By rights, this should be a lousy episode. But it's just too fun to watch...
A Cylon attack destroys the fleet's food supply (and 2 of the 3 "Agro Ships" used to grow more). So Adama hatches a plan to trade a used civilian energy converter for seed at a nearby farm planet, so no one will know it's the Colonial Fleet that's involved in the deal. Right off, this is bad-- the Cylons are out to exterminate every human in creation, but no thought is given to what might happen to the people they do this trade with.
But it gets worse! Because the only piece of equipment in the fleet that fits the bill belongs to Siress Belloby... who just happens to be an old flame of Adama's. And despite the lives of every single person in the fleet hanging perilously in the balance-- she insists that she'll only hand it over, if Adama comes a-courting. I could really see Ben Cartright on BONANZA caught in an uncomfortable, awkward situation like this... but NOT Adama!!! What follows should simply be embarrassing to watch... but the truth is, the way it's played out (a tribute to the actors on this show), it comes across as FUNNY! The whole situation is just completely, flat-out WRONG-- but hilarious all the same. This show could really be schizo sometimes.
Planet-side, it gets WORSE! Seems the local town is having trouble with raiders who rob, steal and kill anyone who get in their way. Yep, it's a really bad tribute to "THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN". Can the show stoop any lower? Just wait! It seems the guy running the town-- and the "chancery" (translation: GAMBLING CASINO) has been conning one naive stranger after another into becoming town marshal. The job has a high fatality rate, but nobody's allowed to resign. And WHO is slick enough to wind up WINNING the marshal BADGE in a poker game before he knows what hit him? Of course-- STARBUCK! So of course, when Belloby (who, in the tradition of frontier women, turns out to be handy with a rifle) gets herself KIDNAPPED, it happens that negotiating winds up a better option than a shoot-out. Especially when Starbuck proves better at it than Adama.
Belloby is played by none other than Brett Somers, who was Jack Klugman's wife in real life, AND played his ex-wife Blanche on THE ODD COUPLE! (I knew I'd seen her before.) As ridiculous as her character seems to be on the surface, I can't help but like her attitude and the way she handles herself in here. At the end, Belloby tells Adama he's become "too refined" and at her age, what she really needs is "an ANIMAL." Then she stares at Stabuck and says, "Oh, if only I were twenty years younger..." before planting one on him.
Oh, did I mention? The guy running things in town is played by Barry Nelson. That's right. The first actor to every play JAMES BOND, in the 1954 TV adaptation of "CASINO ROYALE". Who else should we find in a gambling house-- let alone, RUNNING the place? I really didn't want to like this one... but I was LAUGHING TOO HARD not to. I think this episode would have gone over a LOT better if it had come along much later in the season... or sometime in Season 2. Maybe if they hadn't done stories like this so early, they might have actually reached Season 2.
A Cylon attack destroys the fleet's food supply (and 2 of the 3 "Agro Ships" used to grow more). So Adama hatches a plan to trade a used civilian energy converter for seed at a nearby farm planet, so no one will know it's the Colonial Fleet that's involved in the deal. Right off, this is bad-- the Cylons are out to exterminate every human in creation, but no thought is given to what might happen to the people they do this trade with.
But it gets worse! Because the only piece of equipment in the fleet that fits the bill belongs to Siress Belloby... who just happens to be an old flame of Adama's. And despite the lives of every single person in the fleet hanging perilously in the balance-- she insists that she'll only hand it over, if Adama comes a-courting. I could really see Ben Cartright on BONANZA caught in an uncomfortable, awkward situation like this... but NOT Adama!!! What follows should simply be embarrassing to watch... but the truth is, the way it's played out (a tribute to the actors on this show), it comes across as FUNNY! The whole situation is just completely, flat-out WRONG-- but hilarious all the same. This show could really be schizo sometimes.
Planet-side, it gets WORSE! Seems the local town is having trouble with raiders who rob, steal and kill anyone who get in their way. Yep, it's a really bad tribute to "THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN". Can the show stoop any lower? Just wait! It seems the guy running the town-- and the "chancery" (translation: GAMBLING CASINO) has been conning one naive stranger after another into becoming town marshal. The job has a high fatality rate, but nobody's allowed to resign. And WHO is slick enough to wind up WINNING the marshal BADGE in a poker game before he knows what hit him? Of course-- STARBUCK! So of course, when Belloby (who, in the tradition of frontier women, turns out to be handy with a rifle) gets herself KIDNAPPED, it happens that negotiating winds up a better option than a shoot-out. Especially when Starbuck proves better at it than Adama.
Belloby is played by none other than Brett Somers, who was Jack Klugman's wife in real life, AND played his ex-wife Blanche on THE ODD COUPLE! (I knew I'd seen her before.) As ridiculous as her character seems to be on the surface, I can't help but like her attitude and the way she handles herself in here. At the end, Belloby tells Adama he's become "too refined" and at her age, what she really needs is "an ANIMAL." Then she stares at Stabuck and says, "Oh, if only I were twenty years younger..." before planting one on him.
Oh, did I mention? The guy running things in town is played by Barry Nelson. That's right. The first actor to every play JAMES BOND, in the 1954 TV adaptation of "CASINO ROYALE". Who else should we find in a gambling house-- let alone, RUNNING the place? I really didn't want to like this one... but I was LAUGHING TOO HARD not to. I think this episode would have gone over a LOT better if it had come along much later in the season... or sometime in Season 2. Maybe if they hadn't done stories like this so early, they might have actually reached Season 2.