Introducing the new Galactica - Radio Times, June 2006

Features

Introducing the new Galactica - Radio Times, June 2006

The 1970s sci-fi drama has been given a new lease of life. Mark Braxton describes the premise of the new series and Bafta Award-winning writer Russell T Davies explains why he'll be watching.

"Experts are forever telling us to eat a balanced diet, but the same can be said of our television viewing. Eye candy is all very well, but you need brain food, too. Battlestar Galactica is resoundingly, thrillingly, both.

A critical success on its 2004 Sky One world premiere, the series was last year named the number one show on American TV by Time magazine.

Just as Doctor Who has writer and executive producer Russell T Davies at the helm , Battlestar has Ronald D Moore, who has also plucked an old TV title from the archive and transformed it beyond recognition.

"Sci-fi, shmi-fi", some may say, while envisaging rubber monsters and wooden acting. You're way off. This is a gutsy, tautly scripted, post-9/11 drama that just happens to be set in space. It's intelligent, complex, [and] filled with well-rounded characters that you'll be rooting for.

So stand by to enter the world of terror attacks and sleeper cells, of
love and betrayal, and what it is to be human. Does that sound like
rubber monsters?

The story so far

A branch of humanity, living in another galaxy, is running for its life. They created machines to make life easier, only for those subservient "Cylons" to turn on their makers, nuking a dozen planets and all but wiping out the people.

Fewer than 50,000 survivors escape in a ragtag fleet protected by the creaking-at-the-seams warship Galactica, pursued by the murderous mechanicals. The exhausted human survivors have just one motivation: the search for a legendary planet called Earth that they can call home.

So, it's man versus machine, but we're not just talking about clanking robots; Cylon technology has advanced to the point where certain models are indistinguishable from humans, and can be duplicated to infiltrate the fugitive fleet. The phrase "Know thine enemy" couldn't be more apt. But it's not as simple as good against evil. The Cylons are a terrifying menace, yes, but sometimes the humans are worse.

Why Russell T Davies rates it

"The human survivors really are refugees. It's overstated, but it's what the world could be. The West could be at war with anyone… certainly fundamentalist elements - and this is beautifully represented.

"The Cylon enemy is practically human. They're more than just shaped like us, they act like us, too. The Cylons don't understand their enemy, and the enemy doesn't understand the Cylons.

"They're all just killing each other, and there's a deep philosophical divide between the goodies and the baddies. It really challenges the viewer.

"It's about the differences between human beings and machine beings, and actually they're similar. It's just that they have fundamentally different ideas about life. At the same time it's an exciting outer-space adventure.

"[Unlike Doctor Who] it could never be run at 7pm on Saturday. It's absolutely a 9pm programme, and not really normal sci-fi at all.""

**

Now take a look at our full Battlestar Galactica guide.

Advertiser link