A few episodes in and one thought that comes to mind is that I had forgotten just how dark of a show this was that, now many years later, is looked upon as a show intended for kids. The entire premise of the series starts off with the extermination of millions, possibly billions, of humans spread across 12 planets. That is quickly followed-up by situations where the few surviving refugees just can't catch a break and (
including being used as a food stock by an insect like race!), even though the Cylons want to make peace, it is a fellow human who continues to try to exterminate what is left of humanity. Within the crowded ships the survivors face starvation, disease, class warfare, and a major character who was previously a "socialator" (*cough* prostitute *cough*). One top of all that there are plenty of religious and political overtones
After the pilot was picked up as a series the episodes slowly turned towards being more family friendly drama and, by the end, had some silly moments, but it started off as a much more adult oriented project.
I'm not interested in the BSG Earth (galactica 1980?) season because it sucked back when I saw it and it still sux.
The Galactica: 1980 series was horrible when it aired and did not get any better with age. It was an attempt to resurrect the BSG brand but with a tiny little budget so it had very few FX scenes that weren't just edits from the original series and it took place nearly entirely on Earth which allowed for cheap shooting. If you end up watching the entire original BSG series then as an epilogue watch the single Galactica: 1980 episode "
The Return of Starbuck".
I had no idea that there was only one season - I thought there were more?
Nope, just one season before it was cancelled. There is the Galactica: 1980 series that you mentioned but that is mostly forgotten and for good reason.
Seems there was only 21 episodes but there was a movie that I didn't know about.
Gotta go looking for the movie now...
The movie that was released in theaters (1979 if I recall) was just the first few episodes edited together to be a feature length showing.