Galactica 1980

Galactica 1980
Galactica 1980 intro
Format	Science fiction
Created by	Glen A. Larson
Starring	Lorne Greene Kent McCord Barry Van Dyke Richard Lynch
Composer(s)	Stu Phillips John Andrew Tartaglia
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	10 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 45 mins
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	02011-01-27 January 27 – May 4, 1980 (1980-05-04)
Chronology
Preceded by	Battlestar Galactica

Galactica 1980 is a science fiction television series, and a spin-off from the 1978–1979 series Battlestar Galactica. It was first broadcast on the ABC network in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980.

Development

A massive write-in campaign began with the cancellation of the original Battlestar Galactica. Because letter writing campaigns in favor of restoring canceled television programs were uncommon in 1979, it prompted ABC to re-think their reasons for canceling the show. After some deliberation, they contacted Glen Larson to see about reviving the series, albeit in some modified and less-expensive format.

Both Larson and the network felt the show needed some major change of focus to re-launch it as a spinoff, and Larson and Donald P. Bellisario decided to set the new series five years after "The Hand of God", the final episode of the original series. This would allow them to weed out many supporting characters who were now considered superfluous^{[citation needed]} - Colonel Tigh, Athena, Cassiopea, Boxey, etc. - which would bring down production costs. The only major characters to return from the original series would be Commander Adama, Colonel Boomer (replacing Tigh), Apollo, Starbuck, and Baltar. Baltar was to have somehow made atonement for betraying the Colonies to the Cylons, and was now the President of the Council of Twelve.

Upon discovering a 'present day' Earth completely unable to defend itself from the Cylons, Adama decided to just head off into deep space to lead the Cylons away from the planet, but Baltar suggested using Time Travel Technology to alter Earth's history so its technology would develop more rapidly up to a Colonial level. The Council votes this suggestion down, so Baltar steals a ship capable of time travel and heads into Earth's past to carry out his plan anyway. After some deliberation, Starbuck and Apollo are sent after him to bring him back or at least undo his changes to history. Episodes would feature a new "Time Mission" every week, generally with Apollo at some different time in the past, and Starbuck flying back and forth between "Now" and "Then" to give information and support to Apollo. ABC approved this pitch, and gave the go-ahead to develop a pilot for the series.

However, Dirk Benedict was apparently unavailable at the time of filming. Richard Hatch (Apollo in the original series) apparently was sent a script for Galactica 1980, but turned it down since he wasn't sure what his part in the series would be now that all the characters had changed.^[1] It was then decided the series would take place thirty years after the end of the original series, and that Boxey would be renamed Troy and take Apollo's role, while a character named Lt. Dillon would take over the Starbuck part. President Baltar was written out entirely, and Commander Xavier or Doctor Xavier was created to take up his role as the resident bad guy.

After the pilot was completed, the network was unhappy with the time travel aspects of the story, and agreed to pick up the series only if that subject was dropped. Larson and Bellisario reluctantly agreed, and the series instead became focused on Troy's and Dillon's attempts to protect some colonial children on Earth. Bellisario later re-tooled the original time travel concept and re-used it as the basis of the considerably more successful Quantum Leap.^[2]

The name "Pacific Tech" ("Pacific Institute of Technology") used in the three-part opening episode "Galactica Discovers Earth" is a name used several times in films and television when directors/writers/producers wanted to depict a science-oriented university without using a real institution's name, as also was earlier done in The War of the Worlds and later in Real Genius; an earlier draft of the script used the real-world name "Caltech".

Synopsis

Set during the year 1980, and a generation after the original series, the Galactica and its fleet of 220 civilian ships have finally discovered Earth, only to find that its people are not as scientifically advanced and that the planet can neither defend itself against the Cylons nor help the Galactica as originally hoped. Therefore, teams of Colonial warriors are covertly sent to the planet to work incognito with various members of the scientific community, hoping to advance Earth's technology.

Commander Adama and Colonel Boomer — now second-in-command — on the advice of Doctor Zee, a teenage prodigy serving as Adama's counsellor, sends Captain Troy, who is the adopted son of Adama's own son Apollo, and Lieutenant Dillon to North America, where they become entangled with TV journalist Jamie Hamilton. After an initial, epic time travel adventure to Nazi Germany in the 1940s (to stop rebel Galactican Commander Xavier, trying to change the future to improve Earth's technology level), the three friends devise ways to help Earth's scientists and outwit the Cylons in the present day. Meanwhile, Adama sends a group of children from the Galactica fleet (the Super Scouts) to Earth in order to begin the process of integrating with the population. However, due to differences in gravity and physiology, the children must deal with the fact they have nearly super-human powers on Earth.

The fates of several characters from the original series are explained during the course of the series. Apollo is apparently dead, the cause of his seeming death not addressed. Starbuck was marooned on a desert planet, although the script for the episode "The Wheel of Fire" (unfilmed at the time of cancellation) indicated that Starbuck was eventually rescued from the planet by the inhabitants of the Ships of Light and became one of their inhabitants. Captain Troy is revealed to be Boxey, and Lt. Boomer has risen to the rank of Colonel and has become Adama's second in command. Baltar was apparently rescued from the planet he was marooned on in "Hand of God", and is now Commandant Baltar of the Cylon fleet pursuing the Galacticans. The fates of several other characters, including Adama's daughter Athena, Colonel Tigh, Starbuck's girlfriend Cassiopeia, and Muffit the robot dog are not revealed. These characters are absent from the second series.

Recurring cast

• Lorne Greene as Commander Adama
• Herb Jefferson, Jr. as Colonel Boomer
• Kent McCord as Captain Troy
• Barry Van Dyke as Lieutenant Dillon
• Robyn Douglass as Jamie Hamilton
• Richard Lynch as Commander Xavier
• Allan Miller as Colonel Sydell
• Robbie Rist and Patrick Stuart as Doctor Zee

Cancellation

The low-rated show was canceled after only ten episodes, many of which were multi-part stories. The final episode shown was "The Return of Starbuck" which featured a guest appearance by Dirk Benedict from the original series. Larson even began to develop a sequel to this episode, but the series was canceled during production of episode 11, "The Day They Kidnapped Cleopatra", which remained unfinished.

Syndication and beyond

The ten Galactica 1980 episodes were rolled into the television syndication package for Battlestar Galactica and were given the same title as its parent program.

Following the series demise, a feature film entitled Conquest of the Earth was stitched together from sections of the three "Galactica Discovers Earth" episodes and the two "The Night the Cylons Landed" episodes. A scene of John Colicos, playing Baltar, was also spliced in to this release. The latter footage was actually taken from an episode of the original series — Baltar makes no appearance in any Galactica 1980 episode — and is partially dubbed, so as to make the speech sound relevant to the Galactica's new situation. Several early scenes involving Adama and Dr. Zee are also partially dubbed, to add more explanatory detail and to explain why two actors appear playing the role of Dr. Zee. The feature was released in cinemas in Europe and Australia and on home video elsewhere.

DVD release

On December 23, 2007, Universal released all of the Galactica 1980 episodes on DVD in a 2-disc set. This release is touted as "The Original 'Battlestar Galactica's' Final Season".^[3]

Comic

In August 2009, Dynamite Entertainment released a Galactica 1980 comic series. It was written by Marc Guggenheim and is a re-imagining of the original series.^[4]

See also

• List of Battlestar Galactica (1978, 1980) episodes
• Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
• Battlestar Galactica, the video game
• Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming

References

1. ^ Mike Egnor (December 30, 2008). "Richard Hatch GALACTICA.TV interview". www.galactica.tv. http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-1978---interviews/richard-hatch-galactica.tv-interview.html. 
2. ^ Paxton, Susan J. "Unshot Battlestar Galactica Scripts". 1995. Originally published in Anomaly.
3. ^ Galactica 1980 DVD news: Box Art for Galactica 1980 - The Complete Series | TVShowsOnDVD.com
4. ^ http://io9.com/5297230/the-battlestar-galactica-revival-you-never-saw-coming-1

External links

• Galactica 1980 at the Internet Movie Database
• Galactica 1980 at TV.com
• Conquest of the Earth at the Internet Movie Database
• Battlestar Galactica Wiki: Galactica 1980