Greetings From Earth Part I Analysis
By Walt Atwood

STORY SYNOPSIS

Adama records in his memoirs that the Galactica's long-range patrols are continuing to find signs that the course provided to them by the "great white lights" are leading them towards Earth. In deep space, Apollo and Starbuck have been in an in-flight sleep period for six centares, when an alarm goes off. A strange, shuttle-sized sublight vehicle has been detected nearby. Attack computer scans indicate six humans on board the craft, but only at minimal life support. Apollo urges a cautious approach, but Starbuck is so excited he exclaims "We've come millions of hectars for this moment and you want to back off?" But Apollo doesn't want to intimidate these alien humans. He attaches tow lines to the ship without any response from anyone inside.

Adama has to urge the people of the Fleet in a public address to be cautious in the fast-spreading rumors. Once the alien ship is brought aboard the Galactica, a defusing team confirms there is no explosive danger. A probe inserted through the hull finds almost no breathable air inside. A decontamination chamber is attached to allow safe access to the ship's interior. Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, Dr. Wilker (portrayed by John Dullaghan), and Dr. Salik (George Murdock) enter the spacecraft and find humming equipment supporting two human adults and four children in hibernation tubes. How long have they been in suspended animation? Where were they going? Why? Nobody has any answers, but Wilker and Salik agree that this is now their responsibility. They must examine this vessel's equipment and see if they can't revive these aliens. As they begin to do so, they discover nothing they find correlates with any Colonial symbols or systems.

In the officer's club, Starbuck comes to sit down with Athena, Boomer, Sheba and Apollo. Boomer thinks it is wonderful that they've finally found humans from a completely independent civilization; up to this point, all other worlds where humans were found had some distant connection to the Colonial heritage. Apollo thinks these humans should be left alone. Starbuck wonders if the Colonists shouldn't learn what they can from these people. But Apollo is vehement. A non-military policeman, Reese (Ron Kelly), walks over from the bar and injects his two cubits' worth: he feels they should force open the tubes and interrogate these newcomers for everything they know. In the landing bay near the alien ship, Jolly (Tony Swartz), has his hands full holding off a mob of civilians led by Geller (Murray Matheson) of the Council of the Twelve. Concerned Colonists from every ship in the Fleet are boarding the Galactica to see the aliens. On board the spacecraft, Wilker's tampering results in a small explosion and power loss. Salik thinks this experimentation with the alien technology could put the lives of the aliens in danger. Apollo boards the ship and discovers what is happening. He orders Wilker off the ship. Both Apollo and Wilker go to Adama's office for debriefing. Adama is disturbed to learn about the power loss. Apollo feels that to tamper further would be too risky and of questionable legality; he feels the ship should be released in space again. Geller enters and confronts Adama. The representatives of the various ships are "furious at your inaction" in reviving the aliens. Geller feels the Council should take responsibility in this matter and move forward with the revival effort.

On the alien spacecraft, Salik is concerned about the continued power losses. He leaves the ship and tells the warriors not to let anyone on board. In the Council deliberations, Adama is adamant that the lives of these aliens are at risk. Geller feels this is reason enough to break into the tubes. But Salik refuses to cooperate, claiming this violates his medical ethics. The Council finds another doctor from the Rising Star who is willing to do the work.

Inside the ship, the adult male alien, Michael (Randolph Mantooth), awakens and realizes the ship is not where it is supposed to be. He revives his adult counterpart, Sarah (Kelly Harmon) and tells her to look after the children. Michael then leaves the spacecraft through the decontamination unit. When he appears on the deck of the Galactica, he is confrontational, demanding to know who these strangers are and where the ship has landed. When Reese attempts to apprehend Michael, Michael draws a weapon and fires, disabling Reese. Michael then collapses. Cassiopea's diagnosis reveals respiratory distress: the atmosphere is too dense for the aliens. When Adama and Salik board the ship, they discover Sarah is also in respiratory distress. Both are put in decompression chambers in the Galactica's Life Station.

Salik tells Apollo that the two adult aliens are confined to the decompression chambers indefinitely. When Apollo takes word of this to Adama, the commander supposes the only way to free these people would be for the situation to revert to military control. Since Michael gunned down Reese in the landing bay, the aliens are to be considered dangerous and left to military discretion. Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer pull a switcheroo with the decompression chambers, sneaking Michael and Sarah back onto the spacecraft. Michael agrees to help re-launch the ship. Cassiopea will monitor the life signs of the sleepers while in flight. Apollo and Starbuck sneak off and launch after the escaping ship, under the false notion of re-capturing it to return to the Galactica. Their true intention is to parallel Michael's course and go into sleep mode so they can learn more about the alien destination.

In deep space outside a nearby star system, a somewhat larger alien ship spots the escaped spaceship containing the family from Lunar 7. Krebbs (Curt Lowens) reports to his Commandant (Lloyd Bochner) the escaped family's ship has been found, twenty-thousand kilometers away. But Krebbs also reports something else, there are two other ships nearby. The Commandant inspects an image of the two Colonial vipers in flight. Krebbs reports the computer cannot identify the power source of these UFO's. "Do not loose track of those two ships," the Commandant orders.

A Second Look

Unlike "Lost Planet of the Gods", but like "The Living Legend", the first part of this anthology does stand on its own, with its own story. This is the first genuine "first contact" story on BATTLESTAR. Yet the show's makers treat it like all the other previous stories. The characters say this situation is new and different, but the way the story is presented is essentially the same. While the controversy around Apollo's views makes for some mildly interesting dialogue, this story is simply another military encounter except without Cylons to worry about.

It's obvious by now that the Cylons and Colonial offshoot planets in the Krellian Galaxy (assuming the Galactica is still in that same galaxy) wore out their welcome. Been there, done that, too many times. So the Galactica encountered Count Iblis and the mysterious beings of light in "War of the Gods". Unfortunately for BATTLESTAR, as Richard Hatch's Apollo pointed out, dealing with godlike aliens means "we'd be powerless to control our own destiny." That quickly diminishes the ongoing potential of stories like "War". So now the Galactica's fighter probes discover a ship from a civilization that apparently has never heard of Kobol or Colonists or Cylons. While this is a novel idea that probably should've been explored much earlier in the series, it turns out to be as half-baked as too many other stories that cross BATTLESTAR's wake. The introduction of a "first contact" with a completely unknown civilization isn't something to be handled like foraging for fuel on Gamoray or sabotaging a mega-gun on the ice world of Arcta. The whole premise of the story demands an approach this is new and different from Cylon war stories. Don't be fooled by the absence of the Cylons. This story is still too much like previous outings.

The notion of Apollo championing the rights of unknown (and unknowing) aliens is actually a great idea. Richard Hatch did what he could with it, but the cause is never done the justice the story's potential deserves. As with the award-winning 1988 episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION entitled "The Measure of a Man", this hour-long segment should've been argued in the Colonial justice system before it reached the mob mentality. Such an approach would've given the Colonists a little more class, and Apollo's beliefs more intelligence and dignity. Apollo and Wilker could've squared off in a debate over what to do with these mysterious human-like aliens, and both sides could've been given a serious hearing. As "The Measure of a Man" demonstrated, characters in a space drama can take a stand in a courtroom without a large special effects budget and still make the story compelling. Instead, in "Greetings from Earth", the characters' emotions govern their actions, a mob mentality threatens, and Adama raises the concern of whether or not "we are a race worth saving". In the end, the lives of Michael and company ride on insubordination in the Colonial military.

The anticipation and awe of the Colonists dealing with unaffiliated humans is also shattered when Michael and Sarah, who are supposedly from a culture completely different from the Colonists', wind up speaking the same language as that of Apollo and company. The whole "first contact" notion of establishing a dialogue with aliens could've been a story unto itself. Would exposure to the Colonists introduce some disease to these newcomers? Maybe some bacteria which is common to the bodies of Colonial humans could be deadly to the aliens. And what if this were true in reverse? Maybe Athlete's Foot on Terra would be The Black Plague to the humans in the Fleet. Once again, there should've been some "first contact" procedure worked out by the show's makers to govern how the Galactica would handle the discovery of new civilizations. There was a real tension between the Colonists and the sleeper ship pilot. The language barrier would've prevented those tensions from being resolved so quickly. An excellent example of how this was handled would be THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (Paramount, 1990) in which Sean Connery plays a Soviet submarine skipper seeking to defect to the U.S.

Still, even that isn't enough. Maybe it would've been best if Starbuck had been piloting Recon Viper One and C.O.R.A. spotted Michael's ship on final approach to its destination. Then Starbuck would've been the alien and this could've set up an adventure where a viper would be the U.F.O. This would open the door to a much more fulfilling story, such as CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Columbia Pictures, 1977).

Michael's behavior seems driven by one bizarre notion: the Terrans have spaceflight capability and have apparently settled on several nearby worlds. Yet he cannot accept that Apollo and company are from another world. Why?

The Colonists disembark on a voyage to restore Michael's ship to its original course and reach its destination. If said destination is only a matter of sectons (Colonial days?) away at sublight speed, shouldn't this place be visible to the Galactica? Why didn't they just compute the alien ship's original trajectory and send a squadron of vipers to check it out? And what's Cassiopea doing inside that ship, without wearing so much as a spacesuit? What life support is she living on? Where's her food and water? What if she has to use the "turbo flush" (toilet)? More importantly, what if there were a problem aboard the spacecraft that Cassie couldn't handle on her own? Are Apollo and Starbuck going to jettison from their vipers to spacewalk over to her?

Despite all these problems with the story, it is very refreshing indeed for the Galactica to encounter a new world where there are no Cylons on it or nearby. This should be the destiny of BATTLESTAR, to explore the Universe in search of both its ancestral brothers as well as its own truths.

Spectacle Value

Michael's ship seems rather plain, relying mostly on glittering lights of the interior to make it look alien. Given the obvious interior design similarities to the NASA timeship seen in PLANET OF THE APES (20th Century Fox, 1968), maybe BATTLESTAR'S makers should've paid less attention to blinking lights and more to overall lighting and design. This would've made it more effective.

The real show-stopper is the cameo appearance of the other Terran spacecraft, which would later be identified as an Eastern Alliance destroyer in the second part of this anthology. Why do the bad guys always get the coolest looking ships in this show? This vessel would make a nice addition to the Galactica's arsenal, provided it were given all the Colonial technologies. As a Colonial bomber, it would complement the vipers on dangerous missions better than a shuttle. The interior set of the destroyer is somewhat submarine-like, although nose section doesn't seem to match the hammer-headed exterior of the ship. Too bad the set design borrows pieces from previous episodes of BATTLESTAR. Once again, the interior relies on blinking lights and other electronic gadgets to make up lack of innovation or detail in design.

We get to see a uniformed human military other than the Colonial warriors for the first time. The uniforms are mildly imaginative. The silvery jumpsuits of the sleeper ship aliens were more inspired.

At least Michael's stunning weapon appeared to be more alien than anything in the possession of people other than Colonial warriors in BATTLESTAR. Too bad we didn't see more of this approach. And what about Krebbs' sidearm? It reverts to an all-too-familiar pistol form.

IF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WERE NEW TODAY...

This episode would not be viable. A whole new approach would be in order. See comments in the "A Second Look" section, above.

That having been said, if BATTLESTAR were to be revived, there would have to be stories that dealt with encounters with completely unknown civilizations. If some were human-like, fine. The human-like aliens encountered had better be unique in their culture. That includes a language barrier. Apollo can't just walk up to an alien and start communicating in the same language with colloquial ease.

The Colonists would have to come off as more reasonable and less conniving. If there is a disagreement on how to deal with an issue, let's see Apollo and others argue in a formal hearing where cooler heads prevail.

A challenge would be to show military ships in the Colonial Fleet smaller than the Galactica that could leave the formation and explore nearby star systems without dragging the entire Colonial population into a situation. A small starship, under the command of someone like Tigh or Apollo (funny how we never see someone whose role and status is situated between these two) could lead a small force of warriors to check out a situation and then report back to the Galactica without having to worry about the range limitations of a viper or shuttle.

How about seeing some non-human aliens? We really haven't seen any of this in BATTLESTAR since the ill-fated Ovions of Carillon in "Saga of a Star World, Part 3".

Tidbits & Nit-Picks

The opening narration "There are those who believe..." by Patrick Macnee is back for this episode. Why did it ever leave?

Boomer insists that any humans the Fleet has encountered up to this point were offshoots of their own Colonies, sharing "terms, dress, technology... all familiar to us." This must include the farming settlers of Equellis ("The Lost Warrior"), as well as those on other worlds the Galactica's warriors discovered.

During the first confrontation in the Galactica's landing bay, Geller of the Council of Twelve refers to Jolly (Tony Swartz) as a "lieutenant". This contradicts other records of the BATTLESTAR series which refer to the character as a "flight sergeant".

You have to love BATTLESTAR's inventive 1970's slanguage funkobabble. Boomer gets to call Officer Reese a "gall-mogging snikrad". Nannu-nannu.

Adama indicates that "Terra", in Geminise, means "Earth".

If there was ever any doubt before about the tensions between the Colonial military and civilian authorities (last seen clearly in "Saga of a Star World, Part 3"), this episode underscores a serious problem in the Fleet.

Starbuck gets the best line in this outing when Apollo tells him "this voyage could be endless." The lieutenant replies sarcastically: "Remind me to invite you to my next party. You're alot of fun."

In the opening scenes of this episode, Apollo indicates that he and Starbuck had been in sleep period for six centares (Colonial hours?) while in flight. Presumably, their patrol had been flying away from the Galactica for much longer than that. Assuming their engines were powering their ships in flight all that time (how else would they get out ahead of the fleet far enough to make any worthwhile probe?) and were probably exceeding the speed of light, there are some questions to consider... 1: Where did all the fuel come from to sustain such a flight? 2: If they were coasting, what good would that do for an advanced scouting mission? 3: If they were heading in one direction (presumably away from the Galactica) for that long, and the Galactica remained in motion, wouldn't it be problematical for them to get back anyway?

Before entering the alien spacecraft, Wilker and Salik report that the ship's interior contains practically no atmosphere. Yet they enter the ship only centons (minutes) later in the regular uniforms wearing no pressure suits or breathing equipment. Did they pressurize the interior of the ship?

We see Athena teaching a class of Colonial youths aboard the Galactica, including the little lad Boxey: her adopted nephew. Why? She doesn't have enough to do on the bridge? Did someone forget she trained to become a fighter pilot? Why are these scenes even necessary?

A couple of scenes after we first see Athena teaching in an elementary-school like classroom, we see her again shooting the breeze and having a brew in the officer's club with her fellow warriors. Then she's back in the classroom a few scenes later. Maybe she drank her lunch before going back to teaching???

Apollo has to attach "tow lines" to bring the alien spacecraft back to the Galactica. Why use such a cumbersome, low-tech mechanism? Why not use tractor beams? Doesn't the Colonial Fleet employ this kind of projected magnetic/gravity beam technology? If they have technology which can allow their ships to exceed the speed of light, communicate and scan even faster, then why can't they use tractor beams?

While it is accepted that Starbuck and Apollo are in sleep period again while they escort the Lunar 7 spacecraft to its destination, it still boggles the mind why their vipers' tracking systems don't set off an alarm when the Commandant's ship flies 20,000 kilometers away.