The "Battlestar Galactica" that Never Was: The Desanto-Singer Project

 I've always enjoyed classic Battlestar Galactica, despite its flaws. Although the reimagined series portrayed events in a far more realistic light, the old series was simply a lot of fun. It's unfortunate, though, that the series' expensive price tag and sometimes too-family-friendly plots (a result of meddling by ABC network execs) eventually led to the show's downfall after only one season. Even so, Galactica still makes for some enjoyable '70's sci-fi, filled with space battles, obvious villains, action-driven plots, and an excellent soundtrack, to say the least. Definitely recommended!

Originally announced in the early 2000's, the studio and Glenn A. Larson-endorsed Desanto-Singer Project was one of only three Battlestar Galactica revival attempts (the other two being Glenn A. Larson's Battlestar Atlantis and Richard Hatch's Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming) proposed since the series' cancellation in late 1979. Although the series did have a short-lived spin-off, Galactica 1980, the show was generally panned by fans and critics alike (except the final episode) due to it's questionable writing, which, amongst other things, was filled with a boatload of science fiction cliches. Some have even gone as far as to forget it ever happened, leaving the door open to future stories involving Galactica discovering Earth.

Of the three revival attempts, the Desanto-Singer Project, headed by producer Tom Desanto and director Bryan Singer respectively, was the only one to come even close to production, only hampered by what would later become the 'reimagined' or rebooted Battlestar Galactica, which premiered in 2003 to technical and popular acclaim. In fact, the show was only eight weeks away from filming when the news came.

The basic storyline of the Desanto-Singer Galactica pilot was as follows:

"The continuation, built from the events of the episode "The Hand of God", tracks the Fleet after Galactica and Pegasus shake off the Cylon pursuit. The opening depicts a Colonial classroom where a teacher reviews the history of the Fleet, 23 years prior. Pegasus is confirmed as lost, and the Cylons themselves paid a high price in the battle. 

The quest for Earth continues, but Commander Adama has died, and Colonel Tigh assumes command. The citizens of the Fleet tire of spacefaring life, and, after a civil uprising, convince their leaders to settle the Fleet in an asteroid field that is rich in resources. The new colony, named New Caprica, builds new ships, settlements and facilities from the asteroids.  

The Cylons themselves reflected on their failures and determined that free will was a serious issue that caused problems in their logic-based civilization. When Baltar is found marooned, the Cylons initially held him up as a perfect example of their failures. Baltar convinced the Cylons that some qualities of humanity are useful, and underwent a cybernetic transformation into a new Cylon model to prove this. More dissent arose among the Cylons as a result, leading into a civil war. Out of the ashes of their war came a new Cylon race that, instead of obliterating the remnants of humanity that it finds, begins instead to assimilate the conquered humans as Cylon cyborgs.    

The character known as Boxey has grown up and assumed command of Galactica under the name of Commander Orin who faces the loss of his command from political pressure to decommission the battlestar as it has become outmoded and difficult to maintain. The political pressure becomes a command. The Colonial president, a woman named Mara, visits the battlestar in her shuttlecraft to attend the battlestar's decommissioning ceremonies.
 
Just as the battlestar's systems are powered down, the Cylons, who have studied New Caprica in secret and devised an elaborate plan for success, strike." 

 
   










 








 The project was green-lighted in June, 2001, with Fox on-board to host the two-hour pilot. Construction of viper mockups and sets began shortly thereafter in less-expensive Vancouver, Canda. Scripts were drafted and revised, ships were redesigned and modeled in CGI, and the cast was assembled. Both Dirk Benedict (Starbuck) and Herb Jefferson (Boomer) were signed on to reprise their original roles, despite the producer's original intent to not include any of the original actors.

Then, after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, major flight delays and heightened security forced Singer to leave the production in order to meet deadlines for his new X Men film. Production on Galactica was halted for roughly a month after the attacks as the network searched for a new director to take Singer's place. The execs were also understandably nervous about using the concept of a Cylon sneak attack only a month after 9/11, a fact which probably contributed to the project's cancellation. With Singer's departure, support for the project quickly fell apart, eventually leading Fox to pull out in favor of pursuing Josh Weadon's space-western series Firefly instead (another very good, but short-lived series, by the way).

Unbeknownst to Desanto, who was still optimistic that the production would move forward with a new director, the Sci-Fi Channel began work on a totally new version of Galactica, which eventually evolved into the 2003 reboot. The producers of the reimagining (amongst them, veteran Star Trek writer Ronald D. More) intentionally distanced themselves from the concepts developed by Desanto and Singer, taking a completely different approach to the series while still retaining the basic premise of the '70's version. With the project effectively dead, the nearly-completed sets and mockups were placed in long-term storage. However, when the studio's storage lease ran out, these items were broken up with sledgehammers and disposed of, effectively ending any hopes of a continuation of classic BSG.

Despite all this, the Desanto-Singer Project met it's end in the face of a new beginning for the Battlestar Galactica franchise. Although not all are happy with the new direction and darker done of the reimagined series (I'm a bit on the fence myself...), it's here to stay, and ended up being one of Syfy's most successful shows. There's been talk of bringing back the old show for years, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if another attempt is made in the future. And if someone were to combine the best elements of both the classic and reimagined series...well, then they'd really have something. Hmmmm....

For further production details and a full plot synopsis, check out The Tombs of Kobol as well as the Battlestar Galactica Wiki. For more production concept art, including redesigned interiors, ships, and Cylon centurions, check out this link and this link.