Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson and starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, and Dirk Benedict. The series follows the surviving humans as they flee in the fictional spacecraft of the same name in search for a new home while they are being pursued by the Cylons. The series ran for the 1978–1979 season before being canceled after 24 episodes. It also spawned into a media franchise, which includes a spin-off show, comics, a reimagined miniseries and weekly series, theme park attractions, and games. Plot summary In a distant star system, the Twelve Colonies of Mankind were reaching the end of a thousand-year war with the Cylons, warrior robots created by a reptilian race which expired long ago, presumably destroyed by their own creations. Humanity was ultimately defeated in a sneak attack on their homeworlds by the Cylons, carried out with the help of a human traitor, Baltar (John Colicos). Protected by the last surviving capital warship, a "battlestar", named Galactica, the survivors fled in available ships. The Commander of the Galactica, Adama (Lorne Greene), led this "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of 220 ships in search of a new home. They begin a quest to find the long lost thirteenth tribe of humanity that had settled on a legendary planet called Earth. However, the Cylons continued to pursue them relentlessly across the galaxy. The main characters include Captain Apollo, a Colonial warrior, fighter pilot and the son of Adama. His best friend is Lieutenant Starbuck, a gambler and womanizer. The era in which this exodus took place is never clearly stated in the series itself. At the start of the series, it is mentioned as being "the seventh millennium of time", although it is unknown when this is in relation to Earth's history. The final aired episode, "The Hand of God", indicates that the original series took place after the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969 as the Galactica receives a television transmission from Earth showing the landing. The later Galactica 1980 series is expressly set in the year 1980 after a 30-year voyage to Earth. Larson, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, incorporated many themes from Mormon theology into the shows. Pilot and subsequent changes The pilot to this series, budgeted at $8 million (one of the most expensive at that time), was released theatrically in Sensurround.