"Scattered" is the first episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 15, 2005.
In the episode, Commander William Adama is in critical condition following his shooting in the cliffhanger ending of the first season. Galactica is separated from the fleet during a Cylon attack, and Colonel Saul Tigh, now in command, must reunite them. He does this by ordering the ship's computers networked in defiance of Adama's standing orders. Cylon Centurions board Galactica. On Kobol, Cylons kill one of the survivors of the Raptor crash.
The episode received favorable critical reception.
Tigh interrogates Boomer in the brig. Boomer, horrified at her own betrayal, urges him to kill her, but he refuses. A medic is forced to operate on Adama in Dr. Cottle's absence. In a sequence of flashbacks, Tigh recalls how Adama got Tigh back into the Colonial Fleet following the First Cylon War.[1]
In order to find the fleet, Tigh has Galactica jump back to orbit around Kobol with the ship's computers networked together (something Adama would have vehemently opposed because of the dangers of Cylon hacking) to calculate the jump coordinates before the Cylons can destroy Galactica. He also paroles Apollo, still in the brig for his attempted mutiny, so that he can command the Vipers in the coming battle. As the battle rages, the Cylons attempt to hack Galactica's network, but Lieutenant Gaeta's five stage software firewall appears to hold, with the fifth stage not breaching until the same moment he disengages the network. A Cylon Heavy Raider crashes into Galactica shortly before Galactica jumps and meets the fleet. A group of Cylon Centurions emerges from the Heavy Raider.
On Kobol, Crashdown orders the survivors to take cover in a nearby forest. In an attempt to recover medical supplies that they left behind, he has Tarn, Chief Tyrol and Cally retrieve them, but Cylons kill Tarn before they get back.
In his podcast commentary on "Scattered", executive producer Ronald D. Moore discussed his views of what the episode's events reveal about several of the characters.
Tigh's success leading Galactica back to the fleet in "Scattered" and dealing with the Centurion threat in the following episode, "Valley of Darkness", validates Adama's faith in him. After the military crises passes, Tigh's leadership is hampered by his lack of political skill, his alcoholism and Ellen Tigh's manipulation.[1][2]
The writers created Crashdown in the first season to replace Helo as Galactica-Boomer's electronic countermeasures officer. He was conceived as a jokester and he demonstrates in this episode that he may not have the skills necessary to lead an infantry unit.[1]
During the space battle, the Marine guarding Laura Roslin's cell asks to pray with her and calls her a prophet of the gods. According to Moore, this marks the beginning of some people in the fleet viewing Roslin as a religious figure and Roslin's reluctant embrace of that role.[1]
The scenes between Roslin and Apollo in the brig are tense because of Apollo's disappointment that Roslin failed to back him up when he defied the coup in "Kobol's Last Gleaming".[1] Apollo expresses this disappointment in a scene deleted from "The Farm".[3]
The second-season premiere was initially going to be set in the distant past, leaving unaddressed the cliffhanger that ended the previous season. "Scattered" would have been the second season's second episode[1] and would have included the action on Kobol and Caprica shown in "Valley of Darkness".[4] After this idea was abandoned, the writers considered opening the episode with the deleted flashback in which Adama and Tigh first met. Several flashbacks providing background on Adama and Tigh's relationship were filmed, but the production team felt that the flashbacks fit poorly into the series's tone. Also, they did not want to recast younger actors to play Adama and Tigh but were unsatisfied by the efforts to make actors Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan appear decades younger. The final version has fewer, shorter flashbacks intended to focus mostly on Tigh's character.[1] Several of the abandoned flashbacks are included as deleted scenes on the DVD.[5] The flashback in which military police find a drunken Tigh in his hotel room and tell him Adama has gotten him reinstated is an homage to the film Apocalypse Now.[1]
"Scattered" was the first episode of Battlestar Galactica broadcast in North America that used music over the main credits that had previously been used only in the UK broadcasts. According to Moore, everyone involved in the show preferred the UK version. "Scattered" omits the montage of upcoming scenes that followed the credits in first-season episodes, both because of time considerations and in response to criticism of the montages.[1]
The idea of Galactica and the fleet being separated after a jump was one of the original log lines Moore submitted to the Sci Fi network before the networked picked up Battlestar Galactica.[1]
Several shots of Tigh walking the corridors of Galactica appearing in "Scattered" were actually filmed for the second season's fourth episode, "Resistance". The production team needed the shots in "Scattered" to intercut with one of Tigh's flashbacks. Several shots in the space battle scene appeared first in the miniseries.[5]
The dialogue among Tyrol, Cally, and Tarn before they are ambushed by Cylons was improvised by the actors. Moore saw Tarn's death as commentary of the ugliness of war.[1] Asked in a December 2005 interview what was the most difficult scene in the series to shoot, actor Aaron Douglas (Tyrol) said, "The scenes where someone dies in the Chief's arms are difficult to do because they take a really long time to shoot and you are constantly in a state of loss and sadness. They are very draining."[6]
Reception
"Scattered" was reviewed favorably by critics. Robert Bianco of USA Today gave "Scattered" three and a half stars out of four.[7] Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity gave the episode an A, finding the jumping dilemma contrived but saying the space battle "look[ed] fantastic."[8] Kevin McDonough of the Intelligencer Journal praised the episode's incorporation of scenes from multiple genres, including "a hospital operating-room drama, terrestrial combat action, political intrigue and your standard space dogfight conducted at warp speed."[9] Jason Davis of Mania gave it a B+, praising Hogan's acting and the flashbacks.[10] Simon Brew of Den of Geek appreciated the visual device used to show the Cylons trying to penetrate Gaeta's firewall.[11]
Eric Goldman of IGN ranked Tigh taking command in "Scattered" and the following three episodes at #11 on his list of the top 20 storylines and moments in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.[12]
Connections to other series elements
The crew of Galactica discover and battle the intruding Cylon Centurions in the following episode, "Valley of Darkness".[13]
Also in "Valley of Darkness", the medical supplies arrive too late, and Socinus dies.[13]
In the episode "Flight of the Phoenix", it is revealed that a Cylon virus penetrated Galactica's computers despite Gaeta's firewall.[14]
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series produced and aired by the SyFy cable network. He is one of the main characters in the series, and is portrayed by Edward James Olmos. The character is a reimagining of Commander Adama from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series, originally played by Lorne Greene.
Leland Joseph "Lee" Adama is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber, and is one of the main characters in the series. His first appearance was in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries.
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.
Ellen Tigh is a fictional character from the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot series, portrayed by Kate Vernon from 2004 to 2009. She is the manipulative wife of series regular Colonel Saul Tigh during the first three seasons of the series. In season four, she is revealed to be the last of the Final Five Cylons, synthetic humanoid machines who are the precursors to the Cylon antagonists who oppose the human race throughout much of the series.
"Litmus" is the sixth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. In the episode, an investigation into a Cylon infiltration comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol and the Galactica copy of Boomer in order to weed out other sleeper agents.
"The Hand of God" is the tenth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It shares its title with the last episode of the original series.
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" is the two-part first-season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
"Valley of Darkness" is the second episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 22, 2005.
"Fragged" is the third episode of the second season of the Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 29, 2005. It is the first episode in which Starbuck does not appear.
"Resistance" is the fourth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 5, 2005.
"The Farm" is the fifth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 12, 2005. It is the first episode of the series in which the plot is set on Caprica.
"Home" is a two-part episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 19, 2005, and Part 2 aired on August 26, 2005.
"Lay Down Your Burdens" is the two-part second-season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on March 3, 2006; Part 2 aired on March 10, 2006, as a 90-minute special.
"Precipice" is the second part of the third season premiere and 35th episode of the re-imagined American science fiction drama television series Battlestar Galactica. The episode was written by re-imagined creator Ronald D. Moore, and directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. It first aired on October 6, 2006 on the Sci-Fi Channel along with the preceding episode "Occupation". In "Precipice", the Cylons respond to the suicide attack in the previous episode by rounding up over 200 civilians believed to be affiliated with the resistance, and later decide to have them executed. Meanwhile, Galactica is to send a squadron to meet with the resistance on New Caprica. Unlike most episodes, it does not include a survivor count.
The music of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica is a body of work largely credited to the composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs. The music of Battlestar Galactica displays a variety of ethnic influences and generally does not conform to the "orchestral" style of many science fiction scores.
"Crossroads" are the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season and season finale from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. Neither episode begins with a survivor count.
"No Exit" is the fifteenth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. It aired on television in the United States and Canada on February 13, 2009. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,556. This episode contains the first use of the term "The Colony."
The first season of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, was commissioned by Sci Fi in February 2004. The first episode, "33", was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004, on Sky1, three months before its premiere in the United States on January 14, 2005 on Sci Fi. Sky1 had negotiated first-broadcast rights of season 1 as part of its financial backing terms. The first episode of the series received a Hugo Award and the season's 13 episodes were recognized with a Peabody Award "for pushing the limits of science fiction and making it accessible to all."
"Daybreak" is the three-part series finale of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, and are the 74th and 75th episodes overall. The episodes aired on the U.S. Sci Fi Channel and SPACE in Canada respectively on March 13 and March 20, 2009. The second part is double-length. The episodes were written by Ronald D. Moore, and directed by Michael Rymer. The Season 4.5 DVD and Blu-ray releases for Region 1 feature an extended version of the finale, which not only combines all three parts as a single episode, but also integrates it with new scenes not seen in the aired versions of either part. The survivor count shown in the title sequence for Part 1 is 39,516. The survivor count shown in the title sequence for Part 2 is 39,406. At the end of Part 2, Admiral Adama announces the survivor population at approximately 38,000.
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