The Original Series

What a great show! I love the fact that I can sit and enjoy this with my kids without having to reach for the MUTE button. What great elements!

• Likeable characters!
• Good stories
• Moral plays
• Lofty values

Backward Masking Audio in Battlestar Galactica? - Can it possibly be?

Is there a secret hidden message within Patrick McNee's grand opening statement? Judge for yourself!!!

Here's the opening:
There are those who believe
That life here began out there
Far across the universe
With tribes of humans
Who may have been the forefathers
Of the Egyptians
Or the Toltecs
Or the Mayans
Some believe that there may yet be
Brothers of Man
Who even now fight to survive
Somewhere beyond the heavens.

Now, if you reverse this audio you can very clearly hear the secret message!

• The Original Introduction - in WMA format.
• Hear it in Reverse - in WMA format.

Here's the secret message (read along as you listen)! It's a conspiracy!
If they have annoyed, they all must!
We are visitors, we are one of you!
And man with us are be
In with us really must.
I am although
His source, though no
A smidge knee,
His eye forth for Nate the Handle
Who moves with me are snoop.
Certainly it's our garage.
I had none, Agate.
Eich Yowser!
The Heel of Wuss, new words are ugh.

See? I told you it's an important secret message! Now all we have to do is figure out who "Nate the Handle" is, Agate and "The Heel of Wuss!"

Haha - Well a little fun and games never hurt anyone.

I'm not going to try to delve into this series the way I have with Space:1999. There are simply too many other sites out there that do an excellent job already, I'm just here plugging the things I like about it.

Well, I do own a few artifacts from the series, but none are ones I originally owned in 1978. Instead, they are things that I have stumbled across during the last 8 or 9 yahrens, namely:

• Monogram Colonial Viper model - Just won this on Ebay!!!
  
• Monogram Cylon Raider model
• The DVD movie version of the premier
• The Soundtrack CD
  
• A very worn-out copy of the paperback novel of the movie
• A few vintage Sci-Fi magazine references to BSG

I won the Cylon model on Ebay about a yahren ago, the box says "Space Fighter Raider" and then below in small print says something like, Cylon from the TV series "Battlestar Galactica". The person who listed the model only put "Space Fighter Raider", so I ended up getting it for basically the shipping charges. The downside was that it was already built, with a few small glue smudges on it, and the stand/base is missing. I glued the "missiles" into the holes and left out the launcher parts so it won't put someone's eye out. After a little model paint, it looks pretty good!

The Viper is another story. I bid on 4 or 5 of these before I finally won one. Some of them I got beat by just a buck or two, a few of them bid out over $55 (MIB). Somehow I stumbed across one that the box was a little bit worn, but the inside plastic bag was intact. It was very funny, almost a *moment* opening that bag of parts and releasing the air from 1978 - haha. It was a momentous occasion, and I stayed up until 1:30 AM building it. It was really great to finally get my hands on one - all told about $30 including shipping and handling. Wow, wish I'd just kept one from 1978, huh. I think they went for about $6.00 back then...

Of course, bought the DVD at Wallyworld, and found the paperback at a junk-tique store in my home town before it closed a couple of yahrens later. Well, not much of a collection, but that doesn't stop me from being a fan anyway. Hoping to stumble across a cheap or even used DVD set of the original TV series some day.

I was very priveledged to meet Anne Lockhart (Sheba) at a convention back in March 2007. I have to tell you, she was wonderful to me and my whole family. It was a great experience and I enjoyed meeting her a lot.

Also enjoyed a nice conversation with Jack Stauffer (Bojay) - he had some very funny stories to tell and it was great to get to talk with him. I'm hoping I'll get to meet him in person at the SciFiExpo in Plano one of these times.

Richard Hatch replied to a short "Hello" from his Myspace account [Oct 2007] - That was pretty impressive, given the notion I believe he is still involved in filming the newer edition of BSG; I'm sure his schedule is very busy.

I have to say these people who were involved in the original BSG are people of decency and character and they treat their fans well.

The Viper Cockpit

I decided to put my graphics talents to work and create a decent interior schematic of the Colonial Viper cockpit. I haven't seen on the web where anyone else has tackled this project, so I thought I'd give it a go. It has taken a good deal of episode watching, frame-by-frame at the cockpit scenes and some background research to try to get good representations of each panel in the Viper.

The Port Console

The Center Console

The Starboard Console

About the Graphic:
This is drawn using real dimensions, e.g. the drawing is a 100% full size representation and can be printed actual size. I have tried to get this as accurate as possible using the photos off other websites, my own screen captures and some caliper measurements of actual switches as well as certain known avionics display sizes. I did this to get a feel for the actual panel dimensions, which were not easy to determine from mere photos.

I'm sure if I had access to the original panels, I could draw it to within 99.9% accuracy, but since it is long gone this will have to be my offering at this point. The original cockpit instrument stage-set supposedly languished on a back lot at Universal somewhere along with the full size mockups of the Vipers and Cylon cockpit and other left over Battlestar Galactica set pieces. At some point in time it was either torn down for scrap or (as legend has it) was destroyed in a fire at the studios. No one seems to know for sure, and I guess it just adds to the mystique. You have any insider information? I'd love to hear it!

The Flight Stick
There are apparently two variants of the 3-button switch labels. One, which we most commonly see says (L-R):

• FIRE
• TURBO
• IM

• STORES
• CAMERA AUTO
• CAMERA MAN

March 20, 2008 - Thanks to an alert fan, Kevin Coyne, I can now show you where the joystick came from! Here is a photo from the cockpit of the Vietnam-era recon aircraft OV1-C "Mohawk", I think you'll recognize the item circled it red:

[ Note: There was a separate filming "Cockpit Set" which consisted strictly of the control panels which was used in the scenes where we see the actors pushing buttons, hitting switches, moving the flight stick, etc.

It's hard to tell if stock footage from the episode "Saga" contained the less-seen lables "Stores" "Camera Auto" and "Camera Man" on the flight stick, but I did note that throughout the series, they took careful steps to make sure the actual actor or actress depicted as the pilot's hands were filmed in the cockpit panel set and corresponded with the shots in the full-scale mockups. There is always good continuity between Boomer's fingers, Starbuck's, Sheba's and so on. Which is something they did *not* do on the original Star Trek, by the way - haha. Watch closely, now! ]

I also noted that although things did light up on some of the aircraft instruments the Viper had, they were by no means fully wired in. For example, the HSI or Horizontal Situation Indicator had the digits wired up, but the left digits (Heading degrees) would jump from 110.0 to 210.0 and then to some non-character plus "10.0" while the compass card was spinning around. The other digits would always read 995. If the degrees had been wired in, it would have stepped numerically with the turn and the distance (995) would have been either decreasing or increasing as flight continued.
~sigh - it was television...

And Now for some Technical Humor!
During the show, the Viper pilots sometimes say "I'm scanning a life-form blah blah blah" and we see the red flashing LED's along the upper panels, usually to Port. This, in fact is a set of RS-232 communication breakout panels, probably provided by Tektronix from some prototype project they were working on at the time. Anyone familiar with RS-232 serial data communications will instantly recognize the nomenclature and probably laugh out loud!

Interesting NASA Space Shuttle similarities!
The NASA Space Shuttle a near cousin to the Colonial Viper?
Well, if you start off with the basics, you can see a few instant similarities,

• The 3 wing structure of both craft
• The 3 engine arrangement of both craft (albiet disproportionate in size)
• The landing gear arrangement
• And last, but not least - some of the cockpit panel controls!

Back in about 1983 I bought a paper-bound manual from a mall book store about the Space Shuttle, and I've kept it in my box of keepsakes over the years. The text of it was written mostly for young teens or younger adolescents, but has some wonderful pull-out diagrams of the shuttle's cockpit control panels, and a wonderful huge shuttle cutaway diagram. You can still find copies of this on Ebay and Amazon among other places, keep in mind it is vintage information of the original shuttle configuration.

Well, in the wee morning hours of August 1, 2007 I was browsing through these and decided to look over the control panel diagrams with more than just a passing glance. Well, what I stumbled across is pretty neat (and I'm sure whoever actually designed the Colonial Viper panels is reading this and chuckling again).

I had already drawn up the Colonial Viper panel graphics in the weeks before this, but I sure wished I had made this Discovery well before-hand.

Click on the photo for a 1024-pixel wide enlargement.

If you compare this with the gauge panel on the Viper, you'll say "Hey!", about like I did. ha The gauges as well as the two toggle switches in the lower right corner of this panel are both replicated closely on the Viper (however actual text of the switch labels is somewhat different, and the Viper gauges have no outside labels identifying what parameter they are measuring).

I went thru the rest of the diagrams with a fine tooth comb after that. There are only 4 identifiable similarities in the panels, once again - The gauge panel and the angular joining rib off to the right of it, which both appear in the Viper.

The second similarity is the "HSI SELECT" switch, which looks almost identical in its arrangement. If you wanted to reach a little bit, you could include the Shuttle's landing gear switches/lamps as being in parallel with the Viper's "Turbo" and "Check" switches, and it does resemble this a little, but a quick glance at the Shuttle diagram shows the arrangement is a pretty loose one.

Thirdly, the "Engine Start" toggle switches (which are often unused in the series. Instead they press the 3 lighted rectangular buttons labled "TURBO").

Sorry, I failed to include the Shuttle Engine Start switches in my page scan. Interestingly, on the Space Shuttle the engines are labled "Left" "Ctr" and "Right" instead of "Port" and "Starboard" as they are on the Viper.

The fourth similarity is the inclusion of a red LED (Light-Emitting-Diode) digital "Mission Time" clock. I failed to scan this part of the page in as well, but it is instantly identifiable on most Battlestar Galactica episodes where you can see the flashing red digits on the right hand console (inside the large red-tinted plastic circle), just to the left of the radio audio monitor.

My Take on the Episodes

Something interesting about the episode titles:
Some words are repeated in the titles, I used to think it was quite a bit, but here's the score: God [3], Lost [2], and Warrior(s) [2].
Also, the phrases "of the", "on the", "in" and "on" were repeated as joiners,
so I guess the next plausible episode title would have been "God of the Lost Warriors".
ha.

Zac is killed in his Viper as we see the onslaught of the Cylon attack force approaching, thus giving away their intent to Commander Adama. People have criticized the character of Athena and acting capabilities of Maren Jensen here, but I think her portrayal in light of the events is 100% on target, and her character was whole-heartedly lovable in that she represented a realistic young woman coming of age in a combat-ridden society, and following in the paths of her family who are evidently all enrolled in the military. Commander [Lorne Green] Adama's grief in a scene which follows shortly is also one that is well portrayed and heartfelt.

Starbuck manages to stumble onto Cassiopea and she seems a bit more aligned to his wild and unruly personality. He does seem a bit an odd match for Athena (who I'd have figured better paired with Bojay later in the series). And there is some comical moments when he is discovered messing around in the launch bay.

The fight sequences were some more of the latest-and-greatest of the time following on the heels of the technical marvel of Star Wars. They were very entertaining, and of suprisingly good quality on the TV screen. These got reused a little much later in the series, but none-the-less it was great footage.

One plot falls apart and that is The Council of the Twelve. They just seem entirely too foolish to be the leaders of this people. On the heels of the attack, they are ready to throw down arms and call it "Peace" right after the last time they were ready to throw down arms and call it "Peace" when the Cylons attacked. It is too unrealistic, there's not even discension in the governing body when this type of cornball-mania comes up. The food situation is one that you could have expected, but we are never really shown how this is resolved, and only given hints about it in "The Magnificent Warriors".

Personally, I'd like to see something else besides a casino buried in the desert planet Carillon. By the way, what does that name (implying church bells) have to do with a analogous Las Vegas? Anything else would have been more palettable. The Landram did make a nice touch, and was really a spectacular vehicle. I loved that thing and wished I could have owned one myself. It was awesome.

Overall, a spectacular beginning to this great series, one you can enjoy without having to try to distract the kids.

Lost Planet of the Gods [Part I September 24, 1978 and Part II October 1, 1978]
- Very well written plot, an illness is brought on board Galactica and all the fighter pilots are affected, except for Apollo and Starbuck. And so, someone else has to be trained quickly to learn the Vipers - and it falls to a pack of ambitious young women to take the bull by the horns.

Part II the plot thickens a good bit as none other than Baltar arrives to check into Adama's exploring of the ruins. We hoped we'd see the last of Baltar as he is left trapped, but it becomes apparent in later episodes that he is rescued by Cylon soldiers. There is one scene in particular where the captured Starbuck, aboard the basestar, is lighting his cigar by striking the match on the housing of a Centurion - it is both funny and fits well with his view of the Cylon pilots he has blown out of the sky. I'm certain he had a Cylon helmet in his quarters just to hold turboflush paper.

Serina, is shot in the back by a Cylon - and I have to tell you, that scene still makes me squirm. One plot problem here, though - If they were running from the soldiers, they wouldn't be standing around looking over their mortally wounded comrade. They would have to have loaded her up like a sack of potatons and continued to the shuttle. This pregnant pause comes off a little too weird with everyone standing there looking at her.

This episode ends on a really sad note, but Boxey leaving the corridor with Apollo makes you think the future is going to work out anyway - and it does.

The Lost Warrior October 8, 1978
- Apollo does a good tactical job double-steering the Cylons away from the fleet, but ends up landing on a farming & ranching planet. This is a well-written story and the script itself is really great, but the sound guy just about ruins it with his electronic-country & western music in the saloon.

Also, it seems a little strange that the following all crash-land within easy distance of this city:

• Apollo's Viper
• The Cylon ship containing 'Red Eye'
• The Viper which contained Vella's first husband Martin

The Long Patrol October 15, 1978
- This is a fun episode which gives us some inside views of the Viper cockpit and the new computer C.O.R.A. It starts with Starbuck taking Cassiopea to the Rising Star for dinner, but while she is out to the powder room, Athena comes in thinking he is dining alone. He manages to get the maitre'd to get him an additional room to hold them both at bay so he can woo them both. After he is recalled to Galactica, there is a funny hallway encounter between the ladies that reveals his ploy.

So Starbuck goes on patrol, narrowly escaping the two steaming women. The obviously female computer, C.O.R.A. becomes quickly infatuated with Starbuck, but has her own strengths and rivalry as far as scanner capabilities, flying abilities, etc. Starbuck runs across a smuggler carrying Ambrosa among a facade of farming utilities, but gets knocked out by the smuggler who takes the Viper with C.O.R.A. He discovers a prison planet whose inmates are all decendent children generations removed from their "Original Sinners", but who carry their names Bootlegger 191, Thief 7, Adultress 5, and so on. They think they are still manufacturing Ambrosa for the Colonial Warriors, but in fact no Colonial ships have been to see them in yahrens, the Ambrosa stacking miles high in the warehouses. As the Cylons close in, Starbuck instructs C.O.R.A. to make a high G maneuver which sends the Cylons careening into the planet's surface, which unfortunately is also the site of the Ambrosa stockpiles... Poor Starbuck.

I think we are missing some scenes at the end where the two jilted simultaneous Starbuck dates (Athena and Cassiopea) welcome the arriving Starbuck back home where he has to face his music, but then C.O.R.A. is not to be outdone, letting the two humans know they have some electronic female competition as well. I seem to remember this scene as a kid, but don't have the DVD's and the SciFi channel didn't show it - maybe I'm dreaming.

The Gun on Ice Planet Zero Part I October 22, 1978 and Part II October 29, 1978
[Not yet reviewed]

The Magnificent Warriors November 12, 1978
- This episode didn't come off so great for me. The Borays (sounds too much like "Bojay" to me, Mr. Stauffer) which are so deadly and ravenous at the beginning of the episode come off looking like short, squatty toads at the end. Although I have loved Brett Summers from MatchGame fame, she seemed a little too silly a character in this episode, especially for a Siress, but the idea of an amorous older woman chasing after Adama was a good one. Also, the Cylon attack which destroyed the two "Agro Ships" (actually models were the same used in the move "Silent Running" from this era) seemed a little too quickly played out as if it were hurried thru to make room for the Siress Bellaby part of the story. A little bit too cornball, but otherwise ok.

The Young Lords November 19, 1978
- One of the better episodes of BSG. Starbuck gets crashed on a planet and is discovered by a family of kids just before Cylons get to him. Turns out the planet has a castle which has been appropriated by the Cylons "The Tin Cans" for a base. This, as you've read elsewhere, is a takeoff of Lord of the Flies, but seems a good deal more gentle. They seek to trade poor Starbuck for their father, but are quickly admonished the Cylons are only baiting them in. They determine a plan to rescue their father from the Tin Cans, and of course Starbuck falls in love er, uh - falls in heat with the teenage daughter. And she is a looker. But sadly, she'd rather stay with just her family on the planet without any hope of every marrying or even dating, unless they have weird family rules, than go back with Starbuck where she can get in line with Athena and Cassiopea. ~sigh~

The Living Legend - Parts I November 26, 1978 and Part II December 3, 1978
- I have to rate this set of episodes at the top also. Commander Cain is expertly portrayed by Lloyd Bridges. We see the forming conflict between the two sets of pilots during the first encounter, and we immediately see that survival for both the Pegasus and Galactica has grown from how they've each handled their separate circumstances. Also, this would see the introduction of Sheba a character who is also expertly portrayed by Anne Lockhart.

This show is replete with layered plotlines: The conflict between the ships' pilots, the loyalties of the crews, the struggle of Sheba and her relationship with her larger-than-life father, the jealousy between Sheba and Cassiopea trying to draw the attention of Cain, and even the first tiny sparks of romance between Sheba and Apollo "Working with you won't be the problem".

I was a little disappointed in the obvious, Cain participating in a raid on the two Cylon tankers - You never, never send the CO out with the raiding party. He could just as easily have ordered a loyal pilot to trash the tankers and thus obscured his motives to attack Gamorray even better. But I guess if you are trying to tell the story in one hour, you sometimes have to take the most direct path.

There is some good back and forth confusion in the strategies of Baltar, and it sure reminded me of the confusion in Midway in which the Japanese fleet squandered their time trying to determine if it was best to bomb the island runways or to torpoedo the ships and the vascillating in the decisions caused the fleet to become at its weekest point. This plays well into the possible survival of the Pegasus, and we read elsewhere that Glen Larson did indeed plan to bring back Cain and his Pegasus once again in the following season (which sadly never materialized). The cowardace of Baltar is also shown by his willingness to position his base-star far behind the other two in order to ensure his own skin.

The cliff-hanger ending is done well, but there is a continuity problem: The Pegasus has some sort of giant missiles! Why doesn't the Galactica have these and where did they come from? And why aren't they used in other encounters (e.g. - The Hand of God)? Well, at any rate, we get the picture of impending destruction of the base-stars and a good chance for the Pegasus to get away cleanly.

Fire In Space December 17, 1978
[Not yet reviewed.]

War of the Gods Part I January 14, 1979 and Part II January 21, 1979
- Well, both good and bad with this episode. For some reason Warriors are captured by the 'higher level beings' (HLB for further reference). Their little balls of light keep zooming around the Vipers, Galactica and Agro Ships like gnats around a sweaty jogger. Baltar thinks they are going to destroy them all, the mysterious Count Iblis says they are attacking, but they don't seem to do anything but play loud music as they close in on Vipers - weird.

Sheba has some good acting focus in this, but I just can't figure out here love and devotion for this Count Iblis charcter. She is never really repremanded for her breach of security, and Iblis seems to have some type of mind control over her. Sorry, but her dress at the celebration dance just isn't that great looking and her Agro Ship outfit doesn't really do her justice either. Iblis sends up several warning flags, but she is enamored and doesn't seem to care.

We have to wait for Apollo to finally get between her and Iblis so we can see his true nature, and this is where the two-part episodes get me. He is actually "Diabolos" or some such crap. Geez, just say it - He's the devil. The laser shot thing where he absorbes the power and briefly reflects as Satan is a little weird and scary, probably too much for kiddos. Again, this whole episode's plot comes off a bit preach-y and there is some real efforts made here to push Mormon theology into your living room "Hey, kids! You can ALL be Gods some day!" Sorry, but the Holy Bible which they like to mail out also says (Galatians 1) "Even if we (Apostle Paul) or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" Their whole tenet is that they received a "new revelation" from an angel to their prophet, and it's way different. I'd say better check your Bibles more closely, dudes. Looks like you got a bad angel or a false prophet on your hands there.

While I liked the self-sacrificing part of the friends here, it was a little over the top for Galactica and the 'angels' outfits were right out of Logan's Run at the Carrosel. It gets a 4 anyway.

The Man with Nine Lives January 28, 1979
[Not Yet Reviewed]

Murder on the Rising Star February 18, 1979
- Perry Mason takes to the stars as Apollo has to defend a very cleverly set-up Starbuck who is framed for the murder of Ortega (who doesn't appear to have Spanish bloodlines). I enjoyed the plot to this episode, actually revealing several characters who cheated their way onto travel to escape the burning colonies. We are a little saddened to see one Colonial Warrior with less than ideal standards who accepts the bribe - it would have been better to have seen this from say one of the prison barge guard types. At any rate, Baltar has to save his own skin and helps Apollo in the same moment, but also assists the court, who is listening on Alpha channel to acquit Starbuck. Well written script.

Greetings from Earth Part I February 25, 1979 and Part II also February 25, 1979
I love this episode, both parts. Good to see Randy Mantooth on another good series, after watching him for some time on "Emergency!". Comes across good as the leader of the interstellar Brady Bunch who are thrown together because of war with the Eastern Alliance (baddies with some serious Nazi overtones). He seems to be quite natural with his role, but Kelly "Sarah" Harmon - who otherwise steals the show - seems a bit stiff, and it's not really her at all - it's all her lines that are stiff. I think the writer was trying really hard to make this romantic moment sift into shape between her and Apollo and somehow it just needed a couple more takes and revise her lines a little bit, and it would have smoothed out considerably. Also, that scene seems to jerk away from her to Starbuck riding up in the scrambler with Hector/Vector, ending the moment and unplugging Sarah's conversation from Apollo.

Sarah is put through a lot and never given a chance to really show it - She is essentially betrothed against her will, bunked in this stubby space shuttle with a stranger and his kid, she arrives at Parradine and discovers her father has passed away and two zany robots running the farm, her kids are bugging her with the typical "But they get to see the pictures!". It's not hard to understand why she'd smash up the Viper controls to get Apollo and to take control of her circumstances. The problem in the story line is we see Sarah as sweet, disarmingly pretty, vulnerable, needy. It would make more sense to have her more as baring herself emotionally to Apollo, showing her devastation and desparation, hoping to gain his sympathy to win his heart instead of resorting to violence. She does a great job, given the script.

Although Hector and Vector are portrayed bravely and well, they are corny and it's almost impossible to sit thru their song and dance routine. Their foam helmets with shiny thumbtacks are goofy, but we get right off that they are not humans. Sometimes their dialog is a little strange (lending credence to the idea the writer was really struggling against the schedule or something). Also Apollo having to fire his blaster at some fertilizer barrels seems out of character for him, he's always the level head - Maybe Starbuck should have converted some corn bins to cauterized carbon instead to get the robots attention, I dunno. Again, weird scripting and action here.

The Eastern Alliance guys come off almost too well (the Commandant would later make a great showing in "Baltar's Escape"), a little too evil, too pompous and snotty - Maybe they home-schooled the Cylons. I like the scene where they are humbled observing the Galactica's gigantic landing bay. You almost wish Apollo would say something like, "Good thing we are towing in your ship, we needed some scrap to build another row of urinals!". Better still if they had just alerted the Cylons to their presence, they'd probably be decoyed off the Galactica and onto the much easier prey.

The empty city is convincing and there is the implanted message about the "Neutron Bomb" which would leave the culture items but kill off the population was timely [it was in work as an alternative to the hydrogen bomb]. Also idea of how dangerous it can be to wander into abandoned places alone is well portrayed by Starbuck as he gets lost in a deep building where the air is stale and thin. I like his "One time around the planet" line. Cassiopea makes great strides as a nurse here, but is also given some crappy lines "Oh, I'm completely available." It's almost like the writer couldn't put together workable text for the females. Otherwise, one of the best shows - Wish they'd made it into about a 3 hour or 3 part show and got into the characters better.

Baltar's Escape March 11, 1979
- An episode of prison escapees and hostage negotiations gone bad, this episode ends humorously and with a ray of hope attached. There is some uncomfortable scripting where Adama faces off with the Council - It seems to collide with what one would think "Hey Adama has kept us safe so far, here's your medal and carry on, dude." Instead, they want to soften their stance and remove Adama from power, kissing up to the Cylons and Eastern Alliance - and it just rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Inconsistant with the overall plot of the show, but consistent with the Council we've seen from the first episode "Saga...".

In light of current events, you would think these refugees would be embittered against those who burnt their home world and families to a crisp and reluctant to befriend anyone along the way.

Experiment in Terra March 18, 1979
- Well, as a teenager we probably didn't have a grip on the notion that Mormonism was being taught in a subtle way, and probably didn't even care at the time. This episode attempts to involve the 'higher level beings' once again, as in War of the Gods, but sending Apollo to Terra to prevent atomic war on that planet just doesn't come off very well. He is seen as another man, not as himself - he converses with one of the beings, although invisible, to Apollo's own confusion and embarrassment. It's confusing and doesn't even deliver a clear moral story. Sorry, this one gets a 2 rating.

Take the Celestra April 1, 1979
[Not Yet Reviewed]

The Hand of God April 29, 1979
- This, without doubt, is the best episode of the series. Finally bringing the serious portion of the relationship between Starbuck and Cassiopea to light, and surprising us with two of the best scenes Anne Lockhart plays - the first in which she admits to Apollo that her abrasive behavior has been to keep him at a distance and to deny her true feelings for him. This is a feeling they mutually have shared. So Apollo has some serious things to think about as he prepares to go with Starbuck. Their suicide mission is to go in their captured Cylon fighter to penetrate a Basestar which is lurking in a nearby system and sabotage it.

The next scene she brilliantly plays is when she and Cassiopea watch Apollo and Starbuck take off from Galactica, Cassiopea says "Why did I have to fall in love with a Warrior?" and Sheba (Lockhart) replies "I don't know" as she is choking back tears of her own, wondering why she hasn't acknowledged her love for Apollo before this seeming one-way mission to the Basestar.

This episode also has some great licks of humor between Apollo and Starbuck, but also has some really great interpersonal moments between them and Boomer as well as between Apollo and Adama to really fill out the episode as well as end the series.

Sadly, the one big thing missing from BSG was a closure episode, as we saw with Star Trek:Voyager where they finally arrive home. I had sure hoped they'd turned the fleet toward the NASA Apollo lunar radio transmission and found Earth of the future with vast starships and gigantic space stations waiting with open arms to welcome the tiny Galactica and fleet, and to make shiny ash trays out of the Cylons.

And don't you think Lucifer and Cylon guards have located the cave where Baltar was living (following "Hand of God") and raised the gun just as Baltar turned around to see them? Hmmm.

Maybe I should have written for this show! haha