Alex Quartararo

Alex Quartararo
Name
Age
Colony
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Alex Quartararo
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Crashdown
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	33
Death	KIA on Kobol (Fragged)
Parents
Siblings
Children
Marital Status	Relationship with Ensign Davis
Family Tree	View
Role	Raptor ECO
Rank	Lieutenant, J.G.
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Samuel Witwer
Alex Quartararo is a Cylon
Alex Quartararo is a Final Five Cylon
Alex Quartararo is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Alex Quartararo is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Alex Quartararo]]

Alex Quartararo, known popularly by his callsign, "Crashdown" (or just "Crash"), is the Raptor ECO who replaces Karl "Helo" Agathon (33) after Sharon Valerii reluctantly leaves Helo behind on Cylon-occupied Caprica at his request (Miniseries).

Crashdown aids in the discovery of a fresh water source for The Fleet (Water), a Cylon-held tylium mine (The Hand of God), and the planet Kobol (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

Despite Lt. Valerii's initial misgivings of him (she referred to him as a "refugee from Triton", which strongly suggests that he escaped the destruction of the battlestar Triton rather than a city or colony), Crashdown is a loyal officer. His actions include the defense of Lt. Valerii to Sgt. Hadrian prior to Valerii's being taken away for questioning (Litmus).

Crashdown is also the object of Ensign Davis's affections (The Hand of God, Colonial Day).

Events on Kobol

After Valerii attempts suicide, Crashdown accompanies a mission to investigate Kobol, which meets with disastrous results. A Cylon basestar and Cylon Raiders had already taken position above the planet, causing the destruction of one Raptor, the retreat of another and damage to Crashdown's Raptor. He pilots Raptor 1 after his pilot is killed, crash-landing on Kobol near the ruins of the Opera House (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

When sonic booms are heard, presumably coming from a Cylon ship, Crashdown leads the team away from a likely approach by Cylon Centurions. However, he hurries his team excessively to the point where they abandon most of their critical survival supplies, leaving Socinus, critically injured in the Raptor crash, without needed medicine. Crashdown orders Tarn, Galen Tyrol and Cally to return to the crash site to retrieve the needed medicine. This ill-advised move results in Tarn's death from Centurion gunfire, and later the death of Socinus, as the retrieved medicine could not treat his injuries in time. All that the medic kit could do is to give Socinus an euthanization of morpha in lieu of suffering an agonizing death.

Crashdown's inexperience reemerges again as he attempts to organize his team through textbook field exercises to destroy a missile battery that several Centurions have constructed from the remains of their Heavy Raider to destroy any colonial SAR parties. The parameters of the operation change when the Centurions shift their deployment, providing greater Cylon defense at the missile launcher, and when the DRADIS guidance dish is left relatively unprotected. Crashdown assigns Cally the likely-suicidal task of creating a diversion while the remaining team try to destroy the missile battery.

Although Galen Tyrol insists that destroying the missiles' DRADIS guidance dish would accomplish their mission and prevent the shooting down of the SAR operation, Crashdown's inexperience and by-the-book insistence on following his original plan blinds him to alternatives that would greatly increase his team's survival chances.

As the SAR Raptor's sonic booms announces their imminent arrival, Crashdown hastily orders Cally to begin the operation, but she is frozen in fear and refuses to move. Becoming increasingly irritated and irrational, Crashdown aims his sidearm at Cally's head and threatens to kill her if she does not follow orders. Chief Tyrol aims his sidearm at Crashdown, asking him to stand down while Crashdown counts to three in a final effort to move Cally along.

Before the final number is counted, Gaius Baltar shoots Crashdown in the back, likely severing his spinal cord or piercing his heart, killing him instantly.

After their rescue by the SAR team, both Baltar and Tyrol lie to Captain Lee Adama, claiming that Crashdown died a hero in battle (Fragged).

Lt. Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson succeeds Crashdown as Lt. Valerii's ECO for her mission to destroy the basestar over Kobol (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).

Notes

• Crashdown is possibly named for the "Crashdown Café" from Ron Moore's previous series, Roswell (dealing with supposed alien survivors of the crash).
• According to actor Samuel Witwer in Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion, David Eick told Witwer to play Crashdown with a personality like Private Hudson ("Game over, man!") from the movie Aliens.
• His real name was never stated on screen, but confirmed to be Alex Quartararo by Bradley Thompson. The name of the character appears on a playing card in the Battlestar Galactica Collectable Card Game.

Sources for this page may be located at: Sources:Alex Quartararo