Billed as TV's most expensive series ever, Battlestar Galactica was derided by the critics and fought over by the lawyers, but still became a phenomenon. Forging the big finish, this series BEGAN with the virtual destruction of the human race. In a distant galaxy,the 12 colonial tribes of Man come together to end a 1000-year war with a robot race called Cylons. But the Cylons spring a trap, devastating the humans' home planets and attacking their vast battlestar spaceships. The remnants of mankind reassemble under the leadership of the final remaining battlestar, the Galactica, commanded by Adama, last member of the shattered colonial government. Forming a cumbersome caravan of some 220 assorted spacecraft, from shuttles to freighters, taxis to tankers, the survivors head off into deep space in search of the "lost" 13th colony - Earth. Naturally, the Cylons don't let it go at that and relentlessly pursue them through the galaxy. Aside from the paternalistic Adama, the series' other main characters were his son Apollo who led the Galactica' elite squadron of one-man Viper fighters; his handsome but impetuous buddy Starbuck; Adama's beautiful daughter Athena who was in charge of the ship's communications equipment; Starbuck's fancy, Cassiopeia; Adama's second in command, Colonel Tigh; Sergeant Boomer, fighter pilot pal of Apollo and Starbuck; Apollo's adopted son Boxey; and the villain of the piece, Count Baltar, a human traitor now in league with the Cylons. Battlestar Galactica was the subject of eager lawsuits from 20th Century Fox who complained it was a steal from Star Wars; for Apollo and Starbuck read Solo and Skywalker, for the Cylons read stormtroopers, for the Imperious Leader read Darth Vader, etc. Galactica creator Glen A. Larson claimed his script was in the pipeline before Star Wars came out, and that if anything it was a lift from the Bible, with Adama as Moses leading the lost tribe to the Promised Land, pursued by the Egyptians, sorry, Cylons. Others have called it Waggon Train in space, with the Cylons replacing the marauding Indians and Lorne Greene reprising his famous father figure role of Bonanza's Ben Cartwright. The ace up Galactica's sleeve was its dazzling special effects, masterminded by John Dykstra who also did the tricks for Star Wars. But impressive though these were, they were diminished by the small screen and ultimately proved an expensive substitute for the lack of convincing characters and imaginative plotting. By the time Battlestar Galactica reached British TV screens in 1980, American audiences had already seen off its successor, Galactica 1980. This was not shown due to UK reluctance to screen the series. ITV wanted to show it in 1979, hard on the heels of the American network, and with Star Wars still burning brightly in the hearts and minds of film fans. But Universal Studios insisted on a cinema release to squeeze precious box-office bucks from its costly $5 million pilot before the series could be screened in Britain and Europe. So it was that Battlestar Galactica finally reached UK screens in September 1980, starting in the London region, but its possible impact was dissipated by the lack of a network run. Other ITV regions were slow to follow. Some, for example, didn't show it until 1984, by which time Galactica 1980 had arrived elsewhere. Once ITV had had its turn, the BBC picked up the series for a BBC2 run in autumn 1987.
(This text was created from information from various Battlestar Galactica fan sites including WWW.KOBOL.COM)