The Good Battlestar Galactica Prequel Exists However Many Followers By no means Noticed It

By Chris Snellgrove
| Printed 26 seconds in the past

Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica reboot set the usual for sci-fi tv, and followers have been clamoring for extra of this universe ever for the reason that remaining episode aired in 2009. That fan need has solely heightened amongst failed efforts to resurrect this venerable franchise into one other tv incarnation. When you’re a kind of Battlestar Galactica followers who has been wanting extra content material, we’ve obtained some excellent news: a sort of miniature prequel is hidden within the particular options for the episode “Scattered.”

The Secret Battlestar Galactica Prequel From “Scattered”

“Scattered” is the primary episode of the present’s second season, and it opens with Commander Adama reeling from Boomer’s shock gun shot and Colonel Tigh having to take command as Cylons shut in on our heroes. Initially, although, Battlestar Galactica’s producers wished to make the complete episode right into a prequel flashback, faking out followers who had been hoping that “Scattered” would shortly resolve the life-and-death cliffhanger ending of Season 1. As soon as they ditched that concept, they nonetheless filmed loads of flashback scenes that showcased how Adama and Tigh first met. 

When you’re a Battlestar Galactica fan hungry to take a look at a prequel’s value of flashbacks, you merely want to take a look at the particular options for “Scattered.” A number of completely different scenes set within the distant previous had been filmed, and all of them had been supposed to indicate how the surprisingly tight relationship between Adama and Tigh shaped over time. These scenes go very far past the restricted flashbacks that we see within the completed episode, that are there solely to flesh out Tigh’s character.

So, you’re most likely asking a easy query proper now: if the Battlestar Galactica producers filmed sufficient flashback sequences to create a bite-sized prequel, then why did they in the end go away them out of the completed “Scattered”? It began with the truth that no one was eager to solid youthful variations of our favourite characters, so we now have Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan taking part in variations of their characters who’re alleged to be a long time youthful. This was completed by placing the actors in horrible wigs, and the producers in the end determined to not torment viewers with all the flashbacks that they had filmed.

After all, as hardcore Battlestar Galactica followers know, the ultimate episode nonetheless teases on the prequel we might have had as a result of “Scattered” does embody the best flashback. In a very darkish scene, we see {that a} youthful Tigh was about to commit suicide and was solely stopped from doing so by the invention that Adama had reinstated him into army service. Moore noticed this scene as an homage to Apocalypse Now, and as in that movie, this serves as a bleak revelation of simply how tormented the protagonist actually is.

Clearly, we’re enormous Battlestar Galactica followers, however whereas we’re grateful for its miniature prequel stuffed with deleted scenes, “Scattered” is a greater episode for retaining the flashbacks to a minimal. The ultimate episode does a greater job of sustaining the momentum from Season 1, and we get simply sufficient flashbacks to flesh out our understanding of Tigh as a personality. If we needed to stare on the terrible flashback wigs any longer, although, we’d fortunately save Laura Roslin the trouble and flush ourselves out the airlock.