THE BATTLESTAR

The Battlestar Galactica was radically changed to portray a ribbed spacecraft that roughly conformed to the 1978 series design while radically altering its core elements, adding what fans largely described as a more Star Trek-like look.  In the early stages of the production, the design team intended the Galactica to be a faithful representation of the original series.  This changed about a third of the way into the design process when the production team wanted the old design put aside and sought a "new look". 

This design had retractable landing bays, sectionalized corridors and Star Trek-styled displays embedded within a bridge that resembled the control center of a submarine

This Galactica bridge showed little better technology than our present real world capabilities.  Among the ordinary items on this set were corded telephones that were a welcome connection to the original 1978 production which also used similar phones, although those were employed in 1978 simply because they were the technology of the time. 

The bridge controls and displays were designed to simulate a contemporary military watch center.  The miniseries did a good job representing the bridge as a functional control center very similar to that of a conventional submarine. 

Much of the story in the miniseries occurred in the Galactica's landing bay.  The miniseries landing bay had elements similar to the original series, with an improved rendition of the Viper launch tubes.  In all, the landing bay was the most Galactica-like of any of the miniseries sets within the ship.

The miniseries landing bay was portrayed to more closely resemble the flight operations deck of an aircraft carrier, with the core of the action centering around the technicians repairing and maintaining the fightercraft.  In this area, the miniseries excelled over the 1978 series which virtually ignored the work crews needed to keep squadrons of fighters operating.

In all, few elements of the excellent designs shown in the old series remained with the new Galactica.  The ship was functional, but lacked the unique charm of the original.