The Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, which began as a 1978 TV series, was "reimagined" in 2003 into the TV miniseries. The miniseries served as a backdoor pilot for a 2004 TV series. Three seasons of the TV series have been completed and aired, along with a two-part prequel Battlestar Galactica: Razor, which also constitutes a preamble to the fourth season. The fourth season, consisting of 20 additional episodes, is scheduled to begin airing on 4 April 2008, and constitutes the finale for the series.

This new Battlestar Galactica is described as reimagined not only to avoid the negative connotations associated with the term 'remake', but also because it marked an entirely new direction for the franchise, while still based on the original premise; it is analogous to a "reboot" in comic books.

It's been 40 years since the 12 colonies of mankind have heard from their progeny, the Cylons -- robotic creatures who rose up and declared war on their masters, then disappeared. In a sudden, devastating strike, the Cylons return and lay waste to the colonies, aided by human-looking Cylon variants and an unwitting fifth columnist. The attack forces Commander William Adama to call into action his museum-piece warship, the Battlestar Galactica, and soon its company of hotshot fighter pilots is blasting away at the invaders. But their best efforts can't prevent the colonies' obliteration. Fleeing the Cylon genocide, the Galactica leads a rag-tag fleet of survivors on a lonely quest to find humanity's fabled 13th colony -- a planet known as Earth. Written by John Colicos #6

After forty years of armistice, the Cylons massively attacks the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Their strategy is based on a virus implanted in the mankind defense system. The former Battlestar Galactica, which is being adapted as a museum, is not connected in network with the defense system and becomes the unique warship capable of fight against the Cylons and lead the survivors to the legendary planet Earth. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In a distant galaxy lie The Twelve Colonies of Man, a civilization that has been at peace for some forty years with an empire of machines, the Cylons, who were created generations before as worker drones for mankind, but became independent, rose in rebellion, and launched war on their masters. Now, the Cylons have evolved into more human form, into machine-created biological beings, who seek to exterminate true biological humans. To this end they use a human scientist, Gaius, to help one of their infiltrators, known as #6, penetrate the Colonies' master defense mainframes; Gaius is reluctant but smitten by #6, a Cylon woman of seemingly insatiable sexual desire, and the result of their affair is a nuclear sneak-attack that obliterates the Colonies and the star navy deployed for their protection. One ship, however, survives, an obsolete battlestar known as the Galactica; scheduled for decommisioning, the Galactica instead must lead 50,000 surviving humans on a quest for a new homeworld, where they must bear children to rebuild their race. First, however, the Galactica must lead surviving ships of the Colonies to a weapons deployment base within a spatial storm, a rendezvous that leaves them trapped when two Cylon base stars track them down and open fire. Written by Michael Daly

(Information provided from episode summaries created by the Battlestar Galactica mailing list) The story of how the 12 colonies of man are destroyed after a 1000 year war with the evil Cylon Empire. Through deceit, the Cylons are able to destroy the Colonies' entire fleet, except for the Battlestar Galactica, captained by Commander Adama. Adama gathers up the few remaining humans left on all the twelve worlds and embarks on a journey to find the mythical planet Earth, the supposed thirteenth colony of Mankind, lost millennia ago when humans first left the motherworld, Kobol. With food and fuel running out, the fleet heads for an ore planet, Carillon, hoping to get what it needs. The Ovions, who populate the planet, are being controlled by the Cylons, who set a trap for the Galactica. The fleet gets food and fuel, and escapes, destroying Carillon and a Cylon Base Star. Written by BSG Mailing List