So Say We All

by Mark A. Altman

  For POV shots approaching the landing bay, one of the bays contained a backlit forced-perspective matte painting depicting the interior. For reverse shots inside the bay looking out as a vessel approached, a larger model was constructed. This consisted of a floor section with lights and a separate roof section. The roof piece was flipped and doubled as the battlestar’s surface for later shots in which two Vipers pursue and destroy a Cylon Raider flying over the Galactica’s hull.

  The Viper launch tube was created using a piece of Sonotube (a tube used in construction for pouring concrete). It was detailed with girders and lit practically with halogen lights hidden behind the bulkheads. One half of the tube could be pulled away for side shots with the camera and Viper traveling simultaneously down a motion-control track.

  STEVEN SIMAK

  At least two versions were created of the Colonial Viper—which measured approximately sixteen inches long. The “hero” version was complete with lights and a clear canopy containing a pilot figure. It also featured a gas jet system used to create the “turbos” effect. A lesser, secondary version sans the lights and jets was also used. To create the turbo effect, the hero Viper was equipped with brass tubing, which would spray liquid nitrogen under pressure out of the rear engine of the vessel. Lighting was also built into the engine to illuminate the turbo effect. Shot as separate passes, the dramatic turbos proved to be problematic for the filmmakers.

  RICHARD EDLUND

  (special effects director of photography, Battlestar Galactica)

  It was hard to shoot, and it had to do with the temperature on the stage. If it was in the morning and it was cold on the stage, it looked one way. Later on in the afternoon, if it got warm, it looked another way. It was a pain to do. That’s an idea that we wished somebody had never come up with, because in the days of motion control you shoot a beauty pass on the model against blue screen and then you have to turn the lights off and shoot an engine pass without the smoke. Then we had to feed liquid nitrogen through a tube [in the Viper model] and shoot that separately as a motion-control shot. Of course, as the temperature of the stage changed during the day, so did the nitrogen. So it was a nightmare—nitrogen-mare.

  DOUG SMITH

  (camera, miniature, and optical effects unit, Battlestar Galactica)

  Everything would freeze up and start sputtering. And chunks of ice would start flying out.

  STEVEN SIMAK

  By comparison, the Cylon Raider models were much simpler to execute. Measuring approximately thirteen inches long, with a seventeen-inch wingspan, the hero Raiders had lights in the front and engines but did not feature any of the turbo mechanics. Estimates are that half a dozen Vipers and Raiders each were initially created, with duplicates being cast from molds as needed. Measuring four feet across, the structure for the Cylon basestar was created out of Plexiglas with steel tube mounting points. Unlike the Galactica, the basestar utilized a series of patterns, which repeated on the surface.

  Approximately a dozen vessels were created to represent the ragtag fleet. Sizes ranged from hero ships of approximately sixteen inches in length to the much smaller trailing vessels seen only as spots in the distance.

  WAYNE SMITH

  (production and special effects consultant, Battlestar Galactica)

  There is a lot of good stuff that came directly out of the model makers’ hands without going through any design process, like the giant ragtag fleet—things that had to be done quickly.

  ANDREW PROBERT

  (conceptual designer, Battlestar Galactica)

  I only worked on the two-hour pilot movie. I do remember being excited and impressed with seeing the famous Dykstraflex camera system, revolutionary, at the time, and knowing it was the one used in filming the spaceship flying scenes in Star Wars … and it was very cool to see working cinematic history.

  DOUG SMITH

  There were times when the model makers were left on their own to just build something without going through any design process. Depending on their talents, it turned out either brilliant or unusable.

  ANDREW PROBERT

  At one point, the call went out for everyone to come up with additional spaceship models, for shooting various parts of the “ragtag fleet,” carrying the remaining survivors of the Cylon attacks. So, being a hobby modeler, I thought it might be fun to contribute to this collection, and I came up with a little winged flier. Somebody really liked it, and it ended up being featured in the show’s opening credits, showing ships evacuating various planets, which I also ended up painting.

  RICHARD EDLUND

  One of the sequences I really liked was the mine sequence with that red laser stuff. I think I may have lost a quarter of my optical nerve shooting that by not wearing yellow glasses. We had a one-watt laser, which doesn’t sound like much, but you could light your cigarette on that laser. We were scanning it around on the stage and bouncing it off things like Saturn Awards trophies. The surface of that was really good for bouncing a laser off of.

  GLEN A. LARSON

  It was all an experiment. Half the time they were looking for what would work. I remember when we showed the surface of Caprica, I asked how they got the look of that city and they said that’s just a bunch a sugar on a table lit just right to look like billions of lights.

  RICHARD EDLUND

  In the Guns of Navarone show [“Gun on Ice Planet Zero”], we blew up a mountain that was really powder. There was a lot of really great stuff. We used microballoons, these little miniature glass bubbles to simulate snow. I probably still have some in my lungs. But it worked so great and that’s what it’s all about.

  STEVEN SIMAK

  Motion-control technology (MOCO), pioneered by Douglas Trumbull during Silent Running and perfected on Star Wars, would be the foundation for the effects work on Galactica. Motion control allows for computer-controlled movement of the camera and models along a repeatable programmed path. This precision photography allows filmmakers to separately photograph a series of elements which would track and match exactly when optically composited together later. The Dykstraflex camera, the motion-control track camera system pioneered on Star Wars, would also be utilized.

  One area of departure was the film format. All the effects for Star Wars were shot in VistaVision. VistaVision is an eight-perf [eight perforations per frame] film format that yielded twice the image area of a standard four-perf thirty-five-millimeter frame. Four-perf film runs vertically through the camera and projection system. In contrast, VistaVision runs horizontally, creating a larger film format. As a cost-saving factor, for Galactica the entire facility was converted from VistaVision to four-perf thirty-five millimeter.

  RICHARD EDLUND

  It did affect the quality of the image. In thirty-five-millimeter, you are basically intercutting a dupe [duplicate] with the original, and that’s the reason we went to VistaVision on Star Wars. We had an image quality advantage so that when we duped it, it would cut like an original negative shot; whereas when you dupe a thirty-five shot and cut it with the rest you have that kind of dupe effect.

  DOUG SMITH

  All the equipment, from the stage cameras to the animation camera to the optical printers, had to switch to four-perf. There was a whole shift from the field charts and how things lined up. As far as shooting things on the stage, it actually got a little easier, because a four-perf field of view is smaller than a VistaVision field of view. So the areas that you had to cover with blue screen behind things got a little easier, but the grain issues were worse and it made the lineup of mattes as critical as ever. It was a trade-off there, I guess, in relation to the size of the format. The camera stayed the same size even though the format got smaller, so you wouldn’t have the same feeling that you were as close to the particular model as you did before.

  When we shot the models, frequently we were so close we were hitting the models or scraping the paint off. We got really close with the miniature photography in order to feel the sort of closeness that you want—
the feel of a dramatic shot.… Because of the format it was harder to make the model feel as big on television as it did when you were shooting it in VistaVision for a feature film.

  RICHARD EDLUND

  Visual effects have come a long way in forty years, and I apologize for some of those matte lines. In fact, if you look at many of the shots and compare those to the shots of Star Wars, the choreography of the shots was better. Of course, we could play the violin better because we had had a little more time on the instrument. It was a lot of fun for us on the effects crew to work on this project. We did change the whole system over from VistaVision to thirty-five millimeter because of budgets and, frankly, I didn’t expect it to go to a feature. But, all of a sudden, it was a feature and I was kind of cranky about it because the work wasn’t as polished technically as it could be.

  SCOTT MANTZ

  (film critic, Access Hollywood)

  You want to talk effects? The scene in the Nova of Madagon where they clear the Cylon minefield and get to Carillon is another great scene. Everybody’s having a big party, but wait, the Ovions want to eat the humans, but they’re not running from the Cylons, who just want the humans dead and exterminated. They’re going to feed off of them. The humans can’t get a break. So what do the humans do? They blow up the fucking planet. It was brilliant. They’re laying fire to the tylium mines with their little laser pistols, because the fire’s going to spread like wildfire, and they blow up the freaking planet.

  There’s a lot going on in “Saga of a Star World.” You’ve got the power struggle between Adama and Sire Uri, and Ray Milland was great. He was wresting control of the fleet. They just got out of the Twelve Colonies, with their butts intact, and now Adama has to worry about a power struggle, because Sire Uri wants to negotiate peace with the Cylons? It’s like, “Are you kidding me?” Adama was smart. He played his cards close to his vest, he gambled, and he won because he did a brilliant switch to protect most of the Vipers so they could be ready in case the Cylons attacked. Adama was right. “The Cylons lured me into their deception once, never again.” Then after they discover the secret of Carillon, and the Cylons are closing in, Adama has a little smirk on his face. He’s like, “I knew it, I fucking knew it.”

  When the Vipers engage, there’s a great shot of the three Vipers going down, with the turbos and the Cylons, and they engage. It’s a great shot. Even given today’s standards, the special effects of Galactica were great. So many people have said, “Oh, well, they used the same shot over and over again.” Yeah, they did, but I don’t care, because they’re great shots. There’s so much detail to that Galactica model that no matter how close the Cylons get, it still looks great. Remember, this was 1978, it was only nine years after the original Star Trek, which doesn’t hold up, but even by 2017 standards, what John Dykstra did with the effects of Galactica still works great, even on the big screen. It really was one of the best pilots ever done for television.

  PHIL TIPPETT

  (creature designer, Battlestar Galactica)

  Somewhere in my archives I have pictures of the original designs I did for these little antlike people [Ovions] on Battlestar Galactica. The only person I ever dealt with was producer Glen Larson. It was on the Universal lot, and he hired me to do some design work. I made this small clay maquette, which was the basis for the design of the suit and the manufacturing of it. I did some other characters as well but I can’t exactly remember, but there was some big cloaked alien, a dark overlord [the Imperious Leader]. I just worked on the very initial design phase.

  Costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac had been brought to Universal specifically for Galactica. His prolific career in the film and television industry includes such projects as Barbarella, The Bastard, Mae West, Quantum Leap, Somewhere in Time, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

  JEAN-PIERRE DORLEAC

  (costume designer, Battlestar Galactica)

  I had worked on lots of other different types of science fiction movies in the past, and this was an opportunity to do something that was not the plastic and chrome and high-tech costuming that I had done before.

  I decided that I wanted the uniforms to look like they were made out of suede, because it has a very soft natural texture. Glen liked the idea and we looked for suede costumes in earth colors and that’s how the warrior costumes got started. We wanted something very dignified for the uniforms worn by Adama and Tigh, so we went for the midnight blue.

  ROB KLEIN

  (Battlestar Galactica archivist)

  Battlestar Galactica’s Colonial wardrobe for the bridge officers and battle suits were made with extreme quality and durability, with the assumption that the show would go on for many seasons. The battle jackets had interior pockets and were fully lined on the interior. Dirk Benedict’s Colonial jacket and sweater worn in “The Magnificent Warriors” had custom-made pockets on the inside to accommodate his cigars.

  STEVEN SIMAK

  Dorleac’s sketches went to Glen through supervising producer Leslie Stevens. The two of them would then review the concepts and make decisions on the proposed designs. The designer, who began his career as a sketch artist on Barbarella, welcomed the opportunity to create the unique type of costuming Galactica required.

  Some of the most memorable design work in the entire series was the Cylon Centurions and their hardware, the iconic Cylon basestar, and, of course, the Cylon Raiders. These were all developed by legendary conceptual designer Andy Probert, who, along with Joe Johnston (future director of The Rocketeer and Captain America: The First Avenger), would later go on to design even more iconic vessels for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the Enterprise 1701-D for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

  ANDREW PROBERT

  I had met Ralph McQuarrie earlier, and interviewed him for our college newsletter, showing him my work in the process. He recommended me to John Dykstra, heading up ILM at the time. He was doing the special effects for the show, and I was subsequently hired to provide concepts for the Cylons. Ralph had provided the initial design for the Cylons, along with other preproduction illustrations, to get the project started. That was my starting point, with the helmet-scanner idea already in place. I continued creating variations of the robots, while starting to emulate the face of the Imperious Leader from an already-cast mask of that character. Then Glen Larson asked for the helmet to have a “skull-like” look, so additional helmet designs were generated by myself as well as concept genius Joe Johnston, who had already been in place on the production. Once I had started sketching skull forms, I created a “snarl” in the mouth area, adding a horizontal grille between, rather than teeth.

  The grille was also to have been a design echoing of the Cylon Raider spaceship cockpit window area, for subliminal design continuity. The mouth-side snarl forms reminded me of an ancient Greek helmet, so I added a top piece to complete that look. About the same time, as I recall, I started exploring Egyptian-motif ideas for the Colonials’ helmet look. My thinking was that maybe the Cylons were ancient astronauts who influenced the Greek armor and helmets. With the Thirteenth Tribe reaching Earth later, their helmets could have influenced the Egyptians.

  Mr. Larson liked my Cylon helmet but wanted to see additional ideas for a full-body suit from both of us. Joe Johnston’s concepts were heading more toward a Japanese samurai feel, while I stayed with the Greek-armor look, complete with a rear half cape, broadsword, and spear. Mr. Larson chose that Greek style, adding the requirement that their proportions be “high-waisted” with chromed armor. I added a “grille” motif into the rib cage area, visually repeating the lower helmet look, added a life-support pack on the back, an equipment belt, and also an arm-mounted gun to the final sketch, which Mr. Larson approved, but when the costume designer added big hockey gloves into the mix, the arm gun was unusable. Joe Johnston, meanwhile, provided the beautiful final look for the Colonials’ helmet design.

  JEAN-PIERRE DORLEAC

  The Cylons were a reptilian race and they were robots. We came
up with the chrome plating to give them the real high-tech look as opposed to the Galactica Warriors and the people of the fleet.

  ANDREW PROBERT

  Mr. Larson only came into the Art Department, which was Joe Johnston and me, on occasion, so I didn’t have a lot of contact with him. When I did, it was brief, but quite pleasant, as I recall. Sometimes, he would bring along one of his teenaged sons as a consultant, wanting to get a younger take on everything. Star Wars was, indeed, discussed, with the goal of avoiding similarities. You can see that those “snarl” side pieces, in my sketches, is curved and tapers toward the bottom. When the helmet was constructed, by one of the modelers, that area was changed, making it look more like Darth Vader’s helmet, unfortunately.

  ROB KLEIN

  Apogee not only produced the special effects for Battlestar Galactica, they designed and built almost all of the Colonial props initially seen in the show’s pilot, including Viper helmets, Colonial lasers, and Cylon rifles. Originally the weapon on the Cylon Centurion was supposed to rise from its wrist on the right gauntlet, something that was resurrected decades later in the Ron Moore version of the show. The producers felt that the Cylons needed to carry weapons, which would make it possible for the good guys to use the rifles, etc. The Cylon rifles needed to be produced quickly to accommodate this late change in the production. Some members of the crew felt that this is why the Cylon rifles were not as elegant as the Colonial pistols were. Joe Johnston was both on the Battlestar Apogee crew and later is given credit for designing the fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett for The Empire Strikes Back. Knowing this, it is not surprising that the Cylon gauntlets are very similar to Boba Fett’s armor.

  STEVEN SIMAK