"Battlestar Galactica" Black Market (2006)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

James Head

Writers:

Ronald D. Moore (developer)
Mark Verheiden (written by)

TV Series:

"Battlestar Galactica" (2004)

Original Air Date:

27 January 2006 (Season 2, Episode 14)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Apollo investigates the murder of one of the crew and falls for a young prostitute, whom he vows to save from the rogue ship dealing with the Black Market. As well as confronting the bad guys, Apollo has to confront some past mistakes.

Plot Keywords:

Faster Than Light | Starfighter | Space Opera | Female Protagonist | Space Western

Cast

Edward James Olmos	...	Admiral William Adama
Mary McDonnell	...	President Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff	...	Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace (credit only)
Jamie Bamber	...	Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama
James Callis	...	Dr. Gaius Baltar
Tricia Helfer	...	Number Six
Grace Park	...	Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii (credit only)
Michael Hogan	...	Colonel Saul Tigh
Paul Campbell	...	Billy Keikeya
Kandyse McClure	...	Officer Anastasia Dualla
Richard Hatch	...	Tom Zarek
Graham Beckel	...	Commander Jack Fisk
Claudette Mink	...	Shevon
Donnelly Rhodes	...	Dr. Cottle
Bill Duke	...	Phelan

Runtime:

Netherlands:60 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:12

Company:

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)

Trivia:

When Apollo boards the "Prometheus", the first black market item seen being sold are cartons of cigarettes with the brand name "Sarcoma". A sarcoma is a form of cancer that develops in the connective tissue.

Quotes:

Phelan: It's hard to find the moral high ground when you're all standing in the mud.

Soundtrack:

Black Market

Worst episode of the series... by a mile or twenty

Normally when shows I love have subpar episodes, I'll moderate my criticism with something like a "well, even a bad 'Dexter' is tons better than the best 'CSI: Miami.' " And BSG was so spectacular week in, week out that I never expected the show would come up with something that is just awful in general. Unfortunately, "Black Market" is about as bad as any one-hour drama you're likely to see on TV. It's just plain awful. The producers try to dress it up with a flash-forward at the start, but it's just an awful idea (BSG goes film noir!) executed even worse. Granted, exec producer Ronald Moore graciously acknowledges some of the weaknesses on the podcast/DVD commentary, but if he was being honest, he would have copped to the fact that this whole plot line should have died in the writers' room. Characters act out of character, the black market "heavies" seem like their moonlighting from an episode of "Walker: Texas Ranger" ... heck, even the sets don't look up to snuff. This episode kicked off a stretch of shaky hours ("Scar," "Sacrifice") before returning to form.