Recycled Movie Costume Mysteries: Roger Corman & Battlestar Galactica

Roger Corman was not a director known for spending; he considered Battle Beyond the Stars, a film made for roughly two million dollars, to be one of his most expensive, and regularly reused its visual effects sequences in later films to keep their budgets down. It wasn't just visual effects he recycled; costumes from Battle were reused in 1982's Forbidden World aka Mutant, and 1983's Space Raiders.

To be fair, reusing costumes is not something only Corman was guilty of - just take a gander at Recycled Movie Costumes, which is a fantastic resource - but Corman had a history of utilizing visual effects sequences from other movies, provided he could get it for cheap. Of course no American studio would be willing to part with such footage, so instead he turned to the Soviet Union who didn't see much economic value in science-fiction films, despite the high level of craft put in them. Thus, dignified Soviet science-fiction films such as 1959's The Sky Beckons (Nebo Zovyot), 1962's Planet of Storms (Planeta Bur), and 1963's A Dream Come True (Mechte Navstrechu) were transformed into dull, kitschy crapfests such as Battle Beyond the Sun, Planet of the Prehistoric Women and Queen of Blood.

This tendency of Corman to not just lift from his earlier films but even from other productions brings us to the main focus of this little article; the costumes of Corman's 1981 scifi shocker Galaxy of Terror, and the rumour that they were reused from Battlestar Galactica, a 'fact' that many sites have ran with, despite it being blatantly false should anyone even compare the costumes - or is it?

Galaxy of Terror is actually one of the more polished films Corman produced in the 1980s, thanks in part to the talents of one James Cameron, who acted as production designer for the film. Cameron's faults as a human being and, in recent decades, as a director, are considerable, but he is regardless a talented and skilled artist with a good eye for atmosphere and this shows perfectly in Galaxy. Cameron designed almost everything for the picture, from the alien labyrinth the unlucky space troopers get murdered in, to their battleship and its interiors, to even the giant worm that rapes some unlucky GI Jane in Galaxy's most infamous sequence.

Cameron's designing duties extended to the costumes, but only partly; in his concept art he envisaged the galactic squaddies as wearing a rather greebly undergarment fitted with electronics and cooling systems - a futuristic spin on the likes of the RAF's 'fairy' ventilation suit - but in the final film this only extended to some fabric being stuck on off-the-rack vests. Notice that the stuck on fabric does not match the colour of the trousers or jackets, or even the vests in the promotional image.

The film's uniforms are beige cotton trousers and jackets; the trousers have black stripes along the sides, and the jackets have raised collars, ribbed panelling and angular button snaps. They do not look like anything Cameron would have designed; complicating matters further is that the film's credited costume designer, Timaree McCormick, never worked as a costume designer before or since. One costume was reused a year later in the aforementioned Mutant.

For their turn in Galaxy, the uniforms have a 'CSF' patch, referencing an organization never referenced or named in the final film. The patch was removed on the one jacket reused for Mutant, showing a black velcro panel. The single officers variant was made of the same material, as well as the pockets being similarly designed to the grunts' jackets.

In the final film, it's apparent that a lot of the costumes do not actually fit their respective cast members, coming across as two baggy or loose, with only one jacket ever being closed - the one reused in Mutant. All of this indicates that the costumes were not made for the production, but were borrowed from another studio; a suspicion bolstered by how at least one of the film's monster suits was borrowed; namely one that FX artist Steve Neill had originally built for the Leslie Nielsen vehicle The Creature Wasn't Nice.

So, if the Galaxy uniforms were reused, then from what? Some people online, not least whoever updated the 'trivia' page on IMDB, think they were reused Colonial Warrior uniforms from the original Battlestar Galactica designed by Jean-Pierre Dorleac. Let's be real here; even a cursory glance shows this is absolutely false; the cut, fabrics, colours, etc just do not match at all. Yet there is a similarity in their design; the general shape of the jackets, the snap buckles, and the beige colour.

It is already known that the Battlestar jackets were lifts of Philippe Druillet's design for Lone Sloane published in Heavy Metal (unless you believe Dorleac's story that it was a design of his that he 'sold to a comic book'; if so you have likely been sold a lot of bridges in your time). I doubt this was the case for Galaxy simply because its unlikely that Corman would even want to spend the money making costumes. The original Alien, a big-budget studio picture, just had its cast wearing minimally altered flight jackets and work shirts; would Corman of all people go the extra length and have several costumes bespoke-made? And designed so similarly to a recent, and popular, scifi show?

However, there is a possible explanation provided by, ironically, Dorleac himself; multiple times on social media he has railed against the work of Al Lehman, the costume designer who replaced him on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century; Lehman's designs are made of cheaper materials and rely more on camp cliches, but to be fair suit the general tone of the kitschy Buck Rogers series. However, Lehman was also slated to be costume designer for Battlestar Galactica's much-loathed sequel series, Galactica 1980.

According to Dorleac - so take it with a grain of salt - Lehman was fired from Galactica 1980 for designing a new set of uniforms for the Colonial Warriors, this new uniform 'looked like porridge' from being made of 'grey wool gabardine' and were so disliked by Glen A. Larson that they were rejected, put in stock and thus never used in the series, causing Lehman to lose the gig and Larson aksing Dorleac to return as costume designer (and have the dubious honour of having Galactica 1980 on his resume). This story is fishy if only because it implies Glen A. Larson, the man behind such quality television as Automan, Knight Rider, Manimal and B.J. and the Bear, actually had a semblance of taste. More likely is Lehman left the series for other reasons, and Dorleac upon returning to it opted to reject Lehman's new Colonial Warrior uniforms.

However, the description of Lehman's unused uniforms does match the Galaxy uniforms doesn't it? The drab colour, the coarser material, the obvious replicating of the original design. The maximum number of Galaxy's 'standard' uniforms totals a number of six; matching the amount of characters in the original Battlestar Galactica series who regularly wore the uniforms; four outfits for the men, originally for Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck, Lieutenant Boomer and Flight Sergeant Jolly, and two for the women, originally for Lieutenant Athena and Lieutenant Sheba.

Yes, it's a shot from behind, but you get the gist.

Presumably, the officers variant would have been for Lorne Green to wear as Commander Adama, replacing his earlier blue uniform.The general construction of the Galaxy uniforms matches many costumes Lehman designed for Buck Rogers. I'll just show this outfit he designed for Gil Gerard in one episode, and let you decide.

Galactica 1980 was aired in, well guess, and Galaxy of Terror was filmed 1981. The 'CSF' on the uniform patches could easily stand for 'Colonial Star Fleet', or whatever they were going for. It's not too unrealistic that Timaree McCormick could have found these forlorn looking uniforms in whatever costume warehouse they were rummaging in, with the bonus that they had never been used on-screen anyway. After all, many screen-used costumes from Battlestar Galactica, Galactica 1980 and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, ones designed by Dorleac and Lehman both, turned up in Metalstorm, Trancers and The Dungeonmaster, all produced by Corman's 1980s b-movie rival Charles Band.

A funny note to end this article on; when searching online to see if any of Galaxy's costumes had been auctioned off, I came across these very obviously phoney 'concept sketches' by an artist who, looking at their IMDB, had a career only in animation storyboarding. But what really gives away that its a forgery is the sketch that is very obviously a copy of the same Lone Sloane panel that was lifted for the Colonial Warrior uniforms in the first place!

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)

Costume Design by Jean-Pierre Dorléac

A very 1970s update of the 1930s space opera, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was produced by Glen A. Larson almost straight after he had realized Battlestar Galactica, and like that previous series, opened with a pilot movie. For context, this entry is only about the original pilot movie, and the series' costumes will be covered in a pair of follow-up posts.

The good guys are the 'Earth Defense Directorate' protecting the planet from intergalactic threats, with the titular William 'Buck' Rogers (Gil Gerard) and female lead Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) among their ranks - their spandex uniforms are worn with white boots, a popped collar and lining around the chest. It is worn with an armband of the Directorate's rainbow insignia, designed by production artist William Stout. The uniform is sometimes worn with a sleek futuristic helmet. The uniforms were phased out in the follow-up series due to Gerard putting on weight.

The Defense Directorate is led by Dr Elias Huer (Tim O'Connor), who is distinguished by wearing a ridged white jacket, with a similar collar design, worn over the same spandex pants and boots worn by the other members of the Directorate - like the standard uniform, this would also be worn in a few episodes of the subsequent television series, before being replaced with new costumes.

The cast take part in a very, very 1970s 'futuristic' dance party sequence; the Directorate officers attending wear a dress uniform consisting of a buttoned jacket worn over their spandex pants; the pants are worn with leather boots, and a red sash is worn around the waist. Huer's jacket is cut to be more like a coat.

The women dancers in the party are dressed in differently coloured versions of the same general design, which like the Directorate dress uniforms combines the past with futuristic flourishes, as the dresses all have large collars and sleeves fixed with streaming ribbon strips, whilst being worn with a rounded hat also fixed with ribbons.

Opposing Earth is the Draconian Empire, whose royal princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley) happens to be clad in some of the film's most lavish outfits - Ardala is first seen in a reddish nightgown whose cuffs and collar have been fixed with a shiny black material, worn with a beautiful black crown-like headpiece consisting of dangling black jewellery.

Ardala's second outfit is sadly not seen fully in the film; a gold-lined black kimono-like robe, with additional golden markings all over. The robe is worn with the same crown-like headpiece as the red nightgown, as well as a black choker fixed with a jewel.

Another outfit of Ardala's that sadly does not get much screentime is this rather revealing purple and silver dress, which is worn with a massive collar that itself has been adorned with jewel-like pieces, and is worn with a very ornate (and rather abstract) headdress that has purple gems hanging down from the front.

The last of Ardala's outfits consists of a white and gold bikini and pants. The pants are fixed with necklace-like jewellery going down to the feet, and the biking is worn with a fur-lined cape and horned headdress. The headdress's horns (themselves adorned with hanging jewellery) are coated in golden lining, and attached to a golden wig with fur around the sides of the horns. Also note the collar of Ardala's dress, designed to resemble a flower.

Ardala also has handmaidens attending to her, all of them wearing golden headdresses and midriff-baring short tops with white skirts.

Ardala's father, King Draco (Joseph Wiseman), is only barely seen in the theatrical cut, wearing a golden tunic worn with a large fur coat, and a crown consisting of glass-like plates, that is similar in design to the headdress worn by Ardala with her third dress. Unfortunately, this does feel racist, and I worry that 'yellowface' makeup may have been applied to Wiseman for the role.

Helping Ardala is her surly aide, Kane (Henry Silva), first seen in a relatively simple mottled black tunic, worn with a large belt and with golden pieces fitted on the collars. The tunic is worn with black trousers and boots.

Kane's second outfit is of the same cut but made out of a gold patterned material, worn with the same belt and trousers - this outfit in particular was altered by costume designer Al Lehman in the follow-up series, adding black piping to the shoulders and collar. This tunic is worn with the same trousers and boots as the earlier design.

Ardala's bodyguard is the Tigerman (Duke Butler) who wears a vest and pants both coated in imitation tiger fur (according to auction listings for the costume), worn with a necklace consisting of metal pieces and bones, and a red sash. His trousers have golden kneepads, and he is wearing pointed shoes slightly reminiscent of 'crakow' shoes.

These same shoes are worn by other Draconian minions, such as the briefly seen technicians who wear burgundy tunics emblazoned with an emblem on the chest.

The Draconian Empire's soldiers wear futuristic spins on samurai armor, with the helmets fitted with goggles and golden chest armor; the large waistband was not worn in the TV series, and is only seen better thanks to costume auction photos.