Let me make one thing clear, ladies and gentlemen, about the pages you see before you in this project: these are labors of love. Being an unabashed admirer of all things Battlestar Galactica in its latest iteration from the mind of Ronald D. Moore, the creation of this guide and the one to follow for “Experienced Viewers” has been an endeavor of mine for over 2 years now. This project was taken up entirely of my own accord and, in the beginning anyway, for the sheer challenge of helping myself to (somewhat) demystify such a cryptic and expansive new universe.
The project quickly grew into much more.
As became clear from the pilot episodes onward of both Battlestar Galactica and its “sister”/prequel series Caprica, the writers of this re-imagined universe were trying extremely hard to accomplish something greater than one more space adventure filled with alien life-forms and “strange worlds” or a virtual reality thriller resting on the gimmicks of gadgetry and “cool tech”, as the case may be, during which the audience was simply to be entertained with predictable moral victories of heroes over villains until our time-worn notions of poetic justice were restored. No, these series were never that. At its core, Battlestar Galactica is concerned with lessons…dauntingly difficult lessons…about humanity at its most instinctive; about the worth of life for the simple sake of one’s dignity; and about all the horrors and heroics, both in equal measure, that said life perpetuates in the name of its loftier ideals, whether religious or secular…scientific or militant…compassionate or all-consuming. The lives presented are meant to be a mirror of ourselves stripped bare, and therefore a drastically more unflinching and compelling mirror than any I’d yet encountered in the form of a television serial in my lifetime. Consequently, Battlestar Galactica moved me perhaps more deeply and intellectually than any other series has in my long, long history of sci-fi viewership. In the end, each viewer will decide for him or herself what they see and do not see in these series…what they take from these stories and lives. However for my part, no…there is not one ounce of hyperbole in the statement above. These series and their attendant materials exist for me now as much object lessons on humankind as forms of entertainment. These guides would not have been created otherwise.
All that said, I still would not necessarily have created this guide if not also for the surprisingly daunting amount of material that has been produced in so short a time for this particular universe. Said materials now span not only two television series, as mentioned above, for a total of five full-length SEASONS, yet also several full-length FILMS and mini-series, a few WEBISODE series and a host of EXTENDED episode and film cuts not originally broadcast on television. What’s more, all these materials weave in and out of each other chronologically in a manner that can be simply bewildering if not handled with the attention and care that is due these stories in the first place. In other words, collecting such a massive, not to mention scattered, amount of material and then watching them all in their proper sequence is for a new viewer not nearly as easy an undertaking as one would assume, or as could be safely assumed for virtually any other television series in this sphere of pop culture. Therefore, I felt it was time for a resource like this one to be created, in order that all of this guesswork would be taken out of watching Battlestar Galactica and its wide array of surrounding materials, instead allowing viewers to see everything in its most logical and rewarding manner right from the start and thereby be properly and fully enveloped in this universe, right from the start.
As one last note, I would like my readers and viewers to keep in mind that this guide serves not only as an overview of the intended viewing order for Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and all related materials, but also as a contextual primer for the re-imagined universe as a whole. I have provided, for example, annotations that spotlight the most pivotal narrative themes and arcs carried on throughout the long expanse of produced material within this universe. In addition, I have illustrated as exactly as possible the passage of time that is experienced by the characters in-story, thereby depicting the known timeline of the universe as has been presented to us on screen. Indeed, that last point in particular about the passage of time is but one, though certainly not the only, aspect of the series that turns out to be vastly more important than a new viewer is prone to realize. Meaning that, while all these structural guideposts are by no means necessary to the enjoyment of the series for a casual viewer, as a seasoned viewer I cannot help but emphasize this fundamental point when approaching this universe:
Relish every single detail – all those cryptic, more jarring details as curiously as the momentous, epic ones. Feel them, remember them, and in the end you will understand so much more of this saga than you thought possible in the beginning. Trust me…
Eclogue of Five Worlds 