Battlestar Galactica [1978] – Saga of the Star World Part I

by Nancy MathewsI came late to the new Battlestar Galactica party. I tried to watch the miniseries years ago but I was bored and turned it off. I decided that I was simply too big a fan of the original show to accept this remake. Particularly with a female Starbuck. I mean come on, Dirk Benedict was on my list of five before I knew what a list of five was! I have, of course, seen the error of my ways (embarrassingly recently) and am now halfway through season 3. Oh yeah and female Starbuck? Hell I’d jump the fence for her in a heartbeat.This acceptance has not dampened my love for the original. In fact I continually impress my husband (at least I think he’s impressed) with my knowledge of the BSG mythos and how the new series takes some of its cues from the old. As a reward for this overwhelming, albeit useless, knowledge my husband bought me the complete series of the original Battlestar Galactica.There are few things in life more satisfying than having a Cylon head on your bookshelf.[nms:battlestar galactica,2,0]My first surprise on receiving this lovely gift was the fact that the series only ran one season. It looms much larger it my memory. I had to go look to see why that was. It seems that there was never a good reason for it’s cancellation. Although ratings dipped after the initial pilot/movie, they stayed pretty strong overall. It’s believed that the $1 million price tag per episode was just too high. The pilot was also released theatrically in Canada, Australia, Latin America and Europe and was released in the States in 1979 after the final episode aired. The theatrical releases were done to recoup the $7 million dollar cost of the pilot.My second surprise came in the first few minutes of watching the pilot. As the doomed Adama brother Zac was my favorite rock/soap star: Rick Springfield. I think I might have known that he was in it at some point but I had forgotten. It made me squee just the same.By the way, it’s very embarrassing to squee on the bike at the gym. Ask me how I know.Not remembering too much of the pilot made it more enjoyable. I knew where they ended up but I couldn’t quite recall how they got there. Baltar’s betrayal is bold and obvious not the sniveling behind the scenes treason that the modern BSG Gaius Baltar commits. He orchestrates an armistice between the humans and the Cylons. All the big wigs in the Quorum of Twelve come to it, taking the Battlestars with them leaving their planets unprotected. Adama is suspicious, of course, so he has fighters out patrolling anyway and when they are attacked (poor Zach), he goes on alert against the President’s orders.Lorne Greene plays Adama with such gravity I saw small planets get pulled into orbit around him. He makes Edward James Olmos look like Pollyanna.We all watch Caprica burn on TV with Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman reporting. She’s amazingly professional on the screen. She loses that once she meets Apollo then it’s all, “Oh, you’re so hot – let me use my son to make you love me”. I’m not a Jane Seymour fan, so shoot me. Once the battle is over there are no Battlestars left except the Galactica and no Quorum of Twelve except Adama (hmm. . . that seems a bit suspicious, maybe he’s a Cylon! Oops! Wrong series.) Adama goes to the surface of Caprica to mourn his wife and start his mental breakdown. He tells the survivors to gather as many ships as they can and escape with Galactica.So we get the “ragtag, fugitive fleet” made up of luxury yachts, pleasure cruise liners and my personal favorite, moving vans. It is around this time that Adama tells the newly formed Quorum of Twelve about Earth. He doesn’t know where it is or how to get there but that’s where they’re going. I guess that’s where that gravity thing really works because they all agree to follow him. The interesting thing to me is how much less cheesy the show is than I expected. It’s fun, the acting is hammy, but come on, we’re all coming off of Captain Kirk here so no judgment there. The plot had me interested and engaged. Hell I was just the teeniest bit impressed……then they found a planet.Next up - What ever lands on Carillon stays on Carillon.Never miss an update. Subscribe to Pink Raygun by Email or subscribe via RSS Nancy Mathews works very hard at masquerading as a grown up to go to work and raise her two sons. Once the sun goes down she reverts to the 10 year old that she actually is. You can follow her plans for world domination through the formation of an army of knitters on her blog, Bronxgirlknits.

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