BACHELOR OFFICER’S QUARTERS While Apollo was missing on Equellus, Starbuck invited Boxey to spend the night in the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters with the pilots, an offer Boxey eagerly accepted (LW). What Starbuck was actually referring to is Blue Squadron’s bunkroom, which is considerably less private and pleasant than a typical modern military BOQ.

BACTERIA TRAP Apollo sent Jolly to get some more decontamination chambers, which he said were parked by the “bacteria trap;” he appears to be referring to the decontamination chamber attached to the shuttle (GE).

BALCON INFUSION A treatment applied by the people of the Ship of Lights to Starbuck. His “restons”  respond to this and he is able to stand up (WG).

BALTAR, COUNT (John Colicos) Baltar’s early life and career are unknown. It is possible that at one time he was in the military, as Karibdis refers to him as “Commander Baltar” (MR). He eventually became a member of the Council of Twelve and as such he proceeded to sell out the human race to the Cylons. The actual deal was that the Cylons would destroy all of the Colonies save Baltar’s (and we have no idea which Colony was his), and install him as dictator over the remnants. Unsurprisingly, the Cylons reneged and simply destroyed everything (P).
Although Imperious Leader decided to have him executed, Baltar was able to save himself by suggesting that he, as a human, was best suited to track down the missing Galactica and her fleet of civilian ships (P). Imperious Leader found this reasonable and put Baltar in charge of a base ship with an IL class Cylon aide, Lucifer, to assist him (LG). Baltar then managed to screw up every chance he had to destroy the Galactica. His offer of peace on Kobol backfired when Lucifer launched an attack on the planet (LG), the Ravashol pulsar was destroyed by Apollo, Croft, and Leda before it could destroy the Galactica (GI), and of course Cain made an opportune appearance to spoil all of Baltar’s schemes in “The Living Legend.”
When the mysterious lights began to appear in “War of the Gods,” Baltar decided to visit the fleet under sign of truce to discuss the situation with Adama, believing that the Cylons and Colonials alike were confronted with something beyond them. In a wonderful example of Colonial duplicity, Baltar was promptly thrown in the brig.
During his imprisonment Baltar performed menial tasks aboard the prison barge (BE) and “helped” Apollo find the true murderer of Ortega (MR). Later, with the help of the captured Alliance Enforcers and the imprisoned Borellian Nomen, Baltar tried to escape but failed (BE). He was finally granted exile on a suitable planet, with supplies and a small transmitter, in exchange for the information that enabled Apollo and Starbuck to disable the sensors of a Cylon base ship so the Galactica could attack and destroy it (HG). Baltar’s fate is unknown, but he undoubtedly would have been back had there been a second season.
Glen Larson seems to have never decided if Baltar was merely evil or actually insane, and the character changed from episode to episode to meet requirements. The Baltar of “Young Lords” is evil, the Baltar of “Living Legend,” (the very next episode!) with his ludicrous speech to Lucifer about making Gamoray his “seat of power” for an obvious power-bid against the Imperious Leader, is insane, while in “War of the Gods” Baltar shows great courage and dignity when he decides he must visit the fleet to confer with Adama.
Actor John Colicos was no stranger to television SF. He was in fact Star Trek’s very first Klingon, the ruthless Commander Kor in “Errand of Mercy,” a role he reprised in two Star Trek – The Next Generation episodes. John Colicos died in 2000, at the age of 71.

BARGE LICE A demeaning term used by both Croft and Thane to refer to inmates of the prison barge (GI)

BARTON, FLIGHT SERGEANT (W.K. Stratton) A young Galactica pilot, Flight Sergeant Barton was Ortega’s wingman and played Triad with him, but was careful to point out that he was not his friend. As Barton put it, “I fly with him because I’m assigned, I play with him because he wins.” After Ortega’s murder Apollo asked Barton if he knew anyone who might have wanted to kill Ortega, and Barton recalled that once on patrol Ortega had boasted that there was only one person with the guts to kill him—Karibdis. He also recalled that Ortega hung around a certain pyramid dealer’s table on the Rising Star. Unwittingly, the young sergeant gave Apollo the clues he needed to solve the mystery (MR).
Actor W.K. Stratton was one of a number of actors from Don Bellisario’s earlier series Baa Baa Black Sheep who appeared in BG.

BASE SHIP A term used interchangeably with “base star” for Cylon capital ships. Also used by Starbuck in reference to the Galactica (P).

BASE STAR Base stars are the massive Cylon command ships, shaped like two peaked disks joined in the middle. Base ships carry 300 Cylon raiders in multiple hangars, 2 long-range megapulsars, plus offensive and defensive lasers and missile batteries. Thousands of Cylon centurions are stationed aboard the ship, carrying out the evil orders of Baltar or the Imperious Leader. At the center of the base star is its command chamber, where the base star commander sits eerily atop a pedestal giving orders to the subservient centurions. The number of base stars in Cylon service is not known, but seems to be considerably higher than the number of battlestars in the Colonial Fleet, at least as it existed at the time of the destruction of the Colonies.
In the series, a total of four base stars were destroyed; one at Carillon in the explosion of the planet (P), two by the Pegasus near Gamoray (LL), and one by the Galactica in “The Hand of God.” Three more are known to have been destroyed by Commander Kronus’ Fourth Fleet at the Battle of the Cosmora Archipelago some time before the destruction of the Colonies (TC).

BATTLE CHARTS Adama studied battle charts of the Hatari sector when Apollo was lost there (LW). Evidently an area of space fairly well known to the Colonials, since detailed charts of it exist and battles with the Cylons have previously been fought there.

BATTLESTAR, COLONIAL A battlestar is the largest type of Colonial warship. Only one is known to survive (with the possible exception of the Pegasus).
A battlestar is several thousand feet long and carries a total of 150 vipers (HG) as well as a number of shuttles. Vipers are launched into space from 16 tubes installed in each of the ship’s two hangar pods. The pods also contain the landing deck and servicing areas for the vipers, and the two pods are connected by a tube that runs underneath the battlestar, making it easy to transfer vipers and other equipment from one bay to the other. Built-in battlestar armament includes lasers in turrets and fixed lasers firing forward, plus attack missiles. Enormous engines fueled with a mix of tylium and solium power the ship. Fire protection is provided by a built-in boraton mist system, a system that was disabled in “Fire in Space.” Exact details of a battlestar’s top speed, range, defensive, and offensive armaments have never been revealed (although a reader of this website recently sent along an interesting possible solution at least as regards the defensive laser turrets: “I think the answer can be found in in the one scene that is replayed throughout the series. When Adama orders all batteries to commence firing, there is a close up of a weapons panel with a hand selecting switches. There are 9 switches on the top row labeled ‘Laser Turrets’ and there are 6 switches on the bottom row labeled ‘Lateral Lasers’. This would indicate a total of 15 laser batteries that a battlestar would be armed with. The lateral lasers may have two turrets each, giving a total of 21 laser turrets [taken from a battle scene that shows one turret located on the bottom and another firing from the top of an alcove].” An interesting solution and very probably correct, in my view).  The number of persons needed to operate the ship is also a mystery, although the warrior compliment (presumably pilots?) is 200 (P).
The control center of the ship is the bridge, a large, three-level command area manned by numerous crew at consoles. The officer in charge supervises from the top level. The bridge is located in the forward upper hull of the ship.
Only these battlestar names are known from direct reference in the series; Atlantia (P) and Columbia (GI), both destroyed at the peace conference with two other ships, Pegasus (LL), Rycon (TC), and of course, Galactica, but also see this article for clues to other possible names.

BATTLESTAR, CYLON Cylon base ships are sometimes referred to as “Cylon battlestars” (GI).

BELLOBY, SIRESS (Brett Somers) A fading siren who evidently had had a fling with Commander Adama before his marriage, she was the owner of a non-military energizer he needed to trade to the farmers on Sectar for new seed after the disaster to the agro ship. Adama was forced to court her in order to get the energizer, all the while looking like a man on the way to his own execution. Siress Belloby accompanied the mission to Sectar and was captured by the Borays. After Adama’s ineffectual attempts at diplomacy (“You love your people. I love my people!” Thank you Glen Larson for giving Lorne Greene such thoroughly appalling lines), she was freed by Starbuck  when he made his deal with Nogow. Afterwards, she informed Adama that he was simply too old for her; at her stage in life, she claimed, she needs “a real animal.” Nogow, perhaps (MW).

BETA CHANNEL Communications channel used in “Baltar’s Escape.”

BETA DECK Corporal Lomas informed the nomen that Starbuck is billeted with Blue Squadron on Beta deck aboard the Galactica (MN).

BETA SECTION or BETA COMPANY Unfortunate group, possibly consisting of defaulters, sent out onto the exterior of an old skybus to hunt out solium leaks (P).

BETA SECTOR Region of space for which Aurora requested navigational details from the navigators aboard the Galactica. Supposedly she wanted the information for Kronus, but in fact she needed it for the escape of the mutineers, who were planning to settle a suitable planet in that area (TC).

BILLET Living quarters. Chameleon insisted that Siress Blassie return with him to his billet so he could “repay” her (MN). Uh, yeah.

BIO-PULSE LINES After being steamed by Athena in the launch tube, Starbuck insisted to Apollo that his bio-pulse lines indicated that he shouldn’t fly the mission into the Madagon minefield (P). Evidently some measure of physical well-being.

BIO-ROBOTICS INSTITUTES When Apollo theorized that Iblis might be an android, Dr. Salik commented that the Colonial Bio-Robotics institutes were very advanced in that art (WG); a very strange claim for a race that appears to be totally opposed to robots and androids in general.

BLACKSHIRT Derogatory reference to Council Security personnel, who wear black uniforms (GE).

BLADERS Currency on Equellus (LW).

BLASSIE, SIRESS (Anne Jeffreys) Wealthy older woman who Chameleon attached himself to like a limpit to because she could finance his gambling. We can assume she’s taken proper revenge since she was put in charge of Chameleon’s rehabilitation (MN).

BLOOD TRAIL or BLOOD HUNT Borellian nomen customarily go on a blood trail to single-mindedly hunt down and kill any person who has in any way offended them. Three nomen went on a blood trail to track down Chameleon (MN).

BLUE TEAM Triad team on which Boomer normally plays. In “Murder on the Rising Star” Blue Team is comprised of Flight Sergeants Ortega and Barton.

BLUE SQUADRON A viper squadron aboard the Galactica; Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, and most of the regular gang are assigned to it. Most of the Blue Squadron pilots came down with the strange fever transmitted by Boomer and Jolly, leaving the fleet practically defenseless due to the shortage of pilots (LP). Later, presumably more squadrons were created as more pilots were trained, as well as squadrons created by pilots and vipers from the Pegasus, and by the end of the series the Galactica could field 150 vipers (HG). Although squadron sizes were never discussed, a reasonable assumption would be 20 vipers per squadron ( there are 16 launch tubes in each hangar bay, plus the squadron would have extra vipers to replace those being serviced) and six squadrons per battlestar, plus spares, vipers under repair or overhaul, and training craft.

BOARK Siress Belloby refers to Nogow as a boark (MW). Probably the only bit of Guy Magar’s rejected script “Mutiny,” in which boarks are pig-like creatures, to make it into BG.

BOGAN, SIRE (Barry Nelson) Sire Bogan is the head of the small agro community of Serenity, located on the planet Sectar. Probably a basically good and honest man forced by circumstances to be slightly slippery, he conned Starbuck into becoming Serenity’s constable. Later, after the warriors took care of the Boray problem, Sire Bogan promised to clean up his act (MW).

BOJAY, LIEUTENANT (Jack Stauffer) Bojay was a pilot with Pegasus’ Silver Spar Squadron. When Sheba and Bojay intercepted Apollo and Starbuck, Starbuck recognized Bojay’s voice; he had been a Galactica Blue Squadron pilot before transferring to the Fifth Fleet. Something of a Cain-worshipper, Bojay was in the forefront of the group of Pegasus warriors who confronted Apollo and Boomer in the hangar of the Pegasus when the Galactica warriors arrived to begin the redistribution of the Pegasus’ fuel. Later he was shot and wounded during the raid on the Gamoray control center and was transferred with the other wounded to the Galactica before the Pegasus vanished during her combat with the Cylon base ships (LL). Bojay became a pilot aboard the Galactica; he was one of the first pilots to disappear in “War of the Gods.”

BOOK OF THE WORD The Colonial holy book, consisting of the religious writings of the Lords of Kobol (LG, LL)

BOOMER, LIEUTENANT (Herb Jefferson Jr.) Lieutenant Boomer is Starbuck’s friend and the two usually fly together. Boomer tends to be more cautious than his impulsive comrade is; more inclined to think things over before rushing in.
A first class combat pilot, Boomer has often employed his skills to aid the fleet and his friends. He was awarded the Gold Cluster for his part in the minefield clearing (P), participated in the destruction of the pulsar cannon on Arkta (GI), and in the paratroop raid on Gamoray (LL). When the Galactica was attacked by Cylon kamikazes, his characteristic grace under pressure helped keep the personnel trapped in the Rejuvenation Center calm (FS). In a rare disregard of his customary caution, Boomer skipped decontamination procedures to attend Apollo’s bachelor party, thus infecting many of the Galactica’s pilots with a strange malady (LG).
Boomer is an excellent Triad player, but not as good as Apollo, who he only defeated when under the influence of Count Iblis (WG). Few details of his childhood or early career are known other than his own admission that when young he was known to hotlink hovermobiles (FS), that he pulled a tour on Ice Station Thola (GI), and that he speaks Gemonese (P).

BOOTES (Lance LeGault) Bootes was the brother of Vela and uncle of Puppis. An oviner opposed to Lacerta and Red Eye, he saw little hope of overthrowing them until the arrival on Equellus of Apollo. Bootes insisted that Apollo go to town and destroy Red Eye, but Apollo chose a more cautious course until he could be certain that there were no other Cylons in the area. Already irritated by Apollo’s caution, Bootes became more irritated when Lacerta’s goons confiscated half of his ovines as tribute. He went to town, got drunk, confronted Red Eye, and was killed (LW). Lance LeGault also starred in Battlestar Galactica as the leader of the nomen who were on Blood Trail after Chameleon, Maga.

BOOTLEGGER 137 When captured by the Proteus Enforcers, Starbuck was given the appellation Bootlegger 137 because of the illegal cargo of the shuttle he was flying (LP).

BORA (Robert Feero) Bora was one of the nomen who were on the Blood Trail after Chameleon. He is related to the younger nomen Taba and so bore responsibility for Taba’s foolish acts (MN, BE). In a pre-BG SF appearance, Robert Feero portrayed one of the robot guards in George Lucas’ film THX-1138.

BORALLUS After the escape from the Colonies, Sire Uri suggested Borallus as a stopping point for fuel and supplies. Adama objected, since he was certain there would be a Cylon task force there (P).

BORATON A chemical used to fight fires aboard the Galactica (FS).

BORATON MIST CONTROL CENTER The boraton mist control center was destroyed when the Cylon raiders crashed into the Galactica (FS). Presumably the central control area for the Galactica’s sprinkler system.

BORAYS Sentient herd creatures who are native to Sectar, the Borays learned that it was easier to steal from the human farmers than to grow their own food, and whenever the moon was full (evidently almost a nightly occurrence in this horrible episode!) they would sweep down on Serenity and pillage the town, taking food and a few nubile females (Why? Would aliens find humans sexually attractive?). After Starbuck made their leader, Nogow, constable of Serenity, the Borays went back to growing their own food and behaving themselves (MW).
In the premiere, a man on the freighter Gemini informed Apollo of the excesses he saw aboard the Rising Star before he was “cast out” among the “borays of humanity.” How this reference might relate to the Borays on Serenity is unknown, since the Colonials gave no indication of knowing about the Borays before their arrival there. Also notable is the fact that at least one apparent Boray is visible in the Carillon casino; if he really is a Boray, how did he get there, and if not, what was he?

BORELLA Baltar admitted that the Borellian desert layers he saved for the nomen weren’t actually from Borella but were the closest thing available from the livestock ship (BE). Borella is evidently the home planet of the nomen; whether it might possibly be the same planet as Borallus is impossible to say from the information given in the series.

BORELLA, FREIGHTER The nomen make their home aboard this ship in the fleet (MN).

BORELLIAN DESERT LAYER Baltar saved some Borellian desert layers for Maga, Bora, and Taba when he was on mess duty aboard the prison barge (BE). Evidently a favored food of the nomen, probably a bird of some kind; what Baltar gave the nomen looked like chicken breasts.

BORELLIAN NOMEN The nomen are incredibly tough and merciless warriors, the only people who could survive on their planet, “the land of the mega sun and the endless sands.” The nomen are sustained by their iron-bound Code, which determines their conduct. The nomen believe that only they will survive the exodus from the Colonies. Physically they appear to be human, but with bony ridges above their eye sockets. They have the ability to make their hearts appear to stop for short periods. Mature nomen are bearded. They wear rough cloaks and carry the feared laser boles on cross belts (MN, BE).

BOUQUET Adama takes Siress Belloby a bouquet of extremely strange-looking flowers in an attempt to charm the energizer out of her (MW).

BOW, CADET (Alex Hyde-White) A young pilot in training, he was left in command of the cadet flight when Boomer and Starbuck broke off to investigate Arkta. Bow was the first pilot killed by the Ravashol pulsar (GI). Alex Hyde-White is the son of Wilfrid (Sire Anton) Hyde-White. He also had a small role as a crewman in “Man With Nine Lives.”

BOXEY (Noah Hathaway) Approximately six or seven, Boxey is the son of the late Serina and adopted son of Apollo. Boxey’s pet daggit was killed during the Cylon blitz and the boy was permanently endeared to Apollo when he had a robot version of a daggit constructed for him (P). Boxey is intelligent and insatiably curious, a trait that has gotten him into trouble, mostly notably when he stowed away in the landram aboard the shuttle carrying the assault team to Arkta (GI). Boxey got to participate in a somewhat less dangerous mission when Apollo took him along on the mission to buy seed on Sectar (MW). Boxey was among the people trapped in the Rejuvenation Center when the Galactica caught fire—fortunately, since his robot daggit proved the only hope for rescue the trapped people had (FS).

BRACE (Jordan Rhodes) Nationalist Security officer who captures “Charlie” (ET).

BRENDA (Melody Anderson) The long-suffering girlfriend of Colonel Charlie Watts, she received what she believed was a phone call from him and traveled outside the Nationalist capital to pick Charlie up. “Charlie”—actually Apollo—seemed confused and was wearing strange clothes, so she turned him in to the Nationalist Security forces, who dumped him into a cell. She learned of her error when her father General Maxwell returned, but never seemed to figure out exactly what was going on (ET).

BRIDGE The control area of a ship, more specifically, the bridge of the battlestar Galactica, one of the most spectacular sets in TV history, designed by BG art director John Chilberg. This enormous set was constructed in a sound stage, Stage 27,  that had originally been built to house a swimming pool; this enabled the bridge to be a multi-level structure. Basic structure was wood, with detail panels made from vacuformed plastic. Many sections of the bridge, including all of the pillars, the communications area, and the map area were “wild,” i.e. movable, so many camera angles would be possible. The computer monitors and keyboards on the bridge set were supplied by the Tektronix company in exchange for a screen credit and were state of the art at the time, worth over $450,000. Construction of the set cost over $900,000. One of the many tragedies of BG is that this magnificent set was torn down and destroyed completely as soon as filming ended.

BRIE, LIEUTENANT (Janet Louise Johnson) One of the shuttle pilots who conversion-trained into vipers after most of the Galactica’s combat pilots fell ill. Excitable but determined (LG, WG).

BRIG Area on the Galactica where offenders are housed. Adama regretfully ordered Starbuck put in the brig when he was charged with the termination of Ortega. Actually, the accommodations seem pretty decent for a lock-up; the one-person cells are quite large and even have a telescreen. The cells are closed by transparent doors that are pierced with holes so air and sound can pass through (MR).

B-6 Cell in the Nationalist lockup that Apollo and later Brenda were put in by the Security men (ET).

B-3 Cell in the lockup that Stone and later General Maxwell are put in (ET).

BUNKER During the battle to get the Pegasus through the attack wave of Cylon fighters on her way to engage the Cylon baseships, Starbuck announced that Bunker was one of two pilots he’d lost so far (LL).

BURIAL IN SPACE A formal Colonial ceremony. The deceased is placed in a transparent casket and ejected from the launch tubes into space. Commander Kronus was thus buried (TC).

BUREAUTICIANS A man aboard the freighter Gemini claimed that the ‘bureauticians’ were living in luxury aboard the Rising Star while the common people starved (P). Evidently a term for the Colonial ruling class. Starbuck referred thus to Sire Geller and the rest of the Council in “Greetings from Earth.”