Talk:Survivor count/Archive 1

Discussion page of Survivor count/Archive 1
Revision as of 13:49, 29 October 2006 by Pedda (talk | contribs) (rearrangement of data in tables?)

No whiteboard information given in the following episodes:

  • Bastille Day
  • Act of Contrition - 13 pilot deaths
  • Litmus - 3 crew deaths and one copy of Doral
  • Six Degrees of Separation - Shelly Godfrey "disappears"
  • Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down - Baltar gives a verbal count, but the whiteboard is displaying something entirely weird.
  • The Hand of God

I will be unable to update this page for the information in Home until a few days after it airs. Please be patient; I will attend to it as soon as possible. --Peter Farago 02:00, 19 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Timeline Fuzziness[edit]

As you may have noticed, the timeline is getting fuzzy. I believe it is possible to establish a reasonable sequence of events through the episode "Flight of the Phoenix", but later events will be difficult to pin down until the airing of "Epiphanies". --Peter Farago 00:45, 27 September 2005 (EDT)

Graph Update[edit]

Peter, which software did you use to create this graph? Perhaps I can update it to reflect Pegasus. --Watcher 19:10, 19 October 2005 (EDT)

The problem is with the dates, which have gotten very fuzzy since the start of the second season. See Talk:Timeline (RDM) if you'd like to help me sort things out. --Peter Farago 23:33, 19 October 2005 (EDT)
Uh oh. Sounds like deciphering M Theory. OK. What the heck. I'm with ya. --Watcher 02:03, 20 October 2005 (EDT)
I believe that we can now make a credible guess for the start dates of "Resistance", "The Farm", and "Flight of the Phoenix". "Home, Part I", "Home, Part II", "Final Cut" are not yet dated, and I am leaving them marked as such. Since I understand that including data from "Pegasus" is very desirable here, I'm making a completely unfounded guess that its events take place on Day 105, and updating the graph accordingly. --Peter Farago 20:19, 13 November 2005 (EST)


The entry for Home (2) should list the deaths of two Laura Roslin redshirts (not one), since the overall population is reduced by three, but only Elosha and one redshirt is listed, unless there's another factor I'm forgetting. Ltcrashdown December 23, 2005

We didn't see it happen, so that's not a reasonable assumption. Maybe somebody on the Rising Star hit their head on a bulkhead during the episode. --Peter Farago 19:06, 24 December 2005 (EST)


I agree. I don't remember anyone else dying either, but the body count got reduced. I just figure with one dead Roslin redshirt listed, that it might make sense to make it two, just so it would match up with the three death population decrease. Ltcrashdown

The sketchy numbers in the early few episodes can be accounted for in a few ways. First off, people could have been injured or heavily irradiated in the holocaust and eventually died a few days later. Secondly, people could have been injured/killer during the events of "33". Ron Moore mentions a deleted take where Edward James Olmos improvises a line about "10 suicides", for instance. Thirdly, people could have been counted twice, or not counted at all. If you remember the first couple days after 9/11, it was originally thought that around 6,000 people had died, until the estimates were revised down to 3,000. Given that the only source for the survivor count in the first season is Laura's whiteboard, some inaccuracies are to be expected. Philwelch 19:33, 31 January 2006 (EST)

Rationale for Death Count between "Epiphanies" and "Black Market"[edit]

We conclude that the bomber killed herself in the attack based on the following dialogue:

Bomber: None of us want to die, but the fighting must end. If my sacrifice sends a signal to the Cylon that brings peace, then it was worth it. I do this for my children, and for the children that will follow them. Gods willing, demand peace, demand peace!

And that at least two civilians were killed based on this:

Adama: People are dead.

So at least two people died in total as a result of the attack. It seems unlikely that Adama included the suicide bomber in this count, which puts the total death toll at the bomber and at least two civilians. --Peter Farago 01:29, 11 February 2006 (EST)


Agreed. Though I must advise against actually basing theories on all of this. I mean it's just a way of keeping track of the current number of humans: in Season 1 the numbers changed around a lot; remember that point when like 30 people died with no apparent explanation? I mean, jumps of 20-50 people might be pushing it, but when it comes to changes of around just 4-5 people, this can be offset by newborn babies, and conversly, the number that have died could be augmented by those civilians dying of more everyday means in the Fleet (murder, poor medical supplies, industrial accidents, etc.) I'm just saying: It was never a perfectly tuned system to begin with.--The Merovingian 01:50, 11 February 2006 (EST)

Analysis on Baltar's Initial Projections is Off[edit]

In The Captain's Hand, where Baltar gives Roslin the fleet projections, the analysis erroneously goes on to state 7.5 deaths per day as a part of the fleet projections. That is a perspective, and it's off. Give Baltar credit enough to factor the known deathrate of 2.1 a day; ultimately leading to 62 years to total annihilation.

It is to my understanding that 18 years is how long it would be where the survivors would no longer be able to repopulate humanity. That is my initial thought, and what makes the most sense. From there the remaining survivors would simply live out the rest of their days or be killed, ending all of known humanity. Which, by the given analysis of 2.1 a day is 62 years.

The 18 years factor should not be used with the given analysis of 2.1 a day versus the erroneous 7.5 a day. That 7.5 does not match the deathrate from Season 1 to end of Season 2. --AJFederation 01:42, 23 July 2006 (CDT)


In biology, there is a concept of gene fixation, where a species loses genetic diversity and becomes highly susceptible to disease. Contributing to this is the reproductive population of a species. Since we have not a seen an age distribution chart, Baltar could be alluding to this concept. To illustrate, if the Fleet was reduced to 1000 males only or 500 males & 500 post menopausal females, the human race would functionally be extinct. Based on the current information, it is difficult to determine the truth.--Killerman 07:00, 15 October 2006 (CDT)

An idea for improved lucidity[edit]

This page has some interesting information. Over the seasons, however, it has become a bit cluddered and difficult to read the data, especially with all the one-item bullet lists. What about arranging all the relevant(!) data (that is, everything except for Adama's shaving :P) in one or more tables (e.g. one for each season) with four rows (Day, Count, Episode, Events)? --Pedda 07:49, 29 October 2006 (CST)