth in the final episode, albeit thousands of years before the present day. They also conceived the epilogue with "Fantasy" Six and Baltar discussing the fate of humanity in Times Square very early on, to make the fate of humanity ambiguous.
Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore plays the man in Times Square that "Fantasy" Six whispers to in the series finale. He has since commented that he wished he hadn't played the part.
In an earlier draft of the series finale, when Laura Roslin asked Kara Thrace where she had taken Galactica to after entering the jump co-ordinates, Thrace was supposed to reply "Along the Watch Tower", a reference to the Bob Dylan song "All Along the Watch Tower", a song which was featured prominently in the fourth season.
In the earlier drafts of the series finale, both Karl 'Helo' Agathon and Sharon 'Athena' Agathon were supposed to have been killed, and Hera was to have been raised on Earth by both Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six.
At the end of all of the shows, the production company is identified, by an animated 5 second R&D TV Spot/Logo. It is done in the same manner as Bad Robot. The difference here is each one is different. All are comedic. Some result in at least one of the two characters killing the other. Other versions result in both killing each other, or the last, a third party doing them both in. One version had group of Cylon Centurions wiping out the two. Also there is one exception. The two part series finale was repeated.
At the ATX TV Festival in 2017, Ron Moore emphatically stated that the cylons do not in fact have a plan. It was simply a phrase added to the prologue to spark interest.
