battlestar galactica be often dismiss a one of the most expensive turkey in television history . label a shameless star war rip off and the show explode on to tv screen in the late 70 and only to peter out in it first season after audience tire of increasingly lame script apparently build around the re use of expensive effect footage . but to a generation of kid who could only tear themselves away from their star war action figure for the weekly adventure of apollo and starbuck and it be the real deal . now and like star trek before it and the much malign series look set for a possible revival and with ongoing fan interest stir rival camp to vie for production right for a new series or cinema version . battlestar galactica be initially a major rating success when it debut in 1978 with a pilot episode detail the destruction of human civilisation by the robotic cylons chrome plat disco stormtroopers with metallic voice that be the last word in casio home synthesiser effect . lorne greene a adama effectively reprise his patriarchal leader role from bonanza and lead the wretched remnant of human civilisation a they flee their mechanical oppressor in search of refuge on a lose planet call earth . richard hatch play his son apollo and while a scene steal dirk bennedict play his roguish friend starbuck . the two blow wave heartthrob be clearly mould on luke skywalker and han solo and but work brown velvet in a way their cinema counterpart never could . early plotlines involve mass starvation and political corruption and class division and religious fanaticism effectively detail the desperate plight of the refugee and catch the imagination of viewer . but when the pilot episode win huge rating and the full length series that be hastily rush into production abandon such complex and gritty storyline for more puerile script that inevitably involve lot of re use clip of explosion . character development largely go out the window . blonde vixen cassiopeia ( laurette spang ) and introduce in the pilot a a prostitute rescue from a baying refugee mob by starbuck and be inexplicably reassign a a nurse and a generic love interest . a disgruntled jane seymour apparently demand that her character and serina and be shoot dead by a cylon at the first possible opportunity . her wish be grant in the fourth episode and leave fan wish that her son and boxey and his yap mechanical dog and muffet and have also fall under cylon sword . human traitor baltar and who have be so satisfyingly hack to death by his cylon ally in the cinema version of the pilot and be the subject of an absurd plot alteration that saw him lead the genocidal robot in their quest to finish off humanity . john collicos camp it up a baltar and chew through his ridiculous dialogue with occassional style . baltar queeny power struggle with his lieutenant and lucifer a bitchy robot with an impressive wardrobe of cape be an ongoing feature of the series . amid the recycled dog fight and budget saving plotlines that involve character be regularly strand on backward planet that inevitably resemble earth and several excellent episode be produce that have maintain fan interest to this day . lloyd bridge put in a star turn a the war monger commander cain and patrick mcnee appear a a seductive alien who be probably satan . despite occasional dramatic flourish and the often puerile plotlines alienate advertiser friendly demographic . the show be ax at the end of it first season and leave the storyline unresolved and a generation of kid feel rip off . many more be tempt the following year with the appearance of galactica 1980 and a ultra cheap bastardisation of the original show detail the arrival of the refugee on a contemporary earth . it fail to attract even the very young demographic it be aim for . twenty year later and actor richard hatch and series creator glen a. larson and the sci fi channel be all work on separate galactica proposal . although copywrite issue continue to cloud the possibility of a revival and many fan will retain their fond childhood memory of this much malign show .