Battlestar Galactica "The Lost Warrior" TV episode Story by Herman Groves Teleplay by Donald Bellisario Directed by Rob Holcomb

Apollo is forced to land on a small, forgotten farming world where he encounters a malfunctioning Cylon under the command of an evil human.

Read the episode summary at the Battlestar Wiki

Didja Know?

I have placed "The Lost Warrior" after "The Long Patrol" in the chronology (defying the original airdate order) because it is at the beginning of that episode that we see the fleet entering a new galaxy for the first time (according to Apollo's dialog to Boxey on the bridge). And here in "The Lost Warrior", Boomer comments that "...the stars are kind of nice in this galaxy," which would seem to suggest that they are no longer in their old (Cyrannus) galaxy at this time. Later, Commander Adama says he has been studying the charts of the Hatari sector (where this episode's "planet of the week" is located); this, I believe, merely indicates that Colonial forces have been to portions of this galaxy in the past, as witnessed by other human presences, on Equellus in this episode, and on planetoids in "The Long Patrol"...note that in "The Long Patrol", Apollo says that no human in the fleet has seen this galaxy before, not that no Colonial has ever seen it. Further evidence may be that the population of Equellus does not seem to be aware of the existence of the Colonies and the Cylon Alliance, unlike the inhabitants of the planetoids in "The Long Patrol".

This episode's story is based on the 1949 western novel Shane by Jack Schaefer; the novel was made into a film in 1953. It is about a western gunfighter who befriends a widow and her son, who idolizes the gunfighter's strength and skill.

Carol Baxter, who portrayed the talkative woman in the casino elevator on Carillon in "Deathtrap", here portrays Macy, one of Lacerta's servers at the cantina. She's also known as Mary Gibbons on the Curse of Dracula segments of Cliffhangers!.

Lance LeGault, who portrays Bootes here, will go on to play Maga, leader of the Borellian Nomen in later episodes.

Many of the proper names in this episode are derived from those of constellations visible from here on Earth: Bootes ("bootes" is also a Greek word meaning "herdsman", appropriate for the rancher character in this episode), Equellus (Equelleus), Lacerta ("lacerta" is also Latin for "lizard", possibly a nod to the character's association with Red-Eye, of the formerly reptilian Cylons), Lupus (the wolf-like beasts on the planet; "lupus" is Latin for wolf), Puppis, and Vella (Vela).

Didja Notice?

Although Apollo is flying a lone patrol, at 2:46 on the DVD, we can see a wing and tailfin of another Viper at the edge of the screen!

The Cylon dialog aboard the Raider reveals that the planet is in the Hatari sector of the galaxy.

Puppis' pony, Strider, makes a growling noise like a mountain lion rather than the whinny of a horse. Listen: growl

As Vella brandishes a rifle at Apollo, Puppis assures him, "Don't worry, my mom can't hit the side of a grainery with a numo." This is similar to the Earth expression "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn".

A numo is an air-compression gun used on Equellus. It would seem the term "numo" is derived from the Earth term "pneumatic", meaning "air compression".

Attempting to keep Boxey from worrying about his missing father, Starbuck and Boomer tell him he can hang out with the pilots tonight, play some pyramid, and have a couple of fruit juices with them. Maybe the juice is from the processed fruit the fleet recently picked up on Jungleworld in "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair".

The cattle on Equellus are referred to as "ovines". Obviously, this is a play on the English word "bovine", used to describe a number of hoofed mammal species.

Vella makes a reference to her son feeding Strider and the layers. Possibly, layers are the Equellus term for chickens (because they lay eggs).

With the introduction of Red-Eye at 14:16 on the DVD, we can see that he has a number of bullet dents in his body, indicating he has survived many attempts to kill him.

It interesting to note that Red-Eye rides a horse that is metallically armored like himself!

Notice that at 14:56 on the DVD, Red-eye's pistol is the same Colonial style as Apollo's. Later, Vella explains that Red-Eye took it from her husband Martin (who was a long-lost Colonial Warrior) after killing him in a duel.

Many of the cowboy-style hats worn by Bootes and other men in town appear to be made of aluminum instead of cloth.

Somehow, Bootes recognizes that Apollo has the rank of captain; at first meeting, Bootes refers to him as such.

After the encounter with Red-Eye at Vella's ranch, Vella appears to be holding an older style Colonial Warrior's jacket with a symbol on the sleeve (it looks somewhat like a vertical infinity symbol). Presumably, it is Martin's jacket.

As Vella tells Apollo the story of how she met and married her deceased husband, she mentions how he and Bootes got drunk on buzzer the night before the wedding. Presumably, buzzer is an Equellus term for what we would call moonshine.

At 20:40 on the DVD, there is a strange-looking dart board in the pilots' bunkroom in the background. The images on it appear to be of preliminary production designs of Cylon Raiders and Base Ships.

The drinking vessels used by the pilots have a representation of an eagle-like head on them.

At 23:12 on the DVD, there appears to be at least one zebra-like equine tethered to the hitching post outside the saloon. (Later, Apollo is seen riding a horse with similar, though vertical, stripes).

During Lacerta's card game with Marco in the cantina, we learn that a blader is a unit of currency on Equellus.

The backs of the cards played in Lacerta's game at the cantina have a vertical infinity symbol on them. Perhaps this is in recognition of Colonial forces that were in the area in the past (as evidenced by the symbol on Martin's old jacket above).

The cantina has the mounted head on the wall of a deer-like creature with a single horn.

At the cantina, Apollo orders vignon. This is probably a sort of wine, judging by its name (sauvignon).

On Equellus, a lupus is a wolf-like carnivore. Lupus is the genus of wolves on Earth.