Specter (Battlestar Galactica)

BSG Character


The Cylon Specter in "Battlestar Galactica"
bgcolor=#f40
fgcolor=#000
name=Specter
race=Cylon
gender=IL-series
callsign=
rank=Commander
colony=Attila Garrison
affiliation=Cylons
portrayed=Murray Matheson

Specter is a fictional character from the 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" television series. Specter is commander of the Attila Garrison on a Delta class planet in the Omega sector. Specter is introduced to the series in "The Young Lords" episode.

An early I-L series Cylon, Specter has a transparent pointy head, wears a bold red and white colored robe, and has two oscillating eyes, in contrast to the single eye of Cylon Centurions.

Specter's personality is nonchalant, confident, clever, and deceptive. Specter has been sustaining an ongoing losing campaign against local humans and has kept it secret from Cylon command. Specter boldly lies to Baltar about the capture of a Colonial Warrior (Starbuck) who has been rescued by locals. Specter also lies to the local humans in an exchange of prisoners. While Specter continues to experience setbacks, his glowing reports (lies) to Baltar earn praise and recognition and even while his garrison is being captured by the locals, Specter convinces Baltar to promote his unit to a new assignment.

Specter is thought to be an inferior model by Lucifer, although Baltar believes this opinion is driven by jealousy. Lucifer grows to distrust Specter as he sees through the lies that Specter tells.

Specter's interactions with humans have provided him unique insights and understanding about human behavior. For example Specter has learned that some humans have a trait, integrity, which he considers to be more binding than "cylon chain," implying a higher degree of trustworthiness. The understanding of human behavior is one of Lucifer's personal goals for his assignment to Baltar in early episodes.

Specter is one of the characters from the original "Battlestar Galactica" series that has no direct analog in the 2003 reimagined "Battlestar Galactica".