How Battlestar Galactica Avoided TV’s Worst Trope

To understand how Battlestar Galactica avoided this trope, you need to know a bit more about who Boxey is and how he ties back to the original show. In the reboot, Boxey is introduced in the miniseries as a character living with his aunt on Caprica after the Cylons’ devastating attack. He is one of the lucky refugees from that planet to be taken back to the Galactica along with Gaius Baltar.

That entire Battlestar Galactica miniseries scene was very bleak: Boxey had been living with his aunt, but there wasn’t room for her on the Raptor. She sacrificed herself so the kid could escape to safety. Considering how much of the miniseries was devoted to setting up the later show, fans had every reason to think the young boy would be a major character in the main show.

Weirdly enough, that never happened. After the first Battlestar Galactica season began, Boxey only appeared in one episode, “Bastille Day.” He was never seen again, which was particularly shocking to fans of the original series from decades ago.

In the original Battlestar Galactica series, Boxey was adopted by the crew (similar to the reboot) and became a recurring character who only became more important over time. In fact, in the (admittedly pretty bad) sequel series Galactica 1980, Boxey was the main character. He very nearly had a prominent role in the reboot as well, but many of his filmed scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

In the Battlestar Galactica reboot, there was a plan to make Boxey part of a family unit with Chief Tyrol and Boomer, something that would last until the Season 1 finale revealed that Boomer was a Cylon. However, once the writers decided Boomer would start suspecting her Cylon heritage earlier in the season, these plans for Boxey were scrapped.

The writing staff then came up with an alternative plan to make the child a thief who ran the Galactica’s black market, but these plans were dropped because there just wasn’t enough time to make that happen.

Speaking of time, the first Battlestar Galactica season had several Boxey scenes that were cut for time, and the writers fully abandoned the character by Season 2.

In retrospect, this is probably a good thing: while Boxey actor Connor Widdows is very talented, we’re grateful the show avoided having a potentially annoying child character dragging the serious storylines down with him. Genre television has particularly suffered from this trope, which is why characters like Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation are so hated by fans.

Some popular TV shows had to eventually remove their annoying child characters, with the most famous example being Seven suddenly and inexplicably disappearing from Married…With Children. That oddball comedy could get away with such a plot development, but it wouldn’t have worked with the tightly-plotted Battlestar Galactica. Because of that, we’re glad that Boxey was written out of the show before he could even become a going concern.

Of course, as the show reminds us, “all of this has happened before,” and “all of this will happen again.” Battlestar Galactica is currently being rebooted yet again, and it’s possible that Boxey will return as a recurring character or even a series lead. That show and the child’s presence may be absolutely fantastic, but as for the beloved 2004 reboot, we’re glad the show avoided the trope of the annoying child sidekick as surely as Galactica herself avoided Cylon attacks.