Galactica was produced in the wake of the success of the 1977 film Star Wars. And sci-fi author Jerry Pournelle, starring on a guest panel in This Week in Teck (episode 223), explains that “20th Century Fox sued Universal Studios (the studio behind Battlestar Galactica) for copyright infringement, claiming that it had stolen 34 distinct ideas from Star Wars.” Among them was a character named Skyler, a tad too close to Skywalker, and the possibility of airing with the title “Star Worlds”.

Universal Studios didn’t take this news lightly. “I agreed not to use certain effects including laser streaks from our guns,” said Galactica creator Glen Larson, who supposedly met producer Gary Kurtz to figure things out. “I always consider [the case]very unfair because we had met… and they were in agreement not to take any action.”

Furthermore, they “promptly countersued, claiming Star Wars had stolen ideas from the 1972 film Silent Running (the robot drones) and the Buck Rogers serials of the 1940s,” said Pournelle. He goes on to say that after Fox was sued, he was paid $20,000 by Universal to show that Battlestar Gallactica and Star Wars were made from two different cloths.

In the end the case was decided in favour of Galactica two years later. Unfortunately, however, the original Battlestar Galactic” had been cancelled and cinemas were looking forward to seeing The Empire Strikes Back.