....Something else was apparently going on as to what Richard A. Colla was actually filming while the "Galactica 1978 Pilot" was in production in the Spring of 1978.
ABC-TV, Glen A. Larson, and Universal Studios wanted a family friendly, light-hearted space adventure to mirror 'Star Wars." How they expected to achieve that however, with the entire destruction of a human civilization as its core premise, is anyone's guess.
Richard A. Colla began the project by filming concepts and ideas apparently belonging to Leslie Stevens. Whether he was working off of a "different shooting script" not authored by Glen A. Larson is unknown.
Colla was filming an incredibly dark, theatrical quality, slow moving, and character based space adventure with adult themes.
Apparently, Universal Studios, ABC-TV and Glen A. Larson didn't begin checking in on what Richard A. Colla was filming until towards the end of the scheduled shooting.
One of the things ABC-TV apparently noticed earlier on, was that Mr. Colla was using extremely dark lighting to illuminate the bridge. To the point that all that was apparently seen in the background of the bridge (Core Command), was the illuminated equipment from "Tektronix Inc." Mr. Colla's apparent concept being, that the "Galactica" was like a submarine in operational procedures. ABC-TV then ordered Colla to begin brightening the bridge with more light, so that the television audience could see the millions of dollars ABC had spent building the bridge.
With only four days left of scheduled filming, Mr. Colla was apparently fired because Universal, ABC, and Glen A. Larson had seen up to that point, all of the "Adult Galactica Pilot" Mr. Colla had filmed, and weren't happy. What they saw was apparently, human consuming "Ovions", prostitution and moral decay within the "Rag Tag Fleet", and a very slow moving, character based space adventure.
Alternate Director Alan J. Levi was brought in to re-film many things. Without getting screen credit, Mr. Levi brightened things up in the premise, and brought the pilot more in line with what Universal, ABC, and Mr. Larson wanted.
Unfortunately, there is apparently no happy ending with Richard A. Colla's discarded footage. As there was with "Nightbreed" and Richard Donner's "Superman II." It may have been intentionally disposed of decades ago, and is apparently not sitting safe and sound in a "climate controlled vault" somewhere.
With only four days left of filming to go, Richard A. Colla had what? Over 90% of "Saga of a Star World" in the can?
"So Say We All!!"
