Trivia / Galactica 1980

• Creator Backlash: It's famously noted that the creators of the show hated it, even at the time. Perhaps the most famous story is that the writers would actively cheer if the show started getting bad ratings. Even Glen A. Larson, the series creator, was originally going to reveal that everything that happened in this show was all just a bad dream Starbuck was having, as mentioned on the main page.
• Executive Meddling: The series had to deal with this constantly. Its spot in the day-to-day schedule caused it to be labeled as a "kid's show" by the network, forcing them to work kid-friendly Aesops into every episode along with a cast full of unprofessional kids, stage moms, and teachers that insisted that they were from on high when they told the show's executives something. The show's ABC censor also apparently saw something wrong with everything, making production almost impossible. She even had problem with the mention of meatballs in one episode, thinking that it was some kind of innuendo. The director got her back for this, sprinkling several more meatball jokes throughout the rest of the episode and its second part.
• Follow the Leader: The lower gravity of Earth giving the colonials increased strength and agility was almost certainly inspired by the then-hugely successful Superman: The Movie.
• Franchise Killer: Temporarily. The series met utterly scathing reviews and was hated by its own writers, to the point where they were actively hoping its ratings would fall far enough for ABC to cancel it (it ultimately took them ten episodes). Two attempts were made in the late '90s to revive the show, one by Richard Hatch with a thirty-minute Pilot Movie called The Second Coming that would've disregarded the series, the other a feature film by Glen A. Larson that would've kept it in continuity; ultimately, the decision was made to reboot the show instead.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: This show was originally to be more straightforward and dramatic, similar to its predecessor. However, a limited budget, along with the network scheduling the show to air in a timeslot reserved for family friendly, educational, and information themed shows, resulted in a drastic overhaul of the show's format, thus alienating fans of the original series.
• Real-Life Relative: Some of the kids who played the Super Scouts were the real-life children of series creator and executive producer Glen A. Larson.
• Troubled Production: To say this show was doomed from the start is an understatement.
• Unfinished Episode: The series was cancelled during production of episode 11, "The Day They Kidnapped Cleopatra", which remained unfinished.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The series was originally to focus on Commander Xavier travelling through time to disrupt Earth history, with Captain Troy and Lieutenant Dillon chasing him as they try to restore proper Earth history. While this concept was scrapped, one of people involved with the show, one Donald P. Bellisario, held onto the concept for later.
  • Aside from Adama and Boomer, the series was to originally include Apollo, Starbuck, and Baltar, with the remaining original characters excluded for budgetary reasons. Dirk Benedict was unavailable (aside from his guest appearance in the last episode), and Richard Hatch turned it down, unclear on what Apollo's role would be in the revised format. As a result, Apollo and Starbuck were re-written as Troy and Dillon, with Kent McCord and Barry Van Dyke cast in the roles, respectively, largely due to their resemblances to Hatch and Benedict. The reformatting also resulted in he creation of Commander Xavier to replace Baltar as a regular villain.

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