Battlestar Galactica Telemovies
Back in the 1980’s, MCA’s T.V. distribution took episodes of Battlestar Galatica and made a number of feature length “Telemovies” by (In most cases) re-editing two episodes of the 1978/79 series into one story. These “Telemovies” had been sold around the world for broadcast as stand alone programing. A number of the newly created edits did contain footage that was not part of the original episode versions. But of all the “Telemovie” edits, only one had newly created footage inserted into it, and it’s also the only “Telemovie” to use an episode of the original series combined with an episode of Galactica 1980 (<span class=“Italics”>“The Return of Starbuck”</span>)!
The Telemovie Version of Experiment in Terra
The “Experiment in Terra” telemovie is the only Galactica telemovie based on a one-hour episode of the 1978/79 series, and also features newly created footage that was never part of an original broadcast episode or an out-take from that series. The Telemovie edit begins with some astronaut finding Commander Adama’s log book in space, and also a short pre-Carillon synopsis of the pilot episode, with narrations by actors Patrick Macnee and Lorne Greene (who is reciting from the found log book.) (The new prolog also contains an alternate version of the “There are Those Who Believe…” speach by Macnee. ) This segment is then followed by a scene taken from the pilot episode (The space mine field), and after the newly created prolog is completed, we then get about 15 min of a highly edited version of “The Return of Starbuck”. This paired down edit of an episode of the Galactica 1980 series has had all the scenes and references to the Angela character and her star child totally removed. The editor also (very poorly) attempted to make it appear as if Starbuck took the part-Cylon part-Galactican escape craft back to the Battlestar Galactica. To round off this telemovie, the short “Return of Starbuck” sequence is followed by an an expanded version of the episode “Experiment in Terra” from the original Battlestar series. All of the out-take scenes used by the editor to extend the “Experiment in Terra” segment of this telemovie are included on the DVD box set in the bonus section for the “Experiment in Terra” episode
Here now for your viewing pleasure is the very rare “Log Book Galactica” prologue (in two parts) taken from an old VHS tape from my personal collection.
This very rare footage is not included on the official original series DVD box set.
FF