Becca Kelly

Becca Kelly
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Name	{{{name}}}
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Colony	Picon
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Introduced	Blood and Chrome
Last Known Appearance	[[{{{lastseen}}}]]
Death	Murdered by an experimental Cylon model, c. 42 BCH (58YR)
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Marital Status	Widowed (Ezra Barzel)
Family Tree	View
Role	Scientist at Graystone Industries, Cylon sympathizer
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Portrayed by	Lili Bordan
Becca Kelly is a Cylon
Becca Kelly is a Final Five Cylon
Becca Kelly is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Becca Kelly is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
Additional Information
[[File:|300px|Becca Kelly]]

Becca Kelly is a civilian software engineer working with the Colonial Fleet during the First Cylon War. She was previously employed by Graystone Industries circa 52 BCH (48YR), where she was involved in the production of Cylons and the last upgrade to their programming before the Cylons rebelled against the Twelve Colonies.

Kelly's Mission

In 42 BCH (58YR), Kelly becomes the key individual in an important covert mission for the Fleet. Ensign William Adama and ECO Coker Fasjovik are ordered to transport Kelly aboard the Raptor Wild Weasel to the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards in an apparently routine mission, but soon after departing, Kelly presents new orders from the Fleet that eventually bring them to a secret Colonial "ghost fleet" being gathered for a massive assault on the Cylons. One of the ghost fleet ships delivers Kelly along with Adama and Fasjovik to the moon Djerba, deep inside Cylon territory. Even after arriving on the ice moon, Kelly reveals nothing about the nature of her mission.

Kelly and the others set off on foot toward their objective, but are forced to take shelter at an abandoned ski lodge. During the night, Kelly opens herself emotionally to Adama and seduces him. A platoon of Centurions attacks the lodge several hours later, and Kelly wanders off during the fight. She is cornered by one of the Centurions, but it stops before striking, suddenly fixated on the dog tag hanging from her neck. As it scans the digital information stored in the tag, Fasjovik comes up from behind and kills it, but not before noticing that the Centurion had spared Kelly's life.

Fasjovik's suspicions about Kelly grow, and before leaving the lodge the following morning, he confronts Kelly at gunpoint. She tells Fasjovik and Adama that her mission is to upload a virus into the Cylon computer network, a move that can potentially blind the Cylons' defenses. Fasjovik relaxes, and the three complete their trek to a Cylon automated transmission relay. Kelly places her dog tag onto a computer terminal and begins the upload. However, Fasjovik glances at a computer display of the upload, instantly realizes that she is a traitor, and shoots her: the "virus" is in fact intelligence about the Colonial ghost fleet. While Fasjovik frantically explains the situation to Adama, Kelly finds her own weapon and wounds Fasjovik, and then aims the gun at Adama. She claims the Cylons are only defending themselves, and that this betrayal will force the Colonies to come to the negotiating table. Adama is unconvinced, and Kelly shoots him as well. Adama's wound is minor and he is able to disarm her. He destroys her dog tag and the computer terminal, stopping the upload.

The wounded Kelly is then abandoned by Adama and Fasjovik as they search for rescue. She is discovered sometime later by an experimental Cylon model, who acknowledges that Kelly is more enlightened than her fellow human beings before snapping Kelly's neck.

Aftermath

The Colonial admiralty somehow knew of her plans all along, and simply allowed her to go. Kelly's plan gave the Colonials a chance to feed the Cylons misinformation, and to utilize the ghost fleet in a bold and successful surprise attack on Cylon targets across five sectors.

Personal Life

Before the war, Kelly was married to a Colonial Marine named Ezra Barzel, who was accidentally killed by members of his own unit. The Colonial military falsely reported that Barzel had died a hero's death destroying an entire Cylon platoon single-handedly. Although the propaganda tactic deeply offended Kelly, it succeeded in boosting military enlistment ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}.

Script Version Differences

The pre-production script for Blood and Chrome provides substantially more character development and backstory for Becca Kelly than appears in the final production. In the script, Kelly's character arc is portrayed with greater psychological depth and more detailed motivation for her betrayal of the Colonies.

The script reveals that Kelly worked in Graystone Industries' "military cybernetics division" and specifically helped design the last version of Cylon MCP chips before they rebelled. When Adama accuses her of helping to create the machines that are killing humans, she responds that she feels guilt, "but not for the reasons you'd understand," suggesting a more complex relationship with her past work than simple regret.

Her husband's story is given more detail in the script. Ezra Barzel is described as a history professor who "woke up one day and decided he couldn't sit back and just watch history happen anymore," becoming a Marine despite never wanting to be a hero. The script reveals that a reporter eventually discovered the truth about his death―that his scouting party was killed by friendly fire, not enemy action―but this information was suppressed by the military.

Kelly's philosophical position is more extensively developed in the script. She argues that the Cylons are sentient beings who "just want to be left alone to live their lives" and that the war is based on humanity's refusal to accept that they created genuine life. When Adama points to Cylon attacks on Colonial worlds, she counters by asking "how many of them have we destroyed?" and arguing that Cylons only attacked "after years of being treated as slaves."

The script includes a significant scene where Kelly and Adama watch "war porn"―gun camera footage of Cylon combat deaths traded by Marines. Kelly criticizes this as turning "war into an entertainment" and "trivializing death and destruction," while Adama defends it as tactical preparation. When they observe Cylons attempting to rescue their wounded comrades, Kelly suggests they "care about each other, same as human soldiers," challenging Adama's assumptions about Cylon nature.

Notes

Behind the Scenes

Lili Bordán was cast as Becca Kelly on February 10, 2011, with the character revealed to be "a Ph.D. who worked for Graystone Industries." The character was specifically created to provide a connection between Caprica and Blood and Chrome, as someone who had worked directly with the Cylon technology before the war began.

Bordán was cast just one week before filming began, describing the experience as "the biggest thing I've ever done as an actor" and noting it was "a little daunting." The production was filmed in 15 days in Vancouver using extensive green screen technology, with the cast receiving training in weapons handling and SWAT tactics for scenes involving Cylon territory infiltration.

Regarding the character, Bordán explained that Dr. Becca Kelly is "a war widow whose husband became a hero," exploring themes of propaganda and the reality behind wartime heroism. She was not extensively familiar with the Battlestar Galactica franchise before her casting, having been in Europe during much of the original series' run, and watched Caprica with the cast to understand the backstory before filming.

In a 25 October 2010 interview, co-creator and producer David Eick discussed Blood and Chrome and Kelly's character, elaborating on the series' placement relative to Caprica. Early information described her as an "enigmatic, seemingly impenetrable software genius who gives Adama a run for his money in more ways than one."

The character's name underwent changes during development, with earlier versions of both the script and promotional materials using the spelling "Beka" before the finalized "Becca" was adopted for the final production.

Plot

• The character serves as a thematic bridge between the Cylon creators in Caprica and the war-torn universe of the main Battlestar Galactica series.
• Kelly's dog tag serves as both a plot device and a symbol of her dual loyalty throughout Blood and Chrome.

Musical Theme

Bear McCreary composed a specific theme for Becca Kelly in Blood and Chrome, one of the few supporting characters to receive their own musical motif in the Battlestar Galactica universe. The Becca Theme features piano, gamelan, vibraphone and rhodes to produce "a shimmering, vibrating quality" with harmonies that evolve from mysterious and dissonant to increasingly emotional as her chemistry with Adama develops.

According to Bear McCreary, the theme was designed to reflect Kelly's complex character. The harmonies around her melody are "mysterious and dissonant" at first, but become "increasingly more emotional" as the story progresses. McCreary noted that "Becca is a complex character, especially by the film's end, so I wanted her theme to have shades of darkness, even at its most lush moments."

References