TV Trash: Galactica 1980

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https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20n2fn

Battlestar Galactica may be a legendary sci-fi series. But as Rowdy shows, the 1980 "second season" was legendarily horrible.

Galactica 1980. This sequel/spinoff of the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) series eliminated half the cast (including Apollo, Cassiopeia, and Baltar) without explanation, and replaced them with new characters that are not even remotely memorable or likable in the slightest, then attempted to pander to audiences with insipid plots involving a group of space children named "The Super Scouts". Good actors made complete fools of themselves - especially Lorne Greene, who was stuck talking to a child prodigy named Dr. Zee (who was recast with an even worse child actor after the first three-part episode) for most of the run. It featured what could be one of the worst episodes of a science-fiction series ever made, "Spaceball", in which the Super Scouts have to win a baseball game. The creators were forced to write stories that could be marketed to young children and shoehorn environmental messages into each one, mainly since the show was broadcast at 7:30 PM - a dead zone that killed any chance for success even if it had been worth watching. The writers themselves hated it, as every morning they would chant "come on 13" in reference to the highest rating the show could get and still be canned. Glen Larson had to deal with ABC's Standards and Practices, including their demands for more children, which in turn caused an influx of stage moms (the entire sordid story must be read to be believed). Other problems with the show include bad acting and terrible special effects (especially when two of the lead characters are riding on flying motorcycles, but they're very clearly just sitting on motorcycles in front of a green screen), but the show's biggest sin? It killed off the franchise for over 20 years until a reboot made it popular again. Here's TV Trash's review of the disaster.