Battlestar Galactica | A Commander's Sacrifice

Pegasus's Commander Garner sacrifices himself in order to save his ship from the Cylons.
Season 2, Episode 17 "The Captain's Hand" - A political struggle threatens to tear the fleet apart while an untested commander leads the Pegasus and its crew into peril.
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[@PetersaberHD]

Garner - sacrificing his life for the ship Adama - overwhelmed, out of his depth, desperately trying to keep his head Starbuck - having the time of her life

[@rromero7849]

I think Starbucks would have fun even if her hair was on fire LOL 👍

[@jakeg3733]

Or thinking she was at least. All the gutsy flying and hedonistic behavior just a cover for her being an extremely confused (and confusing) little girl

[@Rasterizing]

In fairness, Lee did everything correct - protect the damage top side, recall the vipers to protect, smash a basestar to cut down the odds... initially overwhelmed yes, after he'd had a few seconds to think, utterly correct.

[@chucks233]

@@jakeg3733 thats just another way to not go insane in that world just somehow having fun

[@djdoc06]

@@jakeg3733 she was having fun. She felt free and unburdened when flying, and knew she was the best at it. It was RESPITE from the hell of dealing with humans and the command structure, leaders like Tigh or Garner that she didn’t respect. What’s more fun, facing the brig, or flying lead and doing what you were born to do?

[@rossvolkmann1161]

My dad was in the air force and then later held a variety of corporate officer roles. We watched this together when it came out and I remember him pausing the TV after this scene was over and commenting that this was a very accurate representation of how people new to leadership roles panic. He said it's very common for people when they don't know what decisions to make to fall back on trying to micromanage what they know. If you can't feel confident in making decisions about something unfamiliar, it's comforting to revert to making decisions you know are correct, even if they're not the decisions that need your attention. Good Writing

[@KeromorV2]

Yep, we know this, did not need you or your father to tell us.

[@majorinconvenience]

@@KeromorV2 i needed that

[@charlesneely7995]

Wow the chief of engineering became Captain for only 20 minutes unbelievable that's not how I want to be promoted

[@tehmarok]

@@KeromorV2 His unneeded comment was still more welcome than yours. 🤷‍♂️ Do you need someone to tell you why or do you got that one figured out too?

[@jmills6397]

Wow, some real assholes on here I'd love to meet in real life.

[@FedralBI]

Garner: "Gemenon components! Tauron components! ALL MADE ON PICON!" (Garner grabs hammer and starts hitting) "This is how we fix problem on Virgon Battlestar!"

[@erickohlhorst747]

Sadly only 23 readers get this reference, priceless quote.

[@FedralBI]

@@erickohlhorst747 at least some people got it, and they are the only ones who matter. :D

[@erickohlhorst747]

@@FedralBI If only you could've typed the quote in Russian accent🤔

[@afcgeo882]

@@erickohlhorst747 A great tv show attracts all kinds of people. Some lines are for the witty, some are not. This one definitely falls into the latter category.

[@RossAllaire]

LOL perfect

[@pablom-f8762]

- "Baseship is turning away. He's... he's frakking running, Major!" - "But the other two aren't... helm, left full!" Meantime Kara is having a blast watching Lee cut a basestar in half and drive Pegasus like a stolen Corvette.

[@k1productions87]

Also the multiple raiders she shredded on her own with little effort

[@Spinikar]

Yeah, this was my thought to. Life and death situation and Kara is having the time of her life!

[@Tap-a-roo]

The only good decision he ever made. He knew the engineering team couldn’t figure out how to get the FTLs back online in time before they were destroyed, and his ability to command the ship would further compromise the battle. He turned over command to Adama in hopes that he would be better at the military aspect while he went back to his job -the one he was great at- to get the FTLs online. He swallowed his pride and turned over command. Have to give him props for that.

[@MHLegacy]

Agreed!

[@Knuspermonster]

True....he saw what needed to be done to save his man and did it ..... and he understood that he wasnt the man the CiC needed in that moment. So he gave command to Adama who had probably more idea how to operate a BS in Battle....

[@shanejohns7901]

Sometimes the best way to be a part of the solution is to not be a part of the problem.

[@asvarien]

But why didn't the engineering teams know how to get the FTL back online? The chief engineer doesn't explain how to complete every repair to his people, he tells them to do it and they get it done. Chief engineer is a management position, (s)he tells people what to do, not how to do it.

[@CathrineMacNiel]

@@asvarien and why aren't there any oxygen masks?

[@usptact]

Maybe he wasn’t a great commander, but he was a brilliant engineer with true commander’s heart.

[@stonem0013]

more like an engineer's heart

[@loneshadow503]

he was a great commander he made sure his crew and ship was save over his own life many people who enter these types of roles struggle at the start irl because its entirely different

[@jamesxiaolong2199]

He cares about his crew, but he just didn’t have the leadership to command a Battlestar.

[@firstname9954]

his heart was in the right place,he just wasn't a good tactician

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

@@loneshadow503 yeah he died a hero saving the lives of the ship and crew giving his life to make sure it happened

[@mchief190]

Seriously, you would have thought someone would have put some duct tape on Pegasus' CIC room's glass panes after the 10th time they all busted through.

[@ellig63]

I also love how you see people just jogging in the background. Casually jogging past the CIC in the midst of battle...

[@themc.kennyshow6585]

That shipped survived 3 nukes in that one battle! But dies pretty easily in S3.

[@ellig63]

@@themc.kennyshow6585 Well there is a difference between being nuked when your ship has armour for that kind of thing and being deliberately rammed into a Cylon Basestar when that type of requirement wasn't in the ship schematics.

[@aikrichter5403]

or one of those leak patches Helo used in the Raptor when they had a leak there. Could have saved the Guy. Or just a breathing gear-set for every person on board. I guess that wasn't in the budget,like Masks and gloves havn't been in the budget in nearly every hospital all over the world when Corona started.

[@cmj0929]

@@aikrichter5403 well to be fair he did ask about the gear, the other engineer said it was all being used to fight fires around the ship

[@pirobot668beta]

He was an excellent XO and Engineer. And he realized that Command in combat wasn't anything he was prepared for. In the heat of battle, he was arguing with another Engineer. He died protecting his ship; a Heroes death.

[@Mortlupo]

It's why we have a chain of Command and Engineers aren't in it, that is a Limited Duty position and not a Line Officer position.

[@clarkkent871]

....and then the destroyed the pegasus....it was all for nothing

[@tspencer227]

@@Mortlupo That's not true. Chief Engineer and Reactor Officer on any U.S. Naval ship are filled by line officers, and in the case of CVNs, the Reactor Officer has already had command of at least one ship. Matter of fact, my first two ROs were senior in experience (but not time in rank) to the carrier CO.

[@usul573]

@@tspencer227 What are the primary positions that are not line officers then? Supposedly Doctor Cottle who is a major is not a line officer, so he would not take command of the ship unless he was the last officer standing according to the wiki.

[@ladymercy5275]

His dying breath was literally the last breathable air in that section of the ship.

[@squeezybob84]

At least he made up for leaving Kevin at home.

[@generaldvw]

Ha ha ha !!!

[@Chloe-ge7vv]

Bruh 😂

[@MrVertex88]

Holy Frack, If I hadn't seen this comment I would have never noticed it was him. 👍🏻

[@video409]

Lmao😂😂😂

[@Pyro978]

Twice....

[@Psycodiver69]

I love the attention to detail, once the air got low the noise became muffled and once it was gone the noise was gone

[@jarowan]

Yeah, but that hatch would have required a block and tackle and several guys to pull open if there really was a significant breach in that compartment- normal atmospheric pressure is about 14psi. If even a quarter of the air in the compartment was gone, 3.5psi x very approximately 2000 square inches is 7560 lbs of force holding that hatch closed.

[@South_0f_Heaven_]

In space nobody can gear you scream

[@nakdad]

In space no one can smell when you sh!t your pants

[@charlesneely7995]

Edward James Edward James olmo a lot of people didn't like this new Battlestar Galactica but he always paid attention to detail

[@JeanLucCaptain]

Why not have an oxygen mask at the very least?!

[@scotty1108]

You can almost feel the weight of responsibility settle on Lee's shoulders. Well shot scene.

[@theindooroutdoorsman]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how fucking tough a Battlestar is? Both Pegasus and Galactica took multiple direct hits from nukes throughout the show and kept going like it was a water balloon.

[@JackalSon1]

I mean it's not surprising when they have about 10 feet of pure plota-mite armour. It's the toughest material in the multiverse. Sadly it's randomly ablative.

[@theindooroutdoorsman]

@@JackalSon1 Go watch BSG Razor, specifically the attack on Scorpion Fleetyard. Where you can see another Battlestar taking multiple nuke hits and still be in one piece, even while defenseless.

[@firstsgt279]

@@JackalSon1 I thought Unobtanium was

[@jakeg3733]

@@JackalSon1 Not as crazy as you think. Nukes aren't nearly as destructive in space, because there is no atmosphere. That classic massive shockwave and slow rumbling noise (which isn't accurate actually)? Not in a vacuum. Now, they still release a ton of energy (gamma/neutron radiation included) which has to be dealt with but there isn't a massive explosion, there's no air to heat up or push at supersonic speeds, which is what makes nuclear weapons so destructive IRL. The threat would probably be limited to thermal damage at the point of impact and EMP on equipment, which I'm sure they've mitigated. These ships are massive though, if you look at a cutaway of Galctica it has 10m or more of armor in some areas, with spacing and that would provide insane levels of protection against even nukes

[@Nine-Signs]

@@JackalSon1 The plating on battlestars is supposed to be nuke proof. When the enemies biggest weapon is nukes, and you have the materials and engineering to make a nuke proof vehicle, you make a nuke proof vehicle, like we do with our tanks. Now a direct nuke that is a hell of a lot of energy admittedly but in space energy dispersal is not the same as on earth. It's actually real hard to focus damage using thermal ordinance when in a vacuum as that plating is already at near absolute zero so in theory if the plating also uses heat exchange technology like they mention at one point, a lot of the grunt of a nuke is thermal and you can absorb that and dump it elsewhere using such methods. Indeed if you gave me a choice between a nuke and a rail gun for space combat I would choose the rail gun every time.

[@Morhek]

As Nog put it: "He may have been a hero. He may even have been a great man. But in the end he was a bad captain."

[@danielhaire6677]

Better than the Red Squad idiot. This CO knew when to remove himself from the problem and turn over command to someone with more tactical chops than him. He also instead of moping went to solve a problem he DID know the solution to.

[@The_Burrito]

The "good man, bad captain" trope gets thrown in pretty much anything Ronald D. Moore works on, honestly.

[@danielhaire6677]

I would disagree with Nog at the end of this. He made a Captain's call to place the ship and crew over his own ego and safety. Made him much more worthy a Captain than the Red Squad turd that Nog was talking about.

[@dm121984]

​@@danielhaire6677true, it's not a one to one comparison - the red squad guy chased glory and got most of his people killed; this guy seemed to realise his short comings and put Lee in charge whilst he did what he was best at

[@amadarobles6415]

Gotta love that moment “...... I have the con 😳”

[@DankHillCometh]

RIP John Heard you were a great father in Home Alone and a great Commander in BSG.

[@justinvanhorne9958]

So this is Mr. McCallister's day job. No wonder all he wanted was a nice xmas holiday every year :( So much job stress. Way to go Kevin. You can eat all the cheese pizza's you want now.

[@tomywijaya2442]

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂👍

[@hughsmith7504]

As a former valve turner on a navy ship, I 100% know the joy of having to get the hammer and "pry bars" out to operate a valve...some nub didn't back seat it properly.

[@Mobius_118]

Oddly enough, this is one of the only times you see the Pegasus get used properly in a battle, taking advantage of its more powerful bow mounted batteries instead of a full on broadside that older Battlestars enjoy. I also enjoy the small detail that the screen shakes when the mains fire but not the turrets above them.

[@pipikaka3886]

And when she came to the rescue of Pegasus, she was firing her forward main batteries. What a satisfying view it was, seeing the Pegasus ahead flank and all guns blazing.

[@Mobius_118]

@@pipikaka3886 You mean to the rescue of Galactica? Oddly enough, in that scene the internal bow batteries we see here are replaced with normal turrets and there's an additional turret on top of the flight pod that isn't present before or after it charges in.

[@termitreter6545]

@@Mobius_118 Weird how those errors happen in TV shows all the time. Guess its a shortage of budget. Or they cared more about spectacle than about visual consistency, and moved around batteries for effect?

[@Knuspermonster]

Yea. Turn Broadside to group and let the Flak eat the missiles while picking up one Target at a Time with the Main Guns.

[@sawyernorthrop4078]

The forward batteries make a lot more sense tbh, since you want to present the smallest target to the enemy

[@jwilliams703]

I didn't have much love for the command staff of the Pegasus but I do respect the sacrifice Garner made for the ship. He was a true engineer. Such a fantastic show.

[@danielhaire6677]

May not have been a good CO, but he cared for his crew and loved his ship. So IMHO, he was a good officer and a great engineer.

[@OldGeezer55]

" I canna help ya lad, but I welcome you to engineer heaven with an open gate and a bottle of 200 year old scotch. Oh and this bottle of, uh, ...it's green. Ya saved your ship and shipmates".

[@loneshadow503]

@@danielhaire6677 many people irl who enter leading roles suffer the same thing somewhere else in the comments a guy mentioned hes just like how people irl are when they start

[@ArsynZ]

Man, Sean Spicer's sacrifice still hits me hard. RIP

[@nakdad]

Hahahahahhahahahshshshshahshshahahshahahaha

[@danielbeck2739]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought he looked like Spicey.

[@shanejohns7901]

LOL -- there's a similarity, I suppose. But not that much. John Heard was his name. He died about 4 years ago. He also played Detective Vin Makazian -- the bad cop from the Sopranos. He jumped off a bridge in that series. And he dies from a lack of O2 in this one. I think maybe he was typecast into playing dying characters...

[@johnroscoe2406]

lmfao!

[@steveleeart]

@@shanejohns7901 I think he’s a cousin to some guy named Shawn? Sean? John… ? I forget.

[@joespinella7773]

I loved this scene so much and the fury that could be unleashed from a Mercury Clas Battlestar

[@Mobius_118]

It shows just how dangerous the Pegasus could be with a competent commander.

[@danielhaire6677]

@@Mobius_118 And consider that Mercury classes were supposed to be a limited-run technology demonstrator model of Battlestar. Imagine if they made more numerous Jupiter class-scale ships with the same updated tech.

[@davidbuckley2435]

​@danielhaire6677 if they'd updated the Jupiters with Mercury-era tech then they would have all been lost during the Cylon attack anyway. They're impressive bits of kit, but useless if the enemy has their finger on the off-switch

[@threalismaradona9899]

The Pegasus crew had some thugs but this dude was stand up

[@zoidberg444]

Lee did OK on his first command - with a little help from young general Hammond. 😂

[@resultancan115]

Lee did his best against 3 basestars if he had time to prepare fight as a commander he'd wiped them out (I mean not like New Caprica :D)

[@numberyellow]

Figured i'd comment, so that you know that at least ONE person got the Stargate reference.

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

@@numberyellow You beat me to it, though I admit, a week ago I wouldn't have known who he was. Netflix for the win.

[@coeusdarksoul2855]

Wait, what? From 1969? :D

[@zoidberg444]

@@coeusdarksoul2855 Go and watch the episode if you don't believe me.

[@schwartztronica]

I know that Pegasus was cut for budgetary reasons, but story-wise, it would have been much more interesting to see Lee's development as its commander in the third and fourth seasons.

[@Cailus3542]

Yeah, it was a shame. Understandable, but a shame.

[@Elthenar]

If it were realistic, the old man would have transferred his flag to the Pegasus the second Cain was out of the way.

[@jakeg3733]

It would have become the flagship, commanded by the senior Adama. That ship was an admiral's wet dream, it had everything you could want to coordinate a fleet and even build a new one from raw materials. But the show is called Battlestar _Galactica_ so instead it got sidelined

[@schwartztronica]

@@jakeg3733 Absolutely! Looking back, if I could do a reboot of the reboot, there's a lot I would keep, but also a lot that I would change. I would have upped the realism with respect to the military aspects of the show, such as this question. At a minimum, if I didn't have a subplot of Adama on the Pegasus, then I would have found some sort of believable rationale -- even if it's just the admiral being emotionally attached to an old ship and everyone complaining to him about it -- to keep him on the Galactica.

[@jakeg3733]

@@schwartztronica Well, reading between the lines and digging into lore a bit there are a few reasons you might prefer a Jupiter over a Mercury. The big one is self sufficiency for the _civilian_ fleet. Mercury Battlestars can sustain a military fleet with spare parts and planes, but nothing is said about water recycling or being able to tank off other ships with the water. I don't think they were designed for this but it seems Jupiters were. The other is tactical: Jupiters have much better turret coverage, pretty much every angle is covered by multiple turrets which can project flak or HE/AP rounds. Last, Jupiters have the capacity to take on a lot of spare personnel (or refugees) while most of the Mercury class is taken up by manufacturing and storage facilities. Still, I'd prefer Pegasus but you _could_ make an argument for Galactica. Pegasus is a finely honed offensive weapon but Galactica was designed in desperate times to do it all

[@jackknopf5974]

Nothing like fixing your light-speed drive with a WRENCH!

[@jameswilliams3581]

At least he didn't just hit a bunch of times until it worked.

[@toshtaggart2510]

He just opened auxilliary valves for the coolant, he didnt touched the FTL drive

[@thitsugaya1224]

The FTL is a machine, machines make heat, that has to be removed or the FTL overheats and blows out either stranding or destroying the ship. That's why Lee had them roll Pegasus over and the Vipers protect the top, because the topside cooling system took some damage and he knew it had to stay operational or Pegasus would be cooked inside out along with her crew.

[@pipikaka3886]

Even outnumbered, Pegasus could cripple a Basestar with a few salvos from her main forward guns. One of the most well designed spaceships in sci-fi history! Imagine the Colonial fleet intact and unleashing its full fury upon the fragile Cylon Basestars.

[@TheInfamousMrFox]

Imagine if the newer Battlestars and Vipers hadn't been networked, and instead hardened against outside signal.

[@Mobius_118]

@@TheInfamousMrFox In all honesty, the Valkyrie Battlestars would've been even more dangerous than the Mercurys since they have the highest firepower-to-mass ratio and are fast as hell compared to larger Battlestars (all of this on top of their strike craft complement). A small group of them could probably decimate a Cylon fleet in a matter of minutes let alone if they had the long-range support of a Mercury or were backed up by the absolute tank that is the Jupiters.

[@Great_America]

@@Mobius_118 I really hope we get to see more of the other class battlestars in the next reboot 🤞

[@shanejohns7901]

Pegasus was a Mercury class battlestar -- with only half the crew complement that the Jupiter class battlestars like Galactica have. The Jupiter classes have ~5000 crew. Mercury class only ~2500.

[@Kai-tn4yx]

@@Great_America Play Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, the game features all those new classes.

[@ArchTeryx00]

Man, you really see the POWER of the anticap cluster artillery on a Mercury class Battlestar. Four or five hits to the central core and the relatively unarmored Basestars just fell apart. Too bad they didn't have the ability (command or otherwise) to bring those things to bear a whole lot sooner.

[@cehaem2]

Dude, it's a TV show with tons of CGI....

[@jamesxiaolong2199]

It looks like those guns aren’t turret but rather torpedo tubes, magnetic accelerator cannons.

[@kurtpittsenbargar6956]

One of the finest shows ever written. Every character lost, no matter how small, was will written and powerful.

[@darkwhitedirewolf]

Engineering is about things, command is about people, don't you forget it..

[@Limited_Light]

Ferrealz?

[@DasIllu]

And social engineering?

[@MisterW0lfe]

@@DasIllu that's made up bs for people that failed at everything that really matters

[@zoidberg444]

Oddly enough most sub commanders are engineers first and foremost.

[@tspencer227]

@@zoidberg444 and Carrier ROs have commanded ships first.

[@brianhughes701]

I love showing Starbuck upside down on landing (yes I know why). Just a nice touch and contrast to the Galactica landings.

[@smk3390]

Say what you want, but that man gave his life to protect that ship and all those souls on board.

[@danielhaire6677]

He may not have been a good Captain, but he was a good officer and one hell of a ship's Engineer.

[@shanechapman3567]

Very true

[@MrDeadsr]

Remember when on Star Trek TNG Troi was going for her commanders exam? Sometimes as a CO you have to send people into their death to save a ship.

[@Iluvantir]

He might have not been ready to take command in a live fire situation, but he was damned ready to die fixing the broken Beast and save everyone elses lives.

[@loneshadow503]

he was like how many people irl are when they first start

[@tspencer227]

On U.S. nuclear-powered warships, the Reactor Officer billet is filled by a career surface warfare (nuclear) officer who's previously commanded at least one ship- in some cases (including my first two RO's on my carrier) they have more experience driving ships than the career aviators who command the carriers.

[@leifdeatherage7257]

@M J Yeah, we've seen lots of smaller craft. He could easily have been commander on a support frigate during peace time. He would have been completely out of his element being ambushed by three Basestars.

[@termitreter6545]

@M J I always assumed he was just bad at commanding people, but your point about PTSD and paranoia make a lot more sense. And after all, he had stil lot of people under him on his normal position, and was dealing with some of the most important systems of the ship.

[@abhijeetsutar5259]

So the CVs CO is a former naval fighter pilot?

[@tspencer227]

@@abhijeetsutar5259 naval aviator or naval flight officer of some kind. Somebody who's flown off carrier decks extensively, and they'll also have commanded a seagoing aviation squadron before starting the process (there are multiple steps, since they don't have experience driving/ commanding ships) to become a carrier CO.

[@Chezeehat]

I like how you get a glimpse of the engine rooms on a battlestar

[@richardched6085]

Pegasus took several Nukes... She's literally the Beast...

[@thitsugaya1224]

I love that they highlighted the importance of heat dissipation in space, where the cooling system to damage do Lee took steps to protect it, and where it became necessary to engage the secondary system manually. What bothers me is that the commander had to leave the CIC in the middle of a battle to go down and show the engineering team how to do their job.

[@alexarmstrong2019]

You have to love how Pegasus takes the nuclear hits. Is stuck in a situation that seems hopeless. Yet, they give the Cylons absolute hell before they are able to escape from the trap.

[@miller42]

1:26 I've watched that episode so many times that now I only see people jogging behind Lee instead of running.

[@davidcarrasco876]

Reminded me of Spock saving Enterprise in Wrath of Khan...

[@mherssens]

'the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few' plops hand on glass.

[@reesemontoya5318]

Apollo really whispers his orders "2200, MAIN BATTERY HAS FIRING SOLUTION" "fire" "UH EXCUSE ME SIR??" "i said fire" "SIR WE'RE IN RANGE!!!”

[@tomaszwitkowski9507]

Good leader don't need to shout to be heard :-)

[@TonyTylerDraws]

He’s unsure

[@808INFantry11X]

​@@tomaszwitkowski9507you ever been in General Quarters situation or combined armed situation trust me you need to yell there is so much noise and activity your voice needs to be the most clear out of anything going on especially as the CO. I served in the Navy on aircraft Carriers and also in the Army as an Infantry and it has one thing thats the same you need to what we call find your "man voice" when giving out orders or communicating. ABC of communication Accuracy Brevity and Clarity being loud and clear is implied in the later.

[@riedermarcus]

And that's why Battlestar Galactica was the best show ever!!!!!

[@generaldvw]

A lot to learn here. Excellent episode, excellent show.

[@scatterthewinds3126]

the best show imo

[@astonbailey-fong1178]

It’s a shame they never released the soundtrack for this episode. The ost when Pegasus comes under attack at the start is a banger.

[@byronharano2391]

With that little O2 only adrenalin kept him from hammering off his fingers to close that last valve.

[@danielhaire6677]

That and the sheer will to save his ship and crew.

[@SmokeyBCN]

2:49 I love those big fixed main batteries on Pegasus.

[@gabrielpaige3514]

So say we all!!!

[@Elthenar]

Scenes like this show why the Cylons didn't attack the Colonies until they had those hacks in place. The Pegasus alone was shown to be able to easily handle a basestar. Even here, with all the odds against it, it was doing work against that one basestar with it's forward guns. The Cylons wanted no part of a human fleet consisting of dozens or hundreds of basestars like Pegasus.

[@Silversmok3]

In the miniseries, Cdr Adama says 30 battlestars went down in the initial attacks. Someone else (Starbuck?) replies that it’s 1/3rd of the fleet. Picture a fleet of over 100 battlestars just like Galactica & Pegasus on war footing. The Cylons couldn’t win a straight up fight and they knew it, thus the CNP.

[@Elthenar]

@@Silversmok3 Not like Galactica, all of them would have been like Pegasus. Galactica was a relic that was about to be retired. Pagasus was a better reflection of the rest of the fleet.

[@jaffarebellion292]

@@Elthenar Actually, the Mercury class was something of a boondoggle. It was a test bed for new technologies, and thus not really suited for frontline service. Weaponry and armor were exchanged for onboard Viper manufacturing facilities and VR training suites. Now consider how frakked the toasters would be considering they had probably upwards of twenty or so ships (accounting for things like support vessels) that make the Beast look underpowered.

[@Knuspermonster]

@@Elthenar The Mercury was more of a Command ship while the far smaller Valkyrie was the main stay Battlestar at that Time.....and the Valkyrie is like goddam angry hornet with like a SHITLOAD of Guns strapped to it. Also dont forget that most Battlestars were centerpieces of Fleets called Battlestar group so every single one of those angry Giants had its own Fleet......

[@danielhaire6677]

@@jaffarebellion292 Correct, the majority of the fleet were the Valkyrie light Battlestars and the heavier Jupiter class were the main Battlestars of the Fleet. Valkyries were more numerous but weren't designed for the slugging matches of their big brothers. There were likely still examples of the mid-sized Minerva class running around that sacrificed durability and flight craft capacity for enhanced ship-to-ship firepower. Consider that a Mercury-Class For being several times as large as a Jupiter only had 10 more dual, heavy KEW Cannon systems compared to the Jupiter class. So put it this way: Mercury-Class: Large fleet command and resource production, essentially a heavily automated mobile station Jupiter-Class: Battleship with fighters Minerva-Class: Battlecruiser with some fighters Valkyrie-Class: Cruiser/Carrier hybrid with teeth.

[@chvzm]

Garner had some balls. Respect!

[@briangreen8292]

The amount of times I’ve listened to the entire soundtrack and never found the piece that plays here

[@Neoony]

yep exactly would also love to have this one in soundtrack

[@roshallock5747]

Soundtracks aren't the same as scores. I would suggest looking through those if you can find them.

[@terrycrichton]

Seeing a Battlestar light up a Basestar with the bow batteries was always a highlight.

[@Josh-99]

Everything about this show was so epic and tense. A true masterpiece, even with the somewhat shaky ending.

[@stephenmarks2781]

A great show and an outstanding scene.

[@bcmm1880]

It was a bad call for Adama to point Garnar as the Commander and it shows, the man had no experience or training in the role, he made a bad call but managed to keep himself together and do what he did best

[@danielhaire6677]

Unfortunately, there was a lack of Command Track trained personnel in the fleet, and Garnar was the senior remaining officer of the Pegasus crew. That made him next up for command. Unfortunately, his philosophy for running Engineering was the wrong way to command a warship.

[@noobster4779]

I mean he was the 4 person in the command hirarchy In no normal situation he would ever be called upon to command a battlestar. In combat usually the admirals dont die like flies because normally the battlestar blows up with them if they loose. Cain was admiral, she shoot the XO/second in command, her new XO (comms officer) later died as well and suddenly the chief engineer is in command of a battlestar. Problem is you also need a commander that is accepted by the crew and there was bad blood between Pegasus and Galactica. Adama couldnt just replace all their commanding officers with his own galactica crew or he would face a mutiny on Pegasus. And while Garnar was a bad commanding officer, he was far better then Cain. HE risked his battlestar in a militarily stupid decision but his intentions were goods, he wanted to save his crew. Meanwhile Cain executed her crew or massacred civilians.... Cain would be the first person to escape Pegasus in a raptor if she could save here own skin...

[@loneshadow503]

someone else in the comments said he was like how many people irl are when they are in control first time

[@BGSKYDUDE]

@@noobster4779 Cain was indeed horrible and she was constantly making irrational decisions but I can't see her leaving Pegasus to save her own skin, she might shoot anyone who tries to to that but she wouldn't leave her ship.

[@patrickwilkinson7351]

Like others have said, the main reason he was in command is becuase frankly he was the only remaining senior officer from Pegasus still alive, so command fell to him by default, which is the same reason why Lee ends up becoming the next commander of Pegasus. There's just no other options as far as senior officers go. Galactica was being decommissioned, so she didn't have a full crew onboard to begin with, and Pegasus lost about 700 people in the attack, which presumably includes some officers. After Cain, he XO, and Fisk all bite the bullet, pretty much the only two people who have high enough rank to take command are either Garner or Tigh. Garner wasn't a great choice, but Tigh had proved on quite a few occasions that he was simply not up to being in command on a long-term basis, so it was Garner's turn.

[@danielhaire6677]

He wasn't a good CO, but he was a good man at the end and one hell of a Miracle Worker of an Engineer.

[@loneshadow503]

he was the same as how many people are irl when they take control

[@MHLegacy]

(0:26) Wait, hold on...it sounds like she says "Showboat, you take red squadron and hit 'em on the right, CATBERT, you take green and hit 'em on the left." Catbert? Did the 12 Colonies ALSO have the "Dilbert" comic strip? Is Scott Adams a Cylon? Oh, no wait...maybe he's descended from the Adamas! All of this has happened before. And all of this will happen again... ...just like the endless monotony of Dilbert's office.

[@kimrodriguez1698]

Awesome sequence of events

[@spartandud3]

Garner. Not the greatest leader but still an absolute hero.

[@sjpsjpsjp3]

All these comments and no one talks about how brilliant John Heard was in his single appearance on the show. Great writing backed up by his amazing performance as Garner; chewing the scenery with finesse. He is missed.

[@KylewithaK]

A heroe’s death

[@Paradox3713]

I love watching Starbuck enjoy her playtime. 🤣

[@shanechapman3567]

This episode was intense and great

[@MovieSpottingBerlin]

The engineer really stood out in the episode.

[@superzentredi]

I love how Battlestars can shrug off Nuclear explosions, for the record the Pegasus main batteries are the equivalent of subway tunnels firing train sized ammo.

[@dustinplatt6882]

I frakkin love this show.

[@jeffreyaguilar8028]

2:49 that there is proof if the fleet survived and couldn’t be hacked with a virus the cylons would’ve lost. The new baseships are not meant for ship to ship battle with only missiles a battlestar can take out with the turrets. Planetary bombardment but not ship to ship fire like the old hourglass shaped baseships. Those canons there blow baseships in half.

[@jeffreyaguilar8028]

@@Simeon301091 no of coarse, there is no such thing as a fair fight. Nor should there.

[@devildawgpryde4764]

Love this series.

[@byronharano2391]

Close the hatch. That is a direct order not a request. "😨Aye Aye Sir! Closing the hatch (truly a scuttle)."

[@jonathanhazel6777]

Very good scene from my favourite TV show on dvd and commander Lee adama is the best of the battlestar pegasus than garner thanks 😊.

[@heavyarms55]

This was an Amazing "no pressure" moment.

[@tnecklover]

"Nothing so honoured his life as to his leaving of it!" Macbeth.

[@qcarr]

Great CHENG, bad commander. Amazing scene!

[@barreloffun10]

Hehehe, first ship I was on, the CHENG was an Asian guy. Took me a while to figure out that wasn't his name 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@guntherultraboltnovacrunch5248]

0:46 they had corded phones on the battlestars "back then".

[@fafnir9690]

From what I recall a lot of that was done on purpose. While the Mercury classes were made to be a very advanced upgrade over Jupiter Class there were still somethings kept such as the corded communications. Their ships actually used to be very advanced technology-wise before the first war however the cyclons did cyber attacks and fucked them. From there they regressed the software in their ships during the first war. Funny though since when they felt comfortable enough to start using advanced tech in their ships again(Vipers as well) They got fucked the same exact way lol.

[@danielhaire6677]

@@fafnir9690 And upgrading to their full capability and networking the entire ships is what allowed the Cylons' hacks to cripple the fleet.

[@Gquequeg98]

“This CIC is an hour away from my office”

[@FekLeyrTarg]

During this battle, I think Lee showed that he had the potential to be a competent warship commander. So it find it rather surprising that the same guy sacrificed Pegasus like that at New Caprica.

[@Chubbycat747]

Captain Kirk knew how things worked. That's how he got the Reliant to drop its shields. A good leader knows how things work.

[@lolza-qh2xw]

May not have been his ship to command but it was his ship by heart.

[@Ajax1063]

The glass in those doors beeded to be replaced multiple times during the show's battles. I swear that door broke like that like 3 times.

[@Search_In_Google]

died like a hero and payed with his own life for his ignorance and fool. But i really respected this character

[@user-tg9qz2ul2k]

Music builds to the scean 😮

[@Vasun05]

3:55 I always noticed Garner said "Goddamn Hatch" not "Godsdamn Hatch"

[@thitsugaya1224]

Maybe he was a monotheist.

[@juntalk4]

He should have borrowed the special duck tape from chief tyrol.

[@zakthorne4147]

Since he stopped the pressure leak, couldn't they have just opened the hatch he went through from the outside and flood the room O2 so he didn't suffocate?

[@anthonygonzalez2897]

No, he never stopped the pressure leak. Gardner was opening Auxiliary coolant valves for the FTL. He did nothing to fix the hole in the wall venting all his air.

[@dodgeplow]

@@anthonygonzalez2897 you would think they could've given him an occasional refill

[@Mobius_118]

@@dodgeplow Unfortunately, opening up the pressurized section of the ship would increase the chance of explosive decompression due to over-pressurization. Plus, willingly letting air go like that is an extremely poor decision on a spacecraft, especially during combat.

[@TwilightMysts]

Also, if you look at the hatch, it is on the pressurized side of the bulkhead. If there was an air leak then it was a miracle they got it open the first time. Earth at sea level is approximately 33 pounds of pressure per square inch. Even if they were operating at lower pressure of 15 psi, with a two foot by three foot hatch there would be almost 13,000 pounds of force pushing that hatch closed (2 feet times three feet times 12 inches times 12 inches times 15 psi = 12960 pounds of force). Even a 12 x 18 inch hatch (which I am sure it is bigger than that) that is 3,240 pounds of force.

[@RescuedRecordings]

@@dodgeplow He coulda slapped some space duct tape on the leak before turning the valves.

[@vonEnglish]

awesome sceen

[@volcano8043]

I'm really mad they got rid of Pegasus. I mean, the fleet needed SOME realistic balance against the Cylon fleet.

[@albertmorris6536]

I love how fighters can instantly leave combat and land back on the ship in this series.

[@kazmark_gl8652]

Having played the tie-in game, Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. a huge amount of tension actually comes from recalling fighters if you need to make an emergency jump. especially when you turn on the added difficulty that keeps persistent damage. your Vipers need to fly all the way back to their home ships before you jump or they get left behind. if you leave birds behind, they are gone, and you have to expend resources to re-arm your ships for the next fight. so there are a lot of agonizing moments where your ship needs to leave as soon as possible before it gets destroyed, but your vipers can't instantly return to the landing pods.

[@chieftech714]

garner was not a commanding officer's officer. He was a man's man. When it counted, he got pegasus back online. If there had been a man among them to help him, he survives that fix.

[@mortman200]

Garner may have been an average commander BUT HE WAS A BRILLIANT SCIENTIST

[@TheCrackedFirebird]

Nice DBZ reference

[@egg64]

RIP John Heard

[@jeepinbanditrider]

Some people are brilliant leaders and tacticians. Some are brilliant engineers. He was an engineer.

[@SilentReflection101]

I don't have to like him to know that I respect him.

[@raidensix]

Couldn't they have opened the hatch for a bit to give Garner additional air?

[@shadowphoenix1696]

Wasting air on a spaceship in the middle of battle is a very bad idea. Hell it's a bad idea even if there not in battle. The air recycling system can only keep up if there's no leaks otherwise you have to seal up the area with leaks or risk losing whole section of the ship until the leak is stopped and then you got to replace the air.

[@erickohlhorst747]

Totally could have done that......I was thinking the same exact thing. He was in the compartment for at my guess 5 minutes. Also after the FTL was online he could have been revived in a second with O2 and rescue breathing. The episode did what it was supposed to do but once he went in there and fixed the FTL the crew could have went in there and saved him. Hypoxia is easily reversible.

[@PetersaberHD]

That's how you risk explosive decompression. These doors have a purpose, much like hatches on submarines.

[@alduintheanti-dragonborn]

Ah, the standard FTL Faster Than Light experience.

[@hyneksmid3293]

True :D

[@alduintheanti-dragonborn]

@@hyneksmid3293 Basically what happens when the Rebel Fleet catches up to you.

[@HHopebringer]

"Oh yeah? Watch this!" (Hyperdrive kicks up, sputters, and dies) "Watch what?!"

[@Search_In_Google]

Why are there so many glass windows and doors in the Battlestar Command Centre? I mean, they're always breaking under the strain. Probably in battlestar's warehouse there is a lot of glass to replace them (and there could be something more useful - shells, for example). We saw how Battlestar destroyed basestar with a salvo of bow guns. What would have prevented from firing such a salvo at the second basestar, at the third and so on? There doesn't seem to be any obstacles.

[@cpfs936]

Totally unbelievable. He was out of oxygen to the point of unconsciousness for literally a couple of minutes. He could've easily been dragged out and resuscitated.

[@ghoulbby]

Fr. The reasons don't make sense. unpressured room? OK, they already opened it once, so that's no excuse. Losing air? so they couldn't lose SECONDS more air to save the Captain? Yeah, right. They just left the man in there to die lol.

[@thetombuck]

The whole ship is on fire, everything is fucked. Maybe there was no one left to save him or they made the choice to save multiple lives over one

[@TonyTylerDraws]

They had to prep for FTL

[@ShepardCZ]

They could have at least opened the door for a few seconds after he got the coolant pressure back.

[@wadearendsee4430]

Pegasus getting caught in a ambush was one of those "You're locked in here with me" moments cut a basestar in half and inflicted heavy raider losses before they left lmao. The only reason it didn't waste more of the cylons is because its captain was an idiot.

[@erickohlhorst747]

Honestly I thought they could have opened the compartment hatch intermittently to vent additional O2 into the compartment preventing absolute zero oxygen in the space he was working. After identifying the rupture in the hull another team could have gone into the area to seal it with a similar device Helo and Boomer used in episode 1 on the Raptor after first Cylon contact when fragments injured Helo and penatrated the Raptor.

[@DigitalJesuit]

I'll take a shot here... If that hatch was keeping the ship from venting through the hull rupture, it would have been almost impossible to open it against the pressure being exerted on its surface. In the scene, we see that the hatch is pulled open from the midship side. That means that once it was closed and the compartment went partial vacuum, the pressure difference would have made been pushing into the hatch frame. That hatched looked to be about 5'x3' or roughly 2,160 square inches. The O2 gauge LOOKS like it's indicating 30 (psi?) in the cabin (which, admittedly, is an INSANE over pressurization of a ship in vacuum). That means when the gauge had dropped to half of the initial level, there was 32,400 lbs of force on that door. When it was a vacuum in the compartment, there would have been 64,800 lbs of force. Even if we assume the gauges were not indicating psi, and the ship was pressurized at ~12psi (it's 14.7psi at sea level on Earth), you're still looking at 12,960lbs and 25,920lbs of force to open the door. The problem with this (in-scene) is that they were so easily able to open the door in the first place (it was already venting atmo) and that it didn't SLAM shut the moment they started closing it (again, due to the pressure differential.) ... I know you didn't ask for that answer, but you know... geeks. :)

[@erickohlhorst747]

@@DigitalJesuit I appreciate the explanation, simply based upon the ease of opening the hatch I surmised all they had to do was intermittently open and close the door....the breech in the hall looked reasonably small......with the device Helo had in episode 1 where he sealed up the Raptor I felt that Pegasus would have equipment on virtually every space/compartment to seal hull breeches.....ultimately the scene told a story, we saw Cali and the chief blown out into space into an open Raptor so it just seemed to me with just a few seconds thought could have prevented the former XO from dying.

[@Mobius_118]

@@erickohlhorst747 From what we saw in season 4, Battlestars have two layers of hull which would mean that the actual breach was most likely larger than the crack we saw. Tyrol tried to patch a much smaller crack and failed to do so (with the patch failing the moment they tried to pressurize the airlock), and that whole situation occurred while the Galactica was in a safe area rather than under heavy fire like the Pegasus is here. Purposely diverting air into an area with a hull breach during combat is, at best, a really stupid idea, and at worst, could compromise the rest of the ship.

[@erickohlhorst747]

@@Mobius_118 Perhaps but he literally went in the compartment with the hull breach and turned 3 or 4 wheels so the FTL would come back online. I thought the death was underwhelming not at all like Cat flying her Raptor through high radiation. It served its purpose certainly and continued the story line BUT I have watched the great lengths the NAVY goes to simulate submarine floodings and trouble shooting under diress training for new sailors .

[@Mobius_118]

@@erickohlhorst747 Not every death needs to be glorious. Hell, maintenance is probably one of the most unsung jobs in the military. And at the end of the day, he did save the Pegasus as Lee stated in his report to Adama. He made his choice with zero hesitation and payed the price for it. And this has nothing to do with being under duress. If they divert air into a breached compartment, that means the rest of that area (which is most likely sealed to prevent a total loss of atmosphere in the event of a major breach) would lose air as well, which is something you don't want while the ship is actively under fire.

[@BoxStudioExecutive]

So many personnel on Pegasus’ engine room, meanwhile on Galactica….

[@Knuspermonster]

They had THE chief

[@BoxStudioExecutive]

@@Knuspermonster But he worked on the flight deck, not engineering.

[@bsgtrekfan88]

and the score to this scene is NOT ON THE SOUNDTRACK!!! FRAK!!