Talk:Saul Tigh/Archive 1

Age?

The profile states that he is in his "50s" and the article says that he is

"A veteran in his mid-40s to early 50s"

In the commentary for Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down, Ron Moore states that Adama is younger than Tigh, and in addition to this, the fact that the Cylon War took place 40 years ago would obviously mean that he's probably not in his 50s, and definitely not in his mid-40s. Unless someone can argue against it, I'm changing these portions of the article. --Palpatine 22:26, 26 October 2005 (EDT)

We're probalby going to get around to removing age information from most of the character articles soon. See Battlestar Wiki talk:Citation Jihad. --Peter Farago 00:31, 27 October 2005 (EDT)

Even after completely discounting Adama's supposed age of 61 as a reference point, it's still reasonable to assume that both of them are in their 60s, due to reasons I already went into. --Palpatine 23:49, 27 October 2005 (EDT)

Well. Remember that the war lasted for about 12 years (the Articles of Colonization were signed 52 years ago, which Moore says is coincident with the outbreak of hostilities, the war explicitly ended 40 years ago). If we guess that the age to enlist in the colonial military is 18, and Adama enlisted at the start, that would make him at most 70. If Tigh enlisted in the war's last year, that would make him at least 58.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what we can say with much certainty. --Peter Farago 05:26, 28 October 2005 (EDT)

It might be asserted that joinin' age is lower in the Colonies. Is it not 16 in some European nations? I could be wrong. Of course, heck, the lifespans of Colonials could be vastly different from ours. They drive space ships routinely. They have FLT drives. Surely they have some medical technologies that we don't. Maybe they just live longer. This has no basis whatsoever on anything seen on screen, but it's possible, which means that any guesses we make of age based on the actors' appearences is fairly irrelevant. Of course... 70 would be about right for retiring, wouldn't it? But if Tigh is older, why hadn't he retired already? Or was Adama getting an early retirement? In which case, is 70 an early retirement? That might speak to Colonial life expectancy. Anyway... most of that is just rambling. --Day 14:23, 28 October 2005 (EDT)

Colonial military age is up to debate as Day stated, but we don't have to guess about when Adama joined the military. Moore also said in the same commentary I already referenced that he joined as a pilot in the last days of the war, which we can say with certainty was approximately 40 years ago. Tigh was also specifically said to have been slightly older than, and had seen more combat than Adama. Adding all of this together, we still come to the conclusion that both of them are most likely in their 60s. 10 years is a pretty safe margin of error. --Palpatine 02:09, 29 October 2005 (EDT)

I'll have to double check that. It seems odd for Saul to refer to Bill as "the old man" if he's not at least a few years younger. Another interesting question - in our military, there's usually a provision for forced retirement if you get passed over for promotion for enough years. Does anyone know more about that? --Peter Farago 14:41, 29 October 2005 (EDT)

My main problem with age (per recent edits) is the lack of consistency between bios. We may be able to get Tigh's down to within a few years, but it's still awfully sloppy, and other pages aren't much better. My edits were based on this thread (now that Peter located it for me). But let consensus rule...calculating ages aren't my specialty. --Spencerian 00:27, 20 January 2006 (EST)

Rating

According to a deleted scene on the season 2 dvds, Tigh was a petty officer, an assistant gunner's mate, and still a teenager when his ship got boarded. This took place very early in the war and Tigh was still a teenager (more like Cally in age than Tyrol). Also, in the last week of the war, Adama was serving on the Galactica when it was boarded and the Cylons used the same tactics as in Valley of Darkness. Adama told Tigh what happened over a drink and this is how Tigh knew what was happening. In the boarding he was in, he was assigned to guard the ship's magazines. I'll add stuff to the main page later, just wanted to get y'alls opinion on this. It's late.--Talos 00:53, 27 December 2005 (EST)

Ricimer and I had an extended conversation about this on Talk:Cylon War which you may wish to refer to. --Peter Farago 01:22, 27 December 2005 (EST)

Thanks, I had missed that. It was just something I noticed while watching my new dvds yesterday. --Talos 11:38, 27 December 2005 (EST)

Picture?

I'm all for changing the pictures in the template to the promotional thing if the one we had was only so-so, but I really liked Tigh's picture, so... Why go and change them systematically? Anyone else find this somewhat rash? --Day 22:27, 28 December 2005 (EST)

I changed the character bio photo for consistency with many of the character bios elsewhere that started to use their promo pics. This was completely arbitrary, so if the collective says to use another picture, please do so. I think I was also trying to save it from the Island of Misfit Images, I think. --Spencerian 21:01, 23 January 2006 (EST)

One of them will be a misfit either way (unless we find a place for the other). But I appreciate people looking at and adopting images though... --Steelviper 22:19, 23 January 2006 (EST)

I think consistancy is well and good, but I think consistantly cool photos are better than consistantly "promo" photos. And if we decided to use promo stuff, we'd have to be inconsistant for the more minor characters. --Day 12:17, 24 January 2006 (EST)

I concur. Consistantly cool is better than consistantly "promo". Although, in the name of consistancy I wonder if it might be a good idea to establish guidelines on the type of shots we're looking for (on the character project maybe?). Personally, I look for a good 8x10 head and shoulders shot that's at least two hundred pixels wide, that doesn't have any other characters significantly in the shot (to avoid confusion). While a promo standard could be established ("use the promo shot if you've got it"), I think the show is capable of producing shots that are more representative of "the character", and cooler. Also, a character shot that illustrates/represents something in the bio or description might have more value than "actor posing for a promo shot". The promo shots can look a look a lot more polished sometimes, but with the advent of the DVD release and some of the high-resolution captures that are taken today, I think they may be obsolete. --Steelviper 12:53, 24 January 2006 (EST)

Images

I feel like we may be going a bit over-board on the number of pics on this page. I've a high-speed connection, but I don't want to alienate dial-up users and I don't want to angery any lawyers by skirting too close to "fair use". If I had to get rid of one, I'd say delete the (very dark) pic near the top with the "If the crew doesn't hate the XO..." quote. It's not a very quality shot.

Secondarily, I feel like the shot of Boomer and Tigh under "Tigh in Command" is huge. It also appears on the Scattered page, I think it should be replaced with the much-less-tall image:Scattered-Tigh.jpg. Now, I may be a bit biased towards that one because I uploaded it, but I also think it displays wonderfully Tigh's overwhelmed feeling upon taking command. What do others think? --Day 16:02, 20 January 2006 (EST)

• I think someone needs to get a screencap in Scar when Tigh has a really stupid grin on his face while Lt. Thrace walks up to Kat near the end. I might do it when I have a chance, but I don't feel like it right now.--Deadlygopher 02:25, 4 February 2006 (EST)

Occupation and Resistance

Since we will probably be adding this section to a lot of characters, is "Occupation and Resistance" OK? --FrankieG 18:13, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

I find this acceptable. What does everyone else have to say? -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 18:21, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

Sounds good to me. --Talos 20:31, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

Call Sign

I don't know if it is just being skipped over or because it has never been mentioned, but since he did have a run as a Viper Pilot there seems to be no call sign for it. Does anyone know if there is information available as to his call sign? I question this because he is the only person known as a viper pilot who does not have their call sign name. I would recommend that it be added in the sub-profile "Call Sign: Unknown." Even Admiral Adama has his displayed. Thoughts? --AJFederation 15:55, 11 September 2006 (CDT)

AJ, in response to your question, Tigh's call sign has never been mentioned. So we haven't added it. As for saying "Call Sign:Unknown" in the data box, we don't fill out forms in the databox with things such as unknown. If it is unknown, then the field is left blank and therefore undefined, so as to not clutter the infobox with "unknown"s for things we don't know about. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 16:08, 11 September 2006 (CDT)

Perhpas we should add this to the BW:OC page? --Madbrood 05:08, 27 September 2006 (CDT)

Rank

Clearly he is a Colonel while serving aboard the Galactica. I wonder, however, if he should not have been promoted to General at the after the murder of Fisk (Pegasus Commander who took over after Adm Cain). I am a little fuzzy as to the exact ranking structure for the marines. However, if Tigh is Colonel over the marines on the Galactica and there is no Colonel on the Pegasus does it not make the most sense that he would be promoted to General in the same way that Adama was promoted to Admiral? Bstone 00:09, 27 September 2006 (CDT)

The rank structure in Galactica is not the same as modern day militaries. "Colonel" is a rank in the fleet, roughly analogous to Captain in the US Navy. The rank structure in BSG has naval and army/airforce ranks mixed in. See Military Ranks (RDM) for further info. So, in short, no- Tigh should not have been promoted to "General", since that's not a rank in the BSG universe. "Colonel" is the rank generally held by a ship's Executive Officer. --Madbrood 05:06, 27 September 2006 (CDT)

This makes much more sense. My only remaining questions is why was Lee Adama only a major when Adm Adama placed him on the Pegasus? Should not his position be Col for the role he was playing? Bstone 12:44, 27 September 2006 (CDT)

Not necessarily. Even today, a vessel's master does not need to hold the rank of "Captain" (though he or she will still be called that). By the same token, an Executive Officer does not need to be a Colonel. Think of it this way- most XO's in today's navies hold the rank of Commander or equivalent, while the CO is a Captain. However, this is not set in stone. A CO may be a Lieutenant Commander, and their XO a Lieutenant. The reason I said that the XO was generally a Colonel is because we've seen two XO's on screen who both held the rank- that doesn't mean that every XO in the Fleet is a Colonel. Does that make sense? --Madbrood 12:54, 27 September 2006 (CDT)

As above. Tigh isn't a Marine just because he has a modern Army/Marine rank. He's in Colonial Fleet like Adama, wears a CF uniform and the next rank for him would be Commander. For NCOs and enlisted the Marines use the same ranks as today. The excact structure of their officer ranks is unknown.--Serenity 05:25, 27 September 2006 (CDT)

Re-imagined Series definition: Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Re-imagined Series definition: Battlestar Group ^{(TRS: "Water")}. It also doubles as an acronym for the television series itself.

Re-imagined Series definition: Commanding Officer; e.g. William Adama

Re-imagined Series definition: Colonial Fleet ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}