Back in the late 1970’s the original Battlestar Galactica series aired, followed by Galatica 1980, and now they have both been released on Blu-ray – here is our review.
Battlestar Galactica
Back in 1977 after Star Wars came out, TV executives wanted to cash in on the success, and thus Battlestar Galactica was born. The show was set on the Galactica, a ship that was tasked with protecting the remaining survivors of the 12 Colonies following a devistating attack from the Cylons whilst also trying to find the Earth. It starred Lorne Greene as Adama, Richard Hatch as Apollo and a pre A-Team Dirk Benedict as Starbuck.
There were 24 episodes in total, starting with the massive three part Saga of a Star World. I used to be riveted to the TV every week when it was shown, getting very upset one week when it wasn’t on because of an FA Cup Final replay!
Galactica 1980
Let me start off by giving you a warning – and this comes from someone who watched Galactica 1980 when it FIRST aired – don’t watch it. It’s awful. No, it’s beyond awful. The premise is that it’s a number of years later and Galactica finally discovers Earth, only to get a dire warning from an annoying kid called Dr Zee that Earth isn’t ready for communication and that if Galactica makes contact then Earth will be destroyed by the Cylons. So they come up with this great idea to send down a group of “Super Scouts” to get Earth ready – think a bunch of annoying kids and you would be spot on. The group is lead by now adult Boxee – Apollo’s son from the Original Series. The only original cast member is Lorne Green as Adama, although Dirk Benedict does appear in an episode who’s story is basically that of the film Enemy Mine.
Like I said, avoid watching any of this show, it didn’t last long thankfully. Although for completeness it’s good that it was included in the set.
Final Thoughts
I really loved the original Battlestar Galactica (and I am huge fan of the recent reboot as well – although the original isn’t as dark).
If you are fan then this is definitely one for your collection – just remember when you watch it that it is nearly 40 years old!
You get all the episodes from both the original Battlestar Galactica series (24 episodes) and Galactica 1980 (thankfully only 10 episodes).
There is also some bonus materials, including audio commentary, deleted scenes and a number of features, so well worth checking out.
