Captain Apollo quotes from Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Captain Apollo

[on seeing the Cylon Raiders gathering for the attack] Let's get out of here!

Why?

Captain Apollo

(lighting the boosters of his viper) I'll explain later!

Colonial Viper in quadrant. Intercepting.

(seeing four Cylon Raiders in pursuit and firing) I see what you mean!

Nice shooting, but...they hit my high engine!

Captain Apollo

That's okay, little brother; we got all of 'em. The day those guys can outfight us without a ten-to-one margin.

Apollo, better look at your scanner.

Captain Apollo

Ah, but a thousand to one, that's not fair.

What does it mean?

Captain Apollo

It means there's isn't going to be any peace. There might not be much of anything if we don't warn the Fleet!

Do it. I'm short an engine; you know I won't be able to keep up with you.

Captain Apollo

Zac, I'm not gonna leave you!

You have to! I'm putting my foot on that turbo. I'll make it back ahead of 'em, now go on! You've gotta warn the Fleet! I'll be all right.

Captain Apollo

[sighs] You can fly with me any time, little brother. Good luck!

Colonel Tigh

Captain, we have to know how many base ships we're dealing with.

Captain Apollo

No base ships.

Colonel Tigh

You must be mistaken, Captain! Fighters couldn't function this far from Cylon without base ships; they don't carry enough fuel!

Captain Apollo

I said no base ships! Just fighters, maybe a thousand.

Commander Adama

How do you count for that, Apollo?

Captain Apollo

I don't know. They...! We picked up an empty tanker on our scanner. It's my guess the Cylons used it to refuel for the attack after flying to that point from wherever their base ships are.

Colonel Tigh

Well, why operate this far from Cylon without base ships when it isn't necessary? They would've been well out of our range at the old moon!

Commander Adama

Unless it was necessary... for them to be somewhere else! Get me the President!!

Serina

I want to know where you were as well! All of you! We waited, we watched and prayed, and you never came!

Captain Apollo

Most of us are dead. The Fleet is all but destroyed.

Serina

But you're here.

Captain Apollo

From the Battlestar Galactica.

Serina

It survives?

Captain Apollo

Yes.

Serina

But what of the President and the Council of Twelve and...and all the other Colonies?

Commander Adama

All destroyed.

Serina

Commander Adama.

Commander Adama

Yes, Serina.

Serina

It's true, then. We are defeated. Doomed.

Can I ride in your ship, sir?

Captain Apollo

Fighter planes are no place for little boys.

Serina

They're going to have to be if our people are going to survive. We must fight back.

Commander Adama

Yes, we are going to fight back. But not here, not now, not in the Colonies. Not even in this star system. Let the word go forth to every man, woman and child who survived this holocaust; tell them to set sail at once in every assorted vehicle that will carry them.

Commander Adama

And just what did you think you were doing, volunteering for a mission like that?! Sire Uri must be laughing up his sleeve!

Captain Apollo

What's worrying you more – the mission, or you being made to look foolish by Uri?! [Adama glares at Apollo] Look, I'm sorry I know better than that, but there was no choice. You didn't seem to have a viable plan! It was his way or mine!

Commander Adama

Now you see?! He's got us doing it! Turning one against the other! If Uri weren't such a prima donna, I'd say let him lead! But we must not allow ourselves to be fractioned off; there are too few of us left! A single voice is imperative!

Captain Apollo

But not his! He's only interested in himself! I don't understand how he got elected to the Council of Twelve, and you voted for him!

Commander Adama

You should known him back in the Renaissance days of Caprica. He was one of the best! A builder, an architect of dreams! (Adama falters at the memory of Uri's regression to a corrupt politician) Now he just sits and decays himself with drink and remembrance. No wonder our world fell apart.

Captain Apollo

Looking back is contagious. Decay and corruption go hand in hand with defeatism and lack of action. Uri moved in because you failed to act to have alternatives to his plans!

Commander Adama

I believe it is sometimes prudent to steer away from the flames once you've been badly burnt.

Captain Apollo

And I'd say you'd better look around more carefully. You're nursing wounds while we're still in the fire.

Lieutenant Boomer

What if we miss a mine?

Captain Apollo

One of us will be the first to know.

Lieutenant Starbuck

[in hushed tones] Me and my big mouth.

Captain Apollo

Well, at least we know the secret of Carillon. Let's get out of here.

Lieutenant Starbuck

Wait. You go.

Captain Apollo

What are you talking about?

Lieutenant Starbuck

We still don't know the connection between the casino and this mining operation. For all we know, they could be supplying half their fuel to the Cylon empire. We just can't leave it fully operational.

Captain Apollo

We've got our entire population up on top. That includes women and children!

Lieutenant Starbuck

Look, you go. I won't do anything until you've had a chance to get away.

Captain Apollo

What can you do all by yourself?

Lieutenant Starbuck

Look, this whole planet is loaded with Tylium. If I can ignite it with my laser, it will blow the entire planet apart.

Captain Apollo

Starbuck, I can't leave you down here. You'll never get out alive.

Lieutenant Starbuck

You don't have a choice.

Captain Apollo

Starbuck, I had to leave Zac behind. I'm not leaving you, too. You go up and I'll set fire to the Tylum.

Lieutenant Starbuck

Apollo, by the time we get through arguing about this, it'll be—

Captain Apollo

[noticing the elevator activating] Shh! Someone's coming.

[runs out of the elevator behind a Cylon centurion] Muffit...! [The centurion unsheathes his sword to behead him]

Captain Apollo

[firing at the centurion] Run, Boxey, run!

...an opportunity to throw down our arms and prove once and for all that peace begets peace, and love begets love. And so I—

Captain Apollo

[bursting into Sire Uri's celebration, firing his blaster to get everyone's attention] Everybody listen to me! I want everyone to move quickly and orderly toward the exits! That is an order!

Stay where you are! I am in charge here! [The elevator doors open and armed Cylon centurions march in and open fire] Do as the man says! He's in— [a Cylon laser rifle burst forces him to run]

Captain Apollo

Serina, we're about to be married!

Serina

What does that have to do with it? Your own sister's a pilot. And a warrior.

Captain Apollo

She's my sister, not my wife to be!

Serina

I wonder what the city was called.

Commander Adama

There were many cities here on Kobol. Eden was the largest. It was the first to fall. This... this might be it. I don't know.

Captain Apollo

I can't read any of it.

Commander Adama

I know. It's difficult. But I've been spending so much time with the old records. For example, that... that refers to the ninth Lord of Kobol. That's his seal. He was the last ruler before the thirteen tribes migrated to the stars.

Serina

Twelve to settle our Colonies.

Captain Apollo

That's why you entered the void. You think you can find a clue to where the Thirteenth Tribe went!

Commander Adama

Yes.

I know exactly how you feel, old friend.

Commander Adama

Baltar. [rushes at Baltar, puts his hands around his neck and tries to strangle him]

Captain Apollo

[comes between Baltar and Commander Adama and separates the two] No, Father! Leave him to the Council!

You almost killed me! What is this madness?

Captain Apollo

[removes Baltar's pistol] You need to ask?! Selling out your own flesh and blood?!

Selling out?!! What has he told you? What great truths has Adama spoken to my back?

Captain Apollo

You mean to say you didn't arrange the destruction of our Fleet, our cities, almost every living thing in the Colonies?!

Are you completely mad?! What sane human being would do a thing like that? Adama, surely you could not have supported such lies! How could you think of me so evil? I, too, hold the seal of the Lords, and a member of the Council of Twelve! I was as much a victim as any of you. I lost everything. My family, my people. I was trapped between the President's Battlestar and my own. Captured by the Cylons, taken away like an animal, to face trial!

Serina

Apparently, they found you innocent. A friend of the Cylons!

No. I was spared to lure you into another trap through a message of peace from some new benevolent Cylon ruler.

Commander Adama

Get him out!

Adama, wait! You must hear me out. I have been to the Cylon seat of power. It is in chaos. The Cylon forces are searching for you throughout the star system. The route back into the Cylon Empire is barely defended. One single Battlestar could take control of the Empire and bring it to its knees!

Commander Adama

You have the tongue of an angel and the soul of a serpent!

I can prove my good intentions, that I have the power to lead you back into Cylon, supposedly as my prisoners, but, in actuality, to launch a counterattack against those demons.

Captain Apollo

What proof?

The release of one of your officers. Lieutenant Starbuck.

Serina

He's alive!

Let me show you!

Commander Adama

At what price? Remove him, Apollo!

Captain Apollo

Father, what if he can prove what he's saying?

Commander Adama

If they've sent him, then it is a trap.

Then why haven't they attacked?!

Commander Adama

I cannot tell you. But our safety is not behind us with you or the Cylons. It lies somewhere out there along the path taken by the Thirteenth Tribe. The tribe that colonized the planet Earth.

Earth?! You can't be serious. That's nothing but a fable.

Commander Adama

I believe it is as real as the existence of the Thirteenth Tribe. And the key to that tribe is here in this place, locked away somewhere. I'm certain of it.

Commander Adama

Serina! Apollo! This is what we came for. This is a record of the mass exodus. The final departure of the first twelve tribes, the ones which eventually became the Colonies we knew. And here, the last days, the final days of Kobol. It tells of the Thirteenth Tribe.

Captain Apollo

Can you tell where they went?

Captain Apollo

[as everyone is coughing profusely] The... the door, it's been blasted open!

Commander Adama

[despondent] The writings!

Forget the writings!

Commander Adama

They're disintegrated; they're gone!

Help me!

Before you came everything was in its proper place! Planners to think, workers to work!

Captain Apollo

I've got news for you, Doctor! Your workers are thinking...and breeding!

Lieutenant Sheba

You will maintain silence until we land aboard the Battlestar Pegasus.

Captain Apollo

Pegasus?! But that's just not possible!

Lieutenant Starbuck

Do you know whose ship that was?

Captain Apollo

Cain, the greatest military commander who ever lived. He was my idol!

Captain Apollo

How did you do that?

Commander Adama

It's impolite not to make your presence known.

Captain Apollo

I think I've finally discovered how Count Iblis has been doing these miracles and then I see you do this.

Commander Adama

This was not a miracle. This is a simple test of mind over matter, long a key study of our military institute. I remember I used to drive your mother mad by bending eating utensils until she made me stop the practice.

Captain Apollo

How come I never knew?

Commander Adama

It was before you were born. It was in my early days at the institute, a special program, strictly a military study. Our life expectancy now, Cylons not withstanding, is about two hundred yahrens. We're just beginning to utilize some portion of our brains' incredible potential. Now imagine. Imagine if you will, a race of beings whose life expectancy is thousands of yahrens. A race of that kind would certainly have learned to do what we would consider to be miraculous things.

Captain Apollo

That's what you think we're dealing with here? With Count Iblis and these strange lights?

Commander Adama

No, not lights. The ancient Lords, who first settled on Kobol, spoke of visitations from what they, in their primitive way, referred to as angels.

Captain Apollo

Angels?

Commander Adama

Think of them as custodians of the universe. Advanced beings, very highly advanced, whose mandate it is to make certain that their powers are never abused by anyone of their own kind.

Captain Apollo

And they're watching him. Meaning he's one of them.

Commander Adama

Or was. Now the key, I believe, is to be found in that crashed ship where you discovered Iblis.

Captain Apollo

That's just what I thought.

Commander Adama

Now you couldn't examine your ship because of radion levels.

Captain Apollo

But with special equipment...

Commander Adama

All right. Now...I want you go to back there...alone. You mustn't tell anyone of this. And you must forget this conversation. Iblis will pick out your thoughts easily.

Captain Apollo

I understand.

Commander Adama

I hope so. This could be the most important mission of your life.

Captain Apollo

If you run into the Count, he'll know where I've gone.

Commander Adama

I'll crowd my mind with other thoughts. That, too, was part of the institute's investigation into telepathy.

Captain Apollo

How is it after all this time I'm still learning things about my own father?

Commander Adama

How is it after all this time I'm still learning things about my own son?