Battlestar Galactica was created by Glen A Larson (
Knight Rider /
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century /
Street Hawk) and told the tale of the last remnants of humanity who were searching for the lost planet of Earth after their own worlds were destroyed by the robotic
Cylons.
The main stars were Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict (best known as
Face in
The A-Team) who played hot-shot pilots
Apollo and
Starbuck, the former being the son of
Commander Adama, played by Lorne Greene.
The series was cancelled after just one season and is now generally regarded as one of the greatest TV turkeys of all time.
Bizarrely, it was resurrected the following year in the form of
Galactica 1980 which was set some years after the original series, as evidenced by the fact that Lorne Greene now sported a beard and all the rest of the cast were missing.
The revival saw the Galactica finally tracking down the "lost colony" of Earth (in reality a desperate attempt to keep costs down), but sadly its ten hours of screen time were about nine too many for most people as the only one of any note was the final one,
The Return of Starbuck.
More recently the series has been revived in a more hard-edged version for the US
Sci-Fi Channel to great critical acclaim, with Richard Hatch guest-starring in a number of episodes as Tom Zarek. See
Battlestar Galactica (2000s).