Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Pen & Sword, and author Lee Fratantuono for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

I was always a huge fan of the original incarnation of Battlestar Galactica. I even reposted some fanfic I wrote for the series back in the day. I was part of a group on Yahoo and other sites dedicated to the original series up until the time the new “reimagined” Galactica came out. It just wasn’t for me at first. I had to take time to digest what was happening and dropped out of the circles of fans of the Original Series. There are still a lot of us out there, though, as Lee Fratantuono has figured out. This book, Battlestar Galactic: A Companion to the Original Series, is great for those who remember that series as well as those who might be deciding to check it out for the first time.

Fratantuono has done a great job compiling just about all of the information known about the Original Series. He takes readers through the history of the development of the series as well as the series itself. For those who haven’t been around to discuss the deeper meaning of many of the references in the series, he clues you in. Glen Larson, who developed the series, threw a lot of religious and ancient cultural references into the series.

There is also information about the filming of the first and only season of the show, as well as a discussion as to why this show achieved the cult status that it did. The answer is probably due to the fact that there was only one season and it never let fans down. He has published some of Larson’s outline for a second season, and it sounds like it might have taken a turn for the worse had it been greenlit.

Fratanuono also discusses actor Richard Hatch’s efforts to revive the series in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He put a lot of his own time and effort into the effort as well as co-authored a number of books about the direction he saw the series going. I was at a convention with a number of the original cast, including Hatch, and got to participate in a Q&A with him on the subject. It was also after this convention that he filmed the scenes in his trailer with the late John Colicos.

Since I have most of the episodes just about memorized from how many times I’ve watched them through the years, I could read his summations and critiques of the episodes without having to go back and watch. I knew the moments he was talking about and could picture them as I was reading. For other people, it might work better to read this part while watching the episodes themselves.

The only downside is that Fratantuono doesn’t talk about any of the negatives surrounding the Original Series. Glen Larson was mired in lawsuits at the time, including from George Lucas, who accused him of ripping off Star Wars for many of the ideas in Galactica. Fratantuono repeatedly decries the underuse of actress Maren Jensen, but doesn’t bring up any of the rumors surrounding problems she was having at the time on the set. The book is the sunshine-and-roses companion to the series, so just be aware of what you’re getting into.

As a long-time fan of this series, I can recommend Battlestar Galactic: A Companion to the Original Series with no hesitation. There’s a lot of great information here that helps you understand the series from the perspective of the time it aired. It’s easy to follow, especially if you watch each of the episodes as you read about them.