Universal brings 'Galactica 1980' home to you!
The popularity of 'Battlestar Galactica' is at an all-time high, so what better time to bring its bizarre antecedent to DVD?
Galactica 1980 was a spin-off from the '78–'79 sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica. It again starred Lorne Greene as Commander Adama.
A massive write-in campaign began with the cancellation of Battlestar. Since it was not yet commonplace for fans of every cancelled show to start such grassroots efforts (be they 3 million or 3), ABC contacted creator Glen Larson (Knight Rider) to see about reviving the series in a more economical format.
Larson decided to set the new show five years after the finale of the original series. The only major characters to return from the original series would be Commander Adama, Colonel Boomer, Apollo, Starbuck and Baltar.
The unavailability of Dirk Benedict (Starbuck) and lack of cooperation from Richard Hatch (Apollo) called for concept revisions that set the new series thirty years after the end of the original series, rather than five.
Set during the year 1980, the Galactica and its fleet of 220 civilian ships have finally discovered Earth, only to find that the planet cannot defend itself against the Cylons as originally hoped. Therefore, teams of Colonial warriors are covertly sent to Earth to work with various members of the scientific community, hoping to advance Earth's technology.
Though nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Costume Design, G80 was pulled without warning after only ten episodes, the last of which,"Return of Starbuck," featured unscreened original-series footage of Dirk Benedict as Lt. Starbuck for a flashback sequence.
Come December 26, all those G80 fans can "flashback," too.
(Thanks to Wikipedia for the background info.)