**minor spoilers**
The original Battlestar Galactica's (1978) sequel/spin-off show Galactica 1980 (1980), about the Galactica finally arriving at Earth, was not a great success at the time, and watching it for the first time in 2013, I can understand why. There are some good ideas here and there, but also some very, very bad ones.
Starting with the characters, they are very one-dimensional. There is never any real disagreement between the good characters, and they don't seem to have many flaws. The good ones are 100% good and the bad ones are just evil. This makes them seem very much like just characters, and not like real people you relate to or care about. In the original series the good characters didn't always agree, and at least Starbuck could be described as flawed. Boxey returns, but as an adult. This is a good idea, except the character suffers from the problems mentioned above. We find out that his real name is Troy, and he has a sidekick named Dillon. A female reporter from Earth becomes a friend of Troy and Dillon. Boomer from the original series has a supporting role in some episodes. Adama also returns for the sequel show, as a regular, but his role of being the wise leader is handed over to the super-intelligent child Dr. Zee (played by two different actors.) There could have been an interesting conflict if there was ever a disagreement between the two, Adama with his life experience, and Dr. Zee with his extraordinary intelligence, but alas—Adama even says in "Galactica Discovers Earth" that Dr. Zee has never been wrong. Adama seems wasted here, which is a shame.
Despite the problems with the characters, the show nonetheless has an acceptable start with the sci-fi-war thriller three-parter "Galactica Discovers Earth." The fleet arrives at Earth in the present time (ca. 1980), but soon a time travel story follows in which the characters travel back to the Second World War. It at least kept my interest for all of the episodes. After this we have a change of tone, genre, and it would appear, target audience with "The Super Scouts" (two parts), and "Spaceball," which are family entertainment/silly comedy, with some sci-fi elements. In "The Super Scouts," the school ship is attacked by Cylons and has to crash-land on Earth, with Troy, Dillion, and the fleet's children on board. On Earth, the children pose as scouts, and the adults as scout leaders. (They have not made their presence known to us Earthlings.) This story has a message about pollution, with three of the children becoming sick from the water in a lake. Not shown or mentioned until "The Super Scouts" are the Galacticans' "super powers." Since gravity on board the Galactica is higher than on Earth, the Galacticans have some abilities like strength and being able to jump high into the air. This sometimes serves as an easy way out of difficult situations. I would be more comfortable with these abilities if they had been present from the beginning; this way it seems like too much of an afterthought (which I'm sure it was.) "Spaceball" is about a baseball contest. In "The Night the Cylons Landed" (two parts) Troy and Dillon quickly leave the kids behind as they go to investigate the crash of a space craft. This is a relief as the show can become more of a sci-fi show again, but it still has some of the silly humor. A story about racism follows with "Space Croppers." Although the kids return it's still not a bad episode, but not great either. I wonder if they were really passionate about making this story, or if they just wanted to make a story with a message that seemed important, because it seems like social commentary was mandatory in all of the episodes.
Saved for last is the fan-favorite "The Return of Starbuck." It's nice to see another character from the original series. With all of the cardboard characters, it's also interesting to have a character that, despite being good and likable, still has made some morally questionable decisions in the past (i.e. his womanizing behavior.) I like the first half the most, when Starbuck crashes and is trapped alone on a desolate planet. A group of Cylons also crash-land and break, and Starbuck, having no other companions, and no one helping him to survive, tries to repair one of them. This is the best 25 or so minutes of the entire series.
Galactica 1980 is much worse than both the original series, and the 2003 mini-series. (I haven't seen the episodes from 2004 onwards.) With all the different directions it took, you can tell that there were some different wills involved. All-in-all, I can't recommend it if you're looking for a good sci-fi show, but if nothing else, it's an interesting failure.
The original Battlestar Galactica's (1978) sequel/spin-off show Galactica 1980 (1980), about the Galactica finally arriving at Earth, was not a great success at the time, and watching it for the first time in 2013, I can understand why. There are some good ideas here and there, but also some very, very bad ones.
Starting with the characters, they are very one-dimensional. There is never any real disagreement between the good characters, and they don't seem to have many flaws. The good ones are 100% good and the bad ones are just evil. This makes them seem very much like just characters, and not like real people you relate to or care about. In the original series the good characters didn't always agree, and at least Starbuck could be described as flawed. Boxey returns, but as an adult. This is a good idea, except the character suffers from the problems mentioned above. We find out that his real name is Troy, and he has a sidekick named Dillon. A female reporter from Earth becomes a friend of Troy and Dillon. Boomer from the original series has a supporting role in some episodes. Adama also returns for the sequel show, as a regular, but his role of being the wise leader is handed over to the super-intelligent child Dr. Zee (played by two different actors.) There could have been an interesting conflict if there was ever a disagreement between the two, Adama with his life experience, and Dr. Zee with his extraordinary intelligence, but alas—Adama even says in "Galactica Discovers Earth" that Dr. Zee has never been wrong. Adama seems wasted here, which is a shame.
Despite the problems with the characters, the show nonetheless has an acceptable start with the sci-fi-war thriller three-parter "Galactica Discovers Earth." The fleet arrives at Earth in the present time (ca. 1980), but soon a time travel story follows in which the characters travel back to the Second World War. It at least kept my interest for all of the episodes. After this we have a change of tone, genre, and it would appear, target audience with "The Super Scouts" (two parts), and "Spaceball," which are family entertainment/silly comedy, with some sci-fi elements. In "The Super Scouts," the school ship is attacked by Cylons and has to crash-land on Earth, with Troy, Dillion, and the fleet's children on board. On Earth, the children pose as scouts, and the adults as scout leaders. (They have not made their presence known to us Earthlings.) This story has a message about pollution, with three of the children becoming sick from the water in a lake. Not shown or mentioned until "The Super Scouts" are the Galacticans' "super powers." Since gravity on board the Galactica is higher than on Earth, the Galacticans have some abilities like strength and being able to jump high into the air. This sometimes serves as an easy way out of difficult situations. I would be more comfortable with these abilities if they had been present from the beginning; this way it seems like too much of an afterthought (which I'm sure it was.) "Spaceball" is about a baseball contest. In "The Night the Cylons Landed" (two parts) Troy and Dillon quickly leave the kids behind as they go to investigate the crash of a space craft. This is a relief as the show can become more of a sci-fi show again, but it still has some of the silly humor. A story about racism follows with "Space Croppers." Although the kids return it's still not a bad episode, but not great either. I wonder if they were really passionate about making this story, or if they just wanted to make a story with a message that seemed important, because it seems like social commentary was mandatory in all of the episodes.
Saved for last is the fan-favorite "The Return of Starbuck." It's nice to see another character from the original series. With all of the cardboard characters, it's also interesting to have a character that, despite being good and likable, still has made some morally questionable decisions in the past (i.e. his womanizing behavior.) I like the first half the most, when Starbuck crashes and is trapped alone on a desolate planet. A group of Cylons also crash-land and break, and Starbuck, having no other companions, and no one helping him to survive, tries to repair one of them. This is the best 25 or so minutes of the entire series.
Galactica 1980 is much worse than both the original series, and the 2003 mini-series. (I haven't seen the episodes from 2004 onwards.) With all the different directions it took, you can tell that there were some different wills involved. All-in-all, I can't recommend it if you're looking for a good sci-fi show, but if nothing else, it's an interesting failure.