#15: Experiment in Terra

[Croft2014]

I always rather enjoyed this one despite it's flaws, the main one being that it feels rushed. This would've been a much better feature-length episode than Greetings from Earth. Melody Anderson and Ken Swofford are very good.

[johnnybear]

The only scenes I enjoyed in this episode were the Destroyer escaping across space, Apollo's return to the Ship of Lights and then finding himself approaching an earth style planet! The story was filled with references to the Eastern Alliance but we hardly ever see them and then we get a Presidium full of politicians debating a peace accord with their enemies knowing that it's all a façade and the baddies are planning to annihilate them except that they don't know about the Galactica's force web which covers Terra and saves their world! A bit of a let down after Baltar's Escape I thought!
JB

[Scott]

I liked the episode, I agree that some parts did feel a bit rushed. I think we should have seen more of the Eastern Alliance in this episode. I'm sure everyone (or at least most of you) have heard the story that this was originally another Starbuck based episode. Richard Hatch supposedly made some noise about that fact, so the writers just made Starbuck's lines Apollo's and vice versa. While that may be true, I can't imagine the script wasn't rewritten a bit to accommodate the switch. I can't really see Starbuck giving the speech with that kind of dialogue to the Praesidium. Apollo however, does have the weight to deliver those types of words.

[johnnybear]

I wonder if that was one of the reasons that there was some heat between Benedict and Hatch on the set? I saw both guys signing autographs at Milton Keynes a few years ago and obviously they had come to terms at that time!
JB

[bishopdonmiguel]

A few years ago at ConTamination in Fenton, MO, Richard addressed this very subject. He said that after reading “Experiment In Terra,” he did approach the producers & writers asking that Apollo get some more “adventurous” opportunities like Starbuck had recently enjoyed (“Man With Nine Lives” and “Murder On The Rising Star” were basically Starbuck focused). He felt the character of Apollo was getting too serious and unlikeable. Soon after, he received a revised script for the upcoming episode with Apollo in the role originally written for Starbuck. He realized what had happened but it was too late to undo the change. He regretted the way his request was interpreted by the production and apologized to Dirk who took it in stride like a gentleman.

It is interesting that after this episode, Apollo seems less authoritarian. By the time we reach “Hand Of God,” the writers imply a possible new love interest between Apollo and Sheba and then Apollo and Starbuck team up like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to save the Fleet.

[Specter]

In a way, if Galactica 1980 had continued, it would have been better for Starbuck's character arc if he had been the star of this episode. I'm thinking specifically of "The Wheel of Fire," where we would have found that Starbuck had joined the ranks of the Ship of Lights after being judged favorably in "The Return of Starbuck." But oh well, it ended up being a good Apollo episode.

I agree that the originally broadcast version feels rushed. The expanded telemovie version is better, or at least it gives the story more room to breathe in certain places.

[Croft2014]

Five people are involved in the discussion of this thread but only four have voted. Bizarre, why do folks not vote on this forum? I did these poll threads starting nearly a year ago and at most .i think six people have bothered to vote but oddly not in all polls.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Five people are involved in the discussion of this thread but only four have voted. Bizarre, why do folks not vote on this forum? I did these poll threads starting nearly a year ago and at most .i think six people have bothered to vote but oddly not in all polls.

Probably because some or many don’t use the web interface. I use Tapatalk and there are no polls displayed in the app. I only use the web if I need to view the gallery for some reason.

[johnnybear]

Weird to think that we never find out what happens to Apollo after the events of BSG and apart from Troy's pictures we never hear another word about him on the show either! Does anyone have any ideas about his fate? Did he return to Equellas and Vella or was it Bella and Puppis for one?
JB

[Specter]

The novelization of the Galactica 1980 premiere said something about Apollo’s death, but I forget what.

[johnnybear]

There was a shop in Bedford that had most of the novelizations for sale. I bought the Tombs of Kobol one (I already had the two from the 70s) but sadly they had all gone by the next time I came to the shop!
JB

[Croft2014]

Another viewing ...

John (Edward Mulhare) of The Ship of Lights engages Apollo to go on a secret mission to aide the planet Terra and help them from falling victim to the Eastern Alliance. Terra is another in the group of planets along with Lunar 7 and Paradeen that are seemingly in the same sphere of influence the Eastern Alliance and their unnamed opposers.

A lumpy, rushed episode with a surfeit of ideas that seems to be influenced by Star Trek's A Taste of Armageddon ... a little bit. Sadly, it really needed two episodes or a feature-length timeslot ala Greetings from Earth to do justice to them all. What we have is a big change of pace for this series and Mulhare, Melody Anderson, Ken Swoford, Logan Ransey and Nimiah Persoff are all good value with Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict taking centre chair in the regulars, particularly Hatch.

[Specter]

I liked the telemovie version of the episode better because it was a bit longer and gave the story more breathing room. Agree that two parts would have served it better. The characters are sort of there and gone.

[Croft2014]

Incidentally, this is set seven months after BE ("Seven sectons" according to Adama). Not entirely sure that jibes well with the end of Baltar's Escape too well; the impression I get is that the Eastern Alliance ship they're tailing (the put a tracker on it in BE) os the same one ... if ao, seven months travelling seems a bit too long.

[Specter]

Don’t know if it makes any difference, but he says “seven sectars.” Maybe those are weeks.