George Taylor
Galactica, if it had had say Isaac Asimov or Harlan Ellison on board, might have been a great show. It is after all about the Robotic Genocide of the Human Race. (Which really makes no sense since why would Robots find humans a threat? They should have remained bugs like in the original idea), anyhow it was busted down to a kiddie show. The only thing really different in this (the sfx are nice and the same) is Baltar's ending. I can't even watch this after Ronald Moore did a much superior version for the rapidly fading SyFy channel.
The_Other_Snowman
The above statement, from the patriarchal Commander Adama (Lorne Green) sums up this show quite nicely. Adama has to lead the last survivors of humanity from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol to a long-lost mythic planet called Earth, home of the 13th Tribe, after the colonies are attacked by the robotic and clumsy Cylons, who strafe a city or two and kill at least one dog.The first part of Adama's statement is fair enough. Clearly another solar system would be located beyond your own solar system. Oh, but it's also in a different galaxy? You might as well say that the restaurant you're trying to find is "Just down the street, in another country". I wonder if the writers knew what they were talking about."Galactica" is full of moments like this. The Vipers, the little fighter planes our heroes fly into battle, have enormous fiery exhaust trails, implying constant acceleration, the effect of which would be to reduce our heroes to strawberry jam. (The Vipers themselves look like hastily cobbled-together knock-offs of the X-wings from "Star Wars"). Their cockpits even have a little instrument on the dashboard telling the pilot which way is "up" -- in space.The villains of the show are the infamous Cylons, renowned in the realm of televised science fiction as the dumbest, clumsiest, and most ridiculous-looking villains ever. It's to be expected that they can't shoot, but these chrome-plated robots can barely walk. According to Lorne Green, the Cylons are just plain evil, but I'm not sure "evil robots" is all that meaningful, although I did have an evil calculator once. I'm never quite sure whether the Cylons had an organic counterpart who created them, but it doesn't really matter.In many ways this show is a shallow imitation of "Star Wars," and this can be seen in the cast of characters. Particularly Starbuck (Dirk Benedict), who tries so hard to be Han Solo, but only comes off as petulant, sexist, and rather pathetic. Apollo is the noble, Luke Skywalker hero type, and as such doesn't have a personality. Starbuck has a faithful black sidekick, Boomer, who seems to be much more competent than Starbuck. Adama also has a faithful black sidekick, called Colonel Tigh, who at one point is reduced to picking up everyone's laundry. Take that, Civil Rights Movement!The destruction of the human colonies is a brief, and amazingly painless affair. A park is strafed by Cylon ships, and a small dog is killed (though the actual death is not shown, so we are left with some hope). Soon enough, our heroes have forgotten all about the genocide: Starbuck tries to get it on with two equally boring women, and Apollo enters into a creepy relationship with the little boy whose dog was maybe killed (though it might be slightly less creepy if you consider he was only trying to sleep with Jane Seymour, the boy's mother). The Cylons, meanwhile, attack again, but are destroyed because they're so utterly incompetent.Oh yes, and there's a robot dog. I think it was actually a chimp in a robot-dog costume, but either way it's quite nauseating. The special effects are all right to start off (I like those old effects from the Seventies and Eighties, sometimes more than modern CGI), but get very repetitive very fast. I could also mention the preposterous characterization of the humans, including weak-kneed pacifists who are quickly killed, the inexplicably evil and stupid Lord Baltar (John Colicos) who betrays humanity, and the unbelievably dumb Council of Twelve, who prove that democracy just doesn't work.
BumpyRide
Being 15 at the time when this show first hit the airwaves I was in Sci-Fi Heaven! After seeing Star Wars and "Classic" Star Trek uncountable times, here was a new show that had great special effects just like in the theaters. The sets, costumes and the actors seemed all first rate for a mere TV show. I didn't ask for much back then because to me, it was a good show. Evil Cylons in their marauders with their telltale red eye seeing, all blasting the rag tag fleet...how much better could it get? Well, it could have been much better. Recently watching several of them when the new BSG arrived I found them to be almost unbearable to watch. The plots were nothing like Star Trek or even Lost In Space for that matter. Characters quickly became cartoon-like, with little character development after the premiere episode. Special, special effects (for that time) do not a show make. However, we have to applaud that the show was even put in production since TV Execs hate Sci-Fi shows, and now we can enjoy the new Battlestar that is everything its predecessor was not.
Ship_Captain_XplOrOrOr
This movie, universe, series, further capitalized on the Star Wars phenomina, along with other well known movies "Battle Beyond the Stars", and "Black Hole". I very, very, vaguely remember this movie when it came out. So I'm not going to make any real comments on it.BUT I do remember the culture of the times when this movie came out. And about that I can very seriously comment. Every kid had the Battle Star Galactica fighter ship models and toys. I remember they shot little missiles out of the gun turrets. I remember how the Cylon fighter's wings streched out from the ship with a click of a switch. I also remember how around age 8 I made my own Battlestar Galactica fighter ship model using 3 used toilet paper tubes and paper meche. It came out very nice too! I had a Starbuck action figure. All this just shows how popular this movie was with kids, and even though it didn't set box office records - it did make a lasting mark.Where I lived every kid had the Battlestar Galacitica craze right before the Star Wars craze hit full force and 100x's stronger.
