Everything you were afraid to ask about "Battlestar Galactica"

Characters

Humans

Cmdr. William Adama (Edward James Olmos):
The stoic and thoughtful commander of the Galactica, Adama is the closest thing to a central character on the show. He is often more dovish than President Roslin, despite his lengthy military background. During the First Cylon War, Adama was a Viper pilot on the Galactica and, afterward, worked in the merchant fleet, where he met Saul Tigh. With the help of his wife's family he was reinstated, and worked his way up the ranks. His character hasn't changed much over the course of the series, despite being shot, and he remains quiet, bearish and strangely lovable.

President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell):
Adama's elected counterpart on the show, Roslin is a former schoolteacher and secretary of education who became, by default, president of the Twelve Colonies. She operates from her spaceship, the Colonial One, and her political stances vary wildly between the left and the right. Over the course of the series, she has developed strong religious convictions. We learn during the second season that she once had an affair with the late President Adar, and although her breast cancer was cured by Baltar, it has since returned.

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff):
A strong-willed Viper pilot, Starbuck is loud, brash and often childish. She grew up in an abusive household and, before the Cylon attack, was engaged to Zak, Adama's late son. As a result, she and Adama have a close bond that allows her considerable leniency -- despite the fact that she admitted culpability in Zak's death. During the third season, she and Apollo finally consummate their close relationship, though both remain with their respective partners (Anders and Dualla). She also discovers that she has been unconsciously painting religiously significant imagery since her childhood, and may have a "special destiny." Late in the season, she undergoes a downward spiral, with depression and hallucinations, culminating in her death in a flying accident. In the season finale, she miraculously reappears from the dead.

Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber):
Cmdr. Adama's son, Apollo, began the series as the fly-by-the-rules foil for Starbuck. He's a talented pilot with an often tenuous relationship with his father. As the series has progressed, Apollo has undergone some surprising character changes -- becoming depressed, getting fat, getting thin, having an affair. At the end of the third season, following his involvement in the trial of Gaius Baltar, he resigns his military post.

Gaius Baltar (James Callis):
The most villainous character on the show, Baltar is an arrogant, narcissistic and sexually promiscuous scientist whose affair with a Cylon agent allowed the Cylons to disable the Colonies' defenses. He is prone to hallucinatory visitations by Number Six, his former Cylon lover. Over the course of the series he is promoted from science advisor to vice president and, finally, president of the Colonies, and during the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, he becomes a Vichy-like collaborator. After a sojourn on a Basestar, he is captured, returned to the fleet and put on trial for his actions on New Caprica. During his time in jail, he publishes a widely read "Mein Kampf"-like treatise called "My Triumphs, My Mistakes." The third season culminates with his trial verdict, when he is found not guilty and released into the fleet.

Cylons

There are 12 humanoid Cylon models that fit into two categories: conventional Cylons and the "Final Five." Conventional Cylons exist in multiple copies and, when they are killed, are downloaded into new bodies. Over the course of the series, some of these Cylons have taken on distinct personalities. The Final Five, meanwhile, are a mysterious group whose identity has been kept secret from the other Cylons -- and may or may not exist in multiples. At the moment, only four of them have been revealed.

Conventional Cylons

Number Three (Lucy Lawless):
Originally introduced as D'Anna Biers, a documentary filmmaker, this Cylon is narcissistic and obsessive. Over the course of the third season, she comes to play an increasingly prominent role, becoming obsessed with the identity of the Final Five Cylons. She has visions of the Final Five during the downloading process, which leads her to repeatedly commit suicide and download into new bodies. At the end of the third season she has been "boxed," or disabled.

Number Five (Matthew Bennett):
This model first appears as Aaron Doral, a P.R. man, in the "Galactica" miniseries. He makes some sporadic appearances in the ensuing seasons but remains a marginal Cylon character.

Baltar's Hallucination (Tricia Helfer):
A hallucination of Caprica Six that exists only in Baltar's mind, she appears sporadically to give him advice. This version of Number Six is pious and sexually aggressive. She is fond of telling Baltar that he is the "Chosen One."

Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer):
This Cylon seduces Gaius Baltar and plays a key role in the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies. Following the attacks, she becomes a Cylon hero and has hallucinatory visions of Baltar. She comes to question the decision to attack the humans, and advocates a more cooperative approach, eventually helping Sharon Agathon return Hera to the Galactica. As the fourth season begins, she is in the brig on the Galactica.

Sharon "Boomer" Valerii (Number Eight) (Grace Park):
A sleeper Cylon who was part of the Galactica's crew before the Cylon attack, Valerii gradually realizes that she is a Cylon in the first season. At the end of that season, she shoots Cmdr. Adama, and is eventually killed in revenge. Like Caprica Six, she has trouble coming to terms with the Cylon destruction of the Colonies, and becomes an outspoken advocate for coexistence with humans.

Sharon "Athena" Agathon (Number Eight) (Grace Park):
This Cylon falls in love with Karl "Helo" Agathon during a mission on the planet Caprica. She helps him and Starbuck return to the Galactica. Once there, she is imprisoned and distrusted, but eventually becomes a valuable part of the ship's crew. She gives birth to Hera, a human-Cylon hybrid child, but is told that it died. At the end of the third season, she discovers that her child is alive and rescues it from the Cylons.

Brother Cavil (Dean Stockwell):
A cynical, snarky and atheistic Cylon model, Cavil first appears as a priest on board the Galactica.

Leoben Conoy (Callum Keith Rennie):
A wily and dishonest Cylon model, Leoben has an obsessive relationship with Starbuck. During the occupation on New Caprica, he imprisons her in an apartment-like cell, and tries to persuade her to love him. It doesn't really work.

Simon (Rick Worthy):
Simon is a bald Cylon model who makes rare appearances on the show. He first shows up in the Cylon fertility farm on Caprica, posing as a doctor.

The Final Five

Chief Nicholas Tyrol (Aaron Douglas):
The deck chief on the Galactica, Tyrol is in charge of the ship's hangar deck and ship maintenance. At the beginning of the series, he is engaged in a secret affair with Sharon Valerii, and is rather perturbed when she turns out to be a Cylon. On New Caprica, he marries Cally -- the crew member who shot and killed Valerii -- has a son named Nicholas, and becomes a key member of the insurgency. His discovery, in the third-season finale, that he is a Cylon is presaged by his somewhat random discovery of the Temple of Five on the Algae planet. It is worth nothing that both of Tyrol's parents were clergy -- suggesting that the Final Five Cylon models may have religious significance.

Col. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan):
Tigh is the Galactica's embittered and alcoholic executive officer. He is a bumbling figure with a strong hatred of the Cylons. Before arriving on the ship, he fought in the First Cylon War and met Adama while working in the commercial fleet. With Adama's help, he was reinstated in the military. During the settlement of New Caprica, he was a leading member in the insurgency, losing his eye during a period of incarceration. In the third season, he poisons his wife after learning that she has given secret plans to the Cylons. Then, just when things seem to be getting better, he finds out that he is a Cylon.

Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma):
Foster is President Roslin's aide -- a supporting character that first appeared after Roslin's previous aide, Billy, was killed in a bar shootout. During the third-season finale, we discover that she is having a sexual relationship with Anders, and that she's a Cylon.

Samuel Anders (Michael Trucco):
Anders is Starbuck's loving but alienated husband. Before the Cylon attack, Anders was a member of a sports team doing high-altitude training. Afterward, he becomes a member of the human resistance and, eventually, Starbuck's lover. She returns to Caprica to rescue him and bring him on board the Galactica. After the two are married, they grow apart, and he has trouble coming to terms with her death. As the third season ends, he has begun a sexual relationship with Tory Foster, and learns that he is a Cylon.

Next page: Answers to those nagging questions