The music of "Battlestar Galactica" makes use of the technique called "leitmotif". A leitmotif is a phrase or melodic cell that signifies a character, place, plot element, mood, idea, relationship or other specific part of the story. It is commonly used in modern film scoring as a device to mentally anchor certain parts of a film to the soundtrack. Of chief importance for a leitmotif is that it must be recognizable enough for a listener to latch onto while being flexible enough to undergo variation and development. However, the development of leitmotifs was not part of the composers' (Bear McCreary) original plan: