Recently on YouTube I ran across a fanfic recutting of the three Terra episodes into a saga called “Brothers of Man”. If I’m understanding it correctly, it postulates that the Terrans are not descended from Kobol but are parahuman- the result of convergent evolution (or the meddling of the mysterious beings from the Ship of Light). Does this interpretation jibe with how the original episodes were presented? I’ve always wondered if they were human why the fleet kept on going.
At the time they were new, the interpretation I made is that they weren’t Earth, but no explanation was given. Were they an earth colony (in The Future?) Were they just parallel development? An artifact of the Ship of Lights people? Whatever it was, the fleet just moved on, leaving the Terran nazis fate to the Cylons, who I’m sure weren’t going to just pass them by. They kept going because that’s what they did, because the show demanded it.
The Ship of Lights was never explained, either. They were just another Mysterious Unknown Force, helping out the humans. That, and getting them involved with some internecine war amongst themselves. Did Iblis destroy the Pegasus? WAS that the Pegasus? It was never clear. (And why not? Would that have hurt to actually answer some questions once in a while?) Was it significant that Iblis and the Imperious Leader had the same voice?
It just seemed like the show wanted to tease the audience. “oh, we’re on a future Earth! Wait, no we’re not. Fooled you!” Rather than having a coherent narrative laid out.
Now I mostly liked the show, and especially the Terran arc, but they had no clue (or perhaps no ability) to tell a good story. It was what it was, and we liked what we could out of it.
It was like X-Files - we kept waiting for something that would tie it all together, and it never came. Even the very last scene of the original run, where the ship picks up Apollo 11 broadcasts, doesn’t fit with the timeline of Galactica 1980.
Do even fans of the original series admit Galactica 1980 exists? At best, it was zero-budget, largely recycled badness even on the very low scale of the predecessor series.
Not only do I admit that it exists, but the final episode, “The Return of Starbuck”, was one of the best episodes in the entire mythos. Nine episodes of utter dreck, then they went out on a high note.
Only the second half of your statement do I agree with. G1980 was horrible. Time travel! Nazis! Dr Zee! I’d rather pretend it never existed.
But the return of Starbuck was the true final episode of BG. It was a ray of sunshine on the cloudy day of G1980. And then it (mercifully) ended.