Earth

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Earth is the home of the lost Thirteenth Tribe in both Battlestar Galactica sagas.

In the Original Series

Boomer analyzing a Gamma frequency transmission (credit:Universal Studios/ABC)

The lost Thirteenth Tribe settles on the planet Earth, its settlers having departed long ago from Kobol after the same environmental cataclysm which caused the Exodus of the Twelve Tribes and made Kobol uninhabitable. As stated in the Book of the Word, the Thirteenth Tribe left opposite the other Twelve Tribes, the information of their destination residing in the tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol (Lost Planet of the Gods).

Transmissions from Earth -- i.e. the Apollo Moon Landing -- were picked up by Captain Apollo in the Celestial chamber on an obsolete Gamma frequency, though the copy of the transmission was destroyed in the attack on the Cylon basestar (The Hand of God).

In Galactica 1980

In Galactica 1980, Earth was discovered, but, much to the dismay of Adama and the survivors, the humans on Earth were underdeveloped and would not be able to defend themselves from the Cylons. The short-lived series primarily depicts the central character's adventures on Earth's surface, including its past through a means of time-travel.

In the Re-imagined Series

Earth is the believed destination of the Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol, as attested in the Sacred Scrolls. The Thirteenth Tribe left for Earth nearly 4,000 years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The remaining Twelve Tribes leave Kobol to form the Colonies approximately 2,000 years after the Thirteenth Tribe's departure.

A Cause for Hope

Earth is first mentioned by Commander Adama during a speech after the battlestar's funeral services after escaping from Ragnar Anchorage. Adama claims that Earth was a top military secret that can now be revealed (see Miniseries).

In a private conversation with new President Laura Roslin immediately afterward, Adama admits that he has not the slightest idea where Earth may be, if it exists. His true motivation was inspirational; he intended to bolster the morale of the population (especially his beleaguered crew) in the aftermath of the near-annihilation of humanity.

Tangible Faith

While she is initially skeptical, going so far as to rebuke Adama for his dishonesty, Laura Roslin's faith grows perceptibly throughout the events of the first season. This transition is at least partly due to her use of chamalla as an alternative treatment to her terminal breast cancer. These hallucinations are increasingly interpreted as prophetic vision by Roslin, which continue as the Fleet accidentally discovers the legendary homeworld of Kobol (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

Eventually, a religious artifact is recovered which later aids in revealing the general location of Earth (Home, Part II).

In the activated Tomb of Athena, the stars of the Twelve Colonies are represented in the twelve Zodiacal constellations, as viewed from Earth, recognized by Roslin as the shapes of the original flags of the Twelve Colonies. The chamber itself was intended by its builders to be a stylized replica of the night sky of the Earth, from which all twelve constellations could be seen. This is corroborated by Kara Thrace, who quotes scripture, saying that Earth was the place where the people of the Thirteenth Tribe could look up into the sky and see their twelve brothers.

Morerover, Lee Adama recognizes the Lagoon Nebula, also represented in the night sky of the mystery chamber. This astronomical object is known to Fleet personnel, since Commander Adama remarks that this celestial body would take some time to reach.

More Clues to Earth

Over a year later, the Fleet discovers a derelict Cylon baseship near the Lion's Head Nebula, a celestial marker revealed by Felix Gaeta to Admiral Adama and President Roslin (Torn). The information is derived from Gaius Baltar's research on the path to Earth. The derelict basestar finds a ancient beacon left by the Thirteenth Tribe. While a Colonial boarding party finds the probe, it also learns that the Humanoid Cylons aboard the basestar are dead or dying, suggesting a deadly pathogen was released by the beacon. In their haste to leave and for the safety of the Fleet, the beacon is abandoned on the basestar, where it is destroyed when the basestar self-destructs (A Measure of Salvation)

After the Fleet must gather needed foodstuffs from the algae planet, believed previously uninhabited by humans, Galen Tyrol senses and finds the Temple of Five, an ancient temple built by the Thirteenth Tribe, as told in the Sacred Scrolls, apparently built during a stopover on this world. Believed to be hidden inside the Temple of Five is the Eye of Jupiter, an artifact that may provide more clues to the location of Earth. However, a Cylon force arrives with the same intentions on the Eye, leading to a standoff between Adama and the basestar command (The Eye of Jupiter). The Eye is later revealed to be the algae planet's own star as it began to nova, taking the form of the circular starburst patterns throughout the Temple of Five. While the Colonials are not privy to the special holograph feature of the Temple that the Cylons witness in the early moments of the nova, the Colonials are later are able to discern the information of the new nova as a waypoint to the next marker, another similar nova's remnants in the Ionian system (Rapture).

File:Earth RDM.png

Earth seen from space in Crossroads, Part II

When the Fleet arrives at the nebula it is intercepted by four Basestars and a host of Raiders. Unable to escape due to a crippling fleet-wide power outage, Galactica is forced to fight and launches Vipers and Raptors. During the battle, Lee Adama in Viper 3 breaks off from the attack to track an "Unknown" contact on DRADIS. That contact ultimately turns out to be Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, miraculously returned from the dead. Thrace claims that she has been to Earth, she knows where it is and will take the fleet there. The episode concludes with a sweeping zoom out of the Milky Way and a zoom in straight to Earth itself, confirming once and for all that Earth truly does exist. What we see of Earth is also revealing. When the camera zooms in on Earth we see the North American continent. This shows that the Earth in the re-imagined universe is, at least geographically, the real-life Earth (Crossroads, Part II). The displayed continent contains at least the Balize lobe of the Mississippi river delta, a feature formed between the 16th and 20th centuries, dating this image as modern or later. However, this may simply imply the graphic artists used a convenient modern image of Earth. As the delta's growth is now controlled by human engineering, its form in the future can't be predicted.

Notes

• In one of the extras included on the five-disc DVD release of the first season of Battlestar Galactica, Edward James Olmos (the actor portraying Commander Adama) remarks in a very jocular fashion that they will never reach Earth. Mary McDonnell (the actress who plays Laura Roslin) covers his mouth and tries to hush him while laughing. Although loyal fans may question the trustworthiness of this statement, it is known that the creators keep a "Bible" to the show, to which the actors presumably have access.

See also

Sacred Scrolls#The Origin of Mankind - For a brief outline on two competing theories about the nature of Earth in the Re-imagined Series.