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 Greene. Canceled after 24 episodes, the series was revived as Galactica 1980, which aired for 10 episodes from January 27 to May 4, 1980.[1]
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.
Between 1978 and 1981, episodes were edited into three feature-length films. The first film, Battlestar Galactica, was an edited version of the pilot, "Saga of a Star World", featuring some differences from the original televised episodes, including the death of Baltar. It was released in cinemas in Canada, Australia and continental Europe before its American TV premiere and, in 1979, it was released theatrically in the UK, Ireland and the US. The second film, Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack, was a re-edited version of the episodes "The Living Legend" and "Fire in Space", which also differed from the broadcast versions, omitting several scenes from both episodes. In 1979, it was released theatrically in continental Europe and Japan, and in the UK and Australia in 1980. The third film, Conquest of the Earth (also called "Galactica III" on the German poster), was a similar edit, though this time its source episodes were from Galactica 1980. It was also released theatrically, in 1981, in Europe and Australia.
| Title | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Battlestar Galactica | 1978 | Edited version of "Saga of a Star World" |
| Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack | 1979 | Merger of "The Living Legend" and "Fire in Space" |
| Conquest of the Earth | 1981 | Edited merger of "Galactica Discovers Earth" and "The Night the Cylons Landed" |
Following the cancellation of the series, all of the episodes from the original series were re-edited into television movies for syndication, including a third edit of the pilot. The four two-part episodes ("Lost Planet of the Gods", "Gun on Ice Planet Zero", "The Living Legend" and "War of the Gods") were all combined and expanded with about five minutes of scenes deleted from the original broadcasts. The remaining single episodes were edited into two-hour blocks, combining two episodes into a single narrative, occasionally including over-dubbed dialogue. The final TV movie, an expanded version of "Experiment in Terra" with some scenes from the Galactica 1980 episode "The Return of Starbuck", featured new footage of an astronaut finding Commander Adama's logbook, which retold the premise of the show. It is believed that this version of the episode was to be released as another theatrical film in other countries, but never materialized.
| TV movie title | Original episodes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Battlestar Galactica | "Saga of a Star World" | |
| 2 | Lost Planet of the Gods | "Lost Planet of the Gods" (expanded) | |
| 3 | Gun on Ice Planet Zero | "Gun on Ice Planet Zero" (expanded) | |
| 4 | The Phantom in Space | "The Hand of God" and "The Lost Warrior" | |
| 5 | Space Prison | "The Man with Nine Lives" and "Baltar's Escape" | |
| 6 | Space Casanova | "Take the Celestra" and "The Long Patrol" | |
| 7 | Curse of the Cylons | "Fire in Space" and "The Magnificent Warriors" | |
| 8 | The Living Legend | "The Living Legend" (expanded) | |
| 9 | War of the Gods | "War of the Gods" (expanded) | |
| 10 | Greetings from Earth | "Greetings from Earth" | |
| 11 | Murder in Space | "Murder on the Rising Star" and "The Young Lords" | |
| 12 | Experiment in Terra | "The Return of Starbuck" (edited) and "Experiment in Terra" (expanded) |