The original 'Battlestar Galactica' is not perfect, with the flaws more noticeable when seeing it through adult or older audience's eyes, but it is still a lot of fun to watch with still many great things and there is no doubt as to how influential it is.
'Galactica 1980' was not helped by misleading advertising, things not working out as originally intended (including intentions of a higher budget and the involvement of the original cast) and that it was inevitably going to be compared to its predecessor. Even when judging it as a standalone with no comparison, 'Galactica 1980' still fares badly.
It has one great episode throughout its entire 10 episode run, and that is the final episode "The Return of Starbuck". With the return of a fan favourite and a story that is actually engrossing, is focused tonally rather than playing for laughs and goofing around, actually feels like a story and the closest the show got to matching the quality of its predecessor. In the previous nine episodes, the entertaining conversations towards the beginning of the show between Adama and Xavier and the dependably decent performances of Lorne Green, Herbert Jefferson Jnr and Richard Lynch (though they deserved more screen-time) just about save them from total doom. The Cylon attack on Los Angeles is the single best scene from the entire series, that was edge of your seat stuff and deserved a much better show.
On the other hand, it constantly felt like 'Galactica 1980' amplified the flaws of 'Battlestar Galactica', instead of correcting them, and made even more on the way. The nadir of the show is definitely the infamously terrible character of Doctor Zee. The writers clearly couldn't decide whether to portray him as a child genius or as just a "cutesy" child, instead trying and failing hard both extremes, and as a result the character comes over as truly obnoxious and unbearably dull. The very somnambulist way the character is acted also plays a large part. There is a serious underuse of the Cylons, and whenever they do appear they exude little threat and instead come over as goofy and inept.
For me, Troy and Dillon's chemistry was more forced than entertaining, the bad writing did it no favours and neither did the wooden acting of both Kent McCord and especially Barry Van Dyke (who has looked much more comfortable since, it was almost as if he was embarrassed by the material he was given). 'Galactica 1980' is also badly hindered by its low budget, 'Battlestar Galactica' did have the odd limitation but at least it managed to on the most part look good. 'Galactica 1980' is pure cheap tack, everything just screams late 1970s-early 1980s, looking like any show from that period and with little essence of science-fiction (yes even for its earth-bound concept) and it relies far too heavily on stock footage from its predecessor.
Nothing memorable about the music either, the main theme is an example of one that one hears and forgets instantly or wishes they'd never hear again. The music is very 1970s-1980s disco, and doesn't add anything to what's going on, instead it's distracting, sounds tacky and just dates the show even more. With the stories, only "The Return of Starbuck" is above worthwhile. The rest are very thin on the ground, dull, lacking in atmosphere (apart from a very of-the-time-it-was-made vibe) and filled with padding and filler that add nothing to the concept, constantly losing sight as to what the concept was in the first place.
The less said about the writing as well the better. 'Battlestar Galactica' may have had issues with tone and focus and had episodes bogged down by too many homages, but mostly it knew what the concept was, showed signs of maturity (like in episodes taking a darker tone like "War of the Gods") and target audience problems (while admittedly at times an issue) weren't as glaringly problematic. The writing in 'Galactica 1980' is eyeroll-inducing, with laughably bad attempts of humour in an attempt to appeal to younger audiences (who would actually be insulted by the writing here, and adults will find it far too cheesy and dumb to take it for what it is), with goofy antics that are overused and serve no point, that dominates the show far too much and often occurring in places that couldn't have been any more inappropriate.
Generally, 'Galactica 1980' has to be down there with the most pointless and unnecessary shows ever made in my opinion. Just did not see the point to it whatsoever because it did nothing with its concept (often completely neglecting it and focusing too much on ill-judged humour), and while 'Battlestar Galactica' had its flaws it was fun to watch and achieved a lot that was good. 'Galactica 1980' is just a painful reminder that that show was a flawed one and repeats its mistakes and amplifying them. In addition it makes even more, making it a very poor show albeit with one great episode and one great scene.
3/10 Bethany Cox
'Galactica 1980' was not helped by misleading advertising, things not working out as originally intended (including intentions of a higher budget and the involvement of the original cast) and that it was inevitably going to be compared to its predecessor. Even when judging it as a standalone with no comparison, 'Galactica 1980' still fares badly.
It has one great episode throughout its entire 10 episode run, and that is the final episode "The Return of Starbuck". With the return of a fan favourite and a story that is actually engrossing, is focused tonally rather than playing for laughs and goofing around, actually feels like a story and the closest the show got to matching the quality of its predecessor. In the previous nine episodes, the entertaining conversations towards the beginning of the show between Adama and Xavier and the dependably decent performances of Lorne Green, Herbert Jefferson Jnr and Richard Lynch (though they deserved more screen-time) just about save them from total doom. The Cylon attack on Los Angeles is the single best scene from the entire series, that was edge of your seat stuff and deserved a much better show.
On the other hand, it constantly felt like 'Galactica 1980' amplified the flaws of 'Battlestar Galactica', instead of correcting them, and made even more on the way. The nadir of the show is definitely the infamously terrible character of Doctor Zee. The writers clearly couldn't decide whether to portray him as a child genius or as just a "cutesy" child, instead trying and failing hard both extremes, and as a result the character comes over as truly obnoxious and unbearably dull. The very somnambulist way the character is acted also plays a large part. There is a serious underuse of the Cylons, and whenever they do appear they exude little threat and instead come over as goofy and inept.
For me, Troy and Dillon's chemistry was more forced than entertaining, the bad writing did it no favours and neither did the wooden acting of both Kent McCord and especially Barry Van Dyke (who has looked much more comfortable since, it was almost as if he was embarrassed by the material he was given). 'Galactica 1980' is also badly hindered by its low budget, 'Battlestar Galactica' did have the odd limitation but at least it managed to on the most part look good. 'Galactica 1980' is pure cheap tack, everything just screams late 1970s-early 1980s, looking like any show from that period and with little essence of science-fiction (yes even for its earth-bound concept) and it relies far too heavily on stock footage from its predecessor.
Nothing memorable about the music either, the main theme is an example of one that one hears and forgets instantly or wishes they'd never hear again. The music is very 1970s-1980s disco, and doesn't add anything to what's going on, instead it's distracting, sounds tacky and just dates the show even more. With the stories, only "The Return of Starbuck" is above worthwhile. The rest are very thin on the ground, dull, lacking in atmosphere (apart from a very of-the-time-it-was-made vibe) and filled with padding and filler that add nothing to the concept, constantly losing sight as to what the concept was in the first place.
The less said about the writing as well the better. 'Battlestar Galactica' may have had issues with tone and focus and had episodes bogged down by too many homages, but mostly it knew what the concept was, showed signs of maturity (like in episodes taking a darker tone like "War of the Gods") and target audience problems (while admittedly at times an issue) weren't as glaringly problematic. The writing in 'Galactica 1980' is eyeroll-inducing, with laughably bad attempts of humour in an attempt to appeal to younger audiences (who would actually be insulted by the writing here, and adults will find it far too cheesy and dumb to take it for what it is), with goofy antics that are overused and serve no point, that dominates the show far too much and often occurring in places that couldn't have been any more inappropriate.
Generally, 'Galactica 1980' has to be down there with the most pointless and unnecessary shows ever made in my opinion. Just did not see the point to it whatsoever because it did nothing with its concept (often completely neglecting it and focusing too much on ill-judged humour), and while 'Battlestar Galactica' had its flaws it was fun to watch and achieved a lot that was good. 'Galactica 1980' is just a painful reminder that that show was a flawed one and repeats its mistakes and amplifying them. In addition it makes even more, making it a very poor show albeit with one great episode and one great scene.
3/10 Bethany Cox