Timeline (RDM)

Dates use the day of the Cylon Holocaust as a baseline. See also Survivor Count, History of the Twelve Colonies.

Ancient History

• -3600 Years: Pythia records her prophecies.
• -2000 Years: The thirteen tribes leave Kobol: twelve for the Cyrannus System, the other for Earth.

Recent Colonial History

• -52 Years: Cylon revolt begins the Cylon War. Articles of Colonization signed (Colonial Day, RDM, April 11, 2005).
• -51 Years Colonials suffer a major defeat when the Colonial ship Brenik is lost after a boarding action by Cylon Centurions, which resulted in some of the bloodiest, hand-to-hand fighting of the war. A young Petty Officer Saul Tigh is one of a handful of survivors.
• -50 Years:
  • Battlestar Galactica enters service under Commander Peter Dash.
• c. -41 years: William Adama beings his service in the Colonial Fleet as a Viper pilot, near the end of the Cylon War.
• -40 Years: Armistice between the Colonials and the Cylons ends the Cylon War.
• -20 Years:
  • Last significant Jump recorded on battlestar Galactica's logs.
  • Tom Zarek imprisoned for blowing up a government building on Sagittaron (Bastille Day).
  • William Adama and Saul Tigh first meet (Scattered, podcast).
  • Laura Roslin begins her career in politics (Litmus).
• -7 Years: Saul and Ellen Tigh marry. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I, deleted scene)
• -5 Years:
  • Laura Roslin's last breast exam prior to her cancer diagnosis (Act of Contrition).
  • Galen Tyrol assigned to Galactica (Litmus).
• -3 Years: Felix Gaeta assigned to Galactica.
• -2 Years:
  • Caprica Six begins residence on Caprica (Downloaded), first encounters Dr. Gaius Baltar (Miniseries).
  • A copy of Sharon Valerii begins serving aboard Galactica (The Farm).
  • Zak Adama dies in a flight school accident. His funeral is Lee and William Adama's last meeting until the miniseries.
  • Lt. Kara Thrace is re-assigned from Flight School to Battlestar Galactica (Act of Contrition).
• -1 Year: Last time William Adama and Caroline Adama speak.
• -Several months Caroline Adama gets engaged.
• -3 Weeks: Anastasia Dualla last visits her home.
• Zero Hour: Cylons destroy the Twelve Colonies. The (so-far-known) only known survivors are a rag-tag fugitive fleet escorted by Galactica; Pegasus, another isolated battlestar; a fleet of 15 civilian FTL capable ships; and the resistance on Caprica. Events of the Mini-Series.

Season 1

• Note: Timeline assumes that the days shown on Caprica with Helo corresponds to the timeline on Galactica. A strong example of this is in the season 1 finale "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II", when Starbuck travels from Galactica to Caprica.

• 1 Day: Battle of Ragnar Anchorage. Galactica's fleet leaves Cyrannus System.
• 6 Days: Galactica finally loses the Cylon pursuers. Events of episode "33".
• 7 Days:
  • First new child born on the Rising Star.
  • Pegasus encounters a fleet of 15 civilian ships, including Scylla.
• 10 Days: Events of episode "Water"
• 12 Days: Tom Zarek engineers the capture of the Astral Queen by its prisoner crew. Events of episode "Bastille Day".
• 14 Days: Events of episode "Act of Contrition". Starbuck is missing after a Cylon fight.
• 15 Days: Events of episode "You Can't Go Home Again"
• 17 Days: Events of episode "Litmus"
• 21 Days: First recollection by any of the Rising Star crewmembers of giving Ellen Tigh medical assistance ("about a week" before "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down").
• 24 Days: Caprica Valerii and Helo first make love. Events of episode "Six Degrees of Separation"
• 25 Days: Events of episode "Flesh and Bone"
• 26 Days: Ellen Tigh resumes consciousness ("a couple of days" before Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down).
• 28 Days: Events of episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down".
• 36 Days: Battle for the Tylium Asteroid. Caprica Valerii is pregnant and suffering morning sickness. Events of episode "The Hand of God".

Colonial Day

• Day 46: Delegates selected for the Quorum of Twelve. Tom Zarek selected to represent Sagittaron. Roslin implores Adama to permit his participation. Valance prepares to smuggle a ceramic stealth gun into the Cloud Nine. Zarek addresses the fleet from the prison ship Astral Queen. Gaius Baltar selected to represent Caprica. Apollo and Starbuck inspect the Cloud Nine.

• Day 47 - Morning: Colonial Day. Delegates arrive on Cloud Nine. Roslin addresses the Quorum. Baltar eyes Playa Palacios. Zarek moves to elect a vice president and is nominated by Marshall Bagott. Motion passes, chair to remain open 72 hours for nominations.

• Day 47 - Afternoon: Roslin asks Wallace Gray to run for the vice presidency. Zarek expounds on his reform agenda. Valence scuffles with Apollo and Starbuck and is jailed. Helo and Caprica Valerii arrive at a spaceport in the vicinity of Delphi.

• Day 47 - Evening: Starbuck and Apollo interrogate Valence to no effect.

• Day 48 - Morning: Grey addresses the Quorum. Safiya Sanne changes Picon's vote to Zarek, bringing his total to 5 of 12.

• Day 48 - Afternoon: Zarek serves Ellen Tigh a drink and inquires after the whereabouts of Valence. Baltar interviewed by James McManus. Valence found dead. Tigh, Apollo and Starbuck consult with Roslin on security.

• Day 48 - Evening: Roslin travels to Cloud Nine and asks Grey to drop out of the race and recruits Baltar to replace him, interrupting his "exclusive" with Palacios. Apollo and Starbuck flirt in the bunk on Galactica.

• Day 49 - Morning: Baltar elected Vice President, with Roslin casting the tie-breaking vote.

• Day 49 - Evening: Victory party for Baltar. Roslin dances with Adama, Ellen with Saul Tigh, Billy with Dualla, Starbuck with Apollo and Baltar.

• Day 49 - Night: Helo and Caprica Valerii infiltrate the spaceport. Helo discovers Valerii is a Cylon and flees.

Note: Roslin states that the chair will remain open for nominations for 72 hours on the morning of Day 47, but the next episode clearly takes place the day after the victory party, and is stated to take place on Day 50. Perhaps the Quorum moved to close the nomination period early after the nomination of a strong candidate.

Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I

• Day 50 - Early Morning: Apollo and Adama spar. Baltar and Starbuck have sex. Caprica Valerii catches up with Helo at Delphi, and he shoots her. Galactica Boomer contemplates suicide. Cottle examines Roslin and gives her "six months, at the outside".

• Day 50 - Morning: Starbuck and an (already) drunken Baltar exchange innuendos over the officer's card game.

• Day 50 - Afternoon: Roslin briefs Baltar on her economic agenda. Six warns him that "it's not safe to remain on Galactica". Galactica Boomer and Crashdown stumble upon Kobol. Helo holds Caprica Valerii at gunpoint. Apollo and Starbuck exchange blows.

• Day 50 - Evening: Roslin examines an orbital photograph of Kobol and has a vision of the City of the Gods. Adama decides to send an expedition, which Baltar demands to accompany. Galactica Boomer shoots herself on Baltar's advice. In private, Roslin unsuccessfully petitions Commander Adama to send the Cylon Raider after the Arrow of Apollo on Caprica.

• Day 50 - Night: Battle of Kobol begins. Scout party ambushed by a Cylon Basestar at Kobol. Starbuck devises a plan to deliver a nuke to the basestar using the captured Raider and Cylon Transponder. Roslin convinces her to purloin the Raider and take it to Caprica instead.

Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II

• Day 51 - Early Morning: Survivors of Raptor 1 escape the wreck. Baltar passes out. Adama terminates Roslin's presidency. Apollo and Tigh plan an assault on Colonial One. Adama dispatches the wounded Boomer to take out the basestar. Caprica Valerii leads Helo to Delphi Museum of the Colonies.

• Day 51 - Morning: Starbuck arrives at Caprica, retrieves the Arrow of Apollo, kills a copy of Six and meets up with Helo. Galactica's marines board Colonial One. Apollo mutinies, Roslin stands down. Baltar has a vision of the shape of things to come. Galactica Boomer confronts other Valerii copies on the basestar. She returns from her mission and shoots Commander Adama.

Season 2.0

Note: Season 2 dates are rough guesses, at best, and are complicated by the season two timeline discontinuity. Dates for the first half of the season are based off of the last dates given at the end of season one.

Scattered

• Day 51 - Morning: A Cylon Basestar ambushes the fleet, which jumps to an emergency rendezvous point. Galactica jumps to wrong coordinates and is forced to backtrack. Galactica holds off basestar and returns to bulk of the Fleet.

Valley of Darkness

• Day 51
• Galactica is partially disabled by a Cylon virus while a Cylon Centurion boarding party attempts to commandeer the ship.

Fragged

• Day 51
• Crashdown is shot by Gaius Baltar on Kobol after threatening to shoot Cally.

Resistance

• Day 52: Tigh interrogates Tyrol and imprisons him with Galactica Boomer.

• Day 54 - Morning: Cally blackmails Baltar into running his Cylon test on Tyrol. Baltar notes to Tigh that he should assume Roslin's duties; he invites Baltar to join her in the brig. Aturian stops refining Tylium in protest of Martial law. Apollo briefs pilots in the ready room. Dualla checks out his ass. On Caprica, Starbuck and Helo meet Samuel Anders's Resistance.

• Day 54 - Afternoon: Tigh deploys troops to vessels refusing to supply Galactica. The Gideon Massacre takes place. Roslin is chagrined. Apollo initiates his escape plan.

• Day 54 - Evening: Saul and Ellen Tigh argue and have sex. Baltar poisons Tyrol and interrogates Boomer. Starbuck and Helo arrive at the Resistance HQ with Anders.

• Day 55 - Morning: Apollo delivers briefing, orchestrates Roslin's escape. The deck gang begin construction of a new brig cell for Cylon agents.

• Day 55 - Afternoon: Apollo & co. disembark at the Cloud Nine and link up with Tom Zarek. Starbuck and Anders flirt.

• Day 55 - Evening: Commander Adama wakes up. Cally kills Galactica Boomer.

The Farm

• Day 58: - According to a deleted scene, this episode takes place one week after "Fragged".

Home, Part I

• Day ?? - Morning: Kara Thrace's captured Heavy Raider jumps into orbit around Kobol. Tom Zarek attempts to have it shot down because it's not the same Raider that Thrace departed in. Thrace lands her Heavy Raider aboard the Astral Queen and is reunited with President Roslin and Lee Adama. Lee learns that in addtion to Karl Agathon, Thrace brought back the Caprican copy of Sharon Valerii, whereupon Lee pulls a gun on Sharon. After defusing the situation with words, Roslin orders Valerii thrown out the airlock, but relents and has her thrown into the brig instead, after hearing both Thrace and Agathon's protest. Commander Adama promotes Captain George Birch to be the new Galactica CAG.

• Day ?? - Afternoon: Commander Adama holds a press conference regarding the escape of President Roslin from his custody and the ensuing martial law. Adama adjourns the press conference when the questions become increasingly pointed.

• Day ??+1 - Morning: Cpt. Birch on his first mission as CAG is responsible for an accident that nearly kills Kat. Zarek and his trusted lieutenant Meier plot to overthrow Roslin and take command of the fleet.

• Day ??+1 - Afternoon: Cpt. Birch oversees his second flight mishap as CAG when two ships he's supposed to be guiding collide with one another during a routine refueling operation.

• Day ??+2 - Morning: Roslin's party, made up of Thrace, Cpt. Adama, Elosha, Zarek, Meier, Agathon, Boomer, two Zarek red-shirts, two Roslin red-shirts and Rolsin herself land on Kobol. Using Valerii as their guide they set out in search of the Tomb of Athena.

• Day ??+2 - Afternoon: The party is ambushed by Cylon Centurions after Elosha accidentally trips a "bouncing betty" land mine and it blows up in her face, killing her. The surviving party is saved when Valerii uses an RPG launcher to destroy the last remaining Centurion.

• Day ??+2 - Evening: Adama makes the decision to put the fleet back together after a long and heartfelt talk with Dee.

Home, Part II

• Day 66-67: - Raptor 1 lands on Kobol with William Adama and his contingent. Tomb of Athena found.
• Day 68-74: - Roslin reestablished as lawful President; martial law ends. Fleet reunification.

Final Cut

• Day ~75 D'anna Biers produces a documentary aboard the Galactica about the "Gideon massacre". It is a generally positive documentary broadcast to the fleet. Unknown to the fleet, it is also surveillance by the Cylons into the status of the Colonial fleet.

Flight of the Phoenix

• Day ~86 - Cally is released from the brig; a welcome back party is thrown for her by the deck crew.
• Day ??? - Chief Tyrol begins construction of the Blackbird prototype stealth fighter.
• Day ??? - Laura Roslin is given a few weeks, a month at the most to live. (see notes)
• Day ??? - Galactica routs hundreds of Cylon fighters without a casualty while dispatching a Logic bomb from their ship computers.
• Day ??? - The Blackbird prototype stealth fighter is completed by Chief Tyrol and a team of Galactica crewmembers. Lt. Thrace flies it on its first test flight, quickly proving its value as a stealth craft.

Pegasus

• c. Day 175 - Galactica encounters battlestar Pegasus. Admiral Helena Cain assumes fleet command.
• c. Day 175- Tyrol accidentally kills Pegasus Lieutenant Thorne and is arrested with Helo.
• c. Day 175 - A standoff between the two battlestars begins over the treatment of the arrested Galactica crew.

Season two timeline discontinuity

Main article: Season two timeline discontinuity

Based on various evidence, the end of "Resistance" can be very firmly dated to Day 54. This puts Cally's release at Day 84, and in turn means that as of "Flight of the Phoenix", Roslin was not expected to live past day 114. Corroborating this, Sharon Valerii does not appear visibly pregnant in "Pegasus".

However, in the following episode, Admiral Cain states offhandedly that it has been about six months since the fall of the colonies. This is further corroborated in "Epiphanies", which we learn takes place 189 days after the holocaust (a full 75 days longer than Roslin's most favorable prognosis). Additionally, Valerii now appears to be well into her second trimester, and elections have been put off by 75 days from their first-season projections.

There is apparently no way to reconcile this discrepancy. Even under the most liberal assumptions, the first half of the second season timeline cannot accommodate more than about three additional days.

Consequently, there is a 75-day discontinuity between the fist and second halves of season two. The second half of the season is dated from the firm dates given in "Resurrection Ship, Part I" and "Epiphanies", but be aware that dates throughout the remainder of season 2 are likely to contradict those from earlier in the series.

Season 2.0

Resurrection Ship, Part I

• Day ~175 - The standoff between the two battlestars ends in an uneasy truce, and a tense summit aboard Colonial One, after Lt. Thrace returns from an unauthorized surveillance mission to the Cylon fleet, where she gains critical evidence on a Cylon ship. Dr. Baltar is able to determine from Gina that this is the Resurrection Ship that cylons need to resurrect so far from the Cylon homeworld.

Resurrection Ship, Part II

• Day ~177 - The Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus together engage the Cylon fleet in the Battle of the Resurrection Ship, where they achieve an overwhelming victory with relatively light casualties, destroying not only the Resurrection Ship, but at least one other Cylon base star. The Blackbird is destroyed in the battle, although Lee Adama manages to eject successfully. At least one Raptor is also lost in the battle. Admiral Cain is killed by Gina, after Baltar helps her escape captivity. He then proceeds to hide her in the fleet.

Epiphanies

• Day 189 - President Roslin near death; orders death of Cylon fetus. A Cylon peace movement begins to pose as a threat to the Fleet. The Cylon fetus is eventually spared, when Dr. Baltar determines how to use Cylon fetal stem cells to treat Roslin's cancer. Dr. Baltar smuggles the nuclear weapon that he was provided with for work on his Cylon detector to the Cylon peace movement aboard Cloud Nine.

Black Market

• Day ??? - Commander Fisk is murdered aboard the Battlestar Pegasus. Lee Adama begins an investigation into the matter.
• Day ??? - Lee Adama kills Phelan, leader of the Black Market crime syndicate.
• Day ??? - Lee Adama is debriefed on the entire incident regarding the murder of Fisk and the Black Market.

Scar

• Day ??? - After 29 days in an asteroid field (putting us at Day 218 or later), the Majahual's mining operation has produced enough raw materials for the construction of two new Viper squadrons using the fabrication facilities aboard the Battlestar Pegasus. Attacks on the operation continue by the ace Cylon raider known as Scar, making it the source of a heated competition between Lt. Katraine and Cpt. Thrace.

Sacrifice

• Day ??? - Three men and a woman named Sesha Abinell lay siege to bar onboard Cloud 9, taking the guests hostage, and sealing the area off from the rest of the ship. Abinell's husband was killed aboard the Greenleaf when the Cylons attacked it ten weeks ago, and she decides to exact vengeance. Lee Adama is wounded as a result of a failed rescue attempt by Kara Thrace

The Captain's Hand

• Day ??? - At least one month after the events of "Sacrifice", Lee Adama has been promoted to Major and temporarily assigned to Pegasus. Pegasus Commander Barry Garner dies during the Battle of the Binary Star System. Adama is promoted to Commander and given command of Pegasus. Talk begins in the Fleet about the upcoming Presidential election. Roslin bans abortion, and Vice President Baltar announces his candidacy for president in the upcoming election.

Downloaded

• Day 270 (Zero Hour + 9 months) - Hera born. This episode claims that the previous episode "Resistance" took place "10 weeks before" Day 270. However, 10x7 = 70 and 270 - 70 = 200, this would put Cally's shooting of Galactica-Boomer after "Epiphanies" which was stated to take place on Day 189. Even a very liberal estimate could not possibly place "Resistance" more than a week or two after "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II", when it was stated on screen that it was Day 51. This reference to "10 weeks" is a mistake, which will be corrected in the DVD and international releases of "Downloaded".

Future Events

• Day 86 + 1 month (c. Day 116): Roslin's maximum life expectancy as of Day 86 (Flight of the Phoenix)
• Day 54 + 3 months (c. Day 144): Samuel Anders's Resistance's anti-radiation med supply projected to run out ("Resistance").
  • Anders' group survives in "Downloaded", c. Day 270. They could have simply found more stockpiles of anti-radiation meds in the intervening time period.
• Day 12 + 7 Months (c. Day 222): Elections due for President of the Twelve Colonies (Bastille Day).
  • As of "Downloaded", c. Day 270, the elections are near but have not yet arrived.
• Day 50 + 6 Months (c. Day 230): Roslin's maximum life expectancy as of Day 50 (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).
  • Roslin promised to get the fleet to Earth before her death (c. Day 230) (Fragged).
• Day 24 + 9 Months (c. Day 294): "Caprica" Sharon Valerii's daughter born. (see Notes below)
  • Hera, daughter of Helo and "Caprica" Sharon Valerii was born premature c. Day 270 (Downloaded).
• Day 36 + 3 years (c. Day 1131): Fleet runs out of tylium fuel that was resupplied from the Cylon asteroid mine; assuming that no other sources have been found before this date. (The Hand of God)
• Day 260 (approx) + 18 years (c. Day 6,830) Time at which, if the Survivor count keeps up its current rate of decline and never increases, the human race will simply go extinct, according to Baltar's estimate in "The Captain's Hand".

Notes

• The above day listings use a simplistic calendar system with 30 day months and no leap years. The colonial calendar may be more sophisticated.
• The date of Valerii and Agathon's child is speculated, assuming that the Cylon agents share the same gestation period that humans do, and that the birth of their hybrid daughter is not premature.
• Later episodes in "Season 2.5" such as "Resurrection Ship, Part I" and "Epiphanies" state clearly that "Pegasus" and the episodes immediately following it take place six months after the Cylon Attack. Ron D. Moore did state that it took Tyrol "weeks" to construct the Blackbird and a large amount of time passes in this episode as a result. BattlestarWiki originally assumed this meant at most 2-4 weeks. However, the only plausible way that Pegasus and Resurrection Ship, Part I can take place six months after the attack is if "Flight of the Phoenix" actually lasted three months from beginning to end. Roslin was told in this episode that her cancer had accelerated, and she had only one month to live. As Cally's "welcome back" party happened earlier in the episode, when she was released from the brig around Day 86, a considerable period of time (several weeks at least) pass between these two scenes.