Ever Wonder What Happened to All of The Effects Footage John Dykstra and His Crew Filmed For 'Gun On Ice Planet Zero?'

 

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The high quality, custom space battle sequences that John Dykstra and his 'Apogee' team filmed for 'Gun on Ice Planet Zero' were completely wiped out and ruined due to a laboratory chemical error during film processing.

The catastrophic chain of events unfolded behind the scenes due to the following factors:

The Laboratory Blunder

Dykstra's team shot an extensive array of stunning, intricate miniatures and motion control space-battle sequences specifically tailored to the plot of the 'Ice Planet' episodes. However, when the negative was sent to the lab for processing, a technician mistakenly used the wrong chemical mixture (or ruined the chemical bath consistency.) This error completely ate away and dissolved the emulsion of the film, physically destroying all of the footage.

The Looming Airdate

Because Battlestar Galactica was working on an incredibly tight, grueling weekly tv schedule, there was absolutely no time or budget left to reconstruct the models, re-set the motion control rigs, and re-shoot the lost sequences.

The Desperate Patchwork

To deliver the two-part episode on time to ABC, the production team was forced to scramble. They threw together crude, rushed, 'quickie' replacement effects on a shoe-string turnaround and heavily relied on recycling stock shots from the pilot episode ('Saga of a Star World') to fill the gaps.

Because of a single lab mistake, what should have been one of Dykstra's absolute crowning visual achievements for the regular series was permanently lost, leaving fans an episode that awkwardly mixed high-end ground production values with noticeably cheap , repeated space effects.

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At Least Stu Phillips Work is Being Honored and Respected In This 'Never Ending Cess-Pool' of 'Comcast / NBC-Universal's'

 

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The Deleted Scenes Keep Coming

 

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Missing Footage From The First 30 Minutes

The Extended Cimtar Scout Mission

The sequence where Apollo and Zac discover the Cylon fleet hidden in the gas nebula (cloud cover) originally featured significantly more dialogue. Zac's Viper suffers an explicit, extended mechanical malfunction with his fuel line / energizer, which built up tension before they realized their scanners were being jammed.

The Flayer Attack Context

During the initial Cylon ambush, there were cut, cockpit cutaways of minor Colonial pilots being picked off by the Cylons before Apollo and Zac could sprint back to the fleet.

Adama and Tigh's Defenses

A deleted conversation on the Galactica bridge explicitly shows Tigh and Adama attempting to raise the other Battlestars via encrypted sub-space links during the ambush, only to hear the static and panic of the other Commanders as they realize their scanners are useless.

The Fall of Caprica Surface Panics

While we see the iconic shots of Serina on the balcony and the destruction of the Capital city, several street level sequences of Caprican citizens panicking and rushing for shelters were filmed but cut out to rely on the faster paced, model miniature explosion shots.

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"So Say We All!!"

Yes, The Major "Battlestar" News Is, "Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea" Is Being Revived

 

Someone wake up the entire world when "Comcast / NBC-Universal" learns how to conduct itself in our economy.

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Another Cut Sequence From 'Saga of a Star World'

 

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The Cut Cylon Magnetic Storm Sequence

The Strategic Argument

As Civilian Ships are frantic, chaotic, and arriving in completely unorganized clusters behind the Galactica, Col. Tigh suggests moving the defenseless fleet into a nearby radioactive nebula.

The Camoflage Idea

The nebula would act as natural camouflage, blocking Cylon long range scans and giving the Galactica breathing room to organize the ships by speed, fuel capacity, and supply type without being sitting ducks.

The Trap

Adama rejects the idea (or hesitates) because entering the storm would also completely blind their own scanners, effectively trapping the civilian ships in a radioactive soup where they couldn't see a Cylon ambush coming until it was too late.

And another cut sequence....

A major character named Lyra (played by actress Laurie Prange) was entirely cut from the pilot. She was a member of the 'Council of 12', who clashed aggressively with Adama over his skepticism of the Cylons. Her removal erased a heavy amount of dialogue detailing how the human government utterly blindfolded themselves to the Cylon threat. Her character on the council was supposed to represent a youth and peace movement within the Colonies advocating trusting the Cylons.

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'So Say We All!!'

This 'Halloween', What is Still Lurking Inside of The 'Universal Studios Film Vaults?'

 

Still missing from 'Saga of a Star World', the 3-hour pilot episode to the '1978 Battlestar Galactica' series, and also missing from the '4k Theatrical Version of The Pilot'....

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"These specific scenes were largely cut before final effects compositing and scoring were completed for the broadcast master, they exist in Universal's vaults as un-scored, raw un-composited production dailies (workprint material.)

1. The Security Eviction Sequence

In the original script and extended assembly, the tensions between the surface personnel and 'Colonial Warriors' boiled over much sooner. 

A tense, fully shot sequence featured Carillon security personnel confronting Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer, formally ordering them off the planet and demanding they return to the Galactica.

The sequence changed the narrative stakes. Instead of the Warriors just choosing to sneak around out of suspicion, they were actively being hunted and escorted off the premises by the planetary authorities, making their subsequent infiltration of the 'Ovion' layers an act of direct defiance.

2. John Dykstra's Lost 'Outdoor Carillon Footage'

This footage is still in the 'Universal Film Vaults'

The footage features a sprawling and massive industrial complex operating under the surface of the planet-revealing a joint 'Ovion / Cylon Weapons Depot' and a massive 'Tylium Mine' Processing Factory.'

It was meant to give the audience an immediate visual realization of the 'Cylon' trap before the characters discovered it.

The sequence was cut primarily because the rapid pivot to a weekly tv series meant Dykstra's team ran out of time to seamlessly composite and polish every single complex optical layer.

3. Extended Fleet Evacuation Protocols

The early acts of the pilot feature trimmed dialogue and atmospheric sequences where Adama and Colonel Tigh arrange the 'Civilian Fleet.' A completely finished, atmospheric scene exists where Tigh and Adama debate the dangers of leading the fleet into a highly volatile, magnetically charged void space before entering it.

4. Several extended sequences on the resort planet Carillon were trimmed down. This includes longer cuts of Starbuck and Boomer navigating the Casino, and an extended sequence inside the elevators (which notably feature a Mayan numbering system on the buttons.)

5. The original cut featured a much slower, more overwhelming sensory overload sequence as the Colonials first enter the casino, featuring just how alien and bizarre this deep space oasis truly was.'

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The 'Battlestar Board Game' is Coming Back, But No New Production

 

Welcome to The 'Insanity World' of 'Comcast / NBC-Universal'

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