Editing Alastair Thorne

{{Character Data
|photo= Alistair Thorne.jpg
|age= 
|colony= 
|birthname= Alastair Thorne
|callsign=
|seen=Pegasus (episode)
|pseen=Pegasus
|death= Killed by [[Galen Tyrol]]. {{TRS|Pegasus (episode)}}
|parents= 
|siblings= 
|children= 
|marital status=
|role= Cylon Interrogator
|rank= Lieutenant
|actor= [[Fulvio Cecere]]
|serial=873827<ref>Serial number is from his [[:File:Thorne's dogtag serial.jpg|dogtags]].</ref>
|cylon= 
|name= 
|lastseen=Razor|lastseenref=<ref>Chronologically, "[[Razor]]" precedes "[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]", but is produced before [[Season 4]].</ref>|spoilers=Y|archives=Y}}
Lieutenant '''Alastair Thorne''' is an officer aboard the [[Mercury class battlestar|battlestar]] ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' during the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]].

==Biography==
Thorne's role is well known among his fellow crewmates as the "Cylon Interrogator." His method of interrogation includes torture and sexual assault, aided by ''Pegasus'' [[Colonial Marine Corps|marines]]. Thorne and his men apparently raped the captured [[Number Six]] infiltrator known as [[Gina Inviere]] on a routine basis, with his men "lining up for turns" with her, leading to her near-catatonic mental condition {{TRS|Pegasus (episode)|Razor}}.

Despite his methods, Thorne is apparently well-regarded by a significant portion of the ''Pegasus'' crew. According to Specialist [[Gage]], approximately fifty crew members owe Thorne their lives {{TRS|Resurrection Ship, Part II}}.

Thorne is raping the [[Sharon Agathon|Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii]] in ''{{RDM|Galactica}}'''s special brig when [[Galen Tyrol]] and {{callsign|Karl Agathon}} intervene to stop him. Thorne is accidentally killed when Tyrol throws him against the brig's wall and Thorne's skull is pierced by an exposed bolt. Admiral [[Helena Cain]], who appears to be complicit in Thorne's interrogation behavior, arrests Tyrol and Agathon {{TRS|Pegasus (episode)}}.

Colonel [[Jack Fisk]] explains to the jailed Agathon and Tyrol that he and many others on the ship owe Thorne their lives. Fisk's sympathy lies firmly with the attackers. His exchange with Agathon makes plain that, to Fisk and much of the ''Pegasus'' crew, Thorne's death was not the death of a criminal, but of a respected shipmate {{TRS|Resurrection Ship, Part II}}.

Thorne's death continues to resonate long after [[Battle of New Caprica|the destruction of ''Pegasus'' itself]]. When Gage joins [[Felix Gaeta]]'s [[Gaeta's Mutiny|mutiny]], he confronts {{callsign|Karl Agathon}} directly, asserting that both Thorne's death and Agathon's subsequent promotion were unjust. The unresolved grievance over Thorne drives Gage's participation in the assault on the Agathon family and his seizure of Gaeta's [[CIC]] station {{TRS|The Oath|Blood on the Scales}}.

==Behind the scenes==
Cecere auditioned without being given any background on Thorne's character, and was surprised once on set by the extent of what the episode would depict. He has described the shoot as unusually deliberate by television standards, with director [[Michael Rymer]] taking time to work through the nuances of each take rather than pushing through pages of script per day.<ref group="production" name="damen_galacticatv_cecere_interview_thorne_shoot">{{cite web|url=http://www.galactica.tv/galactica-2003---interviews/fulvio-cecere-galactica.tv-interview.html|title=Fulvio Cecere Interview|author=Marcel Damen|publisher=Galactica.TV|date=January 10, 2007|accessdate=May 17, 2025|archive=Y}}</ref>

Cecere, [[Grace Park]] (who plays [[Sharon Agathon]]), and Rymer spent considerable time discussing the characters before filming the confrontation scene. Cecere recalled the tone on set as serious throughout, and that he repeatedly checked that Park was comfortable given what was required of her. He noted that the scene as broadcast was substantially toned down from what was originally shot, and expressed surprise at the decision to cut the most explicit material while retaining the slow-motion depiction of Thorne's death, for which he returned to Vancouver to film reshoots.<ref group="production" name="damen_galacticatv_cecere_interview_thorne_shoot"/> On Thorne's moral position, Cecere stated:

{{quote|Thorne is not a bad man. Thorne is really a patriot. He's doing his job and you may question the methods, but ultimately it's about saving lives and protecting my crew and the ship.<ref group="production" name="damen_galacticatv_cecere_interview_thorne_shoot"/>}}

Actor [[Aaron Douglas]], who plays [[Galen Tyrol]] in the scene of Thorne's death, commented in an interview on the production context of the sexual assault sequences in "Pegasus":

{{quote|BSG is a reflection of real life and these types of events go on everyday... What we shot was so much more graphic than what was aired and I understand why they did not use it. In what aired the rape had not totally begun. It was suggestive. I thought it was a good scene and on point with the story and not added to draw in viewers.<ref group="production" name="douglas_scifiworld_rape_scene">{{cite web|url=http://www.thescifiworld.net/interviews/aaron_douglas_01.htm#:~:text=What%20we%20shot%20was%20so%20much%20more%20graphic%20than%20what%20was%20aired|title=Aaron Douglas interview|last=Nuytens|first=Gilles|publisher=TheSciFiWorld.net|accessdate=May 17, 2026}}</ref>}}

Writer-producer [[Ron D. Moore|Ron Moore]] addressed the aftermath of Thorne's death — specifically the Fisk scene — in [[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|the podcast for "Resurrection Ship, Part II"]]. Moore drew on a personal memory from his Navy ROTC service aboard the USS ''W.S. Sims'' of an XO disciplining enlisted men quietly and without sympathy for anyone involved. He described the intent of Fisk's closing line:

{{quote|It's another way of always providing a sense of imbalance, of the audience never being quite comfortable in their assumptions of what's going on and who to root for and how they should deal with a very complicated situation, which is one of the things that I enjoy about the show.<ref group="production" name="moore_podcast_rs2_cant_rape_machine_thorne">{{cite web|url=https://en.battlestarwiki.org/Podcast:Resurrection_Ship,_Part_II#:~:text=another%20way%20of%20always%20providing%20a%20sense%20of%20imbalance|title=Podcast: Resurrection Ship, Part II|publisher=Battlestar Wiki|accessdate=May 17, 2026}}</ref>}}

Thorne's death also has a long narrative tail: actor [[Mike Dopud]], who portrays Specialist [[Gage]], confirmed in a 2022 interview that the character's unresolved resentment over Thorne's death — and over Agathon's promotion in its wake — was the specific through line he carried from his Season 2 appearances into the Season 4 mutiny arc:

{{quote|Gage was such an asshole, for lack of a better term. He was, he just didn't care... Specialist Gage was a guy that looked after himself. That's all he cared about. [He didn't care] about anything else. And that's the way I approached him, and I think it was right. That was the tone, and that was what was necessary from Gage.<ref group="production" name="dopud_dialthegate_ep152_gage_thorne_legacy">{{cite web|url=https://www.dialthegate.com/videos/152-mike-dopud-actor-multiple-sg-roles-interview/#:~:text=Gage%20was%20such%20an%20asshole%2C%20for%20lack%20of%20a%20better%20term|title=152: Mike Dopud, Actor, Multiple SG Roles (Interview)|publisher=Dial the Gate|date=November 26, 2022|accessdate=May 17, 2026}}</ref>}}

Dopud also noted that the Agathon confrontation in "[[The Oath]]" was grounded in that same grievance — Gage's view that the death was unjust and that Agathon's career benefited from it — making Thorne the absent figure whose death continues to motivate the [[Sunshine Boys|Sunshine Boys']] actions three and a half seasons after the fact.<ref group="production" name="dopud_dialthegate_ep152_thorne_grievance_oath">{{cite web|url=https://www.dialthegate.com/videos/152-mike-dopud-actor-multiple-sg-roles-interview/#:~:text=There%20was%20a%20big%20writers%27%20strike%20going%20on%20at%20the%20time%2C%20when%20Battlestar%20had%20their%20last%20season|title=152: Mike Dopud, Actor, Multiple SG Roles (Interview)|publisher=Dial the Gate|date=November 26, 2022|accessdate=May 17, 2026}}</ref>

==References==
===Production History===
{{reflist|group=production}}

===External Sources===
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Alastair}}
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