KOOL TV REVIEW: 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA' - THE 1978 THEATRICAL MOVIE (BLU-RAY)

"By your command!" The Cylons hunt humanity in the long-awaited release of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA on Blu-ray. Images: UNIVERSAL.

Its vipers launched, and firing all laser batteries against its long-time robot nemeses- those red-eyed, silver Cylon warriors, the mighty ship-o-war that is the Battlestar Galactica, and its accompanying berth of young seventies hair-styled cosmic heroes, finally make a well deserved debut on High Definition Blu-ray this October with its original 1978 theatrical release, from those sterling people at UNIVERSAL PLAYBACK. And just within the last stages of celebration for the Saga's 35th Anniversary this year!

▶ Battlestar Galactica 1978 Premere Promo - YouTube

The mighty Battlestar fleet of the Colonial worlds.

Originally emerging from the success of George Lucas's seminal STAR WARS opus, the intergalactic version of Mose's Exodus made its first appearance on American TV stations in September 1978, to record ratings and sensational publicity, but a few months beforehand, UK, European and Canadian viewers got to see a truncated form of their three-hour pilot episode, Saga of a Star World, on big screen cinemas- its excellent sound-mix transferred to the evocative and popular at the time SENSURROUND process which rumbled the seats and titillated our eardrums in the most enjoyable way- its sound waves and seat-shaking making you feel as if you were hip-deep in outer space action right alongside our colonial heroes. The Blu-ray comes close to recapturing that particular and unique seventies process- the sound being every bit as crisp and exciting as it was back in the day, alongside rousing and majestic music, particularly its main theme, by Stu Phillips and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Picture quality is clean and lovely (apparently taken from an existing 2004 HD transfer that was obviously prior done with a lot of care and respect), and packed with detail and colour-more than I've ever previously seen within the series- check out Production Designer Jack Chilbert's incredible sets (particularly the huge computer strewn bridge of the Galactica - then one of the most expensive TV studio environments ever built) and the intriguing Colonial military costumes from the innovative Jean-Pierre Dorleac.

The merciless Imperious Leader (Dick Durock, voiced by Patrick Macnee).

The metallic Cylon Centurions- on a mission to kill humans!

Getting off to a spectacular start-literally the equivalent of the intergalactic apocalypse!- a war weary humankind's destiny in the deep reaches of space, during the seventh millennium of time, has reached a critical nexus point, as they finally, seemingly, secure a peace treaty with their deadliest enemies, the reptilian/robot hybrids the Cylons, after thousands of years of interstellar war. But it all turns out to be a cunning trap by the emotionless xenophobic race, in league with traitor to humanity Baltar (a sneeringly evil performance from the much-missed John Colicos), resulting in a huge effects-sweeping scenario reminiscent of Pearl Harbour, as the Colonial fleet and its colony worlds are wiped out in the sneak attack.

Cylon Raiders attack the Galactica!

Only the formidable, pre-battle ready Galactica space aircraft carrier, commanded by the patriarchal Adama (BONANZA's former cowboy, Lorne Greene) cannily survives the conflict, taking under its wing a 220 vessel rag-tag fleet of surviving humans across the stars in search of a long lost Thirteenth Tribe, whose colony may be located in a far away galaxy, housing the planet called Earth! But it won't be an easy search, as the Cylons are following them every step of the way, and have an even worse trap awaiting them on a planet that seems just too good to be true for our food and fuel desperate survivors.

Blue Squadron's finest: Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) and Apollo (Richard Hatch).

Warrior family. Athena (Maren Jensen) with Commander Adama (Lorne Greene).

In this Blu-ray transfer, our pop culture warriors have never looked more youthful and relatable: the serious but dedicated Richard Hatch, best known before GALACTICA for a stint on THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, as Apollo, and the lovable rogue/ hot shot Viper pilot Starbuck as personified by Dirk Benedict. On screen, they make for a fine pairing, whilst the casting choice of Lorne Greene as humanity's father figure protector, despite lazy press criticisms, proves an excellent one.

The insect Ovions tend to their Queen, Lotay.

The trio are backed up with the kind of all star cast that you'd normally see in an Irwin Allen movie of the time, one certainly helping to garner further box office credibility amongst the impressive special effects, including Ray Milland (as Adama's rival, the ambitious Sire Uri), lovely Jane Seymour as Apollo's love interest, Serina, Lew Ayres as humanity's doomed leader, President Adar, and Wilfrid Hyde White as a dotty member of the Council of the Twelve. Opposing them, chasing the across the universe, the Cylon menace in this launcher are impressive and scary in places (the reptilian Imperious Leader, voiced by the suave British actor Patrick Macnee, being one such example), showing the kind of early potential that the weekly seres never quite got the chance to develop. The movie also has one of the series few alien species, the equally impressive insectoids, the multi-limbed Ovions, running an intergalactic casino above its mining colony, but hiding a terrifying secret that could endanger our mostly spellbound heroes.

The Cylons go on the rampage in the Carillon Casino.

Then the most expensive show ever made by UNIVERSAL, its pre-TV, movie-transfer event (a swift necessity in order to recoup costs) glistens with quality, and has an intelligent script from Glen A. Larson that makes the most of legends, mythology, religion, and outer space theories, weaving them with enjoyable characters alongside epic space battles and blaster duels, plus a nice dose of humour despite its overall seriousness (particularly through the character of Starbuck, and his repartee with flying buddy Boomer (Herbert Jefferson, Jr.)). There's lots of memorable, nostalgic sequences to enjoy anew on Blu-ray from directors Richard A. Colla and an uncredited Alan J. Levi: the aforementioned destruction of the Twelve Colonies, the clearing of the minefield strewn, red-swirled Nova Madagon by the "blind" vipers, the "Las Vegas in Space" that is the Ovion Casino (looking opulent in Blu-ray) and the eventual battle through the Ovion lower levels and outwards, as the Cylons spring their next trap on humanity.

Space action galore! A viper pursues three Cylon Raiders.

Coming straight off the innovations of STAR WARS, Larson secures the incredible talents of Oscar-winning special effects genius John Dykstra and his team, with model ship designs (models-remember those?!) provided by equal icons Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie that have stood the test of time and become very cool sci-fi legends in their own right. Many of the effects shots prove more ambitious than STAR WARS-the camera technology having been improved within the space of the year, since their original work for Lucasfilm. The of the time transfer of the optical effects from TV configuration processes to theatrical display may have rankled Dykstra's relationship with Larson, but, despite some occasional grainy picture quality from the process amplified in HD, they look extremely good on Blu-ray. The space starfields are all the right shade of cinematic black rather than VHS TV grey, whilst early problematic "garbage" matte outlines on the ships in battle and travelling across planetary surfaces are minimal.

Apollo and Starbuck fight back!

A recent sales success in its US release (despite sadly little to nothing publicity in its anniversary year from UNIVERSAL, and being just a "manila" type, with no extras), let's hope that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Blu-ray purchases here are just as strong and notable, paving the way for the next exciting theatrical compilation: MISSION GALACTICA: THE CYLON ATTACK, and, in the hopefully not too distant future, a complete release of the entire one-off weekly series, too- perhaps in the kind of quality resurrection that has made the re-release of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION for PARAMOUNT such a sales bonanza.

KOOL TV RATING: The original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA has never looked or sounded as good as this, in a release, despite the noticeable, much-missed lack of any bonus materials, that's well worth getting hold of. 4.5 out of 5 

Get hold of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA- THE 1978 MOVIE here: Battlestar Galactica Blu-ray 1978 Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Lorne Greene, Dirk Benedict, Ray Milland, Jane Seymour, Richard Hatch, Terry Carter, Maren Jensen, Noah Hathaway, Tony Swartz, Lew Ayres, John Colicos, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Ed Begley Jr, Richard A. Colla, Donald P. Bellisario: Film & TV

Check out our previous KOOL TV features on the series here:

THE SAGA CONTINUES. THE MAKING OF 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA' - PART TWO

SAGA OF A STAR WORLD. THE LAUNCH OF THE ORIGINAL "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA"

And the SAGA OF A STAR WORLD website devoted to the classic series, here: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SAGA OF A STAR WORLD