Stories for Season Two of the Original Series
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There were many stories that were proposed for a second season of the Original Series. A majority of them were in Glen Larson's proposal for a second season of the series, before it was canceled (and resurrected, in a different fashion, in Galactica 1980).
The Return of the Pegasus
Lieutenant Boomer reports to the bridge, notifying them that the Cylons are approaching Galactica so rapidly that they don't have time to prepare an effective defense. Starbuck, Apollo and Sheba are ready to launch. Starbuck objects to Sheba going on the mission, much to Sheba's chagrin; Apollo overrules him and they launch. In the battle, Sheba dies and the battle seems all but lost when Colonial Vipers from Pegasus turn the tide.
After leading Pegasus to the Fleet, they discover that Athena's entire body has been engulfed in flames. Adama's hands have also been burned, in attempting to smother the fire that consumed Athena's body. Starbuck and Cassiopeia bring Athena's body to the life center and place her in a polar-thermal unit. While treating Adama, Cassiopeia informs him that medication and pain-killers will keep Athena alive, however it will take extensive plastic surgery to repair Athena's face.
While suffering one tragedy, Adama must face another. His son, consumed with guilt over Sheba's death, wishes to step down as Blue Squadron's commander. To complicate matters, a guilt-ridden Adama wishes to step down as the leader of the Fleet, and wishes to place that trust in Commander Cain.
However, Apollo himself doubts Cain, noting that Cain has changed since their last encounter. These doubts are completely dispelled by Renata, Cain's executive officer. Her manner is described as "warm, almost subserviant [sic] and she knows how to make men feel important". Apollo believes that he has one mission in his life, and that is to "shield her and protect her from any possible harm", culminating to a heated disagreement between Apollo and Starbuck: Apollo accuses Starbuck of being a poor sport after Starbuck tells him of all the faults with Pegasus and Cain.
Starbuck explores the ship to assuage his suspicions, finding a "labrynth [sic] of intrigue and strange 'goings on' that combines the best of the suspense world from [Alfred] Hitchock to Coma" with Pegasus crew members being moved in and out of a "strange series of labs". Starbuck discovers that the crew members are all being converted into Cylon androids: as Cain himself has become. Starbuck rushes to tell Apollo, who has inadvertently told Renata of Starbuck's "foolish defense mechanism".
Renata asks after Starbuck's whereabouts, which Apollo furnishes. She notifies the crew of a "dangerous intruder" aboard ship and reveals that she is an "android" that is half-human, half-machine: a new breed of Cylon. In a typical clichéd fashion, she reveals the fact that she and the android the Colonials believe to be Commander Cain are going to destroy the Fleet once and for all.
After this is revealed, she tries to garrote Apollo in a move "faster than the speed of light", but he is able to break the wire with his hand in an "equally abrupt karate chop". While his hand is injured, he disarms her of the laser pistol. With Starbuck's help, they cast Renata into space, since she cannot be killed by normal means.
Apollo and Starbuck fight hand-to-hand to the launch bay, where they help defend Galactica from the "subverted intelligence cells of the legendary Commander Cain".
Questions
- How did the Cylons manage to infiltrate Pegasus? Was this a result of the Battle of Gamoray?
- What happened to Colonel Tolan?
A Woman's Power
With Athena's appearance "restored through long and painstaking hours of plastic surgery and skin grafts" by both Cassiopeia and Lieutenant Boomer, she appears "prettier than before, but her looks are quite different". However, her body is badlyscarred and she thus resorts to clothing to cover the rest of her body.
Adama meets with the male members of his crew, handing out duty assignments and promoting Starbuck to Captain of Blue Squadron. The women, on the other hand, are organizing a campaign to change the way the Fleet has been run. Tired of war and its ill-effects, they want to achieve peace: to do this, they decide they will "withhold their favors and dispense with their domestic and fleet duties until peace is finally achieved".
Once more, Athena is asked by her fellow women to lead a meeting aboard Galactica, which she more than willingly accepts. As they debate this with themselves, activity within the Fleet has come to a standstill.
A furious Adama storms into Athena's meeting, notes the fact that they live in a militant society thanks to the Cylons, and lays down his ultimatum: resume their duties or be jailed. The women refuse and the movement's leaders are subsequently jailed, including Athena.
However, one of the leaders succeeds in extricating herself from the cell and, with a bomb strapped to her body, runs to the bridge, despite Athena's protestations.
The unnamed bomb-strapping woman makes it to the bridge, demanding that all prisoners be released. Additionally, she demands that the ships and provisions be relinquished for the purpose of getting their supporters away from the Fleet. Otherwise, she will destroy the bridge and cripple Galactica.
Apollo decides to speak to his sister, who explains the situation to her and inevitably convinces Athena to overcome her anger at what happened to her. She does so, admitting that her support for the women's cause was out of bitterness and anger, and convinces both sides to work together.
Questions
- In what capacity is Cassiopeia involved in this movement?
- Where exactly do these women believe they will go?
Island in the Sky
During a routine mission, Captain Starbuck and Apollo find themselves stuck on a "tiny barren planet with an incredibly strong gravitational pull". While they manage to land their Vipers on the ground, they immediately discover that they cannot move or live on the planet, until they are aided by humans equipped with a "protective aura about them" that shields them from the adverse gravity.
Starbuck and Apollo find themselves ushered to a beautiful valley with "green trees, brilliantly-colored flowers and a sparking blue river". Protected from the adverse gravity, the Warriors try to communicate with their saviors, only to find that they are a docile people who reply with smiles and "strange, changing songs".
Ushered to a small village that is "dominated by a handsome alabaster palace", they are presented to Prince Choi-Ling and Princess Quoi-Ling, both beautiful, Oriental-looking humans that appear to be only nineteen yahren. Quoi-Ling warmly welcomes them to the planet, but her brother does not share her same welcomeness.
In the resulting time on the planet, Apollo falls in love with Quoi-Ling and has easily resigned himself to the fact that they'll never leave. On the other hand, Starbuck finds himself unchallenged and seeks to understand where they are. In asking around, he discovers that the inhabitants of the strange paradise are outcasts from Earth and that the Lings know Earth's coordinates.
Through "his humor and guile", Starbuck learns how to counteract the field and their "dark secret ... one which even the most trusting will not reveal".
Starbuck convinces Apollo that they must leave; Apollo desires to take Quoi-Ling with him. Quoi-Ling reveals that such a thing is not possible, since she is nearly a thousand-yahren old and will die after leaving. Apollo and Starbuck regard this claim with disbelief, the latter believing that it's a trick to prevent them from leaving.
Having learned of their plans, Choi-Ling orders their imprisonment. However, this imprisonment is short-lived, as they escape with the help of Quoi-Ling. They reach their Vipers and leave the planet, taking Quoi-Ling with them. True to her claim, she rapidly ages and dies.
Questions
- Why do the Warriors need the Lings' knowledge of Earth's coordinates, given the events of "War of the Gods, Part II"?
- Why are they outcasts from Earth?
The Bad and the Brave
A devastating battle finds both Galactica and a Cylon baseship retreating from battle to repair their damaged ships.
To worsen matters, the battle resulted in damage to the Orphan Ship, which crashes on a small, tropical planet. After locating the ship, Adama is appalled that the baseship has also sought this planet as refuge to repair the ship.
To rescue the children, Starbuck and three Warriors equipped with armed turboscooters (the turbine, which is better known as the "turbocycle" from Galactica 1980) go to the planet. With the turboscooters, the Warriors are able to hamper the Cylons' efforts to repair their ships using guerrilla tactics.
Seeing this as successful, Starbuck desires to press on with the attacks, much to Athena's chagrin. Athena believes that Starbuck's grandstanding jeopardizes the children's lives. However, Starbuck finds that he cannot, for if the Cylons repair the basestar, it may spell doom for the entire Fleet.
A Plague in Space
Cassiopeia finds herself treating a young crew member who exhibits puzzling symptoms. The crew member, brought to the Life Station by Boomer, experiences swelling of the glands in his neck, a raging fever, and severe muscle cramps in the extremities. Unable to determine the cause of these symptoms, she instead treats the symptoms themselves.
Still curious about the cause, she pours through the medical knowledge in her library, where she discovers that a disease of a similar nature once existed on Kobol. The disease, a combination of the black plague and cholera, appears to have spread throughout the ship. Despite her quarantine of the crew member, another man was found dead in his bed, and Athena develops the sickness.
At Adama's behest, Boomer takes blood samples from everyone aboard and discovers that disease is spreading... and that Cassiopeia is Patient Zero.
A Queen's Ransom
Galactica needs to replace her solenium crystals, which are crucial to navigation. Apollo and Starbuck are ordered to investigate the planet, Sirenus, a planet that has these crystals. With a mining party of twenty men, they discover a female-dominated civilization where men are treated like slaves, who perform the menial work. While this civilization is cooperative and peaceful, the society's balance is overturned by the miners who incite the males to demand equal rights, and revolt as a result.
Galactica's men are ordered off Sirenus and its "lovely leader", Areola, holds the crystals. She uses these crystals to make a bargain: she will provide the crystals to Galactica in exchange for Starbuck, who wants him to be one of her concubines.