STARBUCK

Skyler….

SKYLER

Mmmm….

STARBUCK

You hear something?

SKYLER

No….

STARBUCK

Sounded like a door opening above.

SKYLER

Must be almost morning by now…. Could be another of their health tours.

STARBUCK

You really intend to see where they’re going?

SKYLER

Uh huh.

STARBUCK

Just like your father….

(Skyler seems to care about the conversation for the first time. His eyes shift over to the form sharing the claustrophobic space beside him)

STARBUCK

No offense meant…I guess I have a reputation for taking things kind of loose and easy. Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it when someone sticks his neck out for me. You, I mean.

SKYLER (embarrassed)

I thought we were talking about my father.

STARBUCK

I was…in a way. I mean, we wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t done what he did…and what you did…what you had to do. That took a lot of courage, too.

SKYLER

It isn’t courage, Starbuck. It’s reflex. You know you’re a complete warrior when you find you can leave your own brother behind to die….

STARBUCK

To save how many more brothers…you can’t feel responsible.

SKYLER

Starbuck…you’re a na�ve young boy. Let me tell you what I feel…what’s really bothering me…it’s how long it’s taking me to feel anything at all. Only now, two centons after he’s gone, do I begin to ache…to start to hurt, to want to cry. That’s how programmed I’ve become. So which one of us is the lesser living creature? The one that’s gone on, or the one who is left behind and feels nothing?

(Starbuck finds he’s opened up a floodgate he isn’t equipped to handle)

STARBUCK

I don’t know.

SKYLER

Now you sound like a leader…I don’t know either.

Skyler’s reference to Starbuck as a “na�ve young boy” makes one wonder how much of an age difference Larson originally saw between these two roles.
Later, the warriors’ patience is rewarded and they find out that the Ovions are using their human guests as food. In this early version the casino guests are overfed until they’re enormous. Not only is this a rather unattractive concept, it’s impossible (it would takes months of stuffing to get the people as plump as these are portrayed as being) and also inefficient. Skyler and Starbuck escape from the mine and run into Sire Anton in the upper levels; they warn him of what’s going on. Meanwhile, Baltar, who is on Carillon, has been busily plotting the final doom of the humans with the Ovions. Tigh orders everyone evacuated from the surface when he becomes suspicious of Ovion motives.
On the planet, a battle begins as the humans try to evacuate the casino. Pilots from Red Squadron are trapped, but before Starbuck can rush off to find his comrades a broadcast from Baltar orders the humans to surrender and offers them survival if they do so. He has Adama captive—Adama and Lyra (Serina) were captured earlier. The dialogue between Baltar and Adama is of interest:

ADAMA

Baltar…you dare to live. To walk amongst men….

BALTAR

My dear Adama, provincial to the end. I offer you people life. You have but a few microns to decide. Even I couldn’t call off the Cylon destroyers, once they reach your people huddled in those helpless, miserable ships.

ADAMA

What treachery have you in store for your race this time?

BALTAR

My dear man, treachery is a matter of perspective. It is the Cylons who wish us dead, not I.

ADAMA

How long have you supported their war machine by selling them tylium?

BALTAR

If not from me, then some other source. They would not be denied….

ADAMA

Are you so much a fool that you believe you can trust them?

BALTAR

I am prepared to offer them tylium from the planet Carillon in return for your lives. If they reject my offer, I will destroy the planet. Not difficult, considering it’s largely composed of the most combustible substance known to man….

ADAMA

You expect me to accept slavery for our people….

BALTAR

You are not alone amongst my prisoners. Your daughter….

(Baltar looks off as Athena and Boxey are escorted in by two Cylon guards. Athena runs from them into his arms)

ATHENA

Father….

BALTAR

You must make the choice. Life…or death for her and the boy, and for all your people. You haven’t much time. If you have not chosen to live by the time the Cylons reach you, I will let you die…all of you.

Adama finally agrees with Baltar’s demand and is permitted to contact Colonel Tigh. Adama orders Tigh to send down the Galactica’s remaining warriors. Unbeknownst to Baltar, his words are a secret code arranged beforehand and Tigh sends down a strike force. The strike force attacks the planet, the Cylons attack the fleet and all hell breaks loose. Just before he’s about to board a shuttle for the Galactica, Muffit tugs at Starbuck’s leg. Lyra believes the droid knows where Boxey is and convinces Starbuck to follow it. Starbuck does so:

(Baltar stands amidst his two Cylon centurions admiring the sounds of war, and the sights on his long range scanners)

BALTAR

Adama…you have won the battle. But now you must lose the war.

(the centurion raises his laser pistol, directing it at Adama and Athena)

BALTAR

Remove her, and the others.

(the two centurions begin to remove Athena, Boxey, and Adama. Suddenly the small droid charges into the chamber barking)

BOXEY

Muffey!

BALTAR

Get him…

(as the centurions start for the little droid, the droid wheels around and races back out the door, Baltar and the centurions in pursuit)

Baltar chases Muffit down a corridor and shoots the poor little droid just as Starbuck arrives on the scene. He’s about to shoot Starbuck but Adama deflects Baltar’s aim. Starbuck shoots Baltar, then his two centurions. The ex-prisoners escape, Starbuck pausing to bring back the demolished Muffit. He hears noises, follows them, and finds the missing pilots and people from the casino. The last scene of this early version of the premiere begins on the last shuttle to leave Carillon, which includes among its passengers none other than the Android Sisters.

BOOMER

You didn’t!

STARBUCK (innocently)

I couldn’t very well leave them behind!

Starbuck and Boomer watch as Carillon explodes behind them; on the bridge of the Galactica, Tigh and Adama watch the same sight.

TIGH

Commander….

ADAMA

I saw it.

TIGH

The final end of Count Baltar and his treachery.

ADAMA

No…I’m afraid his treachery will haunt the human race for millenniums. But out of it, perhaps there will come some good. A place for us out there in the universe where we can seek after man’s potential for good, for peace, for love…a place with our brothers and sisters…on a planet called Earth.

If all this confuses you, you’re not alone. The entire casino sequence is far too complex; there’s just too much going on and I didn’t describe all of it. As aired, the casino sequences were scrambled in order for some reason but at least it’s fairly straightforward. That was not the case in this early draft and I suspect that’s why this version differs so markedly from what was actually shot.

� 1991, 1999 by Susan J. Paxton