Battlestar Galactica (1978 original series)

Barely remember any of it, except for the android Sisters

I had a huge crush on Dirk Benedict and I thought the silver cylons were cool.

Scared the hell out of me!

Richard Hatch was a very handsome man. He died just a few months ago from pancreatic cancer.

[quote]What are your favorite memories from the show?

That time they remade it as a much better show.

Barring that, the time Miss Brett Somers made a guest appearance as a woman thirsty for Lorne Greene's cock.

It was terrible.

I so wanted to see Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict make out. I imagined it many times.

Just one time they should have kissed.

They wanted to.

BG's Wikipedia page talks about how the show was a success in the ratings initially, then CBS, in a counterprogramming move, decided to put "All in the Family" and "Alice" into the time slot opposite BG, after which its ratings fell off a cliff and it was canceled by ABC after just one season.

I loved this show when I was 11-12 years old, but haven't thought about it in ages. I remember Fred Astaire as con man who pretended to be Starbuck's long-lost father, but then actually turned out to BE Starbuck's father...but they never told Starbuck? Something like that.

The other thing I remember is that game/sport they played -- sort of a cross between basketball & rugby -- in speedos, shoulder pads & helmets. (I now know it was called Triad).

Even better....here's the cast talking about the Triad uniforms:

I remember thinking the Cylon Centurians were terrifying. The whoosh noise of their single eye, and the larger gold ones were even scarier.

Lucifer, the bitchy high-ranking Cylon, voiced by Jonathan Harris

[italic]Red Sparrow[/italic] director Francis Lawrence mentions that he's working on a Battlestar Galactica movie, which could - yet again- reboot the franchise.

[quote][bold]Is “Battlestar” still looming?[/bold]

[quote]Yeah, I’m working on that, that’s something I’m developing. I’m working on that with Lisa Joy, who is one of the creators of “Westworld.” The original series was actually one of the first sets that I ever went on. I remember being a kid and loving that show and they were filming near my house and my mom took me down there and I got to try on a Cylon helmet.

[quote][bold]So it does have a personal connection for you.[/bold]

[quote]Absolutely, 100%. I loved that show as a kid. I loved the Ron Moore show too.

[quote][bold]The Ron Moore show had its own visual identity. The original show recruited Ralph McQuarrie and John Dykstra and all these people from “Star Wars” and were trying to, for lack of a better word, harness that feeling. Obviously you’re going to give it your own spin, but are there going to be visual nods to the original series.[/bold]

[quote]Oh of course! There will definitely be visual nods. We’re all fans of both series so there will definitely be nods, but for it to be worth doing for us we have to have our own take on it. Without getting into too much detail, there is thematic kind of stuff to make it relevant today. What makes something interesting to do is if there’s a relevance to the world we live in now.

[quote][bold]There have been a million films where people have tried to do big space battles since “Star Wars,” but it’s very hard to capture that lightning in a bottle again. It has to be about something more.[/bold]

[quote]Exactly. I also think it has to be about more than the A.I. of it all, as well. That’s an element, but I think we’ve found something else to say with it too, which I think is pretty cool.

Urgh!

Back in the day - I had a friend - another big sci-fi fan! - who really wanted to see this series and had heard all hype - got ridiculously excited! - BUT was heading away a few months on his first big overseas trip - right at the time it was due to start screening.

So he bought me a stack of blank VHS cassettes and I was going to record it for him.

Which I dutifully did. Until just over halfway through the season - where I just couldnt take it anymore. It was stupid. It looked bright and shiny - but totally style over substance. Boring dreck.

I was right - he got back - and didn’t even last as long with it as I did.

I haven’t been able to watch the recent reboot because I was so scarred. Everyone keeps telling me how great it is. But I just can’t go there.

The only good thing that really does stick in my mind though - is how gorgeous Maren Jensen was! I’m a gay man - so got a glow to the loins from Richard Hatch - but his kid sister as so gorgeous! One of those luminously healthy seventies beauties. Don’t know that she was any great shakes as an actor - not like they gave he much to work with! - but holy cow she was beautiful! And she seemed to disappear after the series ended. Hope wherever she went she had a fabulous life post show. Anyone know the story?

[bold]Battlestar Galactica movie will likely have gender-swapped characters, says director Francis Lawrence[/bold]

[quote]"Yeah we're still working on that," he told Digital Spy. "I've been developing that for a while. I've been working with Lisa Joy who's been fantastic, she's one of the creators of Westworld and she's been doing a fantastic job.

[quote]"It's taken a while because she's done two seasons of Westworld while writing this and I've been making Red Sparrow while working on this so it's been a while."

[quote]Expanding on what form it will take, Lawrence clarified: "Yes it's a reimagining, it's not a continuation of the series, it's a standalone piece."

[quote]Given the increasing and long overdue diversity of representation on screen and the TV series' tendency for gender switching, could the movie live up to that?

[quote]"Yes absolutely 100 per cent!" he continued. "I'm not going to give any details but 100% there's room for that." We'll hold him to that.

Pack it with homos, I say. You can never go wrong with that.

Dirk Benedict was my first gay crush growing up. I was probably 6 or 7. I remember thinking it wasn't normal to feel that way, but I still kissed my Winnie the Pooh teddy bear and pretended it was Dirk anyway.

The Tucana Sisters!

Loved Galactica as a child but I also looked at some of the MeTV reruns. Just unwatchable now, other then the Baltar/Lucifer scenes. John Colicos playing straight-man for Jonathan Harris' passive-aggressive Cylon remains hilarious.

But it just doesn't begin to match new Galactica.