Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Richard Hatch: Captain Apollo

Quotes 

• Captain Apollo : The Nova of Madagon is not a nova at all, but a starfield so bright, our cockpits will be sealed to prevent blindness. We'll navigate by scanners and clear everything out of our path with turbo lasers. Are you feeling alright, Starbuck? You're fidgeting around like a daggit on a sunspot.

  Lieutenant Starbuck : Well, it's my bio-pulse-line, sir. You see, it's a bad time for me to be cooped up in a cockpit.

  Lieutenant Boomer : Starbuck's being polite... since he got a steam burn.

  Captain Apollo : I don't think I want to ask you how you got it, because I need you on this mission. I didn't choose you to help lead us through without a great deal of anguish. But if it'll do any good, let me assure you that should we fail... no one will survive. The rest of our friends must sit in anticipation of our skill.

  Lieutenant Starbuck : Or lack thereof...

• Lieutenant Zac : Nice shooting, but... they hit my high engine!

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

  Lieutenant Zac : Apollo, better look at your scanner.

  [a solid wall of Cylon raiders is chasing them] 

  Captain Apollo : No, but a thousand-to-one, that's not fair.

  Lieutenant Zac : [concerned]  What does it mean?

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

  Lieutenant Zac : 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!

  Lieutenant Zac : You have to! I'm putting my foot on that turbo. I'll make it back ahead of them, now go on! You 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 have been well out of our range at the old moon!

  Commander Adama : [realizing]  Unless it *was* necessary... for them to be somewhere else! Get me the President!

• Flight Corporal Rigel : Core systems, transferring control from probe craft to Galactica. We will guide you through, using scanners.

  Lieutenant Boomer : [to Apollo]  What if we miss a mine?

  Captain Apollo : One of us will be the first to know. Let's go.

• Flight Corporal Rigel : Section 12, launch bay alpha, stand by to launch fighter probe.

  Captain Apollo : Acknowledged. Input recorded and functioning.

  Flight Corporal Rigel : Vector coordinates coded and transferred, acknowledge?

  Captain Apollo : Acknowledged. Ready to launch.

  Flight Corporal Rigel : Core systems, transferring control to probe craft, launch when ready.

• Serina : It's true, then. We are defeated. Doomed.

  Boxey : [to Apollo]  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.

• Sire Uri : [Captain Apollo and Lt. Boomer barge into a private room where a privileged few gorge on food while other refugees are starving]  I trust you have an explanation for this intrusion?

  Captain Apollo : Would like to make a statement before I arrest you, Sire Uri?

  Sire Uri : [arrogantly]  I'm glad you know my name. At least you know where the blade fell.

  Captain Apollo : I'm going to give you about a micron to join me on my shuttle. After that, I'll just turn the six levels of starving passengers beneath you loose and let you take your chances with them.

  Sire Uri : Captain, why don't you join us in our prayer of gratitude for deliverance?

  Captain Apollo : [seething at the idea of being invited to this selfish decadence]  In case it eluded you, Councilor, some hundred people have died since our deliverance from the Cylons. And while hunger hasn't yet taken a life, it's only a matter of time now. Boomer, notify Core Command that we have located some stores, which we will distribute as far as they will go.

  Sire Uri : No, it's mine! It belongs to me and my guests.

  Captain Apollo : Does your wife share your feelings about denying your food to others?

  Sire Uri : My wife?

  Captain Apollo : Siress Uri; I don't see her.

  Sire Uri : Unfortunately, she was not in time to make the voyage.

  Captain Apollo : [disgusted at Uri's callous behavior at the death of his wife]  My sympathies. I share your bereavement. Siress Uri was an outstanding woman.

  Sire Uri : [strongly agrees]  Yes.

  Captain Apollo : [sarcastically]  I'm sure she would be moved by your period of mourning.