Battlestar Galactica turned 35 years old this week. The original three-hour television movie debuted on ABC on Sunday, September 17, 1978 – interrupted in the Eastern and Central time zones for the announcement of the Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt – riding on the coat tails of the original Star Wars.

Created by Glen A. Larson, Battlestar Galactica told the story of the 12 colonies of man and their long-running war with the mechanical Cylons. Lured into a Cylon trap by a false offer of peace conveyed by the conniving Baltar, humanity is just about wiped out. Only the Battlestar Galactica, under the guidance of Commander Adama, survives with a rag-tag fleet of civilian vessels. Chased by the Cylons throughout the stars, Adama and his fleet desperately search for the long lost 13th colony of man, Earth.

Expensive to produce by the standards of the time, ABC canceled Battlestar Galatica after one season, then brought it back for the atrocious and thankfully short-lived Galactica 1980.

In its short time, Battlestar Galactica saw its pilot released as a theatrical feature, inspired model kits, novels, comic books and more.

In 2004, Sci Fi Channel (back when it was called that and when it actually showed actual science fiction) presented a new and substantially different version of the series. It ran for four seasons and had a number of spin-offs including television films, the series Caprica, and the ill-fated pilot Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome.