Small-Screen Star Wars

Battlestar Galactica seems strangely familiar

What much-ballyhooed show has the following elements: 1) a wise old man whose mission is to save the human race; 2) an unusually nasty villain who wants to destroy the human race; 3) two handsome young bucks who trade good-humored gibes; 4) the most huggable little robot in the universe; 5) a bizarre barroom populated by inhuman creatures on a desert planet; 6) lots of gray spaceships whishing around against a brilliant blue background?

The answer, as anyone knows who has been watching TV promotion spots lately, is ABC's new series Battlestar Galactica, perhaps the most blatant rip-off ever to appear on the small screen. The show ripped off, naturally, is Star Wars, which Galactica copies in nearly everything but wit and talent. As a result, even before the show premieres this Sunday, it has been caught up in legal controversy.

The plot differs from Star Wars only in detail: by some devilish mischief, a race of robots has zapped twelve of the 13 planets harboring the human race. Led by a human renegade called Count Baltar, a first cousin to Darth Vader, the robots take off in hot pursuit of the survivors of the dozen planets, who are manning a ragtag fleet hovering around the "battlestar" Galactica. The humans are desperately searching for the 13th planet, a lost, legendary human colony called Earth. Lorne Greene is the wise old man in charge, and Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch play Han Solo and Luke Skywalker . . . oops, Lieut. Starbuck and Captain Apollo. Galactica's version of Artoo Detoo is a robot dog, a "daggit," named Muffit. Unfortunately, the duplicator at Universal Studios, which is producing the show, seems to have broken down before it could re-create the inimitable Threepio or Star Wars' Wookie, the most famous Teddy bear since Winnie-the-Pooh.

Universal has spent more money on Galactica, or Star Wars 1 1/2, as it might be called, than anyone has ever spent on a TV series before--$15 million, nearly double the cost of Star Wars itself. Moreover, Tektronix, Inc., a computer firm, has contributed a real computerized control room, and John Dykstra, 31, who created the wizardry special effects for Star Wars, was commissioned to work the same magic for Galactica.

Star Wars fans will recognize his touch in some fierce space battle scenes and seemingly three-dimensional images of stars and planets. Similar tricks were also used to move the various robots. Whereas Artoo Detoo was powered by a midget, Galactica's Muffit hides a chimpanzee, which Dykstra figured could more easily reproduce the unpredictable, jumpy actions of another animal, or robot animal. The formidable Lucifer, Count Baltar's aptly named robot assistant, however, does house a man. Since Actor Bobby Porter is only 4 ft. 11 in., the towering Lucifer has 18 unoccupied inches on top for a plastic head and enough flashing lights to start his own discotheque.

Dykstra claims that he was not given the time or the authority to go much beyond what he did in Star Wars, and he has already withdrawn from full-time participation in the series. "I burned out doing that show," he says. "I got tired of trying to do complicated things in that environment [at Universal]." TV executives, he says, are accustomed to changing a script several times a week. Actors can learn new lines every day, but Dykstra's special effects are not so adaptable. Says he: "Things couldn't be changed easily. It might take me two weeks to shoot a particular scene." Dykstra is also resentful of comparisons to Star Wars. "We didn't want to do a rip-off," he complains, "we wanted to do a genre picture."

20th Century-Fox, which produced Star Wars, feels ripped off nonetheless and is suing Universal for infringement of copyright and unfair competition. Says Fox Vice President Joseph Gallagher: "We are convinced that Universal doesn't have a right to produce this show." Universal huffily replies that Star Wars itself is a shameless imitation of Universal's own 1972 film Silent Running, directed by Douglas Trumbull, and is countersuing. Galactica Producer Glen Larson, who has made a profitable career out of turning other people's movie plots, including Coogan 's Bluff and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, into his own TV shows (McCloud and Alias Smith and Jones), mildly dismisses the notion that his new show was inspired by Star Wars. "I think our story is very fresh," he asserts, "and we've made our own breakthroughs."

It may all end in court, but in the meantime viewers will probably be able to see at least the first year's run of Galactica and have a chance to make up their own minds. Universal's toughest jury, in fact, may be those several hundred families that decide the Nielsen ratings. Science fiction has never been very popular on prime-time television, particularly among women viewers, and Galactica will face that long-term prejudice. Viewer curiosity and ABC'S continual promotion will probably bring in high ratings initially, but the show will soon need something more than special effects--namely believable plots and characters--in order to survive what promises to be television's most competitive year.

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