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Reviews
Galactica 1980 (1980)
Good show, bad ratings
The title of this review says it. No need to repeat it. Now for background: Battlestar Galactica, (the 1978 original, not the piece of felgercarb that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, now SyFy), had been renewed for the 1979-80 season. However, due to high production costs, (not low ratings), it was cancelled. No meed to repeat what another reviewer said about that. Battlestar Galactica became too expensive and ABC wanted to pay less per-episode than it had agreed to with Universal. All but two characters, Commander Adama, (Lorne Greene), and Lieutenant, (now Colonel Boomer), were gone. Apollo, (Richard Hatch), Starbuck, (Dirk Benedict), and Jolly, (Tony Swartz), were gone. Instead, there were Captain Troy, Adam-12's Kent McCord), as a grownup Boxey, and Lieutenant Dillon, (Barry Van Dyke), who were the two Viper pilots. As the story goes, the Galactica, after thirty yahren, (years in the BG universe), the Galactica has reached Earth. Unfortunately, for the people of the ragtag, fugitive fleet, Earth isn't advanced enough to defend the Galactica, and itself, from the Cylons, an android race that wants to drive the human race to extinction, and according to the wunderkind Dr. Zee, the Galactica and the fleet, may have inadvertently led the Cylons to Earth. There were an impressive array of guest stars, William Daniels, Wolfman Jack, and Robert Reed. Robyn Douglass, was a television reporter named Jamie, who'd helped the interstellar refugees.
The Tripods (1984)
Cancelled because of Doctor Who
I know what you're thinking. What the----? Let me enlighten you. Once upon a time in the 1980s, there were two series. The long-running Doctor Who, which in its first incarnation, ran from 1963 to 1989, and The Tripods, which was, at it said in the opening: "Based On The Tripods Trilogy By John Christopher." The first two seasons, (series in Britain), were based on the first two books of the Trilogy, The White Mountains, (1967), The City of Gold and Lead, (1968). However, before the third season, (third series), could begin, there was a strike at the BBC. Doctor Who now had low ratings. Doctor Who was on the verge of being canceled. So what could be canceled instead of the venerable Doctor Who? The Tripods. The third season, if it had been produced, probably would have been based on the third book of the Trilogy, The Pool of Fire. Would there have been a fourth season? I don't know. Maybe. If so, it probably would have been based on the fourth book, When The Tripods Came, (1988), which was the prequel to the original Trilogy.
Red Dawn (1984)
The best future history movie
I just read in Wikipedia that it's been remade. It's true. The remake's coming out on November 24th. The remake's been updated. Back to this movie. Red Dawn, (the 1984 original), is about a Soviet-led invasion of the United States. Eight high school students from Calumet, Colorado, become insurgents calling themselves "Wolverines." (The nickname of their high school's sports teams). Arming themselves with hunting rifles, and bows and arrows, they begin a guerrilla war against the Soviets, Cubans, and Nicaraguans. Some said that it was a teen fantasy. Others said that it was a madman's delusional fantasy. Screw that. I say that's the best future history movie ever made. Granted, this is a late Cold War movie, but consider it a cautionary tale----we take our freedom for granted----- and we lose it. Like the ABC miniseries Amerika, which aired three years later, Red Dawn is about the occupation of the United States. This is the beginning of World War III. Amerika was set right after the end of World War III. Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, and Powers Booth were in the original. As for what others say about this movie, and the remake, both are to be considered alternate history.
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Great Ray Harryhausen stop-action special effects
Clash of the Titans, (1981), was the last movie to use stop-motion special effects. That said, I'd like to say that I love it. Harry Hamlin, (later on L.A. Law), is Perseus-----the son of Zeus, (Laurence Olivier, in his last role). According to the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, Perseus killed Medusa, and Poseidon's three children, including Pegasus, sprang from her headless body. Judi Bowker is Andromeda. The daughter of Cassiopeia. Andromeda was chained to a rock to be devoured by a sea monster for Cassiopeia's sin of pride. Perseus is the son of Zeus and Danae. He's a demigod. He angers Thetis, a sea goddess. Perseus has to save Andromeda, and the people of Ethiopia, from the sea monster. But before he can do that, he has to save the people of Greece from Medusa, a former priestess of Poseidon, who was turned into a hideous creature by Hera. Great Ray Harryhausen stop-motion special effects.