One of Those "Buried Battlestar Galactica Mysteries" From The Past That Universal Studios Prefer No One Knows About

 

Original "Saga of a Star World" (the 1978 Battlestar Pilot episode) director Richard A. Colla filmed a good 95% of the pilot episode. He only had "4 scheduled remaining days left to go" before Glen A. Larson fired him, and dumped his perfectly good, theatrical quality footage in the trash heap never to be seen by anyone, ever.

One of the sequences he filmed was a long and extended sequence of the "Ovions" escorting Apollo, Serena, and Jolly through the "Ovion Catacombs." Just as "Boxey" was captured by the "Ovions" and taken someplace else....Apollo, Serena, and Jolly are loaded into a "tram" and taken to the entrance of the "Ovion Catacombs." Apollo, Serena, and Jolly get off the tram and begin a slow walk through the catacombs. A rather lengthy sequence with no dialogue. Apollo, Serena, and Jolly follow "Ovions" with other "Ovions" walking behind them. Apollo staring at ceilings and walls while the walk continues, Jolly nervously looking down at his gun during the walk, with Serina looking very upset. This leads up to what is left in the movie, Apollo communicating with the "Queen Ovion - Lotay" asking her where "Boxey" is at.

This is just an example of the great stuff we lost in extended footage from the movie. ABC-TV and Glen A. Larson cut this fantastic footage, Universal Studios never catalogued and stored the footage in protected surroundings (destroyed forever through neglect), and the other fantastic, extended stuff that Richard A. Colla shot was apparently lost in a fire. (Convenient).

"So Say We All!!"

The "Hacked-Up, Edited Mess" That is Universal Studios "Saga of a Star World" Movie

 

"The moment 'Saga of a Star World' threatened their (Universal Studios) bottom line or fell behind schedule, the corporate machine happily mutilated Glen A. Larson's epic space opera, just to feed the broadcast grid, and the studio's account ledgers.

Universal Studios was operating under a completely different set of structual, financial, and temporal priorities where artistic continuity was viewed as a financial liability, and speed-to-market was the only path to solvency.

From an accounting and executive standpoint, the damaging editing was actually viewed as a series of necessary, risk mitigating business corrections to solve three existential problems:

1. The Sunk- Cost Cash Crunch

Universal had a massive cash flow crisis because they had sunk nearly $9 million into a television asset. In 1978, a license fee from ABC covered only a fraction of that cost.

The Studio Logic: The quickest way to inject cash back into the studio, was to dump the "Pilot" into international theaters immediately.

The Cost of Narrative Continuity: To get that theatrical classification, the film had to hit a precise 125 minute runtime. If keeping an extra monologue of Starbuck, or the physical logic of walking down a hallway meant the movie ran 135 minutes, it meant fewer theatrical daily screenings, higher shipping costs for physical film cannisters, and delayed revenue. The studio prioritized the clock over narrative because every minute cut was a direct savings in global distribution mechanics.

2. Legal Self-Preservation, The Lucas Lawsuit

When George Lucas's and 20th Century Fox sued Universal for plagiarism, the studio faced the ultimate financial disaster: A potential federal injunction that could completely halt the broadcast and distribution of Battlestar Galactica entirely. 

The Studio Logic: The jagged, frantic, cutting room edits were often defense mechanisms against the lawsuit. Executives ordered editors to scramble the sequence of specific scenes-like the Cylon Arcade and Casino environments-to actively disrupt visual similarities to Star Wars concepts like the Mos Eisley Cantina.

The Cost of Narrative Continuity: 

Universal deliberately sacrificed smooth, artistic scene transitions so their legal team could stand in a courtroom and argue that their project had a completely distinct, structural rhythm and pacing than Lucasfilm's masterpiece.

3. The Disposable Nature of 1970s Television:

In 1978, there was no home video market, no DVDs, no streaming platforms, and no concept of 'prestige tv permanence.' A television pilot was viewed as a highly ephemeral commercial product meant to be consumed on a 19 inch tube television and forgotten.

To the suits, spending extra weeks of expensive 'union-rate editing bay hours' to perfectly smooth out a scene transition shot was a massive waste of Capital. They chose to ship a 'fractured, good enough cut' on time rather than spend an extra $100,000 fixing continuity errors they assumed would be disposable.

Universal Studios 'Corporate Math' favored a flawed, corporate product over a bankrupt masterpiece."

"So Say We All!!"

''Bi-Polar Mismanagement' of The 'Battlestar Galactica Property' is Nothing New

 

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"So Say We All!!"

A Great Deal of John Dykstra's "Special Effects Magic" Was Left on The "Cutting Room Floor"

 

"The visual effects butchery inflicted on John Dykstra and his 'Apogee' team was massive. While they famously delivered over 300 fx sequences for 'Saga of a Star World', the frantic format re-edits and corporate panic forced the deletion of several highly ambitious, specialized effects shots.

The Carillon Exterior Mining & Energy Flares

Dykstra's team built intricate matte paintings and miniature models meant to establish the outside of 'Carillon' as a volatile, industrial hellscape. The shots featured active, 'Tylium Mining Operatons' with massive energy venting flares shooting from the planet's crust into deep space.

ABC and Universal cut these establishing shots entirely to speed up the transit to the resort floor. By deleting them, the movie loses the visual foreshadowing that the planet is a giant, ticking time bomb."

The Lost Tylium Refinery Miniature Sequence

The Brightly Lit Fortress

'John Dykstra's Apogee Team' designed and partially executed a sprawling exterior 'Tylium Refinery Complex' that was ultimately cut due to a mix of extreme time constraints, budgetary issues, and script pacing changes.

The 'Brightly Lit Fortress Model' was designed as a massive, multi-tiered, industrial citadel built directly into the jagged canyons of Carillon. It featured hundreds of tiny, incandescent, grain of wheat bulbs and internal, fiber optic lighting to give it a sprawling, functional city scale look under the planet's dark sky.

The Extraction Tubes

Prominently featured on the exterior were large, translucent tubes and processing pipes. 

Dykstra's team used internal lighting effects and liquid elements to simulate the glowing, volatile, liquid 'Tylium' being vacuumed up from the deep, subterranean, insect 'Ovion' mines into surface holding tanks.

The shot was meant to establish that 'Carillon' was not just a desolate rock or a simple casino resort. But a massive, 'highly synchronized, Cylon-backed logistics hub' fueling the Empire's local war machine.

All of this was cut by Universal because it became a production bottleneck."

More to come.

"So Say We All!!"

We're Getting Buried Underneath New 'Battlestar ' Products But Never Any New Productions

 

The entire existence of the 'Battlestar IP' will always be remembered for: 'Universal Studios and Battlestar Never Mixed Well Together.'

'So Say We All!!'

They Actually Should Have Released All of The Rarely Seen and Obscure Aliens on Planet 'Carillon' That Ended Up On The Cutting Room Floor

 John Chambers and a bunch of other 'name artists' of the time, who designed and built creations for the 'Aliens on Carillon' sequence for the 'Galactica' pilot episode directed by Richard A. Colla, were all furious that all of their creations and hard work ended up on the cutting room floor.

'So Say We All!!'

From The Beginning, People Should Have Been Thinking About "Universal Studios Needs to Concentrate on Repairing The Damage to The 1978 Battlestar Series Before Making a New Movie"

 

Universal Studios Has never been a big fan of going into its own past and repairing the damage it caused. The '1978 Battlestar Galactica Series' is no exception.

1. Universal Studios has left the 'editing damage' in the pilot episode unrepaired for 48 years. It needs to go no further in proving its thorough unprofessionalism in misnanaging this IP since it has owned it.

2. The 1978 Series also needs a thorough visual effects upgrade in all of the other episodes as well. Universal Studios would never do this because it involves something called 'Physical Labor." And another business practice it doesn't like either: "Spending Money." Keep in mind that upgrading all of the visual effects in the 1978 series would cost Universal Studios a fraction of what they paid to finance 'Cocaine Bear.' So that instantly obliterates the whining and crying Universal Studios would do about spending the $$ to upgrade the 1978 series.

3. Mentioned before, John Dykstra filmed unseen special effects sequences in the pilot episode, and entire unseen sequences in 'Gun on Ice Planet Zero' - (an entire Ovion external manufacturing / city complex for Tylium on the planet Carillon which was also a 'War Depot' for the Cylon Empire), and 'Lost PLanet of The Gods." By coincidence, all of these fully completed effects sequences by John Dykstra and Apogee have been sitting safe, sound, and fully preserved in the 'Universal Studios Film Vaults' since 1978. Always ready at any time for Universal Studios to pull them out of the film vaults and begin sharing them with the public in 4k.

4. The episode 'Hand of God' needs massive visual effects upgrades. Especially the final sequence where the 'Galactica' takes on a 'Cylon Basestar.' As it is now, the effects are blurry and smudgey 5th generation copies of pilot episode footage.

5. The episode 'Living Legend' had the entire 'Cylon Tanker' sequence lifted from the pilot. This needs to be replaced with new footage.

6. The 'Experiment in Terra' footage at the end of the episode where the 'Galactica' protects the planet from a nuclear attack needs to be upgraded.

7. All of John Dykstra's original footage from 'Gun On Ice Planet Zero' needs to be put back in, where Vipers are attacking the giant 'Pulsar Cannon' in circular assault patterns. And the Pulsar is city block huge in this footage with Cylons manning the exterior of it.

After Universal Studios does all of this, then maybe they could begin thinking about a new movie.

"So Say We All!!"