It wasn’t long ago that 20th Century Fox, the studio that produces Star Wars, sued Battlestar Galactica over copyright infringement. But the love for BSG, both old and new, could not be snuffed out and the Clone Wars writers and supervising director Dave Filoni have managed to sneak some references in there without too much of an uproar.
For instance, in the original Battlestar, the red glow eyed metal soldiers would answer every order with “By your command” in a very robotic voice, a phrase you may have heard a Separatist tactical droid reply in the animated series. Since both of them sound very metallic, it seemed only natural to have them acknowledge their orders in a similar manner as a tribute.
But the connection between the tactical droids and the classic series doesn’t end there. According to Filoni, who spoke to Entertainment Weekly, there was a very big inspiration for the design and attributes of the droids that came from that show.
Many of you younger people may not remember or were even alive in 1978 when the classic Battlestar Galactica aired. Despite winning awards, the show was much too costly because the series had a great number of cast members, but even more importantly, the special effects required were too expensive. At that time, computer graphics had not taken the place of sets and models. So everything had to be built by hand. The series ended in 1979 after only eight months, cancelled despite having a rabid fan base.
In that classic version, there was a character named Lucifer. He was a Cylon of sorts, though a much more upgraded model than the red glow eyed centurians. His role was to advise the human Baltar, commander of the Cylon Base ship, in strategic and leadership matters and to pass along orders to the troops. He was portrayed as a very sophisticated android that was very intelligent and quite proper. Think C3PO of the Galactica universe. Recognizing that he possessed the same abilities that the Clone War designers were looking for, the character of Lucifer inspired the look and capabilities of the tactical droids.
But that’s not all…
In Season 4 of Clone Wars, the span will become even smaller between the two universes as Katee Sackhoff will be lending her voice to what is only being described as a very memorable character. Her on-screen identity is very hush, hush at the moment, but Filoni did confirm that she is in place for the new episodes. Sackhoff played the tough and sexy pilot Starbuck in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica reimagining that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (SyFy) until 2008. Her character, originally scorned by fans because the original Starbuck was a guy, wound up being one of the most popular in the series, mainly due to Sackhoff’s take on the character.
Does that mean that Frak will wind up in the Star Wars lexicon? Who knows, but at the very least those that are fans of both shows will certainly have something to look forward to when the series returns on the Cartoon Network.
