"The Wheel of Fire" was a one-hour screenplay by Louise R. Kelley and Alan S. Young.
Written on March 25, 1980, the planned episode was a sequel to what became Galactica 1980's final episode "The Return of Starbuck".
The story would find Troy in mortal danger while in pursuit of Xaviar. Just before his Viper is about to be destroyed by Cylon fire, Troy is retrieved by members of the Ship of Lights.
There, Troy meets Starbuck, now a "guardian of the universe." Starbuck assigns Troy to follow Xaviar (and the Cylon craft) to the year 562 B.C.E. of Earth's ancient past to stop the Cylon from altering or damaging history.
Adama sends Dillon and Jamie Hamilton to the past as well to destroy all evidence of the the Cylon Raider. After they destroy the Cylon Raider, the party returns to the present.
The Raider is destroyed during the event, spinning downward in flames to the Earth. The "Wheel of Fire" is an allegory of the famous vision from the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, who sees wheels of fire turning in the sky.
As "Galactica 1980" was canceled after 10 episodes, this screenplay was never filmed.[1]