Seeing it again, 25 years later, it was quite a shock to see the wooden acting, hopeless scripts, dreadful clothes, laughable sets, and the overall disaster that was Battlestar Galactica. I understand that it was cancelled after 2 seasons (1 if you ignore the even worse 1980 version). I'm not surprised.

John Dykstra tries to create an asnwer to "Star Wars"
Review date: 2004-07-08 Rating: 8 out of 10

"Star Trek" was described as "Wagon Train to the Stars" but that particular concept reduction certainly applies more to "Battlestar Galactica," since the series has the remnants of humanity travelling in a ragtag fleet from their neck of the galaxy to the fabled 13th colony known as Earth. However, the pilot episode from 1978 makes it clear that despite Lorne Greene playing Commander Adama and inspiring all sorts of "Bonanza" jokes, the idea here is to invoke the special effects style (and hopefully the success) of "Star Wars." Special effects guru John Dykstra received most of the money and most of the publicity for this series, so it is not surprising that the spacecraft models are the best part of the pilot.

The premise for the series is that just as the humans are about to make peace with the Cylon Empire, the Cylons attack the fleet and the colonies and destroy pretty much everything except the Galactica, the last remaining battlestar. This happens as a result of the naiveté of President Adar (Lew Ayres) and the tainted advice of the traitor Count Baltar (John Colicos). The military catastrophe is rather forced, requiring stupidity on the part of pretty much everybody in the government and military with the exception of Adama. Putting all your Battlestars in one quadrant and providing two sentry ships for the entire fleet pretty much insures a Pearl Harbor type disaster.

But once you get past the neat models you are pretty much dealing with a standard space opera where the main theme is to remind people of "Star Wars" as often as possible (although the Vipers are not as cool as the X-Wing fighters). Lt. Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) is a free spirit in the Han Solo mode, Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch) is a more mature Luke Skywalker, and Adama is the wise Obi-Wan Kenobi father figure who actually happens to be a father (I have a question: how you go from naming you first two children Apollo and Athena only to name the third one Zac? I teach Classical Greek & Roman Mythology and there is no mention of a Zac. Just curious).

With the success of "Star Wars" science fiction was suddenly in and big bucks could be committed to a television series while Hollywood started remaking old classics like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Flash Gordon." But while "Battlestar Galactica" offered promise, it did not live up to its potential. Every week the group of humans continued their quest for Earth with the Cylons on their heels while the humans bickered among themselves in an allegory of contemporary social problems (the people from our planet are better than the people from your planet) and engaged in standard soap opera love stories (Will Athena get over the death of Zac and learn to love the trying to be serious Starbuck?). Watching the pilot is going to be of nostalgic value to those who watched it with eager anticipation back in 1978 and really wanted it to be something worthy of all the hype, i.e., "Star Trek" instead of "Space 1999." For those who did not catch in the first time around and compare it to "Farscape" and "Enterrprise," they will wonder what all the fuss was about. The answer is, not much beyond some great models from Dykstra.

Great Transfer on DVD
Review date: 2001-02-17 Rating: 8 out of 10

After STAR WARS, Glen Larson started production on a Sci Fi show on US television. This movie was released in Canada & Europe before the USA got to see it. Stellar performances from the late Lorne Greene & John Colicos. It was the most expensive TV show in US history. The DVD transfer is excellent. I rated this four stars. Due to the 2.0 sound track. I would have liked DTS or Dolby 5.1, but to no avail. There is no commentary from the Director Richard Colla or Glen Larson. Not even a Theatrical Trailer. I only got this DVD because my video is old & has worn out. I just wish that Universal studios would put more effort into this Classic Series. At this time this is the only DVD available on the Galactica TV series. I hope that any future releases will be better, especially the sound.

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