On Earth, it is the year 1980, cell phones aren’t a thing yet, and the primitive inhabitants still think digital watches are a pretty nifty idea.  Unfortunately, with all those things in the assets column, the Cylons will make short work of the Earth when they arrive.

The Galactica’s cerebral mutant and benevolent overlord, Dr. Zee, assures Comdr. Adama that the Cylons are still right on their heels, and now they’ve led them to Earth.  D’oh!  But Dr. Zee has a plan:

Teams of warriors will travel to the Earth and provide advanced technology to enlightened scientists, forcing Earth’s technology to advance as quickly as possible.  The Galactica and the fleet will head off into space and lure the Cylons away.

One of those teams is Apollo and Starbuck – or their zero-calorie versions, Troy and Dillon.  Troy was once known as Boxey and is Adama’s adopted grandson, but that’s a story for another day.  Their mission is to find top nuclear scientist Dr. Mortonson and see if he’d like some help with his equations.

But the path to scientific advancement never runs true, especially when two fish-out-of-water aliens try to pass for the inhabitants of Los Angeles.  Hilarity ensues as they run afoul of motorcycle gangs, telephones, security forces, and cops. They meet aspiring news reporter Jamie Hamilton, who doggedly pursues them in search of a story.  They get a message to Dr. Mortonson, but not before they’re arrested.

Their ships, which have a temporary invisibility field, run out of power and are discovered by a young boy and his dog.

Mortonson figures out who they are, but before he can get them out of jail, they escape using their invisibility fields.  They meet up with him, but the cops mistake it for kidnapping by dangerous terrorists and give chase.

Back on the Galactica, a member of the Council of Twelve, Xavier pitches a “better” plan to Adama:  Use their time travel technology to go back to the Earth’s past, change the course of history, forcing Earth to advance faster and preparing them to defend against the Cylons.  Adama rejects the idea.  Xavier steals a ship and heads back in time.  Adama recalls all the teams from Earth.

Leaving Mortonson in the lurch, Troy and Dillon escape to their ships just in time because the local sheriff has come to investigate the boy’s report.  Jamie forces them to take her along, or she’ll spill the beans on the spacemen.

Aboard the Galactica, Jamie agrees to help Troy and Dillon as they travel back to 1944, where Xavier has gone.  His plan: Help the Nazis win the war with superior rocket technology.

In 1944, they encounter an American spy planning to blow up the first V2 test, but first, they try to save a young girl from the holocaust.  Xavier has been helping the Nazis, and the V2 is about to launch to destroy London!

Dillon blows up the V2 test as it takes off, probably ending the program forever, and they arrest Xavier.

Afterward, they free a train full of Jews because, for some reason, that won’t change the time stream, as long as they don’t kill any Nazis.  Jamie knows that they stand a good chance of escape because it’s after midnight, and that makes it D-Day and that the Nazis have their hands full with their ultimate downfall.  The 1980 audience cheers because it’s the end for the Nazis!  Audiences post-2016 shake their heads and wonder how things have gone wrong again.

Ready to take Xavier back, he gives them the slip.  Oops.

Back in the present, they return Jamie, and while they do, that same damned kid finds the Vipers again; this time, he brings the Air Force.

Needing to know where their ships were taken, Troy and Dillion allow that damned kid to use their invisibility technology to torment his tormentor at school.  His need for revenge sated; he divulges the ship’s whereabouts info.

Xavier has returned to the present and is trying to meet Mortonson.  He succeeds and spins a yarn that Troy and Dillon are renegades trying to use time technology to change Earth’s history and set themselves up to rule the world.

Through Jamie, Troy, and Dillion manage to warn Mortonson, but Xavier realizes what has happened and steals a history book from Mortonson and heads out to regain his ship, which the Air Force also captured.

Troy Dillon and Jamie stage a raid on the base and recapture their vipers just after Xavier escapes in his.  As Xavier prepares to jump back in time once more, Troy shoots him badly because Xavier jumps back to 18th-century America.

Back aboard the Galactica, Adama convinces Jamie to join Troy and Dillion’s little time team so that she can help them prevent Xavier from destroying Earth’s history.

And with the time-traveling premise of the series established and cast in stone,  we come to a close on this story.