Kendra Shaw

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Revision as of 16:17, 10 November 2007 by Serenity (talk | contribs) (→‎Notes)
For a full breakdown of Kendra Shaw with information from "Razor", see: Kendra Shaw/Razor.
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Kendra Shaw
Kendra Shaw

Name

Age
Colony Caprica
Birth place {{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name
Birth Date {{{birthdate}}}
Callsign
Nickname
Introduced Razor
Death Destroying the Guardian basestar
Parents Mother† (prior to the Fall of the Colonies)
Siblings
Children
Marital Status
Family Tree View
Role Executive Officer of Pegasus
Rank Major
Serial Number {{{serial}}}
Portrayed by Stephanie Jacobsen
Kendra Shaw is a Cylon
Kendra Shaw is a Final Five Cylon
Kendra Shaw is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Kendra Shaw is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Kendra Shaw]]


Kendra Shaw is an officer from the Ministry of Defense who is assigned to Pegasus as Helena Cain's aide when the battlestar puts in for an overhaul at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards. Never having served on a battlestar before, she quickly draws Admiral Cain's attention, initially becoming the victim of a twisted joke relating Shaw's inability to find her way around a battlestar. During the crisis, she becomes one of Cain's closest officers who finds her to be an exemplary officer who was able to become a "razor". As a result she is promoted to captain.

Together with Fisk, she leads a boarding party to the civilian ship Scylla in order to strip it off resources and suitable personnel. When the civilians are unwilling to cooperate, Shaw shoots one of them in order to coerce the others, which leads to the deaths of nine more.

After Cain's death, she is not particularly liked by her succeeding commanding officers, Jack Fisk and Barry Garner, because she does not give them her respect. Garner dislikes her so much that she is demoted and assigned to kitchen duty following his ascension to commanding officer.

Later, Commander Lee Adama chooses her to become his executive officer after taking command of the ship and promotes her to the rank of major, noting that she received glowing reports from Cain, but bad ones from Fisk and Garner. Adama appreciates her scathing honesty about him and his predecessors and choses Shaw because he needs someone close to him who upholds Cain's legacy to the crew, despite his aversion for that legacy.

Shaw proves to be a very hard but competent XO. Not unlike Kara Thrace, she is strong-willed and has some problems with authority, which leads the two to clash over various issues, particularly over her tactical decision that almost destroyed Thrace's and Marcia Case's Vipers during their first encounter with the Guardians. She is still haunted by her actions during Cain's command, especially the shooting on the Scylla, and tries to cope by taking drugs.

In the attack on the Guardian basestar she leads Starbuck, Sergeant Erin Mathias and several Marines to the basestar in order to rescue a captured Raptor crew. In a firefight with Centurions she is seriously wounded. Instead of being evacuated with the others, she decides to stay back and forces Starbuck to hand over a nuclear device at gunpoint. Shortly before detonating the weapon to destroy the basestar, she finds an ancient Hybrid, who addresses her by name. He knows or deduces her desire to seek forgiveness for her deeds and delivers a cryptic warning about Kara Thrace (Razor).

Notes[edit]

  • Shaw's shoulder patch has been unseen in the series, but is apparently the same patch worn by the Armistice Officer in the Miniseries. It is yellow on yellow and reads "Ministry of Defense" at the top and "Kobol HQ" at the bottom. The "Kobol HQ" reference may be part of a last-minute change in the central storyline of an early Miniseries script, where the Twelve Colonies of Kobol were actually on Kobol until Ronald Moore rewrote the storyline to make the Colonies as individual worlds for the final script.
  • Despite being a major, she wears a colonel's uniform with white/red trim. As shown on Doctor Cottle earlier, a major's uniform only has a white trim.
  • In early interviews, Shaw's surname was Taggart.