For Fellow Battlestar Galactica Geeks!

Someone was kind enough to put the entire original Battlestar Galactica episode "The Living Legend" on Youtube, broken down into ten segments of ten minutes each, except for the last one which is about three and a half minutes.

It had been many years since I last saw this episode and it was the first time I watched it since the new Battlestar Galactica brought in the Pegasus. It was interesting to see in what ways the two versions were both similar and different.

Below are two segments from the original series version, which centers on Baltar's assault on the Galactica and Commander Cain's Pegasus arriving in the nick of time to save the day. If you want to see all of the segments of this episode, just search "Galactica Living Legend" on Youtube and you will be able to access all of them. Though this episode recycles much of the same combat footage that appears in earlier original series episodes due to budget limitations, it also features a lot of new footage as well.

I also noticed a possible plot hole, as well as some editing mistakes. When the Galactica encounters the Pegasus, Cain and the Pegasus crew describe how they have been in constant action against the Cylons, conducting raids against them and stealing fuel and supplies from them. With Baltar's contingent of base ships trailing the Galactica, surely the Cylons knew there was a second surviving battlestar out there. And yet when Baltar leads his attack against the Galactica, he relishes the prospect of destroying "the last" battlestar. Yeah, I know, it is just a television show! I also couldn't help noticing some other mistakes though. When the Cylons attack the fleet, Cain's viper pilot daughter Sheba is on the Pegasus, yet she is shown moments later as part of Galactica's viper contingent, while the Pegasus vipers do not join the fray until Cain's arrival on the Cylons flank at the end of the battle. When Galactica launches her vipers, I could swear that the face of one of the viper pilots is Jane Seymour's Serena, who was killed in the second episode of the season.





Commander Cain, as portrayed by Lloyd Bridges, was clearly modeled on the World War Two general George Patton, while Lorne Greene's Adama echoes Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower trying to rein in a brash and insubordinate junior commander while looking to the welfare of the entire fleet. Cain's penchant for taking the offensive against the Cylons puts him into conflict with a cautious and risk averse Adama. But though their clash of priorities leads to tension between the crews of the two battlestars, they never get to the point of actually coming to blows, and in the end Commander Cain goes out a hero, though his ultimate fate remains a mystery. Rumor has it that Cain and the Pegasus would have returned had the original Battlestar Galactica been renewed for a second season.

In the re-imagined "Pegasus" episode of the new Battlestar Galactica, the writers put an interesting twist on the story. This time, Commander Adama is relegated to the role of junior commander because Cain had outranked him before the Cylon attack on the colonies. Furthermore, Admiral Cain is a strong, female character. Where Edward James Olmos's Adama is a grizzled, old veteran who was about to settle into retirement when the Cylons attacked, Cain is a calculating and ambitious younger officer who expects and enforces total obedience to her will. So, when Adama goes to the mat to stop Cain from executing two of his crewmen, the "fit really hits the shan", and the two segments below show just how close they come to shooting at one another.

And, in case any of you Galactica fans were not aware, sometime in November the Sci-Fi channel is airing a Galactica prequel called "Razors" that tells the back story of Admiral Cain and the Pegasus. I know I am looking forward to it.