Editing Dreilide Thrace

{{disline|'''Slick''' redirects to this article. For the pilot with that same callsign, see: [[Jacob Calabos]].}}
{{Character Data
| photo=Dreilide.jpg
| photo 2=
| caption 2=
| name=Dreilide Thrace
| nickname=Slick
| death=Unknown
| children={{callsign|Starbuck}}
| marital status=Formerly married to [[Socrata Thrace]]†
| actor=[[Roark Critchlow]]
}}
'''Dreilide "Slick" Thrace''' was a concert pianist and composer, and the father of {{callsign|Starbuck}}. Kara seems to have had a closer relationship with him than with her mother. When she and {{callsign|Karl Agathon}} arrive at her former apartment in [[Delphi]] she plays a recording of one of her father's works {{TRS|Valley of Darkness}}. 

Later, Kara meets Slick, a man composing a song at the piano in [[Joe's Bar]] and works on it with him. She explains that until her father left she loved piano herself and played it with him all the time. He apparently loved piano so much that when [[Socrata Thrace|her mother]] told him to choose between them and it, he chose the piano. She played one of the songs that always made her happy with Slick and it turned out to be [[The Music]]. Slick disappeared afterwards, which, in conjunction with his resemblance to her father, implies that he was a vision of him<ref>This is confirmed by the podcast for [[Someone to Watch Over Me]].</ref> {{TRS|Someone to Watch Over Me}}. 

==Musical Collaboration and Composition Process==

The scenes involving Slick's piano composition in "[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]" represent a unique collaboration between the character development and the actual music creation process. Composer [[Bear McCreary]] wrote the music for Slick's composition in stages, literally creating sections the night before filming each piano scene, which created a genuine depiction of his own creative process.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album">{{cite web |url=https://bearmccreary.com/battlestar-galactica-season-4-soundtrack-is-out/#more-2539 |title=Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 Soundtrack Is Out! |author=Bear McCreary |date=2009 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=Bear McCreary Official Website}}</ref> As McCreary explained, "on camera, Slick is playing the pieces as I wrote them," making the character's compositional struggles mirror the composer's actual creative process.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

When writers [[David Weddle]] and [[Bradley Thompson]] needed dialogue for Slick discussing his creative frustrations, they called McCreary for help. The resulting dialogue essentially quoted McCreary as he was venting about his own attempts to write "[[Diaspora Oratorio]]," one of the most emotionally challenging pieces in the series.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> This created an authentic portrayal of the artistic process, with Slick's struggles directly reflecting those of a professional composer.

McCreary later completed the work as "'''[[Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1]]'''" for the [[Soundtrack (Season 4)|Season 4 soundtrack]], incorporating all the various piano cues heard throughout the episode into one cohesive composition.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> The finished sonata was recorded on a concert grand at the Warner Bros. Scoring Stage, representing the complete realization of the musical journey depicted in the episode.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

The opening performance of "'''Elegy'''" in the episode was created using samples McCreary made of the actual piano on the ''Galactica'' [[hangar deck]] set, ensuring that the sound matched exactly what it would have sounded like when McCreary sat with the actors and played the song during filming.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

==Notes==
* The name 'Dreilide' seems to be inspired by the German words "drei" and "Lider" (pl. of "Lid") meaning "three eyelids".<ref>E-mail communication with German speaker who clarified the English translation.</ref>  Scientifically this refers to the nictitating membrane that is part of the eyes of several reptiles and birds, sharks and even cats.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane</ref>  On a mystical level it refers to the third (inner) eye, regarded as the gateway to the soul.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_eye</ref>
*The analog for Dreilide Thrace in the Original Series is [[Chameleon]]. Some reptiles (but not chameleons) have a photoreceptor sometimes referred to as a third eye, the parietal eye.
*Slick first appears at the piano in Joe's Bar in "[[Deadlock]]," when Kara Thrace and [[Galen Tyrol]] discuss Tyrol's romantic relationships. He is not referred to by name until "Someone to Watch Over Me."
*The completed "Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1" represents both a character's musical legacy and the collaborative creative process between the show's writing, performance, and musical composition teams.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Characters (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]