Battlestar Galactica "The Living Legend" Part 2 TV episode Story by Ken Pettus and Glen A. Larson Teleplay by Glen A. Larson Directed by Vince Edwards

Adama is forced to accept Cain’s plan to have their two battlestars attack Gamoray.

Read the complete synopsis of "The Living Legend" Part 1 at the Battlestar Wiki site

Didja Notice?

At 4:30 on the DVD, the shot of the Pegasus is flipped, as revealed by the mirror image of its name on the landing bay.

As Adama is speaking to Cain at 5:18 on the DVD, we see two other screens displaying information at the command console.
 

Adama tells Cain he wants to land the Galactica's Vipers on the Pegasus until the landing bays can be repaired from the attack. But then the two of them schedule to meet for a war briefing in Adama's quarters just 20 centons (minutes) later! How did Cain manage to land? Maybe he just docked a shuttle to an airlock somewhere on the Galactica's surface? 

At 15:47 (and elsewhere) on the DVD, the ground assault team on Gamoray runs past some power units (or something) that look like elements of the Ravashol pulsar (from "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero") turned sideways!
Gamoray	Ravashol pulsar elements from "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero"

At 17:11 on the DVD, part of Cassiopeia's dialog gets cut off for no apparent reason. From the subtitles, she's saying, "All right, now hold him still, this is gonna hurt, but it'll stop the bleeding," but what we hear on the soundtrack is "All right, now hold him still, this is g--, but it'll stop the bleeding."

Given what seems to be the changing meanings of words like "star system" and "galaxy" in the course of the series, Imperious Leader's reference to Gamoray as "deep in the heart of the Krillian star system," seems to imply Krillian as the name of a galaxy rather than a solar system. It seems likely then, that the previously unnamed galaxy the fleet entered at the beginning of "The Long Patrol" was the Krillian galaxy.

The shots of the explosions going off on Gamoray from the ground team's planted explosives, at 17:55 on the DVD, are stolen from "The Young Lords". During freeze-frame, you can even see the castle ramparts in the background!

There is a strange hesitation in the voice of the IL-series Cylon at 19:35 on the DVD, as he is saying, "Long-range scanners are picking up an intrusion in our quadrant."

Lucifer informs Baltar that the Galactica's forces are over Gamoray "blowing the pogees out of it." "Pogees" has previously been established (in "The Long Patrol") as essentially meaning "shit". 

In close-up scenes of the Pegasus pilots in their Vipers, the Pegasus logo can be seen just below the canopy seal. But in long-range shots of the vipers, the logo has vanished.

Throughout the scenes on Gamoray, Cylons who do not fit any previously known profile are glimpsed, wearing cloaks and having robotic faces. Presumably these are Cylon civilians or drones.

At 43:56 on the DVD, the baseships fire at the Pegasus. But the wide view reaction shot on the bridge as the blasts hit is clearly borrowed from "Annihilation" and Adama and Tigh are visible on the command platform!

At 44:24 on the DVD, the Pegasus nameplate on the docking bay actually says "Galactica" in reverse!

At the end of the episode, the fleet is left wondering whether the Pegasus survived the assault against the three basestars. Wouldn't Baltar be able to reveal that to them after his incarceration in "War of the Gods" Part 2? (Of course, the Pegasus does turn up again much later in the novel Warhawk.)

Notes from the novelization of "The Living Legend" by Glen A. Larson and Nicholas Yermakov (The page numbers come from the 1st printing, paperback edition, published April 1982) Pages 79-end cover the events of "The Living Legend" Part 2.

On page 83, Apollo mentions he and Starbuck having "taken apart" a Cylon base on Naytar. Naytar is not mentioned in any of the chronicled BSG adventures, so it is, presumably, a mission that took place before the destruction of the Colonies.

Pages 87-90 describe how Cassiopeia first met and developed a relationship with Commander Cain.

On page 98, Adama tells the departing ground assault team, "May the Lord be with you." Possibly, this is an homage of "May the Force be with you," from the Star Wars films.

Page 101 depicts Omega as piloting the shuttle that drops the ground assault team on Gamoray. (Although, in the episode, we see him still on the bridge of the Galactica during the assault.)

Page 103 describes the Imperious Leader arriving at Gamoray in his flagship. How is a flagship different from a baseship? If it was just another baseship, the Cylons would actually have 4 baseships to attack with, not just 3 as stated numerous times in the story. However, when Jolly makes his report to Cain about the fleet's success at stealing tankers-full of fuel from Gamoray, he also reports the presence of a fourth baseship that seemed to swoop in to retrieve and escape with an important Cylon figure (unknown to him, the Imperious Leader). I guess the Cylons just didn't wanted to risk the Imperious Leader's baseship in the attack.

Page 103 also confirms that the Delphians have been eradicated by the Cylons.

Pages 103-110 go into some detail about the Cylon philosophy of their superiority to other races.

Page 104 reveals that the Cylons have come across several races capable of dismantling an entire planet for its raw materials which, apparently, is not a desire shared by the Cylons.

Page 107 describes the different classes in the Cylon hierarchy. At the top is the Imperious Leader with his 3 brains; a level down are Cylon executive officers with 2 brains (presumably the gold-colored Cylons in the TV series); next are Cylon warriors, part organic and part technology; Cylon citizens possess their first brain and lack any inorganic augmentation; Cylon drones possess only rudimentary brains and their lack of achievement disqualifies from receiving higher brains and relegates them to performing the base tasks in society. Entirely inorganic Cylons include the IL-series robots (like Lucifer and Spectre) and robotic Cylon warriors used to augment their attack forces. This leaves the place of the IL-series in Cylon society somewhat vague, though Lucifer seems to hint (in "A Death in the Family") that IL-series robots have the potential to be promoted to Imperious Leader in the event of the previous Leader's death; perhaps what this means is that the brain of an IL can become the third brain of a newly promoted executive officer to the position of Imperious Leader.

Page 110 reveals that Lucifer, having saved Baltar from the Imperious Leader's death order after the successful destruction of the Colonies, explained to his Leader that Baltar could still be useful for 1) tracking and destroying the surviving humans of the fleet and 2) observation in order to learn close-hand how and why humans behave the way they do. Imperious Leader agreed to the experiment and plans to eventually kill Baltar either way; if the human is successful in wiping out the rest of his kind, he himself will also be executed shortly after, and if he doesn't accomplish the task, he will be killed when his observer, Lucifer, decides there is no more to learn from him.

Page 112 reveals that the base commander on Gamoray did not report the presence of a battlestar in the system for the past 2 years because he had begun to exaggerate the extent of the damage to the infrastructure of the Delphian Empire in conquering it; he had needed more and more time to repair the needed facilities due to the unexpected presence and attacks by the mysterious human battlestar. If he reported it, a basestar would have been sent and they soon would have realized he was not managing the base in an acceptable manner and been replaced and possibly demoted to a lower class in the Cylon hierarchy.

A few times in the book, the Imperious Leader is also referred to as the supreme Cylon.

Page 113 refers to a bronze Cylon centurion. It's unclear whether this is just a differing description of the gold centurions seen in the TV series, or an actual separate class from them.

Page 114 reveals that the Cylons have an official anthem of "strange, dissonant music."

The episode subtitles refer to Gamoray as being in the Krillian system. The novel spells it Cryllion instead.

In the episode, Imperious Leader commands his minions to find out what caused the sound of an explosion that interrupted his address by saying, "Find out before I have you scavenged for spare parts." In the novel, given that the Cylons are still depicted as being part reptilian, he instead says to the base commander, "...find out, before I find a post more suited to one of your limited knowledge."

Contrary to previous indications in both the TV and novel series, page 139 suggests that Lucifer was the first of his kind and it was he who assisted Cylon scientists with designing the actual IL-series robots. From the point of view of overall continuity of the BSG saga, while we can accept that Lucifer is, perhaps, the most gifted version of the IL-series, we must dismiss the idea that he invented the series; though, perhaps he also assisted in improving subsequent iterations.

Page 141 reveals that Imperious Leader was wounded in the attack on Gamoray, but not fatally so.

Page 148 reveals that Cain's wife died of a wasting disease. Cain did not arrive home from his posting until it was too late; she had already died.

Page 149 seems to confuse the timeline of the Battle of Molecay and the destruction of Caprica. It almost seems to suggest that the destruction of Caprica came first, shortly after the death of Cain's wife, and the Battle of Molecay, where the 5th fleet was lost and the Pegasus fled into deep space, as after. Obviously, this makes no sense in the timeline as we understand it; the Battle of Molecay took place at least a year before the destruction of the Colonies.

On page 150, Starbuck uses Earth profanity, saying, "Oh, shit." In Colonial parlance, I suppose he should have said, "Oh, pogees."

The novel suggests that all of Pegasus' Viper squadrons may be named after a metal followed by the word "spar", as in Silver Spar Squadron and Bronze Spar Squadron.

In the novel, Tolen is injured in the attack on the Pegasus by the Cylon fighters. He gets patched up in the life station and then insists on returning to his post.

Page 176 suggests that Adama and Cain had a friendship when they were young pilots much like that of Apollo and Starbuck. Surrender the Galactica describes Adama and Tigh as being the Apollo and Starbuck of their day.