"A Shining Planet Known as Earth!"

ShadeGrenade

Glen A.Larson's 'Battlestar Galactica' premiered on U.S. television in 1978, one year after 'Star Wars' sent shock waves through the entertainment industry. As was to be expected, it had many of the same ingredients - dogfights in space, weird aliens, exotically named planets, beautiful girls, pseudo-mysticism etc. John Dykstra, responsible for the S.F.X. on Lucas' film, was 'B.S.G.'s original producer.

The cast - Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Maren Jensen and Laurette Spang - were mainly unknowns, with Lorne Greene of 'Bonanza' fame taking up the lead as 'Commander Adama'. The late John Colicos made a suitably slimy villain as Count Baltar.

The premise is this; after years of conflict, the Twelve Colonies are preparing to enter into a peace settlement with their adversary, the robotic Cylons. But it turns out to be a trap; the Cylons launch an all-out attack on Humanity and, in the ensuing conflict, the Twelve Colonies are totally wiped out. The last surviving battlestar - the Galactica - embarks on a quest to find a mythical thirteenth colony - Earth.

American sci-fi shows of the '70's always looked good, but 'B.S.G.' outdid them all. The action was super spectacular. Of course a lot of the dogfights were recycled, but given the pressures the production crew were under, this was to be expected. What matters is that the twenty-four episodes were, by and large, entertaining. My favourite was the two-parter 'The Living Legend' in which the late Lloyd Bridges played long-lost war hero 'Commander Cain' whose 'might is right' views bring him into conflict with the more level-headed Adama. Ex-Avenger Patrick Macnee cropped up as 'Count Iblis' in another memorable adventure - 'War Of The Gods'. A few episodes seemed to have been inspired by Westerns and war films. This was not unprecedented. Roddenberry did it first on 'Star Trek'.

Despite massive popularity, the network cancelled the show after one season, replacing it with the noticeably cheaper-looking 'Galactica 1980'. Fans gave it the thumbs-down.

In Britain, the show was not screened until 1980, and then I.T.V. inexplicably denied it a network slot. Since then. however, it has been shown several times on the B.B.C. ( who chose on pass on the new version ).

Classic 'B.S.G.' maintained a loyal fan base down the years. In 1998, Richard Hatch put his name to the first of seven original novels, set twenty years after the events of the series. Hopes for a fully-fledged revival were shattered in 2004 when the Sci-Fi Channel screened a 'reimagining' courtesy of Ronald D.Moore and David Eick. Moore had nothing but contempt for the original and it showed. He gutted the series of its warmth and charm, turning it instead into a cold, sterile allegory on the War On Terror. While it has its supporters, I am not amongst them. To me it is just not 'B.S.G.'. As so often happens with remakes, its fans gloat endlessly over how superior 'their' version is whilst forgetting that, without the original's reputation, a remake would not have been possible. Classic 'B.S.G'. was aimed at a family audience. To dismiss it as 'childish rubbish' is pointless.

Hopefully, one day, we will see a revival that respects the original. Perhaps Larson is the man who can give it to us.

score 9/10

ShadeGrenade 12 December 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1543180/