33 (Battlestar Galactica)
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"33" is the first episode of the first season and the
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episode of the reimagined
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television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...
''Battlestar Galactica'', immediately following the events of the 2003 miniseries. "33" follows ''Galactica'' and its civilian fleet as they are forced to contend with constant Cylon pursuit for days without sleep; they are forced to ultimately destroy one of their own ships to foil the Cylons and earn their first respite of the series. The episode was written by series creator Ronald D. Moore, and the television directoral debut of
Michael Rymer Michael Rymer (born 1 March 1963 in Melbourne) is an Australian television and film director, best known for his work on the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' TV series, for which he directed the pilot miniseries and several episodes of the ...
. Moore and executive producer
David Eick David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced ''Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Ch ...
made the decision to slot this episode as the first of the season because of its potential impact on the audience. "33" distinguished the themes of the new ''Battlestar Galactica'' series by following characters on the spaceships, on the planets that were fled, and in the minds of other characters. Attention to detail was prevalent in this first episode; the production team, the editing team, and even the actors themselves strove for authenticity of specific portrayals and moments. Though there were compromises made due to concerns of the episode being too dark for audiences, the episode was lauded by both cast and crew in addition to winning the 2005
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation is given each year for theatrical films, television episodes, or other dramatized works related to science fiction or fantasy released in the previous calendar year. Originally the award covered both ...
. "33" originally aired on Sky One in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004, and subsequently aired on the
Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
in the United States on January 14, 2005, alongside the following episode "
Water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
".


Plot

Having fled the besieged Ragnar Anchorage, the convoy of refugee spaceships is relentlessly pursued and attacked by
Cylons The Cylons are the main antagonists of the human race in the '' Battlestar Galactica'' science fiction franchise, making appearances in the original 1978 series, the 1980 series, the 2004 re-imagining, and the spin-off prequel series '' C ...
. The colonial fleet must execute a
faster-than-light Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ...
(FTL) jump every 33 minutes to escape the Cylons, who consistently arrive at the new jump coordinates approximately 33 minutes later. After over 130 hours and 237 jumps, the fleet's crew and passengers, particularly those aboard ''Galactica'', have been operating without sleep while facing the strain of nearly constant military action. Upon the 238th consecutive jump, ''Olympic Carrier'' (a commercial passenger vessel with 1,345 souls aboard) is left behind and the attacks unexpectedly cease, allowing the fleet some respite. When the vessel arrives three hours later, President
Laura Roslin Laura Roslin is a fictional character in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' series, portrayed by Mary McDonnell. She is the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and is one of the primary characters in the show. Character biography ...
and Commander Adama order Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama and Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace to destroy it, believing that it has been infiltrated by Cylons and now poses a threat to the fleet's safety. The colonial pilots destroy ''Olympic Carrier'' while the rest of the colonial fleet jumps away. Baltar's internal Number Six explains to him that God is looking after his interests, implying that a scientist aboard ''Olympic Carrier'' was preparing to reveal Baltar's unwitting collusion with the Cylon attack on the colonies. After the fleet's last jump, the Cylons do not return, and the President's survivor whiteboard aboard ''Colonial One'', the result of a fleetwide census, is updated with one additional soul (to 47,973) with the birth of the fleet's first child aboard ''Rising Star''—a boy. Meanwhile, on Caprica, Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon is captured by a Cylon patrol and then "rescued" from his Cylon captors by a Number Eight in the guise of his crewmate Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, who shoots a Number Six to free him.


Writing

While preparing for production of ''Battlestar Galactica''s first season, writer and series creator Ronald D. Moore wrote a short list of potential storylines, one of which was "the fleet jumps every 33 minutes; because the Cylons are relentlessly pursuing them, the crew gets no sleep." Conferring with fellow executive producer
David Eick David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced ''Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Ch ...
, the two decided that this story would be "the best way to kick off the season". Moore described writing "33" as a great experience; he wrote the whole script without a story outline or much structure, because he was excited to begin the first episode of the first season already "at the end of the road". Moore wrote the episode over his Christmas break before the series was officially picked up, and he later said that this aspect was what made the episode "one of the more fun projects that ewrote all of the first season." David Eick called the episode a "standalone concept" that did not require having seen the miniseries to understand it. Because the miniseries ended "at a very happy place", starting the series in the middle of a crisis without explanation, and showing the audience that "actually, while you—the audience—were away, really bad things have been happening" made for a much more intriguing and interesting story. "33s complex storyline was a harbinger for episodes to come, and laid the groundwork with the network and audiences alike. Moore explained on his
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
that the number 33 had no hidden meaning or significance, it was just sufficiently long to allow minor functions like snacking, showering, or napping, but was too short to allow anybody to gain any meaningful sleep and recharge their batteries. Further, Moore intentionally gave the number no meaning to avoid including unnecessary
technobabble Technobabble (a portmanteau of ''technology'' and ''babble''), also called technospeak, is a type of nonsense that consists of buzzwords, esoteric language, or technical jargon. It is common in science fiction. See also * Academese * Bullshi ...
into a drama-driven episode.


Production

"33" was
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
Michael Rymer Michael Rymer (born 1 March 1963 in Melbourne) is an Australian television and film director, best known for his work on the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' TV series, for which he directed the pilot miniseries and several episodes of the ...
's first television episode. He accepted the job without reading the script, saying that based on his writing experience, "33" went well beyond his expectations and excited him.
Bear McCreary Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in Los Angeles, California. His work includes the scores of the television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), ''Age ...
originally composed the musical theme "Boomer Theme" for this episode; it was later expanded for use with the Athena character, before becoming the "Hera Theme" for the character
Hera Agathon Hera Agathon, also called Isis, is a fictional character from the reimagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' series. She is the first, and only, known Cylon-Human hybrid child to be born and she first appears, at birth, in the episode "Downloaded". ...
in the fourth season episode, " Islanded in a Stream of Stars". Joel Ransom was the director of photography for the miniseries, but when Eick learned he was unavailable for the series, he turned to Stephen McNutt, with whom he had worked on ''American Gothic''. In the interim, McNutt had moved on to shooting in high-definition video; this was fortuitous for the production team because, while Ransom had filmed the miniseries on 35 mm film, the production team was switching to high-definition video for the series. Executive producer
David Eick David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced ''Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Ch ...
opined that "33" was the "
silver bullet In folklore, a bullet cast from silver is often one of the few weapons that are effective against a werewolf or witch. The term ''silver bullet'' is also a metaphor for a simple, seemingly magical, solution to a difficult problem: for example, pe ...
" that ultimately tipped the scales in their favor and convinced the
Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
to pick up the series. The network's biggest concern in picking up the series was that ''Battlestar Galactica'' would fall victim to the same trappings of space opera as other television properties ('' Star Trek'', '' Andromeda'', '' Stargate''). Two aspects that assuaged these concerns were specifically discussed in the episode's
DVD commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
. First, "33" went into
Gaius Baltar Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series '' Battlestar Galactica'' played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 '' Battlestar Galactica'' series. He is one of the show's primary characters. Personality G ...
's (
James Callis James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is a British actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in '' Bridget Jones's Di ...
) mind and visited his house on Caprica (shot in
Lions Bay Lions Bay ( Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Ch'ích'iyúy Elx̱wíḵn, ) is a small residential community in British Columbia, Canada, located between Vancouver and Squamish on the steep eastern shore of Howe Sound. In the 2021 census the community had a pop ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
); being swept away by the blue skies and beaches in his fantasy was not the sort of imagery expected of space opera-type shows. Second was going back to the devastated Caprica and following-up with Helo's (
Tahmoh Penikett Tahmoh Penikett (; ; born May 20, 1975) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Karl "Helo" Agathon on SyFy's 2004 television series ''Battlestar Galactica''. He has appeared in TV series ''Supernatural'', '' Dollhouse'', the Showcase time ...
) story. As sleep deprivation was a major plot point of the episode, actor
Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...
(William Adama) liaised with an expert on the subject and the crew to best depict the actual effects realistically. Following up, director
Michael Rymer Michael Rymer (born 1 March 1963 in Melbourne) is an Australian television and film director, best known for his work on the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' TV series, for which he directed the pilot miniseries and several episodes of the ...
gave each main cast member a specific symptom to emphasize to avoid repetition on screen. To aid a realistic portrayal, Olmos and several other cast members took their study a step further by restricting their sleep patterns to about three hours a night. In the episode's DVD commentary, Moore and Rymer related how there were endless discussion about the clocks to feature in this episode. Concerns over digital versus
analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
, size and shape, the ratio of digital to analog clocks, whether they should run forwards or backwards, and whether any labels should be stenciled or hand-drawn were all brought up. David Eick also noted that as of the commentary's recording, the clock at Felix Gaeta's (Juliani) station still had its "33" label affixed.


Editing

The first cut of "33" was ten minutes too long. Despite this, the production crew took extra care not to eliminate "human moments" in their efforts to trim the episode. These included a shot of
Galen Tyrol Galen Tyrol (commonly referred to as The Chief) is a character on the television series '' Battlestar Galactica''. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard. Battlestar ''Galactica''. After the events of the ...
(Douglas) and Cally Henderson (Clyne) walking across ''Galactica'' hangar bay, a shot of Crewman Socinus (Oyarzun) giving a bedraggled look over the shoulder of another crewmember, and a shot of PO2 Dualla (McClure) walking through ''Galactica'' remembrance corridor. In a question-and-answer session, Moore revealed a scene written for, but cut from, the episode. In the
cut scene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
, the recurring prop in the characters' briefing room was to have been explicitly introduced and explained; the prop remained in the series, but its
backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative o ...
was cut.
There was a scene cut from "33" where we saw Laura being given her copy of the photo along with a card that said it was taken on the roof of the capitol building on Aerilon during the attack. The photo was inspired by the famous shot of the fire-fighters raising the flag at Ground Zero that became iconic. I thought the Colonies would have their own version of this—a snapshot taken in the moment that becomes a symbol of the day they can never forget and of all they had lost. The photo itself is of a soldier falling to his knees (possibly shot or simply overcome by emotion) as he stands on the rooftop over looking the devastation of his city, while the Colonial flag waves at the edge of frame. The inscription below the photo on Laura's plaque reads, "Lest We Forget" in itself a reference to the inscription on the watch presented to John Wayne's character in ''
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' is a 1949 American Technicolor Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. It is the second film in Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", along with '' Fort Apache'' (1948) and '' Rio Grande'' (1950). With a b ...
''.
Other cut scenes included one shot in the pilots' head, showing the pilots "wrecked and exhausted ..with an exchange between Starbuck and Apollo", as well as several shots of Commander Adama (Olmos) gagging and
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because of
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brought on by sleep deprivation. A line of Olmos'—an ''ad-lib'' about suicides in the fleet—was cut so as not to alienate audiences by being "too dark". As originally written and shot, when Apollo (
Jamie Bamber Jamie Saint John Bamber Griffith (born 3 April 1973), known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in ''Battlestar Galactica'' and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in the ITV series '' Law & Order: ...
) fires on ''Olympic Carrier'', it was made clear that he sees people inside. Moore wrote the scene to be strong and clear that the characters were making the decision to fire on the passenger liner in full awareness of the consequences to illustrate and emphasize "the uncompromising nature of the show." This was an "enormous fight" between Moore and the network, with the latter feeling this was another scene that was "too dark" and had the potential to turn away audiences; the network further implied that if the scene were left intact, they may have been compelled to air the episodes out of order. To placate the network, Moore and Eick changed the ending of the episode and "cheated". Instead, when Apollo flies by other ship, it is unclear whether or not there is anybody inside. In a "small act of defiance",
visual effects supervisor In the context of film and television production, a visual effects supervisor is responsible for achieving the creative aims of the director or producers through the use of visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process ...
Gary Hutzel Gary Dean Hutzel (November 4, 1955 – March 1, 2016) was an American visual effects supervisor from Ann Arbor, Michigan who worked on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', and ''Battlestar Gala ...
snuck in small, indeterminate movement behind one or two of ''Olympic Carrier'' windows on behalf of the production and writing teams. The episode also originally ended with Helo's escape from the Cylons on Caprica; again tasked by the network to keep the episode from being "too dark", Moore wrote in an additional scene—President Roslin (
Mary McDonnell Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in '' Dances with Wolves'' and May-Alice Culhane in ''Passion Fish''. Mc ...
) learning of the newborn—upon which to end the episode with a hopeful note.


Release and reception

"33" first aired in the
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on , and in the
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on , almost three months later. UK viewers obliged US ''Battlestar Galactica'' fans by illegally copying the episode—via BitTorrent—within hours of its Sky One airing. , "33" has been released thrice on
home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
as part of the first season collected sets; on as a Best Buy exclusive, again on , and finally as an
HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the ...
set on . The episode was also released on as part of the entire series' home video set on both
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
. Both series creator Ronald D. Moore and star
Jamie Bamber Jamie Saint John Bamber Griffith (born 3 April 1973), known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in ''Battlestar Galactica'' and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in the ITV series '' Law & Order: ...
(Lee Adama) claim "33" as their favorite episode. Bamber described it as "...the perfect episode of ''Battlestar Galactica''." Emphasizing the dark, gritty, and nightmarish aspects of the episode, the actor felt it was a microcosm of the series as a whole. In interviews with ''
Wired UK ''Wired UK'' is a bimonthly magazine that reports on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is ...
'' and the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', Moore opined that the episode subverted viewers' expectations and was a "fantastic way to open that first year." "33" won the 2005
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation is given each year for theatrical films, television episodes, or other dramatized works related to science fiction or fantasy released in the previous calendar year. Originally the award covered both ...
, and drew a 2.6 household
Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
, attracting 3.1 million viewers and making it the number-two program on cable (8pm–11pm). At the website
Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedy, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarca ...
, the staff review rated the episode an "A+", while () 546 of their readers awarded it an average grade of "B". The ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...
''s "10 Most Dramatic Moments of the '00s" included "33" in its #10 spot, describing it as the premiere episode of "a sci-fi show with high stakes and serious guts."


References


External links


"33"
at Syfy * {{Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form 2004 American television episodes American television series premieres Battlestar Galactica (season 1) episodes Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form-winning works television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore