The original 1978 Battlestar Galactica is widely considered by fans to be a brilliant, one of a kind show. An underrated gem. While detractors often call it a shoddy star wars ripoff just like all the other trash content in the wake of the original star wars film. So today, we’re going to go over the show from my perspective, the good, the bad and the ugly to answer the question. Is it worth watching?
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I liked the old show when I was 8 but I loved the reimagined version.
I hadn't been born when it first came out, but I still feel like one of the people who watched the original when it was "new." Maybe 1987 or so. I loved it and it's one of the reasons I fell in love with science fiction. Not gonna lie though, The Day the Earth Stood Still – 1951 and The Last Starfighter are THE movies that made it happen for me. Anyway, I digress. I loved the original BSG, but even I have to admit that it was very much a product of its time.
Overarching stories told over multiple episodes was brand new and still being worked out. Yes, OG BSG began the whole process of moving beyond monster of the week storytelling, but that was still most of what they did. Star Trek: TNG was the first to really do it right. For that reason alone, much as I love OG BSG, I still believe that the modern reboot is objectively better in every way. And I think that comes from the fact that people who worked on it loved the original as much as I did. Even the fan service was fantastic when they brought Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek. I would have LOVED to see Dirk Benedict as well, maybe as a flight instructor, but we can't have everything.
When I was a kid, all I wanted was the robot dog-thing.
Fun fact: In the original version of the classic BSG miniseries, before the full TV series was green-lit, comically evil Baltar actually gets his comeuppance and is executed with a sword by Centurions during his post-conquest meeting with the Imperious Leader. The Library near where I lived had the original on video tape when I was a kid. It was only after the longer series was approved for production that they re-filmed the scene to spare Baltar and use him as a foil against Galactica.
I was all excited to watch this every week. Having seen Star Wars a bit earlier, as a kid, anything space / space related with adventure and ship battles was everything a 7 year old could want.
I'm surprised you made it through a critique of the original BSG without bringing up any of the weird and frequent parallels to "Mormonism" that permeates the original show.
…..you still owe 1 bagpipes.
I like 1978 version. But I would say it is worth a watch to show that you can remake a property, politics, gender/race swap and it still be good or even a hit. I think the 2003 version was one of the best remakes I have seen. Funny thing is I didn't want to watch it at first. Later I was a lil obsessed. lol The changes were positive changes. Even adding the suicide bombers helped to bring a new tone to the property, even though it was divisive at the time. The 1978 version is were a lot of the story lines came from. Charter development. I am really happy they got rid of the aliens for the later version. They seemed obsessed with reptilians in the 70s. lol
Among many other things the reimagined series did far better was Baltar. His ark was AMAZING. James Callis was on another level. His was the only ending on earth that I didn't hate. The way he drops the false ego accent and tells his 6 he knows about farming damn near broke me.
Ever thought about doing a video on Blood & Chrome!? May it one day be remade or continued.
In short: Just for the theme-music, that one sentence "Not that battlestar!" and the idea, but in general: No!
I prefer the old show because it is made for nerds and not women aged 16-36 to be honest. I feel that the reboot it simply to "soapy" and it went way to far to avoid being "nerdy". What I feel killed the reboot was the choice to have no elements in addition to the human fleet and Cylons. It made the show constantly focus on a few elements and characters that matter, which I think is the reason for the "soapy" feel.
For me, the reboot is stale hipster crap, while the original feels like appeal more to the childish instincts like the original Star Wars movies or whatever. I do not mind "nerd crack" but I do not enjoy "hipster cocaine".
Original BSG: if Mormonism and Scientology loved each other very much, and had an ugly baby.
pains me to say, but you do make many very good points.
It's a cheesy sci fi show from the 70s so yeah it might be a classic but it's not considered cannon to anything else BSG so good for a laugh but not much else
Ill be honest i always prefered starwars but always have and probably always will prefer the BSG ship designs by a long shot. Never cared for the xwing or the falcon or anything imperial the republic ship design i do prefer but still nothing tops the vipers or battlestars.
Definitely worth watching. If the show back then had a better budget and didn't have to recycle so many scenes. The uniforms were fantastic and I wish they had carried them over to the more modern show. As an 8-year old, I looked forward to this show every Saturday. It was a wonderful time to be alive.
The theme tune is fucking S tier though 11/10 shit.
Speaking of changes made for syndication, in the cinematic movie version of the pilot, Baltar DIES! He gets brought before the Imperious Leader, who lays out the facts that the Cylons are going to wipe out the human race entirely, points out why it would be stupid to trust someone who would betray his whole species and then one of the Centurions grabs Baltar by the hair, pulls his head back and pulls a sword and the scene cuts as the sword meets Baltar's neck. It's a really good scene, that illustrates how dark and serious they wanted the story to be, but had to tone right back for TV.
You cant really compare 1978 Bsg, of course, to present day shows or the reboot (which was great), it was a show of its time and was just after massively successful star wars so, yes like loads of movies and shows then it ‘copied’ elements of that like they do today, but had its own heavy human mythology element Glen Larson put in the show. As you said it was groundbreaking for the time in many of its aspects story-wise and top notch then in its production still looking great with the model work etc today. It was only ever meant to be a film or short mini series but due to its popularity it was made into a very expensive series (which is why it was canned in the end), it was produced on a very tight timetable and scripts were literally being handed to the actors as they shot scenes so may explain some of the plots being as they were – but don’t forget it was aimed at kids in a big way of course so the most detailed realistic adult level plots were not needed for ratings or those action figure sales – also it was the 70s. Ck any 70s show for comparison. Personally I loved it then as a kid and now still greatly appreciate it esp the 1st ‘movie’. Grittier and darker compared to star wars for the time, the disaster, human survival being hunted elements plus its very human mythological interweave were quite compelling. Not to mention looooads of ‘pewpewpew-kaboooom’! 👍
What you've described sounds a lot like a knockoff of classic Doctor Who where the network was too nervous to let them make it properly.
A good enough show that the F16 ripped off its nickname from BSG78 in perpetuity.
Just a thing, the 2000s BSG is not a remaster.
YES!
I prefer it to the remake despite the acting I still find the original much better.
Not everything has to be of human origin and the original is why that worked better than the remake.
Thank you for making me realize how old I am.
You're not wrong, but then, neither am I.
Still love the original series sans 1980 (except for "The Return of Starbuck" which I remember as being awesome).
Wonderful thesis!
I saw the original as a kid. BSG and Star wars was.
what my love of science fiction began. I really got into the books. Yes it might suck by comparison but that's where I got started.
The other cheesy as hell tv sci-fi show was Buck Rodgers in the 25th century. Wow.
Minus the Boxy & Daggit stuff I didn't have a problem with Classic BSG. Well the space Nazi stuff could have been left out too.
Ok, now that I watched the whole video, yup we can agree to disagree 🙂. Also, yes the show overall was chaotic, and in the end not so good BUT, it was made in that magical era when Star Wars proved battles in space can make gobs of money. Sadly while the studios decided they wanted in on the cash grab, they also didn't want to risk large amounts of cash. The original BSG like you stated was meant to be a movie. Studios got cold feet, broke it up into 3 episodes and saw it was well received. So they said ok, let's make it a series, here's $1.98, & a insane shooting schedule… Go make us eleventy bajillion dollars… As soon as it showed signs that wasn't going tohappen, they wanted thier $1.98 back… Budgets got cut, blah,blah,blah. It is what it is, and yes I love it all the same. One minor pick… The insectoids want the humans as food for their newly hatched young if memory serves. 😉
Well it's better than the New one. Much better.
"Sir? If I may…" -Baltar's Cylon pilots were amusing, plus John Colicos did play his role very well.
"I think you should take a look at the other Battlestar…"
12:10 — There absolutely was "riding of coattails" going on between BSG and Star Wars. There was an entire lawsuit about it. Hiring members of the Star Wars production staff to do the show allowed BSG to pull tricks like invoking "Fogerty v. Fantasy" — which established that "work for hire" only extends to one song or one deaign, it doesn't extend to an artist's entire "style".
The copying of Star Wars was very deliberate and it shows because BSG stayed within the bounds of copyright and won that lawsuit.
Another show hampered by vfx budgeting was andromeda. One of the most interesting and unique settings in scifi, in my opinion. Tragic how underexplored the setting turned out, as it had, and still has, so much potential. In a remake i would miss the cast, yes, even kevin sorbo, he was actually good in this role, but i would welcome deeper world building and better vfx. And i would miss micheal shanks as gabriel, i liked him as the ai of the balance of judgement.
Ok. Rant over or i will make this a novel.
Thanks for reading my ted talk, see you all under tge next video.
I just barely remember watching re-runs of the original series when I was very young, and thinking the whole thing was rather daft.
Unrelated, I'm kinda bummed out you didn't make it to 40k subscribers in time for Orktober 😕
This is nice. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on the original lore where the actual cylons were a race of lizardfolk and the robots we saw on screen were their war machines vs the remake lore of the cylons being human creations that rebelled.
I liked both shows for what they were. I think the newer show suffered from some of the things you mentioned about the original. There are great episodes and arcs but the further in it got, the worse it got. Ideally I think Battlestar Galactica is a show that can only work on a shorter timeline. The actual premise put forward in BOTH pilots is a great one… But like shows like "Designated Survivor" or "Walking Dead" that have interesting original premises to start with , you have a finite amount of time you can tell the events that spiral out of the initial concept.
The Walking Dead at least has made the wise decision to switch (for now at lease) to shorter , tighter spin off series that at least so far are interesting.
If they DO decide to do another Battlestar Galactica series they need to make it a limited series OR they need to think of some places they can take it other than the day to day grind of trying to survive in space until they find Earth. Hell have them find earth by the end of season1 – Have them recruit people from Earth to take the fight BACK to the Stars…. In the orginal Galactica there was talk of them finding other Battlestars and humans that had survived out there. Have sending them back out into space to find other survivors an arc.
I actually love both series but I do have a love for the original BSG.
I should also note that in 1979, Starblazers was airing, the 1974 anime of Space Battleship Yamato but westernized. I swear, SPY had major influences on BSG and SW. I mean, look at IQ-9 and R2D2!
Anyway, I have heard that many did not know SB was made in 1974 and compared it to BSG; some called it a rip-off series.
I have no idea where you get your reference for Lorne Greene. To me, he is Ben Cartwright; patriarch of the Cartwright Family and owner of the Ponderosa Ranch. I love Bonanza and I am 36!
It was originally supposed to be a 10 episode mini series but the studio forced them to make more the high budget was just for those episodes and they were surprisingly good when i watched the show for the first time a few years ago.
No.
I loved it as a kid but when I bought the boxes set on VHS in my late 20’s I found it boring.
I still watch the 2003 remake every 2 or 3 years.
i was born in 78 i grew up watching the reruns loved it and V
I'm 60 and have seen every episode of Battlestar. Steer clear of Galactica 1978 except the Wolfman Jack episode…He was awesome!
78 Galactica is the cheesiest of the cheese.
1978 Battlestar Galactica is such a classic sci-fi series. Such a shame it was discontinued after only 1 season.
Witness me. Bring it shiny and chrome… Guess the death of a generation is misunerstood sometimes.
Prequel were fun shit whereas the sequels felt so bland and corporate.
I watched the original and it was good, even that only lasted one season, even that the sequel where they find Earth was stupid, but at least didn't make the mistakes that Moore made with the reboot, with the Melodrama and Starbuck, the original have a good reason for Starbuck return, he wasn't deity, as much I like the concept of the reboot, The Twelve Colonies, the ships, Moore ruin with two episodes, the Final Five and Kara Song, not adding the stupid long triangle between Lee, Kara and Sam, and even liked Sam, but it was ruined with the stupid melodrama love triangle.
i saw OBSG when it originally aired, but after rewatching as an adult several years ago, i see why it dropped in popularity and so was cancelled
still fun memories though
What're your thoughts on "Space: Above and Beyond"? If favorable, could we get some breakdowns of the series and tech in it?