«Пегас» Battlestar Galactica: Эпизод «Пегас»

"Pegasus" is the tenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on September 23, 2005. Following "Pegasus", the series went on hiatus until January 2006. In the episode, the human fleet encounters the Battlestar Pegasus, commanded by Admiral Helena Cain. She assumes command of the fleet. Gaius Baltar discovers that Pegasus crew members have been raping and torturing a Cylon prisoner. Cain sentences Helo and Chief Galen Tyrol to death after they accidentally kill a Pegasus officer who was preparing to rape Sharon. In response, Commander William Adama orders Vipers to escort Marines to Pegasus. Cain orders her own Vipers to intercept as the episode ends. "Pegasus" was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. It received critical acclaim.

A large unknown ship appears on Galacticas DRADIS. After a tense moment, the ship is identified as the Battlestar Pegasus, a Colonial vessel previously believed destroyed in the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Cain boards Galactica with an armed escort and welcomes the crew "back to the Colonial Fleet." Cain relates to Adama and President Laura Roslin how she ordered a risky maneuver to escape the initial Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies. Adama recognizes Cain as his superior officer, but Cain promises not to interfere with Galacticas internal affairs. Cain declines to resupply the fleet's civilian ships and integrates the battlestars' crews, transferring Apollo and Starbuck to Pegasus over Commander Adama's objections. Cain's executive officer, Colonel Jack Fisk, tells Colonel Saul Tigh how Cain shot his predecessor for refusing an order. Fisk claims his story is a joke, but Tigh believes it is true and relates the story to Adama. Adama reiterates his willingness to follow Cain, to both Roslin and Tigh, and insists that Apollo and Starbuck obey their transfer orders. Baltar visits Gina, a Number Six copy held prisoner aboard Pegasus. He and Head Six are horrified to discover that the Pegasus crew has systematically tortured and raped Gina. Baltar attempts to establish a rapport with Gina by providing food and confessing to his involvement with another Six copy on Caprica. Helo and Tyrol rescue Sharon from imminent rape by a Pegasus interrogator but accidentally kill the interrogator in the process. Cain denies Adama's request that Helo and Tyrol be given a jury court martial and sentences them both to death for murder and treason. Adama demands that Cain return them to Galactica and orders Vipers to escort a Marine assault team to Pegasus. Cain refuses and sends the Pegasus Vipers to intercept Galacticas.

Director Michael Rymer's cut of "Pegasus" was about 20 minutes too long for broadcast in an hour long time slot. Executive producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore advocated for "Pegasus" to be shown as a 90 minute special episode. The Sci Fi Network refused, so Eick and Moore cut it down to about 44 minutes. However, a 59 minute "extended version" of "Pegasus" is included with the Region 1 DVD release of the second half of the second season, styled "Season 2.5". Notable plot differences with the broadcast version are listed below, in the order in which they appear in the episode. Starbuck argues unsuccessfully to Adama and Roslin that Galactica should return to Caprica to rescue survivors. She promised to rescue Sam Anders from Caprica in a previous episode, "The Farm". Cain and Baltar discuss the efficacy of physical coercion in interrogation during a visit to Sharon's cell. A conversation between Cain and Adama makes clear that Pegasus is much larger, more advanced, and more powerful than Galactica. Helo and Tyrol interrupt rather than prevent Sharon's rape. Several shots without dialogue are inserted or lengthened, as well.

Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity, Jason Davis of Mania, and Jen Segrest of TV Squad each compare the Galactica crew to the Pegasus crew. Because they have chosen to guard a vast civilian fleet, the Galactica has lost some discipline but maintained its humanity. The Pegasus crew has lost some of its humanity, as demonstrated by their brutal treatment of their Cylon prisoner. Ip also sees parallels between the way the Pegasus crew talks about the captive Cylons as subhuman and Bush administration rhetoric surrounding such detainees. Overall, Ip contrasts what he considers a "skeptical" portrayal of the effectiveness of torture as an interrogation method in "Pegasus" with what he views as a more sympathetic treatment in the television series 24. Clifton notes that the Pegasus crew who celebrate raping Gina and look forward to raping Sharon are all men, and the female Galactica crew react negatively. He questions whether Cally is truly concerned about Sharon, recalling Cally's sexual assault Clifton further suggests a homoerotic element to the men's enthusiasm and compares the situation to a frat party. Davis compares Adama's defiance of Cain to Apollo's mutiny in "Kobol's Last Gleaming". Eick notes a practice of actor Edward James Olmos (Adama) going back to his role in Miami Vice: his character avoids eye contact with other characters he doesn't respect. Eick says the amount Adama looks at Cain in "Pegasus" indicates that he respects her. According to Clifton, the ways in which Apollo and Starbuck protest their transfer orders reflect their characters: Apollo points out the detrimental effects of shuffling personnel ahead of an operation, and Starbuck insults Cain and the Pegasus CAG. In his September 2005 podcast commentary on the episode, Moore said he had been thinking about the episode "literally since I agreed to do the project." However, he waited until the middle of the second season so the series would be further developed when Pegasus and Cain appear. In particular, he wanted the audience to have built some loyalty for the Galactica characters to complicate their reaction to Cain's (correct, in Moore's view) assessment that Galactica runs problematically. Moore abandoned several elements of the original series episode involving Cain, "The Living Legend"; the main similarities in his view are Cain appearing suddenly in the Pegasus and being "more of a hardass character than Commander Adama." Actress Tricia Helfer, who played Six, received the 2006 Leo Award for "Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series" for her performance in the episode. Critical reception of "Pegasus" was favorable. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Tricia Helfer and Grace Park [Sharon] gave outstanding performances". Clifton gave "Pegasus" an A, praising the performances of Mary McDonnell (Roslin), Helfer, and especially Forbes and calling the episode as a whole "really, really well done, and really, really hard to watch." Segrest also said it was hard to watch but nonetheless reviewed the episode favorably, commending the performances of James Callis (Baltar) and Helfer as Gina. Davis gave "Pegasus" an A+, praising Forbes, Helfer, McDonnell, and Olmos and calling the episode's musical score "without equal". Keith called "Pegasus" "the darkest the show has gone" Simon Brew of Den of Geek called the episode "flat out outstanding." Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi ranked "Pegasus" as the eighth best episode of the re imagined Battlestar Galactica, calling it "compelling and fascinating". John Kubicek of BuddyTV ranked it ninth best, saying the ending "could be one of TV's greatest cliffhangers." Kelly Woo of TV Squad also ranked it ninth best. Alan Sepinwall listed it among his favorite episodes of the series, calling the episode "a gut wrencher from start to finish" and Forbes "perfect". Jackson Alpern of Maxim ranked the first scene of confusion over whether Pegasus is a Cylon ship the ninth best moment in the series. Eric Goldman of IGN ranked "Admiral Cain's reign" in "Pegasus" and the following (two part) episode, "Resurrection Ship", second on his list of the series's top "storylines and moments", praising Forbes's performance and calling the three episodes "riveting". In separate interviews, Olmos, McDonnell, and actor Aaron Douglas (Tyrol) were asked to respond to criticism of the graphic nature of the rape scene. Olmos said of people who were upset, "They should be warned right now: please turn off your television sets and do not watch this show because it’s only going to provide more insight into the complexities of what happens to human beings." McDonnell said that the scene was helpful for promoting dialogue and contrasted it with how violence against women is portrayed elsewhere in media. Douglas insisted that the scene was not sensationalistic but rather was an attempt to honestly portray the human condition.