Original Battlestar Galactica Deserves The Love The Reboot Gets
Science fiction fans have raved about Battlestar Galactica‘s reboot series for two decades now, citing it as one of the greatest genre shows to grace the airwaves. Based on the series of the same name from 1978, the re-imagined version came in with a bigger budget, complicated storylines, and a bevy of star power. But the original Battlestar Galactica, while largely ignored by younger fans, certainly deserves a lot more love than it’s been given in recent years.
More Than Effects
The rebooted version of the series gave fans CGI-created spacecraft and Cylons, making the small-screen visuals appear much sleeker than the original Battlestar Galactica and outshining many of the other contemporary science fiction shows. While these effects were definitely a plus for the 2004 version, its 1970s predecessor has a lot more to offer than appearances alone.
Star Wars Was Still New
The original Battlestar Galactica plays out like a science fiction/action adventure. This made the series the perfect addition to the television diet of Boomers newly entering adulthood and the Gen X crowd that had just become obsessed with space-themed shows and movies.
Millions of them had crowded into theaters with their parents the year before and made Star Wars a box office smash, and having a grittier sci-fi show on their televisions weekly was the stuff dreams were made of.
Less Like A Soap Opera
The original Battlestar Galactica also lacked the prime-time soap opera feel that the reboot carried ad nauseam. While there were certainly great story arcs and complex character sketches in the 2004 version that are worthy of praise, these tenets really took away from the action and intensity.
The original Battlestar Galactica gave fans a bad guy that we loved to hate in Gaius Baltar (John Colicos). There were no redeeming qualities about this traitor whatsoever, a character sketch that was completely changed decades later when audiences got to see James Callis portray him as somewhat of a sympathetic person.
The original series having a human enemy to loathe every bit as much as the Cylons made the show all the more fun to watch.
Adama
Edward James Olmos plays the part of Admiral Adama as a hardened, gruff, and dry leader, making for one of the new show’s better contributions. But the original Battlestar Galactica‘s Lorne Greene gave a performance that shouldn’t be dismissed.
The 1978 series wasn’t heavy on the dramatic acting, but Greene’s portrayal of Adama is absolutely legendary.
The original Battlestar Galactica only ran for a total of 24 episodes but managed to stay fairly high in the primetime ratings during its only season on the air. This short run is another great reason for sci-fi fans to give this epic series a turn.
The show’s minimal accumulative runtime really leaves audiences wanting more, as opposed to the 2004 reboot that some critics and fans maintain went on far too long and drug out storylines to exhausting levels.
Stream It Now
High production costs and the last several episodes dip in ratings led the network to cancel the original Battlestar Galactica in the spring of 1979. A short-lived sequel series debuted the next year with a more manageable budget.
But Galactica 1980 didn’t capture the imagination of viewers or their enthusiasm like its predecessor, and it was unceremoniously canceled after just 10 episodes.
Of course, the success of the 2004 series also spawned a sequel and prequel, but none were able to keep the attention of fans too long, either.
You can watch the original Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980 with a subscription to AppleTV.
