Scar (Battlestar Galactica)

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“Scar”

Battlestar Galactica episode

Scar lurks in wait to spring its ambush.

Episode no.

Season 2
Episode 15

Written by

David Weddle & Bradley Thompson

Directed by

Michael Nankin

Production no.

215

Original airdate

February 3, 2006

Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Black Market"	"Sacrifice"

Episode chronology

"Scar" is an episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.

1 Plot
2 Notes
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Survivor Count: 49,593

As the mining ship Majahual gathers ore vital to the survival of the Colonial Fleet, Vipers from Galactica patrol the dense asteroid field looking for Cylon Raiders that have been spotted lurking in the area looking for easy kills. The asteroids make the DRADIS useless; the only way to protect the mining operation is by constant Viper patrols.

One Raider in particular nicknamed "Scar" and is identified by a long gash in the side of its "face". Scar is feared among the Viper pilots as the best raider in the Cylon fleet. Its uncanny sneak attacks from hiding places behind asteroids and use of other Raiders to lure Viper wings to separate and become vulnerable have proven lethal to nugget and veteran Viper pilots alike. Like a predator, Scar strikes lone Vipers from their blindspots and then jumps away before the pilot's wingman can respond.

Capt. Starbuck swears she will hunt down and take out Scar, but she is challenged by a rival, the "stim junkie" hot shot Louanne "Kat" Katraine, who vows to eliminate Scar first and take the trophy beer mug "Top Gun" away from her. Starbuck is up to the challenge, but her feelings for the Caprica survivors, especially Samuel Anders, haunt her at every turn. She promised the Caprica resistance fighters that the Galactica would come to rescue them, but President Laura Roslin and Admiral Adama had denied her request, saying that it would be too dangerous.

Starbuck turns to alcohol, drinking herself into stupors, and a misguided sexual encounter with Capt. Apollo to distract herself. The next day, while still fighting a hangover, Starbuck is challenged by Kat during a pilots' briefing for not being on duty to defend a pilot who was killed by Scar minutes ago. Starbuck orders all the other pilots out of the room and the confrontation turns ugly, with Kat accusing Starbuck of not even honoring the pilots lost and Starbuck striking back about Kat's previous drug addiction. Kat hits Starbuck, but the altercation is cut short by the arrival of Apollo, who decides to send Starbuck and Kat (his "heavy hitters") out together to eliminate Scar once and for all.

Starbuck is shocked to learn later from the Cylon prisoner Sharon, that Raiders resurrect just like the humanoid Cylon models. Scar is very experienced, having learned from its mistakes time and time again, and it holds an especially seething hatred for Viper pilots. Every time Scar has been destroyed and reborn it has suffered pain and it is a machine filled with bitterness and anger. With the resurrection ship eliminated, Sharon feels that, once Scar is destroyed, the fleet will no longer have to fear its return.

During the dogfight with Scar, Starbuck finally comes to terms with her emotions about her relationship with Anders. She foregoes a risky opportunity to destroy the Cylon herself and lures Scar directly into Kat's line of fire. The Cylon Raider is destroyed.

After the dogfight, Starbuck finally concedes the title of "Top Gun" to an ecstatic Kat for killing Scar, but not before toasting all of the pilots—by their individual callsigns—who have perished since the war began, effectively sobering Kat's enthusiasm.

[edit] Notes

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The opening "previously on Battlestar Galactica" segment contained scenes from "You Can't Go Home Again", leading fans to wonder if Scar is the Cylon Raider Starbuck shot down and captured in that episode. Writer Bradley Thompson has left this open to interpretation[1].
Starbuck's use of her thumb to block the sun in order to see if Scar was coming had originally been done by Gregory H. 'Pappy' Boyington in World War Two, where he discovered that doing so would allow him to see incoming Zeroes.
The plot of this episode shares many similarities with the Space: Above and Beyond episode "The Angriest Angel", though there are obviously many plot differences brought about by the different settings and characters.
The background music in the last scene is Cavatina, better known as Stanley Myers theme from The Deer Hunter.