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| Home › V Episode Guide › The Secret Underground |
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The Secret Underground
Original Air Date: March 15, 1985 Guest Appearances: John Calvin as Dr. Steven Maitland; Peter Elbling as Oswald; Ken Olandt as Nigel. Also starring Judson Scott as Lt. James; Frank Ashmore as Philip. On the Los Angeles Mother Ship, a Visitor shuttle delivers a group of Resistance prisoners to Lt. James. He also receives a list of the names of rebel leaders and their locations with which he plans to seek out and destroy the Resistance hierarchy. As the prisoners are taken away, a Fifth Columnist, Jonathan, overhears the information and realizes the list spells imminent doom for the freedom fighters. One of James's squad leaders takes the list to be uploaded, but Jonathan manages to surprise the trooper and steal the disk containing the list. The trooper shoots Jonathan as he leaves, but he gets away and hides the disk in a crystal "volcano" structure part of the upcoming Feast of Romalon celebration.
Philip travels to Earth and meets with Julie Parrish and Mike Donovan. He brings them news about the incident with Jonathan, and notes that Diana was not able to find the list. The three deduce that the list must be hidden on the Mother Ship somewhere. Mike decides that he and Julie need to visit the Mother Ship and find the list themselves, and Philip agrees to arrange it.
Evidently, Julie and Steven Maitland are no strangers. They were close friends in college, and even had planned to marry. But their relationship didn't last long — Julie left Maitland with a Dear John letter explaining that she wasn't ready for the commitment of marriage because she wanted to be a doctor, too. Nevertheless, even after all these years Maitland has not lost his fondness for Julie. After Oswald leaves, Mike asks Maitland point-blank if he is a collaborator. Julie tries to defend her former lover, asserting that Maitland would have turned in the rebels if he truly were a collaborator. Maitland says it's a long story, but that he's trying to do in his way what the Resistance does in its own way. Maitland agrees to help Julie and Mike however he can.
Lydia runs to Philip to plea her brother's case. With his expert knowledge of the law, she hopes there is some way to stop the sacrifice. And indeed there is: The ceremony can be stopped by a unanimous vote of the ship's line officers. In this case, the three officers are Philip, Lydia, and Diana. Philip admits that he's always been against the barbaric sacrifice, so it's only Diana that Lydia needs to convince. She knows it won't be easy, but she must try for Nigel's sake.
Lydia visits Philip and tells him that Diana suspects he is a Fifth Columnist. Such verbal allegations might be construed as mutiny, and Lydia knows it, which is why she brought the information to Philip. He asks her what she thinks of the accusation, but Lydia dodges the question and says her only concern at the moment is for her brother's safety. Later, Julie and Mike almost run into Diana, so they duck into a science lab. There they discover canisters containing human brains, and Mike doesn't even try to hide his disgust of Maitland for engaging in such questionable activities. Just as the two are about to leave, in walks Diana accompanied by James — the Resistance fighters are discovered! Julie and Mike feign confusion and pretend not to recognize their human names. Diana isn't buying it, until the two "humans" tear off their face masks and reveal reptilian heads! She dismisses the Visitor couple and commands James to find out who ordered their human masks; either "someone has a distinctly warped sense of humor or a monumental death wish," she remarks.
Thinking that the list of Resistance leaders might be hidden in James's quarters ("the only place they haven't looked"), Julie goes alone to investigate. Playing coy, she enters the officer's quarters and attempts to flirt with him. James seems intrigued at the idea of being intimate with a Human, so Julie prepares to show him just how human she is. Planning her opportunity to search the place, she pretends to be shy and tells James to wait outside while she undresses. James complies, but when he opens the door to leave, Diana is standing right there — Julie is caught!
Meanwhile, Mike and Maitland agree they need to cooperate to save Julie. They head to Steven's lab to find some chemicals they can turn into weapons. Diana orders James to bring Philip to the Romalon room so she can expose him. But on their way, an explosion rocks that part of the ship, and James and Philip race to investigate. When they arrive in the smoke-filled corridor, James is knocked out by Mike and Maitland. Diana leaves Julie to investigate as well, and then Mike enters the Romalon room disguised as a shock trooper and hidden behind his helmet's visor. He surprises Julie's guards and overpowers them, and Julie retrieves the diskette with the list from the crystal structure.
Back on Earth, Mike and Dr. Maitland shake hands as friends. Julie says she wants to be with Steven, but he knows that the Resistance needs her. And since he has tasks he needs to perform on his own, the two say their good-byes and Julie returns with her fellow Resistance members.
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| © 2008 by Jase Wells. All rights reserved. |
Meanwhile, Philip has a chat with Dr. Maitland, a human scientist who is being forced to develop a deadly virus for the Visitors in exchange for his freedom. Philip wants to know what is taking Dr. Maitland so long to complete his work on the virus. The doctor assures him he is working as fast as he can. As Philip returns to his quarters, he runs into Jonathan (whom he knows by name) staggering down the corridor. Jonathan tries to tell Philip about the list and the "volcano" where it is hidden, but he dies before Philip can understand. Philip ducks out of the way just as Diana arrives to discover Jonathan's body.
Using fake IDs and priority passes, Julie and Mike arrive on the Mother Ship disguised as Visitor scientists. They are greeted by Oswald, and after verifying that their papers are in order he takes them to meet Dr. Maitland. On their way, they narrowly miss being spotted by Diana and Lydia. When they arrive at Maitland's lab, the doctor is introduced as the Director of Human Studies. Julie and Mike are introduced as his new assistants. Maitland tells Oswald he knows Julie quite well, but quickly covers his familiarity by bluffing that the two worked together on human genetic patterning.
On the bridge, Diana struts in with a young Visitor male. Lydia recognizes him instantly and runs to hug her brother, Nigel. She's ecstatic to see her sibling again but wonders how he managed to be posted to the Los Angeles Mother Ship, especially considering he's such a young officer. Apparently it was Diana herself who requested Nigel's transfer direct from the Academy; in fact, he was given his commission a full year before his class was to be graduated. Suspicious of the circumstances, Lydia consults the computer and confirms her worst fear — Nigel is now the youngest officer on board. Because the Feast of Romalon calls for the sacrifice of the youngest warrior (or officer in this case), Lydia realizes that Diana has brought Nigel to Earth to be killed!
When Lydia asks Diana how she can be convinced to stop the sacrifice, Diana is quick to answer. Indeed, there is one thing she will accept in exchange for Nigel's life — Lydia's! Later, Nigel tells his sister that he'll be honored to die for the Feast of Romalon; his name will be in the Book of Heroes for all eternity. Lydia says it won't do him any good if he's dead and can't read it.
It turns out that the two Visitors mistaken for Julie and Mike are indeed the Resistance duo. Planning for just such an event, Philip had provided them with reptilian masks under human masks before they came aboard. But news of the stunt and the fake masks travels fast on the Mother Ship, and Maitland expresses his frustration to Julie and Mike over the resulting increase in security. It will make it harder for him to gain access to the area where the Visitors store their active viruses. He has been planning to sabotage the biological weapons since his arrival on the ship, and now it will be harder to do so. But Maitland can't stay mad at Julie for long, and it's only a matter of time before the two make up and kiss.
Diana places Julie under guard in the room where the Romalon celebration is to take place. She gloats over Julie and makes plans to confront Philip and reveal that he is a traitor in league with the Resistance. Diana wants Julie to tell her where Donovan is, and to finger Philip as a Fifth Columnist. But Julie banters with her captor ("Philip . . . I'm not sure I know him. Is he attractive?"), even despite threats of conversion. After a frustrated Diana leaves, Julie realizes that the crystal structure must be the "volcano" where the list is 
As they make their escape, Julie and Mike knock out a pair of Visitors similar to their own heights and put face masks on them so the Visitors look like Julie and Mike. They real Resistance fighters then accompany Steven and sabotage the Visitor virus stores. When the dazed Julie and Mike look-alikes are found by Diana, it seems as if it's the same trick all over again. But they speak Visitorese, so Diana quickly realizes the look-alikes are not the real rebels. But it's too late, because Julie, Mike, and Dr. Maitland sneak into the landing bay and steal a Skyfighter that takes them home to safety.
At the Feast of Romalon, Diana prepares to kill Nigel with a ceremonial sword. Lydia thinks Philip must not have survived the recent explosion, because he is not there to stop the killing. But just as Diana is about to plunge the blade into Nigel, Philip arrives and halts the proceeding. He confronts Diana and her accusations about his loyalty. Unless she agrees to vote to dispense with the killing, Philip will charge her with mutiny. Diana reluctantly capitulates, but she vows to expose Philip as a traitor before she storms away.