Battlestar Galactica 2004, Caprica and Blood & Chrome
The Raider Type III, reporting name: Sparrow was species of Cylon which entered production at some point after the 1st Cylon War.[1] They replaced the Type II Raiders, mere vessels crewed by Model 0005 Centurions. Like their Centurion counterparts, they had their higher brain functions suppressed by the Humanoid Cylons, making them little more than animals in the eyes of other Cylon.
History[]
In the aftermath of the Twelve Colonies' destruction, Galactica deployed its Vipers against Cylon attack fighters. The enemy's presence had been detected by DRADIS, but the starfighters were an unknown quantity, and the Vipers didn't know what the fighters look like, only being able to speculate on the design base on the old Type 1 Raider from Galactica's museum.
Design[]
In the begining[]
The first sight of these ships revealed them to have bird-like forms, with a helmet-shaped "body" set in the center. Physically, Raiders were biological organisms fused to a metallic exoskeleton, weapons, and engines. The biological entity was, like the Humanoid Cylons, synthetic in nature though functioned the same as naturally occurring lifeforms. The Raider organism had organs necessary for various functions. The brain was complex enough for the Raiders to be sentient, intelligent beings capable of planning and communicating with one another. To move, electrical pulses were sent from the brain to muscles that interacted with the mechanical part of the Raider, allowing it to move no differently from any animal. These muscles also interacted with the weapons, thrusters, and FTL engine. As with biological entities, Raiders needed Oxygen to survive, and the organism was kept alive through a breathing tube.
Life after death[]
Sharon "Boomer" Valerii later revealed that Raiders were more like trained animals, with basic consciousness and survival instincts. Genetically designed to perform the task of fighters, they could think and act independently - so independently in fact, that they could even refuse to follow orders. Like Cylons and Raiders died and were reborn into a new ship, bringing all their accumulated knowledge and skills with them. According to Valerii "death then becomes a learning experience", although death also proved to be a "painful and traumatic" ordeal. A Raider ace, named "Scar" by the Viper pilots for the mark of its "face" was considered the most deadly of all the Cylon fighters. Valerii's warning to Thrace was chilling "As he's reborn, he's filled with more bitter memories. Scar hates you as much as you hate him."
Kindred Spirit[]
The Raiders could recognize their own kind, even in human form. In his first sortie as a Viper pilot, Samuel T. Anders found himself in the midst of a massive battle in an Ionian Nebula (Battle of the Ionian Nebula), where Galactica was under siege by Cylon Raiders and the fleet was close to destruction. Anders spun close to a Raider, whose tracking light scanned his face, illuminating his eyes. Within moments, as if in response to an invisible order, the Cylon strike force withdrew to their ships. This refusal to carry out orders later forced a Cylon Loyalist faction to start lobotomizing raiders, as they refused to fight the Refugee Fleet anymore. In response to the lobotomization, the Cylon Rebels removed higher-brain function inhibitor from Centurions, who were infuriated by the invasive procedure done to their "brothers". These actions later caused the Cylon Civil War, and the near genocide of numbers Two, Six, and Eight.
Behind the scenes[]
"The Raiders truly were like horses. They had cognizance and could be trained to do things, and they could make decisions on their own, but they were not (fully) sentient. The Cylons had developed them specifically like that and kept them below the threshold of self-awareness so that they didn't have to deal with notions of slavery." - Ronald D. Moore on the issue of the Cylons, formerly a slave race, becoming master by creating the servile Raiders[2].
Notes[]
- Sometimes after the movie "Razor", the exterior design of the Cylon Raider was redesigned to be more in line with the Modern Centurion, with a flatter face and sharper jawline
Gallery[]
.jpg "CylonRaider(SCW).jpg (267 KB)")
Sources[]
Cylon Fleet
| |
|---|---|
| Capital Ships | Basestar Type-A · Basestar Type-B · Basestar Type-C · Basestar Type-D |
| Support Ships | Resurrection Ship · Cylon Freighter |
| Small Ships | Heavy Raider · Raider Type I · Raider Type II · Raider Type III · Recon Drone |
| Installations | The Colony · Resurrection Hub |