Battlestar Galactica (1978)

After the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Mankind, the last major fighter carrier leads a makeshift fugitive fleet in a desperate search for the legendary planet Earth.

Directors:

Richard A. Colla, Alan J. Levi (uncredited)

Writer:

Glen A. Larson

Stars:

Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene

Cast

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

Storyline

The story of how the Twelve Colonies of Mankind are destroyed after 1,000 years of 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, lost millennia ago when humans first left the motherworld Kobol. With food and fuel running out, the fleet heads for a mineral planet, Carillon, hoping to get what they need. The Ovions, who populate the planet, are being controlled by the Cylons, who set a trap for the Galactica. Under a clever ruse, Adama convinces the Cylons that his pilots are on the surface at a banquet, while the real pilots are at full combat readiness. The fleet gets their food and fuel, and escapes, destroying Carillon and a Cylon Baseship hiding behind the planet.

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Plot Keywords:

orchestral music score | escape | refugee | star wars imitation | scene reshot for syndication | 

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Taglines:

The super-reality of SENSURROUND takes you into an intergalactic war...Experience the sensation of laser beams, space explosions and battlestar attacks...all in Academy Award winning SENSURROUND.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kampfstern Galactica

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 Television

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

Although Cassiopea was a prostitute in the pilot movie, she was never identified as such. The euphemism "socialator" was used (in the Battlestar Galactica universe, a socialator is defined as a female who is proficient in the arts of music, dance, and entertainment, and trained to engage in conversation on a variety of subjects).

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Goofs

When Apollo and Zac go on patrol together, when Apollo fires his turbo, the pilot's hand is shown on the joystick, but the hand shown is a black man's hand when both pilots are white.

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Quotes

Commander Adama: Mr. President, a wall of unidentified craft is closing in on the fleet.
Count Baltar: Possibly a Cylon welcoming committee.
Commander Adama: Sir, might I suggest we launch a "welcoming committee" of our own?
Count Baltar: Mr. President, there remain many hostile feelings amongst our warriors. The likelihood of an unfortunate incident with all those pilots in the sky at once.
President Adar: Did you hear that, Commander?
Commander Adama: Sir, did Count Baltar suggest that our forces sit here, totally defenseless?
President Adar: My friend, we are on a peace mission. The first peace man ...

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Connections

Referenced in Ready Player One (2018)

User Reviews

The Best Star Wars Clone

Created by Glen A. Larson, the master of late-1970's TV Sci-Fi, this is the best of the spate of Star Wars clones. On the surface, it is a cheesy space-opera epic with space battles, an army of genocidal robots, a traitorous betrayal, and a desperate fight against incredible odds. Going deeper, it is both a statement about the Cold War and a conscious allegory of Mormon theology (Larson is a member of the LDS church).

I grew with this series, and idolized Starbuck and Apollo. Still today, I can watch the series premiere (which was also variously released as a TV movie, and even in theaters in Canada, Europe, and later the USA) over and over again. There are some moments of great dialogue, the effects are pretty good (even if they tend to repeat...a lot), and the story and series concept are excellent. You gotta love any series that STARTS with the near-extinction of the entire human race.

Unfortunately, when the transition was made from the original concept of several special-event TV movies to a regular series, the conventions of 70's TV took over. Forget most of the series episodes, they tend to repeat plot ideas more than "Star Trek: Voyager" re-uses the "Space Anomaly of the Week" idea. But the original movie is a true sci-fi classic.