Battlestar Galactica & Caprica Reviews

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BSG TOS 1978 - Season 1 - Episode 22

BSG TOS 1978 - 1x22 - Experiment in Terra - Originally Aired: 1979-3-18

My Rating - 3

Fan Rating Average - 4.8

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Synopsis
The Beings of Light from "War of the Gods" enlist Apollo in an attempt to save Terra from nuclear annihilation at the hands of the Eastern Alliance. [DVD]

Problems
- Starbuck and Apollo repeatedly say they're from another galaxy.

Factoids
- The missile footage is in fact recycled from various actual U.S. missile launches, some even including some of the Apollo Moon mission footage.

Remarkable Scenes
- The ship of lights appearing.
- John: "What an excellent idea." In response to Apollo's proposal that his entire conversation with him was a dream.
- The Galactica taking out the nuclear missiles.

My Review
So what is Terra? It is remarkably like Earth, but it is definitely not Earth, according to John. This episode would have been far more interesting if more time had been spent exploring the Terran civilization and showing the audience why it isn't really Earth. Instead, we're supposed to take John's word for it. Saving Terra from nuclear war was an interesting idea for a story, and involving the beings from "War of the Gods" was a clever and welcome continuity connection, but "Experiment in Terra" fails to measure up to its own profound intentions by not staying true to the prior material. Frankly, I have the same problem with this story that I had with "Lost Planet of the Gods." It leaves you feeling empty, when it should have been far more significant to the overall storyline of Galactica.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From hugo on 2011-10-14 at 4:45pm:
    I think part of the problem in this episode is that Apollo gets too much handholding from John. First it sounds like he has to figure out for himself how to help the Terrans. But through the episode mr John pops up every now and then and tells the boys what to do. And the Charlie Watts thread is kind of left hanging - if he is presenting himself as Apollo and tries to convince people that he is from the colonies, why being someone else then?

    Oh, and I am starting to hate colonel Tigh - stiff, boring and bad acting...

    OMG Kethinov, thanks!

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