During my years of collecting I have received lots of information on the 'The Battle of Galactica' ride that appeared
at Universal Studios LA between 1980 and 1985. The ride was featured as part of the back lot tour that travels around some of
the old sets behind the theme park. I was never lucky enough to get to see the ride as a kid but always wished I had.
The ride would start part way through the Tram tour when it was attacked by two Cylons riding in a tank.
The Cylons would command the tram to enter their base - 'You have wandered into a Cylon Battle Zone. You
are now our prisoners, do not attempt to excape! Move forward immediatly or we will blast you!'
NOTE: An audio file of this speach will play when the page has loaded.(NOTE: Disabled On Battlestargalactica.com) If not, you can hear it by clicking here
Thanks to Mary Wernke for supplying this picture. Click on the links be low to see some more pictures of the tank. On the right hand side of these
images you can see the Cylon base that the tram is forced to enter.
Cylon Tank shot one - Thanks to Mary Wernke.
Cylon Tank shot two - Thanks to Mary Wernke.
Cylon Tank Postcard
Cylon Tank close-up - Thanks to Bill Cotter.
Cylon Tank firing it's gun - Thanks to Bill Cotter.
After being attacked by the Tank the tram is forced to enter would enter a large grey building housing the main part of the ride.
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Once inside the Cylons base a laser battle would ensue with laser beams shooting from everyside and the tram stuck in the middle.
The cylons on this part of the ride where animatronic figures controlled by computers, with the Colonial warriors played by real people.
There are 20 mechanical actors in the shot, two Cylons manning the cannon outside, and 18 more characters in the ship itself including Ovions and Imperious leader.
The Ovions appear and laugh when the Imperious Leader say, 'The Captives will make tasty morsels for our Ovion allies.'
They disappear in flames-made with Mylar, fans and CO2 smoke-at the end of the gun battle.
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I have two great images taken from within the ride taken by Brian Duelley in 1988. The first shows one of the Animatronic Cylons who appears to be very pigeon
footed. The second is of the Colonial Warrior bursting through a door to protect the tram passengers.
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Inside the Ride: Cylon - Thanks to Brian Duelley.
Inside the Ride: Colonial Warrior - Thanks to Brian Duelley.
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Below you can see and image of all the characters that feature in the ride. The Imperious Leader looks like it has been altered to have a more human shapped face, but
this gives the impression that he has a huge Afro haircut.
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I have another scan of the above picture which appears to have been edited to feature more lasers and explosions.- Click Here
Here is a larger scan of the laser show - Laser show. On the right hand side there is a cloaked
figure, that could either be Baltar or Lucifer. But that's just a guess.
The back of the card reads - The Battle of Galactica - Evil aliens trap your tram inside their cylon battle cruiser.
A brave colonial warrior comes to your rescue and triumphs heroically in a spectacular laser
battle.
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And here is a great picture of the Colonial Warrior. The inset shot shows the uniform worn when the ride first
opened, but as you can see in later years the traditional warrior helmet was replaced by a cheaper version. One of the helmets was recently
up for sale on ebay from which I was able to aquire these close up photos of the Tour helmet. Notice how it looks more like a motorbike helmet.
Click Here to see the picture.
I have just be informed that the later helmet was actually one used in the Galactica 1980 series. It featured in the episode 'Space Croppers' and was worn by
the Daggit Squadron. Scott Wilkerson kindly supplied these scans of the helmet and some stills from the show. Click Here to see the picture.
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And this is by far my favourite Galactica item that I own, and definitely the most expensive.
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Colonial Warrior Uniform
This is one of the costumes used by the actors who featured in 'The Battle of Galactica' that appeared at Universal Studios
in the early 80's. The costume appears to have been made by Broadway Knitting Mills Inc. It consists of a woven short sleeve
shirt, and jacket, and some boot tops that can be worn
over black shoes.
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Universal Studios Galactica Snowdome
I only heard about that there was a snowdome made a few weeks back and didn't realy believe it existed. But after only a small amount of
searching I was actually able to find and buy one! The dome is only 6cm across and features to cylon figures on a sea-saw infront of
the Universal Studios Galactica ride.
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Animal Show
As well as the ride there was also an animal show featuring a chimp called 'Livingston' as seen on this
postcard. The back of the card reads - Livingston appears as
Daggit in Ray Berwick's Animal Show. You can see another couple of pictures of Livingston by clicking Here.
If you know anything about this animal show, then please get in touch and let me know.
Also featured (or left to rot) on the back lot tour was the Full Size Viper
prop used in the series. This picture was taken at Universal Studios Hollywood by Todd Boyce sometime in 1982.
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As seen on TV and Film
The A-Team: The most famous appearance of the Galactica ride has to be in the A-Team. It appears in the episode 'Steel' and is used as the meeting point between the team and
there latest client. In the first ten minutes you get to see the A-Team walking around the park whilst in the background a Cylon is meeting the tourists. Below you can see the most famous
shot where Dirk Benedict has a sly smile when the Cylon walks past.
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The Nude Bomb: The ride was also featured briefly in the film 'The Nude Bomb'. As yet I haven't seen the film,
so if you own a copy please get in touch and let me know what it's all about. The picture below is a still taken from the film.
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Beverly Hills Cop 3: Set around a theme park this movie features rides from Universal Studios LA and Six flags. A couple of times during the film they
go inside a ride called 'Alien Attack!' which is actaully the 'Earthquake' part of Universal Studios Back lot tour. Inside the ride the tram is attacked by robots that look
very similar to Cylons. These are not actually the ones from the Galactica ride but due to the similarity I thought it was worth mentioning them. Here are two images from the
film. Image one - Image Two
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Young Talent Time: I have also just heard from Paul Naylor in Australia. He's says 'The ride appeared here in a show called Young Talent
Time. They once shot a number inside the Galactica area and showed the cylon and tank shooting out
the front etc'.
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LINKS
While surfing the web I came across the web sites of two of the companies that worked on the Galactica ride. They both feature small amounts of information on
the creation of the ride. Click the links below
to check them out:- |
AVG Inc
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AVG are the company who created the animatronic and creature effects for the ride. There site contains some information on
what they did. |
Davy & Associates, Inc. |
This is the company that created the audio effects for the Galactica ride.
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Title picture comes courtesy of Sheba's Galaxy.
If anyone has any more pictures from the Universal ride, please get in touch with me.
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Additional Images Donated To BattlestarGalactica.com
Images From :Luke DEVLIN
Additional Images: Cylons
Additional Images: Inside
Additional Images: Alien
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