Editing Doctor Zee

{{disline|For a Colonial [[IFB]] announcer sharing a similar name, see: [[Zed]].}}


{{Character Data
| series=1980
 | title=Doctor Zee
 | photo=Zee.jpg
 | photo 2=Stuart Zee.jpg
 | caption=Zee as portrayed by Robbie Rist.
 | caption 2=Zee as portrayed by James Patrick Stuart.
 | age= 10
 | colony=[[Planet Starbuck]]
 | birthname=
 | callsign=
 | nickname=
 | seen=Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I
 | pseen=
 |lastseen=The Return of Starbuck| death=
 | parents=[[Angela]], godson of [[Starbuck (1980)|Starbuck]]
 | siblings=
 | children=
 | marital status=
 | role=Advisor to Commander {{TOS|Adama}}
 | rank=
 | actor=[[Robbie Rist]] and [[James Patrick Stuart|Patrick Stuart]]
| sepcon=Y
}}

'''Doctor Zee''', born more than a decade before ''Galactica'' finds Earth, is an extremely bright boy.

When introduced, [[Adama (1980)|Adama]] claims that Zee is not only one of the many Colonial children born in space, but is a "cerebral mutation." Due to this, this youth becomes a scientific advisor who has great influence on Commander Adama and the [[Quorum of Twelve (TOS)|Council of Twelve]], having saved them from their enemy "countless times in the past" {{G80|Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I}}. Additionally, the Council has never overruled him due to his penchant for always knowing the correct course of action {{G80|Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II}}.

Not everyone in the Fleet is comfortable with so much authority having been given to a boy, and [[Xaviar]] expressed this view from time to time.

== Zee and the Colonials ==

Zee is an expert on any topic he is consulted on from sociology, to history to agriculture. 

Zee convinces Adama not to attempt contact with the newly-discovered descendants of the [[Thirteenth Tribe (TOS)|Thirteenth Tribe]], as the nations of [[Earth (1980)|Earth]] are not unified and are ill equipped to resist the [[Cylons (TOS)|Cylons]] should they follow the [[The Fleet (TOS)|Fleet]] to Earth's solar system.

Even so, Zee creates most of the special devices used by [[Colonial Warrior]]s [[Troy (1980)|Troy]] and [[Dillon]], including the invisibility screen {{G80|Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I}}, an anti-gravity craft that resembles a UFO {{G80|Space Croppers}}, and a method of [[time warp synthesizer|time travel]] first employed by [[Xaviar]] {{G80|Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II}}.

== Origins ==
[[File:G80 - The Return of Starbuck - Zee as Baby.jpg|thumb|[[Doctor Zee]] as a baby on [[Planet Starbuck]] {{G80|The Return of Starbuck}}.]]
Zee is troubled by a vivid dream about not only being born outside of the [[Galactican Fleet]], but also of "a great warrior." In his telling of the dream to [[Adama (1980)|Adama]], it is revealed that he is the son of [[Angela]], adopted by Lieutenant [[Starbuck (1980)|Starbuck]] when he was stranded on [[Starbuck (planet)|a desolate planet]].

While on that remote planet, Starbuck was visited by Angela, who may have been from the race of [[Beings of Light|Angels]]. Angela gave birth to Zee, and Starbuck sent Angela and Zee off to rendezvous with the Fleet [[hybrid craft|in a small escape pod]] that was too small to carry all three persons.

Angela herself disappears, and does not accompany Zee all the way to the Fleet. Although Adama confirms what he can of Zee's dream, much of Zee's origin remains a mystery {{G80|The Return of Starbuck}}.
==Notes==

*Doctor Zee is a recurring character in the short lived science fiction series ''[[Galactica 1980]]''.

*The role of Doctor Zee is portrayed by two actors.  In the three-hour series premiere, "[[Galactica Discovers Earth]]," Zee is portrayed by actor [[Robbie Rist]], known also as cousin Oliver in the ''[[w:The Brady Bunch (TV series)|Brady Bunch]]'' (working with fellow ''Galactica 1980'' guest star [[Donald Mortinson|Robert Reed]]). In order to acknowledge the two different Zee actors, a voiceover in ''[[Conquest of the Earth (VHS)|Conquest of the Earth]]'' indicates there are two separate characters who are brothers, Dr. Zee (Rist) and Dr. Zen (Stuart), one 14 the other 16.

*The glasses won by Rist's Zee are not worn by Stuart's Zee.

*When ''Galactica 1980'' was picked up as a continuing series, another actor, [[James Patrick Stuart|Patrick Stuart]], took on the role.  Stuart appears in the subsequent episodes including "[[The Super Scouts, Part I]]" and "[[The Super Scouts, Part II]]".

* In ''Starlog'' magazine's May 1980 issue, Robbie Rist provides some background to the character of Dr. Zee.  Zee is supposed to be so advanced that he is "above emotion." Rist also mentions that the lighting on the set played an important part in the visual characterization of the character, with an aura of light cast around Zee to give him a surreal appearance. Rist also indicated he contributed some small physical aspects to Dr. Zee's character including the crossing of his legs when he's sitting, and the pressing of his fingers together in a pyramid when Zee is thinking.

* In the ''[[Galactica Discovers Earth (Book)|Galactica Discovers Earth]]'' novelization, he is noted as being 14 years old<ref>{{cite_book|last=Resnick|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael Resnick|authorlinkurl=|year=1981|title=[[Battlestar Galactica 5: Galactica Discovers Earth]]|publisher=Berkley Books|location=|id=|pages=78}}</ref>. The [[language educator]] is among the technologies that Zee has created.<ref>''Ibid.'', p. 91-92</ref>

==References ==

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{{Characters (1980)}}

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