The Return of Starbuck

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Return of Starbuck
Series = Galactica 1980
Season = 1
Episode = 10


Airdate = May 4, 1980
Production =
Writer =
Director =
Guests =
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Space Croppers
Next = "Series Finale""The Return of Starbuck" is the final episode that was produced for the short lived television series "Galactica 1980". "Galactica 1980" was a spin-off of the earlier ABC science fiction series "Battlestar Galactica".

The episode first aired on May 4, 1980 on ABC. The episode features the return of the character from the previous series, Lieutenant Starbuck, played by Dirk Benedict.

Synopsis

Doctor Zee shares a dream he had about Lieutenant Starbuck with Commander Adama. In the dream, after a battle with the Cylons, Starbuck crashes on a desolate planet. To provide himself with companionship, Starbuck rebuilds a centurion from a crashed Cylon Raider and befriends him. The twosome's lonely existence on the planet is interrupted when the Cylon discovers a strange woman, who they are surprised to discover is pregnant.

Plot

Unable to sleep, Doctor Zee awakens Commander Adama. Zee relates to Adama a dream he has had about a great warrior whose name was Lieutenant Starbuck, and the rest of the episode relates this tale.

Years back, Starbuck and Lieutenant Boomer are on patrol, but are ambushed by Cylon raiders. In the battle, Starbuck's Colonial Viper is damaged severely, and he realizes he will not be able to make it back to the fleet.

Starbuck manages to find a small planet in the nick of time, and crash lands his damaged Viper on the surface. Eventually he comes to, with a blinding headache, most of his ship damaged beyond repair. Climbing out of the wreck his discovers nothing but sand and barren rock on this desert planet.

Exploring the terrain for a while, Starbuck suddenly happens upon the wreckage of a Cylon fighter from the battle. Surveying the wreckage, soon Starbuck begins pulling the Cylon ship apart to construct a shelter.

After a time, Starbuck decides to cannibalize the robot Cylons and try to rebuild one of them into a functioning Centurion. When the task is complete, the Cylon activates and immediately threatens to kill Starbuck. Starbuck manages to win over the huge robot soldier with a combination of argument and threats to turn off his power.

After the Cylon (voiced by Gary Owens) has managed to convince Starbuck not to switch him off for good, he asks why Starbuck reconstructed him. Starbuck explains, rather wanly, that after three days alone, he decided he needed a friend. "We are enemies," the Cylon states. "We're cultural dissidents," Starbuck rationalizes, since there are only the two of them on this planet. Finally Starbuck offers to teach the Cylon everything he knows about humans, in the process names the hulking machine. "Cy... do you mind if I call you Cy?" As well, he offers to take the Cylon on in a hand of the Colonial card game pyramid.

Unfortunately, Starbuck grows bored with the card games over time, and Cy realizes that Starbuck is cheating. "You are bored with me," Cy scolds. "My companionship is not adequate. You require a 'wo-man'." And with the improbable promise "I will get you one," out he goes into the cold night.

Feeling guilty, Starbuck searches for the runaway centurion all night, but comes up empty - and suitably chastised, now realizing that it is actually possible to hurt a Cylon's feelings. But his shame turns to shock when Cy strolls back in the next morning - carrying an unconscious, and pregnant woman in his arms.

With someone to talk to, Starbuck commences to do just that as the girl looks on, mute. Then, after a few days of no conversation, out of nowhere the girl simply asks Starbuck "Would you die for me?" The woman, named Angela, remains enigmatic and refuses to elaborate on how she came to be on the planet. She also starts strangely referring to her unborn baby as "our child," referring to her and Starbuck, and indicates a vehicle must be built to transport the baby.

In part to appease Angela, Starbuck enlists Cy's help in building an escape vessel from the combined wreckage of the Viper and the Cylon Raiders.

The morning after the baby's birth, Starbuck is shocked to see another Cylon fighter landed close to the crash site. The Cylons apparently picked up the distress beacon, and are coming to investigate.

Starbuck hustles Angela to the completed hybrid ship and gets her and the baby inside. There is no room for Starbuck in the ship; not if the mother and baby are to make it back to the Colonial fleet, and so he makes a sacrifice and decides to stay behind, launching the ship manually and letting Angela and the baby go.

As the ship disappears into the sky, Starbuck is suddenly pinned down by the Cylon laser fire, but is surprised to see Cy appear, carrying his own laser. Cy guns down two of the approaching Cylons, but the third gets off a crippling shot before Starbuck drops him, but Cy sinks to the ground, mortally damaged. In his dying minutes, Cy describes his relationship with Starbuck as that of friends.

Dr Zee's voice grows more disturbed as he recounts the progress of the pod towards the Galactica, containing the 'incredible gift' of a child from the stars. He realizes that the dream was referring to him, and that he is the gift.

At the end of the series as produced the fate of Starbuck remains unknown, and on that melancholy note the episode, and the series, end. A follow-on episode "The Wheel of Fire" was scripted but the series was cancelled before the episode was produced. The script for the Wheel of Fire reveals that Starbuck is eventually rescued from the planet by the inhabitants of the Ship of Lights and became one of them; the entire affair had been set up by the Ship's crew as a test of Starbuck's worthiness (Angela was one of them).

Filming location

Much of the The Return of Starbuck was filmed at Red Rock Canyon State Park (California).

Notes

During his conversation with Cy Starbuck uses the term years instead of the term yahren usually used in Battlestar Galactica.

See also

* ""
* Cy (Battlestar Galactica)

External links

* at the Battlestar Wiki