Battlestar Galactica
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Battlestar Galactica was finally produced in the wake of the success of the 1977 film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In fact, 20th Century Fox sued Universal Studios (the studio behind Battlestar Galactica) for plagiarism, claiming that it had stolen 34 distinct ideas from Star Wars. Universal promptly countersued, claiming Star Wars had stolen ideas from the 1972 film Silent Running (notably the robot "drones") and the Buck Rogers serials of the 1940s. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 1980.
Initially, Battlestar Galactica was envisioned by Larson as a series of made-for-TV movies (a three-hour pilot and two two-hour episodes) for the ABC television network. The three-hour pilot was released in theaters, and instead of two additional movies, a weekly television series followed.
As this press photo shows, Tektronix, Inc., manufacturer of test and measurement equipment (especially known for their oscilloscope product line) and computer equipment, supplied their 7000-series of oscilloscopes, TM500-series of test and measurement equipment and their 4000-series of computer graphic equipment and associated software for the show's Galactica props. The "radar" style images of Cylons attacking the battle group were Tektronix graphics displays. In the photo, a Tektronix 4051 (or it could be the later 4052) graphics computer system is shown.
Battlestar Galactica
The three-hour-long pilot episode starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict. To defray costs, the pilot was recut as a theatrical release which played in Canada, Europe and Japan. Opening on July 7, 1978, the theatrical release did quite well given modest expectations. It was first broadcast on ABC on September 17, 1978.
The original series
Battlestar Galactica (original series)
During the eight months after the three-hour pilot episode aired, 17 original episodes of the series were aired (five of them two-parters), totaling 24 hours of broadcasting. Citing declining ratings and cost overruns, ABC cancelled Battlestar Galactica in April, its last episode "The Hand of God" premiering on April 29, 1979.
Galactica 1980
During the autumn of 1979, ABC executives met with Galactica's creator Glen A. Larson to consider a relaunch of the series. A suitable concept would be needed to draw viewers, and it was decided that the arrival of the Colonial Fleet at contemporary Earth would be the storyline. A new television movie entitled Galactica 1980 was rushed into production. Again, it was decided this new version of Galactica would be made into a weekly series. Despite the early success of the premiere, this new weekly series was unceremoniously cancelled after only ten episodes.
In this 1980 sequel series, the fleet finds Earth and covertly protects it from the Cylons. This series was a quick failure due to its low budget, widely-panned writing, and ill-placed time slot (Sundays at 7:00 PM, a time slot generally reserved for family-oriented programming and, more specifically, 60 Minutes). The show also included obviously recycled space battle sequences from the original program, to the great dismay of fans. Some syndication packages for Battlestar Galactica incorporate the episodes of this series. |
