Star Wars Vs Battlestar Galactica


2.  Star Wars Vs Battlestar Galactica


The success of the first Star Wars film convinced Universal to quickly greenlight its own sci-fi property, Battlestar Galactica. Twentieth Century Fox felt that the new show was veering too closely to the Star Wars universe, and filed suit for copyright infringement. Universal moved for summary judgment on the ground that works were simply so dissimilar that no reasonable jury could find infringement. The Central District of California agreed and granted summary judgment, reasoning that the works were only similar on the most general level of intellectual abstraction, i.e., both were “a struggle between good and evil in space.” But the Ninth Circuit did not agree and held that there were many similarities between the works that “do in fact raise genuine issues of material fact as to whether only the Star Wars idea or the expression of that idea was copied.” Among the similarities cited by the Ninth Circuit were:

A war between “the galaxy’s democratic and totalitarian forces,” which are depicted in alternating sequences between the two camps, and which culminate in an air attack on the totalitarian headquarters, followed by an awards ceremony;

A friendly robot who is severely injured or destroyed by the totalitarian forces;

A “romance between the hero’s friend (the cynical fighter pilot) and the daughter of one of the leaders of the democratic forces;”

The destruction of “an entire planet, central to the existence of the democratic forces;”

A scene in a cantina or casino “in which musical entertainment is offered by bizarre, non-human creatures;” and “Space vehicles, although futuristic, are made to look used and old, contrary to the stereotypical sleek, new appearance of space age equipment.”

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.

The case was remanded and then reportedly settled before further proceedings took place. By that time, Battlestar Galactica had already been canceled. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. MCA Inc., 715 F.2d 1327 (9th Cir. 1983).

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