Happy 30th Birthday, Battlestar Galactica!
Man, the time flies by. Thirty years ago (September 17th, 1978), ABC-TV delighted and outraged sci-fi fans with its new series, Battlestar Galactica, a lovable beneficiary of Star Wars' success. It was created by producer Glen A. Larson, whose other contributions to the genre included Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, the ever-referenced Knight Rider and, of course, the unforgettable shows Manimal and Automan. What, you don't remember Manimal or Automan? Okay, what about Quincy M.E.? Magnum, P.I.? The Fall Guy? The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries? These Larson inventions of the '70s and '80s, even during their original runs, all felt like they had expiration dates which didn't really matter since no series at the time was exactly timeless. Larson's recycled sets, plots and actors all seemed to be very era-bound, though not really "trendy"--the exception being Battlestar Galactica, its set designs, costumes and space dogfights obviously inspired by George Lucas' trend-setter. In fact, the series hired John Dykstra, the special effects genius behind Star Wars and former head of Industrial Light And Magic, and he delivered the most elaborate visuals ever seen on television.
But that's where the Star Wars comparisons should end. Battlestar Galactica's complicated premise was more about a cosmic exodus and humanity's challenges than rubber-suited aliens, something pretty intense for that decade's simplistic network broadcasts. Hiring Bonanza's authority figure, Lorne Greene, to star as Adama--the leader of mankind's remaining survivors and commander of its last "battlestar," Galactica--was a brilliant move that added gravity to the series' mission. Boytoys Richard Hatch (who replaced Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco) and Dirk Benedict (later of A-Team fame) were cast as colonial warriors and best friends, Captain Apollo (one of the commander's two sons) and Lieutenant Starbuck. (FYI, then-soap opera star Rick "Jessie's Girl" Springfield had about five seconds of face-time as Apollo's brother and Adama's doomed offspring, Zak.) Maren Jensen (Don Henley's future fiancé and party girl in his video "All She Wants To Do Is Dance") co-starred, very minimally, as Athena, Adama's daughter and Starbuck's early-on squeeze. Anne Lockhart, daughter of Lost In Space's and Lassie's mom, June Lockhart (who, by the way, was a HUGE David Bowie fan), was Sheba, daughter of the series' legendary hero Cain who commanded the only other surviving battlestar, the Pegasus. Speaking of Lost In Space, the "voice" of the nefarious robot "cylon" was supplied by Jonathan Harris, previously, the infamous Dr. Zachery Smith, whose Galactica script replaced his classic "bubble-headed booby" barbs with a much darker comedy; and speaking of sinister, famous for portraying Star Trek's guest Klingon "Kor" (a role which he reprised decades later in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), John Colicos played Baltar, the weasel who was responsible for humanity's downfall. Baltar also had the dubious honor of having been labelled the most evil character ever on television.
The show's popularity was due partly to its casting some surprising guest stars, such as The Avengers' Patrick Macnee (as both the menacing Count Iblis and voice of the Cylons' Imperious Leader), The Ghost & Mrs. Muir 's Edward Mulhare (only known as the mysterious Being of Light "John"), The Invaders ' Roy Thinnes ("Croft"), The Andromeda Strain's James Olsen ("Thane"), Lloyd Bridges (Commander Cain), supermodel and Rod Stewart's ex, Britt Ekland ("Tenna"), The Match Game regular and Jack Klugman's ex, Brett Somers (Siress Belloby), and Ray Bolger and Bobby Van (mugging as the annoying robots "Hector" and "Vector"), these latter two characters credited with having escalated the series' cheese factor exponentially. Actually, the two-part episode they appeared in, "Greetings From Earth," was a foreshadowing and perhaps the template for the series' dull and childish sequel, Galactica 1980. That much-maligned series' only memorable highpoints were the episode "The Return Of Starbuck" (with Dirk Benedict reprising his role), the pilot episode's destruction of Los Angeles, and guest appearances by Wolfman Jack and The Brady Bunch's then-mustachioed Robert Reed. Battlestar's lame offspring seemed focused more on attracting a very pre-teen demo than recapturing what was best about its progenitor.
Those of us who loved the original series were hooked by the show's overall tone, its stars' believable camaraderie and its boundary-pushing--evidenced in one main character's "socialator" (call girl) history. The show referenced religion, albeit in a "new age" fashion, with its main theme being the search for Earth--a parallel to the Old Testament's journey to the Promised Land or a shoutout to Mormonism. It touched on then-Middle East conflicts, class systems/cultural divides, and introduced us to Triad, a basketball-meets-rugby sport that may never make its way into the Olympics, but is still pretty clever. Given what Glen Larson's labor of love attempted in its highbrow plotlines--virtually every one of them having been re-imagined by Ron Moore's and the Sci-Fi Channel's phenomenally well done upgrade--the original Battlestar Galactica still holds a special place in its fans' hearts. From its initial 148-minute pilot's airing that was interrupted by the Camp David Accords peace treaty signing (gee, thanks a lot Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat!) through its last original episode that contained Galactica's most aggressive confrontation with the Cylons and a final scene in which an old moon landing transmission was received, it was the stuff that post Star Wars-era fanboy dreams were made of. Whether it's the gambling casino on Carillon, multiple, hot Britt Ekland clones, Commander Cain's out-maneuvering the cylons with the Pegasus and Galactica, Count Iblis' confrontation with Apollo, the downplayed reveal of Adama's ESP powers (you forgot that one, didn't you!), the Beings Of Light inter-dimensional starships (or whatever they inhabited), Baltar's capture, the exploration of the fleet's "nomad" culture, and even that weirdly portrayed "nazi"-controlled sector of space, these will be fond, geriatric memories for millions. Not bad for a series that lasted only one season.
So Happy Birthday, BG! For many of these past thirty years, your pre-2003, hugely-attended conventions--complete with Richard Hatch's legendary, ambitious Battlestar trailer--proves that you, the 1978-79 series, though not better than your remake, will have left a very large mark on the history of sci-fi television. And with the current Battlestar Galactica possibly being remembered as the best sci-fi series of all time (even over Star Trek, Farscape and Babylon 5), in context, look what that says about the original. Guess you can have your birthday cake and eat it too.
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It was only on for a year? Wow, hard to believe, its impact was much greater than a paltry year on my 3-4 halloween costumes derived from it. Cyclons are scary.
Yup, one year...though you could link Galactica 1980's "The Return Of Starbuck" episode into the original fairly easily. I was always amazed that when the DVD set came out, it didn't include that episode as a bonus feature...
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Never watched the original show but, man, Tricia Helfer is frakking hot. OK, there's more to the show than that. Well, there's much more to the show than that. It's a great show (though Farscape has my heart). But, man, Trricia Helfer is frakking hot!
Bruce, I'm still not clear about how you feel about Tricia Helfer. And hey, before this latest, greatest Battlestar Galactica in which Tricia Helfer is rumored to be hot (you may or may not agree), Farscape had me at "Premiere" and kept me through "The Peacekeeper Wars."
Baltar. Not Boltar.
We sci-fi geeks demand exactitude!
By your command. The mistake it is now fixed, FDR! Now thousands, nay, millions of readers will no longer be misinformed!
haha awesome article man. Yes I remember Automan. He was the guy who came out of a videogame and every time he drove his car would take instantaneous right angle turns. I didn't know Britt Ekland was in that show. I gotta google that.
Hey Swerinjer, you think there's a connection between Automan and Tron? Hmmmmmm...! ;) Does anyone else miss the cheesy innocence of the early days of the Sci-Fi Channel?
My husband has all of the original Buster Crabbe Flash Gorden series. He taped them from TV and boy were those cheesey. And he also has the "Zombies of the Stratsophere" featuring Commando Cody- Sky King of the Universe (syndicated television 1951-52) another cheesey sci fi goody from the 1950's.
Commander Cody? Loved his music! ; ) I think I remember watching that serial many years later as a 12-year-old kid at the St. Joseph's Villa summer camp in Hackettstown, New Jersey. And I don't think those ever have been released on DVD, though all the original Flash Gordons have been over the last few years. Seems like some film division's slackin'!!! Anyone know who might own that series?
June Lockhart was a Bowie fan? That would be awesome...reference?
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Hi Phaedrunyc...yup, it's all true! I'm good friends with a certain Will Robinson who shared that with me a while ago, plus that's always been floating around articles over the years associated with Lost In Space. And there's some photo of them together which I vaguely remember...
I remember AUTOMAN. I loved it--but then again, I was six years old at the time. They broadcast it again on the Sci-Fi Channel one weekend, and I saw how awful it really was.
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It was soooo bad, BlackJAC! But a guilty pleasure!! There were so many sci-fi channel guilty pleasures when it first started rolling, my favorite being the Starman TV series. I loved that series, it was a real shame they cancelled it when they did, it had a lot of potential. Ah, ratings....
Try BLUE THUNDER sometime. Who'd've ever imagined Dana Carvey as not only a cop, but the backseater in a paramilitary assault helo?
Love the original BSG as well as the new shows. The only thing I miss is the original theme song.
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Yeah, Semaj51, Stu Phillips' score was epic. I should have pointed that out too! When I was at Universal, I produced a reissue of that show's soundtrack (on the Geffen label). I'm not sure if it's still available, but it's worth hunting down since it's got the ultra-rare disco single version of the theme as a bonus track plus rare photos. Richard Hatch also participated with the reissue, and I got four sets of liner notes from him, Stu, Glen Larson and Cinemafantastique's Mark Altman. And if you're REAL curious, when I was at Razor & Tie, I produced a collection titled "On The Ponderosa: Lorne Greene & His Western Classics" that's a real hoot. My pal at Universal used to play it every single Friday afternoon...ah, good times!
By the way, Stu was a blast to work with, incredibly smart and funny. He's scored so much and, sadly, the masses don't really know what a great talent he is...
Another Happy Birthday remembered. Thanks, Mike, for conjuring up all those memories.
Go to the convention. We don't care.
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Thanks Fentonmh, meet you at the Galactica kiosk...
Ah, sweet innocent youth... this FanGirl was barely a week past my 9th birthday when BG first aired so I obviously didn't catch all of the more nuanced points but I did get the bigger message. And the special effects were awesome at the time, especially for television.
I loved BG, I was also a huge fan of Star Trek, 6 Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman (sci-fi for girls - I still have my Jamie Sommers doll & 'diagnostic center' that SANTA brought me for Christmas.) when I was a kid. I also loved reading R.A. Heinlein and Douglas Adams.
Now that I think about it, that doll is probably worth more today than my 401k
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...and the comic books my father junked when I went to college...oy......
You had to remind me. I wonder how many of us lost untold small fortunes when our parents junked our comic book collection. Mine were all sealed in acid free comic bags. I was such a geek... Hmmm. I still am.
FYI . I loved BSG theme song. The best thing on TV in those days.
I agree Battlestar was always much better than Star Trek. It had real special effects and a plot unlike Star Trek which used some of the cheapest and campiest special effects and would use scientific terminology (incorrectly) to create some implausible answer to a problem.
They're both products of their respective eras. STAR TREK came on in the '60s during the height of Cold War and civil rights tensions, and draws upon Horatio Hornblower. As such, it was prone to be more preachy and less action-oriented, especially since Gene Roddenberry had seen the worst side of humanity as a bomber pilot and police officer. BATTLESTAR came on in the cynical '70s after Watergate, and draws upon campy space opera--I have a copy of the original Buster Crabbe BUCK ROGERS serial that Larson eventually remade. Larson also had George Lucas' special effects advancements to work with.
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BlackJAC, you know your scif-fi-meets-history don'tcha!!
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You know, we can't show our face at any future sci-fi conventions based on what you and I just posted!! ;) I kind of agree, though I confess to loving Star Trek: The Next Generation a WHOLE lot!!
I remember watching BSG the first time around, I was 12 years old and had already read every Star Trek and Heinlein book my nearby library had. As far as Star Trek goes, I think the Next Generation was 'preachier' than the original series. My fave Star Trek was DS9, it was edgier and darker in elements much like the new BSG or Babylon 5. Enterprise was good too while it lasted. I was happy to see they didn't feel tied to the original show production elements too much, but that might be what caused people not to like it, they didn't understand where it fit in. I'm a sci-fi geek and I have to say there is a dearth of good sci-fi on TV right now. The end of SG1 bummed me. I get my fix now watching the series on DVD. When it comes to 'cheesy', don't forget Space Academy on Saturday mornings.
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