Galactica - Mile-wide space cruiser built by the ancestors of
the human race on the science fiction series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA/ABC/1978-79
and later GALACTICA.ABC/1980. Light years across the vastness of space was
a solar system comprised of twelve planets. During their 7th millennium,
these planetary systems were viciously attacked (while under a flag of
truce) by robot Cylon Centurion warriors whose prime directive for more
than 1000 years had been the total annihilation of all humanoid life forms
in their galaxy.
Gathering together the survivors of the holocaust,
Commander Adama (Lorne Green), the leader of the Galactica star cruiser
(crew of 500), fled the star system with a rag-tag armada of 220
spacecraft in search of a planet their legends called Earth.
The Galactica's defenses included massive laser cannons and the Red Squad, a
fleet of small fighter crafts called Colonial Vipers. Their top pilots
were Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch); Lt. Starbuck (Dick Benedict); and Lt.
Boomer (Herb Jefferson, Jr.).
The six-foot Battlestar model used for the
series was designed by John Dykstra of Star Wars fame. His company,
Industrial Light and Magic Co., built the large scale models of the
Galactica's flight deck, that included three million dollars of fully
operating computers. The "Dyskstraflex" camera photographed all
of the flying sequences, which created the sense of motion by moving
itself instead of the model.
