Galactica 1980: Episodes Four and Five

The Super Scouts

Part 1 - March 16, 1980

Part 2 - March 23, 1980

Writer: Glen A. Larson

Director: Vince Edwards (Part 1), Sigmund Neufeld, Jr. (Part 2)

Guest Cast:

Allan Miller (Col. Sydell) / George Deloy (Dr. Spencer) / John Quade (Sheriff Ellsworth)

Mike Kellin (Stockton) / Michael Swan (Collins) / Carlene Watkins (Nurse Valerie)

Caroline Smith / Jack Ging / Helen Page Camp (Saleslady) / Simon Scott (Captain) / Ken Scott (Co-pilot)

Plot Summary:

Aboard the freighter Delphi, Troy and Dillon are teaching some of the Fleet children about  Earth.  Suddenly, the Delphi stops moving through space, having developed engine trouble.

Aboard the Galactica, Adama and Boomer realize that the Delphi is now isolated, having fallen behind the rest of the fleet.  Sure enough, the Cylons have spotted the Delphi and begin tearing into it. 

It's established that this is the first time the Cylons have attacked 'in a generation', the machine pursuers evidently having been content to sit back and let the Galactican fleet lead them to Earth, but thankfully the colonial warriors haven't forgotten how to stick it to the Cylons, and spend ten minutes doing so. However, the Cylons have wrought heavy damage upon the Delphi, which begins to break up. Troy and Dillon hustle as many kids as they can into shuttles and off the Delphi, and pilot the last one off themselves as the ship explodes.

Unfortunately, the shuttle is caught in the blast and is also damaged. Boomer, leading the viper squadron which has managed to drive off the Cylons, confers with Troy, but the skies are still too dangerous to attempt making the journey back to the fleet.  Troy decides they will have to land on Earth.  After narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a 747, the shuttle puts down in a field in the middle of the night. The resulting scene where the children encounter land, plants and flowers for the first time is rather touching, but they have to avoid the attention of passers-by, who have to be put out of commission with stun fire.

Troy and Dillon go into town on their bikes to score clothes for the kids, and come up with the idea of disguising them as a scout troop. Troy manages to get some uniforms and camping gear from a department store, but Dillon's attempt to change Colonial cubits for U.S. greenbacks goes awry when a bank clerk assumes his money is stolen. 

While Troy and Dillon are away, the kids have been fighting amongst themselves.   Then, they all stop by a riverside and drink some water. As a result of drinking the water, three of the kids take ill.  Returning to the camp site, , lying comatose inside the tents Troy and Dillon have bought for them. As if that's not trouble enough, they're being pursued by the county sheriff,

Part Two

. The spreadover into the second episode  is roughly characterised by a cheerless sequence in which the kids hit their invisibility screens and leap into trees, there to pelt the pigs with apples.

There is a reason for the river's mankiness. You'd think that after all the trouble it takes to pipe Southern California's water five hundred miles down from the Sierra Nevada, they'd do something about the grey silt content, but this isn't the kids' problem. A local manufacturing plant of some variety (forget the product) is fouling the water supply. Jamie is on hand to interview the proprietor, a jowly, grey character known as Mr Stockton, but he's as unsympathetic as are his troglodytic workforce, who don't want to be laid off again. There are some cheap thrills when the hard hats try it on with Troy and Dillon, who simply fling them across the landscape like space balsa wood. Oddly, you find yourself not without sympathy, as the writers have injected a spot of labor relations into this episode, which is not something you'd expect in Galactica 1980. 

Anyway, the three kids are on their last legs. Honestly, this is ample proof that kids never listen to their mothers. Americans, when you go to Mexico, they implore you not to drink the water, don't they? It's the same with my mob when we go to Portugal. We may get the toms something rotten, but we don't flatline, which is precisely what Moonstone does the minute the lads get him to a local hospital, having obviously bitten the bullet against using primitive Earth medical facilities. It doesn't help when Valerie, Dr Spencer's dimwitted assistant, starts throwing a wobbly and has to be sedated herself (again by the useful expedient of a laser pistol set on stun). Dr Spencer is intrigued when his microscope readings on Moonstone's exhausted little body throw up some most interesting results - either that or he accidentally dropped some doughnut crumbs from his lunch on the slide! It soon becomes clear that Troy and Dillon, and the kids, are from a bit further than Cleveland. Lucky the writers didn't substitute Kentucky, given the amount of DNA-mangling inbreeding that's said to go on around there!

There is nothing for it but to call up some REAL medical assistance. You can't help but wonder why Dillon has to go out of the building to get better reception to the Galactica on his wrist computron, but that's presumably to put the frighteners on the Air Force, who are also picking up his transmissions, with the appropriate consternation. Dillon is enthused when he tells Troy that something special's on the way. 'That can't be ready, can it?' Troy says.

Aboard the Galactica, a somber Dr Zee and Commander Adama realize they have no choice but to rush into service their latest creation - an anti-gravity ship in the shape Earthlings would immediately associate with a flying saucer. Adama is so impressed with the potential of this ship that he wonders 'with a force of anti-gravity ships such as these, we could retake our planets!' However, there is only one of these ships to hand, and the only person who understands it fully is Dr Zee, who thus insists on going to Earth with it. Adama almost panics; 'You above all must not be risked!' but Dr Zee, with the impressive arrogance only a posh English kid can convey, has his way over a man six times his age.

Things thus pick up a great deal from here, as the lads drive the sick kids to high ground. I'm afraid I can't remember for the life of me how Mr Stockton comes to be in the van with them, but it's integral to the plot. So much so, that his protesting is silenced with the inevitable stun round to the thorax. The grotesquely ugly sheriff and Colonel Sydell have picked up the trail, and have additionally called in the National Guard, all of whom are put out of business when interference from an unknown source screws up their engines near the summit. One of the better lines comes from this scene. The sheriff, in a truly hideous profile shot which amplifies his ugliness to horrendous proportions, has his own take on the situation. Under the weak premise that the scoutmasters Troy and Dillon are 'impostors', he declares something to the order of 'This isn't about little green men at all. No... more likely, little green dollars.'

The money shot is a blatant bite of Close Encounters, but it's surprisingly well done. However, it's not helped by a cringe-inducing explanation by Dillon to a now openly frightened Mr Stockton that 'the glory of the universe is intelligence'. Down comes a splendid starship all outlined by bright lights. Adama emerges from the saucer and greets Troy, addressing him as Boxey. With no time to lose, ghostly medical figures get to work on the kids, while Stockton is ushered into the nicely appointed bridge chamber to be shown the error of his ways. Dr Zee is present, and after fending off Stockton's pathetic pleas, shows him a little documentary. Dr. Zee shows Stockton a glimpse into his own future - weeping at the funeral of an unspecified individual ten years later.  The funeral is for Stockton's own son that's due to die, poisoned by chemicals that Stockton Senior continued to use in his plant. We can only hope that Mr Stockton converts to green power mighty quick, as the anti-gravity ship picks up the approaching cops and army and prepares to get the hell out of there. All that the troops find when they finally reach the top of the mountain is a gibbering Stockton, who presumably turns over a new leaf.

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Last Updated on Friday, April 08, 2005