Spaceball

Galactica 1980: Episode Three

Spaceball

Airdate - March 30, 1980

Writers: Frank Lupo, Jeff Freilich, Glen A. Larson

Guest Cast:

Allan Miller (Colonel Sydell), Jeremy Brett (Nash / Xavier), Paul Koslo (Billy), Bert Rosario (Hal - the Cameraman)

Story Outline

Troy, Dillon and Robyn take the Super Scouts to a baseball camp for challenged children, where they join the team. Meanwhile, Xavier has altered his appearance and has come back to present day Earth where he intends to capture the children to use as a bargaining tool in his fight with Adama and the Council.

Plot Summary

Troy and Dillon arrive in a field on their turbo-cycles. A Viper that has been hidden behind an invisibilty screen shimmers into view, and out climbs Lieutenant Nash, a Colonial warrior. Nash explains he has been ordered by Commander Adama to deliver the Viper to the two. Programmed into its computron are the coordinates of the last known sightings of Xaviar. Nash also offers to look after the children until Troy and Dillon return.

At the UBC broadcasting studios, Mr. Brooks is handing out assignments. Jamie draws the task of covering a camp for underprivileged kids run by Billy Ayers, a faded baseball star. Jamie figues she can kill two birds with one stone by taking the Galactica kids there for a day out. Brooks assigns Hal, a nerdy cameraman to the project.

The kids arrive at the studio, where they show off their skills by dismantling a television camera. Its handler panics when he sees expensive camera in pieces and runs screaming off to Jamie, but when she returns to investigate, the kids have put it all back together again.

Meanwhile, Colonel Sydell, is again working to try and catch Troy and Dillon.

At the baseball camp, Jamie and the kids pull up in a woody wagon and have a chat with Billy Ayers, who complains that the future of his Little League operation is looking bleak . He manages a team scheduled for local playoffs, but as luck would have it they've all come down with the flu. Jamie offers up her own kids, but confesses that they don't know the game. They immediately embarrass Jamie when adorable little Starla picks up a baseball and throws it back to the kids who hit it towards her feet. Her gentle throw goes clean over the horizon. Cameraman Hal gets all excited and scrambles to get footage for the six o'clock news, and Jamie's well flustered. She has to let the kids down easily by telling them to hide their skills.

At this point we cut to Troy and Dillon zipping through space in their loaner viper. All they have to do is punch in the coordinates supplied to them by Nash and just like that, the viper conks out. Their last resort is to contact the Galactica and beg for help, which is our one of just two scenes in this episode to feature Commander Adama. Adama has no idea what Troy is on about, noting that Lieutenant Nash is 'standing right here beside me', and that they've got into some sort of trap. They then drift out of radio range. Adama dispatches a patrol to find them, but Troy and Dillon have got problems.

Dillon nods off for a bout of sleep mode, while Troy tries to take the ship apart from the inside To add to this, their air's starting to run out. The best line in this episode stems from this little concern, when Dillon complains 'The air's foul in here.'

So we've established that the Nash that met Troy and Dillon was actually Xaviar - courtesy of ' epidermal transformation'. , Jamie of course is unaware of this and drags Xavier along to the first innings of the baseball game,. The ante is upped in that if the Polecats (the name for the SuperScouts team) lose this game, Billy Ayers will go bust, and lose the camp to greedy, nasty developers.

The Super Scouts hide their powers, and they fall behind in the score. Meanwhile, under the bleachers, Xaviar rings up Adama and chats almost cordially. All he wants is an amnesty, and the freedom to live wherever and whenever he chooses. Adama's not having it, so Xaviar threatens to slaughter the children, basically for fun. Jamie rumbles him, but is boxed into a corner.

To top things off, Colonel Sydell, the USAF official tasked with finding Troy and Dillon, has decided to drop in on the game.

Jamie collars the kids at half-time and reverses her instructions, ordering them to show off all their skills and give these sneering Earth mugs a butt kicking, Galactican style. The rationale? The press will be swarming all over the winning team, and neither Xaviar nor Sydell will be able to get a look in.

Troy and Dillon realize that there's no other way to fix the sabotaged viper but to get out and push. Having managed to get their spacesuits on inside the cockpit, they do just that. The repairs complete, they hurry back to Earth.

Meanwhile, the score is reversing as the Polecats are turning on the pressure. Pitches that break bats, giant leaps to catch fly balls, and a whole series of superhuman baseball stunts brings the score to even, and then in the closing seconds the Polecats win the game, saving the baseball camp.

In the midst of the ruckus, Xaviar shepherds Jamie towards the gym. Sydell spies this and joins them to confronts Xaviar - who whips out his gun. At that moment, Troy and Dillon bust in and Xaviar runs off. They shoot it out for about fifteen seconds, the major casualty being Colonel Sydell, who fancies himself a hero and sprints off after the lads. Xaviar turns on his heel, zeroes in almost casually and puts a round right into his chest. It's only a stunner, but the Air Force man goes down like a sack of wet sand. After that, Our Heroes give up the chase, rather touchingly cradling the out-for-the-count Sydell .

Billy Ayers baseball camp now saved, and Xavier gone. Tired of this series of adventures, all Jamie can hope for is that the kids never take up any other sports. Trouble is, they're standing right over from a basketball court, and once again the ball falls at little Starla's feet. She throws it backwards over her head, and sinks a 30 foot basket!

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Last Updated on Wednesday, April 06, 2005