Galactica 1980

"Galactica 1980" was someone's bad idea to rejuvenate the "Battlestar Galactica" series that had been cancelled the previous year but still had strong viewer demand.

It would have made sense to simply take up where the old series left off, but no, they went for a loop. All the old cast is gone except for Lorne Greene, and the Galactica has found Earth. However, she only hangs around in orbit, not revealing herself to the primitive earthlings.

The first question that comes to mind is how long could this last? The answer was not very. There's only so many soap opera turns you can make with a scenario like this. Thankfully the series was short lived. The only episode worth watching was the final one, which explains what happened to Starbuck. (And no, he didn't open a chain of coffee houses.)

I have no problem at all admitting I like "Galactica 1980". I deliberately avoided buying any bootlegs of the show because I figured the new (and bad) Galactica show would eventually see this released.

Sure it's flawed, but it was a fun show. It actually started off with a really good three-parter, when Troy and Dillon first come to Earth to check things out for the Galactica. I liked that Apollo did appear in a photograph and that one of the main adult characters was a grown-up Boxey. And seeing Boomer again was also great.

I remember as a kid being disappointed that the Cylon attack on Los Angeles was "fake" (a "computer simulation" to see what would happen if the Cylons found Earth) because it was done so clever and well, using the "Earthquake" movie footage. The subplot with Robert Reed as the doctor who makes friends with Troy and Dillon starts off good but Reed's character is simply forgotten about after a few episodes unfortunately. Instead, an Earth woman befriends the Galactica guys and the focal point eventually becomes a bunch of bratty kids, which is where the show starts to get a bit annoying.

The plots are cool, but frankly there just were not enough Cylons in the series. Finally towards the end of the series they start to appear, but in a goofy Halloween setting.

The last episode is generally regarded as the best because it shows the return of Starbuck, who actually makes friends with a Cylon after being stranded from the fleet in flashback. It was very cool seeing Boomer behind the controls of a Viper again. Even this episode has a few problems, such as the Cylon's voice, and where DID he find that girl? The ending is downright sad. Also, there was no Troy and Dillon for this final episode (the actors must have loved that).

So yeah, it has tons of stock footage, goofy kids and thin plots. But it is a fun show, and definitely a fun watch. I for one and very glad it is on DVD, although no extras is a disappointment.

The worst series in the world....ever!

After the events of the REAL Battlestar Galactica and series, this troll of a series came along. Gone are Starbuck and Apollo and replacing them are Troy and Dillon. Wannabee heroes who can't act. They might as well have cast Troi (StarTrek TNG) and Dillan (Magic Roundabout) for all the effectiveness they have.

Lorne Greene must have had a mortgage to pay off or something, because I can't see any other reason he'd want to be on board this turkey.

There's a new character, in the form of the obnoxious Dr Zee. A child genius who basically tells Adama what to do. I couldn't help thinking that maybe Adama had gone senile and Zee was his nurse - he always dressed in white, anyhow. It certainly seemed like Adama was senile, he didn't seem to be able to make a decision without consulting the boy-wonder. A far cry from the confident, decisive war veteran of the original Galactica series.

Anyway Troy and Dillon get to inact it up a little and go to Earth on repetitive boring missions. There's none of the interesting space-going malarkey from the original series (even though a lot of it was stock footage) and I don't think I ever saw a starfighter. No budget for anything remotely interesting.

The only gadgets on display were the flying motorcycles (I kid you not) that the heroes use now and again. The special effects of them flying through the air are particularly guffawful, reminding me of those old rear-window shots of roads in black and white films, where the road movements in the background bore no correlation to what the driver did with the wheel.

A truly awful series and not at all like the original. Only one episode is remotely worth watching. Entitled "The Return of Starbuck" it focuses on what happened to Starbuck and has a kind of "Enemy Mine" plot involving a Cylon. Mercifully, it features only very few scenes of Dr Zee and Adama talking and none at all of Troy and Dufus. Nearly all Starbuck.

But, apart from this one episode, the rest of the series is just awful.

I enjoyed Galactica 1980 when I was eight years old. Of course I enjoyed anything that had spaceships shooting at each other. Well, I watched the show 13 years later on the sci-fi channel and I could tell it was not the best of TV shows ever written. I was trying to figure out how it correlated with the first season. What had happened to the original crew of the Battlestar Galactica? As for Captain Apollo, Colonel Tigh, Athena,Cassiopia, Doctor Wilkor and Jolly. The final episode was where Leutenant Starbuck was stranded did not make sense. In the final episode of the first season the fleet was in earths solar system and none of the planets were habitable. It was like the fleet backtracked in some area of the galaxy fighting the Cylons.

Galactica 1980 is the very, very different series to Battlestar Galactica. So, the Galactica reaches Earth where Troy and Dillon (replacing Apollo and Starbuck) get into various scrapes on the planet. Hence, rather than battles with Cylons (although they do show up now and then), we get time travelling antics in which our heroes battle with Nazis, helped out by the intrepid journalist, Jamie, in addition to scout troop action, a lot of educational speeches about Earth history and technology, and even a top hat and tails dance routine featuring Dillon and Troy. However, the highlight is when our heroes take flight on their futuristic motorbikes, which involves some of the most hilariously bad back projection seen on terrestrial screens! So, it lacks the scope, drama, quality and budget of Battlestar Galactica, but it has an undeniable charm (usually derived from the unintentional comedy that pervades many episodes, but the onscreen chemistry between Kent McCord and Barry Van Dyke is very engaging) and Richard Lynch is good, as always. However, while Lorne Greene tries to maintain his air of gravitas as Adama, he mainly just looks bemused as he constantly is forced to consult the all-knowing child prodigy, Dr. Zee, on every issue facing the Galactica. So, it isn't great, but for all of its limitations (and frustrations), Galactica 1980 is watchable, and no episode is as tiresome as the original series episodes based on Terra/Lunar Seven/the Eastern Alliance. So that's something, I guess. However, if you find it tough going it is worth prevailing until the final episode, The Return of Starbuck, which is rather excellent.