Galactica 1980 1.6: “Spaceball”

Airdate: 3/30/80

The Galactica kids are still “scouts” on earth, but now Xavier has come back from his time travelling excursions to wreak havoc on the present day. For starters, he maroons Troy and Dillon in outer space with a defective Viper, and now he has landed on earth, planning to hold the kids hostage as a bargaining chip for his freedom. The kids have are a bit busy these days; at a baseball camp, under Jamie’s direction, they face off against a rival team, but cannot use their superpowers lest they are discovered as aliens by a Air Force Colonel Sydell (from the previous episode). But Jamie realizes their victory would cause enough media attention to thwart Sydell’s exposure, along with Xavier’s treachery – and she winds up being right. Troy and Dillon repair their ship and land just in time to tie up the loose ends, but Xavier gets away, able to return again to be the series’ recurring villain.

A truly weird episode, even by Galactica standards. Premise #2 is official now (as per the post-opening narration by Adama): the kids will stay on earth as Troy and Dillon just sort of hang around in outer space, making sure they are well cared for on their new planet. Small wonder it got canned after ten shows; viewers were no doubt confused by this point – as was Richard Hatch, as it was the reason he gave for not retuning. And the plot of this episode in particular seems influenced by sources as varied as The Bad News Bears and Marooned, with the lack of cohesion you’d predict. Robyn Douglass is still pretty damned easy on the eyes, though.

Rating:  **