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This article refers to the original TV series. For other uses, see Battlestar Galactica (disambiguation).

Battlestar Galactica
Original Run	September 17, 1978 to April 29, 1979
No. of Episodes	21
Genre(s)	Sci fi
Creator(s)	Glen A. Larson
Exec. Producer(s)	Glen A. Larson
Starring	Richard Hatch Dirk Benedict Lorne Greene Herb Jefferson Jr. John Colicos Maren Jensen Noah Hathaway Laurette Spang Tony Swartz Anne Lockhart Terry Carter David Greenan
Country of Origin	United States
Original Channel	ABC

In 1978, producer Glen A. Larson created the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) series for the ABC network. The show admittedly followed in the wake of the resounding success of Star Wars (1977). Battlestar Galactica brought the creative new form of the space fantasy genre originally envisioned by George Lucas to a television format. This was ultimately not original enough for Lucas, who sued the franchise for its similarities between his movie and the show. This, plus the enormous cost of production due to the elaborate effects and set pieces, caused the show to be cancelled. It featured twenty-one episodes, including the two-hour pilot episode/movie.

Its premise was simple: when the 12 Colonies of Man are wiped out by a cybernetic race called the Cylons, Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) and the crew of the battlestar Galactica lead a ragtag human fleet of survivors in search of a "mythical planet" called Earth.

The show was notoriously campy, but the what gave this show some legs was the fact that the shows that were good were amazingly good and innovative (Saga of a Star World, War of the Gods Part I & II, The Hand of God, etc). Despite its short run the show featured many big-name stars such as Academy Award winner Ray Milland (Best Actor 1945- The Lost Weekend) and film legend Fred Astaire (Battlestar Galactica was actually the last time that Fred Astaire danced on film - though it was a slow dance). In addition there were cameos and recurring roles by famous character actors such as Barry Nelson, Ed Begley Jr, and Patrick Macnee.

Canceled after only one season, the series had a short-lived revival in the form of Galactica 1980, whose premise was that the Galactica and her crew arrived at contemporary Earth, which is woefully unprepared to defend itself against a Cylon attack. The crew of the Galactica takes on the task of secretly protecting Earth. Lasting only 10 episodes, Galactica 1980 was the last anyone would see of this classic science-fiction series for more than two decades.

Many fans claim that ABC canceled the show in favour of the lackluster Mork and Mindy, which did much worse than Battlestar Galactica in the ratings. The show has been attempted to be revived numerous times since its cancellation, mostly by the series' star, Richard Hatch. The most recent attempt was a collaboration between Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects (1995), X-Men (2000), Superman Returns (2006)) and Tom De Santo which was greenlighted. Production began, but delays caused by flight restrictions in the wake of September 11th, 2001 attacks put a damper on the project, which was as a result dropped in favour of Ronald D Moore's proposal for a reimagining of the series, which aired in 2003 as a miniseries that spawned a syndicated program.

Plot

Battlestar Galactica starts off when the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, after a millenium of war with the mechanical race of Cylons, are gearing up for a peace conference orchestrated by a Council member named Baltar. However, when the Cylons arrive, they launch a surprise attack, and it is soon revealed that the whole thing was a ruse and Baltar was in on it with the stipulation that he and his colony be spared. The attack is devastating - the president of the colonies dies aboard the battlestar Atlantia, the entire Colonial fleet is wiped out, and the colonies are either obliterated or occupied by the Cylons. The one surviving battlestar, Galactica, helmed by Commander Adama, calls together the remaining survivors and leads them in search of the planet Earth - spoken of only in scripture.