Looking for something now that Star Trek: Picard is done? How about revisiting a near-perfect Trek-like show in Battlestar Galactica?
Fans of Star Trek: Picard looking for something new should be very excited right now. Few of you may remember Battlestar Galactica, which was a series from the late 1970s that featured a crew on the run from a robotic species called Cylons that were seeking to destroy humanity. The show was a cult hit but failed to capture hearts and minds like the newly released Star Trek films had been able to do. The first season was 24 episodes and was the most expensive series ever made for television at the time.
Partly due to that reason, there was no second season. There was, however, a second series, called Battlestar Galactica 1980 that took place after the events fo the first. It only lasted ten episodes and was subsequently canceled. The series laid dormant for years, until the early 2000s when Star Trek writer Ronald D. Moore who sought to reimagine the series for SyFy. Changes were made to the original story, cutting and mashing up different characters into new versions and creating original characters for the series.
Arguably the biggest difference was swapping Starbuck from a man (played Dirk Benedict) to a woman, and giving her an actual name. The rest of her backstory, like being close to Captain Adama remained the same.
The differences, the more serious tone, and the plot made the Battlestar Galactica reboot a smashing success. Arguably SyFy’s most heralded show, save for an iffy landing that borrowed too hard form Battlestar Galactica 1980. The follows a crew of survivors following an attack on the 12 Colonies (planets) of Cobalt. The survivors flee the system looking for a new home. Espionage, war, betrayal, politics and even romance carried the show and made it an all-time classic.
Now SyFy is making it FREE for all to watch on their website. Start with the mini-series first, it tells the story of how everyone got to where they are in the first official episode. For some reason, SyFy lists the episodes in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to start watching from the beginning.
SyFy is making every piece of media from the Moore-era of Battlestar Galactica, so that includes the mini-series, all four seasons and the made-for-tv movies.