Battlestar Galactica - The Original Series
1. The original Battlestar Galactica was planned as a miniseries of several made-for-TV movies, but strong ratings prompted ABC to order up a full season. Twenty-two episodes were produced.
2. Twentieth Century Fox sued Universal Studios, which produced Battlestar, for infringing on 34 specific elements from Star Wars. Universal countersued Fox, pointing out similarities between Star Wars and the earlier film Silent Running as well as the Buck Rogers serials from the 1940s. The Fox suit was dismissed in 1980.
3. Production on the original Battlestar Galactica TV movie cost a then-record $7 million. To help recoup this cost, Universal released a two-hour Battlestar Galactica film in markets around the world, and eventually the US, where it earned at least $20 million, a respectable tally for that time.
4. The high cost of producing the original series, and not low ratings, caused ABC to kill Battlestar. At an unprecedented $1 million per episode, the series could not generate enough advertising revenue to offset its costs, and ABC saw greater profit potential in programs like Mork and Mindy.
5. The role of Zak, Apollo's younger brother who died early in the first Battlestar TV movie, was played by future 80s pop star Rick Springfield. And Ed Begley, Jr., who would go on to star in St. Elsewhere and other series, appeared on Battlestar in the minor role of Greenbean.
6. Several creative masterminds behind Star Wars were involved in the original Battlestar. Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston, who had envisioned many of the original characters and vehicles for the Star Wars films, performed similar work for Battlestar. And John Dykstra, who earned an Oscar for visual effects on Star Wars, was a producer on Battlestar and helped oversee its special effects. This caused tension with George Lucas, who did not ask Dykstra to return to work on The Empire Strikes Back.
7. Computers used as props on the main battlestar and the Colonial Viper starfighters were provided by Tektronix, Inc. The then state-of-the-art hardware were the same models used as test equipment and computer graphic stations used in commercial and industrial settings.
8. The cancellation of the original Battlestar series created an outcry among avid fans, prompting one of the first cases of a small but vocal fanbase helping to convince a network to bring back a cancelled show. But when ABC brought back the show in the lower-budget form of Galactica 1980, fans rejected the inferior writing, production values and reliance on recycled footage from the earlier episodes.
9. Mattel toys acquired the license to produce Battlestar toys, eager to replicate the success of Kenner's Star Wars line. They produced a series of action figures and vehicles, which saw modest sales, but when a child allegedly choked on a projectile missile from one of the ships, Mattel was forced to institute a recall that scared many toy lines like Star Wars away from equipping toys with projectile missiles. (The most famous casualty of the recall: Kenner had planned to produce a new Boba Fett figure with a launching missile, but following the Battlestar recall, Kenner quickly redesigned the figure to lock the missile in place, disappointing legions of kids and collectors.)
10. Richard Hatch, Apollo from the original Battlestar, had auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, and years later, Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He says he inadvertantly killed his chances of playing Indy by telling George Lucas how Star Wars could have been improved. (Hatch recently appeared on the popular Geeks On podcast... subscribe via iTunes, or visit their site here. The actor shared details on his current projects, and some great behind the scenes tales from the classic Battlestar.)
Sources: www.battlestargalactica.com; www.geekson.com; www.wikipedia.com
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