Television Review: Battlestar Galactica (1978 - 1979)

about 5 years ago (Edited)

(source:tmdb.org)

We live in a Golden Age of Television and, consequently, the audience, spoiled by seemingly limitless choices and rising quality, tends to take too many things for granted. How far television has advanced is best seen when popular 21st Century television shows are compared with their counterparts from the past. One such example could be found in the original version of Battlestar Galactica, arguably the most ambitious project of 1970s American television which made a huge impact and created a small but extremely loyal fan base, but nevertheless couldn’t overcome technical, financial, cultural and other limitations of its era.

The basic plot is, more or less, the same as in the better known, 2000s “re-imagined” version. The opening narration in each episode speculates that the Earth’s population might be just one of the branches of humanity scattered throughout space and that, out there, there might be other human civilisations, perhaps even connected to those from Earth’s ancient past. One such civilisation is represented by the Twelve Colonies or, to be more precise, was represented by the Twelve Colonies that were wiped out in a treacherous attack by a reptilian-robotic alien race of Cylons in the opening episode. What is left of humanity has gathered in a fleet of ships led by Battlestar Galactica, the only surviving capital ship of the Colonial Fleet, led by Commander Adama (played by Lorne Greene), and begins a long and perilous journey to a long-lost semi-mythical thirteenth colony known as “Earth”.

When it premiered in the autumn of 1978, Battlestar Galactica was savaged by critics as a “cheap imitation” of Star Wars. The word “cheap” is, however, difficult to associate with the series started by a pilot episode which became the most expensive television film produced at that time, with a budget only slightly smaller than George Lucas’ epic space opera. The large budget is quite obvious due to Richard Dykstra’s special effects, which were the most advanced at the time and which look impressive even today. Series creator Glen A. Larson envisioned Battlestar Galactica long before Star Wars, inspired by his own Mormon upbringing as well as the Ancient Aliens hypothesis, which was widely popularised by Erich von Däniken in the 1970s. Large budgets also allowed for these ideas to be reflected in inventive costumes, props and iconography, and creative energy was even invested in the language spoken in the series, with certain words (like “yaren” instead of “years”) clearly indicating that the civilisation of the Twelve Colonies was similar but very different from our own. Language also allowed producers to circumvent the strict censorship characteristic of 1970s television, with words like “frack” being liberally used instead of its four-letter equivalents or the character of Cassiopeia (played by Laurette Spang) being described as a “socialator” instead of a member of a profession that was not supposed to be shown on family-friendly television shows.

Among the creative talents involved in Battlestar Galactica was composer Stu Phillips, whose soundtrack includes a powerful opening theme which represents one of the most easily recognisable pieces of film and television music, an achievement the producers of the 2000s version failed to make. The series also had a very good cast, most notably television veteran Lorne Greene, whose excellent voice and charismatic presence gave the show the necessary gravitas and helped its plot be taken seriously even in its sillier moments. However, like the 2000s version, this was mostly an ensemble show. Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo, Adama’s son and heroic leader of fighter pilots, created an interesting “buddy buddy” dynamic with Dirk Benedict as his good friend, a cigar-smoking, hard-drinking and adventurous pilot whose womanising antics often provided light-hearted content in what was actually a rather dark story about the remains of humanity barely escaping genocide. The rest of the cast was also good, including Anne Lockhart as Lt. Sheba, a tough female pilot who easily transcended the sexist stereotypes of 1970s television. Even when characters were one-dimensional villains, like Count Baltar who is incredibly simple in comparison with his 2000s equivalent, they were elevated by an inspired cast, with John Collicos playing him with gusto, creating quite a memorable performance. The same can be said for the actors who appear as guests, like Lloyd Bridges as Commander Cain in the two-part episode Living Legend, Fred Astaire as the conman Chameleon in Man With Nine Lives and Patrick MacNee as the enigmatic Count Iblis in the two-part episode War of the Gods. The latter episode is one of the best in the series, mostly because of its inventive and potentially controversial dabbling into explicitly religious themes.

Battlestar Galactica, however, had its share of flaws. One of the most obvious and annoying was the character of Boxey, a six-year-old boy (played by Noah Hathaway), who is given a robotic dog named Muffit II (actually played by a chimpanzee in a suit); an attempt to cater to the youngest audience didn’t exactly work, especially in episodes with otherwise serious plots when those two played important roles. But the more important, and in the end fatal, flaw of the series had little to do with its authors. The show was aired on ABC, a broadcast television network with leadership unwilling to think outside the box. Glen A. Larson originally devised Battlestar Galactica as a series of feature-length and high-budget television films, very much like the pilot. What this concept could have led to is best shown in the quality two-part episodes like War of the Gods or Gun on Ice Planet Zero, which was inspired by WW2 action classics like The Guns of Navarone and might have inspired George Lucas for The Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, ABC leadership stuck to the concept of a regular weekly show, which resulted in limited budgets for each episode. This became apparent with cheap sets, including those previously used in western shows, as well as the recycling of space combat scenes, which became more and more annoying as the show went on. All this resulted in many episodes being subpar and laughable, but the cost still remained high and the show couldn’t escape cancellation after a single season. The next year, an attempt was made to cash in on the show's popularity with a “clever” idea of a cheap sequel set on present-day Earth in Galactica 1980, a show so disastrous that most fans of the original Galactica like to pretend that it never existed. Among them was Richard Hatch, who would spend decades trying to start a sequel only to reluctantly appear in the reimagined version. There are still rumours about a third incarnation of this show that might be a remake or a sequel, in both cases well-deserved.

Starring: Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, John Colicos, Maren Jensen, Noah Hathaway, Herbert Jefferson Jr., Tony Swartz, Laurette Spang, Terry Carter, Anne Lockhart
Executive producers: Glen A. Larson
Running Time: 24 episodes (21 + 3-part pilot episode, 45 minutes each)

Pro: intriguing idea, very good special effects, creative props and iconography, memorable music, very good cast
Contra: most of episodes being subpar, annoying childish plots, poor budgets, unfinished
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RATING: 7/10