Line #41 Series/BattlestarGalactica1978


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12	->''"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. 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..."''
13
14	(For the rebooted 2000s series, see ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''.)
15
16	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 fugitive 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.
17
18	Television's supposed first attempt to cash in on the popularity of ''Franchise/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.
19
20	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 ''Series/{{Galactica 1980}}'', starring an older Boxey (now "Troy") as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute substitute for]] Apollo.
21
22	----
23	!!''Battlestar Galactica'' provides examples of the following tropes:
24
25	* AcePilot: Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, Jolly, Greenbean, Cree, and Sheba. If you aren't a BridgeBunny, good chance, you're an Ace.
26	* AerithAndBob: Siblings Miri and Kyle in "The Young Lords".
27	* AggressiveNegotiations: Count Baltar arranged a peace treaty between the 12 Colonies and the Cylons. The Colonies sent five Battlestars to the conference, leaving the Colonies completely undefended. The Cylons carried out a massive attack on both the Battlestars and the colonies, almost completely wiping out both.
28	* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Justified with the Colonial outposts the Rag-tag Fleet encountered earlier; becomes blatant with the Terrans, who were explicitly ''not'' Colonial, but whose only problem communicating with the main cast is not understanding [[{{Microts}} what a "centon" is]].
29	* AmazonBrigade: The Viper pilots are laid low with space flu, and the (all female) barely trained shuttle pilots must step up. Chauvinism is largely averted: Apollo and Starbuck are suspicious of their experience level, not their sex. They are not the elite forces that Amazon Brigades usually are, but they are better than expected for a bunch of brand new pilots. Mysteriously, few of the woman warriors are shown in that role, despite the desperate need for Viper pilots, but they do appear sometimes.
30	* AncientAstronauts: The Thirteenth Tribe is implied to have settled the real Earth, with several pieces of Colonial culture resembling Earth artifacts, like the Viper pilots' vaguely Egyptian-styled helmets. The advanced aliens encountered in "War of the Gods" resemble Mormon angels.
31	* ApocalypseHow: During a peace conference in which there was to be a truce with the Cylons, Baltar sold out the 12 Colonies, and as a result the Colonies were mostly destroyed along all of the other Battlestars[[note]]except for the Galactica, of course, but one episode reveals that the Pegasus had also survived.[[/note]].
32	%%* AppliedPhlebotinum: Applied quite generously, in fact
33	* AristocratsAreEvil: Almost any Sire or Siress is of high-brow low-moral character, and both of the Counts (Baltar and Iblis) are pure Evil. The Sires who aren't evil are useless or obstructive, with roughly two exceptions, both Siresses.
34	* ATeamFiring: The Colonial Warriors and the Cylons are not very good shots while on the ground. Case in point the pilot episode where they're standing three yards away from each other on a narrow bridge and fail to hit one another.
35	* BarFullOfAliens: the Tucana Sisters' bar has a mostly non-human clientele.
36	* BattleCouple: Apollo and Serina, his wife, for one two-part episode. She [[spoiler:[[CartwrightCurse dies heroically, mostly to get her out of the way.]]]]
37	* TheBattlestar: TropeNamer. The ''Galactica'' and her sister ships carry large fighter complements as well as weapons capable of taking out a Cylon Basestar.
38	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: [[spoiler:Serina]] gets shot and dies in the medical bay, but looks like a beauty queen throughout.
39	* BigBad: The Cylons' Imperious Leader, both the first [[LegacyCharacter and]] second one.
40	* BloodKnight: Cain. He is effectively Film/{{Patton}} RecycledInSpace.
41	* BloodlessCarnage: For all the laser fire and explodium, there's hardly a drop of blood or burn mark.
42	* BrightIsNotGood:
43	** The Cylons wear (or are made of) bright shiny armor.
44	** Count Iblis, evil incarnate, wears shining white robes.
45	* CallARabbitASmeerp:
46	** They don't have dogs, they have ''daggits''.
47	** They don't play poker, they play ''pyramids.'' Which is sometimes like poker and sometimes like blackjack.
48	** It's not basketball or hockey, it's "Triad." Confusingly, the 2000s version called it "Pyramid," and the card game "Triad."
49	** They don't spend dollars or Deutschmarks, they spend ''cubits.'' Which are rectangular coins.
50	** Inverted in "Greetings from Earth" when the Terrans mention a wolfpack and a bear, and the Colonists have no idea what they are (a lupus pack and ursine, obviously!).
51	* {{Calvinball}}: The card game Pyramid and the sport Triad. As mentioned above in CallARabbitASmeerp, Pyramids in general seemed to bounce back between a derivative of poker and one of blackjack.
52	* CampaignComic: not exactly, but arguably a prototype of this sort of comic was created by Marvel. A Paperback of the pilot movie was published by using stills from the film with comic-style text balloons for the dialogue.
53	* TheCaptain: Commander Adama, who ends up essentially being the leader of the entire "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of survivors from the Colonies.
54	* CaptainsLog: Read into a log computer with voice recognition.
55	* CatchPhrase: "By your command.", spoken by the Cylons, when acknowledging a superior officer.
56	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder:
57	** Count Baltar. In "Lost Planet of the Gods", he tries to get into a position to backstab either the Cylons, the Rag-Tag Fleet, or ''both at once'' -- and not even the audience is sure where he actually wants to aim the knife. It all ends with him pinned under rubble at the bottom of a Space-Egyptian pyramid when both sides refuse to trust him.
58	** Commander Cain. In order to have his way, he destroys needed fuel tankers to force Adama to attack a base. Adama calls him on this, everyone expects him to backstab again, and no one is surprised when he disobeys orders again in a later attack.
59	%%* ClipShow
60	* ComicBookAdaptation: Creator/MarvelComics published an adaptation of the original TV movie, and then (unusually for most comics based on TV series) went on to adapt some of the early episodes as well before branching into original stories (the comic ran for nearly two years, outliving the TV series). Creator/RobLiefeld produced a short-lived series in the 1990's (complete with tie-in action figures of the characters molded in his art style). Dynamite Comics later published comics based on the classic series alongside its adaptations of the remake.
61	%%* ComingInHot: TropeNamer
62	* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: Planets are usually pretty close together, and the Colonial homeworlds were, apparently, all in one star system.
63	%%* CoolSpaceship: The Battlestar Galactica.
64	%%** The Vipers and the Cylon Raiders, as well.
65	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: to the Nth degree, and amped up even more with the Seraphs, who inhabit a space city of crystal and wear glittering robes.
66	* CyberCyclops: The Cylons, with their constantly scanning one red eye. IL-Series Cylons have two scanning red eyes.
67	%%* DaddysGirl: Sheba.
68	* DancesAndBalls: In one episode the colonists shake their disco funk with hand-held cords, in another they have a slightly more formal hand meeting dance.
69	* 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."
70	* DeathRay: Blasters, which shot a quick, invisible beam of energy. Much like real, laser pistol-like devices. 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.
71	* DemotedToExtra: Athena ends up getting this treatment. She starts out as a BridgeBunny, but is only sometimes shown on the bridge after the pilot. Then she's used as part of a triangle with Starbuck and Cassiopeia, but that plot is dropped fast. The only time after this she's given any significant screen time is when she's one of the characters trapped in the fire during "Fire In Space." Late season, she spends her time, apparently, as a school teacher. This was reportedly due to the producers' lack of interest in coaching Maren Jensen, who was at that time an inexperienced actress. Cassiopeia and later Sheba were developed to take Athena's place as frontline female characters.
72	%%* DevilInPlainSight: Count Iblis
73	* DirtyCoward: Baltar. Commander Cain once altered the course of a battle just by heading the Pegasus in his direction to scare him into pulling back and leaving the other two basestars to protect him.
74	* DirtyOldWoman: Siress Belloby, who declares that she needs "a real animal" of a man at her time of life. She demands that Commander Adama court her in exchange for an energizer to trade for seed grain to restart agriculture after a Cylon attack and is rather forceful about kissing him and Starbuck. [[spoiler: She winds up staying behind with a hedonistic pig-man who'd held her captive for a while.]] Think of her as a one-off [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Lwaxana Troi]].
75	* TheDragon: Baltar, to the Cylons' Big Bad; then, later, to Count Iblis.
76	* DrawSwordDrawBlood: The Borellian Nomen had a warrior's code that said that if they drew their long knife, they would prefer suicide to seeing the knife resheathed unbloodied.
77	* DrivingADesk: Used for the in-cockpit shots.
78	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt - all twelve of them.
79	* EnemyMine: In "The Return of Starbuck", the final episode of Galactica 1980, he does this with a Cylon [[spoiler:that slowly becomes more and more human, even developing a human-like voice]].
80	* EverybodyIsSingle: Apollo gets married in the second episode, and still spends most of the season a widower; his father is also a widower (common in the Fleet, one assumes), and every one else is not married.
81	* EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy: The crew of the Galactica often use the term "galaxy" when they should have used "solar system". For example, Commander Adama says that Earth is located in "a galaxy much like our own" ...and in the last episode, the basestar is apparently the only one in the galaxy in which the ''Galactica'' is located, and the rest of the Cylon fleet is spread throughout the universe looking for the ''Galactica'''s fleet.
82	* ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: The pilot does this. Starbuck and Cassiopeia are seen kissing in the hangar bay, while Starbuck's other love interest catches them by surveillance camera. Cue the push of a "Steam Vent" button.
83	* ExpandedUniverse:
84	** Novelizations of episodes of both the original series and Galactica 1980 were released while the two series were on the air.
85	** A second series of novels, set after the end of the TV series (but ignoring Galactica 1980) ran from 1997 to 2004. Several of the earlier episode adaptations were re-released during this period as well.
86	** There have been three different comic book adaptations -- by Marvel, Dynamite, and Rob Liefeld's imprint Maximum Press.
87	%%* ExplosionsInSpace
88	* ExplosiveInstrumentation: Somewhat less than other shows.
89	* FaceNodAction: In the episode "Saga of a Star World", the fleet arrives at the planer Carillon. Starbuck and Boomer go exploring on the planet in a vehicle. When they encounter an alien building, they draw their weapons and get out of the vehicle. They look at each other, nod and move out to check out the building.
90	* FantasticMeasurementSystem: According to Website/TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(1978_TV_series)#Language article]], the only distance unit that wasn't an Earth name was "metron" (1 meter).
91	* FatherToHisMen: Adama. Literally in the case of [[spoiler:Apollo, Athena and Zac - while he lasts.]]
92	* FictionalSport: Triad, which resembles a cross between basketball and the Mesoamerican ballgame played by two-man teams dressed in ''Film/{{Zardoz}}'' outfits. Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer are avid players.
93	* FighterLaunchingSequence: When the Colonial Vipers launch, it involves turning on several switches followed by pressing the "TURBO" button on the flight stick.
94	%%* {{Forgiveness}}
95	* GenocideFromTheInside: Baltar's goal is to completely destroy humanity.
96	* GodTest: In "War of the Gods Part 1", Count Iblis claims to have great powers and knowledge. The Council of Twelve gives him three challenges: to deliver their greatest enemy (Baltar) to them, to lead the fleet to Earth, and one more to be named later.
97	* GoldColoredSuperiority: Ordinary Cylons were silver/chrome but special commander Cylons were gold.
98	* GreaterNeedThanMine: Apollo sacrificing himself to Iblis, for Sheba.
99	* HappilyAdopted: [[spoiler: Boxey after Serina's death, he's referred to as Apollo's son and Adama's grandson in every subsequent episode. In fact the way his mother is seldom if ever even mentioned in later episodes can come across as more than a little disturbing.]]
100	* HateSink: [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Sire Uri]] from the show's pilot "[[Recap/BattlestarGalactica1978SagaOfAStarWorld Saga of a Star World]]" is a member of the Quorum of Twelve, the ruling council governing the Twelve Colonies of Man. Once a man of integrity and good intentions, Uri became corrupted by fame and power. In the wake of the near-annihilation of the Colonies at the hands of the [[KillerRobot Cylons]], Uri [[WhileRomeBurns gorges on hoarded food while most refugees starve]] and shows no mourning for his wife, instead [[DirtyOldMan enjoying the company of women decades younger than him]]. Despite the fact that [[BigGood Commander Adama]] voted for his seat on the Council, Uri [[UngratefulBastard makes attempts to undermine him at every opportunity]], including plans that impact the fleet's survival and [[TooDumbToLive despite knowing that the Cylons are still chasing them]], Uri tries to push through a plan to disarm the Colonies' militia, a plan that falls through when Cylons attack an announcement of his plan and Uri is forced to relinquish control of the situation to Adama's son Apollo.
101	* HeadInTheSandManagement: President Adar, with disastrous results. It leads to the basic premise of the show, and also to his...
102	* HeroicBSOD: "Can't you see, I've led the entire human race to ruin; I've..."
103	* HeterosexualLifePartners:
104	** Apollo and Starbuck - Not only do they often fly together, but they're also on the same Triad Team.
105	** Starbuck and Boomer also make a pretty good team, and the novelisations state that Adama and Tigh were their generation's Starbuck and Boomer, albeit in a somewhat more serious, responsible fashion.
106	* HomeworldEvacuation: Somewhat inverted, the twelve colonies of Kobol are being evacuated and searching for Earth, which is the [[LostColony "lost" thirteenth colony]].
107	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Cassiopeia is a "sociolator", although only one person is ever shown to have an objection to her profession.
108	* HumanityCameFromSpace: One of the most prominent examples. Earth is one of [[spoiler:over]] thirteen colonies of the original human homeworld, Kobol.
109	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy:
110	** You'd think intelligent computers would be better shots. But you try to shoot with your eyes darting back and forth constantly.
111	** Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer aren't much better in ''Saga of a Star World.'' They're seen firing at Cylons three yards away on a narrow wooden bridge and nobody goes down.
112	* InfiniteSupplies
113	** Averted in the pilot, when resources were so scarce that the fleet practiced mandatory rationing, and braved the Nova Matigon so as to make it to Carillon for resupply before they starved.
114	** Averted in "Living Legend", when the fleet needs fuel, for plot reasons.
115	* InstrumentalThemeTune: a full symphonic suite, one of the things inviting comparison to ''Franchise/StarWars''. Was recycled as the National Anthem in the revised series.
116	* KillerRobot: The Cylon Centurions, who seek to destroy all of humanity.
117	%%* LadyOfWar: Sheba. Also, [[spoiler:Apollo's short-lived wife, Serina.]]
118	* LivingLegend: In the episode "The Living Legend", the Galactica encounters the battlestar Pegasus, whose captain is the Colonial military legend Commander Cain.
119	* LoopholeAbuse: How Galactica is in a position to defend itself in the first battle.
120	--> '''Adama:''' "We cannot launch, Colonel; it has been expressly forbidden. However, this might be an excellent time for 'battlestations drill'."
121	* LostColony: Earth, specifically; however, [[spoiler: several others show up in the course of the series.]]
122	* LoveableRogue: Starbuck is a pretty likeable guy when you aren't annoyed at one of his irresponsible schemes.
123	* {{Microts}}: Honed to an art form. They had:
124	** "microns" (or "millicentons") for seconds
125	** "centons" for minutes (hours [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in the pilot]])
126	** "centars" for hours ([[RetCon after the pilot]])
127	** "sectons" for weeks
128	** "yahrens" for years
129	** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the episode "Greetings From Earth," where the Terran colonist asked "What ''is'' a centon?"
130	* MacGuffinLocation: Earth, the legendary planet settled by the lost Thirteenth Tribe, is the object of the refugees' quest.
131	* MadeOfIncendium: Tylium, the fuel used to power starships. In the pilot episode "Saga of a Star World", Apollo and Starbuck set fire to a deposit of it on Carillon, causing the entire planet to eventually explode.
132	* MileLongShip: Battlestars. The ''Galactica'' has been calculated to be between 4000 and 6000 feet long.
133	%%* MisanthropeSupreme: Baltar
134	* MissingMom: Ila, Adama's wife, is heavily implied to have been killed when the Cylons bombed out her home, and Adama is seen sifting through the bombed-out ruins of the building, picking up a family photo of her, and lamenting with tears that he has always been too late to be there for her. Although his children (specifically Apollo) are hopeful she got away from the Cylons because they NeverFoundTheBody, Adama lived with her long enough to how she would act and presumes, "No. She was here." Her fate is left ambiguous. Of the following, A: she did get away and was never heard from again and has yet to reunite with her family, B: someone already found and buried/cremated her, C: she was buried too deeply under the rubble to be found, D: she got thrown from the house during the attacks, or E: she was outright vaporized. With four-to-one odds she bit the dust, chances are not in Ila's favor.
135	* MonochromeCasting: Averted with the principal cast including two Black characters, Lt. Boomer and Col. Tigh. Very slightly better than the typical TokenMinority situation of the day in retrospect, but an improvement over the original ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' movie which had no minorities at all.
136	%%* {{Mooks}}: The Cylon Centurions.
137	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone - in the novelization of "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero" (published as "Battlestar Galactica 2: The Cylon Death Machine), Ravashol evolved two sets of clones: thinkers and workers. But as Apollo informs him, his thinkers have evolved such high intellect that they cannot settle on a decision while the workers (who call him "Father-Creator") are thinking for themselves and breeding. The latter realization drives him into temporary HeroicBSOD - he'd designed the clones to be sterile, and the consequences of his failure temporarily overwhelm him. To his credit, he rallies, finds it in himself to do the right thing, and shows the colonists exactly how to destroy the gun (which he himself had originally designed for more peaceful purposes).
138	%%* NobleMaleRoguishMale: Apollo and Starbuck.
139	* OhCrap: Baltar's reaction in "The Living Legend" when he's gloating at seeing the Battlestar ''Galactica'' about to be defeated, only to see the Battlestar ''Pegasus'' on an attack run right at him.
140	** He has another in the movie/pilot when reminded that the Cylon plan was not to allow even Baltar to survive.
141	* OnlyOneName: Adama, Boxey, Apollo, Boomer, Tigh, Starbuck, Athena, and many more are only known by one name.
142	%%* PardonMyKlingon
143	%%* PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo: Pulsar cannons.
144	%%* PlanetOfHats
145	* 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 UsefulNotes/ColdWar), the planet called Terra turns out to NOT be Earth.]]
146	* ThePoliticalOfficer: When the Council of the Twelve decides to lift the decree of martial law in "Baltar's Escape," they appoint Siress Tinia as Adama's "aide" to ensure he carries out Council decisions. She mostly interprets this as blocking anything too "aggressive," such as sending an escort of Warriors to meet the Eastern Alliance prisoners.
147	%%* {{Precursors}}: The Lords of Kobol.
148	* PrisonShip: The original series had the Prison Barge, a ship used to hold prisoners of various kinds, including prisoners of war. Baltar organizes an escape from the ship along with various characters arrested or captured in previous episodes.
149	* ThePromisedLand: Earth, which is believed to the "13th Colony" whose people founded the other 12 Colonies.
150	* PuttingOnTheReich: Virtually everything about the Eastern Alliance screams "Nazi Imagery," ranging from their philosophy that some are strong and born to rule, to their costumes, to the fact that the leader of the Alliance Enforcers has the rank of "Commandant."
151	%%* ReadingsAreOffTheScale
152	* RecycledInSPACE
153	** Many episodes were blatant retreads of popular movies, frequently Westerns, right down to their titles.
154	** Mormon theology and folklore is so prevalent in the series that fans and detractors alike tend to refer to it as Mormons In Space.
155	* RedAlert: When a Battlestar goes into battlestations, the bridge is lit all in a bright red light ambience. As for the warriors, the ship class is so big that a scramble order requires personnel to ride a special internal rail car system to get to their stations.
156	* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Cylons, of course, but also Count Iblis.
157	* RedShirtArmy: Mainly the Cylons, but the Colonial pilots get shot out of space fairly regularly, too.
158	%%* RobotBuddy: Muffet, Cy
159	%%* RoboSpeak:
160	* RobotWar: The Cylons are robots originally created by a reptilian race who destroyed their creators and later fought the Thousand-Yahren War with the Twelve Colonies, with the later skirmishes against the refugee fleet led by ''Galactica''.
161	* RuleOfSymbolism: Glen Larson is a [[Literature/TheBookOfMormon Mormon]], and deliberately peppered the series with Mormon imagery. For example:
162	** The star closest to God's throne, in Mormon theology, is named Kolob. The human homeworld in ''Galactica'' is named Kobol.
163	** Ancient Egypt factors strongly into Mormon theology. The Viper pilots' helmets were designed to resemble King Tut's mask, and Kobol is shown with Egyptian pyramids on it.
164	** Mormons have an eternal marriage ceremony called "Sealing". Getting married in the ''Galactica'' universe is called getting sealed.
165	** In the history laid out in the Book of Mormon, a "lost tribe" of Israelites sailed to North America and became the American Indian tribes. ''Galactica'' is all about finding the "lost 13th tribe" of humans who colonized a remote planet named Earth.
166	** Count Iblis is unable to take direct action against anyone who hasn't ''allowed'' him to gain influence over them - rather like the Mormon version of Satan.
167	** The Seraphs use the line "as you are now, we once were. As we are now, you may become," which is straight out of Mormon theology.
168	* SatanicArchetype: In "War of the Gods", the fleet is tempted by the promises of the mysterious "Count Iblis" (an Islamic name for Satan), who turns out to be a fallen angel from Caprican mythology.
169	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The writers simply didn't understand the difference between a solar system and a galaxy, and frequently used the terms interchangeably. Made worse by the fact that only the ''Galactica'' is even capable of "lightspeed" (with no mention of an FTL drive), so the entire refugee fleet is moving at sub-light speeds.
170	* SickEpisode: "Lost Planet of the Gods" is one for most of the ''Galactica's'' pilots, with the shuttle pilots (including Athena and Serina) being pressed into duty to cover for them.
171	* SiliconSnarker: Lucifer's banter with Baltar demonstrate that Cylons are not devoid of snark.
172	* SingleBiomePlanet: In "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero", the surface of the planet Arcta is entirely covered by ice and snow, with a constant blizzard blowing overhead.
173	* SleeperStarship: The fleet comes upon a ship carrying two adults and several children. The fleet nearly kills the adult male by waking him up; the atmosphere on the Galactica is too thick for him, as the lunar colony they're escaping from has a fraction of the air pressure. Lacking the ability to keep them alive indefinitely, the ship is eventually returned to its course.
174	* SoldierVsWarrior: This is the conflict between the Galactica and the Pegasus fighter pilots in "The Living Legend". Bojay scoffs at Apollo "only" shooting down a patrol ship in a secton while Apollo counters that he's also responsible for civilians in slow-moving barges, so he has to keep a lower profile.
175	* SpaceClothes: Mostly averted. They're wearing clothing that's not in Earth fashions (except for some disco wear), but it generally doesn't fit the standard idea of this trope; if anything, they were going for an [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas antiquarian look.]] The main exception to this are the Terran colonists, who do indeed wear shiney space clothes.
176	* SpaceColdWar: This is the situation on Terra and its colonies. In "Experiment in Terra" the Eastern Empire attempts to go hot, but all their [=ICBMs=] are shot down by the Galactica.
177	%%* SpaceIsMagic
178	* SpaceJews: 12 Tribes, driven from their homeland and searching for the missing, legendary 13th Tribe? How can it ''not'' be? (This is mostly due to the prominence of the scattering and gathering of the twelve Jewish tribes in Mormon theology.)
179	* SpaceMines: In the pilot, they have to go through a Cylon minefield.
180	* SpaceOpera: This show was one of many such productions (movie or TV) to made following the success of the previous year's [[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]], from which the show takes a lot of its aesthetics.
181	* SpaceWestern: In one episode, Apollo had a ''walk-down gunfight'' with a rogue Cylon.
182	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Baltar was RewardedAsATraitorDeserves in the pilot movie; new scenes were shot for the series to keep him around as a recurring villain.
183	* TheStarscream: Lucifer is a more subtle variant. As for Baltar, if Classic Galactica had lasted longer ''he'' could have been the TropeNamer.
184	* StatusQuoIsGod: Surprisingly averted, given the time period when the show was produced. Different characters are introduced and die throughout the series, characters' relationships with each other change over time, and there is a plotline that relies on continuity.
185	** Played straight at the end of "The Living Part II". Once again Galactica is the "last Battlestar", as far as anyone can prove.
186	* StockFootage:
187	** The special effects were based on optically overlaying stock footage (spacecraft, explosions, and so on), and several completed scenes were used more than once.
188	** Some of the completed effects from ''Galactica'' were used in the B-movie ''Film/SpaceMutiny''.
189	** The beginning and end of one establishing shot (in a city) became two establishing shots in ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury''.
190	** Footage of the 'Agro-Ships' was recycled footage of the forest-carrying freighters from ''Film/SilentRunning'' (which was originally done by a effects man who also worked on this show).
191	%%* StrawCivilian: Sire Uri and the Quorum of the Twelve.
192	* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Seraphs are this to the Colonists. Interestingly, the Colonists regard the Seraphs as exactly this - technologically advanced aliens.
193	* SuicideAttack: Cylon Raiders often kamikaze-attack into a Battlestar's hangers to disable the Vipers and either leave them stranded (if in flight) or keep the Battlestar from defending itself.
194	%%* SupernaturalAid: The Seraphs and their Silver-Crystal Cityship.
195	* SurvivedTheBeginning: Billions are killed in the Cylon attack but once safely away, the fleet manages to avoid substantial losses for quite a while.
196	%%* TechnoBabble
197	* TemptingFate:
198	** In "Murder on the Rising Star", Cassiopeia mentions during a Triad game that Starbuck and his rival Ortega are gonna kill each other if their fierce rivalry keeps up. Ortega is killed, alright, but it wasn't Starbuck that did it. [[spoiler:It was Karybdis, who went by an alias Pallon during his time in the fleet.]]
199	** In "The Young Lords", Apollo tells Starbuck that an ace only gets three ships: The one they train in, the one they escape from, and the one they die in. Only two minutes later, [[spoiler:Starbuck's ship is damaged and Starbuck is forced to crash land, which is a series first.]]
200	* {{Theotech}}: Even though the characters had a lot of Greek names and were gallivanting through space, the show borrows heavily from {{UsefulNotes/Mormonism}}, and some of it thinly veiled, at that (The Mormon God hails from a planet called Kolob, the Colonials originated from a planet called Kobol; the LDS church is presided over by a President and a quorum of 12 Apostles, the Galacticans by a Commander and a quorum of 12 Colonial tribal elders, etc.). Hardly surprising, as series creator Glen Larson was a member of the LDS church and drew on what he knew.
201	* ThereIsAnother: The Battlestar Pegasus, which appears in the two part episode "The Living Legend". It was thought to have been destroyed along with all the other Battstars. [[note]]As the closing narration indicates, the Galactica is supposed to have been "the last Battlestar".[[/note]]
202	* TokenBlackFriend: Lt. Boomer is good friends with Apollo and Starbuck, particularly the latter. Colonel Tigh also seems to be one to Commander Adama. Averted in that both are painted as competent men; and in one of the novelizations, Adama is shown as thinking Tigh fit for command of his own Battlestar, if only there had been any left).
203	* TokenMinority: Averted to a degree with two Black characters: Lt. Boomer and Colonel Tigh. Furthermore, Tigh is a senior commanding officer of the fleet, NumberTwo to only Commander Adama, a rarity for American TV at that time to have a minority actor play a character of such authority.
204	* TonightSomeoneDies: In the second episode, this happens to [[spoiler:Serina, Boxey's (biological) mother, who had become Apollo's wife (and Boxey's stepfather)[[/note]].
205	* TooManyMouths: In the pilot, there was a female singing group that each had four eyes and two mouths (and apparently could each sing two different notes).
206	* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes
207	** It's {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d in the episode "Greetings From Earth" where the Terran colonist asks, "Wait just a minute, what's a 'centon'?"
208	** Likewise, in "Experiment in Terra", when Starbuck tells a different colonist he'll be back in a "centar":
209	--->'''Brenda:''' Whatever that is, I hope it's less than an hour.
210	* UnusualEuphemism: Frack, felgercarb
211	%% * WagonTrainToTheStars: Or, from the stars.
212	* WaveMotionGun: The "Gun on Ice Planet Zero" from the episode of the same name, which the Cylons were using to blow any ships out of the sky (and space). Luckily, it was destroyed before it could do the same thing to the Galactica (and the rest of the fleet for that matter). However, they do lose about half of the civilian fleet before it goes down.
213	* WeHardlyKnewYe: Anyone who gets killed off within the pilot serves as a case of this, with some we even meet (Zac, Lila, Muffit. Boxxey's father, the original council members save Adama, the president of humanity, and any Battlestar besides the Galactica). [[spoiler:Serina is also notable for squeaking past the mass genocide of the pilot, only to die in the very next story.]]
214	* WholePlotReference: Several, including "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero" (''Film/TheGunsOfNavarone''), "The Magnificent Warriors" (''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]''), and "The Lost Warrior" (''Shane'').
215	* WritersCannotDoMath: The Fleet has 220 ships, and about 6,000 surviving Colonists. That's about 27 people per ship, which seems rather low. The revival does better, with about 200 per ship.
216	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Because it's been bombed out and is crawling with robot enemies.
217	* YourHeartsDesire: Episode "War of the Gods Part 1". The mysterious being known as Count Iblis can read the mind of anyone he talks to and determine their greatest desire.
218
219	----
220	-->''"Fleeing the Cylon tyranny, the last battlestar, Galactica, leads a ragtag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest: a shining planet known as...Earth."''
221	----

Context Series / BattlestarGalactica1978