Now you may think that we are running out of date order, but Battlestar Galactica had more than one version, one screened in 1978 and one in 2004 - and this basic shape of Battlestar was used in both, though they did vary slightly in design and colour.
In case you are not fans of either versions, the plot is also primarily the same - a race of armed machines called Cylons attack humanity, after faking a desire for making peace. All the humans that can fit inside it get away on the Battlestar Galactica, hunting for a dream, called Planet Earth, which has long been believed to be the thirteenth colony, on a mission led by Captain Adama and his son. But all the rest of humanity, on all twelve colonies, are lost.
The second version was slightly more modern, much more diverse, and the male character of Starbuck, played originally by Dirk Benedict, was converted into a female, played by Katee Sackhoff. And surprisingly that worked much better, at least from my point of view. Another change was to make the character of Dr. Gaius Baltar more of a romantic lead under James Callis than it had been under John Colicos. This again worked exceptionally well. There were also new characters, including that of "six", a cylon, but designed as a femme fatale, rather than a metal soldier. In fact several of the characters are also revealed to be cylons towards the end of the 2004 version, which leads to a very interesting twist indeed.
Wonder Bread managed to issue cards of several great Sci-Fi films, including Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The cards were issued just in the wrapper with the loaves and it did not take much wriggling to see which card was in each, pretty much ensuring you got a complete set of thirty-six cards quite quickly.
The set was actually produced by Topps though, they were only circulated by Wonder Bread - however there is no word of this on the cards, or of any maker, they just credit Universal City Studio.
Actually the backs of this version is pretty basic, which makes me wonder if Topps purely supplied the images for the fronts.
I can tell you that there is a sleeper in this set, and that is card 12 - but there is not a word of why on the card. The truth is that the person on that card, "Croft", was Roy Thinnes, also known for another sci-fi series, "The Invaders", as well as many other television series. And for that reason this card has a bit of a cult following.
Roy Thinnes was also in "The X Files", as Jeremiah Smith, an alien clone and shape-shifter, with magical healing powers, who was actually a good guy, fighting against the Syndicate.Eventually he was abducted by a UFO, and disappeared, with it never being made clear what happened or whether he might have returned in later series.
You can see him on
- base card 51 of Topps "Season Three", issued in 1996
- base card 71 of Topps "Season Three", issued in 1996
- base card 88 of Intrepid`s "Contact" series, issued in 1997
- card A.9 of Intrepid`s "Contact" extra inserts "Alien Visitations" - in foil
- card A.9 of Intrepid`s "Contact" extra inserts "Alien Visitations" - in matt (sometimes referred to as "no shine"
- base card 62 of Inkworks "X Files Seasons 4 & 5", issued in 2001.
All of these, save base card 71 of Topps "Season Three", are sleepers too, as nowhere on the cards does it tell you that it is Roy Thinnes who played Jeremiah Smith, albeit for the most part, as when he shape-shifted into another body that other person briefly took over the role