It’s been common wisdom in fandom that very little planning was ever done for a second season of Battlestar Galactica. There have been hints and rumors for years, that Cain would have returned in the second season, that Athena would have come back as, of all things, a man. The Galactica 1980 script Return of Starbuck was apparently originally written as a second season BG script. Also, there are a couple pieces of more solid evidence. One is that the well-known science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was to be a consultant on the second season; Asimov confirmed this to me personally in a note. Another is a Glen Larson comment in an interview that ABC at one time did consider giving BG a second season, but in the same “children’s hour” timeslot that G80 ended up in. For over 20 years, that was all the real evidence we had.
Until now, that is. Battlestargalactica.com’s redoubtable Michael Faries has obtained a document that appears to be a précis for Battlestar Galactica’s second season – very possibly a document written by Glen Larson as a proposal to be handed to ABC. We now have evidence, evidence that I believe has, considering Michael’s source, a very good chance of being authentic, of what Larson had in mind for the second season. I will, however, be careful to point out some things that seem to suggest the contrary.
BG fans for years have dreamed of a second season, have wondered if it would have lived up to their expectations.
Perhaps it would not have.
The document is a typed manuscript appearing to be in the same format and on the same sort of typewriter that was normally used for the BG scripts and other BG documents such as the series “bible” that have filtered out to fandom. It is 8 ½ by 11 inches, one-sided and three hole punched to go into a binder. Included are a number of science fictional but non-BG illustrations evidently more to set the mood than suggest anything Larson had in mind. The quality of Xeroxing suggests strongly a first-generation copy from an original.
It begins with a page of “Highlights of Year Two,” and promises “A new focus on our primary cast of characters,” “Exciting stories that utilize the uniqueness of the Galactica’s space journey to tell human stories that are special yet understandable and relatable,” and “The introduction of exciting new adversaries for the Galactica and its crew, offering unusual and new spectacular visual effects.” This is to be accomplished by “The addition of the worlds most respected science-fiction author,” “Changes in the attitudes and personalities of the key characters,” and “Streamlining of the original cast.”
Larson goes on to look back at the first season, pointing out in detail the heavy competition BG faced from the other networks’ counter-programming and ABC’s own preemptions. “Despite this unprecedented assault Galactica has emerged with a core audience who will seek her out no matter where she is.” Larson, or whoever the author is, then claims that while BG has scored solidly in the ratings, its ratings among females is low (“Battlestar supporters are almost entirely void of teenage girls and women.”) and that this provides an obvious area for improvement in ratings numbers. Now this is the first thing in this document to really give me pause. In fact, BG did quite well among females. According to William J. Adams, who did a scholarly study of TV ratings for the Journal of Communication that he later turned into a popular article focusing on BG for Fantastic Films, “….according to National Demographics, for every child in the audience there were four men, three women, and two teenagers.” The author of the précis goes on to try and analyze why there weren’t women in the BG audience (not enough “emotional content” – huh? – and a too-large cast, as if women are too stupid to follow more than two or three characters!), but this is simply completely wrong and should have been known to Larson at the time. This is, to me, very disquieting evidence arguing against the document’s authenticity – or perhaps against Larson’s information.
In order to solve what the author perceives as being the problems of BG’s first season, he suggests that the addition of Isaac Asimov as consultant will result in more “people-oriented” stories, which indicates to me that Larson or whoever is the author of this document was not tremendously familiar with Asimov’s work. Asimov is one of my favorite writers, but I have to say that it isn’t for his characters that I love him. It is pretty typical of Asimov’s writing that his most memorable character is a robot, R. Daneel Olivaw. Interestingly, the author points out, correctly, that Asimov had written a very negative review of BG when it first aired, and comments wryly, “Pride prevents us from discussing it further….” While the author is probably correct in saying that Asimov will provide a “fresh creative thrust,” I suspect Dr. A might have done more to dispose of some of the more cretinous scientific errors than improve BG’s characterization!
The author then goes on to suggest what would be done to “improve” BG in its second season. “The women of our crew will take more important parts in the adventures of the Galactica staff which will give the women in the audience more identification with our characters. Although the seriousness of the mission is never in doubt, we will introduce more humor into the show.” Shades of Hector and Vector….
Next comes the real shocker, as the author slaughters the vast majority of the BG cast. “Missing in action will be Colonel Tigh, Sheba, Boxey (reduced to an occasional guest appearance), Muffey, Doctor Salik, Electronics and Engineering Expert Doctor Wilker, and Baltar. The remaining core cast will assume their duties giving each of them more distinct power lines and roles of conflict.” Yes, you read that correctly – in this second season, half of the cast would have simply vanished. This is, I am sorry, not a good idea and I can only imagine that the real motivations behind it were related to cost cutting.
After recovering from this surprise, we learn more about how the surviving characters would have fared in a second season. Apollo, who has been cautious to form new relationships after the deaths of his mother, brother, and wife, begins cautiously to risk love with Sheba, only to see her killed in the first episode of the new season. Apollo’s reaction? A “total rebound to enjoy every moment of life to its fullest.” Yes, Apollo is about to become Starbuck! Certainly this would have solved Richard Hatch’s occasional grumbles that Apollo never got, in his words, “laid,” but it also would have been insanely out of character.
Needless to say, with Apollo off whooping it up, someone has to show some responsibility, and that lucky person is Starbuck, promoted to command Blue Squadron. “Starbuck proves to be an imaginative and able leader with his boyish enthusiasm, only tempered slightly by the responsibility…. …With the weight of responsibility, Starbuck puts off any serious relationships…especially with Cassiopiea, but perhaps that was only the excuse he was looking for, anyway.”
Adama, for his part, is nonplussed by Apollo’s decision to become Starbuck, but although he grooms Athena and Boomer for command, he secretly hopes he can eventually nepotically slam Apollo into command ahead of them, as if command of the Galactica should be passed on like the British crown. Oh yes, having happy-go-lucky Apollo running bacchanalias on the bridge would be real popular….
In the opening episode of the season, Athena is horrifically wounded when the Galactica’s bridge is attacked, conveniently allowing a new actress to take her place after plastic surgery. However, although her face is repaired, mysteriously enough her body is left horribly scarred, leading her to avoid any romantic involvements and pour herself into her duties.
Cassiopiea mysteriously morphs into Chief Life Officer. Pretty good for an ex-socialator with one yahren of experience! Even the author indicates that this is an “incredible feat.” Yep, it sure would be.
“A combination Einstein-Edison talent emerges in Boomer and proves to be an enormous asset to the Galactica…. ..he becomes a fixture on the bridge and in the lab. His new role and ambition brings him into natural conflict with Athena, but Boomer’s warmth and understanding eventually soothes these ruffled feathers.” Boomer becomes the combination Bill Gates/Stephen Hawking of the Galactica.
Next is a new character, Troy, created “To further solidify our position with young girls.” He is Apollo’s cabin boy (what?!!!!) and eager to get into action, so much so that he proves a “pain in the ass for Starbuck and Apollo.”. Ladies and gentlemen, Wesley Crusher. We do know now, however, where Boxey’s grown-up name appears to have come from.
With the character “improvements” taken care of (and I would personally be willing to argue than none of the above developments, with the possible exception of Starbuck becoming somewhat more responsible, is an improvement but in fact a mutilation of well-established and much loved characters), the author continues to lay out the plot of the season two opener, titled “The Return of the Pegasus.”
The episode begins with a sudden and enormous Cylon attack on the fleet. Starbuck, Apollo, and Sheba respond to the Red Alert, but Starbuck doesn’t want Sheba to go–so much, I guess, for the new importance of the women in the cast. They launch, and in the ensuing dogfight against horrific odds Sheba is killed. Just as all seems lost, the surviving vipers are succoured by a new group of vipers, which can only be from the Pegasus. They joyfully lead the Pegasus back to the fleet, only to learn that the Galactica has been badly hit and Athena terribly wounded.
Apollo of course sinks into guilt over the death of Sheba and the wounding of Athena, while Adama returns to his pilot episode mode of deciding to lay down command, this time handing it over to Commander Cain after Apollo turns down the job.
Apollo finds something different about Cain, something undefinable. But he is quickly distracted by Cain’s executive officer. No, not Colonel Tolen, who has joined many other characters in BG Limbo, but the beautiful Renata, whose manner is “warm, almost subservient.” OK, those of you who are or have been in the military, ever met a “warm, almost subservient” exec? I didn’t think so….  “Apollo begins to feel that his one mission in life is to shield her and protect her from any possible harm.” Starbuck is also interested, and a rivalry, “sometimes heated, but more often playful” breaks out between them over her favors, and Apollo accuses his friend of being a “poor sport when he begins to find more and more fault with Cain and his ship.” Trying to get to the bottom of things Starbuck wanders off into the bowels of the Pegasus and discovers, much to his surprise, that the crew of the Pegasus are steadily being replaced, as Cain already has been, with a fleet of androids. As Starbuck rushes back to warn Apollo, Apollo is busily blabbing Starbuck’s suspicions to Renata. Renata, of course, is part of the problem: half human, half Cylon, as she admits to Apollo, smugly informing him that she and Cain will now destroy the entire fleet (with a “laser” perhaps).
Again, we have to pause and wonder about the authenticity of this document at this point, given what we know about Ron Moore’s script which features human-appearing Cylons. However, it must be remembered there were also human-appearing Cylons in Galactica 1980.
Renata attempts to garrote Apollo; a fight ensues in which he manages to get the upper hand. Starbuck shows up and suggests that they toss her out the airlock, which seems the correct response, but Apollo hesitates and our heroes find themselves in a fight with several of the android crewman who have come to Renata’s aid. The boys manage to fight their way to the landing bay, steal a couple of vipers, and hie it back to the Galactica to prepare the ship for a showdown with the Pegasus “led by the subverted intelligence cells of the legendary Commander Cain.”
Wow, would THAT be popular with the fans! Kill Sheba, set Athena on fire, turn the heroic Cain into a robot! WHAT was Larson thinking (or smoking, for that matter!)?
Several other script outlines follow. The first, “A Woman’s Power,” has Athena and the women of the fleet pulling a Lysistrata on the men, a plotline so inane as to be worthy of some of the rejected first-season scripts. The less said about this one, the better.
“Island in the Sky” finds Starbuck and Apollo on patrol (apparently Apollo was able to tear himself away from his sybaritic lifestyle long enough for this), when suddenly the instrumentation of their vipers fails and they are pulled towards a “tiny barren planet with an incredibly strong gravitational pull.” They land, but collapse under their own increased weight. A small group of men and women appear atop a nearby dune, carrying a device that apparently protects them from the gravity. They carry our heroes to a small village “dominated by a handsome alabaster palace” and are presented to Prince and Princess Ling.  Apollo finds the princess irresistible and “in the idyllic days that follow” falls in love with her. While Apollo is enjoying his stay, Starbuck gets bored and starts asking questions in the hope he can find a way of escaping the planet. He learns that the natives are outcasts from Earth and that the Prince and Princess know the coordinates to Earth (um, didn’t the Beings of Light GIVE the fleet the coordinates to Earth in “War of the Gods?”). He also learns that there is a way to escape the planet, and that there is an even darker secret that no one will tell him. He tells Apollo what he has learned, and Apollo agrees to go, but intends to take Princess Ling with him. She refuses to go, telling Apollo that she is nearly a thousand years old and will die if she leaves the planet. He suspects it’s a trick to keep him there. Prince Ling finds out about the Colonials’ plan to escape and imprisons them; the princess helps them escape to their vipers and leave the planet, but as they fly away, she grows weaker and older, and finally dies. Hey, didn’t Space: 1999 do something like this?!
In “The Bad and the Brave,” a battle ends with the Galactica and a Cylon base ship crawling off to repair their damage. Also damaged was the Orphan ship which Adama learns, to his horror, has crashed on the same planet where the base ship has landed (!) to conduct repairs. Starbuck volunteers to go with three other warriors and a turboscooter- evidently the flying motorcycles originally built for BG and used in G80- with which he can make hit and run attacks whenever the Cylons try to exit their ship to conduct repairs. Athena accuses Starbuck of grandstanding as the attacks get more and more dangerous, but there is no way he can back down. “If the base ship is allowed to repair, it will quickly overtake the crippled Galactica who is herself desperately working to repair her engines in order to catch up with the fleet.” Not a bad plotline, in spite of the flying motorcycles! Fan writers?
“A Plague in Space” restates one of the main themes of “Lost Planet of the Gods,” the danger to the Galactica of infectious disease. Boomer brings a sick crewman to life station, where Cassiopiea examines him and tries to determine the cause of his illness. Eventually she believes it is a disease that once existed on Kobol. Although the first patient appears to recover, another man is found dead. Then Athena develops the disease. Boomer takes blood samples from everyone on the ship and finds that although there is enough medication on board to treat everyone, there must be a carrier. And the carrier is Cassiopiea herself! Shades of Typhoid Mary.
“A Queen’s Ransom” finds the Galactica in need of selenium crystals “which are critical for navigation.” Apollo and Starbuck find a planet rich in the substance, land there with a mining party of 20 men, and find a thriving civilization with one problem – reversed gender roles! The mining party decide to incite the local men to revolt and the Colonials are summarily kicked off the planet without their selenium crystals. The local ruler, Areola (WHAT a name!) is willing to trade the crystals for, of course, Starbuck!
After this, the document concludes with a helpful chart showing what programs the other networks used to oppose BG, and an article from TIME (February 26, 1979) about Isaac Asimov.
We are left with two questions: first, is the document authentic? I believe it may very well be, although I have noted disquieting possible evidence to the contrary above and will add a few more things below. Second, what does this tell us about a second season?
We all know that at this time Glen Larson was rolling out a science fiction series on NBC, Buck Rogers. When the first season of Buck Rogers failed to live up to expectations, Larson immediately retooled it- very much in the same way we see here with Galactica. I suspect very few fans will claim that the second season of Buck Rogers improved on the first, and I also suspect that many fans of BG would have been thoroughly alienated by this kind of second season of Galactica.
One of the finest things about Galactica, and something I think all fans appreciated very much, was the strong characterizations and the strong relationships between the characters. As Apollo, Richard Hatch had a central role, supporting his father, leading his friends into combat, serving as the lynchpin of the action and relationships. In a second season, Apollo would have abandoned his responsibilities as a pilot and officer and as a right hand for his father. This is something I can frankly not imagine Apollo ever doing. A second season Apollo would not have been the man we knew, admired, and often loved, he would have been a whining slacker.
As for Athena, it is understandable that Larson might have wanted to bring in a new actress in the role. The character was originally supposed to be fairly important, but the weakness of Maren Jensen’s acting precluded this and she faded in importance and finally disappeared after “Greetings From Earth.” But it seems more logical to me to simply, soap-opera style, replace the actress with a new one in a second season instead of go through the rigmarole of her being horribly wounded and scarred. In addition, although her character was supposed to take on a new importance in connection with the plan to capture more female viewers, judging from the episode outlines her role would often have been a negative one. What is one to think of a military officer who has seen what Athena has, knows what the Cylons are up to, and then pulls a Lysistrata to try to end the war? Completely, totally inane.
The elimination of much of the cast would also have been a horrible mistake. The large ensemble cast gave Galactica great interest and charm, in my opinion. Each character had a unique personality and something to offer no matter how brief their appearances. The disappearance of Tigh, Salik and Wilker would have left Adama as the only older person in the cast. The killing of Sheba is simply unnecessary and appears to me to contradict the claim that female characters would achieve new importance in a second season. If so, why kill one of the leading female characters off? Also, the elimination of cast members and transfer of their responsibilities to the surviving cast would have led to confusion and unreality. Cassiopeia the Chief Life Officer after a year? Boomer suddenly sprouting geek-like talents? As for the new character, Troy, the less said the better.
The proposed scripts, with the exception of “The Bad and the Brave,” are simply awful. Another possible strike against authenticity is the fact that “I Have Seen Earth” and the script that became “The Return of Starbuck”–both known second-season scripts–are not mentioned here. Also, Larson was quoted as saying in an interview that had BG returned on ABC it would have been in the 7 pm Sunday Children’s Hour – and these are not children’s hour scripts or characters.
Many fans, myself included, have dreamed of what a second season of BG would have brought us. New, exciting storylines, more of the characters we have come to know and love, the continuation of the journey to Earth, new relationships and strengthening of old ones, more emphasis on the people of the fleet, the triumphant return of Cain, Baltar’s rescue by the Cylons, perhaps more of the sinister Count Iblis. If this is authentic, and I will be conducting further research in an effort to pin it down, our hopes very probably would have been dashed. Battlestar Galactica was like a meteor across the heavens. Its time was short, but glorious.

©2003, Susan J. Paxton

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