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Glen A. Larson does Star Wars! [Empire (UK)](Empire (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Star Wars Clone #1: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA When Star Wars opened in US cinemas on May 25, 1977, destroying global box-office records with the deadly efficienqr of a Death Star, science-fiction suddenly had a future again. And since everyone in Hollywood likes to be first to do something for the second time, it was only a matter of time before the imitators arrived. First out of the star gate was Battlestar Galactica. Although it wasn't actually a movie at all, but an edited cutdown/blow-up of the three-hour pilot for a TV series, in which the last survivors of mankind's thousand-year war with evil chrome robots the Cylons roam the galaxy in the titular spaceship. The series - the most expensive television production of its time - was the brainchild of writer-producer Glen A. Larson, who had made a career out of rifling on hit films: his TV Western Alias Smith And Jones (1971). for example, had been a thinly veiled homage to Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969). while 'tec-in-a-stetson drama McCloud (1970) was a small-screen take on Coogan's Bluff (1968). According to Larson, the success of Star Wars prompted Universal-owned ABC Television to dust off a pilot script of his entitled Adam's Ark. which the studio had rejected during the late '60s. Heavily influenced by its author's Mormon beliefs, and more directly Erich Von Diiniken's bestselling Chariots Of The Gods series, Adam's Ark told the story of a colony of ancient or future humans, searching the galaxy for a fabled '13th colony' named Earth. While Star Wars dominated the summer of '77, Larson toiled away on revisions to Adam's Ark, ostensibly to make it "more current". As Alan J. Levi, who directed half of the Galáctica pilot, recalls. "Glen did have a reputation and love of stealing from the best, [and] it was widespread knowledge that after Glen read the original George Lucas Star Wars script, he set out immediately to 'beat the Star Wars concept to the audience'." Thus, in the final script, dated August 30. 1977. and re-titled 'Saga of a Star World', robots have become "droids'. the Ark is a 'Battlestar' (like a Death Star, only friendlier), and the hero is a young pilot named Skyler (not Skywalker, no sir!). Suddenly. Universal loved the concept. George Lucas, however, didn't. Sent the script as a courtesy by the studio, which had famously turned down Star Wars, Lucas asked it to make numerous changes, including the removal of "Star World' from the title, references to 'star warriors', 'droids' and so on. "It was a problem for George." says conceptual designer Ralph McQuarrie. the first Star Wars veteran whom Larson hired to work on his show, "because it was beginning to look like a Star Wars rip-off." Larson cast a staple of Sunday-night television, Bonanza star Lome Greene, as die patriarchal Commander Adama, with heartthrobs Richard Hatch and future A-Teamer Dirk Benedict as the show's lead characters. Captain Apollo and Lieutenant Starbuck. Knowing that audiences would not settle for anything less than state-of-the-art effects, he cheekily hired effects pioneers John Dykstra. Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren. Ken Ralston and Joe Johnston, all of whom had found themselves out of work when George Lucas shut down Industrial Light & Magic after Star Wars wrapped. "All the people were still there," Johnston recalls, "and Glen hired the entire group, including me. to design, build and photograph all these visual effects." With so many Star Wars alumni on the show, it was small wonder that Galactica's visual effects looked so familiar: "very derivative", as Johnston puts it. Lucas and 20th Century Fox agreed. On December 8. 1977. Fox's lawyers, at Lucas' behest, sent a letter to Universale parent company. MCA, asking it to halt production of Galactica on the basis of copyright infringement. "We all fell that Battlestar was a rip-off of Star Wars." explained Lucas' close collaborator Howard Kazanjian. who would go on to produce Return Of The Jedi. "We immediately sued Universal because not only were they copying Star Wars, they were using ILM's equipment." Said Lucas. "There's a line between just doing something similar and doing something that is trying to copy it directly, especially when you move it to a different medium. Not only does it upset me because I didn't think the quality was very good, but also because, if I wanted to do a TV series of Star Wars. I couldn't." MCA-Universal responded by countersuing Fox. claiming numerous similarities between Star Wars and its 1972 film Silent Running, as well as the Buck Rogers serial of the 1930s. Larson, meanwhile, vehemently denied any wrongdoing. "Battlestar Galactica is quite different, when it comes to who our characters and what our story is." he said at the time. Although Fox's lawsuit cited 83 points of similarity, even Richard Edlund, who acknowledged Galáctica 's debt to Star Wars, felt the lawsuit was unwarranted. "Glen Larson didn't shy away from borrowing wherever he could." says Edlund, "as did George Lucas - C-3PO is a dead ringer for Maria in Metropolis!" Undeterred by Lucas' legal action, production continued under the supervision of veteran TV director Richard A. Colla - until, with just days to go before the pilot wrapped. Larson fired him. "T felt that many of the suggestions he made did not seem to be properly in keeping with what we were doing, and I guess I was vocal enough to tell him so," says Colla. "I told him he was an ungrateful bastard, because everybody was working so hard to pull his ass out of the lire, and now he's in there pretending like he's the one who has all the ideas." Collas replacement, Alan J. Levi, was another TV veteran, having directed episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man. Gemini Man and The Incredible Hulk. "I shot the remaining 1 5 days of the original schedule, and an additional nine days of "reshoots'," he says, ""bringing my total to 24 days of filming slightly fewer than Richard's 25." No wonder Levi was aggrieved when the co-director credit Larson had promised him failed to materialise. "I never forgave Glen for that." he says. As filming continued, at an unheard-of $1 million per episode. Universal decided to recoup some of its huge investment by re-cutting the pilot and releasing it at cinemas outside the LJS. Although Larson was unhappy with this, feeling that the show's production schedule was being hurt by the demands of the big screen, audiences hungry for more Star Wars-style sci-fi action were delighted: within two minutes, a fanfare-like orchestral theme and lengthy opening shot of a gigantic spaceship put them firmly in mind of their favourite film. Nor did the similarities end there: the space battles kicked familiar-looking ass. Colonial Vipers looking as much like X-Wing clones as Apollo and Starbuck were stand-ins for Skywalker and Solo, and the shiny silver Cylons were arguably cooler and scarier than Stormtroopers - even if their 'Imperious Leader was voiced by cuddly Avengers star Patrick Macnee. For kids, furry robot Muffet II looked like the lovechild of R2-D2 and Chewbacca; while for older boys, Larson had the decency not to tape down the breasts of his leading lady. Brit beauty Jane Seymour. Small wonder Battlestar Galactica became the biggest film of 1979 in some territories, spawning a sequel. Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack, cobbled together from three more TV episodes, and released in cinemas later that year. In the US. Battlestar Galactica made its US TV debut in September 1978. with a staggering 65 million Americans tuning in for the three-hour pilot. Its small-screen success was short-lived, however, lasting a single season before Universal pulled the plug on its cripplingly expensive show in favour of a much cheaper sci-fi spectacle: Mork & Mindy. "It was frustrating." says Richard Hatch, "that the networks and studios never realised what they had, or how a series that was only on for one year could reach and touch so many generations of people from all walks of life." Meanwhile, the Lucas Vs. Larson lawsuit rumbled on. with US District Judge Irving Hill throwing out Fox's case in August 1980. followed by MCA-Universal's counter-suit months later. But in 1983, the US Court Of Appeals ruled: "The films do raise genuine issues of material fact as to whether only the Star Wars idea or the expression of that idea was copied." MCA had to pay Fox $225.000 barely enough to cover five years of legal fees. Little was heard of Battlestar Galactica until Universal's revival of the series, under the stewardship of Star Trek: First Contact screenwriter Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and "consulting producer" Glen A. Larson. The reboot was a critical and commercial success, lasting four seasons, and spawning two made-for-TV movies. Razor and The Plan, a spin-off series, Caprica, and some healthy DVD sales. Rumours persist that a new feature film, unconnected to the TV reboot, may be released in 2012. "A new Battlestar Galactica movie, based on the original series from '78, is in the planning stages," confirms Hatch, who played a small role in Moore's TV revival. "Glen Larson is writing, with Bryan Singer directing. As far as I know it will not include any original actors, but will follow the original mythology and back story of the original." Whatever the future holds. Battlestar Galactica has outgrown its origins as a Star Wars clone. Besides. Dennis Muren admits to having learned more doing Galactica than he did on Star Wars. "It wasn't until Star Wars was over and I was working on Galactica that I fully appreciated the power of motion control." he says. "It was something I could never have done on Star Wars, because the pace was too fast. There, we got the elements together and followed George's vision, kept our fingers crossed. But on Galactica, we got the opportunity to design shots ourselves and try different things." Says Edlund, "We came up with neat ideas which bore fruit on The Empire Strikes Back. Even though Galactica was a rip-off of Star Wars in many ways, it didn't hurt it that much." "It was only on for a year but touched generations from all walks of life." Richard Hatch [email protected] (c) 2011 Bauer Consumer Media |