Galactica
“There are those who believe...that life here began out there, far across the Universe...with tribes of humans...who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians...or the Toltecs...or the Mayans...that they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids...or the lost civilizations of Lemuria...or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man...who even now fight to survive--somewhere beyond the heavens!”
– The Opening Narration of Galactica
In the wake of Moonshot Lunacy, and the success of Star Trek, in the late-1960s, many television writers and producers found themselves devising, and then pitching, science-fiction premises to network executives, eager to tap into the zeitgeist of the time. But very few of them saw lasting success; whether this was the result of inferior product or oversaturation, or perhaps a combination thereof, was difficult to determine. Copycat series, as was usually the case, tended to ape only the most superficial aspects of the pioneering success story, lacking both the thematic and allegorical cohesiveness of Star Trek, along with its emphasis on character development and interaction. Most of them also lacked the lavish budget of Star Trek, and therefore failed with even the basic and visceral accomplishment of creating an impressive or distinct look (and it certainly didn’t help that Desilu paid the best wages for propmasters, costume designers, background artists, and effects creators, and attracted commensurate talent in comparison to other studios). The only broadly science-fiction series to achieve a modicum of success were foreign imports (such as Doctor Who, which had been bolstered by American money, Desilu talent, and a crossover connection with Star Trek itself), and anthology series (including Desilu’s own The Night Gallery – which, although generally a horror series, often crossed that thin line into other genres of speculative fiction, and benefitted from recycled materials previously used in Star Trek). After Lost in Space had been cancelled in 1968, no American-made, serialized dramatic series other than Star Trek had managed to last for longer than one season.
Enter Glen A. Larson, a former singer-songwriter who had transitioned into television production in the 1960s. He was one of the many people who had developed a pitch in the wake of Star Trek and Moonshot Lunacy, but never went anywhere with his idea; that said, he refused to give up on it. And when it became clear that those pitches that were developed into series were dropping like flies, it gave Larson the opportunity to refine his own pitch; to analyze what had gone wrong with them, and how he could be spared the same fate. He scored a major coup when, in 1971, he secured the assistance of none other than Gene L. Coon, former Co-Executive Producer and showrunner of Star Trek itself, whom he would consult on this project until his death in 1973. But even with Coon’s involvement, Larson still found that he could not sell his pitch, because by now the “curse” of science-fiction series had been firmly established – even Star Trek saw its ratings fall in its fifth and final season, though it had rebounded nicely in syndication – and even the lustre of Moonshot Lunacy was in decline by this point. Larson would have to wait for the next big break – but he wouldn’t have to wait for long.
The breakthrough came from an unusual source: Moonraker, the latest James Bond film, very loosely adapted from the Ian Fleming novel of the same name, in order to capitalize on Moonshot Lunacy (which was in its death throes by the time the film itself would finally premiere in the summer of 1974). Moonraker was significant in many ways: it was a smash hit, and proved that science-fiction had “legs” beyond the circumstances of its recent rise in popularity. By this time, with the pedigree of Coon, and many years spent to refine his premise into a workable and desirable product, Larson was finally able to attract some substantive interest. MGM, who had plenty of studio space to build the vast number of sets required, not to mention an overall reasonably robust and profitable television division, agreed to produce the series. Coon would be credited as co-creator (as was the case with The Questor Tapes, though this was not challenged or resented as that decision was), with Larson alone receiving developer credit. [1]
Larson, like Roddenberry, had used his personal beliefs to inform the fictional universe that he had created; Larson, a Mormon, took the more universally Judeo-Christian ideas of the Exodus story and of Noah’s Ark to furnish his plot, tailoring them to fit his outer-space setting (and thus providing the working title for his project, Adama’s Ark) and buttressed the society he had created with customs borrowed specifically from the theology of the Latter-day Saint movement. Though he was obviously motivated to pay homage to his faith, there was also a nicely pragmatic reason for him to make this creative decision: Mormonism was not within the “mainstream” (except in concentrated areas, such as Utah), and therefore its rites and rituals would appear sufficiently “alien” to the average viewer. This continued a time-honoured tradition in 20th-century speculative fiction of “lifting” and “adapting” real-world culture for world-building purposes. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, had pioneered this technique.
The story of what had then been known as Adama’s Ark entailed the twelve colonies of a race explicitly established as human, though from a homeworld called “Kobol”. All twelve colonies were named for the signs of the Zodiac. [2] They formed a federated government called, simply, the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, and each colony had a single representative in a governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve (one of the more prominent Mormon trappings in the story). Each of these colonies represented an ancient tribe from the planet Kobol; there had actually been thirteen, but the last of these was said to have travelled to a distant planet called “Earth”, far from both Kobol and the Twelve Colonies. The Colonies had fought a centuries-long war with a roboticized opponent race known as the Cylons. After a long-term deadlock, the Cylons feigned a cease-fire, before double-crossing the Colonials and laying waste to their civilization, destroying their military and killing billions of inhabitants. The only people to escape were a “rag-tag” bunch of colonists, numbering in the tens of thousands (out of tens of billions), in only a few hundred spaceworthy ships of the former Colonial Fleet, seeking out the fabled “lost colony” of Earth. The flagship of this fleet was the line-of-battle starship (or battlestar) Galactica, which would eventually lend its name to the title of the series; executives had deemed Adama’s Ark far too clunky and on-the-nose, compared to the elegance and evocative power of, simply, Galactica. [3]
Meanwhile, NBC had been planning on cancelling Doctor Who, whose ratings had continued to decline despite the resurgence of popular interest in science fiction; they finally pulled the plug in March of 1975, having already devised a plan for its replacement by then. Knowing that they needed a replacement “tentpole” series in the genre (as both Doctor Who and the preceding Star Trek had always done phenomenally well with younger viewers), they approached the studio and commissioned the pilot, though they balked at the price tag. $3 million for a three-hour pilot movie, or $1 million per hour, was over triple what had been spent on the grand finale of Star Trek, a proven property, not five years before. This endeavour would also consume an entire day in their primetime schedule. A compromise figure of $2.5 million soon emerged, and the pilot movie (airing in early 1975) would count as the “dry-run” toward any series, which if successful would then premiere in the 1975-76 season (and that initial investment would then be measured against it). Like Star Trek, many elements of tone and style were borrowed from World War II; indeed, the similarities were much stronger in Galactica, given the primary setting of what was essentially an aircraft carrier (the USS Enterprise, by comparison, had seemed utterly devoid of both fighter craft and space marines).
Much of the budget for the Galactica pilot movie was devoted to filming special effects footage, which was farmed out to – where else? – Desilu Post-Production, whose parent studio fortunately had a good working relationship with MGM (even though Lucille Ball had worked for RKO). The idea was that as much footage as possible would be shot for the pilot movie, and would then be reused in the episodes proper, to keep costs down. Star Trek itself had often recycled effects in its earlier seasons (indeed, rising budgets in the later ones were devoted largely to the filming of new effects, along with raises in actor salaries). Ratings for the pilot were good, though critical opinions were mixed. It was still enough for NBC to green-light the show for a regular network berth. Surprisingly enough (though perhaps not so much, given the network’s history with science-fiction programming), Galactica emerged a solid performer, finishing in the Top 30 during its first season. However, it was hardly a smash, and the per-episode cost was over $500,000, making it the most expensive show in primetime. [4] But despite the obscene costs of production, the Peacock Network reluctantly consented to go forward on a second season, hoping that the show’s popularity with younger audiences would pay additional dividends, given the neck-and-neck three-way battle in the Nielsens…
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[1] IOTL, Battlestar Galactica was produced by Universal Television. (This may have been due to Coon, who joined Universal after leaving Star Trek, which he did not do ITTL.) Note also that Coon was not credited in any official capacity for his contributions to Battlestar Galactica IOTL, but is ITTL thanks to his (slightly) greater longevity and reputation. This, of course, means that two shows created by Coon premiered after his death. Believe it or not, this has happened IOTL, to someone very close to this timeline…
[2] IOTL, the planet that should rightly have been named for Cancer was instead called “Orion”, because of the negative connotations of that word. ITTL, the word “Cancri” (the possessive or genitive form of the word “cancer”, used in naming stars within that constellation) is used instead.
[3] As opposed to Battlestar Galactica, the OTL title, chosen because executives demanded that the word “star” be part of the title (given the twin successes of Star Trek and Star Wars). ITTL, aping Star Trek too closely has come to be seen as a problem by the mid-1970s, and therefore those in charge are more likely to avoid the word “star” (and the word “trek”, for that matter – except perhaps in South Africa, where television is only gradually being phased in at this time).
[4] Famously, Battlestar Galactica was the first show to break the seven-figure threshold IOTL, though it did not do so consistently (the pilot – produced as part of the first season IOTL – cost far more than the rest of the season, and averages tend to chase extremes). Excluding the pilot, my figure is actually relatively close to reality.
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So now we know a little more about Galactica ITTL! It’s largely the same as the OTL version, though with a (slightly) different name, a different production company, a different network, and (most importantly) a second season! We’ll hear more about the show in future overview updates.