Battlestar Galactica's 1978 Theatrical Release!

Battlestar Galactica's 1978 Intro

Dork Note: I do not know if these was the Theatrical intro, but it was used as the intro for the TV movie.

Clipped from Wikipedia: Although produced for television, originally as part of a planned series of telemovies and eventually as a television series, Universal Studios decided to release the film in cinemas in order to recoup some of the high production costs with producers believing the series "could be a fine shot at a corner of the Star Wars market."

In July 1978, two months before its U.S. television debut, the film was released in Canada, Australia, and some countries in Europe and Latin America. The release was a success following an aggressive marketing campaign from Universal and influenced the decision to release the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century pilot in cinemas a year later. Later episodes of the regular Battlestar Galactica series were also re-edited and released in cinemas internationally.

Although there are many minor differences between the broadcast pilot and the cinema release, the most notable is the fact that, in the film version, Baltar is executed by the Cylons, whereas, in the television version, he is held for public execution before later being shown mercy by the Cylons, and going on to be a major character in the TV series. 

In May 1979, following the broadcast of the final episode of the regular series, the film version was released in some U.S. cinemas.

Fun Fact: The cinema release also made use of Universal's Sensurround process, the last American film to use it.

Fun Fact: The television version was first broadcast in the U.S. on September 17, 1978. This original three-hour broadcast was interrupted for more than an hour to televise the signing of the Camp David Peace Accords between Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat, overseen by President Jimmy Carter. Following the coverage, ABC resumed the broadcast, right where it was interrupted.

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