Battlestar Galactica & The Wonderful World of Disney's 25th Anniversary!

Forty years ago this month, the science fiction television show, Battlestar Galactica debuted. The following summer, "Battle for Galactica" opened at Universal Studios in California.

Battle for Galactica was an "experience" that was part of the Universal Studios Tram Tour, from 1979 through 1992. The "Glamour Trams" would suddenly come upon a vehicle on the side of the road with two "Cylons" at the controls and they would warn the trams to "Halt!" In the middle of the road was a large spaceship and as the doors to the ship opened, the Cylons would order the trams to drive aboard.

(Incidentally, the Battle for Galactica show replaced the "Rockslide" special effect that had been a part of the tram tour since 1974.)

I took this pic of the Cylon vehicle back in 1979. Their spaceship can be seen in the background.

My dad took these next two shots inside the spaceship/show building.

That's the "Imperious Leader" sitting up there above the Cylon. The Cylons and the Imperious Leader were all animatronic figures.

An actor dressed as a Colonial Warrior would suddenly appear to rescue the "captured" guests, by engaging in a battle with the Cylons. Lasers beams would shoot out of the Cylon's and the Colonial Warrior's guns. At least one of the Cylons would fall apart by splitting right down the middle, as if he had been cut in half by a laser.

Universal even had a walk-around "Cylon" character.

Unfortunately, the medieval tower (from the 1965 movie, The War Lord) in the background of this next pic, was torn down in 2001.

And now, let's take a look at the TV Guide listing, for the Fall 1978 debut of the original Battlestar Galactica series.

The premiere was three hours long!

Also on TV that night; the World of Disney, which was showing Dumbo, as part of Disney's 25th anniversary on television.

There was an article about Disney's anniversary in that issue.

There was also an article about the making of Battlestar Galactica. I guess 20th Century Fox was concerned that the TV show, was going to borrow too much from their recent mega-blockbuster film, Star Wars.

Let's see what else was on TV that week. It was the "First Time On TV!" for Airport '77. Universal Studios' Screen Test Theater show was actually themed to Airport '77 in the late seventies and early eighties.

Charlie's Angels was starting it's third season. Farrah Fawcett was returning to the show for her first of six "forced" guest appearances, following the breaking of her contract after season one.

Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk were having their season premieres that week.

Disco fever was at an all-time high! Billboard was hosting it's own "Disco Party" on KCOP's Channel 13.

Jon and Ponch were delivering a baby at a discotheque on CHiPs.

And Rerun was entering a disco contest on What's Happening! HEY! HEY! HEY!

Here are some of the faces that were appearing at the Emmy Awards that year.

And the nominees are.....uh, were:

Just in case anyone is interested, here's footage of the "Battle for Galactica" attraction as seen during the Universal Studios Tram Tour back in 1984:





And here is the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney television special that was mentioned in the Disney article above. (It had actually aired the previous week.) Just a warning here....this might very well be THE WORST television special, out of all Disney TV specials....EVER!

My Dad At Universal Studios - 1973

In honor of my dad, who I lost just three weeks ago, I'm rerunning this post from March 11, 2011 featuring his Universal Studios "screen test."


It was the summer of 1973 and I was eight years old. My grandmother was here visiting from out-of-state and we took her to Universal Studios. My family had been to Universal Studios once before (I've previously posted a few slides that my dad had taken in 1967), but being only two at that time, I had been left at home (hopefully not alone!), so this was my very first Universal visit.

I can recall a few things from that first visit, like the Flash Flood effect, the submarine that fired a torpedo at our tram, and the parting of the Red Sea, but the thing that I remember the most about that visit was that my dad was chosen to participate in The Stage 70 Show. This was the show where audience members were chosen to act in scenes from the television show, "Adam-12." The scenes were filmed, edited and then played back at the end of the show. Guests could also purchase a copy of the film and of course, since my dad was in it, we had to buy it.

The real stars of "Adam-12," Kent McCord and Martin Milner.

I remember my dad showing the souvenir film whenever he would get out our "home movies." I have since been given most of the family slides and home movie footage, but this is one that I did not have and had not seen in over 30 years. Well, my dad recently located this film and had it transferred to DVD, so I am posting it here. Oh, and my dad was chosen for the Martin Milner/Pete Malloy part, so he is the one behind the wheel of the police car and in the later scenes, he is the police officer wearing the white patend leather shoes. Universal provided the costumes that the policemen are wearing, but they didn't provide shoes and my dad was wearing white dress shoes that day! I've posted the film below, and here is the link for watching it in a larger format on YouTube: Universal Studios - Adam-12 Show

The thing that actually sparked my memory of this show and led me to ask my dad to look for it, was seeing this slide posted over at Gorillas Don't Blog, last July.

The slide is reposted here with permission from Major Pepperidge (thanks, Major!) You can see the set for the exterior of the bar on the far right with the telephone booth to the left of the front doors. The set of the bar's interior is visible on the left side. People chosen to be patrons in the bar can be seen sitting in the chairs and one of the policemen can even be seen standing next to them. One thing that my brother recently pointed out to me is, that they didn't try to alter the lighting for the indoor shots, so when you are watching the film, the indoor set is just as bright and sunny as the outdoor set (both sets were located outside as you can see in the photo.)

Here are two vintage postcards showing wider angles of the Adam-12 set.

This photo of the Stage 70 Show was taken from a 1974 Universal Studios brochure.

By 1975, the Stage 70 Show was re-themed to the television show, "Emergency!" Here's a postcard showing what the new sets looked like.

A few years later, the show was re-themed yet again to the movie, "Airport '77." At this time, the name of the theater was also changed from Stage 70, to the Screen Test Theater.

I remember seeing both the "Emergency!" and "Airport '77" versions of the show on multiple occasions, but I was never with anyone that was picked from the audience. The last incarnation of this show used a "Star Trek" theme, which I remember being surprised to see at Universal Studios since "Star Trek" was a Paramount television show and movie franchise.

***Post Update***: Shortly after posting this, I realized that the "Emergency!" version of the Stage 70 Show and the "Airport '77" version are both available on YouTube (unfortunately, neither of them include the audio). Here are those films:

Universal Studios Tour - "Adam-12" Show (1973)

It was the summer of 1973 and I was eight years old. My grandmother was here visiting from out-of-state and we took her to Universal Studios. My family had been to Universal Studios once before (I've previously posted a few slides that my dad had taken in 1967), but being only two at that time, I had been left at home (hopefully not alone!), so this was my very first Universal visit.

I can recall a few things from that first visit, like the Flash Flood effect, the submarine that fired a torpedo at our tram, and the parting of the Red Sea, but the thing that I remember the most about that visit was that my dad was chosen to participate in The Stage 70 Show. This was the show where audience members were chosen to act in scenes from the television show, "Adam-12." The scenes were filmed, edited and then played back at the end of the show. Guests could also purchase a copy of the film and of course, since my dad was in it, we had to buy it.

The real stars of "Adam-12," Kent McCord and Martin Milner.

I remember my dad showing the souvenir film, whenever he would get out our "home movies." I have since been given most of the family slides and home movie footage, but this is one that I did not have and had not seen in over 30 years. Well, my dad recently located this film and had it transferred to DVD, so I am posting it here. Oh, and my dad was chosen for the Martin Milner/Pete Malloy part, so he is the one behind the wheel of the police car and in the later scenes, he is the police officer wearing the white patend leather shoes. Universal provided the costumes that the policemen are wearing, but they didn't provide shoes and my dad was wearing white dress shoes that day! I've posted the film below, and here is the link for watching it in a larger format on YouTube: Universal Studios - Adam-12 Show

The thing that actually sparked my memory of this show and led me to ask my dad to look for it, was seeing this slide posted over at Gorillas Don't Blog, last July.

The slide is reposted here with permission from Major Pepperidge (thanks, Major!) You can see the set for the exterior of the bar on the far right with the telephone booth to the left of the front doors. The set of the bar's interior is visible on the left side. People chosen to be patrons in the bar can be seen sitting in the chairs and one of the policemen can even be seen standing next to them. One thing that my brother recently pointed out to me is, that they didn't try to alter the lighting for the indoor shots, so when you are watching the film, the indoor set is just as bright and sunny as the outdoor set (both sets were located outside as you can see in the photo.)

Here are two vintage postcards showing wider angles of the Adam-12 set.

This photo of the Stage 70 Show was taken from a 1974 Universal Studios brochure.

By 1975, the Stage 70 Show was re-themed to the television show, "Emergency!" Here's a postcard showing what the new sets looked like.

A few years later, the show was re-themed yet again, to the movie, "Airport '77." At this time, the name of the theater was also changed from Stage 70, to the Screen Test Theater.

I remember seeing both the "Emergency!" and "Airport '77" versions of the show on multiple occasions, but I was never with anyone that was picked from the audience. The last incarnation of this show used a "Star Trek" theme, which I remember being surprised to see at Universal Studios, since "Star Trek" was a Paramount television show and movie franchise.

***Post Update***: Shortly after posting this, I realized that the "Emergency!" version of the Stage 70 Show and the "Airport '77" version are both available on YouTube (unfortunately, neither of them include the audio). Here are those films: