Battlestar Galactica - Return Of Starbuck (1980)
Okay, we've got ourselves a very important, final addition to the original Battlestar Galactica series. This was a period when we got the forgotten spin-off in Galactica 80'. Hooray! You've reached Earth, hooray! The Cylons are still on your case, "hooray", you've sacked the original cast with a few exceptions! So, let's appease us "Colonials" with this brave, last effort. We begin with Commander Adama spinning a yarn from the not so distant past to that scary, strange boy.
The Cylons are seriously putting up a full on assault, against our rag-tag heroes & Starbuck is forced to crash on a desert planet saying his goodbyes to Cassiopeia for Boomer to deliver. This is where it starts to get weird, (apart from my template, here!) one of the Cylons praises, seriously?! Starbucks skill in battle?! See where I'm going with this?! Adama has no choice but to keep the fleet going otherwise they'll be sitting ducks for the Cylons. He has to leave someone he see's as a son, adrift.
Alright, this IS a strange one, but I've gotta love it! Starbuck is forced to do a 'Robinson Crusoe' on the desert planet. Where he discovers one of the crashed Cylon fighters from the battle. So, Starbuck what do you do? After 3 days of loneliness, you reactivate one of the fraking Cylons?! After finally tempering it's instinct to exterminate all Human life (lol!) he becomes your friend?! You even give him a nickname "Cy?!" This is truly a trip, man! I mean, seriously, Starbuck, WHAT were you thinking?! You might as well adopt a Dalek as a pet!
Surprisingly, for this blog/reviewer (believe me!), he adapts to you! Even becomes your friend! After some "persuasion" on your part, Face, oops! Starbuck's tendency for the appreciation of the female form makes Cy go out & deliver him a "Fe-Male". We've got a mysterious lady, here. From a mysterious, highly-advanced, race? (I think we've seen them before, in previous episodes!)
What we get is a Space/Soap-Opera style finale. The mysterious Gem arrives pregnant, & what's her first question to Starbuck? "Will you die for me?", Riiight! Cy feels left out, oh, woe! & get's in a tantrum over Humanoids. LOL! This is truly a "gem" to watch. (sorry, I couldn't resist!), He doesn't understand the birth of babies, a concept which is alien to him & feels left out! Yes, he goes on his tantrum just as his mates arrive. Can you trust him, Starbuck? Cy gets whacked after whacking two of the three Cylons sent to retrieve him. I think we know who took out the third. As a loyal Classic Sci-Fi fan I HAVE to love this one. It was probably done for us! After the radical shift in direction of this series & the sacking of those characters we loved so much including Starbuck himself! Gem praises Starbuck to the sky/stars,..... I mean, WHO?!! ,
You've just condemned him to an isolated fate! HE could've escaped on his hybrid Cylon/Vipor, & you praise the stars?!! Even his Cy buddy is dead! Thanks a fraking lot for stranding me here?! If I can try to be serious for a moment, Erich Von Daniken's-Chariots Of The Gods, like ALL of this show, is in display here, with Gem this time. Yes, gee-whizz, "bless Starbuck!" I think he'd rather be on that craft, heading back to Galactica! Okay, still on serious mode. This is the final episode of the original Battlestar Galactica, & yes, it's a 'need of hankies episode'. How the heck Starbuck's gonna survive, alone, on a desert World beats me!
Luke, I am your father! Pub, tonight?
As mentioned above, this ends the original Battlestar Galactica. "Starboy" finds out that Gem was his mother, but,...Starbuck, I'm, your father?! How the frak did he manage that when she was already pregnant?! Did I miss a scene?! This series deserved a much longer life-span than we received! So much potential, so much writers block? Maybe the newbie, Buck Rogers - In The 25th Century was to be the new hope?
I remember watching this episode on tele as a brat. There were a bunch of us, that Saturday morning, a repeat in the mid-80's. Moi, Brother & Sister, & a bunch of our friends. Speaking for myself, I found the Cylons that came for Starbuck & Gem, cool! & "Cy" sacrifices himself against his fellow "Cy's", a need of hankies moment? Starbucks fate? Stranded! All alone, on that desert planet, though. No more wine, women, gambling, & no more electronic, Space Disco-sounding song?
Did this show which followed on the Star Wars bandwagon, end on a high or low? Either-way, we've got the swan-song to end all swan-songs! R.I.P.
Stay safe,
Borgduck alias Stewart,
Comments