Season 3 (2006-07)

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Battlestar Galactica Season 3

Summary

Under the occupation of the Cylon's rule, and without The Fleet for protection, the Colonials stranded on New Caprica must once again fight for their survival and their freedom.

Pivotal Plot Points

• The first episode of Season 3 occurs four months after the events of Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II with the occupation in full swing.
• The occupation is like Vichy France. The Colonial government run by President Baltar is collaborating with the Cylons, while other the humans banded together to form a secret resistance against the Cylons. Similar to Vichy France, a secret police force like the Gestapo is rounding up people. Also, there will be an attempted escape reminiscent of the film The Great Escape.
• Tigh will have a major role in the first few episodes with enornmous changes and shocks in store for him.
• The resistance against the Cylons and Baltar's collaborationist government on New Caprica will take three to five episodes, probably four. However, it will definately not take another seven episodes to wrap up the events of the season finale, as it did last time with "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II".
• Lucy Lawless, who plays Number Three, has implied that her character attempts to setup herself as God.
• A major plotline is that there is going to be "an ongoing Cylon story where we’re going to be cutting over to the Cylon world for the first time and running a complete arc within the Cylons." There will be an introduction of a new type of Cylon.
• Not all of the Cylons may believe that Baltar is the Hand of God, "Guardian of the New Order", etc.
• Katee Sackhoff has said that her character "goes through a lot of turmoil over the first four episodes, more so than we've ever seen her, the depth of despair that she finds herself in are pretty deep at the end of episode four, and she kind of re-establishes her commitment to the military in episode five which is the haircut" and "sort of like ritualistically, preparing herself to go back on the warpath". Sackhoff went on to say that "there is another man that comes into her life, and it is a very unlikely man that everyone is going to be so livid over."
• The relationship between Helo and Sharon will continue, neither Helo or Sharon will be killed in Season 3, and a subplot early in Season 3 will involve a dog. Helo is Galactica's XO at the beginning of Season 3.
• Gaius Baltar will be having a great philosophical crisis.
• One of the Cylon characters will be permanently killed. The Cylons themselves will execute the Cylon that permanently dies. Even the thought of execution is so repulsive to the Cylons that to reach the point to execute one of their own is an extraordinary event.
• According to an interview with Leah Cairns on June 27th, 2006, Racetrack is not trapped on New Caprica, but was on Galactica when it Jumped away with the Fleet. She mentions that Racetrack appears in episodes 8 and 9, meaning she survives at least that long.
• Dualla is indeed married to Lee Adama after the "one year later" leap forward in time. The reasons for Lee's physical condition at the end of Season 2 will be hinted at in the first few episodes with more details coming later in the season.
• There will be a two-part story (Torn and A Measure of Salvation) in which Galactica discovers a dying Cylon Baseship, and deals with a plague that has befallen the Cylons.
• One episode (Hero) will deal with a serious mistake that Admiral Adama made before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
• Unfinished Business will reveal events that transpired during the time between the end of Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II and Occupation. One of the flashbacks will show what happened between Apollo and Starbuck that caused a rift between them, and involves a boxing match between them.
• Not quite a standalone, not quite an arc episode, The Passage sets up/leads into the mid-season finale in The Eye of Jupiter. Ronald Moore describes this episode has "a harrowing voyage of the rag-tag fleet and focuses on Kat."
• The mid-season cliffhanger story, spanning episodes The Eye of Jupiter and Rapture, will center on "discovering the next big clue on the road to Earth".
• There will be a mid-season break between episodes 10 and 11. However it will not be as long as the hiatus between "Pegasus" and "Resurrection Ship, Part I": while that mid-season break lasted 4 months, this mid-season 3 break will last 1 month.
• Several Season 3 teasers have been shown during the summer of 2006. Details are here.
• The Colonials will spread a virus throughout the Cylon fleet, causing a pandemic in payback against the Cylons. By the middle of Season 3 the total human Survivor Count has shrunk from over 49,000 pre-"Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II" to roughly 38,000. At least several thousand must have died in the nuking of Cloud 9 by Gina, and presumably there are more casualties to come on New Caprica.
• Roslin returns to the presidency.
• Zarek is indeed Baltar's Vice-President, but the relationship soured rather quickly with Zarek refusing to cooperate completely after the occupation.

From RDM's blog (March 26, 2006)

• Regarding William Adama and the reduction of the Colonial military:

"What happened to Adama in the season finale to change him so much? Why would a man who spent decades of his adult life standing watch for the Cylon return suddenly give in and allow the military to stand down? How could he convince himself that the Cylons weren't coming back after 1 year when the last time they waited 40 years? He knew settlement was wrong so why didn't he offer any resistance? "

I think people have a remarkable ability to convince themselves of just about anything. Adama, like everyone else in the fleet, had been constantly on the run, constantly under stress, and constantly in danger of losing his life for months on end, with virtually no break from the metal walls surrounding him day in and day out. When, finally, the people decided to end the long sojourn and settle on New Caprica, he had little choice but to comply with the results of a democratic election which hinged on that very question. And as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, people began to relax, to believe that maybe they had really turned a corner, had really found a place to lay down their burdens and start a new life. Adama was just as vulnerable to that attractive idea as anyone else, and as the men and women under him began to clamor for a new life, as the political leadership of New Caprica began to demand more and more military resources to support the civilian population, there came the point where Adama began to believe in the mirage too. He's not perfect. He never was. He couldn't bring himself to leave his ship, but as age and fatigue began to set in, he started to let down his guard just a little -- not all at once and never completely, but just enough.

There were also practical considerations. He was entirely alone out here. No Admiralty to call for reinforcements or intelligence, no Justice Ministry to prosecute soldiers who simply never came back from the surface of New Caprica, and no friendly ear in the office of the president to get needed resources for the military ships maintaining their lonely vigil up in orbit. He was alone and he was tired. It's almost as simple as that.

I remember one of my most vivid memories from the immediate post 9/11 period was opening up the newspaper and reading about a physical confrontation in the streets between members of the New York police department and the New York fire department. It was heartbreaking, it was infuriating and it was illuminating. People are people. Enormous events happen, history pivots around us and we tell ourselves that everything has changed, that we're irrevocably different from this day forward -- until the next time everything changes. Adama made a mistake. They all did. And as he is wont to say, they will all have to live with it.

• Concerning Lee Adama's changes:

"What is up with the pudgified Apollo? Too much chunky munky B&J?"

We're going to hint at some of the reasons for Lee's physical, er... changes in the first few episodes, then deal with it in more detail later. Overall, we're going to be hinting at a lot of things that happened in the intervening year over the first few episodes, then do more stuff with it later, as the season progresses.

• Regarding Saul Tigh's role in season three:

Anyway, I think you'll be happy to know that we've got some real meaty stuff planned for the Colonel in the first few episodes. I also felt that we didn't use Tigh as effectively in the later part of Season Two, and I was eager to get him back into the thick of things. He's got a sizable role in the initial episodes, and there are some enormous changes and shocks coming for his character next season.

• Regarding the role of Tom Zarek:

"What happened to Zarek? Given his help getting Baltar elected, I would have expected him to have recieved a pretty nice 'reward', perhaps as VP? Did Baltar even have a VP? We never see Zarek post-election or a year later on New Caprica. Given Zarak's penchant for political mayhem, I would think that his fate would be one of significant interest. Perhaps we will see this early in Season 3? "

You will be seeing Zarek again and early in the season. He was the Vice President, but his relationship with Baltar went south relatively quickly, and he simply refused to cooperate once the Cylon occupation began.

Related Topics

• List of Season 3 Guest Actors (RDM)
• List of Recurring Characters (RDM)
• List of Recurring Character Appearances (RDM)