Bastille Day (Battlestar Galactica)
| "Bastille Day" | |
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| Battlestar Galactica episode | |
Political radical Tom Zarek
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Allan Kroeker |
| Written by | Toni Graphia |
| Original air date | UK: November 1, 2004 US: January 21, 2005 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Bastille Day" is the third episode of the first season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
President Roslin sends a delegation led by Apollo to the Astral Queen to solicit help from its 1,500 prisoners in extracting water from a recently discovered source on a nearby moon. Those who agree to help will earn "points" towards early freedom.
The prisoners refuse and manage to capture the delegation as hostages. Their leader, Tom Zarek (a political radical and terrorist from Sagittaron), demands an election among the human survivors and Roslin's immediate resignation. Commander Adama instead has a squad of marines infiltrate the prison ship. Apollo realizes that a bloodbath on the Astral Queen will play into Zarek's hands and destabilize the civilian government. He stops the assault and forces a compromise: in exchange for the prisoners' cooperation in retrieving the water, elections will be held within a year.
Apollo later points out to Roslin and Adama that her term is supposed to be up within a year, anyway. Both leaders believe that Apollo's choice shows greater loyalty to Roslin, with Commander Adama (already at odds with Apollo's appointed role as Roslin's "special advisor" that he sees as a conflict of interest) expressing discontent and Roslin informing him that she has cancer.
At the direction of his internal Number Six, Dr. Baltar convinces Commander Adama to give him a nuclear warhead, claiming he needs materials from it to build the Cylon detector.
Meanwhile, on Caprica, Helo and Caprica-Boomer continue their trek through a ruined city.
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