My Thoughts on the Battlestar Galactica TV Movie!

So, yesterday, I hit my local favorite used book store, and decided to scan through their used DVD selection to see if I could find something to watch. The wife was out with her girls and it was just going to be me, some cheeseburgers and fries and my faithful pooch, Chewie. I was sort of in the mood for a classic comedy like Smokey & the Bandit or maybe Stripes. I didn't find either. But I did find this...

Since I picked up those vintage Battlestar Galactica comics last week, I've been interested in seeing the show again. I remember not being that into it when I was a kid, but that was mostly due to my parents being in control of the TV and me only getting to see it rarely. So I decided to give it a shot. Besides, this is what I believe to be the original made for TV movie, which I know I saw when I was a kid, so the nostalgia factor had the potential to be very high.

Holy crap, am I glad I watched this. It was like disco Star Wars! That was the funnest 2 hours I've spent watching a movie in a long time!

Yes, the sheer shameless ripping off of Star Wars was painfully obvious, but that acts as a testament to the climate of the American culture of the time. We were space-battle crazy and hungry for more, no matter how we got it. And out of all of the Star Wars rip-off movies/tv shows, I think Battlestar Galactica came the closest to creating something solidly entertaining.

Here are some of my knee-jerk thoughts...

The special effects of the ships flying through space were right up there with Star Wars. The star fields in the background occasionally looked a little too "star-filled" for my taste, but the ships were spectacular. I think this had a lot to do with them using Jon Dytkstra, who did a lot of the work for ILM on the Star Wars movies.

Even the battle scenes were pretty awesome. Lots of laser blasts and dogfights. I'd also like to take this time to note that both the Cylon ships and the X-Wing knock-offs that Starbuck and Apollo piloted were pretty awesome looking ships. I remember at least loving these as a kid and they still hold up.

Also, their weapons were badass. I really want a prop replica of their blaster pistols.

And while I'm at it, I might as well have a replica of their helmets. This helmet was a major point of nostalgia when I watched this. I totally remembered them and they really took me back.

Appollo and Starbuck were totally fun characters. I remember thinking as a kid that they were just Han and Luke wannabes, but I see that I was completely wrong; they were both Han.

The real unsung actor in this was Herbert Jefferson Jr. who played Boomer. This guy was the best actor in the movie!

I also learned that the kid who played the insufferable little whine-bag, Boxy, was also the same kid who played Atreyu in insufferable movie The Neverending Story. Huh... fitting.

Another thing that I noticed (well, something that I was always aware of but was reminded of) is that chicks in the 70s were hot.

I can't lie. Actress Maren Jensen, who played Apollo's sister, Athena, totally stole my heart. I looked her up on IMDB. Doesn't look like she's done much since which is too bad. She was crazy gorgeous!

This chick? Not crazy gorgeous.

Now, I've always loved Cylons. They were the one thing from the TV show that really made an impression on me. Yes, yes, they're pretty much a bunch of silver Darth Vaders acting like Stormtroopers, but whatever. They were hella shiny and carried swords.

Heck... let's just look at another picture of a Cylon. they just don't get old.

And in closing, I'll just say that something that stuck with me as a kid from Battlestar Gallactica that is clearly still in effect to this day, thanks to my "re-viewing' of the TV movie, is this; I totally want my own Daggit.