Cast
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama
Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Jamie Bamber as Lee "Apollo" Adama
Michael Hogan as Col. Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Grace Park as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
Tahmoh Penikett as Helo
Aaron Douglas as CPO Galen Tyrol
Luciana Carro as Lt. Louanne 'Kat' Katraine
Synopsis
Galactica is tasked to protect a mining operation within an asteroid field, putting a heavy burden on the Viper pilots who must contend with a hotshot Cylon raider they call Scar.
High Points
- The interaction between Starbuck and Kat throughout the episode. They're a big part of why we're being shown this story, and they're done superbly.
- The time-jumping structure of the episode. I know I complained about a similar thing only last week, but this week's cutting around was extremely effective.
- Starbuck's conversation with Sharon.
Low Point
The first time the episode jumped backward in time. I really was thinking 'oh no, not again.' Thankfully it turned out well, but please, hold off on it next week. It's getting old. You might argue that this low point contradicts one of the high points above, but they got away with it this time. They might not manage it again.
The Scores
The basic concept of the episode isn't hugely original. One group of pilots up against a hot-shot enemy fighter is something familiar from many tales of the Royal Flying Corps in France during the First World War, as anybody who's read any of the Biggles stories will know. It's not entirely formulaic though, and I never felt like they were retreading familiar ground. Four out of six.
Another visual feast from the effects team. The asteroids, the dust, the ships and the distinctive appearance of Scar's hull were all excellent. A pity that the mining ship looked like it was constructed in a 3D modelling package instead of in a shipyard somewhere in the twelve colonies. Not that it's a bad model, it just doesn't have quite the same realism to it that the other ships we've seen so far have had. Five out of six, because everything else was up to the usual standard.
This is a great story. While it moves fairly clearly along the path to its inevitable resolution, it shows us many interesting things along the way. Five out of six.
Once more the acting is tested by a limited-focus episode. In this case, Katee Sackhoff and Luciana Carro were the ones put to the test, and they handled it superbly. Unfortunately they did make some of the other cast look slightly weak at times. Five out of six.
Emotional response was higher than last week, although it's going to take a lot to live up to the mid-season events with Admiral Cain. Five out of six.
Getting the production right on a nonlinear episode can't be particularly easy, but everything's assembled very well. We don't see much of anywhere really in this episode, just bits of the Galactica we've seen before and some stunning new space shots (which I praised under effects). I really can't find any fault with any of it though. Five out of six.
Overall, five out of six. It's a great episode, but I can't forget that initial sense of worry when I realised we'd started off with a future event again. It's fortunate that this was leading us into a different kind of episode to what we've come to expect.
In total, Scar receives a respectable thirty-four out of forty-two.
