Battlestar Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:Jeet

2009-03-31T01:50:58Z

Jeet: Replaced content with '/Sandbox'

[[/Sandbox]]

User:Jeet

2009-03-31T01:50:31Z

Jeet:

{{Harvcoltxt|Gracie|Danaher|2003|pp=3–7}} identify a number of different theories of the history of martial arts—the centralized origins theory, the shared conditions theory, the great person theory, the politico-historical conditions theory, and the sociological class theory—and state that a satisfactory account "will have to include elements of all these theories (with the exception of the centralized origins theory)".

{{cite book |last1=Gracie |first1=Renzo |authorlink1=Renzo Gracie |last2=Danaher |first2=John |title=Mastering Jujitsu |year=2003 |publisher=Human Kinetics |ref=Gracie2003}}

Humanoid Cylon speculation

2007-03-27T01:23:52Z

Jeet: /* Low probability of being a Cylon */ removed Anders, Tory and Tyrol, probability wasn't so low after all

<div align="center">
{| class="toc plainlinks" summary="Notice"
|-
| [[Image:BSG WIKI Caution.png]]
| This article is based on '''[[BW:CJ|plausible speculation]]''', which can violate [[BW:FANW|policies on fan-generated theories]] if analysis is taken too far.'''
|}
</div>
 
{{seealso|Characters eliminated from suspicion}}

The [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons']] transformation into [[Humanoid Cylon|humanoid form]] introduces serious problems for the remnant of humanity known as [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] to identify Cylon operative from human.

This article details [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad#Derived content|plausible speculation]] on central and supporting characters in ''[[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' who, based on their behavior, motive, and background, could be a Cylon agent. As of the [[Rapture|second half of Season Three]], [[Cylon Models#Known Models|seven]] Humanoid Cylons have been revealed both to the population of the Fleet and to the audience. [[Final Five|Five]] Cylons remain unaccounted for.

==Needed Qualifiers for Speculation==

For a character to be logically considered a possible Humanoid Cylon, there are a few established parameters to meet:

* '''The suspect must not have any adult children or siblings.''' For purposes of this article, a pregnancy can be generally established as a disqualifier. With [[Sharon Agathon|one exception]], Humanoid Cylons have extreme difficulty with human sexual reproduction to the point of effective infertility.<ref>During a discussion of the reproductive intentions of Cylons in [[The Farm#Noteworthy Dialogue|The Farm]]: 
'''Starbuck''': So farms, that's great. What were they gonna do? Knock me up with some Cylon kid? '''Sharon''': They were gonna try to. We haven't been successful so far. '''Anders''': Supposedly they can't reproduce. You know biologically. So they have been trying every which way to produce offspring.</ref> If a character has adult, biological children, it automatically excludes them as being a Humanoid Cylon as the procreation of the child and the age of the child both violate the 2nd qualifier. Although Humanoid Cylons have, eventually, proven to be capable of reproduction with humans, the birth of the hybrid child [[Hera]] was considered such a seminal event by the Cylons that it seems safe to conclude that no Cylon ever had a child before that point.
* '''The suspect must not have a verifiable family history''' (other than marriage). A parent would have known their child from birth (unless otherwise specified), and Cylons are not copies of preexisting humans. This is an expansion of the "confirmed character history" point below.
* '''The suspect cannot be confirmed to have witnessed or participated in the [[Cylon War]].''' This is another expansion of the "confirmed character history" point; it is assumed the Cylons had no models advanced enough to plausibly pass as humans (i.e. [[Wikipedia:Android|androids]] and [[Wikipedia:Gynoid|gynoids]]), so if someone is confirmed to have lived during or participated in the war 40 years ago, that person is not a Cylon, e.g. William Adama and Saul Tigh. Note that apparent age is ''not'' a disqualifer; the Humanoid Cylon model known as [[Cavil]] appears as old as William Adama and Saul Tigh.
* '''The suspect must not have been exposed to the [[Lymphocytic encephalitis|lymphocytic encephalitis virus]].''' The virus is lethal to Cylons (although [[Sharon Agathon|Athena]] received special immunity due to her pregnancy). Therefore, any member of the boarding party in "[[A Measure of Salvation]]" (excluding Athena) cannot be a Cylon. This qualifier is absolute since, while Dr. [[Cottle]] was preparing a vaccine, it was never given to the incarcerated Cylons in that episode. Else, the [[Battle of NCD2539]] would have been pointless; the Cylons had to remain infected for the mission objective. No aired information supports a notion that a "supply of vaccine" or Athena's own immunity (when she downloaded to a baseship in "[[Rapture]]") was obtained or transferred to the Cylons.
* '''The suspect does not have a reliable history''' involving direct association (i.e. working or personal relationship) with a confirmed human character for '''more than 2 years prior''' to the destruction of the Colonies (see "The Two-Year Rule").

==The "Two-Year Rule"==

Based on information from the [[Miniseries]] and the episode "[[Downloaded]]", the Cylon agents began their infiltration and integration into Colonial society approximately 2 years before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]]. If a character has a direct association with a character that cannot be a Cylon agent, that association ''may'' exclude them from suspicion if their association is older than two years. As noted in the Miniseries, the relationship between [[Number Six]] and [[Gaius Baltar]] existed for 2 years prior to the Cylon attack. The episode "Downloaded" also confirms that, despite her implanted memories, [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]] entered service 2 years prior to the Cylon attack.

==Humanoid Cylons were never genuine humans==

According to [[Ron D. Moore]], the twelve humanoid models are based on human behavior and personality archetypes distilled into twelve varieties. '''Cylon agents are NOT copies or clones of any pre-existing humans, living or dead'''<ref>In an October 24th, 2005 [http://www.thefandom.com/Article50.phtml podcast interview] Ron Moore stated, "The idea is not there was one like an original human model that they were copied from. The idea was that these were...these models of Cylon were developed out of their own study of us. The Cylons on some level looked at humanity and said, 'Well, you know what, there's really only twelve of you...and these are the twelve.' And then if you look at them, they kind of represent different archetypes of what humanity is."</ref>.

==Death==

As only a humanoid Cylon can "return" from the dead, any human character that dies is instantly disqualified from suspicion. If the character returns in a manner other than being seen in a "flashback" scene or episode, then it is probable that the character is a Cylon. See the article, "[[Characters eliminated from suspicion]]", for more information.

==Suspected Cylon infiltrators==

===Moderate probability of being a Cylon===

====Gaius Baltar====
{{seealso|Baltar as Cylon speculation}}
* Known siblings or adult children: None
* Known family members: None
* Confirmed to have lived during the Cylon War: No
* Three-year or longer association with disqualifying character: Unknown (described as a close personal friend of [[Richard Adar|President Adar]])
* '''Chances of being a Cylon:''' Moderate

[[Gaius Baltar]]'s odds of being a Cylon are not good, but not impossible either. The miniseries establishes him as a prominent public figure for years. Cylons talking amongst themselves in "[[Downloaded]]" continually referred to Baltar as a human. In "[[Torn]]" [[Caprica-Six]] mentions that she was (and possibly still is) considering to have a child with Baltar, which would appear impossible if he was a Cylon. However, when learning of the Cylon's "[[projection]]" abilities in "[[Torn]]" and how they may be related to his vision of Number Six, Baltar himself begins to question whether or not he is a Cylon.

Recent information from cast members that portray Cylons confirmed a season 3 storyline that indicates that the revealed agents do not know the identity of the five remaining Cylon agents. This storyline is introduced in the episode, "[[Torn]]."

Under extreme psychological duress Baltar confesses to President Roslin and Admiral Adama that he is '''not''' a Cylon, however the veracity of his confession is questionable ([[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]).

====Anastasia "Dee" Dualla====
* Known siblings or adult children: No
* Known family members: No<ref>While Dualla has mentioned her father in the episode, "[[Final Cut]]," he has not been seen on-screen. The [[Battlestar Wiki:Separate continuity|separate continuity]] character of [[Darrin Dualla]] is not canonical with this qualification.</ref>
* Confirmed to have lived during the Cylon War: No
* Three-year or longer association with disqualifying character: Unknown
* '''Chances of being a Cylon:''' Moderate

[[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] seems to have a fairly well developed backstory regarding her past; she is a Sagittaron ([[Bastille Day]]), her father disapproved of her joining the military ([[Final Cut]]), but upon closer inspection none of this can be confirmed by a third party: the only source of information about Dualla's past in the series has been Dualla herself. Dualla's position in charge of ''Galactica's'' communications puts her in an ideal position for subversion. In "[[Valley of Darkness]]", Dualla is found in the enlisted head, having suffered a blow to the head from Cylon Centurions that passed through, the only survivor in the compartment. Cylon agents have often demonstrated the ability to physically damage themselves for a cause, including self-destruction<ref>There are numerous instances in the series, including [[Sharon Agathon|Caprica-Valerii's]] attack from a copy of Number Six to give plausibilty for [[Helo]], and a suicide-bombing by a [[Number Five]].</ref>. Dualla could have feigned injury to avoid suspicion. Dualla's relationships with members of both government and military command ([[Billy Keikeya]] and [[Lee Adama]]) increase her involvement with secrets in the Fleet. Dualla's contraction of Mellorak infection in "[[The Woman King]]" would seem to decrease the possibility of her being a Cylon, as the hybrid Hera's blood seemed to have disease (cancer) resistance. However, Hera has herself been sick before and during the episode, and Cylons are also subject to infectious diseases ([[Torn]]).

====Felix Gaeta====
* Known siblings or adult children: No
* Known family members: No
* Confirmed to have lived during the Cylon War: No
* Association with known disqualifying character: Yes (William Adama)
* '''Chances of being a Cylon:''' Moderate

As tactical officer, [[Felix Gaeta]], being technically minded, is initially fond of [[Gaius Baltar|Dr. Baltar's work]]. He admitted to ignoring the [[Cylon transponder|Cylon device]] found below the [[DRADIS]] console in the [[Miniseries]], believing it to be part of the new [[Galactica Museum|museum]]. Gaeta neglects an update to [[emergency jump coordinates]] to the Fleet ([[Scattered]]), and proposes creating a [[Computers|computer]] network to fix the matter, leaving the ship vulnerable (and compromised twice).

Gaeta's recent behavioral changes from the stress of working at evading the Cylons shows by "[[Final Cut]]" as Gaeta is shown in his interview drunk, smoking, and wearing a new tattoo. By the following episode, "[[Flight of the Phoenix]]", Gaeta angrily snaps at Colonel Tigh for giving a difficult order, causing surprise throughout [[CIC]] as Gaeta is normally a calm, reserved officer even under the worst of conditions. Contrast this behavior with "Boomer" Valerii, who still appeared quite alert after 5 continuous days of combat status. Note the following dialogue from the first regular series episode, "[[33]]":

::'''[[Lee Adama|Apollo]]''': Hey, how about you, Boomer? [[Cottle|Doc]] tells me you're holding up better than anybody in the squadron.
::'''Boomer''': I'm tired, like everybody else.
::'''Apollo''': You never seem it.
::'''[[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]]''': 'Cause she's a Cylon.
::'''Boomer''': You're just gonna make me come over there and kick your ass, aren't you?

While even Cylon agents develop severe behavioral and physiological issues after extended work and abuse ([[Number Six#Gina|Pegasus]]), Cylon agents appear to be more resilient than humans, which may limit the likelihood of Gaeta's possible Cylon connection. On the other hand, if he were a Cylon, Gaeta's human personality may have finally been overtaxed by that time, suggesting that an actual human might have snapped earlier in their exodus in contrast.
Boomer, however, was unaware of her Cylon nature and thus would not have hidden her enhanced physique. An aware infiltrator would presumably feign more ordinary levels of endurance.

The seven known Humanoid Cylons appear to have integrated human agents into the Colonies no earlier than 2 years before the events of the Miniseries. No information is available on dates of infiltration by the [[Final Five]], whose activities are unknown to the seven. Gaeta has served with Commander Adama for three years ([[Miniseries]]). Saul Tigh confirms that he has worked with Gaeta for 4 years ([[Collaborators]]).

Gaeta chose to stay with Baltar's puppet administrator on New Caprica to feed inside information to the resistance, which Galen Tyrol confirms ("[[Occupation]]", "[[Precipice]]", "[[Collaborators]]"). Since humanoid Cylons are not clones of actual humans, the likelihood of Gaeta as a Cylon agent would depend on the start of [[Final Five]]'s infiltration into Colonial society.

====Diana Seelix====
* Known siblings or adult children: None
* Known family members: None
* Confirmed to have lived during the Cylon War: No
* Three-year or longer association with disqualifying character: Unknown
* '''Chances of being a Cylon:''' Moderate

[[Diana Seelix]]'s odds of being a Cylon were, in retrospect, always somewhat moderate. The only circumstantial disqualifier would be that there were probably many opportunities for her to aid the Cylon cause that she didn't take, particularly when she fought in the resistance under [[Galen Tyrol]]. However, the fact that she took up arms is interesting considering that she stated on [[Kobol]] that she hadn't used a gun "since basic" ([[Fragged]]). Finally, in "[[A Day in the Life]]", Seelix was in a position where she conceivably could have caused the inner airlock doors to close with Galen and [[Cally Tyrol]] inside. Cinematically, extra attention was given to her relatively indecipherable operation of the controls in the airlocks's observation room.

===Low probability of being a Cylon===

====Romo Lampkin====
* Known siblings or adult children: No
* Known family members: Parents described as "missing"
* Confirmed to have lived during the Cylon War: No
* Association with known disqualifying character: Allegedly ([[Joseph Adama]])
* '''Chances of being a Cylon:''' Low

Defense attorney [[Romo Lampkin]] claims to have been a student of [[Joseph Adama]]'s, but this claim cannot be independently verified. His desire to be the attorney for [[Gaius Baltar]] is unexplained.

====Cally Tyrol====
* Known siblings or adult children: No
* Known family members: Yes ([[Nicholas Tyrol]])
* Confirmed to have lived during the Cylon War: No
* Three-year or longer association with disqualifying character: Unknown
* '''Chances of being a Cylon:''' Low to None

[[Cally Tyrol|Cally Henderson]] shoots "Boomer" Valerii in a "Jack Ruby-style" assassination, preventing the Fleet from interrogating her further. While this might benefit the Cylon agenda, Henderson had a perfectly understandable reason for doing it, which she has openly stated: she hates Boomer for her association with Chief Tyrol and for her betrayal in shooting Adama.

Henderson is married to Galen Tyrol and has a son, [[Nicholas Tyrol|Nicholas]] as of season 3. Given the magnitude of problems in creating Cylon or Cylon/human offspring, Cally Tyrol's pregnancy is a substantially powerful disqualifier as an agent. At the very least, it is impossible for them both to be Cylons.

==References==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

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

Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down

2007-03-21T14:47:11Z

Jeet: /* [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3 Teaser] */

{{podcast|author=Peter Farago|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=|season=1|episode=1}}

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3 Teaser]==

Hello. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and creator of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new Battlestar Galactica]], and this is our very first podcast. This is episode nine, "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]", written by [[IMDB:nm0900599|Jeff Vlaming]], directed by [[Edward James Olmos]]. "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" was originally called "Secrets and Lies ''or'' Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" by Jeff, and when I saw those titles on the script I knew that we just had to go with "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", it was too good of a title to let lie on the cutting room floor, as it were.

Alright, so this takes us out of what we call the "precap", and now we are into the actual recap of previous episodes on the good battlestar.

"Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" began life as a very different episode than what it ultimately turned out to be. It was originally going to sort of be a riff on "[[IMDB:tt0112740|Crimson Tide]]", a movie if you're familiar with about an incident on board a U.S. nuclear submarine where [[IMDB:nm0000243|Denzel Washington]], the executive officer, and [[IMDB:nm0000432|Gene Hackman]], the commander of the submarine, are at odds about whether to launch the nuclear missiles or not, and ultimately they— Denzel Washington tries to relieve Gene Hackman, and Hackman fights back, and the crew picks sides, and they run around the submarine pointing guns at each other, and it's a very tense, taught thriller. I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on. So we always— we put "Crimson Tide" up on the writers' board as a possible episode eight or nine. And we all sort of got excited about the concept and really liked the idea of doing a "Crimson Tide"-like type episode where [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] would each start to think that the other one was possibly a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]], and that the paranoia that was in [[the Fleet (RDM)|the fleet]] had seeped into the two men at the very top, two men that were very close friends and allies, and that you would get to a place that by the end of the episode, that Tigh and Adama were actually pointing guns at each other. And it was a great idea, but ultimately it didn't work out, and there are many reasons why it didn't work out.

I mean, first of all, the fact that we wanted to do "Crimson Tide" meant that we wanted to do something ''like'' "Crimson Tide". You often find that you're sitting in the writers' rooms and you use sort of a shorthand jargon for episodes and what you want to try to do, and you'll say "well, let's do '[[IMDB:tt0034583|Casablanca]]' or let's do 'Crimson Tide' or let's do '[[IMDB:tt0065214|The Wild Bunch]]' or some ver— some sort of archetype an episode or a story model, and we use this sort of shorthand among each other. And nine times out of ten, what happens is that each episode goes through so many evolutions and changes that by the time it's written, produced and on the air, it seldom bears any resemblance to the original idea. So certainly this episode doesn't bear much resemblance at all to "Crimson Tide" the movie, except in the most sort of thematic way, it's just about suspicion and distrust, and that's about as far as you can go.

Essentially, the reasons why we didn't go down those paths are sort of complicated and we'll try to talk about them tonight as the episode goes on, but suffices to say at the beginning that we decided to take this episode in a less dark direction, as evidenced by this very first scene where we start seeing very serious matters in the episode were already starting to be treated slightly, just slightly comedically. Starting to see a little bit of quiet interaction between Adama and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], and what they're talking about of course is very serious matters about who may or may not be a Cylon within the fleet, but you can kinda tell that just within the actors performances, and especially the way Laura's dealing with Adama, that we're not gonna take this too seriously tonight.

This shot was actually suggested by our visual effects supervisor, [[IMDB:nm0404690|Gary Hutzel]]. These are the vipers streaking towards ''Galactica'' as if to be on a collision course, and then at the last minute breaking across in this dramatic fashion. This is the observation deck, which came about beca— y'know, out of several discussions. There really aren't any windows aboard ''Galactica'', it's not really a traditional sort of sci-fi spaceship where you get to look outside and see space all the time. It's not like the bridge of the ''[[MemoryAlpha:Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' where there's a giant viewscreen where you're always looking at stars and looking at space. And aboard ''Galactica'', which is really a warship, the idea that there would be big places of windows was sort of ridiculous. But it did feel right that perhaps there was one place, that perhaps there was one area of the ship which accepted a window, a port, to look out, and that it would be a fairly confined space for the crew on these very deep space missions that probably last months, if not years, and that there might be a place where they could go and just stargaze for a little bit. And in this situation, it seemed like there would be a lot of people lining up to try to look at the stars and— y'know, a break from the monotony of staring at metal walls and the claustrophobia of being onboard a spaceship out in the vacuum of space.

And we wanted to play a scene with [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]], who were a couple that we had established having some sort of romantic interest in each other way back in the [[Miniseries|Miniseries]], and we hadn't really done very much with them ever since. You saw them briefly in "[[Bastille Day]]"— y'know, they were together and Billy clearly has an interest in her and there were some raised eyebrows from Laura about his interest and he sort of apologizes for getting her stuck in that situation, but we hadn't played too many beats with them, and I wanted to get back to that. I sort of liked the idea of the young lovers that would still try to find moments when they could just be together, when Dualla would get out of her uniform and Billy would get away from the president, and they would just go on a date together.

This is the piece that I love the most, actually, ironically, is that small little cutaway to all the people standing in line in the corridor. I remember that the idea was, "okay, there is this observation deck, there's limited seating, and there are people stargazing and draw— sketching, and making out and whatever, but that there's a line of people sitting outside waiting to get in and that your time in here is very restricted, so it wasn't really a romantic date so much as it was the illusion of a romantic date, that you could go in there for a few moments and try to forget your situation.

This is cutting into a much longer scene, of Billy going back and reporting to Laura and we learn that Billy's been spying— trying to spy on Adama on Laura's behalf. Um, scenes— I said that this was cutting into a scene, scenes are often chopped up in various ways for a variety of reasons, most often because of length issues. On our show, for whatever reason, we're always— the scripts are always too long, and the assemblies, the editors' assemblies and directors' cuts are inevitably too long as well. It's our accursed running time, which is only like forty minutes and change of actual program content once you take out the main title and the precaps and recaps and the end credits. It's not that long. It's not that much more than an actual half hour. It's only forty minutes, and we're always biting off more than we can chew and cutting the episode down much, much further.

That is actually a stolen shot from a different sequence. We wanted— we didn't have really a good teaser-out, and so we had to hunt around to find an interesting image to go out on. We didn't feel that there was a good enough sort of hook at the end of the teaser, and one of the challenges of writing and producing television is always finding that hook at the end of a teaser to go out on. In this particular instance, we never felt that we had it, so we had to sort of shop around within the episode and find pieces of Adama. I'm not even sure what scene that's from, if it's even in this episode. We had to find a sort of moment of Adama where he looks scary and possibly Cylon-like.

And now we are into the main title section of things to come in tonight's episode, which is a great sort of idea that we came up for early in the process. Actually, I think I came up with this idea. This was— this is an homage, really, to— or stolen, depending on your point of view, of "[[IMDB:tt0072564|Space: 1999]]", which did something very similar in their original main title.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_2of5.mp3 Act 1]==

Act One: [[Gaius Baltar]] and the many, many blood samples. Tracking Baltar and the [[Cylon detector]] over the course of the first season proved to be quite a challenge. This was something that was set in motion, obviously, in the [[Miniseries|Miniseries]] and that then reverberated throughout the first year, that we had to keep tracking and keep our wits about us. And it kept threatening to get away with us, time and again. In the miniseries, it's established that Baltar ''claims'' that he knows how to detect human from [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]. It's actually something he just makes up in order to implicate [[Aaron Doral|Doral]] and get him— y'know, and to alert the ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' crew to something that he— that Baltar suspects is a dangerous piece of [[Cylon transponder|equipment]] in combat. So as time went on, it seemed only logical that they would start turning to him and saying, "So where's your Cylon detector, Doctor?" That opened a can of worms for us. It was a good can of worms, something that we had to keep going back to again and again, and I always love this bit of business with Baltar and just how many blood samples there were, and how long it would take him, and just this sort of put-upon scientist. It was something that I liked about this especially because it really flies in the face of a lot of sort of sci-fi conventions where typically the scientist pushes a few buttons and— in his computer, and miracle answers come out. And this was sort of trying to say just how difficult this would be.

This may be one of the sexiest shots of [[Number Six|Six]] we've ever done, which is just her legs coming down off of the table. You know, it's really amazing, quite remarkable what we get away with on this show in terms of its sexual content and its sensuality. Which I'm very proud of, and I make no apologies for. I think it's phenomenal and great that we do it; I think that it's interesting that the show is allowed to be an adult, mature show, and if you have any children in the room, listening to the broadcast, you really should leave.

This gag is one of my favorites. She walks in, and what's he doing exactly? What's he over there doing, that he seems to be– oh. It's just so twisted. Baltar's just such an interesting, twisted character. And her reaction to him is perfect. A lot of this sort of stuff is all just [[James Callis]]. This is all just James going on and riffing on the set and improving and doing just marvelous little bits. It's one of the great things about our cast, is that they continually come up with little bits of business, little pieces of texture that sort of flesh out all their characters, that make them more real. And James has really taken the ball and run with his character.

I've commented on this in the past before, but Baltar— wow, look at that, isn't that a great shot?— Baltar on the page— on the written page in the miniseries, I always thought was a really interesting, complicated character, and morally ambiguous, very smart but I never thought he was ''funny''. And James made him funny, and I think that's brilliant because it makes the whole character really sing and it makes him endlessly entertaining and just very watchable and makes it much more human.

[[Saul Tigh|Tigh]]'s alcoholism was something I was in love with from the very first. His character is frankly inspired by the character that [[IMDB:nm0000018|Kirk Douglas]] plays of Michael Eddington in the movie "[[IMDB:tt0059309|In Harm's Way]]", a [[IMDB:nm0000078|John Wayne]] film directed by [[IMDB:nm0695937|Otto Preminger]]. And in that movie Kirk Douglas— there's the picture of [[Ellen Tigh|Ellen]] that you saw in the pilot that was burned. Actually, that's not correct. In the pilot he burns a picture of the other executive producer on the show, Michael— [[David Eick]], his wife was the woman in the photo, and we had to re-shoot her— re-shoot the photo when we cast the role with [[Kate Vernon]]. Anyway. Eddington's character in "In Harm's Way" is an alcoholic and he has a wife who cheats on him. And I thought that the interaction between Eddington and John Wayne's character who's Rockwell Torrey, the captain of a cruiser at the beginning of the film "In Harm's Way", and later an admiral, was fascinating. They were clearly friends, and Eddington was clearly a deeply dysfunctional, deeply flawed character who John Wayne liked, admired, and kept around. And even though he called him to task a couple of times, Eddington was clearly somebody who was in a very bad place, and Wayne kept him around, and I was fascinated by that. I thought it spoke volumes about both men, that there was a friendship that transcended sort of the obvious flaws of the man, that there was clearly something about Michael Eddington that Rock Torrey found worthy and found important and wanted him by his side. And I thought that was a great, unexpected place to take a commander and an executive officer, and certainly not what is traditionally done in science fiction.

Usually the executive officer is just a straight-arrow guy. He's just completely loyal, can be completely relied on, and is loved by one and all. It's pretty much a thankless task, you know, just ask [[IMDB:nm0000408|Jonathan Frakes]]. It's not easy being the first officer on these shows, because typically they don't get to do very much except stand around and say "me too". They have to support the captain at every turn, every once in a while they sort of question, they "Are you ''sure'', Captain?" and "I'm not so sure that's the wisest move, Captain," and they always have to be wrong, because you're always sort of having to protect the captain, because they're the lead in the show. I didn't really want to play that anymore, and I thought it was more interesting to have it— what if you have a flawed [[XO]]? What if you have an XO who's an alcoholic? What if you have an XO who was— who had wife problems? What if you have an XO you couldn't always rely on, even though you knew deep down he was a good man? Or that maybe a long time ago, he was a good man.

And again, hat's off to Kirk Douglas's portrayal of Eddington as inspiring this character. But it isn't Eddington. This is not Eddington, this is Colonel Tigh. And the differences, I think, are interesting in that Tigh is somebody that ''has'' fought a war. In the backstory of Mike— of Saul Tigh, originally Paul Tigh but we had to change it for whatever legal nonsense they came up with and now he's Saul Tigh— in the [[Series bible|bible]] that I wrote, his backstory says that he, in the first [[Cylon War]], which occurred forty years ago, he started as a deckhand, someone much like this, became a chief, and [[Brenik|his cruiser]] was boarded by the mechanical Cylons and he engaged in hand-to-hand combat in some of the bloodiest fighting in the war. His ship was destroyed, he survived, he went on to another ship, that one was destroyed as well, Mike— uh, Saul Tigh saw a lot of ugly combat in his day, which we will come back to in a moment since this is now Kate Vernon's entrance.

Kind of interesting to see [[William Adama|Adama]] flying for the first time. I didn't want to really seem him flying the [[raptor]], but I thought it was interesting to see him pi— just sort of stopping flying the raptor. And here's Kate's entrance. And the look on his face. After the commercial break, we'll talk about all this a bit more.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_3of5.mp3 Act 2]==

And we're back, on Cylon-occupied [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]]. Some of the best mechanical [[Cylon Raider|raiders]]— [[Cylon Centurion|Centurion]] stuff was done in-house, the running raiders. These guys are really, really good. It was done by Zoic. Some fabulous direction here by [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]], working in very restricted, very difficult locations, and trying to pull them off. None of this shooting was a lot of fun, and Eddie is nothing if not a perfectionist, and he drove the crew and drove the actors, but God he gets great stuff, and you can see why he's just a wonderful, wonderful director. We really enjoyed working with Eddie.

Anyway, we were talking earlier about [[Saul Tigh]] and his background and his wife, and in the first [[Cylon War]], that Tigh had been a combat veteran. That essentially after he'd had a couple of ships shot out from under him as a chief, that he was selected for officer candidate school, and that he essentially was dragooned into being a pilot because the [[Colonial Fleet|fleet]] was running out of pilots. So he became a pilot and flew several combat missions in the first Cylon War. And the war came to a close, and Tigh, along with many other officers, was discharged at the conclusion of hostilities, and found himself suddenly without a job, without a career. And he hook— he got work as a deckhand on a freighter— on an interplanetary freighter that just sort of plied a very boring route back and forth between a couple of the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonies]]. And it was on that freighter that he began to drink, and it was on that freighter that he met [[William Adama]]. William Adama was a younger man than he was, had been a pilot in the first Cylon War, but only at the very end of the war, and hadn't seen as much combat as Tigh was. And that by the time Tigh had met Adama, he was already damaged, he was already a scarred man, he had already seen a great many very, very ugly things and had survived them, and the war had left deep, damaging marks upon the man. But the friendship that grew between the two of them lasted for many years, and that when Adama got back into the ser— each of them was out of the service and each of them was hoping to get back into the service, and when Adama did finally get back into the service, he reached out and pulled his old friend Tigh back in with him, and essentially their career paths stayed— they had a similar career path after that, and were very close, and Adama kept him around, and he was a good officer as long as he sort of kept his drinking under control.

[[Ellen Tigh]] is never even mentioned by name in the pilot, but she was clearly someone of great importance in Tigh's life. And we had talked about various scenarios of bringing her back, and we had always sort of resisted them for the primary reason that— um, well, to be honest, y'know, it's a bit of a contrivance. Ellen's showing up in the series is definitely the writers' hand. It's us– it is us pulling on a string and making a character appear. I think you get a very limited number of those with the audience. I think the audience will grant you a couple of "gimmes". They'll let you slide by a few of these kind of things, but you can't do it very often. So essentially by having Ellen Tigh show up, we're really raising the bar pretty high before we ever do it again. So it's pretty unlikely that anybody else is going to have a family member that's still alive. I mean they're– after all, they're less than fifty thousand survivors out in our [[The Fleet (RDM)|Rag-Tag Fleet]], and the odds of anybody, ''anybody'' on ''Galactica'' knowing someone on one of those ships is pretty long. And then we— but as we decided to do it, we decided to make it a plus in the episode, and the fact of her survival is so unlikely that it helps fuel the paranoia of "is she a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]], or isn't she?"

Which brings us back to the discussion of paranoia and why this episode went in the direction it did. In the first couple of drafts, it was— Ellen showed up, and her task was essentially to stir the pot. That her influence on her husband, on Tigh, was such that she would cause him to start questioning things that Adama was doing. That there had already been this sort of notion that was out there in the Galactica world that any of us could be a Cylon, so anyone ''could'' be a Cylon, so who could it be? And we were always interested in the idea that Adama and Tigh would start to suspect one another. But they were such good friends, and they had such a deep backstory, that it was hard to get over that hill. So we felt that maybe Ellen starting to whisper in Tigh's ear would cause him to start to suspect Adama. And we had a couple of plot devices that— and they were devices— that were constructed in order to make some actions that Adama took look suspicious. There was something about a [[jump]]— that he was making the fleet take a jump to certain coordinates, and he wasn't telling anybody, and some convoluted reason why that I can't even recall at the moment, and their fuel resources were getting low, and why was Adama taking them over ''there'', and she starts whispering into Tigh's ear, and he's sort of suspecting Adama, and then Tigh's actions, and being suspicious of Adama were catching Adama's attention, and Adama started getting suspicious about Tigh, and in essence, it just became sort of a downward spiral that our two heroes, our two buddies, our two friends were starting to go at each other's throats. And frankly, it just didn't work. The honest truth is we just could not make that story work. And there were a couple of drafts of it, and [[IMDB:nm0900599|Jeff Vlaming]] is a good writer, and really tried to sell it. But we just couldn't sell it. I didn't believe it got to a point where they were pointing guns at each other, I just didn't.

We were also having a lot of— as this show was being written, and going into prep for production, we were also in the midst of a veritable firestorm of controversy over the preceding episode, "[[Flesh and Bone]]". Which, as you know, because I'm sure ''everyone'' who is listening to this podcast has seen ''every single episode'' of course— Flesh and Bone is the episode where [[Kara Thrace]] interrogates and tortures the Cylon prisoner [[Leoben Conoy|Leoben]], and that episode brought with it a lot of controversy in-house, and with the studio and the network. The network was very concerned about it, we had a lot of spirited debate about it, all of it, I think, within the bounds of creative difference. And it was a very touchy subject matter, but the long and the short of it was we had just come out of a very heavy, very dark, very disturbing episode, and the very next episode was supposed to be "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]", which was all about very disturbing, very dark, very— sort of unhappy episode where our two— two of our lead characters started pointing guns at one another.

So there came a point when I just decided, "well, let's punt. Let's not do the dark and brooding episode, let's try a different tone. Let's see if the show can withstand something lighter. Let's try to make something that's closer to a comedy." Or as close to a comedy as "Galactica" can withstand. The show exists in a very specific universe. It's a bleak world, it is a nightmare world, it's a world in which an unimaginable apocalypse has befallen an entire civilization. All these people have lived through a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. You can't ever really forget that, and they will ''never'' really forget that. So when we try to do comedy, as such, it's dark comedy. You're gonna smile and chuckle, but you're never gonna get a big belly laugh, really, I don't think. It would be very rare. So this is really our attempt to sort of move the show into a lighter key, as it were.

I ''love'' the fact that his wife comes back, and knows that he has a problem with alcohol, and she likes to drink, and instead of helping him [[Wikipedia:Twelve-step program|twelve-step]] his way out of his alcoholism, she gets him to drink. There's something so dark about that, and so funny, and so emotionally true. I mean that's one of the things that I enjoy about the show, and that I'm proud about the show, that I feel that the show is emotionally truthful. I think this is a very true scene, and I think you can laugh at this scene. And I'm gonna have to come back.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_4of5.mp3 Act 3]==

I think you can laugh at the scene with [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and his wife drinking, I think you can enjoy it, I think you can be horrified by it, but I think it's true.

This scene was always sort of seen as— in the new version of the draft, when I sat down and sort of decided to do a rewrite and to make this the lighter version of the scene— of the show, I always saw this as sort of the centerpiece, that there would be this dinner party. And there had always been a version of the dinner party in all the previous drafts, but I decided this was going to be the moment where it all kind of hung out there. And this was as close to a comedy of manners as we could get. Here comes this woman into our little family, and [[Ellen Tigh|Ellen]] is ''nothing'' like the rest of them. She's brash, she's loud, she's funny, she's outwardly sexual, she doesn't mind drinking too much in front of people and saying things that nobody else wants to see– saying things that nobody else wants to hear. And I think that's great. I think that it's interesting that she doesn't seem to live in the same world that they do. And she didn't. Y'know, these— everyone in this scene, with the exception of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] lived in the military world, in a very sort of controlled environment, and even Laura lived in the world of politics, in a place where people are very careful what they say or do, and y'know, untoward behavior, and there's a lot of ''looks'' going around this table. And Ellen just hangs it out there, man. You get the feeling like Tigh took Ellen to various and sundry mess dinners or social occasions, and then learned ''not'' to over the years, because Ellen probably inevitably would make his life miserable.

And then this whole little bit, and Ellen putting her leg— putting her foot up [[Lee Adama|Lee]]'s leg. And then the expression on Jamie's face when she touches his calf here— boom— is priceless.

Again, I think that it's difficult to make this sort of lighter episode work within the context of the universe that we've created, but I don't think it's impossible. I think we can get away with this occasionally, because I think that one of the things that "Galactica" is doing is it's presenting sort of a Warts-and-All view of life. It's not all the same. There are crazy people in our midst, there are funny people in our midst, and in the worst of times and the bleakest of times and the darkest of situations, there are the people who would laugh, and there are the people who would do these crazy, crazy bits of behavior. And I think that the "Galactica" world is richer because of it. Just the fact that she makes these people uncomfortable, the fact that she— that all these people wish that she was ''anywhere'' but in their room, to me makes her worth having. And hopefully the audience feels that way as well.

This scene— when I saw this scene at home in dailies, which often, as a sidenote— dailies are the— a full day's shooting is called dailies and you get them the next day or rushes, they call them in film. And as the executive producer, a lot of times the dailies tend to stack up on my desk, because I'm writing and doing a lot of things, and then you get like a stack of them, and then you've got to go through them kind of quickly, and you've got to go ''through'' them. It's important to because you've got to notice what you're shooting. You see if anything needs to be reshot, you want to be familiar with the material in order to intelligently sit in the editing bay with the editors and talk about different cuts and angles and "oh yeah, there's that piece where [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] does this, where's that?" So, I am sitting there in my home, and it was a particularly depressing— god, that's great— it was a particularly depressing day and it was very late at night and I decided to have bot— to have a ''bottle'' of scotch, no, to have a glass of scotch, and sit down and catch up on dailies. And this was the first set of dailies that I put in. And there was a lot of footage on this dinner party, and I just loved it. It just made me really proud of the show, and I just was in love with the cast— the cast that we had, and the strength of the cast, and I sent them all an e-mail telling them all just how much I enjoyed and loved their performances. Because a lot of this— all this little business here— y'know, Tigh at the door, him putting the shoe back on Ellen's foot, her grabbing his ass, all this sort of stuff is just the actors. Very, very little of this is scripted, if ''any'' of it, in fact, and it's really just them being their characters are really living the role and really discovering things in the moment. That— y'know, all this kind of stuff is just the actors and the directors, that little bit of business, this is all just them on the set enjoying themselves and really knowing who they are. It's like a finely tuned theater company at this point in the season, where these actors know the characters, know who they are better than we do. And to watch them do their thing, to really let them go and bring these people to life is just a joy, there's just times when you get lost sometimes in the weeds of the show, as it were, as a producer, writer, and times you're just overwhelmed with what you have to do every day, the pages you have to get out, the scripts you have to read and gives notes on, the dailies you have to watch, the cuts you have to watch, the editing session you then have to do, the notes call you have to do with the network, and I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And there's just so much of it, and you always feel like you're behind, and then there are these moments when you are able to just enjoy it. When you're just able to really drink it up, and look at what you're creating, and really feel satisfied and proud and just go, "my God. Look at this thing that I'm involved with, and look at this amazing piece of work that I have the privilege to get to do," and it's just an amazing thing. It's just an amazing thing.

[[Karl Agathon|Helo]], played by [[IMDB:nm0671886|Tamoh]], has this really long interesting storyline that runs the entire season. He was a character that in the [[Miniseries|miniseries]] was left behind on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and at the time of the miniseries there was no plan to bring him back. I mean, this entire subplot happening on Capric— on [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]-occupied Caprica was not something that was originally planned. It was literally planned only after the premiere of the miniseries. In fact, I remember, when we watched the premiere of the miniseries at the [[Wikipedia:Directors Guild of America|Directors' Guild]] in Los Angeles with a live audience and projected it up on the big screen, and watched it as a film for the first time, as a movie— it was like, "wow, this thing really works as a movie"— and Helo came across really strongly. There were a lot of people in the lobby afterward asking if we had any plans to pick up Helo. "What's going to happen to Helo?" And I remember David and I— [[David Eick]] and I were both really surprised. We're sort of like "Helo? Really? No, there's no plans for Helo," and people being sort of disappointed, that he had really registered with the audience and he had really registered with us. And so, as we started making plans for the series, one of the ideas that just sort of kept rolling around in me head was, "well, what ''does'' happen to Helo?" Maybe there's a story line, that you could cut back to Cylon-occupied Caprica and see what's going on. And so when we were coming up with stories for the first season, I threw out there that there we would— that there was a story with Helo, with watching what Helo was doing on Cylon-occupied Caprica.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_5of5.mp3 Act 4]==
Just to continue the thought about [[Karl Agathon|Helo]], the idea that there might be a story with him— I didn't know what it was, I just said, "we'll cut back to [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]-occupied [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]] and see what's happening with the human [[Caprica Resistance|Resistance]] or something," and the network thought that was a great idea, they responded really well.

[Laughs] Of course, it's hard to talk about Helo when [[Ellen Tigh]] has her legs around [[Saul Tigh|Saul]]'s head. Which again is just a piece of business that the actors themselves came up with on the set. I think, even this whole little scaffolding and the painting going on was something that I think [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with, because he felt that the ship would always being worked on, and that these people would always be sort of fixing and painting and doing various things with the ship, and I thought that was great too. Love this little bit here, with [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] and Ellen holding hands for the first time, and I can't— I think I wrote something in the script like, y'know "it's hard to say who's thrilled most, the cad or the trollop."

In any case, back to Helo and [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)|Sharon]]. In "[[33]]", the first episode of the season, I just wrote this thing with Helo on the run trying to again way from the Cylons, and blowing up the [[Cylon Centurion|centurions]] and finally getting captured, and [[Number Six]] capturing him, and I think I was literally well— I think I was into the script, it wasn't in the story, I was into the script, and I didn't know what the final scene was going to be between them. He had been captured by Number Six, and I had cut back to ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' and played a lot of beats there, and then I knew I had to go back to Caprica one more time to sort of at least leave the Helo story on some kind of cliffhanger, and it just sort of came to me that Sharon— if Sharon came out of the woods and shot Six, and then grabbed him and took off, he would think that it was ''his'' Sharon, even though ''our'' Sharon is back on ''Galactica''. And I had no idea where that led, and what that was gonna be, but I knew it was really interesting, and I was in love with it, and so I wrote it, everybody really responded to it, everybody was like "what's ''that'' about? Where's that gonna go?" and I just sorta said "oh yeah, you'll see. Just wait." And it took a while, I mean, it took me a couple episodes, but very slowly an idea started to dawn on me about— that the Helo and Sharon storyline on Caprica was actually the key to the entire sort of Cylon agenda. That what the Cylons were really about and what their— what ''one'' of their big goals was, would be illuminated through that storyline. "What is that?" you ask? You won't find out yet, so I won't tell you yet. You'll have to wait until another podcast, and then you compare them and think back on these amazing words that I am giving you right now.

This whole little sequence in the lab was one of the— my favorites on the page and I was hoping that the actors and direction would pull it off. I mean it's really— now we're into straight-up farce. And the farcical nature of it is a fine line for the show to walk, because even though this is kind of humorous stuff, it's very serious stuff. I mean it's the president of the colonies and the commander of the only military force are actually freaking out and kinda having this silly sort of discussion, and as Baltar points out, there's a nuclear warhead sitting over at the side table. But I think it has such a— it has such a warm feeling to it, it has such a great sort of spirit of who these people are and the sort of family that's forming, and I think you get away with it. I think you enjoy it; I think you're sort of there with them in feeling their sort of puzzlement and anguish and— Eddie's sort of glowering off in a corner, and hating to be caught in this stupid situation, and his real feelings about Ellen Tigh coming out at the last minute.

This little bit here— this little bit of Tigh going right at Adama, and Adama yelling back, is as close to— is really the only remnant in the episode left of "Crimson Tide". And like I said, this really doesn't bear any resemblance to "Crimson Tide", except that structurally both pieces get to a place where the two men in charge are sort of at— in each other's faces, and that's about as far as it goes.

The [[Cylon Raider]] subplot, which I haven't even mentioned, is truly a subplot. I mean it's really— dramatically, it is a device to provide a bit of action and jeopardy in the episode, to sort of provide some context, and even though there were arguments— I think Eddie even made the argument to lose it, and his cut I think might have lost this whole section, in his director's cut. I felt that this was important because— not so much for any ''plot'' reason, because it's a very small plot— y'know, there's a Raider jumping around and us learning certain things about it for the [[FTL]] drive, and that later we will use our knowledge of the FTL drive to help [[Kara Thrace]]'s raider jump in [[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|subsequent episodes]]. It wasn't so important for that, and it wasn't so important for any action or suspense in the episode. To me, it was important because it gives us a moment here— ''that'' moment, right there— when Tigh makes an instinctive choice, he tells [[Lee Adama|Lee]] to launch the alert fighter, just on a hunch, and it's his decision that allows them to shoot the raider down in just a few moments and save the ship. And essentially, that's what this episode— it's one of the things this episode is about, is the friendship between the two men. Adama's entire emotional arc in this episode is about the fact that he was so worried about the return of Ellen into his friend's life that he started acting kind of strange, and got suspected of being a cylon. And why does he care so much? He cares so much because Saul Tigh ''is'' a good man. He ''is'' a good officer. He is a very smart officer, and he has instincts that are very finely honed. And when the chips are down, Tigh can save your ass, and he just saved the ship's ass once again. And that's why I think that the cylon raider subplot was crucial to this episode, because it gives you a moment of Adama looking at Tigh, and going "God damn it, that's why this is important. That's why you're important to me." And it's important for the audience to understand that Tigh is ''not'' just a drunk, he's not this guy that we get to make [[The Battlestar Galactica Drinking Game|jokes]] about week-in, week-out. He does matter to Adama. He is an important officer to Adama for some reason. Adama is not perfect. Adama does not always instinctively know the right thing to do. He's not a perfect archetypical sci-fi hero. He's a human being. He has flaws, he has blind spots, there are moments of inattention, there are moments when he's not making the right call. But he has this friend, he has this man that he can rely on, and as long as that man is at his side he knows that he's gonna make it, one way, shape or form. And that's why we keep him around, even though he drinks, even though his has this wife, even though he yells at Starbuck, even though he's a flawed man in many other ways, he's important. And so that's why we kept it in.

This little bit of business here on Cylon-occupied Caprica is actually one of my favorite moments in the whole series; this moment coming up with Trish— [[Tricia Helfer]], who plays Number Six. When, as she starts talking about the feelings, and [[Aaron Doral|Doral]] musing on how emotional it was, it's the look on Trish's face. A lot of people or some people used to comment that she just plays the sexbot, the sexy robot, and that's her role in the series. But she's not. Six is a much more complicated character, and Trish is a complicated actress, and she conveys a lot here. It's really just the look on her face as he talks that tells the story. There's really nothing else going on here, except her longing, her sort of inability to feel as deeply as human beings feel, and I think that's a lovely, lovely moment on this devastated world that ''they'' have destroyed, that they've committed this genocide about. And somehow we start feeling a sympathy and a pull towards Number Six, and the fact that it works at all is really a salute to Trish.

This final little scene, with Baltar giving her the all-clear is a nice way to end the episode. This is as close to the family hug as we get on this show, is this ending. We don't often end a "Battlestar Galactica" with a group hug, or with us back on the bridge, off to face another adventure. We have more of about this, people warning each other "don't ''screw'' with me" and "you don't screw with ''me''," or "don't ''frak'' with me" actually is what they say. And Baltar lying through it all and spinning off into his own little world. This is as close to we get as that sort of television— TV conceit of enforced warmth that I detest so much. It's just great. There's something wonderful about the deep cynicism and yet the deep sort of love that I think the show has in its hands, because I think in many ways that's what we all have, as we're all deeply cynical, and we're all deeply romantic, and isn't it a great thing when you're about to sort of hold both those thoughts in your head at the some time.

And thus concludes our first podcast. I hope you've enjoyed it. I'll see you next time. Thank you very much.

User:Jeet

2007-03-20T12:47:56Z

Jeet: sandbox

[[/Sandbox]]

User talk:Spencerian

2007-03-07T21:47:13Z

Jeet: Thanks for the welcome

''For discussions prior to January 1, 2006, [http://battlestarwiki.org/index.php?title=User_talk%3ASpencerian&diff=21890&oldid=21664 click here.]''

''For discussions prior to June 1, 2006, [http://www.battlestarwiki.org/en/index.php?title=User_talk:Spencerian&oldid=60768 click here.]''

''For discussions prior to September 1, 2006, [http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Spencerian&oldid=75116 click here.]''

''For discussions prior to December 18, 2006, [http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Spencerian&oldid=93841 click here.]''

==Updated User Page==
I stole my revised article design from Mercifull, and is living proof that I can't wiki code worth a damn. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 21:04, 19 December 2006 (CST)
:He stole the design from me. Joe stole it from him. lol. Been going around. heh. [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 21:14, 19 December 2006 (CST)
::It continues the rounds; I've "borrowed" now. =) [[User:JubalHarshaw|JubalHarshaw]] 23:04, 12 January 2007 (CST)

==Response to EoJ Reversion==

Hi, just wanted to drop a quick line regarding the rollback to the article summary. I posted a comment regarding it on the Talk page, but wanted to say that as it was written, it seems too narrative. Granted, my changes may have confused readers, but I feel it needs to be consolidated. What do you think? --[[User:Sgtpayne|Sgtpayne]] 12:26, 20 December 2006 (CST) ([[User_Talk:Sgtpayne|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Sgtpayne|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Sgtpayne|E]])

:Shane had a good idea. We could break it up into acts (commercial breaks) but we should keep the relative order. I'll give that a try if someone hasn't done so; I have the episode downloaded. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 18:03, 20 December 2006 (CST)

==Response from Meteor==
Hi you added something to my talk page recently. I just rewatched the scene in Kobol's Last Gleaming part 1 where Elosha, Billy and Roslin discuss Kobol. Billy says the ruins on the planet are 2,000 years old. Elosha responds that this corresponds with when the 13 (not 12) colonies left Kobol.

While I agree you're probably right about the 13th colony leaving for earth 3,600 years ago and the other 12 colonies only a mere 2,000 years I do think the article should reflect the fact that Elosha's comment is not entirely accurate. [[User:Meteor|Meteor]]

== Response from MatthewFenton regarding clean up ==

Hey. Responded at the talk page showing some concerns as to why I believe it needs a clean up - if you don't think it needs a clean up then feel free to remove the tag, I've shown my concerns at least, hopefully it can make the article better. [[User:MatthewFenton|MatthewFenton]] 17:39, 1 January 2007 (CST)

== Red Pill ==

[[Battlestar_Wiki:Requests_for_bureaucratship/Spencerian|Follow the "Yellow" Link]] [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:46, 5 January 2007 (CST)
:Strange... it's not yellow for me. (Monobook has either blue or pinkish). --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:58, 5 January 2007 (CST)
::Aww...this is very cool, one way or another. I'll fill it in a little later today. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 13:15, 5 January 2007 (CST)

== Welcome, Young Padawan! ==

Congrats! Here's a [[w:Squeegee|Squeegee]], and [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Bureaucrats|some pertinent reading material from Wikipedia]]. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] [[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] 20:04, 13 January 2007 (CST)
:Have we seen a [[Squeegee Boy]] in BSG yet? :-) Congrats Spenc! [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 20:07, 13 January 2007 (CST)
::Congrats man, you've earned it. --[[User:Talos|Talos]] 21:54, 13 January 2007 (CST)
::: Congratulations ;-) [[User:MatthewFenton|MatthewFenton]] 06:08, 14 January 2007 (CST)
:::: Congratulations! --[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 08:06, 14 January 2007 (CST)
:::::Much obliged, everyone. Thanks. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 09:58, 14 January 2007 (CST)

== Thanks ==

Just wanted to thank you for the advice you left on my talk page, next time I'll try not to jump the gun without better researching.--[[User:The One True Fred|The One True Fred]] 08:00, 26 January 2007 (CST)
:We've all done it before, but its not much of a learning curve. Once you know what's probably rumor and what's good, it only makes contributing and reading things here that much more intriguing. Don't let it sway your enthusiasm! --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 08:05, 26 January 2007 (CST)

== Howdy ==

Are you a fan of the flying bikes of doom? [[User:MatthewFenton|MatthewFenton]] 04:44, 27 January 2007 (CST)
:Um, I have no idea what that is. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 08:10, 27 January 2007 (CST)
::"[[Flying motorcycle]]" I presume --[[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 08:12, 27 January 2007 (CST)
::: Galactica 1980 :-P [[User:MatthewFenton|MatthewFenton]] 08:22, 27 January 2007 (CST)
::::Oh, lords, no. It's only ten episodes, but because of its horror I blame it for my social inadequacies in high school, my acne, the heartbreak of psoriasis and global warming. Who can I sue? Is that Oprah calling...? --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 08:33, 27 January 2007 (CST)
:::::Also, FYI, Dr. Phil on line 5. --[[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] [[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] 08:59, 27 January 2007 (CST)

== The origin of mankind ==

I noticed a comment in my talk about why you removed notes about the real Earth as homeworld for Humanity some months ago, feeling they were fanwanking. At the same time you pointed to pages about the sacred scrolls and various fan theories about the Exodus or Exodi in the show. In order to learn, I wanted to understand the difference. Is it just where I put it? My goal was to add only factual information. While I realize that the Earth in the show is going to be somewhat fictionalized (if we ever see it) there is an important difference between an Earth that had a different history than ours, and one where the science is so different that you might as well say Mars had canals (a common SF trope from before the 60s) or that rocks fall up.

However, where is the proper place to speculate what theories of Earth are consistent with what the writers are trying to show us in the program? The question of whether, in the re-imagined series, Earth is a colony of Kobol, or instead Kobol is a colony of Earth (and why that was covered up) is an important one to the show, and there are a number of clues in the show pointing to the latter case. {{unsigned|Bradtem}}

:I agree that removing your comments while allowing the convoluted theories in [[Sacred Scrolls]] stand isn't right. It's either both or neither. And if I ever saw fanwank, that's it. I'm toying with the idea of deleting that eyesore and presenting both theories very briefly, but without going into much detail. In fact that's what I'm going to do now. I've already mentioned that on the talk page there as well. However, I don't think those theories should be expanded much further there, as they go beyond the scope of "Sacred Scrolls" --[[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 06:18, 1 February 2007 (CST)

::I tend to agree with Serenity, Bradtem. Obviously the writers want to play with the viewers and make the more "thoughtful" of us wonder about this chicken-and-egg origin. At the same time, they purposefully don't indicate if BSG occurs in real-world Earth's past, present or future. As a result, we shouldn't speculate in detail, thus the concision or removal of your contribution (my apologies as I can't remember the specific reasons and haven't time right now to delve through the history for review). As Serenity noted, we should touch on the possibilities, but we must not go into elaborate "hypotheses" about it as that is strictly fanwanking. A few short definitive notes based on what has aired, and we must leave the rest of the speculation to the talk pages of the article or the reader's imagination. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 08:02, 1 February 2007 (CST)
:::I think his confusion stems from the fact that you linked him to a page that contained far more baseless speculation than his [http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Earth&diff=prev&oldid=88518 relatively short addition] you removed. It looked like you removed something that was fine elsewhere. He didn't even really speculate, but presented a scientific fact. Personally I agree with it, and hate those "we don't really have to pay attention to science. They can do what they want" arguments. Of course there is the possibility of BSG taking place in an alternate universe which has also been hinted at in podcasts/interviews.
:::But as you said, that's a discussion more suitable for forums, and a short outline of each point of view probably suffices here. --[[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 08:25, 1 February 2007 (CST)
::::I understand now. Thanks for the clarification. The whole subject is too confusing, which means we're doing the right thing in concising it in the first place. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 08:46, 1 February 2007 (CST)
::While the theories and speculation may be fanwanks, tracking down the real clues found within the show that back up or refute speculations is a worthwhile function for a wiki, in my view. However, it does mean you probably need to make references to the theories to understand why a real canonical detail is important to note. For example, Adama calls the Lagoon Nebula by the name M8, which is an 18th century Earth designation. That's either a writing error or pretty hard evidence regarding theories of the origin of Kobol and the colonies in the show. Either way it's worth noting, and the context is important. Sometimes there isn't even a theory. Today you removed an addition to the article of the Temple of 5, where I noted that there are 6 drapes and 5 figures standing on 5 of them, one is vacant. I don't actually know what that means in terms of speculation, but it smells like it's important so I was surprised to see it removed. In addition, my addition of information on Tyrol's reluctance to destroy the temple is also, in my view, important -- Tyrol is demonstrably under some external influence when it comes to the temple, so again I think it's important to understanding the temple, not just to the story of the episode, though I don't yet know why and did not include any speculation as to why. I ask this because it's obviously no fun to contribute items just to have them reverted. I try to stick to facts and information from actual episodes when editing pages that are not meant for speculation. --[[User:Bradtem]]
:::Those are all things that can be added to the episode articles (generally under "Analysis"). The M8 thing is mentioned on [[Home, Part II]] example. --[[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 17:02, 1 February 2007 (CST)
::::I understand a desire not to repeat all the episode summaries in other places, but everything in an article about a special object or character is from some episode, so does it not make sense to include the key points to understanding the object in question in the article about it? It's a pretty fuzzy line, my view is that you really only want to roll back something that's false or a pointless addition. The line about M8, if it's not a writing error, for example, is arguably the most important clue given in the Temple of Athena scene about the nature of Earth. It would be odd to me to not repeat it both under the episode summary, but also in the pages on Earth and the Tomb. If somebody adds every single thing from an episode, that might be rolled back as redundant. But if they filter what they judge to be the most important things learned about something, that is, if done well, useful information so I would not roll it back.--[[User:Bradtem|Bradtem]] 15:53, 3 February 2007 (CST)
:::::I understand. There ''is'' a fuzziness to what we do as administrators and other contributors that have been here awhile. I apologize if the edits that we have done have been confusing, as a wiki, while trying to stick to guidelines and policies, can sometimes not enforce them properly, or in this case, may be enforcing too strictly. There are plenty of articles that overlap in content, like [[Battle of Ragnar Anchorage]] and [[33]]. The key is theme; the battle page details the strategic element only (no character analysis) while the episode summary is heavier on character and event information. False or overly speculative stuff is reverted as soon as we find it, but it's not really a "sin" to add episodic stuff to a item article, it's just less preferred to keep the article fully on topic. The M8 information, as you might know, is detailed in the notes of the Tomb of Athena article. I agree with your thoughts on it, and again I apologize if the situation has taken anything from the fun you get in enjoying the wiki. I'm assuming that I am wrong in this problem because, as a veteran contributor, we can get set in our ways sometimes. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 18:54, 3 February 2007 (CST)

== Superbowl ==

So colts fan, what's your plans for the big game? [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 14:07, 1 February 2007 (CST)
:Not sure. A bunch of friends are throwing a party, so I thought I'd go and cheer (or cry) with them, show off my new work MacBook Pro laptop...stuff like that. This frakker ''rocks''... :) Anywho, our city is happy just to be in the Big Show; winning will be OK, but, prior to 1984, we normally sided with the Bears, so it's kinda win-win for everybody. Heard that we're vying to be the host for Super Bowl 45 in 2011... ha. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 14:26, 1 February 2007 (CST)
::The odds are in the colts favor... 7 to 1. [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 15:29, 1 February 2007 (CST)
:::'''''GO COLTS.''''' --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 18:55, 3 February 2007 (CST)

:::::'''''COLTS WIN! COLTS WIN!''''' Wondering where Indianapolis is? See [[w:Indianapolis, Indiana|this link]]. I almost went on Wikipedia tonight to <s>vandalize</s>edit in "Home of the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts" to the page! --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 22:17, 4 February 2007 (CST)

:::::Very good game....I think. @ the Police "Party" there was a door prize @ the end. A '''''Sirus Satellite System'''''. What are the odds... I won! Both winnars tonight! :-)!!!! [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 23:11, 4 February 2007 (CST)
::::::Are you Sirius?! :) Congrats, Shane! --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 07:31, 5 February 2007 (CST)
:::::::Yeah. Little travel one for the car. Wish it were an XM because I a bigger Baseball fan than Football, but this will be good for Football Season next year. Plus... I don't listen to a lot of music. Guess I have a larger selection now. [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:05, 5 February 2007 (CST)
:::: I know where Chicago is and I know where the Dolphin Stadium is in FL. But I have no idea where in the US Indianapolis is ^_^. It's gotta be some make-belive city im sure. It conjours up images of [[w:Indy Racing League|Indy car]] racing tho, and an old TV show called [[w:Eerie, Indiana|Eerie, Indiana]] --[[User:Mercifull|Mercifull]] ([[User talk:Mercifull|Talk]]/[[Special:Contributions/Mercifull|Contribs]]) 08:06, 5 February 2007 (CST)

==Question==

Hi Spencerian. I made a boo boo yesterday and included a potential spoiler (marked with spoiler tag) about the final five in that article and not the talk page as I intended (Meteor need sleep...I could have sworn I put it into the discussion page). Should I move it or leave it where it is? I can understand if people don't want to see a spoiler in the actual article especially since it has yet to be confirmed. -Whatever everyone thinks is best...I didn't intend for it to be in the actual article. --[[User:Meteor|Meteor]] 05 February 2007.
:That's OK, we caught it. While not verified, it's still from a cast member, so we give it some slack but wrapped it in a spoiler tag. No worries. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 08:19, 6 February 2007 (CST)

== "cylon conspiracy" analisys ==

Hi,
I removed my "cylon conspiracy" Analysis from Epiphanies article (About the cylons causing Roslin's cancer).
[[http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Epiphanies&oldid=106852]]
I moved it to the discussion. I still think it is good, but I haven't watched all the series including Torn. This is why I would not like to go into the argument now, so I won't find out any spoilers.
Thanks. --[[User:Cyborg|Cyborg]] 10:55, 6 February 2007 (CST)

:Sure thing, Cyborg. ''Battlestar'' takes a lot of work to track all the stuff going down, so it's no biggie. I'll try not to spoil any more for you. :) --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 10:58, 6 February 2007 (CST)

== Epiphanies "why did altar save Roslin analysis" ==

You removed my question from Epiphanies article. Your answer to me was valuable and was not on the article, so I added it as an analysis.
http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Epiphanies&oldid=106884
--[[User:Cyborg|Cyborg]] 11:23, 6 February 2007 (CST)
:Good idea! --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 11:27, 6 February 2007 (CST)

== Podcast Cite ==
The extended editing session podcast will likely not reside in the "Podcast:A Day in the Life" spot, as that spot will likely hold the "regular" podcast (which will hopefully be released someday). As for the naming of the extended podcast... I don't have any strong opinions. I guess whatever the poor schmuck who has to transcribe it wants to call it. I saw your recent addition to [[Seelix]], but didn't want to step on your toes. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:23, 22 February 2007 (CST)
:I'm listening to it right now, all 2+ hours of it. Lots of interesting stuff that I'm jotting down for later inclusion. Yes, that one's going to be a super bitch to transcribe. Another summer project, probably. I bet we won't have another one; Ron just got tired or had schedule conflict and thought something different would be good. I'll delink it for now. --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 14:26, 22 February 2007 (CST)
::We've really been lucky to have all the regular podcasts be as timely as they have. On the other side of the coin, though, it does save RDM time on the DVD side as they apparently package that up as the DVD commentary so at least they don't have to back into the studio later. I'm definitely a fan of getting the commentary captured as close to production time as possible, as the longer you wait the more chances you have to forget all the really interesting details. I still wish he would have "gone back" and done one for "[[Fragged]]", but wishes and fishes (and whatnot). Maybe he'll do a double-header for this week with this week's episode (doing both podcasts back to back). Scifi.com still claims it will be posted later this week... we'll see if they're true to their word. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:50, 22 February 2007 (CST)
:::If someone gets me a link to that extended podcast, I'll be the poor schmuck and make it my holiday project (I've got next week off). --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 15:51, 22 February 2007 (CST)
Hallelujah! Podcasts for "A Day in the Life" AND "Dirty Hands" are up. I'm starting into the "Day in the Life". Check out the "Yellow Submarine" link for an interesting Scotch story. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 07:50, 27 February 2007 (CST)
:Good. I'll just continue transcribing the bonus podcast. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 12:13, 27 February 2007 (CST)

== Athena not wearing a spacesuit ==

I answered your delete in the discussion:
[http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:A_Measure_of_Salvation&oldid=109483]
--[[User:Cyborg|Cyborg]] 10:20, 23 February 2007 (CST)

== Thanks for the welcome ==

Are you familiar with Thomas Merton? He was a Catholic monk who explored the convergences between Catholicism and Zen Buddhism. I think you'd enjoy his work. [[User:Jeet|Jeet]] 15:47, 7 March 2007 (CST)

Life Forms of the Twelve Colonies

2007-03-06T14:44:17Z

Jeet: /* Plants */ celery

:''This article discusses an aspect of the [[Re-imagined Series]] version of the Twelve Colonies. For information on the [[Original Series]] version, see [[The Twelve Colonies (TOS)]].''

{{RDM twelve colonies series}}

This article is a list of fictional and real '''animals and plants''' mentioned in the [[Re-imagined Series]] as existing on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. For the most part, the colonies appear to have the same organisms as present-day earth, with the exceptions noted below.

In keeping with the [[naturalistic science fiction]] concepts that [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron D. Moore]] uses to model the series, it is unlikely that we may see any life forms outside of those found on any of the Earth-like planets of the Twelve Colonies.

Ron D. Moore has essentially made it a point to avoid addressing the issue in a direct way (i.e. no live dogs will appear on the series, etc.). In the commentary for the [[Miniseries]], RDM elaborates:
:..."David and I, we had discussed, at an early point; well, do they have dogs and cats and things like that? And we said, "No, no, no", let's not go there, 'cause that locks us into a whole Terrestrial-kind of like thing. We'll just avoid any mention of it. '''Nobody will even, like, register that we had "Chicken pie" the whole time, and in retrospect "Oh, I guess there are chickens"."'''

However, over the course of the series various stray comments have established that ''more than a few'' "terrestrial" (real world Earth) life forms also exist in the series:

==Fictional==
===Plants===
*[[Chamalla]]
:'''Roslin:''' "I would like to explore alternative treatment. [...] Have you ever heard of Chamalla extract?" ([[Act of Contrition]])
:''Resembles (somewhat) herbal [[Wikipedia:Cannabinoids|cannabinoids]] and [[Wikipedia:Opioids|opioids]] in its pain-killing and hallucinogenic effects, which are found in the plant [[Wikipedia:Cannabis|cannabis]] and the [[Wikipedia:Opium Poppy|opium poppy]], respectively.''
*[[Fumarella leaf]]
:'''Baltar:''' "A parting gift: hand-rolled from some of the finest Fumarella leaf on Caprica. It's also one of the last left in the universe." ([[Water]])
:''An homage to the [[TOS|original series]], in which [[Starbuck (TOS)|Starbuck]]'s [[Wikipedia:Cigar|cigars]] are referred to as "[[Fumarello|fumarellos]]". This plant may be similar or identical to [[Wikipedia:Tobacco|tobacco]].''

==Real==
===Animals===
====Mammals====
*[[w:Bat|Bat]]
:Seen flying out of an abandoned warehouse in "Litmus."
*[[Wikipedia:Cat|Cat]]
:'''Adama:''' "...then grab your gun and bring in the cat." ([[Miniseries]])
*[[Wikipedia:Dog|Dog]]
**'''Cally:''' "She said the engine power-up sequence began by squeezing something that looks like a red ligament with blue veins on the right side coming out of a sack of gooey fluid, shaped like a... dog." ([[Six Degrees of Separation]])
**'''Baltar:''' "I will be the President, all right, but without the military support, I might as well be an anointed dog catcher." ([[Epiphanies]])
**'''Roslin:''' "I need you to send my ID code on the exact same frequency: D, as in dog [...]" ([[Miniseries]])
**'''[[Helena Cain|Cain]]:''' "Madam President, you look like I just shot your dog." ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]], [[Quotes:01 5|Quote of the day]])
**'''[[Billy Keikeya|Billy]]:''' "...dog takes 20 pills a day." - '''Roslin:''' "I didn't know you had a dog-" - '''Billy:''' "yeah, big shaggy thing - [[Jake (Billy's Dog)|Jake]]" ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]], [[List_of_Deleted_Scenes|deleted scene]])
**A dog named [[Jake (New Caprica)|Jake]] appears on [[New Caprica]], whose water bowl is flipped by [[Felix Gaeta]] to tell [[Galen Tyrol]] that an intelligence drop has happened ([[Precipice]]). Jake was a border collie. (''This is one of the few instances where an animal can actually be seen in the series and by far the most prominent one.'')
**[[Daniel Novacek]]'s callsign "Bulldog" implies the possible existance of [[Wikipedia:bulldog|Earth's bulldog breed]], although it could also refer to a fictional dog breed that shares the name, or simple be a combination of the words "bull" and "dog" rather than a reference to an actual animal.
*[[Wikipedia:Elephant|Elephant]]
:'''Hallucination-Baltar:''' "Start with the elephants..." ([[Downloaded]])
*[[Wikipedia:Goat|Goat]]
:'''Starbuck:''' "A horse. Why not a goat? I mean, that's good, right? Think of it as a goat." ([[Six Degrees of Separation]])
*[[Wikipedia:Gorilla|Gorilla]]
:'''Starbuck:''' "I'm gonna need some of those gorillas you call Marines." ([[Sacrifice]])
*[[Wikipedia:Horse|Horse]]
**'''Tyrol:''' "Take it for a ride. Treat it like a horse." ([[Six Degrees of Separation]])
**Helo and Sharon are in what looks like horse stables in "[[The Hand of God]]"
**A horse can be seen on a picture on the [[memorial hallway|memorial wall]] behind Kara Thrace in "[[Maelstrom]]"
*[[Wikipedia:Hare|Jackrabbit]]
:'''Starbuck''': "This is the Viper Mark II. It's as maneuverable as a jackrabbit and can flip end for end in .35 seconds." ([[Act of Contrition]])
*[[Wikipedia:Monkey|Monkey]]
:'''[[Cliff Hooper]]'s friend:''' "He's a real-deal war hero, Hoop. Can't be seen drinkin' with a bunch of low-life freight monkeys." ([[Scattered]], [[List of Deleted Scenes|deleted scene]])
*[[Wikipedia:Panther|Panther]]
:'''Adama:''' "I'm a [[Picon Panthers]] fan myself." ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]])
*[[Wikipedia:Pig|Pig]]
:'''Phelan''': "Fisk was a pig. He tried to force us to renegotiate."
*[[Wikipedia:Rat|Rat]]
:'''Helo:''' Frakkin' rats! ([[Bastille Day]])
:''Rats have actually been seen on screen in this episode.''
*[[Wikipedia:Tiger|Tiger]]
:Gaeta reveals a tattoo of a tiger on his upper right chest in the episode "[[Final Cut]]".''

====Birds====
*[[Wikipedia:Bird of prey|Birds of Prey]]
**While the animals have never been specifically mentioned, it's reasonable to assume the [[Raptor]] is named after them.
**Possibly a bird of prey is heard and mentioned by Tyrol and Socinus in "[[Valley of Darkness]]"
*[[Wikipedia:Blackbird|Blackbird]]
:Namesake of the [[Blackbird]] experimental stealth fighter ([[Flight of the Phoenix]]).
*[[Wikipedia:Chicken|Chicken]]
*'''Cami:''' "We're going out for dinner, and I'm having chicken pie, and then we're going home, and then Daddy's going to read to me, and then I'm going to bed." ([[Miniseries]])
*Colonel Tigh imitates a chicken when mocking Starbuck's nickname, "Starbuck-buck-buck." ([[Miniseries]])
*[[Wikipedia:Duck|Ducks]]
**'''Palacios''': "Wouldn't we be like ducks in a Cylon shooting gallery?" ([[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]])
**"Duck" is the callsign of Lieutenant [[Tucker Clellan]] ([[Flight of the Phoenix]], [[Scar]], [[Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance|"The Resistance" webisodes]])
*[[Wikipedia:Geese|Geese]]
:'''Colonel Tigh''': "They're coming up with big goose eggs" ([[Water]])
*[[Wikipedia:Parakeet|Parakeet]]
:'''Jammer:''' "I don't care if they put a giant parakeet in here. If the colonel says build a cell, we build a cell." ([[Resistance (episode)|Resistance]])
*[[Wikipedia:Swallow|Swallow]]
:Namesake of the Colonial drone weapon, the [[Swallow]] ([[Occupation]]).
*[[w:Vulture|Vulture]]
:In a [[List of Deleted Scenes (RDM)#Downloaded|deleted scene]] from "[[Downloaded]]", [[Karl Agathon]] calls [[D'anna Biers]] a "stupid frakking vulture" after being notified of [[Hera]]'s alleged death.

====Reptiles====
*[[Wikipedia:Python|Python]]
:'''Adama:''' "Betrayal has such a powerful grip on the mind. It's almost like a python. You can squeeze out the thought, suffocate all other emotion until everything is dead except for the rage." ([[Home, Part I]])
*[[Wikipedia:Viper|Viper]]
:While the animal has never been specifically mentioned, it's reasonable to assume the [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] is named after it.

====Fish====
*[[Wikipedia:Salmon|Salmon]]
:'''Baltar:''' "There was an off-road bridge, over the Euclid river. I used to go there, when I was a boy. Watch the fish try and swim upstream. They were mesmerizing." ([[Home, Part I]])
:''What Baltar describes, without naming, are [[Wikipedia:Anadromous|anadromous]] fish - almost certainly a type of salmon.
*[[Wikipedia:Shark|Shark]]
:ECO [[Lyla Ellway|Lyla "Shark" Ellway]] ([[The Captain's Hand]]) presumably took her call-sign from these creatures.
*[[Wikipedia:Betta|Betta]] or [[Wikipedia:Guppy|Guppy]]
:When Six comes "home" to Baltar's house carrying the metal suitcase, one can see three different glasses on a table in the front of the scene. They contain only water and one living, small, long-finned, black fish each, a way agressive [[Wikipedia:Siamese fighting fish|Siamese fighting fish]] are kept. ([[Miniseries]])

====Invertebrates====
*[[Wikipedia:Ant|Ant]]
:'''Crashdown:''' "Someone else feel like they have ants crawling behind their frakking eyeballs?" ("[[33]]")
*[[Wikipedia:Cockroach|Cockroach]]
:'''Starbuck:''' "...even a cockroach needs to breathe..." ([[You Can't Go Home Again]])
*[[Wikipedia:Oyster|Oyster]]
:'''Caprica-Sharon:''' "I remember the first day I met you, Starbuck. You were puking your guts out in the head after you ate some bad oysters." ([[Scattered]])

===Plants===
*[[Wikipedia:Apple|Apple]]
:'''Roslin:''' "I need you to send my ID code on the exact same frequency: D, as in dog, dash, 456, dash, 345, dash, A as in apple." ([[Miniseries]])
:''In the commentary for the [[Miniseries]], [[Ron Moore]] stated that the [[Armistice Officer|officer]] at [[Armistice Station]] was originally supposed to take out an apple and eat it while studying his notes; in keeping with the new series emphasis on naturalism.''
*[[Wikipedia:Blueberry|Blueberry]]
:'''Starbuck:''' "You look like a blueberry." ([[Flight of the Phoenix]])
*[[Wikipedia:Burdock|Burdock]]
:Used by Sagittarons as a calmative. ([[The Woman King]])
*[[Wikipedia:Carrot|Carrot]]
:'''Baltar''': "Simply put, Admiral, you have already used the stick. It's time to use a carrot". ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]])
*[[Wikipedia:Celery|Celery]] ([[The Resistance]])
*[[Wikipedia:Coffea|Coffee plant]]
:'''Gaeta:''' "Seven other container ships are refusing to release their supplies. Food, medicine, even coffee." ([[Resistance (episode)|Resistance]])
*[[Wikipedia:Lemon|Lemon]]
:'''Col. Tigh''': "A couple of lemons, we could make lemonade". ([[Bastille Day]])
*[[Wikipedia:Licorice|Licorice]]
:'''Roslin:''' "Chamalla and Licorice. Would you like some?" ([[Resistance (episode)|Resistance]])
*[[Wikipedia:Walnut|Walnut]]
:Adama cracks walnuts while going over potential CAGs in the episode "[[Home, Part I]]".
*[[Wikipedia:Beans|Beans]]
*[[Wikipedia:Maize|Maize]]
*[[Wikipedia:Peanut|Peanut]]
*[[Wikipedia:Chile pepper|Chile pepper]]
:'''Helo:''' You hungry? I don't know, what do we got? Peanut butter... baked beans, corn. How about some chili? ([[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]])
:''Helo is probably referring to the common [[Wikipedia:Haricot bean|Haricot bean]].''

==Official Statements==

*In an [http://www.battlestargalactica.com/outside_docs/bg_outdoc0050.htm interview with BattlestarGalactica.com on December 28th, 2005] RDM was asked about the possibility of animals actually appearing in future episodes:

:"Q: Boxey's been more or less written out of the series, but there's always a chance that we might one day see the return of Muffit, or some other form of Man's Best Friend. Might we see the introduction of animals (including Cylon animals) into the Galactica universe? Where would Cylon animals fit in with the Cylon plan (especially in light of "The Farm")? Can Cylon animals reproduce?

:RDM: The presence of animals in the rag-tag fleet was something that came up in early discussions, but we kinda dropped it from the conversation as the year went on. I don't know if we'll ever get around to doing something in this area or not. It mostly depends on finding a story that supports it in some interesting fashion other than [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] finds a kitty. I don't think the Cylons are creating animals as we would define them, but they certainly see the Raiders and other craft as animals vis a vis their relationship with the [[humanoid Cylon]]s."

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Colonial]]
[[Category:Colonial Society]]
[[Category:Colonial Society (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]