Battlestar Galactica (1978)

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This article is about the 1978 show. For the 2003 miniseries and 2004-2009 television series, see Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Fandom
Name: Battlestar Galactica
Abbreviation(s): BSG (original)
Creator: Glen A. Larson
Date(s): 1978-1979
Medium: Television
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: wikipedia page; slash archive; genfic LJ comm
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
some of the crew, art by Warren Oddsson, printed in Buddies: A Collection of Media Art 1958-2001, may have appeared in a previous print zine

Show Overview

Starbuck, Apollo and Adama on the cover of the zine, Purple and Orange?

Battlestar Galactica came out in 1978, the year after Star Wars, produced by people who had worked for Lucasfilm. Fan anticipation was high, and the pilot got high ratings. The main two characters, Captain Apollo and Lt. Starbuck, were two very pretty men who fought side by side, and obviously cared a lot about each other. Everything seemed primed for a new fandom, and a new slash fandom.

Sadly, the writing wasn't very good, the effects were ahead of their time (and therefore very expensive) and the ratings steadily fell. There were only seventeen episodes of the first series, and another ten (even lower rated) episodes of the ill-fated reunion show in 1980, Galactica 1980.

Although fiction, and eventually slash fiction, appeared in both BSG and multimedia zines at the time, it never became a major fandom.

Richard Hatch remained a big fan of the concept, and was a willing guest at media cons trying to drum up interest in another reunion/remix/restart of the show.

Characters

Cancellation

In a late 1979 interview, Dirk Benedict who portrayed Starbuck, spoke of the show's end and was outspoken as to some of the reason why:

Dirk Benedict: It's sad to work as hard as we all did on a show like that and have it go the way of the wind...especially if you try to bring an integrity to the show which I can honestly say we all did from . Lome to Richard to myself. Everybody concentrated.

Nobody was picking up the money and running. Right to the end, the last episode, everyone was sure we'd be back, so that's that. But still its too bad we didn't get another year because Isaac Isamov [sic] was going to be the story editor. It makes you wonder...

Probe One: Glen Larson made the statement that he didn't want science fiction authors providing scripts for the show because he doesn't believe that they have the kind of material that would fit in.

DB: Well, he changed.

PO; That's what Laurette [1]was telling us. If only the chance had been allowed to happen.

DB: well, he meant to change. He got Isamov lined up and we were going to go for more of a...

PO: So who had the...

DB: ABC. Somebody at ABC, and its all computerized. You talk about technology, Galactica was a victim of the very thing that it...

PO: Demographics?

DB: Yeah, demographics. And you know X-dollars. Commercials, people pay so many thousands of dollars for a thirty second advertising, sixty seconds, so they measure out how many people, how many dollars, that is per person, per capita, per viewing audience, want to get a number. So they figure $200,000 for thirty seconds, and thirty million people were watching. Meanwhile they're paying the same amount for forty million people on another show and the cost of the show is half. It's just not good business, what do they care about science fiction?

PO: They're not in it to break even,they're in it to make a profit.

DB: Now Universal Studios will be just fine. It's making a fortune as a feature film all over the world and merchandising and syndication. I think they want to do another one and have the Galactica find earth and do another special about earth. But ah...who knows? [2]

Some Fan Comments

1979

BG had better redeem itself. The first episode was great. I was a little turned off by the religious content, and the constant "Chariots of the Gods" references, but I suppose if the Mayans had been removed from the Star Trek movie, they had to go somewhere. In any case, subsequent episodes really stank. Heavily borrowed story-lines made for weak scripts, and the acting, in most cases, was wooden. Nifty keen special effects, though. I've only missed a few episodes. Why do I keep, watching? Well, BG is better than most of the other stuff on the tube at present, and the special effects are fun to watch. I also like Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, and Commander Tigh. With the last episode, involving Starbuck's father, Fred Astaire, I detected a glimmer of hope -- there actually was a plot, and the story was rather interesting and hardled well. Besides, I like Fred Astaire. I hear there's some doubt about BG being picked up for next season. It will be a shame if it's cancelled. Letter campaign, anyone?

Like W.C. Fields, however, I find little use for Boxey. Muffit is slightly more tolerable.

Maybe we should have Harlan write a BG episode. [3]

Sure a few of BATTLESTAR GALACTICAs were bad, but I believe they are doing a great job, and I haven't missed one yet. They are using good actors, special effects that are great, and the women warriors are super! It would take a fish head not to like Boxey, or Muffit the Daggit. Boomer (Herb Jefferson, Jr.) keeps the show going, for he plays straight man for Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) and can steal a scene all by himself. Well, you can see I love BG, but they did go too far and make me cry when they killed Serina (Jane Seymore) off. (Apollo will get you, you dirty, rotten #*%#*#, Cylons.) [4]

Fanworks

Fanfic

There is much fanfic here.

In 2008, a group of fans created a virtual season: Virtual Second Season and Virtual Third Season.

Archives

Zines

These are either zines with a Battlestar Galactica focus, or multimedia zines with some Battlestar Galactica content.

Ad Astra | The Adama Journal | Airwaves Battlestar Galactica Special | Alternate Conspiracy | ANKH | | Anomaly | Anomaly Battlestar Galactica Concordance | Apollo's Odyssey | The Aurora Signal | Babblestar Blastica | The Battlestar Galactica Files: Cylon Attack (by D. Murry) | The Battlestar Review | Blue One | Blue Squadron Journal | Book of the Word | By the Lords of Kobol! | The Carousel of Mourning | Change of Command | Colonial Forum | Colonial Warriors Technical Manual | The Colonials | Cosmic Communications | Cry Sanctuary | Erato | Felgercarb | Fire In His Soul | Frak | Galactica | Galactica 1988: Ten Years Later | Galactica Anthology | Galactica Gazette | The Galactica Journals | Galactica History: From Kobol to the Colonies | Galactica Stuff: A Colonial's Guide To The Galaxy | Galacticamania | The Galactican | Ghosts in the Machine | The HomLegends from the Rising Starecoming | The Hunt I (by Erik Sprowls) | In the Shadows | Journals of Kobol | The Kobol Chronicles | Last of the Pirate Queens | Legends from the Rising Star | The Lords of Kobol | Loyalty Check | Melas | Mind in the Shadows | Misfit File | Murmurs | The Pegasus Chronicles | The Battle of Molukai | Cain's Command | Second Coming | Joint Maneuvers | The Plot | Purple and Orange? | Pyramids | The Race for Earth | Rainbows Always End | Red Squadron Dispatches | Rising Star | Saga of a Star World | Shelter | Sins of the Fathers | The Star Kobol Journals | Song of Caprica | Star Searches | Star Trek: The Galactican Encounter | Streets and Stars | Survive the Alliance | Tales of the Galactica | Tally of the Souls | The Thirteenth Tribe Newsletter | Thicker Than Blood | To Be Reborn | Tribal Tales | Two from Thirteen | Vipervisons | Visions of the Galactica | Warriors' Luck | We Know Who We Are | Well Met in Space and Time | Who Lives By the Sword

Zinefic Online

Clean Slate Press was a BSG publisher during the 1980s and '90s. In 2002, a fan who noticed that the press had stopped publishing got permission to post several of them to his own website, collected on a page called Free Battlestar Galactica Fan Fiction Novels (includes several standalone short stories as well as the novels and connected short-story collection below).

Fan Art

The Battlestar Galactica Archive hosts a small collection of art here.

Mailing Lists

  • BSG Slash 002 "BSG Slash 002". Archived from the original on 2001-07-07. Description: "This list is for fanfiction and discussion revolving around the TV series Battlestar Galactica. Please note, this is a SLASH list, and therefore unsuitable for children and those who object to m/m or f/f relationships."
  • BYC Updates BYC Updates Description: for the Your Command slash archive
  • BSG Slash "BSG Slash". Archived from the original on 2003-09-08. Description: "A list dedicated to the fiction and discussion of the slash aspects of the TV show Battlestar Galactica. The list will focus on m/m or f/f relationships and isn't suitable for people under the age of 18, or who object to slash."

Fan Clubs

Resources

Newsletters

References

  1. ^ This is a reference to an interview in an earlier issue of Probe One.
  2. ^ from Probe One #16, an interview from late 1979, printed in January 1980
  3. ^ comments by Lori Chapek-Carleton in The Oracle Speaks #3
  4. ^ from Interstat #16 (February 1979)
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