Galactica 1980: Episode Ten

The Return of Starbuck

Airdate - May 4, 1980

Writer: Glen A. Larson

Director: Ron Satlof

Guest Cast:

Dirk Benedict (Lt. Starbuck)

Judith Chapman (Angela)

Rex Cutter (Cyrus)

Gary Owens I (voice of Cyrus)

Ellen Gurkin (Girl on bridge)

Plot Summary:

Dr. Zee shares a dream he had about Lieutenant Starbuck with Commander Adama.

In the dream, after a battle with the Cylons, Starbuck crashes on a desolate planet. To provide himself with

companionship, Starbuck rebuilds a centurion from a crashed Cylon Raider and befriends him.

The twosome's lonely existence on the planet is interrupted when the Cylon discovers a strange woman, who

they are surprised to discover is pregnant.

Plot Synopsis:

Unable to sleep, Doctor Zee awakens Commander Adama, concerned about a dream he has just had.  Noticing his young confidant's uncharacteristic discomfort, Adama asks him to elaborate. In the his dream,  Zee relates, he was not born in the fleet, which Adama informs him is true. Furthermore, the dream was not about him, but 'about a great warrior...his name was Starbuck'. Shocked and stunned at the mention of this name out of the past, Adama insists Dr Zee tell him the rest of the dream.

Long ago, Starbuck and Boomer are on patrol, but are ambushed by a flight of Cylon raiders . The lieutenants manage to destroy two of them before the third sneaks up behind Starbuck and damages his Viper severely. Starbuck is able to coax one last reverse thrust out of his ship and fire on the offending assailant, but only manages to wing him. Things look grim when Starbuck realizes he won't be able to make it back to the fleet. Boomer pleads to follow him down, but Starbuck knows that a huge force of Cylon fighters is on its way to the Galactica. He tries to make light of the bleak situation; 'Give my love to Cassiopeia, and Athena... And, well, tell 'em not to sit around waiting. I might like it where I'm going.' but Boomer's eyes fill with tears. Finally, there is no choice but to separate, and Boomer heads for home.

Back on the Galactica in the midst of a heavy attack, Boomer begs Adama to let him go back in search of Starbuck, but the Commander refuses. 'Take a look out there. We'll be lucky if we can save our fleet!'  He continues,  'Our enemy pushes us on, and on, and on...and until we're strong enough, or can find Earth and get help, then we can never stop, or turn away, or look back!'  

Meanwhile, Starbuck is coaxing his Viper into the atmosphere of a planet whose readings check out as capable of supporting human life. Although he is coming down at an alarmingly high speed and bad angle, the old rogue still has time to wonder whether there'll be an advanced civilization down there, ready and waiting to worship him. Down he comes, in a thunderous fireball.

Eventually Starbuck comes to, with a monster headache, and the business end of his ship blown to bits. All he can do is climb out, sling his survival pack over his back, and take the lay of the land. There are no people, no civilizations, and nothing but sand and barren rock on this desert planet, but Starbuck makes light of it as only he can. 'I decided to call the planet Starbuck... Why not? I discovered it. It was mine! All mine...'

Exploring the terrain for a while, Starbuck suddenly happens upon the  wreckage of the Cylon fighter he'd shot down earlier that day. He pulls out his laser and approaches cautiously, but is relieved to find that none of the three centurions within are functional.   Surveying the wreckage, soon Starbuck begins pulling the Cylon ship apart to build a rough shelter.  As the temperature drops to freezing levels and the winds pick up,  Starbuck gets his lean-to constructed against the nearest large rock to the crashed Cylon fighter, takes out his survival blanket from his emergency pack, and lights a fire using his laser.

In search of a means of passing the time on this lonely world, Starbuck decides to cannibalize the Cylon centurions themselves in order to have enough parts to put one of them back together. Finally, he's ready to set one going, caring not a whit that the first thing one of these Cylons is likely to do is kill him. He throws the switch... and nothing happens. Crushed with disappointment, Starbuck sags in despair - as the Cylon's red eye slowly gathers pace, and catches. The Cylon awakens,.  Starbuck is delighted, but as predicted, the first thing the huge centurion does is aim his pistol and declare 'Die, human.' Thinking ahead, Starbuck snatches the weapon out of the Cylon's grip, tells him he deactivated it, and then gives it back to him! He is therefore a bit nonplussed when the Cylon pulls the trigger anyway, and has to start thinking on his feet as the centurion rises and starts looking ugly. One throw of the power switch after another and Starbuck demonstrates how he can turn him off without a little bit of co-operation.

After the Cylon has managed to deter Starbuck from switching him off for good, he asks why Starbuck reconstructed him. Starbuck explains, rather wanly, that after three days alone, he decided he needed a friend. 'We are enemies,' the Cylon states. 'We're cultural dissidents,' Starbuck rationalizes, since there are only the two of them on this planet. 'That means our cultures don't get along, but that's in their world.' Finally Starbuck offers to teach the Cylon everything he knows about humans, in the process names the hulking machine. 'Cy.. do you mind if I call you Cy?' As well, he offers to take the Cylon on in a hand of pyramid.

At the card table, improvised from the Cylon fighter's command seat and some assorted wreckage, Starbuck is fleecing Cy silly for all the pebbles and pocket change, while listening to some background. 'Eternal perfection and order is the goal of the Cylon Empire', Cy declaims proudly, but can't come back when Starbuck pillories them for just what they're going to do with the universe once they have it ordered, not to mention the distinct lack of love. Cy counters with a question as to whether this has anything to do with genders, but Starbuck wilts into considerable sadness when he realizes the centurion is talking about women. All he can do is change the subject, but the Cylon is surprisingly astute at picking up Starbuck's moodiness. This theme is continued when he realizes that Starbuck is cheating.  'You are bored with me,' Cy scolds. 'My companionship is not adequate. You require a 'wo-man'.' And with the improbable promise 'I will get you one,' out he goes into the cold night!

Feeling guilty, Starbuck searches for the runaway centurion all night, but comes up empty - and suitably chastised, now realizing that it is actually possible to hurt a Cylon's feelings. But his shame turns to shock when Cy strolls back in the next morning - carrying an unconscious, and pregnant woman in his arms! 'I am rapidly being surrounded,' Cy states, somewhat aghast, when Starbuck explains the concept of pregnancy.

With someone to talk to, Starbuck commences to do just that as the girl looks on, mute. The Cylon feels he has been somewhat relegated to the background, and demonstrates no small jealousy at the fact. But, out of nowhere, the girl simply asks Starbuck 'Would you die for me?' Angry, Starbuck rounds on her, but she remains enigmatic and obscure, refusing to elaborate on how she came to be on this planet. The shock factor is tripled when she starts referring to the impending baby as 'our child'. Frankly squirming at a paternity suit that for once, he has nothing to do with, Starbuck is distinctly uncomfortable, but Angela has already surprised him once. 

She diverts him with instructions. 'We must prepare a vehicle for our child, Starbuck'. She refers to the emergency beacon on the Cylon fighter, and that some form of Judgment is coming. Starbuck presumes she means the Cylons. Whether Starbuck is willing to change seems to hinge on the whole operation, but it's not clear to him yet. At the moment, they must work together to combine the salvageable parts from both Starbuck's viper and Cy's fighter into a serviceable craft that will take them off the planet. Cy is jealous again when Starbuck plays up Angela's involvement in the building of the ship, but is soon called back when Angela goes into labor. An amusing moment had occurred when Cy rather looked forward to the baby's birth, as it meant 'we can have another pair of strong hands to help turn the generator'.

'Our way is better,' is Cy's only comment on the birth of Angela's son, but you can almost sense some pride in him when Starbuck offers to make him godfather. 'Special friend to the family, throughout life'. 'We cannot be friends,' Cy says, once again. The morning after the baby's birth, Starbuck is shocked to see another Cylon fighter landed close to the crash site. The Cylons have picked up the distress beacon! The sight of Cy looming large in the doorway of the lean-to frightens Starbuck - he is, after all, his enemy - but even though he draws his laser and aims it at the Cylon's heart when Cy says he must go to them, Starbuck can't shoot. Angela watches, a calm, knowing look in her eyes.

Starbuck hustles Angela to the completed hybrid ship and gets her and the baby inside, and only then can ask, almost in anguish: 'What did you mean by Judgment Day? Who's going to be judging me?' 'We all judge ourselves, Starbuck,' Angela replies, prompting another smart remark 'Well, I hope so, because I plan on being very easy on myself in certain categories.' However, it becomes clear that there is no room for Starbuck in the ship; not if the mother and baby are to make it back to the fleet's secret heading, at a location now six weeks distant, on the programmed oxygen levels (and at suspended animation at that). He still doesn't believe that he can't still get away 'Who says I'm not coming along?', but when the three Cylon occupants of the second ship appear and start firing on their position, he must make the ultimate sacrifice - and stay behind, launching the ship manually and letting Angela and the baby go. They soar off into the sky, gone forever.

Starbuck is pinned down by the Cylon laser fire, but is surprised to see Cy appear, carrying his own laser. 'I repaired it,' he says. As Cy marches out to greet the three centurions, Starbuck can't be sure whether he won't sell him out, especially when the first thing the Cylons ask is 'Where is the human?' He is persuaded soon enough when Cy fires on them himself, destroying the first two. The third gets off a crippling shot before Starbuck drops him, but Cy sinks to the ground, mortally damaged. Rushing out, Starbuck cradles the centurion in his arms, but can only stare in grief as the Cylon's life sinks away. His last words are a refutation of every programmed Cylon mantra he had been stating since they met. 'Not human... not Cylon. Friends...'

We see Starbuck's heartbroken face as he cradles his dead friend, the camera crane pulling high up into the sandy mountains. Yet on those same crags, Angela appears, but in ethereal form. 'The child is safely on its way... and I am ready to go home now. And I declare this mortal, to be good... So very good.'

Dr Zee's voice grows more disturbed as he recounts the progress of the pod towards the Galactica, containing the 'incredible gift' of a child from the stars. He realizes that the dream was referring to him, and that he is the gift. 'Could I be Starbuck's son?' Dr Zee asks, shocked. 'And if I am, who was my mother?' 'The answer is still out there, amongst the stars,' is Adama's reply, truly at peace. But our own hearts break as we see the final scene of the entire series, as it turned out. Starbuck, still crestfallen with grief, sinks down onto a rock high in the mountains, his future uncertain.

Return of Starbuck was the last new episode of Galactica 1980 to be broadcast.

back to Mark's Battlestar Galactica Page


Last Updated on Monday, April 04, 2005