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In the year 1980, the refugee fleet of spaceships led by the Battlestar Galactica finally discovers Earth.  This sequel series is terrible, and it shares very little with the original show.  Well, except for the stock footage of vipers, old costumes, and recycled character templates.

"I once had a dream about a planet full of Van Damme clones that were all fighting due to a civil war. The only person who wasn't a Van Damme clone was Chuck Norris, and he was killing Van Dammes by the hundreds."

I want this made into a film. Please, someone! It could even be an Expendables sequel...

I remember thinking at the time that was one ugly kid on this show. I would have assumed it was just my usual dislike for the mandatory kid who was required in every TV show at that time. But no, reading the review and looking at the picture after 30+ years, he's even more fugly than I remember.

I have no idea why anyone thought kids needed to have someone their own age to identify with. At that age, I never liked those characters, and I can't remember a single person who did. We wanted to be the hero, not the little twerp who tags along.

Oh, lord...
Yeah, this thing was like seeing the results of one million monkeys typing for a year. Those poor, poor monkeys...

If you want to see how this SHOULD have turned out, look up the comic book version that was completed last year, I think. Was it IDW? D'oh! Well, It makes up for this whole stinker, I'll say...

Re: Kids in shows; only Bill Mumy seemed like an okay guy, and not a 'Kenny', like the pus bucket in this show, if ya know what I mean.

Will Robinson managed to avoid the two extremes of being either a useless little pain in the ass or a perfect little genius. He held his own on that show while still coming across as a real kid you could actually like. Wesley Crusher should have taken lessons from him.

Galactica 1980 had two kids, at both ends of the annoying spectrum. It's like they really didn't have a clue.

Ugh, this show was a godawful mess. I too was a huge fan of the original series when I was a kid (I was 8 years old when it premiered) and was bummed when it was cancelled. When I first got wind of "Galactica 1980" I was practically jumping for joy, like "YAY! My favorite show is coming back!"

...then I saw it. Even at 10 years old, I knew a steaming pile when i saw one, and "Galactica 1980" was definitely it!

So... what DID happen to Starbuck and why ws that guy Space Jesus anyway?   Youy can spoil it for me.  I don't mind.

SPOILER AHEAD



















SPOILER DONE

This brings back memories, but not pleasant ones.

Anybody see all ten or so episodes?

Like alot of TV viewers at that time, I was happily looking forward to this as a continuation of the older series. My happiness lasted till I saw the first episode. I never saw another episode after that.

Of course, maybe not all the blame should be placed on the show's producers. The older series was incrediblely expensive to produce, something like $750,000 per episode, and the network executives wanted something similiar to the older series, but cheaper, and the show's producers tried, but they couldn't do it.

I met Richard "Captain Apollo" Hatch at an autograph signing for his first Galactica novel during the 1990s. Someone asked him why he wasn't in "Galactica 1980," to which he replied, "That...thing?" Haha. He then explained that the network (ABC) told the producers that to bring the show back they'd have to do it as cheaply as possible, hence the re-casting of nearly every major role with no-name actors and the recycling of special effects shots from the original show.

He also said "The show probably wouldn't have been any better even if I had been on it"

I bought this on video, under the title "Conquest of Earth."

I knew it was the Galactica 1980 pilot; I knew it was supposed to be bad.  Still, I never expected it to be that bad!  The original series was campy but fun; this wasn't even good for a laugh. Dull, Dull, Dull, worse than "Planet of (the) Dinosaurs."  :bluesad:

Still, I have all the edited-from-the-TV-show-for-international-audiences movies, so it's not all bad.  

Richard hatch is my hero!
Good on ya, mate!

I probably did at the time.  I was a die-hard fan of the original and probable 'refused' to give up on this.  I just don't remember, which is likely a defense mechanism.

I do remember it stunk - royally stunk.  And for me to admit that at the time would have been a big deal.   But it was really awful.

How bad does a show actually have to be for fanboys to KNOW it reeks within the first viewing?

That sounds about right for me too. I can remember a few little bits and pieces - a character, a situation, maybe a line of dialogue - but nothing more. I'm sure I saw all of it at the time, though, because I would eat up any science-fiction type show, particularly if it started well, or spun off of a good show, as this one did.

The odd thing is that I can remember these shows were crap, even though I'm sure I never missed an episode and wouldn't have viewed them as critically at age 9 or 10.

I was 10 years old when the show aired and I probably watched all the episodes at the time, too, even though I wasn't crazy about it -- being a young fanboy, it's likely that I tuned in every week with the vain hope that the show might get better as it went along.

I do know that when "Galactica" was syndicated in the early 80s, my local station would show "G-1980" episodes randomly mixed in with "original series" episodes, so I guess Universal must've sold them all as one big package. I would tune in and if it was a "1980" episode I'd quickly change the channel and hope to get a "good" episode the next time!!

Other than the pilot and "Whatever Happened to Starbuck" episodes I remember very little about the other "1980" shows aside from a few random bits & pieces. (and I'm in no hurry to re-live them via DVD anytime soon!)

I have vague memories of a Halloween themed episode in which the heroes ducked into a house where a costume party was going on in order to escape a Cylon Centurian that was pursuing them; the Cylon came into the house through the kitchen and then someone turned on the microwave oven, which caused the Cylon to short circuit. (Fellow children of the '70s might recall that back then, people who had pacemakers were advised not to use microwave ovens or even stand too close to one, for that exact reason!!) Does anyone else remember that bit or did I imagine it??

Nope, I saw that one too.
Had Wolfman Jack in it, as well.

Wolfman Jack was everywhere back then wasn't he??  :teddyr: