Seraphs (Battlestar Galactica)

The Seraphs (singular: Seraph) were an alien race in the original "Battlestar Galactica" series from 1978/79 and its spinoff series, "Galactica 1980". They were never expressly referred to by name in the series, and were called "Seraphs" in the scripts for the episodes in which they appear, as well as in the mid-90's Galactica comic book series. They may or may not be part of the current re-imagined series, though the appearance of the "Final Five" Cylons in several third-season episodes was a deliberate attempt to approximate their appearance.

The Seraphs were a noncorporeal race of sentients who first show up in the two-part episode "War of the Gods," when they take a largely unexplained interest in the well-being of the humans in the Rag-Tag Fleet. They show up again at the conclusion of the "Terra" story arc ("Greetings from Earth," "Baltar's Escape", and "Experiment in Terra") where their representative, "John" assists Captain Apollo on a mission which ultimately proves of little worth to the Galactica, but which saves the lives of all the humans on the planet Terra. They next showed up in the Galactica 1980 episode "The Return of Starbuck" which explained the origins of the mysterious Doctor Zee (himself all or partially Seraph). They were also to figure heavily in the episode, "Wheel of Fire" which was in preproduction when the series was cancelled.

For all intents and purposes, the Seraphs are wingless angels, traveling about in a large spacecraft most commonly referred to as the Ship of Lights. They appear roughly humanoid in appearance (Though their faces are always veiled), but when Starbuck attempts to touch one, his hand goes through its body as though it were a hologram. It is later revealed in "Experiment in Terra" that they can take on a perfectly normal human form when called upon to do so, as the Seraph "John" appears perfectly unremarkable in that episode.

When asked about their origins, the Seraphs claimed to have been more traditional beings in their remote past, but that they evolved to their present state, "As you now are, we once were; as we now are you may yet become." This may mean the Seraph species evolved from Homo Sapiens in specific, or if they may simply be referring to corporeal life in general.

Commander Adama, who is quite knowledgeable in religious matters, quickly realizes that the Seraphs are the same angelic "Beings of Light" mentioned in "The Book of the Word," the dominant Colonial Scripture, and that these beings have - again for undisclosed reasons - played a part in human (or at least Colonial) society. As the series progressed, and the Cylons became a more distant threat to the survival of the Colonial Refugees, the Galactica and its fleet blundered into the midst of some kind of supernatural war between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil, which appears to have been using lesser beings (such as humans and Cylons) as pawns. The forces of Evil (presumably another group of Seraphs, though this is not explicitly made clear) were revealed to have meddled with the Cylons 1000 years earlier, and the voice of the Cylon Imperious Leader was based on a recording of an evil Seraph who had visited them a millennium earlier. In the Galactica: 1980 series, the Seraphs were still apparently meddling in human history, as seen in the "Return of Starbuck" episode, and the script for the unfilmed episode "Wheel of Fire" seems to imply that the Seraphs are the same beings who appear as Angels in Judeo/Christian/Islamic scripture.

In the re-imagined series episode The Ties That Bind, Starbuck paints what appears to be Ships of Light on the ceiling over her bunk.

Trivia

The name "Seraph" is the singular of "Seraphim," the six-winged angels from the Bible, though the ones in the series have no wings at all.

ee also

*The Lords of Kobol somewhat replace the Seraphs and Ship of Lights mythology in the reimagined series, though not completely. The "Final Five" have likewise assumed some of the Seraphs' duties from season three on.