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Gaius Baltar

2009-08-05T03:29:40Z

Starbuckratos: /* Notes */

:''This page discusses the unwitting betrayer of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol in the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Re-imagined Series]]. For information on the [[Battlestar Galactica (TOS)|Original Series]] character that intentionally betrays the [[The Twelve Colonies (TOS)|Twelve Colonies of Man]], see [[Baltar (TOS)]]. For the comic book version of this character, see: [[Gaius Baltar (alternate)]].''

{{Character Data
|photo= Gaius Baltar.jpg
|colony= Born on [[Aerelon]], later moved to [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]]
|birthname= Gaius Baltar
|death=Unknown causes on [[Earth_(RDM)#A_New_Earth|new Earth]], c. 148,000 BCE
|seen= Miniseries
|parents= [[Julius Baltar]] (father)<br>Unnamed mother
|marital status= In a relationship with [[Caprica-Six]]
|role= Leader of the [[Cult of Baltar|monotheistic cult]];<br>former President of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]];<br>former Caprican Delegate;<br>former Fleet science advisor
|actor= [[James Callis]]
}}

Doctor '''Gaius Baltar''' is a brilliant scientist, and the rightfully elected president of the colonies. His visions and insight result in him becoming a revered religious figure for the remnants of humanity. Though not without minor flaws, Dr.Baltar has acted selflessly on numerous occasions, and has saved the fleet multiple times.

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== Background ==

* Dr. Baltar is from [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Aerelon|Aerelon]]. He was born and raised on a dairy farm outside of the town of [[Cuffle's Breath Wash]]. Finding the local dialect to be unpleasant, starting at the age of ten he trained himself to speak without the [[Language_in_the_Twelve_Colonies#Aerelon_Accent|Aerelon accent]] in hopes that one day he might be considered as not coming from Aerelon. He left Aerelon after his 18th birthday turning his back on his family and his heritage.
* He was formerly a lead defense systems developer working for the [[Colonial Ministry of Defense]] and came to prominence as a computer technology designer, having won three [[Magnate Prize]]s.
* He networks with others well, and became personal friends with President [[Richard Adar]]. However, Baltar is extremely arrogant at times.
* Baltar becomes responsible for the design of the critical [[Command Navigation Program]] (CNP) used throughout the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|Colonial Fleet]], but he could not fix all of its shortfalls himself and asked his lover ([[Number Six]]) to fix almost half of the base code and when she wrote the code, she got it up to 95% efficiency but then she put in back doors to allow the [[Cylons]] to "shut-down" space craft fitted with the CNP.
* Baltar's scientific prowess seems strongest in the medical and biological fields ([[Epiphanies]]). As a result of his lesser (although still advanced) computer programming skills, he seeks the help (and as a byproduct, the affections of) a [[Caprica Six|young woman]] to aid him with the CNP.
* Baltar's two-year affair with the mysterious woman-- even to the extent of using code she herself wrote to overcome shortfalls in his CNP -- allowed her unrestricted access to some of the most sensitive systems of the Colonial defenses.
*Baltar's involvement with his blonde assistant does not stop him from dalliances with other women during this time, right up to when his assistant confronts Baltar and a lover in bed.

==Character History==

=== The Attack on the Twelve Colonies ===

* Baltar learns that his "corporate spy" lover is in fact a new type of Cylon -- a [[Humanoid Cylon|Cylon in human form]], able to mimic human beings down to the smallest detail, who altered his CNP with [[backdoor]]s to subvert any CNP-equipped ship.
[[image:Mini-Baltar_Six.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Caprica-Six|Number Six]] kissing in the [[Miniseries]].]]
*Even though Baltar is appalled that it was his sexual folly that led to a holocaust, he is nevertheless determined to survive and keep this unintended treachery hidden. He only survives the following attack because the Cylon agent sacrifices herself to protect him from a nuclear blast.
* Baltar is rescued from [[Caprica]] following the forced-landing of a Colonial [[Raptor]] -- at the cost of [[Karl Agathon|one of the crew staying behind]] ([[Miniseries]])
* Baltar is plagued by visions of Number Six that only he can see and hear. He cannot be sure whether this is a result of his own guilt at his actions or whether -- as she initially claims -- she is part of a chip that has been implanted in his brain<ref name="chip">The idea that Six is an actual chip in Baltar's head was dismissed by Dr. [[Cottle]]'s image scan of Baltar's head. See [[Gaius Baltar#Speculation: The Real Baltar?|the section on alternate reasons for Six's existence]] for more.</ref>.
*Baltar is put to work trying to devise a means of detecting these humanoid Cylons. He luckily exposes [[Aaron Doral]] as a Cylon agent ([[Miniseries]]), using little more than invented [[technobabble]] to convince [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]].

=== Gaining trust ===

*Baltar eventually develops a genuine detector. This, together with his survival of a foiled attempt to expose him as a traitor ([[Six Degrees of Separation]]), firmly establishes his credentials within the Fleet's hierarchy.
*With this new-found trust, and despite his willingness to deliberately conceal vital information, such as [[Sharon Valerii]] true status as a [[Cylon agent]] ([[Flesh and Bone]]), Baltar enters the realm of political leadership, first as the Representative for [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]] on the [[Quorum of Twelve (RDM)|Quorum of Twelve]], and then as the newly-elected Vice President of the Colonies ([[Colonial Day]]).
* The virtual Six continues to help and hinder Baltar, gradually drawing him to a point of near-open acceptance and participation in Cylon plans and activities ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]). Whether by coincidence or design, Six manipulates Baltar through repeated threats of exposing his involvement with the destruction of the Colonies ("[[33]],", "[[Six Degrees of Separation]]"), while also appearing to aid him by giving information that [[The Hand of God (RDM)|appears insightful or inspired]] to help the Colonials.
[[image:Scattered-Baltar_Six.jpg|thumb|[[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Number Six]] seeing "the shape of things to come" in "[[Scattered]]".]]

=== A greater purpose or insanity? ===

*Initially an atheist, Baltar is slowly converted to the Cylons' monotheistic faith: in "[[33]]" he repents his sins, in "[[Six Degrees of Separation]] "he prays to the Cylon God and devotes his life to serving his divine will, and in "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]" he is led to believe that he is an instrument of God.
*Baltar is subjected to a final revelation of his role with the Cylons (as virtual Six sees it) when "the future" is revealed to him on [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]], in the form of the first of "God's new generation of children" ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]).
[[Image:Baltarixvalleydarkness.jpg|Number Six showing Baltar the clearing filled with human bones, telling him they were from human sacrifices.|thumb]]
* While stranded on Kobol after a crash landing, Baltar's virtual Six warns him that the Colonial religion is a falsehood to cover up atrocities of their nature.
*On Kobol, Baltar shoots [[Crashdown]] in the back, killing him instantly, to save [[Cally]] from a practically suicidal and unnecessary attack on a Cylon missile battery<ref>The act of killing Crashdown appears to have led to a dramatic change in Baltar's attitude toward hurting anyone directly. When Cally tries to blackmail him after they return from Kobol, Baltar is somewhat rough with her. When he visits Tyrol and Boomer in the brig, he does not hesitate to inject Tyrol with fatal drugs to blackmail Boomer into giving Cylon secrets. Baltar's humanitarian acts to the Six copy known as Gina also suggests Baltar's attitude in the care of Cylons is further changing. More and more, Baltar appears to prefer direct intervention and is less cowardly in his attitude.</ref>. The group are eventually rescued by the Raptors. Baltar tells the [[SAR]] team that Crashdown died a hero in the fight, and Chief Tyrol reluctantly corroborates his story ([[Fragged]]).
*Back on ''Galactica'', Cally blackmails Baltar into making it a priority to prove that Chief Tyrol is not a Cylon, as Colonel Tigh suspects, or Cally would reveal the truth of Crashdown's death.
* Incensed at this ingratitude, Baltar gambles that the [[brig|jailed]] Boomer knows of the number of Cylons in the Fleet, and blackmails her into doing so, using Tyrol's life.
[[image:brainscan.jpg|Baltar receives his brain scan from Dr. Cottle, as Six watches on in amusement.|thumb]]
*Questioning his own sanity after his virtual Six claims that he was generally crazy, Baltar has a brain scan performed in [[sickbay]] by Dr. [[Cottle]] which confirms no "foreign objects" are present in his head.
*Baltar is ready to believe that he is truly insane until he hears [[Karl Agathon]] and [[Sharon Valerii|Caprica-Sharon]] discuss Valerii's pregnancy with a Cylon/human hybrid child from his observation room. Six tells Baltar earlier that "their child" would be born in that cell, and this leads Baltar to realize that Six ''must'' be real because his subconscious couldn't have known that ([[Home, Part II]]). However, Hera is actually neither conceived, nor born in that specific cell. Instead, Virtual Six could actually be hinting at Tigh's and Caprica Six's future baby, that most likely ''is'' conceived in that particular cell.

=== Many talents ===

*When [[D'Anna Biers]] films a documentary about life aboard ''Galactica'', Six urges Baltar to give an interview to try to win people over to thinking that he should be running the Fleet. Baltar performs badly as he begins his interview but, fortunately, his interview is interrupted by a Cylon attack that Biers chooses to film instead ([[Final Cut]]).
*Baltar aids in trying to overcome the Cylon [[logic bomb]] which devastates ''Galactica's'' [[computers]]. Tigh's dislike of Baltar's involvement in this problem makes the scientist edgy enough to retort, "I'm sorry. Do you want to survive this one or not, Colonel?" ([[Flight of the Phoenix]])
[[image:baltargina.jpg|Baltar with Gina, the Cylon prisoner from ''Pegasus''.|thumb]]
*[[Helena Cain|Admiral Helena Cain]] requests that Baltar examine ''Pegasus' '' own Cylon prisoner to see what information he could glean from it. Baltar is horrified to discover the Cylon was a terribly abused and tortured copy of Number Six named "[[Gina]]". Baltar vows to help her and begins by having her restraints removed and bringing food to her ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]).
*Over the course of his examination of Gina, he uncovers both her wish to die and the secret of the Cylon [[Resurrection Ship]]. He passes this information to Adama and Admiral Cain, who develop an [[Attack on the Resurrection Ship|operation to destroy it]] ([[Resurrection Ship, Part I]]).
*Baltar continues to spend time with Gina, eventually helping her escape from the brig. He tells Gina that he can hide her, and also that he loves her. Gina goes on to kill Cain and escapes from ''Pegasus'' through unexplained means ([[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]).
*Torn between the "flesh and blood" copy of the [[Number Six]] copy, Gina, the demands of his internal Number Six, and his continuing attempt to cover his own multiple duplicities, Baltar becomes more aggressive and confrontational. With President Roslin's advice to abort the Cylon-hybrid fetus of the incarcerated [[Sharon Valerii]], Baltar reacts to defend it as if it were his own child. Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]] admonishes Baltar, telling him that, on Roslin's death, he will become President and that he needs to behave like one.
*Desperate to save Valerii's fetus, Baltar reviews Dr. [[Cottle]]'s medical tests and performs experiments of his own, learning a striking revelation: the blood of the fetus can destroy cancer and repair its damage to human tissue.<ref name="stemcells">According to the writer's original planning, this was due to the presence of Cylon [[Wikipedia:stem cells|stem cells]] in the fetus's blood. This explanation was absent in the final shooting script.</ref> With Admiral Adama's permission, he injects the dying President Roslin with some of the fetal blood, which works miraculously, saving both Roslin and Valerii's child by circumstance ([[Epiphanies]]).
*Baltar keeps his [[Fumarella leaf|fumarella]] supply fresh by trading in the [[black market (organization)|black market]] through new ''Pegasus'' Commander [[Jack Fisk]]. Not realizing that Fisk had been murdered, the scientist visits Fisk's quarters, only to meet Captain [[Lee Adama]], who has started an investigation on the black market and Fisk's murder. Baltar truthfully tells Adama that he knows nothing of Fisk's murder, but Adama correctly deduces Baltar's association with Fisk and the black market since the "[[Caprican Imperial]]" fumarellos are a known favorite of Baltar's ([[Black Market]]).

=== Increasing political ambitions ===

*After saving Roslin's life, Baltar reads the letter given to him in the event of her death, in which she says he lacks compassion and asks him to open his heart if he becomes president. Furious, and goaded on by Six who tells him that Roslin doesn't trust him, Baltar delivers the nuclear warhead used for the Cylon detector to Gina and her militant "[[Demand Peace]]" movement.
*Baltar is also unaware that his involvement in the destruction of the Colonies is partially revealed. In ''Galactica's'' sickbay, Laura Roslin recalled those final days on Caprica, and remembered Baltar in the company of a [[Number Six|woman]] on Caprica who she knows now is a Cylon ([[Epiphanies]]).
*Baltar is summoned to ''[[Colonial One]]'', where Roslin offers him, without explanation, the chance to resign from the Vice Presidency to return to his studies. Baltar becomes immediately suspicious (and frightened) in Roslin's succinct and direct vote of no-confidence in her vice president. Realizing that the Vice Presidency now has greater importance (if nothing other than to save his own hide), Baltar turns down what Roslin calls a "one-time offer" to save himself as he saved Roslin on her deathbed ([[Black Market]]).

[[Image:Baltarlaydownburdensii.jpg|Gaius Baltar as President, from ''Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II''.|thumb]]
*Dr. Baltar decides (with no small influence from Six and [[Tom Zarek]]) to run for President in the coming Colonial Elections ([[The Captain's Hand]]).

=== New Caprica ===

*Roslin is declared the winner of the elections, but is caught by Adama for manipulating the tally. Baltar is declared president. While Baltar demands an investigation initially, he backs down under Adama's glare.
*President Baltar orders the Fleet to return to the marginally habitable planet [[New Caprica]] seconds after his inauguration. Baltar shows incompetency as president a few days later, when he orders the colonization of the planet. In an attempt to cover up his role in giving Gina the nuclear warhead used to detonate ''[[Cloud Nine]]'', Baltar orders Adama to stop any further investigation into the destruction of ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' and two other ships (he correctly guesses that the conflagration was started by [[Gina]]).
*During his first year in office, Baltar indulges in women, wallows in the incompetence of his administration, and is callously unsympathetic to the supply and resource problems plaguing the new colony, whose inhabitants continue to live in tents. The public, including the labor union lead by [[Galen Tyrol]], is notably displeased with his administration.
*380 days after Baltar's ascension to the presidency, a Cylon armada finds the planet after detecting the radiation signature caused by the destruction of ''[[Cloud 9]]'', which took that long to reach them. This event heralds the return of the dormant virtual Number Six noting to him that "judgment day" has come at last. Copies of a [[Number Five|Five]], [[Caprica-Six]] and [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Boomer]] meet with Baltar and his cabinet, recommending surrender; it is here that he is reunited with the Six he fell in love with on [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]] ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]).
*After four months of Cylon occupation, the citizens of New Caprica despise their president. Baltar fears for his life and turns down public appearances, such as the [[New Caprica Police]] Academy graduation, to avoid assassination attempts ([[Occupation]]). It is even commented by the Cylon occupiers while discussing the notion of public executions to discourage uprising that publicly executing Baltar would be counterproductive, since the populace would cheer his death.
*Baltar is disposed after Admiral Adama organizes and executes a [[Battle of New Caprica|daring rescue mission]] of New Caprica's occupied inhabitants. During the exodus of those willing to leave New Caprica, Baltar happens across the dead body of [[Maya]] and the Cylon hybrid [[Hera Agathon|Hera]], and stays behind with the Cylons ([[Exodus, Part II]]).

=== Among the Cylons ===

*Once on board the basestar, Baltar must prove his worth to the Cylons or be killed. He seeks help from the basestar's [[Hybrid]], and gleans information which leads the Cylon fleet to the [[Lion's Head Nebula]], where they recover an ancient beacon. The beacon is also a plague carrier. To further prove his worth, Baltar takes on a mission to the dying basestar ([[Torn]]).
*Baltar is tortured by a Number Three for information on the viral plague. Misinterpreting his screams of love for the Internal Six as feeling for her, Number Three enters into a sexual relationship with Baltar and possibly Caprica-Six as well and starts to share a bed with both of them ([[A Measure of Salvation]]).
* Learning more about Cylon culture among them, he develops doubts about his identity, starting to belief that he might be one of the [[final five]] Cylons.

=== Return to the Fleet ===

[[Image:Baltar brig.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Baltar being placed in detention.]]

* Seeking answers to his questions about his identity, Baltar travels with Number Three and [[Cavil]] to the surface of the algae planet in order to visit the [[Temple of Five]]. After killing Cavil and watching the death of Number Three, he is unsuccessful in finding answers, and is captured and returned to ''Galactica'' ([[Rapture]]).
* He attempts to commit suicide and is tortured by President [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]] and Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]] under the influence of an [[interrogation drug]]. While offering no substantial information, Roslin's belief that he played a role in the attack on the Twelve Colonies is strengthened. She and Adama decide to give Baltar a public trial instead of quietly executing him ([[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]).
* Baltar, in an attempt to curry favor with the fleet concerning his trial, secretly publishes a book called "[[My Triumphs, My Mistakes]]". This book causes a labor strike, led by [[Galen Tyrol]], but instead of bringing the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] to a screeching halt, it actually helps Tyrol and President Roslin stop a problem that was beginning to form in the Fleet ([[Dirty Hands]]).
* Before his trial begins, Baltar's lawyer, [[Alan Hughes]], is killed by sabotage, and is replaced by [[Romo Lampkin]]. Security for both Lampkin and Baltar is high, as many people believe fervently that Baltar should not be given a trial at all. Major [[Lee Adama]] is placed in command of this security detail, and eventually becomes Lampkin's aide for the trial ([[The Son Also Rises]]).
*Baltar's trial becomes a frenzied media circus. Lampkin manages to keep mob rule from overwhelming the proceedings, but it is Lee Adama's testimony that ultimately acquits Baltar. The son of William Adama notes many, many abuses of justice, crimes and mistakes committed by himself and other leadership in the Fleet that were ignored or punished lightly. Baltar's only distinction, in comparison, was that he was unlikeable and thus more useful as a scapegoat for the problems of the Fleet that stemmed from colonizing [[New Caprica]].
*With the end of the trial, Baltar finds his acquittal bitter-sweet, with no home, no work, and no allies.
*When the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] jumps into the [[Ionian nebula]], the confusion caused by a power outage allows the homeless Baltar to be secretly carried off by several women who claim they are leading him to his new life ([[Crossroads, Part II]]).

===Cult Leader ===

*The women lead Baltar to an used storage compartment, where he learns that a [[Cult of Baltar|cult]] has arisen around him, likely starting with the publication of his [[My Triumphs, My Mistakes|book]] condemning the perceived suppression of the Fleet's poor. The cult is composed of many young, athletic women and some men. Headed by [[Jeanne]], they view Baltar as a messianic figure and have been building a shrine for him. Baltar initially thinks of them as crazy and wants to have nothing to do with them. When [[Tracey Anne|one of the women]] watches him interact with his [[Virtual Six]], she thinks that he is praying and draws him into a religious discussion. Baltar tells her that [[Religion in the Twelve Colonies|Colonial Religion]] is empty and false, and that there is only one [[God (RDM)|true God]]. Captivated by Baltar, she kisses him. His standing among his followers is further increased when he prays for a sick [[Derrick|child]], who miraculously recovers soon after ([[He That Believeth In Me]]).
*To his amazement, Baltar begins to see a [[Virtual Baltar|virtual version of himself]]. At the same time he begins a relationship with [[Tory Foster]], who is drawn to him due her awakened Cylon nature and Baltar's apparent understanding of it ([[Six of One]]). The situation with his cult escalates when a [[Sons of Ares|militant religious group]] vandalizes the commune. In retaliation, Baltar and some of his followers disrupt a [[temple]] service and denounce the Colonial gods. President Roslin takes this as an excuse to curtail the cult's religion freedom by forbidding large assemblies. When encountering a Marine trying to enforce this order, Baltar makes a defiant stand, allowing himself to be beaten up in front of his followers. The display ends when [[Lee Adama]] shows up to announce that the [[Quorum of Twelve (RDM)|Quorum]] has decided to rescind Roslin's proclamation and restore their freedoms. Following this, Baltar holds a speech telling everyone that he thinks that someone in the universe loves him and that people have to love themselves in order to love others ([[Escape Velocity]]). Over the next weeks, his sermons are broadcast per [[wireless]] throughout the ship and likely the whole Fleet ("[[The Road Less Travelled]]", "[[Faith]]").
* When a baseship with [[Cylon Civil War|rebel Cylons]] joins the Fleet, Roslin summons him. She tells Baltar that he has been in her visions and wants him to accompany her to the [[Hybrid]] to find out what they mean. However, when the [[Natalie|rebel leader]] is unexpectedly killed, the Hybrid panics and jumps away. Drawing on his [[Torn|previous experience]] with the Hybrid, Baltar manages to calm it down somewhat. In the following [[Battle of the Resurrection Hub|battle]] to destroy a critical Cylon facility, Baltar is critically wounded when missiles hit the ship while he tries to evangelize to a [[Cylon Centurion|Centurion]]. While his wounds are dressed by Roslin Baltar confesses his role in [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|downfall of humanity]]. Roslin initially removes the bandages she applied, letting him bleed out, but decides to save him after all ("[[Guess What's Coming to Dinner?]]", "[[The Hub]]").
* After [[Number Three]]'s unboxing, the [[Final Four]] are revealed and Tory Foster willingly joins the Cylons. Upon learning this, Baltar claims that he "always subconsciously knew" that she is a Cylon. Later, he is part of the first landing party to set foot on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]], being as dismayed at its state as everyone else ([[Revelations]]).
*When Gaeta and Zarek start a coup against Adama and Roslin, Baltar and his cult support Adama and Roslin, working with Galen Tyrol in efforts to retake the ship and protect the two. Baltar is convincced by Roslin to let her use his wireless radio to communicate with the fleet about the mutiny and she is able to make a short broadcast before being jammed. Roslin convinces him to leave with her sure that he is going to be a target of the mutineeres and they make their way to the Secondary Storage Airlock where while waiting, Baltar tries to convince Gaeta to stop to no avail. Baltar escapes ''Galactica'' with Roslin to the Cylon baseship and supports Roslin there. He also sleeps with [[Lida|another Six]] and chats with her about his cult saying that while he doesn't like them, he feels responsible for them and decides he has to go back to ''Galactica'' and them after having a nightmare where a firing squad executes Adama. He returns to ''Galactica'' with Roslin once the coup is ended by Adama and his men who retake ''Galactica'' with help from military support from Roslin and the Cylon baseship. Afterwards he and Gaeta have a civil chat about what happened indicating that they have forgiven each other for what they did and when Gaeta makes a statment that he hopes someday people understand who he was, Baltar says he understands who Gaeta was. ("[[The Oath]]", "[[Blood on the Scales]]")
*When Caprica Six apparently has a falling out with Tigh after her failed pregnancy, Baltar runs into her and offers her a home with him again, but she refuses saying that while she's changed he hasn't.
*At the suggestion of Paula, Baltar tries to get his cult, now numbering in the thousands, representation in the government, but Lee Adama refuses asking him to name one time he acted selflessly. Baltar admits he can't but is disappointed Adama is holding that against his movement before leaving.
*Baltar is among those that attend Adama's speech and call for volunteers to crew ''Galactica'' to rescue Hera Agathon. While many other people including Caprica Six volunteer, he doesn't although he does seem to almost volunteer but decides not to.
*When his cult evacuates on the last Raptor, Baltar hesitates then decides to stay to help telling Paula that the cult merley appropriated him and he was never one of them. Baltar is clearly nervous about this decision, but sticks to it. Lee Adama tosses him a gun, clearly happy with his choice.
*During the battle, Baltar is assigned to the reserve team that protects ''Galactica'' alongside Caprica Six. Caprica Six is finally proud of him and the two kiss, only to be interupted by Virtual Six and Baltar who say that they will hold the fate of both races in their hands. Both are shocked that the other can see them.
*During the battle, Baltar fights alonside Caprica Six and the other marines against several Centurions. Baltar takes out one by himself but gets over-enthusiastic and nearly takes out the returning rescue team too but is stopped by Caprica Six. Adama tells him he did good, but they are forced to retreat when more Centurions show up.
*Baltar and Caprica Six end up in a room together with him down to a sidearm and her down to two bullets left in her machine gun. The two are shocked to find Hera there with him and leave carrying her in a fullfilment of the Opera House Prophecy. As they leave, they close the door on Roslin and Athena, never realizing they're there. The two ultimatly reach a door and Caprica Six from her shared vision and Baltar from his vision on Kobol realize they have to go in. The two find themselves in CIC with the Final Five on the balcony just like in the vision. Cavil takes Hera hostage, but Baltar manages to defuses the situation revealing that Virtual Baltar and Six are angels of God who Baltar describes as a force of nature neither good nor evil. Baltar and Tigh convince Cavil to end the war right there with peace with the Five giving resurrection back to Cavil so he and his forces can survive while he lets them take Hera and agrees to stop pursuing them. Cavil aceppts the deal and orders his forces to stand down. Baltar later witnesses Tory's death at Tyrol's hands and the breaking of the truce that results in the destruction of Cavil and his forces.
*Later, on the new Earth, Baltar and Caprica Six watch Hera and are visited one last time by the Virtual Beings who reveal that their destiny was always to protect Hera. While God's plan is never over, Virtual Baltar promises that their lives will be a lot less interesting and the two disappear for the last time. Baltar and Caprica Six set off to start a new life together as farmers using Baltar's knowledge from growing up on a farm on Aerilon.

==Notes==
*There was speculation that Gaius Baltar could be a Cylon himself. However, his presence in the now-infamous "[[The Last Supper]]" picture discounts this, as confirmed by [[Ron D. Moore]]. As of [[Sometimes a Great Notion]], all known humanoid Cylons have been accounted for (although "[[No Exit]]" references still another humanoid Cylon, there is no indication given that this is Baltar).
*[[Ron Moore]] has stated in several episode commentaries that when the role of "Gaius Baltar" was originally written in the script, the writing team never intended Baltar to have a "funny" aspect, but James Callis himself decided to play up that aspect of the frantic predicaments Baltar finds himself in during the [[Miniseries]] (which although the writers never anticipated, they enjoyed, and started writing him with that in mind). In series 4, however, Baltar's demeanor becomes noticably more serious.
*While [[Edward James Olmos]] and [[Mary McDonnell]] were hand-picked for their roles, the rest of the characters were cast by audition: among the actors in the running for the role of "Gaius Baltar" was ''[[w:Two and a Half Men|Two and a Half Men]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[Wikipedia:Jon Cryer|Jon Cryer]], though the role ultimately went to [[James Callis]]. Callis was suggested by Angela Mancuso, who ran the studio at the time, knew him from the ''[[w:Helen of Troy (TV miniseries)|Helen of Troy]]'' miniseries where he portrayed [[w:Menelaus|Menelaus]].<ref>{{cite_book|last=Bassom|first=David|authorlink=|authorlinkurl=|coauthors=|year=2005|title=[[Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion]]|pages=23|editor=ed. Adam "Adama" Newell|publisher=Titan Books|location=|id=ISBN 1-84576-0972}}</ref>
*Baltar currently holds the record for most number of Cylons romantically involved with in the series: six, four of which are variations of Number Six - [[Caprica-Six]] (who he ultimatly ends up with), [[Gina]], [[Virtual Six]] and most recently, [[Number Six#Lida|Lida]]. The fifth is one of the [[Number Three]]s. The sixth is [[Tory Foster]].
*Baltar's first name, Gaius, is taken from [[Gaius Julius Caesar]]. Likewise, his father's name is Julius. The character of Baltar derives many characteristics from the Roman emporer of which he is named after, most notably, his [[hubris]].
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==References==
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{{succession box|before=(''unknown, eventually [[Marta Shaw]]'')|title=Caprican delegate to the [[Quorum of Twelve]]|after=''(unknown, eventually [[Cowen]])''}}
{{succession box|before=''(unknown, position temporarily vacant)''|title=[[Government of the Twelve Colonies|Vice-President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]|after=[[Tom Zarek]]|}}
{{succession box|before=[[Laura Roslin]]|title=[[Government of the Twelve Colonies|President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]|after=[[Tom Zarek]]|}}
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Laura Roslin

2009-04-03T04:17:30Z

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{{Character Data
|photo= Laura Roslin.jpg
|age=
|colony= [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]]
|birthname= Laura Roslin
|callsign=
|seen= Miniseries
|death= Heart attack ([[Daybreak, Part II]])
|parents= [[Roslin's mother|mother]] †, father †
|siblings= Cheryl Roslin †<br/>Sandra Roslin †
|children=
|marital status=Unmarried;<br>Temporarilly cohabitated with [[William Adama]] aboard ''Galactica''
|role=President of the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies of Kobol]];<br>formerly Secretary of Education<br>formerly schoolteacher
|rank=
|actor= [[Mary McDonnell]]
}}
'''Laura Roslin''' serves as Secretary of Education at the time of the Cylon attack, later becoming President of the Twelve Colonies.
<br/><br/>

== Background ==
*Some time before the Cylon [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Twelve Colonies]], Roslin's father and sisters were killed in a car accident at the fault of a drunk driver ([[Daybreak, Part I]]).
*Roslin, an unmarried<ref name="marital">According to the February issue of ''Sci Fi Magazine'', actress Mary McDonnell indicates that, according to the [[series bible]], Roslin has dated, but has never married. (Scans available on [http://www.livejournal.com/users/reedfem/158883.html Ramblings of a dorkish nature])</ref> former teacher, worked with [[Richard Adar|Richard Adar]] when he was a mayor. Over the twenty years in politics, she herself has risen in political rank to the office of Secretary of Education.
*Adar, a married man, and Roslin are in a sexual affair<ref>According to a December 2005 [http://www.galacticastation.com/Archives/2005/dec05.html interview] with Mary McDonnell in TV Guide, President Adar, a married man, was having an affair with Roslin in the twilight of his term.</ref> during the events of a teachers strike that she is trying to mediate, to Adar's objection.
*Roslin learns that she has breast cancer - as did her [[Roslin's_mother|mother]]. Unfortunately, the diagnosis is grim, as the cancer has already spread.
*Roslin sat in the Government Plaza after her doctor's appointment, where she saw [[Gaius Baltar|Gaius Baltar]], the famous scientist, walking and kissing an attractive blonde, but pays it little attention.
*Roslin successfully resolves the teachers strike crisis, but Adar vehemently disagrees with her method, and asks for her resignation. She asks him to defer the matter until she returns from the decommissioning ceremonies on battlestar ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''.
*Despite being thrust into the role of President in highly unusual and stressful circumstances, Laura Roslin initially proves herself both tough and capable within the role. Initially in awe of Commander Adama, and worrying that he didn't hold her in high regard ([[Water|Water]]), she quickly overcomes her doubts and fears to be able to make the required decisions at the right time, and also stand up to Adama himself ([[You Can't Go Home Again|You Can't Go Home Again]]). She is always prepared to put the safety and destiny of the Fleet first, no matter what the cost of her actions ("[[Flesh and Bone|Flesh and Bone]]", "[[Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]", "[[Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]", "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]") while remembering her limitations and fears.
*Roslin is rarely hesitant to make controversial decisions unilaterally, but often must deal with the significant ramifications of her choices.

== Character History at a Glance ==

=== The Miniseries ===

*On Caprica, Secretary of Education Laura Roslin sits in a spacious doctor's office. The doctor arrives with grim news. She has breast cancer and it has spread aggressively. Roslin later boards the government-chartered civilian transport, Colonial Heavy 798 as the government representative that will attend Galactica's decommissioning ceremonies. She is joined by a government aide, [[Billy Keikeya]], who briefs her on the events. Roslin, however, is too distracted by the news of her illness to fully absorb Billy's notes and must excuse herself to run to the restroom.
*When Colonial Heavy 798 arrives and docks onboard Galactica, Secretary Roslin meets with Commander Adama who denies her request to add a student computer network in the battlestar is refused. Roslin kindly lets the matter go to rest and continues on to her guest quarters.
*During the decommissioning ceremonies Adama's speech and his derision of humanity and their creation of the Cylons leaves many in the audience puzzled as well an uncomfortable Roslin. After attending the decommissioning ceremonies for the Galactica, the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|Cylon attack]] leaks through [[wireless]] aboard Conlonial Heavy 798. The chaos make confirmation of the news difficult. Roslin goes to the cockpit to confirm the news, where a shaken captain hands over the printed report. Roslin holds his shaking hand and tells him she will break the news to the passengers and crew. She instructs him to reach the government to see what they can do to help. Roslin quickly takes on the mantle of leadership, explaining to a defiant Aaron Doral that she is the ranking government official on board the government chartered vessel.
*She reassures a nervous and scared Billy before leaving to the cockpit where she finally gets a hold of Jack, a fellow official who cannot confirm the whereabouts of President Adar. Before she can finish speaking with him, an inbound missle is detected. Apollo is able to destroy the missile, but his Viper is disabled and must be retrieved to 798's cargo bay.
*Roslin gets busy trying to find accomidations for the survivors as she begins to rescue the stranded civilian ships in Caprican space and find a safe heaven to put down. She asks Lee to find a place to hide for the stranded civilians.
*The [[Case Orange]] automated beacon is picked up on the wireless, and Roslin instructs the pilot to respond to the message with her government identification (D-456-345-A). She and Lee sit in an empty compartment of the transport where she tells him that she is 43rd in succession. Soon, a response returns from the automated message: Roslin is the only government official alive, and is now assigned the duties of President of the Twelve Colonies by emergency succession. A shocked Roslin accepts her new duties and responsibilities and asks for a priest.
*Still unable to fully deal with her own illness and the gravity of the situation, Roslin is sworn in on the renamed [[Colonial One]] by Elosha. Physically Shaking, Roslin holds back from crying as her voice cracks taking the oath and becoming the President of the Twelve Colonies.
[[Image:Roslin_swearing_in.jpg|right|thumb|Roslin being sworn in]]
*As Colonial One begins the rescue of several civilian ships, Commander Adama orders that all vessels rendezvous at Ragner Anchorage. Roslin tells Apollo to let Adama know that they are engaged in rescue operations and that she wants to know how many hospital beds they can spare. Apollo tells her that Adama will not take that well, to which she responds that it is not a request it is an order from the President of the Twelve Colonies. Before she can leave Lee informs her that Apollo is his call sign, and that Lee Adama is his real name. She tells him that she knows who he is but that Captain Apollo has a "certain ring to it".
*As Adama and Lee argue on the wireless about him taking orders from a school teacher, which Roslin overhears, two Cylon Raiders launch nuclear missiles at the small fleet that has assembled. Roslin refuses to leave the vessels that don't have FTL capabilities behind so Apollo is forced to excuse himself and try a risky plan. He activates Galactica's old electric pulse generators stored in Colonial One's cargo hold which gives off the impressions that the fleet was destroyed tricking the Cylons. Roslin rushes with Colonial One's captain to the cargo hold to thank Lee personally for "saving their collective asses". She orders all the ships without FTL to be evacuated onto the other ships before the Cylons return.
*When Boomer finds Colonial One and the Civilian fleet Roslin meets Doctor Gaius Baltar, who she asks to serve as her Cylon advisor and instructs Boomer to help them find more vessels with her Raptor. They will then form a convoy and leave the combat zone.
*As she tours a large Botanical Cruiser with Billy, she assures the captain that his needs will be met in due time and asks for his patience. She meets a young girl, whom she sits with and starts up a conversation. It only reminds her how horrible things really are for the remnents of humanity. Resting back aboard Colonial One, Lee comes into to let Roslin know they have found a fuel tanker. The fleet is discovered by Cylons and Roslin must make a decision: to either leave the remaining ships without FTL who have not been fully evacuated or stay and meet certain doom. She makes the decision to leave.
*Struggling to deal with the possibility of extinction for the human race, Billy comes over to speak to her but Roslin interrupts declaring to him that she has cancer. Billy lets her know that he had already dedouced that from things she had said and done. Roslin expresses how selfish she feels she is being, as the world seems to be coming to an end all she can think about is that she has cancer. Billy tells her that its not selfish but only human. He adds before leaving that the young girl on the botanical cruiser will most likely be left behind. The fleet spools up their FTL to make the jump to Ragner, as Roslin sits alone thinking of all those she must leave behind.
*On board Galactica once again, Roslin gets into an argument with Colonel Tigh as she is trying to get man power and disaster pods from him for the 50,000 survivors. Colonel Tigh is finally convinced to release some supplies by Lee who interjects on her behalf.
*Roslin and Adama discuss wether he recognizes her authority as president. Adama doesn't care about such things and wants to take the battle to the Cylons in a suicidal counter-attack. She argues that the war is over and they have lost, that they need to help the survivors of humanity escape from occupied Colonial space and concentrate on "having babies". Adama's states the war is not over and that it hasn't even begun yet and leaves.
*A persuaded Adama later guides the fleet to saftey and during the funeral service for their lost crew memebers, he announces that he knows where the fabled 13th Colony Earth is and he will lead them there. Adama and Roslin find themselves discussing the things Adama said during the funeral in his quarters. He states that the prospect of Earth and a new home with their brothers and sisters of the 13th Colony will give the people hope. Roslin knows this to be a lie and makes a deal with Adama; he respect her authority as President over civil matters and she will keep his secret about Earth and leave military decisions to him.

=== A Shaky Administration ===

*Roslin and Commander Adama begin their leadership together under an uneasy understanding. Where she is responsible for all civil leadership issues among the surviving Colonials, Adama is responsible for all military decisions ([[Miniseries]]). However, the dividing line is not always clear between the two leaders. Roslin establishes a fledgling civilian [[government]] and reestabishes a new [[Quorum of Twelve (RDM)|Quorum]].
*She begins building the foundations of a civilian government, first collecting a census on the remaining population, while they are on the run from the Cylons forced to jump every 33 minutes. Working tirelessly throughtout this time without any sleep, Roslin is forced to eventaully make a decision on wether or not to destroy the [[Olympic Carrier]] being tracked by the Cylons. In the end she chooses to destroy the Olympic Carrier to ensure the survival of humanity.
*After 24 hours pass and there are no Cylons, Roslin is still wondering if it was the right choice. When she requests some time alone, Billy goes to walk out but turns to tell her there is an update on the head count. Discouraged from all the previous updates on the head count which resulted in lowering the survival count on the white board Billy is pleased to give her good news. There was a baby boy born on the [[Rising Star]], to add one more to the count. Roslin cannot hide her jubilation and teary eyed happiness as she revises the count ([[33]]).
*Roslin jokes with Billy that she is going to get very tired of wearing the same 3 outfits that she brought with her to the decommissioning ceremonies on Galactica for the rest of her life. They leave to visit the Galactica to thank the crew for their hard work in defending the Fleet following the recent events ([[33]]). Commander Adama follows Protocol during her visit, with officers in dress uniform, etc. Roslin believes this is because Adama enjoys it; Lee Adama informs her that his father ordered the reception out of respect for her position as President ([[Water]]).
*After loosing 60% of water reserves through sabatoge, an investigation of the explosion begins. Once some questions have been answered, Adama excuses everyone but senior command staff from the inquiry Adama reveals the truth about the humanoid Cylon threat, stating his belief that there is a Cylon infiltrator aboard Galactica ([[Water]]).
*On Colonial One, Roslin asks Captain Adama to become a special advisor to her, to help her understand military jargon and protocol. He expresses his feelings about having to destroy the Olympic Carrier which she relates to by explaining an incident that happened to Adar which helps him deal better with his plagued conscience ([[Water]]).
*To collect the water the fleet will need a large group of workers, and the prison ship seems to be the answer. Roslin won’t have the prisoners forced into the work, so Lee Adama suggests the prisoners who volunteer could be awarded points to go towards their freedom.
*Roslin decides to send a delegation led by Lee Adama to the Astral Queen to put the idea to the prisoners, only to have them mutiny behind their leader [[Tom Zarek]] and take Lee and the others prisoner. Zarek demands the immediate resignation of President Roslin and her government on the grounds that they have never been elected and thus do not represent the people. Eventaully when a Marine boarding party fails, Lee convinces Zarek that he and the prisoners can work with his men to supply the Fleet with water, and in return he’ll get to keep the Astral Queen and get his elections. Later Roslin is unhappy with the arrangement he has made with Zarek but Lee informs Roslin that he didn’t mean to offend her with his views, and that when the elections come, he’ll vote for her. His honesty causes her to reveal the truth about her cancer and the fact that she might not be alive to run for re-election ([[Bastille Day]]).
*Roslin is examined by the ship’s medical officer, Doctor Cottle. His diagnosis is not good: her cancer is inoperable. Roslin decides that she wants to try alternative therapy using Chamalla extract as an alternative to [[diloxin]], remembering her mother's malaise with that treatment ([[Act of Contrition]]).
*Roslin offers to have the ships of the Fleet help search for Starbuck who has gone missing but is later determined to put a stop to the search once it gets out of hand. She challenges both Adama and Lee concerning their single-mindedness and the way it is putting the survival of the fleet and mankind at risk ([[You Can't Go Home Again]]).
*After the suicide bombing aboard Galactica by a Cylon, Laura Roslin holds a press conference revealing the truth about humanoid Cylons and releasing pictures of Aaron Doral and Leoben Conoy. The news is greeted with a stunned reaction throughout the Fleet ([[Litmus]]).
*Roslin has a chamalla-induced dream in which she sees Leoben Conoy. Billy comes to the door of the restroom to see if she is alright. He then informs her that a Cylon agent has been captured aboard the Gemenon Traveler matching the description of Leoben and insists he be interrogated. Later in her private quarters on Colonial One, Roslin has another vision of Conoy, prompting her to order a shuttle to take her to the Gemenon Traveler. Roslin puts a stop to the unsucessful torture and attempts to reason with him. He confesses there is no bomb; grabbing her, he whispers in her ear that Adama is a Cylon. Shocked by this and her mind made up Roslin has him ejected into space – fulfilling the sequence of events in her dream ([[Flesh and Bone]]).
*Laura Roslin comes aboard Galactica as Adama receives a report that Baltar’s Cylon detector is operational,and with Leoben's words still fresh in her memory she and Adama have trouble figuring out who should be tested first. She later calls Baltar to check on the progress of Adama’s Cylon test, only to find Adama has cancelled it so that a woman called “Ellen” can be tested. Roslin orders Baltar to restart Adama’s test immediately. She then summons Tigh to Colonial One, reveals her suspicions regarding Adama, and challenges a defensive Tigh over Adama’s behavior in leaving Galactica unannounced. Tigh tells her Adama was off-ship so he could collect Tigh’s missing wife. After Tigh has left her office, Roslin calls Baltar and orders him to stop Adama’s test and resume Ellen’s. It is all revealed later that Adama is not a Cylon ([[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]).
*Roslin reveals she is being affected by taking Chamalla extract to Elosha, having prescient visions – her dreams about Leoben Conoy which occurred immediately before he was found on the Gemenon Traveler, and her hallucination about snakes. On hearing about the snakes, Elosha reveals that it matches a prophecy in an ancient text written by Pythia 3,600 years ago concerning the exodus of humankind, which foretells that a dying Leader will lead the remnants of humanity to the promised land of Earth ([[The Hand of God]]).
*Using the occasion of Colonial Day to institute a interim Quorum, the legislative branch of the Colonial Government Roslin is surprised when Tom Zarek wins nomination as Sagittaron representitive. Roslin feels she cannot remove him, as he won the election fairly. Zarek proposes the choosing of a Vice President which is seconded by Baltar and Zarek nominated for the position. This forces Roslin to push Wallace Gray, a presidential aide, into standing as an alternative candidate.
*Roslin realizes that Baltar is quite popular in the Fleet and has Gray relinquish his position as her nominee in favor of Baltar. Baltar wins the nomination through a close vote ([[Colonial Day]]). During the Colonial Day celebration Adama and Roslin share a somewhat awkward dance.
*Discovering that her cancer treatment is not going well, that is has spread to her lymphatic system, giving her perhaps 6 months to live ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]).
*On recon mission, Boomer and Crashdown stumble upon a habitable planet. Reviewing the recon photos of ruins, Roslin has a vision which Elosha confirms to be the City of the Gods on Kobol. Roslin has two further visions – the Arrow of Apollo and the Tomb of Athena, and accepts the scriptures as fact. Roslin tries to convince Adama that Kobol will point the way to Earth, that they must use the captured Cylon Raider to return to Caprica and retrieve the [[Arrow of Apollo]]. Adama doesn't agree with her and reminds her that the Raider is a military resource. She reminds him that just because they don't know where Earth is doesn't mean is doesn't exsist.
*Roslin convinces Kara Thrace to use the captured Cylon Raider to return to [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]] in search of the [[Arrow of Apollo]], a possible key to the true location of [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]).
*Commander Adama stages a military coup in response to what he feels is mutiny aboard his ship. He asks for her resignation and she refuses, and reveals the press is recording the conversation. Adama isolates Colonial one, and eventually gets a boarding party on Colonial One. A confrontation ensues between the Marines and Roslin's security. It is broken only when Lee Adama sides with his conscience, and turns on Tigh. Afraid of a bloodbath, Roslin surrenders and is incarcerated aboard Galactica.
*From her cell, Roslin eventually tells the Quorum of Twelve of her role in the [[Sacred Scrolls]], and begins to gain significant underground civilian support for her cause. After escaping ''Galactica'', Roslin takes a third of the Fleet back to Kobol, with the help of rival [[Tom Zarek]], to search for the Tomb. Starbuck meets Roslin's fleet with the recovered Arrow, and a hazardous expedition on Kobol begins, aided by a second copy of the [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon Cylon]] and Elosha, who is soon killed, leaving Roslin with a gap in her spirituality for a time ([[Home, Part I]]).
*The recovered Commander Adama gains refreshed insight on the need for the Fleet to stay united, and [[Home, Part II|finds Roslin's expedition]]. The leaders reconcile. Roslin's gamble on faith pays off big for humanity, and the group gains a map and their first waypoint to the true location of Earth ([[Home, Part II]]).
*After this, Adama's and Roslin's respect for each other grows stronger and their leadership in managing fleet business becomes more cooperative, asking each other for advice and correcting each other as needed, starting with a potentially disruptive tabloid expose of the ''[[Gideon]]'' shootings.
*After a near-disastrous [[Pegasus (episode)|military confrontation]] between Adama and Admiral [[Helena Cain|Cain]], Roslin forces them to concentrate on [[Resurrection Ship|more important matters]]. Privately, Roslin tells Adama that Cain, whose power can radically affect the remnant of humanity both Roslin and Adama have strived so hard to protect, must be killed if Adama and the Fleet are to survive.
[[Image:Roslinadama.jpg|Roslin and Adama.|thumb]]
*After the battle, and Admiral Cain's death, Roslin, now more frail with her illness, promotes William Adama to admiral. The new admiral gives the president a kiss, establishing a more personal aspect to their friendship ([[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]).
*Roslin is miraculously saved by the injection of stem cells <ref>In the commentary track for "Epiphanies", Ron Moore states that a longer explanation of Roslin's cure was filmed that explained that the blood's stem cells cure Roslin. However, the scene was cut because he was afraid it would be too complicated and thought of as [[technobabble]]. The character's updated biography on the official Scifi.com site does confirm that stem cells from the hybrid were the actual cure. As such, Battlestar Wiki treats this data canonically as with information found in most deleted scenes.</ref> from the Cylon [[Hera Agathon|hybrid fetus]], which apparently eradicates her cancer ([[Epiphanies]]). In the hours prior to the cure, however, Roslin remembers her last days on Caprica, including the attractive blonde with Dr. Baltar, her vice president. She now recognizes the woman as a [[Number Six|humanoid Cylon]].
*Roslin returns to work with a dispassionate, zealous manner, including an attempt to stop the [[Black market (organization)|black market]], handling the terrible loss of [[Billy Keikeya]], and the upcoming presidential election. After Keikeya's death, Roslin appoints [[Tory Foster]] as her aide.
*Roslin's decision to enforce a no-abortion law to aid in repopulation complicates what might have been an easy reelection. Her own vice president, Dr. Baltar, challenges Roslin for the presidency. After the Agathon's child is born, Roslin, fearing both for the child's safety and its significance to the Cylon, has the child's death faked ([[Downloaded]]).
*When [[New Caprica]] is found, Baltar uses the discovery to wedge the election to his favor. Roslin gives Foster tacit approval to rig the election; Foster, with the aide of Tigh and Dualla replace one ship's ballot box en route to the counting room, but the fraud is subsequently discovered by Lieutenant Gaeta. In a reversal of their earlier roles, Admiral Adama confronts Roslin about her actions, admitting the he doesn't like Baltar either, but adamant that they would be criminals if they stole the election, justified or not. Roslin listens to her friend, but remains convinced that it is the wrong choice and that they just give up. After the correct results are revealed, President Baltar first order is to begin the colonization of New Caprica.

=== New Caprica ===

*Early in the colonization, Roslin finds time to relax on New Caprica. She meets with Admiral Adama, who also takes in some time to unwind. The two friends comfortably chat about matters small and not-so-small over [[New Caprican leaf|smoking]] and drinking, and later gaze at the stars together, allowing themselves to relax, lying outside, close to each other. Roslin worries that, amidst their temporary comfort, the Cylons could return, but it is nice to have what they have for the time being ([[Unfinished Business]]).
[[Image:2BATgyC05.jpg|Roslin as a teacher on New Caprica.|thumb]]
*A year passes on New Caprica, and Baltar's administration becomes the disaster that Roslin feared. Roslin returned to teaching, running the new settlement's school. Assisted by [[Maya]], who brings her infant adopted daughter [[Hera Agathon|Isis]] (the secreted Cylon hybrid), Roslin is more comfortable watching over the pair personally.
*On the 380th day after settling on the planet, the Cylons discover the colony, as Roslin had warned, and occupy the settlement.
*On the 134th day of the Cylon occupation of New Caprica Roslin sits writing in her journal. Coincidentally, that day falls on Mars Day, named after the Colonial God of War. She notes that the New Capricans have not had contact with Galactica for four months but she refuses to believe that Admiral William Adama would abandon them. She writes that the insurgency is striking whenever and wherever possible, believing them critical to morale despite the futility of the gestures at times. She notes that for the insurgency to have a "more meaningful impact", they need to strike a high profile target, since killing the Cylons is nearly impossible. Roslin then speaks of the Cylon Occupation Authority's continued exertion of complete control over New Caprica City and are at their complete mercy. She notes that the government under President Gaius Baltar functions in name only. Roslin writes of the New Caprica Police and finds the prospect of humans misguided into believing that they're taking the role of policing New Caprica out Cylon hands nauseating. She notes that the names of the police officers are deeply hidden, but are likely people that "we least expect". Roslin notes that hundreds of people have been rounded up by the Cylons, held in detention, tortured, and even killed or disappeared. Roslin mentions the help of a source within Baltar's administration that has been helping them in recent weeks. They do not know who this person is, but the person is responsible for dropping important documents. The source communicates through the use of a secret signal ([[Occupation]]).
*Later Roslin is detained by the Cylons and is visited in detention by Baltar. In order to appear friendly, he hands her back her glasses but then expresses his outrage and disbelief at the suicide bombings carried out by the resistance. He demands that he and Roslin publicly condemn these actions. Although Roslin initially expresses understanding for the resistance, when Baltar presses her to condone their attacks, she remains silent. Baltar tries to make her understand that order and policing is necessary and denies Roslin's allegations of random searches, arrests and torture. When he leaves, he again emphasizes that the situation has deteriorated to a dangerous level and orders the guard to release Roslin ([[Precipice]]).
*After her release she goes to talk to Colonel Tigh, demanding that he stop with the suicide bombings. When Tigh asks if she works for the Cylons, she slaps him but apologizes quickly. Tigh says that none if it matters anymore, and argues that the attacks aren't any different from sending soldiers on suicide missions. He tells Roslin to stop being naive and moralizing until she is back on Colonial One again, and leaves.
*The New Caprica Police storm through the city and arrest more people, including Laura Roslin. The prisoners are put on trucks, where Roslin meets Tom Zarek, who has spent the last four months in detention. He quips that he wishes she had gotten away with stealing the election ([[Precipice]]).
*On the [[Pergamus Flats]] Roslin and the other detainees are lined up and are prepared for execution, but before they can be killed a team of resistance fighters takes out the Centurions meant to execute the detainees and frees them. Tyrol reveals to Roslin and the others that Galactica is on its way. Roslin smiles and looks up to the sky with happiness ([[Exodus, Part I]]).
*In the resistance headquarters Laura Roslin orders Anders to guard Maya and Hera at all costs that Hera, "may well be the shape of things to come". He tasks two of his best men to protect her and see to her safe escape ([[Exodus, Part I]]).
*Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias, the leader of Sharon Agathon's Marines meets with Roslin, Tom Zarek and the resistance to discuss the rescue plan. She brings weapons for the upcoming fight and learns that the colonists conducted evacuation exercises under the guise of fire drills.
*Col. Tigh's resistance militia appears to consider themselves to be under the authority of Roslin, who acts as a government in exile/waiting with Foster as her deputy. [[Tom Zarek]], legally the Vice President and Baltar's successor, is consulted on some military plans.
*Later, during the [[Battle of New Caprica]], Zarek and Roslin escape together but she states that she will evacuate aboard ''her'' ship, ''Colonial One''. Zarek notes the important symbolism and gives a sidearm to [[James Lyman|Jammer]], directing him to protect Roslin ([[Exodus, Part II]]). Once the fleet is safely reassembled, a de facto President Roslin, Foster, and civil servants begin clearing the trappings of the Baltar/Cylon administration from ''Colonial One'' while assembling a census and calculating their losses. It is at this time that Foster confirms that she failed to ensure the evacuation of Maya and Hera, and offers her apologies and resignation to Roslin who reassures Foster and takes something of a fatalistic view of their loss of Hera ([[Exodus, Part II]]).

=== Roslin's Second Administration ===

*Roslin allows President [[Tom Zarek]] to assumes his office temporarily. In order to protect Roslin from having to deal with months of public trials which could destroy the unity of the Fleet through public "witch hunts", Zarek quickly establishes the [[Circle]], a secret tribunal to investigate, charge, adjudicate, and execute collaborators and traitors. Zarek and Roslin agree to a "musical chairs" process to constitutionally restore her to the presidency. 1: with Baltar having either died or abandoned his office, Zarek has ascended from vice president to president; 2: Zarek appoints Roslin to fill the vacant office of vice president; 3: Zarek promptly resigns the presidency and Roslin assumes the office; 5: Roslin then re-appoints Zarek to his former vice presidency and privately thanks him for his service and loyalty. With a token number of suspected collaborators having conspicuously disappeared, the newly inaugurated Roslin is able to secretly dissolve the Circle and publicly issue a general pardon for all but Baltar ([[Collaborators]]).
*Roslin's relationship with Adama and the Agathons is strained when Adama discovers that Roslin hid the Cylon baby, [[Hera Agathon]], without his knowledge ([[The Eye of Jupiter]]).
*Baltar's capture from his time with the Cylons leads Roslin to first interrogate him, then put him to trial, which places new stresses on the President.
*During Baltar's trial, Lee Adama confronts Roslin on his suspicion that she is taking [[chamalla]] again. Although Roslin silently pleads with him to not go that route, Adama persists and forces her to publicly reveal that her cancer has returned. Disappointed in him, she recalls a time when they were friends and she called him "Captain Apollo."
*She has a vision in the [[Opera House]] on [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] where she and an image of [[Sharon Agathon]] pursue [[Hera Agathon]], but Hera is picked up by a [[Number Six]]. A later vision reveals that Sharon Agathon shares her vision. After conferring with each other, they both visit [[Caprica-Six]], who disbelievingly confirms that she, too, experienced the vision. When the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] arrives at the [[Ionian nebula]], Roslin nearly faints, possibly having another vision ([[Crossroads, Part II]]).
*After [[Kara Thrace]]'s mysterious return, Roslin deeply distrusts Thrace, although she claims to know the way the Earth and feels an instinctive need to go there. When Roslin and Adama don't comply with Thrace pleadings, Thrace confronts the president at gunpoint ([[He That Believeth In Me]]). Thrace hands Roslin her pistol and tells her to shoot if she believes that Thrace is a Cylon. Roslin pulls the trigger, but misses, and Thrace is subdued by Marines ([[Six of One]]).
*Roslin still holds a grudge against Baltar and tries to curtail Baltar's freedoms when his new-founded [[Cult of Baltar|cult]] has violent confrontations with followers of other beliefs. Ostensibly trying to protect his followers and keep peace in the Fleet, she passes an emergency measure to severely restrict their right of assembly. Although she pleads to the Quorum to think of what Baltar did on New Caprica and what he might do with followers blindly devoted to him, the Quorum vetoes her ([[Escape Velocity]]).
*Roslin is currently on [[diloxin]] therapy, which has caused her to lose her hair and forces her to wear a wig. Throughout her treatment, William Adama comforts her at her bedside and offers her the use of his quarters when she wants ([[Faith]]).
* When a rebel Cylon faction proposes an alliance with the Colonials, Roslin goes along with it to get a chance to destroy the Cylon [[Resurrection Hub]], but doesn't want to uphold her side of bargain until they find Earth. Shortly after, she visits the [[Hybrid]] on the rebel basestar, but when it is awakened it unexpectedly jumps the ship away ([[Guess What's Coming to Dinner?]]).
*Every time the basestar jumps, she has a vision of herself in an empty corridor on ''Galactica'' where she is joined by the spirit of her old friend [[Elosha]], who takes her to sickbay to show her her own death. Elosha explains that Roslin has cut herself off from the ability to love people and shows her how Admiral Adama loves her. On the basestar, a badly injured Baltar confesses to her his part in the attack on the Colonies and she decides to leave him to bleed to death, but Elosha convinces her to help him.
*She orders Karl Agathon to take [[Number Three]] to her once she is retrieved. After the battle, the Three jokingly tells her that she is one of the Final Five, but refuses to tell anyone the truth until she is sure that she is safe. Roslin also attempts to get answers from the Hybrid but the Hybrid appears to never say anything helpful, except to inform them of the fact that that Three has already been unboxed, and the reason she jumped away from the Fleet. After the ship returns to the rendezvous coordinates, she greets Admiral Adama who waited for her in a Raptor and finally admits that she loves him ([[The Hub]]).

=== Revelations of the Final Five ===

*In the basestar control room, Roslin, William Adama, D'Anna Biers and Leoben discuss the plans to return the Final Five. Biers reveals that there are only four in the Fleet and refuses to provide answers when Roslin questions her about the fifth's location. Roslin knows that the Colonials need them, for they know the way to Earth. Frustrated, Biers citing the failure of co-operation on New Caprica, announces that she will hold the Colonials on the ship hostage until the Final Four are returned to them. When a standoff between the Colonials and the Centurions breaks out, Roslin tells Adama and the pilots to stand down. Biers tells Adama to accompany her to Galactica on a Raptor but Adama refuses until Roslin insists on him going. Before he leaves, Roslin embraces Adama and whispers in his ear that if the Cylons get the four, they get Earth, and he can't allow that to happen, even if he has to destroy the basestar with them aboard. Adama leaves and Roslin returns to Baltar ([[Revelations]]).
*Roslin rebandages Gaius Baltar's wounds, who is alive thanks to Roslin's change of heart. Roslin reveals that she told Adama to destroy the basestar if the Cylons get the final four. Foster walks in with a Six and hands Roslin her medication. Roslin thanks Foster and asks how she was able to do so. Foster's response is that she came with Biers to be with her people. It is then that Roslin realizes she was one of the Final Five. When asked if she had any idea, Roslin says no, and Foster tells her it might be worth pondering about other things she has been wrong about, then turns and leaves. Roslin interrupts her departure to ask her to convince Biers to release the hostages. Foster coldly replies that she's done taking orders from her.
*As things heat up, Roslin and Baltar hear the hostages and Centurions outside the room, as a Number Two walks in and tells them that Biers is about to start executing more hostages. When Roslin requests that she be taken to Biers, Baltar insists that he be taken instead for he was with her in the Temple of Five. In her visions Roslin remebers seeing him in the Opera House and she agrees with him.
*After the location of Earth is discovered and the Final Five are granted amnesty with Biers agreeing to release the hostages, Lee is discussing the location of Earth with his discouraged father. Roslin walks in and sitting next to him says she wants to see him pick up the first fistful of earth. He walks away saying that he'll be back. Lee Adama talks to Roslin about stepping down, and she praises him on resolving the crisis. Roslin says that the Fleet will need that kind of leadership in the years to come ([[Revelations]]).
*In the CIC Adama, asks Roslin to give the final order to take them to Earth. An excited, happy and teary eyed Roslin smiles and gives Adama the order to jump to Earth. With that the fleet spools up and jumps.
*On surface of Earth in the debris of a once great city, Roslin stands with Adama as he lifts up a handful of soil. A crew member next to them scans the soil with a Geiger counter. The soil is irradiated. Laura Roslin stands next to Adama, visably devastated. ([[Revelations]]).

=== Earth and a search for a new home ===

*Both the humans and [[Cylons]] wander the surface of [[Earth]], all indications point to a major nuclear disaster across the planet. Laura Roslin crouches down in the sand and picks up a short plant, what seems to be the only visible life found in the destruction. Teams around the planet have reported no responses to hails and that the entire planet looks much like the beach they are on now. Roslin quips, "It's perfect. We traded one nuked civilization for another." ([[Sometimes a Great Notion]]).
*As the door to Adama and Roslin's [[Raptor]] opens, assembled around them is a huge crowd on the hangar deck anxious for answers. But Roslin can only shake her head in disbelief and her profound disappointment. Her dreams for humanity dashed, she turns and manages to weakly mutter to [[Adama]], "Get me out of here." The crowd rushes Roslin and Adama, while Lee and the Marines try to hold back the surging crowds, Lee screaming over the crowds protests, shouts out that answers will be revealed in due time ([[Sometimes a Great Notion]]).
*With their tests complete, both the teams of humans and Cylons meet aboard Galactica in Baltar's lab to discuss the findings of the [[Centurion]] helmet and humans remains buried on the surface. [[Caprica-Six]] confirms that other Centurion helmets were found as well as 250 skeletons from four sites around the planet. A Number Eight confirms that, while the Centurion design is similar, they have never seen this design before, and that it is not one of theirs. A shocked Roslin realizes that the Thirteenth Tribe created their own Cylons much like they had on the [[Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]. [[Lee Adama]] completes her thoughts; that like the Colonies these Cylons also rebelled against their masters. Baltar adds that they tested the skeletons as well, and the astonishing conclusion is that the every one of the skeletons themselves are also a form of humanoid Cylons. Caprica-Six confirms that their tests show the same conclusion. The Thirteenth Tribe were Cylons. Roslin leaves the meeting visibly shaken, but Lee Adama stops her to ask what she will tell the Quorum. Weak and dishearten, Roslin has nothing to say at all ([[Sometimes a Great Notion]]).
*In Adama's quarters, Laura Roslin sits on the floor emotionally upset. She is setting fire to one of the pages of the Pythian Prophecy in the scared scrolls. Turning each successive page to light and burn the next, one by one. Adama arrives to ask Roslin to help figure out a way to shore up the Fleet's quickly sagging morale. She is passive and unresponsive, and Adama wishing to get closer to a obviously shaken Roslin kneels down beside her and continues. He tells her that she has missed her doloxan treatment, but Roslin's response is that she didn't feel like it and will not reschedule. Asking if she is willing to just lay down and quit, She laments to Adama that he took her advice and now there are so many men and women who have died for what appears to be a fruitless series of visions ([[Sometimes a Great Notion]]).
*Roslin pretty much abandons her Presidency and decides to live as a normal person, also giving up her diloxin treatments. She also starts a relationship with Willam Adama, kissing him in a corridor, sleeping with him and later kissing him again and reacting badly to his supposed demise.
*When Tom Zarek and Felix Gaeta start their coup, she is in the Admiral's quaters and decides to hed to Baltar's commune to make a wireless transmission about the mutiny to rally support to her and Adama. She makes a short broadcast before being jammed, then heads with Baltar to the Secondary Storage Airlock in order to get off the ship to saftey. There she kisses Adama goodbye, knowing he's going to stay behind to cover their escape and attempt to retake the ship, then leaves in a Cylon Raptor for the baseship. Narcho and Hotdog are ordered to shoot her down, but when she identifies herself before being jammed again, Hotdog hesitates and it allows her to escape to the baseship safely. There she keeps attempting to send another wireless message to the fleet over the Raptor's radio, but is blocked by ''Galactica's'' jamming. While the other Cylons discuss options, Roslin, with the help of a Number Two, succesfully penetrates ''Galactica's'' jamming and tells about the mutiny and orders the fleet to shut off their FTL drives before ''Galactica'' finally manages to jam her again. Ten ships obey, but the Cylons decide to jump away. Roslin gives a speech to them and convinces them to stay and help put down the mutiny. Roslin, taking command, contacts ''Galactica'' and orders the mutiny to end and Gaeta and Zarek to surrender. Zarek tells her that Tigh died trying to escape and Adama was tried, convicted and executed and calls for her surrender, but he strengthens her resolve and she promises to come after him with everything she has at her disposal and has the baseship's weapons turned on ''Galactica''. After ''Galactica'' fails to jump away (Galen Tyrol disabled the FTL drive) it initaly looks like it will turn into a shooting war between the two ships, but Gaeta orders a weapons hold. Before anything further can happen, Adama regains control of ''Galactica'' and calls a relieved Roslin to tell her and the Cylons to stand down. Roslin returns to ''Galactica'' and tearfully embraces Adama.
*When Hera Agathon is kidnapped by Boomer, Roslin somehow senses it and collapses.
*After her collapse, Roslin is taken to sickbay and remains in bed there. She discusses with Adama abandoning ''Galactica'' and convinces him to do so.
*Roslin is still in her sickbay bed when Cottle and Ishay discuss the rescue mission for Hera, not realizing she's awake. Once she's left alone, Roslin gets up and gets dressed and makes her way to the hanger where everyone is gathering. There she volunteers for the rescue mission asking Adama if he planned on going without her. Adama accepts Roslin's joining of the mission and she joins the volunteers for the mission.

==Notes==

*The character of Laura Roslin is unique to the ''Battlestar Galactica'' saga. She has no counterpart to the [[Original Series]], where its version of President [[Adar (TOS)|Adar]] is killed and a presidential replacement is never made. Roslin assumes more of the political-spiritual leadership of the [[Adama (TOS)|Original Series' Commander Adama]], whereas [[William Adama]] is representative of the Original Series' character's military commander aspect.

*Roslin's apparent cure in "[[Epiphanies]]" contradicts the "dying leader" clause of the [[Pythia|Pythian Prophecy]], despite the fulfillment of her role in the [[Tomb of Athena]] story arc. However, in "[[Crossroads, Part I]]", she reveals that her cancer has returned.

*Actress Mary McDonnell is perhaps best known for her role in the epic film, ''Dances with Wolves'', with Kevin Costner. Another famous role of hers was the First Lady in ''[[w:Independence Day (film)|Independence Day]]'', a film which (in a less serious tone than ''Battlestar'') depicts cocky human fighter pilots battling an genocidal enemy from outer space.

*In [[SDS|the Singer/DeSanto continuation]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (TOS)|the Original Series]], a female president named [[Mara]] would visit ''Galactica'' in much the same way that Laura Roslin did as part of that ''Galactica'''s decommissioning ceremony.

*The glasses that the character wears are also McDonnell's real glasses.<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/video/index.php?cat=features&vid=37452|title=Mary McDonnell Q & A, Part 1|date=2006-10-13|accessdate=2006-10-14|last=|first=|format=VID|language=English}}</ref>

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

{{start box}}
{{succession box|before=[[Richard Adar]]|title=[[Government|President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]|after=[[Gaius Baltar]]}}
{{succession box|before=[[Tom Zarek]]|title=[[Government|Vice President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]|after=[[Tom Zarek]]}}
{{succession box|before=[[Tom Zarek]]|title=[[Government|President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]|after=[[Romo Lampkin]]<br><small>and [[Lee Adama]] (Acting President)</small>}}
{{end box}}

{{Dead Characters}}

{{featured article candidate previous}}

[[Category:A to Z|Roslin, Laura]]
[[Category:Characters|Roslin, Laura]]
[[Category:Characters (RDM)|Roslin, Laura]]
[[Category:Main Characters (RDM)|Roslin, Laura]]
[[Category:People from Caprica|Roslin, Laura]]
[[Category:RDM|Roslin, Laura]]

[[de:Laura Roslin]]
[[fr:Laura Roslin]]
[[zh:劳拉·罗斯林]]

Margaret Edmondson

2009-03-28T04:54:34Z

Starbuckratos: /* Notes */

{{Character Data
|photo= Margaret Edmondson.jpg
|age=
|colony=
|birthname= Margaret Edmondson
|callsign= Racetrack
|death= Asphyxiation [[Daybreak, Part II]]
|seen= Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II
|parents=
|siblings=
|children=
|marital status=
|role= [[Raptor]] pilot and [[ECO]] assigned to ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''
|rank= Lieutenant
|actor= [[Leah Cairns]]
|cylon=
|name=
}}

Lt. '''Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson''' is a female [[Raptor]] pilot aboard ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''. She harbors a strong hatred of the Cylons. Racetrack tends to have a dark, bitter, and cynical attitude towards life.

== Biography ==
Edmondson accompanies [[Sharon Valerii|Sharon "Boomer" Valerii]] on a mission to destroy a Cylon [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]]. She witnesses Valerii's attempted assassination of [[William Adama]] in ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[CIC]] ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]). Immediately after, she informs the CIC staff that Valerii returned from placing the nuclear warhead inside the basestar orbiting [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] without her helmet on and that she probably gave away ''Galactica'''s position to the Cylons ([[Scattered]]).

During the [[SAR]] mission to Kobol, Edmondson pilots the Raptor carrying [[Lee Adama]], encountering fire from Cylon anti-aircraft missiles. [[Galen Tyrol]] destroys the missiles' [[DRADIS]] dish on the surface, and they fail to lock on. Edmondson's Raptor then destroys the [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] on the ground with a missile, and recovers the trapped ''Galactica'' crewmen ([[Fragged]]).

She aids the escape of President [[Laura Roslin]] from the [[brig]] by falsely claiming that her [[Raptor]] was having technical problems, enabling the furloughed Lee Adama to report to the hangar bay instead of the brig per his arrest. She then helps prep the Raptor used as the escape craft for launch, but remains on ''Galactica'' ([[Resistance (episode)|Resistance]]).

Racetrack serves as ECO on [[Raptor 1]], plotting the best point of orbital entry when taking Commander Adama to [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] to find and meet with President Roslin ([[Home, Part II]]). Since then, Margaret flies basic supply runs between ''Galactica'' and the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]. She continues to light candles for fallen comrades in the Cylon attack. She is almost certain she will eventually die on a mission, and is more focused on taking out as many Cylons as she can before that happens ([[Final Cut]]).

Like many others, Edmondson initially snubs [[Karl Agathon]] upon his return because of his romantic relationship with the [[Caprica]] [[Sharon Agathon|copy of Sharon Valerii]]. When she insults [[Kara Thrace]] over the matter, Thrace slams Edmondson face-first into a card table ([[Flight of the Phoenix]]). Edmondson later offers conciliatory congratulations to Agathon for his help on the [[Blackbird]] and his suggestion to use [[DRADIS]]-absorbing carbon composites.

[[Image:Racetrack2.jpg|left|thumb|Edmondson in a Raptor]]
Edmondson is particularly overjoyed when ''Galactica'' encounters the [[Mercury class battlestar|advanced battlestar]] ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]''. While socializing with ''Pegasus'' pilots in the hangar bay, she fails to understand Thrace's contempt for the "scorecards" on which they tally their kills ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]). Edmondson's Raptor rescues Lee Adama during the [[Battle of the Resurrection Ship]], reviving him using defibrillator paddles in her emergency gear ([[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]). When Edmondson transports Lee Adama and a squad of Marines to check the ''[[Daru Mozu]]'' for signs of sabotage by Cylon sympathizers, her vessel narrowly escapes the ensuing explosion ([[Epiphanies]]). Edmondson also later flew a Raptor transporting Lee Adama back from ''[[Cloud 9]]'' after he spent some off duty time there with [[Shevon]] ([[Black Market]]).

During Thrace's rescue mission for the [[Caprica Resistance]], Edmondson serves as ECO on one of the 20 Raptors to make a series of ten jumps, aided by a Cylon navigation system. On the first jump, Edmondson's Raptor jumps to the wrong coordinates, ending up in a gas cloud. Thrace and the main group proceed on without her. Preparing to return to ''Galactica'', Edmondson picks up a lot of gravity distortions on her sensors and upon clearing the gas cloud she discovers a habitable planet that the Fleet could colonize ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]). Though the planet turned out to be marginally habitable at best, it would later be named [[New Caprica]], and most of the human survivors of the Fleet would settle down there permanently ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]).

Edmondson remains with the Fleet and flies missions to detect communications from the [[New Caprica Resistance]] ([[Occupation]]). She also plays a leading role in the rescue mission to New Caprica ([[Exodus, Part I]]).

Although she is a qualified Raptor pilot, Edmondson agrees to serve as [[Sharon Agathon]]'s ECO after the crews of ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus'' are combined and far more pilots than aircraft are available, because she thinks being ECO is better than not flying at all. When Edmondson refers to Agathon using the callsign of her Cylon doppelgänger, "[[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]]", the room of pilots gleefully offer a less controversial callsign for Sharon Agathon, including her final one: "Athena".

On her first mission with Agathon, the two make a recon flight to the [[Lion's Head Nebula]] to investigate a clue to the location of Earth. The information proves to be correct, but they also find a deserted Cylon [[basestar (RDM)|basestar]] ([[Torn]]). After undergoing precautionary quarantine measures due to a possible [[Lymphocytic encephalitis|viral]] infection, the two fly together again in the [[Battle of NCD2539]] ([[A Measure of Salvation]]).

Edmondson lends her Raptor talents in a harrowing series of escort flights to shepherd the Fleet through a very dangerous star cluster to a [[algae planet|planet with desperately needed foodstuffs]] ([[The Passage]]).

On a routine patrol around the Fleet, her Raptor suffers from an engine and [[RCS]] malfunction, due to impurities in its [[tylium]] fuel. Unable to regain control and on a collision course with ''[[Colonial One]]'', she and her ECO [[Hamish McCall]] are forced to eject from the Raptor. The craft collides with ''Colonial One'', causing moderate hull damage and several injuries, but no fatalities ([[Dirty Hands]]).

As the Fleet approaches the [[Ionian nebula]], Admiral Adama, worried about Cylon pursuit, tasks Raptor pickets with staying one jump point behind the Fleet to watch for Cylons. One of those patrols, Edmondson and McCall put their Raptor to station-keeping behind an asteroid and start playing [[Triad (RDM)|Triad]] to pass the next twelve hours. Shortly after that a Cylon fleet jumps to their position. They manage to spin up the FTL drive and escape seconds before an enemy missile would have hit their Raptor ([[Crossroads, Part I]]). Shortly after, she instructs [[nuggets]] in basic Raptor operations and technology to prepare them for flying ([[Crossroads, Part II]]).

Racetrack participates in the [[Battle of the Ionian Nebula]], and refers to [[Samuel Anders]] not shooting down an easy [[Raider (RDM)|Raider]] target as a dumb [[nugget]] mistake ([[He That Believeth in Me]]). Later, during Lee Adama's retirement party on ''Galactica'', Edmondson enjoys a game of strip [[Triad (RDM)|triad]] ([[Six of One]]).

After [[Cally Tyrol]]'s death, Edmondson and McCall are on a routine mission when they have another technical malfunction on their Raptor and crashland in the [[landing bay]] ([[Escape Velocity]]).

After an uneasy truce is formed between the Colonials and the rebel Cylons, Edmondson and McCall are sent on a scouting mission to the reported location of the Cylon [[Resurrection Hub]] ([[Guess What's Coming to Dinner?]]). After the rebels' baseship jumps away from the Fleet, Edmondson and McCall recover [[Eammon Pike]]'s Raptor, which had retreated from the [[Battle of the Resurrection Hub|battle for the Hub]], discovering that Pike and his ECO are dead. She is later part of the search of the battle site, discovering several Vipers, including [[Sandman]]'s ([[Sine Qua Non]]).

In the webisode series "[[The Face of the Enemy]]", [[Felix Gaeta]] [[Raptor]] goes missing en route to the ''[[Zephyr]]''. Edmondson is part of the [[SAR]] mission along with [[Louis Hoshi]] that finds Gaeta.

Racetrack and Skulls join [[Gaeta's Mutiny|Gaeta's mutiny]] against Admiral Adama. Racetrack's personal motivations for siding with Gaeta are unclear, although they probably stem from her resentment over having to work with the rebel Cylons. She pilots Gaeta's ally [[Tom Zarek]] off Galactica to the safety of Colonial One. Racetrack later even stands by and allows Gaeta's followers to accost her former fellow pilot Lee Adama. However, they are interrupted by [[Kara Thrace]] who kills one of the rebel marines and wounds Skulls. Thrace holds Racetrack and the others at gunpoint and forces them to release Lee. After Thrace and Adama exit, Racetrack rushes to Skulls' aid ([[The Oath]]).

She is briefly seen in the next episode chatting with [[Tom Zarek]]. She is also seen in the CIC with Seelix, Narcho, and Gaeta as they make plans for the Fleet to jump ([[Blood on the Scales]]).

In the Podcast for [[Deadlock]], RDM states that Racetrack was shipped off to Zarek's old prison ship the ''[[Astral Queen]]'' as were all the other mutineers (presumably those who did not rejoin Adama).

Several weeks later, Admiral Adama releases the mutineers in exchange for their participation in a likely-one-way mission to rescue [[Hera Agathon]] from [[The Colony]]. Racetrack and Skulls are sent on a reconnaissance mission to investigate the coordinates Adama and Starbuck retrieve from Samuel Anders. The coordinates take them to an asteroid field orbiting a black hole which protects The Colony. By observing two Baseships guarding The Colony, Racetrack and Skulls are able to pinpoint the exact location ''Galactica'' needs to jump to safely reach The Colony ([[Daybreak, Part I]]).

She and Skulls participate in the [[Battle of The Colony]], and Margaret asks her ECO to arm their nukes, just to be prepared. Both are killed early in the battle, however, when a piece of debris breaks their windshield. After her death, another piece of debris knocks against her ship and causes her corpse to hit the button for launching her armed nukes at [[The Colony]], causing massive damage and causing it to lose orbit and fall into the black hole, destroying it. This ultimately fulfills Racetrack's wish to die taking out as many Cylons as possible as her last act - albeit posthumous and accidental - was to obliterate the whole of Cavil's forces. ([[Daybreak, Part II]])

==Notes==

[[Image:Edmonson caption.jpg|thumb|The incorrect spelling for Edmondson occurs here; it is, however, correct on the nameplate of the [[Raptor]] she flies.]]
[[Image:Racetrack's Raptor.jpg|thumb|A shot of the [[Raptor]] with the correct spelling.]]
*Edmondson replaced [[Alex Quartararo|Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo]], riding as ECO in whichever Raptor is featured in an episode; Quartararo himself was created as a replacement for [[Karl Agathon|Karl "Helo" Agathon]] after he was stranded on Caprica. She was introduced in the first season finale, heralding Quartararo's demise on Kobol.
*Edmondson's given name was revealed in the episode "[[Final Cut]]". However, her name was misspelled in the caption during her interview, as noted by [[Bradley Thompson]] (See [[Sources:Margaret Edmondson]]). Confusion about her name's spelling resulted in Edmondson's last name being mispelled in the end credits of many episodes in Season 2, although is corrected in Season 3.
*Ron Moore noted in his [[podcast]] to "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]", Edmondson's debut episode, that she was only meant to be a one-shot character, like [[Karl Agathon]]. But, just as with [[Tahmoh Penikett]]'s performance in the [[Miniseries]], Leah Cairns' performance in the episode was viewed as impressive, which lead to the decision that she'd be a recurring character.
*A fan of Karl Agathon, "[[User:Sabaceanbabe|Sabaceanbabe]]", once wrote a short [[fan fiction]] romance scene between Agathon and Edmondson (located [http://sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com/38792.html here], scroll down to part 5). [[Tahmoh Penikett]] and actress [[Leah Cairns]] read it at a party, and Cairns decided that she'd work that into the character. While not canonical or acknowledged by the writers, Cairns said in an [http://podcasts.lvrocks.com/details.aspx?castid=5 interview] on June 27th, 2006, that she chose to incorporate this into her character backstory and how she plays scenes with Agathon, that she is wildly attracted to him and jealous of [[Sharon Agathon]]. Although Sharon isn't oblivious to this, Penikett reacts with underlying tension in his scenes with her. This is also referred to in the fan-made ''Battlestar Galactica'' game ''[[Beyond the Red Line]]'', when one of the pilots during a mission notes that whenever Edmondson sees Agathon she "slobbers all over him."
*Although she is initially an ECO she at some point qualifies to be a Raptor pilot herself and acts as one often. After New Caprica she went back to being Sharon Agathon's ECO for a time stating that she didn't mind as there weren't enough Raptors for all the pilots, but while she did a couple missions as Agathon's ECO, she seems to have gone back to being a Raptor pilot at some point with her own ECO Skulls.
*Racetrack, albeit in a indirect way, has the highest number of Cylon kills for any Colonial pilot: after her death during the [[Battle of The Colony]], caused by an asteroid piercing her Raptor's canopy, a collision with a second asteroid causes her hand to press the launch button for her already-armed nukes. The resulting explosions resulted in the [[The Colony]] taking heavy damage, knocking it out of a black hole's orbit and destroying it, resulting in the death of all the [[Number One|Ones]], [[Number Four|Fours]], [[Number Five|Fives]], [[Hybrid|Hybrids]], [[Raider (RDM)|Raiders]] and [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] on board at the time, all of which combined likely numbered in the tens of thousands.
*The Racetrack character had a fanatical cult following, and spawned an anti-Racetrack movement that resembled populist rage and outcry. By killing off the character, RDM gave the anti-Racetrack fans what they had been begging for, but only in the last episode.

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{{Dead Characters}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edmondson, Margaret}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Characters (RDM)]]
[[Category:Gaeta Mutineers]]
[[Category:Recurring Guest Characters (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]

[[de:Margaret Edmondson]]
[[fr:Margaret Edmondson]]

Margaret Edmondson

2009-03-28T04:52:08Z

Starbuckratos:

{{Character Data
|photo= Margaret Edmondson.jpg
|age=
|colony=
|birthname= Margaret Edmondson
|callsign= Racetrack
|death= Asphyxiation [[Daybreak, Part II]]
|seen= Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II
|parents=
|siblings=
|children=
|marital status=
|role= [[Raptor]] pilot and [[ECO]] assigned to ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''
|rank= Lieutenant
|actor= [[Leah Cairns]]
|cylon=
|name=
}}

Lt. '''Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson''' is a female [[Raptor]] pilot aboard ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''. She harbors a strong hatred of the Cylons. Racetrack tends to have a dark, bitter, and cynical attitude towards life.

== Biography ==
Edmondson accompanies [[Sharon Valerii|Sharon "Boomer" Valerii]] on a mission to destroy a Cylon [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]]. She witnesses Valerii's attempted assassination of [[William Adama]] in ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[CIC]] ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]). Immediately after, she informs the CIC staff that Valerii returned from placing the nuclear warhead inside the basestar orbiting [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] without her helmet on and that she probably gave away ''Galactica'''s position to the Cylons ([[Scattered]]).

During the [[SAR]] mission to Kobol, Edmondson pilots the Raptor carrying [[Lee Adama]], encountering fire from Cylon anti-aircraft missiles. [[Galen Tyrol]] destroys the missiles' [[DRADIS]] dish on the surface, and they fail to lock on. Edmondson's Raptor then destroys the [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] on the ground with a missile, and recovers the trapped ''Galactica'' crewmen ([[Fragged]]).

She aids the escape of President [[Laura Roslin]] from the [[brig]] by falsely claiming that her [[Raptor]] was having technical problems, enabling the furloughed Lee Adama to report to the hangar bay instead of the brig per his arrest. She then helps prep the Raptor used as the escape craft for launch, but remains on ''Galactica'' ([[Resistance (episode)|Resistance]]).

Racetrack serves as ECO on [[Raptor 1]], plotting the best point of orbital entry when taking Commander Adama to [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] to find and meet with President Roslin ([[Home, Part II]]). Since then, Margaret flies basic supply runs between ''Galactica'' and the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]. She continues to light candles for fallen comrades in the Cylon attack. She is almost certain she will eventually die on a mission, and is more focused on taking out as many Cylons as she can before that happens ([[Final Cut]]).

Like many others, Edmondson initially snubs [[Karl Agathon]] upon his return because of his romantic relationship with the [[Caprica]] [[Sharon Agathon|copy of Sharon Valerii]]. When she insults [[Kara Thrace]] over the matter, Thrace slams Edmondson face-first into a card table ([[Flight of the Phoenix]]). Edmondson later offers conciliatory congratulations to Agathon for his help on the [[Blackbird]] and his suggestion to use [[DRADIS]]-absorbing carbon composites.

[[Image:Racetrack2.jpg|left|thumb|Edmondson in a Raptor]]
Edmondson is particularly overjoyed when ''Galactica'' encounters the [[Mercury class battlestar|advanced battlestar]] ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]''. While socializing with ''Pegasus'' pilots in the hangar bay, she fails to understand Thrace's contempt for the "scorecards" on which they tally their kills ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]). Edmondson's Raptor rescues Lee Adama during the [[Battle of the Resurrection Ship]], reviving him using defibrillator paddles in her emergency gear ([[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]). When Edmondson transports Lee Adama and a squad of Marines to check the ''[[Daru Mozu]]'' for signs of sabotage by Cylon sympathizers, her vessel narrowly escapes the ensuing explosion ([[Epiphanies]]). Edmondson also later flew a Raptor transporting Lee Adama back from ''[[Cloud 9]]'' after he spent some off duty time there with [[Shevon]] ([[Black Market]]).

During Thrace's rescue mission for the [[Caprica Resistance]], Edmondson serves as ECO on one of the 20 Raptors to make a series of ten jumps, aided by a Cylon navigation system. On the first jump, Edmondson's Raptor jumps to the wrong coordinates, ending up in a gas cloud. Thrace and the main group proceed on without her. Preparing to return to ''Galactica'', Edmondson picks up a lot of gravity distortions on her sensors and upon clearing the gas cloud she discovers a habitable planet that the Fleet could colonize ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]). Though the planet turned out to be marginally habitable at best, it would later be named [[New Caprica]], and most of the human survivors of the Fleet would settle down there permanently ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]).

Edmondson remains with the Fleet and flies missions to detect communications from the [[New Caprica Resistance]] ([[Occupation]]). She also plays a leading role in the rescue mission to New Caprica ([[Exodus, Part I]]).

Although she is a qualified Raptor pilot, Edmondson agrees to serve as [[Sharon Agathon]]'s ECO after the crews of ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus'' are combined and far more pilots than aircraft are available, because she thinks being ECO is better than not flying at all. When Edmondson refers to Agathon using the callsign of her Cylon doppelgänger, "[[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]]", the room of pilots gleefully offer a less controversial callsign for Sharon Agathon, including her final one: "Athena".

On her first mission with Agathon, the two make a recon flight to the [[Lion's Head Nebula]] to investigate a clue to the location of Earth. The information proves to be correct, but they also find a deserted Cylon [[basestar (RDM)|basestar]] ([[Torn]]). After undergoing precautionary quarantine measures due to a possible [[Lymphocytic encephalitis|viral]] infection, the two fly together again in the [[Battle of NCD2539]] ([[A Measure of Salvation]]).

Edmondson lends her Raptor talents in a harrowing series of escort flights to shepherd the Fleet through a very dangerous star cluster to a [[algae planet|planet with desperately needed foodstuffs]] ([[The Passage]]).

On a routine patrol around the Fleet, her Raptor suffers from an engine and [[RCS]] malfunction, due to impurities in its [[tylium]] fuel. Unable to regain control and on a collision course with ''[[Colonial One]]'', she and her ECO [[Hamish McCall]] are forced to eject from the Raptor. The craft collides with ''Colonial One'', causing moderate hull damage and several injuries, but no fatalities ([[Dirty Hands]]).

As the Fleet approaches the [[Ionian nebula]], Admiral Adama, worried about Cylon pursuit, tasks Raptor pickets with staying one jump point behind the Fleet to watch for Cylons. One of those patrols, Edmondson and McCall put their Raptor to station-keeping behind an asteroid and start playing [[Triad (RDM)|Triad]] to pass the next twelve hours. Shortly after that a Cylon fleet jumps to their position. They manage to spin up the FTL drive and escape seconds before an enemy missile would have hit their Raptor ([[Crossroads, Part I]]). Shortly after, she instructs [[nuggets]] in basic Raptor operations and technology to prepare them for flying ([[Crossroads, Part II]]).

Racetrack participates in the [[Battle of the Ionian Nebula]], and refers to [[Samuel Anders]] not shooting down an easy [[Raider (RDM)|Raider]] target as a dumb [[nugget]] mistake ([[He That Believeth in Me]]). Later, during Lee Adama's retirement party on ''Galactica'', Edmondson enjoys a game of strip [[Triad (RDM)|triad]] ([[Six of One]]).

After [[Cally Tyrol]]'s death, Edmondson and McCall are on a routine mission when they have another technical malfunction on their Raptor and crashland in the [[landing bay]] ([[Escape Velocity]]).

After an uneasy truce is formed between the Colonials and the rebel Cylons, Edmondson and McCall are sent on a scouting mission to the reported location of the Cylon [[Resurrection Hub]] ([[Guess What's Coming to Dinner?]]). After the rebels' baseship jumps away from the Fleet, Edmondson and McCall recover [[Eammon Pike]]'s Raptor, which had retreated from the [[Battle of the Resurrection Hub|battle for the Hub]], discovering that Pike and his ECO are dead. She is later part of the search of the battle site, discovering several Vipers, including [[Sandman]]'s ([[Sine Qua Non]]).

In the webisode series "[[The Face of the Enemy]]", [[Felix Gaeta]] [[Raptor]] goes missing en route to the ''[[Zephyr]]''. Edmondson is part of the [[SAR]] mission along with [[Louis Hoshi]] that finds Gaeta.

Racetrack and Skulls join [[Gaeta's Mutiny|Gaeta's mutiny]] against Admiral Adama. Racetrack's personal motivations for siding with Gaeta are unclear, although they probably stem from her resentment over having to work with the rebel Cylons. She pilots Gaeta's ally [[Tom Zarek]] off Galactica to the safety of Colonial One. Racetrack later even stands by and allows Gaeta's followers to accost her former fellow pilot Lee Adama. However, they are interrupted by [[Kara Thrace]] who kills one of the rebel marines and wounds Skulls. Thrace holds Racetrack and the others at gunpoint and forces them to release Lee. After Thrace and Adama exit, Racetrack rushes to Skulls' aid ([[The Oath]]).

She is briefly seen in the next episode chatting with [[Tom Zarek]]. She is also seen in the CIC with Seelix, Narcho, and Gaeta as they make plans for the Fleet to jump ([[Blood on the Scales]]).

In the Podcast for [[Deadlock]], RDM states that Racetrack was shipped off to Zarek's old prison ship the ''[[Astral Queen]]'' as were all the other mutineers (presumably those who did not rejoin Adama).

Several weeks later, Admiral Adama releases the mutineers in exchange for their participation in a likely-one-way mission to rescue [[Hera Agathon]] from [[The Colony]]. Racetrack and Skulls are sent on a reconnaissance mission to investigate the coordinates Adama and Starbuck retrieve from Samuel Anders. The coordinates take them to an asteroid field orbiting a black hole which protects The Colony. By observing two Baseships guarding The Colony, Racetrack and Skulls are able to pinpoint the exact location ''Galactica'' needs to jump to safely reach The Colony ([[Daybreak, Part I]]).

She and Skulls participate in the [[Battle of The Colony]], and Margaret asks her ECO to arm their nukes, just to be prepared. Both are killed early in the battle, however, when a piece of debris breaks their windshield. After her death, another piece of debris knocks against her ship and causes her corpse to hit the button for launching her armed nukes at [[The Colony]], causing massive damage and causing it to lose orbit and fall into the black hole, destroying it. This ultimately fulfills Racetrack's wish to die taking out as many Cylons as possible as her last act - albeit posthumous and accidental - was to obliterate the whole of Cavil's forces. ([[Daybreak, Part II]])

==Notes==

[[Image:Edmonson caption.jpg|thumb|The incorrect spelling for Edmondson occurs here; it is, however, correct on the nameplate of the [[Raptor]] she flies.]]
[[Image:Racetrack's Raptor.jpg|thumb|A shot of the [[Raptor]] with the correct spelling.]]
*Edmondson replaced [[Alex Quartararo|Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo]], riding as ECO in whichever Raptor is featured in an episode; Quartararo himself was created as a replacement for [[Karl Agathon|Karl "Helo" Agathon]] after he was stranded on Caprica. She was introduced in the first season finale, heralding Quartararo's demise on Kobol.
*Edmondson's given name was revealed in the episode "[[Final Cut]]". However, her name was misspelled in the caption during her interview, as noted by [[Bradley Thompson]] (See [[Sources:Margaret Edmondson]]). Confusion about her name's spelling resulted in Edmondson's last name being mispelled in the end credits of many episodes in Season 2, although is corrected in Season 3.
*Ron Moore noted in his [[podcast]] to "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]", Edmondson's debut episode, that she was only meant to be a one-shot character, like [[Karl Agathon]]. But, just as with [[Tahmoh Penikett]]'s performance in the [[Miniseries]], Leah Cairns' performance in the episode was viewed as impressive, which lead to the decision that she'd be a recurring character.
*A fan of Karl Agathon, "[[User:Sabaceanbabe|Sabaceanbabe]]", once wrote a short [[fan fiction]] romance scene between Agathon and Edmondson (located [http://sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com/38792.html here], scroll down to part 5). [[Tahmoh Penikett]] and actress [[Leah Cairns]] read it at a party, and Cairns decided that she'd work that into the character. While not canonical or acknowledged by the writers, Cairns said in an [http://podcasts.lvrocks.com/details.aspx?castid=5 interview] on June 27th, 2006, that she chose to incorporate this into her character backstory and how she plays scenes with Agathon, that she is wildly attracted to him and jealous of [[Sharon Agathon]]. Although Sharon isn't oblivious to this, Penikett reacts with underlying tension in his scenes with her. This is also referred to in the fan-made ''Battlestar Galactica'' game ''[[Beyond the Red Line]]'', when one of the pilots during a mission notes that whenever Edmondson sees Agathon she "slobbers all over him."
*Although she is initially an ECO she at some point qualifies to be a Raptor pilot herself and acts as one often. After New Caprica she went back to being Sharon Agathon's ECO for a time stating that she didn't mind as there weren't enough Raptors for all the pilots, but while she did a couple missions as Agathon's ECO, she seems to have gone back to being a Raptor pilot at some point with her own ECO Skulls.
*Racetrack, albeit in a indirect way, has the highest number of Cylon kills for any Colonial pilot: after her death during the [[Battle of The Colony]], caused by an asteroid piercing her Raptor's canopy, a collision with a second asteroid causes her hand to press the launch button for her already-armed nukes. The resulting explosions resulted in the [[The Colony]] taking heavy damage, knocking it out of a black hole's orbit and destroying it, resulting in the death of all the [[Number One|Ones]], [[Number Four|Fours]], [[Number Five|Fives]], [[Hybrid|Hybrids]], [[Raider (RDM)|Raiders]] and [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] on board at the time, all of which combined likely numbered in the tens of thousands.
*The Racetrack character had a fanatical cult following with the fans, and spawned an anti-Racetrack movement that resembled populist rage and outcry. By killing off the character, RDM gave the anti-Racetrack fans what they had been begging for, but only in the last episode.

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{{Dead Characters}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edmondson, Margaret}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
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[[Category:Gaeta Mutineers]]
[[Category:Recurring Guest Characters (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]

[[de:Margaret Edmondson]]
[[fr:Margaret Edmondson]]

Laura Roslin

2009-03-28T04:48:51Z

Starbuckratos:

Gaius Baltar (alternate)

2009-03-16T20:16:26Z

Starbuckratos:

{{separate continuity|universe=RDM|cont=Dynamite Comics}}

: ''For the canonical version of this character, see: [[Gaius Baltar]].''

{{Character Data
| colony=[[Aerilon (alternate)|Aerilon]]
| seen= Battlestar Galactica 0
| name=Gaius Baltar
| parents= [[Unnamed characters (RDM alternate)#Baltar's mother|Mother]]
| siblings=1; [[Bernard Baltar]] (brother)
}}

'''Gaius Baltar''' is a computer programmer and scientist from [[Aerilon (alternate)|Aerilon]].

Originally growing up on a farm with his [[Unnamed characters (RDM alternate)#Baltar's mother|mother]] and brother, [[Bernard Baltar]], he becomes known for tinkering and repairing electronics and machines. Some of the workers view him negatively, particularly after he attempts to make improvements to the farm's harvesting processes, which ultimately end up failing.

In his teens, he applies to [[Caprica University]] and is accepted, later settling on [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]] permanently.

Later, he becomes a scientist at the [[Ministry of Defense]]. Two years prior to the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]], he and Dr. [[Amorak (alternate)|Amorak]] vied for the position of director of the [[Command Navigation Program]] project. Amorak succeeded in obtaining this position, but is later abducted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], thereby permitting Baltar to get the position.

After obtaining the position, he begins a relationship with [[Caprica Six]] after meeting at a [[Caprica City]] nightclub. This is the [[Number Six]] model whom he believes to be a defense contractor vying for secrets, and not the humans' mortal enemy ([[Battlestar Galactica: Origins 1]]).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltar, Gaius (alternate)}}

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

Daybreak, Part I

2009-03-16T20:10:48Z

Starbuckratos: /* Act 1 */

{{Episode Data
| image=FirstDaybreak.jpg
| title=Daybreak, Part I
| season= 4
| episode=19
| guests=
| writer= [[Ronald D. Moore]]
| story=
| director= [[Michael Rymer]]
| production=421
| rating=
| US airdate=March 13, 2009 <ref>http://tv.ign.com/articles/920/920164p1.html</ref>
| CAN airdate=March 13, 2009
| UK airdate=March 17, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39516
| oldpopulation=39521
| prev=[[Islanded In a Stream of Stars ]]
| next=[[Daybreak, Part II]]
| forumthread= 2994
}}

== Overview ==
''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' begins to be stripped of parts, and [[William Adama|Adama]] calls for volunteers for a final mission.<ref>http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=1054906</ref>

== Summary ==

=== Act 1 ===
'''In Caprica City'''
*The Act opens with a montage, including a galaxy, a bird trapped in a skylight, water falling into a pool, and light over a planet. A shot of a city can be seen, with the words "Caprica City - Before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|Fall]]".
*[[William_Adama|Bill Adama]], wearing civilian clothes, is conversing with another gentleman in a shaded room. Adama talks about his combat experience, commanding billions of cubits of men and materials, but doesn't want to go through with something. The man responds that he's only asking for one hour of his time, and that "sometimes there are things that you gotta do."
*Across the city, Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] is speaking with [[Caprica-Six]] in a limo, talking briefly about having things done for you as opposed to being independent. Baltar and Caprica-Six begin fooling around in the limo, when a call comes through. Baltar is immediately shaken, he apologizes, and asks the other person to wait for him. The other person sounds ready to leave, but Baltar tells the person on the other end to wait for him, or he will sue them for abandonment.
*[[Laura Roslin]] is sending out the last guest from a baby shower she hosted for her sister. Laura and her two younger sisters then sit on the couch, celebrating and laughing together.
*In an apartment kitchen, [[Kara Thrace]] is contemplating something and preparing food when the doorbell rings. Kara is surprised, saying they're early, and greets [[Lee Adama]] at the door, carrying flowers. Kara invites him in, and calls for Zak. [[Zak Adama]] comes out and greets his brother, and introduces Kara as his girlfriend.
*Baltar pleads with Nurse Barbara to stay with his father [[Julius Baltar|Julius]] at his apartment, after she is stabbed with a steak knife, but she refuses and leaves. Caprica-Six walks in, despite Baltar's instructions to stay in the car. Baltar starts berating his father over the fact that he's driven away three nurses, at great cost to him, while his father starts talking about Baltar's past. Baltar starts yelling and hitting his father, demanding that he shut up. Baltar then sends Caprica-Six away, saying he will be spending the rest of the evening with his father.
*Laura Roslin is approached by two Caprica City Police officers at her apartment. The two inform her that the night before, her father and her sisters died in a car accident. The other driver survived, and was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Roslin, upset, calmly asks the officers to leave. She stands in her apartment, alone, thinking, and then walks to a park in her nightgown. She rests her feet in the fountain, and then wades in the water, and rests on a nearby rock, letting the splashing water wash over her. The drops of water falling into the pond match what was seen in the earlier montage.

'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*The scene cuts to an IV drip, overlooking Laura Roslin resting in Sickbay.
*In the Hangar Bay, Lee Adama is complaining about the amount of materials the ship captains want from Galactica. Lee is signing a number of documents, when a deckhand argues over the fact that the magnetic accelerators are being stripped. While Lee points out that they can be used as autoloaders for the civilian ships, the deckhand says that "it's like tearing the old girl's heart out", as it's used in launching Vipers. Lee compromises that the accelerators will be last thing they remove from Galactica, then they'll "turn out the lights, and let the old girl die in peace."

=== Act 2 ===
'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*The act opens with [[William_Adama|Admiral Adama]] finished packing the last of his belongings into boxes to be moved to the Cylon Basestar. As the last of his belongings is closed, the rattling of the hull can be heard overhead.
*Paulla tells [[Gaius_Baltar|Baltar]] that they now control a majority in at least half the ships in the fleet. While Paulla continues to cheer about their political power, Baltar looks up to see [[Virtual_Six|Virtual Six]]. Six points out that "humanity's final chapter is about to be written," with him as the author. Baltar turns back to Paulla, thinking back.
*In [[Sam_Anders|Anders']] room, [[Kara_Thrace|Kara]] sits with him, contemplating the notes she got from Hera ([[Someone_to_Watch_Over_Me|Someone to Watch Over Me]]). With equations and notes, Kara continues to ponder.
*In the CIC, Lt. Hoshi is cleaning up a spill, while Tigh is announcing that the Admiral will fly out the last Viper personally. He orders that the deck gang keep one launch tube intact and ready for remote activation. Tigh comments on Hoshi's inability to clean up the spill, saying "you won't make Admiral like that."
*In the Brig, Helo and an imprisoned Tyrol argue over the uniqueness of the Eights. Helo points out that Tyrol's relationship with Boomer, much like his with Athena's, are unique. Tyrol scoffs, calling himself a "frakkin' idiot" for not realizing that they're just machines, not people. The Eights are all the same because "the [[Final_Five|[Final Five]]] made them the same." Tyrol says that they can't be trusted, at which point, Helo ends the conversation abruptly.

'''In Caprica City'''
*As Baltar escorts a lovely young woman into his house, he walks in to find Caprica-Six there, sitting. Baltar shoos the young woman upstairs, while Baltar declares Caprica an intruder and orders her out. Caprica-Six mentions that she had Julius moved to the Regency, a full-time care facility. Caprica mentions that he loves his new arrangements, and that the last time she saw him, he seemed happy.

'''Inside the Colony'''
*Hera is drawing notes on a large paper, while Cavil points out that they're just "little dots." Simon suggests that they feed Hera through tubes, while Boomer insists that she's just missing her mother. Cavil rejects this idea coldly, saying Hera is just a hybrid who holds the key to Cylon salvation, nothing more. Cavil leaves as Simon prepares a large need with Hera and Boomer in view.

=== Act 3 ===
{{expansion}}

=== Act 4 ===

== Notes ==

* This episode is the first part of a three hour series finale<ref>http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/06/battlestars-fin.html</ref>.
* The episode does not have an opening teaser beyond the "Previously..." segment and a brief depiction of Galactica deckhands and several Baseship Number Eight pilots guiding passengers to ships and other ''Galactica'' bound ships from the Baseship. Nor does the opening credits include clips from the episode, the first time this has happened since the start of Season 3.
*We finally learn [[Sherman Cottle|Cottle]]'s first name: Sherman. Adama calls him by it when telling him he's too valuable for the fleet to lose.
* It is revealed that [[Laura Roslin]] had two sisters (one pregnant), and that they and her father were killed in an automobile accident at some point before she was appointed as Secretary of Education under the Adar Administration.
* Baltar's father appears for the first time, and it's confirmed that Baltar's accent is an affected one as Baltar had previously admitted to doing so in [[Dirty Hands]].
* Baltar specifically told [[Caprica Six]] he forgot her name, albeit it is possible that he has yet to learn it, despite having a relationship with her.
* Cultural oddity: keep an eye on the rear window of Baltar's limo for a recognizable Vancouver, B.C. street sign.
* After several episodes leaving the facts open to speculation, it is confirmed that the ''Galactica'' pilots that took part in the mutiny, such as [[Racetrack]], were incarcerated and not executed. Ronald D. Moore had previously said that Racetrack, [[Skulls]] and other mutiny participants were confined on the prison ship ''[[Astral Queen]]'' in his podcast for [[Deadlock]]. Also confirmed [[Galen Tyrol]] was imprisoned for his role in unwittingly helping Boomer to escape with Hera (a scene indicating this was filmed for "[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]" but cut from the televised version).
* For the first time in many episodes, the six surviving members of the [[Significant Seven]] appear in the same episode (albeit [[Leoben]] appears only in the opening recap). This was the first time we have seen a [[Doral]] or a [[Simon]] since [[The Hub]].
* In the flashback to Starbuck's apartment, the painting of the Eye of Jupiter can be seen behind her when she opens the door.
*As Hybrid Anders is reciting his seemingly random phrases to a listening Admiral Adama and Captain Thrace he says "Slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of perfection" This is a variation of a real life quote made by [[Wikipedia:John Gillespie Magee, Jr|John Gillespie Magee, Jr.]] in his 1941 poem [[Wikipedia: High Flight|High Flight]]: "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings..." [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/highflig.htm] The poem goes on and concludes with "Put out my hand and touched the face of God." This was quoted by Ronald Reagan much closer to Ander's rendition on January 28, 1986 when addressing the nation after the Challenger disaster "We will never forget them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."
*At the end of the episode, Lee Adama can be seen wearing his old Major's [[Uniforms (RDM)#Regular uniform|uniform]] (with white piping), but without his [[Military Ranks (RDM)#Insignia|rank insignia]] or [[Insignia (RDM)#Pilot wings|pilot wings]].

== Analysis ==
*Cavil plans to use Hera to find out how she was created in order to continue the Cylon species, presumably through normal reproduction.
**It also proves Cavil intends to dissect Hera to discover the secret of procreation, confirming both Starbuck's and Athena's worst fears.
*Roslin likely feels quite protective of Hera as despite being barely able to walk, she volunteers for the rescue mission (although her love for Adama likely also played a part in her decision).
*Cottle may be either the best doctor in the fleet or one of the only ones as Adama says he's too valuable for the fleet to lose on the rescue mission.
*Baltar seems conflicted when volunteers are called. This inner conflict stems from his earlier conversation with Lee Adama where he confessed that he had never done anything for purely selfless motivations with no gain for himself. He does not, however, cross the line and join the volunteers.
** If Baltar does join, then it would seem likely that all the elements are in place to fulfil the Opera House vision: Athena, Roslin, Caprica Six and Baltar will all be in pursuit of Hera.
*Much of the crew is loyal enough to Adama that they're willing to go on a likely one way mission to rescue someone just because he asked.
*In the brig Tyrol tells Helo-who is surprisingly civil even sympathetic toward Tyrol given his hand in the abduction-that they are all the same referring to the Eights. He says it as a word of advice and warning. That he made them the same and therefore can only expect betrayal from Athena as what happened to Tyrol at the hands of Boomer. However, given the fact that he has no first hand knowledge of making the Eights and the other Cylons and the psychic pain Galen suffered at the betrayal, his opinion most likely comes from deep, deep, abiding pain and not a intellectual analysis in his disregard of the individuality of Athena and the other Eights and particularly Athena's track record of loyalty. This also maybe a case of misery loves company and Tyrol wants to see Helo and Athena split up to allay his own feelings of being duped, by saying they are all a like and putting doubt in Helo's mind. Also, by claiming that Athena and the other Eights are just machines this could mitigate the guilt for his role in the abduction and possible death of Hera. If Athena is just a machine, then she cannot be hurt emotionally. She has no emotions, just a programmed facsimile. Tyrol wouldn't have to feel responsible for such pain he caused her since, as a machine, she can't really feel it sparing himself a lot of pain.
*Tyrol is himself a Cylon machine, so his rant speaks of denial and projected self-hatred as well as bitterness.
*The finale appears to be taking a character-driven approach, devoting significant screen time to pivotal flashbacks for the central characters that relate to their current circumstances.
**We see the first time Starbuck and Apollo' met, with hints alluding to their future romantic relationship.
**Roslin deals with the sudden death of her sisters and father by wading into a fountain. The gushing water cuts to a shot of her IV drip as she lies dying on Galactica.
**Baltar and Caprica six begin their relationship with an act of compassion on Six's part towards Baltar's father. Baltar's selfishness, a theme raised repeatedly in the episode, is contrasted with Caprica Six's seemingly genuine concern for [[Julius Baltar|Julius]].
*One of the shots in the opening sequence is of a sun rising over a blue planet: daybreak. The theme may symbolize an end to the fleet's long four years of gloom and darkness.
**In that image of the planet, Antarctica is clearly seen, specifically the Ronne Ice Shelf, Queen Maud Land, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Where southern South America and southern Africa would be, the surface is covered by clouds, and the location of southern Australia/New Zealand is too dark. Although not as recognizable as the image of North America in [[Crossroads, Part II]], it is clear that the planet shown here is our Earth.
*Hera is drawing "dots", as Cavil calls them, on the Colony. These are much more numerous than the simple line that she gave Starbuck, its at least a full page long. It seems to be an entire musical score. However, not knowing that they are music notes, Cavil doesn't see this.
*Someone left a picture of Athena about to kiss Hera on the head on the now abandoned memorial wall. It may have been Athena herself, who has given up on Hera's survival.
* Baltar's reaction to Lee's accusation that he has never done a selfless thing in his life shows how much the character of Baltar has grown, especially in the Fourth Season. Previously, whenever someone called Baltar's motives or attributes(especially his loyalty) into question, he reacted very passionately, and angrily, to defend himself(and often led to him being coaxed into doing what Virtual Six wanted, to the detriment of the humans in the fleet). On this occasion, however, Baltar not only does not even attempt to defend himself, he resignedly admits that he wouldn't trust him either(tacitly admitting both that Lee is correct in his assertion and that his self-serving actions have been extremely detrimental in the past). This change in attitude visibly surprises Lee who seems quite taken aback and appears to momentarily contemplate talking to Baltar again when he returns to the Hanger Deck.

== Questions ==
=== Flashbacks ===
* To what is Adama's flashback conversation referring?
* Who was the drunk driver that killed Roslin's sisters and father? Is he alive in the fleet today?
* Who is Sean Allison and why does his name sound familiar to Roslin?
* What is the time frame for the flashbacks, and is it the same for all characters?
** Since [[Zak Adama]] is still alive, the Starbuck/Zak/Apollo flashbacks must be 2 years or more before the Cylon attack on the 12 Colonies.
** Baltar and [[Caprica-Six]] began their relationship just under two years prior to the Cylon attack<ref>In the Miniseries, Head Six taunts Baltar by suggesting he say "Oh, I forgot to mention I'm familiar with their technology because I've been having sex with a Cylon for almost two years now."</ref>, putting these scenes somewhat later.
** Bill Adama remarks that he has commanded two battlestars, most likely referring to ''[[Valkyrie]]'' and ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' since no other commands have ever been referred to in dialogue or in [[Sources:Adama's Dossier|Adama's Dossier]]. This would place his flashback scene at some point after his transfer to ''Galactica'', which is either one year prior to the Cylon attack (per the anomalous dates given in "[[Hero]]"), or six years prior (per ''Battlestar Wiki'''s [[Hero#Analysis|analysis]]).

===Mission to save Hera===
* How is [[Sam Anders]] able to provide the new location of [[the Colony]]? What transpired between him, Starbuck, and Adama?
* Did any of the other former mutineers, besides [[Racetrack]] and [[Skulls]], volunteer to participate in the mission?
* As the episode began, ''Galactica'' was already being cannibalized for parts; does this mean it will be lacking vital components during the upcoming mission, or has Adama stopped the salvaging?
**It is very doubtful that Adama would send Galactica in harms way if she weren't adequately equipped for the mission he has in mind.
***However, this likely will be a one-way mission for ''Galactica'', just as it is for the volunteers, as Adama has already stated his intention to "send the old girl off in style." Further, Adama is willing to use a group of Raptors for the mission and leave ''Galactica'' behind entirely, if there isn't an adequate crew. These facts suggest that ''Galactica'' will not retain components that Adama is not willing to abandon or have destroyed.

===Cavil's Plan===
* Has Cavil given up on the idea of salvaging Resurrection Technology?

===Miscellaneous===
*With [[William_Adama|Commander Adama]], [[Saul_Tigh|XO Tigh]], [[Laura_Roslin|President Roslin]] and [[Lee_Adama|Vice-President Lee Adama]] all joining the Hera rescue mission, who will assume military and political leadership of the Fleet?
**Is this the reason why Baltar hesitates to volunteer for the mission?
***His unwillingness for self sacrifice absent personal gain, as Lee Adama charged.
**Will Baltar or another representative of "his people" step into this power vacuum, despite Lee's refusal to grant them a place on the Quorum (prior to the Admiral's announcement regarding the rescue mission)?
*Does the Admiral's offer to any over the age of 15 mean that 15 is considered legal age under colonial law?
**Could this also mean a now "adult" [[Boxey (RDM)|Boxey]] will take part in the mission?
**Boxey has been dropped as a character but he would had been 17 years old by now so yes he could had gone.
* With Hotdog being one of the volunteers, and especially being aware that he may not return alive, who will take care of Nicholas?

== Official Statements ==

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
:"No one should feel obligated to join this mission in any way. This is a decision I have made for myself. If it turns out that there are not enough personnel to crew [[Galactica|''Galactica'']], I will lead a [[Raptor]] assault with anyone who is willing to join me. Let there be no illusions; this is likely to be a one-way trip! So don't volunteer out of sentiment or emotion. There is a line running down this deck. Volunteers, move to the starboard side; Everyone else, to the port. Make your choice!"
::--[[William_Adama|Admiral Adama's]] speech to the assembled crew.

:"You didn't think you were gonna to take off without me Admiral, did you?"
::--[[Laura Roslin]] volunteering for the rescue mission despite barely being able to walk.

:"Spins and turns, angles and curves. The shape of dreams, half remembered. Slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of perfection - a perfect face, perfect lace. Find the perfect world for the end of Kara Thrace. End of line."
::--[[Samuel Anders|Anders]]'s hybrid-speak when powered on to speak with [[Kara Thrace]] and [[William_Adama|Admiral Adama]].

:"She’s right, Gaius. The end times are approaching. Humanity’s final chapters are about to be written. And you - you will be its author."
::--[[Virtual Six]] to [[Gaius Baltar]].

== Guest Stars ==
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Number One]]
* [[Rick Worthy]] as [[Number Four]]
* [[Matthew Bennett]] as [[Number Five]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[Sherman Cottle]]
* [[Bodie Olmos]] as Lieutenant [[Brendan Costanza|Brenden "Hotdog" Costanza]]
* [[Kerry Norton]] as [[Layne Ishay]]
* [[Lara Gilchrist]] as [[Paulla Schaffer]]
* [[Leela Savasta]] as [[Tracy Anne]]
* [[Tobias Mehler]] as [[Zak Adama]]
* [[Leah Cairns]] as Lieutenant [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]]
* [[Brad Dryborough]] as Lieutenant [[Louis Hoshi]]
* [[Colin Lawrence]] as Lieutenant [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]]
* [[Colin Corrigan]] as Marine [[Allan Nowart]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Finn R. Devitt]] as [[Nicholas Tyrol]]
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Antony Holland]] as [[Julius Baltar]]
* [[Simone Bailly]] as [[Shona]]
* [[Elan Ross Gibson]] as Nurse [[Barbara]]
* [[France Perras]] as [[Sandra]]
* [[Sarah Deakins]] as [[Cheryl]]
* [[Tiffany Burns]] as Reporter [[Carolyn]]
* [[Kevin McNulty]] as [[Frank Porthos]]
* [[Stefanie Samuels]] as Police Officer
* [[Richard Jollymore]] as Marine #1
* [[Anthony St. John]] as Marine #2
* [[Leo Li Chiang]] as the [[tattooed pilot]] (uncredited)

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

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes written by Ronald D. Moore]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Rymer]]