Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Plot Outline: After a 1000 year war with the Cylons, 12 colonies of man decide it's time to make peace and send their fleet to meet with the Cylons. But it's a trap and the Cylons decimate the fleet and attack the colonies, destroying all but one ship, the Battlestar Galactica. Commander Adama, the captain of the Galactica decides to gather the survivors from the 12 colonies and head for the mythical planet of Earth, the supposed thirteenth colony of man which was lost millennia ago. But the Cylons will not rest until every single human in the galaxy has been destroyed.

The Review: This is the TV movie pilot for the series which basically rips off Star Wars in countless ways but is still quite enjoyable in it's own cheesy way. George Lucas even sued the producers of this series because the similarities were too great (but Universal counter-sued, saying that Star Wars was simply Lucas' own fantasies brought about by the memories of the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers serials of the 30s and 40s). I've got to feel a little for Lucas here because the film does borrow many elements: the dogfights in space (when did we see that before Star Wars?), the cocky hot-shot pilot, the evil empire with a gigantic space station ready to attack a planet - hell the Cylons' ship even looks like a Star Wars reject. The special effects throughout the film look great though and they should because John Dykstra, special effects supervisor for no less than Star Wars, was brought in. Although his work is similar to the point of plagiarising (can one plagiarise one's own work?), the dogfights look believable, the spaceships look like they could fly and the Galactica and the Cylon ship both look imposing. Another impressive element is the Cylons' awesome design. Their chrome bodies gleam in the light and it must have been a nightmare trying to film they with the light continuing to reflect off the surface. Plus they've got that cool laser eye thing going on which really amounts to one kick ass costume. It's a shame they were just so slow and stupid! As for the acting side of things, Lorne Greene commandeers the screen with his presence, Richard Hatch does what he can with the serious hero role and Dirk Benedict hams it up a little as Starbuck, the cocky pilot. But this isn't meant to be a big budget motion picture. It was the pilot which looked so much like a proper film that it got a cinematic release and fared pretty well.

Final Verdict: Battlestar Galactica is a cash-in on Star Wars and there is no doubt of that. But it's got enough of it's own charm and style, as well as the Cylons, to break free of that shackle and become a cult show in it's own right. The pilot film does everything it needs to do to propel the series forward.

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