Title: War of Illusions..

Original Date Aired: Friday 8th March 1985..

Created By: Kenneth Johnson..

Written By: John Simmons..

Directed By: Earl Bellamy..

Produced By: Skip Ward..

Executive Producer: Robert Singer and Daniel H. Blatt..

Supervising Producer: Don Boyle..

Running Time: 1 hour ( Approx )..

Bloopers Found: 9..

Cast: Jane Badler ( Diana ), Robert Englund ( Willie ), Faye Grant ( Juliet Parrish ), Marc Singer ( Mike Donovan ), Jennifer Cooke ( Elizabeth ) June Chadwick ( Lydia ) Jeff Yagher ( Kyle Bates )..

Guest Starring: Frank Ashmore ( Philip ), Aki Aleong ( Mr Chiang ), Mickey Jones ( Chris ), Duncan Regehr ( Charles ), Judson Scott ( Lt. James ), Conrad Janis ( Dr. Atkins ), Josh Richman ( Henry Atkins ), Peter Elbling ( Oswald )..

Additional Guest Stars: Louise Lewis III / Fitch, David Abbott, Ted Lehmann, Chip Heller..

Freedom Network Update:

Freedom Network Medal Of Valour:

Plot Summary: Phillip warns the resistance of a new attack.. The Visitors find someone has hacked into their computer system so they arrest a very smart guy named Dr. Atkins, but the real genius is his teenage son.. They happen to be friends of Kyle, so he tries to get the kid to stop a Lizard attack, but the kid only wants to rescue his dad.. Naturally, the kid is able to foil the attack while Phillip springs his father..

Plot: In a post – coital embrace, Diana and James discuss the arrival of the Battlesphere, programmed with the Leader’s specific battle plans to crush the Resistance once and for all..

On Earth, Philip meets with Kyle and Mike to bring word of an impending Visitor invasion.. Kyle mistrusts Philip, who tells Mike that he knows that Martin would want him to aid the Resistance.. Philip warns the Resistance of the arrival of the computerized Battlesphere, which will be programmed to mount a blitz that will destroy the entire Southwest..  Since the attack is scheduled to begin in 36 hours, Philip agrees to attempt to get a copy of the attack plan.. Their only hope to stop it is to hack into the Battlesphere’s memory banks and jam its program.. But to do that they’ll need a sophisticated computer and somebody who can operate it.. Science Frontiers has the necessary hardware, and Kyle thinks that Dr. David Atkins, a computer professor who worked for Nathan Bates, might be the man who can help them..

Kyle and Mike attempt to find Kyle’s friend Dr. Atkins, a former cybernetic professor at Cal Tech who was an associate of Nathan Bates, who they hope will be able to use his computer skills to break into the Battlesphere’s computer memory and alter the attack plans, since Juliet is away in Fresno..

Lt. James is seen leading a patrol on Earth..

A party is held on the Mothership for the dual purpose of celebrating both the Visitor holiday of Schluta, the annual point at which their homeworld’s orbit is closest to Sirius, and the arrival of the Battlesphere.. Diana toasts Philip, and informs him that she had sent Lt. James to Earth to search for a hacker that has been tapping into the Visitors main computer.. A tipsy Lydia drapes herself over Philip.. Diana, Philip and Lydia are called away from the party when the Leader’s battle plan arrives on the bridge.. On the way, Lt. James joins the group.. He’s just returned from Earth where he rounded up several suspects in his search for an elusive computer hacker who has been accessing the Mothership computer.. The four watch as the Battlesphere activates and the Leader attempts to send his plans to the Battlesphere,  but the first attempt is unsuccessful due to the hacker, who has hacked the master computer and is interfering with reception.. James informs Diana that his men are monitoring the transmission and that they will triangulate on the signal and catch the hacker.. James races off to trace the rogue and capture him..

In a small boarded – up food store on Earth, Dr. Atkins son, Henry, shows his father what he has done with his computer – he has hacked into the main Visitor computer, taught himself their language and can even translate what he finds..  Dr. Atkins feels that they must bring the information to the Resistance, but before they can the Visitors arrive..  Dr. Atkins forces Henry to hide and leave alone, knowing that if they find only Dr. Atkins in the store they will not search further, and one of them must survive.. Henry escapes and watches his father being taken into custody along with other residents of the street..

James sends a message that the raid was unsuccessful, and Philip begins to question Lydia about Diana’s capabilities.. Lydia orders Diana to be sent to her quarters.. Diana receives the order just as she is choosing a consort from among three male human prisoners that Oswald has provided.. She orders them to be scrubbed and oiled before heading to meet Lydia in Lydia’s cabin, where she informs Lydia of Dr. Atkins capture and confession.. Lydia doesn’t believe that Atkins is the hacker, and orders his interrogation..

Atkins is brought to a computer room and hooked into an interrogation device.. He makes three attempts to hack into the system, and fails.. Diana then activates the interrogation device, which produces a photo based on images from his brainwaves revealing the hacker to be Henry.. Lydia informs Lt.. James..

Using stealth and making sure that he is not seen, Philip enters the Battlesphere computer room and steals the Leader’s battle plans..

Mike, Kyle, and Elizabeth find that Dr. Atkins store has been attacked and boarded up, but Elizabeth senses that the attack was recent and that Dr. Atkins was taken away.. Sending her back to wait with Willie in the van, Mike breaks into the store while Kyle heads to the back.. Once inside, Henry jumps up from behind the counter and holds a gun on Mike, but Kyle enters from the back and stops him.. Henry fills them in, and activates the computer to show what he’s done.. The activation brings James and his men.. The Resistance are able to avoid a battle when Henry leads them through a secret entrance in the back room..

While the others wait at a restaurant, Mike scopes out an abandoned maintenance shed at an airfield, and discovers that the prisoners are being held there.. Henry refuses to help the Resistance unless they will rescue his father, and the Resistance plans a raid on the maintenance shed..  Mike and Kyle knock out the guards, and Mike gets inside to the prisoners.. Henry is shattered when all the prisoners are released and his father is not among them..

The next morning, Philip meets with Mike and hands over the Leader’s battle plans.. He tells Mike that he knows that Mike and the others suspect him of treachery, and that he hopes to prove himself by providing the plans and information.. He explains that the attack co – ordinates are all controlled by computer and that the invasion is set to start in 6 hours.. Philip says that he will attempt to free Dr. Atkins from the Mothership, but when Mike reports this to Kyle and Henry, the boy doesn’t believe it, and wants to give himself up to save his father..  Kyle takes him aside and speaks to him about Dr. Atkins’ hopes for his son, and convinces Henry to help the Resistance..

The Battlesphere detects an unauthorized entry into its memory components, and Diana and Lydia realize that the battle plans have fallen into the hands of the Fifth Column.. Philip covers by accusing Lydia of incompetence, since she is in charge of security.. However, the plans cannot be altered once they are in the Battlesphere.. Lydia orders the guards doubled at all Earth computer facilities, and Diana orders Lt. James to personally guard Science Frontiers, the most likely target of the Resistance..

The Resistance have no problem getting into Science Frontiers and make it into the elevators, only to be stopped by Lt. James and his men.. The elevator door won’t close, and Willie realizes the power has been cut.. Mike and Kyle lower their weapons to the floor, but Elizabeth uses her powers to shut the doors and activate the elevate.. She collapses into Kyle’s arms, while Lt. James, shocked, orders some men to remain at the elevator while he takes others and goes to the stairs..

Once they are on the 19th floor computer area, Mike throws a grenade into the elevator and then has Elizabeth send it back down to the main floor.. Kyle and Elizabeth take Henry to the computer room, while Willie and Mike head to the stairwell to wait for Lt. James and his men.. The elevator reaches the ground floor and the remaining Visitors troops rush in, only to be blown back by the force of the grenade’s explosion..

Henry hooks his computer up to the main Science Frontiers system, but he cannot do anything because the power has been cut.. Once again, Elizabeth uses her powers to activate power on the 19th floor.. Henry hacks into the Visitor system, but can’t get into the Battlesphere.. Frustrated, he almost gives up but Elizabeth convinces him to keep trying..

On the Mothership, Lydia and Diana confront Philip with an internal security report on the theft of the battle plans.. A sentry had gone to see Philip the night before to find that Philip was not in his cabin … at the same time the battle plans were stolen.. Philip informs them that he does not have to justify his whereabouts to his sub – ordinates, and that he will be leading an inquiry into the lack of proper military procedures on board the ship.. He leaves the bridge and manages to get Dr. Atkins out of his detention cell and into a fighter, where a Fifth Columnist will escort him to the Resistance..

Henry finally manages to break into the Battlesphere, and begins inputting his own orders and co – ordinates, causing the fighters to veer off course and crash.. Lydia and Diana watch in dismay on the Mothership, unable to stop the slaughter of their troops.. When Mike and Willie spot the Visitors on the stairwell, they are able to hold them briefly with a few grenades, then they fetch the others and leave the building.. Outside Science Frontiers, they find Dr. Atkins waiting for them with a Visitor van, courtesy of Philip.. Henry and his father are reunited, and Kyle tells Mike to pass along his apologies to Philip for doubting him..

Blooper Details: An entire scene from “The Rescue” is re-used!!  Lt. James says “Sergeant, that van there — check it out.  I don’t want to leave any vehicles in this sector that could be commandeered by the Resistance.”

The only back entry from the Atkins store is through a secret panel.  So how did Kyle get into the back of the store at the beginning of the episode?

The same footage of the Visitors pulling up to the store is used twice: once when they arrive to arrest Dr. Atkins, and again when they arrive to get Henry, Mike, and Kyle.

If the power is cut to all of Science Frontiers, why are the fluorescent overhead lights working on the main floor?

In the previous episode, Kyle was shot by a laser in the shoulder and the leg/hip area.  Since this same kind of injury caused Juliet to limp for quite a while, why is it that Kyle is perfectly fine in this episode, not sporting a cane or at least some bandages!

Stock footage is used from the end of “Breakout” on the Mothership when Lydia says to Diana, “Better luck next time”.  Notice Lydia’s early series hair style.

The gun that Henry pulls on Kyle looks completely fake. It looks like an old style water rifle!

The shot of Donovan taking pictures of the army base is reused footage from the original miniseries.

The final scene of the episode “War of Illusions” reuses the footage of the final scene of an earlier episode, “Breakout” with Lydia saying to Diana, “Better luck next time.” Diana as a result changes hairstyle between scenes in “War of Illusions” because her hairdo had changed since “Breakout”.

Trivia:

(Henry shows Kyle his hacking skills)
Kyle:    You got into the Visitors main computer?  That’s great!
Henry:  Yeah.  Well at first it was real difficult understanding Visitor-ese, but now it’s like second nature handling their symbols and codes..
Kyle:    What are you doing?
Henry:  I’m not really sure, but it must be driving ‘em nuts.
Kyle:    What makes you think they even noticed?
Henry:  They took my father.