Galactica 1980, Season 1

Absolutely, POSITIVELY do NOT spend more than $1.99 on "Galactica 1980." And only spend that much if you download the final episode, "The Return of Starbuck" and none of the rest of this awful garbage. The only purpose of this series was to try to make "Battlestar Galactica" into a series that was more appealing to kids (it aired opposite "Wonderful World of Disney" if I remember right). Oh, and to also to make it extremely CHEAP to produce as the rapidly withering udder of the Galactica cash cow was nearly dried up for good. Everything (except Lorne Greene) that made season one of "Battlestar Galactica" worth watching was ripped out like so many discarded fish entrails in "1980." Many of the special effects in "Galactica 1980" are an ongoing continuity error as we see "two-seater" Vipers in close-up cockpit shots, but single seat versions in all the (recycled) "open space" special effects shots. That alone show's the network's and producer's assessment of the viewers' intelligence level. Apparently, people with some actual respect for the Galactica's founding concepts and possessing an iota of creativity staged a commando raid and took over the studio just long enough to produce "The Return of Starbuck." After that, with quality threatening to propogate, ABC rapidly made the decision to bury Galactica for all time. (Well, at least until 2004.)

Galactica 1980 is a terrible show, plain and simple. Glen Larson has probably taken most of the blame for it over the years, but truth be told it was network interference by the ABC "suits" that made this such a bad series. If you want proof that it could have been great, look no further than the final episode of the series, "The Return of Starbuck". It is a classic episode that earns four stars and demonstrates how good Galactica could have been if ABC had left Larson alone to do his job. And Glen Larson and Dirk Benedict both treasure this outstanding story, which is truly a diamond in the Galactica 1980 rough.

I only liked the first 3 episodes from this revamped Galactica. I saw it when it first aired, and the rest after the first 3 episodes was pure garbage.

Where do I start? 1) Special FX are more 1970-like than 1980 like. 2) Same space footage used over and over and over again. 3) The acting is lackluster in some places and just over the top in others. 4) The writing wants to be good, but it feels like it was mucked with by someone doing sitcoms. 5) To agree with another reviewer, the *only* good episode is "The Return of Starbuck". Don't even bother with the others. They are THAT bad.

I had to download this since I am a BSG fan. OMG, what a disaster. It's the first BSG where I was actually pulling for the Cylons I totally survived the bad writing. bad acting, complete disregard for actual science/physics and a lackluster story line, but the 70's cliche's put it over the edge. A partial list...1) Galactica motorcycles like Ponch and John on CHiPs, 2) Galactica kids on earth who can jump 50 feet in the air, complete with "six million dollar man" sound effects, 3) CB radio speak for no reason, 4) Dr. Z reminds me of the kid, Oliver, they brought onto the Brady Bunch in the last season, 5) the super human Galactica kids playing a "Bad News Bears" baseball game to "save the camp" 6) the standard "time travel to Nazi Germany" episode, 7) the US Airforce UFO team chasing Colonial Viper sightings, and last, but not least, 8) the classic guest appearance of Wolfman Jack episode. Why 2 stars instead of 1? Well, it's a must have for BSG fans and Saturday Night Live could not have done a better parody.

This bearded update of a classic left little to be desired with the exception of the 10th episode "The Return of Starbuck". This episode saw Dirk Benedict returning to reveal the fate of Starbuck and the origins of Doctor Zee. The episode captured the magic of the original series and is a good addition to the classic BSG library.

This is the unfortunate program that came out of Universal's meddling with the Battlestar Galactica formula. They axed the original Galactica series after the first season, and decided to make this cheaper to produce show without the original show's creators. Eventually, Glen Larson and others signed on, but nothing could have saved this train wreck of a series. It's what Universal wanted, a family friendly show with lots of kids and some cool vehicles to make toys out of. Luckily, this travesty of a show died fairly quickly, before all of the episodes had a chance to air. Thankfully the last episode, The Return of Starbuck, did get shown. It made the series worth watching just for that one episode. It harkened back to the original Battlestar Galactica and showed Starbuck receiving his final judgement by 'higher powers' after becoming stranded on an allegedly deserted planet. This episode felt out of place from this series, mainly because it was entertaining to someone other than small children. It was a great send-off for such a major character, and is still a great episode to watch even if the others in the series aren't. I'll give this one four stars - the regular series gets two stars but The Return of Starbuck elevates it and makes it required viewing for fans of the original BSG.