Battlestar Galactica

Written by: Ixistant

The year is 1978. Ashton Kutcher and Clay Aiken have just been born. Grease and Animal House are released onto the world, and Jane Fonda has won the Oscar for Best Actress for the movie "Coming Home'. But in 1978, another thing happened. A show hit the TV screens about the heroic Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck and Lieutenant Boomer on their quest to find the mythical 13th colony of Kobol on a planet called Earth and evade the evil robotic beings known as Cylon and their accomplice, the evil Dr Gaius Baltar. But one day, the Battlestar Galactica and all it's crew were wiped out in one blow by the worst evil in the universe: The Network Executives. But now, 25 years later, it has been brought back to life by Universal Studios, for a 13 part series.

Here's the basic plot that was laid down by the mini series that screened last year:

It is the day of the decommissioning of the ancient Battlestar Galactica when suddenly, the evil robots known as Cylons, who were created by humans, rebelled and then signed a peace treaty with them, attack the twelve colonies of Kobol after receiving help from the famous Dr. Gaius Baltar without his knowledge. Captain Lee “Apollo� Adama, one of the best viper class fighters the colonial fleet has, is escorting a ship back carrying the colonial Education minister, Laura Roslin, when the attack happens, and when it is found out that she is the highest ranking political official left alive, she is sworn in as the new president of the twelve colonies of Kobol. Another pilot, Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer' Valerii, is with a squadron of fighters near caprice, who try to defend it from the cylons but fail. Boomer manages to escape to Caprica's surface, where she rescues some citizens, a child and a Dr. Gaius Baltar, who hasn't told anyone he helped in the invasion.

After rendezvousing with the newly appointed President Laura Roslin's ship, Colonial One, Boomer managed to go and rescue other citizen ships in the area and form a mini fleet. They eventually rendezvous with the Battlestar Galactica, who then escapes from their solar system to go in search of the mythical 13th colony of Kobol; a planet called “Earth�.

Now, this series is unlike the original, and some people may notice some differences in this from the original series. But all of that is down to the fact that this is now based on the original series. As I mentioned, there are a few changes, and there are some obvious ones that the original fans will point out. As for those who won't see a change due to the fact they never saw the original, here are some of the main changes:

-The cylons, instead of having mysterious origins, were now created as humans, to help out with work, until they rebelled and fought a forty year war with the humans, that ended in a peace treaty being signed between the two.

-The cylons now come in different models, with some representing the original design, and newer versions that look like and are quite similar to humans, right down to lymph glands, but they are still machines. The human-cylons are mainly used for infiltration, with some of them not even knowing they are cylons! One such human-cylon is Boomer.

-Dr. Gaius Baltar is now good, having still helped the cylons in the downfall of humanity, but not knowing he was helping the cylons at the same time. He is in the fleet of the 12 colonies, as Kobol's leading scientific advisor in their quest for Earth.

-In the original series, the Battlestar Galactica was the top of the line. One of the best ships in the colonial fleet. But in this series, the Battlestar Galactica is obsolete, and was about to be decommissioned at the time of the cylon attack.

-Instead of there being a Council Of Twelve to rule the fleet, there is now President Laura Roslin, the education minister of the 12 colonies presidential cabinet, and when the president and all the senior officials were killed, she became president, as the highest ranking member of the cabinet.

-The names Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer have now became the call signs of Captain Lee "Apollo' Adama, Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck' Thrace and Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer' Valerii. That's another point: Starbuck and Boomer are now women.

Battlestar Galactica has been on the UK TV channel Sky One for four weeks now, and I have avidly viewed each episode with thorough enjoyment. Each episode is about an hour long, and so far, those hours have been the best this year for me. The CGI battles are amazing and the script is wonderful. I think that everyone would enjoy this show, especially if you like programs like Stargate (SG-1 and Atlantis) or Star Trek.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this simple article about Battlestar Galactica and that you will watch it and fall in love with it as I have.

So say we all

Battlestar Galactia is currently showing on the UK TV channel Sky One every Monday at 8pm to 9pm, and shall be on the American Sci-Fi channel in January 2005. Also, if anyone has any entertainment articles they would like to submit to the Pink Ink, they can send them to me at ixistant@gmail.com.