In the early 2000s, a producer named David Eick and a writer named Ronald D. Moore began working together on a reboot of a 1978 sci-fi TV series much of the world didn’t even seem to remember anymore. By tapping into some of their own past storytelling frustrations, as well as the fears and concerns of post-9/11 America, they began constructing what would become one of the most acclaimed series of the 21st century so far, as well as one of the great science fiction stories of all time.
The road to Battlestar Galactica becoming a giant of 2000s television was not an easy one, though. Its creators fought through uncertain early plans, a fandom who hated the very idea of a reboot, and a supposed “plan” that didn’t really exist, all to establish a new vision of sci-fi television. In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the series finale, here are 15 facts about Battlestar Galactica.
1. IT WAS NOT THE FIRST REBOOT ATTEMPT.
Talk of returning to the Battlestar Galactica universe stretched all the way back to the 1980s, when franchise creator Glen A. Larson issued repeated promises that a continuation would eventually arrive. By the late 1990s, that promise began to look a little more likely, though perhaps not in the way Larson had originally intended.
In 1998, original Battlestar Galactica series star Richard Hatch took it upon himself to try to revive the series with a project he called The Second Coming, maxing out credit cards and spending more than $50,000 of his own money to fund a proof of concept trailer that he hoped would lead to a new life for Battlestar Galactica. Hatch completed work on the project in 1999, but the project never got beyond screenings for fans at conventions. Meanwhile, Larson had begun developing his own new story centered around the Battlestar Pegasus, which was set to get its own film from producer Todd Moyer. When the 1999 adaptation of the video game Wing Commander, which Moyer produced, flopped at the box office, his Battlestar Galactica project also evaporated.
The closet near-miss to a Battlestar Galactica revival was yet to come, though, and it arrived when Bryan Singer, fresh off the success of X-Men, wanted to continue the franchise with a new television series, which executives were eager to set up at the Fox network. According to production executive Todd Sharp, that version—which was described as relatively faithful to the original series, compared to what was to come—got as far as designing ships and building early sets when Singer instead opted to return to the X-Men franchise for X2. With the property up in the air yet again, Universal Cable Entertainment president Angela Mancuso took Battlestar Galactica back with an eye toward bringing it to what was then the Sci-FI Channel (now Syfy). For that, Mancuso turned to executive producer David Eick.
2. IT WAS INSPIRED BY 9/11.
By the time Battlestar Galactica made its way to Ronald D. Moore, a veteran of three different Star Trek TV series by that point, it was still only a potentially profitable property that Universal was hoping to revive. When Eick had a general meeting with Moore, he was reluctant to even mention the prospect of yet another sci-fi series, but this was late 2001, just months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, and Moore started to see parallels in the original series that he could explore.
“There’s a good chance the show would’ve happened even without 9/11, because they were just looking for someone to capitalize on the title in the library. And it wasn’t because of 9/11 that they saw value in it. It was just a market title,” Moore recalled. “So I think that was on a separate track. I believe that it definitely would have gone in a different direction no matter what if not for 9/11 and the aftermath—the war in Afghanistan and then Iraq, the Patriot Act and Guantánamo and all those things—were such a heavy influence in the show that, if none of that had happened, it’s hard to imagine the show would’ve developed in the same way.”
The road to Battlestar Galactica becoming a giant of 2000s television was not an easy one, though. Its creators fought through uncertain early plans, a fandom who hated the very idea of a reboot, and a supposed “plan” that didn’t really exist, all to establish a new vision of sci-fi television. In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the series finale, here are 15 facts about Battlestar Galactica.
1. IT WAS NOT THE FIRST REBOOT ATTEMPT.
Talk of returning to the Battlestar Galactica universe stretched all the way back to the 1980s, when franchise creator Glen A. Larson issued repeated promises that a continuation would eventually arrive. By the late 1990s, that promise began to look a little more likely, though perhaps not in the way Larson had originally intended.
In 1998, original Battlestar Galactica series star Richard Hatch took it upon himself to try to revive the series with a project he called The Second Coming, maxing out credit cards and spending more than $50,000 of his own money to fund a proof of concept trailer that he hoped would lead to a new life for Battlestar Galactica. Hatch completed work on the project in 1999, but the project never got beyond screenings for fans at conventions. Meanwhile, Larson had begun developing his own new story centered around the Battlestar Pegasus, which was set to get its own film from producer Todd Moyer. When the 1999 adaptation of the video game Wing Commander, which Moyer produced, flopped at the box office, his Battlestar Galactica project also evaporated.
The closet near-miss to a Battlestar Galactica revival was yet to come, though, and it arrived when Bryan Singer, fresh off the success of X-Men, wanted to continue the franchise with a new television series, which executives were eager to set up at the Fox network. According to production executive Todd Sharp, that version—which was described as relatively faithful to the original series, compared to what was to come—got as far as designing ships and building early sets when Singer instead opted to return to the X-Men franchise for X2. With the property up in the air yet again, Universal Cable Entertainment president Angela Mancuso took Battlestar Galactica back with an eye toward bringing it to what was then the Sci-FI Channel (now Syfy). For that, Mancuso turned to executive producer David Eick.
2. IT WAS INSPIRED BY 9/11.
By the time Battlestar Galactica made its way to Ronald D. Moore, a veteran of three different Star Trek TV series by that point, it was still only a potentially profitable property that Universal was hoping to revive. When Eick had a general meeting with Moore, he was reluctant to even mention the prospect of yet another sci-fi series, but this was late 2001, just months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, and Moore started to see parallels in the original series that he could explore.
“There’s a good chance the show would’ve happened even without 9/11, because they were just looking for someone to capitalize on the title in the library. And it wasn’t because of 9/11 that they saw value in it. It was just a market title,” Moore recalled. “So I think that was on a separate track. I believe that it definitely would have gone in a different direction no matter what if not for 9/11 and the aftermath—the war in Afghanistan and then Iraq, the Patriot Act and Guantánamo and all those things—were such a heavy influence in the show that, if none of that had happened, it’s hard to imagine the show would’ve developed in the same way.”
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