The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I

"The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I" An episode of the Galactica 1980 series
Episode No.	Season 1, Episode 7
Writer(s)	Glen A. Larson
Story by
Director	Sigmund Neufeld Jr.
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	Wolfman Jack as Himself Roger Davis as Andromus
Production No.	1.7
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	1980-04-13
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Spaceball	The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I	The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II
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Listing of props for this episode
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			@ BW Media
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Overview

After a renegade Cylon fighter crash-lands on Earth, Troy and Dillon rush to New York believing the craft is of Galactican nature. What they find is far worse and must stop the surviving Cylons from using radio equipment to contact the rest of the Cylon fleet.

Summary

• Recon Delta, which consists of a two-man Viper crewed by Captain Kanon and Lieutenant Britton, is on patrol when it picks up readings of an advanced Cylon fighter.

• Suddenly, a previously unseen Cylon Raider appears and fires at them.

• The warbook brings back a readout of the occupants: the Raider crew appear to be human.

• Kanon decides on a desperate strategy and rams the ship, damaging both craft.

• The huge Cylon fighter tumbles towards Earth, and Britton is injured.

File:Warbook.jpg

The advanced Cylon 'A-B' Fighter displayed in the Warbook

• Aboard the Cylon 'A-B' craft, Humanoid Cylon Andromus is in command, another humanoid named Andromidus as his second, with three Centurions rounding out the crew.

• Having lost their communications they cannot call for help, but Andromus soon realizes the planet they are plummeting toward is the mythic human colony of Earth.

• Meanwhile, Captain Troy and Dillon have taken the Super Scouts to watch a movie, noting that the alien they see looks similar to aliens on the planet Gorkon.

• Troy's communicator chirps with a message from Adama. Galactica has lost contact with its recon patrol and is believed to be headed to Earth.

• Troy and Dillon are ordered to meet the stricken Viper at the point it is likely to come down, which is predicted to be in the area of New York City.

• As the United States Air Force has been detecting Vipers lately, Troy and Dillon elect to take a plane to New York. The kids are ferried to Griffith Observatory and left in the charge of Jamie Hamilton.

• Once aboard the plane, and in flight to New York, Troy and Dillon are surprised that a terrorist attempts to take control and orders the pilot to divert to Cuba.

• Troy and Dillon drop him with a joint round of stun gun fire. Later, after activating their invisibility screens in the toilets, Troy and Dillon hustle off the plane as soon as it lands.

• Troy and Dillon grab a cab and direct the driver north - toward the crash site.

A-B Raider

• On Galactica, the recon fighter has managed to return, but have reported information about the humanoid Cylons they believe are now headed to Earth.

• The expected landing zone of the Cylon warship is narrowed down to 'sixty miles north of New York City', and the Air Force, now under the command of Colonel Briggs is also aware.

• Troy and Dillon race to reach the crash site before the USAF.

• The A-B craft comes down north of New York, and crashes.

• Andromus and a single Centurion, Centuri, survive the crash of the A-B craft.

• Centuri frees Andromus from the wreckage and leaves the area, having activated a self-destruct mechanism on the ship.

• Andromus surmises that they can find a transmitter in nearby New York City and the two begin their search to find a place from which they can signal a Cylon basestar.

Andromus and Centuri ride with Norman and Shirley

• Reaching a nearby highway, the two Cylons are mistaken for hitchhikers by a couple dressed for Halloween. Getting into the car, the Cylons meet Norman and Shirley, who are on their way to a party where Wolfman Jack, a radio personality, will be present.

• Andromus realizes that Wolfman Jack may be able to help him find a transmitter, and agrees to attend the party.

• Gazing at Centuri in the back seat, Shirley compliments him on having such a great costume.

Notes

• This episode marks the introduction of humanoid Cylons, which would become a defining convention of the Re-imagined Series. Unlike the biological versions that would appear in 2003, however, Andromus is more of an android, an automaton that resembles a human.
• Sheila DeWindt, who portrayed the stewardess, also appeared in the Original Series as Deitra.
• This is perhaps the only episode of any of the Battlestar Galactica series that is set on a specific date: October 31, 1980.
• The appearance of popular 1970's disc jockey Wolfman Jack in this and the following episode is the only time that the Battlestar Galactica universe has featured a character that appear as themselves.
• The movie the Super Scouts, with Troy and Dillon, were watching in the first act is "This Island Earth".
• The Cylons inside the A-B Raider have readouts that use standard English.
• The license plate on Norman's car is 538-DIP.
• The term "metron" is incorrectly used in this episode by Andromus, using it as one would use a hectometer instead of a meter in the metric system.
• While Wolfman Jack is credited as a guest star in this episode, he is only mentioned by name and heard briefly on the radio in Norman's car; he does not physically appear in the flesh until "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II".
• Norman compares Arnie's meatballs being to the digestive tract to baseball player Vida Blue's involvement with the San Francisco Giants: a stopper.
• Arnie and Mildred are seen on screen in "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II".

Analysis

• In a twist of irony, Troy (played by Kent McCord) is driving a stolen police car; McCord previously portrayed a cop in Adam 12.
• The point where Dillon and Troy discuss hijacking is for educational purposes, however the way it is played off is unintentionally humorous at worst -- at best it is inaccurate. The general theme of their dialogue indicates that they don't know why anyone would want to hijack a flying craft; however, there are notable instances in the Fleet's history (from the Original Series) where ships have been hijacked:
  1. In the episode "Baltar's Escape", Baltar, the Borellian Nomen, and the Eastern Alliance enforcers attempt to hijack Galactica. In addition, they hijack a Colonial shuttle from Sheba and Boomer, using it to sneak aboard Galactica unawares.
  2. In "Murder on the Rising Star", Karibdis hijacks a shuttle piloted by Captain Apollo in order to kill Baltar, who is the only person in the Fleet of survivors that can identify him; he is subsequently thwarted by Baltar himself, as an act of self-preservation on his part.
• An interesting aspect of this episode is the cross-dressing hijacker, particularly given the sentiments of the 1970s and, more importantly, the "kiddie-hour" timeslot the show aired in.

Official Statements

• Chris Bunch discusses the censorship that the series faced:

Chris Bunch: [T]he censor, an utterly braindead woman named Susan Futterman, questioned a line that said there were more than X number of stars in our galaxy (this was in a planetarium sequence, and one of the kids heard the lecturer say this, and she giggled and said, boy is he full of hamhocks. Dumb little joke, very dumb, very little). She called and said where did we get the facts. We said, the new edition of the Britannica which we’d just sprung for a week earlier (true). She said, ‘that’s not good enough.’ Now, ignoring the fact that the Britannica does, indeed, contain some whoppers, we tried to restrain Major Hilarity and asked her if she minded putting that in writing. She may be dumb, but she wasn’t THAT dumb. We could’ve had such a nifty thing to frame….

• Bunch discusses the meatball jokes:

Bunch: Another neat [Susan] Futterman story--[Glen] Larson dumped a REALLY dumb joke about meatballs into [this] episode. Futterman swore it was dirty. It wasn’t. She said the show won’t get on the air unless that line’s out. Larson put in THREE MORE meatball jokes, even stupider (they’re in the episode the way it aired) and said it goes like this or it doesn’t go. Since he’d delivered the edit TWENTY MINUTES before it went up to the bird from Universal to New York and then on the air, it went out….

• Allan Cole discusses the shooting of the observatory scene in this episode:

Allan Cole: Do you recall the episode where all the kids from the mother ship troop into the Observatory? That was shot at night. And the only thing harder and more expensive than shooting at night (except for water, never, never do a water show) is shooting at night with children. They can only work a few hours at a time as it is. And night is golden time when it comes to wages -- for both them, the teachers, and, obviously the rest of the cast and crew. This also means you can't shoot anything early the next morning. So if you don't have enough night stuff in your script to warrant another setup the following evening, you lose a whole day. The only way around it is to shoot on Saturday night, which gives you a natural Sunday "break."

In this case, because of the craziness on the show, neither option was open. Plus the kids were either all sleepy, or hyper -- laughing hysterically or weeping; no inbetween. Or getting lost and you had to track them down again. Driving the planetarium staff out of their gourds.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Troy looks up the term hijacking:

Troy: The act of seizing a vehicle for illegal purposes.

Dillon: Heh. I wonder what someone would do with an aircraft once they'd seized it.

Troy: Strange place. It's going to take a lot of getting used to.

• The Warriors give their tickets to another ticket master:

Ticket Master: Smoking or non-smoking?

Troy: I beg your pardon?

Ticket Master: Would you prefer smoking or non-smoking?

Dillon: (shrugs) Which way does the plane run best?

• Norman brings up Arnie's meatballs:

Shirley: Aren't they [ Andromus and Centuri ] cute? Mildred and Arnie are just going to love this.

Norman: Well, I hope they feel the same way after Arnie forces a couple of his famous meatballs down their throats.

Shirley: Now Norman, don't get started on those meatballs again this year!

Norman: They are to the digestive tract what Vida Blue is to the San Francisco Giants: a stopper.

• Norman offers a warning to the two Cylons:

Norman: The only thing I can tell you fellas, be on guard. Between Arnie's food and his sister's romantic malnutrition you could be in for the night of your life.

Andromus: You don't need to be concerned, we're quite capable of defending ourselves. Right Centuri?

Centuri: By your command.

Guest Stars

• William Daniels as Norman
• Lara Parker as Shirley
• Peter Mark Richman as Colonel Briggs
• Sheila DeWindt as Stewardess
• René LeVant as 1st Officer
• Ed Griffith as 2nd Officer
• Jed Mills as Cabbie
• Timothy O'Hagan as Kanon
• Robert Lunny as Briton
• Neil Zevnik as Andromidus (uncredited)
• Rex Cutter as Centuri (uncredited)
• Uncredited as Marcy
• Uncredited as Ticket Master #1
• Uncredited as Ticket Master #2
• Uncredited as Male Terrorist
• Uncredited as Female Terrorist

Galactica 1980 definition:  a member of the Fleet; Hamilton first uses the term when replying to Stockwell's question regarding Xavier's affiliation (1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II")

Galactica 1980 definition:  Dillon is called both a terrorist and a chauvinist by Jamie Hamilton during their phone call from the police station; he asks Troy "what's a terrorist chauvinist?" (1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I")

These are terms directly relating to Galactica 1980, some of which are based from the Original Series. For terms from that series, please refer to List of terms (TOS).

Galactica 1980 definition:  When two hijackers first make their demands aboard Flight 2, Dillon looks up this place, but Troy replies they don't have time to go there (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I")

Galactica 1980 definition:  Dillon goes to look up this term when the stewardess announces that the delayed passengers will be at their Halloween parties in plenty of time, but is stopped by Troy who tells him to look up the term FBI (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I").

Original Series definition: a unit of distance, the Earth measurement being equivalent to a kilometer

Galactica 1980 definition:  Troy and Dillon look up this word after the desk clerk explains the reasons for the metal detectors. Unsurprisingly, a hijacking by Cuban nationals subsequently occurs on their flight (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I")