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Adama is the commander of the great battlestarGalactica, commander of the refugee fleet, and military commander of the evacuees of the Twelve Colonies of Man. He is also the spiritual leader of the surviving Colonists, leading the quest for Earth.
As well as being a career military officer, Commander Adama is also a member of the Quorum of Twelve, the governing body of the Colonies.
The Peace Conference
Adama is mistrustful of the Cylons at the time of the Peace Conference to end the 1,000 year Cylon War, and as a result Galactica is the only battlestar to survive the Cylon sneak attack. Despite the destruction and great personal loss, Adama is able to organize the survivors in an escape from the Cylons and lead them on the search for Earth.
Even as the Fleet is leaving their home system Adama immediately encounters resistance with the Quorum. Sire Uri presents Borallus as a destination, as the Fleet lacks the supplies to reach Carillon. Adama insists that Borallus is too obvious, and is surely a Cylon trap. Apollo suggests a shorter route to Carillon through the Straits of Madagon.
Once at Carillon, the council tries to convince Adama to disarm the Fleet. They agree to let the people decide at an award ceremony Sire Uri has organized for Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer. Adama secretly conspires with Colonel Tigh to send non-essential crew to the ceremony dressed as warriors, so that they would have a fighting force ready in case of a Cylon attack. The Cylons do attack, crushing Sire Uri's ceremony as well as the efforts to disarm the fleet (TOS: "Saga of a Star World").
Discovery of Kobol
Adama is pleased when he learns that Apollo plans to be sealed to Serina. When Apollo and Starbuck discover the magnetic void, Adama researches the ancient texts, and believes he has discovered a description of the same phenomenon in an account about the discovery of Kobol. With the Viper pilots ill, Adama orders shuttle pilots to begin training as Viper pilots. He doesn't realize that by doing so he has called up Serina for Warrior duty, much to Apollo's chagrin. Adama sends out the newly trained Viper pilots on a vital mission, destroying a Cylon outpost and escorting a medical shuttle to obtain information about the mysterious illness. Adama's strategy is vindicated when the mission succeeds without any Colonial losses. As Baltar's basestar catches up with the Fleet, Adama manages to evade him by turning the Fleet into the magnetic void (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I").
Apollo and Serina are sealed, with Adama presiding over the ceremony. During the ceremony, Kobol's star appears, leading them out of the void and to the ancient world of Kobol. The planet has ruins and pyramids. Adama chooses a site for a camp, and posts guards even though the planet is supposed to be dead. Adama explores the ruins with Apollo and Serina. Adama suspects the ruins are Eden, the largest city on Kobol and the first to fall. Adama recognizes the seal of the Ninth Lord of Kobol, the last leader of Kobol before the thirteen tribes went to the stars. Adama hopes to find information about where the thirteenth tribe went, to learn something that might help them find the location of Earth. They find the entrance to the Tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol. Serina recognizes that Adama's Quorum medallion is the same as the seal on the entrance. Adama uses his medallion as a key, opening the door. Shortly after they enter a trap is sprung, but using the medallion again releases them. They enter a room that appears to contain a sarcophagus. Shortly after they enter, Baltar enters the through a different door. Adama throttles him, trying to choke the life out of the traitor until Apollo pulls them apart. Baltar tries to sell Adama on a scheme to return to the Cylons, appearing to have surrendered to him. Galactica could then launch a surprise attack and cause maximum damage. Adama is not buying it, saying that their future lies in front of them, along the path of the thirteenth tribe. Baltar scoffs at this, believing that Earth is a myth. Adama has Baltar taken away, and begins studying the tomb.
Starbuck is released from Cylon captivity, and returns to report the presence of the basestar just outside Galactica sensor range. Apollo drags Baltar back to the room with Adama, informing Adama of the impending threat. Adama refuses to flee, hoping to find something about the thirteenth tribe and Earth. Kobol's star begins to shine again, and the reflection off Adama's medallion causes the sarcophagus to draw back, revealing a staircase. Baltar dashes down the staircase and everybody chases after him. Before he can be stopped, Baltar tosses the lid off of the real sarcophagus of the Ninth Lord of Kobol, and seizes the scepter out of the hand of the mummy. This activates a trap, sealing Baltar, Adama, Apollo and Serina in the tomb. Inside the tomb, Adama discovers the information he is searching for. He reads about the last days of Kobol, but as he gets to the part about where the thirteenth tribe went, the Raiders begin to bombard the temple. The inscriptions are destroyed. An explosion opens a hole out of the tomb, but also crushes Baltar beneath a large stone. The Colonials are forced to leave Baltar behind as they escape the destruction (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
Fleeing the Cylons
When Apollo is pursued by a group of Raiders, Adama is forced to hold Starbuck and Boomer from helping Apollo. Adama realizes that Apollo is leading the Raiders away from the fleet, and that his distress calls are meant for Cylon ears and are not genuine. While Apollo is gone Adama plays the role of the grandfather well, telling Boxey stories of Earth. Adama allows Starbuck and Boomer to go on patrols to later look for him, and they manage to pick up his signal and return him to Galactica(TOS: "The Lost Warrior").
Adama reopens the dining rooms aboard Rising Star, promising a reservation there for any pilot willing to test the new Recon Viper. Starbuck takes him up on the offer. Adama is saddened to order the destruction of the Recon Viper when it begins emitting signals that indicate that Starbuck is no longer in control of it. Cassiopeia identifies the signals as Aerian merchant code, allowing Adama to countermand the destruction order. When Starbuck is returned to the fleet Adama hosts a dinner aboard Rising Star, welcoming his warrior back and the new members of the Fleet (TOS: "The Long Patrol").
During their journey, Adama feels the Fleet is being herded into a particular area of space. A recon patrol eventually discovers the Cylon plan, when they encounter the Ravashol pulsar. The pulsar is powerful enough to destroy Galactica with a single burst. Unable to attack it from space, Adama hatches a plan to send a commando team to destroy the pulsar from the ground (TOS: "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part I").
Despite no indication on the success or failure of the commando team, Adama is forced to order the Fleet forward in order to stay ahead of the Cylons. The commando team succeeds just before Galactica comes into range of the pulsar, and the Fleet and Galactica are saved (TOS: "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part II").
Cylon Raiders destroy two out of the three Agro Ships and damaged the third, forcing the Fleet to seek out a new source for seed. Adama wants to trade an energizer without Colonial markings for the seed on the planet Sectar. Unfortunately for Adama, only Siress Belloby has such an energizer. Adama meets with her in her quarters aboard the freighter Gemini, and agrees to her terms. She gives him the energizer in exchange for courting her. She also insists on accompanying him on the mission to Serenity, a small agro colony on the planet. Siress Belloby ends up being kidnapped by the Borays. Adama is unable to negotiate her release, until Starbuck strikes a bargain with the leader of the Borays. Siress Belloby is unimpressed by Adama's negotiating attempts at releasing her, and lets him off the hook for having to court her. She informs him that what she needs is a "real animal" (TOS: "The Magnificent Warriors").
After learning that Starbuck has been shot down over Attila, Adama orders Apollo and Boomer to go retrieve the warrior in a shuttle. He hopes that the shuttle might be able to slip in and rescue him without attracting any attention. Apollo and Boomer successfully return him to the fleet, after he helps the children to destroy the Cylon outpost and rescue their father (TOS: "The Young Lords").
The Fleet is running low on fuel when Pegasus and Cain arrive on the scene. Adama is delighted to have the help of another battlestar. Cain informs Adama that Gamoray is now under Cylon control. Pegasus has been harassing the planet for a while, but now that Galactica has arrived Cain feels they can launch an attack against the planet. Adama is not interested in attacking the planet, preferring instead to attempt to capture some Cylon tankers to obtain the fuel. Cain destroys the tankers during the mission, forcing Adama to consider the attack. Cain refuses to redistribute fuel from Pegasus to the rest of the fleet, and Adama relieves Cain of command. After a Cylon attack against Galactica, Adama allows Cain to assume command of Pegasus again, to help fight off the threat (TOS: "The Living Legend, Part I").
They successfully repel the Raiders, and Adama meets with Cain to figure out how to best take advantage of the Cylons surprise at having to face two battlestars. Cain suggests a commando raid against Gamoray to take out the planetary defenses. Adama is worried that the basestars will attack the Fleet while they are refueling. They decide to send Pegasus to delay the basestars, while Galactica attacks the planet and secures the fuel. During the battle, Adama fear's that Cain has failed to delay the Cylons when it appears the Raiders make it past Pegasus and continue towards Gamoray. When Cain is revealed to be attacking the basestars, the Raiders are recalled which successfully prevents them from engaging. Adama realizes that this is what Cain intended the whole time. Adama tries to convince Cain to break off his attack, but Cain is adamant. After Pegasus and Cain disappear, Adama welcomes Sheba as part of Galactica's family (TOS: "The Living Legend, Part II").
During the suicide Raider attacks, Adama is critically injured in one of the explosions. He is taken down to the life sciences station, to be cared for by Dr. Salik. While he is being prepped for his surgery he suggests the idea of extinguishing the fire by venting the nearby air into space. Adama's plan works, and his surgery is successful (TOS: "Fire in Space").
Bojay's patrol goes missing, and Adama briefs the crew about what is known about the disappearance. Adama is suspicious of Count Iblis, and orders a full medical scan. He is furious when Sheba brings Iblis into Core Command. Meeting with Iblis privately, Iblis reveals that he will lead the Fleet to earth under his own leadership. The Beings of Light appear, causing great distress to the Fleet. Adama tells the Fleet that they are not an immediate threat. Some of the members of the precautionary intercept of Vipers that he sends out disappear, causing him to recall the remaining fighters. Iblis makes his power play. He offers the Quorum of twelve three wishes to prove his power. The Quorum asks for the capture of Baltar, to be lead to Earth, and reserve the third for later. When Baltar arrives waving the white flag of truce, he is captured and taken before the council (TOS: "War of the Gods, Part I").
The council finds Baltar guilty of treason, and sentences him to life imprisonment aboard the Prison Barge. One of the Council members moves that they immediately make Iblis their leader, but Adama still has reservations. He still wants to understand the mysterious lights, and the disappearance of the Vipers. When Count Iblis predicts Apollo will lose at Triad, Apollo considers forfeiting, as he fears that playing and losing will mean Iblis will gain more leverage against Adama. Adama convinces Apollo to play anyway. Adama is furious when he discovers that Core Command is understaffed. He learns that Count Iblis has ordered that officer curfews not be strictly enforced. He wants to speak to Iblis at once. Adama finds Iblis in the barracks, being assaulted by Apollo. He manages to restrain Apollo, saving Apollo's life according to Iblis. Adama confronts Iblis about the lights, but Iblis claims that he doesn't fear them. He claims to be above all laws, but Adama wonders if this is truly the case.
Alone in his quarters Adama practices some telekinesis that he learned while at the Colonial Military Institute, before Apollo was born. His silverware bending used to drive Ila crazy. The powers he exhibits are the result of a people who can expect to live 200 yahren beginning to explore their potential. He speculates that a race that lives for thousands of yahren would be capable of things that would seem miraculous. He believes the mysterious lights are the angels that the ancient Colonials wrote about. Adama hatches a plan with Apollo for Apollo to return to the planet where Iblis was found to do some more investigation. Adama instructs Apollo not to think about the plan, as Iblis may be able to read the thoughts. Adama will shield the plan in his own mind by crowding it out with other thoughts, something he learned in his training at the Military Institute.
Iblis senses something afoot, and is able to read the minds of the flag officers to determine that Apollo has left in a shuttle. He goes to confront Adama. Adama claims that he does not believe in Iblis like the poor souls in the wreckage did. Iblis claims Adama will pay with a life more precious than his own. Adama welcomes Starbuck, Apollo, and Sheba back when they return. Sheba asks if they had been caught between a struggle between good and evil, and Adama replies this will always be the case, even if they find Earth. This prompts the trio to recite coordinates to Earth (TOS: "War of the Gods, Part II").
Adama orders the terran shuttle to be brought aboard Galactica. When they find the people inside statis chambers, he orders Dr. Wilker not to interfere with the equipment, despite Wilker's persistent requests to try to figure it out. A power struggle with the Quorum of Twelve ensues, led by Sire Geller. Eventually the Quorum wins out, ordering the people to be removed from their shuttle. Before the orders can be carried out, a plan executed by the warriors allows the shuttle to escape, much to the embarrassment of Council Security and Sire Geller (TOS: "Greetings From Earth").
Summoned before the Quorum, Adama is informed by Sire Domra that he is to receive the highest honor, the Star of Kobol. They also inform him that the emergency has passed, and that martial law will be ending. Adama disagrees, but they insist on returning the Fleet to civilian control. Adama will retain his vote on the council, as well as command of Galactica. He will, however, be assigned an advisor from the council aboard Galactica, Siress Tinia. Baltar and several Eastern Alliance prisoners engineer a meeting with the Quorum. They capture the council, holding them as hostages in an attempt to secure their escape. After Adama is able to secure their successful release, as well as prevent Baltar from escaping, they agree to keep martial law in place (TOS: "Baltar's Escape").
Separating from Galactica from the fleet, but leaving two squadrons of Vipers behind, Adama investigates the beacon signals they are receiving from Apollo and Starbuck's Vipers. Starbuck contacts Galactica, informing them of an imminent Eastern Alliance missile attack against the Terran Nationalists. Galactica is able to shield the Nationalists and destroy the incoming barrage. Terra is saved, and the Eastern Alliance is forced to consider peace (TOS: "Experiment in Terra").
Adama and the Quorum of Twelve decorate Commander Kronus with the Star of Kobol, and award him with the command of additional ships. Kronus reminds Adama of the importance of strict adherence to regulation and discipline. Kronus later contacts Adama when his ship develops a propulsion problem, but asks that Apollo not slow the Fleet down for him (TOS: "Take the Celestra").
Out at the rim of the galaxy, Adama is informed of the Gamma frequency signal. He orders a Viper patrol to recon the area when sensors are unable to yield any information. The Vipers discover a basestar, but manage to escape undetected. Due to the position of the basestar, a great deal of backtracking would be required if they were to avoid it. Adama is tired of running, and decides to go through the basestar, hoping to destroy it and secure a clean getaway out of the galaxy. Adama develops a plan that involves luring all the Raiders away with the Vipers, while Galactica flanks the basestar, hopefully taking it by surprise. Apollo has an idea to help guarantee the element of surprise. Apollo proposes that he and Starbuck use Baltar's Raider to infiltrate the basestar and disable its sensors. Adama is initially hesitant, but eventually agrees to the plan. In order for the plan to work, they need more detailed information about the basestar. Adama strikes a bargain with Baltar, agreeing to leave him on a habitable planet with supplies and a short-range radio.
Baltar briefs Starbuck and Apollo on the layout of the basestar. Baltar lets them know where to go, and how many guards there are, and their likely location. Apollo and Starbuck embark on their mission. Adama launches the Vipers, then takes Galactica around behind the basestar. Apollo and Starbuck succeed in their mission, allowing Galactica to get the drop on the basestar. With the basestar destroyed, the Fleet is able to safely leave the galaxy free of Cylon pursuit, heading towards what they hope will be Earth (TOS: "The Hand of God").
Adama is one of only five characters in the Original Series to be featured in every episode, and the only character to be featured in all the episodes of both the Original Series and Galactica 1980.
Etymology
Adama's name is a variation of the name "Adam", the first man to be created according to the Bible in the Book of Genesis. Despite the origin of Adama's name, he functioned more like a Moses-type patriarch as he led and defended the Fleet time and time again.
Despite the fact that Moses never made it to his people's Promised Land, the character of Adama (as well as the actor) did return for the "Galactica 1980" series, when the Fleet finally reached Earth. Greene was one of two regulars that returned, the other being Jefferson as a promoted Colonel Boomer. Greene also donned a Moses-like beard for "1980". See the Adama (1980) article for further information.
Adama (also known as Nazareth) is also the name of a large city in Ethiopia.
Tie-in material information
According to Encyclopedia Galactica (a non-canonical piece of merchandise published in 1979):
Adama descended from the oldest, most distinguished bureautician families on Caprica. One of Adama's ancestors was said to be a founder for the Academy, the premier training institution for Colonial Warriors. At the eve of taking the admissions test for the Academy, he left to a remote retreat on Gemon (sic). While there, he studied under a mystic seer, devoting several yahren to "intense scrutiny of the Books of the Lords of Kobol, hoping to unlock some new, hidden meaning from the cryptic texts". After appearing to finish his tutledge, he joined the Academy and underwent efforts to combine "his studies of the occult with advances on the frontiers of science," which lead to attempts to use telekinesis and telepathy for military purposes.
After graduating, he served with distinction during the Thousand-Yahren War (called the "Great War" in the book) and "returned to [Caprica] a hero" and assumed leadership of the "Caprican Praesidium". Adama believed that "survival is best assured through diversity and independence" and thus "pursued a military policy independent of the guidelines set by the Quorum of the Twelve". He also resisted the Cylon peace accords, but in "fearing the total isolation of his Colony from humankind, he was ultimately forced" to support the decision.[1]
The Seal of the Lords is a medallion that is the symbol of the Lords of Kobol. Commander Adama normally wears this peculiar medallion with his commander's robes when in full dress.
He explains to Colonel Tigh that the medallion is a symbol of the Colonial faith as well as a symbol of power. The medallions are passed to members of the Quorum of Twelve; both he and the treasonous Lord Baltar have the last known surviving Seals.
The medallion is also used in the sealing ceremony, where the master of ceremonies wraps the medallion's chains around the bride and groom's hands as each holds the other's hands, with the medallion itself on top.
On Kobol, in search of answers to the whereabouts of Earth, Commander Adama uses the medallion as a key that opens the tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol, as well as to circumvent the cage-trap in the corridor leading to the tomb. The diamond-shape of the medallion also served as a mirror to reflect light to photo-sensitive eyes of the animal-figures within the tomb, thus opening the actual resting place beneath the faux sarcophagus (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
Related Imagery
Adama's command medallion, a variation of the Seal of the Lords (TOS: "The Hand of God").
The light of Kobol's lone star about to hit Adama's Seal through a small slit above where Adama stands. Note the square mirror, tilted 45 degrees, added for practical effects use in lieu of the more diamond shaped version seen earlier (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
An alternate version of this prop, featuring a flat square mirror tilted at a 45 degree angle, is used for the effects sequence where the light of Kobol's star reflects off it and into the eyes of two statues, thus opening the cover stone leading to the sarcophagus room.
Adama's quarters are aboard Galactica, located near the hull due to the presence of view ports, as well as near core command.
The quarters consist of at least two different rooms, an office area and a bedroom. The office area has a desk, as well as some shelves (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I"). The bedroom has a bed with a viewport over it, some recessed lockers, and a table with chairs (TOS: "The Young Lords"). Both areas have a telephone on the wall near the entrance.
Adama is put to bed rest in his quarters under the observation of Cassiopeia, after contracting an unspecified ailment (TOS: "The Young Lords").
During the 30 year exodus, changes and tragedies have befallen Adama and the Fleet. Apollo has apparently died, with his step-son Troy becoming a captain in the Fleet.
In addition to his son, he is forced to leave behind Starbuck during a particularly disastrous encounter with the Cylons, circa 1970 CE. Adama's right hand man, Colonel Tigh, has been replaced by Colonel Boomer during the interim.
In the last decade of the exodus, a child from the stars arrives to save the Colonials in the form of the "cerebral mutation," Doctor Zee(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I", "The Return of Starbuck"). Zee's advances allow Adama the means to protect the Fleet, following the attrition of the Galactican's Warriors, leading to a subsequent, if not wanting, discovery.
An Earth Found Wanting
Discovering Earth does not prove to be the salvation that the Colonials had hoped for, as they find Earth to be woefully behind in technology and culture.
Adama and his advisor, Doctor Zee, determine that the Earth is not yet ready for contact with Galactica or the Cylons. Zee also surmises that the Cylons have virtually left the Galacticans alone, so they may lead the Cylons to Earth and thus allow them to exterminate the entirety of humanity in one fell swoop, much to Adama's chagrin (1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I").
In the interim, the Galacticans run highly-dangerous missions and other distracting sorties against the Cylons, with the hope of prolonging Earth's protection from the Cylon Empire (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I", "Space Croppers").
The character's surviving children, particularly Apollo and Athena, are not seen in the series. Apollo is noted as deceased, and the fate of Athena is never mentioned.
Adama is not only one of only five characters in the Original Series to be featured in every episode of that series, but also the only character to be featured in all the episodes of both the Original Series and Galactica 1980.
The Adamas' marriage was challenging from the start, as William Adama was often reassigned from base to base.
Her father was friends with an important member of the Defense Subcommittee; it was partly through this connection that her husband was able to reinstate both himself and Saul Tigh in the Colonial Fleet after their post-war furlough (TRS: "Scattered"). Since William returned to the Fleet twenty-three years before the events of the Miniseries (Sources:Adama's Dossier), it stands to reason that he and Carolanne were married some time before that.
Due to William's commitments to the Colonial Fleet, Carolanne raised both children by herself. The strain of William's absence and his commitment to the Colonial Fleet caused the Adamas' eventual divorce.
Carolanne suffered mood swings that upset the others in her family, according to her oldest son, Lee. Later drinking binges after the divorce prevented her from fulfilling (and later apologizing for) promises she failed to keep. Lee Adama believed that, while his father loved his mother, the reverse was not true (TRS: "A Day in the Life").
Adama and her husband had little contact since their divorce. At the time of the Cylon Attack, Lee Adama tells his father that she is getting married to someone else (TRS: "Miniseries").
It is presumed that Carolanne Adama perished in the Cylon attack. William Adama takes the occasion of his wedding anniversary each year to recollect his late ex-wife's memory (TRS: "A Day in the Life").
Carolanne Adama was first referred to as "Caroline Adama" in the first season episode "Act of Contrition". In the second season episode "Scattered," during a flashback to William Adama and Saul Tigh's days aboard a tramp freighter, Adama refers to his new wife as "Anne". William Adama's wife was referred to as "Carolanne" for the first time in the third season episode "The Passage".
According to the extended editing session podcast for "A Day in the Life," Carolanne's name was originally Caroline. RDM and the other editors note that the change occurred when Olmos used the name Carolanne instead of Caroline. Ever since, Adama's wife has been called Carolanne by the staff.
For other people with the same or similar first name, see: Joe (disambiguation).
Joseph Adama was born on Tauron to Isabelle and William Adama in the years leading up to the Cylon War. Joseph's father believed him to be an introverted child in contrast to his younger, more emotive brother, Samuel. Having learned the Sacred Scrolls, Joseph received his "Mark of Manhood" - a tattoo representing the colony of Tauron - on his right wrist (CAP: "The Dirteaters").
The Adama Family on Tauron.
Coming of age during the Tauron Uprising, Adama and his brother were taught the importance of loyalty by their parents, both Ha'la'tha sympathizers who had knowledge of the resistance. Informing her sons of the risks and price of aiding the rebellion, Isabelle Adama told Joseph and Samuel that they had always been her "little Adama men," but that it was now time to be "men for Tauron" (CAP: "The Dirteaters").
Shortly after, a Heracleides soldier was killed in the alley outside the Adama home. Witnessing the murder, Samuel Adama climbed out of his bedroom window and removed the soldier's wallet and pistol, hiding them under his mattress despite the warnings of Joseph. Investigating the killing, three Herac officers later entered the Adama home to question the family. From their hiding place in a closet, Joseph and Samuel witnessed the torture of their father and the murder of their mother. Accepting that William Adama would not survive his injuries, Joseph shot and killed the Herac soldiers before turning the gun on his father (CAP: "The Dirteaters").
Escaping their home, Joseph and Samuel lived on the streets. There, Joseph gave his brother his own Mark of Manhood, the rudimentary tattoo sealing their own bond through the years (CAP: "The Dirteaters").
Caprican in a Tauron Body
Joseph Adama's lucky cigarette lighter.
Orphaned, Joseph and Samuel were sent to a refugee camp on Caprica. Arriving on the new world, Joseph was struck by the sight of flowers on the side of the road, something he had not seen on Tauron. In the refugee camp, the Adama boys met the Guatrau who later recounted that, even as a child, Joseph possessed a calculating air. Treating the Adamas as sons, the Guatrau took them under his wing, bringing Samuel into the Ha'la'tha crime syndicate and putting Joseph through law school (CAP: "Caprica (pilot)," "The Dirteaters").
Early Years on Caprica
While he was in law school, Adama met Evelyn, who went on to be his legal assistant and later his second wife. Though he didn't smoke much until later in life, Adama used a chrome lighter engraved with his name in law school, later as a lawyer carrying it into court as a good luck charm. With Evelyn's assistance, Adama's practice grew from personal injury law ("ambulance chasing" as Evelyn described it) to criminal legal defense (CAP: "Reins of a Waterfall," "The Dirteaters," "False Labor,"TRS: "The Hand of God").
Joseph Adama in court with his Ha'la'tha client.
Adopting a less Tauron sounding name - "Adams" - Joseph took great efforts to assimilate into Caprican culture, prompting his brother to refer to him as a "Caprican in a Tauron body." Privately, however, Adama retained some traditions of the "old world." Living in an apartment (615 Olympic Street #3) in Little Tauron, Adama raised two children, Tamara and Willie, with his wife Shannon and mother-in-law Ruth (CAP: "Caprica (pilot)," "Gravedancing," "There is Another Sky").
Working as a defense attorney for the Ha'la'tha, "Adams" used cubits to bribe judges, often preventing his clients from facing jury trials. Despite the fact that the Guatrau had paid for his education, Adams was reluctant to fully embrace the Ha'la'tha and hoped to distance himself from the crime organization, saying that he was tired of doing their "dirty work" (CAP: "Pilot").
Tragedy
Fifty-eight years before the Fall, Adams faces the loss of both his wife, Shannon, and daughter, Tamara, when the Caprica City MLMT train is bombed by the Soldiers of the One terror group. Mourning in the traditional Tauron way - wearing black gloves to symbolize distance from the rest of the world - Adams is left to care for his son, William, alone (CAP: "Pilot").
Adama and Graystone commiserate over their loss.
Following a Global Defense Department briefing on the bombing, Adams meets famed technologist Daniel Graystone outside Caprica City Hall, offering Graystone the use of his lighter. Having also lost a daughter - Zoe - Graystone commiserates with Adams at a downtown coffee shop and the two men spend hours together, simply smoking. As they go their separate ways, Graystone offers box seats at a Caprica Buccaneersgame to Adams and his son (CAP: "Pilot").
Taking Graystone up on his offer, Joseph and Willie attend the game, viewing it from the owner's box and later visiting the locker room. Following the game, Graystone reveals to Adams that he is aware of his affiliation with the Ha'la'tha, asking Joseph for his help in a project that could bring both of their daughters back to life. Graystone proposes to implant a virtual avatar of Tamara inside a robot body, essentially creating a duplicate of Adams' daughter. The key however, is a piece of technology owned by Graystone's competitor, a Tauron company called the Vergis Corporation. Though dubious about the offer, Adams is nonetheless intrigued (CAP: "Pilot").
"Tamara-A"
Joseph reunites with Tamara in V-world.
Deciding to move forward with Graystone's plan, Adams approaches his brother Sam Adama for help in the theft of the meta-cognitive processor from the Vergis Corporation. Working as an enforcer for the Ha'la'tha, Sam Adama is hesitant to betray Tomas Vergis - a friend of the Gautrau - but agreed to help if Joseph agrees to return the favor. Accepting the exchange, Adams agrees to deliver a threat to the Caprican Minister of Defense, Val Chambers, further increasing his involvement with the Ha'la'tha (CAP: "Pilot").
Upon receiving the stolen MCP, Graystone repays Joseph by bringing him into the virtual world where a digital version of Tamara is being stored. At first embracing the avatar as his daughter, Adams' joy at seeing Tamara again quickly evaporates. The avatar is confused and panicked, screaming that she can't feel her heartbeat. Incensed, Adams calls the entire endeavor an abomination and storms out of the Graystone Estate, leaving the Tamara avatar behind in the virtual world (CAP: "Pilot").
Realizing that he cannot not escape the reality of his situation, Adams resolves to begin anew. Sharing with his son the story of his own father and life on Tauron, Joseph reveals that he had changed their family name to "Adams," but that they would now embrace the Adama name (CAP: "Pilot").
Fallout
Joseph and Willie Adama in Caprica City.
In the weeks that follow the tragedy, Joseph Adama struggles to cope with life as a single parent. Upon receiving a vision of Tamara reaching out to him, Adama becomes obsessed with seeing the avatar of his daughter again. With Daniel Graystone ignoring his calls, Adama confronts Graystone at the MagLev memorial service at Apollo Park. There, Graystone tells Adama that the program is lost, the Tamara and Zoe avatars apparently gone. Unable to accept this, Adama confronts Graystone again, this time bringing Sam Adama with him. Savagely beating him in an alley, the Adama brothers persuade Graystone to reconsider his position and the scientist agrees to search for the Tamara avatar (CAP: "Rebirth," "Reins of a Waterfall").
Though Graystone suspects Tamara may still be in his private virtual space, the avatar disappears when it is discovered by the living Zoe avatar and released into the expanse of the virtual world. Believing his daughter to be truly gone, Adama seeks retribution, telling his brother to even the score by killing Graystone's wife, Amanda Graystone(CAP: "Reins of a Waterfall").
Later having second thoughts about the murder, Joseph attempts to call the hit off, but is unable to reach Sam. Aware of Joseph's high moral code, Sam Adama takes the opportunity to scare both his brother and Amanda Graystone, revealing later that he had no intention of killing her (CAP: "Gravedancing").
Letting Go
Joseph receives a new tattoo at the funeral for Shannon and Tamara.
Sinking into a deep depression, Adama begins neglecting his responsibilities, failing to go to work and to provide a stable home for his son. Lacking direction from his father, Willie spends time with his uncle Sam, who teaches him about the Ha'la'tha. Discovering that Willie has skipped school to spend time with Sam, Joseph confronts his brother and takes steps to reestablish his relationship with his son. Taking Willie on a fishing trip, Joseph attempts to bond with his son. The trip is cut short, though, when Willie savagely beats a teenage boy who had taunted him (CAP: "There is Another Sky").
Believing that he is quickly losing his son, Joseph decides to hold a traditional Tauron funeral to give his son - and himself - closure. Receiving a new tattoo on his chest, Joseph performs the funereal rights, giving the ferryman coins to ensure Tamara and Shannon safe passage to the afterlife. The following celebration, however, is interrupted by Tad Thorean - a New Cap City gamer - who arrives to deliver a message from Tamara - alive and lost in the virtual world (CAP: "There is Another Sky").
Search for Tamara
Joseph Adama and Tad "Heracles" Thorean in New Cap City.
Now aware of the living Tamara avatar's existence in V-world, Joseph Adama seeks out assistance from Tad Thorean. Locating Thorean at his workplace at a market in Little Tauron, Adama demands to be taken into the hacked virtual space. Leading Adama into the game, Thorean introduces Joseph to the rules of New Cap City. Chief among the rules Thorean described is virtual mortality - if a user is killed in the game, that user is permanently ejected from the game (CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory").
As Adama and Thorean explore the virtual environment, several aircraft begin strafing the streets below. Fleeing to avoid being shot, Adama inadvertently shoves Thorean into the gun fire, derezzing him and banning him from New Cap City (CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory").
Mysteries
Without Thorean as a guide, Adama returns to New Cap City alone, encountering "Emmanuelle," a beautiful user who claims to have been sent to help. Really Adama's assistant Evelyn in disguise, Emmanuelle helps protect and guide Adama through the gaming environment. Entering New Cap City's version of Little Tauron, Joseph and Emmanuelle break into the virtual version of his own apartment where they demand information from the current resident. Being shot and nearly derezzed in the an ensuing melee, Emmanuelle insists Adama leave V-world until he is prepared to do whatever it takes to find his daughter (CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory").
Joseph and "Emmanuelle" in New Cap City.
In the real world, Adama is visited by his brother, concerned by the Joseph's recent decline. As the brothers speak, Joseph asks Sam how - as a Ha'la'tha assassin - he is able to kill men. At first hesitant to share such personal information, Sam reveals that he simply pretends it isn't real. With that, Adama reenters V-world, accompanying Emmanuelle to the New Cap City nightclub "Mysteries." Being called on stage by the host, Cerberus, Adama is given the opportunity to solve a riddle in return for information on his daughter's whereabouts. Refusing to answer, Adama is thrown out of the club and labeled a coward. Discovering Tamara's distinctive flower signature stamped on a wall outside the club, Adama uses amp - a drug-like hack - to charge back into Mysteries. Opening fire on and derezzing much of the clientele, Adama holds Cerberus at gunpoint. (CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine").
Though Cerberus proves little use, Adama spares him from being derezzed. As they leave the club, Joseph and Emmanuelle discover a wall covered with Tamara's signature - Emmanuelle tells Adama that his daughter may have found a new home in the virtual world (CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine").
End of Line
Adama is shot and derezzed by Tamara.
Undeterred, Adama continues to search New Cap City, using amp to heighten his abilities within the game (CAP: "End of Line").
Watching Adama's life deteriorate in the real world, Evelyn realizes the search for the Tamara avatar is destroying his life. Entering New Cap City's Little Tauron as Emmanuelle, Evelyn lures Tamara into her family's virtual apartment. Explaining the situation, Evelyn convinces Tamara her father is better off believing she is dead (CAP: "End of Line").
Later entering his virtual home, Adama is shocked and relieved to find Tamara, but the reunion is short. Tamara tells her father to stop following her and to focus on Willie. Aiming a gun at her chest, she shoots herself, appearing to be mortally wounded before turning the weapon on her father and derezzing him from the game. Devasted by losing his daughter once again, Joseph collapses into the arms of Evelyn in the real world (CAP: "End of Line").
Ha'la'tha
Joseph and Sam Adama with the Guatrau.
Having dealt with Graystone in the past, Joseph Adama is asked to advise in dealing with the Ha'la'tha take over of Graystone Industries after Daniel Graystone loses control of his company to Tomas Vergis. A significant bump in the crime organization that he had previously sought to distance himself from, Adama personally represents the Guatrau's interests. (CAP: "Unvanquished").
Adama & Graystone
Visiting Graystone at his home, Joseph and Sam Adama stage a scenario in which Daniel is forced to choose between killing his mother or backing out of the deal. Handing Graystone a detonator supposedly linked to an explosive attached to his mother's car, Joseph Adama patiently waits for Graystone to break. When Daniel refuses to press the detonator, Adama suggests Graystone consider his options, asking the scientist if he is truly ready to work with the Ha'la'tha (CAP: "Unvanquished").
Adama and Graystone share a cigarette outside Graystone Industries.
Despite Graystone's failure to prove willingness to work with the Ha'la'tha at any cost, the alliance is forged and both Adama brothers become instrumental in helping reinstall Graystone as CEO of the company. To that end, Joseph and Samuel blackmail members of the Graystone Industries board, buying their votes to reinstate Graystone. Though Graystone himself has difficulty exploiting people he once considered friends, the scheme pays off and he is once again in control of his company - though with the Ha'la'tha behind him. Working out of the Graystone Industries campus, Joseph and Evelyn operate to ensure the Guatrau's bottom line, secretly securing a deal with the Soldiers of the One terror group to ship Cylons to Gemenon (CAP: "Unvanquished," "Retribution," "False Labor," "Blowback," "The Dirteaters").
Working closely with Daniel Graystone, Adama's feelings about Graystone remain unchanged. Blaming Graystone for the deaths of his wife and daughter, Adama is cold, even hostile with Daniel. Still, when the Guatrau proposes killing the scientist whether he completes his resurrection program or not, Adama is opposed. Without betraying the Ha'la'tha by openly warning Graystone, Adama attempts to alert Daniel, telling him to out think his opponent during a boxing match (CAP: "False Labor," "Blowback").
Against the Guatrau
As Adama's personal life slowly returns to normal - and his business relationship with Evelyn progresses into a romantic one - political strife once again ignites on Tauron. With Sam Adama obsessed with the new Tauron rebellion, Joseph Adama senses his brother's feelings of remorse concerning their childhood on Tauron and the deaths of their parents. Still, Joseph keeps secret from his brother the knowledge that the Guatrau has decided not to smuggle Cylons to Tauron as Sam had suggested, but is instead selling them to the STO (CAP: "The Dirteaters").
Joseph and Sam Adama vow to go up against the Guatrau together.
Outraged when he learns of the deal with the STO, Sam Adama rails against his brother, asking Joseph how he can sell robots to the people who murdered his wife and daughter. Realizing that Sam is correct in his outrage, Joseph agrees to help smuggle Cylons to Tauron, an act of defiance against the Guatrau that will have serious consequences (CAP: "False Labor," "Blowback," "The Dirteaters").
Utilizing his position at Graystone Industries, Adama begins skimming Cylons from the company's regular shipments to the Caprican Government and those being smuggled by the Ha'la'tha to Gemenon. Recently released from prison, Fidelia Fazekas - the daughter of the Guatrau and a former romantic interest of Joseph's - detects the abnormality in the Graystone company's books. Confronting Joseph about the missing Cylons, Adama covers, but Fazekas is unconvinced and investigates further. Finding solid evidence that the Adama brothers are exporting Cylons to Tauron, Fazekas goes to her father and convinces him to have Joseph and Samuel killed (CAP: "The Heavens Will Rise," "Here Be Dragons").
The Assassination
William "Willie" Adama dies in his father's arms.
Though the Guatrau is at first hesitant to put a hit out on men he considers sons, an assassin is soon dispatched to the Adama home. Entering the apartment under the pretense of taking Joseph to see the Guatrau, the hit man attacks Adama, attempting to strangle him. Stabbing the hit man in the back and killing him, Ruth intervens, loading a shotgun to protect the family. Gathering Willie and Evelyn, Adama calls Sam, leaving a message telling his brother to meet them at the betting parlor where they had stashed passports and money in case of an emergency (CAP: "Here Be Dragons").
Meeting Sam outside the betting parlor, Adama and his brother enter the establishment to find several Ha'la'tha men lying in wait. In the ensuing struggle, Willie Adama runs inside and is shot in the hand and stomach. As Sam Adama dispatches his attackers, Joseph and Evelyn come to the aid of Willie, but it is too late and Willie dies in the arms of his father (CAP: "Here Be Dragons").
Ha'la'tha Fractured
The Adama Family honors Willie Adama and his namesake.
Following the death of William "Willie" Adama, the Ha'la'tha fractures, with several Tauron families siding with the Adamas against the Guatrau. Coming to the Adama home to pay her respects, Fidelia Fazekas pleads with Joseph not to allow a war between families. Making a deal with Fazekas that will prevent such a conflict, Adama arranges to meet with the Guatrau in the virtual world (CAP: "Apotheosis").
As Joseph speaks with the Guatrau through the use of a holoband, Sam Adama suffocates the Ha'la'tha's kingpin with a plastic bag. Leaving the virtual world for the real world, Joseph Adama denies the Guatrau's pleas for a knife to end his suffering, instead forcing him to swallow suicide pills that once belonged to Adama's parents. With the Guatrau dead, Joseph offers the title to Fazekas, installing her as the head of the Ha'la'tha and the new Guatrau (CAP: "Apotheosis").
Legacy
Following the death of his son, Joseph Adama continues to pursue his burgeoning romance with his assistant Evelyn. Ultimately, the two marry and Evelyn gives birth to a boy. Joseph and Evelyn Adama name their new son William, in honor of Willie and Joseph's father, William Sr., before him. During the fifth anniversary of the death of Willie Adama, the family gathers to perform a ceremony of remembrance and Joseph speaks of his sons:
"Oh Jupiter. To you I pray on the anniversary of my son William's death. For he was not yet a man, he chose a man's death. William was a proud Tauron and a good boy. Our father's name lives on in another way now(CAP: "Apotheosis").
Believing that law is a way of exorcising demons leads Adama to defend "the worst of the worst." Adama seeks to understand the motivations that causes people to cheat, reward their enemies, and go to war - asking why people built machines to correct their flaws and shortcomings (TRS: "The Son Also Rises").
During his tenure, defense attorney Romo Lampkin is one of Joseph Adama's students. Though Lampkin claims to have hated Adama because he was right about the law, Lampkin also admits to learning everything he knows from him, even carrying a worn copy of Law and Mind: The Psychology of Legal Practice(TRS: "The Son Also Rises").
Before going to trial, Adama would break pencils before entering the courtroom, then ask to borrow a pencil from the clerk. This was a reminder to Adama to break preconceptions and "work with what you had" (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").
A Good Lighter
Adama's lighter following the Fall of the Twelve Colonies (TRS: "The Hand of God").
Years later, following Adama's death and the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Joseph's son, Commander William Adama of the battlestarGalactica leads the remnants of humanity to the safety of Earth in a ragtag fleet. During the fleet's journey, Adama passes his father's engraved silver lighter on to his own son, Leland Joseph Adama, a Viper pilot aboard Galactica(TRS: "The Hand of God").
Lee Adama later recalls visiting the elder Adama during his youth, sneaking a peek at Joseph's various law books. Joseph in turn would wave Lee over, telling him "Lee, be a good boy, just don't be too good" (TRS: "A Day in the Life," "The Son Also Rises").
Following years of battles with the Cylons as they pursue the Colonial fleet, Lee Adama retires from the service to follow in his grandfather's footstep, using Joseph Adama's books and wisdom to win the trial of Gaius Baltar and eventually serve as the Caprican delegate to the Quorum of Twelve, and as the penultimate President of the Twelve Colonies (TRS: "Crossroads, Part I," ""Crossroads, Part II," "Revelations").
Proto-Luddite advocate on Earth; Acting President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol; Caprican Delegate to the Quorum of Twelve; Commander of Battlestar Pegasus; GalacticaCAG
Lee Adama's relationship with his father had always been strained, culminating with a fracture after the death of his younger brother, Zak, two years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Various attempts at reconciliation occur over the following years, but even these produce conflict as Lee attempts step outside his father's shadow.
After the Fall, he is appointed GalacticaCAG. He is later promoted to executive officer, then commander of Pegasus. After Pegasus's destruction, he resumes being Galactica CAG until he resigns from the Colonial Fleet to aid in Romo Lampkin's defense of Gaius Baltar.
During the post-Fall events, he has romantic relationships with Kara Thrace, Shevon, and Anastasia Dualla, the latter whom he marries months after the discovery of New Caprica. His defense of Baltar, coupled with previous marital issues surrounding Thrace, contribute to his eventual, final split from Dualla.
Biographical Notes
Background
Lee Adama is the elder son of Carolanne and William Adama. He and his his younger brother, Zak, were raised largely by his mother on Caprica following his parents' divorce when he was eight.
As a child, Adama often visited his grandfather, Joseph Adama, and read the law books in his study; he often followed his grandfather's cases, never understanding why Joseph Adama defended the worst of humanity (TRS: "The Son Also Rises").
Despite his father's estrangement from the family, Adama followed in his footsteps and joined the Colonial military after college, graduating third in his class at the military academy and applying to flight school.
In flight school, Adama proved himself a gifted and natural pilot, hampered only by his tendency to over-intellectualize, a trait instilled by his mother who encouraged him to read widely and think freely, such as reading the banned texts by the renegade Tom Zarek while at college (TRS: "Bastille Day").
After flight school, Adama was promoted to lieutenant and was assigned to pilot the Viper Mark VII. He was also introduced to Kara Thrace, a flight instructor who had become involved with Zak. The three frequently spent time together, and Adama and Thrace formed a friendship (TRS: "Miniseries").
Brother's Death
Two years prior to the Fall, Zak died while on a routine Viper mission, the cause attributed to pilot error. However, Lee Adama chose to blame the mishap on his father, believing Zak had been pushed by him into following his footsteps (TRS: "Miniseries").
Estranged from his father, Lee sought to build a career apart from William Adama. This decision placed a heavy strain on his friendship with Kara Thrace, who got assigned to Galactica.
Adama spent much time on Caprica and was engaged to a woman named Gianne. When she told him she was pregnant with their child, he ran from her due to his own family issues. Before he could speak with her again he received orders to take part in Galactica's decommissioning ceremony (TRS: "Black Market").
Despite having a natural knack for piloting, acceptance to test pilot school and being "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 (TRS: "Razor," deleted scene).
Adama reunites with both his father and Kara Thrace at Galactica's decommissioning and conversion into a living museum and educational center of the Cylon War. As a part of the ceremonies, Lee Adama grudgingly participates in a final Viper flyby salute, 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 in the restored Viper Mark II his father flew during the Cylon War (TRS: "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.
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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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(TRS: "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 9(TRS: "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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "Scattered"), and leads a team of Marines to stop Cylon Centurions that boarded the ship (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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(TRS: "Resistance", "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 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 Astral Queen(TRS: "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 (TRS: "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 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 (TRS: "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(TRS: "Flight of the Phoenix").
Reassignment
Apollo is on CAP when the battlestarPegasus 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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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 out 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" (TRS: "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, 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 (TRS: "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 accidentally hits 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 (TRS: "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 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, 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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
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 and Adama declare their love for each other, and he assumes that she has agreed to their plan. 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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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 "Athena" 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(TRS: "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 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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "Collaborators").
The Second Exodus
Lee Adama back as a major in the role of Galactica's CAG (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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.
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 (TRS: "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 (TRS: "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(TRS: "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(TRS: "A Day in the Life"). Later, his father places Adama in charge of security for Baltar's lawyer, Romo Lampkin, claiming that he trusts him, but also pulling him off his duties of CAG after he shows that Thrace's death affects his job performance. While following Lampkin around, Adama develops a desire to help Lampkin defend Baltar. His father is not pleased with this idea, but allows him to do so (TRS: "The Son Also Rises").
After Adama 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, trying to discredit her credibility. Roslin pleads with 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 belongings 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 (TRS: "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, arguing that humanity is not a real civilization anymore. Adama thinks that executing Baltar for actions that he couldn't really prevent 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 behind his cane, which he used after 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 Cylon forces 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(TRS: "Crossroads, Part II"). Adama and Thrace join the ensuing battle and help to defend the civilian ships from the Cylons. When Thrace returns to Galactica, Adama is glad to see her again and believes her story to a certain degree, whereas most others are is distrustful and suspect a Cylon trap.
His father offers him his pilot wings back, and thus his commission, but Adama declines, saying that he felt the need for a change for some time, and that Baltar's trial was just the trigger. He thinks that he can gain a position in the Colonial government and make a contribution there (TRS: "He That Believeth in Me").
Tom Zarek nominates Adama as the Caprican delegate on the Quorum of Twelve. Adama is seen off Galactica with a party in the rec room and an official ceremony on the hangar deck, where many of the crew salute him and wish him good luck. He embraces Dualla and tells her that she "got the house," implying that their breakup is final (TRS: "Six of One"). Zarek appointed Adama because of his dedication to finding the truth during the Baltar trial, and because he wants Adama to fight against some of Roslin's proposed changes to the justice system, that are undemocratic in his eyes. Although in public, Roslin claims to have forgiven Adama and to admire his convictions, she snubs him by refusing to meet him and openly teases him about his inexperience in a Quorum session (TRS: "The Ties That Bind").
Adama once again shows his idealism when Baltar's new cult violently clashes with other religious groups in the Fleet. Whereas Roslin wants to shut down the group and pleads to the Quorum to retroactively sign off an emergency measure that restricts their right of assembly, Adama and Reza Chronides think that they are doing nothing blasphemous and illegal. The Quorum eventually decides to rescind Roslin's decision. Roslin later tells his father, that she thinks that Adama maybe be right, but that he is too idealistic and doesn't understand the pragmatism that is sometimes necessary in politics (TRS: "Escape Velocity").
Following the unexplained disappearance of Laura Roslin on a rebel Cylon baseship (TRS: "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?"), Adama leads a search for an interim president, knowing that his father would never support an administration under Tom Zarek. Despite consulting Romo Lampkin on a list of 47 candidates, it is Lampkin who ultimately decides that Adama should be the interim president; Adama thanks Lampkin by offering Jake as a pet to replace the loss of Faye Lampkin's cat, Lance.
Even with his ascension to the presidency, Adama is unable to dissuade his father from stepping down as military leader, or his father's personal search for Roslin—a mission that Adama believes to be nothing short of suicide (TRS: "Sine Qua Non").
When the rebel basestar returns, having destroyed the Resurrection Hub, Adama is faced with a standoff with the rebels who hold Galactica's Viper pilots and Roslin hostage to force him to give up the Final Five. Adama refuses and prepares to airlock Tigh, Tyrol and Anders to force the Cylons to stop even with the threat of the Fleet being nuked in retaliation. After Kara finds the way to Earth, Adama ends the standoff and shares the information with the Cylons, granting the Cylons a general amnesty. This ends the standoff and together the humans and rebel Cylons jump to Earth. Adama is so excited by their arrival that he jumps on the map table and cheers. Unfortunatly, Earth turns out to be a deserted nuclear wasteland and after briefly reuniting with him, Dee kills herself in despair. (TRS: Revelations,Someone to Watch Over Me)
When Adama finds out that his father apparently released Tom Zarek and he is unable to reach him, Adama travels to Galactica to demand an explanation and falls into a trap led by Charlie Connor as part of Gaeta's Mutiny. Adama is nearly executed, but Kara saves him at the last moment, having grown suspisous of the goings on. The two travel through the ship and find Tyrol who tells them to get Adama to the Secondary Storage Airlock and he can get him off the ship. Adama and Kara find Roslin and let her know what's going on and lead her to Baltar's cult where she makes a radio broadcast about the mutiny. They then hook up with his father and Colonel Tigh who manage to escape and lead them to the airlock where a Cylon Raptor arrives to take Adama and Roslin away. While Roslin and Baltar go, Admiral Adama, Lee, Tyrol, Kara and Colonel Tigh stay behind to retake the ship with Tigh and Admiral Adama defending the airlock while Lee and Kara head back into the ship. Adama and Kara later rescue Tigh, Caprica-Six, Anders, Athena and Hera, but Kara stays behind when Anders gets shot. The group finds Aaron Kelly who joins them and leads them to Admiral Adama just in time to stop his execution. Joined by Adama's firing squad and more loyal crew as they go on, the group marches to CIC as Roslin uses the rebel baseship to try to force the rebels surrender. After Gaeta orders a weapons hold, Adama and the others storm CIC and retake it without a fight, ending the mutiny. (TRS: The Oath,Blood on the Scales)
No Exit
After the failed coup d'état, in which Lee is the sole Quorum delegate not killed in the massacre ordered by Tom Zarek, President Laura Roslin puts Lee in charge of forming a new Quorum. Lee proposes the idea of making the new Quorum based not upon the individual Colonies but upon ships in the Fleet, as he reasons that the people are no longer defined by their Colonies but by their ships. Roslin approves of the idea and tells Lee that while she will remain President in title, she wants him to do the "heavy lifting" from then on (TRS: "No Exit"). Given this, its likely that Roslin has made him her new Vice President after the execution of Tom Zarek for his coup.
Lee is shown to have taken on the Presidential duties since then such as meeting with the new Quorum of Ship's Captains and organizing the stripping of Galactica which is hard for him as he loves the ship. When Admiral Adama calls for volunteers for a final mission, Lee is the first to volunteer despite it being likely one-way.
Assault on the Colony
While planning the mission, Lee re-dons the service uniform of a major (distinguished by its collar piping), but omits rank insignia.
Galactica launches its attack on the Colony and rams right into it. Lee leads a team of Colonial Marines and Rebel Centurions into the Colony from through its breach their staging point at Galactica’s bow. They fight their way past Cavil's forces and eventually link up with Kara Thrace and her team, who have rescued Hera Agathon. The two groups head back to Galactica, but are followed by Cavil and his forces. Lee runs into Baltar and Caprica-Six who are helping to repel the boarding parties. Lee and his men provide cover fire for Kara, Helo, Athena and Hera to make their way to safety.
New Earth
After Galactica jumps to the coordinates Kara Thrace provides, Lee is one of the first people to land on the lush, habitable planet the Colonials eventually decide to call "Earth". They discover that primitive human tribes have already evolved on the new Earth. Lee makes a radical suggestion: The Colonials will abandon their ships and most of their technology and start new lives using only essential supplies and the planet's resources. They will also teach the native humans about language and culture, but not about technology. This will hopefully prevent Humanity from repeating the same mistakes it made on Kobol and the Twelve Colonies. Surprisingly, this idea is well received.
Later, Lee and Kara say their final goodbyes to Adama, who has decided to live alone for the remainder of his life. After Adama departs in a Raptor, Kara tells Lee that she is also leaving. She doesn't know where she's going, but she knows that her job here is done. Kara then asks Lee what he's going to do now. Lee briefly turns his back and starts to talk about exploring the new world, but when he turns around, Kara is nowhere in sight. Realizing what Kara meant when she said she was leaving, Lee bids Kara goodbye for the last time and promises that she won't be forgotten.
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."
Bamber, who is British, plays Lee Adama with an American accent (presumably to more closely match Edward James Olmos').
Bamber is a natural blond, but his hair is dyed brown to better resemble Olmos.
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.[4]
Admiral William Adama names his son to succeed him as commander of Galactica in his resignation letter (TRS: "Hero") indicating how close they have become prior to the events of Gaius Baltar's trial.
Lee Adama's Colonial Fleet ID tag is marked "L. Adama/ser 318742. (Quantum Mechanix ID Replica)
The original script leaked online for "A Day in the Life" featured flashbacks to the Adamas' family life, in one of which Lee pointed out to his father that he had been born four months after the wedding, implying that Bill and Carolanne rushed into marriage because of pregnancy. While this was removed from the aired episode, it would help explain his negative reaction to learning Gianne was pregnant, per "Black Market".
↑This date is assumed as follows: Zak Adama died 2 years before the Cylon attack. Since he graduated from some kind of military academy, he would be at least 22 years old, following real world models. On a photograph of William Adama with his sons, Lee seems to be about two years older than Zak, placing his birth at about 26 years prior to the Cylon attack
↑Confirmed number from QMX dogtags given to them by the studio.
William Adama was born in 57 BCH on Caprica, the son of Joseph and Evelyn Adama(TRS: "Hero") He was named after his deceased half-brother and their paternal grandfather(CAP: "Apotheosis"). His father was a criminal defense lawyer who later specialized in civil liberties cases, while his mother was an accountant (TRS: "Hero") and Joseph's personal legal assistant (CAP: "Reins of a Waterfall"). He was raised in Qualai, a small coastal community (TRS: "Hero").
The extent of William Adama's knowledge regarding his half-siblings and his father's previous marriage, or his father's involvement with Daniel Graystone and the creation of the Cylons, is not known.
Adama served late in the Cylon War as both a Raptor and Viper pilot, his first assignment being on Galactica. He was given the call sign "Husker"[4] by his first co-pilot, Coker Fasjovik, who assumed Adama grew up on a farm due to his gung-ho enthusiasm for the service. Adama's first mission behind enemy lines was in a Raptor playing a key role in the Ghost Fleet Offensive. Adama's skill on his first mission was evident after he destroyed three Cylon Raiders with limited ordnance in a Raptor on his first mission (Blood and Chrome; TRS: "Razor Flashbacks," Episode 1; "Sine Qua Non").
During his time on Galactica, he had a romantic relationship with Jaycie McGavin (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks", Episode 1). He proved a gifted pilot, shooting down his first Cylon on his very first combat mission, for which he received a commendation (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks", Episode 3; "Hero").
In the last week in the war, Adama served on Galactica when the battlestar was boarded by Cylon forces. He recalled to his friend Saul Tigh a dangerous Cylon tactic that tried to turn the battlestar's power against itself (TRS: "Valley of Darkness", deleted scene).
Adama married Carolanne Adama, whose family had political influence with the defense subcommittee and pulled to get Adama reinstated to the Colonial Fleet. Adama (now a major) himself arranged for Tigh's reinstatement two years later.
William and Carolanne Adama had two sons, Lee and Zak, before the pressures of Adama's career and the time he spent away from home in active service began to place a strain on their marriage, and the two eventually divorced (TRS: "Miniseries", "A Day in the Life").
While elder son Lee showed promise as a Viper pilot, younger Zak Adama did not. Kara Thrace, Zak's flight instructor and lover, certified him for basic flight despite his poor flight skills. Later, Zak Adama was killed in an operational flight. Zak's death would cause a rift between Commander Adama and his older son for nearly three years until Thrace admits her error to both of them.
Adama rose through the ranks of the peacetime fleet, becoming the executive officer of the battlestar Columbia, before becoming the commander of the battlestar Valkyrie. About six years [5] prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, he was ordered by Admiral Peter Corman to escort a stealth scout ship over the Armistice Line. The mission was a failure, and in an attempt to cover up, he ordered the ship and its pilot shot down. Ever since, he had felt guilt, both over shooting down his own pilot and over the possibility that his actions resulted in the holocaust. According to Tigh, this mission brought his star into descent, and he was given command of Galactica as a graceful way of easing into retirement.
Notable Assignments before the Second Cylon War
Several notable assignments and reassignments during his 45-year career in the Colonial Fleet (TRS: "Hero"):
D6/21311 - First commission: battlestar Galactica fighter squadron
E4/21312 - Commendation for shooting down Cylon fighter in first combat mission
D5/21314 - Mustered out of service post-armistice
R6/21317 - Served as deckhand in merchant fleet and as common [...] aboard inter-colony tramp freighters
At the time just prior to the Fall, William Adama serves out his final weeks as commander of the battlestar Galactica. After some 50 years of service, the historic warship is in the process of being decommissioned, and it is one of Adama's final duties to formally hand her over to the Colonial Ministry of Education, which would operate the ship as a living museum and educational center commemorating the original Cylon War.
As a retirement gift, several members of Galen Tyrol's deck crew find and restore Adama's old Viper Mark II.
On news of a renewed Cylon attack, Adama's first thoughts are, "Dead. We're all dead" (TRS: "Home, Part II"). Despite this, as well as the presumed loss of his ex-wife in Caprica City, he unhesitatingly takes control of the Colonial Fleet after Picon Fleet Headquarters is destroyed and Admiral Nagala is killed.
At Ragnar Anchorage, Adama deduces that Leoben Conoy's "allergies" are really the effect of Ragnar's cloud's electro-magnetic radiation upon the silica pathways composing a Cylon brain, despite the fact that the existence of biological Cylons is presumably unknown to humans at that time.[6]
Once President Roslin convinces Adama the futility of fighting against overwhelming odds, and with what may be the last 50,000 humans who remain anywhere, he makes the switch to the more tactical thinking that keeps the Colonial Fleet at least one step ahead of their Cylon pursuers.
From the outset, he is savvy enough to give every single survivor of the devastating attack on the Colonies a reason for hope for the future: the legend of Earth. This falsehood comes back to haunt him as the weeks continue, as Roslin is aware of this lie to the crew and states this privately to Adama.
From the Colonies to Kobol
Adama continues to face the problem of infiltration within the Fleet by humanoid Cylons as well as dissenting humans who protest or terrorize others in the Fleet. Adama continually redefines the boundaries of military and civil leadership. After some serious missteps between he and President Roslin, the two later become friends as well as influential leaders.
Sharon Valerii, a trusted Raptor pilot who served with Adama for two years, reveals herself unwittingly as a Cylon sleeper agent and shoots Adama at point blank range after a critical mission near Kobol. Cottle eventually repairs the damage to Adama's body, but Adama's psyche takes the larger hit while he repairs the damage to the Fleet he and Col. Tigh have caused in arresting President Roslin, as well as the existence of a second copy of Valerii.
While at first Adama takes a similar stance to Tigh in assuming a hard military posture, a conversation with Dualla helps him realize that, despite the problems, the Fleet is his family, and the family must stay together. After finding the Tomb of Athena with Roslin and reuniting a factioning of the Fleet, Adama firmly buries the hatchet between himself and Roslin publicly.
In a desperate plan, Adama trusts the second Valerii to help ward off a massive Cylon fleet. Despite his "gut" feelings about the Cylon, he finds common ground often with her, even apologizing to her after a distasteful incident.
Adama stoically accepts Admiral Helena Cain's overall command. Wary of her behavior and her crew, Adama follows his own truism: stick to what you know, until you find something better.
Matters with Cain's unusually totalitarian command style come to a head when Cain makes several highly questionable orders that lead him to face off with her battlestar and her command in a military challenge. While the issue is temporarily defused, Adama is told by, of all people, President Roslin that Cain is a threat to the safety of the Fleet's citizens and must be eliminated.
Adama avoids killing Cain after realizing that he would become the monster that the Cylons believed they were, unaware that she has plotted his demise as well.
With Cain's fate sealed not by Adama but Gina Inviere, a frail President Roslin promotes Adama to Admiral. He gives her a simple, affectionate kiss, which she returns, signifying another change in their turbulent association (TRS: "Resurrection Ship, Part II").
New Caprica
Adama being carried by crew and civilians after the Battle of New Caprica (mid left).
Adama's sense of justice with Roslin holds when he confronts her about a conspiracy involving her re-election. Roslin admits the conspiracy but she is certain disaster will strike if Gaius Baltar becomes president. He agrees, but convinces Roslin that the correct course of action is to acknowledge a miscount and cover the conspiracy.
When Cloud 9 and two other ships blow up as a result of Gina Inviere's last effort of sabotage, Adama is privately infuriated at new President Baltar's refusal to investigate, and begins to wonder if he hadn't made a mistake.
A year later, Adama commands Galactica manned by a skeleton crew as the flagship of a defense fleet, consisting of all ships unable or unwilling to make planetfall on New Caprica. He now sports a thick mustache, and has apparently taken up smoking. Adama feel lonely in command after he allowed many people close to him to settle on the planet despite his initial refusal. Eventually he grants Saul Tigh leave to take his wife Ellen and go as well. His friendship to Laura Roslin appears to have deepened and the two share a carefree day during Founders' Day celebrations on the planet, marking the formal ground-breaking of New Caprica City (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", "Unfinished Business").
Shortly after the election, Adama and/or President Baltar commissions Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla a lieutenant (junior grade), skipping the initial commissioned rank of ensign. Aside from pilots, she is the only NCO shown to receive a commission. On the morning after the Founders' Day celebration, Adama approves her transfer to Battlestar Pegasus to join his son and her lover, Commander Lee Adama.
During the year in orbit, he mends fences with Sharon. Although he valued her advise earlier, he called her a "thing" or "it" and treated her such. While becoming estranged from the people around him, Adama grows much closer to Agathon, having personal conversations with her and he allowing her to decorate her cell with chairs, tables and other amenities and she has apparently become an advisor of sorts to him (TRS: "Precipice"). He permits Helo to marry her, and she adopts his surname, Agathon, thereby further separating herself from the identical Sharon Valerii who shot Adama.
With Colonel Tigh released from active duty and beached on New Caprica, Adama promotes Lt. Karl Agathon (Helo) to captain and appoints him Executive Officer of Galactica, thereby demonstrating both the trust he has in Helo despite the latter's marriage to the Cylon prisoner, and his unwillingness to split families.
Not long after Tigh leaves, a massive Cylon fleet bears down on New Caprica. After a brief discussion with his son aboard Pegasus they order the understaffed Fleet to escape to pre-arranged Jump coordinates. The admiral issues the jump order with a reminder: "We're leaving... but we'll be back."
Frustrations over the lack of a plan and problems during exercises lead to a conflict with his son whom he attacks over his weight gain and perceived softness. While Lee is pragmatic and doesn't believe that they can rescue the people on New Caprica in their state, his father drives everyone to their limit, thinking it is his misjudgments that brought them into the situation.
He only forgives himself for leaving almost everyone behind after a conversation with Agathon, where she explains that, after being through so much herself, she discovered that she first had to forgive herself in order to get through it. In her opinion, the human race can't survive if Adama can't forgive himself.
He commissions Agathon as a Colonial officer shortly after making contact with the New Caprica Resistance, showing complete trust in her. She asks how he knows that she won't betray him and he replies he doesn't, stating "that's what trust is." Eventually a rescue plan takes shape, but Adama decides to go to New Caprica alone, ordering his son to take over as guardian of the Fleet should he not return. Despite their differences of opinion, the two have a heartfelt goodbye.
Although sustaining losses, and with the last-minute assistance of Lee and Pegasus, Adama is able to successfully pull off the rescue attempt. He is lauded by his crew and the civilians for this. He also shaves off his mustache, signifying a new beginning (TRS: "Occupation" through "Exodus, Part II").
Flight from New Caprica to "Maelstrom"
Adama is awarded the Medal of Distinction for his 45 years of distinctive service in the Colonial Fleet. To him this is a penance for the harm that he caused in the past, and his belief that he might have been the cause of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies(TRS: "Hero").
In an effort to alleviate tensions on Galactica, Adama holds a boxing tournament, disregarding rank, allowing people to work out built up frustrations. He himself joins the festivities by challenging Chief Tyrol. Beaten, he declares that he let everyone too close to him, which ultimately led to the fracturing of their family on New Caprica, and vows to not make that mistake again.
After the discovery of the Temple of Five on the algae planet, four Cylon basestars jump into orbit. A meeting with the Cylons occurs on Galactica, but Adama threatens to nuke the planet should the Cylons make a claim to it. A standoff occurs, and when the Cylons try to launch six Heavy Raiders, Adama orders the arming the ship's missile tubes. This frightens the Cylons, who recall five of the six and Adama orders a stand down (TRS: "The Eye of Jupiter", "Rapture").
With the capture of Gaius Baltar, Adama and President Roslin are faced with a dilemma of what to do with Baltar. They try various methods of interrogation, including food and sleep deprivation, threats, and even an interrogation drug, to find out what the Cylons know about the location of Earth. Adama apparently has previous experience with the drug and, after suggesting its use, acts as the interrogator, showing his darker side (TRS: "Taking a Break From All Your Worries").
On his wedding anniversary, Adama is plagued by memories of his ex-wife. He wonders about the nature of his relationship to Roslin, not admitting that it could turn into a romantic one. He is also unsure how to treat his son, having a hard time telling him his personal feelings: "proud, stubborn and angry", but "coming into his own". While loving his son, he prefers to interact with him as an admiral to a subordinate officer, believing Lee knows how he feels. Upon Roslin's recommendations, he offers his son to organize Baltar's upcoming trial. Although not sure if Lee will have the time, he gives him Joseph Adama's old law books. It is also revealed that Adama does memory exercises to enable him to know everyone on his crew by name (TRS: "A Day in the Life").
Kara Thrace's death, resurrection and the final leg of the journey to Earth
By chance, Adama is selected to be a judge at the trial. Two weeks after Kara Thrace's death he is still distraught, having considered her as a daughter—after her resurrection/return/rebirth, he tells her, "You are my daughter" (TRS: "Daybreak, Part I"). In anger, he breaks his model ship. Adama places Lee in charge of security for Baltar's new lawyer, Romo Lampkin, but Lee develops a desire to actively help defend Baltar much to Adama's outrage. The two also come to blows over their dealing with Thrace's loss (TRS: "The Son Also Rises"). This results in a break between the father and son, with Lee resigning his commission and Adama questioning his son's integrity after Lee contributed to humiliating his friend Saul Tigh in court, not able to understand how he could do such things in order to defend a traitor, whom he believes is undeserving of a trial (TRS: "Crossroads, Part I").
Adama reconsiders his relationship with his son after Lee's impassioned speech about justice, itself swaying his vote in favor of an acquittal of Baltar. He is further pleased that his son participated in the Battle of the Ionian Nebula, offering him his wings back, which Lee refuses as he believes that he can do better in his new role as the new Quorum delegate from Caprica(TRS: "Crossroads, Part II", "He That Believeth in Me").
Adama comforts Laura Roslin throughout her Doloxan treatments on Galactica. The two bond further and share some of their most intimate thoughts. During this, Roslin manages to convince Adama that they will truly find Earth despite his earlier skepticism. Roslin's remarks that Adama is afraid to lose people close to him hit a mark, and he gives Thrace command of the Demetrius on a mission to search for Earth. He wants to believe in her despite serious questions regarding her sudden resurrection, even after her attack on Roslin (TRS: "He That Believeth in Me", "Six of One").
Adama and Roslin later discuss Lee's choices, including his decision to support the right of Baltar's cult to assemble without stricture. Adama seems to appreciate his son's idealism to a certain extent, despite having been on its opposing side several times. He also attempts to comfort Galen Tyrol after Cally's sudden death, but Tyrol rejects the efforts and Adama demotes him to specialist before Tyrol can endanger any other pilots (TRS: "Escape Velocity").
While Roslin continues her Doloxan treatments aboard ship, he continues to comfort her by reading various books, including Searider Falcon, to her and generally being present to discuss matters of faith. He later admits to her that she is the reason why he has faith in their mission to find Earth (TRS: "Escape Velocity", "Faith").
William Adama sees the Fleet off.
After Roslin's abrupt abduction by the rebel Cylon baseship, as well as Sharon "Athena" Agathon's murder of Natalie Faust, he initiates a search for Roslin while ignoring the Fleet's safety and interests. His dismissal of both the Quorum and Tom Zarek raise tensions in the Fleet that force his son to search for—and become—the interim president in Roslin's place. Further, tensions between Adama and Tigh to boil, notably after Dr. Sherman Cottle reports that Caprica-Six is impregnated by Tigh. The two come to blows over their decisions regarding the women currently in their lives. Adama admits that he can't live without Roslin and decides to stay behind in a Raptor to wait for Roslin's return. As a result, he hands command of the Fleet over to newly-promoted Admiral Tigh, acknowledging that Tigh has become more knowledgeable about himself and is not the same man who commanded the Fleet disastrously over two years ago (TRS: "Sine Qua Non"). After reconnecting with the missing basestar and reuniting with President Roslin on the hangar deck of the basestar, she finally admits that she is in love with him, to which he replies, "About time" (TRS: "The Hub").
When Saul Tigh confesses that he is a Cylon, Adama doesn't take it well. He can't believe that his decades-long friend is a Cylon and thinks that he was brainwashed on New Caprica. After ordering Marines to arrest Tigh, Adama breaks down in his quarters, hitting a mirror with his fist and sobbing on the floor. His son finds him in this state and tries to get him to pull himself together.
Discovery of Earth
After Lee Adama defuses the following crisis with the Cylon rebels, Adama has sufficiently recovered to lead the Fleet on its final jump to Earth, holding a rousing speech after the arrival.
Unfortunately, when the Colonials land on Earth, they discover that the whole planet is a burnt out wasteland (TRS: "Revelations"). Baltar confirms that the planet suffered a nuclear holocaust 2000 years ago. There is still enough radiation left to make the planet uninhabitable. Adama leaves the planet's surface in disgust.
Back on Galactica, Adama receives even more disturbing news. The Rebel Cylons have found evidence on Earth that the Thirteenth Tribe were not human. They were Cylons.
Adama tries to get Roslin to address the Fleet, but Roslin has completely lost faith in the Scriptures and no longer has the will to lead the people. She initiates a romantic and cohabital relationship with him, stating that she no longer wishes to live for the fleet, but to live for what she wants to.
After Dualla commits suicide, Adama breaks down in tears over her body and believes he's failed everyone. He starts drinking excessively and eventually makes his way to Saul Tigh's quarters.
Tigh tries to apologize for not telling him the truth, but Adama ignores him and instead starts drinking more and insulting Tigh. He questions whether Tigh was "programmed" to be his friend all these years. Adama then comments that Ellen must have realized the truth about her husband long before he did, which is why she slept around with half the Colonial Fleet. Tigh tells him to shut up, but Adama keeps goading him. Tigh finally can't take it anymore and points his pistol at Adama. Adama draws his own weapon which he points to his own head. He tells Tigh to kill him or he'll do it himself.
Tigh suddenly realizes that Adama wants to die, but he doesn't have the guts to pull the trigger himself. Tigh calms down and sternly tells Adama that he still has a duty to this ship and that his death won't make things any better. Adama slowly comes to terms with everything that has happened.
Later, Adama walks onto CIC and addresses a thoroughly demoralized crew. He acknowledges that they can't stay on Earth, but he promises they will find a new home. Adama then orders the CIC personnel to begin jump preparation and to plot a course for an area of space likely to contain a habitable planet. He reinstates Tigh to his rank and posting, despite the latter's Cylon nature.
Mutiny
Adama approves an alliance between rebel Cylon faction without the consent of the Quorum of Twelve. These Cylons are given them full colonial citizenship an Quorum seat in exchange for Cylon technology and accepting the colonial command structure.
Adama integrates the Cylon heavy raiders (piloted by humanoid Cylons who thus can communicate directly with the humans) into Galactica’s combat air patrols (CAPs), their Six and Eight pilots assigned to Colonial squadrons.
Adama orders the fleet to allow Cylons to install their more efficient technology aboard the various ships of the Fleet (TRS: "A Disquiet Follows My Soul").
Adama is de facto removed from command, but before he is taken out of the CIC, Adama speaks of a reckoning of traitors.
The admiral is able to escape the rebels temporary, and helps Laura Roslin and Baltar escape to the Cylon Basestar, but is recaptured in doing so (TRS: "The Oath", "Blood on the Scales").
Against the advise of Tom Zarek, Gaeta attempts to have an informal trial of Adama charging him with treason.
Adama is sentenced to death by Gaeta, but again evades death after a group of loyalists save him. His own executioners join him in his quest to retake the ship and he storms CIC with the group that rescued him, the marines who were supposed to execute him and many crew members who join up with him on the way.
Gaeta attempts to jump away with the fleet, but is stopped by a large group of loyalists storming the CIC and reinstating Adama in command. Gaeta surrenders without a fight and Adama has him and Zarek executed by a firing squad that he personally commands (TRS: "Blood on the Scales").
Post-Mutiny and the second Earth
With crew sizes stretched very thin, Adama relies even more on the rebel Cylons, further integrating them into the Fleet.
Galactica begins to show small fractures through the ship. Tyrol recommends to Adama to use Cylon technology to fix these fractures. Adama initially disagrees, but eventually orders this to be done (TRS: "No Exit", "Deadlock").
The increased presence of Cylons aboard Galactica leads to Adama and Roslin viewing them even more as the same as humans, when they realise that Cylons have taken to placing photographs of their own lost companions in the remembrance hall.
Adama rejects two volunteers: Doctor (Major) Sherman Cottle is needed by the civilian populace. Adama brevets Lt. Louis Hoshi to rear admiral and appoints him to command of the rest of the Fleet from the Cylon Basestar under appointed Acting President Romo Lampkin.
Adama and the volunteers successfully save Hera and destroy the Colony. With the Colony detonating around them, Adama orders Kara Thrace to blind jump the ship away, without giving time to draw in the ship's Flight Pods. The ship ends up at a habitable planet, with it's structual integrity totally compromised and it's ability to Jump gone forever.
Finding the planet habitable and sparcely populated by inexplicedly genetically compatable humans, Adama suggests it be named Earth to take the place of the planet they had long sought.
The Fleet reunites with Galactica. Adama reluctantly agrees to Lee's proto-ludite settlement plans for the new planet, and orders that the ships of the Fleet be flown into the sun by Samuel Anders (less the Cylon Basestar which the humanoid Cylons give to the Centurions with which to make their own destiny).
He flies off in a Raptor with Roslin to find a good place to build a cabin, never planning to return. While remarking on the wildlife, Laura Roslin dies peacefully of her cancer. Realizing this, he tearfully places his wedding ring on her finger.
He builds a cabin in a mountain range, as were Roslin's wishes, and buries her nearby. Afterwards, he lives in solitude in the cabin, often visiting Laura's grave and speaking to her (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").
Personality
Adama has the rare combination of qualities that make up a good leader: insight, the ability to naturally command respect, a common touch that enables him to relate to the enlisted personnel under his command as well as his officers, intuition, intelligence, a strong belief in his own abilities, and the ability to take the advice of others. These qualities are reflected in the fact that personnel of all ranks aboard Galactica hold him in high regard, and know that he is approachable (TRS: "Miniseries").
Adama mistrusts politicians, and sometimes places too strongly a value of loyalty to those he regards as family and friends. From his uneasiness to Laura Roslin's unexpected assumption of the Presidency, to the tolerance and patience of his friend, Saul Tigh, and his stubbornness to save Kara Thrace, Adama shows a dogged determination that few others care to confront.
Adama does not share the majority of Colonial beliefs in the gods (TRS: "Razor"), although he has come to accept that his people's scripture may have relevance to the search for Earth (TRS: "Home, Part II").
Notes
Adama (also known as Nazareth) is the name of a large city in Ethiopia. The name is also a variation on "Adam," the first man to be created according to the Bible in the Book of Genesis. In Hebrew the word pronounced "Adama" means earth.
The Tauron language is portrayed on the show using Ancient Greek. Thus, the most likely etymology for the family name "Adama" is from adamas (ἀδάμας), which means invincible and is the etymological root of the word diamond. It seems a suitable choice as the surname of the various related characters in this series as it relates to their personality traits.
Edward James Olmos has brown eyes, but he wears contacts when playing William Adama that make Adama's eyes blue. This is done so that Olmos and Jamie Bamber, who is playing his son Apollo, will resemble each other more.
Astute viewers may recall Edward James Olmos sharing the screen with realistic humanoid robots as Gaff in the classic science fiction film Blade Runner, which also used the term "skin job" as a pejorative to denote the artificial humanoids.
Olmos also shares with Star Trek star William Shatner the distinction of being one of only two actors to both command a television starship and portray a police officer in a popular 1980's cop show (Miami Vice for Olmos, T.J. Hooker for Shatner), as a regularly credited actor on each show.
↑This date is based on the Caprica pilot taking place 58 years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Evelyn's earliest conception date being some months after the pilot and a full or near-full pregnancy of nine months (57 BCH), and the character's apparent age in "The Shape of Things to Come" epilogue of "Apotheosis." This would make him 57 years old at the time of the Fall, and 61 upon arrival at New Earth four years later in "Daybreak, Part II."
↑William "Bill" Adama is the only child from Joseph Adama's second marriage.
↑While dialogue from "Hero" places these events at 1 BCH, this contradicts previously established dates about the time Adama and others served on Galactica. See Hero#Analysis for a detailed explanation why Battlestar Wiki chooses to treat this as a continuity error.
↑See Miniseries, Analysis for hypotheses concerning Adama's curious ability to quickly deduce Conoy's real nature.
A young William Adama with his sons Zak and Lee (TRS: "Miniseries").
Adama endeavored to prove himself to his father by becoming a Viper pilot (TRS: "Miniseries") . During his training, Adama became romantically involved with his flight instructor, Kara Thrace.
While Zak Adama questioned how he passed basic flight, he accepted it without further question when Thrace stated that she wouldn't have passed him if he didn't deserve it. He did not want any help from his father, and certainly not from Thrace.
In reality, Adama failed three critical maneuvers during the last part of the basic flight training and (according to Thrace) had "no feel for flying" (TRS: "Miniseries"). Thrace cared for Zak Adama so deeply, however, that she felt that she couldn't be the one to crush his dreams, and passed him despite of his lack of skill.
Adama and Thrace were romantically involved when he invited his brother, Lee Adama, to dinner at Thrace's apartment in Delphi to meet her. Thrace had already painted the mandala on her wall by that time (TRS: "Daybreak, Part I").
Thrace and Adama were engaged to be married, but Adama was killed in an accident while flying two years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Thrace first met Zak's father, then-Commander William Adama, in the aftermath of the accident. Zak's death became a wedge between his brother and father until Thrace confessed her responsibility in the matter prior to a mission of her own which lead the Adamas to risk much in finding the missing Thrace (TRS: "Act of Contrition", "You Can't Go Home Again").
Kara Thrace's photo with Zak (left), Lee (right) and herself (Middle) in the Miniseries.
Zak Adama is first seen in a photograph in the Miniseries, where he is played by Clarke Hudson.[1] His role was recast for the series.
Unlike his Original Series counterpart, Zac, Zak Adama is deceased before the events of the Miniseries, while Zac (played by Rick Springfield) is the first human killed by the Cylons in the Original Series pilot, "Saga of a Star World"; the attack begins approximately ten minutes into that episode.
Notably missing from the parallel existence of the Adama brothers in the Re-imagined Series and brothers Captain Apollo and Zac in the Original Series is the character of Athena, sibling of Apollo and Zac. The series creators determined that there wasn't a clear reason to recreate a parallel of Athena for the Re-imagined Series. As of Season 3, Athena has been taken on as the new callsign for Sharon "Athena" Agathon.
Zak Adama in the Re-imagined Series is an amalgamation of the Original Series siblings Zac and Athena, both being the children of Commander Adama and siblings of Apollo who hold an inferior military rank to Apollo. From Zac, Zak gets his name and gender. From Athena, Zak gets his status as a trainee pilot ("nugget") instructed by his/her romantic interest, Starbuck.
Zak is a common nickname for Zachary or Zachariah, an Old Testament name that reinforces other real-world Earth cultural references made in both Original Series and Re-imagined Series.
Adama from the Maximum Press comic book series.
Adama's command medallion, a variation of the Seal of the Lords (TOS: "The Hand of God").
Adama wrapping Apollo and Serina's hands in the Seal of the Lords (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
Serina points out Adama's Seal might be a key that could open the Tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
The keyhole for Adama's Seal of the Lords, allowing entry into the catacombs leading to the Tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
The light of Kobol's lone star about to hit Adama's Seal through a small slit above where Adama stands. Note the square mirror, tilted 45 degrees, added for practical effects use in lieu of the more diamond shaped version seen earlier (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
Light from Kobol's star reflects from Adama's Seal of the Lords, striking the eyes of two statues and thus opening the cover stone leading to the sarcophagus of the Ninth Lord of Kobol (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
Adama's bedroom (TOS: "The Young Lords").
The entrance to Adama's bedroom area.
Baltar makes a bargain (TOS: "The Hand of God").
Adama and Doctor Zee (The Return of Starbuck).
