A rough death/living count for the series
I just posted this as a comment in response to brynnmck's finale post, and thought I'd post it here. I didn't enjoy the final (I was surprised by just how annoyed I was, given that my expectations were low and I don't really watch the show for plot at all) but one thing that has always spoiled my enjoyment of BSG is the way that it's handled gender, race and sexuality amongst other issues in the social justice pantheon. I know BSG has always tried,
I am particularly angry about the nothingness of Kara's ending, given what an active force the character was. I had always had one wish for the show's end and that was that damaged, vital Kara Thrace would be human. I didn't get that, and even Tigh (the other flawed 'human' character) wasn't human. The fact that Kara not only wasn't human, but she wasn't even 'real' is an insult to the great character we were given over the years IMO.
I just did a very basic assessment of the gender/sexual orientation/race of both the survivors and the characters who died throughout the course of the series, based on the IMDB cast list, pulling out the characters whose names I recognised. (I haven't re-watched the finale so if there are characters in it who don't appear in the IMDB list, I won't have them here. I also left off someone like Zak who, while relevant to the overall plot, wasn't a character whose 'journey' was shown in the show's run.) I've tagged characters/actors as PoC if I'm sure/pretty sure they have non-white heritage, although of course this is just a quick assessment so I may have missed people, in which case my bad and I hope someone points it out to me.
I may have got a couple of details wrong or been a bit subjective in places and I am happy to have it pointed out to me where I've missed things or if you think I have it wrong, but I think it's pretty reflective of what happened in the show, and the results were exactly what I'd expected:
Characters who survived:
Tricia Helfer ... Number Six (Cylon)
Kate Vernon ... Ellen Tigh (Cylon)
Kerry Norton ... Medic Layne Ishay
Grace Park ... Lt. Sharon 'Athena' Agathon(Cylon) [PoC]
Iliana Gomez-Martinez ... Hera Agathon but is a) half-Cylon and b) a girl and therefore an ‘innocent’ and ‘untouched’ female, unsullied by sex [PoC]
Edward James Olmos ... Admiral William Adama [PoC]
Jamie Bamber ... Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama
James Callis ... Dr. Gaius Baltar
Michael Hogan ... Colonel Saul Tigh
Aaron Douglas ... Chief Galen Tyrol
Tahmoh Penikett ... Captain Karl 'Helo' Agathon
Donnelly Rhodes ... Dr. Cottle
Bodie Olmos ... Brendan 'Hot Dog' Costanza [PoC]
Callum Keith Rennie ... Leoben Conoy (Cylon)
Brad Dryborough ... Lt. Louis Hoshi [PoC]
Matthew Bennett ... Aaron Doral (Cylon)
Mark Sheppard ... Romo Lampkin
Finn R. Devitt ... Nicky Tyrol
Total surviving = 18
Male = 13
Female = 5 of which 3 are Cylons and 1 is a half-Cylon aged about 2. Ishay is the only surviving human female. (Ishay! Is this for serious?! Please tell me another human female character survived. I guess there was that cult member, Paulla or something?)
Total non-white characters to survive: 5
Died:
Mary McDonnell ... President Laura Roslin - breast cancer
Katee Sackhoff ... Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace - 'angel' who vanishes into nothingness
Kandyse McClure ... Officer Anastasia Dualla - suicide [PoC]
Grace Park ... Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii (Cylon) - murdered [PoC]
Nicki Clyne ... Crewman Specialist Cally Henderson - murdered
Leah Cairns ... Lt. Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmonson - died in battle
Rekha Sharma ... Tory Foster (Cylon) - murdered [PoC]
Luciana Carro ... Captain Louanne 'Kat' Katraine - gave own life/died in battle/suicide? [PoC]
Lorena Gale ... Elosha - murdered [PoC]
Michelle Forbes ... Admiral Helena Cain (gay) murdered
Alessandro Juliani ... Lt. Felix Gaeta (NB: gay) - mutiny/executed [PoC]
Michael Trucco ... Samuel Anders (Cylon) - by own hand/programmed
Paul Campbell ... Billy Keikeya - accidentally shot/murdered
Richard Hatch ... Tom Zarek - mutiny/executed
Dean Stockwell ... Brother Cavil - suicide
Colin Lawrence ... Lt. Hamish 'Skulls' McCall - died in battle [PoC]
Sam Witwer ... Crashdown - died in battle/murdered
Christian Tessier ... Lt. Tucker 'Duck' Clellan - I don't know. Suicide bombing?
Total dying = 17 (including both of the queer characters)
Male = 8
Female = 10
Total number of women to die in passive, rather than active or job-related ways = 7 (plus 2 suicides).
Racetrack the only one to go out because of her job and in battle. Most of the men went out in battle or because of something they actively did/deserved to varying degrees.
Total non-white characters to die: 7
Ones I’m not sure about or can't remember:
Jen Halley ... Ensign Diana 'Hardball' Seelix
Lucy Lawless ... D'Anna Biers
Tiffany Lyndall-Knight ... The Hybrid (sexbot)
Rick Worthy ... Simon [PoC]
I don't know about anyone else, but seeing it laid out like that made me feel a) glad to see it set out in black and white (so to speak), so that I have evidence of what I've seen all along and b) angry. And this is why as much as this show will forever be one of my favourites and I commend it for trying, it shows just how much further there is for TV to go to reflect active female characters and show minority groups with as diverse a representation as that of straight, white men get.
I am particularly angry about the nothingness of Kara's ending, given what an active force the character was. I had always had one wish for the show's end and that was that damaged, vital Kara Thrace would be human. I didn't get that, and even Tigh (the other flawed 'human' character) wasn't human. The fact that Kara not only wasn't human, but she wasn't even 'real' is an insult to the great character we were given over the years IMO.
I just did a very basic assessment of the gender/sexual orientation/race of both the survivors and the characters who died throughout the course of the series, based on the IMDB cast list, pulling out the characters whose names I recognised. (I haven't re-watched the finale so if there are characters in it who don't appear in the IMDB list, I won't have them here. I also left off someone like Zak who, while relevant to the overall plot, wasn't a character whose 'journey' was shown in the show's run.) I've tagged characters/actors as PoC if I'm sure/pretty sure they have non-white heritage, although of course this is just a quick assessment so I may have missed people, in which case my bad and I hope someone points it out to me.
I may have got a couple of details wrong or been a bit subjective in places and I am happy to have it pointed out to me where I've missed things or if you think I have it wrong, but I think it's pretty reflective of what happened in the show, and the results were exactly what I'd expected:
Characters who survived:
Tricia Helfer ... Number Six (Cylon)
Kate Vernon ... Ellen Tigh (Cylon)
Kerry Norton ... Medic Layne Ishay
Grace Park ... Lt. Sharon 'Athena' Agathon(Cylon) [PoC]
Iliana Gomez-Martinez ... Hera Agathon but is a) half-Cylon and b) a girl and therefore an ‘innocent’ and ‘untouched’ female, unsullied by sex [PoC]
Edward James Olmos ... Admiral William Adama [PoC]
Jamie Bamber ... Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama
James Callis ... Dr. Gaius Baltar
Michael Hogan ... Colonel Saul Tigh
Aaron Douglas ... Chief Galen Tyrol
Tahmoh Penikett ... Captain Karl 'Helo' Agathon
Donnelly Rhodes ... Dr. Cottle
Bodie Olmos ... Brendan 'Hot Dog' Costanza [PoC]
Callum Keith Rennie ... Leoben Conoy (Cylon)
Brad Dryborough ... Lt. Louis Hoshi [PoC]
Matthew Bennett ... Aaron Doral (Cylon)
Mark Sheppard ... Romo Lampkin
Finn R. Devitt ... Nicky Tyrol
Total surviving = 18
Male = 13
Female = 5 of which 3 are Cylons and 1 is a half-Cylon aged about 2. Ishay is the only surviving human female. (Ishay! Is this for serious?! Please tell me another human female character survived. I guess there was that cult member, Paulla or something?)
Total non-white characters to survive: 5
Died:
Mary McDonnell ... President Laura Roslin - breast cancer
Katee Sackhoff ... Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace - 'angel' who vanishes into nothingness
Kandyse McClure ... Officer Anastasia Dualla - suicide [PoC]
Grace Park ... Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii (Cylon) - murdered [PoC]
Nicki Clyne ... Crewman Specialist Cally Henderson - murdered
Leah Cairns ... Lt. Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmonson - died in battle
Rekha Sharma ... Tory Foster (Cylon) - murdered [PoC]
Luciana Carro ... Captain Louanne 'Kat' Katraine - gave own life/died in battle/suicide? [PoC]
Lorena Gale ... Elosha - murdered [PoC]
Michelle Forbes ... Admiral Helena Cain (gay) murdered
Alessandro Juliani ... Lt. Felix Gaeta (NB: gay) - mutiny/executed [PoC]
Michael Trucco ... Samuel Anders (Cylon) - by own hand/programmed
Paul Campbell ... Billy Keikeya - accidentally shot/murdered
Richard Hatch ... Tom Zarek - mutiny/executed
Dean Stockwell ... Brother Cavil - suicide
Colin Lawrence ... Lt. Hamish 'Skulls' McCall - died in battle [PoC]
Sam Witwer ... Crashdown - died in battle/murdered
Christian Tessier ... Lt. Tucker 'Duck' Clellan - I don't know. Suicide bombing?
Total dying = 17 (including both of the queer characters)
Male = 8
Female = 10
Total number of women to die in passive, rather than active or job-related ways = 7 (plus 2 suicides).
Racetrack the only one to go out because of her job and in battle. Most of the men went out in battle or because of something they actively did/deserved to varying degrees.
Total non-white characters to die: 7
Ones I’m not sure about or can't remember:
Jen Halley ... Ensign Diana 'Hardball' Seelix
Lucy Lawless ... D'Anna Biers
Tiffany Lyndall-Knight ... The Hybrid (sexbot)
Rick Worthy ... Simon [PoC]
I don't know about anyone else, but seeing it laid out like that made me feel a) glad to see it set out in black and white (so to speak), so that I have evidence of what I've seen all along and b) angry. And this is why as much as this show will forever be one of my favourites and I commend it for trying, it shows just how much further there is for TV to go to reflect active female characters and show minority groups with as diverse a representation as that of straight, white men get.