Feature: Battlestar Galactica (2000s)

Admiral Adama swore to protect his charges but then had to leave them behind. Now he’s dealing with the consequences.…

Edward James Olmos is all smiles this particular Tuesday morning as he steps into his trailer on the Vancouver set of Battlestar Galactica and spends a few minutes speaking with his assistant Joseph before sitting down to chat. The actor is dressed in casual attire and looking very unlike his military alter ego of Admiral William Adama. In just an hour, though, Olmos will change into his costume, walk onto set and re-enter the Galactica universe, where art is imitating life even more than ever this year.

“I just finished speaking with a reporter from USA Today and she’s been blown away by the show’s third season,” notes the actor. “She said, ‘I have to tell you, it’s so relevant and poignant that it’s scary.’ And she’s right. I mean, the first five episodes of Galactica this year are just incredibly difficult to watch. You start to realize that what you’re watching is much more than a TV series, do you know what I mean? It becomes more of a commentary on this real world that we’re living in right now, so you’re sitting there thinking, ‘Wait a minute, I know where they’re going with this.’

“Our characters, the Human beings, are becoming the suicide bombers. It’s like what’s happening today in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, etc. In our show, we see how people can do something like that and why. They’re killing not only the Cylons, but their fellow Humans who have, in fact, been collaborating with the enemy. For example, you have Colonel Tigh who has lost an eye after being interrogated and tortured by the Cylons. You see what he has to do to his wife Ellen, who chose to become a collaborator, albeit in order to save his life. Everything that happened to Tigh is really unsettling, and where his situation goes and how it evolves is quite intense.

“I’m very pleased with this year of Galactica. It’s probably one of the most exciting seasons of TV I’ve ever worked on. I’m overwhelmed by it, and it’s flying by. Everyone, the cast as well as the crew, is stunned at how fast it’s going, but we don’t stop to think about that because we’re so wrapped up in the storytelling. It’s early October and we’re already on our 15th episode. We only have five more to do after this one. It’s so sad, especially in that we’re creeping closer and closer to the end. There’s the dimmest of lights at the end of the proverbial tunnel. I’ve tried to convince The Powers That Be to slow things down a little, but one of these days our characters are finally going to locate Earth.

“In my mind we could go on for 15 years with this series and commenting on the world we live in. It’s extremely hard to find the vehicles that can do it as well as Galactica. It’s entertaining and has its moments of levity, but in essence it’s still a very strong look at what we’re doing to ourselves as a race.”

by Steven Eramo

Read the full interview in
TV Zone #209

Image © Visual Imagination Ltd, Battlestar Galactica © The Sci-Fi Channel
Feature © Visual Imagination 2006. Not for reproduction

Taken from

TV Zone #209
Christmas 2006
ships from Nov 8 2006
News-stand Price
UK £3.99 / US $7.99

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