Scar

This article deals with the episode. For information on the ace Cylon Raider, see "Scar (Raider)"

"Scar" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 2, Episode 15
Writer(s)	David Weddle Bradley Thompson
Story by
Director	Michael Nankin
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating	1.9
US airdate	2006-02-03
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	2006-04-11
DVD release	19 September 2006 US 28 August 2006 UK
Population	49,593 survivors ( 4)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Black Market	Scar	Sacrifice
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
Podcast Transcript – View
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]

Overview

An ace Cylon Raider, nicknamed "Scar" by the Viper pilots, has been causing problems for the Fleet. Starbuck and Kat compete to hunt it down while Starbuck pines for "a dead guy".

Summary

• Several Viper pilots have been killed while guarding the Majahual, an ore mining ship located on top of a metal ore-rich asteroid. The Fleet's goal is to gather sufficient ore there to create two new squadrons of Vipers.
• With the Resurrection Ship destroyed as well as most of the nearest Cylon fleet, the Cylons are far less brazen in attacks, sending only a few Raiders to harass the mining operation.
• Galactica stays behind to guard the mining operation with their CAP, while Pegasus stays with the civilian fleet at a remote location.
• There is too much debris in the system to use DRADIS to quickly sight and kill the Raiders. Combat Air Patrols are needed instead, using their Mark One Eyeball to find the Raiders.
• One particular Raider, known as "Scar", is the cause of the pilot deaths.
• Kat, now a seasoned and very talented pilot, challenges Starbuck over the "Top Gun" beer stein (currently held by Thrace) with the downing of Scar.
• Thrace's depression over the inability to convince Admiral Adama and President Roslin to return to Caprica to rescue Samuel Anders and his Caprica Resistance causes her to drink excessively and behave very rashly. To suppress her feelings on the inability to fulfill her promise, Thrace begins to tell herself that Anders is dead.
• Thrace turns to Sharon Valerii for advice regarding Scar. Valerii explains that Raiders can reincarnate as well, and with the Resurrection Ship destroyed, Scar will do anything to survive.
• Valerii also mentions that "he probably hates you (Thrace) as much as you hate him," as well as asking "how many of us" [sic] did Scar kill. In an unguarded moment, Valerii and Thrace reminisce over old times, but when Valerii reaches to touch Thrace in friendship, marines on guard make it clear that it is not permitted. As a distraught Thrace leaves, Sharon tells her to be careful.
• When a rookie pilot from Pegasus, BB, is killed, Kat berates Starbuck for giving him "textbook" advice. Later, Kat berates a hungover Starbuck again for being late to lead her own pilot's briefing as well as assigning Snake in her place on CAP, which leads to Jo-Jo's death at the hands of Scar.
• Thrace and Lee Adama talk over drinks, when Thrace propositions Adama for a "quick lay." The two pilots attack each other, clothes flying, but Thrace is too aggressive, which turns Adama's desire almost completely off. She admits that her feelings for Samuel Anders are very confused. When Adama tells her that it's the "living guys" she can't deal with, Thrace is so confused that she slaps Adama, then kisses him for his thoughtfulness in reminding her that he is her friend before she leaves his quarters.
• Starbuck is on patrol with Kat as her wingman when they spot a Raider. Both chase the Raider, but Scar uses that second Raider as a decoy by trying to ambush the Vipers from behind.
• Starbuck's instincts tell her to check their "six" (rear), which successfully locates Scar but leaves her Viper with moderate damage when Scar scores hits on her Viper.
• Starbuck leads Scar into a canyon on an asteroid, flips, and flies at Scar on a collision course. Kat shouts at Starbuck to break off as Scar is a machine and won't break off. Starbuck realizes this; she is making a suicide run, as her mind begins to drift out of focus as she thinks of Anders.
• At the last moment, Starbuck breaks off her CBDR run, and Scar chases her. Starbuck instructs Kat to ambush him from behind while Starbuck lures him into Kat's killzone, in a similar ambush that Scar attempted on them. The ambush is successful, with Kat winning her challenge over Starbuck.
• Starbuck fills the "Top Gun" beer stein for Kat and congratulates her. Then, Starbuck praises the memory of the many pilots lost to Scar and past battles. Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh, both laudable Viper pilots themselves in the Cylon War, attend the celebration. Admiral Adama ends the tribute with "So say we all."
• Kat places a picture of Reilly's girlfriend in the memorial hallway in hopes that someone remembers her.
• Training with Helo in the gym, Starbuck says that she could have killed Scar, but she would have killed herself in the process. Helo tells her that backing off and letting her wingman get the kill was the right thing to do. Helo notes that Starbuck didn't make the suicide run, because she has something to live for now in Anders.

Notes

• A classic error made in most sci-fi franchises is made in this episode. It depicts asteroids in an asteroid field being in extremely close proximity with one another. However, asteroids in our and other solar systems are spaced very far apart from one another.
• The survivor count is four less than displayed in "Black Market", accounting for the deaths of Jack Fisk, Phelan, and Fisk's killer. The survivor count, therefore, commences after "96 hours previously".
• As the episode begins, mining ship Majahual has been conducting operations in a thick asteroid field for 29 days.
• The landram from the Original Series makes a cameo appearance as we are first introduced to the Majahual.
• Kat is now qualified to fly Viper Mark VIIs.
• New nuggets are still being trained and added to the Fleet's ranks. Kat's assertion that "no replacements are coming" in "Final Cut" is no longer relevant with the arrival of Pegasus and her resources. Also, in "Act of Contrition", it is mentioned that Galactica didn't have any flight training simulators and thus preferred to train pilots having prior flight experience. With the arrival of Pegasus, the Fleet now has Viper flight simulators and thus potential pilots can now be trained properly, even those with no prior experience.
• Helo and Starbuck are further shown to be friendly in this episode.
• Nuggets enter the Colonial Fleet at the rank of Ensign after completing flight training.
• Pilot training apparently takes place on Pegasus, with recruits being assigned to Galactica afterward.
• Kara Thrace, despite serving as a pilot on Galactica under Lee adama, is still Pegasus CAG. She flies under Adama because the two battlestars have combined their resources for the mining operation's defense.
• The Fleet has found an asteroid containing large supplies of vital metals needed to build completely new Vipers in earnest (instead of making do with what spare parts they have). The Fleet has obtained a large enough supply of metals to create two entire squadrons of Vipers. (It has never been definitively stated how many Vipers are in a "squadron", but based on non-official concept outlines various interviews, it is probably 20.)
• Pegasus has Viper production facilities, one of her more modern capabilities that Galactica lacks. During the episode, the Pegasus production team finishes its first combat-ready Viper.
• Anders appears in flashbacks (re-used footage) in this episode.
• Gaius Baltar, Number Six and Cally do not appear in this episode.
• Chief Tyrol appears very briefly in this episode. Also, Lieutenants Gaeta and Dualla appear in this episode, seen in CIC, but have no speaking lines.
• Starbuck and Kat use the word motherfrakker in this episode, its second use since it was introduced in "Valley of Darkness".
• In the podcast, it is revealed that a scene was cut of the pilots auctioning off Beano's possessions, a tradition from the British Navy during the Napoleonic War Era. This auction, RDM explains, was a tribute to the fallen, as well as serving the practical purpose of recycling resources. There would be a shot of Apollo holding up Beano's "skin" magazine and taking bids, etc. This "skin" magazine can be briefly seen when Starbuck is packing it into a box of Reilly's personal effects. (Its name appears to be Nymph.) During the following scene when they're talking about Scar in the pilot's loungeroom ("88 hours ago"), if you look closely in the background, you can see Hot Dog reading it, having won the auction.
• Lee Adama doesn't fly in this episode, and is never seen in a flight suit. A lot of the day-to-day work of being the CAG, such as assigning and briefing pilots, falls to Starbuck.
• The little model plane on top of the "Top Gun" mug sported by Starbuck and Kat is actually a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet.
• This episode bears some similarities to the Space: Above and Beyond episodes "Never No More" and "The Angriest Angel", both of which dealt with the introduction of an "ace" alien fighter and its detrimental effect upon the Earth military's morale, and the ensuing efforts of a main character to hunt him down.
• The song that plays in the final scene of this episode is "Cavatina" by Stanley Myers, well known as the theme from the film The Deer Hunter.
• A deleted scene for this episode explains that Kat is giving a pilot briefing about Scar at one point (ending with "That's the motherfrakker I'm going to kill") because Starbuck was late for the meeting, so Kat assumed she wasn't coming at all and started without her. In the deleted scene, Stabuck comes into the room right after the original scene ends, argues with Kat for starting without her, and then moves right into the next scene where Starbuck is summarizing the tactical situation for the past month.

Analysis

• The title "Scar" refers to the "ace" Cylon Raider this episode centers around. While all Cylon Raiders appear visually identical, this particular unit has extensive hull damage, whether from asteroid impacts, scoring from near-misses or other debris, giving it a weathered, craggy look - essentially, "battle scars". It can also refer to the characters' emotional scars, particularly Starbuck's.
• Many of the pilots Starbuck toasts are minor and recurring characters who have died in previous episodes. In the order she lists them:
  • Flat Top - killed in deck accident in "Act of Contrition", along with twelve others.
  • Chuckles - killed in action during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in "The Hand of God".
  • Jolly - killed in action in the Miniseries, along with nineteen others.
  • Crashdown - shot by Dr. Gaius Baltar in "Fragged".
  • Flyboy - killed in action by a Cylon Centurion in "Valley of Darkness".
  • Stepchild - killed in action during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in "The Hand of God".
  • Fireball - killed in action during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in "The Hand of God".
• Among those not mentioned were Maj. Jackson "Ripper" Spencer, KIA in the Miniseries, and Karma, KIA in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I". As noted in the podcast, this is truthfully reflecting Starbuck's earlier comment that she can't remember the names of all of the pilots that have died.
• During the "previously on Battlestar Galactica" intro, a clip of a scene which has never actually aired before in any episode was played. In the scene, Starbuck argues to Adama and Roslin that they must mount a rescue operation to save the Caprica Resistance, but Adama and Roslin are in agreement that it is impossible and tell her they can't. This is the opening of the extended cut of "Pegasus" that was released later on DVD:
  • Thrace: The Resistance base camp is here (points at a map) 300 klicks north of the only Cylon airbase in the area...
  • Roslin: I respect what you're trying to do here, however...
  • Thrace: We have a duty to the people we left behind.
  • Adama: We understand that.
  • Thrace: We have to find a way to Jump back to Caprica, and go get them--
  • Adama: --Kara!
• During the "in this episode" sequence of the credits, there are two images not seen in the episode; one of Starbuck standing at a distance, and one of a gun being placed before the camera. These could have been cut from the training scene.
• This episode is the third of the most recent four episodes to begin in medias res, after "Resurrection Ship, Part II" and "Black Market". In terms of how the flashbacks are structured, going back and forth between past and current events, this episode most resembles "Act of Contrition". (However, the podcast for "Black Market" indicates that beginning that episode with Lee's confrontation with Phelan was not part of the original script and was done as an act of "desperation".)
• As discussed in the podcast, writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson are mostly responsible for expanding the minor pilot characters as the series has progressed. They wrote "Act of Contrition", in which the nuggets are introduced, then "The Hand of God", which is the second time they all appear (and when Chuckles dies). Kat and Hot Dog reappear in "Scattered" and "Valley of Darkness" which Weddle and Thompson also wrote. The character of Kat receives more development since "Flight of the Phoenix", the writers' most recent entry before this episode.

Questions

• As implied by Valerii, is Scar a reincarnation of the Cylon Raider that Starbuck captures in "You Can't Go Home Again"?
• The Fleet has obtained enough metal ore to eventually construct two new squadrons of Vipers: will they be Mark IIs, or Mark VIIs?
• With Thrace serving on Galactica, who is instructing nuggets on Pegasus?
• If Raiders reincarnate so that Cylon forces can benefit from their learned experience, why don't Centurions? (Answer)
• Do basestars also have the ability to reincarnate given that they appear to be composed of similar bio-mechanical technology as the Raiders?
• As the Resurrection Ship recon images (from "Resurrection Ship, Part I") only show humanoid bodies awaiting download, how are the consciousnesses of dead Raiders stored and where are they transferred?
• Exactly how many Cylon Raiders were lurking within the asteroid system, including Scar?

Official Statements

• According to an interview on Subject2Discussion.com on January 3rd, 2006, along with "Home" (Parts One, Two), and "The Farm", this is one of Katee Sackhoff's favorite episodes.

• Sackhoff discusses her dislike of the Viper scenes:

Scar was really tough. It was all those scenes of technical mumbo jumbo so Luciana [Carro] and I decided to add it all together and do it as one big long scene. We were in and out of the Vipers all day long. It is exhausting.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Kat responds to Starbuck's runaway drinking, after being called a "stim junkie".

Kat: One Tigh on this ship's enough.

• Drinking heavily late at night, Apollo and Starbuck commiserate over all of the pilots that have died.

Apollo: You know what gets me? I know that in two weeks, I won't remember his face. I can't remember any of their faces after they're killed. No matter how hard I try, they just fade.

Starbuck: I don't even remember their names.

Apollo: Names. Oh, let's see, there was- there was Flat Top. (Starbuck spits some of her drink on him) Who bought it on his thousandth landing. There was Chuckles. (Starbuck spits out some more beer) Stop it, already. Please, not funny. All right. It's not funny.

Starbuck: It is funny. You know the President says that we're saving humanity for a bright, shiny future. On Earth. That you and I are never gonna see. We're not. Because we go out over and over again until someday, some metal mother frakker is gonna catch us on a bad day and just blow us away.

Apollo: Bright, shiny futures are overrated anyway.

Starbuck: That is why we gotta get what we can. Right now.

• After Starbuck pours Kat a drink in her new Galactica Top Gun mug, she raises a toast to nearly every pilot that has died since their flight from the Colonies.

Starbuck: To BB, Jo-Jo, Reilly, Beano, Dipper, Flat Top, Chuckles, Jolly, Crashdown, Sheppard, Dash, Flyboy, Stepchild, Puppet, Fireball...(stops, crying)

Apollo: To all of 'em.

Admiral Adama: So say we all.

Crew: So say we all.

Starbuck: So say we all.

Guest stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Alessandro Juliani as Lt. Felix Gaeta
• Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla
• Luciana Carro as Lieutenant Louanne "Kat" Katraine
• Bodie Olmos as Lieutenant Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza
• Christopher Jacot as Ensign Brent "BB" Baxton
• Sean J. Dory as Ensign Joseph "Jo-Jo" Clark
• Christian Tessier as Lieutenant Tucker "Duck" Clellan