Battlestar Galactica is a re-imagining of the 1970s science fiction series of the same name, and this new version is enjoying a far greater success than its predecessor. While the original series only lasted one season, the new series lasted for four seasons.
The story behind Battlestar Galactica is fairly simple. The story takes place in a distant part of the universe, where a civilization of humans live on planets that are known as the Twelve Colonies. For 40 years, the colonies have had an armistice with the Cylons, a cybernetic race that, at the beginning of the series, launches a sneak attack on the colonies, wiping out most of the populations of each planet.
The Galactica is the only military ship to survive the attacks because it was considered past its prime and was in the process of being decommissioned when the Cylons launched their strikes. Under the leadership of Commander Adama the Galactica takes up the task of leading a fugitive fleet of survivors to a legendary refuge known as Earth.
The Sci-Fi Channel premiered its initial take on the original story in a mini-series that premiered in December 2003, with Edward James Olmos playing Adama. In the four seasons since, we’ve seen the fleet evade the Cylons while searching for Earth. There are 12 humanoid Cylon models and we’ve known for some time what seven of them look like. In the waning moments of the season three finale we learn who four of the remaining five models are and the revelation was shocking considering some of them are key characters and two of them lead the resistance against the Cylons during part of season three.
When we last left the crew of the Galactica, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace had led them to what they thought was Earth, but in actuality was a bombed-out planet that looked like Earth. During season 4.5 we find Starbuck's charred corpse leading her and the viewers to ponder “What the frak is Starbuck?” We finally also learn who the final Cylon is, we learn something of their origins, and an uneasy alliance forms between the survivors of the sneak attack and the Cylons as they try to find the real Earth. Because of this alliance some of the crew led a rebellion which leads to some executions. There's also a final showdown with the more devious Cylon models, and we learn the final fate of the Galactica and its quest to find the 13th colony aka Earth.
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