Battlestar Galactica: Original & Reimagined

Classic Science Fiction Television

Chapter 5 · Battlestar Galactica: Original & Reimagined

Two shows share the name Battlestar Galactica, made 26 years apart, and they are honestly not much alike beyond their premise — a ragtag human fleet fleeing robotic Cylons in search of a legendary lost colony called Earth. One rode a cultural wave; the other used the same premise to say something genuinely different about the world it was made in.

1978: Riding Star Wars Into Orbit

ABC, 1978–1979

Creator Glen A. Larson had conceived the premise, originally called "Adam's Ark," in the late 1960s, but couldn't find financial backing for years. Production only became viable following the massive 1977 success of Star Wars. The series premiered on ABC on 17 September 1978 — its broadcast that night was even interrupted roughly 30 minutes before its scheduled end by news coverage of the Camp David Accords.

The original cast included Lorne Greene as Commander Adama, Dirk Benedict as Starbuck, and Herb Jefferson Jr. as Boomer. The show won Best New TV Drama Series at the 1979 People's Choice Awards, and built a genuine cult following — but that fandom formed only after the fact.

A costly show that didn't last — 17 episodes were produced across roughly eight months of production, and ABC cancelled the series in April 1979, citing declining ratings alongside real cost overruns. The final episode aired 29 April 1979 — less than eight months after its premiere.

2004: A Genuinely Different Show With the Same Name

Sci-Fi Channel, 2003–2009

Developed and executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick as a deliberate "re-imagining" of the original, the series began as a three-hour miniseries on 8 December 2003, followed by four regular seasons running from 2004 to 2009.

The reimagining made one central structural choice that changed everything else about the show: its Cylons were now humanoid androids, not simply robotic machines — a change that let the writers use them as a genuine allegory rather than just an antagonist.

A Post-9/11 Political Allegory

Time magazine described the reimagined series as "a gripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with monotheistic religious fundamentalists (here genocidal cyborgs called Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner-torture scandal." This was a genuinely different kind of science fiction television than either Chapter 3's utopian original Star Trek or Chapter 4's largely optimistic Next Generation — one built to sit uncomfortably close to real, current events rather than a hopeful future.

Edward James Olmos

Commander Adama

Mary McDonnell

President Laura Roslin

Katee Sackhoff

Starbuck

Jamie Bamber

Apollo

A Real, Documented Casting Controversy

Starbuck, reimagined as a woman — Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, originally played by Dirk Benedict in 1978, was rewritten as a woman and played by Katee Sackhoff. Benedict himself publicly criticized the change, and it became a genuinely real point of controversy among some longtime fans of the original — not a minor detail glossed over by the reimagining, but a deliberate choice its own original star spoke out against.

Real Critical Recognition

The reimagined series earned a genuinely serious critical reputation rare for the genre at the time: a Peabody Award, the Television Critics Association's own Program of the Year Award, 19 Emmy nominations with 3 wins, a place on Time's 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time list, and a spot on The New York Times' list of the 20 best TV dramas since The Sopranos.

Same Premise, Two Very Different Shows

	Battlestar Galactica (1978)	Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Made possible by	Star Wars' own 1977 box-office success	A deliberate creative reimagining, not a trend it was riding
Cylons	Robotic machines	Humanoid androids, indistinguishable from humans
Tone	Space-opera adventure	A genuine post-9/11 political allegory
Fate	Cancelled after one season, 17 episodes	Ran four full seasons with major critical recognition

Questions to Sit With

Reflection 1

The 1978 original existed largely because Star Wars proved space adventure could be profitable. Do you think a show made to capitalize on someone else's success can still be genuinely original, or is that always a real limitation on what it can become?

Reflection 2

The 2004 Cylons were made human in appearance specifically so the show could use them as a real political allegory. What does making an enemy look exactly like "us" actually change about the story a science fiction show can tell?

Reflection 3

Dirk Benedict, the original Starbuck, publicly objected to his own character being reimagined as a woman. What do you think a creator or original cast member is actually owed, if anything, when a beloved work gets reimagined decades later?

Quick Reference — Chapter 5

Battlestar Galactica (1978, ABC) — Glen A. Larson's series, made possible by Star Wars' own success, cancelled after 17 episodes over ratings and cost overruns
Battlestar Galactica (2004, Sci-Fi Channel) — Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's reimagining, beginning as a 2003 miniseries and running four full seasons
The reimagined Cylons were made humanoid, enabling a genuine post-9/11 political allegory (Time magazine's own description)
Starbuck was reimagined as a woman (Katee Sackhoff), a real, documented controversy — the original actor Dirk Benedict publicly criticized the change
The reimagined series earned a Peabody Award and major critical recognition rare for the genre

What's Next

Chapter 6: The X-Files & Conspiracy SF.