Battlestar Galactica (1978–1979)

The last major Colonial fighter carrier leads a makeshift fleet of human refugees on a desperate search for the legendary planet Earth.

Creator:

Glen A. Larson

Stars:

Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Richard Hatch	...	Capt. Apollo (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Dirk Benedict	...	Lt. Starbuck (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Lorne Greene	...	Commander Adama (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Herbert Jefferson Jr.	...	Lt. Boomer (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
John Colicos	...	Baltar (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Maren Jensen	...	Athena (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Noah Hathaway	...	Boxey (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Laurette Spang	...	Cassiopeia (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Tony Swartz	...	Flight Sgt. Jolly (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
Terry Carter	...	Colonel Tigh (22 episodes, 1978-1979)
David Greenan	...	Omega (19 episodes, 1978-1979)
Anne Lockhart	...	Sheba (11 episodes, 1978-1979)
Sarah Rush	...	Flight Cpl. Rigel (11 episodes, 1978-1979)

Storyline

The Human Colonial forces have agreed to peace with their mortal enemies the Robotic Cylons when a surprise attack destroys most of the Colonial Fleet. The remnants of the Colonials form up a "ragtag group of ships" on the surviving major ship, the Battlestar Galactica. They decide to go off in a search for the planet founded by missing tribe of the Colonials, a planet called earth as the Cylons continue to search for them.

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Plot Keywords:

commander | fugitive | space | refugee | corporal | 

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Action | Adventure

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Sci-Fi.com

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Battaglie nella galassia

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (24 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Much of Glen A. Larson's Mormon faith is very evident in the series. Things such as the "Council of the Twelve" (The Mormon ruling body under the leadership of their Prophet), "Bonding" used for marriage (a Mormon Temple wedding is called a "Sealing"), and other aspects of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) faith is very apparent in each and every episode. The moral lessons of each episode is very Mormon in design.

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Goofs

In Mission Galactica:The Cylon Attack" (a VHS television movie comprised of parts of the "Living Legend I and II" episodes plus parts of the "Fire in Space" episode), Cain sends the Pegasus through a bright starfield after Baltar's Baseship. According to the dialogue, the Pegasus is traveling alone at this point. However, the exterior shots in this sequence show the Battlestar being followed by at least half a dozen other ships. (These shots are actually of the Galactica leading the fleet through the Nova of Madagon, from "Saga of a Star World"). In the "Living Legend" episodes original form (now available on DVD), the sequence is different and doesn't show this supposed goof.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Cylon Centurion: By Your Command.

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Connections

Version of Battlestar Galactica (2004)

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Soundtracks

"It's Love, Love, Love"
by John Andrew Tartaglia, Sue Collins and Glen A. Larson
Performed by The Space Angels

User Reviews

Has great aspects and awful aspects but the majority of it is "OK" with unrealised potential and a lack of consistency in plot and tone

Having enjoyed the recent reimagining of Battlestar Galatica I was discussing it with a colleague when he brought up the original and I realised that I had not seen it for several decades and, even then, it was fragmented in my memory. I decided to watch it again and I was quite surprised by how much I remember some of the episodes and how I don't think I had ever seen some of the others. Anyway, this was reason enough to watch it from the start to the end – a decision made easier by the fact that it was only one season long before it got cancelled.

To get the comparisons out of the way, watching both leaves me in little doubt that those that trash the remake and praise the original are probably heavily influenced by protective nostalgia when they say that, because there are few ways that this is the case. Indeed the ways that the original is "better" than the remake relates to qualities that I didn't like in the original and that the remake didn't try and have (namely a swashbuckling comedy and the clumsy aim at the family/kiddie viewing sector). With that more or less done I can concentrate on judging the original Battlestar Galatica on its own terms and not against something else. This produces a mixed feeling that I struggle to reconcile because at times this series is awful and at others times it is actually quite engaging and offers potential (that it admittedly doesn't manage to deliver on) but mostly it is a mixed bag.

The split is not total but the series does seem to go through phases where it is silly and for kids and then also more dramatic stuff that could have been a solid backbone for more. Sadly it gets into the silly stuff first. While Apollo and Starbuck were always going to be the lead characters, the first half of the season makes it their show, with a weekly "theme park" style story where we have planets that are like the Wild West or like Medieval times etc etc. Annoyingly all these stories seem to involve the Cylons – who are either already on these planets or are using these planets as a trap for the Galatica. This bugged me because it felt like the Cylons were so far ahead all the time that the struggle to watch the survivors shouldn't be this hard and it minimised their presence as a real tangible threat because they were always a handful of robots laying a trap, not a race hunting another to extension. None of it is helped by the overuse of that child and also that bl00dy robot dog thing.

Happily things get a bit more "serious" in the second half of the series, where the approach appears to be more towards action and plot rather than the kiddie theme park approach. It doesn't really pull this off though. The Cylons drop off the map for many episodes while the Eastern Alliance comes into it, but then that thread isn't done particularly well either. That said though it did generally make for a much better series than the first half had been – but it is still not that great. It is the contentment with the basics that hurt it, because nothing really convinces and nothing really engages or builds. The Cylons don't menace like they should, the human fleet doesn't feel like it is more than a handful of people, many, many threads are left with unsatisfying endings (and I mean mi-series, not just cause it got cancelled) while other threads just "stop" without a thought for the viewer, as if to say "well, that's that episode filled". The Pegasus episodes along with the Eastern Alliance and other specifics do offer a more grown up thread/feel that could be expanded like the remake did to great success but this never happens and it retains a very fragmented and unsatisfying feel.

There is much to enjoy about it despite this. The effects are limited but the designs are great, with the centurions, the base stars, the vipers or the Galatica herself being iconic and memorable. The comic swagger it has also works well, with Starbuck benefiting from this with some nice moments in the action. Such things as these combined with the better aspects of the second half of the series do combine to make it a solid enough piece of TV sci-fi but the "downsides" do limit it a lot and make it less than it could have been. The mix of aims, the lack of consistency in the central plot (escaping genocide) and in the tone (is it for kids, it is for adults, is it a comedy, is it all worthy and heavy??) are too big to overcome and, as a whole series it is not that great when you sit now and watch it with as little "warm nostalgic glow" as you can muster. Has good episodes and bad episodes but too many fall somewhere in the middle, showing a potential that frustratingly it never really seems to realise or do anything with.