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Welcome Back, Battleship Galaxy-1!
It’s been a long wait, but loyal listeners such as ourselves will soon once again thrill to the broadcast adventures of that most beleaguered of rocket craft, the noble Battleship Galaxy-1. The series is set to return for its fourth and final season on the Scientifiction Band, as part of the rotating lineup of General Electric Imagination Theater, on April 4.
In the years since its premiere, this revival of the beloved but short-lived NBC Blue Network series of several decades past has won over even skeptical listeners such as ourselves, jettisoning the Saturday-serial histrionics of the original for the sort of thoughtful, literate explorations of the future more often found in the celebrated Amazing Stories magazine. True, some of its ideas may be fanciful — the notion of delicate females like Karen “Starbuck” Thorn (Ms. Katherine Sanders) serving in combat seems particularly preposterous. But I’ve been particularly impressed with the series’ thoughtful parallels to our modern world; who among us cannot easily identify the nefarious Martians as a potent symbol for the Red menace that even now may be infiltrating our pure, just American society?
When we last left Admiral Bill Adams (Mr. Edward J. Oldman) and his intrepid crew, they were preparing to do battle with a sinister Martian armada, even as four of their own, including the loyal XO Sam Tigh (Mr. Michael Hogan), discovered that they had in fact been Martian agents all along. The series closed with hotshot pilot Lee Adams (Mr. James Bamber), alone in the cockpit of his space-aeroplane, hearing his wireless crackle to life with the startling voice of Starbuck herself, presumed dead earlier this season, promising that she had found the way to the long-lost planet known as Earth. (The producers and Ms. Sanders are to be commended for the phony publicity they placed in all the papers, falsely hinting that Ms. Sanders had in fact been fired from the show. The uproar at the time seems worthwhile, given the satisfaction of the ensuing surprise.)
We hope this season finds the crew at last encountering Earth, as we are curious to see whether they find it as some distant futuristic utopia, a primordial paradise, or perhaps even our very own present day. We are also eager to see what awaits the slippery traitor Dr. Gary Baltarovich (Mr. James Callis), now ensconced in a sordid love nest of wanton, sex-crazed female admirers. And on a less prurient note, we hope the series continues to explore the tender romance between Admiral Adams and the ship’s teacher, Laura Rose (Mrs. Mary McDonnell), a satisfying and cautiously developed aspect of previous seasons.
Amid the varied firmament of General Electric Imagination Theater — from leaden veteran Gateway to the Stars to sprightly, endearing newcomer Geniusville, USA! — Battleship Galaxy-1 is by far the brightest star. And if it must end, We hope it does so in supernova fashion — going out with a bang.