Battlestar Galactica (season 4)
Encyclopedia
The fourth and final season of the reimagined science fiction television 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...

premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy
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 April 4, 2008, and concluded on March 20, 2009. Similar to the second season, it was split into two parts, each containing 10 episodes. "Season 4.0" aired from April to June 2008 and "Season 4.5" aired from January to March 2009. The fourth season contained 20 episodes, plus the television film Razor
Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Battlestar Galactica: Razor is a television film of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It premiered in the United States on Sci Fi Channel, in Canada on the Space channel and in the United Kingdom on Sky One.-Production:...

, which is considered the first two episodes of the season four.

Main cast

  • 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...

     as William Adama
    William Adama
    William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...

  • 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...

     as 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...

  • Katee Sackhoff
    Katee Sackhoff
    Kathryn Ann "Katee" Sackhoff is an American actress known mainly for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in...

     as 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...

  • 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...

     as 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:...

  • 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...

     as 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...

  • Tricia Helfer
    Tricia Helfer
    Tricia Janine Helfer is a Canadian actress and former model, best known for her roles as Number Six in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, "Carla" on Burn Notice, and FBI Special Agent Alex Rice on Dark Blue, as well as for hosting the first season of Canada's...

     as 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"...

  • Grace Park
    Grace Park (actress)
    Grace Park is an American-born Canadian actress. She gained recognition as Sharon Valerii on Battlestar Galactica, as well as Shannon Ng in the Canadian television series teen soap Edgemont...

     as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii/Sharon "Athena" Agathon (Number Eight)
  • Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh
    Saul Tigh
    Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...

  • Aaron Douglas
    Aaron Douglas (actor)
    Aaron Douglas is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Galen Tyrol on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica....

     as Galen Tyrol
    Galen 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...

  • 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:...

     as Karl "Helo" Agathon
    Karl Agathon
    Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.-Background:...

  • Michael Trucco
    Michael Trucco
    Edward Michael Trucco is an American actor with Italian roots. He is best known for his role as Samuel T. Anders on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and currently appears as a series regular on the USA Network television series Fairly Legal.-Biography:A native of San Mateo, California, he...

     as Samuel Anders
    Samuel Anders
    Samuel T. Anders is a fictional character from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series, played by Michael Trucco...

  • Nicki Clyne
    Nicki Clyne
    Nicki Clyne is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Cally Henderson Tyrol on the Sci-Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica.-Early life:...

     as Cally Henderson Tyrol
  • Kandyse McClure
    Kandyse McClure
    Kandyse McClure is an actress, best known for playing Anastasia Dualla on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica.- Biography :...

     as Anastasia Dualla
    Anastasia Dualla
    Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, portrayed by Kandyse McClure, is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.-Character history:...

  • Alessandro Juliani
    Alessandro Juliani
    Alessandro Juliani is a Canadian actor, singer, and voice actor. He is notable for playing Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica, and Emil Hamilton in Smallville...

     as 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 :...


Recurring cast

  • Donnelly Rhodes
    Donnelly Rhodes
    Donnelly Rhodes is a Canadian actor. He recently starred as Doctor Cottle on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica. Before Battlestar Galactica he was probably best known to American audiences as the lovestruck, hapless escaped convict "Dutch Leitner" on the 1970s soap-opera...

     as Sherman Cottle
  • Rekha Sharma
    Rekha Sharma
    Rekha Shanti Sharma is a Canadian actress best known for her portrayal of Tory Foster on Battlestar Galactica.Her ancestors are from the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, which they left during the British period. Her family resettled in the Fiji Islands and her parents moved to Canada...

     as Tory Foster
    Tory Foster
    Tory Foster is a fictional character from the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Rekha Sharma.-Character biography:Tory, like the other members of the Final Five, was originally from a planet called Earth...

  • Callum Keith Rennie
    Callum Keith Rennie
    Callum Keith Rennie is a British-born Canadian television and film actor. He started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski in the TV series Due South was his first international success...

     as Leoben Conoy
    Leoben Conoy
    Leoben Conoy is a fictional character portrayed by Callum Keith Rennie appearing in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series....

     (Number Two)
  • Lucy Lawless
    Lucy Lawless
    Lucy Lawless, MNZM is a New Zealander actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the internationally successful television series Xena: Warrior Princess....

     as D'Anna Biers (Number Three)
  • Dean Stockwell
    Dean Stockwell
    Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...

     as John Cavil (Number One)
  • Matthew Bennett
    Matthew Bennett
    Matthew Ray Bennett is a Canadian actor, writer and director. At the age of 20 he moved from his hometown of Toronto, Ontario to Vancouver, British Columbia to pursue an acting career...

     as Aaron Doral
    Aaron Doral
    Aaron Doral is a fictional character from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series.Doral is a humanoid Cylon who first appeared as a civilian public relations specialist aboard Galactica just prior to the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Through conversation with the Cylon agent Number Six, Dr...

     (Number Five)
  • Rick Worthy
    Rick Worthy
    Richard Worthy is an American actor and Star Trek veteran, having played several alien and one human role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise....

     as Simon
    Number Four (Battlestar Galactica)
    Simon , is a fictional character, a Cylon from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. He first appears in The Farm , an episode written by Carla Robinson and directed by Rod Hardy...

     (Number Four)
  • Richard Hatch
    Richard Hatch
    Richard Hatch is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Captain Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, and also as Tom Zarek in the remake of Battlestar Galactica....

     as Tom Zarek
    Tom Zarek
    Thomas "Tom" Zarek is the name of a fictional character on the Syfy series Battlestar Galactica. He is played by Richard Hatch, who had previously portrayed Captain Apollo, a character on the original Battlestar Galactica series of the late 1970s....

  • Kate Vernon
    Kate Vernon
    Kate Vernon is a Canadian-born film and television actress. She is best known for her roles as Lorraine Prescott on the CBS soap opera Falcon Crest from , the stuck-up and popular Benny Hanson in the comedy film Pretty in Pink , Mary-John Lovejoy in The Lost Colony Feature of Lovejoy and...

     as Ellen Tigh
    Ellen Tigh
    After she is killed for treason against the resistance on New Caprica, Ellen resurrects aboard a Cylon ship, where John Cavil holds her prisoner. However, by downloading into a new body, she regains the memories that Cavil had blocked decades earlier...

  • Mark Sheppard
    Mark Sheppard
    Mark Andreas Sheppard is an English actor and musician, born in London of an Irish-German background. He is often credited as "Mark A. Sheppard".-Personal life:Mark Sheppard is the son of actor W. Morgan Sheppard...

     as Romo Lampkin
    Romo Lampkin
    Romo Lampkin is a fictional character in the television remake of Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by Mark Sheppard. He first appeared in the third season episode, "The Son Also Rises"....

  • Leah Cairns
    Leah Cairns
    Leah Cairns is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as one of the Raptor pilots, Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson, on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica.-Biography:...

     as Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
    Margaret Edmondson
    Margaret Edmondson is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by actress Leah Cairns.- Character biography :...

  • Bodie Olmos
    Bodie Olmos
    Bodie James Olmos is an American actor of TV and film. He is the son of Edward James Olmos and Kaija Keel, and grandson of Howard Keel. His older brother is actor Mico Olmos. His first on screen appearance was on The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez in 1982 when he was 7 years old...

     as Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza
  • Jennifer Halley as Diana "Hardball" Seelix

Episodes

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Production

During the hiatus after season 3, the writers had a retreat in Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...

 were they planned much of the story arc for the fourth season, mainly mapping out the storylines of the first 10 episodes. In June 2007, the Sci-Fi Channel confirmed the fourth season would be its final season, with an order of 22 episodes, an increase from 13 as originally announced. Production of the final season began in May 2007. A special TV movie, titled Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Battlestar Galactica: Razor is a television film of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It premiered in the United States on Sci Fi Channel, in Canada on the Space channel and in the United Kingdom on Sky One.-Production:...

, aired on November 24, 2007. The regular season began airing on April 4, 2008.

Only the first 12 episodes of season four (including Razor, which is technically the first two episodes of the 22 ordered for season 4 were filmed before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....

 halted production of all scripted TV shows. After the strike ended, the final 10 episodes began airing on January 16, 2009.

Reception

The season received very positive reviews from critics, scoring 85 out of 100 based on 16 reviews from Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

. The series also placed on numerous critics top ten lists of both 2008 and 2009 by publications such as the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

, San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

, The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...

, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

and TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

.

The fourth season received a total of eleven Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 nominations. "Season 4.0" received six nominations at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards
60th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...

, for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Michael Angeli
Michael Angeli
Michael Angeli is an American writer and television producer, best known for his award-nominated work on television series such as Monk and the remake of Battlestar Galactica, a show for which he was also a co-executive producer....

 for "Six of One"), Outstanding Cinematography for a One-Hour Series (Stephen McNutt for Razor), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series ("He That Believeth in Me"), and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) (Razor); and won for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series ("He That Believeth in Me") and Outstanding Special Class – Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Programs (Razor Flashbacks). "Season 4.5" received five nominations at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards
61st Primetime Emmy Awards
The 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place on September 20, 2009. CBS broadcast the Primetime event and E! the Creative Arts event; both take place at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominations for the Awards were announced on July 16....

, with the episode "Daybreak, Part 2" receiving all the series' nominations, for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (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...

), Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series; and won for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.

For the 10 regular episodes, Battlestar Galactica averaged a 1.7 Nielsen
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...

 household rating and 2.2 million total viewers. This represented an increase of 13% in household rating and 11% in total viewers. The series finale received 2.4 million viewers and became the most-watched episode of the series in over three years.

Home video releases

Similar to the second season, the fourth season was split into two parts, as well the DVD and Blu-ray sets. Season 4.0 was released on DVD in region 1 on January 6, 2009, in region 2 (although simply titled "Season 4") on October 6, 2008 and in region 4 (titled "Season 4: Part 1") on December 3, 2008. Season 4.5 was released on DVD in region 1 on July 28, 2009, in region 2 (titled "The Final Season") on June 1, 2009 and in region 4 (titled "Season 4: Part 2 – The Final Chapter") on July 28, 2009. The complete fourth season was released on 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...

 in region 1 on January 4, 2011.

The Season 4.0 DVD set includes the first 10 episodes of season four and the television film Razor. The Razor disc includes the broadcast version as well as the unrated extended version. Executive producer 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 writer Michael Taylor
Michael Taylor (screenwriter)
Michael Taylor is best known for his work as a writer for both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. His DS9 credits include the celebrated episode "The Visitor", "Things Past", "Resurrection" and "In the Pale Moonlight", which was controversial for challenging some of Star Trek's...

 provide commentary for the extended version. Also included on the Razor disc are deleted scenes, two featurettes—"The Look of Battlestar Galactica" and "My Favorite Episode So Far", as well as a sneak peek at season 4. For the other discs, special features include creator Ronald D. Moore's podcast commentaries on 7 of the 10 episodes; podcasts for "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" and "Sine Qua Non" were not recorded, while a podcast for "Faith" was recorded and is available on the official website but is not included on the sets due to the recording quality. With that, new commentaries were recorded for the DVD. Moore, along with writers Bradley Thompson
Bradley Thompson
Bradley Thompson is an American television producer and writer, best known for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , The Twilight Zone , Battlestar Galactica , and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with writing partner David Weddle...

 and David Weddle
David Weddle
David Weddle is an American television producer and writer, best known for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , The Twilight Zone , Battlestar Galactica , and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with writing partner Bradley Thompson...

 provide commentary for "Faith"; Moore and writer Michael Angeli
Michael Angeli
Michael Angeli is an American writer and television producer, best known for his award-nominated work on television series such as Monk and the remake of Battlestar Galactica, a show for which he was also a co-executive producer....

 provide commentary for "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?"; and Moore and writer Michael Taylor prove commentary for "Sine Qua Non". Moore is joined by writer Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...

, editor Michael O'Halloran and supervising editor Andrew Seklir on his podcast commentary for "The Hub"; and is joined by writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, and editor Julius Ramsay on his podcast commentary for "Revelations". Also included are deleted scenes for every episode, ten 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...

 videoblogs, three featurettes—"The Journey", "Cylons: The Twelve", and "The Music of Battlestar Galactica", as well as a sneak peek of season 4.5 and a trailer for Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...

.

The Season 4.5 DVD set includes the last 10 episodes of season four. Special features include creator Ronald D. Moore's podcast commentaries on all 10 episodes. There are also three unaired extended episodes, for "A Disquiet Follows My Soul", "Islanded in a Stream of Stars", and "Daybreak". The extended episodes feature commentary tracks; writer and director Ronald D. Moore on "A Disquiet Follows My Soul"; series star and episode director 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...

 on "Islanded in a Stream of Stars"; and executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick and 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...

on "Daybreak". Also included are deleted scenes for various episodes, 11 David Eick videoblogs, and five featurettes—"Evolution of a Cue", "And They Have a Plan", "The Journey Ends: The Arrival", "What the Frak is Going on With Battlestar Galactica?", and "A Look Back".
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