The Living Legend, Part I

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"The Living Legend, Part I" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
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Overview

Galactica is reunited with Pegasus, a sister battlestar previously thought destroyed. Led by the legendary and sometimes arrogant Commander Cain, the fleet is torn in its loyalty between Adama and Cain, but they eventually join forces in a daring attack on the Cylons.

Summary

• Apollo and Starbuck are being pursued by unidentified objects from behind them in the heart of the Delphian Empire.

• The two objects are none other then two other Colonial Vipers flown by Lieutenant Sheba, and Lieutenant Bojay.

• Just as Sheba and Bojay are about to finish off Apollo and Starbuck, Sheba's scanner shows that the occupant of the Viper she is pursuing is human and orders a cease fire. In the ensuing dialogue Apollo and Starbuck are informed that Sheba is strike leader of Silver Spar Squadron and are re-united with Bojay who was part of Galactica's Blue Squadron before he was transferred to the Fifth Fleet that perished at the Battle of Molecay, two yahrens previous.

• Sheba and Bojay escort a bewildered Apollo and Starbuck aboard the Battlestar Pegasus in the command of the legendary Commander Cain.

• Meanwhile on-board the Galactica Flight Sergeant Jolly reports to Commander Adama that the fleet is low on fuel and Colonel Tigh reports that there is what appears to be scans of something massive, the size of a Cylon city not too far off. Adama orders the fleet to dead stop while awaiting word on the fate of Apollo and Starbuck's patrol.

• Apollo and Starbuck are re-united with warriors aboard the Pegasus and are informed that Cain pulled the Pegasus out into deep space after the Battle of Molecay and that they have been fighting the Cylons and using fuel and weapons from the Cylons to fuel their own personal war effort.

• Colonel Tolan, Cain's second in command takes Apollo and Starbuck to Cain's quarters and they are re-united with the "living legend" and inform Cain of the fate of the Colonies and of the 220 ship rag-tag fleet. Cain, now with information of the Galactica surviving the war, declares that the Cylon Empire is about to fall as he plans to mount an offensive.

• Aboard Galactica, Athena informs Adama and Colonel Tigh that there is a visual echo coming from the scans ahead. The echo shows a battlestar. Omega then informs Adama of a message coming over Fleet Com-Line Alpha which is only used between war ships, so Adama feels the message is a hoax. Cain appears on the monitor and informs, much to the delight of Adama, that he will be aboard shortly.

• Cain boards Galactica and re-unites Adama with Apollo and Starbuck and informs Adama that the Cylons now control Gamoray, a society once thriving with 50 million people. This means the Cylons now control over half the galaxy.

• Cain had been doing strike runs on Gamoray for fuel to fund his war campaign but could not figure out why they didn't send basestars to finish him off, his answer was now clear, the renegade traffic the Cylons were having problems with was the Galactica and her fleet. Cain tries to get Adama to side with him in an effort to conquer the Cylons on Gamoray. But Adama declines citing the safety of the fleet as his main priority.

• Back on board the Pegasus, Cain meets with Starbuck and Apollo and asks about a woman he once knew before the war. It turns out the woman was Cassiopeia, the woman Starbuck is involved with. Cain then introduces the two to Sheba, his daughter who intercepted Apollo and Starbuck.

• After the meeting Apollo asks Starbuck what he plans to tell Cassiopeia about Cain being alive. Starbuck pretty much brushes away any suggestion of her being romantically interested in Cain again, but meets with her and informs her of Cain being alive. She leaves to find Cain and is quickly re-united with him aboard the Pegasus. They share a tender embrace and reminisce and Cassiopeia tells Cain about her relationship with Starbuck. She asks Cain for time for her to think.

• Back aboard Galactica Apollo asks Starbuck how Cassiopeia took the news and for the first time we find some background into Starbuck's character as we find out that he doesn't form deep attachments to people after being raised on his own. Boxey puts in his two cents in and says that Starbuck still has a bunch of other woman in waiting for him.

• Back on Pegasus Cain and Cassiopeia talk about Sheba and how the relationship may cause issues between Cain and his daughter.

• Meanwhile in the warrior lounge Apollo and Starbuck meet with warriors from Silver Spar Squadron and Sheba and Apollo butt heads over the military differences between Adama and Cain. Cain enters the lounge with Cassiopeia and Sheba leaves, very uncomfortable with seeing her. Apollo confronts Sheba about it and Sheba says that working with Apollo won't be a problem.

• A meeting of commanders is convened and a plan is made to intercept Cylon Tankers to provide fuel for the fleet. Adama proposes to use a squadron from both battlestars, Cain declines at first and Adama informs him of the need for the warriors to integrate for the boost of morale. Cain agrees saying that his warriors would be glad to pass along their experience to the Galactica warriors. Apollo is surprised by Cain's arrogance and tells Adama the people think highly of him as a commander.

• During pre-launch, Cain joins the mission to the surprise of Sheba. During the mission they are intercepted by a Cylon patrol. Blue Squadron almost seems at the mercy of the Cylons until Silver Spar Squadron helps out. Cain orders Blue Squadron to pursue while he goes off to take care of the tankers.

• Cain destroys the tankers and tells a disbelieving Apollo that he was firing at a Cylon fighter. Back on board the Galactica Cain maintains his story during a meeting with Adama, Apollo and Sheba and also cites the inexperience of Blue Squadron. Cain now pushes the campaign against Gamoray to Adama and Adama tells Cain, rather tersely, that he will give his answer in the morning.

• Apollo knows the truth but can't speak it and confronts Sheba. When cornered Sheba maintains that the tankers were hit by incidental fire and Apollo tells her that he had found a weakness or two.

• Another war meeting is convened and Cain pushes harder for a total victory at Gamoray. Adama again declines citing too many losses of life. Adama offers an alternative; the Pegasus is carrying a full fuel load and Adama wishes to divide that load amongst the fleet. Cain still feels a victory is possible. Adama is still not interested and orders the fuel to be distributed. Cain declines this offer and Adama relieves Cain of his command.

• Aboard Pegasus Sheba and Bojay speak with Cain about going against Adama's orders and Cain refuses citing that he may be a stubborn warrior but he is the best one and won't leave the fleet defenseless.

• Aboard Baltar's basestar Lucifer informs Baltar of the finding of the trailing vessels of the Colonial Fleet. Baltar tells Lucifer to prepare of an attack to finally finish off the Galactica for good without support from Gamoray. All Baltar wants is a celebration from Gamoray and to take command of Gamoray for himself. Lucifer questions this plan and Baltar tells Lucifer that there are other IL-series robots that will gladly be at his side after the victory. Baltar then offers to accompany the strike force to punctuate his point of victory much to Lucifer's surprise.

• Meanwhile Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Jolly board the Pegasus for the fuel distribution. Tolan and Tigh confer on the Pegasus bridge and Tolan wonders if they should wait until the bad moods on board from the warriors over the treatment of Cain subside. Tigh disagrees and orders the transfers to begin.

• On the Pegasus Landing Bay, the Galactica warriors are met by resistance from Silver Spar Squadron. Just as it looks they are about to come to blows a red alert is sounded and an attack begins by the Cylons.

• On the Galactica bridge Cain and Adama meet and Adama and Cain agree to pull out the Pegasus and put her between the Cylon task force (the biggest one since the destruction of the Colonies).

• Cain flies his Viper back to the Pegasus and lets Tolan and Tigh know he is taking back command of the Pegasus. The Pegasus crew cheers and Tolan informs Tigh is nothing personal. Tigh understands and says "How can you fight a living legend?"

• Galactica takes heavy damage to her Alpha landing bay and just as it seems the Cylons are going to have their victory and Baltar declares he is finished, his Cylon pilot informs Baltar of the second battlestar. Baltar doesn't believe this and the Cylon again says that there is a second Battlestar. Baltar looks to his right and sees the Pegasus and orders his pilot to turn.

Questions

• How many Battlestars were part of the Fifth Fleet?

Analysis

In The Living Legend, a decidely popular episode of the original Galactica series, we see Adama finally meet his match, when confronted with another military leader, Commander Cain, who has his own league of loyal troops, and his own battlestar to boot. One of the few story arcs from the original series to be reimagined in the 2003 series, Living Legend provides many memorable moments, introduces a new regular character to the show (Lieutenant Sheba) and above all brings us Lloyd Bridges' interpretation of Commander Cain, an old "war daggit" if there ever was one.

Dramatically, the juxtaposition of two battlestar crews is interesting, as loyalties are put to the test when the military philosophies of the two commnaders clash. Thematically, however, the episode is perhaps a bit more unclear. Adama, who has reluctantly followed the edicts of the Council of Twelve, represents a sort of benign military rule, coupled with the relgious mantle that he wears as the person who is guiding the Fleet to the promised land of Earth. Cain, patterned no doubt on George C. Scott's depiction of the famous WWII general in the acclaimed 1970 movie Patton [1], represents a different philosophy. A damn the torpedoes, full stream ahead military machismo that Adama worries will get everyone killed. This point of view is never really challenged, however, and Cain takes a good portion of his crew and the Battlestar Pegasus with him on a military gamble that at the end of the episode is never confirmed to have worked or not. By surrendering on more than one occasion to Cain's view, Commander Adama seems to legitimate it, which must leave the viewer with the conclusion that Cain's philosophy is valuable and a good counterpoint to Adama's perspective. In other words, Adama has not been militaristic enough? Perhaps.

Cain was a character that was planned to return. Count Iblis suggests Sheba would see her father again a few episodes later, and there was apparently a script idea for a reunion had the series continued. Glen A. Larson's brief attempt to revive Galactica prior to the Moore production also involved Cain and the Battlestar Pegasus, and the character has appeared in fan fiction and comics over the years.

Notes

• This is the first appearance of Lloyd Bridges as Commander Cain, Anne Lockhart as Sheba and Jack Stauffer as Bojay.

• In the episode War of The Gods Jack Stauffer returns as Bojay in command of Galactica's new Silver Spar Squadron.

• This is the first mention of more then just one fleet in the Colonial Military. In the pilot there appeared to be only one main fleet. The Pegasus was part of the Fifth Fleet.

• Sheba was introduced as a new love interest for Apollo and their relationship was to develop over the course of the series had it continued into more seasons.

• Commander Cain and Pegasus were also slated to return in future episodes had the show not been cancelled.

• This episode along with Part Two and the episode "Fire in Space were edited together for the Video Release "Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack". In this video Jolly's report comes at the beginning then followed by Apollo and Starbucks' patrol scene. The first 45mins to an hour of this video were more narrative in nature with some scenes taken out completely from the original aired episode(s)

Noteworthy Dialogue

Cain: Galmonging Cylons

Sheba (To Apollo): Working with you won't be a problem.

Apollo (To Sheba): We have found a weakness or two now haven't we?

Guest Stars

• Lloyd Bridges as Commander Cain
• Rod Haase as Colonel Tolan
• Junero Jennings as Pegasus Bridge Officer

Original Series definition: interchangeable term for a computer monitor and television set (see: scanner)

Original Series definition: a domesticated canine, e.g. dog (see: daggit)

Original Series definition: a title of nobility (e.g. Count Iblis)