SECOND CHANCES (PAGE 16)

"In most cases, we already had the actors ties to five-year or six-year contracts," explains Eick. "There were some actors at the start of season two that hadn't been ties up because we didn't know enough about them as characters or as actors when we started the show, so we embarked on making serious deals with them. That took some doing because by that point the actors and their agents clearly knew we wanted them! But we were able to get everyone we wanted: Michael Hogan [Colonel Tigh], Aaron Douglas [Chief Tyrol], Tahmoh Penikett [Lieutenant Karl 'Helo' Agathon], Nicki Clyne [Cally], Alessandro Juliani [Gaeta], Kandyse McClure [Dualla] and to an extent, Paul Campbell [Billy Keikeya]."

SECOND CHANCES (PAGE 18)

Another casualty of season two was Lieutenant Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii. As part of the series' ongoing mission to defy viewers' expectations, Moore decided that the original 'Boomer Sharon' -- rather than the duplicitous 'Caprica Sharon' -- would be killed off, and initially toyed with having Chief Tyrol be responsible for her death, until Toni Graphia outlined an alternative plan in her script for 'Resistance'. Moore also chose to have Boomer's place on the Galactica taken by Caprica Sharon.

SCATTERED (PAGE 24)

Episode Synopsis: As the Galactica's crew prepares to face the Cylons once again, the surviving members of their survey party continue to fight for their lives on the surface of Kobol. With Socinus' condition continuing to deteriorate, Alex 'Crashdown' Quartararo orders Tarn to retrace the group's steps and find a lost medkit. Joined by Chief Tyrol and Cally, Tarn successfully retrieves the medkit, but is killed shortly after by Cylon Centurions.

VALLEY OF DARKNESS (PAGE 28)

Episode Synopsis: Back on Kobol, Chief Tyrol and Cally rejoin the other survivors only to discover that they are too late to save Socinus. Tyrol can do nothing for his dying friend other than give him a lethal injection to end his pain.

VALLEY OF DARKNESS (PAGE 30)

"When it fell upon us to write season two's opening chapters of that Kobol storyline, we were determined to bring a level of visceral reality to them that is usually absent from sci-fi shows," Weddle notes. "I think we managed to do that in the writing, and Michael Rymer, the actors and the crew all then brought a kinetic power to the scenes that knocked us out. The death of Socinus is perhaps the finest moment we have ever had the privilege of writing for the screen, thanks to Michael Rymer and the shattering performances by Aaron Douglas and all of the other actors in the scene."

FRAGGED (PAGE 32)

Episode Synopsis: Meanwhile, on Kobol, the surviving members of the survey team discover that the Cylons are constructing a missile battery that will wipe out everything in the area -- as well as Captain Adama's search-and-rescue team. As the group prepare to launch an assault against the Cylons, Crashdown clashes with the other members of his team over his plan and aims his gun at Cally. But before he can fire, Crashdown is himself killed by Gaius Baltar. Under Chief Tyrol's command, the unit is then able to defeat the Cylons and destroy the missile battery's dradis, which allows Adama's raptor to rescue them. The group later tell Adama that Crashdown died heroically, in the line of duty.

FRAGGED (PAGE 34 - 35)

As the episode's script was finalized, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan was hired to direct 'Fragged'. Best known as the assistant director on such Steven Spielberg movies as Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan and The Terminal, Mimica-Gezzan made his episodic television debut with Battlestar Galactica's acclaimed first season episode "You Can't Go Home Again' and was a natural choice to helm the action-packed season two installment. Ironically, however, his appointment in the director's chair initially caused David Eick a moment of concern.

"When I first saw the script for 'Fragged' we didn't have a director," Eick explains, "and I was very excited about the opportunity to pay homage to the great moment in Saving Private Ryan where Tom Hanks is desperately shooting at the tank with his little handgun and suddenly, somehow, the tank blows up -- because, we then find out, the Air Force has arrived and nailed it. It's a great Spielberg moment. So in doing the rewrite on that episode, I came up with the moment where Tyrol faces the Cylons and is saved by the Raptors.

"I was thrilled to book Sergio Mimica-Gezzan to direct the episode, because his first episode was really superb. But then I thought, 'Oh shit...', because Sergio was Spielberg's AD on Saving Private Ryan and I was worried he wouldn't want to do the scene! But, fortunately for me, he thought it was a great homage and did it exactly as I hoped he would."

"That episode really was our Saving Private Ryan," agrees Aaron Douglas. "Sergio used the same kind of feeling. It was thrilling to work on."

FRAGGED (PAGE 35)

"I was pleased to have my character's death contribute to Baltar's character development," says Witwer. "James Callis is just a great guy. If I had to go, I'd hoped it would be either him or Aaron Douglas pulling the trigger!"

FRAGGED (PAGE 35)

Ultimately, Moore feels that 'Fragged' provided an excellent continuation of the show's second season. "I was very happy with that episode," he states. "I thought it was one of our stronger offerings. I really enjoyed its Kobol storyline; I liked watching the disintegration of the unit stuck by themselves and I loved the final beat, with Crashdown pointing the gun at Cally, Tyrol pointing the gun at Crashdown and then Baltar shooting Crashdown. I thought that was a great moment. I also liked the bittersweet ending, with all of them lying to save Crashdown's reputation."

RESISTANCE (PAGE 36)

Episode Synopsis: As the political drama escalates, Tyrol finds himself accused of being a Cylon and is imprisoned with Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii. Cally blames Sharon for Tyrol's predicament and decides she has no choice but to assassinate the Cylon, who dies in Tyrol's arms.

RESISTANCE (PAGE 36)

Surveillance Additional: The producers also planned for Boomer to refer to Chief Tyrol by his first name, Galen, during her dying moments, but decided against the idea. "Tyrol's first name tends to get a chuckle the first time people hear it," explains Moore, "and I didn't want that spoiling the moment for the audience."

RESISTANCE (PAGE 37 - 38)

While writing 'Resistance', one of Graphia's key additions to the script was the surprise death of Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii. The character was originally supposed to survive her walk through the Galactica to her newly-constructed cage prison and was set to become the subject of various experiments in the show's following episodes.

"As I was writing, I got a new idea," Graphia recalls. "Ron and I both share a fascination with the JFK conspiracy and have many books on the subject. When he wrote the season one finale ['Kobol's Last Gleaming, part 1'], he compared Adama being shot and the chaos that followed with how it must have been in the moments following the Kennedy assassination. So I came up with the idea that if Boomer was essentially our Lee Harvey Oswald, what if we had a Jack Ruby who, in turn, shot her? Our natural Jack Ruby was Cally. She loved Adama, idolized Tyrol and felt betrayed by Boomer."

On deciding she wanted to kill off Boomer, Graphia asked the show's other writers for thier opinions. "They all loved it and said, 'Go for it! But don't tell Ron -- let it be a surprise and then you'll know if it works or not.' So I went ahead and wrote it, and then just held my breath!"

"It was a big risk, because Ron could have hated it. luckily, he read it and loved it. I had a feeling he would, especially because of the JFK Parallels."

Graphia's 'risky' idea also won the approval of Cally's real-life alter ego, Nicki Clyne. "I was shocked when I first read that script," she admits, "but it was also very exciting that they were willing to give my character such an important role. I thought it made perfect sense for Cally to kill Boomer, because of her feelings for Tyrol and the trauma she had been through."

RESISTANCE (PAGE 38)

In addition to delivering the demise of Boomer 'Resistance' sees Baltar continuing to emerge as a darker and more dangerous presence on the Galactica. It also provides further evidence of Colonel Tigh's limitations as a commanding officer during peacetime. "We really put Tigh in an unfavorable light in 'Resistance'," Eick notes. "As the episode opens, he's beating the shit out of Chief Tyrol, who's one of the audience's favorite characters. And it just gets worse from there. But the wonderful thing about Michael Hogan is that there's something about his performance and its completely uncompromising nature that still makes him a very sympathetic character, despite everything."

HOME, PART 2 (PAGE 50)

Following the teaser, 'Home. Part II' sees Commander Adama taking a Raptor to Kobol. The Raptor landing sequence was shot using a high-pressure air blaster to suggest the presence of strong -forces. It also originally featured two lines that were changed on the orders of the Federal Communications Commission, to adhere to its broadcasting standards. "We weren't allowed to use Tyrol's line 'topography is for pussies' or Adama's joke, 'Adar was a prick'," Moore recalls. "It was very annoying."

FINAL CUT (PAGE 53)

"As we dug into the story, we also thought it was important to show how the months of never-ending combat were wearing on the pilots and crew of Galactica, hence the storyline about Kat's addiction to stimulants. My favourite beats, though, were Gaeta revealing his fresh tattoo -- which was originally going to be on his butt -- and a deleted scene that shows Tyrol stapling together tattered uniforms because they're running out of thread and you don't want to use staples on your torn underwear."

"For anyone who wonders where these crazy ideas come from," Verheiden adds with a chuckle, "I actually knew a guy who would staple torn seams on his pants because he couldn't sew!"

FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (PAGE 56)

Episode Synopsis: Haunted by memories of his relationship with Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii and tired of sending dilapidated Vipers to the junkyard, Chief Tyrol decides to vent his frustration by attempting to build a new plane from salvaged parts. His off-duty mission initially generates cynicism from everyone around him, but gradually becomes a team effort for the Galactica's crew.

While Tyrol's fighter takes shape, the Galactica is infected by a crippling computer virus that starts to wreak havoc on the Battlestar's systems. When the virus is identified by Dr Baltar as a Cylon logic bomb, Commander Adama reluctantly enlists the aid of the captive Sharon to restore Galactica's systems before they are rendered defenseless against a Cylon assault. Sharon successfully transmits the virus to a nearby Cylon attack force, which immobilizes it. All of the Cylon Raiders are then destroyed by the Galactica's Viper pilots.

With the crisis averted Chief Tyrol's stealth ship is completed. The Blackbird is later publicly unveiled by President Roslin, who is touched to learn that it has been names 'Laura'.

FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (PAGE 56 - 59)

The main storyline of 'Flight of the Phoenix' began life during season one of Battlestar Galactica. "Brad and I had pitched the idea of Tyrol starting to build new Vipers in the first season, because we felt it was a reality they would have to face," recalls David Weddle, who scripted the episode with Bradley Thompson. "In fact, we actually wrote some scenes for one of the first season episodes where Tyrol had built the first prototype Vipers and tried to convince reluctant pilots to fly them. But they all got cut, as so many things do, because the script was running long.

"In the second season, Ron Moore came back to the idea. But he wanted Tyrol to build just one ship and for that ship to become a focal point that rallies the sagging morale of the Galactica's crew -- bringing them together and giving them hope for the future. It then fell upon us to work out the specifics of this."

"By the time we got to this part of season two, it was emotionally the right time to do the story," adds Thompson. "we'd loaded Tyrol up with a lot of anguish and he needed to try and make sense out of this madness. People weren't making any sense, but all his life Tyrol could count on machines making sense. Building a ship was something he could control in a totally uncontrollable world. It didn't matter whether he succeeded. With every strategic item ticketed for the ships that already existed, it was an impossible challenge, one he hoped he could lose himself in. Yet the impossible nature of it would eventually drag everyone else in the crew on board."

In keeping with Battlestar Galactica's ongoing quest for realism, Thompson and Weddle attempted to ensure that Tyrol's construction of the homemade Blackbird remained as plausible as possible. "We didn't believe the Chief could ever out-design the Viper company and create a super fighter from chewing gum, clapped out engines and empty birdcages." explains Thompson. "But because he couldn't get metal skins and had to use carbon composites that incidentally absorbed or scattered dradis signals, he might have a chance at creating a slow, clunky but invisible ship like the USAF F-117 Nighthawk."

Realizing that Tyrol's construction of a ship wouldn't contain many elements of jeopardy, Thompson adn Weddle sought an action-orientated B-plot to form part of the episode. They found what they were looking for by picking up a plot thread from their script for the season opener, 'Scattered'.

"The Cylon logic bomb gave us a danger that could start small and get worse -- and at the right moment to give us an exhilarating climax -- yet not overshadow the character story of Tyrol's ship," Thompson notes. "As we played with the idea, we found it would also be a cool way to get Sharon back onto the CIC and look at all the weirdness that would produce in our crew, plus get a little payback for the Day One ass-kicking Kara's CAG took from the Cylon Raiders."

"We came up with the idea of Sharon turning the virus back on the Cylons," adds Weddle. "Ron came up with the idea of Sharon actually feeding a conduit into her arm to do this."

While finalizing the script for 'Flight of the Phoenix'. Thompson and Weddle discovered that the main challenge presented by the episode was finding the right blend of its dual plotlines. "It was a very tricky balancing act to write the virus story but not to allow it to overwhelm the 'softer' story of Tyrol building the ship," says Thompson. "The emphasis shifted constantly between one story and the other from draft to draft, and this continued throughout the editorial process as Ron and David Eick finally arrived at the perfect mix."

A late change to the episode concerned the placing of the Blackbird's test flight. "That originally took place after the unveiling ceremony," explains Moore, "but we swapped them around during the editing, because the ceremony felt like the emotional high point of the episode."

'Flight of the Phoenix' marked Michael Nankin's first foray into the Battlestar Galactica universe. A veteran director as well as writer and producer, Nankin's varied credits include Chicago Hope, Picket Fences, Invasion, Monk and American Gothic, the series that marked his earlier collaboration with David Eick.

"Michael Nankin contributed some key ideas to the episode, including the idea of naming the Blackbird 'Laura'," Weddle reveals. "Michael also got some great performances from the actors."

Among the actors showcased by 'Flight of the Phoenix' was Aaron Douglas, whose Chief Tyrol takes center stage in its main storyline. Naturally Douglas was thrilled by the acting opportunities presented by the episode. "I can still remember when I got the script for 'Fight of the Phoenix'," he recalls. "I was shooting episode six or seven and I got home to find a script waiting for me. I was tired but I thought I'd have a look at it, and I was just blown by it. it was basically the Tyrol show! After I read it, I sent an email to Bradley Thompson and David Weddle thanking them for it."

"I had a great time making that episode and I think it came out really well," he continues. "I enjoyed working with Michael Nankin; he's a great storyteller."

In addition to following Tyrol's construction of the Blackbird, 'Flight of the Phoenix' sees Tyrol fighting with Karl Agathon as the Chief struggles to adjust to Helo's relationship with Sharon. "We talked at length about what was going to happen when Tyrol and Helo met up," says Moore. "It seemed obvious that the first time they met, they would fight. There's a lot of rage and self-hatred in both of the characters. But I also knew I didn't want to carry that on beyond this episode. i wanted their relationship to develop in a more interesting way."

"It was fun to shoot that scene," says Douglas with a grin. "Tahmoh and I beat the hell out of each other for six hours! We did most of it ourselves."

Tyrol's struggle to find new meaning in his life clearly helped make 'Flight of the Phoenix' a uniquely touching and uplifting tale. It also provided the basis of an obvious highlight of Battlestar Galactica's second season. "we were very pleased with how the show turned out," states Weddle, "and with the tremendous reaction it received."

PEGASUS (PAGE 60)

Episode Synopsis: When Chief Tyrol and Lieutenant Agathon learn that Sharon is about to be subjected to the same horrific treatment given to Gina, they burst into Lieutenant Thorne's interrogation. Thorne is killed in the fight that ensures.

Om learning that Cain has conducted a hasty court martial for Tyrol and Agathon and sentenced them both to death for murder and treason, Adama demands his crewmen are given a full trial. Cain refuses, forcing Adama to launch the Galactica's Vipers...

PEGASUS (PAGE 63)

'Pegasus' ends on a supremely dramatic note, with the Galactica's Vipers poised to attack their Pegasus counterparts in a bid to save Tyrol and Agathon's lives. "I felt that gave us a very strong cliffhanger," Moore notes. "I also love that, once again, we see that Adama -- for right or wrong -- is willing to risk everything to save the men under his command. Some might say that's a profound command flaw on his part, but it also makes him a very human Commander."

RESURRECTION SHIP, PART 2 (PAGE 71)

Cain's funeral was among the new scenes that were shot when 'Resurrection Ship' became a two-parter. Other additions included the scene between Cain and Kara Thrace that underlines the growing bond between the two characters and the sequence in which the imprisoned Tyrol and Agathon are beaten by Pegasus crewmen. The latter scene was loosely inspired by the beatings and threatened beatings featured in the movies Full Metal Jacket and The Grifters, and -- following the characters' discussion in 'Resurrection Ship, Part I' -- served to emphasize the idea that Tyrol and Agathon would no longer be at odds with each other over Sharon Valerii.

"A triangle between Tyrol, Helo and Sharon seemed too easy," Moore explains. "We didn't want to go there. Tyrol and Helo had separate experiences with literally two separate Sharons. So even though Tyrol definitely has conflicted thoughts and feelings about it, his overall arc for the rest of the season was to try to get away from Sharon and put it all behind him."

EPIPHANIES (PAGE 72)

Episode Synopsis: Meanwhile, Chief Tyrol discovers that the Vipers' ammunition has been sabotaged. The action is traced to an underground movement that seeks peace with the Cylons.

DOWNLOADED (PAGE 95)

The episode's B-plot culminates in Karl Agathon and Chief Tyrol releasing what they believe to be the baby's ashes into space. "That was a very touching moment," Thompson notes. "It resonated hauntingly with my own experiences watching someone's ashes vanish into the ocean."

LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS, PART 1 (PAGE 96)

Episode Synopsis: Meanwhile, Chief Tyrol is wracked with guilt after he accidentally assaults Cally when she wakes him from a recurring nightmare. Tyrol enlists the counsel of Brother Cavil, who suggests the Chief has been dreaming of killing himself because he fears he is a Cylon.

LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS, PART 1 (PAGE 98)

An additional plot strand of 'Lay Down Your Burdens, part I' was inspired by a suggestion from David Eick, who wanted to see Chief Tyrol facing a "psychotic meltdown" as a result of the events of the past season. Moore came up with the idea of Tyrol's "shocking" attack on Cally, which originally took place off-screen, until Eick pointed out it would be much more dramatic to show it. The Tyrol sub-plot also served to set up his partnering with a new love interest, Cally.

LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS, PART 1 (PAGE 99)

Scripting Brother Cavil's interaction with Chief Tyrol proved interesting for Moore, who enjoyed exploring the relationship between a priest who has lost his faith and the Lords of Kobol-fearing son of a Colonial cleric. Exploring this relationship was also memorable for Aaron Douglas. "I had some great scenes with Dean Stockwell," he says. "He's a very cool guy."

While counseling Tyrol, Brother Cavil quips that the Chief can't be a Cylon because he hasn't seen him at any of their meetings. "That was a call-back to a line in the miniseries," Moore notes, "where Number Six says that she doesn't remember seeing Aaron Doral at any of the Cylon parties."

LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS, PART 2 (PAGE 100)

Episode Synopsis: On New Caprica, President Gaius Baltar offers his surrender to the Cylons on behalf of all the Colonists. As the Cylons begin their occupation of New Caprica, Kara Thrace tells Chief Tyrol and Cally their fight has only just begun...

LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS, PART 2 (PAGE 102)

Surveillance Additional: The closing moments of 'Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II' sees Chief Tyrol giving a speech which was based on a real-life public address given by the late civil rights activist Mario Savio in 1964. "It's a speech that's very special to me," says David Eick. "Mario Savio's widow gave us permission to paraphrase it, and she liked the way we did it."

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: GALEN TYROL (PAGE 128, 130)

Galen Tyrol was required to do far more than repair Vipers and Raptors during the second season of Battlestar Galactica. "Season two gave me much more challenging and thought-provoking stuff to do," explains the actor behind Tyrol, Aaron Douglas, "Tyrol wasn't just walking around Vipers doing the tech talk in season two, he had a lot of other things to do."

"At the start of the season, I was shooting the Cylons and being heroic," he notes. "that stuff was a lot of fun, but it was tough because people close to Tyrol kept dying -- they started calling me 'The Angel of Death' on the set! After that, episodes like 'Resistance', 'Flight of the Phoenix' and 'Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I' were really big for Tyrol."

Much of Tyrol's arc for season two was driven by his feelings for his former lover, Sharon Valerii. As the season developed, Tyrol found his life turned upside down by the 'Boomer' Sharon's exposure as a Cylon, Boomer's death and the subsequent arrival of a second Number Eight Cylon.

"At the start of season two, Tyrol is pulled out of his denial about Sharon being a Cylon and then has to face her death," Douglas explains. "He finds himself tormented by all that and questions whether he really ever could love Sharon. Tyrol's problems increase when Sharon and Helo turn up. He becomes really angry with Helo, although he's not sure why."

"But Tyrol's arc changes during the second half of the season. He realizes he needs to put it behind him and he needs to let this new Sharon be with Helo. I was glad about that, because it allowed me to explore some new territory."

Season two's finale, 'Lay Down Your Burdens', brought several surprising changes for Tyrol -- including a new love interest, in the form of Cally. "I was shocked by that," Douglas admits. "At first, I did think to myself, 'I'm not sure I want to go there, guys...' I know some of the shows fans had predicted the characters were going to get together, but I'd always seen Tyrol and Cally as having a brother/sister relationship. Fortunately, I think the way they did it -- with Tyrol being oblivious to it until Cally finally tells him -- worked well."

The closing moments of the season two finale also required Douglas to grow a beard and wear glasses to play Tyrol who had become New Caprica's union leader. "The beard and glasses were David Eick's idea," says Douglas. "He had seen me with a beard during the first season hiatus and he knows I wear glasses when I watch football games, and he had told me he had wanted to find a way of showing Tyrol in a beard and glasses."

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: LIEUTENANT KARL 'HELO' AGATHON (PAGE 132)

Season two also developed Helo's friendship with Kara Thrace and saw him forge a unique bond with Chief Tyrol. "When Helo returns to the Galactica, the animosity and prejudice he faces is worse than he ever expected," Penikett says. "He finds there are only a few people who trust him, and Kara is one of them. Kara and Helo have been friends for a long time and have a buddy/buddy, brother/sister relationship; Helo is the only character Kara can confide in.

"Helo and Tyrol have an interesting relationship in season two," he continues, "I think everyone expected there to be some ongoing animosity between them over Sharon, but instead their love for Sharon actually brings them together. To their knowledge, they're the only humans who have fallen in love with Cylons -- so they're the only people who can understand what the other is going through."

"I think we're all happy we went in the direction with the Helo/Tyrol relationship," he adds. "I know Aaron and I both felt a love triangle would have been too soap opera-ish."

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: CALLY (PAGE 136)

From killing the 'Boomer' Number Eight to finding love with Galen Tyrol, Cally surprised viewers more than once during Battlestar Galactica's second season. "Season two was amazing for my character," says Cally's real-life alter ego, Nicki Clyne. "I got a lot of challenging and interesting scenes to work on and I was very grateful to be a part of some important storylines."

"Cally's arc for the season really begins with her experiences on Kobol," Clyne notes. "Her time on Kobol leaves her traumatized, and also brings her closer to Tyrol. That leads her to killing Boomer -- whom she blames for Tyrol being locked up and accused of being a Cylon -- and then later telling the Chief how she feels about him. I thought her arc made complete sense, because of everything that happened on Kobol."

Cally's arc for season two concluded with the character at Tyrol's side -- and heavily pregnant! "When I first read the script for the final ['Lay Down Your Burdens'], I was amazed to see my character going from being beaten up to being pregnant and apparently leading the normal life she had wanted since the start of the series," Clyne reveals. "that was definitely an interesting place to go!"

PRODUCTION DESIGN (PAGE 143 - 144)

As the Cylon Heavy Raider started to make its presence felt, Hudolin and his team concentrated on the creation of Chief Tyrol's homemade stealth fighter, the Blackbird. First seen in 'Flight of the Phoenix', the Blackbird was constructed with a poly-resin material that gave the ship a stealth-looking surface.

"Designing the Blackbird was a lot of fun," says Hudolin. "I remember telling Doug and Ken Rabehl, our assistant are director, that they had to treat it like a hot rod that had been built by someone in their backyard. They had to put it together like people who watch DIY shows. It became a really nice piece to work on because everyone who worked on it brought their own little touches to it."