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Battlestar Galactica / one sheet / teaser / USA

11.08.12

Poster Poster
Title
Battlestar Galactica
AKA
Saga of a Star World (original pilot title)
Year of Film
1978 (released in the US in 1979)
Director
Richard A. Colla
Starring
Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Herbert Jefferson Jr., John Colicos, Maren Jensen, Noah Hathaway, Laurette Spang, Tony Swartz, Terry Carter
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Herbert Jefferson Jr., John Colicos, Maren Jensen, Noah Hathaway, Laurette Spang, Tony Swartz, Terry Carter,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Teaser
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1979
Designer
Unknown
Artist
Ralph McQuarrie
Size (inches)
27 1/16" x 41"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
Before there was earth there was a great war

A rarely seen teaser one sheet for the theatrical release of the pilot of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. Created by legendary producer Glen A. Larson, who would later go on to work on the likes of The Fall GuyMagnum, P.I. and Knight Rider, the decision was made by Universal Studios to cut the pilot down from its three hour running time and release it in cinemas to try and recoup some of the high production costs. It was first released in Canada, Australia and several European countries in 1978 and this poster dates from the domestic release in 1979. Universal would later repeat this idea with the Buck Rogers movie, also produced by Larson, in the same year.

Originally named Saga of a Star World, the pilot sets up the backstory of the 1,000 year war between a colony of humans living in a distant cosmos and the robotic race known as Cylons, who wish to wipe out the entire human race. The humans are betrayed by a traitor known as Baltar (John Colicos) who helps the Cylons launch a surprise attack during a supposed armistice between the two sides. The assault almost wipes out all 12 of the human colonies, with only the Galactaca surviving along with a bunch of smaller civilian ships. The fleet sets off on a journey across the galaxy in search of their long-lost sister civilisation, our planet Earth, with the Cylons in hot pursuit.

The original artwork was done by the late, legendary artist Ralph McQuarrie who was responsible for creating concept designs for the TV series. The site Sci-fi-o-Rama has an article that features several of his illustrations, including the image on this poster. It appears to have been redrawn (check the explosions, for example), but I’m going to give the artist credit to McQuarrie.