The crew of the Battlestar Galactica and Battlestar Pegasus from Battlestar Galactica (2003).
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Battlestar Galactica Military
In General
- The Battlestar: The reboot of the Trope Namer.
- The Big Board: The war room is equipped with a giant table that holds little models of the various ships to plan battle strategies with. Someone even goes to the effort to make brand-new models of the Cylon Raiders.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Was about to become the museum when the series begins. One of the landing bays had been turned into an exhibit about the Cylon War and the launch tubes for that side of the ship had been converted into a gift shop (much to Starbuck's frustration). The squadron of Viper Mark IIs that were on board for the exhibit are brought back into service as their older software means the Cylons can't shut them down remotely.
- The Bridge: The CIC is actually buried deep inside the ship for added security and often seems more like The War Room (although there is a seperate one of those). This means there's no windshield, and all information about what's outside has to be displayed on screens or relayed vocally by the crew.
- Cool Starship: Galactica may be an older model but she's still a major powerhouse and beloved by her crew.
- Dwindling Party: There's a very high turnover among the Colonial pilots thanks to the war against the Cylons. By the end of the series most of the pilots from the Miniseries are long gone.
- Dynamic Entry: Being able to jump into the middle of a battlefield has been put to execellent use this way, such as the Battle of New Caprica.
- Everything Is Online: Defied at Adama's orders. None of the ships computers are networked and all communication happens via analog systems. This proves vital when the Cylons return, as the lack of networks means they can't disable the entire ship in one blow.
- Explosive Instrumentation: The equipment in CIC has a tendency to send out a shower of sparks after a sufficiently large hit.
- Hurl It into the Sun: The fate of the Galactica in the Grand Finale: Anders pilots her into the sun along with the rest of the remaining ships.
- Inappropriately Close Comrades: Fraternisation was rampant in the days leading up to the planned decommissioning, with Tigh openly admitting that he opted to look the other way regarding Boomer and Tyrol's relationship as they were due to be reassigned anyway. He cracks down on this once the war with the Cylons starts.
- Mildly Military: While there is a command structure and rules about conduct, enforcement of this is fairly lax. Initially it's due to a relaxed atmosphere surrounding the decomissioning, and as the series goes on it becomes more a result of apathy in the face of the ongoing trauma. They simply can't afford to lock up or dismiss crew for infractions when there's so few trained servicepeople left. Apollo lampshades this at the end of season three during Baltar's trial.
- No-Paper Future: Averted as part of Adama's rule against networks. People constantly have to pass around paper printouts for messages and reports.
- No Seatbelts: Granted, it is hard to move a ship this size, but when it does get hit the crew tends to go flying across the CIC.
- Plot Armor: Being the source of the show's title, the Galactica is basically guaranteed to survive any encounter no matter how much the Cylons throw at it. This starts to run out during the final season when Tyrol discovers major structural damage deep in the bowels of the ship. Kara's jump in the Grand Finale proves the last straw, severely damaging the "spine" and ensuring she can't be jumped again without being torn apart.
- Sensor Suspense: The DRADIS system is usually the first alert that an enemy ship has arrived nearby.
- Shrine to the Fallen: One of the hallways is turned into a memorial for those who have been lost. Initially for the victims of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, but over time those lost during the exodus are added as well. The pilots' ready room has a smaller tribute, a photograph of a man on his knees watching a city burn (presumably taken during the attacks) which pilots touch as they head out on missions.
- True Companions: The crew often treat each other as an extended family rather than colleagues.
- Used Future: The Galactica is more rugged, worn down and generally "lived in" than the Pegasus or the Cylon Basestars.
Colonel Tigh
Colonel Saul Tigh
"If the crew doesn't hate the XO, then he's not doing his job."
Played By: Michael Hogan
After Bill Adama was mustered out from the first Cylon war and began serving on a commercial freighter, he met a fellow veteran named Saul Tigh, and the two formed a deep friendship. When reinstated, Adama pulled strings to have Tigh brought in as his second-in-command. Tigh is an alcoholic who is often Off the Wagon, and is probably the series' biggest bearer of Fantastic Racism against the Cylons (with Starbuck as a close second). How amusing, then, that he's one himself - To be more precise, he's one of the Final Five.
- Adaptation Species Change: The original series Tigh was human.
- Adaptational Jerkass: A lot of characters are this compared to their original series counterparts, but Tigh is second only to Cain in this regard.
- Achilles in His Tent: After New Caprica, he becomes a drunk wreck for a while.
- The Alcoholic: He puts the "fun" in "functional alcoholic." And his wife just makes him worse.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Saul and Ellen very much have this dynamic.
- The Caligula: During his brief stint as commander of the fleet, he is extremely harsh, violent, and unstable, partially because he has no idea how to handle the responsibility, partially because he's constantly drunk, and partially because of his scheming, psychotic wife. He’s painfully aware of this and makes it clear the entire time that he really doesn’t want his position.
- Colonel Badass: He's certainly competent, and he serves his role well.
- The Creon: Takes command of the Galactica only when Adama is shot, and gives it back immediately as soon as possible. He never plots against Bill Adama for a second, even when he has serious issues with his commander's behavior. He even outright says that it was always supposed to be them leading together, not him leading alone.
- Eyepatch of Power: After he loses his eye on New Caprica.
- Deadpan Snarker: "The President, Gods bless her sunny optimistic soul, thinks you might want to share how your buddies have been tracking us. So I'm here to ask the question and listen to your lies."
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Part of the reason for him Taking A Level In Jerkass is his anger at much of Galactica's crew's lack of acknowledgement or gratitude of everything the Resistance did during the Cylon occupation. He also gives this to Galactica's crew himself, who put themselves at considerable risk in rescuing the people on New Caprica, with the entirety of the Galactica crew nearly dying and the Pegasus being destroyed in the process.
- Fake Guest Star: Tigh is in all but four episodes of the show. The only characters to appear more frequently were Laura Roslin and Bill Adama.
- Fake Memories: His own history prior to the First Cylon War was fabricated by John Cavil.
- Fantastic Racism: Seriously rivals Starbuck in terms of utter hatred for the Cylons.
- Good Is Not Nice: Led a vigilante group that executed Cylon collaborators.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: If he and Bill Adama don't embody this trope, we don't know who does.
- Humble Hero / Think Nothing of It: He's not very good at accepting gratitude, even from Adama himself. Whenever someone offers thanks or admiration, Saul just awkwardly states that he's only doing his job.
- I Did What I Had to Do: The New Caprica arc.
- Jerkass: At times it can be really hard to sympathize with Saul.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: But he's still a good man at heart.
- Jerkass Has a Point: After the Cylons attack, he tells Boomer he was aware of her relationship with Tyrol, but let it slide because Galactica was in the process of being decommissioned and things were therefore Mildly Military at the time, anyways. He then tells her things have changed since then and orders her to break it off, as an officer and the ship's senior NCO being in a relationship together is just a flat out bad idea.
- The Lancer: To Bill, but is a deconstruction. He is awesome as a second in command, but almost no one (most of all him,) ever wants him to be the number one of the fleet's command. He excels at being Bill's number two, but is completely useless in any other capacity, proving politically inept at running the fleet when Adama is shot but brilliant and decisive when the Galactica is boarded by the enemy. This is inverted though, when he redeems himself by effectively leading the New Caprican resistance, even if his tactics are... somewhat suspect.
- Manly Tears: Most notably, when he killed his wife.
- Meaningful Name: The Biblical Saul lost his sight on the road to Damascus, only regaining it when he stopped persecuting the monotheistic Christians. Saul Tigh had his eye plucked out by Cavil as punishment for his guerrilla war against the monotheistic Cylons.
- Number Two: To Adama.
- Pick Your Human Half: Deconstructed, in a sense at least, after he learns that he's a Cylon. Unlike Tyrol and the other Final Five, who learn to be more accepting of being Cylons, Saul never really embraces that part of his nature. As such, Saul isn't able to access the special Cylon abilities that they can and this puts him at a disadvantage when the Fleet forms an Enemy Mine with the rebel Cylons in Season 4.
- Race Lift: Original series Tigh was black. Saul is white.
- Really 700 Years Old: Like the other members of the Final Five, he is technically well over two millennia old.
- Reincarnation Romance: He and Ellen were married originally too, and somehow found each other again after Cavil wiped their memories.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: While by no means evil, during the New Caprica arc, after being told that a suicide bombing would make the Resistance no better than the Cylons, he simply shrugs and proclaims, somewhat sarcastically, “Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We are evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that.”
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After being tortured by the Cylons, Tigh becomes even more of a Jerkass, committing countless morally questionable acts and repeatedly decreasing morale and insulting Adama and his command.
- Toxic Friend Influence: He's kind of hell on Bill's sanity, though he really doesn't mean most of it.
- Undying Loyalty: To Adama; case-in-point, after Bill is shot by Boomer, Tigh takes command of the fleet and begins to behave in a increasingly dictatorial fashion, but as soon as Adama recovers, Tigh immediately cedes command back to him.
- Walking Spoiler: He's a Cylon, and one of the Final Five.
- You Are What You Hate: Hates the Cylons far more than almost anyone else in the Fleet, and is understandably infuriated when it turns out that he's one of the Final Five.
Chief Tyrol
Senior Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
"All I know is if there is a God, he's laughing his ass off."
Played By: Aaron Douglas
SCPO Tyrol is in charge of keeping Galactica's birds flying. He's very much an everyman in his approach to things, and often finds himself in positions of being the Only Sane Man. He was carrying on with Boomer for a while. He's also one of the Final Five and a Cylon.
- A Father to His Men: He cares about his deckhands, and when some had to be sacrificed to put out a fire, he carried bitterness about it for a few episodes. He really loses his cool when one of his deckhands deliberately ruins his own career (by lying under oath and later claiming responsibility for a security breach he had nothing to do with) to cover for Tyrol's illicit relationship with Boomer. This finally causes him to break up with her for good:Tyrol: I put everything on the line for you. Everything. I cover for you, I protect you. I risk my career, my freedom, my integrity, for what? So some innocent kid, one of my kids, can take the fall for me? NO! We are not worth that.
- The Aloner: In the series finale he decides he's had enough of both humans and Cylons. When the survivors settle on Earth he heads out on his own, telling the Tighs he wants to be as far away from everyone as he can get. It's implied that he ends up in what will become Scotland.
- Ascended Extra: Tyrol was originally intended as a Flat Character, expanding primarily due to Aaron Douglas's ability to
throw in dialogue, character names and other useful touches. - Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: If there was any doubt that Galen really did care for Cally, then his Cylonicidal fury upon learning that Tory murdered her put it to rest.
- Butt-Monkey: Things go poorly for him, starting with his girlfriend being a Cylon.
- Call to Agriculture: Rather ironically for a mechanic, it's mentioned that he takes to the Fleet's decision to Let the Past Burn on Earth-2 quite well since he wants to put as far of a distance possible between himself and his past.
- Cartwright Curse: He is just not lucky in love.
- Despair Event Horizon: Seems to have fully crossed this by the time of the Series Finale.
- Fake Guest Star: Like Tigh and Helo, he's there from beginning to end, and missed only 7 episodes over the show's run.
- Hot-Blooded: Especially on New Caprica, where his speech to the people was modeled after real life labor speeches.
- Important Haircut: Shaves his head during the fourth series while in mourning after Cally's death.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tyrol can be a real hardass, but he's overall quite considerate and has a strong sense of honor and loyalty.
- Number Two: As the highest-ranking NCO in the fleet, Tyrol has aspects of this.
- Pick Your Human Half: Inverted. Tyrol is by far the most accepting among the Final Five of their true Cylon nature, which lets him gain more access to their abilities such as Super-Strength, Made of Iron, and being able to hack into networked computers.
- Mr. Fixit: Chief mechanic.
- Really 700 Years Old: Like the other members of the Final Five, he is technically well over two millennia old.
- Reincarnation Romance: Inverted. He previously had a relationship with Tory Foster on Earth-1, but he ultimately strangles her to death after he learns that she killed his current wife Cally.
- Stoic Spectacles: In his original life.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Not surprising, given the Trauma Conga Line he went through.
- Trauma Conga Line: In a very short amount of time, he finds out he's a Cylon, his wife apparently commits suicide over it, he finds out that his baby isn't even his, and then he learns a former lover actually killed his wife. And then he ruins the Cylon-Human alliance by reacting to that information.
- Walking Spoiler: He's a Cylon, and one of the Final Five.
Helo
Lieutenant Karl C. Agathon (callsign: Helo)
"Symbols matter. Uniforms, flags, banners - even mascots. They're like pieces of your heart that you can see."
Played By: Tahmoh Penikett
A Guy in Back in a Colonial Raptor, flying under Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, whom he kind of has a thing for. During the pilot miniseries, their ship lands on Caprica and Helo abandons his copilot seat to save Gaius Baltar. That was meant to be the end of this Mauve Shirt, but fan reaction to him was so positive that RDM and David Eick decided to keep following his adventures, which involve being rescued by another Sharon copy. With her, he becomes the father of "Hera," the first human-Cylon hybrid; he also serves as Adama's Number Two while Tigh is stuck on New Caprica.
- Ascended Extra: He was supposed to be written out at the end of the Miniseries.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He does kill a man for trying to rape his wife.note
- Fake Guest Star: Appears in the Pilot Episode, the Grand Finale, and all but eight episodes in between. For the record, starring actress Grace Park missed the same number.
- The Fettered: He has issues, but they make him among the most normal in the cast.
- Happily Married: After her Heel–Face Turn, he and Athena come to have perhaps the most stable relationship on the whole show.
- Heroic Sacrifice: What he intended by giving up his seat on the Raptor to Baltar (he thought that a genius scientist was more valuable to human survival than a pilot). Of course, he survived.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Has shades of this with Lee.
- Honor Before Reason: Like Lee, he can always be counted on to do the right thing, but with more of a focus on people than the state of Colonial law and democracy, nor is he as willing to cross certain lines, such as when Lee advocates using a virus to wipe out the Cylons and Helo not only argues against it but sabotages the effort.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Not quite as much as Lee though.
- Meaningful Name: His last name means "good", "noble", and various other meanings of one's better nature. He's one of the least morally corrupted people out of the entire series' cast of characters.
- It's unclear what the meaning of his callsign is. It could stand for "Helios", the god of the sun, or be a reference to military slang in which a "helo" is a helicopter and a "boomer" is a submarine.
- Mr. Fanservice: Has an erotic sex scene with Athena in Season 1 and also has a Heroic Build. In-Universe, Number Six comments on his attractiveness to Athena, who pretends to be blasé, and Racetrack suggests using him for some R&R.
- Mysterious Middle Initial: It's never revealed what the "C." in "Karl C. Agathon" stands for.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: He's much more often called "Helo" than "Karl". In fact, when a character does call him "Karl", it usually means the situation is serious.
- Nice Guy: One of very, very few in the show.
- Papa Wolf: Especially to Hera. When a dying Roslin tries to order the termination of Sharon's pregnancy Helo nearly pulls his sidearm on Adama to try and get the old man to back down.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Starbuck; notably, despite how she Really Gets Around. Though the actress said there may or may not have been a one-night stand at some point in the past. They've been close friends for a long time.
- Really Gets Around: Implied in the Miniseries when he says he was on Gemenon visiting a girl he knew, and Boomer says, "What girl don't you know?" A bit of Early-Installment Weirdness because this characterization never comes up again, but after all, he does spend the rest of the series in a committed relationship with Athena, so it wouldn't. (And he wasn't originally intended to survive when the Miniseries was written.)
Gaeta
Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
"I started this, and I'll see it through! Now get on that frakking ship!"
Played By: Alessandro Juliani
First appearing as a CIC watch officer, he eventually gets assigned to Dr. Baltar as a personal aide. He's an idealist—which is a bad thing to be in Galactica's World Half Empty; losing his leg in Season 4 is only one link in a "Break the Cutie" chain. Eventually leads a mutiny with Tom Zarek, which fails.
- Achey Scars: He has constant phantom limb pains after losing his leg.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: It's made explicitly clear that between him and Zarek during their mutiny, Gaeta is the one with sincere motives while Zarek is in it for the power.
- An Arm and a Leg: He loses his left leg below the knee in "Faith" when Sam shoots him to keep the others from forcibly arresting Kara and the resulting wound gets infected.
- Berserk Button: Immediately snaps and tries to stab Baltar in the neck with a pen when Baltar whispers something in his ear during an attempted interrogation. It's revealed in the webisodes that this was a mention of the Eight whom Felix knew on New Caprica, and that his over-the-top response was produced by a combination of blaming Baltar for everything that happened on New Caprica and an extreme subconscious resistance to examining the situation with the Eight too closely (because he knows deep down that she was lying to him the entire time and he inadvertently caused the deaths of almost everyone that he tried to save).
- Break the Cutie: Idolizes Baltar, only to be disillusioned when the latter becomes an ineffectual, hedonistic President. He then secretly provides information to La Résistance, only to be ostracized for his role in Baltar's administration and almost executed by a secret vigilante court. And then he later discovers his Cylon girlfriend on New Caprica was using him to identify members of La Résistance so they could be executed. And then he loses his leg due to an infected wound caused by a gunshot (and not one fired by the enemy, either). And after that, he loses all faith in Commander Adama after he makes an alliance with the rebel Cylons. He then launches a coup, only for it to go badly wrong, resulting in several people getting needlessly killed, and ending with him being executed.
- Broken Pedestal: Suffers this with Baltar and Adama at different points.
- But Not Too Bi: He is canonically bisexual and has had relationships with men and women at different times, but neither of these relationships gets any screen time in the show proper (they are explored in the show's webisodes). The only hint of his sexuality in the main story is his implied crush on Gaius. (Incidentally, no prizes for guessing how all three of these relationships ended.)
- The Cast Show Off: After the producers discovered that Alessandro Juliani is a fully-trained and highly-regarded operatic baritone, they found a reason for him to sing. Although it's actually quite sad when it happens in the series proper.
- Dating Catwoman: Had a romantic relationship with an Eight while on New Caprica with whom he was working to get humans out of detention and to safety. Deconstructed in that it turned out she was mostly just using the lists he gave her of people to save as death lists, and she was staggered by just how easy it was to deceive him, specifically blaming his gentle, idealistic nature and his desperation to have faith in something. This culminates in Felix finally reaching his breaking point and deciding that humans collaborating with Cylons is unsustainable.
- Deadpan Snarker: Particularly after losing his leg in Season 4.
- Face Death with Dignity: His stoicism in the face of his own impending execution is inspiring and heartbreaking in equal measure.
- Face–Heel Turn: Joins Zarek and instigates a mutiny in the final season.
- Game Changer: Zarek was never able to take power (despite being legitimately elected) because he never had the support of the military. Gaeta ends up being the one to provide that support.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: During President Baltar's reign, which unfortunately makes him the fall guy for the later Cylon occupation.
- Ironic Name: His first name means "happy" or "lucky". Poor Gaeta goes through a hefty Trauma Conga Line leading up to his Face–Heel Turn.
- Kick the Dog: Lies under oath to get Baltar executed by claiming he signed a mass-execution order with no resistance or protest, when in fact he was not present to witness Baltar doing any such thing. (In actuality, the normally cowardly and self-serving Baltar outright refused to sign the order, and only did so after the Cylons literally put a gun to his head and forced him to; Felix assumes that he made no attempt at resistance because he was unresponsive when confronted with the death list later, and doesn't really care what the truth is because he considers Gaius guilty either way.)
- Meaningful Name: He shares his last name with that of the city where the King of Naples was forced to capitulate during the War for Italian Unification, which made it the second-to-last independent city to fall before Italy was unified under one flag. As it would later turn out, The Mutiny he instigates is the second-to-last conflict in the series (with that arc being followed up by the Battle of the Colony in the Series Finale) prior to the melding of the surviving Cylon models, Colonial-humans, and second-Earth-humans under one hybrid species.
- Mr. Fixit: A technological version. If the computers on board Galatica need fixing, Gaeta's usually the one to do it.
- Nice Guy: Until he loses his leg, after which point he becomes much more bitter and harsh except toward close friends like Dualla.
- Odd Friendship: Formed one with Gaius Baltar early on in Season 1, though it sadly gets torpedoed after the New Caprica occupation in Season 3.
- Oh, Crap!: After Zarek executes the Quorom of Twelve, he's quietly horrified as he realizes that Zarek doesn't care at all for Gaeta's legitimately positive intentions regarding the mutiny and is only in it for the power.
- Rule of Symbolism: His prosthetic limb only stops itching just when he decides to Face Death with Dignity and has accepted what he's done.
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Gaeta is gradually broken by a massive Trauma Conga Line and becomes increasingly bitter as a result, which culminates in him snapping and coming to believe leading a mutiny against Adama when he forms an alliance with the Cylons is the better way to ensure humanity's survival.
- The Stoic: Keeps a cool head under almost any situation, which is frankly a bit of a requirement for someone in his position.
- Those Two Guys: With Dualla in a number of deleted scenes.
- Trauma Conga Line: After Baltar (whom he greatly admires and becomes fast friends with) disappoints him by becoming The Caligula as President and failing to resist the Cylon occupation, he is nearly executed by his shipmates after being falsely accused of being a traitor, accidentally loses his leg to friendly fire from Anders after a standoff between Starbuck and Helo, witnesses his closest friend's death by suicide, learns that he was unknowingly complicit in the deaths of a number of people on New Caprica due to trusting the wrong person, and Adama finally "betrays" him by allying with a rebel faction of Cylons (who, despite their change in allegiances, were still responsible for the near-genocide of the human race in the first place and, on a more personal level, actively pushed him to his Despair Event Horizon), Gaeta finally snaps and turns against his former comrades, staging a coup d'état with Zarek.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: When he leads a mutiny, he's doing it for what he sees as the greater good.
- What the Hell, Hero?: His Kangaroo Court of his commander is basically Gaeta trying to force Adama to acknowledge what he put Gaeta through. Adama contemptuously refuses to play along as it's a show trial being conducted by a military coup, while Zarek is unable to convince Gaeta they need to concentrate on more pragmatic issues.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Starts off as one, only to go through the emotional and physical wringer before ultimately snapping.
Dualla
Petty Officer Anastasia 'Dee' Dualla
Played By: Kandyse McClure
A member of Galactica's crew who first appears as a Petty Officer manning the communications panel in Galactica's CIC in the Miniseries. Gets an officer's commission sometime between Seasons 2 and 3. Tragically and suddenly dies by suicide midway through season 4 after seeing the destroyed Earth and experiencing a Despair Event Horizon.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Downplayed. Both she and Lee do genuinely love each other, but the sad fact is that Lee still ultimately loves Kara more.
- Ascended Extra: Gets more and more screentime as the series goes on.
- Beta Couple: With Billy in season 1, although she ends up leaving him for Lee.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Normally has a very sweet disposition, but doesn't even bother trying to be nice to Kara after she and Lee begin having a very obvious and borderline-public affair that humiliates both Dee and Sam. Like Lee, she also has a bit of a hidden propensity for taking mutinous or highly illegal actions when she thinks it's necessary, such as when she assists in Roslin's escape into the Fleet after the martial law declaration or helps Tigh rig the election in Roslin's favor to prevent Baltar from winning.
- Bridge Bunnies: Her and Gaeta's place in the CIC.
- Communications Officer: Her main job. She is later succeeded in this position by Hoshi after her death.
- Driven to Suicide: After seeing the ruined Earth, she hits the Despair Event Horizon, and ends up dying by suicide.
- Go Out with a Smile: An extremely dark example. A brief Hope Spot after her date with Lee implies that the two seem to be successfully reconnecting and that Dualla may be recovering from her extreme despair after witnessing the destroyed Earth, but only moments afterward Dualla chooses to end her own life while she is still experiencing what she believes is her final moment of happiness.
- Heroic BSoD: When she's Driven to Suicide.
- Mission Control: Along with Communications Officer, part of her job. She's the voice that relays between the pilots and Galactica.
- Rank Up: Has become a commissioned officer during the stay on New Caprica.
- Red Herring: Her first name, Anastasia, means "resurrection", suggesting that she might be a Cylon and come back after her death... but she's not, and ends up getting Killed Off for Real.
- Romantic Runner-Up: For Apollo. It becomes especially tragic during their marriage, as both characters are aware of this issue but still can't help but play into it.
- Those Two Guys: With Gaeta in several deleted scenes.
- Workout Fanservice: Engages in some with Apollo in the second half of Season 2 as part of their Ship Tease.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Discussed; both she and Tom Zarek are from Sagittaron, but she is disgusted by the support he gets and considers his actions to be unjustifiable (even if it was supposedly in the name of their planet's freedom).
Cally
Specialist Callandra "Cally" Henderson Tyrol
Played By: Nicki Clyne
"I just joined to pay for dental school."
An enlisted deckhand serving Galactica's flight wing, Cally is known for a few things: having only one name for two seasons (her full name wasn't given until her funeral!); being a Plucky Girl, and having a thing for Chief Galen Tyrol. Marries the Chief during the New Caprica year and becomes pregnant with a son, Nicholas; is then executed by Tory Foster after she (Cally) stumbles upon the secret of the Final Five.
- Ascended Extra: Just a member of the crew in the flight wing, but becomes a fairly major character.
- Attempted Rape: One of Zarek's flunkies tries to rape her in "Bastille Day" and she bites his ear off to defend herself.
- Break the Cutie: Bad things happen to her over the course of the series.
- Everyone Has Standards: She might've assassinated Galactica-Sharon and shows a lot of Fantastic Racism towards Cylons, but she and the rest of the pit crew for Galactica are still visibly horrified when the crew of Pegasus brag about making a regular pastime out of the gang-rape and torture of their Cylon prisoner Gina.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: After learning Tyrol is a Cylon, she sort of... snaps.
- Interrupted Suicide: After learning Galen is a Cylon, she considers suicide (taking her baby with her). Tory talks her out of it... just to make sure that the baby is safe, and then kills her anyway.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: After Cally finds out that Tyrol, Tigh and Tory are Cylons and attempts to commit Murder-Suicide with baby Nicky, Tory talks her down... long enough to save the baby, and then airlocks Cally herself to preserve their cover. Chief Tyrol is enraged when he finally finds out and gives Tory a Neck Snap.
- Love Martyr: Stayed loyal to the Chief even after he unwittingly beat her when she roused him while he was suffering from night terrors near the end of Season 2. Cally later lampshades this in Season 4 while talking to Cottle. However, she herself doesn't exactly treat him much better either.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Turns out in Season 4 that she slept with Hot Dog, making him, not Galen, Nicky's father.
- Only One Name: Up until her full name was revealed to be "Callandra Henderson", she was only known as "Cally". This led to some Early-Installment Weirdness when a lot of supplementary materials from early on in the show's run gave her full name out as "Jane Cally".
- Plucky Girl: Her early characterization.
- Red Herring: Little Nicky was believed for quite a while to be another supposedly-impossible human-Cylon hybrid. Then it was revealed that, sometime before her wedding, Cally slept with Hot Dog.
- Sacrificial Lion: She's killed by Tory early on in Season 4 to establish that now more than ever Anyone Can Die.
- Sanity Slippage: Upon finding out the truth about Tyrol, she snaps and tries to kill herself and her baby before being talked down by Tory... who kills her immediately after she hands over the baby.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: How Tory Foster kills her.
- Wrench Wench: Her role on the Galactica.
Doc Cottle
Major Sherman "Doc" Cottle
Played By: Donnelly Rhodes
A grumpy Major and the fleet's leading medic, he serves on Galactica and lectures his patients in between drags from a cigarette. His first name, Sherman, was only revealed during the series finale.
- Ascended Extra: Was just a medic, but wound up playing a significant role in a few episodes. A young Cottle also appears as a recurring character in the PC game Battlestar Galactica Deadlock (set forty years prior), when he leaves Galactica claiming that he'll never set foot on the ship again.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: A heroic variation on the trope; Cottle volunteers to take part in the Battle of the Colony in the Series Finale but Adama forbids him from coming along, assigning Cottle to safely stay behind with the Fleet because his medical expertise is too valuable to lose.
- Cool Old Guy: One of the oldest members of Galactica's crew and no less awesome for it. Grumpy, sarcastic and one of the few people who can withstand Adama's trademark Death Glare.
- Deadpan Snarker: Quite possibly the snarkiest character in the series.Cally: What if you gave me a sedative and I just slept here?
Cottle: Oh, sure. We'll just turn my sickbay into an opium den so you can have a little snooze.(And in another episode:)Roslin: Doctor, I need your help, but it's illegal, dangerous, and a violation of your oath as an officer.
Cottle: (Beat) You're a lousy salesman. - Dr. Jerk: He's grumpy and abrasive towards his patients and openly smokes on the job. He gets away with it because he's actually very good at his job, doesn't mean anything by his sarcasm, and is also one of the few trained doctors left.
- Hypocritical Humor: Lightly scolds Roslin for waiting so long to get checked for breast cancer while he's almost constantly smoking.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his grouchiness, he's completely committed to his job and will treat anyone, human and Cylon alike. When Roslin's cancer reaches its terminal stages, he's visibly upset about not being able to help her anymore and she has to tell him to resume his gruff facade. He's also absolutely revolted by the crew of the Pegasus having raped the Cylon Gina multiple times and states that Athena's near-rape by Lt. Thorne was "unforgiveable".
- The Medic: He's the ship's resident physician and probably one of the only surviving humans with any sort of significant medical training.
- Must Have Nicotine: Is rarely seen without a cigarette hanging in his mouth.
- No Name Given: His first name is only given in the finale.
Hot Dog
Lieutenant JG Brendan Costanza (callsign: Hot Dog)
Played By: Bodie Olmos
From the first class of rookie pilots trained by Starbuck on Galactica along with Kat and Chuckles, Hot Dog evidently flunked out of naval academy before the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies. He survives the entire series, eventually maturing into one of Galactica's best and most mature pilots. He's also the Real Life Apollo, as he is played by Bodie Olmos, EJO's son.
- Ascended Extra: Originally just "new meat" but he winds up an important part of the Galactica's defense.
- Embarrassing Nickname: He was explicitly given his callsign as a punishment.
- Instant Expert: Presumably from offscreen training, we don't really see his skills develop.
- New Meat: How he's introduced.
- Took a Level in Badass: Went from New Meat to a skilled pilot. He's the only one of his group of "Nuggets" still alive by the series finale, by which point he's one of Galactica's most skilled pilots.
- In-Universe, Apollo acknowledges him taking a level when he takes his own wings and presents them to Hot Dog, telling him "I think you earned these today" because Hot Dog was still a "nugget" trainee and refused to leave Starbuck by herself when Raiders showed up during a training session.
Anders
Ensign Samuel T. Anders (callsign: Longshot)
"Lighten up a little bit. It's only the end of the world."
Played By: Michael Trucco
An athlete on pre-Fall Caprica, the captain and star player of the Pyramid team Caprica Buccaneers, Anders turned his team into a resistance unit after the fall of the Colonies. He was stumbled upon by Kara Thrace and Karl Agathon while the two were trying to get off-planet, and eventually rescued late in Season 2. He becomes a major figure in the resistance on New Caprica, not to mention Starbuck's husband. Oh, and he's a Cylon and one of the Final Five.
- Academic Athlete: Anders is a star Pyramid player and like the rest of the Final Five, was a research scientist in his original life on Earth. And could also sing and play guitar, apparently.
- Ascended Extra: Joins the main cast after being rescued from Caprica.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: "See you on the other side". Although this may simply refer to the afterlife — he's heading to his stellar grave, and addressing a dead woman...
- Celebrity Survivor: He was the star player of the Caprica Buccaneers, a Pyramidnote team. He's well known enough for Helo to have gambled on his games and recognize Anders and his teammates after they introduce themselves.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not his most defining characteristic, but he can hold his own. No wonder he gets along so well with Starbuck.
- Death of Personality: After having a bullet removed from his brain, he's left seemingly brain-dead, and when the Cylons link him up to Galactica, he's left as a Hybrid who only occasionally shows flashes of memory and personality, such as when he addresses Galen by name in the Grand Finale and says goodbye to Starbuck.
- Emergency Transformation: He's turned into Galactica's Hybrid in an attempt to save him.
- Game of Nerds: Or the in-universe equivalent, Pyramid. Notably, in the final episode, Anders — arguably the least cerebral of the Cylons in his Colonial identity — is revealed in a flashback to have a passion for the geometry and mathematics involved in sports.
- Genre Savvy: He manages to survive several months on Caprica along with his Pyramid team by copying guerilla tactics he saw in movies. He's also smart enough to realize that the movies aren't real life and that movie tactics can only carry him and his team so far, so he seeks out professional advice from Starbuck at the first opportunity.
- Glowing Mechanical Eyes: His eye flashes red in response to a scan by a Cylon Raider in the Season 4 premiere.
- Handicapped Badass: He's hit in the back of the head by a stray bullet during Gaeta's mutiny and needs to have brain surgery. Afterwards, he's left brain-dead to all appearances, and later hooked up to Galactica in the manner of a Cylon Hybrid to jumpstart him but never regains the use of his legs and remains connected to the ship.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Takes over some of this role from Lee toward Kara after their marriage, although it never reaches the same level of codependency.
- Meaningful Name: "Anders" means "man" (or "android").
- Mr. Fanservice: His sex scenes with Starbuck often make the effort to show just as much of his Heroic Build as they do Starbuck's. In-Universe, Leoben refers to him as a "face selling magazines", and a flashback in the Grand Finale shows him being interviewed in a bathtub.
- Mysterious Middle Initial: It's never revealed what the "T." in "Samuel T. Anders" stands for.
- Heroic Suicide: He flies the Fleet into the Sun both so he can see Starbuck again in the afterlife and prevent the Vicious Cycle plaguing man and Cylon from repeating itself on the new Earth.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Trucco suffered a major spinal injury in a car crash, resulting in Anders's bullet to the head and spending the rest of the series in either a hospital bed or a Hybrid tub. Trucco went on to make a near-miraculous full recovery (to be clear, he had nearly identical injuries to Superman actor Christopher Reeve, who never recovered) and so Anders was able to become an Action Hero again in the post-series movie The Plan.
- Really 700 Years Old: Like the other members of the Final Five, he is technically well over two millennia old.
- Satellite Love Interest: Started out as this trope (his initial importance to the plot was solely as the love interest Starbuck left behind on Caprica), but eventually grew beyond it.
- Ship Tease: In the last two episodes of Season 3, with Starbuck being dead at the time, he's teased with fellow trainee Viper pilot Diana Seelix, and then sleeps with Tory Foster. What with Starbuck coming back to life and all the craziness around the Final Five, neither ultimately goes anywhere. Seelix in fact becomes a mutineer and a Woman Scorned.
- Spaceship Girl: A Gender Flipped example - in order to save his life, he gets linked up to Galactica via a tub and datastream in the same way that a Hybrid is connected to a Cylon Basestar.
- Spanner in the Works:
- His interactions with the Caprica iteration of John Cavil incited noteworthy Character Development within that version of Cavil, which would help reveal the other Cavil acting as a spy in the Fleet.
- Him serving as a fighter pilot in "He That Believeth in Me" leads to a Raider scanning him and identifying him as a Cylon. This leads to all of the Raiders breaking off and letting the Colonials escape, saving everyone's lives. Furthermore, when Cavil tries to account for this issue by lobotomizing the Raiders, it sparks an Enemy Civil War that leads to the downfall of the loyalist Cylons and the discovery of Earth-2 by the humans and rebel Cylons.
- Together in Death: His last words before he drives Galactica and the other spaceships ("See you on the other side.") are said right before Kara departs the physical plane.
- Took a Level in Badass: He becomes a rather decent Viper pilot after joining the military following Starbuck's death. After enlisting, he has the rank of ensign and the callsign "Longshot".
- Walking Spoiler: He's one of the Final Five and a Cylon.
- You Are What You Hate: Along with Saul Tigh, he's probably the most reluctant of the Final Five to initially accept actually being a Cylon, which is understandable given that he was a leader in the anti-Cylon resistance on both Caprica and New Caprica and saw many of his friends killed by them up close.
Kat
Lieutenant JG Louanne 'Kat' Katraine
"When you come back after a successful run, lemme tell you, it is better than a great meal, better than hitting the jackpot, it's better than SEX!"
Played By: Luciana Carro
A "nugget" introduced early in the first season, she soon starts competing with Starbuck for the title of The Ace and even achieves the position of Commander Air Group (previously held by such luminaries as Apollo, Starbuck and Helo) while most of the senior crew are on New Caprica, before a Heroic Sacrifice in Season 3.
- The Ace: Played with; she may well surpass Starbuck as the most naturally talented pilot in the fleet (especially considering that Starbuck had full military training, whereas Kat just had a few hastily arranged and barely-structured lessons), but her personality issues keep getting in the way of her being an outright Ace.
- Ascended Extra: Starts out as just another nugget. Grows into CAG before dying.
- The Atoner: She dies to make up for her Dark and Troubled Past.
- Better than Sex: She considers a successful combat operation to be better than sex.
- Butt-Monkey: Repeatedly almost dies horribly, which eventually causes her to turn to drugs. This results in her losing her position as CAG, and then she dies horribly of radiation poisoning.
- Character Development: Kat starts off as fairly amicable, but after a series of traumas and a struggle with drug addiction she becomes increasingly abrasive/
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was a smuggler before the Fall of the Colonies. Decided to turn her life around by signing up for the military under an assumed name.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Her real name is Sasha, but she's been masquerading as a dead girl, as her own identity (part of a smuggling crew that may or may not have unknowingly helped the Cylons infiltrate the colonies) wouldn't have gotten her into the military, to say the least.
- A Death in the Limelight: "The Passage" gives her a lot of focus and explores her backstory, and she dies in a Heroic Sacrifice at the end.
- Driven to Suicide: It's implied that her Heroic Sacrifice was partially motivated by this, since her past was about to be exposed and she had already been exposed to fatal doses of radiation.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She continues on a mission well after she's exposed herself to a fatal amount of radiation, refusing to allow any other ships to be lost under her command.
- Impersonation-Exclusive Character: We never get to see the real Louanne Katraine.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's quite abrasive and petty, but she does care about her fellow pilots. Part of her hatred of Starbuck stems from her repeatedly endangering Kat's colleagues. And of course, Kat ultimately sacrifices her life for the good of the fleet.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Kat is childish, abrasive, and petty, but she's also the only person to consistently call Starbuck out on her bullshit.
- Mauve Shirt: She appears the most out of the non-main character Viper pilots, and gets a lot of characterization.
- New Meat: How she's introduced.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After getting addicted to drugs, Kat becomes a Jerkass who berates and harasses pretty much everyone she sees.
- Rank Up: Reaches Captain before her Heroic Sacrifice.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: She and Starbuck have a very complicated relationship, which alternates between being a mentor-protege relationship and mutual hatred mixed with respect. They eventually settle their differences while Kat dies of radiation poisoning.
Crashdown
Lieutenant JG Alex Quartarro (Callsign: Crashdown)
Played By: Sam Witwer
Boomer's copilot after Helo is left on Caprica. He is later a member of the Raptor crew stranded on Kobol, and takes charge of the group.
- Guy in Back: Introduced as Boomer's new ECO after Helo stays behind on Caprica. She's not very happy about the arrangement but eventually warms up to him. After her failed suicide attempt Crashdown takes over as pilot for the Kobol mission.
- Hero of Another Story: He's described as a surviving pilot from another, destroyed, Battlestar.
- Killed Off for Real: Baltar shoots him to stop him from killing Cally.
- Leader Wannabe: As the only officer present, he takes charge of the surviving members of the landing party on Kobol. He does his best, but he quickly proves to be incompetent and winds up getting two of the group killed, and his failures and the stress he's under ultimately causes him to snap.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Gaius reports to Apollo that Crashdown died leading the charge against the Cylons. Tyrol, Cally and Seelix don't dispute his version of events, suggesting they believe in this trope.
- The Peter Principle: As an ECO (his actual job 99% of the time) he's competent enough, but he's a wretchedly poor command officer, struggles to think on his feet, and doesn't have the skillset or experience to know when to refrain from exercising his authority. This leads to multiple unnecessary deaths when he ends up in charge on Kobol, including his own.
- Sanity Slippage: Crashdown starts to lose it after he gets two of his group killed, culminating in him trying to murder Cally.
- Unfriendly Fire: Baltar shoots him In the Back.
Nowart
Sergeant Allan Nowart
Played By: Colin Corrigan
A Marine aboard Galactica serving as Sergeant of the Guard, who took over the role after the previous Sergeant was killed during the events of "Rapture". Nowart goes on to have an increasingly important background role, being present at several key encounters during the fourth season.
- Ascended Extra: Shows up as a Marine with no dialogue in "The Woman King". By the time the show gets to the fourth season, he has more speaking lines, and by the end of the series, he's graduated to being Lee's second-in-command during the assault on the Colony.
- The Atoner: He decides to take part in the assault on the Colony in the series finale, seemingly out of guilt for having supported the attempted mutiny on Galactica.
- Contrived Coincidence: Despite never appearing before the episode "The Woman King", Nowart is suddenly present at several key moments in the series, including Helo's confrontation with Dr. Robert, protecting Romo Lampkin during Gaius Baltar's trial, acting as a guard for Kara after she seemingly comes back from the dead, escorting Adama and Tigh to the brig during the mutiny, and eventually, acting as Lee's second-in-command during the assault on the Colony.
- Doom Magnet: The Marines Nowart partners with are often on the receiving end of violent incidents. As Sergeant of the Guard, his first Marine partner, Cheadle, ends up taking the brunt of an explosion meant for Lampkin. A few days later, he and his partner are incapacitated by Kara as she escapes from Colonial custody. Following that, his Marine companion during the mutiny is shot dead by Tigh, and he's very nearly killed by Kara after Adama tells him to leave.
- Escort Mission: His primary role appears to be acting as an escort/guard for key characters, as he (along with a fellow Marine, who ultimately makes a Heroic Sacrifice) are assigned to guard Romo Lampkin prior to Baltar's trial in the third season. At the beginning of the fourth season, he's ordered to escort Kara through Galactica. Later, he's ordered by Gaeta to escort Adama and Tigh to the brig, though he eventually flips and aids them in their escape.
- Field Promotion: Despite being imprisoned for his role in the mutiny, he supports Adama's mission to assault the Colony and rescue Hera. As a result, he becomes Lee's second-in-command in the ground team, and aids him in breaching the Colony and giving status updates on the area.
- Honor Before Reason: Played with. He initially supports Zarek and Gaeta's mutiny out of the belief that the Colonial Fleet shouldn't be allied with the Cylons, but becomes increasingly uneasy with his decision. When he's ordered to escort Adama and Tigh to the brig, he flips on his fellow guard, telling them that he still supports the actual command crew, and eventually, lets them go.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Although he initially supports Gaeta and Zarek's mutiny, he's not fully committed to it, and lets Adama and Tigh go after he'd been ordered to escort them to a brig. He flees to parts unknown after Kara fires some warning shots at him (though a Deleted Scene shows him returning to the CIC to tell Gaeta and Gage what happened}.
- Remember the New Guy?: He shows up for the first time midway through the third season, having been a member of Galactica's Marines all through the series but never glimpsed beforehand.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Narrowly averted. Starbuck attempts to shoot him in the back as he flees from Adama and Tigh during the mutiny, only for the latter two to stop her, saying he's not worth it.
- Spanner in the Works: Were it not for him deciding to flip and aid Adama and Tigh, Gaeta and Zarek's initial plan for the mutiny would have gone off without a hitch. Instead, they are able to buy enough time to get several key members of the fleet off Galactica and to the Basestar.
- Those Two Guys: With fellow Marine Henry Cheadle. That is, until Cheadle sacrifices himself to save Romo Lampkin's life.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's left unclear if Nowart survived the Centurion boarding attempt as Cavil and the other enemy Cylons assaulted Galactica in the series finale, as he isn't seen during or after the boarding action.
Venner
Corporal Venner
Played By: Mike Shields
A Colonial Marine placed in charge of guarding Roslin when she was arrested following the military coup, though he quickly proves to be sympathetic to her and provides her aid whenever possible.
- Token Religious Teammate: He is the most religious person on Galactica, which winds up making him ally with Roslin.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite playing a key role early in Season 2 by helping Roslin escape and apparently bonding with her over their faith, he's never seen again in the series.
Socinus
Specialist Alonzo Socinus
Played By: Alonso Oyarzun
A deckhand who works with Chief Tyrol.
- Mercy Kill: Despite attempts to save him, his injuries from the Raptor crash prove too severe and Tyrol is forced to euthanize him with a drug overdose.
- The Scapegoat: He willingly takes the blame for a security breach that Tyrol would have been blamed for and lets himself be arrested. Tyrol is shocked by this and tries to confess to Adama, but Adama lets Socinus' false confession stand because regardless of his guilt or lack thereof, he still lied under oath, and Tyrol's experience and expertise make him impossible to easily replace.
- Secret-Keeper: For Tyrol and Boomer.
Prosna
Specialist Prosna
Played By: Michael Eklund
A deckhand who works with Tyrol and Cally.
- Red Shirt: Dies during the pod venting in the Miniseries.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He burns alive during the pod venting.
- Dead Star Walking: He's played by Michael Eklund, a well-known character actor, and he winds up being one of the first of Galactica's crew to bite the dust.
- Heroic Sacrifice: It's implied he was trapped in the port flight pod during the pod venting was because he remains behind to help with the evacuation.
- Mauve Shirt: He is prominently featured during the Miniseries, but he winds up dying before it ends.
- Nice Guy: A kindhearted fellow who stays up late to wrap a gift for Adama.
Sergeant Hadrian
Sergeant Hadrian
Played By: Jill Teed
Galactica's Master-At-Arms, who is in charge of maintaining internal security.
- Inspector Javert: During the investigation of Doral's suicide attack, she goes out of her way to harass anyone she suspects, and she winds up turning the whole thing into a witch hunt.
- Jerkass: A major hardass who goes out of her way to harass anyone she suspects of wrongdoing, whether they actually did it or not.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The people she comes down hard on are lying to her about something, though, and she did tell Adama that her tribunal would require full authority and access, before he withdrew it when she started inconveniencing him. While there's no wide conspiracy of human Cylon collaborators, her two chief suspects, Boomer and Chief Tyrol, are respectively an actual Cylon sleeper agent and someone emotionally compromised enough to cover up damning evidence that the former is a sleeper agent.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The last we see of her in person, Adama remands her to her quarters after he gets fed up with her causing a witch hunt. “Valley of Darkness” has Tigh mention she is leading one of the military squads hunting a Cylon that had boarded Galactica, so it's possible she kept her position.
Racetrack
Lieutenant JG Margaret Edmondson (callsign: Racetrack)
Played By: Leah Cairns
A cynical, somewhat nihilistic Raptor pilot.
- The Atoner: She's among the prisoners who volunteer for the Final Battle with the people they'd fought against.
- The Cynic: She has a very bitter outlook on life.
- Deadfoot Leadfoot: Armed her nukes just before she was killed. Her hand slips post-mortem and accidentally fires them.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: She wants to go out taking as many Cylon with her as she can. She gets to do it, albeit posthumously, via a nuclear bomb she had pre-armed.
- Fantastic Racism: She really hates Cylons, even more than Tigh.
- The Fatalist: She is not unjustifiably under the belief she'll die on a mission. She eventually dies during the mission to rescue Hera from the Cylons.
- Guy in Back: Is introduced as a temporary ECO for Boomer after Helo is left on Caprica and Crashdown takes lead on the trip to Kobol. When Boomer is arrested Racetrack gets a promotion to the pilot's seat. During the third season she spends some time as Athena's ECO as the exodus from New Caprica means there's now more pilots than available ships.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Which side she is on fluctuates from moment to moment. Mostly she serves loyally on Galactica, but she joins Roslin's side during the fleet schism and later she joins Gaeta's mutiny.
- Locked Out of the Loop: During the mutiny it's implied that she's unaware of the murderous actions Zarek is engaging in as part of the plan.
- Mauve Shirt: Out of the Raptor pilots, she appears the most and gets the most characterization. She even manages to survive all the way up to the finale.
Skulls
Lieutenant Hamish McCall (callsign:Skulls)
Played By: Colin Lawrence
A Raptor pilot who accidentally found Kobol alongside Racetrack.
- Guy in Back: Serves this role for Racetrack.
- Lack of Empathy: He doesn't give a damn when Zarek bludgeons Laird to death with a wrench, and unlike Racetrack shows no hesitation when Connor threatens to kill Lee.
- Mauve Shirt: He doesn't get that much characterization, but he manages to survive all the way until the series finale.
- Red Shirt: He dies when a piece of debris crashes into his ship.
Chuckles
Lieutenant JG Donald Perry (callsign:Chuckles)
Played By: Terry Chen
An experienced civilian pilot conscripted to be a Viper pilot.
- Mauve Shirt: He's one of three trainees with speaking roles in the episode when Galactica first recruits civilian pilots and survives long enough to participate in the raid on the Cylon refinery a few episodes later.
Jammer
Specialist James 'Jammer' Lyman
Played By: Dominic Zamprogna
A deckhand who becomes a prominent supporting character during the New Caprica Arc.
- Dirty Coward: Zig-zagged at first: when Galactica is boarded by Centurions early in Season 2 he's found by Lee Adama's group cowering in a small arms locker, though he does fight after that. Played straight later on when he begs for his life as The Circle decides to execute him for the deaths he caused while working with the Cylons.
- Irony: Early in the series, he's quick to suspect his crewmates of being Cylons when their ability to pass as human becomes public knowledge. On New Caprica, he becomes a willing collaborator with the Cylons himself.
- Les Collaborateurs: Joins the New Caprica Police, effectively turning on the rest of the humans and siding with the Cylons.
- Military Moonshiner: He's introduced making homemade whiskey with Socinus and Cally.
- Pet the Dog: He does save Cally's life when she's a prisoner.
- Secret-Keeper: One of several crewmen covering up Boomer and Tyrol's relationship.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: He's executed this way by The Circle once they uncover his collaboration with the Cylons.
Duck
Lieutenant JG Tucker Clellan (callsign:Duck)
Played By: Christian Tessier
A Viper pilot who serves as a minor Mauve Shirt in the first half of the series. He later retires during the New Caprica arc, planning to settle down with his girlfriend Nora Farmer.
- Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it after Nora is killed by a Cylon attack, and agrees to become a suicide bomber because he has nothing else to live for.
Kelly
Captain Aaron Kelly
Played By: Ty Olsson
The Landing Signal Officer for Galactica who oversees takeoffs and landings on the ship. A senior officer and probably third-in-command after Adama and Tigh, depending on where the CAG fits into the chain of command.
- Commuting on a Bus: Despite his high rank he only appears a handful of times throughout the series. Word of God is that his job managing the flight deck means he's "off-camera" down at the landing bay except when he is needed for the story. When he does make an appearance in CIC it's usually because there's a major crisis and Adama is out of the picture (such as in the Miniseries or at the beginning of season two when Adama is in critical condition after being shot) or there's a shortage of experienced CIC staff (during the rescue mission to New Caprica).
- My God, What Have I Done?: Initially sides with Zarek and Gaeta during the mutiny and leads the squad tasked with bringing Adama and Tigh in. Being ordered to escort Adama to his execution is apparently too far as he breaks down in Memorial Hallway rather than take part. He then defects to join Lee and the others in rescuing Adama in retaking the ship.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His last appearance is in "Blood on the Scales" and he isn't mentioned in the finale so his fate is unknown.
Barolay
Jean Barolay
Played By: Alison Down
A member of Anders's resistance. She later joins up with the military as a civilian volunteer.
- Irony: She died without ever learning that her long-time friend, team captain and resistance leader Sam Anders was a Cylon.
- Karmic Death: She's killed by a Six whom she had traumatized by drowning her back on New Caprica.
- La Résistance: Was a member of the resistance on Caprica and later of the New Caprica version.
Figurski
Specialist Anthony Figurski
Played By: Don Thompson
One of the deckhands serving under Tyrol.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He disappears following "Escape Velocity".
Cheadle
Henry Cheadle
Played By: Chris Boyd
A Marine.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He dies rescuing Lampkin from a bomb.
- Those Two Guys: With Nowart until he's killed by a bomb.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's only around for two episodes before being blown up.
Seelix
Ensign Diana Seelix (callsign: Hardball)
Played By: Jennifer Halley
A deckhand serving under Tyrol. She later becomes a Viper pilot in Season 3.
- Ascended Extra: She and Tarn didn't have names in the script until Aaron Douglas gave them to them, which led to them receiving more characterization, especially Seelix.
- Doomed Hurt Guy: Subverted. She's severely injured while stranded on New Caprica, but she's able to survive in spite of how dire things look for her.
- Mauve Shirt: She gets some characterization and is one of the longest lasting deckhands outside of Tyrol, frequently recurring throughout the show.
- Put on a Bus: She's imprisoned along with the rest of the mutineers. Unlike Racetrack and Skulls, she doesn't come Back for the Finale.
- Rank Up: In Season 3, she goes from a deckhand to a trainee pilot, thus ranking up from non-commissioned officer to ensign.
- Romantic Runner-Up: After Starbuck dies and Seelix and Anders have both become rookie pilots, they seem rather close playing Pyramid together on the deck and she's visibly upset to see that he's slept with Tory.
- Woman Scorned: Referenced by her when she and Connor capture Anders during Gaeta's mutiny.
Tarn
Specialist Tarn
Played By: Warren Christie
A deckhand serving under Tyrol.
- Ascended Extra: He and Seelix didn't have names in the script until Aaron Douglas gave them to them, which led to them receiving more characterization, especially Seelix.
- Mauve Shirt: He appears in the last two episodes of the first season before being killed off early on in Season 2.
- Multiple Gunshot Death: He's shot multiple times by a Centurion on New Kobol.
Matthias
Gunnery Sgt. Erin Matthias
Played By: Eileen Pedde
A high-ranking Marine.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: She randomly gets killed by a damaged Cylon Raider exploding. Starbuck later notes that her death was completely pointless; it wasn’t even a trap, it was just a stupid accident.
Battlestar Pegasus
In General
- The Battlestar: Naturally. It's even larger than the Galactica with more advanced technology and armaments. It has a smaller crew than the Galactica due to extensive computer networking (which Commander Adama does not allow on his ship).
- Blind Jump: They survived the attack on the Colonies this way. With the navigation system offline, Cain ordered them to activate the FTL drive and hope for the best to get away from the Cylons. Cain openly admits to Adama that it was an act of desperation.
- The Bridge: The bridge of the Pegasus is also buried inside the ship but it's also noticeably smaller than the Galactica bridge due to it needing a smaller crew in general.
- The Cavalry: Their arrival at the Colonial fleet in season two provides a much-needed (if short-lived) boost to supplies and morale. The Pegasus servies this function again during the evacuation of New Caprica, arriving at the battle just in time to save the Galatica from getting pummelled by the Cylons.
- Cool Starship: The Peagasus is much newer and larger than the Galactica. Its interior is much sleeker and more comfortable and it has several features that Galactica lacks such as double-sided landing bays and the ability to build new Vipers.
- Everything Is Online: Being a newer ship, Pegasus does have extensive networking for its main systems. Fortuntately most of them were offline for refitting when the Cylons attacked and hadn't yet been "upgraded" with the compromised security program.
- Kill Tally: The pilots aboard Pegasus mark the number of Cylons they've killed on the nose of their ships. Cain allows it as a way of building morale. Apollo and Starbuck find it tasteless and a sign of how brutal the Pegasus crew are.
- Mobile Factory: The Pegasus has the facilities to build new Viper ships on board, allowing it to replenish the fleet in a way the Galactica cannot do.
- Ramming Always Works: The Pegasus is ultimately destroyed when Apollo sets it to ram into a Cylon Basestar during the evacuation of New Caprica. It at least goes down taking out three Basestars in the process.
- Similar Squad: Many members of the crew are mirrors of their counterparts on Galactica, showing what they might have become if they'd followed a similar path of aggression against the Cylons instead of opting to pursue a new home instead.
- Trauma Conga Line: Not that the Galactica crew and civilian fleet have had it easy, but it's clear the Pegasus crew have paid a high price for their choice to fight back. They're near-universally much harder and more aggressive than the crew of the Galactica.
Admiral Cain
Rear Admiral Helena Cain
"Sometimes terrible things have to be done."
Played By: Michelle Forbes
Commanding the only other (known) battlestar to survive the massacre of the Twelve Colonies, Cain adopted a much more ruthless attitude towards survival than Adama or Roslin.
- Adaptational Villainy: Whereas her counterpart in the 1978 series tended to make questionable decisions but was ultimately a good person at heart, any redeeming qualities have long-since ceased to apply to this version.
- Ax-Crazy: When it comes to Cylons.
- Bad Boss: Knowing humanity is on its last legs, she'll do whatever she has to, including killing civilians or crew members that disagree with her.
- Butch Lesbian: In personality, but appearance-wise she's fairly feminine and conventionally attractive.
- The Chain of Command: As an Admiral she outranks Commander Adama meaning he has to defer to her orders when their ships reunite. Laura Roslin is visibly uncomfortable seeing Adama addressing someone else as "Sir".
- Defiant to the End: She curses her killer right before she's executed.
- Face Death with Dignity: When cornered by a rightfully vengeful Gina holding her at gunpoint, Helena simply faces her impending death with a Death Glare of hatred, never once crying or begging for her life.
- Evil Counterpart: She's one to Adama. Pegasus crossed paths with a civilian fleet too, but it's not with them anymore...
- Four-Star Badass: She's earned her title, no doubt.
- Freudian Excuse: She witnessed her younger sister and father being abducted by the Cylons in the last days of the First War, adding to her hatred of them.
- Gender Flip: In the 1978 series her character was played by Lloyd Bridges.
- General Ripper: To contrast Adama's A Father to His Men persona.
- Hanging Judge: She's obsessed with revenge. Anybody who doesn't toe the line or serve an immediately-valuable purpose gets a bullet through the head.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Some of the things done by her or on her orders are arguably more monstrous than things the Cylons have done.
- Hypocrite:
- Promises her officers that she will not seek revenge against the Cylons beyond the point of reason, or sacrifice lives needlessly. When push comes to shove she does exactly that, with absolutely zero conflict or hesitation.
- She also hates it whenever others abuse or over-exert their authority, but she does this multiple times and ignores that Thorne had done so as well when he attacked Athena in her cell without permission or supervision from the Galactica crew.
- For someone who places so much importance on unquestioning obedience to one's superiors, she has very little respect for Roslin's authority as Commander-in-chief.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Has no outward remorse over the awful things she's done.
- I Lied: Soon after finding Galactica, when Adama informs Roslin that Cain's actually above him in the chain of command, she promises to be a Reasonable Authority Figure and refrain from encroaching on his command of Galactica. She breaks this promise almost immediately - though Cain says she's actually saving Adama's command after learning about the numerous problems posed by his subordinates - by mixing their pilots and hanger crews (with Pegasus men in charge on both ships), and then leaps off the edge entirely by ordering the execution of two of his crew members who, in the process of saving their Cylon prisoner from being raped, accidentally killed the would-be-rapist, who was acting on her orders. Notably, she never admits to deceiving Adama, and insists she's being completely fair and just in her decisions even when everyone knows better.
- Insane Admiral: Not fully insane, just... a zealotical leader who's lost her reason and judgement. Michelle Forbes herself stated that she was aiming for this portrayal.
- It's All About Me: Implied, as she treats everyone around her like they are expendable in her mad pursuit of revenge against the Cylons. She throws away her soldiers' lives and the lives of civilians for petty vengeance and is okay with murdering anyone who doesn't obey her orders.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Oh so many...
- Ironically, most of the things she does have a point about are things she is even worse about.
- Iron Lady: She's the commander of the Pegasus military ship and is a harsh and stern figure with a backbone of titanium. She is also a deconstruction, as her cold ruthlessness and willingness to cross certain lines also ultimately prove to be her undoing, making her a widely disliked figure and leading to her death at the hands of someone who has every good reason to despise her.
- Karmic Death: Meets her end at the hands of the Cylon she ordered to be raped and extensively tortured, getting a bullet between the eyes, the same as she gave to her friend Colonel Belzen.
- Kick the Dog: Hardass that she is, her longtime friendship with her XO Colonel Belzen serves to humanize her. She is apparently close friends with his family as well. So when she shoots him in the head for disobeying her (senseless) orders, it establishes that most of the good left in her is gone.
- Knight Templar: Athena, a Cylon prisoner who has been cooperative and saved Galactica at one point, is just another Cylon to her.
- Name of Cain: The first tip-off she's not all sunshine and rainbows.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: See Name of Cain.
- Never My Fault: She's big on this. She executes her XO personally for "insubordination" (i.e.: for refusing an irrational order that contradicted Cain's earlier promise that she would not throw away lives seeking revenge).
- "Not So Different" Remark: Adama points out that he might have made the same decisions as Cain had Roslin, Lee, and the civilians not been there to keep him in check.
- Pet the Dog: Both she and Adama come to separate decisions to have each other assassinated. (Although in Cain's instance, she includes his entire command staff) Adama ultimately decides not to go through with it, which is in character for him. Cain also decides not to do it, which is pretty shocking. Her motives are left a mystery.
- Revenge Before Reason: She's not as interested in preserving humanity and finding Earth as much as she's fixated on getting payback on the Cylons. Civilians are basically left out to die if they aren't useful and Helena has little problem with killing anyone who doesn't follow her orders.
- Sanity Slippage: Her XO notes she's gone through this, becoming more ruthless and cruel.
- Smug Snake: She firmly believes she's right and will let anyone know.
- Statuesque Stunner: Comes with being played by 5'9" Michelle Forbes.
- Straight Gay: If it weren't for her relationship with Gina, you'd never know.
- Tragic Villain: It is rather sad what happened to this woman in her life.
- The Unfettered: Won't let anything stop her quest, not pesky morals or human lives.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She'll ensure humanity's survival at any cost, even if it means crossing all sorts of horrible lines.
- What You Are in the Dark: Is given the opportunity to terminate Adama and his entire command. She doesn't do it, and nobody in the series ever ends up learning about this, as both Cain and Fisk are dead not two episodes afterwards.
Hoshi
Lieutenant Louis Hoshi
Played By: Brad Dryborough
First appearing as a Pegasus CIC officer, Hoshi continues to serve in the background throughout the rest of the series, eventually being promoted to Admiral as the ranking officer left with the civilian fleet when Galactica jumps away to fight the show's Final Battle. Was revealed to be gay for Gaeta late in the series.
- Ascended Extra: Don't expect to remember his face in the show itself, but in the show's webisodes he was featured as Gaeta's love interest.
- Communications Officer: His initial role.
- Field Promotion: To Admiral in the Grand Finale when Adama and most of the senior crew are on the rescue mission.
- Straight Gay: As seems to be standard in the Colonies. We get no hint of his sexuality before the reveal of his relationship with Gaeta.
- Token Good Teammate: One of the few members of the Pegasus crew who isn't a Jerkass, which might be why he was chosen as interim Admiral in the finale.
Fisk
Colonel Jack Fisk
Played By: Graham Beckel
"Civilians wouldn't be civilians without bitching about something."
Admiral Cain's executive officer when Pegasus reunites with Galactica and the Fleet.
- Dirty Cop: It takes him all of five seconds to start working with Phelan.
- Dirty Coward: After Cain summarily executes Belzen for refusing to carry out an order that will likely get most of their fighter pilots killed, the hastily-promoted Fisk carries out said order with only minor hesitation. Somewhat justifiable, as Cain would otherwise have probably just executed her way through her bridge crew until she found someone willing to carry out her order, with the Cylons free to carry on shooting up the Pegasus in the meantime.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He gets killed by a random hitman at the beginning of "Black Market" in an area (his quarters) that should have been totally secure.
- Jerkass: An unpleasant, corrupt dick who refuses to take responsibility for his own actions.
- Just Following Orders: He takes no responsibility for the awful things the Pegasus' crew has done, though it's clear from his talk with Tigh that he's troubled by them nonetheless.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: Only in the sense that he's just corrupt and cowardly rather than bloodthirsty and insane (like Cain), or morally depraved (like Thorne).
- Pet the Dog: Saves Helo and Chief Tyrol from a beat down at the hands of some Pegasus crewmembers after the two of them inadvertently end up killing Lieutenant Thorne. He says he does it more for "the sake of the uniform" and that he still does not like them since Thorne apparently saved his life along with at least one other Pegasus crewmember.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Of sorts. See A Lighter Shade of Grey, above.
- Razor Floss: Phelan has him garroted for asking for too much money.
Kendra Shaw
Kendra Shaw
Played By: Stephanie Jacobsen
Originally a lieutenant and assigned to Pegasus as Cain's aide. She is eventually promoted to Major and serves as the ship's executive officer.
- The Atoner: No matter how she tries to rationalize it, she knows she's damned for executing Laird's wife.
- Break the Cutie: Some of it is self-inflicted, but still ...
- Evil Counterpart: Well, maybe not quite evil, but she's a counterpart to Starbuck.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Goes out blowing up an entire Cylon basestar with a nuclear bomb.
- Heroic BSoD: Immediately after shooting Mrs. Laird, she stares at the residual smoke drifting from her sidearm's muzzle. The look on her face, like she's praying that it's all just a bad dream but knows better, is gut-wrenching.
- New Meat: The Cylon attack kicked off within half an hour of her reporting to the Pegasus.
- Hero of Another Story: That story is depicted in Razor.
- Redemption Equals Death: She goes out blowing up an entire Cylon baseship.
- Remember the New Guy?: Razor establishes that she's been part of the Pegasus crew since the Fall of the Colonies, but since she was created for the telemovie there was no mention of her during the second season.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Cain implies that Shaw's late mother (a Quorum of Twelve member) pulled strings to get her a prestigious posting on the Pegasus, although it's unclear if this is true.
Thorne
Lieutenant Alastair Thorne
Played By: Fulvio Cecere
Appointed as "Cylon interrogator" after Gina Inviere is outed, he proves to be nothing more than a rapist and torturer.
- Asshole Victim: Played With. No one in the original Galactica crew remotely faults Tyrol and Helo for accidentally killing him, but the people on Pegasus are a different story, as some of them actively relished and participated in Thorne's gang-rape of the Cylon prisoner (and it was their own bragging that tipped off Helo and Tyrol to begin with). In fact, some of the Pegasus engineers keep bringing up his death as late as Gaeta's coup arc in Season 4, where they promise to avenge him.
- Bald of Evil: He’s bald, and an unrepentant Cylon rapist.
- Fantastic Racism: Cylons aren't people to him.
- Pet the Dog: Apparently saved Fisk and one other Pegasus crew member's lives, though this happened entirely offscreen.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: His job description apparently includes raping as a form of torture.
Garner
Commander Barry Garner
Played By: John Heard
Originally the chief engineer of the Pegasus, he was promoted to Commander after the deaths of Cain and Fisk.
- Closest Thing We Got: Admiral Adama's reasoning for the nomination: "I don't have anybody else".
- Heroic Sacrifice: He dies by suffocation in space vacuum after repairing a coolant leak in the FTL drive to save the Pegasus and allow the ship and her crew to escape a battle with the Cylons.
- Jerkass: According to Starbuck at least. She describes him as paranoid and barely competent, and butts heads with him all the time before being relieved. How right she is depends on the viewer, but Lee Adama points out that her own snarky attitude hasn't helped.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: That said, he is by no means a bad person, and eventually realizes his own failings and gives his life to save the ship and crew.
- The Paranoiac: He seems to believe that Adama and the Fleet leadership are trying to set him up, and in return does his best to make life hell for any former Galactica crew onboard.
- The Peter Principle: A tragic example. The man is a very good engineer who can repair an FTL drive in the middle of battle, but he is no starship commander. He himself seems to realize this once he orders the Pegasus into a trap, as he relinquishes command to Lee, who knows more about tactics and strategy than he does, and goes down to engineering to help there.Lee Adama: He was used to working with machines. Command is about people.
- Redemption Equals Death: After spending most of his time as commander being a paranoid Jerkass, he sacrifices himself to repair the FTL drive so the Pegasus can escape.
- Tragic Keepsake: His watch, left in CIC when he went below decks to the engine room to solve a critical breakdown in battle. Apollo keeps it and wears it afterwards as a reminder.
- Unexpected Successor: Originally the chief engineer of the Pegasus, it is suggested that he was the highest-ranking officer left on board after Cain, Belzen and Fisk's deaths.
Belzen
Colonel Jurgen Belzen
Played By: Steve Bacic
The executive officer of Pegasus at the time of the Cylon attack, and an old friend of Admiral Cain's.
- Blind Obedience: Makes clear to Cain that he'll avert this trope, with fatal consequences for him.
- Boom, Headshot!: Turns out Admiral Cain doesn't care for reasonable dissent or alternative options.
- Death by Origin Story: Fisk tries to pass it off to Tigh as a joke, but we see in Razor that he really wasn't kidding about that Noodle Incident.
- Nice Guy: A friendly and compassionate officer.
- Number Two: To Cain, until she shot him for refusing to follow orders.
- Only Sane Man: Tries to stop Admiral Cain from pointlessly sacrificing the lives of her crew and air wing when the Cylon communications relay they're attacking turns out to be a staging ground far more heavily defended than they anticipated. He failed to recognize that she wasn't suffering a Heroic BSoD, she had gone straight Ax-Crazy. See above for the result.
- Posthumous Character: Already dead by the time the Pegasus first appears, his only screentime is in flashbacks during Razor.
Laird
Peter Laird
Played By: Vincent Gale
A civilian pressed into service by Admiral Cain as the deck chief of the Pegasus, then serves the same role aboard Galactica on and off throughout the show.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was forced into serving on the Pegasus and his family was killed by Shaw when he and the other civilians on his original ship tried to resist it being cannibalized.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In spite of being one of the most prominent Pegasus crew members and surviving for longer than the other prominent Pegasus crew, he dies abruptly when Zarek bludgeons him over the head with a wrench during his attempted coup.
- Mauve Shirt: Laird pops up repeatedly throughout the series, and manages to outlive most of the other prominent Pegasus characters in spite of being a more minor character than they were.
- Mildly Military: At least during his first appearances, having trouble running Galactica's flight deck and lacking military protocol and language (such as assuring Adama Galactica's air wing will be ready for "the attack thing"). Justified by his civilian background, and he gives a more professional bearing in later seasons.
- Nice Guy: In contrast to other senior staff from Pegasus he is polite and helpful to Galactica's crew, if somewhat haunted by his tragic backstory.
- Press-Ganged: He was a civilian aeronautical engineer before being forced into service as the Pegasus Crew Chief.
