For the Adherent of Pop Culture
Adventures of Jack Burton ] Back to the Future ] Battlestar Galactica ] Buckaroo Banzai ] Cliffhangers! ] Earth 2 ] The Expendables ] Firefly/Serenity ] The Fly ] Galaxy Quest ] Indiana Jones ] Jurassic Park ] Land of the Lost ] Lost in Space ] The Matrix ] The Mummy/The Scorpion King ] The Prisoner ] Sapphire & Steel ] Snake Plissken Chronicles ] Star Trek ] Terminator ] The Thing ] Total Recall ] Tron ] Twin Peaks ] UFO ] V the series ] Valley of the Dinosaurs ] Waterworld ] PopApostle Home ] Links ] Privacy ]

Episode Studies by Clayton Barr
enik1138 at popapostle dot com
Battlestar Galactica: Occupation

Battlestar Galactica

"Occupation"

TV episode

Written by Ronald D. Moore

Directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan

Original air date: October 6, 2006

 

Humans and Cylons develop various methods to cope with the occupation.

 

Read the summary of the episode at the Battlestar Wiki Site

 

Notes from the BSG chronology

 

The episode opens 134 days into the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, placing it that many days after the end of "Lay Down Your Burdens" Part 2.

 

This episode takes place concurrently with the events of "Teacher's Pet".

 

Didja Know?

 

This episode was the season three premiere.

 

    Starting with this episode, the population of the human race is no longer listed at the end of the opening titles. Further, it is seen that President Baltar no longer maintains Roslin's population whiteboard that had been in the president's office aboard Colonial One, after settling on New Caprica; the board has been replaced with a portrait of Baltar himself (as seen at the end of "Lay Down Your Burdens" Part 2).

    A number of sources, including the Battlestar Wiki site, claim that the population of New Caprica is 39,192, but it is not stated in any episode.

 

The opening titles no longer end with the statement of the search for Earth, but with, "The human race, far from home, fighting for survival."

 

Sometime between "Lay Down Your Burdens" Part 2 and this episode, Helo was promoted to captain and also becomes the Galactica's XO.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode

 

Colonel Tigh

Ellen Tigh

Number One

Laura Roslin

Admiral Adama

Galen Tyrol

Sam Anders
Starbuck

Leoben Conoy (Number Two)

Lt. Gaeta

Caprica Six

Boomer

Number Three

President Baltar

Number Five

Jake (dog)

Nicholas Tyrol

Cally

Racetrack

Kat

Helo

Apollo

Dee

Lt. Hoshi

Bingo

Wally

Duck (dies in this episode)

Nora Farmer (Duck's wife, mentioned only, deceased)

Caprica-Valerii

Skulls

Tory Foster

Jammer

 


 

Didja Notice?

 

The "...and they have a plan" preamble sequence has new images in it for the season.

 

Starbuck's Cylon-provided apartment is a near-duplicate of the apartment she kept on Caprica before the war.

 

After her sexual liaison with Cavil, Ellen is seen to have bruises on her face, implying that Cavil hit her during the encounter.

 

As Colonel Tigh is released from the prison, the voice that makes an announcement about water rationing over the P.A. system of the camp on New Caprica seems to be that of Lt. Gaeta, who is seen to have become President Baltar's chief of staff or hold some similar position.

 

At 11:25 on the Blu-ray, we see that Starbuck has a new wing-styled tattoo on her left arm. It combines with the tattoo now sported by Sam Anders on his right arm. We soon learn that Starbuck and Anders are now married.

 

As Laura Roslin writes in her diary at 13:25 on the Blu-ray, she muses that it is Mars Day, "Somehow it seems appropriate to honour the god of war on a day when it feels like perpetual war is the only realistic prospect for us." Mars is also the Roman god of war on Earth.

 

The single colony on New Caprica is seen to be called Caprica City, the same as the capitol city of the Twelve Colonies planet Caprica.

 

At 15:05 on the Blu-ray, Baltar has what appears to be a small camel statue on his presidential desk.

 

During the meeting in President Baltar's office aboard Colonial One, Boomer is wearing a jacket somewhat similar to the Colonial Warrior jackets seen in BSG70.

 

At 17:48 on the Blu-ray, the package left behind for the resistance by the informer can be seen to read "New Caprica Police Academy Graduation Ceremony Security Plans".

 

In Caprica City, we see that some in the colony have dogs (daggits?) as pets. This presumably means that dogs were present in the rag-tag fleet since no animal life is known to have been present on New Caprica when it was discovered.

 

Tyrol refers to the dog at the informant's drop-off point as Jake.

 

Leoben remarks that Starbuck has killed him five times now.

 

At 22:03 on the Blu-ray, notice that Tigh is using a short shovel as a cane. In later scenes, he is using a more normal-looking, metallic cane.

 

Kat is seen to be the current CAG (Commander Air Group) of Galactica.

 

In this episode we learn that Apollo has married Dee in the time since the colonization of New Caprica. Dee is seen with lieutenant rank beginning with this episode and is the XO of Pegasus.

 

Unanswered Questions

 

It seems that the masked New Caprica Police (NCP), who go masked in public to protect their identities, go unmasked at the training academy. That should mean they would know who a fellow cadet is by sight. So, why didn't Duck know that Jammer was one of them and reveal it to his resistance contacts?

 

Memorable Dialog


take your time.mp3

let's execute Baltar.mp3
worth doin'.mp3

Back to Episode Studies