Colonel Tigh

Colonel Tigh is a fictional character in the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica TV series, played by Terry Carter. In the show, he is the Executive Officer of the titular ship. In his early years, he flew a Viper in the same squadron as Commander Adama. (A book based on the original series mentions him as having served aboard the battlestar Bellerophon before his posting to the Galactica.) Tigh at first appeared to be strictly by-the-book and a tough disciplinarian; however, he does have a lighter side. For example, in the episode "Lost Planet Of The Gods," Tigh bailed Greenbean and the other Blue Squadron pilots out of trouble with Council Security and told them to carry on with Apollo's bachelor party.

Tigh proved himself a competent battlestar commander multiple times:

• In "The Living Legend," Tigh is tasked to command the battlestar Pegasus by Adama, which he does for a short time until Cain reclaims his command. Tigh does not resent Adama or Cain because of his quick loss of the command over the Pegasus. Tigh also does not resent the applause of the Pegasus crew when the crew hears that Cain will return to command; when the Pegasus executive officer (Rod Haase) starts to apologize for the applause, Tigh expresses complete understanding by asking, "Who can fight a living legend?"
• In the episode immediately following that one, "Fire In Space," Adama is injured and Tigh takes command of the Galactica.

In Robert Thurston's novel version of "Saga Of A Star-World," however, Thurston wrote that Tigh had never been able to keep his feelings hidden and that it had cost him more than one star ship command. ("Baltar's Escape" later corroborated this in Lorne Greene's dialogue as Adama, directed to Ina Balin as Siress Tinia.)

In "Baltar's Escape," Tigh was shown not to be much of a drinker; however, when he saw Siress Tinia accompanying Commander Adama in the epilogue of that installment, he turned to whoever was serving drinks and said, both in embarrassment and much to the amusements of Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck, and Lieutenant Sheba, "Uh, barman...." (This contrasts sharply with, in the re-imagined series, Saul Tigh, his counterpart in that version, being an alcoholic.)

Unlike other characters in the original series—for example, Commander Adama—Tigh is very much a skeptic when it comes to religious matters. In the episode "Lost Planet Of The Gods," Adama wishes to send the Galactica into the magnetic void under the belief that it is the void surrounding Kobol, the Colonies' original planet, and encourages Tigh to have faith, as their enemies (presumably the Cylons) have taken everything else from them.

In Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming and the earlier Image Comics sequel to the original series, both set many years after the original series, Tigh is President of the Quorum of Twelve. The character is seen having to deal with leading the council in Richard Hatch's relaunch novel series.

External links

• Tigh at the Battlestar Wiki