Techtite Feature Article!

"It was quite unorthodox to introduce a well- developed character, only to kill her off five hours into the series."

---from the article

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The Littler Details. While not worthy of a Top Ten List, there were even more little things that made Galactica anjoyable:

---the spaceships. Consider how the Cylons have very basic craft, while the entire fleet of human ships is very elaborate and imaginatively designed.

---Athena (Maren Jensen), a fighter pilot and warrior who oddly enough was never given much to do in this series, yet was an intriguing character nonetheless. It also helped that this blue-eyed brunette looked a lot like Jacklyn Smith over at Charlie's Angels, who to many fans was the best "Angel" of all.

---Colonel Tigh and Adama had a very believable dynamic on the bridge of the Galactica. You really got the feeling that these two old war dogs had been best friends through many battles throughout their lives.

---Call me a diehard computer nut, but check out those 1970's style computers! Sure, this is supposedly an advanced race of humans, and yet it's believable that a bunch of humans at war for many millennia wouldn't adapt their PC's to play video games, as much as simply display battle data.

---Cassiopeia has to be quite frankly the first "hooker with a heart of gold" cliché ever implemented (albeit dragged kicking and screaming!) into a science fiction series.

Then Again... This isn't meant to be a fanboy rant. There were many reasons why this series deserved a mere one-season run. To see the negative Top Ten List on this matter, click here. 

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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Sure, there were bad parts of Battlestar Galactica (as mentioned in this story's sister article), but there were good parts too; accept it. Why else would Sci-fi channel attempt a remake of the series, 25 years after the fact? This was a series that only lasted one season, yet has developed in that quarter-century a fan base that's larger than most sci-fi shows that lasted 4 times longer. What is it about this particular 1978 series, to gain such support...? Here is one former ten-year-old's Top Ten List of "The Little Details," that make this show's fandom tick:

The Cylons. The penultimate robot opponents ever made for television sci-fi. With their chrome armor and Cyclops-style red sentry "eye" and mechanical voices, these weren't robots trying to be human. They were robots proud to be robots.

The Orchestral Soundtrack. It’s uncommon for any series to put so much effort into its background music. This series was the exception, and its opening theme, incidental music, and even the music during the end credits, were all the better for it. Who can forget the trumpets blaring in opening credits, as if every last remaining human was ready to kick more cylon butt? This was cool theme music...even to this very day.

Starbuck. Obviously intended from the very beginning as "TV’s Han Solo," Starbuck may not have been a space pirate, but he was still the roughhousing rogue. Sure, his shenanigans were a bit sexist, though hey; it was the 1970's!

Boxey...a sci-fi kid, who wasn’t terribly annoying? With all due respects to Billy Mumy; this is extremely rare. Star Trek in particular seemed to attract badly-acted brats like moths to a flame. However, I think what kept Boxey from similar obnoxiousness was in how he was never overwritten to be precocious or a spoiled brat or even a child genius. He was a kid who simply wanted to be a kid.

Jane Seymour gets killed 5 hours into the series! It was quite unorthodox to introduce a well-developed character, only to kill her off five hours into the series. True, in the "real world" Jane Seymour wanted off the show, having only signed on for a much shorter mini-series. However, her impromptu death wound up giving the appearance that anything goes in this series. No "red shirts" here; any major character could die in the blink of an eye! This enhanced the suspense factor even more.

The Boomer/Starbuck/Apollo Team. Many shows have a trio or quartet of women who are the best of friends, and yet I can't think of many shows with a trio of men who are best friends. This was a nice dynamic for the series; sort of like "3 Musketeers." All for one, and one for all.

Come on; who wouldn’t want a giant robot dog? I'm just sayin'...

Lorne Greene as Adama. Sure, ever since Star Trek there’s been a desire to make exploring outer space not unlike the "old west". What better way to implement that dynamic, by placing the star of Bonanza in a lead role? Smart move.

The ancient Egyptian/Grecian/Roman theme. While Stargate SG-1 would inevitably use this concept with more vigor, Galactica got its strength from the belief that these human colonies were related to us via ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece; they had the same principles as these ancient civilizations, yet had kept true to these beliefs for millennia, even up to "modern day." There were the names (Apollo, Athena, Cassiopeia), the Egyptian pilot headgear, and hey don't miss those pyramid skyscrapers on Caprica. This was one of the most important aspects of the series; the one that made the show so unique.

and last though not least:

The Colonial Viper blasting off into space! 1970's sci-fi always had that one FX shot that made the show. From The Six Million Dollar Man’s slow-motion "da-da-da-da-da" bionic moves, to Wonder Woman’s spiraling into her costume with a flash, there was little not to like about 1970's FX, no matter how low budget. However, it’s the small, one-man Colonial Viper space jets blasting into space through their launch tubes, that was the penultimate FX shot in its day. How cool would it be to blast into space in a launch tube no larger than the ship you’re flying in, with the only sound effect being the sudden jet stream roar from your three main engines? They must’ve shown this singular FX shot in every single episode...and for good reason.

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