In the fictional world of Battlestar Galactica, you kind of have to be a bit of a badass if you have any hopes of surviving. Especially if you're human. The series as a whole revolves around a war between the human inhabitants of the twelve colonies of Kobol and the cylon robots that they created, but the war seems like it's nearly finished the moment it starts. The Cylons return to Kobol and destroy all of the colonies, only leaving a few thousand humans left alive.
And one of those humans is a pilot named Kara Thrace, call sign Starbuck. Starbuck is without a doubt the best pilot left in the fleet, and she's just as intimidating outside of the cockpit as she is inside of one. In a world populated by badasses Starbuck is truly the ultimate badass. And here are her ten most badass quotes throughout the series.
Pilots Call Me Starbuck, You May Refer To Me As God.
Well there's the humble Starbuck that we've all come to know and love! To be fair, Starbuck's arrogance is kind of deserved, at least when it comes to being a pilot. It's difficult to find a flyer in the universe, whether they're human or cylon, that can come close to Starbuck's skill in the cockpit.
And when she's tasked with finding some potential Viper pilots among the few and completely inexperienced ranks of the humans in the fleet she's understandably concerned about their potential. But instead of being encouraging, Starbuck chooses the more abrasive tactic of just scaring the bejesus out of them with this intimidating intro.
So Life's A Bitch. What Do Want To Do, Cry About It?
For most people, crying about the apocalypse and seemingly impossible to win and never ending war with the cylons is an extremely rational reaction. But surprisingly in this exchange with a fellow pilot, it's Starbuck who is trying to keep the optimism alive.
When one of her Viper pilot students is complaining about the endless, miserable monotony of life within the fleet Starbuck retorts with this classic line. But as the conversation continues further Starbuck asserts that the end will come eventually, that earth is out there, and that they will find it. And what do you know, she winds up being right.
Outside The Box Is Where I Live.
After the cylon attack on the colonies of Kobol, life for humankind is more precious than ever. And staying alive when you're a part of a crew of a few thousand at war with a seemingly impossible to kill race of androids is no easy task. Which is why the, shall we say disagreeable, Starbuck is an essential part of humanity's survival despite her lack of interpersonal skills.
When you're David squaring off against Goliath, you can't just go straight at them and have any hope of winning. Which is why Starbuck's personal brand of out of the box thinking makes her such an asset to team human.
Fear Gets You Killed. Anger Keeps You Alive.
It's definitely a good thing that Starbuck seems to have an endless well of rage to draw from then, isn't it? Starbuck is truly tough as nails and isn't too shy about sharing every negative feeling she has with the world, but given how far she's gotten and how much she's accomplished it seems like this particular strategy of letting anger fuel you has really worked out well.
And although Starbuck only dropped this particular pearl of wisdom once, it's readily apparent that it's one of her guiding principles throughout the entire human-cylon war, and there are quite a few instances where she probably wouldn't have survived without letting her anger take control.
You are a better person than I am because if I found out that you're a Cylon I'd put a bullet between your eyes.
Isn't this the kind of sentimentality that just warms your heart? Like most characters on Battlestar Galactica at one point or another, Starbuck is forced to question whether or not she could be a Cylon who simply doesn't realize that she's a Cylon.
When Starbuck voices these concerns to her husband Sam Anders, Anders is quick to comfort her. He assures her that she is unlikely to be a Cylon, but even if she was it wouldn't change how he felt about her because she'd still be the same person inside. And loving wife that Kara is, she replies by telling him that she wouldn't be too likely to feel the same.
I've been to Earth. I know where it is, and I'm gonna take us there.
One of the biggest themes throughout the series of Battlestar Galactica are the ideas of religion and faith, and the different ways in which those things can drive people. When it comes to faith, Starbuck doesn't seem like someone who is particularly faithful. However, her belief in herself and her ability to take the human race where it needs to go seems downright unflappable.
Sometimes the only thing keeping the fleet going is a wing and a prayer, and lucky for them Kara Thrace happens to have wings. The quest for earth was a difficult one, but Starbuck wasn't going to give up when she knew what she was capable of.
What if, when you die here, you really die? It's your chance to find out if you're really god or just a bunch of circuits with a bad haircut.
One of the most compelling philosophical questions that Battlestar Galactica asks is how close cylons are to humans in the spiritual sense. Clearly the cylons believe that they're equal or superior to humans in this sense, but the reality is that they are still machines.
While she's interrogating the cylon known as Leoben, Starbuck tries to use this question to shake his faith and force himself to consider that if he dies and he's too far from the Resurrection ship then this could really be the end for him. Most humans would be intimidated by an enemy that can repeatedly come back to life, but Starbuck manages to find a way to flip the script and gain the upper hand.
We created you. Us. It was a stupid, frakked-up decision, and we have paid for it.
They paid for it with interest. You'd think that at some point humanity would understand that slavery is a bad idea, even if you think that robots can never feel or think in the way that people do. But apparently, that was the last huge lesson that the people of the twelve colonies had to learn.
And while Starbuck might be one of the cockiest humans left alive, she takes particular umbrage at the arrogance of the Cylons and their belief that god sees them as superior beings. So naturally, when a Cylon tries to flex on her, she flexes right back with this line.
One of us has to pull up, and it sure isn't going to be me.
The series-long story of Battlestar Galactica is by far the most compelling tale the show ever told, but BSG also served up quite a few memorable stand alone episodes as well. One particularly entertaining episode was focused on one specific cylon Raider commonly known as Scar.
Scar had been in battle and killed many times over, only to reload into a new Raider body and go out back into the thick of the fight. This also makes him one of the most skilled soldiers in the cylon army. So when Starbuck comes face to face with this deadly Raider, she reacts in exactly the way anyone would expect her to.
Your Hybrid told me something. Said that I was the harbinger of death, that I would lead us all to our end.
And thankfully that hybrid seemed to be wrong! Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can surmise that Kara Thrace is not the kind of person you want to cross, and throughout the course of the series she proves her worth and exceptional abilities over and over again.
But Starbuck's journey takes her in a lot of unexpected places and in a lot of unexpected directions, and those experiences certainly plant a few seeds of self doubt in her mind. But if there was ever any doubt that Starbuck was the BSG badass to end all badasses, potentially being the harbinger of death and doom would certainly erase those doubts.