Numerology

The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series shares a humorous and sometimes mysterious affinity in placing numbers with popular-culture cross-references or inside jokes in episode content.

"1701"

This is part of the registry number of the famous "USS Enterprise" of the "Star Trek" TV and movie series. In the Mini-Series, Colonial One rescues a passenger liner named "Gemenon Liner 1701." This is an inside nod to RDM's work in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV series.

"47"

This was the last lottery number held by a lucky refugee on Caprica, who was rescued by Lt. Sharon Valerii during an emergency stop on the Colony during the initial Cylon Attack. Dr. Gaius Baltar appeared to momentarily consider using the number for himself as the older woman could not read her number (her forgetfulness led her to neglect her glasses on top of her head). But Baltar was frightened out of the idea when Karl Agathon recognized him, and Baltar feared arrest for treason.

The number 47 was a very common in-joke in "Star Trek: The Next Generation", where the number was placed as many times as possible throughout the series in technobabble, props, and visual references.

"33"

33 is the name of the first episode
33 is the number of minutes between Cylon attacks in the episode 33
33 is the largest printed number on the Radio Magnetic Indicator

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From RDM's Sci-Fi Channel Blog: Why 33 minutes? ===

The truth is, there's no real answer. It's just a random number that felt right when I came up with the idea that our people were under continuous, relentless attack since the end of the pilot. I wanted it to be a short interval, just long enough for them to grab a bite to eat, jump in the shower and maybe try to catch a catnap before dragging themselves back to their duty stations and begin the whole tedious, terrifying ordeal all over again.

A deeper truth is, I was never interested in coming up with an explanation for Why? Never. I mean, I suppose I could've come up with a sufficiently important-sounding bit of technobabble that would've made sense (you see, the Cylon double-talk sensors tracking the Olympic Carrier's nonsense drive signature needed 15 minutes to relay the made-up data wave through the pretend continuum, then the Cylon navigational hyper silly system needed another 10 minutes to recalculate the flux capacitor, etc.) but what would that have really added to the drama? How does explaining that 33 minute interval help our understanding of Laura's terrible moment of decision, or bring us to any greater knowledge of Dualla's search for her missing family and friends, or yield insight into Baltar's morally shattered psyche?

It doesn't, of course. The answer, however artfully it may (or may not) have been crafted can only subtract from the experience we have in watching the episode. Not knowing the how's or why's of the Cylon attack puts us in the same seat as the characters we're watching. They're in the dark, and we're in the dark. The relentless attack is unfathomable in its origin and unstoppable in its execution. It's mortality coming at you on a loop. If you only had 33 minutes before the next time you could die, what would you do? And what about the time after that? And the time after that? At a certain point, you stop caring about why it's happening, all you know is that it is happening, and it's happening to you.

So the mystery of 33 will be permanent on this show. No explanation, not even the attempt. Let it just be a number that seemed like an eternity for five long days on the battlestar Galactica.

"13"

There are 13 Colonies - the Twelve Colonies, plus one: The thirteenth Colony, Earth
- There are Twelve Colonies of Kobol that are formed of the 12 tribes that traveled together, and there are supposedly 12 Lords of Kobol. There's also supposedly 12 models of humanoid Cylon. But there's really 13 tribes and 13 colonies if you count Earth: does this mean there will be a 13th Cylon model?
There are 13 episodes in the first season of the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica."
- This is the standard number of episodes in the first 'trial' season of many new shows; 52 weeks a year/4 = 13 weeks a "season" that they air episodes.
Number of pilots killed by communication drone accident in "Act of Contrition"