Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)/Characters

Humans

Commander Adama (Lorne Greene)

Leader of "The Fleet". A veteran, a father and a grandfather. The one thing he hates other than the Cylons is politicians. He has set out on a quest to find the lost "Thirteenth Tribe" in the hopes that the two groups can fight back against the Cylons.

• A Father to His Men
• Being Good Sucks: When he has to deal with the Council of Twelve.
• Commanding Coolness
• The Men First
• I Minored in Tropology: During the Count Iblis story, we learn that Adama had studied Telekinesis when he was attending military academy; he invokes 90% of Your Brain, and reminisces to Apollo about how his wife made him promise to stop bending spoons with his mind. This gets used as a possible excuse to Do In The Wizardry of Count Iblis' miracles.
• The Messiah
• The Patriarch
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Papa Wolf: He's a nice guy, but don't get him mad...
• So Proud of You: Adama says this to his son a lot. Way more often than the new Adama, that's for sure.

Colonel Tigh (Terry Carter)

Adama's bridge assistant. Serious to a fault and completely hopeless when it comes to trying to relax and be one of the guys.

• Bavarian Fire Drill: Pulls one on Apollo and the rest of his squadron when he needs to keep them out of the loop on a Batman Gambit.
• Black Best Friend: to Adama
• Da Chief
• Straight Man: And how!
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Of course everyone knows his bark is worse than his bite.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Not so much plucky but, he's gotten in and out of hairy situations through comedic means.

Tigh: When Adam sees these (uniforms) he's gonna go crazy!

Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch)

Apollo is the leader of Blue Squadron. A no-nonsense kind of guy who doesn't take no for an answer. Kind and helpful to his friends and family.

• Cartwright Curse: played straight with Serina; later averted with Sheba.
• The Philosopher: Instead of being a fighter pilot, Apollo would much rather chart the stars.
• The Stoic
• The Good Captain: Hello! Captain Apollo!
• Humble Hero
• Freudian Trio: with Starbuck and Boomer; the Superego of the group, and the most moral (and moralizing.)

Lt. Starbuck (Dirk Benedict)

There's really only one word to describe Lt. Starbuck... trouble. Name the scam or scheme and chances are Starbuck has tried it, or he'll get around to it. Good at heart and an exellent pilot. Unfortunately he's also a classic con-man - most likely he gets it from his old man, Chameleon.

• A Day in the Limelight: Many. Sometimes it feels like Starbuck is the real lead of the show.
• Amusing Injuries: Suffers one when Athena catches him on the surveillance cameras making out with another woman and vents steam from the catapults on him.
• Love Triangle
• The Cynic: Starbuck can be very cynical.
• Number Two
• Only Sane Man: He thinks he's this, and yet his plans and schemes are some of the most wacky of all.
• Freudian Trio: with Apollo and Boomer; the Id of the group, and the most emotional and desire driven.

Lt. Boomer (Herb Jefferson, Jr.)

Ace pilot. Smart enough to stay away from Starbuck during his "Get Rich Quick" schemes. Whenever Starbuck and Apollo are both missing in action, Adama counts on him to command Blue Squadron.

• Black Best Friend
• Black Guy Dies First: Averted. Boomer is the only member of the trio who makes it to Earth.
  • But that dosen't exist so...
• Deadpan Snarker
• Captain Obvious: Boomer loves stating the obvious, sometimes...
• Freudian Trio: with Apollo and Starbuck; the Ego of the group, tries to balance out the other two.

Lt. Athena (Maren Jensen)

If she were any more hot tempered she'd be a redhead. Athena has feelings for Starbuck and he has feelings for her... and Cassiopeia... and Aurora... and Merium. Sometimes she just wants to hit him on the head, and she may very well have.

• Action Girl
• Bridge Bunny
• Communications Officer
• Demoted to Extra
• Love Triangle: with Starbuck and Cassiopeia
• Romantic Runner-Up: At least we think so...
• Woman Scorned: Once caught Starbuck making out with another woman in the Viper launch bay. She vents steam from the catapults on him.

Cassiopeia (Laurette Spang)

Originaly a... Socialator^[1] by trade. Cassiopeia decided to make a more helpful contribution to the fleet by becoming a nurse. Unlike Athena, she seems to find Starbuck's bad habits more charming than annoying.

• Action Girl: She once guarded a downed teammate all by herself.
• Ascended Extra
• Executive Meddling: Cassiopeia's change in profession was mandated by ABC's Standards and Practices department when a script change allowed her to survive the pilot movie (she was originally supposed to be eaten by aliens).
• Hospital Hottie
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold
• Love Triangle

Lt. Sheba (Anne Lockhart)

Daughter of the Legendary Commander Cain (NOT the female one). She's just as stubborn as he is.

• Ace Pilot
• Action Girl
• Daddy's Girl
• Wangst: Some think she's got way to much angst for one character. Of course she's not NEARLY as bad as the characters form the reboot series.

Boxey (Noah Hathaway) and Muffit (Evie the Chimp)

Apollo's adoptive son. Boxey is a bright and outspoken boy who loves adventure. Boxey lost his beloved daggit/dog Muffit when the colonies where destroyed. So Muffit II was created to take his place. Now the pair are almost always together. Both Boxey and Muffit have used their unique talents to save lives many times.

• Kid Sidekick: Boxey.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Muffit the Robo Dog.
• The Scrappy
• Sidekick Ex Machina: Again, Muffit.
• A Boy and His X: A boy and his robot dog.

Commander Cain (Lloyd Bridges)

Sheba's Father. Commander of the battlestar Pegasus. Appears in only one episode ("The Living Legend"), but is to hammy to pass up.

• Blood Knight
• Four-Star Badass
• Large Ham
• Recycled in Space: he is Patton Recycled in Space
• You Shall Not Pass: He throws the Pegasus at two cylon basestars to protect the fleet. After which his ship disappears. It is speculated that he is to much of a Badass to be destroyed.

Serina (Jane Seymour)

Mother of Boxey. Appears in only the Pilot and the two-part episode "Lost Planet of the Gods", but an important character nonetheless.

• Action Mom: learns how to fly a Viper when the regular pilots fall ill.
• Fourth Date Marriage to Apollo.
• Intrepid Reporter: she was reporting on the peace celebrations when the Cylons attacked.
• Killed Off for Real
• Romantic Interest: to Apollo, whom she later marries.

Cylons

Baltar (John Colicos)

Baltar is not a Cylon - he's the man who sold humanity out to the Cylons. A chronic liar and coward, he loves to think of himself as superior to everyone else. He thinks he's using the Cylons when they're the ones using him. Of course none of that matters becuase he could never do the one thing they wanted him to do - destroy the Galactica.

• Karmic Death: Averted. Originally he was supposed to be killed by his new "allies" but the audience liked him so much the big wigs gave him a break.
• Dirty Coward: Boy is he ever!
• Big Bad
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
• Devil in Plain Sight
• Classic Villain: With "Evil Lighting" and everything.
• Faux Affably Evil

Lucifer (voiced by Jonathan Harris)

The smartest Cylon in the whole universe. He has the brains, the style, and most importantly, he's modest. His only handicap? Having to work under Baltar. Despite this handicap Lucifer seems to enjoy his banter with Balter, or perhaps he just like watching him sweat when things get hairy. Lucifer is probably the funniest and most likable villian anywhere.

• Affably Evil: Instead of hating him for being a member of the evil race of robots, you'll spend most of your time laughing at his razor sharp wit.
• A Father to His Men: Sort of. In The Gun On Ice Planet Zero he objects to Baltar's intention to use the ship's pilots as reserves.
• Beware the Silly Ones
• Deceptive Disciple: He seems to be this at first. But when Baltar gets the idea to surrender to the Galactica he sounds genuinely concerned for the man's safety.
• Even Evil Has Standards
• Likable Villain: It's funny really. Lucifer isn't likable becuase he does good things or isn't as bad as he says. It's becuase he's so good at calling Baltar out on his hammy nature. That's probably why we love him so much.

Cylon Centurions

• Color Coded for Your Convenience: Higher-ranked Gold Centurions.
• Deadpan Snarker: at least the one in the Imperious Leader's personal guard was.
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Hive Mind: Averted in the pilot - a centurion realizes that the "green and purple squadrons" are a ruse, and gives the order to open fire on Starbuck and Apollo. Also, see Deadpan Snarker above.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: definitely on the shiny side.

1. ↑ Prostitute Geisha