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One of my favorite episodes was when Starbuck was stranded on a planet with a cylon that he had been in combat against. The cylon had been damaged so that it did not remember its programming to kill all humans. They worked together to get rescued. I forgot how it ended.
So that's where STTNG got the idea for "The Enemy" episode from: The Enemy (episode). Also, didn't Enterprise have an episode like that? Or is that just a common TV trope for shows like that?
I didn't even know that there was another version of Battlestar Galactica. Whatn Mouldy starts these Remember ____? I just assume it's an old show and to me, B.G., the original, is not an old show. Haha.
Starbuck struck me as someone who read very true given the situation. He doesn't make plans for the future or think much of the past, just the moment. He was the perfect foil for Richard Hatch's rather ernest good son.
Starbuck, Han Solo... Richard Hatch, Luke Skywaler. Yawn!
So that's where STTNG got the idea for "The Enemy" episode from: The Enemy (episode). Also, didn't Enterprise have an episode like that? Or is that just a common TV trope for shows like that?
It was pretty common, check out the Twilight Zone episode Two with Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery. They had the further twist of
Spoiler
the last survivor characters being Adam and Eve
.
The direct inspiration for the Star Trek episode was probably the Hugo winning novella, turned into a Louis Gossett Jr/Denis Quaid film Enemy Mine.
Well, you're not a mouldy old schmo. Because I was 22 when this show came out which would mean that you are 10 years or more younger than me... and which would put you in your late 40s, early 50s.
But anyway, I probably shouldn't even be posting in this thread because I really HATED this show. It was a Star Wars rip off in every possible way imaginable. Plus, it had weak characters and villains who had a ridiculous looking red light going back and forth across their eyes.
And I was so glad when this show was canceled.
What a sourpuss!
Only Battlestar Galactica was not a "Star Wars rip-off in every possible way imaginable."
Glen A. Larson's initial concept was called Adam's Ark and dates back to the late '60s. Gene L. Coon (a familiar name from the original Trek show) helped him out, too. Larson was a lifelong Mormon; the show's basis is rooted in Mormon theology, along with inspiration from Exodus, the second book of The Bible.
When it finally got around to being produced in the '70s, the show was retitled Galactica, but to capitalize on sci-fi's new lease on life thanks to the success of that one movie, he was urged to find a way to shoehorn the word "Star" in the title somehow — hence: Battlestar.
And, of course, soldiers walking around with holstered laser pistols, an element Ron Moore's reboot wisely did away with.
Digging up an older review I wrote up re: this series:
A while back I watched - in chronological order - the entire original Battlestar Galactica series (1978-1979). I have never seen the majority of these episodes, and the few that I had seen were as a kid on their original broadcast release, over 35+ years ago.
And, I was pleasantly surprised that the show was a lot better than I remember it being - at the time it was on, I remember thinking it was a Star Wars-rip off. However, on re-watching it many years later as an adult I definitely see the SW-like elements, but the series is actually much more nuanced than I previously gave it credit for.
The 2-hour premiere with the Cylons attacking the humans & forcing them off their home planet was quite gripping, especially the scenes with the Cylon raiders attacking the civilians/buildings. Also liked the "nightclub" where Starbuck, Apollo & co. find themselves with all of the aliens; the four-eyed, two-mouthed female singers were both groteque & fascinating, and the Ovions (and what they were doing with the humans) were quite disturbing.
I also thought it was interesting that that these humans were possibly descendants of the Egyptians - this was mentioned in the opening sequence of some of the episodes & heavily implied by the design of the Colonial warriors' helmets...
Also liked the iconic theme music - this is one of the few things I remember about the show when watching it as a child...
The rest of the series was impressive as well; IMHO, there weren't any bad episodes, though some were obviously better than others. Some high-points included:
- "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I & II": Great two-parter where the BG crew stopped on a desolate planet to get furthur clues about how to get to Earth; I thought the Egyptian-like pyramids were interesting...
- "The Lost Warrior" - this episode was an homage to old Westerns; Apollo was marooned on a frontier planet, and had to go up against "red eye", a Cylon who had been damaged in a crash & who was controlled by one of the corrupt officials on the planet.
-"Experiment in Terra" - great episode involving a totalitarian government in an almost "alternate reality" Earth; liked how the aliens from the War of the Gods episodes made an appearance here....was intrigued by the interesting artwork/designs in the blonde woman's apartment...
-"The Magnificent Warriors" - well-done episode involving the Colonial warriors battling a group of Boray aliens on a remote planet; liked the alien make-up re: the Borays here - these are some of the few actual aliens we see in the series...
-"The Hand of God" - excellent final episode, and one of the few where we get a good glimpse of the rarer gold-armored Cylon. Very cool ending where they inadvertendly picked up the Apollo-11 moon landing transmissions from Earth.
-"War of the Gods, Part I - II": I felt these were the strongest two episodes of the series; extremely creepy episode dealing with Count Iblis, an individual who may or may not have been the devil?! I remember seeing this episode as a kid & being extremely disturbed - especially by the scene when they found the crash site...Also very interesting was when Apollo, Starbuck, and Sheba found themselves in the "White Light" ship, and were all wearing those very cool white uniforms...
Several points about these two episodes:
I found it intriguing that Patrick M. played both Count Iblis & was also the voice of Imperious Leader, the Cylon leader/mastermind. This was also mentioned by Adama?! in one of these episodes. I'm sure this was not coincidental...it sounds like Count Iblis & Imperious Leader were supposed to be the same being...Also, Patrick M. did the voice-over for the intro to some of the episodes...
It was also interesting that you never got a full glimpse of Imperious Leader - his face was always in the shadows. However, the late 1970's action figure looked quite bizzare...
The only real complaint I had about the series was Baltar: I honestly thought that he was a pointless villain. The Cylons should have just eliminated the character off in the beginning, as they actually did in the original two-hour premiere & the Marvel comics; they re-did this scene for the series to show Baltar begging for his life, and he was then spared. However, this never made any sense to me - the Cylons, who considered themselves an advanced race, didn't trust Baltar since he had betrayed the other humans - but they spared him anyway, presumably because he convinced them that he could be of service to them - even though they considered themselves superior to all humans?! Bull$#$#! And, to top it off, they gave him his own Base-star to command?! Yeah, right....That all being said, it did seem that they tried to take him out by bombing the pyramids in the "Lost Planet of the Gods" two-parter...
A couple of side-notes:
In the past, I have compared this original series to the re-imagined 200x series - however, after seeing this original series in it's entirety, I won't be making these comparisons any longer. Both series are completely different, and a show from the late 1970's shouldn't be put up against a show from the 200x's...
The Cylon Raider/Colonial Viper space battles were obviously "inspired" by the Space battles at the very end of the original Star Wars film (1977); not a criticism, however, since J. Dysktra did the effects for both Star Wars & BG...
I agree about Baltar. To the Cylons he was just another human who they missed. They might have let him be some kind of 'leader' of anyone they kept as slaves, but all the rest? No. I did very much like how he was worked into the second series, dealing with the survivors but not trusted by anyone since he plainly was someone who just wanted to live no matter what it cost.
And its true that you can't really compare them. The second series could not have been made in the 80's anyway. The fx was in its real beginnings then, and that was part of the story in the new one. Nor, I think, was the public ready for the complexity of the real plot and the guiding question of just what makes one human.
If Star Trek, tos, was made today, it would be filled with neat fx and themes that they chose not to get to, and the vision of the Federation as one with a steady and more honorable goals would likely be different. TNG and the others then ask increasingly hard questions about the nature of the Federation and how it sometimes came out different than the 'image', much differently than tos. BSG as a first time show when the second one came out would be much more like it since our perceptions of what we'll accept as reality on a tv show had already altered. I'd expect that Adama would have had to deal with much worse 'civilian problems' as that part of the fleet stopped the panic and began looking at the situation and feel as if they were sort of baggage. And there would have been a lot more rebellion and problems that would have to be solved while they were surviving.
Last edited by nightbird47; 08-26-2017 at 02:29 PM..
Only Battlestar Galactica was not a "Star Wars rip-off in every possible way imaginable."
Well, according to the link that MOS provided in the OP, it says:
Quote:
ABC’S SPECTACULARLY EXPENSIVE GAMBLE
In late 1977, Universal Television reportedly had a “top secret project” in development for the 1978-1979 season called Galactica. Considered a small-screen version of the Star Wars. . .
Quote:
Originally Posted by AFtrEFkt
Glen A. Larson's initial concept was called Adam's Ark and dates back to the late '60s. Gene L. Coon (a familiar name from the original Trek show) helped him out, too. Larson was a lifelong Mormon; the show's basis is rooted in Mormon theology, along with inspiration from Exodus, the second book of The Bible.
When it finally got around to being produced in the '70s, the show was retitled Galactica, but to capitalize on sci-fi's new lease on life thanks to the success of that one movie, he was urged to find a way to shoehorn the word "Star" in the title somehow — hence: Battlestar.
And, of course, soldiers walking around with holstered laser pistols, an element Ron Moore's reboot wisely did away with.
Is that the movie where Louis Gossett, Jr was pregnant?
That is the one. It seems that the Battlestar Gallatica episode was written around the time that Longyear was being awarded the Hugo for his novella. On the other hand TV Tropes names this category of story with the stranded enemies working together, Enemy Mine. Suggesting like Romeo and Juliet it is a classic story type done over and over. So any producer can say he came up with the story independently of what was in the theatres or being rewarded at any particular time.
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It was a Star Wars rip off in every possible way imaginable. Plus, it had weak characters and villains who had a ridiculous looking red light going back and forth across their eyes.
