In 1980, Universal Studios added a Battlestar Galactica attraction, "Battle Of Galactica," to their famous Hollywood studio tour. This lasted through 1992(!), and featured an elaborate (for the time) laser light show combined with animatronic Cylons, several Ovions (from the Galactica pilot) and the Imperious Leader, along with an actor costumed as a Colonial Warrior. Patrick Macnee recorded an original audio track for the attraction, and Gary Owens provided the Cylon voices (as he would again in Galactica: 1980's "The Return of Starbuck.").
As you can see from the video above, the scenario was thus: your tour tram would be forced by Cylon "tanks" into a landing craft, where you would be threatened by the Imperious Leader. Suddenly, an unnamed Warrior would arrive, and engage the Cylons in battle while your tram driver got you out of there. Corny? Sure. But I would have loved to experienced it personally.
The "Battle of Galactica" attraction actually showed up on-screen in an early episode of The A-Team (leading to that great clip of Dirk Benedict's character smirking at a Cylon) and in the 1980 Get Smart feature film, The Nude Bomb. That flick had an entire action sequence (i.e. commercial) set on the Universal lot, including having Don Adams' Maxwell Smart engage in a shoot-out with a bad guy inside the Galactica attraction.
I never even knew this ride had even existed! I've been to Universal Studios twice but both times were in the 90's so I missed this attraction. I would have LOVED to have gone in the 80's and seen an actual Cylon and a Colonial Warrior. No doubt in the gift shop they would have had all manner of Galactica souvenirs that I would have bought. Thanks for the post.
What was shown in Beverly Hills Cop III wasn't the actual Galactica attraction (which was gone by the time BHC3 was shot in 93-94), although it was clearly inspired by it. The BHC3 scene was shot inside the Earthquake ride, with robots that looked very much like Cylons, but weren't.
I went there in the summer of 1985, it was pretty cool. Sadly it was the first thing to happen on the tram ride and my camera wasn't ready yet so I didn't get any pictures from it. In my opinion it was the coolest part of the ride, but I had loved the original BSG series and even liked Galactica: 1980 (what do you want, I was 11). The other cool stuff there at the time was the Delorean from Back to the Future, which you could sit in the passenger seat of for photos; and the Conan the Barbarian show, which was just pretty darned cool. I got a few photos of that.
I'm pretty certain it lasted into the late 80s because I can vaguely recall an LA trip and wondering why the hell a Battlestar Galactica show was still doing around. After the BSG detour, I was half-expecting a Buck Rogers stunt show.
I took that ride back in 80! Which also included the parting of the Red Sea and Jaws at the same time - now there's some inspirational material for your next game session :)
I went on the Universal Studios L.A. tour January 1989 with the BSG Attraction. It was cool and brought back memories of watching the series. I also saw a full-scale Colonial Viper on the backlot near an A-Team van. SGB
I saw that attraction as a kid, BSG had just gone off the air. There were no souvenirs or merchandise but they DID have Cylons and Colonial Warriors walking around the park along with Frankenstein, etc.. It was an amazing experience, I loved it. The trams you were on came around a corner and the "conductor" got on the mike and began shouting that there was an alien attack and you turned the corner and there was this gigantic funky looking flying saucer thing just as in that last painting. It was a great, fun show with lights and smoke and the only thing that seemed goofy at the time was one Cylon that got hit by a laser split in two above the waist and folded open amidst a puff of smoke like a cartoon. It was great. I've got pictures I took with my little kodak at the time. I'll have to find them.
The 1992 date for the attraction closing is more than likely correct, as I have a copy of a friends camcorder footage of "Battle" that he shot on his visit to the studios in 1991.
I went to Universal SEVERAL times during the 80's and 90's and yeah it was still there as late as 92, I remember going on it in either 90 or 91.
It WAS cheesy in person, painfully so actually, but it was pretty cool at the same time. The laser effects were MUCH better in person, but the Cylons splitting in half always made me laugh. If you turned around before you exited you could see them going back together again.
I just found this site and am enjoying going through the blogs. I remember this attraction from the early 80's. At that time they also had the parting of the Red Sea, Jaws, and the rotating tunnel scene from the Six Million Dollar Man (which actually did give me a sense of vertigo). I don't think it was cheesy at all- it was typical special effects of the period- quite good actually. In fact I think those were far superior to a lot of the more modern stuff at Disneyland today.
I vaguely remember reading an article about the development of this attraction and I think that originally it was supposed to be different. The visitors were supposed to be on foot and get a tour of the Galactica bridge when an attack happened. The big shield would come down over the viewer and there were supposed to be smoking consoles and sparks and things and then the visitors would be hustled out, captured by the Cylons (to be taken to the alien pods?), then freed by a team of Colonial Warriors. Obviously that is not what they built. It's possible that my memory is faulty, but the only place I would have read that was Starlog or Future Life back in the late 1970s.
That was a fun ride! I went to Universal Studios in 1982, this ride was the best part!
ReplyDeleteI never even knew this ride had even existed! I've been to Universal Studios twice but both times were in the 90's so I missed this attraction. I would have LOVED to have gone in the 80's and seen an actual Cylon and a Colonial Warrior. No doubt in the gift shop they would have had all manner of Galactica souvenirs that I would have bought. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeletethere was something like that in Beverly Hills Cop III...right?
ReplyDeleteWhat was shown in Beverly Hills Cop III wasn't the actual Galactica attraction (which was gone by the time BHC3 was shot in 93-94), although it was clearly inspired by it. The BHC3 scene was shot inside the Earthquake ride, with robots that looked very much like Cylons, but weren't.
ReplyDeleteI went there in the summer of 1985, it was pretty cool. Sadly it was the first thing to happen on the tram ride and my camera wasn't ready yet so I didn't get any pictures from it. In my opinion it was the coolest part of the ride, but I had loved the original BSG series and even liked Galactica: 1980 (what do you want, I was 11). The other cool stuff there at the time was the Delorean from Back to the Future, which you could sit in the passenger seat of for photos; and the Conan the Barbarian show, which was just pretty darned cool. I got a few photos of that.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty certain it lasted into the late 80s because I can vaguely recall an LA trip and wondering why the hell a Battlestar Galactica show was still doing around. After the BSG detour, I was half-expecting a Buck Rogers stunt show.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right; most sources I found said it closed in 1985, but one online source says it was open until 1992!
ReplyDeleteI took that ride back in 80! Which also included the parting of the Red Sea and Jaws at the same time - now there's some inspirational material for your next game session :)
ReplyDeleteI went on the Universal Studios L.A. tour January 1989 with the BSG Attraction. It was cool and brought back memories of watching the series. I also saw a full-scale Colonial Viper on the backlot near an A-Team van.
ReplyDeleteSGB
PICTURES, people! WE WANT PICTURES!
ReplyDeleteTex
(who wonders what happened to the set)
I saw that attraction as a kid, BSG had just gone off the air. There were no souvenirs or merchandise but they DID have Cylons and Colonial Warriors walking around the park along with Frankenstein, etc.. It was an amazing experience, I loved it. The trams you were on came around a corner and the "conductor" got on the mike and began shouting that there was an alien attack and you turned the corner and there was this gigantic funky looking flying saucer thing just as in that last painting. It was a great, fun show with lights and smoke and the only thing that seemed goofy at the time was one Cylon that got hit by a laser split in two above the waist and folded open amidst a puff of smoke like a cartoon. It was great. I've got pictures I took with my little kodak at the time. I'll have to find them.
ReplyDeleteI remember the footage from "The Nude Bomb" and the article Starlog did on this attraction.Thanks for posting the video!
ReplyDeleteThe 1992 date for the attraction closing is more than likely correct, as I have a copy of a friends camcorder footage of "Battle" that he shot on his visit to the studios in 1991.
ReplyDeleteI went to Universal SEVERAL times during the 80's and 90's and yeah it was still there as late as 92, I remember going on it in either 90 or 91.
ReplyDeleteIt WAS cheesy in person, painfully so actually, but it was pretty cool at the same time. The laser effects were MUCH better in person, but the Cylons splitting in half always made me laugh. If you turned around before you exited you could see them going back together again.
IIRC the Tank is still there somewhere.
I just found this site and am enjoying going through the blogs. I remember this attraction from the early 80's. At that time they also had the parting of the Red Sea, Jaws, and the rotating tunnel scene from the Six Million Dollar Man (which actually did give me a sense of vertigo). I don't think it was cheesy at all- it was typical special effects of the period- quite good actually. In fact I think those were far superior to a lot of the more modern stuff at Disneyland today.
DeleteI went throught it in 1989.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember reading an article about the development of this attraction and I think that originally it was supposed to be different. The visitors were supposed to be on foot and get a tour of the Galactica bridge when an attack happened. The big shield would come down over the viewer and there were supposed to be smoking consoles and sparks and things and then the visitors would be hustled out, captured by the Cylons (to be taken to the alien pods?), then freed by a team of Colonial Warriors. Obviously that is not what they built. It's possible that my memory is faulty, but the only place I would have read that was Starlog or Future Life back in the late 1970s.
ReplyDeleteI moved to LA in 92 and saw it, so it was definetely open in 92.
ReplyDelete