Great Cylon Turkey Shoot

Great Cylon Turkey Shoot
Powered down Raider fleet being massacred by Galactica's Vipers
Powered down Raider fleet being massacred by Galactica's Vipers
Summary
Conflict:	Second Cylon war
Date:	Roughly two weeks after Day 84
Related Episode(s):
Place:	Interstellar space, specific location unknown
Result:	Decisive Colonial victory
Combatants Remnants of the Colonial Fleet Cylons Commanders Commander William Adama Unknown (no Basestars present) Strength battlestar Galactica 34-42 Vipers Over 200 Raiders Dozens of Heavy Raiders, exact number unknown Materiel Losses None Complete destruction of entire Cylon force Casualties None Complete destruction of entire Cylon force
Battle Chronology
Previous Next Battle of Kobol Great Cylon Turkey Shoot Standoff Between Galactica and Pegasus

The Great Cylon Turkey Shoot takes place after a compromised Galactica turns the Cylons' own computer virus against them, completely powering down an attack fleet consisting of hundreds of Raiders and Heavy Raiders.

Several weeks after leaving Kobol, Galactica begins to suffer various system failures and ship-wide malfunctions. Watch Officer Lieutenant Gaeta and Dr. Baltar determine that a Cylon virus which infected Galactica shortly after the Fleet reunited (Scattered), and downed ship functions for a time (Valley of Darkness), has returned. Apparently the virus had a latent element that hid itself, slowly emerging throughout ship computers, testing and probing for weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Lt. Karl Agathon then shows a printout of the virus to the incarcerated Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii, who determines that this logic bomb is a prelude to a Cylon attack. Gaeta determines a way to remove the bomb by erasing all ship computer hard drives, then reloading the computers from backups made before the war. However, this will leave the ship completely vulnerable for several minutes. Furthermore, if the logic bomb is "detonated", the virus will likely turn Galactica against itself and the Fleet.

Commander Adama elects to use Caprica-Valerii to aid them in combating the approaching enemy. She interfaces her body to the ship's mainframe and communication systems via a fiber-optic link placed inside her left forearm; the goal of this being to ward-off the Cylons with an electronic attack.

The Cylon force arrives to attack, and all combat-ready Vipers are deployed. As Galactica erases its hard drives, Valerii seemingly copies the logic bomb code onto herself and manipulates it. She then transmits the altered code back onto the enemy. In a poignant turn of events, the entire Cylon fleet is disabled by the reconfigured virus, much like Colonial warships were shut down during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

Though many Raiders are destroyed by merely crashing into one another, Colonel Tigh orders Galactica's Vipers to open fire on the crippled enemy. Apollo jubilantly relays the weapons free order to his fighter group, and the Vipers proceed to tear through the jumbled Cylon formations, destroying the disproportionately larger Cylon force in its entirety. Not one Colonial vessel is lost during the course of the engagement (Flight of the Phoenix).

The presence of numerous Heavy Raiders (troop transport vessels, never before seen in such numbers) suggests that the Cylons intended to board Galactica and possibly other ships in the Colonial fleet after the virus had rendered the battlestar helpless.

Notes

• According to Ronald Moore's podcast for "Flight of the Phoenix", this battle was specifically inspired by the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" of World War II. This page is named in light of that reference.
• The number of Cylon Raiders present was given on the Scifi.com official site's episode description.
• Visually, there are at least 42 Vipers on screen, but there is a strong possibility that this is a visual effects mistake: Apollo states in "Act of Contrition" that there are only 40 Vipers left. On top of this, several Vipers have been lost since then (see Viper tally). The current count leaves only 34 Vipers: 1 lost in "Act of Contrition", 4 lost in "The Hand of God", and 1 lost in "Final Cut". This doesn't take into account Tyrol's retirement of unserviceable craft, worn down by wear and tear. Furthermore, Galactica is severely limited by the number of pilots they have on hand - in this episode, no more than 22.
  • Ron D. Moore admitted in an interview (Flight of the Phoenix) that this was probably a visual effects gaffe. The number of Vipers is more probably no more than 34 at best.
• Interestingly, the Blackbird appears in the Great Cylon Turkey Shoot, yet the Blackbird has not been finished by the time the Cylons are disabled. Producer and writer Bradley Thompson acknowledges this as a visual effects mix-up, as the Blackbird's lack of guns or sufficient maneuverability would make it a poor fighter, nor has the ship made its maiden flight before the Cylon fight.