The Super Scouts, Part I

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The Super Scouts, Part 1
"The Super Scouts, Part 1"
An episode of the Galactica 1980 series
Episode No. Season 1, Episode 4
Writer(s) Glen A. Larson
Story by
Director Vince Edwards
Assistant Director
Special guest(s) {{{guests}}}
Production No. 1.4
Nielsen Rating
US airdate USA 1980-03-16
CAN airdate CAN {{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate UK
DVD release
Population survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous Next
Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III The Super Scouts, Part 1 The Super Scouts, Part II
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]


Overview

After the cargo freighter Delphi is attacked by the Cylons, a shuttle carrying Captain Troy and a group of children crash lands on Earth, and Commander Adama and Dr. Zee must work to rescue the stranded crewmembers, who are becoming sick due to drinking contaminated water from a chemical plant.

Summary

Act 1

  • Commander Adama meets with Dr. Zee in his chamber. Here, Zee tells Adama that he's "considered the consequences of endless pursuit upon the children of the Galactican Fleet", deciding that their children must be the first to settle Earth or they are sure to die in the wilderness of space. The task cannot be done openly or at once and negotiation with any faction on Earth is out of the question, for it would sew mistrust and paranoia on Earth, potentially leading to what Zee calls "the final war".
  • A shuttle approaches the freighter Delphi, the Fleet's school ship.
  • In a classroom on board, Dillon is instructing the children about gravity and atmosphere. During his lecture, he admonishes Moonstone, who tries to cheat by looking up terms on his (?) wrist computron. Another student is able to answer and Dillon moves on to discuss atmosphere, noting that the kids might get tired sooner due to the thinner gravity. During his discussion, Troy enters, mentioning that due to the lower gravity, they would be able to jump higher and run faster than Earth kids.
  • As the children cheer to this, Dillon kiddingly tells Troy that the class well behaved until he came in. Troy tells the children that study period is over, "at least for the instructor". Concerned, Dillon asks what the issue is, and Troy tells him that the ship is now dead in space.
  • Suddenly, the Delphi stops moving through space, having developed engine trouble.
  • Aboard Galactica, Boomer tells Adama that he's allowed the Delphi to slow to repair her main engines. Adama notes that he is aware of this fact, asking if the ship has regained its place in the Fleet. However, Boomer reports that this is not the case. Adama asks if Boomer recognizes the significance of that freighter, he replies that its the Fleet's schooling ship and notes that "all our children are on board".
  • Adama orders that a fighter escort be sent at once.
  • As the Vipers launch, the Cylons have spotted the Delphi and are on course to intercept it.
  • As Troy and Dillon walk through the corridors, Dillon warns Troy that if the "old tub" sits still long, their shuttles won't have the range to reach the Fleet. Dillon replies that they'll "crash load" them and abandon ship. The attack klaxon blares; Dillon voices his belief that this must be a mistake, as the Cylons haven't attacked in a generation.
  • The Cylon attack wing (including a new Cylon attack craft) begins tearing into it. Troy and Dillon are thrown across the ship's bridge as it explodes.
  • As the Cylon's attack continues, a crew member informs Troy and Dillon that there are shuttle pilots wanting to lift off before they are trapped on the ship. Troy orders that no ships are to launch until they have a full load. When the same crew member notes that there are sealed compartments, Dillon replies that they'll unseal them to rescue everyone.
  • Troy and Dillon quickly comb through the ship to ensure everyone is evacuated. They run across another civilian crew member, who tells them that there's children in a sealed compartment. Telling them that he can't open the door, Troy blasts the door with his laser pistol. The kids inside scream in reaction as the door falls to the ground.
  • Leading a Viper attack wing, Boomer radios Galactica, alerting them that Delphi is under attack. The Vipers kick some chrome plated arse as Troy and Dillon rescue the kids in the trapped compartment.
  • With the dozen kids, Troy and Dillon reach the shuttle, where they meet up with a goofy major, who informs them that 125 kids are accounted for. When Troy tells them that they have 12, the chipper bloke replies "That makes 137. All accounted for!" After the bloke helps load the kids on the shuttle, he stays behind on the ship.
  • A pilot asks Boomer for permission to pursue the Cylons, who are breaking off their attack. Boomer replies in the negative.
  • Troy tells the children to secure their braces. As he goes to start up the shuttle, Dillon helps secure the kids into their seats. Starla and another child refuse Dillon's help to be buckled in. Dillon backs off, noting to Troy that they're a "feisty bunch", which Troy affirms, claiming they had to be in order to survive.
  • Troy and Dillon launch the shuttle from the ship, the engines firing at full thrust. They launch.
  • Watching from a distance, Boomer tells them to "Come on, come on!"
  • The shuttle manages to escape as the Delphi explodes. However, the shuttle experiences damage, causing a loss of fuel. Dillon transfers what is left of the fuel into the left bank.
  • Boomer contacts the shuttle, giving the Fleet's coordinates to them. After running the figures through the computron, Dillon and Troy discover that they cannot go back to the Fleet. They can't hide in space and await for help, since a Cylon force would surely destroy them. Troy makes the decision to head to Earth, which results in cheering from the children.

Act Two

  • A 747 passenger jet, Flight 427 outbound from Los Angeles, ascends to 30,000 feet and are in range of Omaha center. After finishing the communication, the flight begins ascension to 35,000 feet and switches over to Omaha.
  • The co-pilot tells the captain of 427 to "look out", and the captain pilots the ship deftly out of the way of the descending ship, which happens to be the Super Scouts' shuttle. The captain angrily growls to the co-pilot to get Omaha and, believing that the shuttle is military, voices his strong feelings regarding how sick he is of hot shots clogging up the commercial air lanes.
  • The shuttle lands in a field on Earth.
  • 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.
  • As if that's not trouble enough, they're being pursued by the county sheriff.

Notes

  • The freighter Delphi, which is the Fleet's schooling ship, is shown in this episode. The stock footage that is shown is of the freighter Gemini from the Original Series -- and its markings, complete with the name Gemini in huge letters, are clearly visible.
  • The pendant seen on Boomer's neck is the same one that adorned Cain's in "The Living Legend". It makes its first appearance in this episode.
  • During the attack on the Gemini, a new kind of Raider can be seen. This is later revealed to be the A-B Raider fully seen in "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I".
  • In keeping with the mandate of programs in the early evening times lots to have educational value, the theme of this episode is environmental conservation, which also comes up in "Space Croppers". Other educational beats include information on atmosphere and gravity.
  • The Delphi develops engine trouble and stops "dead in space". However, the ship should still have inertia, thus continuing to move in space, until slowed or diverted by a gravitational pull or other outside force.
  • The Fleet's present location is "33,000 Mega-K's from Alpha Centauri.

Questions

Official Statements

Allan Cole: Basic rule of special effects. If you are going to burn something, you only get one go. And if you recall, there was a big damned fire scene. You should have heard GL [Glen Larson] scream at Vince [Edwards] for the slow pace of the direction. But he really blew his top in the big explosion scene. There were about three major bits missing, including a beam that collapses, mushing the whole bridge. I personally witnessed this. Vince cues each special in turn, cues the stunt men, cues the blast, and then the stunt men (standins for Kent [McCord], etc.) stand up, scratch their heads then trot off. Vince shouts cut. Then walks out onto the set, puzzling. "Hey," he says, "wasn't there supposed to be a beam?" Up above, a prop guy thinks he's just gotten the cue. "Beam!" he shouts. Said beam slams downward, narrowly missing Vince.
Vince also had the brainy kid [Patrick Stuart] terrified. So scared he was frozen and wouldn't move his head during the whole episode. During dailies, GL kept muttering loudly, "What's wrong with his neck? Call his teacher! Call his mother! Call anybody who can fix his neck!" Making things worse was the fact that the frightened kid's voice was changing. So everytime he said, "Adama" there would be this big falsetto crack. Very, very, funny. Too bad it wasn't intentional.[1]

Noteworthy Dialogue

  • Adama and Zee discuss their predicament regarding Earth:
Adama: Perhaps we could confer with the leadership on Earth.
Zee: To negotiate with one faction on Earth is to arouse the mistrust and paranoia of every other. We could inadvertently trigger the final war.
Adama: So, we have tools we cannot use, medicines we cannot offer, and knowledge we cannot share.
Zeee: All these things we will give to them. First, we must prepare the way.

Guest Stars

References

  1. ↑ Larocque, John (28 Feburary 2005). Interview with Galactica 1980 story editor Allan Cole (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). Retrieved on 11 August 2007.
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