How Well Do You Remember Battlestar Galactica?
- by D_Faraci
- – on
- in Movies and TV
On December 8, 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel aired the first part of a two-night event that introduced viewers to a reimagining of the 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica. While the original lasted just one season (with a second series, Battlestar 1980) this updated version, brought to TV by Ronald D. Moore would run for seventy-five episodes over four seasons. It would also spawn two direct to video movies and two prequel series (neither of which lasted very long).
The series, which focused on the last surviving humans on the last Battlestar class ship in the universe as they searched for a mythical planet called Earth and evaded the robot race of Cylons who wanted to hunt humanity to extinction, was smart, sexy, dramatic and very different from any other sci-fi series on TV. Along with cool robots and crazy action, the show took on real world issues like abortion, religion, and classism.
Chances are, if you're here for this quiz all about Battlestar Galactica you already know all of that stuff, but now that the show has been off the air for eight long years, maybe there are some things you've forgotten. The only way for you to find if your brain has kept all those little BDG facts in order is to take this quiz.
So say we all.
Which of these characters was a Cylon?
Early in the series, we viewers learn that there are thirteen models of Cylon that look human. Commonly referred to as "skinjobs", we meet eight of the thirteen over the course of the first two seasons, but then learn that the final five are, for lack of a better term, sleeper agents. Who these five final skinjobs were unknown to the other eight and to themselves, making them perfect agents to mix in with humanity. One of those five is listed below, do you remember who it was?
What was William Adama's call sign?
Before he became the hard as nails super awesome commander of the Battlestar Galactica, Admiral William Adama was just a lowly pilot flying a Viper. He proved his courage in the First Cylon War and began to move up the ranks. As with all pilots, Adama was given an aviator call sign, a cool nickname that gets stitched onto a flight suit and painted on the side of the Viper you pilot. Adama's call sign was given to him by his pal Coker Fasjovik. What was is?
Who shot Commander Adama?
Admiral Adama, played by the always great Edward James Olmos, was the rock that everyone in the Colonial Fleet leaned on. He was gruff, tough, and had a voice like gravel, but there was no denying his leadership skills. After all, while the rest of the Colonial military fell to the Cylons, Adama was able to get the Galactica and a group of civilian ships away. Adama was so tough, you may have thought that bullets would bounce right off him. They didn't. Who shot Admiral William Adama?
What was Chief's wife's name?
This character, who was part of the show since the miniseries, had only joined the Colonial Forces so she could get money for school - she wanted to be a dentist. She was supposed to be honorably discharged after the Galactica was decommissioned, but the Fall of the Twelve Colonies put an end to her tooth drilling dreams. Instead of a life of filling cavities, she married Chief Tyrol, had a kid, and then went and got murdered. What was her name?
What was Baltar's lawyer's name
For a genius, Gaius Baltar was pretty stupid. His actions, namely his desire to sleep with the tall blonde in the red dress, led to him unwittingly hand over the secrets of the Colonial defense mainframe to the Cylons. These secrets were then used by the Cylons to destroy the Twelve Colonies. It took a while, but everyone finally learned about Gaius' part in the near destruction of humanity. Put on trial for treason, Gaius knew he needed a good lawyer. Who did he get?
Which of these characters didn't die
Battlestar Galactica wasn't afraid to kill characters off. The show kept audiences on the edge of their seats because we honestly never knew who would make it to the end of the series. On more than on occasion, fans erupted in cries of anguish as they watched one of the beloved crew take their last breath. We shed tears for the fallen as their images were added to the wall of the dead. Luckily, not every character died (at least not on screen). Which one of the four below survived?
What is the name of the sport Anders played professionally?
Unlike just about every other character on Battlestar Galactica, Samuel "Longshot" Anders wasn't a member of the Colonial Marines. Before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Anders played sports professionally as a member of the Caprica Buccaneers. He and the team were doing some high altitude training outside the city when the Cylons attacked Caprica. For years, Anders worked on Caprica as part of the resistance, battling Cylons and kicking butt. When he met Kara Thrace, Anders joined the Galactica and eventually became a Viper pilot. What was the sport he played?
Which of these wasn't one of the 12 Colonies of Kobol
As the story goes, all of mankind once lived on Kobol but was forced to leave the planet some two-thousand years before the start of the show. The tribes all settled on different planets, creating the Twelve Colonies. For centuries, these Colonies were disjointed - sometimes they all lived in peace, sometimes they would go to war with each other. When the Cylons first rebelled against man, the Colonies came together to fight against the machines. After the war, the Colonies formed a centralized government and lived in harmony. Which of these is not one of the Twelve Colonies?
What is the name of the 2nd Battlestar that Apollo commands?
Being the son of Admiral Adama, the man who saved mankind, wasn't easy for Lee "Apollo" Adama. While everyone saw his father as an amazing mythical figure, Lee knew the truth about the old man - he was just a guy who had a failed marriage and a life full of regrets. Still, Lee worked to show everyone that he was just as good as they believed his father was, and when a second Battlestar is discovered, Lee gets the chance to be a CO. What was the name of the second Battlestar?
In the miniseries, why did Kara get thrown into the brig?
One of the most controversial aspects of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica was the gender swap of the character Starbuck. In the original series, Starbuck was played by Dirk Benedict, better known as Face from the hit series The A-Team, but for the update, Ronald D. Moore wanted to include a tough and cool woman to the main cast. To let audiences know that this Starbuck wasn't the kind of soldier to take any guff, Kara gets thrown into the brig almost right away. What did she do that landed her there?
Which of these actors was on the original BSG?
While the reimagined Battlestar Galactica wasn't ashamed of the original series, Ronald D. Moore tried to keep the references to the 70s series to a minimum. Names are the same, the ships looked similar, and we do see some original version Cylons later in the series, but overall, everything the show stood separate from the first version. Still, one actor from the original series did end up playing an important character in the 2004 series. Do you know who it was?
Who did Anastasia "Dee" Dualla marry?
Anastasia Dualla, Dee to her friends, worked as the communications NCO on the Galactica, helping coordinate the movements of the fleet by sending out Adama's orders to the civilian ships or keeping all Vipers in contact with each other during battles. Dee joined the Colonial Fleet against the wishes of her father, and sadly she never had the chance to mend the relationship before the Cylons attacked her home world of Sagittaron. Late in the series, Dee went and got married. Who was the lucky guy?
Which of these positions didn't Gaius Baltar hold at some point?
That Gaius Baltar really went through a slew of jobs during the four seasons of Battlestar Galactica. Maybe all that guilt about helping the Cylons destroy humanity was weighing on him and Baltar was looking for the best way to redeem himself, or maybe he was just an opportunistic jerk who wanted power and respect. And women. Gaius really liked sleeping with women. As many women as he could and as often as he could. Of these four positions, which one did Gaius not obtain?
After the Fall of the 12 Colonies, how many humans were left?
One of the things fans of Battlestar Galactica loved was that at the start of just about every episode, we were treated to a count of how many humans were alive. The sometimes the number would go up and sometimes it would go down. It represented the number that President Roslin kept on a whiteboard in her office and on many occasions, it broke our hearts to see that number change. Do you know what the first count was at the end of the miniseries? And in case you think we're playing with you, the included image isn't that number.
At the end of the series, how many humans were left?
At the end of the series, Admiral Adama and the Colonial Fleet finally make it to the mythical Thirteenth Colony known as Earth. Here, away from the Cylons, humanity will have a chance to survive. It won't be easy, but it'll be a lot better than endlessly flying through space. Now, after the last question, you know how many humans started off on this journey to the fabled planet, but do you know how many humans made it to Earth?
In the first episode after the miniseries how long would it take the Cylons to find the Galactica after an FTL jump?
After the intense miniseries that aired in 2003, fans waited nearly a year for the first full season of Battlestar Galactica to start airing on the Sci-Fi Channel. When the show did come back, the first episode knocked us all for a loop. The episode brings us into a situation where the Colonials are being chased by the Cylons. Each time the Cylons catch up to the Colonials, the fleet, which hasn't slept in days, must execute an FTL (faster than light) jump to get away. How long would it take before the Cylons caught up with the Colonials?
Which of these characters wasn't a Cylon?
As we already discussed, there were thirteen human looking Cylons, with five of them working so deep undercover they didn't even know their true origins. Of the eight known skinjobs, the series mainly focused on three or four of them with the others showing up from time to time. Tricia Helfer as Six is the best remembered Cylon but do you remember the other twelve? If so, you'll have no problem figuring out which of these characters wasn't a Cylon
What was Saul Tigh's wife's name?
Colonel Saul Tigh didn't have it easy. He was an alcoholic with a short temper and a wife who cheated on him with a variety of men. As Admiral Adama put it, "she slept with half the Fleet while Saul was in space." Tigh divorced his wife but after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, they worked through their problems and fixed their relationship, but after she betrays the humans to the Cylons on New Caprica, poor Tigh is forced to kill her. Do you remember his wife's name?
Before the Cylon attack, what was President Laura Roslin's position in the Colonial government
Laura Roslin wasn't exactly having the best day before the Cylons attacked the Twelve Colonies. She had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and was on her way to the Galactica for a ceremony, which would be her last act as an official member of President Adar's cabinet - Adar had told Roslin of his intentions to fire her (he was also ending their affair). With the death of President Adar and pretty much every member of the Colonial government, Roslin suddenly found herself being sworn in as the new president. What was her position before that?
Before the Fall of the 12 Colonies, what was going to happen to the Galactica?
The Galactica was one of the oldest ships in the Colonial Fleet when the Cylons attacked - it had been used in the First Cylon War, during which time a young Bill Adama was one of its Viper pilots. Now, forty years later, the Galactica was being taken out of service, but it would still be used to help the Twelve Colonies, just with a smaller staff and less space travel. What was the Galactica going to become after it was decommissioned?
What drove the wedge in the relationship between Adama and Apollo?
Lee Adama and his dad didn't have the best relationship. When the Fall of the Twelve Colonies happens, the two aren't on speaking terms. We learn that two years before the start of the series, the father and son had a falling out that not only damaged their relationship, but Lee's friendship with Starbuck. You also get the feeling that even before the event that Lee blamed his dad for happened, the two weren't very close. What happened that finally ended their relationship?
What is Starbuck's response whenever Adama asked "What do you hear?"
It is one of the first bits we see in the miniseries that introduced us all to the new and improved Battlestar Galactica, and the phrase would be repeated throughout the series. It was a thing just between Admiral Adama and Kara Thrace, something that let us know that the two of them were closer than a commander usually is to one of their pilots. Adama would simply ask "What do you hear?" and Starbuck would respond with these words...
Before he became Vice President, what was Tom Zarek imprisoned for?
Tom Zarek was a charismatic leader filled with great conviction and a strong belief in his philosophically populist leanings. When we first meet him on the show, Zarek is leading a riot on a prison ship called the Astral Queen. When a new Quorum of Twelve is created, Zarek is elected as the representative of the colonists from Sagittaron. Not long after, Zarek becomes Gaius Baltar's running mate in an effort to replace Laura Roslin as president. The thing is, what was he doing on that prison ship in the first place?
Why did the Cylons want to wipe out mankind?
We know that the Cylons were built by man and were treated as little more than slaves for years and that when they first rebelled, humans had no idea what set them off. The real reason is one that man has argued, fought, and killed over for centuries, both in the series and in reality. It was something that the Cylons held to be so important that anyone who disagreed with them needed to be eliminated. What was the reason the Cylon decided to wipe out humanity?
Who are the last two characters we see in the final episode?
At the end of the series, we see some of the life that the remaining members of the fleet live on Earth. We see Bill Adama burry his love. We see Lee and Kara have their last moment together. It is all very nice and touching. Then things cut to modern day New York City where news is breaking that scientists believe they have found what they believe is the "Mitochondrial Eve". There, as the news is shown, we see two characters from the series discussing the future of humanity. Who is it?