Experiment in Terra telemovie wanted

[larocque6689]

" Cheapo" John sold off his masters a few months ago of his 12 telemovies. Basically I didn't want to go through the effort of copying them for somebody so I let go of the originals. In light of the DVD set, it didn't make a lot of sense holding on to them as nearly all the footage would wind up on the DVDs.

All the same, I regret selling off the "Experiment in Terra" telemovie. That's the one that starts off with Adama's logbook floating in space, segues into the Cylon history (illustrated with storyboards, possibly from Ralph McQuarrie), some space battles, a foreshortened version of The Return of Starbuck, and a slightly longer version of Experiment in Terra.

If you have a copy and want to make a dub for me, contact me here or at the Cylon Alliance.

[kingfish]

John why was just one of the telemovies(Mission:Galactica) sold in the United States?

[larocque6689]

Oh God, do you really want me to go into the history of this all over again?

Sure thing.

The telemovies I speak of are part of a syndicated package consisting of the pilot episode (edited to fit in a 2 1/2 hour timeslot for TV) and 11 other episodes cut into 2-hour telemovies.

These are DISTINCT from both "Mission Galactica" and "Conquest of the Earth" - which were theatrical releases in Europe and released in North America on home video.

Is your head spinning yet?

These are the syndicated telemovies

TELEMOVIE ORIGINAL EPISODES
1. Battlestar Galactica 2-hr version of 3-hr premiere
2. Lost Planet of Gods (expanded)
3. Gun on Ice Planet Zero (expanded)
4. The Phantom in Space "The Lost Warriors" "The Hand of God"
5. Space Prison - combines "The Man with Nine Lives" "Baltar's Escape"
6. Space Casanova - combines "Take the Celestra" "The Long Patrol"
7. Curse of the Cylons - combines "Fire in Space" "The Magnificent Warriors"
8. The Living Legend (expanded)
9. War of the Gods (expanded)
10. Greetings from Earth (same as original)
11. Murder in Space - combines "Murder on the Rising Star" "The Young Lords"
12. Experiment in Terra - combines "The Return of Starbuck" (edited) "Experiment in Terra" (expanded)

And these are the Battlestar theatrical features:
Battlestar Galactica - released theatrically in Canada/Europe in 1978, US in 1979
Mission Galactica - Released in Europe in 1979
Conquest of the Earth - Released in Europe in 1980

As i wrote in the FAQ:
Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (1h36) is an edited version of "The Living Legend" and "Fire in Space". Conquest of the Earth (1h39) is an edited version of Galactica 1980's premiere and the two-hour "The Night the Cylons Landed", along with stock footage from the original Galactica series. Both of these appeared as theatrical releases in Europe and Australia.

My focus is on those mysterious 12 telemovies. Half of them are awful. The Experiment in Terra is the most interesting and I regret selling it.

[kingfish]

John you were fortunate enough to see them. They were never aired in the United States.

[larocque6689]

The 12 telemovies in section one WERE seen in the United States. My contact was someone well established in BSG Fandom who taped them off TV in California. She shipped off her collection to me because she was too busy to tape them herself. I then sent them back to her, creating my set of 12 masters. I then recently shipped my set of 12 masters to another buys, because I was too lazy to tape them myself.

As for the movies broadcast in Europe, they were available in retail for years on VHS: Mission Galactica, and Conquest of the Earth plus the US theatrical version of the pilot episode.

[137th Gebirg]

Originally posted by larocque6689
All the same, I regret selling off the "Experiment in Terra" telemovie. That's the one that starts off with Adama's logbook floating in space, segues into the Cylon history (illustrated with storyboards, possibly from Ralph McQuarrie), some space battles, a foreshortened version of The Return of Starbuck, and a slightly longer version of Experiment in Terra.

This is probably the one stretch of BSG-related material that I've never seen. Does anyone out there have captured video footage of this sequence? I would LOVE to see it!

[JLHurley]

Early in the 80's I was in contact via letters with a fellow BG fan who was enduring the BG tele-movies. I can't recall where he lived--possibly in the Mid-west--but it wasn't in California.

I was lucky enough to have the two-parters (combined into the tele-movie version) aired locally in Tucson, AZ circa 1981 and recall really appreciated the added scenes. But if I had ever had the...ahem..."pleasure" to view the freakish combos that made up the remainder of the tele-movies, I doubt I would feel the same.

Incidentally, I have an audio tape of the "Experiment in Terra" movie that the aforementioned "pen pal" had sent me. I'll have to see if it still works; I recall finding it mostly annoying, often boring, without doubt heartbreaking, but also at times intriguing.

[AlternityOrange]

The "tele-movies" were indeed seen and aired in the US. They were made for those "afternoon at the movies" that all local stations used to have back in the 70's and 80's. Doesn't anyone else remember those? There'd usually be a local host would would have intro segments and appear during the commercial breaks. All big cities had their own version of them.

My favorites were the "Ape Weeks" where they'd air those odd "movie" version of the Apes TV shows with the new titles like, "Treachery and Greed On The Planet of The Apes." I actually really miss those local shows. Too bad there all but gone now.

Here's a picture from an honest-to-god real Cylon from the "Experiment" movie John is talking about;

[Charybdis]

Actually, were't the 2-hour telemovies first syndicated to all tv stations once Galactica went off the air?? Since there were only 17 episodes, they decided to put them into 2-hour movies to make it more palatable...

[skippercollecto]

The telemovies aired on both Cincinnati’s Channel 19 (now the Fox affiliate) and Dayton’s Channel 2 (then the NBC affiliate) periodically between 1981 and 1987. I think I watched all the telemovies at least twice. In 1986, my family finally obtained a VCR, and Channel 19 aired the pilot, “Living Legend” and “Gun on Ice Planet Zero” one last time each in 1987, so I taped them (more on that in a minute).
My comments about the telemovies:
1. There were two versions of the pilot. During the first run on Channel 2 in 1981, the station aired a much-shortened version of the pilot to air in a two-hour time slot. That version aired only once, and has never surfaced again.
2. Channel 19’s version of the pilot took up two hours and 45 minutes of air time, including commercials. It was NOT the same version as the video/theatrical release. There are scenes in the theatrical release that aren’t in this version, and vice versa. Email me if you want the list of differences. I think that, between the two video and telemovie versions, you got the entire pilot. Channel 19, to fill in the last 15 minutes, all three times the station aired the movie, there was this short parody of “Star Wars” called “Hardware Wars.”
3. I know about the added footage in the episodes that were originally two-parters made into two-hour movies. What I do not remember, and what no one has ever been able to tell me, is if added footage that was originally filmed in 1978 and 1979 for the one-hour episodes was inserted into the oddball telemovies to fill the length of the two-hour time slot.
4. I also have never learned who wrote the dialogue to create segues between the combined episodes, or who came back and dubbed in the voices. All the voices actually sounded correct—as if the original actors came back and did some voice work—except for Richard Hatch.
5. In Experiment in Terra, the astronaut who found Adama’s log book floating in space was named Nehemiah something.
6. DO NOT ask me to make a copy for you of the three telemovies that I own. They are all one tape, recorded in slow long play in 1987, and the picture on the tape was somewhat grainy to begin with. It has of course darkened and deteriorated over time. Since the first VCR I owned did not come with a remote, I had to manually sit in front of the VCR to stop tape when a commercial came. So when a segment ends, it is sometimes followed by a portion of a commercial. Nor was I quick enough to push the button to start the tape again when the ads ended and the movie returned. In other words, the thing isn’t edited properly. Besides, in my apartment I have only one TV and VCR, and I am not going to ask someone to lug his or her TV and VCR or DVD to my place (up the stairs to the second floor), wire the machines to each other, copy the tape, and then take everything home again. What I’m trying to say is, retaping the thing would be too complicated and you’d be disappointed in the quality.
7. All I've read so far in posts about the new DVD set are comments about the pilot. What versions of the two-parters are included on it? Are the extra scenes from the telemovies on it? (I have the set, I just haven't had time to watch it yet.)

Mary

Hi
I am also looking for a copy anyone find one? e-mail me at eolsen@argoentgroup.com

Also does anyone know if the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA THE COLLECTION PAL VHS BOX SET from the UK, does that contain the telemovie versions of Galactica including the"Experiment in Terra" telemovie?

Any info would be helpful.