# Could Battlestar Galactica of been the next star wars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2019, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635 "2019-10-29T04:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/21 "2019-10-29T16:20:03Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > The '78 show never would have lasted 3 full seasons. Eventually that one snippet of film showing 3 Cylon raiders descending would have worn out from constant re-use. And the clip of the Cylon Raider banking up and to the right, with the Viper shooting at it three times, then connecting on the fourth shot. 😃 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E2BJodHVGT8/hqdefault.jpg "Classic Battlestar Galactica (1978) Cylon attack thwarted..") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2BJodHVGT8&t=140) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/22 "2019-10-29T16:46:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And the clip of the Cylon Raider banking up and to the right, with the Viper shooting at it three times, then connecting on the fourth shot. 😃 > > [https://youtu.be/E2BJodHVGT8?t=140](https://youtu.be/E2BJodHVGT8?t=140) You made me nostalgic! The first time, it was OK. That was a good scene, in the pilot movie, When they were still using it in the last episode., well… ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/23 "2019-10-29T16:57:09Z")
It’s probably for the best that _Battlestar Galactica_ failed. Had it become as successful as Star Wars Glen A. Larson may have become to busy to do other things. Like create _Knight Rider_. And that would have been the real shame. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/24 "2019-10-29T17:31:16Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > It’s probably for the best that _Battlestar Galactica_ failed. Had it become as successful as Star Wars Glen A. Larson may have become to busy to do other things. > > Like create _Knight Rider_. > > And that would have been the real shame. _Knight Rider_? Larson’s real masterpiece was his reunion with Lee Majors for _The Fall Guy._ ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/25 "2019-10-29T17:44:48Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > It’s probably for the best that _Battlestar Galactica_ failed. Had it become as successful as Star Wars Glen A. Larson may have become to busy to do other things. > > Like create _Knight Rider_. > > And that would have been the real shame. > [@Drum\_God](#): > > _Knight Rider_? Larson’s real masterpiece was his reunion with Lee Majors for _The Fall Guy._ You two are nuts. Larson’s greatest creation was obviously _Magnum, P.I._ ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/26 "2019-10-29T17:57:40Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > You two are nuts. Larson’s greatest creation was obviously _Magnum, P.I._ We all totally forgot about Larson’s magnum opus-------_Automan_!!! > **[Automan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automan)** > > Automan is an American superhero television series produced by Glen A. Larson. It aired for 12 episodes (although 13 were made) on ABC between 1983 and 1984. It consciously emulates the visual stylistics of the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film Tron, in the context of a superhero TV series. The series was later shown in reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel. > Automan (the "Automatic Man") follows the adventures of a police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz Jr.), who h... ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/27 "2019-10-29T18:07:45Z")
From the amount of rip-offery, _Battlestar Galactica_ wasn’t trying to be the NEW _Star Wars_; it was trying to be the SAME _Star Wars_ . ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/28 "2019-10-29T19:25:43Z")
Y’all gonna make me defend BSG. The only season feels like its got 100 eps in it. Most shows have this overall melding tone in their first seasons. BSG had: Pilot Discovery of Kobol and death of Jane Seymour Ice Planet Death Weapon Living Legend The Devil shows up! Space nazis in subs episodes We get rid of Baltar Final ep where they miss the moon landing transmission Finally Galactica 80 had the great Starbuck episode. My problem with BSG was their ship capabilities were wonky as hell. Some five episodes in they announce they are finally leaving their star system…WHAT??? what? How are you even getting to other star systems then? Are cylons all robots? (Not including books which said some were lizard-cyborgs?) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/29 "2019-10-29T20:05:32Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Y’all gonna make me defend BSG. > > The only season feels like its got 100 eps in it. Most shows have this overall melding tone in their first seasons. BSG had: > > Pilot > Discovery of Kobol and death of Jane Seymour > Ice Planet Death Weapon > Living Legend > The Devil shows up! > Space nazis in subs episodes > We get rid of Baltar > Final ep where they miss the moon landing transmission > > Finally Galactica 80 had the great Starbuck episode. > > My problem with BSG was their ship capabilities were wonky as hell. Some five episodes in they announce they are finally leaving their star system…WHAT??? what? How are you even getting to other star systems then? Are cylons all robots? (Not including books which said some were lizard-cyborgs?) half your plot points are the same episodes I listed. 🙂 The Gun on Ice Planet Zero was just a cheap imitation of the Guns of Navarone. I can defend BG and attack it, in the same episodes. The Living Legend was one of the better episodes, can’t go wrong with Lloyd “I picked the wrong day to quit overacting!” Bridges, and Sheba was a great addition. But Cain was a horrible commander; his tactics were suspect, his grasp of the Big Picture lacking, and his respect for the chain of command non-existent. The scene where the cylon pilot asked “what about the other battlestar” was great, and the though of having an ally in the universe made me hope for the future of the show, but then it’s countered by the general idiocy of Cain’s plan, and the plot in general. (that, and using Saturn V third stage footage for super weapons launch! Talk about cheap!) And then in War of the Gods, the BG crew finds the wreck of what may or may not be the Pegasus, and then…nothing! “Don’t let Sheba look!” makes you think it was, then they completely forgot about it. There’s no reason for a show of that time to be so subtle. Space Nazis in Space Subs (aka Experiment in Terra) was a great idea that just went in the wrong direction. Terra SHOULD have been Earth, but that wouldn’t fit with the tone of the show. So they teased, but left us frustrated, The left the smell but took the steak. The look and feel of that episode was great. The look on the SNiSS when they got taken aboard the Galactica was priceless! Galactica 1980 was such a mess. After all these yahrns of travel, when they get to Earth and find us to be backwards hicks (and they can tell, because we watched Galactica 1980!) they just…move on! Earth has no protection against an enemy with the power of the Cylons, but hey, maybe no one will see them. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya! And what really funny about that is, when the Vipers start zooming and banking through earth’s atmosphere, in their “we are sooo much more advance than you puny earthers” Vipers, they almost got shot down by a pair of F15s! If the Galacticans didn’t have the Magik Invisibility Device, they’d have been toast. Hmmm, maybe we could have taken the Cylons after all! Not to mention that the Galactica picked up the Apollo 11 broadcasts how many light years away, and yet, somehow, 15 years later ship time they arrive 11 years later on earth. Hello! Science! And the less said about Dr Zee, the better. Robbie Rist! That kid ruined more shows than Ted McGinley. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/30 "2019-10-29T22:00:34Z")
We could take the Cylons! I distinctly remember the Colonials commenting on our great driving skills and staying in formation! You can actually see how slow the cylon ships are in atmosphere…our jets are much faster and more accurate! Speaking of wonky one time only tech (super-weapons!) Didn’t Galactica emit a planet wife shield to stop a nuclear war?? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/31 "2019-10-29T22:04:31Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Network executives took the teeth out of it to make it more “family friendly”. It would have been a much better show if the network executives had kept their hands out of it. The network suits saw it as more of a kid’s show, unfortunately. This was a problem with a lot of the sci-fi in the 70’s, IMO. “The kids love Star Wars, let’s do more Star Wars kids shows.” I think the reboot shows that BSG obviously could have mined a ton of space-opera interest. Network execs just weren’t thinking that way in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/32 "2019-10-29T22:38:57Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Didn’t Galactica emit a planet wife shield to stop a nuclear war?? Yes, in Experiment In Terra the Galactica obliterated ALL the ICMBs in flight. I remember it with Adama smirking about the Terrans primitive technology, but that \*could \*just be my 40 years of bitterness at the show clouding my memory. Your superior weapons didn’t prevent a multi-system holocaust, old man. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/33 "2019-10-29T23:39:51Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Didn’t Galactica emit a planet wife shield to stop a nuclear war?? “Wives Against Nuclear War.” (Great typo!) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/34 "2019-10-30T00:30:42Z")
Cousin Oliver. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/35 "2019-10-30T00:41:22Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Yes, in Experiment In Terra the Galactica obliterated ALL the ICMBs in flight. I remember it with Adama smirking about the Terrans primitive technology, but that \*could \*just be my 40 years of bitterness at the show clouding my memory. Your superior weapons didn’t prevent a multi-system holocaust, old man. That was a quibble of mine that even the new BSG didn’t deal with. Is each colony in a different star system? A different planet? Just 12 different colonies in one system? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/36 "2019-10-30T01:14:31Z")
Television in 1978 was only going to be so good. Essentially no drama at the time was up to the standards of 21st century TV. No network would have allowed that artistic freedom that today’s cable content networks do. Of course, even if they had, BSG wasn’t going to be Star Wars. Only Star Wars is Star Wars. Had there been cable TV and Space Network in 1978, what BSG could have been would be… uhh, Battlestar Galactica, actually. The reboot is what you’d hope and dream a space TV show could be. In 1978, too, people still thought of sci fi as being for kids, so it was doomed to being simple and having a robot dog and stuff like that. Today it’s just normal to aim sci fi and comic book stuff at adults, so you can have the modern BSG, which has not a single thing in it for children. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/37 "2019-10-30T05:15:48Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > In 1978, too, people still thought of sci fi as being for kids, so it was doomed to being simple and having a robot dog and stuff like that. Today it’s just normal to aim sci fi and comic book stuff at adults, so you can have the modern BSG, which has not a single thing in it for children. People like to say things like that, and it wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now. I give you two examples: Star Trek and Sharknado. OK, I also give you Logan’s Run the Series, Genesis II, The Questor Tapes, Quark, Future Cop, The Invisible Man, The Night Stalker, UFO and, to some extent, The Starlost. I wouldn’t describe any of those as “for kids”. I wouldn’t necessarily describe some of them as “good”, either, but that’s a different kettle of fish. There are also 70s sci fi movies that aren’t “for kids”, but I assume you’re just talking about TV? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/38 "2019-10-30T13:25:53Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > We could take the Cylons! I distinctly remember the Colonials commenting on our great driving skills and staying in formation! > > You can actually see how slow the cylon ships are in atmosphere…our jets are much faster and more accurate! Wasn’t their an episode of 1980 where a humanoid Cylon and a Centurion crashed on Earth, and they found that microwave ovens can disable the centurions? I always assumed that was going to become a major plot point going forward. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/39 "2019-10-30T15:13:55Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > That was a quibble of mine that even the new BSG didn’t deal with. Is each colony in a different star system? A different planet? Just 12 different colonies in one system? I always assumed different systems and FTL travel, mostly because 1) I was raised on Star Trek and 2) anything else is just stupid\*. Doesn’t Hollywood understand how BIG space is? But who knows what they were thinking. \*I thought it was silly if not stupid in Firefly, too, but not as bad as BSG would be in one system. How do all those planets keep a habitable temperature? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635/40 "2019-10-30T16:18:38Z")
Hollywood still doesn’t understand the vastness of space. There is a well known director who recently made a science fiction movie where they made a planet into a super weapon that sucks energy from its sun somehow, and then shoots a death ray across systems where it splits into different death rays, and then hits different planets, and people can stand there and watch, and the ray doesn’t seem to go through hyperspace, and it instantly blows up the target planets as soon as the death ray hits them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-battlestar-galactica-of-been-the-next-star-wars/842635.md?page=3)