Few science fiction shows of the past two decades have garnered as much praise and endearing love as Syfy's reboot of the short-lived late 1970s series, Battlestar Galactica. There are many who would list the Ronald D. Moore hit among the top sci-fi shows, and with it's brilliant cast and twisty stories that (usually) remained very gritty and rooted in something like reality, it's pretty hard to argue with that logic. The series has been gone from the airwaves for many years now, but those who'd like to stream it can now do so totally for free.
Battlestar Galactica (which is getting its own revival of sorts on the upcoming streaming service Peacock) had been available to stream through a number of paid services, but Syfy knows what the people want. This is a tough time, with many spending entire weeks at home and in need of as many solid entertainment options as possible, so we can now fill our time with all four seasons, the mini-series and the two movies, which are ready for our eager eyeballs, free of charge, on Syfy.com.
Anyone who remembered the late '70s show on which this mid-to-late '00s series was based knows that the new iteration of the concept felt like a true revelation. If you are one of the uninitiated, the basic idea sees us follow a fleet of spaceships with the last remaining humans fleeing the robot / human-ish hybrids known as Cylons, after their planets were destroyed by the very-hard-to-kill race. This is the second time they've had to deal with a major Cylon threat, but now robotkind is even more advanced than it was 40 years prior.
Battlestar Galactica used those great sci-fi concepts to deal with ideas of politics, religion, betrayal, resource shortages (I wonder if they had enough toilet paper?), how people handle constant fear and anxiety and how to move on under such enormous pressure, and many more heavy issues that kept the series grounded despite the somewhat fantastical premise. And, we got to watch it all unfold from 2004 through 2009, as the characters we'd come to know, love and frequently hate searched for a new home on a mythical place called Earth.
The series, which starred Edward James Olmos (Mayans M.C.), Katee Sackhoff (Longmire), Mary McDonnell (Dances with Wolves), Grace Park (A Million Little Things), Tricia Helfer (Lucifer) and many more, received several accolades during its time on the air and in the years since. Battlestar Galactica was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards in its run, eventually winning two for Outstanding Special Visual Effects and one for Outstanding Sound Editing. It also won a Peabody Award and got itself listed among Time Magazine's 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time, among a host of other nominations and awards.
As mentioned briefly above, it's not hard to find some parallels between what the characters of Battlestar Galactica went through and what we're living through right now. Thankfully, none of the robots we've created have risen up to destroy us (not yet, anyway), but we're still living under conditions which have brought a lot of fear, anxiety and anger into the lives of many people. And, it's possible that watching something that lets you explore some of those feelings while you revel in some good, old-fashioned escapism could be just what your long days at home need.
If you can already see yourself blowing through all of Battlestar Galactica in a couple of days and need to know what else is currently airing, check out our 2020 midseason guide, Netflix premiere schedule and see what's new on Hulu!
