Pilot (18 May 1979)

After the destruction of the human colonies, the last major fighter carrier leads a makeshift refugee fleet in a search for Earth.

Director:

Richard A. Colla

Writer:

Glen A. Larson

Stars:

Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Hatch	...	Capt. Apollo
Dirk Benedict	...	Lt. Starbuck
Lorne Greene	...	Cmdr. Adama
Herbert Jefferson Jr.	...	Lt. Boomer
Maren Jensen	...	Athena
Tony Swartz	...	Sgt. Jolly
Noah Hathaway	...	Boxey
Terry Carter	...	Colonel Tigh
Lew Ayres	...	President Adar
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Sire Anton
John Colicos	...	Baltar
Laurette Spang	...	Cassiopeia
John Fink	...	Dr. Paye
Jane Seymour	...	Serina
Ray Milland	...	Sire Uri

Storyline

(Information provided from episode summaries created by the Battlestar Galactica mailing list) The story of how the 12 colonies of man are destroyed after a 1000 year war with the evil Cylon Empire. Through deceit, the Cylons are able to destroy the Colonies' entire fleet, except for the Battlestar Galactica, captained by Commander Adama. Adama gathers up the few remaining humans left on all the twelve worlds and embarks on a journey to find the mythical planet Earth, the supposed thirteenth colony of Mankind, lost millennia ago when humans first left the motherworld, Kobol. With food and fuel running out, the fleet heads for an ore planet, Carillon, hoping to get what it needs. The Ovions, who populate the planet, are being controlled by the Cylons, who set a trap for the Galactica. The fleet gets food and fuel, and escapes, destroying Carillon and a Cylon Base Star.

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Plot Keywords:

refugee | escape | diaspora | robot as menace | tv series pilot | 

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Taglines:

A billion light years from Earth the human race is fighting for survival

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1979 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Long Beach City Hall - 333 W. Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

148 min 122 min (Ontario) 125 min (Québec) 125 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Mono Sensurround (theatrical print)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

To construct the 'rag tag fleet' that follows the Galactica on its lonely quest, the model makers were given a free hand to let their imaginations run wild. Ken Swenson constructed the livery ship (that was supposed to carry all the livestock) out of three film cans, one behind the other.

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Goofs

The characters in the Galactica universe are all supposed to say "yahrens" instead of "years". However, when Cassiopeia tells Starbuck about the Geminese Sunstorm, she says it "happens only once every seven years", not once every seven yahrens. The President of the Colonies makes a similar error when saying that this is the "first peace mankind has known in a thousand years."

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Quotes

Woman on Duty: Section 12, launch bay alpha, stand by to launch fighter probe.
Capt. Apollo: Affirmative.
Woman on Duty: Vector coordinates coded and transferred, acknowledge?
Capt. Apollo: Acknowledged. Ready to launch
Woman on Duty: Core systems, transferring control to probe craft, launch when ready.

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Connections

Referenced in Top Gear: Episode #9.5 (2007)

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Soundtracks

"It's Love, Love, Love"
John Andrew Tartaglia, Sue Collins, Glen Larson
Performed by the Space Angels

User Reviews

The highest potential of any sci-fi series ever...

As remembering 'Battlestar' from the viewpoint of a youngster in the late 70s - early 80s, I would give it a 9/10.

Viewing 'Battlestar' from the viewpoint of a near 30 male in the year 2000, I give it 7/10. (I have all 24 episodes on tape)

The special effects were near the late 70's level of "Star Wars", and that is truly saying something considering this was a made for TV movie / weekly series. Sure, the stories were uneven. However, to put that in perspective, they rode the gambit from the morality plays of Star Trek (TOS) to the character stories of Star Trek (TNG).

The backstory involved the last known group of 'humans'. After they were given a 'Pearl Harbor' job by the alien bad guys and nearly wiped out, they went in search of a long lost colony. This colony was located on a planet called 'Earth'.

This was really a revolutionary show. It took the best 'good vs evil' elements of Star Wars and combined them with the 'every show is a lesson' elements of Star Trek (TOS). If you weren't contemplating the human nature element of the story, you were involved in the characters.

Unfortunately, you were rarely concerned about both of those within the same episode. In my opinion, this is the only major flaw of the series, it was somewhat unbalanced from show to show. This is somewhat understandable from a series that was wrought with network politics and never made it past 25 episodes. Nevertheless, this is a series that would be very much enjoyed by any true sci-fi fan.

If you don't know the history of the show by now... ABC canned it, despite well above average ratings. The brass felt the show was too expensive. What could have been one of the great sci-fi TV series of all time was done after 24 episodes.

I place 'Battlestar' behind only Star Trek (TOS) as the best sci-fi TV series of all time.