January 27, 1980 was a landmark day in the history of televised science fiction. On that memorable Sunday evening, the premiere episode of GALACTICA: 1980 ("Galactica Discovers Earth", part 1) was unleashed on an unsuspecting public by ABC-TV. The script was by Glen A. Larson and directed by Sidney Hayers. Diehard BSG fans were forced to come to grips with the fact that their favorite show had been radically altered with an almost entirely new cast and a watered-down concept (time-traveling Vipers? Flying motorcycles? A smug, super-smart teenager with alien powers?). Hopefully most fans weren't **too** shell-shocked by all of these changes and stuck around throughout the night long enough to switch the channel to over to NBC...
Later, on that same evening(!!!), NBC-TV aired Part 1 of the absolutely brilliant THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES ("The Expeditions"), based on the novel by Ray Bradbury; with a script by the legendary Richard Matheson and directed by Michael Anderson.
Both of these productions are "epic" in scope to be sure, but THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES is superior in every conceivable way. This mini-series with an all-star cast - headlined by the always awesome Rock Hudson - is sci-fi at its core. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it - it's available on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD - and yes - all 3 parts can be seen in whole on YouTube (but do the DVD industry a favor and BUY the DVD!). :-)
Check out this nifty Martian Chronicles fan-made Trailer. View it onYouTube HERE:
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| The Martian Chronicles - 2 disc DVD |
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| The Martian Chronicles - 3 tape VHS |
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