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Creator:Battlestar Galactica Filmmakers on Reinventing a Classic

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When executive producer David Eick accepted the challenge of conceptualizing Battlestar Galactica for SCI FI's new miniseries, he knew exactly what he did not want to do: He did not want to remake the original series, which earned a cult following during its single season on ABC in 1978–1979. And he did not want to make a sequel that simply picked up where the short-lived series had left off.

Eick had far more ambitious plans. Not only did he want to reimagine Battlestar Galactica for a new audience in a new century, he wanted to reinvent the epic space opera and breathe new life into a genre that has become, at times, formulaic and predictable.

"I'm a tremendous fan of the genre," said Eick. "When an opportunity like this comes along, you have to ask yourself, 'What can you do that isn't being done perfectly elsewhere?' And we decided to take this existing mythos and reinterpret it without being married to any preexisting formula or template. We said, 'Let's borrow from this rich tapestry and then find ways to reinvent it tonally, visually, and editorially.'"

The result is an edgy new take on a familiar story. While Eick and his cast and crew have taken some creative liberties—for example, "Starbuck," the devil-may-care pilot played by Dirk Benedict in the series, is now a female character, played by Katee Sackhoff—the spirit of the original Battlestar Galactica remains wholly intact. And multiple viewpoints, documentary-style footage and dazzling special effects give viewers a heightened sense of being immersed in the action, excitement, and confusion.

From the beginning, Eick knew that if he were going to succeed in his goal of reinventing Battlestar Galactica, he would need a collaborator who knew the genre inside out. He found one in writer and executive producer Ronald D. Moore. As a boy, Moore watched the original Battlestar Galactica series religiously. As an adult, he worked for ten years on the Star Trek franchises Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He knew the rules of space opera very well and he also knew he wanted to break them.

"Science fiction on television has started to fall within certain well-defined parameters," said Moore. "Even in features, the genre has become big and glossy and romantic. I was eager to write something that was more dramatic than the traditional space opera, a story with real characters, real human relationships, but in a science fiction setting." To achieve that goal, Moore decided to draw parallels with contemporary reality.

"Instead of creating a completely different, alien culture, I took the approach of, 'This is you and I and we're on an aircraft carrier in space and then the world ends. What happens to us?'"

As he contemplated that apocalyptic scenario, Moore found inspiration in recent history. "One of the things that struck me when I went back and looked at the original pilot for Battlestar Galactica was how dark it was," said Moore. "I mean, it begins with the destruction of an entire society. And I thought, you know, there are depths that we could really plumb with that. And remember, I was looking at this in a post-9/11 world, a world that had been at peace and that was going along quite well. And then suddenly, one morning I woke up and the World Trade Center had collapsed and people I'd never heard of hated me and hated everything about my society and wanted to destroy it. Life stops for a moment.

"Looking at it in that light," he continues, "I thought that there was a truth there that we should go for. How do people react in that moment? And how do they go on afterwards? How do they balance security and freedom and how do the debates about that unfold?"

Moore admits there may be things that diehard fans of the original won't like about the miniseries. But he's also convinced that there are many things they will like, things that improve on the television show.

"I think, at its core, this is still Battlestar Galactica," he says. "That said, I think your reaction to this show will depend considerably on how much—or rather how—you loved the original. If you thought it was perfect the way it was and you just can't imagine anyone else doing those roles, and the nostalgia of it weighs heavy on your heart, I don't know that you're going to be satisfied with this. Because we didn't try to do that. We took the core of what Galactica was and tried to give it a deeper meaning, a greater sense of humanity, a greater relevance to our lives today. So I think if you look at the original with some fondness, and you kind of remember it as being fun at the time, but you look at it right now and go, 'Yeah, we could probably change some things, make some improvements along the way,' then I think you'll really enjoy this version of Battlestar Galactica.'"

"I've heard some fans express their shock and horror at what we're doing," adds director Michael Rymer. "But when you probe a little deeper, past questions about the Cylons or casting, what you find is that what fans loved about the original were the themes, the psychology, the relationships—the humanity of it. And I think those things are more strongly presented in the miniseries than in the original show."

For Eick, the miniseries stands as a bridge between the old and the new, between fans of the original and SF fans that might not have been born when Battlestar Galactica first aired in 1978.

"As I said, this is an ambitious project—we're really trying to reinvent the genre of science fiction," he notes. "That said, I think we have paid great respect to the mythos of the original Battlestar Galactica. I think fans of the original will appreciate that we're using that mythos as a springboard into a new thing. At the same time, we're reaching out to a new audience that may not have seen the original or who may not even watch science fiction. In a way, we're like the Galactica itself: We may be carrying a lot of the old world with us, but we are definitely heading for a new one."