Editing Boomer (TOS)

{{disline|This article discusses the [[Original Series]] character. For information on this character's [[Re-imagined Series]] namesake, see [[Sharon Valerii]]. For Boomer as depicted in the [[Galactica (1980)|Galactica 1980]], see [[Boomer (1980)]]}}


{{Character Data
| series=TOS
    |title= Boomer
    |photo= BoomerPortrait.jpg
    |age=
    |colony=[[The Twelve Colonies of Man#Caprica|Caprica]]
    |birthname=
    |callsign=
    |death= 
    |parents=
    |siblings=
    |children=
    |marital status= Single
    |role= {{TOS|Viper}} pilot, [[Blue Squadron]], {{TOS|Battlestar|battlestar}} ''{{TOS|Galactica}}''
    |rank= Lieutenant
    |actor= [[Herb Jefferson Jr.]]
    |cylon= 
    |name= 
    |series=TOS 
    |sepcon=Y 
}}'''Boomer''' is a reserved, thoughtful and loyal survivor of the Cylon's wholesale slaughter of humanity {{OS|Saga of a Star World}}.  He became a {{TOS|Viper}} pilot attached to ''{{TOS|Galactica}}'' sometime after his tours of duty on planets {{OS|The Gun on Ice Planet Zero}}  Boomer seems the antithesis of his closest friend, {{TOS|Starbuck|Lieutenant Starbuck}}, and tends to think more logically. However, like Starbuck, Boomer is also a consummate Viper pilot, willing to risk his life for friend and innocent.

== Biography ==
=== Background ===

While there are gaps in his history, Boomer once pulled a tour of duty at [[Ice Station Thula]]; the experience of which would later be useful for taking out the {{TOS|Cylons|Cylon}} occupying the [[Ravashol Pulsar]] weapon on [[Arcta]] {{OS|The Gun on Ice Planet Zero}} He also is fluent in Gemonese, which aids communications between {{TOS|Apollo}} and the Gemon woman on the [[Gemini (TOS)|''Gemini'']], a freighter, were it not for [[Cassiopeia]]'s assistance {{OS|Saga of a Star World}}. His ''tour de force'' with appropriation of hovermobiles during his adolescence also proved resourceful during the ship-wide disaster that strikes ''Galactica'' within the first year of her flight {{OS|Fire in Space}}.

=== After the Cylon Attack ===
Boomer was instrumental in clearing the Cylon-laid minefield in the [[Straits of Madagon]], for which he would later earn a [[Gold Cluster]] for by the behests of [[Uri|Sire Uri]]&mdash;albeit under a basically shrewd pretense to call for the disarmament of the remaining Colonials on [[Carillon]]. Boomer is the first person to pick up on the apparent façade projected by their [[Ovion]] hosts, although Starbuck attempts to ineffectively rebuke it. Boomer is instrumental in also picking up on {{TOS|Adama}}'s deception with people donning Colonial Warrior uniforms during the aborted ceremonies {{OS|Saga of a Star World}}.
[[File:BoomerPartyLostPlanet1.jpg|thumb|left|Boomer attends Apollo's bachelor party, infecting the other pilots with a mysterious illness {{OS|Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I}}.]]

Boomer and another friend, {{TOS|Jolly|Flight Sergeant Jolly}}, happen upon a Cylon outpost, skipping decontamination and bringing back a deadly viral agent that incapacitates all people that the two were in contact with. He and Jolly manage to incapacitate a majority of the pilots, thus necessitating replacements from [[Colonial shuttle]] corps {{OS|Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I}}.  After he and the fellow pilots recover, Boomer spearheads a revival of the original [[Blue Squadron]], although they were still under the afflictions of the virus' symptoms {{OS|Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II}}.

Boomer and Starbuck also manage to recover {{TOS|Apollo|Flight Captain Apollo}} from [[Equellus]], after obtaining permission from Commander Adama. It should be noted that it was fairly obvious that they would have gone anyway, regardless of any permission given by Adama. Adama previously orders that no search be done for Apollo due to the perception he would favor his son over the Fleet's safety ([[The Lost Warrior]]). The lieutenant subsequently saves his friend Starbuck from the [[Proteus]] prison planetoid, as well as the planetoid itself from Cylon attack {{OS|The Long Patrol}}.

Another instrumental strike mission is on the ice planet of [[Arcta]], which he is involved in due to his experience on the Thola station. During the recruitment procedures, Boomer parlays the hypothesis that someone (Starbuck) manipulated the computer records so that he would be added to the mission team. Lead by Starbuck, Boomer is instrumental in taking out the Cylon garrison while Apollo, [[Croft]] and [[Leda]] take on the pulsar's mechanisms in tandem. The mission is a success, however it was not without its problems {{OS|The Gun on Ice Planet Zero}}

When the Fleet suffers from a lack of nourishment due to the Cylon's successful destruction of the Fleet's food stores, Boomer and Starbuck are tasked to trade [[Belloby|Siress Belloby]]'s [[energizer]] for seed on [[agron colony]] [[Sectar (planet)|Sectar]]. Unfortunately, the energizer is stolen from their hands and Boomer reports this back to Adama while Starbuck manages to win his way into [[Serenity]]'s [[constable]] position for the short term {{OS|The Magnificent Warriors}}.

He is forced to see Starbuck into a controlled crash-landing on the Delta-class marsh planet of [[Attila]], and returns to the Fleet to procure assistance. Apollo and Boomer land on the planet sometime later to see that the Cylons, lead by the unscrupulous [[Specter]], flee the planet. Of course, when they were leaving, Boomer voices the age-old question of Starbuck's charm on women to his Flight Captain: "How does he do it?" {{OS|The Young Lords}}.

With the return of {{TOS|Cain|Commander Cain}}, as well as the need for [[tylium (TOS)|fuel]], Boomer is part of a commando unit that eliminates the Cylon's control center on [[Gamoray]] and pilfering fuel from Cylon storage depots for the Fleet {{OS|The Living Legend, Part II}}.

Boomer is also instrumental in the rescue and well-being of everyone trapped in the Rejuvenation Center during a massive fire on the battlestar, managing to open a door in another section of the ship. Unfortunately, Boomer could not jury-rig additional doors as a fire on the other side blocked the only door within the storage room adjoining to the Center. He does get a note to {{TOS|Tigh|Colonel Tigh}}, informing him that they were alive and in need of rescue {{OS|Fire in Space}}.

One of the many warriors to disappear into the [[Ship of Lights]], although before this [[Iblis]] influences Boomer in a game of {{TOS|Triad|Triad}} against Apollo and Starbuck. This causes the defeat of their Red Team, but since there was interference it probably wasn't considered a win for him, although he was tired of losing to both Warriors ([[War of the Gods]]).

He later questions [[Chameleon]], who claimed to be Starbuck's father, breaking up a situation that happened nearly a [[centar]] prior concerning the [[Borellian Nomen]] and [[Taba]]'s activated [[laser bola]]. He fills Apollo in on his hunch, which turns out to be true as the two warriors attempt to get something out of the man. Of course, the story Chameleon tells them about testing a Nomen child is not true, and Boomer subsequently discovers that Chameleon was fleeing from them as he swindles [[Maga]] and his Nomen. Boomer also discoveres the two Nomen, Maga and [[Bora]], miraculously alive in the launch tube after Chameleon fires the Vipers lasers at them {{OS|The Man with Nine Lives}}.

The lieutenant must defend his friend, Starbuck, from a crime he didn't commit: the termination of [[Ortega|Flight Sergeant Ortega]]. He and Apollo manage to find out that Ortega had been blackmailing three people, [[Karibdis]], [[Rifkus]], and [[Elias]], whom bribed the warrior for passage off the planet {{TOS|Caprica|Caprica}} through the ''{{TOS|Rising Star|Rising Star}}''. In a brash and rare act of insubordination, Boomer activates Alpha Channel without consent, allowing the Tribunal to hear the confession of Karibdis. This act saves Starbuck from being tried as a killer and sentenced to rotting in the [[Prison Barge]] with characters that would had liked to get their hands on him {{OS|Murder on the Rising Star}}.

Boomer fools the [[Council Security]] officers and spectators to the "unloading" of [[Michael]] and his passengers from the Terran space vehicle, as [[Salik]], Adama, Apollo, and Starbuck believe that the only way these "[[Earthlings]]" could be saved is by getting them off ''Galactica''. When found out, he utters, "Jolly, you forgot the kids!" {{OS|Greetings From Earth}}.

Sometime later, Boomer and [[Sheba]] are assigned to transfer the [[Eastern Alliance]] prisoners along with two other snobbish security [[Blackshirt|"blackshirts"]]. He manages to cause the shuttle's gravitational field to deviate, causing the immature Council Security men to quiet themselves, at least temporarily. Although the Security men threaten (privately, of course) to report him, the incident is forgotten or deemed unimportant as these same guards&mdash;and the two Colonial Warriors&mdash;are taken hostage by {{TOS|Baltar}}, the Nomen, and [[Leiter|Commandant Leiter]]'s people. Baltar threatens to kill Boomer, eleven members of the {{TOS|Quorum of Twelve|Quorum}}, and the three original occupants by destroying the shuttle with explosive charges. Yet, the group manages to get through the situation unscathed, as Starbuck and Apollo relieve Baltar of the detonator on his {{TOS|Cylon Raider|raider}} {{OS|Baltar's Escape}}.

[[File:Apollo 11.jpg|thumb|right|Boomer analyzes the Gamma frequency signal {{OS|The Hand of God}}.]]

Something of an electronic/communications expert, Starbuck, Apollo, [[Cassiopeia]], and Sheba turn to Boomer for assistance on a recording they'd discovered on a [[Gamma frequency]] in a [[Celestial chamber]]. However, despite his attempts, Boomer manages to get only some clarity out of it; of course, he isn't able to consult [[Wilker|Doctor Wilker]] on it as the recording is destroyed in ''Galactica'''s attack on the lone {{TOS|basestar|basestar}}.

Boomer's desire to go with Apollo and Starbuck on the mission to board the basestar is outweighed by his experience as a Viper flight leader, where he was most needed. Along with a worried Sheba, Boomer manages to occupy the Cylon's Raiders while ''Galactica'' destroys the basestar. Alas, Starbuck and Apollo lose their transmitter and are unable to identify themselves by scanning. Boomer, however, notices an irregular pattern in the flying, and exclaims with joy that Apollo and Starbuck piloted the Raider since "They're waggling!"

Despite the recording's destruction, Boomer sets up a Gamma frequency booster for Apollo, which does pick up a signal {{OS|The Hand of God}}. However, it is unknown whether or not Apollo or anyone else knows about this signal, which was clearly received, thanks to Boomer's contrivance.

== Notes ==

=== Character Conception and Portrayal ===
According to ''[[So Say We All: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Battlestar Galactica]]'', the role of Lieutenant Boomer, a Viper pilot, was originally offered to actor [[Terry Carter]]. However, when Carter broke his ankle, the part was recast, and [[Herb Jefferson Jr.]] was hired.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|69}}</ref> Jefferson was cast after the series had already begun filming, and he recalls that the wardrobe department had to scramble to create a uniform for him, leading to him wearing a towel around his neck during his first scene in the [[Pyramid (TOS)|pyramid]] game because his tunic wasn't ready.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|71}}</ref>

Jefferson, an accomplished theater and television actor, was proud that Boomer was a character of authority who was not defined by his race, noting that the character was written as a qualified officer who happened to be Black, which he considered progressive for the time.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|71}}</ref> He received an NAACP Image Award nomination for the role.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|71}}</ref>

Jefferson fondly remembers his time on the show, particularly the camaraderie with the cast. He describes the workdays as long and physically demanding but also a lot of fun. He had a close relationship with [[Lorne Greene]] ([[Adama (TOS)|Adama]]), whom he called "Poppa," and they maintained an ongoing chess game on set.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|57}}</ref>

Boomer was one of only two major characters, alongside Greene's Adama, to return for the "[[spin-off]]" series, [[Galactica 1980|''Galactica 1980'']]. By this time, he had been promoted to colonel, replacing Colonel {{TOS|Tigh}} as ''Galactica's'' executive officer. Jefferson noted that he "kept hoping that ''Galactica 1980'' would get better as we went along, but it didn’t."<ref>{{cite book/sswa|237}}</ref>

=== Re-imagined Series Perspective ===
The Original Series' Boomer has little in common with his re-imagined counterpart, [[Sharon Valerii|Sharon "Boomer" Valerii]]. While the original Boomer is a loyal Colonial Warrior, the Re-imagined Series' counterpart is a [[Humanoid Cylon|Cylon sleeper agent]], unaware of her true nature for much of the first season.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|491}}</ref> The re-imagined character's journey is one of internal conflict, self-discovery, and betrayal, a stark contrast to the straightforward, heroic nature of the 1978 character. The re-imagined series used the "Boomer" callsign for a Cylon model, fundamentally changing the character's role and allegiances within the narrative.

=== Additional Details ===
* Boomer is one of only five characters in the Original Series to be featured in every episode, and appears in six of the ten episodes of ''Galactica 1980''.

* ''According to ''[[Encyclopedia Galactica]]'' (a non-canonical piece of merchandise published in 1979):''
: Boomer was born 43 [[yahren]] before the [[Battle of Cimtar]], growing up in {{TOS|Caprica City|Caprica City}} and later graduating from the [[Colonial Warrior#Notes|Academy]] a mere 8 yahren before the destruction of the Colonies. He graduated with honors in eletromagnetic science.<ref>{{cite book/sswa|22}}</ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

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