New Caprica: Baltar's colony
the failed colony
Baltar campaigned for settling New Caprica, a barely habitable world hidden in a DRADIS-blocking cloud. A Cylon patrol found it, and the Occupation began.
New Caprica was a planet that briefly hosted a human colony of survivors from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, named after Caprica. The planet sat within a stellar cloud that interfered with DRADIS, making it in theory a secure world undetectable to any Cylon fleet should the truce between the two sides break down. Its settlement was promoted by Vice President Gaius Baltar, and its eventual discovery by the Cylons led to a brutal occupation. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I", "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", "Occupation")
Discovery and settlement#
New Caprica was discovered by Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson when her Raptor jumped to the wrong coordinates, just as a presidential election was getting under way within the fleet. Colonization of the planet became a major point of debate, promoted by Vice President Gaius Baltar and his running mate Tom Zarek in their bid for the presidency, while President Laura Roslin wrote off colonization as unrealistic given the planet's harsh climate. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I")
Human colonization began immediately after Baltar was elected President, with a number of ships landing in the planet's equatorial region. Only one settlement is known to have been constructed, a shanty town dubbed New Caprica City. Efforts to develop the planet were slow, and living in tents for months made disease more severe. Even Samuel T. Anders, in fact a Cylon, proved not strong enough to hold back a case of double pneumonia. After a year the entire fleet's supply of antibiotics ran short, and the only remaining samples were kept in orbit to treat personnel aboard the battlestars Pegasus and Galactica. On screen, the settlement comes at the end of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", the season 2 finale in the full episode list. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")
Geography#
New Caprica was a cold world with a harsh climate, and only a narrow temperate band around the equator was habitable. Its value lay not in its climate but in its location within a stellar cloud that affected DRADIS, theoretically rendering it undetectable to any Cylon fleet. This made it appealing to a population that wished to settle permanently and remain hidden. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I")
Occupation#
Approximately one year after the election, a Cylon patrol a lightyear away detected a nuclear explosion, the result of the destruction of Cloud 9 prior to the colonization. This detection precipitated the Occupation of New Caprica. The Cylons found the colony, overthrew Baltar's presidential administration, and the battlestars Galactica and Pegasus were forced to flee. Where the settlement falls in the fleet's four years on the run is shown on the timeline of the reimagined series. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", "Occupation")
Frequently asked questions
- What is New Caprica in Battlestar Galactica?
- New Caprica was a marginally habitable planet that briefly hosted a human colony of survivors from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, named after Caprica. It sat within a stellar cloud that interfered with DRADIS, making it in theory undetectable to any Cylon fleet.
- Why was New Caprica chosen for settlement?
- New Caprica was an almost uninhabitable world whose value lay not in its climate but in its location within a stellar cloud that affected DRADIS, theoretically rendering it undetectable to any Cylon fleet. This made it appealing to a population that wished to settle permanently and remain hidden.
- Who promoted the settlement of New Caprica?
- Colonization of New Caprica became a major point of debate, promoted by Vice President Gaius Baltar in his bid for the presidency, while President Roslin considered it unrealistic. Human colonization began immediately after Baltar was elected President.
- How did the Cylons find New Caprica?
- Approximately one year after the election, a Cylon patrol a lightyear away detected the nuclear explosion that resulted from the destruction of Cloud 9 prior to the colonization. This detection precipitated the Occupation of New Caprica.
- What happened to the New Caprica colony?
- After the Cylons detected the colony, they found it, overthrew Baltar's presidential administration, and the battlestars Galactica and Pegasus were forced to flee. Only one settlement had been built there, a shanty town dubbed New Caprica City.
Gallery
Images via Battlestar Wiki
Sources
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I", Season 2, Episode 19 (2006)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", Season 2, Episode 20 (2006)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Occupation", Season 3, Episode 1 (2006)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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