Living Legend ending?

[johnnybear]

I've just finished watching Living Legend for the first time in many years and I still found the ending to be very strange.
I understand that the idea was to confuse us as to whether or not The Pegasus survived the battle with the two Basestars but we didn't really see much offensive from them apart from their initial attacks and The Pegasus didn't even seem to be between them when Starbuck and Apollo looked back! Plus whatever happened to Baltar's Basestar and his retreating stance? The next time we see him in War of The Gods there is no mention of The Pegasus or the conclusion to the battle of Gammoray and Baltar imparts no information that we know of to Adama or the council when he surrenders to them!
It also seemed a bit rushed as to the ending with comments made in the medical section to Sheba from Adama, Apollo and Starbuck venting their theory as to what happened to The Pegasus, I think maybe the conclusion to Mission Galactica:The Cylon Attack was better in some ways despite the very poor splicing of scenes from Fire in Space and with Apollo and Starbuck saying they believe The Pegasus took off across the system as it did the last time and then Adama stated that Cain is wherever he wants to be and then it ends abruptly too! Does anyone know if the script sort of just ended early or what?
JB

[johnnybear]

Three and a half years later and still no one knows!
JB

[Cylon-Knight]

[johnnybear]

The lines spoken by Adama and Apollo by Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch as to where Cain was, were they newly recorded for the mish mash Mission:Galactica film or where do they come from as I don't recall them from the episodes themselves?
JB

[Specter]

I've seen the script, and it didn't have anything more than what we see and hear after the base ships blow up. Nothing was cut out; it just ends that abruptly. Starbuck and Apollo can't see if the Pegasus is there or not because of all the smoke and debris, but they don't have time to wait around and find out because all the Cylon fighters are about to come back. As for Baltar, I assume when he retreated he just kept on retreating.

Adama's lines in the last scene of Mission Galactica were newly recorded. The only other line in that scene was from Starbuck, and it was a clipped version of what he said in the episode. This was how the scene played:

ADAMA: Any news of Cain?

STARBUCK: He just headed out into deep space, the way he did the last time.

ADAMA: Wherever he is, I’m damn sure he’s where he wants to be.

In the episode, Starbuck prefaced his line with "As far as I'm concerned, ..." but in Mission Galactica he spoke it as if it were a certainty.

[Croft2014]

Cain will be at a severe disadvantage due to not having any fighters left.

[Specter]

Cain will be at a severe disadvantage due to not having any fighters left.

Yes, I don't think he was expecting to survive. He called it his "last battle."

[johnnybear]

We know that Cain would have returned in the second season but would that have been as the Galactica's enemy rather than friend? I mean Count Iblis seemed well acquainted with the Pegasus's Commander in War of The Gods! It's odd that Baltar never mentioned the destruction of the Pegasus but then again in episodic television the channel might not have shown that episode before War of The Gods (like Thames who left it right until the end of the series as Mission:Galactica in 1981) Plus the ending is strange and doesn't seem to be rounded off. It's just loose and hanging with Sheba at a loss over the disappearance of her father. No wonder viewers assumed the crashed spaceship two episodes later was the site of Cain's final resting place!
JB

[Cylon-Knight]

Cain and the Pegasus in season two would have been so good. Easily could be a twist to have him and Adama wrestle for power over the fleet leaving them all exposed to Cylon attack, oops, look what we did...

[johnnybear]

Maybe Cain could have returned while under the power of Iblis who has promised him the power and the battles against the Cylons he craves! But Iblis wants the Galactica and Adama punished for his resistance to his offer to lead the fleet to earth and Cain won't kill the innocent people on the ragtag convoy!
JB

[Specter]

We know that Cain would have returned in the second season but would that have been as the Galactica's enemy rather than friend? I mean Count Iblis seemed well acquainted with the Pegasus's Commander in War of The Gods! It's odd that Baltar never mentioned the destruction of the Pegasus but then again in episodic television the channel might not have shown that episode before War of The Gods (like Thames who left it right until the end of the series as Mission:Galactica in 1981) Plus the ending is strange and doesn't seem to be rounded off. It's just loose and hanging with Sheba at a loss over the disappearance of her father. No wonder viewers assumed the crashed spaceship two episodes later was the site of Cain's final resting place!
JB

It's funny, but before the Internet I had no idea anyone ever thought Iblis's crashed ship was the Pegasus or that Cain was in there dead. It just doesn't stand up to the dialogue. In part 1 Iblis insists that Sheba will see Cain again, but in part 2 Iblis forbids her to look into the crashed ship (which would be her only chance to see Cain again if he were dead). But even if we assume Iblis was lying in part 1, it's made very clear that whatever Apollo sees in there is a clue to Iblis's true identity. The dead body of Cain wouldn't be that.

[johnnybear]

It was the first thing I thought of upon seeing the giant crashed spaceship! Plus Starbuck's comments about whatever it was hit the place like a Battlestar! Although Thames had not screened that two parter at the time, I knew the episode guide back to front! The Pegasus was mentioned a lot in this story despite it not being a part of it and the next time we hear of it is in The Hand of God because the Galactica takes on the Cylon Basestar just like Commander Cain had but Cain destroyed two of Baltar's Basestar fleet instead of just the one which was on the edge of the galaxy!
JB

[johnnybear]

The ending to part two of The Living Legend is what spoils this two parter for me! I mean yes, the Pegasus fate is best left vague so in order for a possible return if the series returned the following year (which it didn't) but Adama and the others don't make any light of it and even seem disinterested which leaves us wondering more than we should be!!! The Mission ending at least gives some kind of closure. The best solution would have been for more Basestars to turn up and chase the Galactica giving them no other option but to leave the vicinity of Gamoray but as I said it's a script error or something the ending we do get!
JB

[Scott]

We know that Cain would have returned in the second season but would that have been as the Galactica's enemy rather than friend? I mean Count Iblis seemed well acquainted with the Pegasus's Commander in War of The Gods! It's odd that Baltar never mentioned the destruction of the Pegasus but then again in episodic television the channel might not have shown that episode before War of The Gods (like Thames who left it right until the end of the series as Mission:Galactica in 1981) Plus the ending is strange and doesn't seem to be rounded off. It's just loose and hanging with Sheba at a loss over the disappearance of her father. No wonder viewers assumed the crashed spaceship two episodes later was the site of Cain's final resting place!
JB

It's funny, but before the Internet I had no idea anyone ever thought Iblis's crashed ship was the Pegasus or that Cain was in there dead. It just doesn't stand up to the dialogue. In part 1 Iblis insists that Sheba will see Cain again, but in part 2 Iblis forbids her to look into the crashed ship (which would be her only chance to see Cain again if he were dead). But even if we assume Iblis was lying in part 1, it's made very clear that whatever Apollo sees in there is a clue to Iblis's true identity. The dead body of Cain wouldn't be that.

LOL...the night after part 2 of War of The Gods aired I had a fight with a guy in my 7th grade class that was telling everyone that missed the episode that it was the Pegasus. He thought because of Sheba's reaction and all the wreckage that used bits of pieces of we had seen before in the show that it was Cain. My response was that whatever was in the wreckage obviously was disgusting and was a clue to whatever kind of devil Iblis was. As for the wreckage I said we see bits of pieces of sets/props/etc through every episode based on what they need to use to save money. He called me a moron and went on saying it was the Pegasus.

I agree with Specter, I don't see how anyone ever could have thought the wreck was from the Pegasus.

[Specter]

LOL...the night after part 2 of War of The Gods aired I had a fight with a guy in my 7th grade class that was telling everyone that missed the episode that it was the Pegasus. He thought because of Sheba's reaction and all the wreckage that used bits of pieces of we had seen before in the show that it was Cain. My response was that whatever was in the wreckage obviously was disgusting and was a clue to whatever kind of devil Iblis was. As for the wreckage I said we see bits of pieces of sets/props/etc through every episode based on what they need to use to save money. He called me a moron and went on saying it was the Pegasus.

I agree with Specter, I don't see how anyone ever could have thought the wreck was from the Pegasus.

I haven't read the Stevens/Moore book "By Your Command" yet, but according to someone who has, this is what it says: The wreckage of Iblis's ship was not made from Galactica parts, but was recycled from the Universal TV-movie "Brave New World," which didn't air until March 1980 but was already in production at the time.