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Battlestar Galactica - The Long Patrol
episode 5
USA 1978
produced by Donald P. Bellisario, Glen A. Larson (executive) for Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal/ABC
directed by Christian I. Nyby II
starring Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Herbert Jefferson jr, John Colicos, Maren Jensen, Noah Hathaway, Laurette Spang, Terry Carter, James Whitmore jr, Ted Gehring, Sean McClory, Arlene Martel, Ian Abercrombie, Sarah Rush, David Greenan, Robert Hathaway, Nancy DeCarl, Cathey Paine (voice), John Holland, Felix Silla, Jonathan Harris (voice), Patrick Macnee (voice)
written by Donald P. Bellisario, created by Glen A. Larson, music by Stu Phillips, visual effects supervisor: Peter Anderson
TV-series Battlestar Galactica, Classic Battlestar Galactica, Battlestar Galactica (original series)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Rather by accident, womanizer Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) has a date with
both Athena (Maren Jensen) and Cassiopeia (Laurette Spang) on the same
evening at the same restaurant, and keeping the two apart without either
noticing what's going on proves to be one hell of a job - so he's glad to
be called away for duty, to test a new Viper (= fighter jet) that goes
double the speed of the regular Viper but is unarmed and has a talking
(and very slappily at that) on-board computer, C.O.R.A. (Cathey Paine) -
and yes, there are shades of Glen A. Larsen's later Knight
Rider here. On the test flight, Starbuck runs into a space
battle and interferes - with the result that his Viper is stolen and he is
left with an old freighter full of smuggled goods. He soon runs into law
enforcement and is imprisoned on a penal planet. He soon notices that all
the other inmates on the penal planets have been here for generations, the
cells on the planet are all unlocked, and the guards are actually unarmed,
so he starts a revolt just like that. And then the planet is attacked by
the Cylons ... The Cylons were actually lured to the planet by a radio
message the man who robbed Starbuck's Viper (James Whitmore jr) has sent,
but somehow thanks to Athena and Cassiopeia working together this message
has been received by the Galactica as well, and Viper pilots Apoollo
(Richard Hatch) and Boomer (Herbert Jefferson jr) go on a rescue mission,
and all ends happily ... Now the concept of a penal colony
spanning generation where everybody's so used to be guards or inmates the
cell doors don't even close and the guards are unarmed is a spirited one
and pretty much ripe for satire - but unfortunately, very little is made
out of the idea as it's cut down to a clichéed TV script and thus a
run-of-the-mill episode that chooses TV conventions over even a shred of
originality. Too bad, as it's basically a good premise brought down by bad
writing, making this a very average episode of an essentially very average
show.
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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