Battlestar Galactica’s Greatest Artistic Choice Thanks To Its Greatest Actor
By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed
There have been many issues that appealed to sci-fi followers concerning the Battlestar Galactica reboot, together with the truth that (not like the unique sequence) it didn’t embrace any alien races. This helped to spotlight the battle between humanity and the Cylons even because it made clear that mankind and its rebellious creations are extra alike than they’re totally different. Because it seems, this good artistic resolution is partly because of Edward James Olmos, who claims it was in his contract that his Commander Adama character must be killed off if he encountered any aliens.
No Aliens For Adama
This story of Edward James Olmos not wanting his character to come across aliens within the present is one which the actor shared with the AV Membership. He was very excited “to be a part of” the present as a result of it was “amazingly nicely written by Ron Moore,” however in his first assembly with Moore and the present’s producers, he warned them that “I don’t need to see any four-eyed individuals, or bizarre jellyfish individuals, or bizarre outer-space individuals.” The alien antipathy was so robust that he had it written into his contract that if Adama encountered any aliens, the writers must have his character die of a coronary heart assault.
In the event you’re a fan of sci-fi normally or the previous Battlestar Galactica specifically, you may assume that Edward James Olmos hating the concept of his character encountering aliens is fairly bizarre. Nonetheless, this makes extra sense when you think about the actor’s personal background with science fiction…on this case, starring in Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking movie Blade Runner. He was really relieved when the Galactica producers reassured him that the brand new present could be like Scott’s film as a result of, as Olmos put it, “There was no monsters in that, they had been all human beings.”
Studying between the traces a bit, it appears apparent that Edward James Olmos prefers the concept of his onscreen characters interacting with people or human-like characters slightly than aliens. The large revelation of Blade Runner was that the allegedly evil replicants had been probably not all that totally different from their creators, and this concept is closely ingrained into the themes and narratives of Battlestar Galactica. After memorably taking part in a human in a world the place killer replicants had been revealed to be victims out to combat in opposition to their oppressors, it was a lot simpler for Olmos to play Commander Adama, a person preventing genocidal aliens who blame humanity for his or her previous oppression.
As an added facet impact, Edward James Olmos getting his “no aliens” request met meant that Battlestar Galactica may higher separate itself from different sci-fi franchises akin to Star Trek. That was seemingly crucial to showrunner Ronald Moore as nicely contemplating that he obtained his begin in tv writing for Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology and went on to change into one among that franchise’s most gifted scribes. Moore knew very nicely that his personal present was going to have to tell apart itself from what got here earlier than, and making his ultra-realistic sci-fi sequence alien-free was among the finest methods to do this.
On reflection, Edward James Olmos’ story about not wanting Adama to come across aliens proves how serendipitous the Battlestar Galactica reboot actually was…simply when the acclaimed actor was able to put his foot down a couple of main sci-fi trope, he found he and the producers had been already on the identical web page. From prime to backside, that present was crammed with actors and different creatives who needed to redefine what televised science fiction could possibly be. And so they succeeded so nicely that, to this present day, nothing has been in a position to eclipse the ambition and scope of a sequence that boldly went the place no Star Trek had gone earlier than.
