What It's About: The Cylons, who were created by humans, suddenly reappear and nuke the planets of the twelve colonies. The surviving remnants of humanity, numbering only in the tens of thousands, escape to seek a new home: the world of the lost thirteenth colony, Earth. They're led by the brusque Commander William Adama and the colonial president, Laura Roslin, and protected by hotshot fighter pilots like Apollo and Starbuck. But the Cylons follow, looking the finish the job of eradicating the human race. And because the mechanized race has twelve models that look exactly like humans, no one can tell who's a Cylon.
Origins: Battlestar Galactica was originally a popular, but expensive and therefore short-lived, sci-fi show on ABC-TV during the 1978-79 season. 21 episodes were produced around the idea of Adama (Lorne Greene) and the survivors of humanity fleeing the Cylon tyranny. The show was revamped on a smaller budget the following season as the generally disliked Galactica 1980. Years later campaigns to bring back the series centered around the proposals of Richard Hatch (Apollo), but the 2003 "reimagining" was an entire overhaul originating with Ronald D. Moore (Roswell).
Popular Characters: Battlestar Galactica is an ensemble show and the focus tends to shift among several central characters: Commander (later Admiral) Adama (Edward James Olmos), his fiery son Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber), the maverick top gun Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, president Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the pro-human Cylon Sharon "Athena" Agathon (Grace Park), and the self-promoting Gaius Baltar (James Callis), who's haunted by an image of the Cylon woman he fell in love with, Six (Tricia Helfer), among many others.
Flavor: This is dark, dark stuff, but with plenty of humor and an emphasis on both the difficulty of the choices people have to make in a crisis and also on the complexity of relationships between friends, lovers, and family when they're tested under fire.
Network: An original production of Sci-Fi. For showtimes see When It's On.
