Battlestar Galactica (2003)/33

33
Season 1, Episode 1
Airdate	• October 18, 2004 (UK) • January 14, 2005 (USA)
Written by	Ronald D. Moore
Directed by	Michael Rymer
Fleet Survivors	47,973
← Miniseries Miniseries	1x02 → Water
Battlestar Galactica (2003) — Season One

33 is the first episode of the first season of Battlestar Galactica.

Edward James Olmos (Commander William Adama), Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace), Jamie Bamber (Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii)

Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Kandyse McClure (PO Dualla), Paul Campbell (Billy Keikeya), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Sam Witwer (Crashdown)

Cast: Alonso Oyarzun (Socinus), Nicki Clyne (Cally)

Uncredited: Leo Chiang (Tattooed pilot)

Plot Summary

With the fleet already on the run from the Cylons, tensions are strained to the breaking point when the Cylons begin chasing the Fleet from jump point to jump point, arriving exactly every 33 minutes. This episode takes up where the miniseries left off. Meanwhile, on Caprica, Helo deals with the aftermath of having chosen to stay behind on the Cylon-occupied world.

Notes

• The Cylons show up every 33 minutes.

• As of the beginning of the episode, the fleet is on its 237 cycle jumping from the Cylons.

• After the loss of the Olympic Carrier, the survivor count drops to 47,972

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Roslin has a whiteboard she uses to keep tally of the number of survivors in the fleet.

• Rumours have begun spreading that Cylons look human.

• One of the corridors has been made into a makeshift memorial for all those killed in the Cylon attacks.

Characters

• In addition to seeing Number Six, Baltar also pictures himself with her on his home in Caprica.

• Boomer is now paired with Crashdown.

• Dee is Sagittaron.

• Number Six asks Baltar about having children, saying that it's one of God's commandments and that she wants they to have a child.

• A Dr Amarak claims to have evidence on how the Cylons accessed the defence mainframe and of a traitor in their midst. He is killed either before or during the shooting down of the Olympic Carrier.

• Helo is still alive on Caprica and being chased by Cylons. He is soon captured by a Number Six, although he doesn't seem to understand her connection to the Cylons. She is shot by Boomer and rescues him as another Six and Centurion watch.

Trivia

The Show

• Was nominated for and won a 2005 Hugo Award for Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

• There are 60 ships in the fleet.

• Olympic Carrier supposedly had 1,345 survivors aboard.

• 5,251 survivors are from the Sagitarron colony.

• The episode starts with 50,298 survivors. Billy tells the President that this is inaccurate by 300, reducing the number to 49,998 survivors. When the Olympic Carrier is destroyed with 1,345 people aboard, he reduces the total to 47,972, a loss of 2,026: 681 more than were supposed to be on the ship. The survivor count continues to drop from 47,973 (including the baby) over the next two seasons.

Behind the Scenes

• To help add realism to the depiction of sleep deprivation, Olmos enlisted the assistance of an expert in the field. Additionally, many of the cast restricted their sleeping patterns to get a better understanding of sleep deprivation. In fact, Katee Sackhoff, during a late-night shoot, fell asleep in Thrace's Viper waiting for a shot to be set up.

• When Adama reads the report Dee hands him Olmos ad-libbed a line about ten suicides. Despite everyone liking it, it was cut because the network feared it made an already dark episode too dark.

• It was originally intended that there would confirmation that there was still people on the Olympic Carrier, but it was ultimately decided to leave it ambiguous.

Memorable Moments

• Birth of the first baby born after the fall of the Colonies.

Goofs

• Even though this episode takes place just days after the events of the miniseries, Kara's hair, particularly in the back, has noticeably grown.

• After counting the Olympic Carrier as lost, Dualla's headset switches sides throughout the scene.

• When counting down after the 238rd jump, the timer in the CIC reads 10 seconds left. It cuts to Adama and Tigh and then pans back to the timer that reads 7 seconds left even though at least twice as many seconds have passed.

• When pleading with Roslin to cut off communication to the Olympic Carrier, he refers to it as a "radio" rather than the show's term "wireless".

• Kevin Grazier's last name is misspelled in the closing credits without the 'i'.

Quotes

• Number Six: Do you want children, Gaius?

Baltar: Hmm. Let me think about it for a minute... No.

Number Six: Procreation is one of God's commandments.

Baltar: Really? Well, I'm sure some day if you're a good Cylon he'll reward you with a lovely little walking toaster of your very own.

• Adama: Is this my ten minutes or is this yours?

Tigh: Yours. I took ten last time.

Adama: All right, I'll see you guys in combat.

Dualla: I believe it was your ten minutes, sir.

Tigh: If the old man’s so tired he can’t remember then it’s his turn.

• Kara: You're the CAG. Act like one.

Lee: What the hell does that mean?

Kara: It means that you're still acting like you're everyone's best friend. We're not friends; you're the CAG.

• Tigh: You're telling me we left over 1,300 people to die at the hands of the Cylons?

Gaeta: It may not have been her fault, sir. It may have simply been a navigational error and they jumped to the wrong coordinates, or the Cylons may have destroyed the ship before they jumped--

Tigh: Fifty other things may have happened. The point is, we don't know what the hell did happen! (to the crew) Yes, we're tired. Yes, there's no relief. Yes, the Cylons keep coming after us time after time after time. And yes, we are still expected to do our jobs!

Adama: We make mistakes, people die. There aren't many of us left.

• Tigh: You know, the truth is, all this has me feeling, well, more alive than I have in years.

Adama: You look that way too. It’s good to see you without the cup in your hand.

Tigh: Aw, don’t start.

Adama: I know there’s a whole lot of people on this ship that wish you weren’t feeling as good.

Tigh: If the crew doesn’t hate the XO, then he’s not doing his job. Besides, I gotta make the old man look good.

Adama: I always look good.

Tigh: You look in the mirror?