Battlestar Galactica (2003)

:This article is about the 2003 miniseries and subsequent television series; for other versions, see Battlestar Galactica (disambiguation).

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Battlestar Galactica is a science fiction miniseries which was first broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel on December 8, 2003. It spawned a regular television series which premiered on Sky One in the UK on October 18, 2004 and on Sci Fi Channel in the US on January 14, 2005.

Related Topics:
Science fiction - Miniseries - Sci Fi Channel - December 8 - 2003 - Television series - Sky One - October 18 - 2004 - January 14 - 2005

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This new series was promoted as a "re-imagining" of the Universal Studios 1978 movie and television series Battlestar Galactica. It is not simply a remake of the original but a new direction taken from the same original premise, analogous to a "reboot" in comic books.

Related Topics:
Universal Studios - Battlestar Galactica - Remake - Reboot - Comic book

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The new series departs from the original in several respects. In style, it rejects the traditional televised science fiction styles of Star Trek adopted by the original in favor of what executive producer Ronald D. Moore calls "naturalistic science fiction". In premise, the new series recasts several key characters from male to female and introduces the notion that the Cylons, the cybernetic enemies of the humans, were created by man. In addition to the Cylon Centurions there are also humanoid models that very closely mimic a complete human down to the cellular level. The look of the new series also benefits from recent advances in computer-generated imaging and digital special effects.

Related Topics:
Star Trek - Ronald D. Moore - Naturalistic science fiction - Cylon - Humanoid - Computer-generated imaging - Special effects

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Although purists from the original series' fandom loudly disapproved of changes to the premise, the show was the highest-rated cable miniseries of 2003. In fact, it has been the highest rated original program in the Sci Fi Channel's history. Its strong audience draw was enough to prompt the channel to commission a new ongoing television series, the first episode of which drew an estimated 850,000 viewers — a 5% multichannel viewer share — on its world premiere on Sky One in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the miniseries and the subsequent weekly series have enjoyed general critical acclaim as being superior to the original, leading Time Magazine to declare in the spring of 2005 that the new show was one of the six best drama series on television. In the tradition of science fiction series such as Star Trek, the writers use science fiction to examine contemporary social, moral and ethical issues in allegory.

Related Topics:
Rated - United Kingdom - Time Magazine

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