Leland Adama

The article discusses the Re-imagined Series character with the pilot callsign of "Apollo." For information on his Original Series counterpart, see Apollo (TOS).

Leland Adama
Name
Age	ca. 30
Colony	Caprica
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Lee Adama
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Apollo
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	Miniseries
Death
Parents	Carolanne Adama (mother, likely deceased), William Adama (father)
Siblings	Zak Adama †
Children	1 unborn child with Gianne (presumed deceased)
Marital Status	Married to Anastasia Dualla
Family Tree	View
Role	Former Galactica CAG. Recently resigned to serve as legal aide in Baltar's trial.
Rank	Civilian (resigned)
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Jamie Bamber
Leland Adama is a Cylon
Leland Adama is a Final Five Cylon
Leland Adama is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Leland Adama is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Leland Adama]]

Biographical Notes

Background

Lee "Apollo" Adama is the elder son of Caroline and William Adama. Together with his younger brother, Zak, he was raised largely by his mother on Caprica, following his parents' divorce when he was eight.

Despite his father's estrangement from the family, Adama nevertheless inherited his passion for flying - a passion that saw him enrolling in the Colonial military reserves after graduating from college. Following his basic training, he graduated from the military academy third in his class and immediately applied for flight school.

Not to be outdone by his elder brother, Zak Adama applied for military service too, a move that eventually brought tragedy to the Adama household.

Accepted into flight school, Adama proved himself a gifted and natural pilot, hampered only by his tendency to over-intellectualize things - a result of his upbringing with his mother, who encouraged him to read widely, and think freely (encouragement that led him to read banned texts by the renegade Tom Zarek while at college (Bastille Day).

Graduating from flight school, Adama was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Colonial Fleet Reserve, flying the Viper Mark VII. During this time, he was also introduced to Kara Thrace, a training instructor at flight school, who was involved with his brother. While Adama was still at flight school, the three frequently spent time together, and Adama and Thrace developed a friendship through Zak Adama (Miniseries).

Brother's Death

Tragedy struck some two years prior to the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies when Zak Adama, recently graduated from flight school, is killed on a routine Viper mission. At the time, the cause of the accident was put down to pilot error. However, Lee Adama chose to blame the mishap on his father, whom he believed had pushed Zak into applying for military service and for applying for flight school (Miniseries).

Following Zak's death, Lee Adama became estranged from his father, seeking to build his career well away from any influence exerted by either William Adama or the legendary battlestar Galactica, his father's command. While he was successful in this - gaining promotion to Captain through his own abilities, the decision nevertheless placed a heavy strain on his friendship with Kara Thrace, as she applied for pilot duty aboard Galactica.

Adama spent much time on Caprica and becomes engaged to a woman named Gianne. She told him she is pregnant with their child, causing him to run from her due to his own family issues. Before he can speak with her again he is assigned to take part in the decommissioning ceremony aboard Galactica (Black Market, "Razor Flashbacks"), just after he is accepted to test pilot school. Despite having a natural knack for piloting and "well on his way to commanding a battlestar someday", Adama tells Frank Bruno at the Caprica Transfer Station that he is considering leaving the Colonial Fleet, as he is disinterested in achieving dreams that were his father's alone ("Razor", deleted scene).

Adama is reunited with both his father and Kara Thrace when Galactica is to be decommissioned as a living museum and educational center of the Cylon War. As a part of the final ceremonies marking Galactica's retirement, Lee Adama participates in a final Viper flyby to salute both the ship and her commanding officer — an assignment he undertakes grudgingly, doing little to hide his true feelings from the moment he arrives on the battlestar. Matters are not helped when he discovers he will fly not in his own modern Viper, but in a newly-restored Viper Mark II his father had flown during the Cylon War (Miniseries).

Things worsen after the PR official aboard Galactica, Aaron Doral, sees Captain Adama's presence on Galactica as a major PR opportunity and has Adama and his father pose for pictures together. Immediately following this, Adama confronts his father over his brother's death, venting two years' worth of anger and belief that his father was responsible for the loss of his brother.

Surprise Cylon Attack

Following the decommissioning ceremony, Lee Adama departs Galactica, acting as an unofficial escort for Colonial Heavy 798, the official transport for Secretary of Education Laura Roslin, who represented President Adar at the ceremony. Midway through their return to Caprica, Adama and the crew of Colonial Heavy 798 hear of the Cylon attacks on the Twelve Colonies, and soon find themselves under direct attack, which he is able to thwart. Adama quickly becomes one of Laura Roslin's unofficial advisers, aiding her in her self-appointed rescue mission. Adama's annoyance of his father's old Viper comes back to haunt him when Boomer, returning from her unexpected rescue mission on Caprica and disastrous attack on two Cylon Raiders, notes to him that other Vipers and other modern Colonial spacecraft like his Mark VII were easily destroyed by Cylon attacks.

Adama again saves Colonial Heavy 798 from a nuclear missile attack with a failed experiment he toyed with in War College, using EMP coils kept in the cargo hold to make it look like the ship has been destroyed. He supports Roslin in her rescue efforts, persuading her to lead the FTL-capable ships to follow Galactica to Ragnar Anchorage.

As the ranking pilot aboard Galactica, and despite his relative inexperience, Adama finds himself appointed CAG by Colonel Saul Tigh.

Apollo leads a Viper squadron in the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, keeping the Cylon Raiders at bay while the civilian Fleet jumps to safety. His ship is badly damaged during in the battle, and is about to be destroyed by a Cylon missile when the missile is intercepted and shot by Starbuck's highly-accurate marksmanship. His Viper eventually loses power as the battle draws to a close and Galactica is preparing to retreat. Starbuck saves him with a crazy idea and her flying skills, bringing them back to Galactica shortly before the battlestar jumps away.

Special Advisor

Adama and President Roslin shake hands after appointment as military advisor (Water).

Adama's work as Roslin's "special advisor" to further help her understand military matters does not sit well with his father, who is still harboring some reservations about Roslin (Bastille Day).

In the weeks following the Cylon attack, Adama finds time to re-evaluate his relationship with his father - due in no small part to Starbuck's admission of her involvement in Zak's acceptance as a fighter pilot and his subsequent death. Father and son grow somewhat closer - even standing shoulder-to-shoulder when Starbuck is missing in action and both going to great lengths to save her (You Can't Go Home Again). Even so, Adama's former self-doubts and moodiness are not easily overcome and sometimes come back to haunt him when he is tasked to fill a role that others are unsure he can manage. As a Viper pilot, Adama is able to escape from Starbuck's shadow, proving himself capable in unconventional and skilled flying in the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid (The Hand of God).

After the tylium asteroid mission, Adama matures enormously, emerging from his shell as a somewhat disillusioned officer and becomes a practical leader who now comfortably straddles his responsibilities as CAG of Galactica with his duties as advisor to Roslin. With few issues with either Roslin or his father, Adama demonstrates his maturity particularly well in his handling of security arrangements for the initial meeting of Roslin's Quorum of Twelve aboard the luxury liner Cloud Nine (Colonial Day).

The Inner Conflicts at Kobol

Eventually, Adama's beliefs in the need for democratic representation and civil government brings him in direct conflict with orders given him by his father. During the arrest of Laura Roslin following her interference with military operations, Captain Adama draws his gun on Colonel Tigh in a direct act of mutiny, protesting his father's removal of Roslin from office. Arrested together with Roslin, Adama watches helplessly in CIC as Lieutenant Valerii shoots his father at point blank range, seriously wounding him (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).

Adama is temporarily furloughed by Colonel Tigh so that he can continue to carry out his duties. For a time, Commander Adama's initiative lives on through his son. Young Adama leads a fight with Cylons to buy time for Galactica to find its proper bearings to the civilian Fleet (Scattered), and leads a team of Marines to stop Cylon Centurions that boarded the ship (Valley of Darkness). After that, Adama continues his initiative and leads a SAR mission with two Raptors to retrieve a stranded survey team on the surface of Kobol (Fragged).

Adama's desire to let democracy work without overt military action comes to a head once more as he plots, with a handful of others, to free Roslin and smuggle her away from Galactica (Resistance). Before he leaves, he apologizes to his unconscious Commander Adama at his bedside for what he is about to do: Leave with Roslin and a faction of ships to search for data on Earth on Kobol. Commander Adama begins to awaken just as young Adama leaves his side.

On the Astral Queen, Adama is so happy to see Kara Thrace has returned safely from Caprica with the Arrow of Apollo that he hugs and also impulsively kisses her, pleasantly surprising Thrace. Moments later, as the Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii enters, Adama instantly grabs the known humanoid Cylon in anger and would have killed her if Helo and Roslin did not intervene.

Adama and Kara Thrace speak aboard the Astral Queen (Home, Part I).

Later, with their military protocols and attitudes temporarily relaxed, Adama playfully teases the brooding Kara Thrace by stealing a pyramid ball she took as a keepsake from her time with Anders on Caprica. He returns the ball after sensing her depressed mood and tells her that he would be happy to listen to what was on her mind. In the same conversation, he lets it slip out that he loves Thrace. Amused, Thrace cheers up a bit and teases Adama, telling him that there are no take-backs on what he said (Home, Part I).

Adama and Thrace join President Roslin and her other supporters on their quest to find the Tomb of Athena on Kobol. When Cylon Centurions ambush the group along an ancient trail, Adama and Thrace work well together in the fight, complementing each other for their fine shooting.

Adama's reunion with his recovered father on Kobol further mends the wounds between them, both politically and personally. Like Captain Adama had done on the Queen, his father reacts violently to the existence of a another copy of Valerii, leaving Captain Adama in the awkward position of defending her from his father. In the virtual planetarium created by the Tomb of Athena, Adama is the party member that completes the mystery of interpreting how to use the constellations as viewed from Earth to make a flight path. He spots the Lagoon Nebula in the sky where the Scorpius constellation resided, a celestial body known to the Colonials which gives them a reference point to navigate to Earth. His father confirms Adama's observation, noting that the nebula is far away from their current location at Kobol.

After the Fleet's reunification, Lee Adama is fully restored to flight status and his position as the CAG (Final Cut). Apollo doubts that Tyrol could successfully complete a prototype fighter later known as the Blackbird, but in the end aids in its first test flight with Starbuck. Around this time, Adama begins to develop an attraction to Anastasia Dualla (Flight of the Phoenix).

Reassignment

Apollo is on CAP when the battlestar Pegasus reunites with Galactica and is one of the first to see it up close. Soon afterwards, friction develops between Adama and the CAG of Pegasus, Captain Cole Taylor. Taylor feels that Adama's pilots are undisciplined and implies that Adama has his position through his father's influence. Taylor recommends that Adama have his pilots focus on keeping a "killcount" of Raiders to encourage competition between his pilots, while Adama stresses that his first priority is to make sure that all of his pilots merely survive another day.

To Adama's shock, Admiral Helena Cain re-assigns him and Lt. Thrace to Pegasus, under Taylor's command. Cain believes that having Commander Adama's son in the role of CAG was a mistake that has clouded Commander Adama's judgment, as young Adama has been insubordinate and even mutinous in the past. For an upcoming scouting mission against the Cylon fleet following them, Taylor orders Adama to perform the humiliating task of co-piloting a Raptor. Annoyed, Adama orders Starbuck to take the Blackbird and perform the mission alone. When Commander Adama and Admiral Cain turn on each other, Apollo is away in Taylor's Raptor on his recon mission (Pegasus).

As the two battlestar commanders begin sparring with Vipers, Pegasus orders Taylor to relieve Adama of duty. Taylor pulls his sidearm and takes away Adama's. Now weaponless and with nothing more to do than to ride along, Adama asks permission to head to the rear of the Raptor. While Taylor is busy, Adama secretly communicates with Starbuck over wireless text messages. This gives away her position to the Fleet, who think her to be a Cylon Raider. When the Vipers are ordered to disengage and pursue her instead, Starbuck manages to identify herself before things get out of hand.

Cain feels that persecuting young Adama for authorizing Thrace's mission would be odd since she is promoting Thrace for her work on her recon mission. Thrace successfully returns Adama to flight status, but demoted to lieutenant (Resurrection Ship, Part II).

Battle of the Resurrection Ship

While Thrace plans an assault on the Resurrection Ship and the two basestars defending it, she tells Adama that his father has ordered her to kill Cain after the battle, and asks Adama to watch her back. Outraged, Adama confronts his father with this, shocked to learn it was President Roslin's idea. Thrace assigns Adama the specific task of disabling the Resurrection Ship's FTL drive by sneaking up on it in the Blackbird and destroying it with a precision missile strike. Apollo succeeds, but the Blackbird collides with a Raptor. Apollo is able to eject, but the Blackbird is destroyed. Alive, but not unscathed, Apollo floats in space watching the battle take place around him. A tear in his flight suit leaves him almost of air. While having the means to stop the leak, he is overcome with a sense of sadness and nihilism, having learned that the two persons closest to him, Roslin and his father, resort to assassination to solve their conflict with Cain. Although hearing Dualla over the wireless, he decides to let go and die, but is found by a SAR Raptor and resuscitated. Adama becomes despondent and distant from his friends and family after his near-death experience. In the pilot's locker room, Thrace tells Adama "Let's just be glad that we both came back alive, alright?" to which Adama responds "That's just it, Kara, I didn't want to make it back alive" (Resurrection Ship, Part II).

The Black Market

After President Roslin is saved from her illness, she begins trying to put down the Fleet's black market. New Pegasus commander Jack Fisk is soon murdered, leaving the elder Adama (now an Admiral) to assign his son to investigate. With his association with prostitute Shevon and her daughter Paya on Cloud 9, Anastasia Dualla asks where the relationship between the two of them is heading. After he hesitates, Dualla takes it to mean it is over. Rushing to help Shevon after her call for help, the captain is ambushed by Phelan's men. Waking up from the attack, he finds the Fisk's murder weapon, and the body of Fisk's murderer.

With some help from Tom Zarek, unwilling to accept the neatly-wrapped up case of Fisk's murderer or the missing Shevon, Adama finds the black market's main ship, the Prometheus. He finds Paya and other children locked in a storage room. He confronts Phelan, who tells him a black market is necessary, since some supplies may never reach needy people any other way. After Phelan admits running a child prostitution ring, Adama shoots Phelan, and tells his bodyguards that the market can continue operations, unless it keeps holding back essential medicines, begins killing, or returns to child prostitution.

Shevon refuses to see Adama anymore, realizing that Adama has tried to use her and Paya as replacements in his mind for his lost fiancé Gianne and their unborn child, saying that she can never be her (Black Market).

Friendly Fire

While on leave to Cloud 9 with Dualla, a group of terrorists seize a bar and demand the second copy of Sharon Valerii for execution, while they hold hostage approximately a dozen people, including Dualla, Billy Keikeya, Ellen Tigh and Adama. The captain secretly sabotages the bar's carbon dioxide sensors to appear as if it were leaking atmosphere. The sabotage enables Captain Thrace to enter the bar and gather intelligence on the situation, but her cover is blown by Ellen Tigh, and she is forced to draw her weapons. One shot hits accidentally Adama in the chest. After escaping, Thrace breaks down crying for having shot her friend; Dualla is able to care for Adama long enough for him to survive to Galactica's sickbay, and later sits at his bedside while he recovers. Thrace watches, but is unsure what to do and leaves (Sacrifice).

A Worthy Command

Adama finds himself promoted to Major and assigned to Pegasus. He is assigned to the ship by Admiral Adama to assess Pegasus's crew and the the new commander Barry Garner, the ship's former Chief Engineer.

His relationship with Dualla has become very intimate following his promotion and recovery. Kara Thrace, still Pegasus CAG, soon comes to blows with Garner is confined to her quarters. When visiting her, Adama chides her for her behavior, stating that he is sick of cleaning up after her all the time. He confronts her about the friendly fire incident, resulting in a moment of uncomfortable silence, before the talk returns to business.

Against orders from Admiral Adama, Garner takes Pegasus in to search for two Raptors missing during a recon mission into a binary star system. His impulsive and unwise efforts result in the battlestar's ambush by three Cylon basestars. With the FTL drive damaged after successive nuclear missile strikes, Garner relegates command to Major Adama and heads below to help in FTL repairs. After a moment's hesitation (perhaps thinking what his father would do), Adama orders the forward guns to fire on the nearest basestar, critically damaging the basestar and forcing its retreat, while commanding the battlestar's fighters (led by Starbuck) to guard embattled areas damaged from nuclear pummeling. Adama's attack buys time for Commander Garner to repair the FTL drive, enabling Pegasus to escape back to the Fleet and relative safety.

Admiral Adama debriefs his son, who gave Garner a lot of credit for saving the ship, despite their disagreements. When asked about Garner's flaws, Lee says that he only knew machines, while command is about people. His father tells him to keep that in mind and gives him command of Pegasus, together with a promotion to commander; possibly giving him his old rank insignia (The Captain's Hand).

Sometime later, Adama wishes Thrace good luck in rescuing Samuel Anders and the rest of the resistance group on Caprica, despite his clear personal feelings towards her. After Thrace and Anders' return, Adama attempts to introduce himself politely, but is hampered by the couple's amorous and highly drunken behavior. When Thrace gives a rude comment, Adama bows out the area, beginning a quiet but palpable rift in their friendship (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

Lee Adama in command of Pegasus (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

On New Caprica

Four months later, Commander Adama and his XO, Lieutenant Dualla, are granted shore leave to attend a groundbreaking ceremony on the surface of New Caprica. After the ensuing party, with Dualla and Anders gone, Adama sleeps with Kara Thrace and suggests they break up with their respective partners. Thrace however, refuses to break up, despite the two declaring their love for each other. He wakes up alone the next morning only to find out that Thrace has just married Anders. The rift between Adama and Thrace has widened ever larger. Hurt, he proposes to Dualla, who accepts (Unfinished Business).

Another eight months later, a year after the settlement, a half-manned Pegasus is still orbiting New Caprica. Commander Adama has gained a considerable amount of weight in the intervening year. He is in the process of deciding whether or not to supply Kara Thrace with antibiotics for pneumonia-afflicted Anders when Dualla spots a massive Cylon fleet jumping into the nebula. Adama and his father briefly discuss their course of action; young Adama argues for an immediate emergency jump. Reluctantly, the Admiral orders the orbiting remains of the Fleet, whose population consists of around two thousand citizens, to escape, thus leaving New Caprica to the Cylons for the time being (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

Battle of New Caprica and Destruction of Pegasus

Commander Adama and his father get into a disagreement over whether or not a rescue mission should be mounted to New Caprica. Lee believes that it would end with the destruction of both Galactica and Pegasus, leaving the pitiful remnants of the Fleet at the mercy of the Cylons. Lee also objects to the Admiral's decision to reinstate Sharon Agathon as a Colonial Fleet officer to act as liaison between the New Caprica resistance and Galactica. These disagreements lead to heated arguments between the two, prompting Admiral Adama to make a comment about Lee's weight by calling him a "fatass" and saying he has grown "soft" in the past year ("Occupation", "Precipice"). Due to his son's objections, Admiral Adama decides to take Galactica to rescue the people on New Caprica alone. He gives his son orders to wait 18 hours for his return; if he does not return by then, Lee is to resume the search for Earth with what is left of the civilian fleet. Despite their disagreement, the two have a heartfelt goodbye. Lee tries to talk his father out of the plan and explain himself, but the older Adama stops him. Instead the two embrace and the Admiral gives his son full military honors when departing Galactica (Exodus, Part I).

Lee is certain that his father will not return, and he is conflicted between his duty to protect the civilians and his duty to his father. His wife's attempt at reassurance only serve to heighten his guilt. Leaving his ship's Vipers behind to protect the civilians, he takes Pegasus to assist Galactica, fully aware that he may very well be on a suicide mission. He joins the battle just in time, saving his father's ship from certain destruction. Immediately destroying one basestar after exiting the jump, Adama uses Pegasus to draw fire, giving Galactica time to escape. This action damages Pegasus beyond repair. Adama orders the crew to evacuate and sets the ship's batteries to be set on autofire. He is the last person to leave the CIC, thanking the ship as he departs. The small crew evacuates on Raptors just as Pegasus rams a basestar, destroying itself in the process (Exodus, Part II).

The Commander and his crew transfer to the last remaining battlestar, Galactica. Dissatisfied with his round appearance, he had also taken up a rigid exercise regimen and starts losing weight rapidly (Collaborators).

The Second Exodus

Lee Adama back as a Major in the role of Galactica's CAG (Torn).

As of the episode "Torn", Lee has returned to the role of Galactica's CAG, with the rank of Major. When a dying basestar is discovered in the Lion's Head Nebula, Adama leads a team of Marines on it and captures several humanoid Cylons. After Doctor Cottle discovers that they are infected with a virus lethal to the Cylons, Adama advocates to use the prisoners as biological weapons in an attempt to exterminate the Cylons. The plan is approved but ultimately fails due to the intervention of Karl Agathon, who sabotages the mission (A Measure of Salvation).

When Bulldog arrives on Galactica, Admiral Adama tells Lee about the mission they executed together, and how he believes it has led to the Cylon holocaust. Lee blames the admiralty instead, saying they wanted to provoke a war (Hero).

After most of the Fleet has arrived safely on the algae planet following a harrowing journey, Adama leads the food harvesting operations on the surface. Fourteen days into the harvesting mission, he meets with Kara Thrace and once again suggests they divorce their respective spouses. Thrace refuses to divorce and Adama refuses to cheat on his wife, deadlocking their relationship. When the Temple of Five is found on the planet and the Cylons show up, Adama is ordered to protect the temple from the Cylons, destroying it if necessary. He orders Starbuck to scout the terrain in her Raptor, which gets shot down by Centurions. After having sent Dualla to rescue Starbuck, the Major and his team attempt an ambush against a group of Centurions passing through a valley towards the temple. The ambush fails, and Adama orders to retreat and the temple to be blown. When trying to do so, he and his team witness the algae planet's star going supernova, and realize that the nova is in fact the Eye of Jupiter. After the Cylon fleet has jumped away to escape the destruction of the planetary system, the ground team is picked up by a rescue party ("The Eye of Jupiter", "Rapture").

Later Adama is treated by his friend Galen Tyrol to a little surprise: A number of crew have created a bar, on the starboard hangar deck, complete with a Pyramid arcade game and an old Viper Mark II hanging above for atmosphere. Tyrol and Adama have a drink as they discuss their marital problems; Tyrol and his wife Cally have had an argument that has apparently left him "in the doghouse". Adama is reluctant to interact with his wife, as his uncertainty over his love of Kara Thrace continues to fight with him. Adama returns to his quarters, quite drunk, to find Dualla still awake and doing some work, apparently drinking some type of alcohol. She tries to confirm if they are still going to have dinner later that day as Lee dozes off, leaving Dualla disappointed. Later on Adama and Dualla have an argument about Kara Thrace and the future of their marriage. Dualla says that she married Adama because she loved him, choosing to have him for as long as he or Kara Thrace would let him. She resigns herself to her marriage's failure and tells Adama that she will not stand in his way if he were to choose Thrace over her. Dualla then leaves. Thrace and Adama meet privately. When Thrace asks Adama if he loves her and would be with her if she were to leave Anders, Adama equivocates, remembering Thrace's fickleness after he declared his love a year before. Thrace leaves him to think about the situation.

Lee Adama drinking in Joe's Bar (Taking a Break From All Your Worries).

Adama returns to the bar and drinks more, toying with his wedding band. He asks Chief Tyrol if he ever thought about what his future with Boomer would have been like, or had any regrets. With a quick drink, Tyrol replies in the negative. Adama stumbles back to his quarters, losing his wedding band somewhere in Galactica's corridors. Lee Adama and his wife meet in Joe's Bar. Adama, having since found his lost wedding ring, confesses that he loves Dualla and how dedicated she has been to him, never realizing how much he needed her affection. As the two embrace, Adama tries to avoid looking across the bar at Kara Thrace and Anders. Thrace returns the glance before Adama breaks it off (Taking a Break From All Your Worries).

Death of a Lover and Friend

During refueling operations over a gas giant, Kara Thrace becomes mentally unstable, having hallucinations about Leoben and her alleged destiny. When she refuses to fly another mission, Adama has a friendly talk with her. After all that happened two are back where they started; Thrace being the screwup pilot and Adama having to clean up after her as CAG. He also tells her that his relationship with Dee is better than ever. Adama offers to fly as her wingman to calm her. While on CAP, Starbuck sees a Cylon Heavy Raider and goes on alert, joined by Adama. However, from the vantage point of Adama, Thrace's Viper malfunctions and is drawn into the vortex of a storm. He gets sketchy information from Thrace when she says "I'll see you on the other side." Her Viper explodes, and Adama struggles to escape the vortex (Maelstrom).

He is badly shaken by her death, as evidenced by his lack of concentration as CAG, confusing people and mission details. He is also shaken by a story told by Romo Lampkin. Eventually, he begins the healing process with Samuel Anders by putting Thrace's picture into the memorial hallway (The Son Also Rises).

The Trial of Gaius Baltar

President Roslin recommends that Major Adama be put in charge of the proceedings of the trial of Gaius Baltar. However, due to the pressures that he is under, Adama declines the position (despite his interest in law as a child). As a token of his affection, Admiral Adama gives Lee his grandfather's Caprican Law Code books (A Day in the Life). Later, Admiral Adama places Lee in charge of security for Baltar's lawyer, Romo Lampkin, claiming that he trusts Lee, but also pulling him off his duties of CAG after he shows that Thrace's death affects his job performance. While following Lampkin around, Lee develops a desire to help Lampkin defend Baltar. His father is is not pleased with this idea, but allows him to do so (The Son Also Rises).

After Lee contributes to humiliating Colonel Tigh in court, he and his father have a falling out, which leads to Lee's resignation from the Colonial Fleet and him becoming a civilian. Adama also learns that President Roslin has resumed taking chamalla, which he confronts her about in court. Roslin pleads to him to not pursue his line of questioning, but he forces her to admit that her cancer has returned. Disappointed in Adama, she recollects times when the two were friends and she called him "Captain Apollo". After that, his wife packs her things in preparation for leaving Adama. She says that he should not have confronted the President, and that he was supporting a legal system that was trying to let a murderer walk. She leaves him alone, with him crying that she doesn't understand him (Crossroads, Part I).

In an unusual move, Adama takes the stand himself and delivers a passionate speech in defense of Baltar. He points out a string of incidents, some involving himself, where people were forgiven for serious crimes, and defends those decisions, because humanity is not a real civilization anymore. Adama thinks that executing Baltar, for actions that he couldn't really prevent, when others got away is not justice, and that Baltar is just the Fleet's scapegoat for everyone's misdeeds and failures on New Caprica. The speech plays a major role in Baltar's subsequent acquittal. When Romo Lampkin leaves Adama after their victory, he leaves back his cane, which he used being injured in an attempt on his life, and walks normally, thus showing how he manipulated both Adama and the court. Ultimately, Adama's sense of justice has once again placed him at odds with his father, but this time he has alienated Roslin and his wife as well, leaving him seemingly alone.

As a Cylon fleet converges on the Fleet in the Ionian Nebula, Adama unofficially returns to duty and mans a Viper. Unexpectedly, he encounters Kara Thrace, whom he believed dead (Crossroads, Part II).

Notes

• From Ronald D. Moore's blog, in response to a fan's question:

In my first draft of the mini, Lee Adama had just been accepted into test pilot school on Caprica and was not currently assigned to any battlestar. Presumably, he had been posted to at least a couple of battlestar Air Groups in his career, as well as several ground assignments as well. This isn't canon yet, however, and I'm currently thinking of changing some elements of his specific backstory as I work on storylines for Season Two. Overall, I'd say Lee was striving (perhaps too hard) to blaze a different path for himself in the fleet from that of his father. I don't think Lee ever saw himself as a battlestar commander and was looking for a different way to make his mark.

• The caption under Apollo's name in "Final Cut" list him as "CFR". In the podcast, Ron Moore explaines that this stands for "Colonial Fleet Reserves"; and that Apollo was a reserve officer because he wasn't sure what he was doing with his life and if he was going to pursue a full career in the Colonial Fleet.
• According to Jamie Bamber, Adama's official character biography states that "Lee is never so happy as when he's in his kitchen cooking."
• Jamie Bamber is the husband of actress Kerry Norton, who portrays Layne Ishay, the paramedic from "Scattered" and "Taking a Break From All Your Worries".
• Bamber is actually British, however, he plays Lee Adama with an American accent (presumably to more closely match the accent of Edward James Olmos who plays his father).
• Bamber's natural hair color is blonde, but his hair is dyed brown to play Apollo, so he will resemble Edward James Olmos more, who plays his characters' father.
• While Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell were hand-picked for their roles, the rest of the characters were cast by audition: among those in the running for the role of Apollo was Farscape and Stargate SG-1 star Ben Browder, though the role ultimately went to Jamie Bamber.
• Admiral William Adama names his son to succeed him as commander of Galactica in his resignation letter (Hero) indicating how close they have become prior to the events of Gaius Baltar's trial.
• Lee Adama's watch is a Nixon Scout.

External Links

• Creator:Bamber on Apollo article at Scifipedia, the SciFi.com Encyclopedia.

Preceded by: Jackson "Ripper" Spencer	Commander, Air Group, Galactica	Succeeded by: George "Catman" Birch
Preceded by: George "Catman" Birch	Commander, Air Group, Galactica	Succeeded by: Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Preceded by: Barry Garner	Commanding Officer, Pegasus	Succeeded by: (none, ship destroyed)
Preceded by: Louanne "Kat" Katraine	Commander, Air Group, Galactica	Succeeded by: Karl "Helo" Agathon

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• See Also
  • Apollo (TOS)|Apollo from the Original Series
  • Richard Hatch|Richard Hatch
  • Tom Zarek|Tom Zarek

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