BG-07: The Young Lords

[Charybdis]

Yes, Matheson is the person who voiced Spectre and he later was Sire Gellar on the show...

This show always ranks pretty low on my overall BSG scale of eps, but when I watch it, I can't help but liking it anyway...

Even the worst BSG ep is better than anything else. There's just something about this show...I guess that's why we are still here 26 years later still discussing it!!! Yahhooo!!!

[Eric Paddon]

Audrey Landers gets my vote for most beautiful female guest star in TOS.

One would hope that there are others on the planet still in hiding or else the possibilities suddenly become rather revolting if you think too carefully about it.

[BRG]

Audrey Landers was indeed a stunning guest star, although her character seemed a wee bit young for Starbuck, IMHO!

And as for other humans on the planet, I also reckon there are others hiding in the wild. After all, the way Spectre ran the place, if they never attacked the Cylon's, Spectre would just ingnore them and claim they are all dead!
But they could have made that point clear, for all we know that family are the only humans on the planet.
BRG

[Mustex]

Hey, I recorded this episode in the marathon, and watched it (I was at school at the time). I like it for the most part, but why did they do the rhyme? I personally think I could have memorized my small part in the plan, or even the entire plan, faster than I could have come up with the rhyme. It's not like they were doing anything THAT complicated, or had to know it word-for-word.

[peter noble]

The Young Lords



Original Airdate: November 19, 1978

Writers: Don Bellisario, Frank Lupo and Paul Playdon.

Director: Don Bellisario.

Guest Cast: Charles Bloom (Kyle), Bruce Glover (Megan), Audrey Landers (Miri), Brigitte Muller (Ariadne).

After a battle with enemy fighters, Starbuck is forced to crash land on a planet under Cylon control and commanded by the cunning Spektor. Starbuck meets a group of child warriors who have been attacking the Cylon battalion that abducted their father. He leads the children on a raid to rescue their father and destroy the garrison.

To simulate Starbuck’s crash site, the life-sized Viper was attached to a crane and lowered to the edge of a swamp. The wings were removed, set near the hull, and the Viper was then dressed as if the vehicle had crashed there. Special care had to be taken to ensure that the Viper would not suffer any damage during the shoot. "We were concerned about it because when you're craning you're hanging from certain stress points," explains art director Richard James. "Those things weren't built in. It wasn't designed for that." Another concern was the possibility of water damage to the expensive prop, "That was one of the first things I brought up. We didn’t want to warp it. It's all made out of plywood. But we protected it and it survived."



The Cylons, however, were not so lucky. In a sequence that required a Cylon patrol to march through a swamp, a number of the costumes were drenched to the chest plate and suffered water damage. "They were all backed on buckram," recalls costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac, "and when buckram gets wet it loses its stiffness. They all got wet and the Cylons crawled out looking like glue."

Production difficulties aside, The Young Lords is remembered by many of the cast for one of Battlestar Galactica's most humorous anecdotes. Towards the end of episode, the script called for the children to launch a fiery assault on the Cylon garrison. The sequence had been staged so that a line of Cylons would march across the wall of the fortress and down a series of steps. "The first Cylon stumbled," remembers Benedict, "and it was like dominos. You had all the Cylons fall down these steps. It was terrifying and yet unbelievable. It was like a bowling alley or one of those fairs where you shoot ducks down. But nobody got hurt, so we laughed a long time about that."

Herb Jefferson Jr. also remembered the incident and adds, "They were all lying on the ground, scanners looking up in the air with little red dots going."

[kingfish]

Peter the images are outstanding. This episode was also used or reused in return of Starbuck. The battle footage is taken from it with a few close ups of Benedict and Jefferson Jr in the two seat Viper Mockups. Sticks out like a sore thumb.

[bsg1fan1975]

a very good one. Yes, Kyle was a bit annoying. I think it was the fact he saw Starbuck as a threat to his being the leader and instead of taking the time in the beginning to find out what Starbuck was really like he acted all immature until he saw for his own eyes that Starbuck was right.

[Eric Paddon]

"but why did they do the rhyme?"

A lot of us have wondered about that for years too! Actually, I think the reason it got stuck in is because from a technical standpoint it helps speed the pace of the episode because if it had been done in the realistic way we prefer we would have needed Starbuck to explain the plan in precise detail without being set to scenes of the plan being implemented, or had some awkward expository dialogue during the implementation that would have come across awkward on the screen.

Sometimes the things that can leave us baffled from a plausible story-telling standpoint are the kind of things that the demands of producing a tightly constructed 48 minute script end up imposing on the story, and I think the whole silly "singing" sequence would be near the top of the list in that category.

[Dawg]

You know, Eric, I hadn't thought of that from a production perspective.

But: we humans have a long history of teaching songs. Putting something to rhyme is often an easier way to memorize instructions. They still do it in preschool/kindergarten/early education. There's Sesame Street, and a certain purple dinosaur...

Although I didn't really like the thought of Starbuck putting those kids in harm's way like that, putting the plan into verse like that would help them remember the timing and exact sequence of the attack.

This really wasn't one of their better efforts, I think. Except for Audrey Landers.

I am
Dawg

[bsg1fan1975]

Originally Posted by Dawg

But: we humans have a long history of teaching songs. Putting something to rhyme is often an easier way to memorize instructions. They still do it in preschool/kindergarten/early education. There's Sesame Street, and a certain purple dinosaur...

Although I didn't really like the thought of Starbuck putting those kids in harm's way like that, putting the plan into verse like that would help them remember the timing and exact sequence of the attack.

I think you surmised the reason for the rhyme very well. I do know that they still teach that in the schools today, or at least they did when my younger siblings were still in elementary school.

[Fragmentary]

Okay, am I the only one dying to know what the world changing decision Starbuck came to was? Just as he's about to tell Boomer the cylons show up and start shooting. What a tease.

[julix]

Boy Frag I am gonna have to go back and watch that one because I can't think of it right now...so a re-watch is the way to go for me. I am curious now as well

[Eric Paddon]

If I recall right, it's covered in the outtakes and involves Starbuck suddenly vowing to cut back on some of his vices, which Boomer is skeptical of.

[GalacticanCajun]

Just watched this episode this week on my DVD. Loved it. Looking forward to The Living Legend next. Go Lloyd Bridges!!

[Senmut]

Originally Posted by Eric Paddon

Audrey Landers gets my vote for most beautiful female guest star in TOS.

One would hope that there are others on the planet still in hiding or else the possibilities suddenly become rather revolting if you think too carefully about it.

I am sure there are other Human enclaves on Atilla, given that it is an entire planet. Whether they are in communication is another thing. As to the "rather revolting" possibility you posit, well, not all cultures share our taboos, and such unions were common among Egyptian royalty. Given the obvious connection with things Kemetian, this sort of thing might not be seen there as proscribed.
It was rather obvious, of course, despite the way the Network danced around it.

[Eric Paddon]

Bumping the thread (hey after 21 months it needs it!) just to say once again that Audrey Landers wins my vote for most beautiful female guest star on Galactica.

[Croft2018]

Bumping this thread after a whopping 14 years! These BG forums are just dead aren't they?

Murray Matheson as Specter gets my vote as the best Cylon with the grooviest outfit seen in the show.

[Senmut]

And so prissy, too. He really played it to the hilt.

[Eric Paddon]

Originally Posted by Croft2018

Bumping this thread after a whopping 14 years! These BG forums are just dead aren't they?

There may have been some lost posts from that 2014-2018 period where everything that was posted at Fleets was lost. Granted, we were already a bit on the downside then in terms of discussion but a lot of insights I know were lost along the way.

Still haven't changed my mind that Audrey Landers was the sexiest "guest star" female (and yes I'm picking her over even Jane Seymour).

[Senmut]

I suspect Starbuck may have agreed.

[Charybdis]

OK, now that's just fightin' words!!! I have long believed that during that time period, Jane Seymour was absolutely the most beautiful woman in the whole world. Audrey was certainly beautiful too, but for me, Jane all the way...

[Croft2018]

All of the women - Seymour, Jenson, Spang, Lockhart - are gorgeous and about as sexy as each other. As for the guest character females, they were all pretty sexy including Bret Somers as Siress Belloby and Ina Ballin as Siress Tinia.

[Charybdis]

Let's not also forget Ana Alicia...very beautiful as well...from Take the Celestra.