Cylons

The Cylons ( ) are a race of sentient robots in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, whose primary goal is the extermination of the human race. Introduced in the original 1978 television series, they also appear in the 1980 sequel series, the 2004–2009 reboot series, and the 2010 spinoff prequel series Caprica. In the 1978 series, the Cylons are the creation of a long-extinct reptilian humanoid race, also called Cylons, and view humans as a nuisance and an obstacle to the expansion of the Cylon Empire. The armies of metallic, armored Cylon Centurions are ruled by a unique, yet replaceable, Cylon known as the Imperious Leader. In the 2004 series, the robotic Cylons were created by humans but rose up against them. Decades after the initial conflict ended in a truce, the Cylons reappear and launch a cataclysmic attack on human civilization that kills billions. The metallic Centurions are secretly led by several models of synthetic humanoid Cylons who are virtually indistinguishable from humans and have infiltrated their society.

The Cylons ( ) are a race of sentient robots in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, whose primary goal is the extermination of the human race. Introduced in the original 1978 television series, they also appear in the 1980 sequel series, the 2004–2009 reboot series, and the 2010 spinoff prequel series Caprica. In the 1978 series, the Cylons are the creation of a long-extinct reptilian humanoid race, also called Cylons, and view humans as a nuisance and an obstacle to the expansion of the Cylon Empire. The armies of metallic, armored Cylon Centurions are ruled by a unique, yet replaceable, Cylon known as the Imperious Leader. In the 2004 series, the robotic Cylons were created by humans but rose up against them. Decades after the initial conflict ended in a truce, the Cylons reappear and launch a cataclysmic attack on human civilization that kills billions. The metallic Centurions are secretly led by several models of synthetic humanoid Cylons who are virtually indistinguishable from humans and have infiltrated their society.

In other media

Cylons have made appearances in other media besides tv series and movies, including novels, comic books, and a video game.

Novels

In the novelization of the series pilot, the Cylons are described as a militaristic, reptilian race which has been conquering its way across the galaxy. The novelization is written by Glen Larson, the series creator, who originally intended the Cylons to be an alien species; and, in fact, dialog which was later edited out of "Saga of a Star World" illustrated this point. However, network censors were concerned about violence, so the Cylons became robots. By this time, two novels had been written describing the Cylons as multibrained aliens, so the Cylon Drone was invented to justify all the robots dying on-screen. As living, organic beings, the original Cylon troops could be promoted through the surgical implantation of a second brain. When a Cylon was elevated to Imperious Leader, he received a third brain. The novelization of the original series states that an elite class of Command Centurions act as executive officers to the Imperious Leader and are not subordinate to the IL-Series. In the TV series they are distinguished from other Command Centurions by black bands on their gold armor and are very rarely seen. Vulpa was originally of this class but had been demoted and stationed on ice planet Arcta. In the later novelization of the original series it is stated that there is a class lower than the typical Centurion, that of the Cylon Drone. Although appearing identical to Centurions, Drones are robots, not capable of sophisticated independent thought—beyond following simple instructions to perform menial tasks.

Comic books

According to the Maximum Press comic of Battlestar Galactica, just prior to the start of The Thousand Yahren War, the Cylons's Imperious Leader made a deal with the mysterious and demonic Count Iblis (meaning "Satan" in the Arabic language) to betray his entire race in exchange for power that would allow him to "become like Count Iblis". Count Iblis, however, having lied about the process of "empowerment", instead changed the Imperious Leader into a cybernetic entity, more machine than organic being. Enraged, the Imperious Leader swore revenge and became more and more driven by conquest and warfare. In the Realm Press comic, the Cylons were originally led by a ruthless, conquest and expansionism-driven emperor named Sobekkta, one of the original living Cylons, who were a race of intelligent humanoid reptiles. In Battlestar Galactica # 16 Berserker!, Apollo comes across a lone Mark III prototype Cylon. This advanced Cylon is more creative and adaptive, making the Mark III better able to defeat humans. The other Cylons deemed this prototype a threat to themselves due to its unquenchable megalomania, so they marooned him far from the Cylon empire until needed.

Video games

In 1978, Mattel Electronics released a handheld electronic LED game based on the series, where the player tries to defend Galactica from kamikaze Cylon Raiders.

In popular culture

In television The reimagined series shows that the original Cylon models were extremely similar to the ones from the original series. In fact, actual props from the original were used in the display cases containing a Cylon Baseship and the upper torso and arms of a centurion. Two Cylon references can be witnessed in the Futurama series. In "Bendin' in the Wind", a Cylon is part of the musical duo Cylon and Garfunkel, a parody of Simon and Garfunkel. In "The Six Million Dollar Mon", Hermes has both a Cylon eye and a Cylon 'member' when in bed with his wife, LaBarbara. In the Farscape episode "I Shrink, Therefore I Am", Crichton's ship is invaded by a race with bioengineered exoskeletons. "This is John Crichton paging the head cylon, pick up the phone imperious leader." The classic Cylons have also appeared on The Simpsons on several occasions, the most notable in "Mayored to the Mob" during a sci-fi convention. There's a quick gag in a boxing arena where three Centurions square off against R2-D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars. ("See the mighty robots from Battlestar Galactica fight the gay robots from Star Wars!") They easily pin C-3PO to the floor, and R2 refuses to help. In the FOX animated series Family Guy, the host of "KISS Forum" also hosts "Battlestar Galactica Forum" on Quahog's public-access television cable TV channel. He introduces the forum by putting a classic Centurion mask on and saying "Welcome to Battlestar Galactica Forum" in traditional Cylon computerized monotone. Several Cylons appear briefly in the South Park epic Imaginationland, as one of the evil fictional creations set free when the barrier between the "good" and "evil" halves of the imagination is destroyed by terrorists. In the opening credits of certain seasons of The A-Team, Dirk Benedict watches a Cylon walk past (while at the Universal Studios tour), raises a finger and opens his mouth as if to say something, then gives up. Dirk Benedict played the character Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica series. This scene is later recreated on the animated show Family Guy. In a third season episode of Knight Rider, "Halloween Knight", the episode villain is shown briefly in a Cylon mask. Both series were created by Glen A. Larson. Cylons were the focus of a short skit on the Adult Swim program Robot Chicken, in which it is said that the original Cylon actors had so many problems walking around in their suits that they were constantly falling down. In The Replacements episode "Space Family Daring", Riley finds a head of a Cylon in a cabinet on board the spaceship. In SpongeBob SquarePants: In the episode "Plankton's Army", Plankton uses a robotic fish that features a revolving light over its "eyes" that is highly reminiscent of the Cylons' eyes. In another episode, "Komputer Overload", Plankton replaces his computer wife, Karen, with three robots made from random items lying around the Chum Bucket, one of which happens to be an old chrome-plated toaster, possibly meant to be a reference to the Colonials' nickname for the Cylon Centurions ("Toasters"). In the CBS program The Big Bang Theory, the character Sheldon makes Cylon toast. In the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy, in season 12 episode 3, the character Maggie Pierce goes on a rant about being alone and refers to her half-sister Meredith as a Cylon. Quote: "You're a cylon, this is Galactica". In the New Girl episode "Backslide", Jess thinks she is a Cylon because she cannot stay in relationships. In other media Several Cylon Centurions make an appearance as animatronics in the Alien Attack ride in Beverly Hills Cop 3. In the 2017 film Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Poppy's robot guard dogs have Cylon eye scanners. In the source code of Mozilla (and its Netscape predecessor), the indeterminate progress bar that slides back and forth—rather than rolling or filling up from left to right—is referred to as the "Cylon". A Cylon lookalike robot is featured in the official music video for Bloc Party's single, "Flux". In the video game Persona 3, one of the items the player can buy is a drink called "Cylon Tea", a pun on Ceylon tea. The album Programmed to Love by British electronica band Bent features the song "Cylons in Love". In the Dark Horse Star Wars comic series Tag and Bink, Cylons appear as the Emperor's Guards, Tag and Bink, in addition to many other references to other science fiction franchises. British comedians Mitchell and Webb parody the reimagined series in a sketch in which the human crew fear that the ship has been infiltrated by "fracking machines", apparently oblivious to their clearly robotic colleague that orders oil in the staff canteen. Larami came out with a bubble toy in 1978 called the Battlestar Galactica Cylon Bubble Machine as well as a line of other inexpensive toys.

References

External links

(Original series) (Reboot series)

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