Cylon (Battlestar Galactica)
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- For other uses of "Cylon", see Cylon
The Cylons are a cybernetic civilization at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, in the original 1978/1980 series and movie, as well as the 2003 reimagining.
The nature and origins of Cylons differ greatly between the two Galacticas. However both series feature Cylon Raiders, Cylon Basestars and Cylon Centurions.
[edit] Original continuity
The Cylons of the 1978/1980 series were created to serve the reptilian race of the Cylon Alliance. This fact is briefly mentioned in the 1978 movie-length premier 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, with Iblis countering that if that was true it must have been "transcribed" over a thousand yahren (years) ago.
One episode of the follow-up series Galactica 1980 features a humanoid Cylon.
[edit] Reimagined continuity
The Cylons of the 2003 miniseries and current Battlestar Galactica series are fundamentally different from the Cylons of the original 1978/1980 series. In the new version, the Cylons were created by man as robotic workers and soldiers. As in the original series, the Cylons destroy almost the entire human civilization, chasing a few ship-borne survivors into deep space. Unlike the original series, however, the reimagined series includes twelve Cylon models who are nearly indistinguishable from human beings. Although these humanform Cylons are the focus of the series, alongside the humanoid models there are also Centurions similar to those in the original series, often called toasters because of their metal structure. In recent episodes (Torn) it is implied the Centurions are at least partially biological, as are the Cylon Raiders and Basestars, the latter being controlled by "hybrids" that are humanoid cylons intimately intertwined with the ships they control.
