Battlestar Galactica Wiki
Battlestar Galactica Wiki
Wiki
2,078
pages
in: Articles - Meta, The Original Series

Battlestar Galactica 1978

Edit
Meta


Battlestar Galactica is a science-fiction TV series created by Glen Albert Larson, and produced by Universal for the ABC Television Network. It aired on ABC between 17 September 1978 and 29 April 1979, when high production expenses and network hostility led to its cancellation.[1][2]

Production[]

Writing[]

With the emerging success of 1977's Star Wars, which had been written and directed by George Walton Lucas, Jr., the science-fiction industry hastily began production of comparable series to piggy-back on the popularity with varying success. Alongside Star Wars, creator Glen A. Larson drew inspiration from Erich von Däniken's 1968 opus, Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, as translated from the Danish by Michael Heron, one of the major entries in the "Ancient Astronaut" literary genre.

Larson's initial premise was called Adama's Ark, and it focused on humans leaving Earth to find a new home. But in time, it became that of a far distant human civilization freshly defeated from a genocidal war by the Cylon Empire, a totalitarian mechanical race bent on universal domination. A ragtag fleet of refugee ships would escape with the last human warship, the Galactica, providing its only defense, and go out in search of Earth, a mythical planet settled on by an offshoot of their early colonial ancestors.

While incorporating effects-heavy science fiction elements comparable to Star Wars, even using Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic Company for visual effects, the storylines quickly drifted away from Star Wars and became their own series over time. The first half of the series consisted mainly of "Planet Of The Week" stories, with "Lost Planet Of The Gods," "The Lost Warrior," "The Long Patrol," "The Gun On Ice Planet Zero," "The Magnificent Warriors," and "The Young Lords" each involving the Galactica, or its crew, encountering a lost human civilization that the Cylons might or might not, in turn, find and exterminate. Following the two-part story "The Living Legend," many of the later stories would take place primarily within the fleet itself, better exploring the nature of Colonial society with stories such as "The Man With Nine Lives" and "Murder On The 'Rising Star,'" though these also saw the emergence of a new alien race of angelic beings, in "War Of The Gods," which would grant the Galactica information on how to find Earth. Starting with "Greetings From Earth" and ending with "Experiment In Terra," the series followed the possibility of Earth being found, revealed - by help of the angels - to be an off-shoot of the Thirteenth Tribe called Terra. But in "Experiment In Terra," the British actor Edward Mulhare, later a regular cast member of Knight Rider, a later Larson series, acted out, in that story, an "angel" called John, who - much to the disappointment of the surviving colonists - revealed that this Terra, in fact, was not Earth.

Episodes[]

  1. "Saga of a Star World"
  2. "Lost Planet of the Gods"
  3. "Lost Planet of the Gods: Part 2"
  4. "The Lost Warrior"
  5. "The Long Patrol"
  6. "Gun on Ice Planet Zero"
  7. "Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part Ⅱ"
  8. "The Magnificent Warriors"
  9. "The Young Lords"
  10. "The Living Legend"
  11. "The Living Legend, Part Ⅱ"
  12. "Fire in Space"
  13. "War of the Gods"
  14. "War of the Gods, Part Ⅱ"
  15. "The Man with Nine Lives"
  16. "Murder on the Rising Star"
  17. "Greetings from Earth"
  18. "Baltar's Escape"
  19. "Experiment in Terra"
  20. "Take the Celestra"
  21. "The Hand of God"

Errors and Explanations[]

Internet Movie Database[]

Continuity[]

  1. The members of "Council of the Twelve," the primary civil government of the survivors, were elected in the first story. Yet every time the Council was shown, its roster of members kept differing. New members were probably elected off screen to replace those who leave.
  2. The Rising Star brought Uri from his home, which had to be on one of the other eleven planets. (The novelization Robert Thurston wrote said that he was Leon.) This made sense, as could be seen when Apollo left Jolly below decks, the writing L.S.S. Rising Star was visible on the bulkhead. Yet in "The Long Patrol," Athena's computer listed it as T.S.S. Rising Star, making it Tauron. The Rising Star could have been transferred from Leon to Tauron control, to avoid association with Sire Uri after the incident on Carillon.
  3. The Gemini Freighter was filled with Gemons who followed Gemon religions and spoke Gemonese. It left Gemoni during the exodus. Yet in "Murder On The 'Rising Star,'" Cella says that both were on Caprica during the attack. Cella and the Gemini Freighter could have been on Caprica during the attack, and travelled to Gemini to collect Gemon survivors during the start of the exodus.
  4. In "The Magnificent Warriors," Tigh stated that two of the three agro ships had been destroyed. Later, in "War of the Gods," Tigh stated that Count Iblis was with Sheba visiting Agro Ship Nine. At least one other ship in the fleet could have been converted for Agro Ship duty.
  5. The fuel issue was addressed in "The Living Legend, Part One," as they plotted the attack on the tankers, yet never again. The raid on Gamorray probably provided enough fuel to keep the fleet going for a long time.

Revealing Mistakes[]

  1. In various scenes where "radar" displays are seen, the same "readout" was reused numerous times. Most of the scenes requiring radar displays involved similar situations, usually a Cylon attack force approaching the fleet.

References[]

  1. ↑ TV.Com - Saga of a Star World (1)
  2. ↑ TV.Com - The Hand of God

External links[]


Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms