Gun on Ice Planet Zero (Part 2)
Original Airdate: October 29, 1978
Writers: Leslie Stevens, Michael Sloan and Don Bellisario.
Director: Alan J. Levi.
Guest Cast: Roy Thinnes (Croft), James Olson (Thane), Dan O'Herlihy (Dr. Ravashol), Christine Bedford (Leda), Britt Ekland (Tenna)
A Viper patrol discovers a massive cannon on a nearby planet capable of destroying the Galactica in a single pulse. Trapped by approaching Basestars, Adama sends a team down to the planet to destroy the weapon before time runs out.
Gun on Ice Planet Zero is the final installment in the originally planned Galactica miniseries. Although broadcast later in the season, it was a return to the epic roots of the pilot and Lost Planet of the Gods. Alan J. Levi returned to direct the two-parter, which was set primarily on a barren arctic waste.
“We had to order extra Cylon uniforms because we had blown the felgercarb out of almost all of them on the pilot,” he recalls. “We had to design the sets and everything else from scratch.”
To simulate the frozen terrain, Levi used a double stage covered with synthetic snow.
Although the director requested two air conditioners to cool the stage, the studio initially – and unwisely – only provided one. “The first day was horrendous because all the cast was in parkas and masks. They’d be in those parkas 20 seconds and before I could say ‘action’ they’d be sweating. We were halfway done with the day and we had lost three hours due to makeup runs. So by the end of the week we had two air conditioners on stage. We kept the air at 54 degrees and the entire crew was wearing parkas.”
