Best Battlestar Galactica Series & Movies

Highlights

• Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) is the most successful and beloved version of the franchise, featuring a compelling story, complex characters, and thrilling battle scenes.
• The Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries) restarted the franchise in a re-imagined universe, introducing new versions of familiar characters and adding depth to the lore and world-building.
• The Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance web series bridges the gap between Seasons 2 and 3 of the reimagined series, providing context for the formation of resistance against the Cylons.

Battlestar Galactica is one of the best-known sci-fi television series of all time, having been a popular series long before the rebooted series brought a more modern audience to the franchise. With two primary television series in the franchise, as well as multiple television spin-offs and even a few movies, there is plenty for fans to explore in the world of BSG.

With the franchise gearing up for a return after a quiet period, with new shows and films both on the way, the Battlestar Galactica series is ripe for a revisit. Fans and newcomers to the franchise alike will love checking out some of the amazing sci-fi action available in what can be described as a more militaristic Star Trek.

12 Galactica 1980

IMDb Score: 5.4/10

This follow-up/spin-off series to the original 1978 show involved the crew of the Galactica finding Earth after a generation, and discovering that it was unable to defend itself from Cylons. Thus, Commander Adama sends his people to Earth in an attempt to begin integrating with the population and preparing them, raising their technological level.

While this was a bold attempt to add new sci-fi elements like time travel to the franchise and simultaneously bring down the costs of making the show so it could be more viable, it was a failed project and the ten-episode first season was all that was ever made for Galactica 1980.

11 Battlestar Galactica (1978 Movie)

IMDb Score: 6.7/10

The original pilot episodes for the first Battlestar Galactica series were released separately as a film which can be watched today as a great project in its own right, and it remains the only theatrically released film in the franchise. Dealing with the Cylons, after a 1000-year war, attempting to make peace, only to reveal their betrayal as they destroy most of the Battlestar ships in one fell swoop, this film was a fascinating watch.

For the time, and with the constraints of a television-level budget, Battlestar Galactica, released in some territories as Saga Of A Star World, looked great and managed to generate a lot of interest for the ensuing series. Ending with a great victory and the humans deciding to set out for the legendary planet Earth made for a perfectly rounded out standalone film, with the leftover tease of more to come in the series.

10 Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

IMDb Score: 6.9/10

A fascinating special event, the television film known as The Plan featured many of the events from throughout the newer Battlestar Galactica series, retold and expanded upon from the perspective of the Cylons hiding among the humans. From their initial genocidal plot on the human colonies onward through the events of the first two seasons of the show.

Released to expand upon the secretive nature of many characters in the show, the focus of The Plan was on the two different versions of Cavil, known as Number One, and on how they argued over what should be the fate of humankind. The Final Five is also brought into more focus by this event, which was a great piece of lore and world-building for the villains of the franchise but wasn’t a fantastic film in its own right.

9 Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome

IMDb Score: 6.9/10

Released initially as a web series but compiled later into a film, Blood & Chrome took place during the first Cylon War, decades before the events of the Battlestar Galactica series. It followed a young William Adama, having just graduated as a pilot from the Academy and joining the fight against the Cylons aboard the Galactica.

Assigned to a mission aboard a transport ship, instead of getting his own Viper, Adama is frustrated and learns throughout this adventure about the lengths his compatriots are willing to go to beat the Cylons. His acquiescence to this reality shows how he manages to rise through the ranks to the places he is seen in the main series. While this prequel was an interesting look at the earlier days of Adama and the Cylons, it wasn’t the fantastic victory and pilot for a prequel series that the creators hoped it would be.

8 Caprica

IMDb Score: 7.1/10

A prequel series that did pan out, at least for a single season, Caprica was released in 2010. Set 58 years before the re-imagined series, Caprica focused on the creation of the Cylons by humans. The world, filled with success, peace, and order, was a far cry from what humanity would become, and this was a focus for the series, as humans began their own downfall.

Following the Adama and Graystone families, their heads begin attempting to find a way to bring their loved ones back to life. One of the main characters was Joseph Adama, the father of William, and the fascinating plot followed their family as fans saw William starting to develop into the man he would become while shaping the world into the one he would have to fight to try and save. Caprica was a fascinating attempt to keep the IP alive following the conclusion of the main BSG series, but it fell a little flat when it came to longevity.

7 Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV Series)

IMDb Score: 7.2/10

The original series, despite being deemed too expensive at the time to continue for more than one season, was a fascinating look at sci-fi in the late 70s. Despite this, it is remembered for kick-starting this beloved franchise and for having what was, for the time, a truly all-star TV cast featuring Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, and Lorne Greene.

The series features Commander Adama leading a fleet of 220 surviving ships, protecting them with the Battlestar Galactica, on their way to try and find a new home, after the Cylon sneak attack which destroyed their home and most of their race. The series was beloved, and the early cancelation resulted in a huge write-in campaign filled with complaints. Despite the differences between this and the modern series, it is still beloved by many today.

6 Battlestar Galactica: Razor Flashbacks

IMDb Score: 7.5/10

Leading to a TV movie set within the Battlestar Galactica Universe, Razor Flashbacks was a web series that featured a young William Adama when he was a fighter in the First Cylon War, who uncovered a plot by the Cylons.

Adama is dealing with issues with his lover, who has been wounded by Cylons, while the Galactica fights on and Adama himself is shot down, leading to a horrible discovery about what the Cylons may be planning. This fun sequence of short episodes was made up of content cut from the Razor film, but it was well worth checking out.

5 Battlestar Galactica: The Face Of The Enemy

IMDb Score: 7.5/10

One of the short web series created as additional content around the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series, The Face Of The Enemy took place between episodes of the fourth season of the show, when the ship that Lt. Felix Gaeta was on with two Cylons and three humans made an error in FTL jump.

This led to them being stranded, potentially doomed to run out of oxygen before they could be found. Then murders start being committed, with everyone a suspect, making for a short but hugely intriguing look at the distrust between the Cylons and humans.

4 Battlestar Galactica: Razor

IMDb Score: 7.6/10

Another television film that added to the lore of the series, Razor followed Lee Adama during his first mission in command of the Pegasus, set during the events of Season 2 of the Battlestar Galactica show. Simultaneously, flashbacks are shown of the Cylon attack and events from the final day of the First Cylon War, providing more background on characters like Rear Admiral Cain.

This fascinating special was a great addition to the series, and fans loved the world-building that it added. However, many were surprised at the lack of main characters from the series appearing, as marketing hadn’t made it clear that this would be a standalone piece.

3 Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance

IMDb Score: 7.8/10

Time jumps are always difficult to deal with in major TV series. It can create a lot of confusion, so when the time jump on New Caprica occurred between Seasons 2 and 3 of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, the showrunners decided to help bridge the gap with a web series.

The Resistance was the result, a total of ten minuscule episodes that, added together, only made for a length of about 26 minutes. Nevertheless, it provided useful context for fans on the events around the formation of resistance against the Cylons and has been considered one of the better in-between projects by fans.

2 Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)

IMDb Score: 8.5/10

The precursor miniseries that restarted the franchise in a re-imagined universe had to be huge to gather the old fans with new ones, enough to generate the interest required for a major new sci-fi series. Fortunately, it was successful, showing how Number Six managed to render much of the military of the Twelve Colonies ineffective during the Cylon surprise nuclear attack that utterly destroyed all of the colonies.

Introducing new versions of several characters known to fans from the previous series, while adding much to the lore and world-building and rendering the universe its own, separate from the original show, the miniseries managed to do something incredible and is remembered by fans as one of the heights of the franchise.

1 Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV Series)

IMDb Score: 8.7/10

The most successful run the franchise has had to date came from the 2004 series. A reimagined version of the 1978 show, this featured a fleet of ships, led by the Battlestar Galactica, on the run from the Cylons following a nuclear attack that took out both the home planets of the twelve colonies and most of their populations.

Featuring a huge cast of characters, constant twists as everyone came under suspicion of being a Cylon in disguise, and amazing battle scenes, this Battlestar Galactica series managed to do what the previous series hadn’t achieved, ending on its own terms and telling the completed version of the story that had never been seen until now, namely having the ship reach Earth, easily managing to become the pinnacle of the franchise.