CLASSIC ART: THE UNIVERSE OF 'GALACTICA'!

A rare and intriguing piece of official Galactica series/cast art that I've never seen before, credited for use by ABC TV for publicity. If anyone knows anymore about it, or who the artist was, please get in touch...

CLASSIC IMAGE: ATHENA AND ME!

Back in the day, Starlog magazine did a lovely interview with the glorious Maren Jensen during the start of her time working on Galactica, and her hopes for the future. Here are a few of the outtake images of the ever-lovely actress from the posed Universal Studios/ABC TV publicity shoot that the magazine was originally given access to.

CLASSIC MEDIA: GETTING WEIRD WITH 'WEIRD WORLDS'!

The arrival of the trailblazing Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica States-side saw the debut of many all-new cash-in magazines celebrating their impact in cinema and on TV, alongside articles on other classics of the genre like the original Star Trek, The Outer Limits, and many Gerry Anderson productions. Weird Worlds made Galactica their launch launch cover (with a rare image) back in 1978, but did it ever make it to a second issue?

CELEBRATING FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF 'THE GUN ON ICE PLANET ZERO'!

Our heroes captured by the Cylons, in this great posed publicity image for The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, taken on the studio backlot of Universal Studios in 1978.

'The Guns of Navarone in space', that was how many fans and critics of the original Battlestar Galactica series described this terrific and effects ambitious two-part story, The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, which premiered on US ABC TV in late 1978 and saw the Galactica and her rag-tag fleet in the targeting sights of a massive Cylon-controlled pulsar weapon located on the ice planet world of Arcta, unless it can be stopped by a unique demolitions team led by Captain Apollo and Lt. Starbuck.

Originally planned as a feature-length TV movie to have followed Saga of a Star World, Gun ultimately became an extended two-part version with some fascinating additions/ deletions/re-shoots to the originally filmed story by a changing production team. As we finish the celebratory year of the classic series, I thought it would be a great idea to concentrate fully on this particular special story and reveal what the originally crafted version looked like before the changes, via all the info/imagery sources available to me. 

I hope site readers enjoy this fascinating journey, with daily blogs starting from August 26th up to November, 2023...

CLASSIC IMAGE: BACK ON THE BRIDGE!

One of the most expensive sets ever created for television at that time, and one of the costliest to maintain what with its all its electronic requirements, the fully-functional onscreen Galactica bridge remains one of the iconic sets of not just this series but of US TV science fiction series in general.

An ambitious press launch for the series on the bridge set.

With such a pedigree added to the series, its no surprise that Universal and the series producers were keen to make the most of the set in terms of promotion, and they were successful in their results in the lead-up to the Star Wars on TV event, as the press would originally describe it! 

Enjoy below's special promo featuring unused or alternate footage linked to the pilot, including the Imperious Leader voiced by an unknown actor, who wasn't Ted Cassidy or Patrick Macnee!

Magazine scans of Tekweek linked to the creation of the Bridge set and publicity for the new series... 

From The Portland Rose Festival Friday June 2nd 1978 - Tekweek article.

A look at the original 1978 filming supervised by Saga director Richard A. Colla on the Galactica bridge set.