Editing Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III

{{Episode Data
| image = doctors.jpg
| title= Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III
| series= 1980
| season=
| episode= 3
| writer= [[Glen A. Larson]]
| story=
| director= [[Sidney Hayers]]
| guests= [[Herbert Jefferson Jr]] as [[Boomer (1980)|Boomer]]
| production= 85510
| rating=
| US airdate= 1980-02-10
| UK airdate=
| dvd=
| population=
| prev=[[Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II]]
| next=[[The Super Scouts, Part I]]
| extra=[[:md:File:Galactica_Discovers_Earth.pdf|Script available for download]] (incomplete)<br/>[[Galactica Discovers Earth (Book)|Information Novelization]]
| itunes=http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=VWbyALbmqZY&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewTVSeason%253Fi%253D299941353%2526id%253D299515652%2526s%253D143441%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30
}}
== Overview ==

:''A Colonial team, in [[Earth (1980)|Earth]]'s past, must work fast to stop a [[Xaviar|rogue council member]] from altering Earth's history in Nazi Germany.''

==Summary==

* With time running out, the team splits up.  [[Dillon]] and Major [[Stockwell]] go to sabotage the rocket, while [[Troy (1980)|Troy]] and [[Jamie Hamilton]] head into the rocket base bunker to confront [[Xaviar]].    

* Reaching the launch pad, Dillon fires on the V-2 just as it takes off with his laser and destroys it. 

* Xaviar having failed, comes immediately under suspicion by the Nazis, and is declared to be a spy.

* Troy and Hamilton, who are still disguised as German soldiers, haul Xaviar away. 

* With Xaviar captured, the Colonial team and Stockwell now turn their attention to making sure the convoy to Auschwitz is stopped. 

* Flying through the air on their motorbikes, Troy and Dillon fire on the German guards, while Stockwell releases the Jewish prisoners.

* Hamilton, realizing where/when they are in history, explains that the Nazis cannot pursue them, since the [[:w:D-Day|D-Day]] landings have begun and the local German units have all been ordered to defend Normandy.   

* The time has come to return to 1980, and Stockwell says a sad goodbye to Jamie Hamilton.

* Just as they are approaching the [[Viper (TOS)|Vipers]], Xaviar escapes, activates his invisibility screen, and gets away. 

* Returning to 1980, Troy and Dillon land their Vipers in California and proceed to drop off Hamilton at a bus station. 

* As the Greyhound bus drives away with Hamilton aboard, a sheriff recognizes Troy and Dillon from a wanted poster.  

* The sheriff pursues the duo in his squad car, but the Colonials again escape into the air on their bikes.  

* Arriving back at the field where they parked their Vipers, Troy and Dillon discover the ships are being hauled away by the local military and police.

* Troy and Dillon discover this is due to a boy having discovered their Vipers, and go to find young [[Willy]] at school.

* Once there, they discover [[Willy Griffin]] has been getting beat up for his spreading of tall tales about spaceships by a bully named [[Tucker]].   

* Troy and Dillon make a deal: if Willy will tell them where the Vipers have been taken, they will lend him one of their [[wrist computron]]s.  

* Willy agrees, and uses the computron to go invisible and torment Tucker.

* Having gotten even with the bully, Willy tells the Colonials the location of their ships, and also mentions there was a third Viper, which was the one belonging to Xaviar.

*Colonel [[Boomer (1980)|Boomer]] comes to see [[Adama (1980)|Adama]] to bring him up to date on the developments, and Adama has all the Colonial missions to Earth recalled until Xaviar can be located.

* Xaviar, in the meantime, has returned to Los Angeles, and after seeing a [[UBC]] news broadcast, determines to go to the studio to look for Doctor [[Donald Mortinson|Mortinson]].

* Xaviar convinces two LAPD officers to give him a lift to UBC.  

* Arriving there, Xaviar uses invisibility to lose the officers, who have grown suspicious.

* Xaviar identifies himself to Dr. Mortinson as one of the visitors from space. 

* Arriving at Mortinson's beachside home, Xaviar tries to convince the scientist about the benefits of returning to various time periods to change Earth's history.  

* Troy and Dillon track down Hamilton at UBC to loop her in on events.

* Hamilton calls Mortinson to warn him about Xaviar, but before Mortinson can react, Xaviar pulls a gun on him.  

* Arriving at UBC, Troy and Dillon meet Hamilton, and together they head out to the base where the Vipers are being kept, in hopes of capturing Xaviar.

* Hamilton lures away one of the sentries and Troy and Dillon are able to sneak in. As they do, Xaviar materializes in his own Viper and proceeds to the base's generator to suck up enough power to launch. 

* Xaviar spots the Colonials and shoots at them, before putting Troy down with a stunner. 
[[Image:Trio.jpg|thumb|Troy Jamie and Dillon aboard ''Galactica'']]

* Before Troy can stagger back to his feet, Xaviar takes off, leaving Mortinson behind.  

* A dozen sentries are now bearing down on them, but Troy and Dillon dispatch them effortlessly with a few laser stun blasts. 

* Dillon jumps into his Viper and discovers Hamilton already in the back seat.

* Launching their ships, Troy and Dillon pursue Xaviar into space, but they open fire too late and Xaviar's Viper enters a timewarp.  

* Troy, Dillon and Jamie return to ''[[Galactica (TOS)|Galactica]]'', and meet with Adama in his quarters.

* Adama reveals that Xaviar has gone to Earth's 18th century to interfere in the history of pre-Revolutionary America.   

* Hamilton agrees to help Troy and Dillon with their next mission.

== Review ==

Galactica Discovers Earth turns out to be a watchable pilot, but watchable is about all. From the very first episode, the series looks like a cheap attempt by ABC to cash in on the Galactica name by simply reusing the expensive special effects stock footage from the original series. The other episodes would only confirm this. Kent McCord (Troy) and Barry Van Dyke (Dillon) are likable, but they still come off as inferior clones of Starbuck and Apollo. Indeed, the script for the pilot was originally written for Starbuck and Apollo. When those plans changed, the names were simply switched to Troy and Dillon.
Jamie Hamilton comes off as a carbon copy of Lois Lane. Unfortunately, we are never given any backstory to any of these characters. 

The idea of the Cylons closing in on Earth and the Colonials trying to advance Earth's technology is a very compelling premise, but the problem is that Dr. Zee's plan to slowly increase Earth's technology is flawed. At the rate in which the Colonials were going, it probably would have taken at least decades to get Earth's technology increased enough to be able to fight the Cylons. Long before then, the Cylons would probably tire of waiting and decide to just destroy the Colonial fleet. Even if the Cylons didn't attack, how far could the Galactica lead the Cylons away from Earth before they (the Colonials) were too far away from the planet to ever go back there? It probably would have been smarter to temporarily abandon Earth and lead the Cylons away until Dr. Zee could invent some technology that would allow the Colonials to destroy the Cylon armada. (Actually, since Colonial Vipers can now turn invisible, it should have been fairly easy for the Colonials to launch a surprise attack on the Cylons and defeat them once and for all!)

The problem with the original premise of Galactica 1980 is that it would have eventually become tiresome: Troy and Dillon each week would find a way to introduce some new technology (clean nuclear power, etc.) which would make some small improvement, but do little to bring Earth up to the level it would need be to fight the Cylons. As a result, the series could never evolve to the next level (i.e. Earth is ready to fight the Cylons), because the series' budget was too small for any kind of "final battle". As a result, Galactica 1980 was stuck in a rut from the get-go. It tried to distract viewers from the main plot (the Cylon threat) with time travel and cub scout outings because there was little that could be done with the original premise. It might have worked well as a single movie or perhaps a series of movies, but it's unlikely that Galactica 1980 could have ever jelled as a weekly series.<ref>Sheba's Galaxy: The Ultimate Battlestar Galactica Information Site.</ref>

==Notes==

* Troy, Dillon, and Jamie's time travel adventure in 18th century America was never scripted or produced.
* The scientific advancement of Earth premise was sadly dropped after this episode.
* The various missions into Earth's past—from Moses's obtaining the Ten Commandments to Civil War America—which are depicted in the [[Galactica Discovers Earth (Book)|novelization of the episode]] are not shown on screen.
* Ted Gehring (the sheriff in patrol car) played Croad in the Battlestar Galactica episode [[The Long Patrol]].
* Jamie's farewell to Troy and Dillon at the bus stop is one of the best moments of the entire series (which isn't saying much).
* The opening title sequence is terrible, composed entirely of stock footage from the original series. It looks like a bunch of sequences sloppily scotch-taped together, which was undoubtedly the case since the show was rushed into production.
* Although Dr. Mortinson is mentioned frequently throughout the series, the character is never seen again.
* Dr. Zee is the only character on either series shown wearing glasses.
* The German portions of this episode take place on June 5, [[Timeline (1980)#1944|1944]] and the morning of June 6, 1944. The later date is when the Allied offensive known as [[w:D-Day|D-Day]] begins.
* A band named Ookla The Monk makes a reference to Galactica 1980 in a song called Tommy: "Everything good turns to crap. It turns to crap and I don't mean maybe, just like Galactica 1980. It turns to crap. Crap!"

== Questions ==

* Didn't any of the German officers notice that one of their own was [[Jamie Hamilton|a woman]]?
* Why didn't [[Dillon]] remove Xaviar's [[wrist computron]], thus preventing his ability to escape?
* Why does Troy approach the Viper from the front, knowing full well that he could easily be killed by the Viper's lasers?

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==

* ''After [[Dillon]] stuns [[Stockwell]]:''
: '''Dillon:''' Primitives. All alike. What are you going to do with them?

* ''Dillon looks up the word [[List of terms (1980)#Earth terms|coffee]]:''
: '''Dillon:''' "A beverage made from a bean. Usually served hot." (looks at Troy) [[Troy (1980)|Troy]], they drink beans!

== Guest Stars ==
*[[Richard Lynch]] as [[Xaviar]]
*[[Robbie Rist]] as [[Doctor Zee]]
*[[Robert Reed]] as [[Donald Mortinson]]
*[[Christopher Stone]] as Major [[Stockwell]]
*[[imdb:nm0667292|Albert Paulsen]] as General [[Yodel]]
*[[Louis Turenne]] as Colonel [[Werner]] (credited as "German Officer")
*[[Michael Strong]] as [[Smite]] (credited as Resistance Leader/The Old Man)
*[[Fred Holliday]] as Mr. [[Brooks]]
*[[Ted Gehring]] as [[Sheriff]]
*[[imdb:nm0104919|Hank Brandt]] as [[Air Force Colonel]]
*[[James R. Parkes]] as [[Walt Griffin]]
*[[imdb:nm0268114|Adam Star]] as [[Willie Griffin]]
*[[Curt Lowens]] as [[Unnamed characters (1980)#German Commander|German Commander]]
*[[imdb:nm0533297|Duncan MacKenzie]] as 3rd Guard
*Jonathan Williams as 2nd Guard
*Paul Brown as 4th Guard
*[[Ray Duke]] as [[Newsboy]]
*[[imdb:nm0419747|Billy Jacoby]] as [[Tucker]]
*[[imdb:nm0290261|Missy Francis]] as [[Unnamed characters (1980)#Little Girl|Little Girl]]
*[[Doug Hale]] as [[Air Force Major]]
*Uncredited as [[Harvey]]

== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

== External Links ==

[http://galactica1981.tripod.com/GalacticaDiscovers2.htm Galactica Discovers Earth review and analysis at Sheba's Galaxy.]

{{Episode List (1980)}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Episode Guide (1980)]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Glen A. Larson]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Sidney Hayers]]
[[Category:1980]]