Lee Adama quotes from Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Lee

We need you Boomer. You're a helluva pilot. And a good officer. I wish I had a whole squadron of Sharons.

Every man has to decide for themselves which side they are on.

I didn't know we were picking sides. [walks off]

That's why you haven't picked one yet.

Lee

Why did you do this? Why did we do this?

Kara was family. You do whatever you have to do. Sometimes you break the rules.

Lee

And if it was me down there instead?

You don't have to ask that.

Lee

Are you sure?

If it were you, we'd never leave.

[narrowly avoids being hit while piloting a hijacked Raider] You idiot! Didn't anybody teach you intercept protocol?! Okay... we're gonna have to do this the hard way then.

Lee

[chasing Starbuck] Whoa, this bastard's good! Hold still, you little...

Close enough for you... Just a little... bit... closer... [Lee scores a hit] NOT THAT CLOSE!!! [pulls off a sudden brake, forcing him to overfly her]

Lee

What the-?! I've lost him! Galactica, I repeat - he's nowhere to be seen... [Starbuck slowly approaches him from behind and stops above him] Holy... Galactica, the Cylon is now flying formation with me! Right above my head. This thing is acting weird...

Put me through.

Lee

[laughs at the Raider suddenly turns around] It's Starbuck!

What?! Come again, Apollo!

Lee

Galactica, the Cylon Raider is marked "STARBUCK". It's painted onto the frakking wing! [everyone in the CIC cheers]

Bring it into the bay! If it does anything, take it out!

Lee

Wilco Galactica but I tell you what, it's gotta be her. This thing's flying around with some serious attitude!

Like my new toy?

Lee

When you take a souvenir, you don't screw around...

Colonel Saul Tigh

Madam President, no one needs to get hurt here.

President Laura Roslin

Then why don't you get off my ship, Colonel?

Tigh

I am placing you under arrest.

No... no, we're not doing this.

Tigh

I'm in command here, Captain!

Colonel, this is wrong.

Tigh

You're relieved. Fall back! Madam President, I-

Men, lay down your weapons!

Tigh

Have you lost your frakkin' mind?

Colonel, tell these marines to fall back!

Tigh

This is mutiny. You know that.

I do and you can tell my father that I'm listening to my instincts. My instincts tell me that we cannot sacrifice democracy just because the president makes a bad decision.

Roslin

(to her security) Put your guns down.

Madam... Madam President, stand back.

Roslin

Put your gun down, Captain. I will not have bloodshed, neither your men nor my people, on the Colonial One. Put your gun down. All of you. Please, put your gun down.

Roslin

Let's go.

Baltar

We need to find something, anything that can discredit her testimony. She's a fanatic, right. I don't know if that's gonna..

[glances at Lee] You're awfully quiet.

Lee

Just listening.

You see, your problem is that I'm a really good liar and you're not. So let's have it.

Lee

Have what?

Baltar

My gods he's right, you do know something. You know something and you're not saying.

Lee

It's probably not even true.

I like it already.

After what you did to Tigh, you're the last person I'd confide in.

Lee

Me? I didn't do anything to Tigh. He was drunk. It's really not my fault.

You told Lampkin about Ellen.

Lee

I didn't even know about Ellen.

Yeah, right.

Lee

You're calling me a liar?

I'm calling you a liar and a coward. One who doesn't have the guts to go after the man himself. Instead you hand the shiv to a stranger. Let him stab Tigh in the back. And for what? Traitor, piece of garbage, Gaius Baltar. Doesn't even deserve a trial.

Lee

I refuse to serve under a man who questions my integrity.

I refuse to have a man who has none.

Why do you believe that the defendant, Gaius Baltar, deserves to be acquitted?

Lee

Well, because the evidence does not support the charges.

Come on...

Lee

Did the defendant make mistakes? Sure he did, serious mistakes, but did he actually commit any crimes? Did he commit treason? No. It was an impossible situation. When the Cylons arrived what could he possibly do? What could anyone have done? I mean, ask yourself, what would you have done? What would you have done? If he had refused to surrender, the Cylons would've probably nuked the planet, right then and there. So did he appear to co-operate with the Cylons? Sure, so did hundreds of others. What's the difference between him and them? The President issued a blanket pardon. They were all forgiven, no questions asked. Colonel Tigh? Colonel Tigh used suicide bombers, killed dozens of people, forgiven. Lieutenant Agathon and chief Tyrol murdered an officer on the Pegasus, forgiven. The admiral? The admiral instituted a military coup d'etat against the President, forgiven. And me? Well, where do I begin? I shot down a civilian passenger ship, the Olympic Carrier, over a thousand people on board, forgiven. I raised my weapon to a superior officer, committed an act of mutiny, forgiven. And then on the very day when Baltar surrendered to those Cylons, I, as commander of Pegasus, jumped away! I left everybody on that planet, alone, undefended for months. I even tried to persuade the admiral never to return, to abandon you all there for good. If I'd had my way nobody would have made it off that planet. I'm the coward, I'm the traitor, I'm forgiven. I'd say we're very forgiving of mistakes. We make our own laws now, our own justice, and we've been pretty creative with ways to let people off the hook. For everything from theft to murder. And we've had to be, because we're not a civilization anymore, we are a gang, and we're on the run, and we have to fight to survive. We have to break rules, we have to bend laws, we have to improvise! But not this time, no, not this time, not for Gaius Baltar. No, you, you have to die! You have to die, because, well, because we don't like you very much. Because you're arrogant, because you're weak, because you're a coward, and we, the mob, want to throw you out the airlock because you didn't stand up to the Cylons and get yourself killed in the process! That's justice now! You should've been killed back on New Caprica, but since you had the temerity to live, we're going to execute you now. That's justice!

Order, order!

Lee

This case, this case is built on emotion, on anger, bitterness, but most of all it's built on shame. It's about the shame of what we did to ourselves back on that planet. It's about the guilt of those of us who ran away, who ran away. And we are trying to dump all of that guilt and all that shame onto one man, and then flush him out the airlock, and just hope that that gets rid of it all. So that we can live with ourselves. But that won't work. That won't work. That's not justice, not to me. Not to me.

No further questions.

Lee

Romo, one thing. When you put me on the stand, did you know what was gonna happen?

[Stops walking] I knew you were an honest man, Mister Adama. Much unlike your grandfather. [Leaves his cane, puts on his sunglasses, smiles and walks away without any limp]

Hi Lee.

Lee

Kara?

[laughs] Don't freak out, it really is me. It's gonna be okay, I've been to Earth. I know where it is, and I'm gonna take us there.

William Adama

I've been going through Cain's log and from a tactical perspective it's hard to find fault in anything she did. Or that Kendra Shaw did.

Lee Adama

They butchered innocent civilians, Dad. Come on. How can you ignore that?

William Adama

I know that I didn't have to face any of the situations that she did. I had the President in my face, arguing for the survival of the civilian fleet. I've Colonel Tigh keeping me honest, balancing my morality and my tactics. And I had you. Now...you don't have any children, so you might not understand this, but you see yourself reflected in their eyes. And there are some things that I've thought of doing with this fleet, but I've stopped myself, because I knew I'd have to face you the following day.

Lee

Well, sometimes a benevolent tyrant is exactly what you need.

Zarek

No. A tyrant craves power for its own sake. And all Laura wants is to save us all.

Lee Adama

Okay. Dad, Dad, Dad, listen. No one suspected. No one. Not with his record, what he did on New Caprica. His eye, what happened to his wife... [tries to haul his father back to his feet] Come on, let's get up.

William Adama

What have I done? All the people I've sent to die, for what? For what?

Lee

For Earth.

There is no Earth. It's a frakking joke. There is no Earth.

Lee

Okay, Dad, listen to me. Listen to me! Pull it together.

I can't.

Lee

Yes you can!

I can't... I can't kill him. I can't kill the bastard. I can't. I can't.

Lee

Okay, Dad. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. I'll take care of it.