Cylon

The Cylons are a cybernetic civilization at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, in the original 1978 & 1980 series, as well as the 2003 reimagining. In the 1978 series, the Cylons are also the race who created the robot Cylons. The nature and origins of Cylons differ greatly between the two Galacticas. However both series feature Cylon Raider, Cylon Basestar and Cylon Centurions. The Cylons of the 1978/1980 series are not the mechanical foils seen throughout the series, but an advanced reptilian race who created the robots (who were referred to as Cylons within the show) to serve them, maintain their vast empire and to man their military forces in the face of a sudden population drop that eventually led to the Cylons' extinction - seemingly overnight. This fact is briefly mentioned in the 1978 movie-length premier of the series (near the end of episode 2 in syndication) when Apollo relates the Cylons' origin to Boxey. In... full article at wikipedia