Hero

"Hero" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 8
Writer(s)	David Eick
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	Carl Lumbly
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	2006-11-17
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	41,421 survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
A Measure of Salvation	Hero	Unfinished Business
Related Information
Official Summary
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Overview

A figure from Adama's past returns to haunt him. His return raises questions about why the Cylons launched their initial attack against the Twelve Colonies.

Summary

On Galactica

• Galactica detects three Raiders. Much to the surpise of the CIC crew, two Raiders are pursuing a third Raider, damaged by Cylon gunfire. Starbuck and Kat are dispatched. After destroying the pursuing Raiders, they go after the third.
• In CIC, Admiral Adama orders Kat and Starbuck to escort the Raider to Galactica, after hearing, from the Raider, a familiar human voice and callsign: Bulldog.
• In the hangar bay, Adama and the party are surprised that a human has exited the Raider. A visibly weak Daniel Novacek salutes Adama; Adama returns the salute.
• Over a meal (noodles eaten with chopsticks) Adama asks Novachek how he escaped. He relates a story of plague on the basestar and escaping after killing a Number Three with a blow to the nose delivered through the cell bars.
• Bulldog is debriefed by the President with Adama present, where they tell a (decidedly shaky) story of a mining facility too close to the Armistice Line. When the briefing ends, Roslin immediately questions Adama's story. He replies that it is "his mess" and that he resolve it. After she leaves, Adama kicks over a table in frustration.
• Novachek sees Saul Tigh in his quarters shortly after Adama talks to him. Tigh informs Novacek that Adama (aboard battlestar Valkyrie) ordered Novachek shot down to get rid of evidence of their incursion into Cylon space.
• Meanwhile, Adama confesses the mission's actual specifics to his son, Lee, and his belief that he provoked the Cylon attacks on the Colonies. Aghast at first, Lee Adama tries to console his father, blaming the Fleet Admiralty, saying that he was "only one man." Adama responds, "It only takes one."
• Kara Thrace reviews their Viper's gun film from the fight with the Cylon Raiders and realizes that the Cylons were deliberately missing their target, letting Bulldog get away. She goes to Saul Tigh with this information, who deduces that Bulldog was sent there by the Cylons to kill the admiral.
• Tigh finds Novacek in the process of killing Adama and stops him. Bulldog has flashbacks to being let out of his cell.
• Later, Adama presents his resignation to Roslin. Bemused, she refuses to accept it, and points out that the Admiralty may have been trying to provoke a war, and that he cannot shoulder the entire responsiblity for the holocaust on his shoulders. She then tells him that his penance will be to accept a Medal of Distinction for his long years of service, and to be a hero, a trait badly needed for the Fleet's morale.
• After sending Novacek off to a berthing on another ship with a uniform, Tigh and Adama sit down for a drink in the admiral's quarters to discuss what happened to Ellen Tigh on New Caprica.

On a basestar

• In a dream, Three is trying to avoid marines on Galactica. The marines corner her against a hatch labelled "End of Line." The marines raise their weapons and Three tells them to shoot.
• As the shots go off, Three wakes up in bed with Baltar and Caprica-Six. She has apparently been having a sexual relationship with Baltar and possibly Six as well.
• In the Cylon control room, Caprica-Six questions Three about her bad dreams. Caprica Six asks if the dreams are about Baltar. Three indicates otherwise, but does not elaborate.
• Three gives a Cylon Centurion orders to shoot her, and then delete any information regarding the incident. The Centurion obeys and shoots her in the head. In the moments before she is downloaded, she experiences images from her dream mixed in with memories from New Caprica and other more cryptic scenes.
• Three awakes in a Cylon rebirthing tank where a worried Caprica-Six tries to help her recover. Three tells her, "There's something beautiful, miraculous between life and death."

Questions

• Were the Admiralty's fears valid, or was the Cylon force that destroyed the Colonies built up just since that mission?
• Did Bulldog know of or see other human prisoners during his three years of captivity?
• How was Bulldog directed to the precise location of the fleet?
• What class of battlestar does Valkyrie belong to?
• Why would a "Stealth Ship" in enemy territory break radio silence?
• Was Valkyrie's mission the only one the admiralty undertook or were there others?
• Was Laura Roslin right in speculating that the admiralty might have sent Valkyrie in order to provoke a war?
• Why did the Cylons have one craft jump in and fire on the stealth star and then jump out, then sending two more ships to finish the attack?
• Who were the five white-robed figures Three saw in her vision before downloading? Are they related to the Original Series's Beings of Light? Could they represent the mysterious "Final Five" Cylons?
• Were the Cylons on the baseship where Bulldog was held actually sick?
• Does Bulldog have information regarding the other humanoid Cylon models that nothing is known of?
• How did Baltar's status change from torturee in "A Measure of Salvation" to an apparent sexual relationship with Caprica Six and Number Three?
• Was Adama's whole command staff transferred from the Valkyrie to Galactica after the failure of the recon mission?
• Why did Number three go through all the trouble to program the Centurion to erase its memory once it shot her? Was she afraid of being 'boxed' by the other Cylons for reasons of insanity or because it would do some sort of damage on the Centurion once its processed the kill?
• If Adama was truly responsible for the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, was this why the Cylons assigned numerous Cylon agents to it (Sharon Valerii and Number Five)?
• If the flashback where Bulldog kills a copy of Number Three is true, then does that mean that the virus first shown in "A Measure of Salvation" is even more widespread amongst the Cylons?

Analysis

• Adama and Roslin know each other well enough by now to tell when the other is lying, or is not fooled by a lie, even when others around can't. Roslin has always been the better of the two in this ability, as early as revealing Adama's initial ruse about the location of Earth (Miniseries).
• At the end of the episode, Saul Tigh appears to be attempting to try and deal with his guilt over his wife, but he does not seem to want his job as XO back, at least not any time soon.
• Adama's feelings of guilt over his actions during Valkyrie's mission seem to shed new light on the motivation for his speech at Galactica's decomissioning ceremony at the begining of the series. Also, they explain his near-monomania with safeguarding and/or rescuing those under his command or protection.
• The Cylons seem to have been able to detect and destroy The Stealth Star that had only entered two kilometers into their space. This seems suspicious given the fact that they were unable to detect the Blackbird, presumably a far less sophisticated design. Either the Cylons had more advanced detection equipment on the Armistice Line, or they had advance knowledge of Bulldog's mission.
  • It is only speculation that the Blackbird's stealth capabilities were less effective than those of the Stealth Star. The reason that the Blackbird went undetected by the Cylons is that its hull, at Helo's suggestion, was made of carbon composite. There is no way of knowing whether or not this was true of the Stealth Star.
    • In addition, the Cylons near the Armistice Line would have known to look for stealth ships, as they probably suspected that the Colonial fleet would try to gain intel on Cylon military status. After the destruction of the colonies, it is unlikely that the Cylons believed that the Colonials were still in possession of any kind of stealth fighter and would not attempt to detect one.
    • The fact that the Cylons expected penetration by stealth ships suggests that they may have done their share of Armistice Line violation.
      • We know that the cylons violated the armistice line (assuming the treaty wasn't one-sided); there were cylon agents buzzing around the colonies at that time. The Colonial intent was to provoke the cylons; sending a stealth ship wouldn't do that. Notice that Bulldog had open comm channels and an active DRADIS during the sequence; this would have made the stealth ship visible to the Cylons. Presumably, they intended to be seen, but at the first sign of trouble, go silent.
  • Bulldog was communicating to the Valkyrie before being attacked. The Cylons may have been able to detect this radiation and fire at the source of it.
  • It is possible that the Stealth Star had a transponder beacon which allowed the Valkyrie to track and target it, whereas the Blackbird most likely did not have a transponder installed at time of it's first flight.
• Bulldog's story is even less believable given the fact that it took Kara Thrace several hours to gut a Raider and learn how to fly it. Granted, the Raider Kara captured was damaged, but it would still have taken Bulldog some time to adapt the raider for his own use.
  • As the episode implies that Bulldog was deliberately released by the Cylons in an effort to direct his anger towards Adama, it is possible that the Cylons allowed Bulldog to gain a working knowledge of the raider.
• Bulldog probably could have stolen a Heavy Raider, which unlike the light versions seems to have a crew compartment and perhaps piloting controls, but then the production crew couldn't have re-used the captured-Raider prop from "You Can't Go Home Again" on the flight deck set.
• Kara Thrace going to Tigh with her findings is an acknowledgment of their shared semi-pariah status and the connection that was shown in "Collaborators" for the first time.
• The last two scenes of "Hero" appear to have been edited to ensure that the final scene was with Adama and Tigh. Right after the celebration scene, Adama is seen giving Bulldog a new uniform, but Adama is wearing his everyday uniform. In the final scene with Tigh, Adama is wearing his dress grays from the celebration. It appears at the very least, the two scenes were in reverse order, meaning the episode originally ended with Adama giving Bulldog his new uniform.
• During her non-corporeal limbo between death and download, Three finds herself reliving a mismash of memories from her various lives, including her final moments during "Downloaded" before her death, her discovery of Hera on New Caprica ("Exodus, Part II"), and also a memory we do not know her to have experienced: the opera house revealed to Baltar by his internal Six during the final moments of "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II".
  • This sequence, as well as this episode as a whole, showcases a number of fundamental BSG leitmotivs that have had little to no exposure in their original form since the end of season one/beginning of season two. The sound, as well as the imagery, reminds us that we've seen the opera house before, and the associated musical themes will likely help elucidate the symbolism behind the two visions.
• Three's flashbacks after being shot by the centurion indicate that she is the same individual who was killed on Caprica by Caprica-Six in "Downloaded" and who found Hera in "Exodus, Part II". It is of course possible that some of these recollections are the result of memory-sharing rather than direct experience.
  • If she is the same Three that died on Caprica, that leaves the question how it can be that she didn't get the Opera House experience on her first death, even though she was stuck in limbo for thirty-six hours because of the massive casualties at the cafe in Downloaded. It is plausible that this Three wanted to die because she'd never experienced death before.
    • It is also plausible that God is only just now trying to tell her something. The opera house may act as a cue, a signal sent from God that facilitates reflection on one's own destiny at a pivotal point in their existence, when it is no longer acceptable to ignore their role in God's plan out of arrogance or inconvenience (Baltar, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II" ), or because it seems a contradiction of the identity they'd formed by refusing to question their fate (Three, from the final days of the Occupation through "Hero"). In both cases, the opera house is revealed to a soul straddling the line between life and death, both in a physical and spiritual sense, and it is perhaps this balance that can uniquely invoke the presence of God, and guide the chosen instruments towards their intended destiny.
      • It is interesting to note the central role Hera plays in both of the visions that bring us to the opera house.
• There's at least one other doctor of some kind in the fleet, because Cottle instructs Bulldog to report to him.
  • This doctor is probably a psychotherapist that specializes in some sort of mental trama issues. Considering that Bulldog was in captivity for such a long time, and his breakdown while attacking Adama, at the very least, Bulldog will need a counselor to help him work through all of the emotional and mental scars that he's endured. Cottle had already confirmed that Bulldog was generally well cared for, physically, by the Cylons.
• Based on the Raider's apparently staged attack, the Cylons appear to know the current location of the Fleet.
• It appears that the Admiralty transferred those directly involved with the mission to Galactica. This is supported by Gaeta made a statement during the miniseries about serving with Adama for three years (prior to the attack), as well as Tigh's comment saying that the mission, "wasn't exactly a boon to [Adama's] career."

Adama's Dossier

Laura Roslin reviews a dossier prepared for her by Billy on her first day aboard Galactica. It includes large photos of battlestar Galactica, a photograph of the CIC crew of Valkyrie, a (mostly illegible) certificate bearing Saul Tigh's name, and a cursory biography of William Adama, reproduced in full below:

Commander William Adama

• Born H5/21290 and raised on the colony of Caprica, in Qualai, a small coastal community
• Mother, Evelyn Adama, an accountant.
• Father, Joseph Adama, a prominent attorney who specialized in criminal defese and civil liberties.

Military Service

D6/21311 First commission, Battlestar Galactica, fighter squadron

E4/21312 Commendation for shooting down Cylon fighter in first combat mission.

D5/21314 Mustered out of service post-armistice

R6/21317 Served as Deck Hand in merchant fleet and as common […] aboard inter-colony tramp freighters

D1/21331 Recomissioned to Fleet

D6/21337 Major: Battlestar Atlantia

R8/21341 Executive Officer: Battlestar Columbia

C2/21345 Commander: Battlestar Valkyrie

C2/21348 Commander: Battlestar Galactica

This provides some interesting information. The fields in the format X#/##### appear to be dates, with the five-digit string following the solidus apparently corresponding to the year. This corroborates various points of information supplied thus far:

• Adama's father was named Joseph (Hand of God), and was a civil rights attorney ("Litmus", "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").
• In a scene cut from "Valley of Darkness", it is noted that Adama joined the fleet toward the end of the war, and was attached to Galactica as a fighter pilot.
• Adama served on Atlantia during his thousandth landing, which indicates that he was still a flight officer at that time (Act of Contrition). Given his rank of Major, he was likely the CAG on Atlantia.
• The date of the Armistice is correct at 42 years before the present, as stated in the Miniseries and accounting for the passage of slightly over two years since that time.

The following can be deduced from this document:

• This episode marks the 45th anniversary of Adama's commissioning, which puts it in the year 21356, and makes Adama 66 years old.
• Adama spent three years in between being mustered out and finding a job on a tramp freighter. We may speculate that it was during this time that his relationship with first wife Caroline deteriorated.
• Adama spent a total of 14 years serving in the merchant fleet.
• Adama met Tigh roughly 30 years ago (Torn). That would be 21326, which correctly puts it in the middle of Adama's merchant fleet service.
• Adama was a major by the time he arranged for Tigh to be reinstated in the fleet (Scattered), which means that at least six years passed in between Adama's recomissioning and Tigh's.
• Ronald Moore stated in his podcast for "Scattered" that the flashback scenes in that episode took place 20 years before that episode, or in 21334. In fact, they appear to span at least an eleven-year period between 21326 (Adama and Tigh's first meeting) to 21337 (Adama's promotion to Major).
• The first Colonial Day, marking the unification of the Colonies, was probably in 21302. The one celebrated in "Colonial Day" was the 52nd, and it is now two years later.

If the five-digit string following the solidus is in fact the year, as seems inescapable based on the above, the letter-digit sequence before it must indicate the position in the year. There are 260 unique letter-digit sequences of that format, which may indicate a shorter year in the Colonial calendar (a year of twenty-six ten-day weeks?) However, what has been revealed about Colonial timekeeping is too incomplete to draw any conclusions.

It is astonishing to learn that the Colonials have (or believe they have) over 21,000 years of recorded history. By comparison, Pythia was said to have recorded her prophecies 3,600 years ago (The Hand of God) and the exodus from Kobol took place just 2,000 years ago. On Earth, Human civilization is only about 6,000 years old.

Adama's resignation letter at the end of the episode appears to be dated in an entirely different format. It's difficult to read clearly, but it appears to be dated "27/89/9923".

Notes

• In Adama's flashback, the admirals are wearing their decorations on their day uniforms. This contrasts with most Colonial Fleet officers shown thus far, who only wear their decorations on their dress uniform sash.

• Both Gaius Baltar and Sharon Agathon appear in this episode, but neither has any lines.

• In Number Three's dream, the door at which she is shot by the marines is labeled "End of Line". As well as being a metaphor for death, this is a statement repeated often by the Cylon Hybrid.

• This episode shares some plot elements with the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "The Defector," written by RDM. Notably, it begins with a dramatic chase delivering a dubious ally into friendly hands that is later shown to be staged. Additionally, both episodes feature plots revolving around a contested border.

• Admiral William Adama names Major Lee Adama to succeed him as commander of Galactica in his resignation letter.

• The white figures briefly glimpsed by Number Three in her vision of the Opera House look very similar to the "Beings of Light" from the Original Series, particularly as they appeared in War of the Gods, Part II. They are seen in both this and that episode as figures in white hoods and robes with whited-out faces and black eyes.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Number Three: (to Caprica Six) "There's something beautiful, miraculous between life and death."

• Bulldog calls on Saul Tigh at Saul's quarters:

Tigh: So ... drink?

Bulldog: You have no idea!

Tigh (scowling, unseen): Yes, I do.

Official Statements

• A video blog gives an insight to this episode during filming.
• Bear McCreary discusses writing "Noavcek's Theme" on his web blog:

  In general, I only write thematic material for characters who matter in the grand scheme of the series, in hopes that the character will return at a later point in the story. In rare cases I make an exception in order to give a guest star a particularly resonant musical voice. For example, Bill Duke's Phelan from season two's Black Market required his own theme, since all the events of the episode led up to his eventual stand-off with Lee.

  Hero was obviously another such case. Novacek's mysterious past drives nearly every scene in the entire show, and it was clear he required his own theme as well.

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Captain Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Alessandro Juliani as Lt. Felix Gaeta
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Lucy Lawless as Number Three
• Carl Lumbly as Lt. Daniel Novacek
• Donnelly Rhodes as Doctor Cottle
• Matthew Bennett as Number Five
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Luciana Carro as Lt. Louanne "Kat" Katraine
• Barry Kennedy as Admiral Corman
• Tiffany Lyndall-Knight as Hybrid (credited)

Re-imagined Series definition: nerve center or "bridge" of a battlestar, see: Combat Information Center

Re-imagined Series definition: a nickname used as a substitute for an aviator's given name in wireless communications and in conversation

Re-imagined Series definition: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another

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

Re-imagined Series definition: "Direction, Range, and Distance", Colonial equivalent of radar or lidar

Re-imagined Series definition: used to signify a civilian transport vessel over a certain gross weight/mass, i.e. Colonial Heavy 798

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