The Captain's Hand

"The Captain's Hand" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
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Overview

When two Raptors go missing after a training mission, new Pegasus commander Barry Garner challenges Admiral Adama's orders by sending his battlestar directly into the rescue zone — and a trap.

Summary

• Two Raptors begin a training mission outside Pegasus, which is near a binary star that causes DRADIS and communications interference. Shortly after, contact with the Raptors is lost.

• On Galactica, Chief Tyrol and the deck crew are in the process of unloading containers, Chief Tyrol finds a pregnant teenager inside who asks for Dr. Cottle.

• Lee Adama, now promoted to Major, arrives as acting XO on the battlestar Pegasus, where he runs into Kara Thrace. Both report to Commander Garner in Pegasus' CIC. Garner argues with now-Captain Thrace over the disappearance of the Raptors.

• Commander Garner and Major Adama talk in private about the discipline on Pegasus. Garner thinks that Starbuck is a huge part of the problem and that the virtues learned in his experience as an engineer would do the ship some good.

• On Colonial One, President Roslin is hounded by her new aide, Tory Foster, about preparing for the coming election. Elsewhere, Tom Zarek discusses the idea of presidency. He concedes he's not able to garner support, but is willing to support someone more popular: Dr. Baltar.

• Back on Galactica, Dr. Cottle & Admiral Adama discuss the fate of the young woman found in the container, Rya Kibby. Kibby mentions the fact that she doesn't want to keep the baby, but Admiral Adama (on request from the Gemenese delegate) is intent on sending her back to her family. Dr. Cottle suggests that she request asylum aboard Galactica.

• News of Rya Kibby's asylum request raises a stir throughout the Fleet. President Roslin discusses the issue with Admiral Adama, Tory Foster, and Delegate Sarah Porter from Gemenon. Delegate Porter states that abortion is a obscenity and demands that the girl be returned to her parents. Afterwards, President Roslin mentions she's not willing to even consider the idea of abortion in general, having fought for a woman's right to control her body for her entire career, but Admiral Adama reminds her that their population must increase in order to survive.

• While reviewing the last transmissions from the Raptors, Starbuck discovers the reason for the missing Raptors may be that they responded to a distress call. She attempts to bring this up with Commander Garner, who flatly rejects the theory. Additional search parties learn of the distress call that lured the first Raptors away. Commander Garner decides to start preparing the Pegasus for a Jump.

• Over wireless, Commander Garner, Major Adama, and Admiral Adama discuss the missing Raptor situation. Commander Garner feels that Pegasus should Jump to bring home the missing crews and ships, while the Admiral and Major believe it may be a trap and orders a 5-Raptor recon mission to ascertain the training mission's fate.

• Garner orders a Jump despite Admiral Adama's orders. SAR Raptors at the rescue site find both Raptors, but the crews are dead. At that moment, three basestars ambush Pegasus with conventional and nuclear missile barrages seconds after their arrival.

• Pegasus' FTL drive is disabled. Garner attempts to determine the FTL failure's cause from CIC., but the Engineering crew are confused from the attack. Commander Garner heads down to Engineering to assess the damage, and transfers command of Pegasus to Major Adama. Adama orders Pegasus to target one of the Basestars with its forward batteries, severely damaging the basestar and buying them more time.

• Garner's successful repair of their FTL system allows Pegasus to escape. Commander Garner, however, dies in the process due to lack of oxygen.

• In Admiral Adama's quarters, the Admiral and Major Adama review the reports from the incident on Pegasus. After discussing the late Pegasus commander, the Admiral offers his son the job of commanding Pegasus, along with a promotion to Commander.

• Gaius Baltar proclaims his candidacy for President of the Colonies in the Presidential election in the midst of a press conference called by President Roslin regarding abortion in the Fleet.

Questions

• Would Adama allow Dr. Cottle to be arrested? From the episode, he is of the opinion that he would do what is necessary.
  • Given that Cottle is the only real doctor left in the fleet, Adama may be hesitant to take such an action.
    • This idea is supported by Cottle's behavior toward officers: Adama is the only one to whom he shows even marginal respect.
  • Are there no doctors on Pegasus? If Cain had a large civilian fleet to recruit from, it is likely that she would have drafted some doctors into service.
• Was Baltar's report real, or was it just invented to produce the opportunity to drive his wedge?
  • With the constant Cylon attacks to the Fleet (barring the unexpected return of Pegasus) the population is almost always declining, as noted by Admiral Adama.
• Who will replace Baltar as Roslin's Vice President?
  • Can Roslin actually pick another Vice President, under Colonial law, if Baltar refuses to resign? One of the reporters at the end actually directly asked if Baltar would remain as Vice President. Perhaps Roslin cannot forcibly remove Baltar from his office just because he's running against her.
    • If Colonial law works similarly to American political protocol, Baltar was elected in his own right. For example, George Bush cannot force Dick Cheney to resign, only Mr. Cheney himself can elect to resign. Interestingly, 204 years ago, US President John Adams faced a similar situation: His own Vice-President, Thomas Jefferson, plotted Adams' political downfall.
• How will Zarek position himself in the Baltar campaign?
  • It is likely that Zarek hopes to become Vice President himself.
    • Does Zarek plan to have Baltar killed, as per his plan in "Colonial Day"?
      • Zarek actually seems willing to make a beneficial alliance with Baltar, which Roslin would never agree to.
      • Baltar may be a political novice but he's no fool; he would spot that a mile away. In fact, Baltar specifically asks Zarek what he (Zarek) would want in return. Zarek gave a diplomatic answer rather than openly ask for the VP slot.
• Will Tigh accept the fact that Lee Adama now outranks him and has command of a ship? Or does Saul have no interest in command and already told Admiral Adama that before the posting was offered to Lee?
  • As mentioned in "Scattered," Col. Tigh was never really interested in commanding a battlestar.
• What will happen to Rya now that she has been granted asylum on Galactica?
• Why was Lee promoted straight from Major to Commander? Can a Colonel not be placed in command of a battlestar for long-term purposes?
  • No. Colonel Jack Fisk was promoted to Commander of Pegasus before his death. It appears to be something of a rank nomenclature formality, as Garner was promoted up from being head of engineering. Compare to the established terminology convention on Star Trek for always referring to the commanding officer of a ship as "Captain", even if that officer does not hold that specific rank.
    • The use of "captain" is done in real life as well. In the US Navy, a person in the command of a vessel is referred to as "Captain" even if his actual rank is Lieutenant Commander, Ensign or even if he/she is a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO).
• Had Garner been serving as XO to Pegasus's previous commander, the late Jack Fisk?
• Does the fact that the Cylons had such a large force waiting to ambush Pegasus indicate that they have a new Resurrection Ship in place?
  • Given that there were three basestars in wait, it is more likely that the Cylons opted on surprise and sheer numbers to succeed. Still, Pegasus caused one basestar to retreat, despite being outnumbered. It is likely that the lack of a Resurrection Ship resulted in the basestar's retreat.
  • Before, the Cylons were confident in making a frontal assault on a battlestar with a single basestar, in "Scattered", etc. They are markedly less confident now.
• How does the double layer flight pod system on Pegasus operate? Just before the battlestar jumps away from the ambush, there is a short sequence of Vipers returning to the ship that shows them landing on two distinct levels of the flight pod, with Vipers landing on the lower level being upside down with respect to Pegasus. Both the Colonials and Cylons obviously have some form of artificial gravity on their spacecraft, so this explains why such an arrangement is possible.
  • For more on the use of artificial gravity, see the article, Science in the Re-imagined Series.
• How could abortion be legal and established throughout the colonies despite being against the religious views of at least one planet? Was it introduced only recently?
  • Abortion may have been illegal or tightly-curtailed on that one planet. How much power did the Colonial political structure give to individual planets or smaller geographic areas?
    • On present day Earth, there are several countries which have legalized abortion despite having internal regions/cultural subgroups which frown upon it. The Twelve Colonies were ruled by a federal system, not a loose confederation adhering to principles of States' Rights, etc.; the majority view in the federal government could probably enforce such laws on member worlds.
• What kind of equipment is available to fix small breaches such as the one in the Pegasus Engine room?
  • Helo uses a hand-held pressure pad to seal a minor breach in the damaged Raptor during the Miniseries right after he receives his leg wound. Would such a device not help here?
    • Maybe not all hull breaches are small enough to fix that way.
    • There may not have been time to patch it, the ship was under heavy fire and could be destroyed at any moment; Restoring the FTL drive was the priority.
• Now that Lee Adama is commanding Pegasus, who does he have for an XO since it is apparent both battlestars are short field grade officers? Does he elevate Stinger to XO, or does he bring someone from Galactica?

Analysis

• When Baltar announces his candidacy for the Presidency, Number Six applauds with a slow clap. This action runs in parallel to how then-Commander William Adama led the entire crew in a long, drawn-out slow clap in respect of President Roslin when she was re-instated to her office in "Home, Part II".
• Survivor count is decremented by six from "Sacrifice", but seven people died in that episode - terrorists Sesha Abinell, Vinson, Page and Chu, two unnamed marines, and civilian Billy Keikeya. At least one birth must have taken place to offset the population count between the two episodes.
• Based on the Colonial One whiteboard seen toward the end of the episode, only five people died as a result of the ambush on Pegasus: Richard "Buster" Bayer, Lyla "Shark" Ellway, the unnamed crew of Raptor 314, and Commander Barry Garner.
  • This casualty figure is conspicuously low, considering that Galactica lost 85 crewmen as the result of a hit by a single nuclear missile in the miniseries, while Pegasus is hit with no less than three in this episode.
  • On the other hand, it is at least consistent with the surprisingly low number of casualties incurred in the Battle of the Resurrection Ship, and may indicate that the hull armor on Pegasus is significantly stronger than on Galactica, which has many conspicuously bare structural ribs.
  • A large number of the casualties Galactica incurred were due to the firefighting crews failure to use breathing gear when Tigh ordered the flight pod vented. However, based on dialogue in this episode, it appears that the Pegasus firefighting teams did take this precaution.
• It seems clear now that the Cylons are again shadowing the fleet. They are doing so accurately enough to vector three basestars onto Pegasus. Why do they not attack the fleet itself? The trap for Pegasus was somewhat laborious. This returns us to theories that the Cylons want the fleet to survive, even with Galactica, but that the arrival of Pegasus throws some of their calculations out.
  • The Cylons never stopped shadowing the Fleet, per "Scar" etc. They were just afraid to engage because the Resurrection Ship was destroyed. In the past, one Basestar was willing to simply wade into Galactica and its Vipers, but now they're resorted to both a sneak attack/trap, and ganging up on a battlestar using superior numbers. The Cylons set up the trap, so they knew where to jump and that's why it was so accurate. In no way does this support a theory that the Cylons want the Fleet to survive, and further, Ron Moore has repeatedly stated that the Cylons aren't doing that and truly want to destroy the Fleet (at least, before the season 2 finale).
• In the course of this episode's timeline, Lee Adama rises from the rank of Captain (CAG of Galactica) to Major (No details are given on that posting except Adama was assigned to Pegasus), to Commander and CO of Pegasus in the wake of Commander Barry Garner's death saving his ship.
  • Major Adama's duty was intended as a temporary stint as Pegasus acting XO, to familiarize himself with the duties of a senior officer. In the opening scene, he tells Anastasia Dualla that he expects to return to Galactica "in a couple of weeks".
• Garner's decision to mount a rescue operation in contravention of his commanding officer's orders is an explicit parallel to "Pegasus", down to the choice of words:

Adama: "I'm getting my men."

Garner: "I'm going to get our men."

• Kara Thrace's posting is finally clarified in this episode: she is now serving as CAG on Galactica.
  • She was transferred to Pegasus in "Pegasus" and then promoted to that ship's CAG over Cole "Stinger" Taylor in "Resurrection Ship, Part I". In "Epiphanies", it is made clear that Lee Adama regained his posting as Galactica's CAG. In "Epiphanies", Thrace is seen piloting one of Galactica's Mk. II Vipers with Kat; in "Scar" she is serving on Galactica, and appears to have assumed the majority of Adama's responsibilities as CAG, although she still takes orders from him.
  • During this episode it's mentioned that she's only been on board Pegasus for four days before getting thrown in the brig: probably referring to the time she spent away on Galactica in "Scar" and in the Fleet on leave in "Sacrifice".
• Although there's no clear evidence of this, it's nice to imagine that when Admiral Adama promoted his son to Commander, he gave Lee his old Commander rank insignia.

Notes

• Timeline-wise, Baltar says that he made an initial projection of the fleet's population "over seven months ago". This would have been before the arrival of Pegasus, since he said he factored in the arrival of her crew subsequently.
• Baltar states that he added the crew of the Pegasus into his calculations, with the result of the end of the human race within 18 years at current attrition rates.
• It has been "almost a month" since Apollo was shot in "Sacrifice".
• The recap at the beginning of this episode includes two scenes that did not actually appear in any previous episode, but were constructed by redubbing existing footage.
  • The scene where Colonel Tigh and Admiral Adama discuss Garner's promotion is constructed from the scene in "Black Market" when Adama and Tigh are telling Apollo to go to Pegasus on the hangar deck. The scene has been cleverly redubbed, so that Adama is saying entirely new lines when the camera is pointed at Tigh (not at Adama's face), and then Tigh says new lines when the camera is pointed at Adama.
  • The same technique is used when Baltar is talking to Gina: when the camera is pointed at Baltar, we hear Gina saying "You must betray Roslin and run for President in the upcoming election", but this was never heard in the aired version of "Epiphanies".
• From the podcast, it seems that the "previously" scene (above) was actually meant for "Black Market", but the original hangar deck scene had to be heavily edited due to the legal complications surrounding Commander Barry Garner's name. The character was originally named "Barry Trammel", but at the last minute it had to be changed for legal reasons when the production team found that there was a real person with that name.
• Capt. Cole "Stinger" Taylor is still onboard Pegasus, mentioned by Capt. Thrace as being in the brig for insubordination.
• The adjectival form of "Gemenon" is "Gemenese".
• Under Gemenese law, minors are the "property" of their parents.
• Mercury class battlestars do not need to retract their flight pods prior to a jump, unlike the Galactica type.
• The coolant pressure gauges on Pegasus measure in PSI, presumably Pound-force per square inch. This is consistent with the use of customary units on the Viper Mk. II's altimeter, seen in "Act of Contrition".
• This is the fourth episode of the season in which Grace Park has not appeared as Sharon Valerii.
• Writer Jeff Vlaming references Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" when he has Laura Roslin tell Quorum of Twelve delegate Sarah Porter, "you have your pound of flesh".
• Sharon warned Admiral Adama in the previous episode, "Sacrifice", that the Cylons might try to lay ambushes near some pulsar stars ahead of their position, due to DRADIS interference.
• Based on the promo images for the episodes, it appears that in a deleted scene, Rya tried to kill herself by overdosing on pills when she was told she couldn't have an abortion, and she had to be resuscitated.
• This episode had the lowest Nielsen Ratings figure that an episode of the Re-Imagined Series ever received, although the episode was well-received by critics and fans; this is possibly the backlash from what Ron Moore himself feels were the less desirable episodes "Black Market" and "Sacrifice".

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Following the Cylon ambush of Pegasus and the death of Commander Garner

Admiral Adama: In your opinion, off the record, what was Garner's flaw?

Major Lee Adama: He was used to working with machines. Command is about people.

Admiral Adama: Remember that, as you take command of "The Beast" (Pegasus). Garner was my decision; His failures, my responsibility. Don't let me fail a second time. Congratulations, Commander.

• Responding to President Roslin's decision to criminalize abortion:

Vice-President Baltar: It is true in the light of recent events, the President may have lost support in some quarters. I would ask the people to understand that if this is an extreme decision, we live in extreme times. The decision has been made with good faith. I, however, cannot with good conscience support it. I am so sorry, Madame President, but the Cylon have no understanding the meaning of the word "freedom". How could they? They're programmed...machines. Every time you take away one of our freedoms, every time we restrict or curtail one of our rights, we become one step closer to being like them. As the Vice-President, I am bound to follow the administration's lead; As President, I should have no such strictures. Given the current situation, I'm afraid that I have no alternative but to announce that I am, as of now, a candidate for the Presidency.

Guest Stars

• John Heard as Commander Barry Garner
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Nicki Clyne as Specialist Cally
• Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant Hoshi
• Christian Tessier as Tucker "Duck" Clellan
• Amber Rothwell as Rya Kibby
• Kavan Smith as Lt. Richard "Buster" Bayer
• Stephanie von Pfetten as Cpt. Marcia "Showboat" Case
• Patricia Idlette as Sarah Porter
• Aaron Pearl as Ensign Abel Thornton
• Christina Schild as Playa Palacios
• Tammy Hui as ECO Lyla "Shark" Ellway
• James Bell as Lt. Steve "Red Devil" Fleer
• Kurt Max Runte as Ensign Charles Bellamy
• Kimani Ray Smith as Pegasus Sergeant