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Glen A. Larson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glen A. Larson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Glen A. Larson
Nationality American Flag of the United States
Occupation Screenwriter

Glen A. Larson (born 1937) is an American television writer and producer best known as creator of the series Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider in their original 1970s and 1980s incarnations, respectively.

Contents

[edit] Biography

 This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.(September 2007)

[edit] Early life and career

Larson began his career in the entertainment industry as a member of the singing group The Four Preps (with whom he appeared in one of the Gidget films). The Four Preps ultimately produced three gold records for Capitol, all of which Larson wrote and/or composed: "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," "Big Man," and "Down By The Station." A later member of the Four Preps, David Somerville, and a session singer he knew, Gail Jensen, later collaborated with him on "The Unknown Stuntman," the theme from The Fall Guy.

[edit] From music to television

After working for Quinn Martin Sr. on productions like The Fugitive, Larson signed a production deal with Universal Studios. His first hit series was Alias Smith and Jones.

One of Larson's tactics was claimed to be to copy successful formats, which, as this article shows elsewhere, exposed him to hostile criticism. Alias Smith and Jones was no exception, being viewed as having plagiarized Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.

Larson was involved in the development of The Six Million Dollar Man, based on Cyborg, a novel that had been written by Martin Caidin, and served as one of its executive producers.

[edit] Battlestar Galactica

Larson later secured an unprecedented $1,000,000 per episode budget for Battlestar Galactica, which George Lucas accused of infringement of Star Wars. (Lucas eventually lost the case.) Galactica was cancelled due to production costs, according to Starlog Magazine. Originally, the series was intended to be called Adama's Ark, and the show incorporated many themes from Mormon theology, such as marriage for "time and eternity" and a "council of twelve." Larson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1] Larson had been working on it since 1968, which was one of the reasons Lucas lost his case, and Gene L. Coon had been providing guidance and mentoring to him through the writing of its earliest incarnations. Larson is credited with coining the word "battlestar," a contraction of the phrase "line-of-battle starship," after being convinced to rename Adama's Ark to include the word "star" in the title in some way.

Even with its generous budget, the series was marred by substandard scripts and recycled effects shots, both of which could be blamed on the financial stinginess of both ABC and Universal Studios, and it was cancelled after only one season. The pilot episode of Galactica, called "Saga Of A Star-World" in the program continuity, was refashioned as a theatrical release in North America and Europe, and in some European markets, it was the top grossing film of 1979.

[edit] Larson as joint composer

Larson holds joint credit for the composition of the musical themes to TV series programs he produced, usually co-credited withStu Phillips. These include "Suspension," used in the Buck Rogers movie, and the Battlestar Galactica theme, which is probably his--and Phillips's--most enduring work.

However, on subsequent releases of the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack, such as the 1999 issue performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Phillips is credited alone. In at least one interview, Phillips has suggested that Larson would often take credit for composition when he had actually not done any composing.

Stu goes onto relate a story about one incident involving the music for the 1986 TV Movie 'In like Flynn'.
"Back in 1986 Glen contacted me to ask if I could come up with an idea for a theme to a Television movie of the week which was called 'In like Flynn'. Glen and I met up and talked, and Glen said 'Let's see if we can dig up an old piece of classical music that we could perhaps redo.' After playing him a few themes that jumped into my head, I started to play one that Glen immediately liked. It was a theme by the German composer G.F. Handel from a suite titled 'Water Music'. Glen said, 'I like it, who wrote it, and is he still alive.' I told him that Handel wrote the piece and he has been dead for several hundred years. 'Good, so that means we do not have to pay anyone to use this.' I composed the score for the film and utilized the theme throughout the score. When the credit sheet arrived at my office for my okay, I noticed that the theme was credited to Stu Phillips & Glen Larson. I was not surprised at Glen's name being there, (as it had many times before), but there was no mention or credit given th Handel. I went to Glen's office and asked why Handel's name wasn't included on the credits. Looking at me with one of his wry smiles that left you wondering if he was serious or just kidding, he said,'I don't seem to remember this Handel fellow being at our meeting when we wrote the theme.' At first, I thought that he was just kidding. Then I realized that he was dead serious. The credits stayed as they were."[2]

Larson re-used sets, props, costumes, and effects work from Galactica to create the light-hearted sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979). Gil Gerard, who portrayed Buck Rogers, was among that program's sharpest critics.[citation needed]

[edit] Larson's lean years

Larson created The Fall Guy, starring Lee Majors, which made much use of stock footage as well. Larson's most influential series was probably Knight Rider, which starred David Hasselhoff and featured science-fiction elements with a light-hearted action-adventure scenario and limited violence. These basic elements characterised Larson's output through the 1980s with Automan, Manimal, and The Highwayman. But few of these were renewed, and Larson's popularity declined. He made a brief comeback in the 1990s with an adaptation of the Ultraverse comic Night Man, which lasted two seasons and became a small cult favorite, but failed to make a larger impact.

[edit] Criticism

Despite his success, much criticism has been aimed at Larson for his general lack of originality, arising from the fact that many of his television series are seen as small screen "knock-offs" of feature films (Battlestar Galactica from Star Wars, BJ & The Bear from Any Which Way But Loose, Automan from Tron, The Fall Guy from Hooper, and Buck Rogers was simply a remake of the original 1930's serial).

[edit] Galactica revived

He was credited as "consulting producer" for the Sci-Fi Channel/Universal's 2003 re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Larson wanted the credit and had taken the dispute to the Writers Guild of America. Series creator Ronald D. Moore felt that Larson deserved a credit because he came up with the original ideas. Thus Larson received "consulting producer" and co-writer credits under the pen name "Christopher Eric James," though he had no direct role in writing the screenplay or the production of the series.

[edit] Upcoming Knight Rider movie project

Larson developed a love/hate relationship with David Hasselhoff during the production of Knight Rider, and for years, the two were embroiled in a dispute over how to approach the development of a Knight Rider movie.[citation needed] In December 2007, NBC announced it had commissioned a two-hour pilot movie for a new Knight Rider series.[3] In its announcement, NBC gave the main cast as Justin Bruening, Deanna Russo, Sydney Tamiia Poitier and Bruce Davison, and noted Hasselhoff "appears as a special guest star in his original role as Michael Knight", and that the executive producers are Dave Bartis and Doug Liman.[3].

 The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed.
The dispute is about Glen Larson's involvement with/approval of the new Knight Rider series.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page before making changes.(April 2008)

Glen Larson had no involvement with the Knight Rider 08 backdoor pilot and was not asked to be involved in the creative process on any level. This project was made without his consent and produced and released under a cease and desist order.

Larson is currently in the process of developing and writing a new Knight Rider Motion Picture project for The Weinstien Company that is scheduled for a tenative release date of 2010. The big budget film will center around a retelling of the original series pilot, Knight of the Phoenix, but will be updated take on the genesis story set in modern day with a new cast and car. This motion picture does not have any connection or involvement with the NBC backdoor pilot or any potential television series featuring the Shelby Mustang.

[edit] Honors

Larson has a star on Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the television industry.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Producer filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Religious Affiliation of Glen A. Larson
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ a b NBC press release: "Updated Knight Rider Revs Up to Return to NBC For Special Two-Hour Movie Event on February 17 as New KITT Car Is Revealed", December 12, 2007

[edit] External links

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