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Life Forms of the Twelve Colonies

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This article discusses an aspect of the Re-imagined Series version of the Twelve Colonies. For information on the Original Series version, see The Twelve Colonies (TOS).


Part of the series on


This article is a list of fictional and actual animals and plants mentioned in the Re-imagined Series as existing on the Twelve Colonies. For the most part, the Colonies appear to have the same organisms as present-day earth, with some exceptions.

In keeping with the naturalistic science fiction concepts that Ron D. Moore used to model the series, it is unlikely that we may see any life forms outside of those found on any of the Earth-like planets of the Twelve Colonies.

Ron D. Moore initially chose to avoid addressing the issue of the types of live animals planned to appear. In the commentary for the Miniseries, Moore elaborates:

..."David and I, we had discussed, at an early point; well, do they have dogs and cats and things like that? And we said, "No, no, no", let's not go there, 'cause that locks us into a whole Terrestrial-kind of like thing. We'll just avoid any mention of it. Nobody will even, like, register that we had "Chicken pie" the whole time, and in retrospect "Oh, I guess there are chickens"."

Over the course of the series, however, not only have the terrestrial names of flora and fauna been used extensively, but a live dog and cat have also appeared relatively prominently. Rats and bats can briefly be seen in "Bastille Day" and "Litmus" respectively.

Fictional

Plants

Roslin: "I would like to explore alternative treatment. [...] Have you ever heard of Chamalla extract?" (Act of Contrition)
Resembles (somewhat) herbal cannabinoids and opioids in its pain-killing and hallucinogenic effects, which are found in the plant cannabis and the opium poppy, respectively.
Baltar: "A parting gift: hand-rolled from some of the finest Fumarella leaf on Caprica. It's also one of the last left in the universe." (Water)
An homage to the original series, in which Starbuck's cigars are referred to as "fumarellos". This plant may be similar or identical to tobacco.

Real

Animals

Mammals

Seen flying out of an abandoned warehouse in "Litmus".
Given the presence of meat in the fleet, it is likely that the Colonials get meat from such animals.
Romo Lampkin's cat, Lance.
Baltar has a statuette of a camel on his desk while president (Precipice).
Jake on New Caprica.
Starbuck: "A horse. Why not a goat? I mean, that's good, right? Think of it as a goat." (Six Degrees of Separation)
Starbuck: "I'm gonna need some of those gorillas you call Marines." (Sacrifice)
Starbuck: "This is the Viper Mark II. It's as maneuverable as a jackrabbit and can flip end for end in .35 seconds." (Act of Contrition)
Cliff Hooper's friend: "He's a real-deal war hero, Hoop. Can't be seen drinkin' with a bunch of low-life freight monkeys." (Scattered, deleted scene)
Adama: "I'm a Picon Panthers fan myself." (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)
Phelan: "Fisk was a pig. He tried to force us to renegotiate."
Rats on Caprica (Bastille Day).
In the episode Dirty Hands, Xeno Fenner describes Cabott as "squirrelly." This might simply be a figure of speech.
Gaeta reveals a tattoo of a tiger on his upper right chest in the episode "Final Cut".

Birds

  • Birds of Prey
    • While the animals have never been specifically mentioned, it's reasonable to assume the Raptor is named after them.
    • Possibly a bird of prey is heard and mentioned by Tyrol and Socinus on Kobol (Valley of Darkness).
  • Blackbird
Namesake of the Blackbird experimental stealth fighter (Flight of the Phoenix).
Colonel Tigh: "They're coming up with big goose eggs" (Water)
Jammer: "I don't care if they put a giant parakeet in here. If the colonel says build a cell, we build a cell." (Resistance)
There is a pigeon in the episode Daybreak, Part I.
Colonial pilot jargon for a Cylon Raider (Maelstrom).
Namesake of the Colonial drone weapon, the Swallow (Occupation).
Colonial pilot jargon for a Cylon Heavy Raider (Maelstrom).
In a deleted scene from "Downloaded", Karl Agathon calls D'Anna Biers a "stupid frakking vulture" after being notified of Hera's alleged death.

Reptiles

Adama: "Betrayal has such a powerful grip on the mind. It's almost like a python. You can squeeze out the thought, suffocate all other emotion until everything is dead except for the rage." (Home, Part I)
Laura Roslin has a vision of "serpents two and ten" as prophesized, which she and Elosha associate with the Viper fighter craft (The Hand of God).

Fish

Baltar: "There was an off-road bridge, over the Euclid river. I used to go there, when I was a boy. Watch the fish try and swim upstream. They were mesmerizing." (Home, Part I)
What Baltar describes, without naming, are anadromous fish - almost certainly a type of salmon.
ECO Lyla "Shark" Ellway (The Captain's Hand) presumably took her call-sign from these creatures.
When Six comes "home" to Baltar's house carrying the metal suitcase, one can see three different glasses on a table in the front of the scene. They contain only water and one living, small, long-finned, black fish each, a way aggressive Siamese fighting fish are kept (Miniseries).

Invertebrates

Crashdown: "Someone else feel like they have ants crawling behind their frakking eyeballs?" (33)
Starbuck: "...even a cockroach needs to breathe..." (You Can't Go Home Again)
Caprica-Sharon: "I remember the first day I met you, Starbuck. You were puking your guts out in the head after you ate some bad oysters." (Scattered)

Plants

Roslin: "I need you to send my ID code on the exact same frequency: D, as in dog, dash, 456, dash, 345, dash, A as in apple." (Miniseries)
In the commentary for the Miniseries, Ron Moore stated that the officer at Armistice Station was originally supposed to take out an apple and eat it while studying his notes; in keeping with the new series's emphasis on naturalism.
Starbuck: "You look like a blueberry." (Flight of the Phoenix)
Used by Sagittarons as a calmative (The Woman King).
Baltar: "Simply put, Admiral, you have already used the stick. It's time to use a carrot." (Pegasus)
Gaeta: "Seven other container ships are refusing to release their supplies. Food, medicine, even coffee." (Resistance)
Col. Tigh: "A couple of lemons, we could make lemonade". (Bastille Day)
Roslin: "Chamalla and licorice. Would you like some?" (Resistance)
Adama cracks walnuts while going over potential CAGs in the episode "Home, Part I".
Helo: You hungry? I don't know, what do we got? Peanut butter... baked beans, corn. How about some chili? (The Hand of God)
Helo is probably referring to the common Haricot bean
In "Razor", Kara Thrace asks Kendra Shaw if she wants to be demoted back to peeling potatoes in the ship's galley.
In "The Eye of Jupiter", Tyrol says, referring to the algae, "It's breakfast, lunch and dinner until someone finds a hot fudge planet."

Official Statements

"Q: Boxey's been more or less written out of the series, but there's always a chance that we might one day see the return of Muffit, or some other form of Man's Best Friend. Might we see the introduction of animals (including Cylon animals) into the Galactica universe? Where would Cylon animals fit in with the Cylon plan (especially in light of "The Farm")? Can Cylon animals reproduce?
RDM: The presence of animals in the rag-tag fleet was something that came up in early discussions, but we kinda dropped it from the conversation as the year went on. I don't know if we'll ever get around to doing something in this area or not. It mostly depends on finding a story that supports it in some interesting fashion other than Gaeta finds a kitty. I don't think the Cylons are creating animals as we would define them, but they certainly see the Raiders and other craft as animals vis a vis their relationship with the humanoid Cylons."

In a curious footnote to Moore's comment, eventually the character of Felix Gaeta finds not a kitty, but a dog and his water dish.

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