Baltar's Escape
By Walt Atwood

STORY SYNOPSIS

Adama is growing concerned about Apollo and Starbuck's discovery of hostilities between factions from Terra. He orders the Fleet to a state of alert while he journeys to the Prison Barge to interrogate the leader of the Eastern Alliance enforcers, Commandant Leiter (portrayed by Lloyd Bochner). The commandant warns the commander that the Terran destroyers "will dispatch one ship as easily as the wolf pack dispatches the bear." The interrogation is interrupted when word comes from the Council of Twelve that the commander is to report to them at once. Apollo and Starbuck object, noting the commander has held martial law emergency powers since they fled the Cylon holocaust. "Since when does the council give orders to the commander?" they exclaim.

Back on the Galactica, the Council is about to award Adama the Star of Kobol when he confronts them about their apparent scheme to undermine his authority. Siress Tinia (Ina Balin) announces the Council does not intend to relieve him of command; they simply wish to end the state of emergency and institute greater civilian control of the Fleet. Tinia will oversee the bridge of the Galactica, but Adama will remain in command. The Council's first act will be to summon the Alliance prisoners to the Galactica as guests, not adversaries.

On the Prison Barge, Baltar (John Colicos) is called from his cell for mess duty. Once in the messroom, he greets Maga (Lance LeGault) and his two Borellian Nomen cohorts (Robert Feero, Anthony DeLongis) and recruits them into a plan to work with the Alliance enforcers to break free and escape the Fleet for Luna 7. Maga tells Baltar that, when the time comes, the Nomen "will momentarily die." A short time later, when the prisoners are being escorted back to their cells, the Nomen suddenly collapse. The guards cannot find a pulse of any of the Borellians. When one guard turns to call for help, the Nomen suddenly awaken and jump the guards.

On the bridge of the Galactica, Tigh isn't sure whether Adama is in command or Siress Tinia. A shuttle is dispatched to the Prison Barge for the Alliance enforcers, but pilots Boomer and Sheba (Anne Lockhart) are escorted by civilian Council Security guards. Once the shuttle arrives on the Prison Barge, Leiter orders the prison control center destroyed. Baltar leads his motley crew in taking the shuttle back to the Galactica. From there, the Council of Twelve will be taken prisoner by the enforcers while Baltar and the Nomen slip forward to the bridge to seize the battlestar. On the bridge, Omega (David Greenham) reports that while the shuttle is on approach, the communications to the Prison Barge are out. There is no answer to his hails. Adama's order for a score of warriors to report to the landing bay is countermanded by Tinia, who insists Council Security would be sufficient. Tigh excuses himself for time off in the Officer's Club. Once there, he warns Apollo and Starbuck about what has happened. The two warriors decide to take a walk to the landing bay...

When the shuttle lands, the Council members gather to greet the Alliance "representatives". The hatch opens, and out rushes a squad of enforcers firing Colonial blaster rifles into the ceiling. The Council members and security guards are herded into the shuttle. Baltar and the Nomen exit the bay, bound for the bridge. They run into Apollo and Starbuck at a junction. After a firefight, Baltar and the Nomen retreat to the bay while Apollo signals for reinforcements. Adama hails the shuttle from the bridge. Baltar comes on the commline scanner, threatening to detonate explosive charges on the hull of the shuttle if the Galactica crew does not cooperate in the escape plan: The Cylon pilots are to be returned, as well as the Alliance destroyer and Baltar's fighter. The shuttle will launch, followed by the destroyer, and then the Cylon fighter. No pursuit will be tolerated, lest the shuttle and its captive passengers be destroyed. The escapees and hostages will journey to Luna 7, where the shuttle will be released. If the escape is not facilitated in one centar (Colonial hour), the hostages will be killed one-by-one.

Dr. Wilker (John Dullagham) has doubts the Cylons can be reactivated in just one centar. He had them deactivated and disassembled for research purposes after Baltar was arrested. Wilker shows Apollo that the centurions are in pieces. Starbuck chuckles "You're harder on them than I am." Apollo reports to the bridge to warn Adama about the Cylon problem. On Tinia's suggestion, warriors are assembled to attack the bay from three routes. Adama offers himself as an additional hostage to buy another centar's time for Wilker. This encourages Baltar, Leiter and Maga, who agree that it is less likely the Galactica's warriors will attack if Adama is a hostage. In the laboratory, Wilker, Apollo and Starbuck manage to re-activate one of the Cylons. Wilker addresses the centurion, which slowly rises, replying "By your command." He orders that Cylon to switch-on a nearby scanner. The centurion slowly wobbles over to the scanner, points a finger at it and drives its hand right into the unit, continuing to pull its hand out and drive it in again. "He'll never fly!" Wilker whines. But this gives Apollo and idea.

With the Alliance destroyer and Baltar's fighter already in position to launch, Maga reports the Cylon pilots have arrived in the bay. The Nomen follow the Alliance enforcers to board the destroyer. Baltar boards his fighter, finding his centurions waiting. When Adama summons Tigh on the commline scanner, Tigh urges the shuttle to launch immediately. Boomer complies. Leiter and his crew launch in the destroyer. But when a jubilant Baltar orders his centurions to launch, his co-pilot drives its hand into the controls, smashing them over and over again. Starbuck and Apollo leap into the Cylon cockpit and relieve Baltar of his detonator.

Apollo later reports that the Galactica continues to track Leiter's ship on long-range scanner. While Tigh is relieved that the Council restored full powers to Adama, it seems the drama with Tinia is not over. She and the commander two are seen dating, which may be enough to drive Tigh to drink.

A Second Look

This episode ranks as the most bizarre hodgepodge since "The Young Lords". There is a strange mix of continuity and contradiction, drama and farce. What could've been a stunning story instead provokes a "Hm?"

On the one hand, we discover that the Council of Twelve is relieving Adama of martial rule of the Fleet for the first time since departing their home planets. But there is no previous canonical evidence, or implication of same, that any such benevolent dictatorship ever existed. If there were such monolithic rule of the Fleet, why would there be a Council of Twelve in the first place? The Council leaves a consistent legacy of questioning Adama's wisdom, but not his authority. It is clear from "Saga of a Star World, Part III" that the commander works for the council, even though he seems to serve as some sort of combination commander-in-chief and president/mayor. It always seemed Adama carried veto power, but never anything approaching absolute power. If he were in total control of the Fleet, he could've stopped Count Iblis from grabbing power sooner and with greater ease than we saw in "War of the Gods, Part II". While it can be established that the Fleet society is far more militarisitic than it apparently was before the Holocaust, this episode's notion of martial law simply does not fit into the legacy which Battlestar already established.

There does appear to be continuity with the previous two-part outing "Greetings From Earth, Part II", by showing us what happened with Leiter and the Eastern Alliance destroyer. We're also treated to Baltar's return, as well as that of his hitherto unseen Cylon co-pilots. All quite logical. Lloyd Bochner gets to flesh out his character a little bit, though he could've been given more. It is also nice to see the bola-throwing Nomen return, but they are also given too little to do. Taba doesn't get any lines at all. In the end, we're left with a story that's true to an anthology, but the anthology is of questionable value.

Isn't it interesting that Baltar, the Borellian Nomen and the Eastern Alliance enforcers are able to escape so quickly and easily from the Prison Barge? Don't the Colonists believe in security cameras being mounted in the cell block? If this strange, motley crew had managed to take over this starship, why not just pilot it to Luna 7 instead of wasting time with a shuttle? Would the vipers shoot at one of their own ships while the prison guards were still on board? And if the cells of this prison are supposedly at least on the same level of comfort as the Colonists living in the rest of the Fleet, can we assume that the quality of life for the civilian population either improved or was better in the first place?

What are Leiter and the enforcers doing aboard the Prison Barge, anyway? It would be understandable if they were either confined to guest quarters aboard the Galactica or held in its brig, but why the Prison Barge?

The scene where Adama interrogates Leiter underscores how Battlestar's writers seemed to have no idea where to take the Terra anthology. The dialogue sounds like a bad fusion of Hogan's Heroes (CBS/Bing Crosby, 1965-71) and Star Trek (NBC/Paramount, 1966-69). Don't these Colonial warriors have any idea how to handle a first contact situation with an alien culture? It's enough to make the viewer sympathize with Leiter. The moment when the Alliance commandant refuses to sit reveals a certain unspoken pride and resolve seldom exhibited by the regular characters in the series. It's as if Battlestar is tipping its hat to a defiant and unrepentant Nazi because he was wrongfully detained. So what? And you have to hand it to this show's originality: in Hogan's Heroes, the good guys escape from the bad guys' jail. In "Baltar's Escape", the bad guys escape from the good guys' jail, and the good guys are so corrupt and incompetent you wind up wishing a bon voyage when the Alliance destroyer makes a run for it. At least the viewer is glad to see them out of Adama's hair.

Doesn't it seem strange that the Nomen are able to find their robes and weapons again after being in prison for a while? For that matter, why aren't Baltar and the Alliance enforcers all wearing prison uniforms?

Maga delivers the best lines by far in this episode when Baltar approaches him with a plan to escape: "Your record to date does not inspire confidence", and the equally hilarious "We do many things to survive, even die".

Baltar comes across as a incompetent loon in this episode. This is the mastermind of the ultimate betrayal and destruction of President Adar's battlestar fleet? His whining "you do believe me, don't you?" sounds nothing like the conniver who commanded three baseships at Gamoray. Even Maga insults the traitor, snarling "If you believe that, you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were."

Spectacle Value

We get to see the beautiful Eastern Alliance destroyer again, this time some new angles of it at rest in the Galactica's landing bay. We also are treated to an aft view of this ship while it launches.

We also get to see the Borellian Nomen use their bola/grenade weapons again, another nice touch.

Sadly, the Cylons steal the show for all the wrong reasons. The lighting and lack of action on the part of the centurions makes them look fake. They are usually animated when seen in their cockpits, but these Cylons just sit there. Because the scene is supposed to take place inside the Galactica's landing bay, the lighting in much brighter than the usual cockpit footage taken of Cylon fighters. There is a more naturalistic, "you are there" atmosphere which, when supplementing Baltar's comical behavior (and the clownish mannerisms of the malfunctioning centurions), serves to make light of what should be a more serious situation. Since when does a televised drama use a sight gag to resolve a hostage story?

One minor scene does make the Cylons' reappearance on Battlestar more interesting: we get to see their innards strewn all over Wilker's laboratory.

We never get to see the full outside view of Baltar's fighter sitting in the Galactica's landing bay, either. We do get to see Starbuck slide forward a hatch so Apollo and he can storm Baltar.

One rather lame moment the show could've done without was when Boomer mishandled the shuttle's joystick and threw the ship into a maneuver which sloshed Council Security guards around in the cabin. Sorry Boomer, but there is no "up" or "down" in space to create such sudden G-forces.

We get to see the Alliance enforcers helping themselves to Colonial blaster rifles, all of which have little strobing blinkies down the length of their barrels.

The production values are so amateurish in this episode. There is an odd shot of computer graphics (slowly) drawing schematic images of the Galactica and the "alpha" (portside) landing bay. This display seems very odd, especially since we only see the graphics themselves and not who is looking at them. Even odder is the content of the landing bay drawing, which makes it look like the "airstrip" section of the bay is confined to a portion of the rear of the structure.

There is another grating example of poor production values: when the Cylon drives its hand into Dr. Wilker's scanner, and later Batlar's fighter console, do we really need to see a closeup shot of the centurion's hand continuing to impale this equipment?

If Battlestar Galactica were new today...

Like each of the Terra anthology thus far, this episode would have serious viability problems. It took itself too seriously when it should've been lighter, and when it should've delivered serious goods it was too funny. For the anthology to work, the writers would have to have a much better-developed storyline. This one wasn't.

This martial law business would have to go out the window. It was a stupid idea and it was not compatible with the previous content of the series. In a related blunder, the depiction of the civilian Colonists as morons wore out its welcome long ago.

First contact situations with aliens lifeforms, even if the aliens appear human, would have to be handled in a more careful, more dignified and more intelligent manner. This would have to be true even if the aliens were hostile.

In this episode, Omega, the man who sits at the highest console on the Galactica's bridge and appears to relay all information between the commander and the crew, is referred to as "Bridge Officer Omega", which, for the briefest moment, added a touch of naval culture to the show. Note he wasn't called "Lieutenant Omega" or "Sergeant Omega" or "Chief Petty Officer Omega". Instead, he was given what sounds like a naval title or rating. Battlestar could've used more nautical/naval culture in the interplay between characters.

Siress Tinia, for the policy-quoting pain-in-da-butt she might've been, seemed to be the smartest character in the whole episode. At least she eventually figures things out, admits she was wrong, and suggests a course of action.

We finally learn the name for the "black shirt" non-military Colonial police: Council Security.

Why do we see different speaking characters every time there's another new episode featuring the Council of Twelve? Where are the Council members from previous shows?

These Eastern Alliance enforcers are supposed to be astronauts, right? Why would anyone fire laser volleys into the ceiling of a pressurized landing bay? They could start a fire, or bring the ceiling down on top of them.

Baltar assumes that if he and the Nomen can storm the bridge, "we control the Galactica". Why? Does a ship of that size and nature not have an auxiliary control center, if not several, at least partially staffed and ready to take over in the event something goes wrong on the bridge? One would think that after "Fire in Space" this would seem a prudent thing to do. And doesn't the bridge have its own security setup?