"Galactica 1980" (1980) TV series

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Creator:

Glen A. Larson

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

27 January 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

When the Battlestar Galactica finally arrives at the planet Earth, they find they must subtly raise its tech level & protect it from the Cylons.

Plot Keywords:

Year In Title | Space | Space Carrier | Cult Favorite | Digit In Title

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Kent McCord	...	Capt. Troy (10 episodes, 1980)
Lorne Greene	...	Commander Adama (10 episodes, 1980)
Barry Van Dyke	...	Lt. Dillon (10 episodes, 1980)
Robyn Douglass	...	Jamie Hamilton (10 episodes, 1980)
James Patrick Stuart	...	Dr. Zee (7 episodes, 1980)
Mike Brick	...	Super Scout / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
Mark Everett	...	Super Scout / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
Georgi Irene	...	Super Scout / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
Herb Jefferson Jr.	...	Colonel Boomer (5 episodes, 1980)
Tracy Justrich	...	Starla / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
Lindsay Kennedy	...	Super Scout / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
D.G. Larson	...	Super Scout / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
Eric Larson	...	Moonstone / ... (5 episodes, 1980)
Michelle Larson	...	Super Scout / ... (5 episodes, 1980)

Also Known As:

Battlestar Galactica (USA) (syndication title)

Runtime:

60 min (10 episodes) | UK:60 min (7 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Glen A. Larson Productions

Trivia:

For a sequence that showed the Cylons attacking Earth, the producers used footage from Earthquake (1974) and superimposed Cylon fighters firing and causing the destruction in the sequence. Thus they managed to create a spectacular sequence on a tiny budget.

Quotes:

Captain Troy: [after taking off in a Viper from the Galactica] Well, how did you like that?
Jamie Hamilton: Don't bother me, I'm praying.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Conquest of the Earth (1980) (TV)

Laugh out loud bad

After Battlestar Galactica was canceled, the network decided to try and wring some more dollars out of the series by giving us this low budget thing. It was incredibly childish, featuring a bunch of little kids who could jump really high, like up into trees. I think they could turn invisible as well. They used these powers to throw apples at bumbling cops and stuff like that. The cops would look around, all confused, like "Where are the apples coming from?! I can't figure it out!". You get the idea. Then there were the two main characters who gave comically bad performances. When they first got to earth, they couldn't figure out what a phone booth was, and had trouble with our vocabulary. It could have been done in such a way as to make it realistic, or perhaps even funny, but the way it was done just came off as these two guys being idiots. And yes, they were the stars.

Plots were very much like a Saturday morning cartoon of the '70s, like Isis or Shazam. Packed full of "educational" material (did you know that cars have internal combustion engines?) and environmentalist schlock - the same guys who didn't know what a phone was got upset that people didn't like environmentalists.

Then there was Dr. Zee, the little kid who was supposed to be really smart. But because he was so smart, he spent a lot of time staring off into space, almost as if in a coma, and spoke his lines as if reciting from a cue card. Definitely in the top 10 most laughably bad character I can remember in any TV show right now.

I have to say this thing rates extremely high on the "so bad it's good" scale. I mean, you just can't help but laugh at it.