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Ellen Tigh

2006-08-03T20:45:39Z

Andb52: /* Assassination Attempt */

{{Character Data|
|photo=[[Image:Ellen_Tigh_drink.jpg|200px]]
|age= 40s
|colony=
|birthname=Ellen ?
|callsign=
|seen= Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
|death=
|parents=
|siblings=
|children=None
|marital status=Married to [[Saul Tigh]]
|role=Civilian
|rank=
|actor=[[Kate Vernon]]
|cylon=
|name=
}}

'''Ellen Tigh''' is a man-hungry predator, and the reason, according to [[William Adama]], that Saul Tigh took to drinking. While her husband was away from home, she apparently "went through half the (Colonial) fleet" in her sexual promiscuity.
==Biography==
===Cylon attack===
Estranged from her husband, Ellen Tigh claims to have been on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Picon|Picon]] at the time of the [[Cylon attack]], on her way back home for a reunion with her husband. When the airport was hit in the attack, she claims an anonymous hero found her unconscious body and got her on to one of the last transports out, where she had been unconscious aboard the ''[[Rising Star (RDM)|Rising Star]]'' for some three weeks prior to Adama finding her.

Following her reunion with her husband, Tigh claims she wants to make a fresh start ([[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]), but no sooner as Saul (still hopelessly in love with her) agrees, Tigh influences him back to drinking heavily and begins flirting openly with other men. Her first target was an unwilling [[Lee Adama]], with whom she tries to engage in a game of footsie under the table while she and her husband have dinner with Lee, his father and [[Laura Roslin]]. Later she flirts with [[Gaius Baltar]] with greater effect - annoying her husband in the process.

Not only are her claims of being rescue considered suspect - no one on the ''Rising Star'' can remember treating her through her long weeks of unconsciousness - Tigh takes an unnatural interest in Adama's plans to lead the fleet to Earth, almost badgering him into trying to reveal how long the journey will take. Her actions seem to support Adama's precaution of having Baltar scan Tigh's blood sample to see if she is a Cylon (unbeknownst to Saul).

While Tigh's mischief-making could be put down to her nature, and so hidden desire to drive a wedge between her husband and Adama, she does appear to be human, according to Baltar's tests, and this has quieted Adama's suspicion. However, unbeknownst to all, Dr. Baltar has sabotaged his own Cylon detection efforts; fearing that exposing a Cylon agent would make himself a target for assassination, Dr. Baltar now lets everyone "pass" the Cylon test, regardless of the test's true result. Tigh's status as a human or Cylon remains an open question, but as Commander Adama pointed out, "Cylon or not, she's nothing but trouble"...

===Involvement with Tom Zarek===

During ''[[Colonial Day]]'', Tigh states her belief that terrorist-turned-politician [[Tom Zarek]] is "the future", and greets him warmly over her husband's objections. Later on in the next day, after [[Wallace Gray]]'s poor showing at the Quorum, Zarek pours her a drink.
[[image:Bsg-ellen-1.jpg|thumb|right|'''Tigh''' at the bar aboard the ''[[Rising Star (RDM)|Rising Star]]'' where she meets with [[Tom Zarek]] in ''[[Colonial Day]]''.]]
:Tigh: So you worried about Wallace Gray? I hear he's ahead in the vote count. 
:Zarek: Whatever the people want is fine by me. 
:Tigh: Everyone has an agenda. I know I do. 
:Zarek: And what would that be? 
:Tigh: Same as yours, Tom. Me, myself, and... ooh. I. 
:Zarek: You are... clearly a well connected, well informed woman. 
:Tigh: Wife of the XO, for whatever that's worth. 
:Zarek: Ah. Quite a bit. Now, and in the future. 
:Tigh: That's what I'm interested in, Tom. It's my place, and my... husband's place in the future. 
:Zarek: Okay. I'm looking for a friend of mine. His name is [[Valance]].

Valance is found dead immediately thereafter. Saul Tigh was among the only individuals privy to the location he was being held. The following evening, at [[Gaius Baltar]]'s victory celebration, Zarek slyly comments to Roslin "Ah, one thing you should know. I didn't kill Valance. I wonder who did?" Shortly thereafter, Tigh dances with her husband and tells him:

:Tigh: I have a surprise for you. 
:Saul: Uh-oh. Should I be worried? 
:Tigh: Not unless you consider a day in a luxury suite aboard the ''[[Rising Star (RDM)|Rising Star]]'' something to be worried about. 
:Saul: How did you swing that? 
:Tigh: I have my ways. What you need to do is to figure out a way to get slave-driving [[William Adama|Bill]] to give you the day off. And while we're there, you might want to talk to a few people about... your future. 
:Saul: What? 
:Tigh: Later, my love. It can all wait until later.

She then embraces her husband and locks eyes with Zarek, seated across the room.

The general subtext of these scenes is not difficult to determine: Ellen Tigh furnished Zarek with the information he needed to arrange Valance's death (or as Zarek implies, arranged it herself) in return for favors with Zarek's cronies. More difficult to determine is what the nature of these was intended to be. Two days later, [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Boomer]] reveals herself as a [[Cylon agent]] by shooting Adama, critically injuring him and throwing [[The Fleet (RDM)|the entire Fleet]] into chaos. Saul becomes the acting commander of ''[[Galactica]]''.

Although this turn of events is certainly beneficial to Ellen from her own standpoint, and possibly even to Zarek as it gives him another opportunity to vocally oppose an unpopular government, it is difficult to imagine Zarek having anything to do with it, given the identity of Adama's would-be assassin. If, however, Ellen Tigh is indeed a Cylon agent, she could easily have had the means to predict this, if not as clear a motive.

===Martial Law===

After Adama's attempted assassination, Tigh encourages (some viewers may say "nags") her husband to take extreme measures to assert his authority, sometimes in contrast to the more reasoned approaches he was proposing. While Saul seems to shy away from having authority, Tigh is intoxicated by the idea. Given Zarek's known views, Ellen Tigh may be influencing her husband's rule into a strong-handed military dictatorship in order to give Zarek the perfect opportunity to raise support among the fleet. Ellen convinces Saul to let the [[Quorum of Twelve]] witness the delusional Roslin, who she saw earlier in poor state. But, thanks to a smuggled [[Chamalla]] dose, Roslin shows her resolve and power, which invigorates the Quorum, although it appears to throw off any plans that Zarek had in the political presidential game. Frustrated of the civilian government's popularity, Saul Tigh later declares martial law to subdue protests by other Colonial government members on Roslin's arrest, particularly by the Quorum of Twelve ([[Fragged]]). Tigh would continue to spur on Saul to ill-advised behavior. Col. Tigh began to relent and consider reconciliation with the captains of other ships in the Fleet, but Tigh goaded him into advocating "stern measures" instead, which eventually led Col. Tigh to try to forcibly re-take supplies from unwilling ships, leading to the incident on the ''[[Gideon]]'' that left four people dead. Soon after, [[Lee Adama|Apollo]] escaped with President [[Laura Roslin]] from the [[brig]], and fled in a [[Raptor]]. Col. Tigh could not bring himself to fire on Commander Adama's son, and was receiving a scolding from Tigh in his quarters when the recently awakened Commander Adama arrived. Ellen slinked away, her hand gripping the door frame fiercely in frustration of her turn of fortune as she leaves ([[Resistance (episode)|Resistance]]).

===Assassination Attempt===
Lt. [[Joe Palladino|Joe "Hammerhead" Palladino]] later attempted to exact revenge on Col. Tigh for the Gideon incident, forcing his way into Tigh's quarters and tying up Ellen, then holding Saul at gunpoint. However, Col. Tigh was able to defuse the situation ([[Final Cut]]).

Ellen seemed to spend much of her time in the Fleet barhopping on ships like [[Cloud 9]], where she was when a hostage situation arose caused by [[Sesha Abinell]]. As the wife of the ''Galactica'' XO she was a valuable hostage, but in the end ''Galactica'' marines stormed the Cloud 9 bar and Ellen survived unharmed ([[Sacrifice]]).

===On New Caprica===

One year after [[New Caprica]] was colonized, Ellen and Saul finally descended to the planet. However, shortly thereafter the Cylon fleet discovered the planet, the Colonial Fleet in orbit Jumped away, and the Cylon occupation of New Caprica began ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]).

==Unanswered Questions==

*Did Tigh arrange for Valance's death herself, or just provide his location to a third party?
*What favors did she receive in return? What did she intend Saul to discuss on the [[Rising Star (RDM)|Rising Star]], and with whom?
**Does her choice of a "getaway spot" have anything to do with her mysterious appearance aboard that ship four weeks earlier?
*How surprised was she by Zarek's defeat? Is her association with him still advantageous to her?
*Is Ellen Tigh a Cylon agent? ''(This would stretch believability, according to [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron D. Moore]]. See the [[Cylon agent speculation#Ellen Tigh?| Cylon agent speculation]] article for more.)''
**If not, how does the attempt on Adama's life impact her plans?
**If so, what would be her motive for advancing her husband's position?
***Is there evidence for cooperation between Zarek's people and the Cylons, or manipulation of one by the other?
***Perhaps she is attempting to create internal strife by playing hardliners such as Saul and Zarek against one another.
***When Col. Tigh was elevated to the position of sole commander, as per Ellen's wishes, the Fleet degenerated into self-destructive chaos because of the poor command decisions he made. Many of these decisions were made as a result of Ellen's manipulations. Even when things turned horribly violent and even Col. Tigh wanted to stop the downward spiral, Ellen couldn’t seem to care less and just continued with her manipulations. Perhaps spreading chaos was her true intention all along.

==Cinematic Trivia==
[[Image:Miniseries Ellen.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Jennifer Birchfield-Eick as Ellen Tigh in the [[Miniseries]].]]
In the DVD commentary for the [[Miniseries]], it is revealed that Ellen was originally portrayed in picture form only by executive producer [[David Eick]]'s wife, Jennifer. The picture was later replicated for the series with Kate Vernon taking the place of Mrs. Eick and the scene reshot, so Saul Tigh is seen burning a picture of Vernon in the "flashback" sequence at the beginning of "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", even though it's really not a "flashback".

==The Macbeth Connection==
Mrs. Tigh can be profitably compared with one of Shakespeare's most memorable women. Like Lady Macbeth, Ellen is married to a man who is in the line of command, but who doesn't want the top job. She uses a combination of insult, flattery, and sexual temptation to get her husband in the game, arranges the murder of others, and even makes alcohol one of her most potent weapons (in the play, Lady Macbeth gets the castle guards drunk so that she and her husband can kill the king and princes). In the words of Lady M herself, to her husband, "Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round."

In fact, of all Shakespeare's plays, ''Macbeth'' is a particularly appropriate one for a series about evil robots who seem human on the outside ("fair is foul and foul is fair"), who are experts at lying and manipulation ("And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray us'n deepest consequence"), and who chase our heroes through the gulf of space (at least one scholar has noted that all of the play's most memorable scenes "take place either at night or in some dark spot"). Like Macbeth himself, [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is famous for a bout of vicious hand to hand fighting in the recent war ("For brave Macbeth ... disdaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel which smok'd with bloody execution ... carv'd out that passage").

It is tempting to attempt to extrapolate future plot points based on the Tigh-Macbeth analogy, but we must remember that so far Saul seems to have resisted his wife's manipulations better than his Shakespearean forbear. Nonetheless, this does help to supply a motivation for Ellen's actions: she doesn't have to be a Cylon to be victim to envy, the "green ey'd monster."

{{Characters}}

[[Category:A to Z|Tigh, Ellen]]
[[Category:Characters|Tigh, Ellen]]
[[Category:RDM|Tigh, Ellen]]

Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II

2006-03-11T18:50:37Z

Andb52: /* Questions */

{{Episode Data|
Image = [[Image:Burdens2.jpg|300px]]
| Title= Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II
| Series= [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|The Re-imagined Series]]
| Season= [[Season 2 (2005-06)|2]]
| Episode= 20
| Guests= [[Richard Hatch]] ([[Tom Zarek]]) [[Kate Vernon]] ([[Ellen Tigh]]) [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001777/ Dean Stockwell] ([[Cavil|Brother Cavil]])
| Writer=[[IMDB:nm1093194|Anne Cofell Saunders]], [[IMDB:nm0894156|Mark Verheiden]]
| Story=
| Director=[[Michael Rymer]]
| Production=
| Rating=
| US Airdate= March 10, 2006
| UK Airdate=
| DVD=
| Population= 49,550
| Prev= [[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
| Next= TBA
}}

== Overview ==

: ''Everything turns on its head as the survivors vote for a new president -- and vote for their fate.''

== Summary ==

===On Caprica===

*[[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]], the marines, and the [[resistance (movement)|resistance]] continue to take fire from Cylon centurions and artillery. They make their way up a hill, and hold their position.
*The Cylons hold fire, and Sharon remarks that the Cylons will attempt to capture them with non-lethal weapons, such as gas.
*Eighteen hours later, they emerge to find that the Cylons have disappeared. [[Cavil]] -- who suddenly appears behind them -- announces that the Cylons have left the Twelve Colonies and that humanity was spared.

===In the Fleet===

*[[Cally]] is cleared back to work by [[Cottle|Dr. Cottle]], despite having her jaw wired shut (which elicits a sexist observation from the doctor). [[Tyrol|Chief Tyrol]] visits her, apologizing for the attack. Cally forgives him, saying that she's always cared for him.

*[[Gaius Baltar|Dr. Baltar]] continues to gain in the polls. On ''[[Colonial One]]'', Tory mentions there's always a victory plan. [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]] later calls a private meeting with Dr. Baltar, asking to deliver a joint statement of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_%28verb%29 tabling] the issue of colonization until after the election, which Baltar rejects.

*[[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]] returns to ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'', with the resistance fighters, much to the delight of Admiral Adama. She mentions the fact that the Cylons have left Caprica, and a man appearing to be Brother Cavill confirms it. He also says he has a message, but is attacked by Chief Tyrol, claiming he's a Cylon. Both Cavill and Caprica-Sharon are escorted to the brig under marine guard.

*The other Cavill (from last episode) is also taken to the brig, claiming he's not a Cylon, but changes his tune upon seeing his "brother", as he calls him. Both Cavills then talk about the fact that the “war heroes” (Caprica Six & ''Galactica''-Sharon) have talked about how the attack of the colonies and the pursuit of the fleet were mistakes. They were told to relay the message that man and Cylon will go their separate ways. Both Roslin and Admiral Adama are less than trusting regarding the message.

*Election Day has arrived and Baltar has an apparent five thousand-vote lead over Roslin with only a few ships left. On ''Colonial One'', Tory makes a call to ''Galactica'', putting a plan into action.

*Amazingly, Roslin initially appears to have retained the presidency. While most are celebrating, Lt. Gaeta makes a starting discovery regarding the votes, and informs the Admiral that Col. Tigh may be involved in a conspiracy to throw the election.

*Admiral Adama confronts Roslin regarding the conspiracy, saying he has a confession to rig the vote. Roslin admits her involvement and Adama is disappointed.

*Baltar is informed of his nomination as President. He's less than pleased, vowing to have full investigation in time. President-elect Baltar then orders a course for “New Caprica”.

*[[Gaius Baltar]] is sworn in as the new President of the Twelve Colonies, and orders the immediate colonization of New Caprica.

*''[[Cloud 9]]'' is destroyed by a nuclear blast, Gina being present before the explosion; in addition to the ''Cloud 9'', at least two other ships are destroyed in the blast. Admiral Adama reports to the president that this may be a Cylon attack, but Baltar ignores him and presses forward with colonization.

===One Year Later===

*[[Felix Gaeta|Mr. Gaeta]] is reporting to the President regarding a Union issue aboard Colonial One, now down on the planet. Baltar is upset, saying there have been no Cylon attacks but the people still complain. He has regressed, turning to alcohol, medication, and womanizing.

*Admiral Adama, now donning a mustache, is walking around a near-empty Galactica, the ship falling into disarray. Over half of the crew has moved down to the planet, and they are running on such a skeleton crew that they barely have enough pilots to fly training missions, much less a good CAP. Adama has a discussion with Tigh about going down to the planet, which Tigh reluctantly agrees to.

*[[Samuel Anders|Anders]], now Kara’s husband, is sick with pneumonia. Dr. Cottle is saying he can’t do much for him, saying there are no antibiotics available, but he is young and healthy, and with a little luck he "should" pull through.

*Kara runs into the Tighs as [[Tyrol]], now a union boss, is making a speech to begin a strike, a pregnant Cally by his side. Saul mentions that Pegasus keeps the backup medical supplies and that Apollo would spring some for Starbuck. Starbuck disagrees, which prompts Tigh to state that Apollo would be "over that by now".

*Kara calls Lee aboard Pegasus to requesting medication. Lee's gained a lot of weight in the past year. Dualla is now an officer, serving by Lee Adama's side in Pegasus' CIC. Before Lee can reply, Dualla catches something on [[DRADIS]].

*A fleet of [[Cylon]] [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]]s arrive in orbit around New Caprica. The Adamas are having a discussion about what to do, when [[Helo]] asks if alert fighters should be launched. Admiral Adama keeps them in as the defense fleet jumps away.

*Mr. Gaeta informs the President of the Cylon approach. Later, before his assembled staff, copies of Number 5, 8, and 6 approach the President. The Cylons declare that as long as there’s no resistance, no harm will come. President Baltar declares surrender on behalf of the colonists, and as Cylon armies occupy the planet, Kara vows to resist.

== Questions ==

*What "number" is Cavil?
*Was Roslin's threat to put the two Cavils into space actually carried out?
**Most likely not, she had the election on her mind, much to do, and didn't actually make it an order. Baltar would have been unlikely to vent them into space.
*Where did the defense fleet jump to?
**Likely a prearranged rendezvous point, similar to that of the miniseries.
*Where is Caprica-Sharon?
**Most likely, still in ''Galactica'''s brig. This is probably why Helo is still aboard ship, having taken a CIC officer's position.
**In the podcast, Ron Moore vaguely hinted that they hadn't forgotten about Sharon, but that we'd have to "wait and see". Apparently, several of the early season 3 episodes will have flashbacks dealing with events that took place in the year that passed.
*What happened to Zarek?
*Why is Leoben looking for Starbuck, specifically?
** Could it be the same [[Leoben Conoy]] that Starbuck interrogated in "[[Flesh and Bone]]"?
*** As seen with ''Galactica''-Sharon, it is distinctly possible that that particular Leoben was lying when he said he'd actually die and not download.
*Did the Cavils lie about the pursuit of humanity being a mistake? Or were they telling the truth?
** If they were telling the truth, perhaps not all Cylons are readily able to admit and rectify their mistakes as the Cavils believed.
*Why has the population (until Tyrol's recent union speech) accepted Baltar's imperious rule? People were hardly so passive under Roslin. Indeed, Adama executed a military coup over a rather less important issue than giving a nuclear weapon to a Cylon agent.
**Admiral Adama wasn't conclusive as to how the weapon got on board Cloud Nine.
***Baltar pointed out there have been no attacks since he took office. Under Roslin the attacks were common. Perhaps for a year the people decided they preferred the safety Baltar gave them to their liberties.
**Well they did vote them in, and perhaps the struggle of trying to survive on this planet is distracting their attention. That being said, there is a Union fight, and Baltar does seem quite weary of constantly fighting battles, so I don't think it's been particularly smooth or easy presidency.
*Are the Six and Eight that Baltar surrendered to [[Caprica-Six]] and [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|''Galactica''-Sharon]]?
**Judging from Six's reaction to Baltar, almost definitely.
*Where did the Cylon fleets go, after they left the Twelve Colonies? Cavil was deliberately vague when asked if they simply returned to the [[Cylon homeworld]].
*How many people died in the Cloud Nine explosion?
**The Cloud Nine explosion also destroyed ships near it. Given the stated size of the New Caprica population along with subtracting the minimal crew sizes needed to maintain the ships in orbit, you can estimate that approximately 3000 to 5000 people died.
*Actually, we have no idea how many people were still crewing the civilian ships in the Fleet when ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus'' jumped away, so it could actually have been thousands less than that.
*When Gina-Six was instantly vaporized due to being only two feet from a nuclear detonation, did she still transmit her consciousness? Was she even capable of transmitting considering that any internal hardware responsible for this task would have been instantly destroyed?
**They have already established that with the [[Resurrection Ship]] destroyed, Cylons in the fleet that are killed will ''actually'' die. Gina expressed suicidal impulses as early as "[[Resurrection Ship, Part I]]".
**Additionally, since the Cylons found the planet due to the radiation, it is unlikely that Gina was resurrected, as she then would have told the Cylons the location of the planet.
*Given Roslin's memories of Baltar with Six, why didn't Admiral Adama suspect Baltar of handing over the nuke to the cylons? If he did suspect him, why not act on it?
**He had no real proof.
*Did the events of "One Year Later" actually happen, or were they a dream or vision sequence given to Baltar?
**Although Baltar has had elaborate visions in the past, this vision left Baltar's point of view several times, addressing issues such as the marriage of Kara to Sam Anders and Adama's friendship with Tigh that are of little knowledge or importance to Baltar.
***Ron D. Moore has stated in interviews that the first 4-5 episodes of season 3 will deal with the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, and unless a vast swath of episodes is going to be a dream sequence, all of these "one year later" events ''really'' happen.
***Moore actually discusses this in the podcast, saying that many people might just assume this is a dream, or a ''Dallas''-like season-erasing shower-dream episode, but he thought it was a bold decision to jump ahead a full year, and have all of it be definitely real.
*Why was it so easy for Adama to hide the collusion of the rigged election from the press, and why were there no consequences?
**So far as we know, Adama, Tigh, Gaeta, Dualla, Dualla's two associates, Tory, and Roslin are the only people that knew; 6 are military personnel, 4 of whom would be implicated, and the other 2 were directly involved civilians. All are strongly motivated to conceal the information.
* Why would it take the Cylons over one year to find New Caprica, alerted by the nuclear detonation prior to the inhabitation of the planet?
**It was stated in the previous episode that the interference from the gas cloud surrounding it would hide the planet fairly well. The Cylons were slightly over a light year away, according to the Number Five. Searching something as large as the gas cloud likely is for a planet or fleet is, given the sensor range limitations, quite impressive to accomplish in months, even with general directional information from a light-year out.
***Actually with the Cylon base 1 light year away, it would take 1 year for the nuke to show up on the Cylon sensors. Short of some FTL communication system, that's the only way the Cylons would have been able to detect the planet. Since the fleet is all in within non-FTL distances, all the FTL devices, if any exist would likely have been destroyed or disabled.
*If the Cylons really left the Twelve Colonies, leaving behind a nuked-out wasteland, what happened to all of the human captives in the [[Farms]]?
*Why have the Cylons returned? According to [[Cavil]], the two races were to go their "separate ways". The Cylons may have been worried about the humans retaliating at some point in the future, but the location of the Cylon world(s) is still unknown to the humans, so ensuring the safety of their society presumably isn't the motive behind the occupation of [[New Caprica]].
**This assumes that the Cylons were being honest in their announcement of withdrawl from all Human contact and association. It is possible that this was a tactical feint and the Cylons went looking for possible alternate locations where the Humans could have resettled.
*Will the Cylons resume their pursuit of the Fleet?
*How many people are left in the Fleet?
**The population of New Caprica City is given as 39,192. There were just under 50,000 people in the Fleet before establishing the settlement, so that gives a figure of roughly 10,000, ignoring any births and deaths that have taken place during the year since the election. This almost certainly means that both ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus'' will be extremely short on crew, as many military personnel will have been left on the planet. There was clearly no time to retrieve even selected members of the crews before the Fleet jumped.
***Will the Adamas resort to Cain's tactic of conscripting civilians to fill the gaps?

== Analysis ==
*Baltar's arrogance seems to have led to corrupt rule during his year on New Caprica—he replaces Roslin's modest desk with a larger, elaborate one, replaces the population count whiteboard with a portrait of himself, and keeps a harem aboard the landed Colonial One.
*After a whole year, everyone is still living in tents. There is a vital shortage of medicine, the military is of no use, and labor conditions are apparently intolerable. Baltar's administration is apparently as incompetent as Roslin feared.
**It is not clear whether these conditions are the result of admimistrative incompetence or the inherent difficulties of colonizing a marginally habitable planet.
***Of course, it was Baltar's idea to settle on a marginally habitable planet in the first place.
*It's ironic that the obligations of duty keep Lee Adama aboard Pegasus while everyone else goes planetside—he is a reserve officer, and promised to build his pilots a bar as soon as they found a habitable planet.
*Ron Moore has once again decided to play with viewer's expectations; in the podcast for "[[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]" Moore commented on how everyone assumed that ''Pegasus'' would be destroyed by the end of the episode, and thus he thought it would be a good twist to keep ''Pegasus'' alive as another ship in the Fleet. Here, many viewers assumed that the nuke that Baltar gave to Gina in "[[Epiphanies]]" would be used to destroy ''Pegasus'' this time, but it wasn't.
*29 people died between this episode and the preceding one? One or two Raptors were lost, and some Marines died on Caprica, but that doesn't seem high enough.
**Is it possible they took out all of the people who left in the raptors because they were not apart of the fleet at the end of the previous episode?
***They didn't remove Starbuck from the count when she left for Caprica at the beginning of Season 2.
*It seems odd that no mention was made of the casualties on the return from Caprica, just jubilant celebration?
**Although they didn't actually talk about the losses, there was a shot of a wounded person being taken away on a stretcher.

== Notes ==
* '''According to Ron Moore's podcast, although Scifi Channel was willing to air this episode as a 90-minute special, it had to be heavily edited down for international distribution; outside of the United States, viewers will only see a 1 hour version of the episode, which Moore regards as "almost incomprehensible".''' Many plot threads, such as the entire Cally/Tyrol subplot, were completely removed from the one hour version.
* Ron Moore's podcast for episode 13, [[Epiphanies]], states that the Nuke given to Gina will come back in this episode, to the benefit of the Cylons.
*In RDM's podcast for the previous episode, he said that in early drafts of this special 90 minute long episode, the writers actually tried to make it a 2 hour special, but this was soon dropped (these times are including commercials).
*The election board appears to have a definitive list of the names of all of the ships in [[The Fleet (RDM)]]. Not all of them are clearly visible, but this would seem to indicate that the writers do have an actual list that they get new ship names from. Ship names visible on the chart are: Demetrius, Diomedes, Embla Brokk, Enkidu, Epheme, Galactica, Gideon, Gemenon Traveller, Greenleaf, Monarch, Odysseus, Pegasus, Persephone, Prometheus, Swordfish
*The framed photo of President Roslin and [[Billy Keikeya]] was still on her desk during the election.
*When Roslin "won" the rigged election results, Roslin received 24,265 votes, while Baltar recieved 22,266. This means that the elligible voters in the Fleet number 46,531. In the podcast, RDM explains that he quickly came up with these numbers, to try to reflect roughly how many survivors are below the voting age.
*Toward the end of the episode, President Baltar refers to a government body called the "People's Council". This may be the proportionally elected lower house mentioned in by RDM in his [http://blog.scifi.com/battlestar/archives/2005/01/index.html#a000016 blog post] on January 30, 2005.
*[[Hera]] is seen on New Caprica in the same white cradle that Baltar had a vision of her being in in "[[Scattered]]", etc. According to RDM's podcast it's actually the exact same cradle.
*Tyrol's union speech is an almost word for word quote of Mario Savio's address during the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964. According to Ron Moore and David Eick in the podcast, they even got permission from Savio's widow to use it (even though, due to the way copyright laws work from back then, they could have just used it without permission, they felt they should get it). As a result, it's even listed in the credits: "Mario Savio speech excerpted courtesy of: Lynne Hollander Savio". Actor Aaron Douglas (Chief [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]) actually studied film of Savio, so all of the hand gestures Tyrol makes when he gives the speech are gestures that Savio actually used.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
*''Dr. Cottle decides Cally is ready to return to duty:''
:'''Cottle:''' You're done here. I'm kickin' you out of here and sending you back to work.
:'''Cally:''' (muffled, because her jaw is immobilized) Work??? Like this?
:'''Cottle:''' You gotta love a woman who can complain even with her jaw wired shut.

*''The Cylons occupy New Caprica:''
:'''Tyrol:''' "What do we do now, Captain?"
:'''Starbuck:''' "Same thing we always do. Fight them until we can't."

*''Trying to bring order to a Union meeting:''
:'''Tyrol:''' Everyone, please be quiet.
:'''Cally:''' Hey! Shut the frak up! (''crowd quiets down'')

*'''Admiral Adama:''' We're leaving. But we'll be back.

== Official Statements ==

From the official site (http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/):
When Baltar wins the vote, Roslin considers stealing the election because she believes he is a Cylon collaborator.

== Statistics ==

=== Guest Stars ===
*[[Richard Hatch]] as [[Tom Zarek]]
*[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001777/ Dean Stockwell] as [[Cavil|Brother Cavil]]
*[[Michael Trucco]] as [[Samuel Anders]]
*[[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
*[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0722413/ Donnelly Rhodes] as Dr. [[Cottle]]
*[[Callum Keith Rennie]] as [[Leoben Conoy]]
*[[Matthew Bennett]] as [[Aaron Doral]]
*Rekha Sharma as [[Tory Foster]]
*[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0443286/ David Kaye] as [[James McManus]]
*Alisen Down as Jean Barclay
*Winston Rekert as Priest

=== Writing & Direction ===


=== Production Notes ===

*Series 2 (2005 / 2006)
*Production Number: 2.20
*Airdate Order: 20 (of 20)

=== First Run Air Dates & Releases ===

*UK Airdate: Date
*US Airdate: March 10, 2006
*DVD Release (UK): Date
*DVD Release (US): Date
*[[Wikipedia:Nielsen Rating|Nielsen Rating]]: X.X million households, XXX share

{{Episode List}}

[[Category: A to Z]]
[[Category: RDM]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Anne Cofell Saunders]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Mark Verheiden]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Rymer]]

The Captain's Hand

2006-02-18T06:10:05Z

Andb52: /* Summary */

{{Episode Data|
Image = [[Image:Adamas.jpg|300px]]
| Title= The Captain's Hand
| Series= [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|The Re-imagined Series]]
| Season= [[Season 2 (2005-06)|2]]
| Episode= 17
| Guests= [[IMDB:nm0001334|John Heard]] (CMDR [[Barry Garner]]) Brad Dryborough (LT [[Hoshi]]) Mike Dopud (''Pegasus'' [[CIC]] Officer [[Gage]])
| Writer=
| Story=
| Director=
| Production=
| Rating=
| US Airdate= February 17 2006
| UK Airdate=
| DVD=
| Population= 49,584
| Prev= [[Sacrifice]]
| Next= [[Downloaded]]
}}

== Overview ==

== Summary ==
*The episode begins as two [[Raptor|Raptors]] begin a training mission outside from [[Pegasus_(RDM)|Pegasus]], which is near a [[Wikipedia:Binary_star_system|binary star]], causing [[Dradis|DRADIS]] interference. The raptors pass through a cloud, when they pick up a transmission. In the Pegasus C.I.C., the Raptors disappear from DRADIS, the Comm officer believing that they may be in distress.

*[[Lee Adama]] travels to the [[Mercury class battlestar|battlestar]] ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'', where he meets up with [[Kara Thrace]]. Lee has been promoted to '''Major''', and Kara to '''Captain'''. The two encounter Commander [[Barry Garner]], now in command of ''Pegasus'', who orders Kara to the flight deck while he and Lee proceed to [[CIC|C.I.C.]]

*[[Barry_Garner|Commander Garner]] and [[Lee_Adama|Major Adama]] talk in private about the discipline on [[Pegasus_(RDM)|Pegasus]]. Garner thinks that [[Kara_Thrace|Starbuck]] is a huge part of the problem, but Adama defends her, citing her excellent piloting skills. Garner thinks that he could his experience as an engineer would do the ship some good.

*Meanwhile, President [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]]'s relationship with Vice President [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] is growing increasingly strained.

*Garner is clearly having his own command crisis, and is hurt when Lee suggests that they coordinate the search for the missing Raptors with Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]] (also recently promoted) and ''Galactica''. If Kara's plan to find the ships doesn't work, Garner suggests that the deaths of the Raptor crews will be on Lee's head. ([http://www.gateworld.net/galactica/news/2005/10/firstdetailsonthecaptainsh.shtml GateWorld])

== Questions ==
*Would Adama allow Dr. Cottle to be arrested? From the episode, he is of the opinion that he would do what is necessary.

*Was Baltar's report real, or was it just invented to produce the opportunity to drive his wedge?

*Who will replace Baltar as Roslin's Vice-President?

*How will Zarek position himself in the Baltar campaign?

*Will Tigh accept the fact that Lee Adama now outranks him and has command of a ship? Or does Saul have no interest in command and already told Admiral Adama that before the posting was offered to Lee?
**As mentioned in [[Scattered]], Col. Tigh wasn't really interested in commanding a [[Battlestar|battlestar]].
***Fleet protocols, as in the real-world US Navy and other naval services around the globe, would require Tigh, as the senior officer to take command, as he did when Adama was incapacitated.
****This is true for an intra-ship command structure, but if other qualified officers were available, Col. Tigh probobly had the privalige to pass up the command of Pegasus, citing XO's perogative (or something similar)
== Analysis ==
*Survivor count is decremented by six from "[[Sacrifice]]", but seven people died in that episode - terrorists [[Sesha Abinell]], [[Vinson]], [[Page]] and [[Chu]], two unnamed marines, and civilian [[Billy Keikeya]]. At least one birth must have taken place to offset the population count between the two episodes.
*In the course of this episodes timeline, [[Lee Adama]] rises from the rank of Captian (CAG of [[Galactica]]) to Major (No details on posting except assigned to [[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]) to the rank of Commander and CO of [[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]] in the wake of Commander [[Barry Garner]]'s death saving his ship.
**Though not stated, MAJ Adama's duty was likely a temporary stint as ''Pegasus'' acting XO, to familiarize himself with the duties of a senior officer.

== Notes ==
*The recap at the beginning of this episode shows a scene we have not yet seen in the series. It is the scene where Admiral Adama says that he is choosing Garner as the new Pegasus Commander, possibly a scene that was cut from "Black Market" and will most likely appear on the next DVD set.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==

== Official Statements ==

== Statistics ==

=== Guest Stars ===

*John Heard as Commander [[Barry Garner]]
*Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant [[Hoshi]]
*Mike Dopud as ''Pegasus'' [[CIC]] Officer [[Gage]]

=== Writing & Direction ===


=== Production Notes ===

*Series 2 (2005 / 2006)
*Production Number: 2.17
*Airdate Order: 17 (of 20)

=== First Run Air Dates & Releases ===

*UK Airdate: Date
*US Airdate: 17 February 2006
*DVD Release (UK): Date
*DVD Release (US): Date
*[[Wikipedia:Nielsen Rating|Nielsen Rating]]: X.X million households, XXX share

{{Episode List}}

[[Category: A to Z]]
[[Category: RDM]]