Plot; When a Cylon attack destroys two of its fleet's agricultural ships and damages a third, Adama and a team from the Galactica go to a nearby planet hoping to trade a power generator for new seed.
Pretty standard basic plot with some rather silly contrivances throw in, 'cause 70s, but there's a lot to like here. First, it opens smack dab in the middle of a pretty intense and rather well done (on a technical level) dogfight between Colonial Vipers and Cylon Raiders. Easily the best bit of ship to ship space combat in the series yet. The rest of the episode is rather lighthearted, standing in stark contrast to the dire circumstances of the fleet. What normally might've been a recipe for high drama is instead used mostly for humor. Thankfully it works, largely due to a pair of fine guest performances. First is Brett Somers, a member of the fleet who owns the power generator the Galactica wishes to use. She uses this to leverage time with Adama, who she has a major crush on. Somers gives a playfully charming performance, working well in contrast with the very sober and dignified Lorne Greene. The other strong performance comes from Barry Nelson, perhaps best known as the first actor to play James (or Jimmy) Bond, playing against type as the semi-crooked political leader of the outpost the Galactica crew visit.
I think this would've worked better had they shelved the humor and focused instead on the drama of the fleet's food crisis and the ploy to get the new seed, but the humor is pulled off well enough that the episode still works, albeit on a different level.
Pretty standard basic plot with some rather silly contrivances throw in, 'cause 70s, but there's a lot to like here. First, it opens smack dab in the middle of a pretty intense and rather well done (on a technical level) dogfight between Colonial Vipers and Cylon Raiders. Easily the best bit of ship to ship space combat in the series yet. The rest of the episode is rather lighthearted, standing in stark contrast to the dire circumstances of the fleet. What normally might've been a recipe for high drama is instead used mostly for humor. Thankfully it works, largely due to a pair of fine guest performances. First is Brett Somers, a member of the fleet who owns the power generator the Galactica wishes to use. She uses this to leverage time with Adama, who she has a major crush on. Somers gives a playfully charming performance, working well in contrast with the very sober and dignified Lorne Greene. The other strong performance comes from Barry Nelson, perhaps best known as the first actor to play James (or Jimmy) Bond, playing against type as the semi-crooked political leader of the outpost the Galactica crew visit.
I think this would've worked better had they shelved the humor and focused instead on the drama of the fleet's food crisis and the ploy to get the new seed, but the humor is pulled off well enough that the episode still works, albeit on a different level.