Set a generation after the Original Series, battlestarGalactica and its Fleet of 220 civilian ships finally discover Earth, only to find that the planet is technologically backward in relation to Colonial technology. As as result, Earth couldn't defend itself against the Cylons as originally expected. Therefore, teams of Colonial Warriors are covertly sent to the planet to work incognito with various members of the scientific community, hoping to quickly advance Earth's technology.
The promotional material for Galactica 1980 sets the series at thirty years after the events of the Original Series.
Commander Adama and Colonel Boomer—now second-in-command in place of Colonel Tigh—send Captain "Boxey" Troy, the adopted son of Adama's own son Apollo, and Lt. Dillon to North America. The two become entangled with TV journalist Jamie Hamilton who aids them in devising ways to help Earth's scientists and outwit the Cylons.
Greene (Adama) and Jefferson (Boomer) were the only major cast members of the Original Series to reprise their roles in first nine episodes, with Dirk Benedict reprising his role as Starbuck in the last episode.
Short life
The series had a promising start with a three-hour adventure that saw Troy, Dillon and Hamilton sent back in time to Nazi Germany to save the future, but the series could not sustain this momentum. The series was unceremoniously canceled after only ten episodes, many of which were multi-part stories, or what would be referred to now as story arcs.
The final episode, "The Return of Starbuck," was aired on May 4th, 1980. The final episode featured the return of Dirk Benedict as Lt. Starbuck from the Original Series in a flashback episode, but it wasn't enough to save the series. Repeats were aired through August 17th; the series was replaced by repeats of Fantasy Island the following week.
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In the fall of 1979, ABC Television and Universal Television approached Glen A. Larson to bring back Galactica series, and all the parties agreed that the discovery of Earth would be a suitable vehicle for drawing back viewers. However, many of the actors had moved on to other roles, most of the sets had been struck, and the time available for completing the production before the proposed January 1980 airdate was short. Actors and production personnel who worked on Galactica 1980 describe a crazy shooting schedule that involved working on multiple episodes at the same time, last minute re-writes, and working days that extended well into the night.
As a result of having crews work overtime, the budget for the series continued to creep up in cost. That, in conjunction with ratings that went from historic highs with the first episode down to a dismal showing by April, spelled the early end of the program. [1]
Syndication and beyond
The ten series episodes were rolled into the television syndication package for Battlestar Galactica and were given the same title as its parent program. Some of the episodes were edited together to produce a VHS home video under the title Conquest of the Earth.
As of August 2006, the Sci-Fi Channel periodically airs the series. Very few out-of-print copies of Conquest of the Earth remain publicly on sale. Unlike its Original Series parent, "Galactica 1980" is not yet available in DVD format and is not included in the Original Series DVD collection.
The series suffered from what are now considered science fiction clichés. For some fans, the addition of the mysterious Doctor Zee, a prodigy child that serves as counsel to Adama, pushed their suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.
Troy, Hamilton and DillonMany fans see Galactica 1980 as a poor, non-canonical spin-off of the Original Series. Most fans exclude their contempt of this show when considering its last episode, "The Return of Starbuck," whose story of the fate of a popular character of the Original Series was well written and full of the same energy found in many of of the Original Series episodes.
This is the opening narration to Galactica 1980, spoken by Commander Adama.
"The great ship Galactica, our home for these many years. We've endured the wilderness of space, and now we near the end of our journey: we have at last found Earth."
