BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978)

 THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Richard A. Colla and, Alan J. Levi

SCREENWRITER: Glen A. Larson

FILM STARS: Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Herbert Jefferson Jr., Maren Jensen, Tony Swartz, Noah Hathaway, Terry Carter, Lew Ayres, Wilfrid Hyde-White, John Colicos, Laurette Spang, Jane Seymour, Ray Milland, Ed Begley Jr., Rick Springfield, Randi Oakes, David Matthau.

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston

TYPE: Novelisation

PUBLISHER: Futura

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1978

COUNTRY: Australia

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1978

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Sci Fi

WORDS: In the wake of Star Wars (1977) all sorts of big(ger) budgeted sci fi films (The Black Hole (1979), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Superman (1978), Time After Time (1979), Alien (1979), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Battle Beyond the Stars (1981), Flash Gordon (1980), Saturn 3 (1980), Outland (1981)) and TV series (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981), Jason of Star Command (1978–1981)) appeared, and  … of all that came immediately after, Battlestar Galactica (along with Star Trek) was perhaps the best suited to challenge the all encompassing behemoth that was Star Wars.

This film (now known as “Saga of a Star World”) started out as a pilot, an expensive one, for the television series of the same name It was re edited and released as a stand alone film on both television and in cinemas. It was a big hit.

The television show, Battlestar Galactica (1978–1979), that followed was cancelled after a season despite being popular at the time. It was, initially, a ratings success, but was cancelled in mid-April 1979 due to declining audiences, though the decline in audience may have something to do with changing its time slot to a less lucrative one. The shows cost was always a problem with the television network as well.

Its cancellation didn’t stop the fandom. It developed a cult and pop culture following spawning a media franchise which included comics, theme park attractions, games, and sequels.

“Battlestar Galactica … began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, Galactica 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games. A reimagined version aired as a two-part, three-hour miniseries developed by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick in 2003, followed by a 2004 television series, which aired until 2009. A prequel series, Caprica, aired in 2010”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica

As an aside I note that those kids at the time who loved the original film and TV show grew up, and were the ones who rebooted the show. As with many of these 70s era reboots the frivolous joy of science fiction escapism one enjoyed as a teen had to be put to one side. People grow up, they can’t be frivolous, purely escapist in attitude, or light in outlook …. and this is something that affected (adversely). All the reboots – Star Wars, Star Trek, Tron, Terminator became increasingly darker and more serious and even the already serious sci fi – Alien, Blade Runner, Planet of the Apes became even more serious and darker, if that is possible. FFS it’s sci fi not theology.

This film, the pilot, is full of great 1970s special effects and like Star Wars (1977) it’s primarily an adventure with a serious backstory (something that flipped on the reboots on both films). It has its own universe, characters who represent values and types, and its own internal history. At the time it was considered the poor man’s version of Star Wars which is a pity as the story is compelling.

In a distant star system twelve colonies of humans, living on different worlds, have been fighting a one thousand year war against the robotic race, the Cylons, who seek to exterminate all of humanity. The Cylons have unexpectedly sued for peace. But the plan is a trap. Only Commander Adama, of the battlestar Galactica has doubts and survives with his ship the slaughter of humanity. With the Colonies in ruins, Adama collects as many survivors as possible, and orders every intact civilian ship to take survivors, follow the Galactica and flee to a better world of legend. They hope that the Galactica can protect this ragtag fleet long enough to find that legendary thirteenth human colony. A planet called Earth.

It is an adventure but the cylons genocidal hated of humans is aped in the terminator movies and perhaps, also, takes inspiration from the religious haltered the east had for the west and Jews in the 70s (and more recently). There is something more than a little religious in Adama’s leadership and search for a new world.

There are also similarities to both Star Wars and Star Trek. And in a case of make sure there are no skeletons in your wardrobe: “In June 1978, 20th Century Fox sued Universal Studios (producers of Battlestar Galactica) for plagiarism, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and Lanham Act claims, claiming it had stolen 34 distinct ideas from Star Wars. Universal promptly countersued, claiming Star Wars had stolen ideas from their 1972 film Silent Running, notably the robot “drones”, and the Buck Rogers serials of the 1930s. 20th Century Fox’s copyright claims were initially dismissed by the trial court in 1980, then the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit remanded the case for trial in 1983. It was later “resolved without trial”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_of_a_Star_World

Glen A. Larson (creator of the television series Alias Smith and Jones, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Quincy, M.E., The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy, Magnum, P.I. and Knight Rider) was the creator and executive producer of Battlestar Galactica. He claims he had conceived of the Battlestar Galactica premise, which he called Adam’s Ark, during the late 1960s (he had had been working on the concept since 1968 with former Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon mentoring him in its early development). The series incorporated many themes from Mormon theology, such as marriage for “time and eternity”, a “council of twelve”, a lost thirteenth tribe of humans, and a planet called Kobol (an anagram of Kolob – Kolob is a star or planet described in the Book of Abraham, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement). A coincidence? Probably not as Larson was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Battlestar Galactica was finally produced in the wake of the success of Star Wars (1977) and underwent a name change from “Adam’s Ark”, allegedly, because Larson was convinced to include the word “star” in the title to capitalize on Star Wars, hence Battlestar Galactica. Well, there was probably other easons – it also sounds tougher than Adam’s Ark or even something like Adam’s Starark.

Oddly, the film, and the concept to the film, strikes me as owing more than a little to John Ford’s masterpiece Wagonmaster (1950) (whose television non official spinoff Wagon Train (1957–1965) was an inspiration to Star Trek) about a Mormon wagon train circa 1880, led by the Elder Wiggs, escaping persecution and heading west to the promised land of the San Juan River country. Along the way the wagon train is joined by a ragtag assortment of people, a stranded medicine show troupe, some cowboy drifters, a peaceful band of Navajo indians, and together they face bad weather, and a malevolent slightly psychotic outlaw family, the Clegg gang. Given larson was a Mormon and this was one of the few classic films to have Mormons as characters this can’t be a coincidence.

For what is then, ostensibly, a space western it is perfect casting to have Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. His father, patriarch, and landowner figure, Ben Cartwright, in the ultra successful western series Bonanza (1959-1973) was ingrained in the mind of people across the world. Adama was just Cartwright in space. The other two male leads (the show was heavy on male leads, much like Bonanza) are Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo and Dirk Benedict as Lieutenant Starbuck. Like Han Solo (especially in the case of Starbuck) they are essentially space cowboys and they provide the action and humour. The rest of the cast is peppered with familiar stars of years past Lew Ayres, Ray Milland, Wilfrid Hyde-White and up and coming youngsters Ed Begley Jr. Australian singer Rick Springfield and Jane Seymour. The film, being a TV pilot, has a TV feel at times but the budget hides some of the (then) TV limitations.

The film was a box office hit and rightly so ..it is entertaining and manages to capture the balance between adventure and drama.

The novelisation is a straight novelisation. Though there are differences between the film and the TV series that followed it the novelisation seems to follow the film. Many other books followed all written by Glen A. Larson with other co-authors. Co-author here, Robert Thurston (28 October 1936 – 20 October 2021), was a prolific science fiction author well known for his works in popular shared world settings The books were critically disparaged, but proved popular, with this, the first novel, selling over a million copies within its first year.

TRIVIA

• Larson also was a member of the folk revival/satire group The Four Preps.
• In the 1990s, Hatch attempted to revive Battlestar Galactica. He began writing novels based on the series (Hatch wrote a series of seven tie-in novels set in the original Battlestar Galactica universe)

LINKS

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