Everything you were afraid to ask about "Battlestar Galactica"

Season One

The first season picks up with the fleet "jumping" (i.e. teleporting) through space every 33 minutes to stay ahead of their Cylon pursuers. In the hangar deck, Boomer's ability to cope with the resulting sleep deprivation leads her friends to joke that she's a Cylon. (Unbeknown to her, she has been programmed to believe that she is a human being.) But when somebody sabotages the fleet's water reserves, and Boomer wakes up in possession of explosive detonators, she begins to suspect that they're right. She voices her doubts to Chief Tyrol (who is also unaware that she is a Cylon), but he keeps her behavior secret.

Meanwhile, back on Caprica, Helo is taken prisoner by the Cylons. As part of a plot to seduce him and produce a human-Cylon hybrid child, a copy of Boomer liberates him from captivity and they hide in the woods. The two become romantically involved and make sweet, sweet love.

On the Galactica, Baltar has been assigned to build a Cylon detector. He also continues to hallucinate about Number Six -- his former lover. The hallucination tells Baltar that she would like him to have a child and, more important, a nuclear weapon. As a result, Baltar requests and receives a nuke for his research. Roslin, meanwhile, reveals that she is dying from cancer. She uses an alternative drug named Chamalla to treat it, and begins having religious dreams and hallucinations.

Before a Cylon attack, Starbuck admits to Adama that she was partly responsible for the death of his son. The two have a falling-out, but when Starbuck's Viper crashes on a moon, Adama places the fleet in danger to rescue her. Just before he gives up, Starbuck manages to climb inside a crashed Cylon raider and fly it back to the Galactica.

Eventually, Tyrol begins to suspect that Boomer really is a Cylon. When Boomer asks to be tested by Baltar's Cylon detector, the test comes back positive, but Baltar, irrationally afraid that she will attack him, lies to her and tells her that she is human. Then, Ellen Tigh, Col. Tigh's sexually aggressive wife, suddenly appears in the fleet.

Elsewhere in the fleet, Tom Zarek, a former leftish terrorist, calls for the election of a vice president, and puts himself in the running. In an effort to prevent Zarek from winning, Roslin encourages Baltar to run, and, after a tense race, Baltar wins.

Then, in a surprise development, Boomer's spaceship discovers a planet that appears to be Kobol, the birthplace of the Twelve Colonies. When an exploratory team is sent to the planet, it is attacked by Cylons, and the ship carrying Baltar and Tyrol crash-lands in a forest.

Before they can be rescued, Roslin -- suffering from hallucinations -- becomes convinced that somebody must return to Caprica and retrieve the "Arrow of Apollo," an ancient artifact, if the fleet is to find the path to Earth. She persuades Starbuck to pilot the stolen Cylon raider back to Caprica. Once there, Starbuck encounters Helo, who has since discovered that his copy of Boomer is a Cylon and that she is pregnant with their child -- a human-Cylon hybrid.

When Adama learns of Roslin's plan, he demands her resignation. She refuses, which leads to a standoff, and both Roslin and Apollo -- who sides with her -- are placed in the brig. The season ends when -- during a mission to destroy a large Cylon ship called a Basestar -- Boomer sees multiple copies of herself and learns that she is a Cylon. As Adama congratulates her on the success of her mission, she shoots him twice in the chest.

Season Two

The season begins with Boomer in the brig and Adama unconscious in sickbay. With the Galactica reeling from a series of Cylon attacks, Roslin manages to convince other members of her government that she is a "Chosen One" who will lead the fleet to Earth. In response, Col. Tigh declares martial law. This prompts many of the fleet's ships to refuse sending supplies to the Galactica, and in the ensuing confrontation, several civilians are shot. Dismayed by the development, Apollo, Dualla and Dr. Cottle (the Galactica's medical officer) help Roslin escape from jail.

But things only get worse. After Baltar and the survivors of the crashed ship are rescued from Kobol, Boomer is shot and killed by an embittered crew member -- and downloaded into a new body on a Cylon ship. Meanwhile, a third of the fleet's ships jump back to join Roslin near Kobol. Luckily, Adama regains consciousness.

Back on Caprica, the pregnant copy of Boomer steals Starbuck's Cylon raider. Left to fend for themselves, Starbuck and Helo join up with a group of resistance fighters led by Anders (Michael Trucco). Starbuck and Anders become lovers. After Starbuck is kidnapped by the Cylons and escapes from a Cylon "fertility farm" (a facility for the harvesting of human ovaries), pregnant Boomer reappears with a ship. Helo, Starbuck and the copy of Boomer return to Kobol with the Arrow of Apollo, where they meet with President Roslin.

Adama decides to reunite the fleet and jumps to Kobol. After he reconciles with Roslin, pregnant Boomer (henceforth known as Boomer) leads the humans to a tomb on the surface of Kobol that points them on the way to Earth. In an unconnected development, we learn that the fleet's resident documentary filmmaker, D'Anna Biers (Lucy Lawless), is a Cylon.

Suddenly, the Battlestar Pegasus, commanded by Adm. Cain (Michelle Forbes), jumps near the Galactica. The ship, against all odds, has survived the initial Cylon attack, and has been raiding Cylon positions ever since. Cain takes over leadership of the fleet, but clashes with Adama and Roslin.

Cain gets Baltar to interrogate the Pegasus' Cylon prisoner, Gina, who has been brutally tortured and raped by Pegasus crew members. She tells him about the "Resurrection Ship" -- a Cylon ship that allows humanoid Cylon models to be downloaded into new bodies. Baltar develops tender feelings for her, and she escapes.

Tensions rise when Tyrol and Helo prevent a Pegasus crew member from sexually assaulting Boomer, and they accidentally kill the crew member. They are both sentenced to death by Cain. Adama refuses to accept the verdict. As a result, both Cain and Adama conspire to kill another, but after a mission to destroy the Resurrection Ship is completed successfully, they back down. Then, conveniently, Gina shoots Cain in the head. Apollo (eventually) takes her place as the commander of the Pegasus.

Baltar cures Roslin's cancer by injecting her with the blood of Boomer's still-gestating hybrid baby. Irritated by Roslin's perceived ungratefulness, Baltar gives his nuclear weapon (from Season One) to Gina, and when Roslin tries to persuade Baltar to resign his vice presidency, he refuses.

Back on Caprica, the original Boomer, Sharon Valerii, and Baltar's former lover, Number Six (now nicknamed Caprica Six), are having trouble reintegrating into Cylon society. The two decide that the Cylons' attack on the humans wasn't such a great idea after all.

On the Galactica, Boomer gives birth to Hera, her human-Cylon hybrid child. The child is born healthy, but, in accordance with Roslin's wishes, it is given up for adoption. Roslin wants to hide it from the Cylons, who may view it as a miracle child. Boomer is told that Hera has died. Starbuck returns to Caprica and rescues Anders along with members of the human resistance.

In a sudden twist, the fleet discovers a new habitable planet called New Caprica. Baltar, running in the fleet election, argues that the planet should be colonized, and wins. With the settlement of New Caprica under way, Gina the Cylon detonates the nuclear warhead and destroys a large portion of the fleet.

Jumping forward one year, Adama and Apollo now command the Galactica and Pegasus with a skeleton crew. On New Caprica, Roslin has become a teacher, Tyrol a union leader, Gaeta an assistant to President Baltar, and Starbuck has grown out her hair and married Anders.

Suddenly, several Cylon Basestars arrive near the planet. In a panic, the Battlestars jump to safety, and the Cylons take control of New Caprica.

Next page: Visions of the "Final Five"