History Series / BattlestarGalacticaClassic

** Another involved Starbuck getting drafted as the local Sheriff (which will get him killed the next time the [[UnfortunateImplications local Indian-equivalents]] attack). They get out of both problems by TakingAThirdOption.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The three main ladies in the cast - though Sheba's not actually a redhead, just a shade between Cassie's and Athena's.

* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Seraphs are this to the Colonists. Interestingly, the Colonists regard the Seraphs as exactly this - technologically advanced aliens.
* SupernaturalAid: The Seraphs and their Silver-Crystal Cityship.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Part of the reason why ''Galactica 1980'' was such a disaster. The show was originally supposed to be based around TimeTravel stories, as seen in the three-part pilot. The network on the other hand thought that science fiction should appeal primarily to kids, and so forced the producers drop the time travel aspect, have children making up over half the main cast (resulting in the Super Scouts), and give the series a primarily educational focus.
** The requirement for an educational focus was partially due to the decision to air the show in a time slot that basically required it. Now, if they hadn't decided it was a kids show, things might have been different...

* ExecutiveMeddling: The series was originally envisioned as a series of "special event" TV movies rather than a regular weekly series. The earliest episodes reflect this, since they are two-parters made from scripts originally intended to be TV movies. When the pilot was such a hit and the series was changed to a weekly series instead its production values began to suffer. Stock footage of the expensive starship special effects was overused and episode scripts became more conventional, sometimes obvious re-workings of westerns.

* DevelopmentHell: the Bryan Singer [[BigDamnMovie movie]].

Television's supposed first attempt to cash in on the popularity of ''StarWars'' (and hilariously, Lucasfilm tried to sue). Originally called ''Adam's Ark'', this 1978 Glen Larson production fused a WagonTrainToTheStars gimmick to a dose of Von Danikenite "AncientAstronauts" atmosphere and a dash of Mormon theology. The result was a SpaceOpera with unsupported pretensions to a MythArc that was noteworthy for a number of television firsts: first SF series set in a spacecraft with sets that didn't look like they were built from cardboard and drywall, first TV series to cost a million dollars per episode, and the first primetime series to recycle StockFootage so much that ''everyone'' noticed it.

* InstrumentalThemeTune: a full symphonic suite, one of the things inviting comparison to ''StarWars''. Was recycled as the National Anthem in the revised series.

At the end of a long, genocidal war between the twelve colony worlds of humanity and a race of robots called the Cylons, there finally appears to be a hope for peace. But the supposed end of the war is nothing more than a trap; humanity is almost completely wiped out when Cylon treachery (and a human traitor) catches them almost completely unawares. The survivors gather together to form a "rag-tag fugitve fleet" of refugees under the protection of the last remaining battlestar (the humans' most powerful class of space battleship), and flee Cylon-controlled space. Their goal is a legend -- a lost thirteenth colony world, known as "Earth", which they hope can help them stand against the pursuing cybernetic enemy.

* PlanetTerra: Subverted. [[spoiler:Despite multiple layers and episodes of teasing ("Terra" being a Geminese term for "Earth", the Terran political situation being based on the ColdWar), the planet called Terra turns out to NOT be Earth.]]

* TimeTravel: Xavier makes a HeelTurn to implement his alternative to Adama and Zee's plan -- travel back to WorldWarII Germany to induce StupidJetpackHitler.

* WholePlotReference: Several, including "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero" (''Film/TheGunsOfNavarone'').

* TimeTravel: Xavier makes a HeelTurn to implement his alternative to Adama and Zee's plan -- travel back to WorldWarII Germany to induce StupidJetpackHitler.

In the face of a massive write-in campaign, the executives decided to ReTool the series into a less expensive spinoff, and so ''Galactica'' was promptly resurrected as '''''Galactica 1980''''', starring an older Boxey (now "Troy") as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute substitute for]] Apollo. The Galactica and its fleet finally reached Earth, only to lead the Cylons away while agents led by Troy tried to uplift Earth science to Colonial standards while maintaining a {{Masquerade}}. This revival proved grossly unpopular and was cancelled after only a handful of episodes. To this day, fans of the original series [[FanonDiscontinuity prefer to treat]] ''[[FanonDiscontinuity Galactica 1980]]'' [[FanonDiscontinuity as though it had never existed]], and novels and comics based on the original series continuity [[CanonDiscontinuity ignore it.]]

* AliensStealCable: how Dr. Zee finds out about Earth cultures.

* BigApplesauce: in the episode, "The Night the Cylons Landed".
* CanonDisContinuity: for the continuation comics and novels, at least.
* CultureClash: invokes FridgeLogic since Dr. Zee is monitoring Earth's transmissions.

* InnocentAliens: played straight ''and'' averted.

* TimeTravel

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** Being ThePatriarch again, are you [[{{Bonanza}} Pa Cartwright]]?
** [[Franchise/{{Emergency}} Johnny Gage]] in the two-part episode "Greeting from Earth" as Michael, one of the Terrans escaping from the Eastern Alliance.
** [[{{V}} Martin]] in "Murder on the Rising Star" as Ortega, an archrival of Starbuck whom the latter was framed for murdering.
** [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Commander Kor]] as Baltar.
** [[LostInSpace Dr. Smith]] as the voice of Lucifer.
** FredAstaire (the famed movie dancer) as Chameleon, [[spoiler: Starbuck's father.]]
** [[Series/TheAvengers John Steed]] as Count Iblis, the voice of the Cylon Imperious Leader, and provider of the opening narration above.

In the face of a massive write-in campaign, the executives decided to ReTool the series into a less expensive spinoff, and so ''Galactica'' was promptly resurrected as ''Galactica 1980'', starring an older Boxey (now "Troy") as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute substitute for]] Apollo. The Galactica and its fleet finally reached Earth, only to lead the Cylons away while agents led by Troy tried to uplift Earth science to Colonial standards while maintaining a {{Masquerade}}. This revival proved grossly unpopular and was cancelled after only a handful of episodes. To this day, fans of the original series [[FanonDiscontinuity prefer to treat]] ''[[FanonDiscontinuity Galactica 1980]]'' [[FanonDiscontinuity as though it had never existed]], and novels and comics based on the original series continuity [[CanonDiscontinuity ignore it.]]

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt

* FatherToHisMen: Adama.

* HeadInTheSandManagement: President Adar, with disastrous results.

*** As part of the lawsuit settlement with LucasFilm, BG was prohibited from showing hand weapons that shot visible bolts on-screen. The space combat scenes were not so limited, for whatever reason. Thus ironically making BG's hand-lasers more realistic than Lucas's blaster weapons.

** Another involved Apollo getting drafted as the local Sheriff (which will get him killed the next time the [[UnfortunateImplications local Indian-equivalents]] attack). He gets out of both problems by TakingAThirdOption.

** [[{{Emergency}} Johnny Gage]] in the two-part episode "Greeting from Earth" as Michael, one of the Terrans escaping from the Eastern Alliance.

* DeadpanSnarker: In one episode when Baltar is attacking Galactica while Pegasus is pulling round, his cylon pilot says, "I really think you should take a look at the other battlestar."

* SpaceWestern: In one episode, Apollo had a ''walk-down gunfight'' with a rogue Cylon.

* RecycledInSPACE: Many episodes were blatant retreads of popular movies, frequently Westerns, right down to their titles.