Glen A. Larson – the hugely successful writer/creator of both Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider – has passed away aged 77.
His rather enviable track record includes sci-fi staples such as Galactica as well as more mainstream hits such as Quincy M.E. and Magnum P.I. Let’s just say he was a fan of initials. The successful television writer/producer passed away Friday night after a battle with esophageal cancer at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica.
Of course, Larson has had a long history in some of the most iconic TV sci-fi franchises…
After television network ABC spurned The Six Million Dollar Man it was Larson who rewrote the pilot episode… then penning a 90-minute TV film which eventually won over the executives to green-light the project.
Spending his early career at Universal Studios, Larson spent the majority of his time inventing new shows and re-working others until they were accepted by the executives. But he then moved on to 20th Century Fox following a multi-million dollar deal in 1980.
“I tried to stay with things until I thought they were on their feet and they learned to walk and talk,” he said in an interview with Archive of American Television. “If you believe in something, you must will it through, because everything gets in the way. Everyone tries to steer the ship off course.”
The original Battlestar Galactica lasted just one season from 1978 – 1979… but the show’s far-reaching impact has lived on in countless sequels and remakes. Starring Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch as the leaders of a fleet wandering through space, it was eventually axed due to rapidly escalating production values.
“I was vested emotionally in Battlestar,” said Larson, whose Mormon beliefs informed much of the show’s ideals. “I really loved the thematic things. I don’t feel it really got its shot, and I can’t blame anyone else, I was at the center of that. But circumstances weren’t in our favor to be able to make it cheaper or to insist we make two of three two-hour movies [instead of a weekly one-hour series] to get our sea legs.”
Of course, much like Star Trek, the original Battlestar became far more popular after it was cancelled. And with a new version in 2004 as well as a spin-off titled Caprica it looks as though the Battlestar legacy will live on for some time.
But while many have fond memories of Larson’s work, others aren’t quite so pleased…
Harlan Ellison once referred to Larson as ‘Glen Larceny’, accusing him of appropriating movie concepts as a basis for much of his TV shows. And that’s frankly undeniable. It has often been noted that Battlestar Galactica was produced hot on the heels of the original Star Wars movie, and the likes of Alia Smith & Jones and B.J. and the Bear bore a striking similarity to the Clint Eastwood films Coogan’s Bluff and Every Which Way But Loose.
But Glen Larson remained unapologetic…
“Television networks are a lot like automobile manufacturers, or anyone else who’s in commerce. If something out there catches on with the public… I guess you can call it ‘market research’,” he said. “You can go in and pitch one idea at a network and they’ll say, ‘You know, we’d really like it if you had something a little more like this’.”
Either way, Larson was responsible for some of the biggest sci-fi shows on TV… and without his input, it’s likely that they never would have seen the light of day. You’ll be sorely missed, Glen.
