| During the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica’s third | | | | be found on the date the song was created rather |
| season finale, the song “All Along The | | | | than what the song is saying. Stepping into actual |
| Watchtower” by Bob Dylan reverberated around | | | | history for a moment, Bob Dylan wrote “All Along |
| the heads of the four humanoid Cylons, Colonel Saul | | | | the Watchtower” after he survived a motorcycle |
| Tigh, Samuel Anders, Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol | | | | accident, and it was released towards the end of 1967. |
| and Tory Foster. Many followers of the series have | | | | Now, going back to the world of Battlestar Galactica, |
| speculated about the use of the song and one guess | | | | supposing that the show is taking place in real time, |
| is that the song was used as a way to show that that | | | | then it reinforces the fact that Earth is a short distance |
| human beings like Lieutenant Athena and the Cylons | | | | away. If this were true, then the Cylons are actually |
| are actually just forty light years away from Earth. | | | | inching closer and closer to their desired destination. |
| To make this hypothesis more believable, one would | | | | Confusing as it might be, this hypothesis is quite |
| have to make more supplementary assumptions. First, | | | | interesting. It certainly provides a different perspective, |
| it would have to be assumed that the song is some | | | | but if you take into consideration what the show’s |
| kind of radio wave being transmitted from a satellite. | | | | composer, Bear McCreary, said about his selection of |
| Second, the satellite might have been created to circle | | | | the song, the aforementioned hypothesis would |
| a particular planet in order to receive frequencies, | | | | immediately lose its strength. McCreary said in his |
| which will in turn be sent back to Cylon hardware only. | | | | online journal that when he chose the particular song, |
| If the song can only be heard by Cylons, then that | | | | he was told not to make it sound anything close to the |
| suggests that the satellite was created by the Cylons | | | | original or any remake thereof. In addition, the |
| in order to further their search for the Blue Planet. | | | | composer chronicled his process of reinventing the |
| Taking all of this into account, what then is the | | | | song to make it sound less Earthly and more galactic. |
| relevance of the Bob Dylan tune? Well, contrary to | | | | If this is the case, then the song the Cylons heard was |
| what many have believed about where the meaning | | | | not Dylan’s original recording, and therefore could |
| of a song can be found, the relevance may actually | | | | not have been the year 1967 in Earth. |