comments about the telemovies
The telemovies aired on both Cincinnati’s Channel 19 (now the Fox affiliate) and Dayton’s Channel 2 (then the NBC affiliate) periodically between 1981 and 1987. I think I watched all the telemovies at least twice. In 1986, my family finally obtained a VCR, and Channel 19 aired the pilot, “Living Legend” and “Gun on Ice Planet Zero” one last time each in 1987, so I taped them (more on that in a minute).
My comments about the telemovies:
1. There were two versions of the pilot. During the first run on Channel 2 in 1981, the station aired a much-shortened version of the pilot to air in a two-hour time slot. That version aired only once, and has never surfaced again.
2. Channel 19’s version of the pilot took up two hours and 45 minutes of air time, including commercials. It was NOT the same version as the video/theatrical release. There are scenes in the theatrical release that aren’t in this version, and vice versa. Email me if you want the list of differences. I think that, between the two video and telemovie versions, you got the entire pilot. Channel 19, to fill in the last 15 minutes, all three times the station aired the movie, there was this short parody of “Star Wars” called “Hardware Wars.”
3. I know about the added footage in the episodes that were originally two-parters made into two-hour movies. What I do not remember, and what no one has ever been able to tell me, is if added footage that was originally filmed in 1978 and 1979 for the one-hour episodes was inserted into the oddball telemovies to fill the length of the two-hour time slot.
4. I also have never learned who wrote the dialogue to create segues between the combined episodes, or who came back and dubbed in the voices. All the voices actually sounded correct—as if the original actors came back and did some voice work—except for Richard Hatch.
5. In Experiment in Terra, the astronaut who found Adama’s log book floating in space was named Nehemiah something.
6. DO NOT ask me to make a copy for you of the three telemovies that I own. They are all one tape, recorded in slow long play in 1987, and the picture on the tape was somewhat grainy to begin with. It has of course darkened and deteriorated over time. Since the first VCR I owned did not come with a remote, I had to manually sit in front of the VCR to stop tape when a commercial came. So when a segment ends, it is sometimes followed by a portion of a commercial. Nor was I quick enough to push the button to start the tape again when the ads ended and the movie returned. In other words, the thing isn’t edited properly. Besides, in my apartment I have only one TV and VCR, and I am not going to ask someone to lug his or her TV and VCR or DVD to my place (up the stairs to the second floor), wire the machines to each other, copy the tape, and then take everything home again. What I’m trying to say is, retaping the thing would be too complicated and you’d be disappointed in the quality.
7. All I've read so far in posts about the new DVD set are comments about the pilot. What versions of the two-parters are included on it? Are the extra scenes from the telemovies on it? (I have the set, I just haven't had time to watch it yet.)
Mary
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