Troy (Kent McCord) and Dillon (Barry Van Dyke) are able to foil Xavier’s (Richard Lynch) to help the Nazi and their V2 rocket with some help from Jamie (Robyn Douglass) and Major Stockwell (Christopher Stone) in the third part of the series opener, Galactica Discovers Earth.

Written by series creator Glen A. Larson this episode was first broadcast on 10 February, 1980.

After stopping Xavier, the fiend escapes back to the present and attempts to persuade Mortinson (Robert Reed) that Troy and Dillon are planning on manipulating time for their own ends, something he doesn’t believe even as young Wally (Adam Farrar) discovers the colonial vipers have returned to the family field.

This time the government seizes them, and not only do Troy and Dillon need to find a way to reclaim them, but Xavier needs to get his as well.

They break into the base and steal their vipers back with Xavier triggering his temporal shift so he can disappear into the past and perhaps alter it. Jamie slips into Dillon’s craft and the trio returns to the Galactica where Adama (Lorne Greene) persuades Jamie to stay aboard and help with their continuing mission to prepare Earth for the inevitable arrival of the Cylons.

There is still a lot of goofy stuff in this episode, but it’s still played fairly straight, if a little too goody-goody.

Still, you have to appeal to the children that the series was predominantly aimed at I guess (which was a huge misjudgment on the part of the broadcaster).

And unfortunately, it’s going to get nothing but worse from here on out…

The Super Scouts was also written by Larson and debuted on 16 March, 1980. It sets up another two-parter, and definitely positions itself as more kid-oriented than the entire series should have been.

The older members of the audience must have been furious.

Using special effects from the original series the Cylons deliver a surprise attack on the fleet and cause Dillon and Troy, who are teaching a class of young students what to expect when they arrive on Earth to take their young wards to the planet before they’re ready.

Marrying a bit of an environmental theme with a kid-friendly story, the episode is a little light, and silly, leaning into a lot of goofy moments, even as Troy and Dillon try to deliver a positive environmental message to the viewing audience.

Masquerading as a scout troop the kids are able to camp and hide out from the government which is once again on their tail because of a UFO sighting. They should just follow Jamie because she finds them just in time, which is good because one of the kids has fallen sick from drinking polluted water.

Troy and Dillon, with Jamie’s help, of course, work on finding a way to save the Galactica’s children before they die and plan to talk to the chemical plant that is poisoning the water!

But we’ll have to wait until next time to see how that plays out…