BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SAGA OF A STAR WORLD: CELEBRATING FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF 'MISSION: GALACTICA

Saturday, 2 August 2025

CELEBRATING FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF 'MISSION: GALACTICA - THE CYLON ATTACK'!

Back in 1979, I was aware that the Battlestar Galactica saga was already a successful series in the US, but so far the British Thames/ITV channel that had purchased the one season run had had, at that time, some kind of delay in airing it, presumably because Universal/CIC were about to launch a second adventure on big screens - soon great news to this eager near ten-year old and I'm sure many many other fans like myself around the country. Mission: Galactica - The Cylon Attack was blasting its way to us, bringing us all-new action and all-new additional characters that would make an impact on the saga!

Though I'm sure I recall seeing poster promotions on selected red London buses about town, as well as the obvious Tube station publicity, plus promos in teen related magazine titles like Look-In and 2000AD on the actual release, as far as I was aware there was very little early publicity for the theatrical run - my mum and I literally found out about the movie whilst shopping in the West End and talking to someone at the Empire Leicester Square when we saw the coming soon poster outside of it. Once again, we would soon experience Galactica's second 'movie' in the seat-rumbling Sensurround experience they had there by release time, literally opening mere weeks before the return of the Star Wars saga with The Empire Strikes Back, which we'd also go on to see in the West End at the opposite Odeon Leicester Square. It was clear that Universal were trying to cash-in quick with their own sci-fi hit before Lucas's release, of which they still needed to make money back on the series enormous production costs of the time, but I didn't care, it was just great to have the mighty Battlestar and its heroes and villains back on the big screen, and would prove such a nostalgic experience!

And my thoughts on the film at the time? Well it was very enjoyable - I always liked Lloyd Bridges as the unflappable and bold Cain, was surprised by the return of John Colicos as Count Baltar, and the spectacular Cylon kamikaze attack was impressive, a sequence which I later discovered was culled from another series episode and not specifically shot for the film. The reuse of footage from the original theatrical adventure of 1978 was noticeable and irked a bit, exemplified by the Cylon Tanker sequence (albeit with new space battle action woven around it) and the Ovion minefield of Carillon, but, to compensate, there were thankfully some noticeable new effects shots added to the film from Universal Heartland that were much appreciated - I remember loving the Viper strafing run on the shocked Cylon civilians in their city (part of some great action on Gamoray, of which I also certainly liked Sheba and Cassie in their black outfits!) plus certain exciting shots in the space battles against the Cylon Raiders. I wore my Galactica poster art jacket with pride at the cinema that afternoon on school holiday!

From the debut of the legendary Commander Cain and Sheba, to the bold attack on Gamoray, enjoy our Forty-Fifth Anniversary celebrations for Mission: Galactica - The Cylon Attack!