While it didn’t exactly become the “Star Wars of TV” like it was supposed to — or anything close, for that matter — Battlestar Galactica was still quite an achievement in its failure. Despite its short-lived nature, it lived on and continued to gain traction in the greater pop culture canon. This included multiple sets of Battlestar Galactica trading cards even before the reboot. Although the original Topps set has the nostalgia going for it, 2004 Rittenhouse Complete Battlestar Galactica is probably the best set ever for the original show and its embarrassing spin-off.
The 72-card base set covers all 24 of the original episodes. All have three cards each save for the opening three-parter that kicked things off. Those shows have two cards each. There’s also three checklists to start the set.
2004 Rittenhouse Complete Battlestar Galactica Autographs and Other Inserts
Inserts are led by a deep roster of 14 autographs plus one multi-case incentive. Among those with signed cards in 2004 Rittenhouse Complete Battlestar Galactica are Richard Hatch (Apollo), Dirk Benedict (Starbuck), Terry Carter (Tigh) and Patrick Macnee (Count Iblis). For kids growing up in the ’80s, there’s also Noah Hathaway (Boxey) who might be better remembered as Atreyu from The Neverending Story. Benedict, also known for placing Face on The A-Team, is the rarest pack-inserted card followed by Hatch and Macnee. Autographs are inserted two per box.
Another big part of Complete Battlestar Galactica are the sketch cards. Although most are done without color, all are of high quality considering the period they come from.
Sticking with the art theme are ArtiFEX inserts. These have art done by Matt Busch. The insert set has 6 cards with one landing in every 20 packs.
Before it became the name for a standalone set, Colonial Warriors was a character-focused insert set.
Even Galactica 1980, the low-budget spin-off that came along after the TV suits realized cancelling Battlestar was a mistake, gets some love with a 20-card insert set (1:3 packs).
2004 Rittenhouse Complete Battlestar Galactica cases came with a monologue card with more art from Busch. These are numbered to 600. An exclusive Kent McCord autograph was a multi-case incentive.
2004 Rittenhouse Complete Battlestar Galactica Checklist
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Cards per pack: 7
Packs per box: 40
Boxes per case: 12
Release Date: January 28, 2004
Shop for 2004 Rittenhouse Complete Battlestar Galactica boxes on eBay.
Base Set
72 cards.
1 Checklist
2 Checklist
3 Checklist
4 Saga of a Star World: Part I
5 Saga of a Star World: Part I
6 Saga of a Star World: Part II
7 Saga of a Star World: Part II
8 Saga of a Star World: Part III
09 Saga of a Star World: Part III
10 Lost Planet of the Gods: Part I
11 Lost Planet of the Gods: Part I
12 Lost Planet of the Gods: Part I
13 Lost Planet of the Gods: Part II
14 Lost Planet of the Gods: Part II
15 Lost Planet of the Gods: Part II
16 The Lost Warrior
17 The Lost Warrior
18 The Lost Warrior
19 The Long Patrol
20 The Long Patrol
21 The Long Patrol
22 Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part I
23 Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part I
24 Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part I
25 Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part II
26 Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part II
27 Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part II
28 The Magnificient Warriors
29 The Magnificient Warriors
30 The Magnificient Warriors
31 The Young Lords
32 The Young Lords
33 The Young Lords
34 The Living Legend: Part I
35 The Living Legend: Part I
36 The Living Legend: Part I
37 The Living Legend: Part II
38 The Living Legend: Part II
39 The Living Legend: Part II
40 Fire in Space
41 Fire in Space
42 Fire in Space
43 War of the Gods: Part I
44 War of the Gods: Part I
45 War of the Gods: Part I
46 War of the Gods: Part II
47 War of the Gods: Part II
48 War of the Gods: Part II
49 The Man with Nine Lives
50 The Man with Nine Lives
51 The Man with Nine Lives
52 Murder on the Rising Star
53 Murder on the Rising Star
54 Murder on the Rising Star
55 Greetings from Earth: Part I
56 Greetings from Earth: Part I
57 Greetings from Earth: Part I
58 Greetings from Earth: Part II
59 Greetings from Earth: Part II
60 Greetings from Earth: Part II
61 Baltar’s Escape
62 Baltar’s Escape
63 Baltar’s Escape
64 Experiment in Terra
65 Experiment in Terra
66 Experiment in Terra
67 Take the Celestra
68 Take the Celestra
69 Take the Celestra
70 The Hand of God
71 The Hand of God
72 The Hand of God
Autographs
15 cards, 1:20 packs.
A8 and A12 not in this set. CIA distributed as a multi-case incentive. Very Limited = 200-300 copies, Limited = 300-500 copies.
Check out a full autograph gallery.
A1 Richard Hatch as Capt. Apollo – Limited
A2 Dirk Benedict as Lt. Starbuck – Very Limited
A3 Jack Stauffer as Lt. Bojay
A4 Noah Hathaway as Boxey
A5 Lloyd Bochner as Cmdr. Leiter
A6 Lance LeGault as Maga
A7 Audrey Landers as Miri
A9 Herbert Jefferson Jr. as Lt. Boomer
A10 Patrick Macnee as Cout Iblis – Limited
A11 John Dullaghan as Dr. Wilker
A13 Felix Silla as Lucifer
A14 George Murdock as Dr. Salik
A15 Laurette Spang as Cassiopeia
A16 Terry Carter as Col. Tigh
CIA Kent McCord as Captain Troy
SketchaFEX Sketch Cards
9 artists, 1:120 packs.
Number of cards drawn by each artist is noted.
S1 John Czop – 450
S2 Warren Martineck – 450
S3 Michael Kraiger – 160
S4 Cris Bolson – 160
S5 Eduardo Pansica – 160
S6 Dan Schaefer – 160
S7 David Day – 160
S8 Dan Day – 160
S9 Sean Pence – 140
ArtiFEX
6 cards, 1:20 packs.
M1 Apollo
M2 Starbuck
M3 Villians
M4 Cylons
M5 Raiders
M6 Vipers
Colonial Warriors
9 cards, 1:10 packs.
W1 Commander Adama
W2 Commander Caine
W3 Col. Tigh
W4 Capt. Apollo
W5 Lt. Starbuck
W6 Lt. Boomer
W7 Lt. Athena
W8 Lt. Sheba
W9 Lt. Bojay
Galactica 1980
20 cards, 1:3 packs.
G1 Galactica Discovers Earth
G2 Galactica Discovers Earth
G3 Galactica Discovers Earth: Part II
G4 Galactica Discovers Earth: Part II
G5 Galactica Discovers Earth: Part III
G6 Galactica Discovers Earth: Part III
G7 The Super Scouts: Part I
G8 The Super Scouts: Part I
G9 The Super Scouts: Part II
G10 The Super Scouts: Part II
G11 Spaceball
G12 Spaceball
G13 The Night The Cylons Landed: Part I
G14 The Night The Cylons Landed: Part I
G15 The Night The Cylons Landed: Part II
G16 The Night The Cylons Landed: Part II
G17 Space Croppers
G18 Space Croppers
G19 The Return of Starbuck
G20 The Return of Starbuck
Case Topper
1 cards, 1 per case
CT1 Opening Monologue – art by Matt Busch /600
From the Archives Costume Card
1 card, exclusive to binder.
CC1 Commander Adama
Promo Cards
P1
P2 – Non-Sport Update Magazine
P3 – Binder Exclusive
Convention2003 – Conventions
Gummie2003 – NSU Gummie Awards
