From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
There were many things that appealed to science fiction fans about the film Battlestar Galactica reboot, including the fact that it did not feature any alien races (unlike the original series). This helped highlight the conflict between humanity and the Cylons, even as it became clear that humanity and its rebellious creations are more alike than different. As it turns out, this smart creative decision is thanks in part to Edward James Olmos, who claims that his contract stipulated that his character, Commander Adama, must be killed if he encountered aliens.
No aliens for Adama
The actor told the AV Club this story about Edward James Olmos, who didn’t want his character to meet aliens in the series. He was excited to be “part of” the show because it was “amazingly well-written by Ron Moore,” but in his first meeting with Moore and the show’s producers, he warned them, “I don’t want to see four.” – eyed people or strange jellyfish people or strange space people.” The aliens’ dislike was so strong that he had it written into his contract that if Adama encountered one, he would fear it Aliensthe writers would have to have his character die of a heart attack.
If you are a fan of Science fiction in general or the old Battlestar Galactica In particular, you might think it’s pretty strange that Edward James Olmos hates the idea of his character encountering aliens. However, this 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 actually relieved when that happened Galactica The producers assured him that the new series would be like Scott’s film because, as Olmos put it, “There were no monsters in it, it was all people.”
If you read between the lines a little, it seems obvious Edward James Olmos prefers the idea of its on-screen characters interacting with humans or human-like characters rather than aliens. The great revelation of Blade Runner was that the supposedly evil replicants weren’t really all that different from their creators, and that idea runs deep in the themes and narrative of Battlestar Galactica. After memorably playing a human in a world where killer replicants were revealed to be victims fighting against their oppressors, Olmos found it much easier to play Commander Adama, a man fighting genocidal aliens who are the Blaming humanity for their past oppression.
As an added side effect, this meant that Edward James Olmos granted his “no aliens” wish Battlestar Galactica could be better differentiated from other science fiction franchises such as Star Trek. This was probably very important to showrunner Ronald Moore as well, considering he began his career as a writer for television Star Trek: The next generation and developed into one of the most talented writers in this franchise. Moore knew very well that his own series needed to stand out from its predecessors, and the fact that his ultra-realistic sci-fi series was alien-free was one of the best ways to achieve this.
Looking back, Edward James Olmos’ story proves that he didn’t want Adama to meet aliens, however coincidental that was Battlestar Galactica “Reboot” was really…just when the acclaimed actor was ready to weigh in on a major sci-fi topic, he discovered that he and the producers were already on the same page. From top to bottom, this show was full of actors and other creatives looking to redefine what televised science fiction could be. And they did it so well that to this day nothing can eclipse the ambition and scope of a series that boldly went where no Star Trek had gone before.
