Introduction

“Kobol’s Last Gleaming” is the two-part first season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.

In the first part, the human fleet discovers the abandoned planet Kobol. A survey team is stranded there by Cylons while President Laura Roslin convinces Starbuck to disobey orders and retrieve the Arrow of Apollo. In the second part, Commander William Adama stages a military coup and places Roslin in Galactica’s brig. Starbuck retrieves the Arrow and discovers that Boomer, still on Galactica, is a Cylon. This Boomer destroys the Cylon Basestar orbiting Kobol, returns to Galactica, and shoots Commander Adama; the season ends on a cliffhanger.

“Kobol’s Last Gleaming” underwent numerous substantial rewrites. It was one of the most expensive episodes of the first season to produce. The episode received favourable critical review. Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi ranked it as the fourth best episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. Simon Brew of Den of Geek called it “just outstanding television.”

Outline of Series 01, Episode 13

Starbuck arrives on Caprica and, after a fight with a Number Six, retrieves the Arrow of Apollo. She discovers Helo with Boomer. Helo stops her from killing Boomer: although she is a Cylon, she is also pregnant with his child.

On Kobol, Head Six shows Doctor Baltar a vision of a crib in an ancient Opera House and declares that God has tasked him with protecting the “first of the new generation of God’s children.”

Adama demands that Roslin resign, since convincing Starbuck to disobey orders violated their power-sharing arrangement where he would make all military decisions and she would oversee the civilians. When she refuses, he sends a team of Marines to Colonial One to arrest her. A standoff ensues between Colonel Tigh and Apollo and Roslin surrenders to avoid bloodshed. Both she and Apollo are sent to Galactica’s brig.

Adama orders the Boomer on Galactica to destroy the Cylon Basestar orbiting Kobol: a captured Cylon transponder allows Boomer’s Raptor to penetrate the Cylon defences. The launch system jams, so she is forced to land the Raptor inside the basestar and release the nuclear warhead manually. There she encounters several copies of herself, proving to her that she is a Cylon. She flees in the Raptor, destroys the basestar and returns to Galactica. Under the influence of her Cylon programming, Boomer shoots Adama twice in the torso.

Battlestar Galactica TV Series, Films & Webisodes

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Trivia

You can read interesting trivia and background details about the BSG franchise here.

Production & Filming Details

• Director: Michael Rymer.
• Writer: David Eick and Ronald D. Moore.
• Release Date: 24 January 2005 (UK).
• Running Time: 45 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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