Sick Product of a Sick System

Highly Overrated But Still Good

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

After the destruction of their home planets by a race of machine creatures known as "Cylons", a desperate group of human survivors manage to flee in a motley collection of space ships which are protected by their last major warship—the "Battlestar Galactica". Unfortunately, having already traveled a great distance, the Commander of the Battlestar Galactica, "Adama" (Lorne Greene) is informed that the flotilla is perilously close to running out of fuel. On top of that, two of his two best Viper pilots, "Captain Apollo" (Richard Hatch) and "Lieutenant Starbuck" (Dirk Benedict) are overdue from their latest patrol. It's at this time that long range scanners aboard the Galactica begin to pick up a strange mirror image of their own warship. But the image is too perfect to be just an ordinary mirror image. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie is essentially two and a half episodes of the television series, "Battlestar Galactica" (comprised of "The Living Legend, Part I", "The Living Legend, Part II" and "Fire in Space") all rolled into one. That being the case, those who are somewhat familiar with the television series should have few problems understanding the overall plot. Those unfamiliar with the show might miss a few nuances here and there but otherwise there really isn't anything too advanced or unusual for first-time viewers to be unable to understand. As far as the overall merits of the movie is concerned let me just say that this film is clearly dated as the CGI, while state-of-the-art at the time (1978), is clearly not in the same class as that seen today. Likewise, the acting was pretty standard and some of the dialogue seemed a bit too corny at times. But all things considered this isn't a bad movie and I rate it as about average—no more and no less.

Although others have commented that this video is just an edited version of the two shows: "Fire in Space" and "Living Legend", if you watch the original shows you'll find that dialogue from this video edition was edited out. I found this video version much better because scenes and lines were added to it. I would say if you want to see the show in its original version, see the video versions on VHS. They have more to offer the fan than the original episodes being offered on DVD now. Another good video is Conquest for the Earth, which had more scenes from Galactica 1980 than did the actual broadcasts themselves. Overall, I rate this as a 10 because it gives you more to enjoy than what the networks wanted to show in the time slot they gave the producers.

This movie is pretty good. Half a year ago, i bought it on DVD. But first i thought that it was the original film. I have seen the series and it is a good film, but here, they have put "The Living Legend,part1 and 2",and "Fire in space" together. The same as they did with the first film, but with other episodes. But still, it is a pretty good film. Only the ending is strange (you don't see what happens with the Pegasus). But I still think that it is pretty good. The actors and special effects were good. If you haven't seen it, go see it. Starring:Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Herb. Jefferson Jr., Tony Swartz, Terry Carter, Lloyd Bridges, Jack Stauffer.

Skip Mission: Galactica and watch the original Living Legend episodes instead. The network took parts 1 & 2 of Living Legend and jammed them into one plot with the awful Fire In Space episode. Although Galactica suffered from network-controlled writing and a lack of time to prepare for a proper production, Living Legend is the best of the 1978 TV series. Fire in Space, on its own, is one of the worst episodes. As a historical note, watch Galactica, the original Star Trek, and then the revival Trek series, and you'll see the difference in quality between network-produced sci-fi and syndicated sci-fi.