Galactica: Astronave de Combate

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?

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.

ok.. I have read all the comments about BSG... I must say I am disappointed in many of the truly negative comments. I remember watching BSG when it first aired... I would never miss the show when it was on. I was sad to see it leave the airwaves when it was canceled. I did watch 'Galactica 1980' when the series resurfaced for a brief time. The only episode I liked from that was the one featuring Starbuck when he crash landed on a planet and had a cylon as his companion for company. Yes... the show had feathered hair styles that showed the influence of the times of the late 70's. But who cares! I liked the friendship between Apollo, StarBuck, and I loved when they added Sheeba into the group. BSG is a part of Sci-Fi History. I would really love to see Richard Hatch's film he made of BSG that he financed and made. but unless it was ever shown at a convention... I will never get to see it. I will watch SciFi channels 'Re-Imagined' BSG, but hate the fact that StarBuck and Boomer will be female characters now. With StarBuck as a Female... it will kind of take away a lot of the friendship that Apollo and StarBuck had together. It's not like you will see them going to the rising star or an officer's club looking for women together anymore. No daggit Muffy either. But I'll give the newer series a chance...Just as I did for ST:TNG(Star Trek:The Next Generation). Fans of Star Trek, and even the original Trek cast from TOS were back handed slapping TNG when it first came out. They claimed they knew Star Trek, and the new show will fail. But TNG made it through a rocky 1st and 2nd season. They really came into their own as the 3rd season began. Maybe the new BSG will be Ok? We'll see what happens when it starts in Dec.2003. I just wish people would stop slamming BSG in so many of the comments I have sat through for the last 15 mins. Some of them are by people that have just seen the series for the first time on the sci-fi channel.. It's really all about right now is what the fans of the show remember from seeing it back in 78/79 and appreciating it all over again in reruns on SciFi, and buying the DVD set due out 10/2003. It's a piece of history for SciFi. Those of you that have been slamming it. Maybe it was your first time seeing it as a rerun someplace. Watch the newer version coming out in Dec. 2003. SciFi has a web site up for it right now giving some background into the newer 'Re-Imagined' version.

Well all I want to say is. I love the show. It still stands up to the test of time as a great series. no matter what you others have been saying about it. Hopefully I will be around long enough to see all of the newer BSG if it does become a TV series... Seeing as I have cancer (Hodgkins disease) and have endured a long treatment in a year and 7 months among which was a really long treatment called 'Stem Cell Transplant'.... Anyhow. Enough said.

The original Galactica was in my opinion, good, but the reason why it only lasted one season in my opinion are as follows:

-The effects did not look original, so it was seen as a Star Wars Ripoff.

-It was seen mostly as something for kids at the time, so adults felt no use in watching it.

-The sociopolitical sitcoms of the time(All in The Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffesrsons, etc)were winding down and prime-time soap-operas like Dallas and Knots Landing were starting to get big, so it was doomed from the beginning since most people at the time would rather watch a prime-time version of daytime drama like Dallas than a sci-fi epic series on television. Dallas debuted at the same time period as Galactica.

-No such thing as "first-run syndication" existed at the time. It probably would have gone on longer if it had. I don't think frist-run syndication existed until Star Trek: The Next Generation came on the air in thae late 1980s.

It is very easy to see why 'Battlestar Galactica' was popular at the time, even with its early cancellation, and had high ratings, as well as still having people very fond of it.

At the same time it is also easy to pick faults with 'Battlestar Galactica', which through adult eyes is an uneven show with the flaws much more noticeable. With me, there is still fondness for it from a nostalgic point of view, it fascinated and entertained me as a child and it still does now as a young adult. However, 'Battlestar Galactica' is a long way from a perfect show and could have done far more with the potential it had. It is a long way from a bad show, just not great.

There is a lot to like. Apart from costumes and hairstyles that feel very 70s and date the show a bit, repetitive use of effects and lack of scope for space itself (space is huge, this felt pretty compact), the look of 'Battlestar Galactica' is fine. The sets are eye-catching, it's very nicely shot and the effects themselves were great for the 70s and even though used in a repetitious and recycled fashion hold up reasonably well now with the odd limitation here and there.

With the music, one has to love the rousing bombast and playful energy of the scoring, while the theme tune is up there with the most iconic theme tunes of any show from the 70s and of the sci-fi genre. There are many nice moments in the script, with some knowing humour and thought-provoking opening narration and closing quotes. Tonally and quality-of-plots-wise, 'Battlestar Galactica' is inconsistent. When it was not good it was cringe-worthy ("The Young Lords", especially the annoying interplay of the child actors and the child actors themselves) but when it was good it was fantastic ("War of the Gods" took a darker and bolder approach and at the same time ended up epitomising what the show is all about).

'Battlestar Galactica's' stories could have benefited better from having a time-line, which would have made the tone more focused and the quality of stories more consistent. Due to that the show can get bogged down by some childish antics, that turned out not to be cheesy in a good way it sometimes got embarrassing (like they were trying too hard to appeal to children or a family-friendly audience). As well as too many homages (like in "The Magnificent Warriors" or that clumsy and weird cowboy in space episode "Lost Warrior" - in an attempt to appeal to older audiences, indicating a confusion as to which target audience to aim it at- that serve little relevance or point, loses the whole focus of the story in question and like they'd forgotten what the quest was. When it took a darker and bolder approach with more challenging subjects, it was often very engrossing and that approach could have been explored even more.

Most of the characters work very well, Starbuck (a favourite among fans and with good reason) and dignified Adama are my favourites. Apollo and Boomer are also great. The exceptions are the child actors in "The Young Lords", annoying and trying-too-hard-to-be-cutesy Boxey (played to not much better effect by Noah Hathaway, who went on to give a great performance in 'The NeverEnding Story', so the blame lies on the writing not Hathaway) and the less said about Muffit II (especially painful in his very over-exposed role in "Fire in Space") the better. The Cylons are also inconsistently characterised, sometimes menacing at other idiotic and made to look like fools.

The performances, apart from the children, are in fine keeping with the show and hold up well on their own, Lorne Green, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict being especially good. Patrick Macnee, Herbert Jefferson Jnr and John Colicos are sterling support as well.

In conclusion, uneven but entertaining. 7/10 Bethany Cox