BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

   1. US tv series (1978). Universal Television/ABC-TV. Created by Glen A. LARSON, also executive prod. Prods included John Dykstra and Don Bellisario; main writers Larson and Bellisario; dirs included Christian Nyby II and Dan Haller. 1 season only, beginning with a 150min pilot, followed by 19 50min episodes, including 3 2-episode stories, plus one 100min episode. Colour.

   Perhaps the least likable of all tv sf in its ineptness, its cynicism, its sentimentality and its contempt for and ignorance of science, BG was devised by Larson (who went on to do a similar job on BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY) in the wake of the successful film STAR WARS, which it resembles closely in many respects; moreover, John Dykstra, who initially did the special effects for BG (he soon pulled out), had supervised the miniature photography on that film. The series tells of humans (related to us according to a VON DANIKEN-derived narration) elsewhere in the Galaxy being largely wiped out by the robotic Cylons. A group of survivors, including the crew of a military craft, the Battlestar, search for the legendary human colony of Earth. Space battles, the raison d'etre of BG, were carried out by planes apparently designed for flying in atmosphere, with fiery exhausts which, Larson is quoted as saying, "make Space more acceptable to the Midwest".The casting of Western star Lorne Green as the patriarchal leader, Adama, emphasized the obvious subtext of wagon trains rolling west under constant attack by Indians. Other regular cast members were Dirk Benedict as Starbuck (ne Solo), Richard Hatch as Apollo (ne Skywalker), Maren Jensen as Athena and Noah Hathaway as the cute boy, Boxie, whose nauseating robot dog (ne R2D2) may have been the low point. Ratings began well but soon fell off and, since each episode cost three times as much as a conventional one-hour drama, the series was terminated. An attempt to resuscitate it in altered form was GALACTICA: 1980. (Glen A. LARSON for a listing of the 14 spin-off BG books 1978-87, all, according to the covers, co-authored by Larson, mostly with Robert THURSTON.)

   2. Film (1978). Universal. Dir Richard A. Colla, starring the regular cast plus Ray Milland, Lew Ayres. Screenplay Glen A. Larson. 122 mins, cut to 117 mins. Colour.

   To recoup production costs on the tv series, Universal gave theatrical release to the (edited) pilot episode. This militaristic film (all politicians seeking peace are self-deluded weaklings) begins the BG story with a battle against the Cylons, the round-up of survivors, the beginning of the long trek to Earth, a visit to a pleasure-filled but corrupt planet where they nearly get eaten, and a second battle against the Cylons (close relatives of Star Wars's stormtroopers) - clearly a near thing: "The Cylon fleet is five microns away and closing." The film is poor. Another two-part episode from the tv series was theatrically released as Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (1979); it is more cardboard still.

   PN

   See also: SCIENTIFIC ERRORS.