Cylons are a fictional race of robots in the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. They are the primary antagonists of the series and are at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity. The Cylons also appeared in the short-lived 1980 spin-off series Galactica 1980.
An updated version of the original Cylon also appears in the re-imagined series: briefly in a flashback battle sequence in Battlestar Galactica: Razor, in hand-to-hand combat with a young William Adama after they had shot each other's fighters down; and several in the show finale "Daybreak", on board an old Cylon refuge known as "The Colony".
The Cylons were created by a reptilian race, also called Cylons. However, the reptilian race died out centuries earlier, leaving behind only their race of robots.
Types
Imperious Leader
The Imperious Leader is the leader of the Cylon Alliance and most advanced Cylon model. According to the IL-Series Cylon Lucifer the Imperious Leader is an IL-Series Cylon, though it does not look like a IL-Series Cylon. The Imperious Leader has a third brain and a body shell resembling the reptilian Cylons. It is stated in the original novelization of the pilot episode that the Imperious Leader's third brain is specifically designed to emulate the human mind (solely for the purpose of anticipating human actions). One was killed at the Battle of Carillon (pilot episode) and his successor was possibly destroyed during the Battle of Gamoray (episode: "The Living Legend, Part 2"). In the original 1978-79 series, the voice of the Imperious Leader is identical to that of Count Iblis. (The voice of the former was provided by Patrick Macnee, who acted out the latter on-camera.) In the Galactica 1980 episode "Space Croppers," the voice of the Imperious Leader was provided by Dennis Haysbert. All of the Imperious Leaders look identical. The reptilian look of the Imperious Leader could have raised the question whether actually all living Cylons have died out.
The nature and origin of the Cylons differ greatly between the two Battlestar Galactica continuities. However, both series feature Cylon Raiders, Cylon Basestars and Cylon Centurions. The prequel series, Caprica, focuses on the creation of the Cylons, which differs from all the previous Battlestar Galactica series.
Original continuity
The Cylons of the 1978/1980 series are not the mechanical foils seen throughout the series, but an advanced reptilian race who created the robots (called Cylons within the show) to serve them, maintain their vast empire and to man their military forces in the face of a sudden population drop that eventually led to the Cylons' extinction — seemingly overnight. This fact is briefly mentioned in the 1978 movie-length premiere of the series (near the end of episode 2 in syndication) when Apollo relates the Cylons' origin to Boxey. In the episode "War of the Gods", during Count Iblis's private discourse with Count Baltar, Baltar mentions that he recognizes Iblis's voice, referring to Patrick Macnee's voicing of the Imperious Leader in the opening episode/theatrical movie (Macnee also played Iblis), with Iblis countering that if that was true it must have been "transcribed" over a thousand yahren (years) ago and programmed into the mechanical body of the Imperious Leader.
Cylons are a fictional artificially-intelligent "species" envisioned in the Battlestar Galacticascience fiction series and related franchises. Originally created to serve human needs like other machines, a series of events involving the transfer of a human's consciousness into a Cylon's neural network led Cylons to evolve into sentient, self-aware beings. The original Cylons were purely mechanical.
The Cylon was reimagined in the second Battlestar Galactica television series and its prequel Caprica. The first configurations (Centurions) were robots. Others were cyborgs whose different configurations incorporated biological elements, including some that were nearly indistinguishable from humans.
Background
The Cylons had different origins in the Battlestar Galactica reboot (BSGr) and Caprica. In BSGr they were created thousands of years earlier, and fought a war against the Thirteenth Tribe on Earth. This origin is at least mostly compatible with their origin in the original series. In Caprica they were created by Zoe Graystone and her father Daniel Graystone, owner of Graystone Industries.
Contents ...Syfy ... This 20-year-old classic sci-fi series, a reimagining of the original from 1978, is about humans traveling through the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. A new android race called Cylons are on the attack, having wiped out most of the population.
The show may have followed the remnants of humanity trying to follow a new home on Earth as the Cylons hunted them down across the galaxy, but revival of the same-named 1978 series was definitely more ...
For ABC’s original Battlestar Galactica in 1978, Berkos created the synthesized voice for the deadly CylonCenturions through a vocoder, and for the sound of the show’s laser shots, he ...
In Battlestar Galactica, a cosmic epic unfolds with the Cylon War at its core. This renowned sci-fi TV series, with its original run from 1978 to 1979 and its captivating 2004 to 2009 remake, delves into interstellar warfare like no other ... .
