33 (Battlestar Galactica)
Encyclopedia
"33" is the first episode of the reimagined military science fiction
television program
Battlestar Galactica
, immediately following the events of the 2003 miniseries
. It was written by series creator Ronald D. Moore
, and directed by Michael Rymer
. "33" originally aired on Sky One
in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004, and subsequently aired on the Sci Fi Channel
in the United States on January 14, 2005, along with the following episode "Water
".
"33" follows Galactica and her civilian fleet as they are forced to contend with constant Cylon pursuit for days without sleep. The episode was lauded by both cast and crew in addition to winning the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
, the convoy of refugee spaceship
s is relentlessly pursued and attacked by Cylon Basestar
s. The colonial fleet must execute a faster-than-light (FTL) jump every 33 minutes to escape the Cylons, who consistently arrive at the new jump coordinates approximately 33 minutes later. After 130.35 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. Most of the episode focuses on the perils of the constant escape, but the daily business of life is touched upon: citizens trying to re-establish contact with loved ones, the spreading news that Cylons now resemble humans, and the deterioration of crews from stress and fatigue. President Laura Roslin
has conducted a census of survivors and has the sum of 49,998 souls marked on her whiteboard
aboard Colonial One.
Meanwhile, on Caprica, Lt. Karl Agathon
(call sign
"Helo") fails to elude Cylon patrols and is captured and taken prisoner by a Number Six
. Helo is "rescued" from his Cylon captors by a Number Eight in the guise of his crewmate Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii.
Back at the fleet, the Olympic Carrier, a commercial passenger vessel with 1,345 souls aboard, goes missing during the 238th consecutive jump. With the ship assumed lost to the Cylons, the attacks unexpectedly cease, allowing the fleet some respite. Three hours later however, the Olympic Carrier suddenly rejoins the fleet. Baltar, pushed by his internal Number Six, convinces President Roslin that the ship may have been infiltrated with Cylons and now poses a threat to the fleet's safety. When the Cylon attacks resume 33 minutes after the Olympic Carriers return, Galactica also detects active nuclear weapon
s aboard the passenger liner, which has begun to disregard orders from Commander Adama
. President Roslin and Commander Adama order Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama
and Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
to destroy it. After hesitating to fire on what is ostensibly a civilian ship, the colonial officers destroy the ship 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 on the Olympic Carrier, who had tried to contact Roslin, had knowledge of 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 is updated with one additional soul (to 47,973) with the birth of the fleet's first child aboard the Rising Star—a boy.
Preparing for production of Battlestar Galacticas 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
, 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, excited to begin the first episode of the first season and start the first year already "at the end of the road". Moore wrote the episode over his Christmas break before the series was officially picked up; he later claimed that this aspect was what made the episode "one of the more fun projects that [he] wrote all of the first season."
David Eick found the episode to be 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. "33"'s complex storyline was a harbinger for episodes to come, and laid the groundwork with the network and audiences alike.
Moore explained on his blog
that the number 33 had no hidden meaning or significance, only that he felt it sufficiently long to allow minor functions like snacking, showering, or cat 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 creating and inserting unnecessary technobabble
into a drama-driven episode.
Michael Rymer
'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
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 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
opined that "33" was the "silver bullet
" that ultimately tipped the scales in their favor and convinced the Sci Fi Channel
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
. First, "33" went into Gaius Baltar
's (James Callis
) mind and visited his house on Caprica (shot in Lions Bay, British Columbia); 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
) story.
With sleep deprivation
one of the major plot points of the episode, actor Edward James Olmos
(William Adama) liaised with an expert on the subject and the crew to best depict the actual effects realistically. Following up, director Michael Rymer
gave each main cast member a specific symptom to play up, so as to avoid repetition on screen. Olmos and several other cast members took their study a step further, to immerse themselves by restricting their sleep patterns to about three hours a night to emphasize what their expert was imparting.
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, size and shape, the ratio of digital to analog clocks, whether they should run forwards or backwards, and whether any labels should be stencil
ed 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.
(Douglas) and Cally Henderson (Clyne) walking across Galacticas 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 Galacticas remembrance corridor.
In a question-and-answer session, Moore revealed a scene written for, but cut from, the episode. In the cut scene
, the recurring prop in the characters' briefing room was to have been explicitly introduced and explained; the prop remained in the series, but its back-story
was cut.
, showing the pilots "wrecked and exhausted [...] with an exchange between Starbuck and Apollo", as well as several shots of Commander Adama (Olmos) gagging and vomiting
because of acid reflux
brought on by sleep deprivation. Another 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
) fires on the 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 the Olympic Carrier, it is unclear whether or not there is anybody inside. In a "small act of defiance", visual effects supervisor
Gary Hutzel snuck in small, indeterminate movement behind one or two of the Olympic Carriers 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
) learning of the newborn—upon which to end the episode on a hopeful note.
on , and in the United States
on , almost three months later. UK viewers obliged US Battlestar Galactica fans by pirating
the episode—uploading Torrents to the Internet
—within hours of its SkyOne airing. "33" has been released thrice on home video
as part of the first season
collected sets; on as a Best Buy
exclusive, again on , and finally as an HD DVD
set on . The episode was also released on as part of the entire series' home video set on both DVD
and Blu-ray Disc
.
Both series creator Ronald D. Moore
and star Jamie Bamber
(Lee Adama) claim "33" as their favourite 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
and the Los Angeles Times
, 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, and drew a 2.6 household Nielsen rating
, attracting 3.1 million viewers and making it the #2 program on cable (8pm-11pm). At the website Television Without Pity, the staff review rated the episode an "A+", while 546 of their readers awarded it an average grade of "B". The New York Post
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."
Military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is taking place, normally in space, or on a planet other than Earth...
television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
, immediately following the events of the 2003 miniseries
Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...
. It was written by series creator Ronald D. Moore
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
, and directed by Michael Rymer
Michael Rymer
Michael Rymer is a 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 series...
. "33" originally aired on Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004, and subsequently aired on the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
in the United States on January 14, 2005, along with the following episode "Water
Water (Battlestar Galactica)
"Water" is the second episode of season 1 of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:As President Laura Roslin makes a ceremonial visit to the Galactica, several explosions occur in the battlestar's potable water tanks, venting the bulk of its vital water stores into space...
".
"33" follows Galactica and her civilian fleet as they are forced to contend with constant Cylon pursuit for days without sleep. The episode was lauded by both cast and crew in addition to winning the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
Plot
Having fled the besieged Ragnar Anchorage at the end of the miniseriesBattlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...
, the convoy of refugee spaceship
Starship
A starship or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for orbital spaceflight or interplanetary travel....
s is relentlessly pursued and attacked by Cylon Basestar
Cylon Basestar
The Basestar is the capital ship of the Cylons in the 1978 science fiction television series and movie Battlestar Galactica along with its re-imagining in the 2003 miniseries and 2004 television series.- Battlestar Galactica :...
s. The colonial fleet must execute a faster-than-light (FTL) jump every 33 minutes to escape the Cylons, who consistently arrive at the new jump coordinates approximately 33 minutes later. After 130.35 hours and 237 jumps, the fleet's crew and passengers, particularly those aboard Galactica, have been operating without sleep
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
while facing the strain of nearly constant military action. Most of the episode focuses on the perils of the constant escape, but the daily business of life is touched upon: citizens trying to re-establish contact with loved ones, the spreading news that Cylons now resemble humans, and the deterioration of crews from stress and fatigue. President Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
has conducted a census of survivors and has the sum of 49,998 souls marked on her whiteboard
Whiteboard
A whiteboard is a name for any glossy, usually white surface for nonpermanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to chalkboards, allowing rapid marking and erasing of markings on their surface...
aboard Colonial One.
Meanwhile, on Caprica, Lt. Karl Agathon
Karl Agathon
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.-Background:...
(call sign
Aviator call sign
An aviator call sign or callsign is a nickname given to a military pilot or other flight officer. This call sign is a substitute for the officer's given name, and is used on name tags, planes, and radio conversations....
"Helo") fails to elude Cylon patrols and is captured and taken prisoner by a Number Six
Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. She is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven"...
. Helo is "rescued" from his Cylon captors by a Number Eight in the guise of his crewmate Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii.
Back at the fleet, the Olympic Carrier, a commercial passenger vessel with 1,345 souls aboard, goes missing during the 238th consecutive jump. With the ship assumed lost to the Cylons, the attacks unexpectedly cease, allowing the fleet some respite. Three hours later however, the Olympic Carrier suddenly rejoins the fleet. Baltar, pushed by his internal Number Six, convinces President Roslin that the ship may have been infiltrated with Cylons and now poses a threat to the fleet's safety. When the Cylon attacks resume 33 minutes after the Olympic Carriers return, Galactica also detects active nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s aboard the passenger liner, which has begun to disregard orders from Commander Adama
William Adama
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...
. President Roslin and Commander Adama order Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama
Lee Adama
Leland Joseph "Lee" Adama is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber. He is one of the main characters in the series.-Early life:...
and Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Kara Thrace
Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
to destroy it. After hesitating to fire on what is ostensibly a civilian ship, the colonial officers destroy the ship 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 on the Olympic Carrier, who had tried to contact Roslin, had knowledge of Baltar's unwitting collusion with the Cylon attack on the colonies
Twelve Colonies
The Twelve Colonies of Man are fictional locations that constitute the principal human civilization in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, the "reimagined" series of the same name in 2004, and in the prequel series, Caprica...
.
After the fleet's last jump, the Cylons do not return, and the President's survivor whiteboard aboard Colonial One is updated with one additional soul (to 47,973) with the birth of the fleet's first child aboard the Rising Star—a boy.
Writing
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
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
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
David Eick
David Eick
David Eick is an American producer and writer, best known as the Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica, of which he also wrote several episodes with Ronald D. Moore, as well as the re-imagined version of Bionic Woman...
, 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, excited to begin the first episode of the first season and start the first year already "at the end of the road". Moore wrote the episode over his Christmas break before the series was officially picked up; he later claimed that this aspect was what made the episode "one of the more fun projects that [he] wrote all of the first season."
David Eick found the episode to be 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. "33"'s complex storyline was a harbinger for episodes to come, and laid the groundwork with the network and audiences alike.
Moore explained on his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
that the number 33 had no hidden meaning or significance, only that he felt it sufficiently long to allow minor functions like snacking, showering, or cat napping, but was too short to allow anybody to gain any meaningful sleep
Sleep
Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
and recharge their batteries. Further, Moore intentionally gave the number no meaning to avoid creating and inserting unnecessary technobabble
Technobabble
Technobabble , also called technospeak, is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords, esoteric language, specialized technical terms, or technical slang that is incomprehensible to the listener...
into a drama-driven episode.
Production
"33" was directorTelevision director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
Michael Rymer
Michael Rymer
Michael Rymer is a 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 series...
'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
Bear McCreary is an American composer and musician living in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his work on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Biography:...
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 in the fourth season
Battlestar Galactica (season 4)
The fourth and final season of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States on April 4, 2008, and concluded on March 20, 2009. Similar to the second season, it was split into two parts, each containing 10 episodes...
episode, "Islanded in a Stream of Stars
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
"Islanded in a Stream of Stars" is the twentieth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. It aired on television in the United States and Canada on March 6, 2009. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,521...
". Joel Ransom was the director of photography for the miniseries
Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...
, but when Eick learned he was unavailable for the series, he turned to Stephen McNutt, with whom he had worked on American Gothic
American Gothic (TV series)
American Gothic is an American horror series created by Shaun Cassidy and executive produced by Sam Raimi. The show first aired on CBS on September 22, 1995, and was cancelled after a single season on July 11, 1996.-Plot:...
. In the interim, McNutt had moved on to shooting in high-definition video
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
; this was fortuitous for the production team because, while Ransom had filmed the miniseries on 35 mm film
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
, the production team was switching to high-definition video for the series.
Executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
David Eick
David Eick
David Eick is an American producer and writer, best known as the Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica, of which he also wrote several episodes with Ronald D. Moore, as well as the re-imagined version of Bionic Woman...
opined that "33" was the "silver bullet
Silver bullet
In folklore, the silver bullet is supposed to be the only kind of bullet for firearms that is effective against a werewolf, witch, or other monsters...
" that ultimately tipped the scales in their favor and convinced the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
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
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
as other television properties (Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, Andromeda
Andromeda (TV series)
Andromeda is a Canadian-American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt...
, Stargate
Stargate
Stargate is a adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly...
). Two aspects that assuaged these concerns were specifically discussed in the episode's DVD commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
. First, "33" went into Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar
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...
's (James Callis
James Callis
James Callis is a British actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
) mind and visited his house on Caprica (shot in Lions Bay, British Columbia); 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
Tahmoh Penikett is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Karl "Helo" Agathon on the Sci Fi Channel's television series Battlestar Galactica and as Paul Ballard in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse'.-Early life:...
) story.
With sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
one of the major plot points of the episode, actor Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
(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
Michael Rymer is a 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 series...
gave each main cast member a specific symptom to play up, so as to avoid repetition on screen. Olmos and several other cast members took their study a step further, to immerse themselves by restricting their sleep patterns to about three hours a night to emphasize what their expert was imparting.
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
Digital clock
A digital clock is a type of clock that displays the time digitally, i.e. in cyphers, as opposed to an analog clock, where the time is displayed by hands. Digital clocks are often associated with electronic drives, but the "digital" description refers only to the display, not to the drive mechanism...
versus analog, size and shape, the ratio of digital to analog clocks, whether they should run forwards or backwards, and whether any labels should be stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...
ed or hand-drawn were all brought up. David Eick also noted that as of the commentary's recording, the clock at Felix Gaeta
Felix Gaeta
Lieutenant Junior Grade Felix Gaeta is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Alessandro Juliani.- Character overview in his early career :...
'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 TyrolGalen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol is a character on the television series Battlestar Galactica. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard Battlestar Galactica...
(Douglas) and Cally Henderson (Clyne) walking across Galacticas hangar bay, a shot of Crewman Socinus (Oyarzun) giving a bedraggled look over the shoulder of another crewmember, and a shot of PO2 Dualla
Anastasia Dualla
Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, portrayed by Kandyse McClure, is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.-Character history:...
(McClure) walking through Galacticas remembrance corridor.
In a question-and-answer session, Moore revealed a scene written for, but cut from, the episode. In the cut scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
, the recurring prop in the characters' briefing room was to have been explicitly introduced and explained; the prop remained in the series, but its back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
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."Other cut scenes included one shot in the pilots' head
Head (watercraft)
The head is a ship's toilet. The name derives from sailing ships in which the toilet area for the regular sailors was placed at the head or bow of the ship.-Design:In sailing ships the toilet was placed in the bow for two reasons...
, showing the pilots "wrecked and exhausted [...] with an exchange between Starbuck and Apollo", as well as several shots of Commander Adama (Olmos) gagging and vomiting
Vomiting
Vomiting is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose...
because of acid reflux
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
Gastroesophageal reflux disease , gastro-oesophageal reflux disease , gastric reflux disease, or acid reflux disease is chronic symptoms or mucosal damage caused by stomach acid coming up from the stomach into the esophagus...
brought on by sleep deprivation. Another line of Olmos'—an ad-lib
Ad libitum
Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "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 Bamber
Jamie Bamber is the stage name of Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith , a British actor known most widely for his roles as Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin on the ITV series Law & Order: UK...
) fires on the 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 the Olympic Carrier, it is unclear whether or not there is anybody inside. In a "small act of defiance", visual effects supervisor
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 and/or producers through the use of visual effects...
Gary Hutzel snuck in small, indeterminate movement behind one or two of the Olympic Carriers 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 McDonnell
Mary Eileen McDonnell is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role as Stands With A Fist in Dances with Wolves, and she is also very well known for her performance as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, the President's wife...
) learning of the newborn—upon which to end the episode on a hopeful note.
Release and reception
"33" first aired in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on , and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on , almost three months later. UK viewers obliged US Battlestar Galactica fans by pirating
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
the episode—uploading Torrents to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
—within hours of its SkyOne airing. "33" has been released thrice on home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
as part of the first season
Battlestar Galactica (season 1)
The first season of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, commissioned by the Sci-Fi Channel in February 2004, began airing eight months later in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It premiered on Sci-Fi in the United States with a two-hour debut on January 14, 2005...
collected sets; on as a Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
exclusive, again on , and finally as an HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
set on . The episode was also released on as part of the entire series' home video set on both DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
.
Both series creator Ronald D. Moore
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
and star Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber is the stage name of Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith , a British actor known most widely for his roles as Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin on the ITV series Law & Order: UK...
(Lee Adama) claim "33" as their favourite 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
Wired UK is a full-colour monthly magazine that reports primarily on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy...
and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, 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, and drew a 2.6 household Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, attracting 3.1 million viewers and making it the #2 program on cable (8pm-11pm). At the website Television Without Pity, the staff review rated the episode an "A+", while 546 of their readers awarded it an average grade of "B". The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
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."
External links
- "33" at SyfySyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
- "33" at the Battlestar Wiki