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For the original Centurions likeness in the Re-imagined Series, see Cylon Centurion Model 0005. For information on the advanced Centurions from the Re-imagined Series, see Cylon Centurion.
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The Centurion is the workhorse of the Cylon Empire. Acting as infantry, pilots, and even cavalry (as in "The Lost Warrior") the Centurion is as versatile as it is shiny. Used in any front-line encounter, Centurions are the only type of Cylon a Colonial Warrior is likely to ever directly encounter (TOS: "Saga of a Star World").
Centurions speak with a mechanical voice, typically responding to orders with the phrase "By your command." Despite their name, they are the Cylons' lowest ranking soldiers, answerable to Command Centurions and the IL-series models.
Centurions are commonly armed with bayonet-equipped laser rifles, as well as swords for close combat and execution (TOS: "Saga of a Star World").
The inhabitants of Attila refer to Centurions as "tin cans" (TOS: "The Young Lords").
Construction
Following encounters with humans more than a thousand yahren previously, the then-biological Cylon race construct robots mirroring the bipedal humans, believing them to be the superior form in the known galaxy. In time, the Centurions and other robotic creations assume the racial mantle of "Cylon," after turning on their creators (TOS: "Saga of a Star World", "Experiment in Terra").
Centurions are highly advanced robotic constructs beyond the capabilities of the Colonials to understand easily. In one example, Dr. Wilker attempts to reconstruct and reprogram a Centurion. The reprogrammed Centurion manages to move stiffly, but lacks the dexterity of a fully functional unit and destroys the controls of the Raider when it is instructed to fly (TOS: "Baltar's Escape").
Notable Centurions
- Serpentine is Flight Leader who is instructed by Imperious Leader (TOS: "Saga of a Star World")
- Red-Eye brutally enforces Lacerta's reign of terror on Equellus until he is destroyed by Apollo (TOS: "The Lost Warrior").
- Centuri along with his commander Andromus survive a crash and head into New York City (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed").
- Cy is rebuilt by Starbuck and (after some persuasion) befriends the Colonial pilot (1980: "The Return of Starbuck").
Galactica 1980 Version
Centurions are shown to be vulnerable to microwave radiation, and are slowly being outmoded by an android variant with human-like reflexes and agility (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed").
Further, they are neither equipped with swords nor laser rifles, but with a laser pistol analogous to the Colonial's laser pistol (1980: "The Night the Cylons Landed", "The Return of Starbuck").
Notes
- Both the Gold Command Cylon Centurions and the Silver Cylon Centurions were voiced with an EMS Vocoder 2000[1] by voice-actor Michael Santiago.
- The original Centurion does find its way into the Re-imagined Series canon, with similar features, known there as the Cylon Centurion Model 0005. A shell of this Centurion counterpart appears in the Miniseries in the Galactica Museum (as a CG construct), along with other artifacts from the Cylon War.
- In "Razor," an operational Centurion is seen with noticeably mechanical legs (demonstrating that these Cylons were mechanical and not merely "guys in suits") in a flashback to the Cylon War. In the same episode, Kara Thrace shoots down a Cylon Raider (also based on the Original Series' design), where its Centurion version appears again in the wreckage.
Related imagery
References
- ↑ Tompkins, Dave. How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip Hop - The Machine Speaks, p. 208-9.