The story arc of Battlestar Galactica is set in a distant star system, where a civilization of humans live on a series of planets known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. In the past, the Colonies had been at war with a cybernetic race of their own creation, known as the Cylons. With the self-serving and venal help of a human named Gaius Baltar, the Cylons, some now in human form, launch a sudden sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. Out of a population numbering in the billions, only approximately 50,000 humans survive, most of whom were aboard civilian spaceships that avoided destruction. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the eponymous battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military capital ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of Colonial Fleet officer Commander William "Bill" Adama and President Laura Roslin, the Galactica and its crew take up the task of leading the small fugitive fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.
Secretary of Education Laura Roslin visits the Battlestar Galactica for its decommissioning ceremony. The Cylons launch a surprise nuclear-attack on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, ending a 40-year armistice between the Cylons and humans; most of the human population is wiped out, and the majority of the human fleet is destroyed due to malware implanted by the Cylons. Galactica survives, and its commander, William Adama, assumes command of the human fleet. Roslin aboard a Colonial passenger ship survives as well, and is sworn in as the President of the Twelve Colonies after most of the government have been killed. Roslin orders to start rescuing civilian ships, while Adama, on the contrary, orders all ships to regroup at Ragnar Station for counterattack-preparations. A shuttle from Galactica, crewed by Sharon "Boomer" Valerii and Karl "Helo" Agathon, lands briefly on the human capital-world of Caprica after escaping the fight with the Cylons; Helo switches places with Gaius Baltar, a renowned human scientist who unknowingly helped the Cylons gain access into the human military-computers; Boomer, Baltar and a few more survivors leave Caprica, while Helo is left behind. As the Cylons attack Colonial One, the ship appears to be destroyed by a nuclear explosion.
"Part 2"
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Michael Rymer
Ronald D. Moore and Christopher Eric James
December 9, 2003 (2003-12-09)
Adama orders Galactica to jump to Ragnar Station using faster-than-light (FTL) technology; aboard, they find a man named Leoben, who is revealed to be a humanoid Cylon model, and is killed by Adama. Colonial One is revealed to be intact; Adama's son Lee had used EMP generators on board to simulate the ship's destruction and engineer its escape from the Cylons. Boomer and Baltar reach Colonial One. The Cylons discover Roslin's grown fleet of civilian ships; she orders all FTL-equipped ships to jump to Ragnar, abandoning the rest. Roslin's fleet joins Galactica. Baltar is haunted by a virtual image of the female humanoid Cylon model, "Number Six." He fabricates evidence against another civilian, Aaron Doral, thinking he is another Cylon model; Doral is arrested. Roslin convinces Adama to stop counterattack preparations, and instead focus on humanity's survival. Galactica and the civilian fleet leave the star system after the battle with the Cylons, leaving Doral on Ragnar. Adama promises the crew to take them to the scriptural planet known as "Earth." Doral is confirmed to be a Cylon, as multiple copies of him, Six, and Leoben meet on Ragnar; another Cylon model is revealed to look exactly like Boomer.
A series of flashbacks reveals the chronicles of the Battlestar Pegasus and its crew from the initial Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies, up to its meeting with Galactica, while Apollo's new XO deals with the harsh reality of Admiral Cain's legacy. Chronologically, this fits into Season 2 between the episodes "The Captain's Hand" and "Downloaded."
October 27, 2009 (2009-10-27) (Blu-ray/DVD) January 10, 2010 (2010-01-10) (TV)
As two John Cavil Cylons wait to be blown out of a Galactica airlock, they discuss their opposing opinions on the plan to annihilate humankind. They reflect on their own experiences with the humans since the attack on the Twelve Colonies, their roles in the orchestration of the Cylon agents onboard the Galactica, and efforts to sabotage the resistance effort on Caprica come to light. The film provides an alternate perspective on many events already known to the viewer.
September 5, 2006 (2006-09-05) – October 5, 2006 (2006-10-05)
The Cylons' occupation of New Caprica results in the formation of a human resistance movement determined to undermine the Cylons' attempt to assimilate the remainder of humanity.
October 5, 2007 (2007-10-05) – November 16, 2007 (2007-11-16)
During the later stages of the First Cylon War, a young Lt. William Adama discovers, by chance, an abandoned lab where the Cylons conducted gruesome experiments with live human subjects.
December 12, 2008 (2008-12-12) – January 12, 2009 (2009-01-12)
Nine days after finding Earth, Lt. Gaeta is onboard a Raptor with several of Galactica's crew and Cylon Eights en route to the Zephyr when a Cylon threat forces the fleet to jump. During the chaos, the Raptor is separated from rest of the fleet and while waiting for a rescue, the passengers and crew mysteriously begin to die off one by one.
^ In addition to the Blu-ray Disc releases, this set was also released on HD DVD, on December 4, 2007.[20]
^Razor, though being a television movie, is considered to be the first two episodes of season 4, hence the fourth season is technically 22 episodes and runs from 2007 to 2009.
^ This set does not contain the second half of Season 4, also known as The Final Season.
In January 2006, Apple began offering the episodes for the miniseries, season 1, and season 2 for purchase on the U.S. version of the iTunes Store.[46] In December 2007, the Battlestar Galactica episodes were removed from iTunes along with other NBC Universal content.[47] The episodes returned to iTunes when NBC Universal announced their return to iTunes in September 2008.[48] In February 2009, the series became available in high-definition format at the UK iTunes Store.[49]
^There is no survivor count given in the aired version of the episode. It was split into three separate episodes on iTunes, Amazon Unbox, and other online providers, and the "third part", "Daybreak, Part 3" gives a survivor count of 39,406, which is relevant to the beginning of the episode at which The Colony has just been ordered to stand down. Later in the episode, when the fleet is orbiting the new Earth, Admiral Adama gives the last survivor count of the Colonials, putting the count at approximately "38,000." Thereafter the population assimilates with/into the society of the native Earth humans, and 150,000 years later, the population of the descendants of the Colonials is 6,760,000,000.
