WTF Happened to Battlestar Galactica? (1978)

i want you to hit me as hard as you can you can't  deny that battle star galactica is a show that has   had a huge impact on the direction of science  fiction on television through its four seasons   on the sci-fi channel it was beautifully written  with compelling characters conspiracies and   shocking revelations even the action was amazing  with firefights that were just as intense as the   star wars films this show had a huge impact on  my life where i began to think of tv not as just   entertainment but also as an art form however  i have had an interesting view of this show   as it went along in the beginning i thought  this show was amazing only to feel let down   by the series finale five years later but that's  what was great about the show it sparks debates   between its fans it's one of those shows like  lost that sparks passion in the viewers hearts   which leads to friendships and discovering other  equally incredible shows even after the series   ended its mythology continues on today with  prequels action figures comics and all sorts of   methods to keep the world of bsg alive but many  fans of valstar don't know that the war between   the cylons and the humans actually began 26 years  earlier on abc yes the show that led to such a   massive popularity with tv viewers in the early  2000s was originally struggling to stay alive in   its original incarnation which aired from 1978 197  if it wasn't for the dedicated fans this franchise   would have fallen into obscurity forgotten in  tv purgatory so today we will examine how the   bones of the original battlestar galactica evolved  into the massive franchise as it is today we will   see how a show that was kept alive by the passion  of fans has now transferred into a new generation   of dedicated viewers but was the original series  that important to this modern behemoth of sci-fi   or am i just exaggerating well let us find out  in this installment of gone but not forgotten battle star galactica first aired on september  17 1978 on abc it was created by glenn a larson   the same man who would create knight rider buck  rogers in the 25th century and co-created magnum   pi larson claimed that he first created battlestar  galactica back in the 1960s where he originally   named it adam's ark the original concept for the  show revolved around a billionaire who tricks the   best scientists warriors and thinkers onto a ship  that takes off into space to avoid some sort of   apocalyptic event and many who have examined  the show say that it actually serves as an   allegory for mormonism and larson was a member of  the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints so   that may track if you examine it there certainly  are some similarities but while larson later   admitted that there was a kernel of truth  to this he said that it was actually far   more inspired by egyptian mythology with many  theological concepts mixed into the show still   many criticized that battlestar galactica was  merely a blatant rip-off of star wars but i for   one just can't see it i mean come on just show  me one time where they ripped off star wars okay fine it's star wars but even though there  is a lot of star wars injected into the show   the original concept is still very unique that  the human race is unaware of an intergalactic   civilization out there from which we all  originally hail which is searching for us   humans and who are themselves fleeing from  a monstrous enemy there is a case for this   show plagiarizing star wars but maybe the truth is  somewhere in between maybe even though the concept   of battle star was unique it was the studio  that forced it to resemble that blockbuster film   but i guess we'll never really know the true  answer what we do know is that universal got   their butt sued off by 20th century fox  for plagiarism and copyright infringement   this lawsuit went on for years finally coming  to an end in the mid-80s without going to trial   george lucas himself was not happy either as  he threatened legal action against the video   effects company that provided the special effects  for balstar galactica the company's artist used   to work for lucas and he claimed they used his  equipment without his permission but the main   thing lucas went after was battlestar galactica's  merchandise he was concerned that the toys were a   choking hazard that would be dangerous to children  and did not want to get blamed for any injuries   sadly lucas was correct the bowstar toys were  not well designed they included pellets that   were a choking hazard and children would suffer  injuries with an incident that tragically led to a   four-year-old dying from choking on a pellet still  the three-hour pilot for this series proved to be   very popular so much so that it was aired  theatrically in canada and overseas so let   us begin by examining the pilot shall we  a long time ago in a galaxy far far away   um i mean an undetermined time in a special  star system a very long distance away the human   race from the 12 colonies of the universe  has been warring against the evil cylons   a race of robots that were created by an ancient  race of lizard people also called cylons who   were wiped out by their creations the cylons have  been at war with the humans for a thousand years   after the humans intervened in their conquering  of a peaceful race of aliens called the hasaris in   the pilot the humans and the cylons are conducting  peace negotiations hoping to end the brutal war   that has only brought death and destruction  to both of their races two of the best human   pilots of the human fleet starbuck and apollo are  ordered on a routine patrol in cylon territory   where apollo's brother zack begs to take starbucks  place yeah he's dead don't believe me well let   us go over the tragic death checklist in sci-fi  movies number one the rookie pilot begs to take   the place of a more experienced pilot number two  it's just a routine expedition in enemy territory   number three the rookie is the sibling of the main  character and finally the character has a normal   name while everyone else has exotic names but  hey maybe i'm wrong maybe i'm just being paranoid yep didn't see that coming the cylons are  discovered to have assembled a fleet of   ships to attack the humans by surprise commander  adama begs the president to let him go defend the   colonies from the cylon attack but the president  instead listens to his advisor and negotiator   with the cylons named count baltar who warns the  president that the peace talks will break down   if he listens to the unverified warnings from  adama so the colonies are left undefended the   remaining battle stars are destroyed and  the president is assassinated mr president   your welcoming committee is firing at our patrol the cylons destroy the colonies and adama gathers  the remaining ships to take in the handful of   survivors and run from the cylons adama then  begins their journey to earth the lost 13th tribe   to save what is left of humanity the rest of the  pilot episode revolves around facing issues that   were not featured in science fiction stories at  the time trying to navigate the political class   warfare avoiding starvation and keeping anarchy  from infecting the survivors it's funny because   nowadays these topics are also heavily featured  in bong jun ho's popular sci-fi flick snow piercer   as well as its spin-off tv series on tnt by the  way that is a good show i recommend you viewers   check it out anyway we are introduced to many main  and recurring characters in the series of course   we've got our leader commander adama played by  lorne greene larson said that he sought green out   for the part because of his role as the patriarch  ben cartwright on the hit tv western bonanza with   larson saying that balstar galactica practically  served as an old west wagon train a set of ships   strung together to seek a new land of prosperity  adama had a deep faith that the ancient prophecies   would lead him and his people to earth he was also  very savvy as he was able to navigate the politics   and agenda from the new council of 12th plus he  was a brilliant tactician who was always two steps   ahead of the cylons but he was also welcoming  of ideas from apollo and starbuck secondly we   have colonel ty played by terry carter carter had  a long career in stage and tv before battlestar   came around and even went on to become the  world's very first black news anchor i liked tai   he was very stern but wise he was hard on the crew  but only because he wanted to prepare them for the   toll that war would take on them for example he  lets the crew throw a party for apollo when oh   wow is that ed begley jr it is it is baby  ed begley jr playing a pilot what's his name   i bet it's something cool like star killer or  cylon destroyer um yeah not gonna lie begley the   name green bean would not inspire fear from your  enemies hunger yes but fear uh probably not next   up we have the two best pilots in the fleet apollo  and starbuck apollo was played by richard hatch a   stage actor who went on to have a decent career on  television he even became heavily involved in the   franchise after the show was gone writing several  novels based off of battle star apollo happens to   be the firstborn son of adama and i guess that  you could say he was a lot like captain malcolm   or mal reynolds from firefly but not as bitter  as reynolds could sometimes be on that show he's   a real badass who often comes up with ingenious  plans against the cylons leading to them serving   crippling blows to their forces he quickly falls  in love with serena a reporter and widowed single   mother her son boxie was played by noah hathaway  who would go on to have an amazing career   later playing atreyu in the neverending story and  teaching dance for many years in his adulthood   until an injury forced him to find a new career  designing custom motorcycles as for serena she   was played by the amazing jane seymour who most of  you know as dr quinn medicine woman out of all the   cast seymour was the breakout star of the show who  would go on to have an extensive career in tv and   film and she marries apollo fairly quickly in the  series which means that she is soon going to die   i mean come on guys you all know that 97 of all  marriages in science fiction result in death and   you can tell a character is destined to die from  these telltale signs number one the character is   the love interest of the lead or a popular  character on the show number two they marry   relatively quickly number three they don't do much  other than give moral support to the character   on the series and number four they're so lovable  that no one has any negative feelings towards them   and so serena gets offed in the episode where  she marries apollo as jane seymour was not   interested in the producer's offer to become a  serious regular her son boxie on the other hand   goes on to become the adoptive son of apollo he  also gets a new pet to replace his dog who died   in the cylon attack of the colonies with a  robotic dog he calls muffet 2 which looks like one of the stupidest things i have ever  seen on tv and the actor who played muffet 2   was not a human being but rather a  chimpanzee named evie poor evie the chimp   not only does she look silly in this costume  but it had to have been horribly uncomfortable   for her to wear although they did replace evie  with what was pretty much a robotic dog puppet   for the long takes which did not require movement  now starbuck was the han solo of the bunch   as he was a womanizing scoundrel he was played by  dirk benedict who was cast by larson because he   felt that benedict had sex appeal as well as being  a good actor fun fact for you they almost cast don   johnson as starbuck before he of course went on to  star in miami vice instead starbuck had many love   interests on the show primarily athena the sister  of apollo and cassiopeia a former social eater   who would eventually become a medical assistant  many of the episodes which featured starbuck   would usually focus on his romantic subplots and  a heaping dose of sci-fi action finally we've   got boomer played by herbert jefferson jr who  was the street man next to starbucks insanity   he was calm perceptive and incredibly smart  and seemed to be a jack of all trades as he was   a seasoned pilot a communications expert and also  knew a second language now on to the main villain   of the show count baltar played by john calicos  coleco kalikos also happened to play a vital role   in star trek as core the first klingon ever seen  on the original series he would also play this   character again in one of my favorite episodes  of deep space nine baltar was the man who would   cause the genocide of his fellow humans and  his character reminded me a lot of dr smith   from lost in space a sniveling opportunist who  would change his motivations at the drop of a hat   for his well-being and would serve as a thorn in  everyone's side the show's plots featured a lot   of the standard space adventure tropes such as  aliens and star fights but i personally enjoyed   the episodes that focused on either the search  for earth or life on the ship for example the   two-part episode lost planet of the gods focuses  on an infection that incapacitates practically   all of the galactica's pilots forcing them to  train women who on the show are seen as not fit   to fly watching these female pilots excel is quite  satisfying from an audience standpoint along with   the discovery of an ancient chamber that points  the way to earth which leads to a shocking ending   unfortunately the original bowstar galactica  series was cancelled by abc after only one season   as the ratings did not support the money spent  on special effects props and other aspects of a   science fiction show of such great magnitude and  in my opinion i think that tracks out and i'm   sure the lawsuits they were fighting didn't help  either not to mention the bad press they must have   been dealing with after the death and injuries  caused by their merchandise however thanks to   fan outcry and a letter-writing campaign the show  would be brought back by the network sort of you   see at the time glenn larson and producer donald  belisario had to pitch a new show that would not   be as expensive as the first show so they came  up with the idea that years after the original   series the galactica would arrive on present  day earth leading to the events of galactica   1980. since dirk benedict was not available and  hatch turned down the new show a grown-up boxy and   his best friend dylan would serve as the new stars  of the show the premise for the pilot episode   would revolve around the two main characters going  down to earth at the orders of baby john lennon or   rather dr z a super intelligent 10 year old along  their journey they would meet a plucky reporter   and by plucky i mean annoying and seek out a  professor to help him develop technology for the   benefit of mankind boxie and dylan's original plan  was to help the human race develop quicker so that   they would be ready when the cylons inevitably  arrived however a member of the council of 12   named commander xavier decides to steal a timeship  so that he can change the past and help the human   race become even more advanced so the show was  now a time travel series but then the network   changed their minds and started to interfere  with the concept of the show they ordered larson   and belisario to drop the time travel aspect and  now have the main characters training a group of   children from the galactica who happen to have  superhuman strength due to earth's atmosphere   which is just a natural progression of the series  not only that but the network insisted they   feature some kind of educational content on the  show fans hated it and i don't blame them because   this show sucked oh lord did it suck galactica  1980 is battlestar galactica in name only if   you took out the character names and started it  without referencing the previous series it would   still be a show about time travel and superhuman  children the episodes were also very badly written   there was a lot of fish out of water comedy  which got old fast so thanks to the bad comedy   a bad budget and being put on a time slot that  competed with 60 minutes the second incarnation   of the show was cancelled after 10 episodes  ending on a cliffhanger quite frankly i would   skip galactica 1980 and pretend it never happened  and that is exactly what richard hatch did in 1999   when he remortgaged his house to fund a pilot for  a sequel to battlestar galactica that promised   to lead into an action-packed series in this  pilot apollo was now the commander of the fleet   and led a new band of pilots against the cylons  one of whom happened to be starbucks daughter   the 30 minute pilot has never been seen publicly  but there is a trailer of it online and although   many fans loved it universal did not bite instead  the go-ahead was given for a re-imagining of the   franchise which kicked off with a mini-series in  2004 and the success of that mini-series would   lead to a regular series that lasted four seasons  and two spin-offs the first of the spin-offs   caprica would only last one season and the second  blood and chrome was a web series that led to   the production of a failed tv pilot caprico was a  prequel that chronicled the creation of the cylons   while blood and chrome chronicled the  adventures of the young commander adama   during the cylon war i recently saw blood and  chrome and i gotta say it was pretty good it's   too bad sci-fi passed on the pilot because the  resulting tv show would have been another great   addition to the battle star galactica legacy now  at this point in the episode we ask as always   should this show come back well my answer is no  since the 2000's battle star pretty much covered   it with debatable results in quality but believe  it or not there are plans on rebooting this series   yet again brian singer was attached at one point  to make a battle star film but as of this episode   simon kinberg the writer behind the x-men film  universe and the robert downey sherlock holmes   movies is planning on writing and producing a  battle star galactica film along with co-producer   dylan clark to which i say stop it honestly  do we need another reboot of the show sure i   wasn't happy with the ending of the last series  but it mostly gave the fans what they wanted   it's too soon for a new balsar galactica  give it another 10 years to marinate   but if any of you out there are curious and want  to watch the original series you can now see it   on the streaming service to be but no matter what  series you prefer whether it's the original star   wars clone the time traveling super kids or  the version where the cylons were hot blondes   i think you will agree with me that the  galactica has finally come home to rest   i see you flying around space still be with you i'm jesse speaking on behalf of david arroyo  for joeblow.com and thank you for watching   our show if you like what you see please  subscribe to our joe blow videos channel   tell all your friends who like the sword content  and turn on the bell to receive notifications   for all of our latest videos we are an  independent company that appreciates all of   your support and we will see you next time for  the next installment of gone but not forgotten you

Channel: JoBlo Originals

Views: 251,523

Keywords: joblo videos, joblo, wtf happened to, wtf, gone but not forgotten, battlestar galactica, battlestar galactica 1978, battlestar galactica theme, galactica 1980, richard hatch battlestar galactica, dirk benedict battlestar galactica, dirk benedict, lorne greene, admiral adama, apollo battlestar galactica 1978, starbuck battlestar galactica, glen a larson, star wars, battlestar galactica toys, jane seymour, stu phillips, sci fi, sci fi tv shows

Id: fQJksguKNQU

Length: 24min 5sec (1445 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 28 2021