Editing Wilker

{{Character Data
|photo=Wilker.png
|seen=Saga of a Star World
|role=Electronics expert, scientist
|actor=[[John Dullaghan]]
|sepcon=Y
}}

Doctor '''Wilker''' is experienced in a unique variety of electronic sciences, including but not limited to communications, robotics, and computational technologies.

Wilker builds and constructs the [[Muffit II]] robotic [[daggit]] as a favor to [[Apollo (TOS)|Apollo]], programming it for {{TOS|Boxey}}'s visual image that Apollo furnishes him. He had hopes to use the Muffit II as a template for other daggits to take watch over the [[Warriors]] as they rest in situations where they are isolated or on a ground mission ([[TOS]]: "[[Saga of a Star World]]").

Apollo later questions Wilker on the possibility that [[Iblis]] is an android construct, and Wilker mentions (interesting and ironically enough) that such a feat is possible with Colonial technologies. He later is sent on a mission to find out what exactly caused the "miracle" growth of the edible plants on the [[Agro Ship Nine]], during Iblis' visit to [[The Fleet (TOS)|The Fleet]]. He discovers that the plants had been subjected to a growth-inducing radiation ([[TOS]]: "[[War of the Gods]]").

Additionally, he apparently is also on call to do forensics for the Fleet, as he tests [[Starbuck (TOS)|Starbuck]]'s [[laser pistol]] to confirm whether or not the energy expended upon [[Ortega]]'s corpse is the same as the energy expended from Starbuck's pistol. Unfortunately, it is, albeit it is later proven that [[Karibdis]] had terminated Ortega using the pistol while Starbuck was showering ([[TOS]]: "[[Murder on the Rising Star]]").

Wilker also is responsible for experimenting with the [[Lunar Seven]] [[Lunar Avion|shuttle]] that [[Michael]] liberates from the [[Eastern Alliance]], although he tends to be over the line in his experiments, and is ordered by {{TOS|Adama}} to desist ([[TOS]]: [[Greetings From Earth]]").

{{TOS|Boomer}} noted that Wilker could do thousand-fold better than him to clear up the transmission that Apollo receives in the old [[Gamma frequency|Gamma frequencies]], although he apparently is over at the electronics ship (the ''[[Celestra]]'', most probably) at the time.  Wilker never has the chance to look at it, since his lab is destroyed when ''{{TOS|Galactica}}'' fences with the lone [[basestar (TOS)|Cylon base star]] that Apollo and Starbuck blind {{OS|The Hand of God (TOS)}}.

== Notes ==

=== Character Conception and Portrayal ===
According to ''[[So Say We All: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Battlestar Galactica]]'', Dr. Wilker was portrayed by actor [[John Dullaghan]].<ref>{{cite book/sswa|81}}</ref>

His most notable contribution to the series is the creation of [[Muffit II]], the robotic daggit. Following the death of [[Boxey]]'s pet daggit during the Cylon attack on Caprica, Dr. Wilker builds the mechanical replacement at the request of Captain [[Apollo]].<ref>{{cite book/sswa|77}}</ref>

=== Re-imagined Series Perspective ===
Dr. Wilker does not have a direct counterpart in the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Re-imagined Series]]. However, his role as a scientist dealing with artificial life and robotics can be seen as a minor precursor to the more central and complex role of [[Gaius Baltar]], who is at the forefront of Cylon-related science in the 2004 version.

=== Additional Details ===
* According to the novelization of "[[Saga of a Star World]]", Wilker had an assistant named [[Lanzer]]. "Lanzer" may be the individual seen&mdash;from the waist downward&mdash;controlling Muffit II with a remote control, although the man with the remote control could very well be [https://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Ray+Berwick Ray Berwick], [[Evolution]]'s trainer.

== References ==

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