Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I

"Galactica Discovers Earth, Part 1" An episode of the Galactica 1980 series
Episode No.	Season 1, Episode 1
Writer(s)	Glen A. Larson
Story by
Director	Sidney Hayers
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	{{{guests}}}
Production No.	1.1
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	1980-01-27
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	survivors
Additional Info	Series Premiere
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Original Series	Galactica Discovers Earth, Part 1	Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II
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Listing of props for this episode
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Overview

The battlestar Galactica and the Colonial fleet reach the planet Earth, but soon realize that the Cylon fleet, long thought to be gone, has trailed them to the fabled planet, and will stop at nothing to extinguish all human life.

Summary

• Thirty years after the destruction of the Colonies, the Fleet receives information from remote probes that they have at last found Earth.

• Adama and Doctor Zee, a child genius that advises the Commander, discover that they have arrived at Earth in 1980, but the planet's inhabitants, descendents of the Thirteenth Tribe, are at a low level of cultural and technological development in comparison to the remnants of the Twelve Colonies of Man.

Dr. Zee's simulation of a Cylon Attack on Los Angeles.

• To make his point further, Zee shows the leaders of the Fleet a video simulating a Cylon attack on Los Angeles. The conclusion is clear: at its present level of technology, the Earth will be of no assistance to defending the Fleet against the approaching Cylons.

• Adama orders pairs of warriors to contact key scientists with the various nations on Earth, to help them speed up the planet's technological capabilities. However, embittered Council member Xaviar rejects this strategy as too slow.

• Two of the Colonials to be dispatched are Adama's grandson Captain Troy and Lieutenant Dillon, who are tasked with contacting scientists in the United States.

• Before they leave, Doctor Zee provides the team with some gadgets to assist their infiltration efforts.

• One of the gadgets is an invisibility cloak that can render the warriors and their vehicles unseen.

• The warriors will be able to use motorcycles to get around on the surface, which are also able to fly.

• The warriors will also have the use of stun weapons to incapacitate Earth humans without killing them.

• It is also noted that, in the lighter gravity of Earth, the Colonials will have the ability to leap to great heights.

• Descending to the Earth in their Vipers, Troy and Dillon are intercepted by US Air Force fighters, and make a hasty landing in a field near Los Angeles.

• Hiding their ships with the invisibility screens, they take to their motorcycles, and shortly thereafter have a run in with a biker gang, which they escape through use of their motorcycle's flying capabilities.

• Changing into contemporary clothes, Troy and Dillon stop at a service station to make a call to the scientist they are to contact, Dr. Donald Mortinson.

• While attempting to use the phone, they run into Jamie Hamilton, who's on her way to L.A. for a job interview with the UBC television network.

• When she learns that the duo is on their way to see Dr. Mortinson, Hamilton offers to give them a lift to the Pacific Institute of Technology.

• Pushing past anti-nuclear protesters at the campus, and stunning a guard, Troy and Dillon reach Dr. Mortinson's lab but he is not there.

• Before being hauled away by security, Troy and Dillon leave a complex math equation on Dr. Mortinson's computer as a way of verifying they are visitors from an advanced culture.

• Troy and Dillon are hauled off to jail.

• When Dr. Mortinson returns to his computer, he quickly realizes that the only people capable of producing the formula he finds on the screen must be extraterrestrial.

• Using their invisibility devices, Troy and Dillon escape their imprisonment.

• Meanwhile, back in the field where they first arrived, the two Vipers suddenly shimmer back into view. A young boy named Willy Griffin is playing in the field with his dog, Skipper, and stumbles upon the ships. He runs to inform his parents.

Notes

• The simulated Cylon attack on Earth reuses footage from the movie Earthquake which was released by Universal Pictures in 1974, and also starred Lorne Greene.

• Dr. Zee's video screens show a series of shots from unusual public domain sources and from other Universal properties. This is supposed to resemble a smattering of US television images, and is a decidedly strange sequence, complete with eerie sound effects, which sets an odd tone early in the program. Among the images seen is Rod Serling in an introduction to the series Night Gallery.

• When Troy and Dillon first take their Vipers into the Earth's atmosphere at the beginning of the episode, stock footage is used from "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part I". As the Vipers fly by, a mountain is seen and the glare reflection off of the Ravashol pulsar is visible.

• According to publications at the time, the original airing of "Galactica Discovers Earth" had some of the highest ratings in the history of the franchise. The premiere episode, which aired Sunday, January 27th, 1980, ranked 30th for the week. The second and third episodes (aired February 3rd and 10th) also did well. [1]. According to The "World Almanac and Book of Facts 1980", overall for the period that it was aired, Galactica 1980 ranked 20th out of 100 series in the Nielsen ratings.

• The song playing in Jamie Hamilton's car when pulling up to the gas station is Billy Joel's "My Life", which makes a brief reappearance in "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II".

• This episode featured the final appearance of robotic Muffit II-style daggits, still apparently used as pets in the Fleet.

Guest Stars

• Richard Lynch as Xaviar
• Robbie Rist as Doctor Zee
• Robert Reed as Donald Mortinson
• Pamela Susan Shoop as Dorothy Carlyle
• Sharon Acker as Anne
• Fred Holliday as Mr. Brooks
• Richard Eastham as General Cushing
• Vernon Weddle as 1st Cop
• David Moses as 2nd Cop
• Brion James as Biker/Willy
• Mickey Jones as Biker/Donzo
• Duncan MacKenzie as 1st Pilot
• Douglas Bruce as 2nd Pilot
• Eddie Firestone as Derelict
• Frank Downing as 1st Guard
• Don Maxwell as 2nd Guard
• Adam Star as Willie Griffin (boy)
• Doug Hale as Air Force Major
• Ray Duke as Newspaper Boy