Review Battlestar Galactica (1978)

[Doctor Omega]

Your thoughts on this show.....

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

 

[johnnybear]

The thing is that Larson, Richard Hatch, Lorne Greene and John Colicos are all deceased! With Hatch on board the film may have worked but without him it's going to be another of these reboots that doesn't quite catch the publics interest!
JB

 

[Gavin]

The thing is that Larson, Richard Hatch, Lorne Greene and John Colicos are all deceased! With Hatch on board the film may have worked but without him it's going to be another of these reboots that doesn't quite catch the publics interest!
JB

It would have had to be a reboot anyway. There's no way to do a continuation of a 1978 TV show that has since had a TV reboot, without confusing the hell out of the audience.

 

[johnnybear]

True. But a lot of people are still fans of the original which was cut short after a season and a half! I wouldn't rewatch the reboot despite people saying it was much better! For me I liked the model work and the better looking Cylons and their pursuit of the rag tag fleet! (Number six was pretty tasty though I must admit) but she was no Laurette Spang now was she!
JB

 

[Gavin]

I wouldn't rewatch the reboot despite people saying it was much better!

I enjoyed the reboot. I wouldn't say it was "better" (or "worse"). It just took a different approach to the concept than the original. Both started in a fairly similar manner but the original continued in a more light-hearted, episodic approach (which was appropriate for that era) and the reboot went in a more "realistic" depressing (appropriate for a concept following the survivors of an attack which killed billions and exiled them from their home), serialised direction. There were some "filler" episodes (especially in season 3) but mostly the story progressed in a logical direction. Both versions had interesting things to say about the concept and some good stories to tell. Depending on what you enjoy in a show it's worth checking out, because it was very well done.

 

[Doctor Omega]

One thing I found about the reboot is that, once I started watching it, I very quickly found that I wanted to watch "just one more episode". It definitely gripped me and I soon worked my way through the whole box set.

I love the original show and simply think of that as a different take on the same theme, but very few shows have pulled me in and made me want to watch "just one more" like that, so I have to give the 2004 show credit there.

 

[Doctor Omega]

BSG Documentary 1978 (2003)

Documentary,Battlestar Galactica,1978 Series,Universal Home Video,2003,Richard Hatch,Dirk Benedict,Lorne Green,John Colicos,Herbert Jefferson Jr,Laurette Spang,Anne Lockhart,Terry Carter,Patrick Macnee,Glen Larson,Television,

 

[johnnybear]

The only part of the reboot that I liked and they sort of ignored after was where a few of the crew suddenly realised that they were Cylons! I was kind of spooked by it and thought now this is new!
The original provided us with classic model work and special effects and single episodes based on a wider theme! Plenty of two part episodes and the like but a mention to events like The Pegasus occurred in more than one episode!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[johnnybear]

I remember collecting these for a while at least in 1978 or 79 (I had bought the early editions from number one but gave up in 72 I believe) but I can't say I was a fan of the BSG comic strip and I thought it was really strange that BSG hadn't even appeared on television here in the UK at the time and yet it was in the Look-In?
JB

 

[johnnybear]

BSG started on Thames TV on Thursday nights in late September of 1980 I think! I remember I used to tape the soundtracks every week! The Film was split into three parts, one a week and then it was followed by the series! It ended in early December with Fire in Space (having missed out Living Legend) and then it returned in January 81 with War of The Gods and ended finally in late March with Living Legend which was in two parts but as Mission Galactica:The Cylon Attack! I don't think Thames or LWT screened Galactica 80 though...
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[johnnybear]

We sure missed out on these gems here in this backward little country in the seventies didn't we!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

That is so true.

I would see advertisments and covers of magazines advertised.

While having to make do with black and white Marvel reprints in weekly comics.

At lease we had HOUSE OF HAMMER MAGAZINE and then DOCTOR WHO WEEKLY. Then eventually BLAKE'S 7 MONTHLY.

 

[johnnybear]

I was about ten when I started to buy the new Marvel mags as well as the British ones and that's when I first realised that the UK versions were reprinting the old colour books from years back! Those adverts of classic
horror films magazines were mouth watering but not available to us second class citizens over here! All we had were Arnold Schwarzenegger adverts with him carrying two dolly birds on his shoulders on the beach before he became a star in films and that's why we all knew who he was before everyone else!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[Doctor Omega]

Stu Phillips - Theme From Battlestar Galactica (Disco Version) 1978 DISCO/MOVIE

 

[Doctor Omega]

Battlestar Galactica Giorgio Moroder 1978

 

[johnnybear]

When I first saw the magazines coming out in the US about Galactica I can't say it impressed me especially with Star Wars taking over our minds at the time! But after buying a Starlog magazine in 1979 I was engrossed after reading the episode guide about the show! And when it first touched down here on Thames TV in 1980 I was hooked! Sadly like all the other beauties that came here earlier on, Planet of The Apes and Logan's Run, the show didn't last very long and was gone after 21 episodes! The show returned but we didn't get to see it until 1984 and the order was all over the place and wasn't as exciting as the original but at least they eventually found earth and we got some kind of closure I guess!
JB