The Attack
Original Air Date: (never aired)
Written By: David Braff and Paul F. Edwards
Story By: Donald R. Boyle
Directed By: Not Applicable
Produced By: Not Applicable
Guest Appearances: For the roles of Oswald; Leader; Thelma; Pilot; Ensign; Guard.
This synopsis is written by David Thiel and based on un-aired script.
An abbreviated synopsis is also available.
FIRST DRAFT — February 28, 1985
Act One begins as the Leader's shuttle leaves the Mothership on a return trip to the Visitor homeworld. Elizabeth and the Leader are aboard, and Kyle has secretly stowed away. Philip notes that Diana's crimes are inexcusable, and orders Lydia to "prepare the Cyclo-Purgers" for the execution of both Diana and James. Oswald leads the conspirators away to the brig.
Donovan realizes that Kyle is on the shuttle and wants to pursue, but Julie holds him back, citing Kyle's love for Elizabeth. Willie and Thelma add that the Leader is too great to harm Kyle, but Donovan has doubts.
On the shuttle, Kyle emerges from hiding and threatens the ship's pilot. Elizabeth's disembodied voice calls to Kyle, and he begins to dematerialize "in a cosmic transition to an ether state," winding up in a limbo presided over by the towering, four-armed shadow of the Leader.
Elizabeth explains that long ago, the "Leaders of Saurus" feared that one of them would become too strong and broke the "Anyx," the source of their combined power. Some of it was brought to Earth by "ancient astronauts." Elizabeth says, "As part of you ... and part of them ... I make the Leader whole again."
Julie and Donovan prepare to leave for a rendezvous with Ham Tyler, who is to help Donovan find his son Sean. Meanwhile, a crystal aboard the Leader's shuttle begins to glow, setting off alarms inside the Mothership. All flights are cancelled.
In the brig, Diana bribes Oswald into allowing her to escape. She reaches the bridge, where the countdown until the crystal's detonation grows short. Philip and Lydia offer Diana a pardon to deactivate the device, but Diana disavows any part in the scheme. Act One ends as the shuttle explodes.
As Act Two opens, Diana assumes co-command of the fleet with Lydia, and imposes martial law. Furthermore, she orders a general attack on Earth.
Meanwhile, Donovan, Julie and Willie are in detention under suspicion of having sabotaged the Leader's ship. Thelma shows up with, of all things, an "engagement cake" for Willie. She makes none-too-subtle hints of an explosive hidden within the cake.
Later, as they plot an escape, Kyle materializes in the cell with them. He doesn't know how he got there, or what happened to Elizabeth. Donovan blows the cell door, and the foursome hotfoot it toward the landing bay. Diana and James are waiting, and open fire. Julie is hit, and vanishes. Willie is anguished over Julie's death, but Donovan says, "We can't blow our own lives for her, Willie. She's finished. She'd want us to go on."
Philip meets with Diana and Lydia and questions whether he is under suspicion, and Diana notes that if he is innocent, he has nothing to fear. Philip mutters, "Except, of course, the heinous treachery of these two bitch cats, lusting for my blood!"
The remaining Resistance members, disguised as Visitor pilots, enter the landing bay to mingle with the preparing troops. Suddenly, Elizabeth appears and disappears several times, leading to much consternation amongst the troopers. Act Two ends with Diana's threat to attack the Earth and deal with Elizabeth later.
Act Three opens with skyfighters heading to attack the Earth in a blaze of stock footage. While Elizabeth's random appearances distract Diana, Philip spots Donovan in the landing bay. Philip leads his friends to his quarters, where they offer to pretend to hold him hostage, in hopes of protecting his affiliation.
The rebels explore the mothership in search of Elizabeth, but a trapdoor opens up under them, dropping them into a compacting room, a la Star Wars. Elizabeth appears, but is unable to stop the closing walls. Fading out again, she once again finds herself with the Leader, and begs him to save Kyle. Act Three concludes as the walls press against Our Heroes.
Act Four picks up Elizabeth's debate with the Leader. She refuses to rule at his side and returns to the compactor. She marshals her power and stops the mechanism, then falls unconscious. The group escapes the compactor and heads toward the landing bay again.
Visitor troops surround the escapees in the corridor, but Donovan "threatens" Philip's life, and they are allowed to pass. However, the landing bay guards, led by James, are not so accommodating. When James urges the rebels to surrender, Willie shoots him. James tumbles off the catwalk to the floor of the landing bay.
The Resistance members flee in a skyfighter, pursued by Diana and Lydia in another ship. Another salvo of stock footage ensues until Diana wings Donovan's fighter, causing it to crash. The group emerges intact, and the now-conscious Elizabeth leads the fugitives to the meeting with Ham Tyler. They zip off in Ham's personally-designed "Road Warrior" car.
On the mothership, Diana receives news of victory on all fronts. The armistice was the Leader's ruse all along, and it led the humans into a false sense of security. Philip and Diana trade threats, and she leaves the bridge.
In her quarters, Diana receives a telepathic visit from the Leader, who draws her into his limbo zone. He commands her to recapture the Starchild, who holds the "Syllabus of the Ancients," a book containing clues to the location of the Anyx. With that artifact, Elizabeth could eclipse the Leader's power and defeat the Visitors.
On Earth, Willie reads from the Syllabus, which says that Elizabeth must "follow the wind for the source of all knowledge ... where [her] heart will sing." Our Heroes will continue their search through a world at war, offering assistance as needed, until Elizabeth's heart "sings." Donovan says, "That's the future out there. Let's go, live it." The Resistance hits the road once again ...
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