''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series created by

Glen A. Larson Glen Albert Larson (January 3, 1937 – November 14, 2014) was an American television producer, writer, and composer. He created many series, including '' Alias Smith and Jones'', ''Battlestar Galactica'', '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', ' ...

that aired on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

network from September 17, 1978, to April 29, 1979. It stars an ensemble cast led by

Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; February 12, 1915 – September 11, 1987) was a Canadian actor, singer, and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Adama in ...

, Richard Hatch, and

Dirk Benedict Dirk Benedict (born Dirk Niewoehner; March 1, 1945) is an American actor and author. He is best known for playing the characters Lieutenant Starbuck in the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' film and television series and Templeton "Face" Peck ...

. The series follows a group of humans fleeing the destruction of their homeworlds aboard the titular spacecraft, searching for a new home while being pursued by the Cylons, a fearsome society of robots intent on exterminating all humans. Beginning production as a miniseries, ABC subsequently ordered a full season and the show was reworked as an episodic serial. However, high production costs and declining ratings led to the series' cancellation after 24 episodes. ABC attempted to revive the series as a lower-budget spinoff, ''

Galactica 1980 ''Galactica 1980'' is an American science fiction television series and a spin-off from the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series. It was first broadcast on ABC in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980, lasting for 1 ...

'', but it performed poorly and was cancelled after airing ten episodes. Despite initially failing to find a wide audience, ''Battlestar Galactica'' developed a cult following. The show spawned a

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

which includes

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

, theme park attractions, games, and a re-imagined series in early 2000s.

Series overview

In a distant star system, the Twelve Colonies of Mankind were reaching the end of a thousand-year war with the Cylons, warrior robots created by a reptilian race that expired long ago, presumably destroyed by their own creations. Humanity was ultimately defeated in a sneak attack on the colonies by the Cylons, carried out with the help of a human traitor, Baltar. Protected by the last surviving capital warship, a battlestar named '' Galactica'', the survivors fled in available ships. The Commander of the ''Galactica'',

Adama Adama ( Oromo: ', Amharic: አዳማ), formerly Nazreth (), is one of the cities of Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, the city sits between the base of an escarpment to the west, ...

, led this "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of 220 ships in search of a new home. They begin a quest to find the long lost thirteenth tribe of humanity that had settled on a legendary planet called Earth. The Cylons continue to pursue them relentlessly across the galaxy. The

main characters A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a s ...

include

Captain Apollo ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson that aired on the ABC network from September 17, 1978, to April 29, 1979. It stars an ensemble cast led by Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and Lorne ...

, a Colonial fighter pilot who is Adama's son. His best friend is

Lieutenant Starbuck ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson that aired on the ABC network from September 17, 1978, to April 29, 1979. It stars an ensemble cast led by Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and Lor ...

, a highly regarded fighter pilot, and also a gambler and womanizer. The era in which this

exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

took place is never clearly stated in the series itself. At the start of the series, it is mentioned as being "the seventh millennium of time", although it is unknown when this is in relation to Earth's history. The final aired episode, "The Hand of God", indicates that the original series took place after the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

Moon landing in 1969 as the ''Galactica'' receives a television transmission from Earth showing the landing. The later ''Galactica 1980'' series is expressly set in 1980, after a 30-year voyage to Earth. A member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, Larson incorporated many themes from

Mormon theology Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of ...

into the shows.

Cast and characters

* Richard Hatch as

as Commander Adama *

John Colicos John Colicos (December 10, 1928 – March 6, 2000) was a Canadian actor. He performed on stage and on television in the United States and Canada. Early life Colicos was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a Greek father and a Canadian mother. Career ...

as Baltar *

Maren Jensen Maren Jensen is an American former model and actress, best known for portraying Lieutenant Athena in the 1978–79 television series ''Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), Battlestar Galactica''. Jensen also made guest appearances in several US ...

Lieutenant Athena ''Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980 ...

Noah Hathaway Noah Leslie Hathaway (born November 13, 1971) is an American actor and a former teen idol. He is best known for his roles as Atreyu in the 1984 film ''The NeverEnding Story (film), The NeverEnding Story'' and for portraying Boxey on the original t ...

Boxey ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson that aired on the ABC network from September 17, 1978, to April 29, 1979. It stars an ensemble cast led by Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and Lor ...

Herbert Jefferson Jr. {{BLP sources, date=March 2013 {{Infobox person , name = Herbert Jefferson Jr. , image = Herbert Jefferson, Jr. by Gage Skidmore.jpg , caption = Herbert Jefferson Jr., at the 2012 Phoenix Comicon , birth_date = {{birth date and age, mf=yes, 1946, ...

Lieutenant Boomer ''Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson that aired on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from September ...

* Tony Swartz as Flight Sergeant Jolly *

Laurette Spang Laurette Spang-McCook, credited as Laurette Spang, is an American television actress. She is best known for playing the character Cassiopeia on the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' (1978). Early life/family Spang was born on May 16, 1951 in ...

Cassiopeia Cassiopeia or Cassiopea may refer to: Greek mythology * Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda), queen of Aethiopia and mother of Andromeda * Cassiopeia (wife of Phoenix), wife of Phoenix, king of Phoenicia * Cassiopeia, wife of Epaphus, king of Egy ...

Terry Carter John Everett DeCoste (December 16, 1928 – April 23, 2024), known professionally as Terry Carter, was a pioneering black American actor and filmmaker, known for his roles as Sgt. Joe Broadhurst on the television series '' McCloud''Colonel Tigh * Anne Lockhart as Lieutenant Sheba

Pilot and subsequent changes

The pilot, budgeted at $8 million (one of the most expensive at that time), was theatrically released in

Sensurround Sensurround is the brand name for a process created by MCA Inc., MCA and developed by Cerwin-Vega in conjunction with Universal Studios, Inc., Universal Studios to enhance the audio experience during film screenings, specifically for the 1974 film ...

. An edited version was released on July 8, 1978, in several regions including Canada, Japan, and select

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

an countries. On September 17, 1978, the full 148-minute pilot premiered on

to high

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. Two–thirds of the way through the broadcast, ABC interrupted with a special report of the signing of the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

by Israeli Prime Minister

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

and Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

, witnessed by U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

. Following the ceremony, ABC resumed the broadcast at the point where it was interrupted. This interruption did not occur on the West Coast. After the pilot aired, the 125-minute theatrical version received a nationwide theatrical release in May 1979. The pilot had originally been announced as the first of three television films. After broadcast of the second episode, "Lost Planet of the Gods", however, Larson announced the format change to a weekly series, catching his writing and production staff off guard. This resulted in several 'crash of the week' episodes until other scripts could resume. This also resulted in scripts being finished just minutes before filming started and actors having to read their lines off cue cards, which affected their performances. "Lost Planet" also introduced a costume change from the original, in that the warriors' dress uniform featured a gold-trimmed cape falling to upper thigh. Because of the costume change, a portion of the pilot was reshot; this refilmed version was released in cinemas in 1979. The original version of the warriors' dress uniform, a plain, mid-thigh-length cape, is documented in ''The Official Battlestar Galactica Scrapbook'' by James Neyland, 1978.

Legal troubles

In June 1978, prior to the release of the pilot,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

(producers of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'') sued

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

(producers of ''Battlestar Galactica'') for

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

unfair competition Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usually smaller, businesses or consumers. ...

, and

Lanham Act The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal statute governing trademark law in the United States. The Lanham Act establishes a national system of trademark registration and grants owners of federally registe ...

claims, alleging ''Galactica'' had stolen 34 distinct ideas from ''Star Wars''.Fullen, Andrew
''Universal Studios vs. Battlestar Galactica''
pp. 10, 171. CreateSpace, November 1, 2007. . Universal promptly countersued, claiming ''Star Wars'' had stolen ideas from their 1972 film ''

Silent Running ''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American ecological-themed science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse Vint. Plot In the future, all forests on Earth have b ...

'', notably the robot "drones", and the 1930s ''Buck Rogers'' serials. Fox's copyright claims were dismissed by the trial court in 1980, but in 1983, a federal

appeals court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellate ...

reversed that decision and remanded the case for trial. It was later "resolved without trial". ''Star Wars'' director

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

additionally threatened legal action against Apogee, Inc., the visual effects studio formed by

John Dykstra John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. (; born June 3, 1947) is an American special effects artist, pioneer in the development of the use of computers in filmmaking and recipient of three Academy Awards, among many other awards and prizes. He was one of ...

and several other former artists from Lucas'

Industrial Light and Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

who decided to remain in

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

rather than relocate to

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city in and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of th ...

with the rest of the company. Lucas claimed that Apogee's work on ''Galactica'' was being done with equipment that he had left behind, for a project that would be in direct competition against ''Star Wars''. Eventually, Apogee agreed to surrender the equipment to ILM, and several members of Dykstra's team returned to ILM. Afterwards, Universal's newly formed visual effects division,

Universal Hartland Visual Effects {{ref improve, date=February 2013 Universal Hartland was the visual effects house of Universal Studios Hollywood. The effects studio was in operation from 1978 to 1981. The studio was created as a means for Universal to enter the visual effects fiel ...

, took over the show's visual effects for the remainder of its run. Lucas also went after ''Galactica'' merchandise, claiming that the

Cylon Raider The Cylons () are a race of sentient robots in the ''Battlestar Galactica'' science fiction franchise, whose primary goal is the extermination of the human race. Introduced in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), 1978 television s ...

and Colonial Viper toys could be confused with his own ''Star Wars'' toys. His major contention was that the ''Galactica'' toys featured plastic pellets that could be fired to simulate lasers, and these constituted a choking hazard for children, and he did not want to be blamed for any such accidents, despite none of the ''Star Wars'' toys offered by

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for t ...

having anything similar. Such an accident came to pass on Christmas Day 1978, when a four-year-old child accidentally shot a pellet from a Cylon Raider toy into his mouth, where it lodged in his larynx and caused his brain to be deprived of oxygen. He was declared dead six days later on New Year's Eve 1978. Within two weeks,

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

issued an immediate recall of all ''Galactica'' toys with missiles, and the boy's parents sued Mattel. A second incident involved the Colonial Viper toy which ended in emergency surgery to remove an inhaled pellet from a young boy's lungs. This incident was not fatal, but Mattel subsequently redesigned all of its ''Galactica'' toys so that the pellets no longer left the toy when fired.

Ratings

''Battlestar Galactica'' initially was a ratings success. CBS counter programmed by moving its Sunday block of ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

'' and ''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

'' an hour earlier, to compete with ''Galactica'' in the 8:00 timeslot. From October 1978 to March 1979, ''All in the Family'' averaged more than 40 percent of the 8:00 audience, against ''Galactica's'' 28 percent. In mid-April 1979, ABC executives canceled the show. An AP article reported "The decision to bump the expensive ''Battlestar Galactica'' was not surprising. The series ... had been broadcast irregularly in recent weeks, attracting slightly over a quarter of the audience in its Sunday night time slot." Larson claimed that it was a failed attempt by ABC to reposition its number one program ''

Mork & Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', " My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extrater ...

'' into a more lucrative timeslot. The cancellation led to viewer outrage and protests outside ABC studios, and it even contributed to the suicide of Edward Seidel, a 15-year-old boy in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

who was obsessed with the program. For the 1978–79 season as a whole, ''Battlestar Galactica'' ranked 34th out of 114 shows airing that season, averaging a 19.6 rating and a 30 share.

Language

While primarily English, the Colonial language was written to include several fictional words that differentiated its culture from those of Earth, most notably time units and expletives. The words were roughly equivalent to their English counterparts, and the minor technical differences in meaning were suggestive to the viewer. Colonial distance and time units were incompletely explained and inconsistent in their usage, but appear to have been primarily in a decimal format. :Time units included micron (less than one second), centon (minute), centar (hour), cycle (day), secton (week), sectar (month), quatron (unknown, perhaps a 25 centar day or maybe 1/4 yahren), yahren (Colonial year), and centuron (Colonial century). :Deprecated time units A ''millicenton'' was about 10 minutes long and only used in the first few episodes. The ''microcenton'' was replaced with the ''micron'' after the 2nd episode "Lost Planet of the Gods". :Distance units were metron (meter), maxim, hectar, and a few other rarely used words. :Expletives included " frack", also spelled "frak" (interjection), "felgercarb" (noun), "snitrag" (noun), and "golmogging", also spelled "gall-mogging" and "galmonging" (adjective). These words avoided US FCC guidelines on the use of profanities and the associated fines. :Other terms included daggit (a canine–like animal indigenous to one of the colonies), ducat (ticket), pyramid (card game), cubit (unit of currency represented by rectangular coins), triad (a full-contact ball and goal game similar to basketball), lupus (a wolf-like animal indigenous to another of the colonies), travelator (travel agent), officiator (triad referee) and socialator (prostitute/escort). :Figures of speech There were a number of these used in the series, such as "daggit dribble", a term used to condemn falsehood, and "daggit-meat", used as an expression of contempt.

Music

The show's original music was composed and conducted by Stu Phillips, with the pilot score performed by the

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

. It was recorded at 20th Century Fox, which later sued Universal over the series.

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

released a soundtrack album on LP and cassette with Phillips as the music producer; the album was later reissued on compact disc by Edel in 1993, and

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

in 2003. For the series, Phillips used a studio orchestra at Universal, although the theme and end credits music as recorded by the LAPO were retained. In 2011–2012

Intrada Records Intrada is an American record company based in Oakland, California, founded by Douglass Fake (1952-2024). The company specializes in movie and television soundtracks, notably those by the late Jerry Goldsmith. Intrada was founded in 1985 by pro ...

released four albums featuring Phillips's music for the series, representing the first commercial release of music other than that of the pilot. (Phillips previously produced a four-CD promotional set.) Except the first, all are two-disc sets. * 2011: ''Battlestar Galactica'' Volume 1: "Saga of a Star World". * 2011: ''Battlestar Galactica'' Volume 2: "Lost Planet of the Gods" parts 1 and 2, and "Gun on Ice Planet Zero" parts 1 and 2. * 2012: ''Battlestar Galactica'' Volume 3: "The Long Patrol", "The Lost Warrior", "The Magnificent Warriors", "The Young Lords", "Murder on the ''Rising Star''", "Take the ''Celestra''", "The Hand of God", and ''

's'' "The Return of Starbuck". * 2012: ''Battlestar Galactica'' Volume 4: "The Living Legend" parts 1 and 2, and "War of the Gods" parts 1 and 2, plus music recorded for ''Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack'' and ''Galactica 1980''. "Fire in Space", "The Man with Nine Lives", "Greetings from Earth", "Baltar's Escape", and "Experiment in Terra" were entirely tracked with preexisting material.

Real-world criticism

''Battlestar Galactica'' was criticized by Melor Sturua in the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

newspaper ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

''. He saw an analogy between the fictional Colonial/Cylon negotiations and the US/Soviet

SALT In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

talks and accused the series of being inspired by

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism or anti-Soviet sentiment are activities that were actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union. Three common uses of the term include the following: * Anti-Sovietism in inter ...

hysteria.

Follow-up projects

In 1999, Richard Hatch (who had played Apollo) released a trailer for a proposed sequel, '' Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming''. The series was remade with a reimagined three-hour

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

in 2003 and followed by a weekly series that ran from 2004 to 2009. ''

Caprica ''Caprica'' is a 2010 American science fiction drama television series, which is a prequel spin-off of the 2004–2009 series ''Battlestar Galactica''. ''Caprica'' is set 58 years before the main series, and shows how humanity first created the ...

'' was a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

series to the 2004 reimagined series that ran for 19 episodes in 2010. It is set 58 years before the main series on the Colonial capital world of Caprica, showing how humanity first created the Cylons, who would later turn against their human masters. One last installment, '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome'', a sequel set during the First Cylon War after the events of ''Caprica'', was released on Machinima, Inc. before being released to home video in 2012. In 2009,

Bryan Singer Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed, as well as multiple television series. After graduating from the Univ ...

was tapped to direct a feature film remake with production input from original series creator Glen A. Larson. Larson's death in 2014 caused a delay, but in 2016

Lisa Joy Lisa Joy (born May 23, 1977) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and lawyer. She is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series ''Westworld'' (2016–2022). For her ...

was assigned to be the screenwriter and the studio was considering

Francis Lawrence Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thriller ''Constantine ...

to replace Singer as director. As of 2024, no film project has materialized. A ''Battlestar Galactica'' project was announced in 2019 as a future addition to

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

streaming service. ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissoci ...

'' creator

Sam Esmail Sam Esmail (born September 17, 1977) is an Egyptian-American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter who runs the production company Esmail Corp. He is best known as the creator, writer, and director of the award-winning USA Net ...

was to serve as the new ''Galactica'' executive producer. In July 2024, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported that the project was no longer in development.

Notes

References

External links

* * *
''Battlestar Galactica'' on NBC.com
* ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...

'' at Battlestar Wiki * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battlestar Galactica (1978 Tv Series) Battlestar Galactica television series 1978 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings American adventure television series 1970s American science fiction television series Television series by Universal Television American Broadcasting Company original programming Space adventure television series American English-language television shows Television series created by Glen A. Larson Military science fiction television series Television shows adapted into comics Television shows adapted into video games Television shows involved in plagiarism controversies Television series set on fictional planets