Battlestar Galactica (1978) (TV)

Director:

Richard A. Colla

Writer:

Glen A. Larson (written by)

Release Date:

17 September 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Adventure

Tagline:

They were searching for a star called Earth, but first they had to win a great war.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Robot | Ancient Astronaut | Robot As Menace | Edited From TV Series | Aircraft Carrier

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Richard Hatch	...	Capt. Apollo
Dirk Benedict	...	Lt. Starbuck
Lorne Greene	...	Cmdr. Adama
Herb Jefferson Jr.	...	Lt. Boomer (as Herbert Jefferson Jr.)
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

Runtime:

148 min | Canada:122 min (Ontario) | Canada:125 min (Québec) | USA:125 min (theatrical version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sensurround (theatrical print) | Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Glen A. Larson Productions

Trivia:

The original shooting model, restored for a display at Universal Studios several years after "Galactica 1980" wrapped production, went missing when the display was removed. The model, viewed as stolen property by Universal, has yet to be recovered.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Athena is trying to help Starbuck fix his fighter remotely, her monitor clearly shows "MADE IN USA" on one of the schematics she views.

Quotes:

Cassiopeia: That woman is a member of the Etori sect amongst the Geminese. They don't believe in physical contact between genders, except when sacntified by the priest during High Worship of the Sun Storm, which comes once only every seven years!
Starbuck: No wonder those little buggers are such good card players.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Starcrash (1978)

Soundtrack:

It's Love, Love, Love

They don´t make them like this anymore.

I first watched this at the movie theater way back in 1978-79, long before i even knew this was made as a television series. And as a kid, who had just seen STAR WARS, and was desperately looking for more of the same, of course i had to love this. In fact, BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA, had more of an impact on my imagination than STAR WARS ever did. I remember that i loved the egyptian look of the helmets and i never forgot that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movie introduction, where it is mentioned the alien origins of the ancient earth civilizations. This movie got me interested in archeology long before i even knew who Indiana Jones was.

Then the whole series was shown on television here in Portugal in 1983-84, and i remember how disappointed i got, each episode that went by. I was expecting a true development in the story of the 12 colonies, how the earth ended up being colonized, when did they arrived on earth, their relation with egypt and the pyramids, etc. Instead what they did in that series was just action, action and more action, with the same space battle images repeated over and over again. Even if was a teenager i always thought that the stories were too much for kids, when they could have been great if they showed, all that i had in my imagination and i was expecting them to show. And when they created that last serie, about gallactica on earth, i just got extremely disappointed with the whole thing and i never saw any episode, because i felt sad just looking at what they did with such a marvelous concept, wich was present in the original "movie".

So regarding the original "movie". Ok, everybody can say it´s cheesy, but for the time it was incredible. Even today it´s got a great atmosphere. Some of the battle scenes still are a joy to watch. And the imagination in the designs is still fantastic. Some of the interiors might look made of cardboard, but others look very good indeed. And the GALACTICA spaceship is truly a marvelous concept design. The vipers looked very cool and still do, and the Cylon ships are the best menacing fighters ever. To me, even better than the TIE fighters from STAR WARS. Even their starbases had an incredible atmosphere. Then there were the Cylons, wich looked and sounded great and were the perfect enemies for this story. And above all there was the soundtrack. Simply fantastic and for the first time in television we had this type of music from the movies in a series.

I think it´s unfair when people say that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is awfull, just because it doesn´t look like Matrix in special effects. We have to look at it and remember when it was made. It was a brilliant concept, and i wished there were some more like it.

And as from being just a STAR WARS rip-off, i can´t disagree more. Just because GALACTICA is also a Space-Opera, like STAR WARS is a rip-off of it ? True, it never had been made if it wasn´t for the sucess of Star Wars, but calling it a rip-off is a bit exaggerated. At least BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA had real and original imagination in it´s concept, contrary to STAR WARS. Read the "LORD TEDRIC" books by E.E.DOC.SMITH written in the early 30´s, and you´ll start looking at STAR WARS in another way. Then you´ll appreciate the originality of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA much more.

I just bought it a couple of months ago and i still watch and enjoy it many times. An excellent "movie"