Battlestar Galactica's best creative decision thanks to its best actor

The author Chris Snelgrove
| Published 30 seconds ago

There were many things that appealed to science fiction fans Battlestar Galactica reboot, including the fact that (unlike the original series) it did not include alien races. This helped highlight the conflict between humanity and the Kalons, even making it clear that humanity and its rebellious creatures are more alike than different. As it turns out, this smart creative decision is due in part to Edward James Olmos claiming that his contract stipulated that his Commander Adam character would have to be killed if he encountered aliens.

Adam has no aliens

This story about Edward James Olmos not wanting his character to encounter aliens on the show was shared by the actor with the AV Club. He was very excited to be on the show because it was “surprisingly well written by Ron Moore”, but in his first meeting with Moore and the show's producers he warned them that “I don't want to see any four-eyed people or weird jellyfish people, or strange space people. His antipathy to aliens was so strong that he had written it into his contract that if Adam encountered one aliensthe writers should have his character die of a heart attack.

If you are a fan of science fiction at all or the old one Battlestar Galactica in particular, you might think that Edward James Olmos hating the idea of ​​his character dealing with aliens is pretty weird. However, it makes more sense when you consider the actor's own sci-fi background…in this case, starring in Ridley Scott's groundbreaking film. Blade Runner. He was really relieved when Galactica The producers convinced him that the new show would be like Scott's film because, as Olmos said, “There were no monsters in it, they were all people.”

Reading between the lines a bit, it seems obvious Edward James Olmos prefers the idea of ​​his on-screen characters interacting with humans or human-like characters rather than aliens. The big revelation about Blade Runner was that perhaps the evil replicants weren't all that different from their creators, an idea very much ingrained in the themes and narratives. Battlestar Galactica. After a memorable portrayal of a human in a world where killer replicants were revealed to be victims to fight against their oppressors, it was much easier for Olmos to play Commander Adam, a man who fights against genocidal aliens who blame humanity for their past oppression.

As an added side effect, Edward James Olmos granting his “no aliens” request meant that Battlestar Galactica could better separate itself from other sci-fi franchises such as Star Trek. It was also likely very important to showrunner Ronald Moore, given that he started writing for television Star Trek: The next generation and became one of the franchise's most talented scribes. Moore knew very well that his own show would have to be different, and one of the best ways to do that was to make his ultra-realistic sci-fi series without aliens.

In retrospect, Edward James Olmos' story about Adam's reluctance to encounter aliens proves how implausible Battlestar Galactica reboot was indeed… just when the acclaimed actor was ready to put his foot down on a major sci-fi trope, he discovered that he and the producers were already on the same page. This show was filled from top to bottom with actors and other creatives who wanted to redefine what science fiction could be on television. And they did it so well that to this day, nothing has been able to overshadow the ambition and scope of the series, which boldly went where no Star Trek had gone before.