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Guest stars were used to superb effect in many episodes. The underused George Murdock, Jack Stauffer, John Dullaghan as Doctor Wilker, Ed Begley Jr., Sheila DeWindt, Janet Louise Johnson, Tony Swartz, and Larry Manetti also sparkle in their appearances, as does veteran character actor Olan Soule as agro ship caretaker Carmichel. It was with 'Living Legend' (highlighted by Lloyd Bridges' show-stealing performance as Commander Cain, for which he will always be remembered) that really got the show's writing on a truly solid base, and excellent scripts followed in 'War Of The Gods' (another story highlighted by the performance of the guest star, in this case Patrick Macnee, who immortalizes himself as Count Iblis), the excellent character-driven 'The Man With Nine Lives,' the surprisingly sharp murder mystery 'Murder On The Rising Star,' 'Greetings From Earth,' and the show's strongest and smoothest action drama 'The Hand Of God.' The cast shines through good and bad in the show, from Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, and John Colicos (my personal favorite of the show) down through Herbert Jefferson Jr., Laurette Spang, Terry Carter, Jane Seymour in her all-too-brief involvement, and mid-season addition Anne Lockhart.

'Saga Of A Star World,' 'Lost Planet Of The Gods Part II,' 'The Long Patrol,' and 'The Living Legend' were more-sharply written stories combining the excellence of the cast with very good twists. And as the show progressed mistakes were learned from and the writing became better.

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As a result, the series had a very uneven quality to the scripts, most notoriously shown in the standard-western scripts of the episodes 'The Lost Warrior' and 'The Magnificent Warriors.' The passage of time, though, has been kind even to such clichГ©s the standard-western format of these early episodes can be traced to the western gunslinger themes of Star Wars and other 1970s sci-fi, and the performances of the casts, primary and guest, shine through and make these scripts work. However, late in the going ABC asked for a weekly series, a contingency for which Glen Larson, Universal, and company were not prepared.

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Galactica was conceived as a series of TV movies, similar in format to the Columbo-McCloud-McMillan movie series format from earlier in the 1970s. That is has held up as an engaging sci-fi epic despite its myriad off-screen problems and short network run is a tribute to its many strengths in concept, overall production values, cast, and presentation. Battlestar Galactica had so much going for it, and so much working against it from outside influences.

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