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Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II

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Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II
"Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II"
An episode of the Original Series
Episode No. Season 1, Episode 3
Writer(s) Glen A. Larson
Donald Bellisario
Story by
Director Christian I. Nyby II
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No. 50205
Nielsen Rating
US airdate USA 1978-10-01
CAN airdate CAN {{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate UK
DVD release 2004-12-28
Population survivors
Additional Info
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
Previous Next
Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II The Lost Warrior
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
Photo Gallery @ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]


Starbuck is captured by the Cylons while the Fleet continues through the mysterious black void to a fateful rendezvous with the planet Kobol that may hold the secret to the lost thirteenth tribe. But a deadly surprise awaits them on the planet surface.

Summary

  • The Fleet continues through the black void. Adama orders the fleet to keep in visual contact with Galactica through the void.
  • Tigh and Adama talk about the void. Adama mentions to Tigh a passage from the Book of the Word about the void and mentions his medallion that is the symbol of Adama's power and of their religion.
  • The female warriors gather in the Officer's lounge to discuss their mission. Apollo and Starbuck feel left out and begin discussing domestic duties. Serina notices the two carrying on and asks if they are feeling left out. Apollo sarcastically says they aren't.
  • Tigh notifies Adama of a blip on the scanner in quadrant Delta Nine, behind the fleet. Adama sees it and orders a patrol to investigate. The blip is a Cylon Raider awaiting a patrol so they can capture a Colonial Warrior.
  • Tigh pulls Apollo and Starbuck for the mission and Serina informs them that she is Apollo's wingman much to Apollo and Tigh's surprise. Starbuck wishes them well but instead of heading back to quarters he heads for the launch bay followed shortly by Apollo and Serina.
  • Starbuck launches in Apollo's viper stating to the flight deck officer that he took Apollo's patrol for him. Apollo and Serina launch shortly after. Apollo orders Serina back to Galactica and she refuses. The three venture out together.
  • Starbuck ends up going beyond Apollo and Serina's scanner range and is captured by the Cylons.
  • On board the basestar Starbuck interacts with Lucifer and lights a match on a Cylon Centurion for his fumarello. Lucifer playfully warns Starbuck it would go well for him if he showed a little respect. Starbuck to his surprise meets Baltar.
  • Baltar informs him that there is a change in the Cylon Empire favorable to humans and that he is there as an envoy of peace and will release Starbuck at the right moment.
  • Lucifer and Baltar discuss Baltar's scheme to lure the humans into his trap.
  • Back on board Galactica Apollo watches the scanners for Starbuck. Serina comforts him and says they should not wait any longer to get sealed and says that Starbuck would understand and approve.
  • Adama performs the ceremony, Boxey as the protector gives Serina away. During the ceremony a bright star appears and Adama orders Tigh to scan for a planet in orbit. Apollo asks Adama what it could be and Adama says it could be the planet Kobol.
Apollo and Serina are sealed as Kobol's star comes into view.
  • The Colonials land on the surface of the planet, where there are pyramids and ruins. Adama chooses a site for a camp, and posts a guard even though the planet is supposed to be dead.
  • Lucifer reports to Baltar that a star has appeared and guided Galactica to a dead planet. Baltar recognizes a chance to spring a trap, and orders Lucifer to prepare his craft. He will go alone, for only he can bring Galactica back to the Imperious Leader.
  • Adama, Serina, and Apollo explore the ruins. Adama suspects that it might be Eden, the largest city and the first to fall. Adama recognizes the seal of the Ninth Lord of Kobol. He was the last leader of Kobol before the thirteen tribes went to the stars. Apollo realizes that Adama is hoping to find the location of the thirteenth tribe (and Earth) by looking here.
  • The three find the entrance to the Tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol, which bears a warning of death for those that enter. Serina recognizes that Adama's medallion is the same as the seal on the tomb, and it acts as a key to open it.
  • They find the bodies of tomb robbers, and then are trapped by bars that descend, but lift when Adama uses his medallion again. They enter a room that appears to contain a sarcophagus.
  • Baltar enters through a different door, greeting Adama. Adama lunges at him, trying to strangle the traitor. Apollo pulls him off of Baltar, saying that he should be left to the council.
  • Baltar claims that he did not betray the colonies, and that Adama has been slandering him. He says he was trapped between his battlestar and Atlantia, and was tried by the Cylons. He claims that he was spared to lure them into another trap through a message of peace through a new and more benevolent Cylon ruler.
  • He claims that the Cylon forces are spread so thin looking for Galactica that the route to the Cylon home world is almost undefended. He says that a single battlestar could bring the Cylon Empire to its knees. He has the means to lead Galactica back to the Cylons as apparent prisoners, in order to launch a devastating counterattack. As proof of his good intentions, he has released Starbuck.
  • Adama orders Apollo to remove him. Adama says that safety does not lay behind them, with either Baltar or the Cylons, but somewhere "out there" along the path taken by the thirteenth tribe, who founded Earth.
  • Baltar believes that Earth is a myth, but Adama believes it to be real, and believes the key is somewhere in the tomb.
  • Back on the basestar, a Centurion reports that the prisoner (Starbuck) has been released. Lucifer (who is now sitting on Baltar's throne) inquires about Baltar, but the Centurion has not heard anything back from him. Lucifer concludes that Baltar's plan has failed. He speculates about the possible power gain he might make if there were a decisive military victory under his leadership.
  • Starbuck returns to the camp, much to the joy of Athena. He lets the Colonials know that there is a basestar just outside sensor range, causing Apollo to order the breaking of the camp.
  • Apollo brings Baltar back to Adama in the tomb. He informs Adama of the basestar that is just beyond range, suggesting they leave while the star is still dormant and shielding them from sensors. Adama refuses, as he wants to discover the path to Earth. Baltar claims that Earth might be a "myth of half-drunken star voyagers". He claims they must attack the Cylons and seize power.
  • The star begins pulsing again, and reflects off of Adama's medallion, causing what appeared to be the tomb to retract revealing a staircase. Baltar rushes down the steps, pursued by Adama, Apollo, and Serina.
  • Baltar pries off the lid sarcophagus, despite Apollo and Adama's protests, and seizes the scepter out of the hand of the mummy. He claims not to believe in all that "primitive superstition."
  • The room starts shaking and a large stone block seals them into the tomb. Baltar apologizes, claiming that he didn't mean it, but the damage is done. He appeals to Adama to use his power, since the lords are with him, but Adama can do nothing.
  • Cylon raiders begin attacking the Colonials on the surface. The female Viper pilots at the camp (as well as Starbuck) get into their Vipers and take off.
  • Back on Galactica, the male warriors have recovered from their illness. They are hardly strong enough to stand, but Boomer points that Vipers are flown from the seated position.
  • The female warriors begin to fight off the raiders as the male warriors begin to launch from Galactica. A pilot named Gemi is hit by Cylon fire and killed.
  • Adama discovers the passages he had been searching for regarding the exodus of the thirteenth tribe in the last days of Kobol. As he gets to the part about where they went, a raider shoots the tomb causing the room to shake.
  • A door has been blasted open by the explosion, but the writing has disintegrated. Baltar is pinned under a block of fallen stone.
  • The male warriors join the combat, and the Colonials start dealing heavy losses to the raiders.
  • Adama, Apollo, and Serina are unable to move the stone that pins Baltar. They are forced to leave Baltar. Adama says that Baltar's Cylon friends have sealed his fate as well as theirs. Baltar threatens to tear Lucifer apart, and claims that he has not heard the last of Baltar.
  • The raiders are routed, and the Vipers are recalled to Galactica.
  • Starbuck and Deitra encounter Adama, Apollo, and Serina as they exit the tomb. Starbuck reports that they lost some good pilots, and that they should get back to Galactica before reinforcements arrive.
  • A Centurion steps out behind some cover and shoots Serina in the back. The Colonials return fire, killing both Centurions, but the damage is done.
  • Back aboard Galactica, Boxey is brought to Serina, who is laying on a medical table. Serina admits that she is "going away," but tells Boxey that his father (Apollo) will be there to love him and take care of him.
  • Apollo and Serina say their goodbyes in private, and when Apollo emerges from the room Serina is dead.
  • Apollo tells Boxey that they'll have Serina's love forever, and that he will make a fine warrior.
  • They walk off down the hallway together, holding hands.

Notes

  • The original episode title was "The Tombs of Kobol," according to the novelization of this two parter.
  • This Original Series story arc may remind Re-imagined Series viewers of the longer story arc involving the new series' version of Kobol, the Sacred Scrolls, the Arrow of Apollo, and the Tomb of Athena.
  • It should be noted that "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero" was filmed prior to this episode, and therefore a disconnect in continuity exists.
  • In the scene where Tigh is showing Adama the blip on the scanners, Galactica's scanners do not detect the other ships.

Analysis

  • Starbuck finds himself to be a third wheel, and does not react well to the situation. His theft of Apollo's Viper and subsequent reckless flying is generally in character for him, but it is surprising that Apollo and Serina (and the rest of the Fleet) give up on him so quickly. There was no "I'm getting my men" from this Adama, nor the search effort for a missing Starbuck.
  • Nobody (outside of Apollo) seems to mourn for Starbuck. Everybody seems quite content to go on with the marriage ceremony, which quickly turns into the Kobol discovery expedition. By the time they hit the ground on Kobol everybody seems to have forgotten about Starbuck, until Baltar mentions him being released and he shows up at the camp. Maybe they're better equipped to handle the loss having just survived the destruction of their colonies, but the mood was definitely more somber for Serina's death than it ever was for Starbuck.
  • Baltar is exceptionally enigmatic in this episode. Nobody seems to be able to figure out who he is actually trying to betray. In fact, in the end, everybody assumes that Baltar is lying to them. Baltar was supremely confident in his ability to persuade the colonials, and from the sound of it he was charming the female Viper pilots quite effectively. Unfortunately for Baltar, the two people that he needed to believe him, Adama and Lucifer, didn't. Betrayed by Lucifer and abandoned by Adama, Baltar is defeated by his inability to inspire trust in the people that mattered most.
  • It's been suggested that Serina's death at the hands of two centurions was "contrived" and an "afterthought" but in point of fact, the two centurions who ambushed them are the centurions who escorted Starbuck to the planet and who presumably were waiting things out on the surface while the battle took place. In that respect, it isn't a contrivance at all.

Questions

  • Which side is Baltar really working for? Does he really believe that the Cylons can be toppled by a single battlestar? Or is it merely part of his ruse to get Galactica into Cylon custody?
  • Why can't Galactica's scanners pick up the other ships in the Fleet?
  • Why does everybody give up hope on Starbuck so quickly? No search patrols or rescue teams?
  • Why is Apollo the only person that seems concerned that Starbuck is dead?
  • Do members of the Quorum still get issued a seal of the Lords of Kobol? With Baltar's still missing (as he still possesses it), not to mention the ones lost during the Battle of Cimtar (like Adar's), is Adama's the only one left in Colonial hands?
  • Will Baltar get rescued? If so, how? (Answer)
  • Why doesn't Adama use the psycho-electron recall technology in an attempt to recall the inscriptions in the tomb?

Noteworthy Dialogue

Apollo: How do you feel?
Boomer: Awful. But it beats being dead.
  • Apollo and Starbuck mockingly make conversation that mimics the conversation of the female Warriors:
Starbuck: Apollo, what do you plan on doing for living quarters after you're married?
Apollo: Oh, well, I am so excited. I just found this place in the Astradon freighter. With a little paint and some nice curtains, it's so cozy!
Starbuck: You always were good with color.
(after the female warriors continue talking in the background)
Apollo: Mmm, you'll never believe what I found. I just found some Valcron in the Tip Barge.
Starbuck: Really? The soft, translucent kind?
Apollo (effeminately): Absolutely stunning!
Starbuck: I like the way you haven't gone overboard on furniture.
Lucifer: This is your plan? To convince the humans that we come bearing the twig of peace?
Apollo: You're saying you didn't arrange the destruction of our Fleet, our cities, of almost every living thing in the Colonies?
Baltar: Are you completely mad? What sane human being would do a thing like that?
Adama: Our safety is not behind us. With you or the Cylons. It lies somewhere out there. Along the path taken by the thirteenth tribe. The tribe that colonized the planet Earth.
  • Lucifer questions Baltar's motives:
Lucifer: A pity. I'm afraid Baltar's plan has failed–whatever that plan truly was. A pity.
Centurion: His instructions were quite specific–to stand by to escort Galactica back to Cylon.
Lucifer: Yes. The thought that intrigued me was just who was to be whose prisoner.
  • Baltar tries to leave:
Baltar: I cannot stay here too long before my machine friends will become nervous and do something rash.
Tigh (to Boomer): Lieutenant, obviously you can't even stand.
Boomer: The Viper is flown from the seated position, sir.
Baltar: Lucifer... I'll tear you apart, limb from limb, circuit by circuit, so help me! You have not heard the last of Baltar!
  • Omega relays Boomer's report:
Omega: Combat report coming in: "Surprise total. Cylons running. Shall we pursue? Boomer."

Guest Stars

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