Murder on the Rising Star
By Walt Atwood

STORY SYNOPSIS

During a game of triad on board the Rising Star, Starbuck and Apollo pair up against viper pilot Barton (portrayed by W.K. Stratton) and Wing Sergeant Ortega (Frank Ashmore). During the match, Ortega gets unnecessarily rough with Starbuck. Before they can finish the match, Starbuck and Ortega get into a fight. Both are ejected from the game. "I'll kill him!" Starbuck tells Apollo before he storms off the court. Cassiopea, watching from the balcony, recognizes "that look on Starbuck's face". She goes back to the locker room to find her lover confronting Ortega. She breaks up a fight, and tells Starbuck she will leave on the next shuttle, with or without him. He rushes to get cleaned up and into uniform.

A short time later, Rising Star crewman Chella (Ben Frank) runs into Starbuck, who is rushing out of the locker room. Just after that, Chella discovers a dead body in a propped-open doorway. It is Ortega, his weapon drawn but not fired. Adama, Tigh, Apollo and Boomer arrive at the crime scene and determine Starbuck was a possible material witness. In the docking lounge, Starbuck and Cassiopea are about to disembark on the shuttle when Apollo and Boomer ask to see Starbuck's weapon. It has been fired.

Back on the Galactica, Dr. Wilker's (John Dullagham) tests reveal Starbuck's blaster to be the "termination weapon". The Colonial Opposer (prosecutor), Solon (Brock Peters) offers Starbuck a plea bargain of self-defense, as Ortega's weapon was drawn. But Starbuck insists he is innocent, and chooses Apollo to be his Protector (defense counsel). A tribunal must be convened in ten centares. Until that time Starbuck is taken to the Galactica's brig. Apollo starts poking around, asking questions. Barton reveals that Ortega was usually close-mouthed, but revealed once on patrol in deep space that he feared only one man: Karibdis. While there is no listing of Karibdis in the computer directory, a quick conference with Adama reveals that Karibdis was Baltar's pilot and electronics expert prior to the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Believed dead, the only person who could identify this mysterious traitor would be Baltar. Starbuck grows frustrated and attacks his guards in the brig, escaping and nearly leaving the Fleet in a viper.

On the prison barge, Baltar smugly offers revealing Karibdis is exchange for being released from imprisonment. Upon travelling to the Rising Star, Apollo questions Chella and discovers that he and two others bribed Ortega to gain passage on the Rising Star on the night of the exodus from the home worlds. One of these three men must be Karibdis. Apollo and Boomer shuttle these three back to the Galactica for questioning, but the warriors can see it is hopeless. Without Baltar's help, they will never know which one is Karibdis. Now Apollo has a plan: He approaches the three civilians while still in flight, and tells them the real killer has been discovered: his name is Karibdis, and Apollo will bring Baltar from the prison barge immediately after stopping at the Galactica. Boomer quietly confides to Apollo that this is a very risky game to be playing.

Once landing on the Galactica, everyone but Apollo leaves. Before Apollo can launch the shuttle again, his ship's payload sensors indicate a sudden unexplained increase in mass: someone has secreted himself on board. Returning to the prison barge, Apollo brings Baltar aboard the shuttle to return to the Galactica for questioning.

On the Galactica, Boomer is clumsily trying to stand-in for Apollo as the trial begins. During the proceedings, he must also monitor Alpha Channel to hear if there are any developments from Apollo. Apollo has the shuttle's communications open on Alpha Channel. As Solon cross-examines Cassiopea, Apollo tells Baltar that Karibdis is aboard the shuttle and will likely try to kill both men and make it look like they killed each other. As it comes time for Boomer to present his arguments, he and Starbuck appeal to Adama to listen to Alpha Channel. Starbuck reaches up and flicks the switch on Adama's judiciary console. "Remove these shackles," Baltar is heard saying over the commline. On the shuttle, he is instructing Karibdis (Lyman Ward) to release him. Apollo, in the pilot's seat, sits quietly as Karibdis holds a blaster to the warrior captain's head. Karibdis tells Baltar he will release the shackles after Baltar engages the auto-pilot. Doing so will leave both Apollo and Baltar vulnerable while Karibdis can still hide and escape once the ship reaches the Galactica. Finally Baltar makes his move: he clubs an unsuspecting Karibdis and Apollo subdues both men. Now Karibdis can join Baltar aboard the prison barge. Apollo and Starbuck return to the Rising Star for another triad match. When they appear on the court, they are greeted by a standing ovation.

A Second Look

Why would anyone assume one headstrong warrior (with a heroic record) would kill another over some incidents in a sporting match? How absurd. This episode was not even half-baked. It misses the point completely: Baltar, Karibdis and their crimes should be the focus of the story. If some other incident sparked an investigation into the whereabouts of a stowaway traitor under an assumed name, the warriors could've followed the trail of dirty dealings of the criminal to his lair. That would've made for a better story.

It boggles the mind why this show aired the week after another ship-board Starbuck story, "The Man with Nine Lives". Bad timing.

We get to see a Colonial judicial process in this story. But the jumble of hokey non-terrestrial terminology ("protector" and "opposer" could easily have been reversed) and the bizarre time limit make the ritual uninteresting. It would've been different if Apollo and company had to find evidence to convict Karibdis of his crimes, by using some clever means to link him to Baltar.

Baltar seems to sleep-walk through this story. After BATTLESTAR outings like "The Lost Planet of the Gods", "The Living Legend", and "War of the Gods", John Colicos is back to chewing scenery.

The notion of Starbuck jail-breaking and stealing a viper is ridiculous. That's enough to get Starbuck some time on the prison barge right there. This is where the kid's show aspect of the series can be seen rearing its ugly head again.

This episode fails to entertain the very powerful (and potentially ongoing) concern that there could be other traitor-stowaways aboard the Fleet.

Apollo and Boomer as defense attorneys. Can anyone say "mistrial due to incompetent representation"?

Hmmm. "Laseronic Ergon Scan". Time to power up the zoltron...

The timing of the fight between Apollo, Baltar and Karibdis at precisely the point when Starbuck is on trial simply underscores the poorly conceived story concept.

If this is a civilian criminal justice proceeding, why is Adama presiding? If this is a military tribunal, why wouldn't Solon be a military prosecutor, and Starbuck be appointed a full-time military defense counsel? This whole proceeding looks silly next to subsequent television legal dramas like L.A. LAW (20th Century Fox/NBC, 1986-1994) and LAW & ORDER (Universal/NBC, 1990-?).

Spectacle Value

Notice that Starbuck's cell in the Galactica brig looks all too similar to Baltar's cell aboard the prison barge. Of course, the vessel we are shown and led to think is a prison barge does not look like a "barge" being towed by a tug-type ship at all. Instead, it looks like just another starship in the Fleet.

For a series that prided itself on spectacle, this BATTLESTAR outing offers very little in the form of drama or spectacular thrill. We see lots of shuttle hopping and impromptu discovery interviewing. That's about it.

The historical sequences, which use the funny blurring effect, look like something left over from a 1960's sitcom flashback show. Dreadful.

One does not hire actors the caliber of Brock Peters and John Colicos only to under-utilize them. Major no-no.

IF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WERE NEW TODAY...

Such a whodunit murder mystery would be out of the question. However, if the story focused on following a cold trail to find a traitor, that would be a very different matter. If a story focused on how to get inside the mind of a criminal, that could be worth watching.

Forget about "Laseronic Ergon Scans". The idea of matching up a victim's remains to an unknown weapon found a much more plausible execution in the 1990 STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION episode "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I", in which the telltale magnetic resonance traces of weaponry used on the Starship Enterprise and on the destroyed Jouret IV colony give away the presence of the Borg.

A show like this should've been the result of a gradual building of concerns from earlier episodes in the show. Why not either show Karibdis/Pallon earlier in the series, or show Adama expressing concern about Fleet security, or both, as part of other, earlier stories? Another opportunity missed.

TIDBITS & NIT-PICKS

Ortega sounds like a Latino name. Why would they use a blonde actor for the part?

Too bad we never get to see women playing triad. Wouldn't you just die to see Athena and Sheba playing against Cassiopea and Brie? But this was the 1970's, and network TV was still very much a man's world.

Isn't it neat how Adama had the Alpha Channel commline activation button right in front of him during a criminal justice hearing? And isn't it neat how Boomer arranged it so that the commline isn't a two-way link until he makes it one?

It has to be said: the Rising Star is one of the most graceful-looking starships in BATTLESTAR. Too bad they didn't design a Battlestar after her...