Battlestar Galactica (1978) Retrospective

Continuing on with our Battlestar Galactica retrospective, this time we take a trip back to the 70s to see if the original series holds up.

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[thegray]

The cylon cameo in the opening of the A-team was the best.

[alphatrion]

I love this show.
What is that 70's and early 80's magic no one can seem to replicate today.
Battle star, buck Rogers, dukes of hazard, the A-team, knight rider, airwolf. I Still love all of those

[ctvxl]

I used to get so excited every week when this show would air. NOTHING in the verse could cause me to miss it! I was 8 years old, and nothing else I had ever seen on television even came close to captivating me and sparking my imagination the way BSG did.

[MrRedthief]

To me what made the show successful was the casting of Lorne Green as Adama. He was a well loved TV star already and he had that wonderful voice.

[sami]

What's surprising about this show that it still has a lot of fans and some prefer this version over the reboot. That's kind of rare for a sci fi show in the 70's that isn't star trek

[CybershamanX]

I have fond memories of the original. I remember "taping" the shows with one of those clunky audio cassette recorders and listening to the episodes over and over again while the visuals played out in my head. I credit that with being partly responsible for why I had such an active imagination as a kid. All in all, it was a great show that was ahead of its time. Thank you for creating such a wonderful look back at this amazing show! :)

[rjkral]

“Sincere to the core”
Nailed it!!
Well done 👍

[thomasmccullough]

By far my favorite all time villian and character on the show was Baltar. John Colicos was such a brilliant and wonderful actor! Rest in peace Mr. Colicos.

[Bandido]

Cylons with their genius robotic voices and shiny outfits still gives a bit chills. Also their ships with lasers (sound) was also epic.  Even 1980 my favourite was Cylons school ship attack.

[harvey]

I get the feeling from watching your reviews that we would be SciFi brothers in arm! I watched the original Battlestar Galactica production build up over a couple of years in the fantastic monthly release of Starlog magazines. I was bedazzled, thrilled and excited with articles revealing production designs, photos of sets and the original sfx models and workshops .... finally the front cover was filled with the full majesty of the Galactica! I'm pretty sure i squealed (a manly boyish squeal) when i saw that full cover picture of the Battlestar on the newstand. This was an AMAZING show when it came out ... the bridge of the galactica had my jaw dropping open everytime it was on screen. The power of the story stands the test of time, as you say, the "new" mini-series of R.D. Moore ...stands testament to it. Though the original is a bit campy and a baby of 1970's story telling, it's tv production was immense and massive; something never seen before on TV. The result was it permanently lifted the bar on all future scifi productions television & big screen. Side note: Lucas attempted to sue for BSG being a Star Wars rip-off ... they lost ...simply because the stories were fundamentally different; Star Wars was about taking the fight to the evil empire and BSG was the polar opposite ... humans fleeing a pursuing evil intent on their genocide. However both were babies of the same time period, utilising the same designers, creatives and technology that had blossomed in the mid to late 1970's. It was an amazing time to be a teenager lost in their own world of science-fiction fascination & addiction!
P.S. BSG was cancelled not due to poor ratings (which remained high and consistent) instead, simply because it was too expensive to continue with a second season, as the cost overruns of season 1 almost brought Universal Studios to her knees, at the time. 'Galactica: 1980' was an attempt to continue the show with stock footage, no grand sets, two original actors and a horrible premise. It literally broke my heart; Galactica 1980 was horrible.

[dcsignal]

The only bad thing about the original BSG was that it ended.

[samuelsanfratello]

I loved the original Battlestar Galactica! The Colinial warriors' jackets were awesome! (even when solid white'

[GeneChiu]

I remember watching BSG as a kid and then several years later as a teenager. Then about 15 year later, I saw it again as an adult. Now (another 15 year later), I'm catching it again on MeTV. I've been watching it for over 30 years and still have not gotten tired of it.

I did watch the reimaged series and really like it. I still consider it my favourite TV series. I don't think you can really compare the two since they were made 25 years apart. They were each wonderful TV series for their time.

[MrChupacabra]

"Bonanza" defined Lorne Greene for my parents, but "Battlestar Galactica" was his defnitive role for me ^_^

[iSteaknife]

I've never met anyone other than my Dad who watched this show. I Love not being alone in my thinking that this show was well ahead of it's time.

[sidearmsalpha]

I loved the outfits that they wore in the original series as well as the Egyptian motif. It made it seem like they were truly an ancient race that were ancestors of the human race. The original Colonial Viper is still one of my favorite sci fi ships.

[darrenkrivit]

By your command! Loved this show, had to get home in time to watch it every week.

[MGSBigBoss]

Excellent bloody review of the classic series, no less than a month away from the original's 40th anniversary on September 17th 2018 (BSG 1978-2018 Sept 17th) thumbs up and well done fella!!!

[cloverfield]

I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!!!...LOL!

[troyarrington]

The best episode;'Murder on the Rising Star'. It demonstrates, the strong friendship of, Apollo, Starbuck and, Boomer.