quote:Omega: Didn't seem like my impression since Bulldog asked "How did you end up on this bucket?" while looking unfamiliar with the Galactica rather than "back on this bucket."
I think there's a glimpse of his service record at the start of the episode and I'm pretty sure I spotted Galactica near the top of the list, before his mustered out after the armastise. Bulldog may have just been unaware that Adama served on Galactica during the war, which is plausable since the dude isn't old enough to have served back then (if he was alive at all.) I think it also had Adama as XO of the Colombia.
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The good people of the Battlestar Wiki transcribed what was seen on screen in this article - Adama's service record includes the following:
* D6/21311 - First commission: Battlestar Galactica fighter squadron * E4/21312 - Commendation for shooting down Cylon fighter in first combat mission * D5/21314 - Mustered out of service post-armistice * R6/21317 - Served as Deck Hand in merchant fleet and as common [...] aboard inter-colony tramp freighters * D1/21331 - Recommissioned to Fleet * D6/21337 - Major: Battlestar Atlantia * R8/21341 - Executive Officer: Battlestar Columbia * C2/21345 - Commander: Battlestar Valkyrie * C2/21348 - Commander: Battlestar Galactica
So it seems that Adama was in Galactica's fighter group and, depending on how long he served aboard her, might even have risen up to CAG. That could explain why he is so fond of his ship, but I did always get the impression up to now that Adama went way back as Galactica's commander.
The point made about Adama's feelings regarding wireless networks is an excellent one - the Valkyrie looked like a newer model battlestar, and from the flashback scenes I think it's DRADIS display looked more like that of the Pegasus than the Galactica, which would imply newer technology (or at the very least, newer software). Presumably, it had a network installed much like most other pre-attack battlestars, so where did the strong anti-network feelings come from in the miniseries? Unless the Valkyrie's last mission spooked Adama so badly that his attitude in the miniseries was a recently developed thing...
Of course, the whole thing is made a little more harder to reconcile with the story because when you think about it, it might have made more sense to send a ship like the Galactica on such a mission: especially if there was a chance there could be contact with an enemy that could so easily take control of networked computer systems, so there was no need to include the Valkyrie at all! If the Cylons had detected the Galactica it would have given the colonials some plausible deniability - they could explain it along the lines of "Sorry, it's an old ship with faulty navigation systems, it jumped close to the armistice line by mistake" while at the same time putting a heavily armed, FTL capable ship close enough to the line to launch the stealth ship.
I'm actually surprised at this sort of thing happening on BSG, which up to now has presented its characters in a solid, consistent way with good backstories. This feels like tinkering, and opens up a whole load of questions about Adama that place some of his actions and motivations over the past two seasons in a new light...which is something I thought BSG would avoid. Don't get me wrong it's a great show, I enjoy it a lot and I'm not saying I'm against the idea of characters being developed and shown in different ways to challenge our perception of them as viewers, but in this one case it just feels a bit like the oft-used Trek device of "tweaking" someone's established backstory or some element of continuity for the sake of one episode.
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I have to agree with most of the sentiment here - good story, just doesn't quite fit. Rather than go over those points again, I've got a few other points that I noticed.
The StealthStar was anything but stealthy. It seems the Cylons were able to track it just fine. That might also explain why we don't see any of those later, on Pegasus especially. I was also suprised that the Cylons didn't shut down its computer (assuming that first ship was a Cylon, of course).
Lee's questioning looks at the end made it seem like he accepted his father's explanation for the Cylon attack. I'm a bit suprised at that. A person can easily blame themselves for something, but it ususally takes a bit more evidence for everyone else to see it that way. I'm with Roslin on this - there's no way a rational person can believe that Bill provoked the Cylons himself.
I can understand that Starbuck no longer has a problem with Tigh, but why did she bring her evidence to him? That seemed a bit out of character and certainly out of the chain of command. Unless I'm mistaken, I was under the impression that Tigh was taking a break from service until he figured things out. Starbuck should have gone to Adama or at least the CAG.
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The dating system is interesting. I wonder what happened 21,300 years ago? I couldn't be the Exodus from Kobol as that was "only" a few millenia ago (I think). It may lend credence to the "humanity originated from earth" theory as 20,000 years ago from today(ish), homo-sapiens had superceeded the Neanderthals and were gaining a serious foothold on the planet.
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That timeline posted isn't consistent. If Adama was commanding Valkyrie three years prior, that places this episode in 21351 at the latest, giving only forty years since his first commission.
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quote:Originally posted by FawnDoo: The good people of the Battlestar Wiki transcribed what was seen on screen in this article - Adama's service record includes the following:
Hehe, I'm one of those good people. I'm not sure how much weight we should put in this service history, though. It was only shown very briefly, and a lot of pausing and rewinding was involved to actually figure out what it said.
The actual dialogue in the episode is more of a problem, though. I'd always assumed that Adama had chosen the Galactica and had demanded that it be stripped of computer networking. And come to think of it, that might've made a lot more sense if the stealth ship's computer had been taken over by the Cylons. Being a black ops mission, Adama would have had an inkling of what the Cylons were capable of, and would have had the foresight to get rid of the networks, while the rest of the fleet would've been in the dark. Bit of a wasted opportunity there.
quote:That timeline posted isn't consistent. If Adama was commanding Valkyrie three years prior, that places this episode in 21351 at the latest, giving only forty years since his first commission.
Is it possible he was a non-com for ten years from '01 to '11? (It was 50 years long service, right?) Is it totally unheard of for a Naval Captain* to work his way up the ranks from a crewman?
*I presume that's the Earth equivilant to the Colonial Commander, or is it Fleet Captains for carriers?
As for the computers, it's possibile that Galactica was never fitted with the newer computer systems because it was due for decommissioning and it simply wasn't worth it. The systems that Adama was arguing about in the Mini-series were to do with the ship being turned into an museum/educational facility and the computers were for the benefit of the teachers & students.
quote: Is it totally unheard of for a Naval Captain* to work his way up the ranks from a crewman?
I'm fairly sure there have been at least a couple of instances of this. Particularly in times of war, with high casualties, promotion would be rapid and particular emphasis would be given to identifying potential leaders in the ranks.
For that matter I know at two of my relatives worked their way up from enlisted personnel to Squadron Leader (RN: Lt. Cdr/Colonial: Major) in peacetime.
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Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I wanted to say Nelson started as a crewman, but I'm pretty sure that if he was, he'd have been pushed right into being a midshipsman for officer training, being a toff and all.
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Nelson did start as an ordinary seaman, but on a ship captained by his uncle so he hit the officer track pretty fast - especially when his uncle went on to become comptroller of the navy. Of course his uncle had the fantastic name of "Captain Suckling" so he had his own crosses to bear, but he was able to help Horatio on a bit.
Come to that, by way of an interesting similarity between the two and a deft switch from one admiral to another, didn't Adama's wife have some good connections in the colonial fleet hierarchy? I seem to recall in the flashback scenes in "Scattered" that he made some mention of her being able to get him back into the fleet after he was booted out post-armistice.
As for Adama's timeline not being consistent, it is possible that the 45 years service medal he received was for his time in the colonial fleet, period - including the time spent at the colonial equivalent of Starfleet Academy. Or is it normal practice for these things to refer back to dates of commission as an officer?
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OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
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It almost certainly wouldn't include his stint at the Colonial Academy. Presuming the model to our military holds, you wouldn't be considered an officer until you have graduated and are commissioned as one.
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posted
But surely service as a non-com would still count as service, correct?
Regarding the timeline; wasn't there a flashback in the 1st season showing the events immediately after Zak Adama's funeral? If memory serves it was 2 years prior to the Cylon attack and I'm reasonably certain Adama was Commander of Galactica at that point. So if that was 2 years before "zero day" and 'Hero' takes place 2 years after (about a year when you take the 6-8 mounths in seasons 1 & 2, plus the year on New Caprica before the Cylons arrived and the several months that they were there for.) Then that means Bulldog's mission (3 years ago) was one year after Zak died, which again, if I remeber correctly, is when Adama was on Galactica.
Not the end of the world, but it makes the whole story seam all the more "tacked on" and out of place.
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I'm not sure how much weight we should put in this service history, though. It was only shown very briefly, and a lot of pausing and rewinding was involved to actually figure out what it said. 
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