Marathon: Galactica 1980

HI EVERYONE! IT'S ME, HIMEE!!! YAY! Okay, I'm back. I was away a little longer than I planned, but I have a good reason. The SciFi channel ran a Galactica 1980 marathon and I was all over it. The typical SciFi marathon is 6 to 8 hours long and most people can't sit through that. I can. I'm what you would call a seasoned marathon warrior. 8 hours is no problem for me, but this marathon would test me, this was a 10 hour marathon. Sure, I could have TIVOed the whole thing and backed it up to DVD for later viewing, but then I wouldn't have anything to brag about at GenCon '06. So let me tell you all about it.

Tuesday, April 4th, 9:30 pm
I ran to Wal-Mart for soda and munchies. I like Sam's Choice Grape Soda because it taste SWEET! and it's cheap, only $1.59 a 12 pack. I buy two because this is a ten hour marathon and I'm going to have company. I also buy chips and salsa and my personal favorite, Twinkies! I also pick up some Cadbury cream filled eggs, because it's fun to lose them on the sofa and find them later. That is better than finding pennies. I spend $18.36 and go home to call my friend Patrick to see if he wants to join me on this tour of duty. He says "Hell Yeah." I set the TIVO to record because you can't get Galactica 1980 on DVD and I know I will watch this over and over again. I get ready for bed and my grandma tucks me in for the night.

Wednesday, April 5th, 7:45 am
My alarm clock goes off. I get up and put on some sweat pants and a t-shirt. I call Patrick and tell him to come over. Galactica 1980 starts in 13 and a half minutes. He grunts and hangs up the phone. Me and Pat have been friends since grade school. We met when were both thrown into the same dumpster by the school bully, Neal McPheaden. We grew up watching Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980. We both work at Mark Motors where he comes in with a hang over almost every morning since his wife left him over six years ago. Today is our day off and were just gonna veg out and watch Galactica 1980. SWEET!

Wednesday, April 5th, 8:00 am
YAY!! The show starts, and I' so excited. Patrick hasn't arrived yet, but I can't wait for him. I sit back and solider on to watch Episode 1: Galactica Discovers Earth Part 1. Okay, so Galactica 1980 is set 30 years after Battlestar Galactica. Adama and the fleet of 220 ships has finally found earth. YAY!, but there is bad news. Dr. Zee tells Adama that the Cylons have been secretly tracking them for the last 20 years and that Earth does not have the technology to fend off a Cylon attack. Bummer. Adama sends warriors Troy and Dillon to Earth with orders to contact Professor Mortinson in order to speed up Earth's technology. Adama and the rest of the fleet lead the cylons in another direction in order to hide Earth. SWEET! So in this first episode we meet the new warriors Troy and Dillon. Troy is actually Boxey from Battlestar Galactica who is Commander Adama's grandson, he was a little kid back then. Hey, there's Muffit the cyber dog, YAY!!! This episode is half over, where is Pat?

Wednesday, April 5th, 8:34 am
Commercial break. I call Pat to see if he is awake, he says yeah, he'll be over soon. He's not much of a morning person. I'm a bit tired, so I crack open a nice cold grape soda. That hits the spot! I'm glad I have a fridge down in the basement, running up the stairs is hard work. Well back to the show.

Wednesday, April 5th, 9:06 am
Still no Pat so I give him another call. No answer. I'm getting hungry, TWINKIE TIME!! So I'm watching Episode 2: Galactica Discovers Earth Part 2. This jerk off Xavier decides he wants to go back in time to speed up Earth's technology even faster. He does and Troy and Dillon chase after him. SWEET! Xavier decides he wants to give super weapons to the Nazi's, which is pretty uncool because I'm Jewish. If Troy and Dillon don't stop him, I may not even exist at the end of this episode. BUMMER!

Wednesday, April 5th, 10:13 am
I'm still here, so that means Troy and Dillon were successful in their mission and the Nazi didn't wipe my people off the map. Thanks guys. Patrick shows up right at the first commercial break of Episode 3. He stumbled down the steps with a little cooler full of beer and wearing sunglasses. Pat kind of looks like Tom Cruise when he wears his Ray Ban's. He was pretty excited to be here. He yelled "WOOOHOOO" pretty loud and slammed a beer. He then jumped up and down on the sofa until he fell down. He got up and swallowed two twinkies whole! After that he wanted to give me a hug and said he was ready to watch Buck Rodgers. I said hey Pat, the shows back on, settle down. He slumped down on the sofa and fell asleep. Pat is so funny.

Wednesday, April 5th, 12:02 pm
So I've just started Episode 5: The Super Scouts. Troy and Dillon are in a race against time to save the children from the toxic water they drank out of a stream. Pat wakes up and he's pretty hungry. He gets up and goes to the fridge looking for something to eat. I dig into the chips and salsa I've been eating all morning. I love black bean and corn salsa. Pat yells "where the F@#k is my crab meat?" I tell him he didn't have any over here. He yells "bullsh*t you F@#KER! you ate my f@#king crab meat!" I just handed him a beer and told him to think on it. He said "Okay, but don't eat my crab meat again." I said that I wouldn't, then suggested we get back to watching Galactica 1980. Pat ate four twinkies, slammed two beers and passed out again.

Wednesday, April 5th, 12:59 pm
Alrighty, Episode 6: Spaceball. I've reached the half way point. I'm feeling pretty good so far, my butt is pretty conditioned for this kind of sitting. My training has paid off and I'm sure I'll make it to six o'clock.

Wednesday, April 5th, 2:31 pm
Half way though Episode 7: The Night the Cylons Landed Part 1, Pat woke up and threw up in his cooler then went back to sleep. Grandma's going to be so mad.

Wednesday, April 5th, 2:46 pm
I decided that Pat needed to wake up or else he was going to sleep all day. I put on my Ash costume and pulled out the chainsaw. I was going to put on the C3PO costume, but scaring people is so much more fun. So I put on my Ash mask, start up the chainsaw, give it a little gas and run at Pat. He wakes up and starts screaming and runs into a closet to hide. I tell him it's ok, I was just playing a joke on him so he can come out. I like having fun.

Wednesday, April 5th, 3:10 pm
Whew, starting the 8th hour, after this it all new ground for me, I'll be setting a new personal record for marathon watching. I'm now on Episode 8: The Night the Cylons Landed Part 2. Pat's back from a 20 minute dump. Turns out his crab meat was in his brief case up in his car. He sat down to eat. Dillon and Troy are close to finding the Cylons who just happen to crash land on Earth on Halloween night. They wind up at a Halloween Party hosted by the guy who does the voice for Kitt from Knight Rider. Wolfman Jack shows up dressed like Shakespeare and the Cylons plan to take him hostage to gain access to the radio station so they can contact the Cylon base ship. Pat says "I thought we were watching Buck Rodgers?" No Pat, Galactica 1980, you know Commander Adama and the fleet. He scratches his head and says "What?"

Wednesday, April 5th, 4:16 pm
Episode 9: Space Croppers. This is a new episode for me, I missed it back in 1980 because I was grounded. The Cylons have grown tired of following the humans and want to speed up their progress, so they attack and blow up a few agricultural ships. Adama and Dr. Zee now have to figure out to feed the fleet. Troy and Dillon are ordered to invest in a California farm and grow food for Galactica and the fleet. I wish I could be a farmer in California, it looks so pretty with the hills and trees. Plenty of new places to play Lord of the Rings.

Wednesday, April 5th, 5:01 pm
I'm feeling the numbness set in. My butt is running out of gas, it's just plain tired. No matter how much I shift positions I can't get the feeling back. The final show, Episode 10: The Return of Starbuck, which is also new to me, I was still grounded when this aired in 1980. Okay, Dr. Zee has a dream of a great warrior that was lost to Galactica some 15 years ago. He tells Adama that his name was Starbuck. YAY!! I love Starbuck. So Starbuck crash lands on a barren planet and finds a crashed Cylon fighter. Starbuck rebuilt a Cylon out of loneliness and they became friends and his name is Cy. SWEET! Pat really got into this episode, he slammed a few more beers and started jumping up and down on the sofa yelling, "I"M F@#KING STARBUCK WOOOHOOO!"

Wednesday, April 5th, 5:56 pm
I can't sit any longer so I stand and watch the rest of the episode. WOW! Dr. Zee is actually Starbuck's son! How cool would that be?! Pat's still yelling "I"M F@#KING STARBUCK WOOOHOOO!" I tell him to be quiet or my grandma is going to kick him out. He settles down and offers me some crab meat. Man, Cy dies to save Starbuck from the other Cylons and StarBuck is left alone on this planet. End of episode. BUMMER! I'm sorry Starbuck, I will always remember you. Pat drinks to that. I crack open a nice cold grape soda and join him.

So I sat there for 10 hours and watched that entire marathon. That is a pretty hard thing to do. I challenge anyone who reads this to try and do it. I bet you don't get past 3 hours. You need years of training to accomplish a feat like this. In the end it was worth it, I transfered the show to my PC and edited out the commercials and backed it up to DVD. I'm the king and you must pay homage. See ya next Episode.

Himee Jones