By The Radio Reaper
Welcome, all lovers of movies to TV series! Welcome to my Radio Spot Reliquary.
The late seventies to early eighties was a great time for fans of science fiction and adventure movies. The original Star Wars trilogy had completed its history-making theatrical run, and titles such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Tron captured fans with their on-screen wonders. And so, it only seemed natural that TV would capitalize on such successes.
Looking back at TV in that time frame, five stand-outs come to mind: The Incredible Hulk, The A Team, and V (that Jane Badler was smokin’!). Also making their appearance were two science fiction space operas that had their pilot episodes released as feature-length theatrical films before settling in on the little screen.
Producer and writer Glen A. Larson, who, in the late seventies had already written and produced many TV series beginning with The Fugitive in 1966, saw the success of Star Wars and hoped to capitalize on its popularity by creating his own space opera Battlestar Galactica. Shot as a miniseries for ABC Television, it was first released as an edited theatrical film in limited worldwide markets in an attempt to recover some of its $8 million budget. The complete version was shown on TV on September 17, 1978, and immediately went into production as a weekly series. The complete pilot version, released in Sensurround, was released by Universal in the US as a feature film.
Sensurround, first used in the motion picture Earthquake (1974), was a process which added a super low frequency audio channel to the soundtrack which produced extremely low sounds that allowed filmgoers to feel as well as hear the low rumblings. It literally shook the walls! This process was later refined and used in home audio and theater set-ups as an added subwoofer speaker.
While Battlestar Galactica was in production, Larson was also working with Universal to develop a pilot film based on character Buck Rogers, which would be the basis for another TV series. It was decided to also release it first as a theatrical release, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century proved successful. Six months later, the series premiered on NBC TV on September 20, 1979, and ran for two seasons.
As to be expected, the films fared well at the box office but suffered at the hands of TV execs in their TV runs. Story lines were watered down, characters re-invented, and weak plot lines expanded. Despite their short-lived runs, their imaginative special effects and characters remain popular with fans today in both incarnations.
The following radio spots are for the theatrical releases of these two innovative movies. So, fasten your seat belts, and let’s blast off!
Adama! Apollo! Starbuck! Cylons! Buck! Twiki! Wilma! Princess Ardala! Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century!
A SPECIAL NOTE…OR TWO:
Many thanks to Wikipedia for supplying the info this poor writer used to try and decipher the confusing and overlapping bits of movie and TV history this story involved. I hope it made sense. Oh, and for those of you wondering, Glen A. Larson was indeed one of the members of the pop group “The Four Preps” in the late fifties and on. Great group and super harmonies!
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 1979
Battlestar Galactica 1978