In a distant part of the universe, there exists a civilization of humans who live on planets known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. For a thousand years, the Colonies have been at war with a cybernetic race known as the Cylons, and are about to negotiate a peace treaty with them. (In the reimagined series the war lasted approximately ten years after which the Cylons withdrew and did not contact humanity for forty years.) However, it was all a ruse, and with the help of a human named Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden, coordinated, sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. A few thousand of the human survivors flee into space aboard any spacecraft they can reach. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of famed military leader Commander Adama, the Battlestar Galactica and her crew take up the task of leading the ragtag fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.
The twelve colonies are named after the astrological signs of the Greek zodiac; for example, Scorpia (Scorpio), Caprica (Capricorn), and Aquaria (Aquarius).
Several of the characters in the series have names or call signs corresponding to significant characters in Greek mythology, including Apollo, Athena, and Cassiopeia.
The name of the battlestar Commander, Adama means earth (or ground) in Hebrew.
Much of the original mythological template is drawn from series creator Glen Larson's Mormon theology. The planet Kobol is an anagram of Kolob, which, according to the Mormon Book of Abraham, is the star nearest to where God dwells. The Mormon marriage ceremony, where couples are "sealed" for "time and all eternity" is approximated in the original Galactica episode "Lost Planet of the Gods."
The show also seemed to reflect contemporary political anxieties, especially with regard to the Cold War and the 1970s detente between the United States and the Soviet Union just before the latter's invasion of Afghanistan a year after the pilot's premiere. More obliquely in the pilot, and more obviously when the fleet encounters the Terrans a subtle commentary is presented about the Eastern Bloc gaining prominence and unilateral disarmament as represented by the SALT II treaty. These sentiments are particularly prominent in the episode "Experiment in Terra".
The current series continues this tradition, commenting on concerns about terrorism, religious fundamentalism and other current political topics. In the first episodes of Season Three, some humans serve as suicide bombers in their resistance against the Cylons on New Caprica.
From Wikipedia.
