BEYOND NEW CAPRICA
(PAGE 19)
The whole writing staff was involved in the
selection of the four Cylons who would be revealed in the season finale.
"That was really funny," Michael Angeli reveals. "We got together with
Ron, put a bunch of names on a board and voted. Pretty much everyone's
name was on the board, apart from Admiral Adama and President Laura --
we didn't want them to be Cylons because we felt that would corrupt the
show."
"In that discussion, we asked ourselves which
of the characters would give us the most to play next season and whose
back-story fitted in this most easily," Moore continues. "From that, I
think our selection became quite obvious.
Tyrol had found
the Temple of Five on the algae planet, he had a religious background
and he had unknowingly fallen in love with a Cylon, so he seemed to fit
well.
BEYOND NEW CAPRICA
(PAGE 20)
After working out believable back-stories for
each of the newly discovered Cylons, the producers informed the
real-life counterparts of Tigh, Tyrol,
Anders and Tory about their characters' futures. "They were all a bit
shocked," Moore says. "Aaron Douglas
was probably the most hesitant, followed by Michael Hogan. But I think
they all became cool with the idea in the end."
THE RESISTANCE
(PAGE 22)
Episode
Synopsis: During the second
month of the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, Saul Tigh and
Galen Tyrol
are keen to recruit new members of the fledgling Resistance movement. At
Tigh's suggestion, Tyrol
and a former member of his Deck Gang, James
'Jammer' Lyman, try to enlist the support of former Viper pilot Tucker
'Duck' Clellan. But Duck declines the offer, as he is hoping to start a
family with his wife, Nora.
Devastated by Nora's death, Duck tells
Tyrol he has
joined the New Caprica Police -- to find out who informed the Cylons
about the weapons in the Temple. As Duck contemplates his dangerous
plans, Jammer finds himself considering Doral's offer.
THE RESISTANCE
(PAGE 22)
"We had two days to come up with a plot for the
webisodes," Weddle reveals. "The writing staff had already batted around
a number of ideas of what they could be; we'd talked about ideas like a
day in the life of Doc Cottle working out of his hospital tent, a day in
the life of Gaeta working under Baltar's administration, the domestic
life of Cally and Tyrol,
and so on. But as Brad and I reviewed the scripts for the first four
episodes of season three, we decided it would be more compelling to tell
a single story that focused on the pivotal roles that two minor
characters, Duck and Jammer, come to play in the opening episodes of
season three."
THE RESISTANCE
(PAGE 25)
Surveillance
Additional: During the development of season three's opening
episodes the roles of Duck and Jammer were actually reversed, with Duck
becoming a collaborator and Jammer committing the suicide bombing. Their
roles were later swapped by Ronald D. Moore, at the suggestion of
Aaron Douglas.
"Aaron pointed out that Jammer had been played as a weak guy in episodes
like 'Valley of Darkness'," explains Moore. "So it just seemed a better
way to go for those two characters."
THE RESISTANCE
(PAGE 26)
The cast of 'The Resistance' was headed by
Battlestar Galactica stars Michael Hogan,
Aaron Douglas, Nicki Clyne and
Matthew Bennett. "I was thrilled that the likes of Michael and
Aaron were a
part of the webisodes, because their involvement really added to it,"
Rose says.
THE RESISTANCE
(PAGE 27)
"It was exciting to be a part of the
webisodes,"
Aaron Douglas notes. "We were one of the
first TV shows to do them and they turned out pretty cool. It was hard
work doing them in-between the normal show, but it was great to expand
the story and give some of the other actors, like Dominic and Christian,
some more screen time."
OCCUPATION & PRECIPICE
(PAGE 30 - 31)
From the moment the Centurions arrived on New
Caprica at the end of season two, Ronald D. Moore was keen to explore
what life would be like during a Cylon occupation. "I was really
interested to find out what our characters would do in that situation,"
says Moore, who personally scripted 'Occupation' and 'Precipice' after
developing the episodes' storylines with the series' writing staff. "I
wanted to take that setting and explore how the likes of
Tyrol,
Tigh, Anders and Laura would deal with it.
OCCUPATION & PRECIPICE
(PAGE 33)
"I thought that storyline was fantastic and it
turned out really well," Aaron Douglas
agrees. "It was a timeless statement on
humanity -- on how people respond to being invaded."
EXODUS, PART I
(PAGE 36)
Episode Synopsis: Learning of Cally's
planned execution with the other Resistance sympathizers,
Tyrol quickly
forms a rescue team. With just seconds to spare,
Tyrol's unit
attacks and destroys a firing squad of Cylon Centurions before they can
execute their prisoners.
EXODUS, PART I
(PAGE 36)
Surveillance
Additional: Chief
Tyrol and
Cally's son was named by David Weddle. "David named Nick after his
maternal grandfather, an Irish farmer who came to Irvington, New York
and worked on the big estates there," explains Bradley Thompson.
COLLABORATORS
(PAGE 44)
Episode Synopsis: Following the escape
from New Caprica, a secret group known as the Circle is passing
judgement on people suspected of collaborating with the Cylons -- and
executing those found guilty. Sanctioned by acting President Tom Zarek,
the group's members include Saul Tigh,
Galen Tyrol and Samuel T. Anders.
After the execution of former New Caprica
Police officer James 'Jammer' Lyman, the Circle turns its attention to
Felix Gaeta. Just before Gaeta is executed, however,
Tyrol realizes
that Baltar's former aide had secretly been supplying the Resistance
with information.
COLLABORATORS
(PAGE 44 - 45)
"I was definitely drawn to this 'aftermath'
story, since showing consequences is what we do best on Battlestar
Galactica," Verheiden says. "But it was a struggle to shape the
material to find the right balance for the story. When you go this dark,
you're really pushing the envelope. There was a very scary component --
showing Tigh, Tyrol
and Starbuck in a star chamber actually executing
a semi-regular was pretty heavy stuff, and there were concerns that it
would be difficult to redeem the characters after that.
COLLABORATORS
(PAGE 45)
On receiving the completed script for
'Collaborators', director Michael Rymer felt that he couldn't have
wished for a better episode to mark his return to Battlestar
Galactica. "I was so happy to get 'Collaborators' as my first
episode of season three -- it was a great script that was very much
about character and performance, which are my favourite aspects of the
process," he explains. "It was also really satisfying to give certain
actors, like Alessandro Juliani and
Aaron Douglas, so much screen time."
COLLABORATORS
(PAGE 47)
As one of Gaeta's would-be-executioners,
Aaron Douglas
was concerned about his character's involvement with the Circle.
"I didn't want the Chief to become fundamentally
dark and unlikable," Douglas explains.
"So I really tried to concentrate on
showing how the Chief was struggling with what the Circle was doing."
Following Gaeta's attempted execution, the
episode ends with him sharing a table with
Tyrol. "I thought
that was a really bittersweet ending," Moore says. "There are no
apologies or explanations. Those two characters are just going to keep
going."
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
(PAGE 60)
Episode Synopsis: Disappointed by
Chief Tyrol's
earlier decision to leave the Galactica to pursue a life on New Caprica,
Admiral Adama challenges the Chief to a bloody boxing match. But this
bout proves to be just the prelude to the main event: a brutal fight
between Lee Adama and Kara Thrace.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
(PAGE 63)
The episode's present-day sequences required
several of Battlestar Galactica's leading characters to enter the
boxing ring. The Contenders include
Chief Tyrol, who finds himself
reluctantly slugging it out with Admiral Adama in scenes co-ordinated by
Aleks Paunovic.
"I was thrilled when I read that script and saw
I was gonna kick Adama's ass," Aaron
Douglas recalls with a laugh. "Though the
boxing was really difficult for me to shoot, because I'd injured myself
playing hockey a few weeks earlier. But we got round that by saying the
Chief was one of those guys who doesn't move too much -- he just stands
in the middle of the ring and makes three shots to land one."
"In the end, we had a lot of fun doing that
stuff. The great thing about Eddie is that you never know what he's
going to do. I actually took several shots from him for real, and I
think I laced him with a few too! But he loves it -- if you tag him he
wants to hit you back. He wanted Adama to be beaten to a pulp; he kept
saying, 'More blood!'"
THE EYE OF JUPITER
(PAGE 68)
Episode Synopsis:
Two weeks into the algae collection mission,
Chief Tyrol
finds himself mysteriously drawn to the location of the Temple of Five
-- the fabled home of the Eye of Jupiter, which is said to guide those
who discover it to Earth. As Tyrol
searches for the Eye of Jupiter, four Cylon Basestars Jump into the
vicinity of the algae planet.
THE EYE OF JUPITER
(PAGE 70)
While early versions of 'The Eye of Jupiter'
saw Tyrol
and Cally discovering an ancient city that had become buried over many
years, and ultimately discovering the Temple of Five by accidentally
falling through its roof, this idea was simplified to what Moore refers
to as "a Close Encounters moment" for budgetary reasons.
THE EYE OF JUPITER
(PAGE 71)
The change of scenery was not only appreciated
by Battlestar Galactica's viewers, but was also enjoyed by the
series' cast and crew. "That was the first
time we'd gone somewhere and had an overnight stay,"
says Aaron Douglas. "It was fun for all of
us to get away from the usual routine and hang out with each other."
"Another thing that was great about going to
Kamloops was that my best friend from high school, Jason Lumley, lives
there," Douglas continues.
"He's a prison guard and he loves the show, so I
got him a role as an extra."
RAPTURE
(PAGE 72)
Episode Synopsis: As a team of marines
and civilians battle the Cylon forces heading for the Temple of Five,
Lee Adama secures Anders' support by ordering Dualla to locate and
rescue Kara Thrace. When the defence force is unable to stop D'Anna and
Baltar reaching the Temple, Lee Adama orders
Tyrol to
destroy it -- but the Cylons defuse the explosives before he can
complete his mission. D'Anna dies after experiencing a vision of the
final five Cylons, while Baltar is captured by
Tyrol.
Following her decision to disobey the wishes of the other Cylons, the
D'Anna model of Cylon is permanently boxed.
THE WOMAN KING
(PAGE 83)
Moore has similarly mixed feelings about the
episode as a whole. "I was disappointed with certain aspects of it," he
notes. "The episode doesn't say anything new, It says racism is bad,
which is not a new or provocative message. I also felt the relationship
between Helo and the woman King should have been richer and more
interesting, and I don't feel the Sagittarons really emerge as a unique
culture in the show. The racial animosity people like Tigh and
Tyrol show
towards the Sagittarons seems to come out of nowhere, too -- we've never
shown anything like that before.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
(PAGE 84)
Episode Synopsis: As plans for Gaius
Baltar's trial take shape, a malfunction leaves
Chief Tyrol and
Cally trapped in an airlock with a rapidly depleting oxygen supply.
After every attempt to open the airlock fails, Admiral Adama orders a
Raptor team to blast open the space-side airlock door and then retrieve
Tyrol and
Cally before they are lost into the vacuum of space. Narrowly surviving
the operation, Tyrol
later promises Cally that their lives together will be better in the
days ahead.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
(PAGE 84 - 85)
This concept was combined with a B-plot in
which Tyrol
and Cally find themselves facing death as a result of a seemingly simple
airlock repair mission they are assigned by Adama during his 'average
day'. "We wanted to show that there's no such thing as a 'casual order'
on a warship," Verheiden notes. "Tyrol
and Cally find themselves almost dying, not in battle, not against the
Cylons, but simply trying to do some routine maintenance. I really
wanted to get back to the idea that space is an unforgiving,
inhospitable and uniquely dangerous environment, even without Cylons."
A DAY IN THE LIFE
(PAGE 87)
The B-plot of a 'A Day in the Life' sees Adama
leading the rescue mission of Tyrol
and Cally. These scenes gave Aaron Douglas and Nicki Clyne a chance to
explore their characters' troubled relationship and also required them
to don harnesses for the sequence in which
Tyrol and Cally are propelled into
space.
"That episode was really great to shoot," says
Nicki Clyne. "I had a lot to do and a lot to focus on. I thought the
scene where Cally tells Adama who should care for her son was very
moving and the whole scenario was very frightening."
"It was amazing stuff,"
Douglas agrees. "It
was great drama. It was also fun to work with Nicki for a bunch of days
and be a bit silly at times."
Moore points to
Tyrol and Cally's plight as the most
powerful and emotional aspect of 'A Day in the Life'. But he also feels
that this B-plot has more importance in the episode that it actually
should. "I think we leaned towards the Cally and
Tyrol
storyline far more than was appropriate," he says. "It was always
designed to be a small story, because a day in the life episode
shouldn't be too dramatic -- it's about a typical day and the minutiae
of a character's life. But I think we started to move towards the
Tyrol and
Cally storyline, because of the problems in the Adama storyline. The
Adama-Carolanne story just doesn't fire on all cylinders and the episode
doesn't tell us that much about Adama and his daily life that we don't
already know.
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 88)
Episode Synopsis: After a batch of
contaminated Tylium fuel causes a Raptor to collide with Colonial One,
Admiral Adama orders Chief Tyrol
to investigate the incident.
Tyrol
discovers that the people aboard the Tylium ship have become discontent
with their harsh working conditions and are threatening to sabotage fuel
production in protest of their treatment.
Although this protest is quickly stopped by the
arrest of the workers' leaders. Tyrol
finds himself increasingly troubled by President Roslin's suppression of
workers' rights and the observations about the Colonial class struggle
contained in Gaius Baltar's political manifesto, My Triumphs, My
Mistakes. The former union leader's campaign for better working
conditions results in him calling a general strike about the Tylium
ship.
Concerned by the danger the strike poses to the
survival of the fleet, Adama forces
Tyrol to order the Tylium miners back
to work by threatening to execute the striking Deck Gang -- starting
with Cally. But after Tyrol
ends the strike, Adama arranges a collective bargaining meeting between
President Roslin and the reformed Colonial Workers' Alliance, as
represented by Tyrol.
Their first session leads to Colonial workers gaining several
concessions -- including Seelix's acceptance into the Officer Flight
Training programme.
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 88)
Before it became a
Chief Tyrol
showcase, 'Dirty Hands' began life as 'Our Enemies, Ourselves', a Dualla-focused
episode that continued the Sagittaron storyline started by 'The Woman
King'.
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 89)
As Chief Tyrol
was an obvious central character for a union-themed episode, the show's
writers knew they would have to make 'Dirty Hands' before the shocking
revelations of the season finale, 'Crossroads, Part II'. "We had decided
Tyrol was
going to be a Cylon right around the time I was working on 'Our
Enemies, Ourselves'," Anne Cofell Saunders explains. "Ron said we
weren't going to get another shot to tell this union story about
Tyrol. We knew
that once he was revealed as a Cylon, we wouldn't be able to tell such a
small, human story about his roots."
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 89)
"Ron and the staff had come up tith a basic
storyline for 'Dirty Hands', which they needed turned into a script very
quickly," Espenson recalls. "I wrote the script, which preserved some
elements of what Anne had written. Anne was also my shepherd on the
project -- I called on her several times for guidance and advice. One
idea that came from my general direction had to do with
Tyrol's
opinion on an issue being influenced by him having a young son. That
ended up sticking."
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 89)
Surveillance Additional: Season three's sixteenth episode was
named 'Dirty Hands' on the suggestion of Anne Cofell Saunders. "The
title comes from a story I told in the writers' room, about my dad
finally quitting the printing business and returning to a white-collar
job," she explains. "He used to spend a long time scrubbing his
ink-stained hands every day when he came home from work. He joked that
the thing he liked best about his new job was that he would be able to
come home with clean hands. A person's hand are a map of their soul --
and Tyrol
has a blue-collar soul. He's our uncommon common man, and that's what I
love about him. Jane immediately jumped on the concept -- so that's the
title!"
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 89 - 90)
"There had been talk of me directing an episode
since the second season and I was so excited to actually get one," says
Rose, whose previous directorial credits included episodes of
Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of All Trades. "I was a bit concerned
by the storyline, because it was a linear, single storyline that doesn't
tie into the mythos. But Tyrol
is such a strong character that he really carries the episode."
Tyrol's
role at the heart of the action was similarly welcomed by
Aaron Douglas,
who enjoyed seeing Tyrol resume his career as a union leader.
"I loved 'Dirty Hands'," says Douglas.
"It shows an intellectual side of the
Chief. He negotiates for the little man -- he sits down with Adama and
Roslin to argue his case -- and he comes out on the right side of
things."
"I had a great experience doing 'Dirty Hands'.
It was the first time I worked every every day on an episode. I felt
extremely grateful to the writers for that script and I enjoyed working
with Wayne Rose, who's such a terrific director. I also particularly
enjoyed my scenes with Mary McDonnell."
Douglas'
enthusiasm for 'Dirty Hands' is shared by President Roslin's real-life
alter-ego. "I really liked that episode," explains Mary McDonnell. "I
loved working with Aaron
and I enjoyed the break from the bigger issues of the Cylons and the
war. I liked exploring how the President dealt with the head of the
union -- and seeing how comfortable she seemed doing that."
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 91)
Tyrol's
campaign for workers' rights is inspired by the harsh conditions aboard
the Tylium ship. The scenes set aboard the ship were actually shot at
Rogers Sugar, the Vancouver sugar refinery which previously doubled as
parts of Ragnar Station in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries.
"That was a great location," Rose notes. "We shot there on Halloween day
and it was really cold and tough going. But it looks great on screen, so
it was well worth it."
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 91)
The combination of Baltar's revelation about
his past with Tyrol's
fight for better workers' rights made 'Dirty Hands' one of the season
three's more effective stand-alone episodes in Moore's eyes. "I like the
episode because it addresses important issues and delves into life in
the fleet in a way many episodes don't," he states. "I know it's the
political polemic I always said our series wouldn't be -- I always said
our show would ask questions without giving answers -- but I support the
message of the episode and the way it reminds people why unions exist.
And I think it's an important episode because of that."
DIRTY HANDS
(PAGE 91)
Surveillance
Additional: The shot of
Chief Tyrol
finding Baltar's book replaced an earlier scene in which
Tyrol
encountered two workers who were reading it while on duty. "The scene
featured two extras who couldn't be directed -- due to union rules,
ironically," Ronald D. Moore recalls with a laugh.
"As a result they were terrible, so we had to lose
that scene."
CROSSROADS, PART II
(PAGE 104)
Episode Synopsis: Haunted by a strange
melody, Tyrol,
Tigh. Anders and Tory also find themselves drawn to the same room on the
Galactica. There, they uncomfortably face the truth -- that they
are Cylons.
CROSSROADS, PART II
(PAGE 106)
In an effort to keep the plot twist from being
revealed before the episode's transmission, the scene in which the four
Cylons are drawn together was not featured in all copies of the script.
Dummy scenes that identified the music as a threat to the Battlestar
were scripted to disguise the revelations of the Cylons. "I thought that
moment was just great," Ryamer says of the scene, which was shot in
secrecy. "What was funny was that when those actors first found out
their characters were Cylons, hardly anyone was happy about it. Michael
Hogan and Aaron Douglas
were really put out by it, as was Michael Trucco to a lesser extent --
Rehka Sharma was the only one who was pleased about it. But then when
they started acting it in that scene, they really got into it."
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: CHIEF GALEN TYROL
(PAGE 133 - 134)
Aaron Douglas makes no secret of the fact he
resisted the idea of Chief Galen Tyrol being revealed as a Cylon
in Battlestar Galactica's third season finale, 'Crossroads, Part
II'. "Personally, I took some convincing
that Tyrol being revealed as a Cylon was a good idea,"
Douglas says. "I first got wind of it from
Michael Rymer and David Eick, and then I had a really good
forty-five-minute phone chat with Ron Moore. I told Ron I really liked
my character and wanted him to be likeable. I also told him I was
concerned turning him into a Cylon would really alienate the series'
fans. But Ron made a very strong case and he did make me realize how
many exciting possibilities the idea had."
"The interesting thing about making Tyrol a
Cylon is that it humanizes the Cylons in a way probably no other
character could," Douglas continues. "Tyrol is a true blue-collar guy, a
very human person who makes mistakes and has foibles, and so it really
blurs the line between humans and Cylons. It will also test how viewers
feel towards the Cylons."
Tyrol's discovery of his true Cylon nature ends
another busy season for the Chief. That season begins by establishing
that Tyrol has become a leading resistance member on New Caprica and
sees him discovering the Temple of Five and resuming his work as union
leader, among many other plot developments.
"I got a lot of great stuff to do in season
three and that really gave the Chief a lot more depth,"
Douglas notes. "The
season really showed Tyrol's willingness to do what it takes to protect
his people and his family. He puts his life on the line during the
insurgency and also in the union episode
['Dirty Hands']. The season also allows
Tyrol to show his ability to be a loving father and husband. he gets to
show his soft side rather then just go around being grumpy."
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: CALL
