Movies - Comparison of Battlestar Galactica and Battlestar Galactica

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	Movies - Comparison of Battlestar Galactica and Battlestar Galactica

The new 2003 Battlestar Galactica
miniseries and subsequent television series were a significant reimagining and departure from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica, and in many ways is a completely brand new series with only some borrowed ideas and characters from the original.

Overview

The most notable changes from the original series include:

The Cylons were created by man, and not by a race of reptilian aliens
Some Cylon models that closely resemble human form are used for infiltration
Starbuck is a female character
Boomer, formerly a black male (and genuinely human), is now portrayed by a woman of Korean descent and is a Cylon
Col. Tigh, formerly also portrayed by a black actor, is now portrayed by a white actor.
Adama, originally played by a Jewish actor, is now portrayed by a Hispanic actor.
Characters have been given Anglo-American style names with a given name and a family name (in the original series they were only known by one name). For example, Adama is now William Adama, and Starbuck and Apollo are the callsigns (pilot nicknames) of Kara Thrace and Lee Adama, respectively.
There are fewer ships in this series than the original, only 70 ships are in the fleet (while the original series had 220), but more human survivors — fifty thousand people are alive as opposed to the original series figure of only 6,000 (episode Greetings from Earth).
The vipers are much smaller as can be seen in scenes where people stand beside them.
Space battles are largely modelled on Newtonian physics, first seen on TV in the science-fiction series Babylon 5 and as recently as 2002 in the series Firefly.
The new series does not go to great lengths to portrait a foreign, exotic environ. Specifially, many items common to 21st century life are utilized as props. For example, Hum-Vees, transistor radios, point-and-shoot cameras, various conventional firearms of our era, and even clothing such as military uniforms and business suits with ties.

Overall, the new series pays a lot more attention to the logistics of survival than the original series. It aims for a darker and more serious tone than the original. There is heavily suggested sexual content and the violence is more realistic. There is also a more socially conscious approach to character development and plot lines, addressing addiction, divided loyalties, and coping with personal and community grief. The new series also addresses contemporary issues, such as terrorism and abortion.

Differences from the 1978 series

The following is an exhaustive list of differences of the 2003 series from the 1978 series:

Cylons

The Cylons are now a creation of the humans. They rebelled against their creators during a war that ended forty years ago, formed their own civilization, broke off all contact with the humans after an armistice was reached, and are now resuming the same genocidal conflict after an extended truce.

There are no other alien species shown in the series, just Humans and Cylons.

Cylon soldiers are significantly different from the "classic" Centurion design. These new units are faster, streamlined, more agile, and have built-in weaponry. They are also mute (wireless communication), their usual response of "By your command" completely absent. (The older models do appear as "museum pieces", obviously indicating the Cylons have "evolved".)

Cylon Raiders (small fighter/attack craft) are no longer manned by a crew of three Cylon Centurions. Instead the craft themselves are cybernetic organisms.

Some Cylons are designed to be almost biologically and phenotypically identical to humans, in order to serve the purpose of infiltration. Some units are unaware of their Cylon origin, believing themselves to be human. So convincing are the stealth units that they can associate with humans, even at an intimate emotional and sexual level. There were no humanoid Cylons in the original series, but an android did appear in the Galactica 1980
episode The Night the Cylons Landed. However, this android was only a cyber-mechanical entity with a human appearance.

Human characters

Dr. Gaius Baltar
was seduced and tricked into betraying humanity, as opposed to making a conscious choice to do so. Baltar is also portrayed as being somewhat mentally disturbed, though the main characters on the show often dismiss Gaius's mental problems as Gaius being eccentric.

In both series, Adar is President of the Colonies and is killed in the Cylon attack. In the original, he organises the peace conference that leads to the destruction of the Colonies, and is portrayed as a misguided idealist and tool of Baltar. He dies telling himself (literally) that he has "led the human race to ruin." In the new series, President Adar is only seen in flashback during the second season and is portrayed as a much darker and less beloved figure through recollections of the main characters. One notable example would be Adama's telling Billy that "Adar was a moron". The biggest change is the reveal that Adar and his successor Laura Roslin were lovers; while Roslin idolized Adar, Adar had little faith in Roslin being able to contribute to his administration. Days before the Cylons attacked Caprica, Adar sent Roslin to broker the return to work of the planet's teachers, who's union had gone on strike. After convincing them to return to work in exchange for vowing to get President Adar to listen to their demands, she was shocked when Adar promptly demanded she resign upon being told that Roslin had ended the strike. Adar had sent Roslin to resolve the strike, believing that she would fail miserably. Her failure would have then given Adar a blank check to use deadly force to destroy the non-violent teachers union as a means to send a message to the other unions on Caprica that Adar would use violent force on them rather than come to a peaceful compromise with them.

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