Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Karl Agathon

Captain Karl C. "Helo" Agathon
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Actor	Tahmoh Penikett
First Appearance	Miniseries
Last Appearance	4x20 - Daybreak, Part 2
Series Billing	Secondary Billed
Episode Count	66
Notable Episodes	Miniseries 1x01 - 33 1x13 - Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II

Basic Information

Captain Karl C. "Helo" Agathon served as a Raptor ECO on the Galactica until the New Caprica settlement, at which point he became the Galactica's executive officer. He is married to a Cylon model Number Eight, Sharon "Athena" Agathon ("Caprica Boomer"), and they have a Cylon-Human hybrid child named Hera.

Character History

Helo was the ECO of Cylon agent Sharon "Boomer" Valerii. He became stranded on Caprica after giving up his seat to allow Dr. Baltar to escape the planet.

During the long stay on Cylon-occupied Caprica, he became romantically involved with a second Eight unit – whom he believed to be Boomer come back to rescue him – and he became the father of a Cylon-Human hybrid child as a result. Upon learning of her true identity as a Cylon, Helo reacted very negatively (including shooting Boomer in the shoulder), but eventually came to love her again.

When he rejoined the Galactica, his involvement with a Cylon was deeply resented by much of the crew, and he was ostracized until his instrumental aid in the construction of the Blackbird regained him some respect from fellow pilots and crewmembers. Due to the complicated three-way situation between him, Boomer and Chief Tyrol – who was romantically involved with the now deceased Galactica version of Boomer – the relations between Helo and the Chief were strained to say the least. However, the two of them acted together instinctively in saving Boomer from being raped by Lieutenant Thorne of the Pegasus, hinting on a weird companionship between them. Helo and Chief Tyrol were held prisoner aboard Pegasus and sentenced to be executed by Admiral Cain, although Commander William Adama managed to obtain a temporary stay of execution until after the attack on the Resurrection Ship fleet. After Cain's death at the cylon Gina's hands, Helo and Tyrol were released and allowed to return to Galactica.

Helo later became the executive officer of the Battlestar Galactica after the majority of the ship's crew moved to New Caprica, and has kept the position since the crew's return after the evacuation because of Colonel Saul Tigh's inability to reclaim his post. He is married to Caprica-Sharon.

Trivia

• According to the caption in Agathon's interview with D'Anna Biers in the episode Final Cut, he is Colonial Fleet, not Fleet Reserve.
• Helo was actually originally supposed to have died when Boomer left him behind on Caprica in the Mini-series. However, the producers were impressed with Penikett's performance and fans kept asking if Helo somehow survived, so executive-producer Ron D. Moore "resurrected" him for the first regular episode, "33", which showed him still alive 6 days later, on the run from Cylon Centurions. The entire story arc involving Helo and Caprica-Sharon was thus not originally planned when the Mini-series aired.