BG-04: The Long Patrol

[Aeneas]

Okay, I think I figured out what "Starbuckin" is. Starbucking is the "heinous" crime--of passion-- of being caught between two women's affections!

[shiningstar]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Okay, I think I figured out what "Starbuckin" is. Starbucking is the "heinous" crime--of passion-- of being caught between two women's affections!

That sounds like a good explanation to me

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by shiningstar

That sounds like a good explanation to me

Uhmm..., yeah, GUILTY AS CHARGED!

ADAMA:[to Starbuck--clearly past p.o.ed] HOW DO YOU GET YOURSELF INTO THESE FIXES?!!

ATHENA: WHY THAT...THAT!!!

[shiningstar]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Uhmm..., yeah, GUILTY AS CHARGED!

ADAMA:[to Starbuck--clearly past p.o.ed] HOW DO YOU GET YOURSELF INTO THESE FIXES?!!

ATHENA: WHY THAT...THAT!!!

I loved those lines .............and those scenes ..........especially the one
where Cassiopia and Athena walk out of the rooms and walk right into
each other with his Insignia in his hand ...........................

THAT one was a CLASSIC!

[launchcruiser7]

best one parter that could have been a two parter farmers on crooden FOOD FOR FLEET prison planet spaere parts people and food cora was hottest fefamale vocie on battlestar RIGEL EXCULED :light: need 1000 yearn boosze for officers club chug them down

[Eric Paddon]

I think the most intriguing thing about the episode is the enigma of the "Silent One" and his map of Earth's solar system. There are literally endless ways of speculating where he came from and who he was and each would be equally plausible.

Originally Posted by Eric Paddon

I think the most intriguing thing about the episode is the enigma of the "Silent One" and his map of Earth's solar system. There are literally endless ways of speculating where he came from and who he was and each would be equally plausible.

one of the most unawnsered questons is why they did not go to the planet to look at the charts
:confused:

[Eric Paddon]

Originally Posted by strangerthanme

one of the most unawnsered questons is why they did not go to the planet to look at the charts
:confused:

Quite simple. They were already far away from the planet by the time they made the connection by which point it was too late to go back to a region that by that point would be swarming with Cylons investigating the disappearance of their patrol.

Even then, the chart on the wall wouldn't have done much in terms of giving them an exact location fix on where Earth was since all it did was sketch the solar system of Earth, and remember how Boxey was able to do the same just by going what he was taught by Adama from the "ancient writings."

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by Eric Paddon

I think the most intriguing thing about the episode is the enigma of the "Silent One" and his map of Earth's solar system. There are literally endless ways of speculating where he came from and who he was and each would be equally plausible.

Maybe it was Buck Rogers?!?! :laugh:

[Eric Paddon]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Maybe it was Buck Rogers?!?! :laugh:

How about Amelia Earhart's co-pilot?

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by Eric Paddon

How about Amelia Earhart's co-pilot?

I know!! In one of those wierd Crossover/time continuim thingies....get this... it's..............................................................................................................................

JOHN CREIGHTON OF FARSCAPE!!

I watched on my old 70's tv .
I liked this, the story was neat with the whole prison with open doors thing.
Its funny to watch Starbuck MAC!
Wine,Women,and Vipers!
I'm falling deeper into this funny old show.

[Eric Paddon]

Looking at this one again, I'm beginning to wonder if its possible that this episode was shot third in the production order, after GOIPZ and before work on LPOTG could begin.

The whole "leaving our star system" bit at the beginning of the episode seems like the kind of thing that should have happened prior to LPOTG. Cassiopeia acts more like a Socialator and there's no acknowledgment of her med-tech duties. And Athena's more prominent role. In addition it's strange that the previous week on "The Lost Warrior" there'd be a human civilization that doesn't know about the Cylons, whereas here with the Proteus Colony they do know about them.

Taken as a whole, I wonder what sort of rewrites and reshuffling of episode airdates would have been necessitated if Jane Seymour hadn't been willing to come back for LPOTG. At the very least, it seems like TLP would have been ready to go much sooner than it actually did.

[BRG]

Another fine episode!

Starbuck is such a great character! Almost every situation, no matter how grave, is met by a cheeky grin! The playing Athena & Cassiopia at dinner was great-"Very pre-war" to quote the waiter. His getting mugged while hatching a cunning plan with Robber to bootleg Ambrosia was great. And his reaction to meeting Apollo & Boomer was pure gold!

The only thing that annoyed me in this episode was that all the prisoners had appauling 'Oirish' accents!
But overall, great Starbuck episode.
BRG

ps- Starbuck's manouver where he instructs CORA to execute a maximum G climb even though it will cause him to black out. In Babylon 5, that manouver is said to be a standard tactic by Centauri fighter pilots in order to gain an advantage in a dogfight. I recon Mr Straczynski pinched it off of BSG!

[peter noble]

The Long Patrol

Original Airdate: October 15, 1978

Writer: Don Bellisario.

Director: Christian I Nyby II.

Guest Cast: James Whitmore Jr. (Robber), Ted Gehring (Croad), Sean McClory (Assault), Tasha Martell (Adultress), Cathy Paine (Voice of C.O.R.A.).

Starbuck tests out a new long range Viper. Outfitted with extra thrusters and a flirtatious computer named C.O.R.A., the recon Viper is twice as fast as a normal fighter but is unarmed. Outwitted by a criminal, Starbuck is captured and trapped on a penal colony where the inmates are imprisoned for the crimes of their ancestors.

“I liked the story on that one a lot,” recalls director Christian Nyby II. “It was an interesting concept, that these people were generations of prisoners and there were generations of guards.”

Nyby also enjoyed the opportunity to work with episode guest star James Whitmore. Waiting for the studio tour to go by, he recalled one instance on the back lot while filming. “He was sitting in the Viper and I was sitting on a crane and he said, ‘isn’t this great Chris, it’s like we’re ten years old and they are giving us all these great toys to play with.”

[Eric Paddon]

A few guest cast ramblings.

Tasha (Arlene) Martel's presence in this episode is a nice reminder of how she appeared in at least one episode of all the classic Sci-Fi series. "Amok Time" is well known to us from "Star Trek" but she also appeared in the memorable "Outer Limits" episode "Demon With A Glass Hand" with Robert Culp and had a small part in the "Twilight Zone" episode "Twenty-Two."

James Whitmore, Jr. (whose father of course was in "Them!" and the original "Planet Of The Apes") would interestingly go on to appear in a 1984 TV-movie about the crash of Air Florida Flight #90 in the Potomoc River as the doomed captain. Playing the co-pilot in that film was Bruce Wright, who was in numerous "Galactica" episodes.

[Senmut]

Martel also played a terrorist leader in an ep of Mission:Imposible. Oddly enough, opposite Leonard Nimoy.

[Senmut]

I love MJ's expression. Like she's thinking "Will you get off my foot??!"

[Fragmentary]

It’s really worth checking out the bonus scenes on the DVD for this episode. You see an original cut of the scene with Starbuck and Cassiopea where she refers to herself as a socialator instead of a med-tech. The aired version doesn’t really work, but with the line as it was written the subtext is unmistakable.

Also, there were apparently two completely different scenes shot of Starbuck’s arrival after Robert’s shuttle is forced to land. I’m really curious to know why the first version wasn’t used. It was shot on location, and as such a LOT more expensive than the studio version that was used. What could have caused them to throw out the footage and the cost it incurred for the production? Anyone know the lore on this?

[Senmut]

Probably some Nitwerk suit thought if they didn't use it, it wouldn't cost anything. Someone with a ledger for a brain.

[luicfer7thfleet]

Originally Posted by BRG

Another fine episode!

Starbuck is such a great character! Almost every situation, no matter how grave, is met by a cheeky grin! The playing Athena & Cassiopia at dinner was great-"Very pre-war" to quote the waiter. His getting mugged while hatching a cunning plan with Robber to bootleg Ambrosia was great. And his reaction to meeting Apollo & Boomer was pure gold!

The only thing that annoyed me in this episode was that all the prisoners had appauling 'Oirish' accents!
But overall, great Starbuck episode.
BRG

ps- Starbuck's manouver where he instructs CORA to execute a maximum G climb even though it will cause him to black out. In Babylon 5, that manouver is said to be a standard tactic by Centauri fighter pilots in order to gain an advantage in a dogfight. I recon Mr Straczynski pinched it off of BSG!

those swinners are as trapped as we are [croad played the sherrif in superscouts]

[Senmut]

No see lucifer7th for a while. Where'd you go?

[Eric Paddon]

A post of mine from long ago here mentioned the other notable work of guest cast members Tasha (Arlene) Martel and James Whitmore, Jr. Have to now add Sean McClorry (Assault), who I recently saw in a fascinating 1953 John Wayne movie "Island In The Sky" about a military plane that crashes in the harsh frozen wastelands of northern Canada and try to fight for survival. McClorry has a significant part as the plane's co-pilot. Definitely worth a look.

[AJMarks]

Watched this episode recently as well. I think that as the war dragged on with the Cylons any settlement any distance from teh twelve colonies would have been abandoned as everything turned to war so it would be easy to forget about such things.

The other thing that gets me about the episode is the "silent one" that is referred to at the end of the episode. Is he from Earth, or someone who had visited Earth?

I do wish that they had gone into more detail about the history as it seemed a perfect episode for it but looks like time prevented the writers from doing so. The interaction bewteen Starbuck and Cassiopea and Athena was also great.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Originally Posted by AJMarks

The other thing that gets me about the episode is the "silent one" that is referred to at the end of the episode. Is he from Earth, or someone who had visited Earth?

I'd venture someone who visited Earth... and showed up in one of the most popular eps ever- War of the Gods.

You know of who I speak

[Eric Paddon]

Not sure I'd go with that theory because I got the impression this was someone who spent yahrens in the prison, and I just can't envision Iblis wasting his time for yahrens doing something like that.

My preferred theory is a lost Earth astronaut (in my adaptation I had him sketching an American flag as well) who whether by a black hole or some other phenomena ended up in that part of space with all other comrades dead and when found by humans speaking a language totally alien to him, was rendered in a state of traumatized shock that kept him silent the rest of his life and that his sketching was his way of keeping his sanity during his remaining years.

That's my basic core theory, and the nice thing is it still gives me tons of flexibility to explore further, though its the kind of mystery that is often best left not fully explained.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Well... I just watched the ep and didn't see any American flags or Black Hole drawings

I still think it could have been Iblis. It was never stated how long the Silent One was there. And it's doubtful that at the time the Silent One could just get up and walk out of there if he was simply human.

Iblis was probably amusing himself just prior to going to Cylon and doing what he did there.

[Eric Paddon]

The flag was my invention yes, but it fit into the other scenes we saw of drawing where he came from, and sights of his home that he knew he'd never get back to.

I never heard any reference to the Silent One getting up and leaving. The implication was that he died in prison. As to why he wouldn't have gotten up and walked out, I think being traumatized by the knowledge that he's so far from home with no comprehensible means of getting home dissuaded him from walking out.

Each theory is as good as another of course.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Originally Posted by Eric Paddon

Each theory is as good as another of course.

Correct. Which is why I started another thread on just this subject

I did not see it mentioned elsewhere in the post so, the Galactica and apparently the Cylons as well, travelled to a new galaxy! and apparently have had the capabilty to do this for hundreds if not thousands of years! that would put thier FTL tech above that of the B5 First Ones and the Commonwealth of Andromeda!

which makes me wonder how widespread was the war at its heigth? and just how advanced are the Colonials(and Cylons)that they can do this?