Battaglie nella galassia

Battlestar Galactica is one of those series you either love or hate, or else didn't watch. I loved it. It had a great concept and, generally good effects. The writing was a bit uneven at times, with the "homages" to other genres and movies getting way out of hand (Magnificent Seven, Guns of Navarone, Shane, Dirty Dozen, Perry Mason, Towering Inferno, etc.). As far as the criticism of "rip-off" goes, Battlestar Galactica was vindicated in court and in saga itself. The only real similarities with Star Wars are that both are space opera, both have bad guys in armor, both had dogfights in space, and both had John Dykstra supervising the effects. Otherwise, the biblical story of Galactica bore little resemblance to the mythical Star Wars. Besides, Star Wars was inspired by Flash Gordon, Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, The Dam Busters, King Arthur, and the works of Joseph Campbell. I think a series based on Exodus and Erik Von Danekan can be cut a little slack.

The acting was generally good, although the child actors were not the most skilled (but, hey, they're kids). Lorne Greene was great as the fatherly Adama, leading his people on a search for their brethren. Richard Hatch was the mature and stoic Apollo; the cerebral hero. Dirk Bennedict is the reckless and fun-loving Starbuck, the true fighter pilot in space. John Colicos is the evil Baltar, traitor to his people; part Benedict Arnold, part Herod, part Hitler. Add a well rounded supporting cast and you have a fine ensemble.

Yes, there is much dated material here: feathered hairdo's, disco clothes, social interaction; but it doesn't detract from the better stories. The use of a unique slang was a nice idea, but a bit distracting. The music was good and the Egyptian influences were interesting in the designs. The uniforms were stylish and gave a sense of military symbol and function. The ship designs were cool (can't say it any other way).

The biggest fault in this series is the tendency to depart from the overall saga into homage episodes. "Gun on Ice Planet Zero" was a fine remake of the Guns of Navarone and the Dirty Dozen, but it also presented a threat to the fleet and a new obstacle they must overcome. Others, like "The Lost Warrior" or "The Magnificent Warriors" had little consequence for the fleet and tended to get bogged down. The series was at its best when the Galactica found a new clue to the lost tribe, or overcame the Cylons to live another day. Unfortunately, the producers didn't have a timeline in mind when they created this show, unlike Babylon 5. Had they determined how long the journey should take, they could have avoided unnecessary episodes and concentrated on the overall saga, bringing character development and drama into the story, without losing sight of their goal. As it was, we were teased with false Earths and little idea when the Lost Tribe would be found. Unfortunately, when it was found, the series took a complete nosedive.

It will be interesting to see what the future will bring for this series; but, for the present, I will continue to watch my tapes. Is it too much to ask for a DVD release for the entire series?

Battlestar Galactica protects the surviving ragtag convoy of two hundred plus refugee ships from the Twelve Colonies after the devastating conquest by the Cylon Empire. Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) leads the search for the mythical thirteenth colony Terra. Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Lieutenant Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) are the leading Viper pilots. They struggle to escape the traitor Baltar (John Colicos) and his Cylon cohorts under Lucifer.

This Star Wars inspired franchise stumbles from time to time but at the end of the day, this is good sci-fi TV especially for its day. The biggest stumbles are the various human settlements that the convoy encounters. It puts the central premise under problematic rewriting. The basic premise is that these are the last of humanity looking for salvation. That's the drama. All these other human populations punch holes in that premise. They could stop at these places or gather up these survivors. It doesn't help to have unicorns either.

The best episodes are probably Battlestar Pegasus and Fire in Space. The human settlements episodes are repetitive and degenerative. I'm also not a big fan of Boxey and Muffit. The Ship of Lights is memorable and could be expanded. The idea for Ice Planet Zero is classic but flawed at its core. It's a stationary weapon after all. There are quite a bit of recycling in the action FX sequences but that's to be expected for TV. One does grade on a curve and this is one of the better ones in its era.

Yeah yeah, so it may be considered a Star Wars ripoff by some. Who cares? As a kid in the 70's, I loved nothing more than the movie and then the subsequent ABC TV series especially with all of the special effects that kids love to see after Star Wars came out. And when the Scifi Channel started to show the series again, I couldn't get enough of it. An underappreciated scifi series in my opinion.

Who, having grown up at the time, can ever forget the good old days, when TV shows like this were the ultimate scream of fashion?

I wasn't even born in the 70's, but I still remember very well that in the early 90's TV often aired TV series like this, which now looking back were made before my time but as a child I didn't know that fact nor do I cared.

'Battlestar Galactica' was created by Glen A. Larson, who also created 'Knight Rider', another TV series from my childhood.

Now, looking at it through an adult's perspective, it is lesser great than it was in the days of innocence, but still 'Battlestar Gallactica' shines in nostalgia. Although some episodes were better than others and they always had their flaws, the show really gives that feeling of nostalgia. If not perfect, at least it is authentic. It is from a time when things were real, when things had a special magic. The opening, for example, is fantastic, with those spectacular images of space and space wars. The opening music too is absolutely wonderful, and that opening quote is memorable:

«There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens.»

Like I said, it's by no means a perfect TV show. But the action scenes and their delicious sounds, the special effects, the space backgrounds... ahhh.... it's all so authentic and perfect (as it should be), without any of the excessive action and explosive noise seen these days.

It starred Lorne Greene as Commander Adama, Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo and Dirk Benedict as Lt. Starbuck, all of them great. Most of these episodes also had Noah Hathaway in a minor role as Boxey, Apollo's little son. Boxey is the cute little tyke. Him and his Muffit. This was a few years before he "became" Atreyu. Too bad Boxey doesn't have a bigger role.

Inevitably, this TV series resembles '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars'. It was even accused of plagiarism when 'Star Wars' itself heavily drank ideas from an early 70's film called 'Silent Running'.

Battlestar Galactica is one of those fine and cheesy sci-fi shows of the past that still shine bright: like the Buck Rogers show and movies, Space: 1999 or the Planet of the Apes stories, the original Battlestar Galactica (like the remake) has one main feature - for its time well done special effects and settings (now looking dated of course, but in a good way, at least in my opinion) and strong casts and characters. Everyone who grew up with that kind of sci-fi (including the first Star Wars movie and Star Trek original series) will never forget characters like Starbuck or Apollo. After all those years, besides a few too cheesy episodes, Battlestar Galactica is still an epic adventure.