Battlestar Galactica And Knight Rider Creator Glen A. Larson Passes Away At 77
So long, Glen. So say we all.
TV veteran Glen A. Larson passed away on November 14, 2014, at 77. Fans will likely know him best as the creator of the original Battlestar Galactica, but even if you didn’t recognize the name, you almost certainly know his work.
In addition to giving us Battlestar Galactica, Larson’s long resume included shows such as Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., The Fall Guy, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
The sheer volume of entertainment Glen A. Larson contributed to my childhood is staggering, and I’ll always have fond memories of the BSG/Buck Rogers block that I thought was the greatest thing since Cylon-sliced bread back in the day.
Glen A. Larson passed away Friday night of esophageal cancer at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. On behalf of both GFR and myself personally, I’ll be raising a cup in his honor.
Glen A. Larson’s TV career is obviously his most visible legacy, but one interesting tidbit is that Larson’s initial entry into the entertainment world wasn’t as a TV writer but rather as a member of a singing group called The Four Preps.
And none too shabby a group either, as the Preps produced three gold records and even showed up in one of the Gidget movies. Glen A. Larson’s musical mojo came in handy later when he co-wrote the insanely catchy Fall Guy theme song, “The Unknown Stuntman,” which was sung by series star Lee Majors. Earworm powers: activate.
Battlestar Galactica began as a science fiction film script called Adam’s Ark, which Glen A. Larson worked on for years, including under the mentorship of Star Trek veteran Gene L. Coon. After changing course and targeting TV, BSG finally made it to the airwaves — with a then-insane budget of $1 million per episode — just in time to cash in on Star Wars mania.
Star Wars opened in May 1977, and Battlestar Galactica arrived in September 1978. It came by those comparisons honestly in at least one respect, as Star Wars maestro John Dykstra supervised Battlestar Galactica‘s effects work. In fact, Twentieth Century Fox sued BSG and Universal, claiming the show infringed on their Star Wars copyrights, but eventually lost the suit.
Although Battlestar Galactica only lasted one season, it returned in the form of Galactica 1980, but that only lasted ten episodes. Glen A. Larson wasn’t done with BSG just because it was off the air, however.
He worked to bring Battlestar Galactica to the big screen both before and after Syfy and Ron Moore’s successful reimagining of the series, with which Glen A. Larson was not creatively involved but did receive a screen credit as a “consulting producer.”
The notion of a Battlestar Galactica movie was back in the news earlier this year with the announcement that Universal had hired Transcendence writer Jack Paglen to pen a complete reboot of the franchise.
Love his work or hate it, there’s no question that Glen A. Larson was ridiculously prolific over the course of his career, with THR noting that his Quincy ME, Magnum, Knight Rider, and The Fall Guy totaled some 513 hours of television between 1976 – 1988. That’s one hell of a Netflix binge.
GFR sends our condolences to Glen A. Larson’s friends and family. And I can’t think of a better way to play him out than with one of the best science fiction themes ever composed. So say we all.
