Battlestar Galactica’s top actor made a $200,000 shooting mistake

Pa Chris Snellgrove
| Published 25 seconds ago

Ronald D. Mura Battlestar Galactica the remake was a show that was planned. Not only did the showrunner have big plans from the start (more or less) for his modern sci-fi mythology, but characters like Commander Adama had to constantly scheming and scheming to stay one step ahead of the nefarious Cylons.

However, as it turns out, Adama actor Edward James Olmos isn’t much of a planner in real life, often making spontaneous decisions to bring his on-screen characters to life. Unfortunately, this has resulted in expensive costs Battlestar Galactica a mistake during the episode “Maelstrom” in which an actor accidentally destroyed a $200,000 model.

Adama is angry

It’s insanely expensive for a fairy tale Battlestar Galactica to make much sense, you need important context. “Whirlpool” prominently features a detailed model of Commander Adama’s ancient sailing ship in his quarters, but this is more of a Starbuck episode…at least until the heartbreaking moment when this fan-favorite character apparently dies (don’t worry, she’ll get better… like). Starbuck was basically the daughter Adama never had, and the episode ends with Adama completely heartbroken destroying model ship before bursting into tears.

This is, without a doubt, one of the strongest points of the Battlestar Galactica history. It’s also the scene that contains the show’s most expensive mistake. In 2012 Edward James Olmos revealed a secret to Planet Comicon attendees, namely that he completely improvised this scene. Simply put, Adamo destroys his model ship (unlike Captain Picard who destroys his model ships in First contact) was never in the script, and the actor decided to go for it right away.

For Olmos, such killer improvisation was just another day officeand considering how great the scene turned out, it’s clear that the actor’s instincts for the scene were perfect. And as far as he knew, the model ship he was destroying was made by the production team, so it wouldn’t hurt if he destroyed it with as much confidence as if Roslin had thrown it out of the airlock. What the actor didn’t know at the time, however, was that the model had been rented from a museum and was worth a cool $200,000.

It is expensive Battlestar Galactica the mistake is more understandable when you consider that most of the time the show used their own cheap replicas rather than the real model. That being said, Olmos didn’t sound as contrite as he told the story to the conventioneers. According to the actor, his response to the news that he had destroyed the one-of-a-kind (and very expensive) model was: “What did you put her in the scene for? I was just told that my (character’s) daughter died, what did you expect?’

There is some logic in his answer! Manufacturers might find it expensive Battlestar Galactica mistake, but Olmos saw it as an opportunity to create an unforgettable moment for his character. It wasn’t the first time the actor pulled off a killer improv, and it probably won’t be the last. Or, as the Cylons might say, it’s all happened before, and it’s all going to happen again.