Starship Modeler: Modeling Various Sci-Fi Spacecraft
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Triton by Jeffrey Griffin
"There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians. Or the Toltecs. Or the Mayans. Some believe there may be brothers of man who even now fight to survive . . . somewhere beyond the heavens."
With these words the TV show "Battlestar Galactica" began, promising another episode full of fun, adventure, and a bit of cheesy drama. The series was one of the more successful Sci-Fi TV shows of the 70s, and despite the cardboard characters and linear plots, it was enjoyed by children and adults alike. Most of the episodes were full of fast-paced action, from fire-fights in the corridors of the character's base-ship Galactica and in the pitilessly-cold vacuum of space between the Colonial Viper starfighters and the Cylon's deadly Raiders ,  to plots revolving around such things as fires near the fuel cells and life-support failures. All in all it was a good show, but the centerpiece was clearly the huge, nautical-mile-long battlestar named Galactica.
Though the show was cancelled after one season, it could not die, and has been resurrected in the form of the (best forgotten) Galactica: 1980 series, which lasted a partial season, and 2003's re-imagined series from cable network SciFi, which lasted 4 seasons.
(thanks to Tyler Robbins for that intro)
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John Beaulieu looks at Madman Lighting's Space Battleship Yamato lighting kit
Space:1999
Image: Jim Small's MPC/Airfix Hawk
One of the shining lights in the 70's TV sci-fi desert was Gerry Anderson's Space:1999. Running for two seasons, this live action tale followed the adventures of the Moonbase Alpha crew as they tried to survive on a runaway Moon, blown out of Earth's orbit. While many of 1999's plots come off a bit campy by today's standards, its hardware - most notably the Eagles - still stand out as some of the better spacecraft designs to grace the small screen. Despite limited kit support for the program (three kits, not counting the "Alien" with space dune buggy....), there is still a thriving interest in the hobby around Space:1999's design.
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John Lester's Deluxe Eagle Transporter kit preview.
Alien Series
Image: Greg Bachmann
Given the limited screen time of the hardware from Alien and Aliens, their enduring impact on the sci-fi community and sci-fi modelers says something of their innovative and attractive qualities. The original movie broke new ground with its huge refinery ship, the Nostromo. James Cameron offered a new vision in the sequel, giving us equally memorable vehicles like the USCM Dropship. While these ships haven't been a common subject for manufacturers, the kits are out there, with new and improved versions popping up on the garage kit market for time to time.
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(see also vehicle reviews in the Robots & Vehicles section)
Lost in Space
Image: Micah Roger's Jupiter 2
Irwin Allen, famous (or maybe infamous is a better word) for his sci-fi movies, turned to TV in 1964.  His idea for a space adventure series called Lost in Space was pitched to CBS just one week before Gene Rodenberry pitched Star Trek. Allen 's proposal was accepted, and led to one of the decade's more successful - and campiest - shows.  Immensely popular in the beginning, it faded over time as Allen concentrated more on outrageous plots involving the evil, effiminate Dr. Smith. A blatant appeal to boomer nostalgia resulted in the 1997 Lost in Space movie.  It was faithful to the original spirit of the show, with state-of-the art FX, plenty of action, and plot holes you could fly a Space Derelict through with room to spare.
The TV show's spacecraft and vehicles were designed with an eye to what looked cool, and not what might actually work (a fact that led NASA to decline Allen's original invitation to advise the series).  Until Polar Lights arrived on the scene in the late '90s, the only kits in existence were old (and expensive) Aurora offerings or equally expensive resin garage kits.  ERTL also supported the movie with two surprisingly good kits of the Jupiter 2 and Robot.
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