Customer Reviews

Battlestar Galactica - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero [VHS]

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The fifth story in Battlestar Galactica's TV run, Gun On Ice Planet Zero is an entertaining mix of the movies The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen, Ice Station Zebra, and Tobruk. The plot (involving an original story that was heavily rewritten) has some problems, but they don't really affect the episode's entertainment value, boosted once again by the superb primary cast of Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, and Herb Jefferson Jr., and here ably backed by guest stars Roy Thinnes (The Invaders), Christine Belford, veteran film heavy Richard Lynch, James Olsen (Andromeda Strain, Commando), Denny Miller, Britt Ekland, and Dan O'Herlihy (Fail Safe).

The Cylons have pincered the Fleet into a "safe" passage of space, orbiting near a small, ice-covered planetoid. The reason becomes clear when a patrol of Colonial vipers approaches the moon; it contains a pulse-energy laser cannon, covering the entire summit of a mountain, with pinpoint accuracy and the power to destroy any ship in one burst. The Cylon garrison commander, First Centurion Vulpa (distinguished by the golden hue of his armor, a trait found only in himself and other command Cylons), orders two vipers destroyed and a third captured. Starbuck and Boomer cannot save young cadet Cree from Cylon capture, and his overpowering guilt at the incident drives Starbuck to contrive to join a raiding force composed of ex-warriors jailed for a variety of malfeance. Leader of this group of gridrats is Croft (Thinnes), bitter over being jailed for stealing Cylon gold in a raid. He is aided by hulking "one-man task force" Wolfe (Lynch), Thane (Olsen), and Croft's estranged wife Leda (Belford); Leda has the best line of the show; "To have Croft and myself in the same place at the same time invites disaster."

The raiding party is shot down by Cylon raiders and barely succeeds in using a snowram (a personnel carrier mounted with lasergun) to blast one out of the sky; the sequence of the Cylon attack on the landing party is the highlight of Part One. But salvation arrives in the form of a race of clones, or Theta-class lifeforms, as one of the female clones (Britt Ekland plays the females, known as Tennas, while Denny Miller plays the heavily-bearded males, whose leader is known as Ser 5-9) pointedly says.

The Thetas were born of the same process that led to the creation of the Cylon laser cannon; they were created by a human scientist, Ravoshol (O'Herlihy), who works for the Cylons because they allow him to continue his experimentation. Most Thetas are now Cylon slaves, and when Apollo points this out in a heated exchange with Ravoshol, the scientist scoffs, until Apollo reveals that dissident Thetas have been bearing children. The scientist now realizes the wrongfulness of aiding the Cylon empire, and helps the Colonial raiding force.

But the ex-cons want out, and as they scale the mountain with the pulsar, they pull their guns on Apollo. Meanwhile, Starbuck bolts the main group to try and find Cree, certain that the Cylons still have him alive.

The race against time as the Cylons begin blasting away at space as the Galactica's fleet strives to escape the incoming base stars of Baltar is grippingly portrayed, and complete the solidification of this episode.

A two-part episode, this is one of the best in the series. The special effects when the shuttle is diving for the clouds on the ice planet still wear well after all these years. When you consider that they were created for a seventies television show, it is even more incredible. A human scientist, Dr. Ravasholl, so engrossed in his research that he ignores the consequences, creates a super weapon for the Cylons that they are using to threaten the fugitive colonial fleet. The fleet has been carefully herded to a point where they can be threatened by the gun, so a small team is sent to the ice planet in an attempt to scale the mountain and destroy the gun. Unfortunately, most of the team members are criminals, chosen out of necessity for their experience in harsh environments.
Shot down on their way to the planet, the team crash lands, yet survives. In their trek to the mountain containing the weapon, the colonial team encounters a society made up of clones, the consequences of another project of Dr. Ravasholl, referred to as the father creator. The clones, fundamentally slaves to the Cylons, help the colonial group scale the mountain and successfully destroy the gun.
This episode also contains some of the best dialog that appeared in the series. Two of the human criminals in the assault team are husband and wife and her line, "To have Croft and myself in the same place at the same time invites disaster" is masterfully delivered. Even the turncoat Baltar is able to speak some decent lines rather than engage in repeating cliches about his hatred for Adama.
If all of the episodes had this level of episode specific special effects and quality dialog, then this series would have had a longer run. Unfortunately, the same effects were constantly repeated and the dialog was also recycled. Nevertheless, this is by far one of the best episodes, with some of the best of both.

very big words that make no sense. But I digress. This is one of those shows I liked as a kid and seem really bad as an adult. These 2 hours could have been spent on coming up with something much more original without the cylons.

This is a great two-parter, packed with good action, humour, suspense and for the time on TV, great effects! This is space adventure that is suitable and enjoyable for all ages. Britt Ekland guest stars.