Number Eight (Battlestar Galactica)
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This article is about the characters from the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. For the original characters, see Lieutenant Boomer and Lieutenant Athena.
| Sharon Valerii Sharon Agathon Number Eight |
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|---|---|
 Sharon Valerii, as portrayed by Grace Park. |
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| Race | humanoid Cylon |
| Gender | Female |
| Portrayed by | Grace Park |
| Callsign | Boomer, Athena |
| Rank | Lieutenant (jg), Lieutenant |
| Colony | Cylon Homeworld, claims to be from Aerelon's colony Troy |
| Affiliation | Colonial Fleet/Cylons |
Lieutenant Junior Grade Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii, Number Eight[1], and Lieutenant Sharon 'Athena' Agathon refer to a collection of humanoid Cylon characters on the television series Battlestar Galactica, a reimagining of the classic show of the same name. They are portrayed by Grace Park. Two prominent Number Eight copies named "Sharon Valerii" have served as Galactica pilots using the respective call signs "Boomer" and "Athena." "Boomer" bears little resemblance to the Boomer of the original Galactica series, while the "Athena" character shares a few minor traits with her original series counterpart.
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[edit] Versions
Many Number Eight copies have been seen in various Cylon-occupied areas and in leadership positions; two are featured as central characters. A multitude of Eights are found aboard the Basestar orbiting Kobol that Sharon Valerii destroys. Another Eight is shown as a Cylon leader when both main character Eights are elsewhere.
[edit] Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
Lieutenant Junior Grade Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is a Cylon sleeper agent programmed to believe that she really is human. For example, she has been implanted with false memories of being raised on Troy by her parents Katherine and Abraham Valerii, who supposedly died in an accident that killed all the members on the mining colony (whether or not Katherine and Abraham actually existed is questionable). Boomer and Chief Galen Tyrol are romantically involved, despite the fact that their relationship is against military protocol. Due to her programming, she performs a number of sabotage actions (including bombing the Galactica's water tanks), which she has no conscious memory of, although in time she begins to suspect something may be wrong with her. She even has Gaius Baltar administer a blood test to find out if she's a Cylon. However his own self-serving reasons cause him to tell her she is not. She is greatly relieved for a while, however she eventually becomes more and more aware that something is wrong with her, and even attempts suicide. Tyrol hides evidence that would implicate her in the water bombing, but later suspicious events cause him to break off his relationship with her.
Sharon's programming ultimately takes over and she shoots Commander William Adama, putting him in a coma. She and Tyrol (suspected of being a Cylon because of his relationship with her) are put in the brig, interrogated and brutalized by Colonel Saul Tigh, who has taken command of Galactica in Adama's incapacity. Gaius Baltar ultimately forces her to tell him how many other Cylons were onboard by threatening Tyrol. She is shot and killed by Specialist Cally, who blames her for Tyrol's imprisonment (and is herself in love with Tyrol, as is made clear in later episodes). Sharon dies in Tyrol's arms. Her last words are, "I love you, Chief."
In the episode "Downloaded", it is revealed that Boomer's consciousness has been downloaded into a new body, yet she resists being identified with the Cylon cause. She is viewed as a hero among the Cylons, but in this episode she and fellow Cylon Number Six, transformed by their love for humans in previous incarnations, decide to try to persuade the Cylons that some of their actions against mankind are wrong. She is among the Cylons that find New Caprica and tries to show that humans and Cylons can co-exist, and functions as a member of the Cylon governing council that controls the puppet human government under President Gaius Baltar. She seems to have accepted herself as a Cylon and is fully integrated back into their society.
[edit] Sharon "Athena" Agathon
Another instance of Sharon, who is fully aware of her true nature, also appears in the series. This Sharon also seemed to possess memories of the experiences of Boomer (at least until the later episodes of the first season), including memories of her relationship with Tyrol. She expresses happiness for Tyrol and Cally, who now have a child together.
[edit] Cylon-occupied Caprica
She first appears when she joins Lt. Karl 'Helo' Agathon after he is stranded on the Cylon-occupied planet Caprica. She pretends to help him, when in fact she is working with the other Cylons on an experiment to have him fall in love with her. While her intentions at the beginning of the experiment are strictly part of the Cylon plan, she eventually falls in love with Helo, and tries to help him escape from the other Cylons. Helo discovers her true identity when he sees another Number Eight copy on Caprica (who attempts to kill him but is shot by Sharon), but Sharon eventually convinces him that she loves him, and also reveals that she is pregnant with his child. This pregnancy is the first successful attempt at a humanoid-Cylon/Human Hybrid, and as a result is of great importance to the Cylons.
While on Caprica, Sharon and Helo encounter Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace, who realises that Sharon is a Cylon "copy" and attempts to shoot her, but is stopped by Helo. Sharon flees in Starbuck's captured Cylon Raider, casting doubt on her intentions, but returns later to aid Helo and a human resistance movement rescue Starbuck from a Cylon facility. Though only Helo trusts her, the group allows Sharon to accompany them as they rejoin President Laura Roslin's portion of the Colonial fleet, separated from Galactica.
[edit] Return to the Colonial Fleet
Sharon's life is again threatened upon her return to the Colonial fleet, after William Adama's attempted assassination and Boomer's death, first when Lee 'Apollo' Adama attempts to shoot her and Helo intervenes, and second when Roslin orders her thrown out an airlock until she uses her knowledge of the Tomb of Athena on Kobol as leverage. She demonstrates her loyalty several times in defending the group from Cylon ambushes during the trip to the tomb, even though she is chained and not entirely trusted.
Sharon's reunion with other Galactica personnel on Kobol is also tense, as Commander Adama initially attempts to strangle her, while her relationship with Tyrol is complicated by the events involving Boomer, as well as her romantic involvement with Helo. Despite Adama's animosity, she saves his life by exposing a plot to kill him by one of terrorist/politician Tom Zarek's followers. She tells them, "I'm Sharon, but I'm a different Sharon. I know who I am. I don't have hidden protocols or programs lying in wait to be activated. I make my own choices, I make my own decisions, and I need you to know this is my choice." Still, she is imprisoned upon returning to Galactica and is treated as an enemy by all but Helo and Tyrol.
Sharon again demonstrates her loyalty when the Galactica is threatened by a Cylon computer virus, and uses her Cylon capabilities to instead turn the virus against the large approaching Cylon raider attack force, allowing the Colonial pilots to completely destroy the enemy. Although she performs this action, she seems conflicted and pained by its repercussions (mainly the subsequent slaughter of raiders). This event causes Roslin and Adama to re-evaluate their attitude towards her, and earns her significant trust. She makes several other valuable contributions to the human cause, offering intelligence and advice on various Cylon situations.
When the Battlestar Pegasus is reunited with the Colonial fleet and its commander, Admiral Helena Cain discovers Sharon's presence, Sharon is turned over to Pegasus's "Cylon Interrogator", Lt. Thorne. Thorne beats Sharon and attempts to rape her, but is killed in the process of Helo and Tyrol intervening.
[edit] Pregnancy and birth
Sharon's unborn hybrid child is threatened when Roslin orders the pregnancy terminated, outraging Sharon and Helo, but later relents when blood from the fetus is found to be able to cure her terminal cancer. The pregnancy is allowed to continue, and in "Downloaded", Sharon gives birth to her child prematurely, via an emergency caesarean section. The daughter is named Hera. As the baby is deemed a risk to the Fleet if raised by her Cylon mother, Hera's death is faked by Dr. Cottle, and she is given to a human mother to raise, unbeknownst to either Sharon or Helo. Told that Hera died from breathing complications, Sharon assumes that Hera was in fact killed by the Galactica crew and attacks Dr. Cottle and turns on Helo. She later helps navigate a mission to rescue survivors on Caprica, but her loyalty is again called into question when she chooses not to inform the Colonials that one of the survivors is in fact a Cylon.
[edit] Post-occupation of New Caprica
In Season 3's "Occupation", it is revealed that during the year-long gap between the events of seasons 2 and 3 Sharon and Helo were married, and Sharon took Helo's surname, Agathon. With the Galactica in need of pilots after the return of the Cylons, and having earned the full trust of Admiral Adama, Sharon is sworn in as an officer in the Colonial Fleet, regaining Boomer's rank of Lieutenant. She is sent back to New Caprica as the liaison between the Galactica fleet and the resistance effort on the ground as a precursor to an attempt to free the subjugated humans from the occupying Cylons. Adama explained that she was the ideal agent, since Centurions cannot tell her from any of the other Eights. Sharon infiltrates the Cylon Base, and is able to steal the keys for the civilian ships, thus making Adama's escape plan possible. When leaving with the keys, she encounters a D'Anna Biers, a Number Three, who informs her that her child Hera is still alive.
After the successful rescue of the colonists, Sharon gains a measure of acceptance among the Galactica's pilots. When Racetrack refers to her by the old call sign 'Boomer', she replies that 'Boomer' was somebody else. The other pilots in the rec room offer suggestions for a new nickname, many of them teasing her for being a Cylon. "Hotdog" suggests Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, and Sharon proudly accepts it.
[edit] Other Versions
- A copy wearing a grey coat at the Spaceport at Delphi, whom Athena kills before the other Eight can shoot Helo.
- Multiple naked copies aboard a basestar that Boomer encounters.
- A copy who sits in a movie theatre (with other Cylon models) and watches the footage sent from the Fleet by D'Anna Biers.
- Copies who act as "nurses" or "midwives," aiding the respective resurrections of Caprica Six and Boomer.
- Several copies on Cylon-occupied Caprica going through daily life in the episode "Downloaded," wearing a variety of outfits.
- Copies who are killed when Samuel Anders and Galen Tyrol detonate a bomb near a Cylon Heavy Raider.
- A copy who sits next to Boomer during a meeting on Colonial One (during the New Caprican occupation), when the suicide bombings are discussed.
- Multiple copies aboard the basestar that Caprica Six and Baltar inhabit.
- A naked copy aboard the same basestar doing "exercises" reminicent of Tai Chi.
- Multiple copies dying aboard a diseased basestar.
[edit] Trivia
- 'Boomer' is the informal term for a ballistic missile submarine used by the US Navy, just as 'Helo' means 'helicopter'.
- Athena is the name of a figure in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and wisdom.
- The callsign Boomer came from the original Battlestar Galactica series. It was the name (not the call sign) of a character played by Herb Jefferson, Jr..
- Sharon Agathon's call sign, Athena, is also the name of an original series character. Athena was the sister of Apollo and the daughter of Commander Adama. She was a bridge officer, shuttle pilot, and occasional viper pilot.
- In the anime Bubblegum Crisis, 'Boomer' is an informal term for a cyberdroid (an artificial humanoid with parallels to the Cylons).
- Sharon "Boomer" Valerii's shooting of William Adama is reminiscent of Leon Czolgosz's assassination of U.S. President William McKinley. Both Adama and McKinley were shot twice in the gut with a pistol as they were about to shake hands with their attackers.
- The scene where Cally Tyrol shoots Boomer is reminiscent of the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby for killing President John F. Kennedy.
[edit] References
- ^ "Downloaded"
[edit] External links
- "Number Eight" at Battlestar Wiki
- And Now, Direct From Battlestar Galactica – Boomer Talks To Eclipse Magazine
- Grace Park Interview 'Gracefully Boomer'
- Grace Park on Boomer & Battlestar Galactica
- Grace Park: Boomer Gets Ready to Rumble
| Regular Characters on Battlestar Galactica |
| William Adama | Laura Roslin | Kara "Starbuck" Thrace | Lee "Apollo" Adama | Dr. Gaius Baltar | Karl "Helo" Agathon | Anastasia "Dee" Dualla | Number Eight | Felix Gaeta | Billy Keikeya | Number Six | Number Three | Saul Tigh | Cally Tyrol | Galen Tyrol |
