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Battlestar Galactica

Bastille Day

Season 1, Episode 3, Aired Jan 21, 2005

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Lee has an idea to use prisoners to collect a new supply of water from underground on an icy moon, but the leader of a group of insurgents uses the opportunity to take some of the ship's officers hostage.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Graham Young

Marine #1
GUEST STAR
Brent Stait

Mason
GUEST STAR
Ron Selmour

Seaborne

Mary McDonnell

Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Jamie Bamber

Lee "Apollo" Adama
Tricia Helfer

Number Six
James Callis

Gaius Baltar
Grace Park

Sharon "Boomer" Valerii

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Fan Episode Reviews (20)

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Bastille Day

9.0

"Superb"

By TrueTvWatcher, Jan 11, 2012

Bastille Day was a really great episode of Battlestar Galactica and I enjoyed watching this episode because it added depth to the established plots. There was not too much action, though some violence did break out. It was interesting to see the varying political views. The writers did a great job of adding little bits to each characters story from Sharon and Helo to Gaius Baltar breaking down with #6 screaming at him. Starbuck and Tigh have more drama. The terrorist Tom Zarek was quite the character and it will be great to watch how every thing plays out. I look forward to watching the next episode!!!!!!!moreless
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The one where: The prisoners are doin' it for themselves.

7.5

"Good"

By MovieMark, Sep 20, 2011

It's good to see that the repercussions from last week's fiasco spill over into this one. (Geddit? Spill?Cos of the title of...oh, you get it). It's going to take a lot of man-power to defreeze the ice and transport it back to the fleet. Lee Adama boldly suggests that the prisoners do it in order to earn their freedom (or ''Freedom Points''). There's only one small thing standing in the way: supposed terrorist Tom Zerek, a blast from the past of the original series.
Spoilerish Titles Sequence: 8 mins into the episode
By no means a classic, ''Bastille Day'' is still nonetheless a very good episode of BSG. There's plenty of political to-ing and fro-ing, and although Zerek is a pig, he did raise some interesting points about democracy and Rolsin's term being an initiation of happenstance, rather than a position elected by the people.
This is a very good episode for Lee. It's asked of him several times to take a stand and make a choice, but most of all, he gets to kick some ass here. I didn't really expect it, but it's good to know he can throw a punch almost as good as a compelling argument.
I really enjoyed the snippets we get with Starbuck here; she's playful but knows when it's time to whip out the sniper rifle. She's flawed, sure, but she's a hell of a lot fun.
Frak-O-Meter: 3 fraks this time around.
Cylon Sex: Aw, not even a smooch.
Spot the six: We have head-Six and Caprica Six here. Head-Six was Hella scary during this episode. Yet still, not surprisingly, sexy as hell. I suppose if you were to have anyone shouting at you wearing crazy-face, it would be an amazonian blonde in a slinky white dress.
Injuries: Poor Cally. She may have chewed a guys ear off, but got shot during the process. I'm still gonna give the win to Cally since Lee shoots her aggressor nice and dead.
Boomer or Sharon? Both were kinda boring this week. I'll pick Sharon cos it was nice and sunny in Caprica, and I'm also not partial to seeing rats eating a dead body. I can so relate, my cylon friend.Ships Lost: The prisoners have taken over the prison ship, but it's still part of the fleet so it doesn't count. Not really...Battlestar Bleakness: Nothing particularly dark this week. Although the thought of Cally being brutalised did sit uneasy with me. (You're not out of the woods yet tho, is she Tyrol?)The end reveal that Roslin has cancer is laudably portrayed by Mary McDonnell. The woman is such a terribly good actress. She'd make an awesome president. Heck, I wouldn't mind her just reading a book to me. (Ok, I'll stop being creepy now...)moreless
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The fleet has found water but how to get it to the fleet presents a challenge. The decision is made to use the prisoners on the Astral Queen to do the work. When Lee goes to make the arrangements he and his team are taken hostage by Tom Zarek.moreless

9.0

"Superb"

By scififan12921, Jun 08, 2011

Richard Hatch joins the cast in a recurring role as Tom Zarek, a man in prison for protesting through violent means. For those of us that were around for the original BSG he played Apollo in that version. He also wasn't sure that a reimagined series was the way to go(watch the special features on mini-series dvd). His character is about as far from that Apollo as you can get. Zarek wants either to force Roslin's gvt. to deal with him or kill him. Lee broker's a compromise by promising elections will be held in six months. A move that Roslin and Cmdr. Adama aren't thrilled with at first. This episode lays the groundwork for the episode "Colonial Day" where the Quorum of Twelve is brought back. From this point forward it's not just about surviving the cylons it's also about putting a working gvt and society back together piece by piece.

For me, this episode put in place that this would never be a show that wraps everything up in a nice neat package every week(which is why I'm such a big fan)moreless
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A rather lackluster attempt at drama, but it does set good things in motion

6.0

"Fair"

By SebastianHaff, Jun 08, 2011

There were to key drama points to this episode.

1) That some of the hostages may get killed by the prisoners.
2) That Roslyn could step down as president.

Really though we knew, as the viewer, that neither would happen. So this undermines a lot of the drama of the episode. In fact there's just a lot of sitting around on the prison ship until the inevitable situation happens where they all get out alive.

Zarek is definitely interesting, and they try to flesh him out. But I do feel he's a pawn for the story. Why is he so obsessed with elections? Oh, because he's a "terrorist" and he always has to have lofty ideals I guess. It doesn't really gel, and hes used as quite an obvious plot device for our main characters. But thankfully Zarek is fleshed out much more as the show goes on.

Apollo does come across best in this episode, and of course this is an episode for both Apollos (Zarek being played by Richard Hatch from the original series). He shows that he has an independent mind, and can upset the applecart for both the president and his father. But he also starts showing that he's adept at telling everyone what they want to hear, particularly with the sucking up to Zarek over reading his book.

Overall not an outstanding episode. BSG can do dialog great, but the attempts at drama in this episode (the first not driven by a Cylon story) fall flat.

But it does bring us Zarek, who will be very interesting in episodes to come.moreless
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Seven months.

6.5

"Fair"

By kickdoor, Jun 08, 2011

I loved the scene of Starbuck briefing the pilots in the Ready Room, her dramatic stuff hasn't impressed me(yet) but her cocky attitude is portrayed perfectly, with anyone else it would be too much but they've made it clear she puts on a show any time she gets the opportunity. And she seems to be grooming her "Prince"(never caught his name) in her own image.

Tigh: "Where's your mommy?"

Prince: "Dead. Where's yours?"

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to make of Zarek, I can understand and agree with wanting elections, but he was pretty much willing to let what was left of the human race collapse into chaos and shortly be obliterated just so he can have some final ethical victory. Seems crazy to let a guy like that take over control of a ship, but if it placates the cons then I guess it's worth it.

Despite being a truly awful human being I can't help but feel for Baltar, if only because he must always now be right on the edge of complete mental collapse. Even if Six wasn't constantly making him question whether what he's seeing is reality or fantasy, just the things he knows would be enough to drive him nuts.

Not an outright bad episode, but not a noticeably good one either.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- As Starbuck trains her laser sight on Zarek, the beam crosses the corner of his left eye. He would easily see this and react.
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QUOTES (2)
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- Number Six: (to Baltar) If you don't tell him what he wants to hear, he's gonna find you out. And when he does, they're gonna tear your head off, and throw your body out of an airlock!
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- Tom Zarek: Freedom is earned.
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NOTES (5)
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- At one point, Number Six threatens Baltar that he'll be found out. She says, "they're gonna tear your head off, and throw your body out of an airlock!" That was exactly the fate of Gaius Baltar in the theatrical version of the 1978 movie (and novelization) that later served as the pilot for the original Battlestar Galactica series. Of course, Baltar's fate was altered for the television version of the pilot.
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- The name plate on Flat Top's Raptor reads "Ryan Cisco." However, in the following episode ("Act of Contrition"), his name is announced over the ship's intercom as Dwight "Flat Top" Saunders.
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- This episode first aired in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2004, on Sky One. Sky One co-financed the first season of the show.
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- Connor Widdows (Boxey) This was the only appearance of Connor Widdows (Boxey) this season. It was also his last appearance in the entire series. His scenes from "Water" and "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1" were cut from the final aired versions.
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- Richard Hatch (appearing as Tom Zarek) starred in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) series as Captain Apollo.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Bastille Day Bastille Day is the French national holiday. The official French name is "La Fête Nationale" ("National Holiday"), but it is often referred to as "le quatorze juillet" ("The 14th of July"). Its origins lie in the storming of the infamous Bastille prison and fortress in Paris on July 14, 1789. Feudalism was abolished soon after on August 4th. The 1790 Fête de la Fédération was held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille although the modern holiday did not become official until 1880.
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