STACK Magazine November Issue 121

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NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
FEATURE
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It’s been 36 years since humankind first went to war with the Cylons, in the 1978
television series Battlestar Galactica. A stunning re-imagination in 2003 was followed
by four seasons and several telemovies, and now the complete series – the old and
the new – has been assembled into the ultimate Blu-ray collection.
If you’re new to BSG (where have you been?), this is what you need to know…
Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar,
Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest
for a shining planet known as Earth.
Star Lorne Greene’s narration (above) succinctly sums up the gist of Glen A.
Larson’s sci-fi series, launched in the wake of Star Wars mania.
Following the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Man (named after the
signs of the zodiac: Caprica, Gemenon, Sagittaron…), the Galactica, under
the command of Adama (Lorne Greene), engaged in weekly skirmishes
with the robotic Cylons, their lizard-like Imperious Leader, and the human
traitor Baltar (John Colicos). There was no shortage of aerial dogfights between the X-wing-like Colonial Vipers –
piloted by hotshot flyboys like Apollo (Richard Hatch), Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) and Boomer (Herb Jefferson Jr.)
– and the Cylon fleet, while a robot dog (or Daggit) named Muffit kept younger viewers entertained.
Battlestar Galactica ran for 24 episodes, several of which were edited into pair of feature films
– Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (1979) – released theatrically
in cinema-shaking ‘Sensurround’.
Despite strong ratings, the show was cancelled prior to the Galactica and its tag-along civilian
fleet actually reaching Earth – a casualty of counter-programming by rival networks in the same timeslot.
BSG returned in 1980, the result of a campaign launched by outraged fans
and more tragically, the suicide of 15-year-old Edward Seidel – a Minnesota
boy who simply couldn’t live without his favourite television show.
Galactica 1980 was more a spin-off series than a direct continuation, retaining
key cast members Lorne Greene and Herb Jefferson Jr. and introducing new
heroes Captain Troy (Kent McCord) and Lt. Dillon (Barry Van Dyke). Having
finally reached Earth during the 1980s, Troy and Dillon infiltrate the population
in order to advance technology in the event of a Cylon attack.
Ultimately the show failed to find an audience and was cancelled after 10
episodes, the last of which featured the return of Starbuck. Galactica 1980
was subsequently absorbed into the original Battlestar Galactica series for
syndication. And as with the original, a trio of episodes were edited together
for a theatrical feature, titled Conquest of the Earth (1980).
Richard Hatch played Captain
Apollo in the original 1978 series
of Battlestar Galactica . And much
to his surprise, he was also given
the opportunity to play a recurring
character in the 2004 reboot
– former terrorist turned political
activist Tom Zarek.
”I was obviously involved in the
original, and I was also asked to
write the novels and the comic books
for Maximum Press,” says Hatch
of his relationship with BSG. “But
when you have a story that’s political,
sociological and says something
about the human condition, it’s like a
dream come true.”
Hatch’s return to the Galactica
universe initially got off to a frosty
start, however. “There was cold ice
in the room after I saw some of the
early trailers,” he admits. “It was so
different. They’d changed it so much
it was hard to look at objectively –
Starbuck [originally played by Dirk
Benedict] was a woman!”
But new series writer and
producer Ronald D. Moore managed
to win over Hatch with storylines
that had “the original, core
Battlestar feel”.
“Knowing Ron’s vision, I knew it
was going to be something more than
just entertainment – it had a lot to
say about the world post 9/11. So
I said ‘yes, if it could be a win-win
situation, I would love
to be involved’.”
With Moore at the helm, Universal
allowed the new Battlestar Galactica
the freedom to explore stories related
to the life and death experience of
surviving a holocaust – something
that Hatch felt was missing from
the original series.
“30 years ago they left us in
the middle ground, because the
networks and studios were afraid
of sci-fi in general, and more afraid
of alienating the audience,”
he explains. “This time we were
able to go into more powerful
directions for the core story.”