Looking Back at the Future: "Battlestar Galactica" Part 3

Part 3 of a documentary produced exclusively for the "Battlestar Galactica" 25th Anniversary Convention in 2003. Produced and directed by Jerry Vasilatos.

[@bxpress6507]

When I was a kid in 1978 seeing my morning cartoons and catching fresh episode of Battlestar galactica were THE biggest things in life!

[@TheGoodwolfe]

Loved Anne Lockhart, had a huge crush on Sheba! Favorite eps were the two part "Living Legend" arc with LLoyd Bridges as the legendary Commander Cain!

[@forthwithtx5852]

RIP, Richard Hatch. It was a great show.

[@g.thomashart9368]

...and a fine closing scene from Richard!!

[@troywenham4958]

With the support of a network, great writers of science fiction, true caring actors which will attract an even larger audience for restarting the original BSG and this show can become a great show once again. For what it's worth, that is my opinion.

[@jesman1]

Original Battlestar Galactica is the best!

[@tonycrabtree3416]

The OG Battlestar Galactica was such a relatable sci fi/religious/mythological story. It did just enough to tell the story, but allowed young kids like I was to day dream, make our own stories, draw space ships, etc. Also, the design of the Battlestar itself was brilliant. The Vipers were believable being basically arrows and the cylons flew discs. Made perfect sense.

[@chefron8]

The thing about TV back then was it gave you a certain amount of information and challenged you to use your imagination to fill in the blanks. It wasn't all shoved into your face like it is today. TV rarely even poses a challenge to me anymore.

[@lighthouse44]

How adorable Anne Lockhart is.

[@craigsimons817]

lighthouse44 She still looks great here. She as my favourite

[@dimitriosdesmos4699]

and mine

[@HerrEllsworth]

Anne was brought in as a potential replacement for Maren Jensen whom the producers felt wasn't cutting it on the show. They wanted someone who could be a possible love interest for Apollo, a female fighter pilot/role model to attract younger female viewer (not to mention male ones).

[@markgiardina1303]

There was an interview in which Anne Lockhart said that she was scheduled to have a regular role on the show even before it made its TV debut in 1979. As for her replacing Maren Jensen, I never remember seeing anything in print regarding that. I do remember there were articles stating that Jensen's acting career went downhill after Galactica went off the air and that she instead concentrated on her modeling career. Whether that's true or not I do not know. Does anyone remember if Jensen ever appeared at the several BSG reunions with the other actors who appeared on the show?

[@HerrEllsworth]

I had talked to a lady who had a contact who worked for Glen Larson. I'm going by what she said. She also had some distressing information over some potential plotlines if Galactica had gone on to season two.

[@stevedandy973]

Anne Lockhart sure looks like her mother, June.

[@koolrg1]

I am aware the original BSG is dated but everytime I watch a snippet of the show or a trailer I have an urge to watch the episode in relation to what I seen. We are all entitled to our opinions and my opinion is I enjoy watching the better scripted episodes. BSG will always be one of my favorite shows.

[@himesightcreativestudios3490]

So many decades have passed and yet my love for this franchise also remains. Rest in Peace to all those who passed from the original series. Though I am also a fan of the re-imagined version, the 78 version holds so much more love. And it is a crying shame that this series was not able to really continue moving onward. It is yet another dream that the original series could be completely re-done and re-executed. Some of the same stories blended together even better, and a much more engrossing journey into the mythos of this great series. If done the right way, I still believe that Galactica could well have rivaled Star Wars. And perhaps one day before I die, I hope to see that come to fruition.

[@markgiardina1303]

40 years after Galactica made its debut I still find it sad that a second season was cancelled, not because of the lack of a viewing audience, but the shortsightedness of ABC network executives. There were so many avenues to explore with a second season such as the relationship between Apollo and Sheba, the possible return of Commander Cain and Count Ibis, and even the discovery of a planet that contained the original Cylon creatures who escaped their own world after the machines took over. ABC tried to pacify the outcry of fans by airing that God-awful Galactica 1980, knowing all to well that die-hard fans would never accept this cheap imitation of the original show. This is one of these 'we shall never know' situations. I am confident that had there been social media in 1978-79 that the outpouring of comments and emails to ABC would have changed the decision to cancel the second season of Battlestar Galactica.

[@billc5378]

However sometimes public outcry sometimes worked out really well back then, like when the Bionic woman was killed off and then brought back because everyone wrote in/made calls.

[@milesfears]

It's a crying shame that ABC canceled BSG! I was & still am in Love with this sci-fi series! I LOVED it even more than Star Trek TOS! At least it will endure with fans of all ages.

[@davidusler4956]

The original Battlestar Galactica will always be the best

[@jesman1]

I have to agree 100% with Richard`s comments on what could have been with a 2nd season. Such a shame, we could`ve had many more episodes to enjoy. Shame on ABC execs for pulling the plug on this monumental special show, just when things were getting good and hitting a stride. Shame on you!

[@allenjones3130]

Let's stop criticizing ABC for having cancelled "BSG"! It was regrettable that the network pulled the series, but that was long ago.

[@HerrEllsworth]

Good things come in small packages hence that one season of BG is so special.

[@Tigadee00]

The ABC Execs are cowards for not recognising greatness when they saw it. They killed off a great show with such huge potential, and the huge following should have told them all they needed to know. While I enjoyed the re-imagined BSG as a sci-fi series, I still love the original for what it was - pure sci-fi as fun, entertaining and soulful.

[@markgiardina1303]

It is all about the money. Network executives at ABC did not want to spend the money it cost for this show....yet how many "bombs" did the network try to pass off as entertainment programming over the years? Galactica could have had the same type of history as Star Trek, which also started off as a cancelled TV series but grew into numerous feature length movies and TV spin-offs. Granted that I don't believe Galactica would have generated the success that Star Trek enjoyed, only because eventually the colonial fleet would have had to find Earth, and also the main character Adama ( Loren Greene ) passed away several years after the show ended. Again the old saying rings true here: "What could have been!"

[@chadupdike4306]

.

[@allenjones3130]

Let's stop criticizing the American Broadcasting Company for having cancelled "Battlestar Galactica". The network's decision to ax the show was regrettable, but for Pete's sake, it was 44 years ago!

[@stylisticssoulgroove1336]

I really don't mind being old...I just wish TV shows were the same as 30 plus years ago...what a sad time to live in.it seems like the golden years are long gone...

[@nicosmind3]

Stylistics SoulGroove Watch Game of Thrones. Its better than anything 30 years ago. TV shows from a single visionary rather than a panel of studio executives is always far better.

[@MegaKamandi]

Me too I agree with Richard Hatch ! man what could have been?

[@Tigadee00]

@jergsden Indeed! The re-imagined version and the original are such opposites yet both are enjoyable. The new one was complex, intellectual, high-tech eye-candy while the original was old school simplicity, entertaining, charming and was great story-telling. While the Ron Moore version was sophiticated and enjoyable, I still love the original and the especially the characters. The re-imagined's characters were too flawed, too melancholic and too volatile. Gimme good old fashioned heroes any day

[@Restitutor_Orbis_214]

There is something so timeless and even mythical about the original characters.....

[@anthonyvaliante4717]

Such a huge fan of this show love every single cast member thank you all this show was my childhood

[@battlestarmarc]

Best sci fi series that should have been a mega franchise. Cylons looked like super machines.

[@Shadowbat.o_O]

The one and only Battlestar Galactica leading a ragtag fleet to find a less shiny planet called "Earth."

[@talktorocky]

i agree with you all... the original (despite some lame moments) had a very positive tone and made me want the ragtag fleet to survive and triumph... the new show makes me want to side with the Cylons and wipe the humans out... which is probably what the self-loathing new writers aimed to manipulate us into wanting...

[@Restitutor_Orbis_214]

They mocked everyone who watched the reimagined show by the ending that rendered it all pointless. I haven't watched it again since but still love the original series and characters.

[@jergsden]

Did I hear that right? Isaac Asimov was lined up to write for the second season? Hard to believe, but would have been amazing!

[@d.adonis4547]

hard to believe since Asimov called BSG a "STAR WARS rip-off"...which led to it's demise by the networks

[@seanmthesouthshorerocker3763]

IT IS AS DIFFERENT AND FAR FROM EACH OTHER AS THE EARTH IS NEXT TO SATURN,,,,THEY WERE ALL BLIND TO SEEING THE POSSIBS OF BSG.... and all the splfx went to buck rogers...who looks SORTA like Lee Majors....anyone....any one.....anyone....?

[@dq1275]

BSG original used George Lucas' Star Wars people and equipment left behind in LA to make the special effects without his knowledge. Lucas was infuriated and hired those people back to keep control. Asimov's statement does have some grounding in fact.

[@JENDALL714]

I repaired Anne Lockeharts computer when I worked for Best Buy a number of years ago, she had some guy with her that I guess was her flunky 'cause he did all her speaking for her. He reminded me of Lucifer, 'cause he was rude and condesending. I told the guy to let Anne tell me what the problem was, it was something simple, don't recall exactly what it was though.

[@markgiardina1303]

Well finish the story ! Did she speak to you after all? Was she friendly or standoffish? When did this encounter with her take place? If it was in the 1980s? If so that guy who you describe as being rude might have been her husband, who later died in a motorcycle accident; or it could have been an employee; although for some reason I cannot imagine Anne Lockhart has the financial wherewithal to hire "flunkies", as you put it, like some of the actors around today.

[@sharontrueman6698]

i paul trueman have grown up with the original serise of battlestar galactica like them then and now i have got the dvd boxset 1978 and 1980 when they find earth

[@ronbooiman7906]

I was disappointed when Battle Star was suddenly over

[@Claudia-ik2xp]

Galactica BattleStars ! No Word to compare.

[@billc5378]

But those cylon basestars were more dangerous

[@JesusisLord4forever]

I agree!

[@Bladestar7]

@jergsden Yep. Pisses you off, doesn't it?

[@HEADBANGERSBALLER]

You know, The idea of completely different stories based on the same characters is nothing new. DC comics, Marvel comics and the movie producers of Hollywood have been doing it for years. Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and so forth have all been "re-Imagined in television and the movies numerous times. I really hope they do a Battlestar movie based on the original series. Or even better, a series of movies......

[@troywenham4958]

I totally agree with you. They have begun doing remakes of old television shows, why not bring back the original BSG

[@sierria64]

I REALLY THOUGHT APOLLO WOULD HAVE HIT THAT ASS (SHEBA). DAM AFTER HIS WIFE DIED HE HAD NO FEELINGS BUT U COULD SEE SPARKS WITH SHEBA

[@MrGruffteddybear]

ABC was so stupid in cancelling it.

[@chrisduke3251]

Universal or Ununiversal? Did the Star Wars franchise shut down BSG for $$$?

[@dq1275]

Lucas was infuriated when he found out BSG used people and equipment he left behind in LA after moved to San Francisco. He filed suit and eventually settled and hired the key SFX guy away undoubtedly to keep control. Making new BSG sfx would have been difficult and costly.

[@stevepecket2535]

I still love this series. Yes the modern one is a great show but it isn't this one. The characters were better (I cant put my finger on why) I hope whoever cancelled them was drummed out of the business for being an idiot !

[@TheLastRoman0000]

The new series had nothing on the original.