William Adama

For information on William Adama's Original Series counterpart, see Adama (TOS).

William Adama
Name	{{{name}}}
Age
Colony	Caprica
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	William Adama
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Husker
Nickname	The Old Man
Introduced	Miniseries
Death
Parents	Joseph Adama (father) Evelyn Adama (mother)
Siblings
Children	Lee Adama Zak Adama †
Marital Status	Divorced (Carolanne Adama)
Family Tree	View
Role	Commanding Officer, battlestar Galactica; Supreme Commander of the Colonial Fleet
Rank	Rear Admiral
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Edward James Olmos
William Adama is a Cylon
William Adama is a Final Five Cylon
William Adama is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
William Adama is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|William Adama]]

William "Bill" Adama, a veteran of the Cylon War, is the commanding officer of the battlestar Galactica, and the highest ranking officer left in the Colonial Fleet.

Background

• William Adama was born H5/21290 on Caprica, the son of Joseph Adama and Evelyn Adama and raised in Qualai, a small coastal community (Hero). His father was an attorney specializing in criminal defense and civil liberties (Litmus, Hero). His mother was an accountant (Hero).
• Adama served late in the Cylon War as a Viper pilot. He allegedly gained the call sign of "Husker" on account of his baritone "gravelled" voice. He proved a gifted pilot, shooting down his first Cylon on his very first combat mission, for which he received a commendation.
• He racked his 1,000th deck landing while serving on the battlestar Atlantia (Act of Contrition), when he held the rank of Lieutenant.
• In the last week in the war, Adama served on Galactica when the battlestar was boarded by Cylon forces. He recalled to his friend and fellow war veteran Saul Tigh a dangerous Cylon tactic that tried to turn the battlestar's power against itself (Scattered, deleted scene).
• Furloughed by Colonial Fleet after the war's end, Adama found work as a deck hand on a merchant fleet civilian freighter, where he met Saul Tigh, who became a long-time friend.
• Adama married Carolanne Adama, whose family had political influence with the defense subcommittee and pulled to get Adama reinstated to the Colonial Fleet. Adama himself arranged for Tigh's reinstatement a few years later.
• William Adama and Caroline Adama had two sons, Lee and Zak, before the pressures of Adama's career and the time he spent away from home in active service began to place a strain on their marriage, and the two eventually divorced.

A young William Adama and his two sons.

• While elder son Lee Adama showed promise as a Viper pilot, younger Zak Adama did not. Kara Thrace, Zak's flight instructor and lover, certified him for basic flight despite young Adama's poor flight skills. Later, Zak Adama was killed in an operational flight. Zak's death would cause a rift between Commander Adama and his older son for nearly three years until Thrace admits her error to both of them.
• Adama rose through the ranks of the peacetime fleet, making rank of Major on Atlantia and then Executive Officer of the battlestar Columbia, before becoming the commander of the battlestar Valkyrie. About a year prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, he was ordered by Admiral Corman to escort a stealth scoutship over the Armistice Line. The mission was a failure, and in an attempt to cover up, he ordered the ship and its pilot shot down. Ever since, he had felt guilt, both over shooting down his own pilot and over the possibility that his actions resulted in the holocaust. According to Tigh, this mission brought his star into descent, and he was given command of Galactica as a graceful way of easing into retirement.
• Adama has the rare combination of qualities that make up a good leader: insight, the ability to naturally command respect, a common touch that enables him to relate to the enlisted personnel under his command as well as his officers, intuition, intelligence, a strong belief in his own abilities, and the ability to take the advice of others. These qualities are reflected in the fact that personnel of all ranks aboard Galactica hold him in high regard, and know that he is approachable (Miniseries).
• Adama mistrusts politicians, and sometimes places too strongly a value of loyalty to those he regards as family and friends. From his uneasiness to Laura Roslin's unexpected assumption of the Presidency, to the tolerance and patience of his friend, Saul Tigh, and his stubborness to save Kara Thrace (You Can't Go Home Again), Adama shows a dogged determination that few others care to confront.
• Several notable assignments and reassignments during his 45-year career in the Colonial Fleet (Hero):
  • 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 deckhand in merchant fleet and as common [...] aboard inter-colony tramp freighters
  • D1/21331 - Recommissioned to Fleet
  • D6/21337 - Major: battlestar Atlantia
  • R8/21341 - Executive Officer: battlestar Columbia
  • C2/21345 - Commander: battlestar Valkyrie
  • C2/21348 - Commander: battlestar Galactica

Character History at a Glance

• At the time of the Miniseries, William Adama, former CO of the battlestar Valkyrie, serves out his final weeks as commander of the battlestar Galactica. After some 50 years of service, the historic warship is in the process of being decommissioned, and it was one of Adama's final duties to formally hand her over to the Colonial Ministry of Education, which would operate the ship as a living museum and educational center commemorating the original Cylon War.
• As a retirement gift, several members of Galen Tyrol's deck crew find and restore Adama's old Viper Mark II.
• On news of a renewed Cylon attack, Adama's first thoughts are, "Dead. We're all dead" (Home, Part II). Despite this, as well as the presumed loss of his wife in Caprica City, he manages to shepherd the last of humanity to safety.

Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh plot a course to Ragnar Anchorage in the Miniseries.

• When Picon Fleet Headquarters is destroyed and then Admiral Nagala is killed, he unhesitatingly takes control of the Colonial's response to the Cylon incursion and starts defining a response to the onslaught. Once President Roslin convinces Adama the futility of fighting against overwhelming odds, and with what may be the last 50,000 humans that remain anywhere, he makes the switch to the more tactical thinking that keeps the Colonial fleet at least one step ahead of their Cylon pursuers.
• From the outset, he is savvy enough to give every single survivor of the devastating attack on the Colonies a reason for hope for the future: the legend of Earth. This falsehood comes back to haunt him as the weeks continue, as Roslin is aware of this lie to the crew and states this privately to Adama.
• Adama continues to face the problem of infiltration within the Fleet by Humanoid Cylons as well as dissenting humans who protest or terrorize others in the Fleet. Adama continually redefines the boundaries of military and civil leadership. After some serious missteps between he and President Roslin, the two later become friends as well as influential leaders.
• Sharon Valerii, a trusted Raptor pilot that served with Adama for two years, reveals herself unwittingly as a Cylon sleeper agent and shoots Adama at point blank range after a critical mission near Kobol. Cottle eventually repairs the damage to Adama's body, but Adama's psyche takes the larger hit while he repairs the damage to the Fleet he and Col. Tigh have caused in arresting President Roslin, as well as the existence of a second copy of Valerii.

Commander Adama paints a model boat while talking to Dualla in "Home, Part I."

• While at first Adama takes a similar stance to Tigh in assuming a hard military posture, a conversation with Dualla helps him realize that, despite the problems, the Fleet is his family, and the family must stay together. After finding the Tomb of Athena with Roslin and reuniting a factioning of the Fleet, Adama firmly buries the hatchet between he and Roslin publicly.
• In a desperate plan, Adama trusts the second Valerii to help ward off a massive Cylon fleet. Adama (Flight of the Phoenix). Despite his "gut" feelings about the Cylon, he finds common ground often with her, even apologizing to her after a distasteful incident.
• Adama stoically accepts Admiral Helena Cain's overall command. Wary of her behavior and her crew, Adama follows his own truism: stick to what you know, until you find something better.
• Matters with Cain's unusually totalitarian command style come to a head when Cain makes several highly questionable orders that lead him to face off with her battlestar and her command in a military challenge. While the issue is temporarily defused, Adama is told by, of all people, President Roslin that Cain is a threat to the safety of the Fleet's citizens and must be eliminated.
• Adama avoids killing Cain after realizing that he would become the monster that the Cylons believed they were, unaware that she has plotted his demise as well.
• With Cain's fate sealed not by Adama but Gina, a frail President Roslin promotes Adama to Admiral. He gives her a simple, affectionate kiss, which she returns, signifying another change in their turbulent association.
• Adama's sense of justice with Roslin holds when he confronts her about a conspiracy involving her re-election. Roslin admits the conspiracy but she is certain disaster will strike if Gaius Baltar becomes president. He agrees, but convinces Roslin that the correct course of action is to acknowledge a miscount and cover the conspiracy.
• When Cloud Nine and two other ships blow up as a result of Gina's last effort of sabotage, Adama is privately infuriated at new President Baltar's refusal to investigate, and begins to wonder if he hadn't made a mistake.

Currently...

• A year later, Adama commands a heavily under-staffed Galactica as the flagship of a defense fleet, consisting of all ships unable or unwilling to make planetfall on New Caprica. He now sports a thick mustache, and has apparently taken up smoking.
• Adama convinces Tigh to rejoin Ellen in New Caprica City after months of debate, with Helo acting as his new XO.
• Not long after Tigh leaves, a massive Cylon fleet bears down on New Caprica. After a brief discussion with Commander Lee Adama (aboard Pegasus), they order the Fleet to escape to pre-arranged Jump coordinates.
• The admiral issues the Jump order with a reminder: "We're leaving... but we'll be back."
• A couple of months after Galactica, Pegasus and the rest of the New Caprica Defense Fleet jump away, Adama is trying to make a rescue plan on New Caprica but hurls a Raptor model across the room in frustration (Occupation).

Adama being carried by the Crew of Galactica after the Battle of New Caprica (Lower Left)

• Admiral Adama mends fences with Sharon Agathon over the months in orbit of New Caprica. He commissions her as a Colonial officer shortly after making contact with the New Caprica Resistance (Precipice).
• After this, Adama orders his son Lee to take over as guardian of the Fleet; Lee's orders are to continue the search for Earth, as Adama is going back to retrieve those left behind — which Lee considers a suicide mission ("Precipice", "Exodus, Part I"). Despite heavy losses, and with the last-minute assistance of Lee and Pegasus, Adama is able to successfully pull off the rescue attempt. He is lauded by his crew and the civilians for this (Exodus, Part II).
• He has recently been awarded a Medal of Distinction for his 45 years of distinctive service in the Colonial Fleet. To him this is a penance for the harm that he caused in the past, and his belief that he might have been the cause of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies (Hero).
• In an effort to alleviate tensions on Galactica, Adama holds a boxing tournament, disregarding rank, allowing people to work out built up frustrations. He himself joins the festivities by challenging Chief Tyrol (Unfinished Business).
• Adama helps the Fleet through a rough time when the food supplies are contaminated. He orders the entire Fleet through a dangerous nebula lead by Galactica's Raptors. On the other side of the nebula, the Fleet finds the algae planet where they discovered a viable source of food (The Passage).
• After the discovery of the Temple of Five on the algae planet, four Cylon basestars jump into orbit. The Fleet jumps a way, but Galactica remains to recover the people left on the planet. A Heavy Raider boards Galactica carrying a Number Three, Cavil, Boomer, and Gaius Baltar. The Cylons want the Eye of Jupiter and threaten Galactica with destruction if they try to take the Eye. Adama also threatens that if the Cylons try to get the Eye themselves, he'll nuke the planet. A standoff occurs, and when the Cylons try to launch six heavy raiders, Adama orders the arming of several nuclear missiles (The Eye of Jupiter). This frightens the Cylons, who recall five of the six and Adama orders a stand down of the missile batteries (Rapture).
• With the capture of Gaius Baltar, Adama and President Roslin are faced with a dilemma: What to do with Baltar and what did the Cylons learn from the Temple of Five? They try various methods of interrogation, including food and sleep deprivation, threats, and even an interrogation drug. Adama apparently has previous experience with the drug and, after suggesting its use, acts as the interrogator (Taking a Break From All Your Worries).
• With the population larger than the rest of the fleet can handle, Adama opens Galactica to refugees, and Dogsville is opened. An outbreak of Mellorak disease threatens the crew, but is easily nipped in the bud by the help of Dr. Cottle and Dr. Robert. However, due to an investigation undertaken by Karl Agathon, Robert is found to be murdering patients based on their nationality (Colony of origin) (The Woman King).

Additional Notes

• Adama (also known as Nazareth) is the name of a large city in Ethiopia. The name is also a variation on "Adam," the first man to be created according to the Bible in the Book of Genesis. In Hebrew the word pronounced "Adama" means earth.
• The greek word adamas (αδάμας) means invincible and is the etymological root of the word diamond. It seems a suitable choice as the surname of the various related characters in this series as it relates to their personality traits.
• Edward James Olmos has brown eyes, but he wears contacts when playing William Adama that make Adama's eyes blue. This is done so that Olmos and Jamie Bamber, who is playing his son Apollo, will resemble each other more.
• Astute viewers may recall Edward James Olmos sharing the screen with realistic humanoid robots as Gaff in the classic science fiction film "Blade Runner". Olmos also shares with Star Trek star William Shatner the distinction of being one of only two actors to both command a television starship and portray a police officer in a popular 1980's cop show ("Miami Vice" for Olmos, "T.J. Hooker" for Shatner).

Preceded by: Unknown, eventually Nash

Commanding Officer of the Battlestar Galactica

Succeeded by: Incumbent although temporarily Saul Tigh

Commander William Adama's nickname, used by officers aboard Galactica ^(TRS: "33")

Re-imagined Series definition: initial skills training; can refer to basic military indoctrination, and arms and ground training ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}; and basic flight training ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}

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

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

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