#18: Galactica Discovers Earth

[Croft2014]

The Galactica discovers Earth 30 years after The Hand of God (Earth year 1980) and sadly, it is not technologically advanced enough to help the Colonials defeat the Cylons. Commander Adama (Lorne Green) consults with wunderkind Dr. Zee (Robbie Rist) who suggest sending teams to Earth to contact scientists worldwide and recruit them to their cause.

Colonial warriors Captain Troy (Boxey grown up, Kent McCord) and Lieutenant Dillon (Barry Van Dyke) are sent to contact nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Mortinson (Robert Reed) and on the way they pick up budding TV journalist Jamie Hamilton (Robyn Douglas). Meanwhile on the Galactica Colonel Xavier (Richard Lynch) grows impatiemt with Zee's and Adama's plan and decides that the way to go is to travel back in time and boost Earth's technology so that in the present the planet will be able to help fight the Cylons.

He ends up in Peenumunde, Germany 1944 at the infamous German rocket site working with General Yodel (Albert Paulson) on the V2. Troy, Dillon and Hamilton travel back to stop him and team up with US agent Major Stockwell (Christopher Stone) to stop Xavier.

Loopy 3-parter opens the second season and it's a wild and woolly ride. Although obviously made on the cheap, it's tons of juvenile fun and easily one of the best offerings in this more kid-friendly season. Filled with school book history and loads of stock footage (I spotted scenes from Battle of Britain, but there are others). For some reason they've updated the vipers to be 2-seaters, except in the SPFX stock footage of course.

Back in 1980 my 12 year old self loved this, and it's deeply silly now but highly enjoyable; filled with lazy writing, plotting and stupidities. Nice to see Michael Strong (Star Trek: What are Little Girls Made of?) as the resistance leader.

[johnnybear]

I'm not sure I've ever seen this episode all the way through, although I must have as I bought some very badly copied DVDs off E-Bay years ago of Galactica 80! I haven't gotten around to watching the official release just yet!
JB

[Croft2014]

It's utterly mental and cheesy!

[johnnybear]

I saw Conquest of Earth though and loved the bits with the Cylon attack upon Los Angeles! Strangely enough how they kept blasting the city and the streets and yet all we saw were sparks along the road!!! Very odd considering how they wiped out Caprica! What were their buildings made of, paper?
JB

[Croft2014]

Watched this again.

Supposedly thirty years have passed since The Hand of God which was seemingly set at some point after 1969 and the moon landings. Never mind.

Utterly daft sequel makes little sense and has copious amounts of various stock footage, badly used. The best use is outtake footage from Earthquake (1974) which has had Cylon fighters matted in causing destruction; it ain't perfect but it's at least fresh.

Most of the fighter footage is taken from the first season and shows single seater Vipers, but the closeups show two seaters as are the full scale props. One shot is blatantly of two Vipers approaching The Gun on Ice Planet Zero ... we even see the big gun flare before shooting.

When they're attacked by USAF F15s, one type is shown launching and flying, then when they fire at the Vipers they suddenly have red stripes ... and the closeups of the pilots in the cockpits they're sitting in Phantom 4s!

Once the story gets to 1944 cue lots of stock footage from Battle of Britain (1969) of Messerschmitt 109s attacking ... intercut with the odd shot of a Spitfire! The supposed UK plane that's shot down - and Christopher Stone's American spy parachutes out of - is actually a German Heinkel bomber.

So, utterly shoddy and ill-conceived from start to finish ... and yet completely barmy. At it's best in the 1944 scenes set at the Peenemünde German rocket base. As a piece of rapidly made pulp fluff it's fun albeit mostly for the wrong reasons. Christopher Stone looks way too late '70s in his hair style ... it's all so ... popcorn.

[johnnybear]

Agreed from what I remember of it and I've always wondered why the two heroes didn't go after Xavier in the next story as wasn't he out to interfere with American history in the seventeenth century next?
I think I heard something about Richard Lynch not continuing in the role bit I'm not sure does anybody know why he never returned and the part was given out to the actor of the week afterwards?
JB

[Croft2014]

Jeremy Brett of 1980s-90s UK TV Sherlock Holmes fame.

[johnnybear]

Yes but I thought that Xavier was just using the features of Lt.Nash in as much as a weekly disguise or however often he was planned to come back for as Nash was one of the serving officers on the Galactica with Adama at the time of the episode anyways?
JB

[johnnybear]

The problems with arriving at the earth of 1980 after such a lengthy journey, crossing two galaxies at least I believe might have been mentioned also is that the events of Hand of God has the messages from the moon landing of 1969 being picked up by Apollo but possibly being possibly centuries old according to Boomer and also distances being intergalactic!!! So either Boxey aged very quickly or the Galactica in order to elude it's Cylon pursuers went back in time by using the light speed effect that or they passed through a slippage in time are the only way you can marry both series to land in 1980!!!
JB

[Cylon-Knight]

But then what of the fleet, trapped unable to time travel and unprotected. It's a catch 22 getting eveything to click, story-wise.... ugh...

[johnnybear]

Yes it is unless the Galactica was able to by design project a wormhole effect into which the fleet were able to travel through protected from Cylon pursuit and attack by the very thing that enabled them to escape, time itself! But the Cylons were able to follow and were a short distance away from destroying the fleet and it's people who were hiding in the solar system away from their tracking equipment!
The Seraphs may also have aided the Galactica in going back in time but they too were surprised by the cunningness of the Cylons!
JB

[Cylon-Knight]

Ahhhh... I'll watch that episode - GREEN LIGHT, GO!

[Croft2014]

Two and a half years on and these polls have only picked up about five votes at most.

[johnnybear]

Two and a half years on and these polls have only picked up about five votes at most.

Obviously the show was not greatly appreciated sadly!
JB

[Croft2014]

I mean across all of the episode polls I created starting from September 2018 from Saga of a Star World through The Return of Starbuck. I think the most on any one poll is about eight.