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Operation Raptor Talon

2007-10-22T01:18:28Z

Yeungb:

{{Battle Data
|image=
|description=
|conflict=[[Cylon War|First Cylon War]]
|date=[[Timeline (RDM)|4,571 days]] into the [[Cylon War]], approximately 40 years prior to the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]]
|place=An unnamed "ice planet in the ass end of nowhere"
|result=
|combatant1=[[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]] of [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]]
|combatant2=[[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]
|co1=''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' commanding officer
|co2=Unknown
|strength1=3 [[battlestar (RDM)|battlestars]], [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]]s, and [[Raptor]]s
|strength2=3 [[Raider (RDM)|Raider]] wings, ground forces, at least 2 [[basestar (RDM)|basestar]]s
|shiploss1= ''[[Columbia (RDM)|Columbia]]''
|shiploss2= Various Cylon Raiders
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
|prev=First [[Cylon War]]
|next=[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]]
|rdm=y
}}
'''Operation Raptor Talon''' is a [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]] operation occurring on day 4,571 of the [[Cylon War|First Cylon War]].

The objective of the mission is to attack an [[ice planet|unnamed "ice planet"]], which is rumored to house a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] superweapon. According to intelligence on hand, the Cylons have three [[Raider (RDM)|Raider]] wings, ground forces, defensive batteries and nuclear weapons ([[Razor Flashbacks]], Episode 1). Additionally, the Cylons had at least two [[basestar (RDM)|basestar]]s defending the planet ([[Razor Flashbacks]], Episode 3).

[[Raptor]]s from [[Raptor Squadron 2]] are the first to be launched in the operation, but are ambushed by Cylon forces; among those hurt in the initial engagement are [[Jaycie McGavin]], who was severely injured when her console exploded ([[Razor Flashbacks]], Episode 2).

During the offensive, the [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar]] ''[[Columbia (RDM)|Columbia]]'' is destroyed in orbit around the ice planet from missile salvos unleashed by baseships ([[Razor Flashbacks]], Episode 3).

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{{Battles (RDM)}}

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

Felix Gaeta

2006-10-29T02:54:21Z

Yeungb: typo

{{Character Data
|photo= Gaeta.png
|age=
|colony=
|birthname= Felix Gaeta
|callsign=
|seen= Miniseries
|death=
|parents=
|siblings=
|children=
|marital status=
|role=Aide to President [[Gaius Baltar]], former [[Tactical Officer]], Senior Officer of the Watch, [[CIC]], [[Battlestar]] ''[[Galactica]]''
|rank= Lieutenant
|actor=[[Alessandro Juliani]]
|cylon=
}}

Lieutenant '''Felix Gaeta''' ({{IPA|ˈgeɪ.ɾə}} or "gay-tah") is a young, capable officer in the Colonial military. For the three years prior to the [[Cylon attack]] on the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]], he has served as [[William Adama]]'s Senior Officer of the Watch aboard battlestar ''[[Galactica]]''.

Prior to the attack, he was studying biogenetics and planned to get a degree through the military extension program ([[Water]]).

He exhibits a strong attention to detail and is highly efficient. These tendencies and his overall ability have led William Adama to rely heavily on him as a member of ''Galactica's'' command crew, despite his relative youth and junior rank.

As well as performing the role of Tactical Officer, Gaeta also manages the ship's [[FTL]] systems, including the calculation and initiation of Jumps. Gaeta also manages the needs of the various primary [[Computers|computer systems]] used on the battlestar.

==Remarkable Brillance==

As a result of his studies in biogenetics, Lt. Gaeta is selected by Adama to assist Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] in the development of the much-needed [[Cylon detector]] following the Cylon attack([[Water]]). During his time working with Baltar, Gaeta develops a certain respect and liking for the doctor - despite the latter's apparent eccentricities. When a woman called "[[Shelly Godfrey]]" arrives on-board ''Galactica'', Gaeta works hard to prove Baltar's innocence of the charges levelled against him ([[Six Degrees of Separation]]). Although he is ultimately successful, Gaeta fails to follow-up on the fact that the photographic evidence supplied by "Shelly Godfrey" looked as if the evidence itself had been faked in a way that ensured it was exposed as a forgery.

Gaeta shows his remarkable brilliance after ''Galactica'' mistakenly Jumps to a different set of coordinates than the rest of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] to escape a Cylon attack ([[Scattered]]). The [[FTL]] computers compensate for spatial changes, but due to the chaos after [[William Adama|Commander Adama]] is shot by [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Boomer]], Gaeta does not have time to synchronize the spatial positioning with the rest of the Fleet, whose FTL computers had collectively different information. Complicating the issue, if ''Galactica'' returns to their original position, the Cylons would destroy the ship before it could retrieve the correct Fleet coordinates using standard procedure.

Gaeta blames himself (although [[Saul Tigh]] did not), but later realizes that by networking four computers of the ship (something Commander Adama may never have approved), he could reduce the coordinate calculation time from hours to minutes. Knowing the Cylons would try to crack his ''ad hoc'' network, Gaeta sets up five [[Wikipedia:Firewall (networking)|firewalls]] in the network to slow their progress while the ship's guns and Vipers buy the needed time to calculate. Unfortunately for Gaeta, the firewalls are not completely effective. Several power and CIC systems were disabled by a Cylon infection while [[Cylon Centurion]]s board the ship ([[Valley of Darkness]]). Gaeta scrambles to purge the systems of any remaining traces of the [[Virus|virus]].

==Under Pressure==

Gaeta's calm exterior shows signs of wear when his interview with [[D'anna Biers]] shows him somewhat drunk, smoking, and brandishing a rather garish [[tattoo]] of a tiger ([[Final Cut]]). Viewers learn from the footage that Gaeta's first name is Felix.

The Cylon virus rears its ugly head once more a few weeks later when shipboard malfunctions increase to a point where consoles begin to sputter and short out. Gaeta confirms that the same virus they thought they had removed from the formerly-networked computers had metamorphized into a heuristic program--a [[Logic bomb|logic bomb]]--that studied and probed flaws in the battlestar's computers and the hardware that each system manages. The logic bomb threatened to disable the ship's human control on a Cylon fighter's command--and a Cylon attack force was imminent.

After Colonel Tigh's command to perform the daunting task of inspecting many lines of computer code for a Cylon virus, the young lieutenant completely loses his cool:

:'''Gaeta''': A power surge energized the board. System's been twitchy ever since the Cylons infiltrated our network.<br/>
:'''Tigh''': Commander's right. I don't care if you have to go through this program line by line; fix it.<br/>
:'''Gaeta''': Excuse me?<br/>
:'''Tigh''': You heard me.<br/>
:'''Gaeta''': Sir, I'm running every diagnostic we've got. Checking each line of code could take days.<br/>
:'''Tigh''': I am not interested in excuses. Fix it!<br/>
:'''Gaeta''': It's not an excuse, sir. It's a [[frak|frakking]] fact!<br/>

Everyone on the bridge, especially Commander Adama, is shocked by Gaeta's highly uncharacteristic outburst, but Adama is not particularly surprised, knowing that everyone on ''Galactica'' has low morale after working for months with no relief or change to their routine.

Gaeta has a solution for the logic bomb: Wipe all computer hard drives and restore them from backups made before the Cylon attack. The problem in doing this is that ''Galactica'' will be completely vulnerable to attack, save for her Viper fighters, for several minutes as her computers are rebuilt.

Against his instincts and on [[Laura Roslin]]'s advice, Adama opts to use the unique abilities of the cooperative [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)|Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii]] to aid them. Gaeta gives the humanoid Cylon a fiber-optic data link with access to the battlestar mainframe computer and the ship's communications. After a few tense moments, Valerii asks Gaeta to perform the computer hard drive wipe after taking into her computer/brain a copy of the Cylon virus. She manipulates it and transmits to the massive incoming Cylon fleet, disabling the entire Cylon fleet in the same way that the Colonials suffered in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]]. The Colonial forces [[Great Cylon Turkey Shoot|destroy the entire Cylon force]] without a single Colonial casualty ([[Flight of the Phoenix]]).

Gaeta is among the tense officers and crew in CIC that witness a standoff between their battlestar and the heavily-advanced battlestar ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'', whose commander, Admiral [[Helena Cain]], has opted to execute two ''Galactica'' crew members after she tried them herself and against Adama's requests for the rights of his crew to have a fair, open trial ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]).

== The Presidential Election and New Caprica ==

During the presidential election, Gaeta is assigned to aid and oversee the ballot counting process on ''Galactica''. He also aids in thwarting Roslin's plans to steal the election (though he apparently never knew -- or indicates any knowledge of -- who exactly is behind it, other than Colonel [[Saul Tigh]]) by discovering the illegitimate ballots from the ''[[Zephyr]]''. The only reason he realizes that the ''Zephyr'''s ballots were tampered with is due to the fact that the ''Zephyr''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s original, valid ballots had misspelled Gaius Baltar's name -- the fixed ballots did not share this error. (Gaeta had authorized the go-ahead to use the misspelled ballots due to the lack of time to print new ones prior to the opening of the polls.)
Due to this happenstance discovery, Baltar, who had been rightfully voted as President-Elect, was sworn in as president and ordered the Fleet to colonize [[New Caprica]].

A year later on [[New Caprica]], Gaeta seems to be an adviser to President [[Gaius Baltar]]. His previous post on ''Galactica'' is assumed by [[Karl Agathon]]. While Gaeta is pleased that there had been no Cylon attacks during Baltar's presidency, he disapproves of Baltar's womanizing and is secretly infuriated at Baltar's devil-may-care attitude towards the New Caprica City Worker's Union and the Quorum of Twelve. Gaeta later brings news of the Cylon invasion to the president and is present when Baltar surrenders New Caprica to [[Caprica-Six]] and [[Number Five]]. ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]).

Gaeta is also the [[New Caprica Resistance]] inside source into the inner workings of the Cylons. He seems to favor an assassination of President Baltar as he provides the group with information that he is going to attend the [[New Caprica Police]] force graduation, which is disrupted by [[Duck]]'s suicide bombing. However, upon learning that Baltar would not attend, he rushes to contact the group to warn them Baltar that is not going to be there. ([[Occupation]])

== Inside Man ==
Being the "inside man" allows him to help the [[New Caprica Resistance]] understand the inner Cylon related activities and security procedures on [[New Caprica]]. For him to contact the group, he flips [[Jake (New Caprica)|Jake]]'s yellow bowl upside down and leaves a note or information packet in a nearby tool bin for the [[New Caprica Resistance|resistance]] to find. [[Galen Tyrol]] does not know that he is the "inside man" and when they talk, Tyrol accuses of him being a collaborator. ([[Precipice]])

== End of the Baltar Administration ==
As the Cylons are preparing to evacuate during the [[Battle of New Caprica]], Gaeta pulls a gun on a distraught President Baltar, clearly intending to kill him. [[Caprica-Six]] attempts to dissuade Gaeta from this course of action. In contrast to his companion's feelings, Baltar seems fully willing to die; but he tells Gaeta that he is the only one who could stop a [[Number Three]]-model Cylon from detonating a nuclear weapon hidden somewhere in the city of New Caprica. This convinces the reluctant Gaeta to let Baltar go, giving the disgraced leader a chance to redeem himself ([[Exodus, Part II]]). Gaeta is presumably on Colonial One when it leaves the planet and is in ''Galactica'''s hangar during the post-battle celebration.

== Return to Duty ==
Gaeta is initially isolated from ''Galactica'''s crew and those who were on New Caprica. Because of his high position in the collaborationist government, they believe he carried out the will of the Cylons. When he arrives in CIC to help with repairs on the communication systems damaged during the recent battle, former resistance leader Colonel Tigh is openly hostile towards him. Gaeta attempts to defend his actions in a tense conversation with [[Kara Thrace]] by revealing himself as Tyrol's mysterious informant. Starbuck doesn't know about the informant, since she was a captive of [[Leoben Conoy]] during the four-month Cylon occupation. She mocks her crewmate and dismisses his revelation as a poorly fabricated lie.

When Gaeta's name comes up for review in the [[The Circle]], he is convicted of the crime of collaborating with the enemy and sentenced to death, despite the lack of evidence against him. The six-person tribunal takes him to a Viper [[launch tube]] to face his sentence. When asked to defend himself, Gaeta says that he already did and refuses to beg for his life. This infuriates Starbuck, who lashes out at him in a physical attack and resumes the mocking she started in the mess hall. Upon hearing Starbuck repeat information about the dog bowl, Galen Tyrol realizes that Gaeta was indeed the informant from inside the Baltar administration. Gaeta is released and sent on his way. He resumes his duties as a Lieutenant, still shunned by most of his crewmates except Tyrol ([[Collaborators]]).

==Note==
*While Gaeta is described as the "Tactical Officer", his role is closer to that of the US Navy's CIC Watch Officer (CICWO), combining it with elements of the Tactical Watch Officer (TAO), a role also partially fulfilled by [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]], both under the command of [[William Adama]]. According to the official SciFi.com character data file, Gaeta's title is "Senior Officer of the Watch", although the title of Tactical Officer may have a better "ring" to the ears of most viewers.
*The name "Felix" means "Happy" in Latin; the connotations of the Latin word imply being fortunate, lucky, prosperous, or "favored by the gods". It first appeared in the episode ''[[Final Cut]]''.
*[[Wikipedia:Gaeta|Gaeta]] is the name of a small seaport and resort in southern Italy. This goes well with his Latin first name.
*His counterpart in the original "Battlestar Galactica" is Sgt. [[Omega]], a [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittaron]] native.
*In the [[Miniseries]], Gaeta's name is usually pronounced "Guy-tah" {{IPA|ˈgaɪ.ɾə}}. However, in all subsequent installments of the regular series, everyone pronounces it as "Gay-tah" {{IPA|ˈgeɪ.ɾə}}; however, Col. [[Saul Tigh]] seems to vacillate between {{IPA|ˈgeɪ.ɾə}} and {{IPA|ˈgaɪ.ɾə}}.
*There is speculation among fans that Gaeta is another [[Cylon agent speculation|Cylon infiltrator]].

{{start box}}
{{succession box|before=(''Unknown, eventually'' ''[[Tory Foster]]'')|title=Presidential Aide|after= [[Tory Foster]]}}
{{end box}}

{{Characters}}

[[Category:A to Z|Gaeta, Felix]]
[[Category:Characters|Gaeta, Felix]]
[[Category:Characters (RDM)|Gaeta, Felix]]
[[Category:RDM|Gaeta, Felix]]

Precipice

2006-10-14T02:31:30Z

Yeungb:

{{Episode Data
| title= Precipice
| image=Season 3 - Promo - Epi 1 - 2 - C-Number Eight, Adama, Helo.jpg
| season= 3
| episode= 2
| guests=
| writer= [[Ronald D. Moore]]
| story=
| director= [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan]]
| production= 302
| rating= 1.8
| US airdate= 2006-10-06
| UK airdate=
| dvd=
| population=
| prev= [[Occupation]]
| next= [[Exodus, Part I]]
| podcast= Y
}}

== Overview ==
:''After the suicide bombing, the [[Cylons (RDM) |Cylons]] institute stricter controls on the human population on [[New Caprica]]. Aboard ''[[Galactica]]'', plans for the rescue from New Caprica move forward now that communication with the [[New Caprica Resistance|resistance]] has been established.''

== Summary ==
*[[Gaius Baltar]] ostensibly has [[Laura Roslin]] detained in a cell. He discusses the suicide bombings, after which he releases her.
*After [[Duck]]'s suicide bombing in an effort to kill Baltar, the Cylons round up random civilians, including [[Cally Tyrol]].
*The [[Leoben Conoy|Leoben copy]] that has imprisoned [[Kara Thrace]] introduces her to [[Kacey]], supposedly [[Hera|another]] Cylon-human hybrid fertilized by this Cylon's consciousness and using Thrace's [[The Farm|egg from her stolen ovary]]. Thrace immediately treats it as an "it."
*[[Felix Gaeta]] continues to give information to the resistance, although [[Galen Tyrol]] is unaware that Gaeta is his source. Tyrol believes Gaeta is a collaborator.
*Tyrol talks to Jammer about the situation with [[Cally Tyrol|his wife]], believing that people such as himself and Jammer will be lauded, while people like Gaeta will be strung up, causing feelings of regret in Jammer for his secret Cylon collaboration as an [[NCP]] member.
*Jammer asks [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Boomer]] to release Cally Tyrol from prison. Boomer claims bureaucracy prevents her, but later visits Tyrol. [[Resistance (episode)|Their history]] only makes matters worse.
*Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]] swears in [[Sharon Agathon]] as a Colonial officer and sends her to New Caprica as the resistance liaison. Commander [[Lee Adama]] objects to most of the plan, and is generally ignored by the planning team.
*Later, Commander Adama tries to convince his father that risking what's left of mankind to save those on New Caprica wasn't a call the admiral could make. Admiral Adama tells his son that he can stay with the Fleet with ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' on guard, but that he and ''Galactica'' must try to rescue the New Capricans.
*[[Saul Tigh]], Chief Tyrol, and [[Samuel Anders]] decide to meet Agathon at [[Breeder's Canyon]].
*[[Ellen Tigh]], threatened with more harm to her husband, tips off the Cylons to the rendezvous.
*Another damaging suicide bombing moves the Cylons to more drastic actions.
*The Cylons force Baltar to sign an execution order for 200 civilians, including [[Cally Tyrol]], Roslin and [[Tom Zarek]]. The detainees are transported outside the city.
*Kara Thrace continues to ignore Kacey in the apartment. When Thrace leaves to another room, she returns to find the child motionless in a pool of blood.
*As Kacey awakens in a hospital, Thrace is overjoyed, and takes Conoy's hand.
*After the truck of detainees stops and releases the prisoners to "stretch their legs," a masked [[Jammer]] cuts Cally Tyrol's bonds and tells her to run. As as she gets away, [[Cylon Centurion]]s appear to execute the detainees.
*Zarek pulls Roslin away from the front of the crowd.
*As Cally Tyrol runs through the forest, the sound of automatic gunfire rings out.
*After Sharon Agathon and Anders' teams meet and formulate their plans, they are soon ambushed by Centurions.

== Questions ==

*If [[Sharon Agathon]] is killed during her mission on [[New Caprica]], will she be able to download into a new body?
**While download is likely, Agathon would be immediately kept as an intelligence source.
*Where will [[Cally Tyrol]] be able to run to? She was ordered to face execution by the Colonial Government.
**Returning to the colony is probable, keeping out of sight, probably in the underground bunker where the [[wireless]] comm center is located.
*Why did the Cylons abandon their plan for a public execution?
**A public execution might have made matters worse, while [[Wikipedia:Forced disappearance|"disappearances"]] would allow for both an effective threat and plausible deniability.
*If viewers are to assume that the gunfire at the end of the episode is not from the Centurions, then who is firing?
**There is the possibility, however remote, that it was the New Caprica Police who opened fire on the Centurions. However, story-wise that might be a cop-out, and it is unlikely that the NCP would take such action, Jammer's release of Cally not withstanding.
**Another possibility is that the gunfire we heard is somehow coming from Agathon's rescue team. However, the execution and ambush appear to be happening concurrently.
*Is Gaeta showing rather unusual behavior? If so, how much will his role as "inside man" be affected?
**Gaeta is witnessing the oppression of humanity at the highest level from a man he once admired. It is probable that Gaeta's stress level is [[Flight of the Phoenix|again affecting his behavior]].
*What is the role of the five unseen Cylon models in the occupation? Are they present and simply remaining off-camera for the benefit of the audience? Have they attempted to hide themselves from the Colonials?
**{{spoiltext|According to interviews with Grace Park, Dean Stockwell, and Tricia Helfer, the remaining Cylons are so secret that even the seven models known to the audience don't know who the last five are. See the Talk article for more information.}}
**{{spoiltext|According to an [http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30381 interview] with Aaron Douglas and Tamoh Penikett, the remaining five models have all been [[Boxing|boxed]].}}
*Why do no Leoben Conoy copies attend the meeting on ''Colonial One'' regarding the execution order?
**Conoy's motives on New Caprica appear to be entirely selfish—he is there for Kara Thrace only. No other copies have been witnessed on New Caprica to date.
*[[Cally Tyrol]] and [[Sharon Agathon]] both took their husbands' names upon marriage, as did [[Ellen Tigh]], [[Caroline Adama]] and [[Sesha Abinell]]. Are [[Anastasia Dualla]] and [[Kara Thrace]] now Anastasia Adama, and Kara Anders, respectively?
*What is the relationship between Caprica-Six's shooting and the reappearance of [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Baltar.27s_Internal_Six|Baltar's Internal Six]]?
**It is possible that two events are not directly related. The reappearance was not immediate, but happened after [[Number Five]] and [[Cavil]] continued to threaten Baltar with death. Since Caprica-Six's support was gone, Baltar was under severe stress and thought that he might likely die. Internal-Six has shown a tendency to appear at those times, especially if Baltar's survival is at stake.
*On the topic of internal manifestations, what happened to Caprica-Six's Interal-Baltar? Will he ever show himself again? Has he dissapeared much like his counterpart in Baltar, now that the real-world Baltar is in Caprics-Six's midst?
*Now that the Lt. Sharon Agathon has landed on the surface of New Caprica, how can she be distinguished from other [[Number Eight]]s there?
**Other than her [[flight suit]], it remains unclear how [[Sharon Agathon]] will be distinguished from other [[Number Eight]]s. Admiral Adama confirmed that Cylon Centurions are not sentient, and may take instruction from Agathon because of her true nature.
*How will ''humans'' identify Sharon Agathon should she ever leave their sight? How, for example, can she safely return to ''[[Galactica]]''?
*How did Jammer identify the particular Eight he talked to as "Boomer?"
*If the Centurions are incapable of distinguishing between individual copies of a model, why would they fire on Sharon Agathon, who should be just another Eight to them?
**Agathon's back was turned to the Centurions at the time before the shooting began. They may not have registered her presence in the group. Also, her Colonial-issue flight suit may have given her away. No "legitimate" Eight on New Caprica would need to wear one.
* Why didn't Duck tell Tyrol that Jammer had joined the New Caprica Police?
**He may not have known until the graduation ceremony, since the members of the police force are secretive about their identities. Duck was also under great stress and may not have been thinking clearly.
*Did Kacey fall down the stairs or was she pushed?
*As Zarek wanted nothing to do with Baltar's puppet administration, who replaced him as Vice President?
**Given the potential for further dissidence and/or rebellion, did Baltar do away with the office of the Vice Presidency altogether?
*Given Zarek's imprisonment for four months, what of Zarek's various supporters? Do they still exist on New Caprica or on the ''[[Astral Queen]]''? If so, what of them?
*Is [[Kacey]] all that [[Leoben Conoy]] claims her to be?
**There is reason to believe that Conoy's claims are not true. As evidenced in the Miniseries and "[[Flesh and Bone]]," Conoy is a master manipulator specializing in lies, half-truths, misdirection, ommission and any other method he can think of to coerce people to do as he wants. Kacey could be an ordinary human. The farms were filled with male and female humans, so standard ''in vitro'' insemination is not improbable.
**The Cylon farms have had no success in procreation. Even if hybridization succeeded, it is unlikely that such a human/Cylon hybrid would be placed in such an unstable environment as they are highly valuable to the Cylons due to the astonishingly low success rate.

== Analysis ==
*Apparently a single Cylon agent copy can speak for his or her particular model<ref> The phrase "''We'' agree" is said by several models.</ref>. Interestingly, [[Caprica-Six]] fails to dissuade her "sisters" from voting to execute the dissidents.
**This consensus within the copies is done invisibly. Similar communication between Cylons of a single model has been witnessed in several prior episodes:
***In "[[The Farm]]", the copy of Simon which Kara Thrace encounters outside the facility shares the memories of the one she has recently killed, although insufficient time has passed for a resurrection of the type witnessed in "[[Downloaded]]".
***In "[[Home, Part II]]", [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)]] reveals to Galen Tyrol that she has some of the Boomer copy's memories.
***At the start of "[[Occupation]]", the [[Cavil]] model interrogating with Saul Tigh knows of Ellen's work to free him.
**This contact is apparently strictly voluntary. According to Caprica-Sharon in "[[Home, Part I]]", "I'm not wired in. It doesn't work like that," and her presence on New Caprica is not considered a security hazard.
*As one of the Cavils notes, adherence to the Cylon creed has become increasingly perfunctory. The Cylons seek the President's signature as a mere formality.
*If [[Leoben Conoy]]'s story is true, [[Kacey]] can't be older than 16 months<ref>As of this episode, it has been about 27 months since the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|fall of the Colonies]]. Kara Thrace's incarceration at the [[Farms|Farm]] on Caprica took place about two months after the fall of the Colonies.</ref>.
*As Ellen Tigh's actions seem as reprehensible as ever, her motivations this time around are rather more laudable. These two episodes seem to indicate that she truly does care for her husband.
*Cavil informs Ellen Tigh that they released Saul Tigh so that he may continue leading the resistance, thereby ensuring attacks against the Cylons, such as the two bombings that followed his release. These bombings and their results reinforce Cavil's argument that instilling fear and exerting total control over the population is the only viable solution.
**It also might be possible that the release of Tigh might play into the faction of Cylons who continue to hold a strong prejudice towards humans. Caprica-Six and Boomer are clearly shown to be a diminishing voice amongst the Cylon leadership as evidenced when [[Number Five]] shot Caprica-Six in the head. This faction of Cylons may very well be attempting to destroy the experiment that Caprica-Six and Boommer convinced the Cylon population to undergo.
*The Cylons' condemnation to suicide bombings is strikingly hypocritical, in light of the fact that a [[Number Five]] used the same tactic after boarding ''Galactica'' in "[[Litmus]]."
*Following the bombing of the power station, the Cylon leadership conducts a meeting with Gaius Baltar on ''Colonial One''. The camera makes a full clockwise sweep, revealing in order:
**An Eight
**Boomer
**A Cavil
**A Five
**A Three
**Caprica-Six
**Another Cavil
**Another Three (identifies herself as the one killed by [[Caprica-Six]] in "[[Downloaded]]")
**A [[Simon]]
**Another Five
**Two more Sixes
*Cavil introduces the idea of "stronger measures". Assenting, in order, are the second Three, Simon, the second Five, and the last two Sixes. Caprica-Six dissents. Neither Boomer nor the other Eight are consulted. Not present are any copies of Leoben Conoy nor any of the unrevealed five models.
*Baltar's strenuous insistence that "Nobody has been tortured" evokes United States President [[Wikipedia:George W. Bush|George W. Bush]]'s November 2005 statement that "We do not torture".

== Notes ==
*"[[Occupation]]/Precipice" was awarded the [[Awards and Honors|IGN.com Editor's choice award]], following a review in which it recieved a rating of 10/10.
*"Occupation" and "Precipice" were edited as one 2-hr episode with only one introduction. However, in the podcast, [[Ronald D. Moore]] indicates the "beginning" of "Precipice" as the scene with Baltar and Roslin in the detention cell.
*In the podcast, [[Ronald D. Moore]] states that references to "The Twist" and "The Swirl" are a homage to ''[[Wikipedia:Seinfeld |Seinfeld]]''. The episode in question is "[[Wikipedia:The Fusilli Jerry |The Fusilli Jerry]]."
*Felix Gaeta's given name, first revealed in "[[Final Cut]]," is spoken out loud for the first time.
*Caprica-Valerii has married Karl Agathon and taken his last name. She continues to be confined to her cell, but it has been decorated and furnished. Ironically enough, she still calls him "Helo."
*Sharon Agathon and William Adama have continued to develop the rapport which they established in "[[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]."
*[[Number Three]]'s claim that Caprica-Six's assault on her was the first case of Cylon-on-Cylon violence in their history is false. The model known as Boomer destroyed an [[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|entire basestar filled with other Fives]], and there are several other incidents throughout the series.
*Ironically, a Five shoots Caprica-Six in the head shortly after Three's statement. Cavil indicates, however, that she won't be "boxed," as Caprica feared in "[[Downloaded]]."
*The same [[Number Three]] consciousness that is killed in "[[Downloaded]]" by Caprica-Six is present as well, referencing the incident; it is this same Three who questions Six regarding her love of Baltar.
*The apparent shooting of the captives and Cally Tyrol's escape at the end of the episode are an homage to ''[[Wikipedia:The Great Escape|The Great Escape]]''.
*Baltar's Internal-Six appears only after Caprica-Six is shot in the head.
*This episode has the second highest number of guest stars. Only the [[Miniseries]] had more credited stars.
*[[Lee Adama]] stated that there were about 2000 civilians that were on board Fleet ships when they escaped New Caprica, which would mean that after accounting for an unspecified number of military personnel (and an unspecified number of said personnel that were left on New Caprica), at least 5500 people were killed in the destruction of [[Cloud 9]] as well as the other ships destroyed by the nuclear warhead in "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]."
*Another four humans are killed in the suicide bombing at the power substation this episode. It is unknown whether or not this figure includes the bomber. Additionally, 23 Cylons are critically wounded; 14 of them are euthanized. Almost half the city is left without power, with repair estimates standing at a minimum of two weeks.
*We finally learn the role of [[Tom Zarek]] in the Baltar administration: he was indeed Baltar's running mate, and was elected Vice President in "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]". (This was implied in the last three episodes of season two, but not stated explicitly). He refused to be party to the Cylon occupation and was detained shortly thereafter, until his execution was ordered in this episode.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
*''Discussing suicide bombings:''
:'''Galen Tyrol''': This is crazy. You know, we need to figure out whose side we're on.
:'''Saul Tigh''': Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We are evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

*''After being arrested, held without charge and carted to a remote location:''
:'''Tom Zarek''': Laura.. That election last year. You tried to steal it, didn't you?
:'''Laura Roslin''': Yes, Tom. I did.
:'''Tom Zarek''': (laughs) Ah... I wish you'd gone through with it.
:'''Laura Roslin''': So do I.

*''Talking in a cell:''
:'''Cally''': "...frak you Sharon, you stupid frakked-up toaster. How many times do I have to shoot you anyway?"

*''After being slapped by Roslin for accussing her of working for the Cylons:''
:'''Saul Tigh''': You see, little things like that they don't matter anymore. Fact, not too frakking much really matters anymore. I got one job here lady, and one job only. To disrupt the Cylons, make them worry about the ant hill they stirred up down here so they're distracted and out of position when the old man shows up in orbit. The bombings, they got the Cylons' attention, they really got their attention. And I am not giving that up.
:'''Laura Roslin''': We are talking about people blowing themselves up.
:'''Tigh''': You know, sometimes I think that you've got ice water in those veins. And other times, I just think that you're just a naive little school teacher. I've sent men on suicide missions in two wars now, and let me tell you something. It don't make a godsdamn bit of difference whether they're riding in a Viper or walking out onto a parade ground. In the end they're just as dead. (pauses) So, take your piety, and your moralizing, and your high-minded principles, and stick 'em somewhere safe until you're off the rock and sitting in your nice, cushy chair on Colonial One again. (stands) I've got a war to fight (leaves).

*''As the Cylons try to force Baltar to sign the execution order, following Number Five's shooting of Capirca-Six in the head:''
:'''Baltar''': "Oh, God."
:'''Cavil''': "She'll be back..."
:'''Cavil''': "... but if he pulls that trigger now, you won't."

== Official Statements ==

== Guest Stars ==
*[[Michael Hogan]] as [[Saul Tigh]]
*[[Aaron Douglas]] as [[Galen Tyrol]]
*[[Tahmoh Penikett]] as Lt. [[Karl Agathon|Karl "Helo" Agathon]]
*[[Nicki Clyne]] as [[Cally Henderson Tyrol|Cally Tyrol]]
*[[Alessandro Juliani]] as [[Felix Gaeta]]
*[[Kandyse McClure]] as [[Anastasia Dualla]]
*[[Lucy Lawless]] as [[Number Three]]
*[[Michael Trucco]] as [[Samuel Anders]]
*[[Richard Hatch]] as [[Tom Zarek]]
*[[Rick Worthy]] as [[Simon]]
*[[Callum Keith Rennie]] as [[Leoben Conoy]]
*[[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
*[[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[Cottle]]
*[[Matthew Bennett]] as [[Number Five]]
*[[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
*[[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Cavil]]
*[[Erica Cerra]] as [[Maya]]
*[[Luciana Carro]] as Lt. [[Louanne Katraine|Louanne "Kat" Katraine]]
*[[Christian Tessier]] as [[Tucker Clellan|Tucker "Duck" Clellan]]
*[[Brad Dryborough]] as Lt. [[Hoshi]]
*[[Leah Cairns]] as Lt. [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]]
*Madeleine Parker as [[Kacey]]
*[[Dominic Zamprogna]] as [[James Lyman|James "Jammer" Lyman]]
*[[imdb:nm1773454|Mylène Dinh-Robic]] as Officer #1
*[[imdb:nm1468333|Ryan McDonell]] as Pilot #3
*[[imdb:nm0493171|Byron Lawson]] as Pilot #4
*[[imdb:nm0492687|Colin Lawrence]] as [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]]
*[[imdb:mm,1989989|Larissa Stadnichuk]] as Suicide bomber

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

{{episode list (RDM season 3)}}

[[Category: A to Z]]
[[Category: RDM]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Ronald D. Moore]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan]]

[[de:Precipice]]

Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II

2006-03-19T17:45:12Z

Yeungb:

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

== Overview ==

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

== Summary ==

===On Caprica===

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

===In the Fleet===

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

*[[Gaius Baltar|Dr. Baltar]] continues to gain in the polls. On ''[[Colonial One]]'', [[Tory_Foster|Tory]] mentions there's always a victory plan. [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]] later calls a private meeting with Dr. Baltar, asking to deliver a joint statement of [[Wikipedia:Table (verb)|tabling]] the issue of colonization until after the election, which Baltar rejects.

*[[Laura Roslin|Roslin]], fearing that she has indeed lost the presidential race, confronts [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] on whether he was with Six on Caprica before the Cylon attack. Baltar avoids answering the question & states that he may have saved her life, but he will not save her political life.

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

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

*In the brig, Caprica-Sharon is completely disillusioned and nihilistic, declaring that since her child's death, nothing - not Adama's trust, not even Helo - matters to her. A frustrated Helo insists that he's not giving up on her, but she seems disinclined to listen.

*Starbuck and Anders are getting extremely drunk when Apollo comes in to welcome them back. Starbuck makes a snide remark about Apollo and Dualla and goes back to drunkenly making out with Anders. Apollo, clearly upset with Starbuck, leaves without saying much.

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

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

*Admiral Adama confronts Roslin regarding the conspiracy, saying that Tigh has confessed to rigging the vote. Roslin admits her involvement and Adama is disappointed.

*Baltar is informed of his election as President. Initially he vows to have a full investigation on the vote count, but after Adama suggests that Baltar take his victory and leave matters be, Baltar relents and informs Adama that he can be quite generous in victory. President-elect Baltar then orders a course for “New Caprica”.

*Baltar and Gina finally consummate their relationship after Gina informs Baltar that she would not be part of the colonization.

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

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

===One Year Later===
[[image:burdens2.jpg|Kara and Cottle on New Caprica.|thumb]]
*[[Felix Gaeta|Mr. Gaeta]] is reporting to the President regarding a Union issue aboard Colonial One, now down on the planet. Baltar is upset, saying there have been no Cylon attacks but the people still complain. He has regressed, turning to alcohol, medication, and womanizing.

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

*[[Samuel Anders|Anders]], now Kara’s husband, has pneumonia. Dr. Cottle is unable to treat Anders because there are no antibiotics available. He can only advise Kara to make sure Anders gets enough rest and with a little luck he "should" pull through.

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

*Roslin is doing what she does best, teaching the settlement's children, and manages to find enjoyment in her new position. [[Maya]] is with her, as is the now one year old [[Hera]], whom Maya has named "Isis".

*Kara calls Lee aboard ''Pegasus'', requesting the antibiotics. Dualla, now an officer and most likely Lee's XO, notices something on the [[DRADIS]].

*A fleet of [[Cylon]] [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]]s arrives in orbit around New Caprica. The Adamas discuss what to do in response, with Lee initially advocating that the fleet jump away, and Admiral Adama initially resisting the suggestion. However, Lee apparently brings the Admiral around to his way of thinking (or Admiral Adama comes to the conclusion on his own) when [[Helo]] asks if alert fighters should be launched. Admiral Adama keeps the alert fighters in and jumps the fleet ships remaining in orbit around [[New Caprica]] to an unknown location, vowing that he will return.

*Mr. Gaeta informs the President of the Cylon approach. Later, before his assembled staff, copies of Numbers [[Number Five|5]], [[Number Eight|8]], and [[Number Six|6]] approach the President. The Cylons declare that as long as there’s no resistance, no harm will come. President Baltar, after learning that the Cylons discovered New Caprica because of the nuke explosion set off by Gina, declares surrender on behalf of the colonists. As Cylon armies occupy the planet, Kara vows to resist.

== Questions ==

*Who is Baltar's vice president?

**Is Gaeta Baltar's assistant or his vice President?

*Has Gaeta's view of Baltar changed since Baltar's ascension to the presidency? If so, is Gaeta planning to do anything about it?

*What "number" is Cavil?

*Was Roslin's threat to put the two Cavils into space actually carried out?

*Where did the defense fleet jump to?

*Where is Caprica-Sharon?

*What happened to Zarek?

*Why is Leoben looking for Starbuck, specifically?

*Why has the population (until Tyrol's recent union speech) accepted Baltar's imperious rule? People were hardly so passive under Roslin. Indeed, Adama executed a military coup over a rather less important issue than giving a nuclear weapon to a Cylon agent.

*What were the workers being asked to do which was so "odious", "so sick[ening] at heart" that Tyrol was willing to call a general strike, and so important to Baltar that he was willing to use illegal imprisonment to break it?

*Are the Six and Eight that Baltar surrendered to [[Caprica-Six]] and [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|''Galactica''-Sharon]]? (see [[#Analysis:Analysis]])

*Where did the Cylon fleets go, after they left the Twelve Colonies? Cavil was deliberately vague when asked if they simply returned to the [[Cylon homeworld]].

*Why didn't the nuclear device trigger the radiological alarms on either Battlestar?

*How many people died in the Cloud Nine explosion? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Were the Quorum of Twelve killed on the Cloud Nine?

*When Gina-Six was instantly vaporized due to being only two feet from a nuclear detonation, did she still transmit her consciousness? Was she even capable of transmitting considering that any internal hardware responsible for this task would have been instantly destroyed? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Given Roslin's memories of Baltar with Six, why didn't Admiral Adama suspect Baltar of handing over the nuke to the cylons? If he did suspect him, why not act on it? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Did Baltar's internal Six disappear at any point during the New Caprica year? If so, when and why? If so, did the events of her disappearance contribute to Baltar's regression?

*Why was it so easy for Adama to hide the collusion of the rigged election from the press, and why were there no consequences?

*If the Cylons really left the Twelve Colonies, leaving behind a nuked-out wasteland, what happened to all of the human captives in the [[Farms]]?

*Why have the Cylons returned after suggesting that they were willing to go their "separate ways"?

*Did the Cavils lie about the pursuit of humanity being a mistake? Or were they telling the truth?

*Will the Cylons resume their pursuit of the Fleet?

*How many people are left in the Fleet? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Have the remaining ships in the defense fleet been armed during the past year?

*Will the Adamas resort to Cain's tactic of conscripting civilians to fill the gaps?

*What happened between Apollo and Starbuck? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*What led to Starbuck's reconciliation with Col. Tigh? The two had been in conflict since the [[Miniseries]], what led them to bury the hatchet and become the close friends they now appear to be?

*Has it become public knowledge that Baltar killed [[Crashdown]] on [[Kobol]]? Now that Chief and Cally are Baltar's open adversaries they could attempt to use this information against him.

*When Adama informs Baltar that the nuke used to blow up [[Cloud Nine]] was probably stolen form Gaius' lab, why is he not suspicious about the fact that Baltar never reported that it was missing? Had it really been stolen from his lab, he would surely notice.

*Are the Cylons that appear at the end representative of the whole Cylon race, or are they a faction that broke off after the two "Cylon Hereos" began to speak out against the war on the humans?

*If it is true that the Cylons now believe the attack on humanity was a mistake, is the occupation on New Caprica viewed by the Cylons as an act of mercy and kindness vs. oppression from the human perspective?

*Could it be the intent of the Cylons to actually help the colonization of New Caprica, helping with the construction of infrastructure, new homes, etc, in order to make up for the holocaust?
**If the Cylons intend to help, that would be consistent with Cavil's comment that the Cylon path to enlightenment is to be "the best machines the universe has ever seen". The purpose of a machine is arguably to assist human beings. On the other hand, the Cylons, if they are here to help, are presumably intending to do so in a highly authoritarian fashion.
***Could the Cylons be wanting to maintain control over the colonials so that in some future the colonials would not be able to return and exact revenge on the Cylons?
**Could the Cylons be fortifying New Caprica to protect the humans from hostile Cylons? There should still be some, that Number Three in Downloaded was pretty fanatical, and if the political winds have changed as they so often do...
***Could there be a Cylon civil war going on?

== Analysis ==
*According to Ron Moore's podcast, the events of "One Year Later" are real and was meant to solidify to the audience that the show is taking a path that can not be reversed. In order to make the colonization of New Caprica real, Moore felt that the show would need to jump ahead in a span of year to show that indeed Baltar has followed through with his political promise.

*The events of the Cylon invasion of New Caprica closely parallel the Nazi invasion of France, with the fleet's escape a parallel to the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk and Baltar's surrender a parallel to Petain's surrender. If the parallel continues, Baltar will establish a puppet regime under Cylon rule akin to Vichy France while Colonials still loyal to humanity will establish a resistance movement.

*Baltar's arrogance seems to have led to corrupt rule during his year on New Caprica—he replaces Roslin's modest desk with a larger, elaborate one, replaces the population count whiteboard with a portrait of himself, and keeps a harem aboard the landed Colonial One.

*After a whole year, everyone is still living in tents. There is a vital shortage of medicine, the military is of no use, and labor conditions are apparently intolerable. Baltar's administration is apparently as incompetent as Roslin feared.
**It is not clear whether these conditions are the result of admimistrative incompetence or the inherent difficulties of colonizing a marginally habitable planet.
***Of course, it was Baltar's idea to settle on a marginally habitable planet in the first place.

*It's ironic that the obligations of duty keep Lee Adama aboard Pegasus while everyone else goes planetside—he is a reserve officer, and promised to build his pilots a bar as soon as they found a habitable planet.
**Who says he didn't build a bar for them? However, despite building a bar, he would still command the Pegasus.

*Ron Moore has once again decided to play with viewer's expectations; in the podcast for "[[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]" Moore commented on how everyone assumed that ''Pegasus'' would be destroyed by the end of the episode, and thus he thought it would be a good twist to keep ''Pegasus'' alive as another ship in the Fleet. Here, many viewers assumed that the nuke that Baltar gave to Gina in "[[Epiphanies]]" would be used to destroy ''Pegasus'' this time, but it wasn't.

*29 people died between this episode and the preceding one? One or two Raptors were lost, and some Marines died on Caprica, but that doesn't seem high enough.
**Is it possible they took out all of the people who left in the raptors because they were not apart of the fleet at the end of the previous episode?
***They didn't remove Starbuck from the count when she left for Caprica at the beginning of Season 2.
****She left at the end of season one, before they started the count. But, they did not add her to the count when she returned with Helo, because the count rose by one.
**Maybe more people died during the attack on Caprica than was shown.
***Yet another possibility is the inclusion of the Caprica survivors in the count to offset many of the losses that had incurred in the rescue mission.
***Although they didn't actually talk about the losses, there was a shot of a wounded person being taken away on a stretcher after the Raptors returned from the [[Caprica]] [[SAR]] mission.
***There may have been a series of election-related riots or murders.

*The year gap for the Cylons to find the fleet at first seems odd. However, it was stated in the previous episode that the interference from the gas cloud surrounding it would hide the planet fairly well. The Cylons were slightly over a light year away, according to the Number Five. Searching something as large as the gas cloud likely is for a planet or fleet is, given the sensor range limitations, quite impressive to accomplish in months, even with general directional information from a light-year out. In addition, the radiation from the nuclear explosion aboard the ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' would, of course, only be traveling at the speed of light. Even a less catastrophic attempt to communicate the Colonial's new location would be limited to the speed of light. Of course, once the location was pinpointed, an FTL jump by the Cylons to pounce would be instantaneous.
**Even though the Cylons were able to find New Caprica from the detected nuclear blast that occurred a year prior, the initial detection would have only pointed them in the right general direction. The planet would have moved from the location the inital blast occurred as it orbits around its sun. So the Cylons would only have been able to pinpoint the planet's last location a year prior. They could have used astronomical surveying to detect the planet or send their fleets to other positions using FTL ahead of the blast radiation to triangulate the nuclear blast. Then send recon elements to scout for the planet, which could have been the initial blips picked up by DRADIS by Lt. Dualla of recon Raiders. As soon as the planet was found the main Cylon Fleet would jump in from their staging areas.
***It is also clear that Gina truly did die in the nuclear explosion on Cloud 9 as she would have been able to inform the Cylons of the whereabouts of the Fleet. This indicates that no new Resurrection Ship has been constructed and that Gina's suicidal thoughts finally prevailed. This may explain why she was willing to consummate her relationship with Baltar as it would be the last time she could be with him.

*The population of New Caprica City is given as 39,192. There were just under 50,000 people in the Fleet before establishing the settlement, so that gives a figure of roughly 10,000 missing. It is uncertain how many were killed in the destruction of ''Cloud 9'' and surrounding Fleet ships but this loss along with any births and deaths that have taken place during the year since the election, leaves very few military personnel in the Orbital Defense. This almost certainly means that both ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus'' will be extremely short on crew, as many military personnel will have been left on the planet. There was clearly no time to retrieve even selected members of the crews before the Fleet jumped.
**The figure is not 10,000 missing — it is 10,000 not part of New Caprica City's population. The figure of 10,000 is spread amongst those remaining up in orbit with the fleet's remaining ships, out in independent, peripheral, or small settlements not part of New Caprica City proper, and casaulties.
**Watching the Fleet jump in slow-motion, you can count approximately 19 ships, which also gives a rough impression of the reduced size of the fleet. Other ships, including Colonial One and some Raptors, are landed on New Caprica and have presumably fallen into the hands of the Cylons.
**It is not explicitly said that all members of the New Caprica colony reside in New Caprica City. There may be outlying settlements, though none are named. One reason for this would simply be as a safeguard to keep a single nuclear strike from wiping out all of the fleet survivors.
***This would demonstrate Un-Baltar like prudence

**Any "industrial" vessels — such as the mining ships, tanker ships, repair ships, agro-world ship — would have landed on the planet and been debarked, dismantled, or converted to form the foundation for industrial / production efforts. Some of the vessels in the fleet that left Ragnar Anchorage weren't designed for prolonged interstellar journeys, and were basically running "on a hope and a prayer", and would have been rendered promptly upon finding a more permanent home. The nineteen-or-so ships seen are, more than likely, the last spaceworthy vessels in the fleet that are not needed planetside.

*Apparently, Kara's comments about Lee and Dulla have taken their toll of their relationship with each other. Whether the comments escalulated is to be determined, but from Dulla's expression of annoyance when she hands the receiver to Lee when Kara calls, it is clear that the three never reconciled with each other.

*The Six and Eight that are part of the Cylon delegation that greets Baltar's cabinet are probably the Caprica-Six and [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|''Galactica''-Sharon]] respectively. This is implied from Six's reaction upon seeing Baltar and her implied message of knowing who Gaius was. The two are also wearing the exact same clothes of the two Cylon war heros from the episode [[Downloaded]].

== Notes ==
* '''According to Ron Moore's podcast, although Scifi Channel was willing to air this episode as a 90-minute special, it had to be heavily edited down for international distribution; outside of the United States, viewers will only see a 1 hour version of the episode, which Moore regards as "almost incomprehensible".''' Many plot threads, such as the entire Cally/Tyrol subplot, were completely removed from the one hour version. This may not be the case in the UK however as Skyone (the channel that broadcasts the show in that country) previously showed the full 90 minute version of Stargate SG1 episode 'Threads' and may well do the same for this episode.

* Ron Moore's podcast for episode 13, [[Epiphanies]], states that the Nuke given to Gina will come back in this episode, to the benefit of the Cylons.

*Admiral Adama watches Pyramid games and is a fan of the Picon Panthers.

*In RDM's podcast for the previous episode, he said that in early drafts of this special 90 minute long episode, the writers actually tried to make it a 2 hour special, but this was soon dropped (these times are including commercials).
*The election board appears to have a definitive list of the names of all of the ships in [[The Fleet (RDM)]]. Not all of them are clearly visible, but this would seem to indicate that the writers do have an actual list that they get new ship names from. Ship names visible on the chart are: Demetrius, Diomedes, Embla Brokk, Enkidu, Epheme, Galactica, Gideon, Gemenon Traveller, Greenleaf, Monarch, Odysseus, Pegasus, Persephone, Prometheus, Swordfish

*The framed photo of President Roslin and [[Billy Keikeya]] was still on her desk during the election.

*When Roslin "won" the rigged election results, Roslin received 24,265 votes, while Baltar recieved 22,266. This means that the elligible voters in the Fleet number 46,531. In the podcast, RDM explains that he quickly came up with these numbers, to try to reflect roughly how many survivors are below the voting age.

*Toward the end of the episode, President Baltar refers to a government body called the "People's Council". This may be the proportionally elected lower house mentioned in by RDM in his [http://blog.scifi.com/battlestar/archives/2005/01/index.html#a000016 blog post] on January 30, 2005.

*[[Hera]] is seen on New Caprica in the same white cradle that Baltar had a vision of her being in in "[[Scattered]]", etc. According to RDM's podcast it's actually the exact same cradle.

*Tyrol's union speech is an almost word for word quote of Mario Savio's address during the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964. According to Ron Moore and David Eick in the podcast, they even got permission from Savio's widow to use it (even though, due to the way copyright laws work from back then, they could have just used it without permission, they felt they should get it). As a result, it's even listed in the credits: "Mario Savio speech excerpted courtesy of: Lynne Hollander Savio". Actor Aaron Douglas (Chief [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]) actually studied film of Savio, so all of the hand gestures Tyrol makes when he gives the speech are gestures that Savio actually used.

*Baltar's portrait of himself does not have the 'cut corners' as seen in most (all?) other papers and photos in the show.

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

*"Well, this is an awkward moment…. Yes, he's right, I'm a Cylon. And I have a message. So…take me to your leader."
*:—The Caprica copy of '''Brother Cavil''' on being uncovered as a Cylon

*"Would you mind telling me what's going on? I'm not a frakking Cylon, I'm not…(''sees the other Cavil in the cell'')…oh. Well, okay then."
*:—The Galactica copy of '''Brother Cavil'''

*"Gods help us."
*:-'''Admiral Adama''' over the objection of [[Edward James Olmos]] (podcast)

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

*"We're leaving. But we'll be back."
*:—'''Admiral Adama''' ordering the fleet to evacuate New Caprica

*''On Caprica:''
::'''Anders:''' You got any great ideas in that military brain of yours?
::'''Starbuck:''' Do the same thing we always do; fight 'em 'till we can't.
:''The Cylons occupy New Caprica:''
::'''Tyrol:''' "What do you want to do now, Captain?"
::'''Starbuck:''' "The same thing we always do. Fight them until we can't."

== Official Statements ==

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

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

{{Episode List}}

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

Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II

2006-03-19T17:33:48Z

Yeungb:

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

== Overview ==

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

== Summary ==

===On Caprica===

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

===In the Fleet===

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

*[[Gaius Baltar|Dr. Baltar]] continues to gain in the polls. On ''[[Colonial One]]'', [[Tory_Foster|Tory]] mentions there's always a victory plan. [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]] later calls a private meeting with Dr. Baltar, asking to deliver a joint statement of [[Wikipedia:Table (verb)|tabling]] the issue of colonization until after the election, which Baltar rejects.

*[[Laura Roslin|Roslin]], fearing that she has indeed lost the presidential race, confronts [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] on whether he was with Six on Caprica before the Cylon attack. Baltar avoids answering the question & states that he may have saved her life, but he will not save her political life.

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

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

*In the brig, Caprica-Sharon is completely disillusioned and nihilistic, declaring that since her child's death, nothing - not Adama's trust, not even Helo - matters to her. A frustrated Helo insists that he's not giving up on her, but she seems disinclined to listen.

*Starbuck and Anders are getting extremely drunk when Apollo comes in to welcome them back. Starbuck makes a snide remark about Apollo and Dualla and goes back to drunkenly making out with Anders. Apollo, clearly upset with Starbuck, leaves without saying much.

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

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

*Admiral Adama confronts Roslin regarding the conspiracy, saying that Tigh has confessed to rigging the vote. Roslin admits her involvement and Adama is disappointed.

*Baltar is informed of his election as President. Initially he vows to have a full investigation on the vote count, but after Adama suggests that Baltar take his victory and leave matters be, Baltar relents and informs Adama that he can be quite generous in victory. President-elect Baltar then orders a course for “New Caprica”.

*Baltar and Gina finally consummate their relationship after Gina informs Baltar that she would not be part of the colonization.

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

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

===One Year Later===
[[image:burdens2.jpg|Kara and Cottle on New Caprica.|thumb]]
*[[Felix Gaeta|Mr. Gaeta]] is reporting to the President regarding a Union issue aboard Colonial One, now down on the planet. Baltar is upset, saying there have been no Cylon attacks but the people still complain. He has regressed, turning to alcohol, medication, and womanizing.

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

*[[Samuel Anders|Anders]], now Kara’s husband, has pneumonia. Dr. Cottle is unable to treat Anders because there are no antibiotics available. He can only advise Kara to make sure Anders gets enough rest and with a little luck he "should" pull through.

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

*Roslin is doing what she does best, teaching the settlement's children, and manages to find enjoyment in her new position. [[Maya]] is with her, as is the now one year old [[Hera]], whom Maya has named "Isis".

*Kara calls Lee aboard ''Pegasus'', requesting the antibiotics. Dualla, now an officer and most likely Lee's XO, notices something on the [[DRADIS]].

*A fleet of [[Cylon]] [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]]s arrives in orbit around New Caprica. The Adamas discuss what to do in response, with Lee initially advocating that the fleet jump away, and Admiral Adama initially resisting the suggestion. However, Lee apparently brings the Admiral around to his way of thinking (or Admiral Adama comes to the conclusion on his own) when [[Helo]] asks if alert fighters should be launched. Admiral Adama keeps the alert fighters in and jumps the fleet ships remaining in orbit around [[New Caprica]] to an unknown location, vowing that he will return.

*Mr. Gaeta informs the President of the Cylon approach. Later, before his assembled staff, copies of Numbers [[Number Five|5]], [[Number Eight|8]], and [[Number Six|6]] approach the President. The Cylons declare that as long as there’s no resistance, no harm will come. President Baltar, after learning that the Cylons discovered New Caprica because of the nuke explosion set off by Gina, declares surrender on behalf of the colonists. As Cylon armies occupy the planet, Kara vows to resist.

== Questions ==

*Who is Baltar's vice president?

**Is Gaeta Baltar's assistant or his vice President?

*Has Gaeta's view of Baltar changed since Baltar's ascension to the presidency? If so, is Gaeta planning to do anything about it?

*What "number" is Cavil?

*Was Roslin's threat to put the two Cavils into space actually carried out?

*Where did the defense fleet jump to?

*Where is Caprica-Sharon?

*What happened to Zarek?

*Why is Leoben looking for Starbuck, specifically?

*Why has the population (until Tyrol's recent union speech) accepted Baltar's imperious rule? People were hardly so passive under Roslin. Indeed, Adama executed a military coup over a rather less important issue than giving a nuclear weapon to a Cylon agent.

*What were the workers being asked to do which was so "odious", "so sick[ening] at heart" that Tyrol was willing to call a general strike, and so important to Baltar that he was willing to use illegal imprisonment to break it?

*Are the Six and Eight that Baltar surrendered to [[Caprica-Six]] and [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|''Galactica''-Sharon]]? (see [[#Analysis:Analysis]])

*Where did the Cylon fleets go, after they left the Twelve Colonies? Cavil was deliberately vague when asked if they simply returned to the [[Cylon homeworld]].

*Why didn't the nuclear device trigger the radiological alarms on either Battlestar?

*How many people died in the Cloud Nine explosion? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Were the Quorum of Twelve killed on the Cloud Nine?

*When Gina-Six was instantly vaporized due to being only two feet from a nuclear detonation, did she still transmit her consciousness? Was she even capable of transmitting considering that any internal hardware responsible for this task would have been instantly destroyed? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Given Roslin's memories of Baltar with Six, why didn't Admiral Adama suspect Baltar of handing over the nuke to the cylons? If he did suspect him, why not act on it? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Did Baltar's internal Six disappear at any point during the New Caprica year? If so, when and why? If so, did the events of her disappearance contribute to Baltar's regression?

*Why was it so easy for Adama to hide the collusion of the rigged election from the press, and why were there no consequences?

*If the Cylons really left the Twelve Colonies, leaving behind a nuked-out wasteland, what happened to all of the human captives in the [[Farms]]?

*Why have the Cylons returned after suggesting that they were willing to go their "separate ways"?

*Did the Cavils lie about the pursuit of humanity being a mistake? Or were they telling the truth?

*Will the Cylons resume their pursuit of the Fleet?

*How many people are left in the Fleet? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*Have the remaining ships in the defense fleet been armed during the past year?

*Will the Adamas resort to Cain's tactic of conscripting civilians to fill the gaps?

*What happened between Apollo and Starbuck? (see [[#Analysis|Analysis]])

*What led to Starbuck's reconciliation with Col. Tigh? The two had been in conflict since the [[Miniseries]], what led them to bury the hatchet and become the close friends they now appear to be?

*Has it become public knowledge that Baltar killed [[Crashdown]] on [[Kobol]]? Now that Chief and Cally are Baltar's open adversaries they could attempt to use this information against him.

*When Adama informs Baltar that the nuke used to blow up [[Cloud Nine]] was probably stolen form Gaius' lab, why is he not suspicious about the fact that Baltar never reported that it was missing? Had it really been stolen from his lab, he would surely notice.

*Are the Cylons that appear at the end representative of the whole Cylon race, or are they a faction that broke off after the two "Cylon Hereos" began to speak out against the war on the humans?

*If it is true that the Cylons now believe the attack on humanity was a mistake, is the occupation on New Caprica viewed by the Cylons as an act of mercy and kindness vs. oppression from the human perspective?

*Could it be the intent of the Cylons to actually help the colonization of New Caprica, helping with the construction of infrastructure, new homes, etc, in order to make up for the holocaust?
**If the Cylons intend to help, that would be consistent with Cavil's comment that the Cylon path to enlightenment is to be "the best machines the universe has ever seen". The purpose of a machine is arguably to assist human beings. On the other hand, the Cylons, if they are here to help, are presumably intending to do so in a highly authoritarian fashion.
***Could the Cylons be wanting to maintain control over the colonials so that in some future the colonials would not be able to return and exact revenge on the Cylons?
**Could the Cylons be fortifying New Caprica to protect the humans from hostile Cylons? There should still be some, that Number Three in Downloaded was pretty fanatical, and if the political winds have changed as they so often do...

== Analysis ==
*According to Ron Moore's podcast, the events of "One Year Later" are real and was meant to solidify to the audience that the show is taking a path that can not be reversed. In order to make the colonization of New Caprica real, Moore felt that the show would need to jump ahead in a span of year to show that indeed Baltar has followed through with his political promise.

*The events of the Cylon invasion of New Caprica closely parallel the Nazi invasion of France, with the fleet's escape a parallel to the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk and Baltar's surrender a parallel to Petain's surrender. If the parallel continues, Baltar will establish a puppet regime under Cylon rule akin to Vichy France while Colonials still loyal to humanity will establish a resistance movement.

*Baltar's arrogance seems to have led to corrupt rule during his year on New Caprica—he replaces Roslin's modest desk with a larger, elaborate one, replaces the population count whiteboard with a portrait of himself, and keeps a harem aboard the landed Colonial One.

*After a whole year, everyone is still living in tents. There is a vital shortage of medicine, the military is of no use, and labor conditions are apparently intolerable. Baltar's administration is apparently as incompetent as Roslin feared.
**It is not clear whether these conditions are the result of admimistrative incompetence or the inherent difficulties of colonizing a marginally habitable planet.
***Of course, it was Baltar's idea to settle on a marginally habitable planet in the first place.

*It's ironic that the obligations of duty keep Lee Adama aboard Pegasus while everyone else goes planetside—he is a reserve officer, and promised to build his pilots a bar as soon as they found a habitable planet.
**Who says he didn't build a bar for them? However, despite building a bar, he would still command the Pegasus.

*Ron Moore has once again decided to play with viewer's expectations; in the podcast for "[[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]" Moore commented on how everyone assumed that ''Pegasus'' would be destroyed by the end of the episode, and thus he thought it would be a good twist to keep ''Pegasus'' alive as another ship in the Fleet. Here, many viewers assumed that the nuke that Baltar gave to Gina in "[[Epiphanies]]" would be used to destroy ''Pegasus'' this time, but it wasn't.

*29 people died between this episode and the preceding one? One or two Raptors were lost, and some Marines died on Caprica, but that doesn't seem high enough.
**Is it possible they took out all of the people who left in the raptors because they were not apart of the fleet at the end of the previous episode?
***They didn't remove Starbuck from the count when she left for Caprica at the beginning of Season 2.
****She left at the end of season one, before they started the count. But, they did not add her to the count when she returned with Helo, because the count rose by one.
**Maybe more people died during the attack on Caprica than was shown.
***Yet another possibility is the inclusion of the Caprica survivors in the count to offset many of the losses that had incurred in the rescue mission.
***Although they didn't actually talk about the losses, there was a shot of a wounded person being taken away on a stretcher after the Raptors returned from the [[Caprica]] [[SAR]] mission.
***There may have been a series of election-related riots or murders.

*The year gap for the Cylons to find the fleet at first seems odd. However, it was stated in the previous episode that the interference from the gas cloud surrounding it would hide the planet fairly well. The Cylons were slightly over a light year away, according to the Number Five. Searching something as large as the gas cloud likely is for a planet or fleet is, given the sensor range limitations, quite impressive to accomplish in months, even with general directional information from a light-year out. In addition, the radiation from the nuclear explosion aboard the ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' would, of course, only be traveling at the speed of light. Even a less catastrophic attempt to communicate the Colonial's new location would be limited to the speed of light. Of course, once the location was pinpointed, an FTL jump by the Cylons to pounce would be instantaneous.
**Even though the Cylons were able to find New Caprica from the detected nuclear blast that occurred a year prior, the initial detection would have only pointed them in the right general direction. The planet would have moved from the location the inital blast occurred as it orbits around its sun. So the Cylons would only have been able to pinpoint the planet's last location a year prior. They could have used astronomical surveying to detect the planet or send their fleets to other positions using FTL ahead of the blast radiation to triangulate the nuclear blast. Then send recon elements to scout for the planet, which could have been the initial blips picked up by DRADIS by Lt. Dualla of recon Raiders. As soon as the planet was found the main Cylon Fleet would jump in from their staging areas.
***It is also clear that Gina truly did die in the nuclear explosion on Cloud 9 as she would have been able to inform the Cylons of the whereabouts of the Fleet. This indicates that no new Resurrection Ship has been constructed and that Gina's suicidal thoughts finally prevailed. This may explain why she was willing to consummate her relationship with Baltar as it would be the last time she could be with him.

*The population of New Caprica City is given as 39,192. There were just under 50,000 people in the Fleet before establishing the settlement, so that gives a figure of roughly 10,000 missing. It is uncertain how many were killed in the destruction of ''Cloud 9'' and surrounding Fleet ships but this loss along with any births and deaths that have taken place during the year since the election, leaves very few military personnel in the Orbital Defense. This almost certainly means that both ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus'' will be extremely short on crew, as many military personnel will have been left on the planet. There was clearly no time to retrieve even selected members of the crews before the Fleet jumped.
**The figure is not 10,000 missing — it is 10,000 not part of New Caprica City's population. The figure of 10,000 is spread amongst those remaining up in orbit with the fleet's remaining ships, out in independent, peripheral, or small settlements not part of New Caprica City proper, and casaulties.
**Watching the Fleet jump in slow-motion, you can count approximately 19 ships, which also gives a rough impression of the reduced size of the fleet. Other ships, including Colonial One and some Raptors, are landed on New Caprica and have presumably fallen into the hands of the Cylons.
**It is not explicitly said that all members of the New Caprica colony reside in New Caprica City. There may be outlying settlements, though none are named. One reason for this would simply be as a safeguard to keep a single nuclear strike from wiping out all of the fleet survivors.
***This would demonstrate Un-Baltar like prudence

**Any "industrial" vessels — such as the mining ships, tanker ships, repair ships, agro-world ship — would have landed on the planet and been debarked, dismantled, or converted to form the foundation for industrial / production efforts. Some of the vessels in the fleet that left Ragnar Anchorage weren't designed for prolonged interstellar journeys, and were basically running "on a hope and a prayer", and would have been rendered promptly upon finding a more permanent home. The nineteen-or-so ships seen are, more than likely, the last spaceworthy vessels in the fleet that are not needed planetside.

*Apparently, Kara's comments about Lee and Dulla have taken their toll of their relationship with each other. Whether the comments escalulated is to be determined, but from Dulla's expression of annoyance when she hands the receiver to Lee when Kara calls, it is clear that the three never reconciled with each other.

*The Six and Eight that are part of the Cylon delegation that greets Baltar's cabinet are probably the Caprica-Six and [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|''Galactica''-Sharon]] respectively. This is implied from Six's reaction upon seeing Baltar and her implied message of knowing who Gaius was. The two are also wearing the exact same clothes of the two Cylon war heros from the episode [[Downloaded]].

== Notes ==
* '''According to Ron Moore's podcast, although Scifi Channel was willing to air this episode as a 90-minute special, it had to be heavily edited down for international distribution; outside of the United States, viewers will only see a 1 hour version of the episode, which Moore regards as "almost incomprehensible".''' Many plot threads, such as the entire Cally/Tyrol subplot, were completely removed from the one hour version. This may not be the case in the UK however as Skyone (the channel that broadcasts the show in that country) previously showed the full 90 minute version of Stargate SG1 episode 'Threads' and may well do the same for this episode.

* Ron Moore's podcast for episode 13, [[Epiphanies]], states that the Nuke given to Gina will come back in this episode, to the benefit of the Cylons.

*Admiral Adama watches Pyramid games and is a fan of the Picon Panthers.

*In RDM's podcast for the previous episode, he said that in early drafts of this special 90 minute long episode, the writers actually tried to make it a 2 hour special, but this was soon dropped (these times are including commercials).
*The election board appears to have a definitive list of the names of all of the ships in [[The Fleet (RDM)]]. Not all of them are clearly visible, but this would seem to indicate that the writers do have an actual list that they get new ship names from. Ship names visible on the chart are: Demetrius, Diomedes, Embla Brokk, Enkidu, Epheme, Galactica, Gideon, Gemenon Traveller, Greenleaf, Monarch, Odysseus, Pegasus, Persephone, Prometheus, Swordfish

*The framed photo of President Roslin and [[Billy Keikeya]] was still on her desk during the election.

*When Roslin "won" the rigged election results, Roslin received 24,265 votes, while Baltar recieved 22,266. This means that the elligible voters in the Fleet number 46,531. In the podcast, RDM explains that he quickly came up with these numbers, to try to reflect roughly how many survivors are below the voting age.

*Toward the end of the episode, President Baltar refers to a government body called the "People's Council". This may be the proportionally elected lower house mentioned in by RDM in his [http://blog.scifi.com/battlestar/archives/2005/01/index.html#a000016 blog post] on January 30, 2005.

*[[Hera]] is seen on New Caprica in the same white cradle that Baltar had a vision of her being in in "[[Scattered]]", etc. According to RDM's podcast it's actually the exact same cradle.

*Tyrol's union speech is an almost word for word quote of Mario Savio's address during the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964. According to Ron Moore and David Eick in the podcast, they even got permission from Savio's widow to use it (even though, due to the way copyright laws work from back then, they could have just used it without permission, they felt they should get it). As a result, it's even listed in the credits: "Mario Savio speech excerpted courtesy of: Lynne Hollander Savio". Actor Aaron Douglas (Chief [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]) actually studied film of Savio, so all of the hand gestures Tyrol makes when he gives the speech are gestures that Savio actually used.

*Baltar's portrait of himself does not have the 'cut corners' as seen in most (all?) other papers and photos in the show.

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

*"Well, this is an awkward moment…. Yes, he's right, I'm a Cylon. And I have a message. So…take me to your leader."
*:—The Caprica copy of '''Brother Cavil''' on being uncovered as a Cylon

*"Would you mind telling me what's going on? I'm not a frakking Cylon, I'm not…(''sees the other Cavil in the cell'')…oh. Well, okay then."
*:—The Galactica copy of '''Brother Cavil'''

*"Gods help us."
*:-'''Admiral Adama''' over the objection of [[Edward James Olmos]] (podcast)

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

*"We're leaving. But we'll be back."
*:—'''Admiral Adama''' ordering the fleet to evacuate New Caprica

*''On Caprica:''
::'''Anders:''' You got any great ideas in that military brain of yours?
::'''Starbuck:''' Do the same thing we always do; fight 'em 'till we can't.
:''The Cylons occupy New Caprica:''
::'''Tyrol:''' "What do you want to do now, Captain?"
::'''Starbuck:''' "The same thing we always do. Fight them until we can't."

== Official Statements ==

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

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

{{Episode List}}

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

Command Navigation Program

2006-03-08T02:22:42Z

Yeungb:

Developed by Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]], the '''Command Navigation Program''' (CNP) was a program utilized by the [[Colonial]] military forces and some civilian spaceships{{ref|civilian}} in the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]]. Installed in the central computers of [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]]s and [[Raptor]]s and in the [[Computers#Navigation computer|navigation computers]] of almost all [[battlestar]]s, the CNP was a contrivance of more than two years in the making.

Unbeknownst to Baltar, a lover and co-writer of the CNP turned out to be a version of the [[Humano-Cylon|Cylon agent]] viewers know as [[Number Six]]. She programmed [[backdoors]] into the program so that the [[Cylon]] attack force could break through the Colonial firewalls. Ships with the CNP that received a command from attacking Cylon ships would, in the case of Vipers, be shut down "as if a switch were flipped." Petty Officer [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] described reports of "system failures" throughout the Fleet and how at least one battlestar lost power when the attack began, which indicate the Cylons used the CNP to damage and in at least one case disable capital ships as well.

The CNP was distributed as with all Colonial software updates via the [[Colonial Defense Mainframe]], where Six had unrestricted access on Baltar's authorization.

The CNP was received by battlestar ''[[Galactica]]'', but the program was never loaded into primary memory of the ship, although her last squadron of Viper Mark VIIs (led by [[CAG]] [[Jackson Spencer]]) received the upgrade. As a result, the squadron was massacred by two [[Cylon Raider|Raiders]] on their way back to [[Twelve Colonies#Caprica|Caprica]] ([[Miniseries]]).

Lieutenant [[Felix Gaeta]] had the program code purged from the mainframe on Baltar's suggestion, and the program was also retrograded on the [[Computers#Avionics|flight systems]] of ''Galactica's'' surviving Mark VII Vipers and Raptors.

==Sources==

#{{note|civilian}} [[Aaron Doral]] provides a requested report to [[Gaius Baltar]] in [[CIC]]: "You asked for a report on how many civilian ships had your CNP program?" ([[Miniseries]])

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