Sucked Out of the Gene Pool
During the opening credits of each Battlestar Galactica episode, we learn how many human survivors remain after their latest fight to the death against the enemy Cylons. There are 41,435 survivors listed at the start of “Collaborators,” the fifth episode of season three.
Does that ever-shrinking number of human beings specifically include James “Jammer” Lyman?
After pleading unsuccessfully for mercy, Jammer (portrayed by Dominic Zamprogna) was literally sucked out of the gene pool. He was executed by fellow humans who ejected him into the cold vacuum of space outside the Galactica. Such a savage end to a young warrior’s life was brought on by a circle of survivors aboard Galactica. They found Jammer guilty of collaboration with Cylons after escape from the Cylon-occupied planet, New Caprica.
An imperative of the human race is to keep the species going. With ongoing casualties of war, will the remaining survivors have sufficient time or initiative to reproduce? Battlestar Galactica episodes thus far have not dealt in any detail with sexual reproduction. With the notable exception of the sexual activity between Hilo and Cylon Sharon, more attention is given on Battlestar Galactica to lives ended than to lives begun.
We can only wonder whether Jammer had a chance to contribute towards propagating the human species before his life was ended. But, when would Jammer have had time to sexually reproduce when he was preoccupied with betraying his own species to the Cylons on New Caprica?
