Battlestar Galactica

After Star Wars had rocked the world by showing what could be done with special effects, Battlestar Galactica was cranked out by the networks to show that anything Hollywood could do, they could do… cheaper… and not as well. But cheaper is good. Dirk Benedict, Richard Hatch, Lorne Greene and Herb Jefferson Jr. starred as Starbuck, Apollo, Adama and Boomer, the inner circle of a battleship cruiser containing what could be the last remnants of the human species. As the humans seek a new inhabitable world to start again, the Cylons, a robotic species controlled by an ‘Imperious Leader,’ were hot on their tail. Said to be the first TV show with a budget of more than a million dollars per episode, the large amount of money the producers had to play with still wasn’t enough to prevent them from recycling effects shots, sharing models with other series (like Buck Rogers) and occasionally cheaping out on a set. But for all its problems, Battlestar Galactica was a rare piece of television history in that it mixed scifi with action with humor with a budget. It didn’t always work but when it did it was outstanding stuff. Maren Jensen, who showed her naked side in 1981’s Deadly Blessing, co-starred as Athena and Anne Lockhart, who showed her boobies in 1977’s Joyride was also featured.