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Battlestar Galactica: Series Recap
A basic rundown from the beginning before the curtain finally falls. By
Rob Vaux
March 16, 2009
Mania Mini-Recap of the hit television series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA(2009).
© Mania.com/Robert Trate
Four long years of Cylon-fighting goodness is scheduled to come to an end in the next two weeks. In case you've forgotten--and for those arriving really, really, really late to the party--here's a quick recap of the previous four seasons of Battlestar Galactica.
Pilot (Miniseries)
The series opens with the Twelve Colonies of Man destroyed in a surprise attack by their old enemies the Cylons. Created by humanity to serve them only to rebel in a brutal war and vanish many years ago, the Cylons have evolved to the point where many of them can pass as human. Infiltrating the Colonial defenses, they shut down communication between humanity's space vessels and destroy all twelve planets in an act of apocalyptic oblivion.
But one ship--an outdated battlestar named Galactica--survives the initial onslaught. Because its systems are older, it isn't vulnerable to the Cylons' attack, and because its commander, William Adama (Edward James Olmos) is forty kinds of awesome, the ship and its crew endure. They gather a rag-tag fleet of survivors under their protection--40,000 humans traveling in several dozen ships who were mid-flight between worlds when the attack began.
Among their number is Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the Colonies' Secretary of Education who, through the line of succession is now President of the Twelve Colonies. Together, she and Adama vow to lead the fleet to a mythic Thirteenth Colony: Earth. Adama presents it as a snow job to keep spirits up until they can find a real home, but as the series goes on, that "snow job" becomes increasingly plausible.
Season One
FLEE!!!! FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!!! The fleet experiences all the blissful joy of a panicked stampede as they scuttle across the galaxy just half a step ahead of the Cylons. Early on in Season One, the crew realizes that there may be Cylon agents among the fleet, utterly indistinguishable from humans until they commit some horrifying act of sabotage. The brilliant Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) is tapped to invent a Cylon detection system. He succeeds, but initially hides the results--frightened that his tryst with a Cylon agent back on the Colonies and subsequent role the in the destruction of humanity will be revealed.
In the meantime, President Roslin and Commander Adama have their hands full trying to keep the fleet intact. Roslin has contracted cancer, which she treats with an hallucinogenic extract. The drug brings her prophetic visions of humanity's original home, Kobol, and how it will lead the fleet to Earth. Roslin asks the Galactica's best pilot, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) to defy orders and return to the colony of Caprica, where the Arrow of Apollo lies waiting in a museum. She believes it will show the way to Earth. In the meantime, tensions rise between Roslin and Adama, to the point where Adama seizes control of the fleet and institutes martial law.
Back on Caprica, a downed pilot, Karl "Helo" Agathon (Tahmoh Penikett) dodges Cylons with the help of fellow pilot Sharon "Boomer" Valerii (Grace Park). Unbeknownst to Helo, Boomer is actually a Cylon--manipulating him for reasons unknown--and another copy of her is back on the fleet. The first season ends with her attempted assassination of Adama… just as the fleet discovers Kobol.
Season Two
Adama survives Boomer's attack, but he's incapacitated, leaving command of the Galactica in the hands of his XO, Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan). Roslin, meanwhile, finds an ally in former terrorist Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch), an alliance she doesn't like but concedes may be necessary. The fleet splits between her faction and Galactica's, but when she heads for Kobol to search for a route to Earth, the Galactica reluctantly follows her, and she and the healed Adama eventually resolve their differences.
The other major development of the second season is the arrival of the Pegasus, a larger battlestar under the command of Rear Admiral Helena Cain (Michelle Forbes). Cain takes command of the fleet, and she and Adama initially make headway against the Cylons--most spectacularly in the destruction of the Resurrection Ship, an act which prevents the humanoid Cylons from being reborn in new bodies. Cain's harsh leadership tactics cause difficulties, however, and Adama's enthusiasm for his superior first cools, then chills. The two eventually plot to assassinate each other, though neither quite manages to pull the trigger; Cain is eventually killed by Gina Inviere (Tricia Helfer), a Cylon agent in disguise.
Politics rears its head again when the fleet finds a habitable planet, giving Dr. Baltar a campaign issue on which he can run for President. He wins the election and the fleet colonizes the planet, now named New Caprica. They remain there for one year before the Cylons arrive--drawn by a nuclear blast orchestrated by Baltar as an act of sabotage. They quickly conquer the planet, though Adama and the Galactica escape with a few ships to fight another day.
Season Three
Season Three opens with New Caprica occupied by the Cylons and a puppet government in place. Some of the Cylons wish to live peacefully with the humans, but others are more intent on brutalizing their charges. (Throughout the series, the Cylons' plans have become clearer: they're attempting to create a viable human-Cylon hybrid to ensure the survival of their species.)
As the occupation continues, a resistance forms under the leadership of Tigh. Out in space, Adama plans a rescue effort for the colonists, and orders his son Apollo (Jamie Bamber) to take command of the Pegasus. If the Galactica fails, the Pegasus can continue the search for Earth. Under Adama's leadership, the humans on New Caprica escape, but the Galactica threatens to pay the ultimate price for it… until Apollo arrives with the Pegasus in defiance of direct orders. He uses the larger battlestar to destroy a trio of Cylon base ships, escaping along with the crew just before it is destroyed.
The political fallout from the mishigoths on New Caprica continue to haunt the fleet as they resume their search for Earth. Starbuck is apparently killed, Tom Zarek assumes the Presidency (before turning it back over to Roslin), and a quartet of Galactica crewmembers--including Tigh--discover that they're actually Cylons, though they cannot be sure why they are with the fleet or what their ultimate purpose is. The season ends with Starbuck returning from the dead, claiming that she knows the way to Earth.
Season Four
Starbuck faces deep suspicion from her fellow crewmembers, but adamantly insists that she can lead the way to Earth. A disgraced Dr. Baltar forms a new cult, based around the Cylons' monotheistic beliefs rather than the Colonies' traditional polytheism. The Cylons, too, experience turbulence, as a civil war breaks out among their ranks. The four Cylons on the Galactica are part of the "Final Five": a line of Cylons hidden from the remainder of their kind. Unlike the other Cylons, they hope to forge a lasting peace with humanity… and the four resolve to stay loyal to the fleet regardless. A shaky alliance slowly forms with the "friendly" rebellious Cylons, which ultimately leads to the discovery of Earth. But there's a nasty snag: the planet is uninhabitable, destroyed by a nuclear war which seemingly took place thousands of years ago.
In the wake of the revelation, the fleet undergoes a profound crisis of faith. The last member of the Final Five is revealed--Tigh's wife Ellen (Kate Vernon)--and a more permanent alliance with the rebel Cylons is discussed. The notion doesn't sit well with more than a few members of the fleet, including Tom Zarek, who orchestrates a coup against Roslin and Adama. The coup ultimately fails, and Zarek and his followers are executed.
After four long years on the run, the Galactica is finally starting to break down. Technology from the rebel Cylons only slows its destabilization, and with morale low, something desperate needs to be done. Flickers of hope arise with one of the Final Five, Sam (Michael Tucco), who was injured during the coup but seems to have accessed some secret Cylon knowledge. The evil Cylons abduct a successful hybrid child from the fleet amid word that they have a hidden colony of their own somewhere out there. The final two-part episode apparently entails the Galactica's "one-way" mission to destroy the Cylons once and for all.
Misc.
In addition to the series itself, a fair number of auxiliary spin-offs have arisen. The two most notable are Razor, a standalone movie which recounts the history of the Pegasus under Admiral Cain, and The Resistance, a series of webisodes filling in the blanks between Season Two and Season Three.
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The Galactica's systems being older had nothing to do with surviving the attack in the miniseries. Adama refused to hook up the Galatica to the network that the cylons eventually used to disable the fleet. If I remember correctly, thats one of the reasons Pegasus survived, it wasn't hooked up to the network because the ship was in dockyard for maintenance.
I don't think this series took off until the 3rd season...my personal opinion.