"It's been revealed... Helena Cain, and Gina Invierre, are lovers. Brought to you by Quizno's. Mmm mmm, mmm mmm, mmmm. Toasty!"
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. Frackin' LOVE seeing the old-school new-school Cylon Raiders! =)
p.p.s. Starbuck: Don't you love it when a plan comes together?
Frackin' brilliant! Cuz, Thrace's character was played by Dirk Benedict in the original series, and you might remember that Dirk played "Faceman" of the A-TEAM (another Larson production), and the Colonel's thing was, "I love it when a plan comes together." (Also, in the show opening, Faceman crosses paths with an old-school "toaster" at Universal Studios. =)
Frackin' nerd pop culture jackpot!
Showing posts with label BSG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BSG. Show all posts
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
BSG: The Baltarian Dialogues
3.20: "Crossroads part 2"
Here I present some transcribed email back-n-forth between myself and Zorknapp, aka Mike, on the season finale of BSG. Note that it doesn't quite read chronologically, as a conversation. Each of us was responding to points by the other over a couple days of email, so they're more like threads. An episode summary post is the seed of the discussion...
(Credit for the "Baltarian Dialogues" title goes to Zorky =)
ZORKNAPP: I actually thought that was interesting, that Felix would lie. To salve his own conscience? Do retroactively try to fix what he helped to do? Interesting trait on his part, that I hope just isn't dropped...
cabinboy: It's mean, but I really like that Gaeta's been brought low by association with Baltar, after idolizing him and then basically winning him his Presidency (or at least, not letting it be stolen by Roslyn). I think his motivation in perjuring himself is a good part guilt (he was ready to let himself be tubed for the things he couldn't stop, people he couldn't save, on New Caprica, even tho he *was* in fact instrumental in much of what the resistance accomplished), and another hefty chunk hatred of GB, cut with a hefty dose of self-hatred. By lying to convict Baltar, I'm sure on some level he wants to make up for being a party to his puppet administration and pimp and handler to the man.
ZORKNAPP: Very true. I hope that we see more of Gaeta as time goes on, perhaps with ramifications of his lie...
ZORKNAPP: Does the whole fleet know about whatever Baltar is talking about? I'm not even sure if I do...
cabinboy: I don't know that the attack Baltar refers to is common knowledge. I would've thought that it would've been kept under wraps by the authorities, but I'm sure Baltar and his lawyer would have made it public to help their cause, garner sympathy. I don't remember that explicitly happening, tho.
ZORKNAPP: I thought the phrase, "Stab me through the neck" was a bit too specific to just be a general throwaway line...
cabinboy: To clarify, yes, he *did* stab Baltar in the neck during an interview/interrogation, goaded by what Baltar said to him when he realized that Gaeta was sent to talk to him as "good cop" stooge, having spotted the not-so-hidden camera in the room. But we know that Gaeta was ready to do Baltar in before that, when he discovers Baltar performing a very low-tech Cylon detector test on himself... aka hanging himself in his cell.
cabinboy: Speciesist judges, eh?
Not guilty.
ZORKNAPP: I do always find it interesting that the "humans" have to keep reminding themselves that they're better than the machines they themselves created. It's part of convincing themselves that they're worth saving.
By the way, the initial two seasons always had that "The Cylons were created by humans...and they have a plan..." prologue. Now, it's gone. Do the Cylons not have a plan anymore? And besides breeding a half Cylon-human baby, do we know what their plan was? And not a lot of God talk anymore...
cabinboy: Hrmm... I hadn't given the abridging of the opening all that much thought. Yeah, without having eyes/cameras in with the Cylons, we don't get anymore of that Gods vs God talk. Poly vs monotheist... Did I incorrectly infer that the Cylons were swinging towards monotheism? Is it only Baltar and his virtual Six who have referred to a single supreme being type, and the real skin jobs consistently refer to plural gods?
ZORKNAPP: My recollection is that all the Cylons are on the road to monotheism, with perhaps Brother Cattel's model being a bit ambivalent about the whole thing...
cabinboy: I wonder what religions we'll be treated to when the BSG and Cylon fleets reach Earth? Maybe they'll team up to pose as a threat that will unite all the Earthicans. They could keep sending Cylons to engage them and lose battles cuz they'll always resurrect. Maybe their presence will be responsible for peace in the Middle East.
ZORKNAPP: I liked the lawyer! I hope he comes back. I do wonder if he has some sort of connection to Baltar. Or, could he be a Cylon model?
cabinboy: Lawyer (I remember him as the pyrokinetic from an early early X-FILE) was excellent. I would very much like to see him come back, but hopefully not in a forced way. He was a great foil for Apollo, and a great switch-flipper for Baltar. The references to gramps Adama had me wondering if he was somehow connected in a very longshot Cylon way to him, resurrected in a younger body or something. Not a chance, really.
ZORKNAPP: I'm glad you're just calling him "Lawyer." I could never remember his name.
cabinboy: Yeah, several BSG character names regularly escape me. Lawyer, Starbuck's stalker Cylon, Preacher/Brother Cattel. Took me a while to remember Tyrol...
cabinboy: I don't see him as one of the five.
ZORKNAPP: Generally agreed. But, I do think there's *something* more to him...
cabinboy: I'm going to question it every once in a while, but I will continue to go along with the notion that there are twelve different skinjob Cylon models. I cannot remember now who revealed that when and to whom. I seem to remember a note that Adama unfolds and reads...? Was that in the miniseries pilot? Frack.
ZORKNAPP: Yes, in the miniseries pilot, there's a note left *in* Adama's office. Who could have left it, and who would have known? Tighe? The Pres?
cabinboy: Thanks for the refresher on that. That's bugged me for a while now.
ZORKNAPP: Meow!
cabinboy: Have we seen any space cats on the show?
ZORKNAPP: No pets at all that I can recall...
cabinboy: Ah, Muffy the Daggit...
cabinboy: Unlike (did I hear that right?)... How well did he know gramps Adama? Does he know somehow that the Adama line carries a Cylon/earthican seed? And... He leaves the cane behind. Doesn't need it. Never needed it? Lawyering sympathy-garnering affectation?
ZORKNAPP: I'd have to see that episode, but I think Apollo would have reacted stronger to a slander against his grandfather (whether it's really true or not). I think that Rommel liked the senior Adama, but thought that he was hardass. Never questioned his honesty before... Although, if you did hear correctly, maybe that will go somewhere...
cabinboy: Yeah, UNlike doesn't seem right coming from Rommel, given the esteem he held gramps Adama in. But I could've sworn that was what I heard. That made me think that Rommel might've been closer to gramps than he let on. Some relationship that's stronger than professional respect. Something genetic, perhaps.
ZORKNAPP: Did you tape the show? Perhaps a replay could answer the question... You're really fixated on this genetic/reincarnation idea, aren't you? :)
cabinboy: I played that bit back again this evening and it really sounds like UNlike. Maybe lawyer was being sarcastic/ironic? I honestly couldn't say for sure given his character and delivery.
I am a bit fixated on the idea that Cylon skinbags are essentially human, and vice versa, with DNA and genes that determine their biological programming, and by creative license and extrapolation couldn't you pass information or bits of identity down thru generations thru that programming?
In my head, tho, I know it's probably too sophisticated and requires way too much exposition to pull off on a TV show. Still, I like the idea.
ZORKNAPP: We tend to forget that...
ZORKNAPP: There were hints of the song in the last episode, it would have to be a pretty powerful signal to be associated with the Nebula. Not impossible, but I am curious as to what is causing this trigger....
cabinboy: Ha! Baltar continues to live the late night Cinemax life, as girlies save Baltar...
ZORKNAPP: Where could they be taking him off to? A room with a bed and a candleabra? And nothing else? Besides loungy piano music?
ZORKNAPP: Ooo Gah!
cabinboy: Baltar and Emmanuelle in Space!
cabinboy: That woman wanted him to bless her child. Where the F did that come from? Is he gonna put together his own Jonestown? A Manson family?
ZORKNAPP: I thought it was supposed to be the 5 unseen Cylon models... And their very bright robes flashed to black before Boomer/Pres/Six all awoke from the same dream... Interesting...
cabinboy: Yeah, I liked that black flash of the figures. And they're definitely The Five. I mentioned it in a ramble earlier this season and I'll repeat it. D'anna and Baltar, clued in by a Base Star Hybrid, are certain that The Five of the human prophecies and The Five unknown Cylons are five and the same. "Proof" that some form of Cylons have been with the humans even before humans created them. Or that those five humans are somehow responsible for creating/upgrading the toasters to skinjobs.
Or something...
ZORKNAPP: Ah, see, this is where my knowledge is a bit slim. What Five of what human prophesies are you talking about?
cabinboy: The temple on the algae planet was the Temple of the Five. The one that Tyrol discovered. Roslyn makes a comment at one point about how the Cylon Five might be the Five of the humans' Temple as well. And D'anna makes an observation when she's hanging w Baltar and the hybrid about how their Cylon gods might be connected to the humans' gods. If the Temple of the Five was built by the Earthicans/13th colony, and the Five are the mysterious Cylon models, then Cylons were with humans way back when, if not leading or guiding them, even.
cabinboy: The projection vision I describe above was different from the one where Roslyn, Athena, and Six meet each other. It didn't seem to be connected sensibly or obviously to any particular character in the real world. Given that it was only Baltar, Six, and Hera, I think it must've been Baltar and his Jiminy Six, and not the Caprica Six in the holding cell. I'll hafta review the episode again when I get a chance.
I wonder if Athena and Roslyn can see Caprica Six's Jiminy Baltar if they have another shared vision. This Kamala Root (+ cancer?) seems to be a way of unlocking the latent human projection ability, as well as somehow tuning into "native" Cylon telepathic frequencies (to share a vision/projection).
cabinboy: The singing ship... "All Along The Watchtower," by Bob Dylan? An intentional, local trigger? Or a "live" song from earth... A broadcast? Did any Dylan make it onto a Pioneer or Voyager recording or gold record? V'ger, only with the Cylons? Then they're in earth's future... our future... And so many light years away.
ZORKNAPP: "Send More Chuck Berry!" Where this whole song thing is going to go, I'm curious... I wish they had just used the song, without having the characters quote the lyrics.
cabinboy: Having the characters actually hear that song, from Earth, by Dylan, pretty definitively ties the series continuity to 20th century earth as we know it in the real world. That, I like.
ZORKNAPP: Or, the future... They didn't use the original version, and it's pretty wacky sounding. So, it could be Earth in the future, to go along with your Star Trek tie in idea... Maybe we can finally see what would win in a fight, a Battlestar or the Enterprise...
cabinboy: Yeah, a future that grows out of our history. Altho, I was really hoping for my other theory, that they arrive in our past and become the inspiration for Greek mythology (and Xena, and the Quantum Leap project =).
cabinboy: Three of the resistance leaders and Roslyn's aide... Cylons? Special Cylons. Earthican agents? Without orders, tho. They have their own, existing, current, wills and personalities. Will they form Voltron?
ZORKNAPP: I got a laugh from the Voltron line... I still don't think they're Cylons. Although, they did seem to accept the general idea easily enough. But, what of the Chief's baby? I think that there's an Earth connection somehow is MUCH more likely...
cabinboy: Assume they're not Cylon sleeper agents... Can you think of anything that is common to these four Cylon wannabes?
That each may have had congress with Cylons? A Cylon STD? Anders, if Starbuck's a Cylon. Tyrol, with Boomer. Tighe, with his wife, perhaps (is that how Six's Baltar knows Tighe lost/killed her?). Roslyn's aide, with... who knows?
But then, Helo's gotten it on with Athena, and Baltar and Caprica Six of course. We haven't seen or heard either of them mention the music. Maybe because those two ARE Cylons...?
Maybe you can become a Cylon by becoming infected somehow, with a techno-organic virus of some kind...?
Were they all exposed to some particular thing or event? Together at the same time? An explosion? Someone's touch? Hera? In the same confined space for a time? A raptor or other ship?
What's in Tighe's eye socket?
cabinboy: Yeah, there's definitely an Earth connection, but I don't think that and being a form of Cylon are mutually exclusive.
ZORKNAPP: Agreed. I think there is going to be some sort of robotic issue on Earth... The Cylons are just as interested in finding Earth, so I don't think they're there yet, or have any knowledge of where it might really be. But they are robots, and have plenty of time...
cabinboy: Humans and Cylons must join together to save the Earth from intelligent apes!
Or... hrmm....
Zombies!!!
cabinboy: Y'know... Zombie Cylons isn't all that hard a sell... or rather, CELL... heh. I was hoping for that when we saw that virus infested beacon wreck those base ships.
cabinboy: Starbuck's back! So, maybe she was wormholed to the Ionian Nebula from the eye of that storm? Oh, no, of course! She's been to earth, and she's going to take them all there. Sure, why not?
ZORKNAPP: Interesting that she shows up at the same time as a big Cylon fleet. It's a very convenient happening... Is Starbuck the 5th model? Would she have heard the music if she was still on the Galactica? Could the 5 models actually be humans from Earth?
cabinboy: I got the idea that Starbuck led the Cylons to the human fleet's location. I imagine a season premiere with Starbuck waking up in a resurrection tub. Or in the hold of a heavy raider, with whatzhishead, the stalker Cylon, driving, having rescued her from the eye of the storm that supposedly killed her. The episode would then be about her accepting her prophecied destiny. She hops into a captured viper that the Cylons have in storage and together w the Cylons, they jump to Earth. Maybe the Cylons get sick, tho, and can't stick around, so Starbuck convinces them they should go back to the human fleet, make nice, get innoculated, and together, go to Earth.
ZORKNAPP: Since they got sick from that old human artifact earlier in the season, that's right... I think that Starbuck might very well be the Fifth of the Five, with whatever the Five end up being...
cabinboy: Or Starbuck's w the Cylons, she goes to Earth on her own, comes back to the Cylons, tells them the Earth's in trouble and only the Cylons together w the humans can save it, so they jump to the human fleet in the hope of negotiating a team-up and then go to Earth all together.
Or something...
ZORKNAPP: But, what do the Cylons really want with the humans on Earth...
cabinboy :Hasselhoff.
cabinboy: What if humans are actually more perfect/developed Cylons (or rather, Cylons are imperfect humans), and when they die, they resurrect biologically, but without an artificial chamber. They resurrect in a newborn human child. And there are no spatial-distance limits to the broadcasting of a spirit/identity/persona. Maybe dying Colonials are reborn on earth...? And perhaps some Earthicans have been reborn in Colonies?
ZORKNAPP: Hmmm, seems interesting, but where do you go with this? I think it's perhaps more likely that there are Earth humans on the Galactica, and they may be behind the prosltizing to the Cylons. Just like humans, to go spreading their religion all over the Galaxy...
cabinboy: I'm dreaming up that when humans anywhere die, they resurrect, wherever humans are, regardless of distance, so it could be on Earth or in the Colonies (now the fleet), but their identities are submerged. So, maybe it's not true resurrection, but reincarnation, just a passing of certain data, experiences, flashes of memory, images, music... This could explain prophets among the humans.
ZORKNAPP: There's going to be a big leap in this show if it goes in that direction, which isn't bad, but I'm concerned that if they don't take it as just a "Okay, here are the rules of the game," they might get too stuck on trying to *explain* it all, and then we're on the road to technobabble...
cabinboy: Yeah, again, I know that some of my wishful thinking ideas are too different from what we've seen so far, the ground rules, such as they are. The strange human-Cylon culture straddling of The Five sort of opens the door to some third type of race, but explaining reincarnation might be too much and too new for the show.
cabinboy: When I first thought of the resurrecting humans I had a flash to how dying in the Colonies and being reborn on Earth, and vice versa, could explain ideas of an afterlife, and maybe a heaven and hell, for both cultures.
cabinboy: Random, dunno if I ever got around to publishing this in a post. Baltar's virtual Six, Adama's wedding anniversary visits from his wife, and Roslyn's and Starbuck's visions, they've got me thinking that all sentient skinbags in the BSG universe, whether Cylon or human, are capable of projection. And that gets me thinking that they may both have been "created" by some other power or race, that they are much more similar than they are different, that by artificially emulating humans, the Cylons have arrived at a humanity that has easier access to already existing human abilities (projection, perhaps shared consciousness and telepathy)...
ZORKNAPP: We've talked about this a bit. I think it's an interesting idea, but still not enough facts to really support it yet.
cabinboy: Sorta random... I'd like to learn more about what makes projection so great. What sort of real/practical advantages it gives Cylons over humans, if any.
Six's Jiminy Baltar tells her about Tighe's emotional issues and the death of his wife. Of course, he's not specific about it, but he's not exactly vague, and... he's right! He tells Six something that there's no way she could know. What's up with that? Is her Baltar an avatar for some latent telepathic or empathic Cylon ability?
cabinboy: Or, all humans who exhibit this sort of zaniness are in fact Cylons.
cabinboy: I've wondered since early on if the skinbags could be grown to different ages. Could Roslyn be an aged version of a Six? Could the Preacher be an older Baltar? Could Apollo be a younger Preacher?
I'm certain that would fly in the face of what's been established so far in the show, so rationally, I know it's not gonna happen (at least not with the 7 regular skinjobs).
ZORKNAPP: Agreed. I still don't think Baltar's a cylon, they could never make a robot that self-absorbed...
cabinboy: Ha, well said!
cabinboy: G1980... 27 years later... wack.
ZORKNAPP: No Dr. Z though...
cabinboy: "There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief..." Hopefully the creators' choice of song/lyrics doesn't reflect their sentiment regarding the situation they've written themselves into...
ZORKNAPP: Always a concern... I think they have ideas, but I hope the final ideas are strong enough to not disappoint...
ZORKNAPP: I have hopes that they know what they're doing, but they're throwing a lot at us now, and without a lot of clues as to where it's going. I'm enjoying the ride, but am hoping that they can balance the tightrope they've put themselves on...
cabinboy: A crossover with a STAR TREK franchise?
ZORKNAPP: Gods no....
cabinboy: *Was* Dylan included on any NASA probes? Gold records or beacon broadcasts? SETI Arecibo blasts?
ZORKNAPP: I don't believe so. Chuck Berry was, and some Mozart or Bach (or maybe it was a Mach piece).
cabinboy: I'm still processing. I'll probably need to sift thru this later this week, maybe with Zorky's help.
ZORKNAPP: Summoned, I appear...
cabinboy: CONTINUES IN 2008?! Bastards!
ZORKNAPP: Yes, it does seem a bit long... Hopefully, January 2008.
cabinboy: Look at all the synapses burnt out wondering about this frickin TV show...
*sigh*
ZORKNAPP: I have missed getting this into a TV show, since B5 went off the air...
Keep on keepin on~
Here I present some transcribed email back-n-forth between myself and Zorknapp, aka Mike, on the season finale of BSG. Note that it doesn't quite read chronologically, as a conversation. Each of us was responding to points by the other over a couple days of email, so they're more like threads. An episode summary post is the seed of the discussion...
(Credit for the "Baltarian Dialogues" title goes to Zorky =)
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cabinboy: Felix lies to help convict the ex-Prez and his one-time idol. He's the guy who helped Baltar win the office of President when he uncovered the crooked voting.ZORKNAPP: I actually thought that was interesting, that Felix would lie. To salve his own conscience? Do retroactively try to fix what he helped to do? Interesting trait on his part, that I hope just isn't dropped...
cabinboy: It's mean, but I really like that Gaeta's been brought low by association with Baltar, after idolizing him and then basically winning him his Presidency (or at least, not letting it be stolen by Roslyn). I think his motivation in perjuring himself is a good part guilt (he was ready to let himself be tubed for the things he couldn't stop, people he couldn't save, on New Caprica, even tho he *was* in fact instrumental in much of what the resistance accomplished), and another hefty chunk hatred of GB, cut with a hefty dose of self-hatred. By lying to convict Baltar, I'm sure on some level he wants to make up for being a party to his puppet administration and pimp and handler to the man.
ZORKNAPP: Very true. I hope that we see more of Gaeta as time goes on, perhaps with ramifications of his lie...
Baltar: It's no secret, the whole fleet knows this guy tried to stab me thru the neck... and YOU MISSED, butterfingers!
ZORKNAPP: Does the whole fleet know about whatever Baltar is talking about? I'm not even sure if I do...
cabinboy: I don't know that the attack Baltar refers to is common knowledge. I would've thought that it would've been kept under wraps by the authorities, but I'm sure Baltar and his lawyer would have made it public to help their cause, garner sympathy. I don't remember that explicitly happening, tho.
ZORKNAPP: I thought the phrase, "Stab me through the neck" was a bit too specific to just be a general throwaway line...
cabinboy: To clarify, yes, he *did* stab Baltar in the neck during an interview/interrogation, goaded by what Baltar said to him when he realized that Gaeta was sent to talk to him as "good cop" stooge, having spotted the not-so-hidden camera in the room. But we know that Gaeta was ready to do Baltar in before that, when he discovers Baltar performing a very low-tech Cylon detector test on himself... aka hanging himself in his cell.
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Judge: Like everything human, justice is imperfect, it's flawed. But it's those very imperfections that separate us from the machines, and maybe even makes us a species worth saving.
cabinboy: Speciesist judges, eh?
Not guilty.
ZORKNAPP: I do always find it interesting that the "humans" have to keep reminding themselves that they're better than the machines they themselves created. It's part of convincing themselves that they're worth saving.
By the way, the initial two seasons always had that "The Cylons were created by humans...and they have a plan..." prologue. Now, it's gone. Do the Cylons not have a plan anymore? And besides breeding a half Cylon-human baby, do we know what their plan was? And not a lot of God talk anymore...
cabinboy: Hrmm... I hadn't given the abridging of the opening all that much thought. Yeah, without having eyes/cameras in with the Cylons, we don't get anymore of that Gods vs God talk. Poly vs monotheist... Did I incorrectly infer that the Cylons were swinging towards monotheism? Is it only Baltar and his virtual Six who have referred to a single supreme being type, and the real skin jobs consistently refer to plural gods?
ZORKNAPP: My recollection is that all the Cylons are on the road to monotheism, with perhaps Brother Cattel's model being a bit ambivalent about the whole thing...
cabinboy: I wonder what religions we'll be treated to when the BSG and Cylon fleets reach Earth? Maybe they'll team up to pose as a threat that will unite all the Earthicans. They could keep sending Cylons to engage them and lose battles cuz they'll always resurrect. Maybe their presence will be responsible for peace in the Middle East.
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Lawyer Rommel(?): Well, your boundless confidence provided us with great solace throughout the proceedings.
ZORKNAPP: I liked the lawyer! I hope he comes back. I do wonder if he has some sort of connection to Baltar. Or, could he be a Cylon model?
cabinboy: Lawyer (I remember him as the pyrokinetic from an early early X-FILE) was excellent. I would very much like to see him come back, but hopefully not in a forced way. He was a great foil for Apollo, and a great switch-flipper for Baltar. The references to gramps Adama had me wondering if he was somehow connected in a very longshot Cylon way to him, resurrected in a younger body or something. Not a chance, really.
ZORKNAPP: I'm glad you're just calling him "Lawyer." I could never remember his name.
cabinboy: Yeah, several BSG character names regularly escape me. Lawyer, Starbuck's stalker Cylon, Preacher/Brother Cattel. Took me a while to remember Tyrol...
cabinboy: I don't see him as one of the five.
ZORKNAPP: Generally agreed. But, I do think there's *something* more to him...
cabinboy: I'm going to question it every once in a while, but I will continue to go along with the notion that there are twelve different skinjob Cylon models. I cannot remember now who revealed that when and to whom. I seem to remember a note that Adama unfolds and reads...? Was that in the miniseries pilot? Frack.
ZORKNAPP: Yes, in the miniseries pilot, there's a note left *in* Adama's office. Who could have left it, and who would have known? Tighe? The Pres?
cabinboy: Thanks for the refresher on that. That's bugged me for a while now.
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Baltar: Think about this for a second. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive?
Lawyer: As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, doctor, I think you'll land on your feet.
ZORKNAPP: Meow!
cabinboy: Have we seen any space cats on the show?
ZORKNAPP: No pets at all that I can recall...
cabinboy: Ah, Muffy the Daggit...
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Apollo: Rommel, one thing, when you put me on the stand, did you know what was going to happen?
Rommel: I knew you were an honest man, Mr. Adama, much unlike your grandfather...
cabinboy: Unlike (did I hear that right?)... How well did he know gramps Adama? Does he know somehow that the Adama line carries a Cylon/earthican seed? And... He leaves the cane behind. Doesn't need it. Never needed it? Lawyering sympathy-garnering affectation?
ZORKNAPP: I'd have to see that episode, but I think Apollo would have reacted stronger to a slander against his grandfather (whether it's really true or not). I think that Rommel liked the senior Adama, but thought that he was hardass. Never questioned his honesty before... Although, if you did hear correctly, maybe that will go somewhere...
cabinboy: Yeah, UNlike doesn't seem right coming from Rommel, given the esteem he held gramps Adama in. But I could've sworn that was what I heard. That made me think that Rommel might've been closer to gramps than he let on. Some relationship that's stronger than professional respect. Something genetic, perhaps.
ZORKNAPP: Did you tape the show? Perhaps a replay could answer the question... You're really fixated on this genetic/reincarnation idea, aren't you? :)
cabinboy: I played that bit back again this evening and it really sounds like UNlike. Maybe lawyer was being sarcastic/ironic? I honestly couldn't say for sure given his character and delivery.
I am a bit fixated on the idea that Cylon skinbags are essentially human, and vice versa, with DNA and genes that determine their biological programming, and by creative license and extrapolation couldn't you pass information or bits of identity down thru generations thru that programming?
In my head, tho, I know it's probably too sophisticated and requires way too much exposition to pull off on a TV show. Still, I like the idea.
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Adama: Not guilty is not the same as innocent.
ZORKNAPP: We tend to forget that...
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cabinboy: The Ionian Nebula—unique radiation or other phenom is the trigger for the Five/Cylons?ZORKNAPP: There were hints of the song in the last episode, it would have to be a pretty powerful signal to be associated with the Nebula. Not impossible, but I am curious as to what is causing this trigger....
cabinboy: Ha! Baltar continues to live the late night Cinemax life, as girlies save Baltar...
ZORKNAPP: Where could they be taking him off to? A room with a bed and a candleabra? And nothing else? Besides loungy piano music?
Baltar: where are you taking me?
Girl (with two girly friends): To your new life.
ZORKNAPP: Ooo Gah!
cabinboy: Baltar and Emmanuelle in Space!
cabinboy: That woman wanted him to bless her child. Where the F did that come from? Is he gonna put together his own Jonestown? A Manson family?
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cabinboy: Baltar, Six, and Hera in the opera house/council chamber... Five figures in the balcony... Whose projection/vision is this? Are the five a new school riff on the old school BSG space angels?ZORKNAPP: I thought it was supposed to be the 5 unseen Cylon models... And their very bright robes flashed to black before Boomer/Pres/Six all awoke from the same dream... Interesting...
cabinboy: Yeah, I liked that black flash of the figures. And they're definitely The Five. I mentioned it in a ramble earlier this season and I'll repeat it. D'anna and Baltar, clued in by a Base Star Hybrid, are certain that The Five of the human prophecies and The Five unknown Cylons are five and the same. "Proof" that some form of Cylons have been with the humans even before humans created them. Or that those five humans are somehow responsible for creating/upgrading the toasters to skinjobs.
Or something...
ZORKNAPP: Ah, see, this is where my knowledge is a bit slim. What Five of what human prophesies are you talking about?
cabinboy: The temple on the algae planet was the Temple of the Five. The one that Tyrol discovered. Roslyn makes a comment at one point about how the Cylon Five might be the Five of the humans' Temple as well. And D'anna makes an observation when she's hanging w Baltar and the hybrid about how their Cylon gods might be connected to the humans' gods. If the Temple of the Five was built by the Earthicans/13th colony, and the Five are the mysterious Cylon models, then Cylons were with humans way back when, if not leading or guiding them, even.
cabinboy: The projection vision I describe above was different from the one where Roslyn, Athena, and Six meet each other. It didn't seem to be connected sensibly or obviously to any particular character in the real world. Given that it was only Baltar, Six, and Hera, I think it must've been Baltar and his Jiminy Six, and not the Caprica Six in the holding cell. I'll hafta review the episode again when I get a chance.
I wonder if Athena and Roslyn can see Caprica Six's Jiminy Baltar if they have another shared vision. This Kamala Root (+ cancer?) seems to be a way of unlocking the latent human projection ability, as well as somehow tuning into "native" Cylon telepathic frequencies (to share a vision/projection).
cabinboy: The singing ship... "All Along The Watchtower," by Bob Dylan? An intentional, local trigger? Or a "live" song from earth... A broadcast? Did any Dylan make it onto a Pioneer or Voyager recording or gold record? V'ger, only with the Cylons? Then they're in earth's future... our future... And so many light years away.
ZORKNAPP: "Send More Chuck Berry!" Where this whole song thing is going to go, I'm curious... I wish they had just used the song, without having the characters quote the lyrics.
cabinboy: Having the characters actually hear that song, from Earth, by Dylan, pretty definitively ties the series continuity to 20th century earth as we know it in the real world. That, I like.
ZORKNAPP: Or, the future... They didn't use the original version, and it's pretty wacky sounding. So, it could be Earth in the future, to go along with your Star Trek tie in idea... Maybe we can finally see what would win in a fight, a Battlestar or the Enterprise...
cabinboy: Yeah, a future that grows out of our history. Altho, I was really hoping for my other theory, that they arrive in our past and become the inspiration for Greek mythology (and Xena, and the Quantum Leap project =).
cabinboy: Three of the resistance leaders and Roslyn's aide... Cylons? Special Cylons. Earthican agents? Without orders, tho. They have their own, existing, current, wills and personalities. Will they form Voltron?
ZORKNAPP: I got a laugh from the Voltron line... I still don't think they're Cylons. Although, they did seem to accept the general idea easily enough. But, what of the Chief's baby? I think that there's an Earth connection somehow is MUCH more likely...
cabinboy: Assume they're not Cylon sleeper agents... Can you think of anything that is common to these four Cylon wannabes?
That each may have had congress with Cylons? A Cylon STD? Anders, if Starbuck's a Cylon. Tyrol, with Boomer. Tighe, with his wife, perhaps (is that how Six's Baltar knows Tighe lost/killed her?). Roslyn's aide, with... who knows?
But then, Helo's gotten it on with Athena, and Baltar and Caprica Six of course. We haven't seen or heard either of them mention the music. Maybe because those two ARE Cylons...?
Maybe you can become a Cylon by becoming infected somehow, with a techno-organic virus of some kind...?
Were they all exposed to some particular thing or event? Together at the same time? An explosion? Someone's touch? Hera? In the same confined space for a time? A raptor or other ship?
What's in Tighe's eye socket?
cabinboy: Yeah, there's definitely an Earth connection, but I don't think that and being a form of Cylon are mutually exclusive.
ZORKNAPP: Agreed. I think there is going to be some sort of robotic issue on Earth... The Cylons are just as interested in finding Earth, so I don't think they're there yet, or have any knowledge of where it might really be. But they are robots, and have plenty of time...
cabinboy: Humans and Cylons must join together to save the Earth from intelligent apes!
Or... hrmm....
Zombies!!!
cabinboy: Y'know... Zombie Cylons isn't all that hard a sell... or rather, CELL... heh. I was hoping for that when we saw that virus infested beacon wreck those base ships.
cabinboy: Starbuck's back! So, maybe she was wormholed to the Ionian Nebula from the eye of that storm? Oh, no, of course! She's been to earth, and she's going to take them all there. Sure, why not?
ZORKNAPP: Interesting that she shows up at the same time as a big Cylon fleet. It's a very convenient happening... Is Starbuck the 5th model? Would she have heard the music if she was still on the Galactica? Could the 5 models actually be humans from Earth?
cabinboy: I got the idea that Starbuck led the Cylons to the human fleet's location. I imagine a season premiere with Starbuck waking up in a resurrection tub. Or in the hold of a heavy raider, with whatzhishead, the stalker Cylon, driving, having rescued her from the eye of the storm that supposedly killed her. The episode would then be about her accepting her prophecied destiny. She hops into a captured viper that the Cylons have in storage and together w the Cylons, they jump to Earth. Maybe the Cylons get sick, tho, and can't stick around, so Starbuck convinces them they should go back to the human fleet, make nice, get innoculated, and together, go to Earth.
ZORKNAPP: Since they got sick from that old human artifact earlier in the season, that's right... I think that Starbuck might very well be the Fifth of the Five, with whatever the Five end up being...
cabinboy: Or Starbuck's w the Cylons, she goes to Earth on her own, comes back to the Cylons, tells them the Earth's in trouble and only the Cylons together w the humans can save it, so they jump to the human fleet in the hope of negotiating a team-up and then go to Earth all together.
Or something...
ZORKNAPP: But, what do the Cylons really want with the humans on Earth...
cabinboy :Hasselhoff.
cabinboy: What if humans are actually more perfect/developed Cylons (or rather, Cylons are imperfect humans), and when they die, they resurrect biologically, but without an artificial chamber. They resurrect in a newborn human child. And there are no spatial-distance limits to the broadcasting of a spirit/identity/persona. Maybe dying Colonials are reborn on earth...? And perhaps some Earthicans have been reborn in Colonies?
ZORKNAPP: Hmmm, seems interesting, but where do you go with this? I think it's perhaps more likely that there are Earth humans on the Galactica, and they may be behind the prosltizing to the Cylons. Just like humans, to go spreading their religion all over the Galaxy...
cabinboy: I'm dreaming up that when humans anywhere die, they resurrect, wherever humans are, regardless of distance, so it could be on Earth or in the Colonies (now the fleet), but their identities are submerged. So, maybe it's not true resurrection, but reincarnation, just a passing of certain data, experiences, flashes of memory, images, music... This could explain prophets among the humans.
ZORKNAPP: There's going to be a big leap in this show if it goes in that direction, which isn't bad, but I'm concerned that if they don't take it as just a "Okay, here are the rules of the game," they might get too stuck on trying to *explain* it all, and then we're on the road to technobabble...
cabinboy: Yeah, again, I know that some of my wishful thinking ideas are too different from what we've seen so far, the ground rules, such as they are. The strange human-Cylon culture straddling of The Five sort of opens the door to some third type of race, but explaining reincarnation might be too much and too new for the show.
cabinboy: When I first thought of the resurrecting humans I had a flash to how dying in the Colonies and being reborn on Earth, and vice versa, could explain ideas of an afterlife, and maybe a heaven and hell, for both cultures.
cabinboy: Random, dunno if I ever got around to publishing this in a post. Baltar's virtual Six, Adama's wedding anniversary visits from his wife, and Roslyn's and Starbuck's visions, they've got me thinking that all sentient skinbags in the BSG universe, whether Cylon or human, are capable of projection. And that gets me thinking that they may both have been "created" by some other power or race, that they are much more similar than they are different, that by artificially emulating humans, the Cylons have arrived at a humanity that has easier access to already existing human abilities (projection, perhaps shared consciousness and telepathy)...
ZORKNAPP: We've talked about this a bit. I think it's an interesting idea, but still not enough facts to really support it yet.
cabinboy: Sorta random... I'd like to learn more about what makes projection so great. What sort of real/practical advantages it gives Cylons over humans, if any.
Six's Jiminy Baltar tells her about Tighe's emotional issues and the death of his wife. Of course, he's not specific about it, but he's not exactly vague, and... he's right! He tells Six something that there's no way she could know. What's up with that? Is her Baltar an avatar for some latent telepathic or empathic Cylon ability?
cabinboy: Or, all humans who exhibit this sort of zaniness are in fact Cylons.
cabinboy: I've wondered since early on if the skinbags could be grown to different ages. Could Roslyn be an aged version of a Six? Could the Preacher be an older Baltar? Could Apollo be a younger Preacher?
I'm certain that would fly in the face of what's been established so far in the show, so rationally, I know it's not gonna happen (at least not with the 7 regular skinjobs).
ZORKNAPP: Agreed. I still don't think Baltar's a cylon, they could never make a robot that self-absorbed...
cabinboy: Ha, well said!
cabinboy: G1980... 27 years later... wack.
ZORKNAPP: No Dr. Z though...
cabinboy: "There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief..." Hopefully the creators' choice of song/lyrics doesn't reflect their sentiment regarding the situation they've written themselves into...
ZORKNAPP: Always a concern... I think they have ideas, but I hope the final ideas are strong enough to not disappoint...
ZORKNAPP: I have hopes that they know what they're doing, but they're throwing a lot at us now, and without a lot of clues as to where it's going. I'm enjoying the ride, but am hoping that they can balance the tightrope they've put themselves on...
cabinboy: A crossover with a STAR TREK franchise?
ZORKNAPP: Gods no....
cabinboy: *Was* Dylan included on any NASA probes? Gold records or beacon broadcasts? SETI Arecibo blasts?
ZORKNAPP: I don't believe so. Chuck Berry was, and some Mozart or Bach (or maybe it was a Mach piece).
cabinboy: I'm still processing. I'll probably need to sift thru this later this week, maybe with Zorky's help.
ZORKNAPP: Summoned, I appear...
cabinboy: CONTINUES IN 2008?! Bastards!
ZORKNAPP: Yes, it does seem a bit long... Hopefully, January 2008.
cabinboy: Look at all the synapses burnt out wondering about this frickin TV show...
*sigh*
ZORKNAPP: I have missed getting this into a TV show, since B5 went off the air...
------------------------------------------------------
Thanks, Zorky, for the nerdy BSG jam session!Keep on keepin on~
Monday, March 26, 2007
BSG: must be some way out of here...
3.20: "Crossroads part 2"
*Spoilery* notes and thoughts on tonight's episode...
Felix lies to help convict the ex-Prez and his one-time idol. He's the guy who helped Baltar win the office of President when he uncovered the crooked voting.
Baltar: It's no secret, the whole fleet knows this guy tried to stab me thru the neck... and YOU MISSED, butterfingers!
Judge: Like everything human, justice is imperfect, it's flawed. But it's those very imperfections that separate us from the machines, and maybe even makes us a species worth saving.
Speciesist judges, eh?
Not guilty.
Lawyer Rommel(?): Well, your boundless confidence provided us with great solace throughout the proceedings.
Baltar: Think about this for a second. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive?
Lawyer: As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, doctor, I think you'll land on your feet.
Apollo: Rommel, one thing, when you put me on the stand, did you know what was going to happen?
Rommel: I knew you were an honest man, Mr. Adama, much unlike your grandfather...
Unlike (did I hear that right?)... How well did he know gramps Adama? Does he know somehow that the Adama line carries a Cylon/earthican seed? And... He leaves the cane behind. Doesn't need it. Never needed it? Lawyering sympathy-garnering affectation?
Adama: Not guilty is not the same as innocent.
The Ionian Nebula—unique radiation or other phenom is the trigger for the Five/Cylons?
Ha! Baltar continues to live the late night Cinemax life, as girlies save Baltar...
Baltar: where are you taking me?
Girl (with two girly friends): To your new life.
Baltar, Six, and Hera in the opera house/council chamber... Five figures in the balcony... Whose projection/vision is this? Are the five a new school riff on the old school BSG space angels?
The singing ship... "All Along The Watchtower," by Bob Dylan? An intentional, local trigger? Or a "live" song from earth... A broadcast? Did any Dylan make it onto a Pioneer or Voyager recording or gold record? V'ger, only with the Cylons? Then they're in earth's future... our future... And so many light years away.
Three of the resistance leaders and Roslyn's aide... Cylons? Special Cylons. Earthican agents? Without orders, tho. They have their own, existing, current, wills and personalities. Will they form Voltron?
Starbuck's back! So, maybe she was wormholed to the Ionian Nebula from the eye of that storm? Oh, no, of course! She's been to earth, and she's going to take them all there. Sure, why not?
What if humans are actually more perfect/developed Cylons (or rather, Cylons are imperfect humans), and when they die, they resurrect biologically, but without an artificial chamber. They resurrect in a newborn human child. And there are no spatial-distance limits to the broadcasting of a spirit/identity/persona. Maybe dying Colonials are reborn on earth...? And perhaps some Earthicans have been reborn in Colonies?
G1980... 27 years later... wack.
"There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief..." Hopefully the creators' choice of song/lyrics doesn't reflect their sentiment regarding the situation they've written themselves into...
A crossover with a STAR TREK franchise?
I'm still processing. I'll probably need to sift thru this later this week, maybe with Zorky's help.
CONTINUES IN 2008?! Bastards!
Keep on keepin on~
*Spoilery* notes and thoughts on tonight's episode...
---------------------
Felix lies to help convict the ex-Prez and his one-time idol. He's the guy who helped Baltar win the office of President when he uncovered the crooked voting.
Baltar: It's no secret, the whole fleet knows this guy tried to stab me thru the neck... and YOU MISSED, butterfingers!
---------------------
Judge: Like everything human, justice is imperfect, it's flawed. But it's those very imperfections that separate us from the machines, and maybe even makes us a species worth saving.
Speciesist judges, eh?
Not guilty.
---------------------
Lawyer Rommel(?): Well, your boundless confidence provided us with great solace throughout the proceedings.
---------------------
Baltar: Think about this for a second. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive?
Lawyer: As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, doctor, I think you'll land on your feet.
---------------------
Apollo: Rommel, one thing, when you put me on the stand, did you know what was going to happen?
Rommel: I knew you were an honest man, Mr. Adama, much unlike your grandfather...
Unlike (did I hear that right?)... How well did he know gramps Adama? Does he know somehow that the Adama line carries a Cylon/earthican seed? And... He leaves the cane behind. Doesn't need it. Never needed it? Lawyering sympathy-garnering affectation?
---------------------
Adama: Not guilty is not the same as innocent.
---------------------
The Ionian Nebula—unique radiation or other phenom is the trigger for the Five/Cylons?
Ha! Baltar continues to live the late night Cinemax life, as girlies save Baltar...
Baltar: where are you taking me?
Girl (with two girly friends): To your new life.
---------------------
Baltar, Six, and Hera in the opera house/council chamber... Five figures in the balcony... Whose projection/vision is this? Are the five a new school riff on the old school BSG space angels?
The singing ship... "All Along The Watchtower," by Bob Dylan? An intentional, local trigger? Or a "live" song from earth... A broadcast? Did any Dylan make it onto a Pioneer or Voyager recording or gold record? V'ger, only with the Cylons? Then they're in earth's future... our future... And so many light years away.
Three of the resistance leaders and Roslyn's aide... Cylons? Special Cylons. Earthican agents? Without orders, tho. They have their own, existing, current, wills and personalities. Will they form Voltron?
Starbuck's back! So, maybe she was wormholed to the Ionian Nebula from the eye of that storm? Oh, no, of course! She's been to earth, and she's going to take them all there. Sure, why not?
What if humans are actually more perfect/developed Cylons (or rather, Cylons are imperfect humans), and when they die, they resurrect biologically, but without an artificial chamber. They resurrect in a newborn human child. And there are no spatial-distance limits to the broadcasting of a spirit/identity/persona. Maybe dying Colonials are reborn on earth...? And perhaps some Earthicans have been reborn in Colonies?
G1980... 27 years later... wack.
"There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief..." Hopefully the creators' choice of song/lyrics doesn't reflect their sentiment regarding the situation they've written themselves into...
A crossover with a STAR TREK franchise?
I'm still processing. I'll probably need to sift thru this later this week, maybe with Zorky's help.
CONTINUES IN 2008?! Bastards!
Keep on keepin on~
BSG: who's *not* a Cylon?
Before hunkering down to watch tonight's DVR'd episode of APOLLO McBEAL...
Tighe, Anders, Roslyn's aide, Starbuck, Roslyn, Chief Tyrol, Adama, and Baltar. So, I think they're Cylons. I know that's a few too many according to what we supposedly know. I'm still working things out.
Cylons, but not in the continuity-traditional sense. Not the Cylons that we've come to know and love. Special Cylons. Cylons who can age. Who resurrect without a resurrection ship or chamber. Perhaps they pass from death into a convenient human womb. Or pass into the closest living genetic relative. And they're not aware of their Cylon status/heritage. Maybe all humans are potential Cylons, and these five Cylon identities can jump from body to body as needed, or from generation to generation within a bloodline, as genetic sleeper agents.
Why do I choose these guys?
Some are able to hear the singing ship. Others have demonstrated forms of Cylon projection. Still others have been connected to prophecies or messages from the gods or the lost colony.
What are they supposed to do, these Cylons? A defense mechanism? An evolutionary failsafe? Seeds of a next step in human-Cylon evolution? A species-social-cultural course corrective mechanism is what I favor. Collectively, they act as a Watcher, from the Marvel Universe. Observing and collecting history as it happens among humanity. And when humanity is on the verge of taking a species-wide misstep, they are activated, and step in, Uatu-style, to illuminate and/or prevent, or repair damage, even genocide.
Keep on keepin on~
Tighe, Anders, Roslyn's aide, Starbuck, Roslyn, Chief Tyrol, Adama, and Baltar. So, I think they're Cylons. I know that's a few too many according to what we supposedly know. I'm still working things out.
Cylons, but not in the continuity-traditional sense. Not the Cylons that we've come to know and love. Special Cylons. Cylons who can age. Who resurrect without a resurrection ship or chamber. Perhaps they pass from death into a convenient human womb. Or pass into the closest living genetic relative. And they're not aware of their Cylon status/heritage. Maybe all humans are potential Cylons, and these five Cylon identities can jump from body to body as needed, or from generation to generation within a bloodline, as genetic sleeper agents.
Why do I choose these guys?
Some are able to hear the singing ship. Others have demonstrated forms of Cylon projection. Still others have been connected to prophecies or messages from the gods or the lost colony.
What are they supposed to do, these Cylons? A defense mechanism? An evolutionary failsafe? Seeds of a next step in human-Cylon evolution? A species-social-cultural course corrective mechanism is what I favor. Collectively, they act as a Watcher, from the Marvel Universe. Observing and collecting history as it happens among humanity. And when humanity is on the verge of taking a species-wide misstep, they are activated, and step in, Uatu-style, to illuminate and/or prevent, or repair damage, even genocide.
Keep on keepin on~
Sunday, February 11, 2007
BSG: stuff
Before 3.14: "The Woman King"
Over the last week or so, I got to bounce a little BSG off of a few people. Joshua and I lamented the melodrama for a few minutes at a vball tournament. He's concerned about what the writers are doing w the show. Bruno is super charged over the whole show in general, never mind the romantic trapezoid, having watched the first two seasons in huge gulps of DVDs. Zorky and I talked on the phone for an hour or so and we believe the writers know what they're doing in a big picture way, but may not have the details worked out, and may be stretching things out by playing a bit to more segments of their perhaps unexpected demographics.
I liked the marriage/infidelity/romance stuff when it could be used to give us more about the human culture and civilization, set up conflicts, like sending Dee to rescue Starbuck, and reveal some history and character, as in the boxing episode. But like I said, elevating the issue to the level of treason (by juxtaposition in the last episode) seems way puritan and out of line to me. Also, Starbuck spinning on a dime on the divorce thing... I mean, altho I can sorta defend it by playing the fear of love/commitment card with Anders, that was just too fast, and would've felt not-so-clunky if saved up for at least another episode, or some event or events that implied a real passage of time.
Something that could save it all is a radical sacrifice play by one of them. Anyone remember the "space angels" from the original series? =)
Bleah. Enough w that.
Zorky and I got to talking about a possible end game in our convo, and the one theory I think we both really like, and fits the show very well so far, is the notion that humans and cylons are reading these "signposts to earth" all backwards. That the 13th colony didn't leave Kobol and just happen to choose to go way out to galactic left field by chance, in fact, the path to earth is a path *from* earth. The signs and portents that the scriptures or whatever speak of, they mark the path from earth to Kobol. So humans evolved and developed science and civilization on Earth. Then launched themselves into space, marking their journey at their interstellar rest stops, ultimately finding and colonizing Kobol. Perhaps they lose a huge chunk of their advanced tech on the way, or on arrival, or once settled, natural disaster or war brings on a twilight age in which knowledge is lost and history obscured. Humanity on Kobol rises from this again and then sets out across space to establish the twelve colonies that eventually spawn the Cylon klankers. And now, the Humans and Cylons are backtracking, and encountering technology that surpasses, or at least surprises, both races, but is actually higher science mastered by the civilization that gave birth to both of them.
In this theory, there's no obvious way to insert the (Cylon) Five into the history and lore. Perhaps Cylon skinbags also travelled from Earth in a more advanced form, truly indistinguishable from Humans? Fewer in number (exactly five?) but genetically appearing in every generation as sleepers, carriers, guardians of their history from before the twelve colonies.
Hey, that sounds pretty good, actually. But you've gotta buy the idea of "Cylons" before Cylons. Maybe a little too much...
It doesn't necessarily mean that Earth's gone, or abandoned or anything, but that's certainly possible. Here's some kooky what-ifs...
What if Earth's denizens and civilization was utter anathema to both humans and Cylons and they had to team up to escape or wack them?
What if Earthicans had gone fascist and enslaved a Cylon-like race in the process.
What if Earthican Cylons had gone fascist and kept Earthican humans as slaves.
And either of the last two is discovered after the Cylons and Humans had cooperated to reach Earth. And the dominant Earthicans the fleet of humans and Cylons are weak and contaminated.
Heh. Wacky fun ensues, you see? =)
Baltar. Okay. I guess I'm ready to buy that he's *not* a Cylon. As Dan and Zorky have said, it almost doesn't matter if he is or isn't. If he *is* a Cylon all that it does is make his actions and character thus far *weaker* because he does not get to be held accountable for them. I enjoyed the doubt because Baltar was wracked by it, questioning and hoping for it. He was like a story photon, wave or particle, depending on what worked in the moment.
Or something.
Although, I have to say, I don't think the "Owl Creek" way the show played his revelation was decisive (it *was* FUN, tho =). However, in a big picture way, I realize that that must be what the intent of it was. Baltar is not a Cylon. He may still have his "special destiny," but he's not one of the Five. And now, he gets to stand trial, as a human, for his betrayal. This should be fun!
Provided this other thread I've seen in the commercials doesn't sod it up. The one with the racist doctor (who, when he's not Senator Kelly from X-MEN, is almost always some kind of shifty doctor or haunted man)? Not sure if that's racist as within humanity (different colonies?) or as human-vs-cylon (hence Helo's concern over his care for Hera). Would be interesting if we could see what happened to those Cylon sympathizers that had taken root back when Pegasus Six went into hiding in the fleet. They probably wouldn't have lasted the year on New Caprica, but who knows?
I was really hoping the trial would be the whole episode. No distractions. BSG: Court TV. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Over the last week or so, I got to bounce a little BSG off of a few people. Joshua and I lamented the melodrama for a few minutes at a vball tournament. He's concerned about what the writers are doing w the show. Bruno is super charged over the whole show in general, never mind the romantic trapezoid, having watched the first two seasons in huge gulps of DVDs. Zorky and I talked on the phone for an hour or so and we believe the writers know what they're doing in a big picture way, but may not have the details worked out, and may be stretching things out by playing a bit to more segments of their perhaps unexpected demographics.
I liked the marriage/infidelity/romance stuff when it could be used to give us more about the human culture and civilization, set up conflicts, like sending Dee to rescue Starbuck, and reveal some history and character, as in the boxing episode. But like I said, elevating the issue to the level of treason (by juxtaposition in the last episode) seems way puritan and out of line to me. Also, Starbuck spinning on a dime on the divorce thing... I mean, altho I can sorta defend it by playing the fear of love/commitment card with Anders, that was just too fast, and would've felt not-so-clunky if saved up for at least another episode, or some event or events that implied a real passage of time.
Something that could save it all is a radical sacrifice play by one of them. Anyone remember the "space angels" from the original series? =)
Bleah. Enough w that.
Zorky and I got to talking about a possible end game in our convo, and the one theory I think we both really like, and fits the show very well so far, is the notion that humans and cylons are reading these "signposts to earth" all backwards. That the 13th colony didn't leave Kobol and just happen to choose to go way out to galactic left field by chance, in fact, the path to earth is a path *from* earth. The signs and portents that the scriptures or whatever speak of, they mark the path from earth to Kobol. So humans evolved and developed science and civilization on Earth. Then launched themselves into space, marking their journey at their interstellar rest stops, ultimately finding and colonizing Kobol. Perhaps they lose a huge chunk of their advanced tech on the way, or on arrival, or once settled, natural disaster or war brings on a twilight age in which knowledge is lost and history obscured. Humanity on Kobol rises from this again and then sets out across space to establish the twelve colonies that eventually spawn the Cylon klankers. And now, the Humans and Cylons are backtracking, and encountering technology that surpasses, or at least surprises, both races, but is actually higher science mastered by the civilization that gave birth to both of them.
In this theory, there's no obvious way to insert the (Cylon) Five into the history and lore. Perhaps Cylon skinbags also travelled from Earth in a more advanced form, truly indistinguishable from Humans? Fewer in number (exactly five?) but genetically appearing in every generation as sleepers, carriers, guardians of their history from before the twelve colonies.
Hey, that sounds pretty good, actually. But you've gotta buy the idea of "Cylons" before Cylons. Maybe a little too much...
It doesn't necessarily mean that Earth's gone, or abandoned or anything, but that's certainly possible. Here's some kooky what-ifs...
What if Earth's denizens and civilization was utter anathema to both humans and Cylons and they had to team up to escape or wack them?
What if Earthicans had gone fascist and enslaved a Cylon-like race in the process.
What if Earthican Cylons had gone fascist and kept Earthican humans as slaves.
And either of the last two is discovered after the Cylons and Humans had cooperated to reach Earth. And the dominant Earthicans the fleet of humans and Cylons are weak and contaminated.
Heh. Wacky fun ensues, you see? =)
Baltar. Okay. I guess I'm ready to buy that he's *not* a Cylon. As Dan and Zorky have said, it almost doesn't matter if he is or isn't. If he *is* a Cylon all that it does is make his actions and character thus far *weaker* because he does not get to be held accountable for them. I enjoyed the doubt because Baltar was wracked by it, questioning and hoping for it. He was like a story photon, wave or particle, depending on what worked in the moment.
Or something.
Although, I have to say, I don't think the "Owl Creek" way the show played his revelation was decisive (it *was* FUN, tho =). However, in a big picture way, I realize that that must be what the intent of it was. Baltar is not a Cylon. He may still have his "special destiny," but he's not one of the Five. And now, he gets to stand trial, as a human, for his betrayal. This should be fun!
Provided this other thread I've seen in the commercials doesn't sod it up. The one with the racist doctor (who, when he's not Senator Kelly from X-MEN, is almost always some kind of shifty doctor or haunted man)? Not sure if that's racist as within humanity (different colonies?) or as human-vs-cylon (hence Helo's concern over his care for Hera). Would be interesting if we could see what happened to those Cylon sympathizers that had taken root back when Pegasus Six went into hiding in the fleet. They probably wouldn't have lasted the year on New Caprica, but who knows?
I was really hoping the trial would be the whole episode. No distractions. BSG: Court TV. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
BSG: Everybody Loves Baltar
3.13: "Taking A Break From All Your Worries"
Frack. Half of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was good last night. The other half was trying. There was one thread that followed the Apollo-Starbuck-Dee-Anders infidelity drama, and then another that was all about Baltar being accused of treason. Can you guess which half was frickin frackin annoying?
A couple episodes back, my friend Dan told me that he didn't understand why the Apollo-Starbuck thing was getting any spotlight at all. I kneejerk defended it, as it's about building the characters, and fleshing out their history in the "present," right? I was also really intrigued by the whole "marriage is a sacrament" programming coming out of Starbuck, and the conflict set-up on the algae planet was fun in a tension building way, y'know? Anders and Apollo going alpha male over Starbuck, and then Dee being sent to bitchslap her and fly them away. But what we had to endure in this episode... well, I'm coming over to Dan's side now. Just unnecessary. The best thing it does for the series and storytelling is to again demonstrate how they're human, just like us, and can get themselves jammed into loveless marriages. That is something I didn't need Edward James Olmos to spend half of his directing opp on.
Actually, it was bearable until Apollo's confession/apology to Dee at Joe's, just a cheeky glance away from Starbuck and Anders. That was just too much. Even more painful was Dee apparently accepting/taking him back. I wondered if this was Apollo's idea of playing the Good Guy (well, y'know, he was messing around w Kara, so, not the Great Guy) and in his head he was hoping hoping hoping that Dee would refuse to take him back.
Okay, even tho it was aggravating to watch, I guess I *did* let myself keep caring, a little, at least.
I might not have minded it so much if the scale and flavors of the betrayals the two threads focused on weren't so disparate, y'know? The back-and-forth cuts/juxtapositions felt forced to me. Maybe it's a bold (Kobol orthodox?) statement to put marital infidelity (or is it really love, and not marriage, that's suffering?) on equal footing as treason, but it's not a statement I buy. As I said before, I don't like that Starbuck so quickly flips on her "sacrament" stand. Maybe she's shaken by her "destiny" thing, but still...
I suppose I just a little bit do like that Starbuck's being gunshy on committed relationships *is* a familiar echo of old-school Starbuck's Cassieopeia-Athena dilemma. Still, all of this would've been better woven into a different episode, later on.
I would've *MUCH* rather have had some follow-up on Athena and Caprica Six! Can't believe they kept them out of the picture all episode (until the very end). They didn't even have Athena and Helo joining in on the lullabying. Foo.
So... What kinds of fights to Tyrol and Kallie have?
The Baltar stuff, although it didn't GO very far, I really dig it. The ethical part of it is a little shakey, maybe inconsistent, and I would've liked some high ground opposition to the suggestions of torture and drugs, or an explicit concession on the part of the President or Admiral that Baltar's is a special case. Or did I miss that in there somewhere? But it went to some interesting places as far as guilt and blame go, and more wavering fun with "Cylon or not?"
Fun to have his "Occurrence At Owl Creek" scenario with the resurrection hot tub. Am I supposed to believe that that was supposed to be a definitive end to Are You There, Gods? It's Me, Baltar? Because I really don't think that's what we saw. Anyone else? It was a *near* death experience, not a death, no?
Maybe, *maybe*, Baltar believes it's settled, that he's human. It's convenient, after all, now that he's back with the human fleet, right? Of course, I won't take away from him his Chosen One destiny. He's still fated to do great, altho not necessarily Good, things.
Honestly, I was caught off guard when the Prez started picking on him about the defense grid back on Caprica. I was focused on his recent historical term as president under the Cylons, and totally spaced on his involvement way back when, implying his collusion w the klankers, treason, and a literal crime against humanity. Of course, as we've seen it on the show so far, he was an unwitting player, seduced by a Cylon lingerie model. Six tells him that he must have suspected *something* though. And he repeats that, so he wonders about it, doubts himself at times. In the end, tho, he reasserts his innocence, or at least, his cluelessness, absence of malice.
I really appreciate that Adama spells it out for everyone. That it's acknowledged. He doesn't believe he's to blame. He sees himself as a victim. The Talented Mr. Baltar.
Another interesting bit. He flashes back to the nuke on Caprica levelling his place. He says that Caprica Six saved him. But frickin frackin how?!
*sigh*
Man, when the drugs took effect and he showed up in the water, in the dark, I was *really* hoping that he was being zapped back to the moment he regains consciousness after the nuke's shockwave back on Caprica. That we'd get to see (and maybe he would, for the first time) just how he survived that.
I was really hoping that when Adama said they had to get someone he'd trust, they were talking about Caprica Six. I knew that it would be Gaeta, as we saw him show up at Baltar's cell earlier, but y'know, I do like my irrational longshots.
Too bad Gaeta overplayed his sympathetic negotiator, Clarice Starling style, eh? I'm not exactly sure what scenario they expected Baltar to believe would NOT have him observed and recorded, tho. Baltar playing Hannibal the psychiatrist was pretty fun, and even vicious. That was surprising. I mean, I thought both that Baltar was being honest and harsh about Gaeta, playing on the guilt that kept him from pleading his own case when the secret tribunal were ready to tube him, but also that he was attempting to implicate Gaeta, just to hurt him, tear him down, by hinting at his involvement in New Caprica atrocities on records (fabrications, with baiting unsubstantial whispers into Gaeta's ear).
Nice pen to the neck action.
Was Baltar bullstuffing about The Five? He spoke as if he experienced D'Anna's vision, which wasn't the case. I was glad to get a confirmation flash (I think?) of the earlier Jiminy Six-enabled projection/vision of that stage with the white banners/drapes, the same as, or at least similar to, the environment of D'Anna's experience. Definitely meant to be the same.
I didn't go looking for the bonus clip online (is that really necessary?), but from the clip at the very close of the show, we see that the Cylons know about how Roslyn had Starbuck's stalker skinbag airlocked. How far away from the Cylon fleet were they? Jetisonning a Cylon *will* kill it, right? It needs to breathe? So, stalkerboy dies in space but gets resurrected so that he can tell the reset of the Cylons about what happened...
Does that seem right? Does this mean... something? That there's a ship in the Galactica fleet, or a station or device within a ship, that relays Cylon downloads? A booster of some kind? I can't remember the exact situation the fleet was in at the time of the interrogation of stalker boy, but I hafta think that they were a FTL jump away from any Cylon base or resurrection ships, right?
Or, is the idea that a Cylon *can* survive in a vacuum (and without food or, I dunno, ethanol?) indefinitely, and airlocking him is like the ultimate form of solitary confinement? But, intact and functional, he can be tracked and ultimately picked up by his Cylon brothers, or just know that he's within range and then kill himself to be resurrected in a tip-top skin job?
One sad thing about having Baltar back w the humans—we lose the whole BaltarTV thing. Without his presence in the Cylon fleet (nor even D'Anna and Caprica Six's) we lose our window into life in the Cylon fleet and culture, y'know?
Keep on keepin on~
Frack. Half of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was good last night. The other half was trying. There was one thread that followed the Apollo-Starbuck-Dee-Anders infidelity drama, and then another that was all about Baltar being accused of treason. Can you guess which half was frickin frackin annoying?
A couple episodes back, my friend Dan told me that he didn't understand why the Apollo-Starbuck thing was getting any spotlight at all. I kneejerk defended it, as it's about building the characters, and fleshing out their history in the "present," right? I was also really intrigued by the whole "marriage is a sacrament" programming coming out of Starbuck, and the conflict set-up on the algae planet was fun in a tension building way, y'know? Anders and Apollo going alpha male over Starbuck, and then Dee being sent to bitchslap her and fly them away. But what we had to endure in this episode... well, I'm coming over to Dan's side now. Just unnecessary. The best thing it does for the series and storytelling is to again demonstrate how they're human, just like us, and can get themselves jammed into loveless marriages. That is something I didn't need Edward James Olmos to spend half of his directing opp on.
Actually, it was bearable until Apollo's confession/apology to Dee at Joe's, just a cheeky glance away from Starbuck and Anders. That was just too much. Even more painful was Dee apparently accepting/taking him back. I wondered if this was Apollo's idea of playing the Good Guy (well, y'know, he was messing around w Kara, so, not the Great Guy) and in his head he was hoping hoping hoping that Dee would refuse to take him back.
Okay, even tho it was aggravating to watch, I guess I *did* let myself keep caring, a little, at least.
I might not have minded it so much if the scale and flavors of the betrayals the two threads focused on weren't so disparate, y'know? The back-and-forth cuts/juxtapositions felt forced to me. Maybe it's a bold (Kobol orthodox?) statement to put marital infidelity (or is it really love, and not marriage, that's suffering?) on equal footing as treason, but it's not a statement I buy. As I said before, I don't like that Starbuck so quickly flips on her "sacrament" stand. Maybe she's shaken by her "destiny" thing, but still...
I suppose I just a little bit do like that Starbuck's being gunshy on committed relationships *is* a familiar echo of old-school Starbuck's Cassieopeia-Athena dilemma. Still, all of this would've been better woven into a different episode, later on.
I would've *MUCH* rather have had some follow-up on Athena and Caprica Six! Can't believe they kept them out of the picture all episode (until the very end). They didn't even have Athena and Helo joining in on the lullabying. Foo.
So... What kinds of fights to Tyrol and Kallie have?
The Baltar stuff, although it didn't GO very far, I really dig it. The ethical part of it is a little shakey, maybe inconsistent, and I would've liked some high ground opposition to the suggestions of torture and drugs, or an explicit concession on the part of the President or Admiral that Baltar's is a special case. Or did I miss that in there somewhere? But it went to some interesting places as far as guilt and blame go, and more wavering fun with "Cylon or not?"
Fun to have his "Occurrence At Owl Creek" scenario with the resurrection hot tub. Am I supposed to believe that that was supposed to be a definitive end to Are You There, Gods? It's Me, Baltar? Because I really don't think that's what we saw. Anyone else? It was a *near* death experience, not a death, no?
Maybe, *maybe*, Baltar believes it's settled, that he's human. It's convenient, after all, now that he's back with the human fleet, right? Of course, I won't take away from him his Chosen One destiny. He's still fated to do great, altho not necessarily Good, things.
Honestly, I was caught off guard when the Prez started picking on him about the defense grid back on Caprica. I was focused on his recent historical term as president under the Cylons, and totally spaced on his involvement way back when, implying his collusion w the klankers, treason, and a literal crime against humanity. Of course, as we've seen it on the show so far, he was an unwitting player, seduced by a Cylon lingerie model. Six tells him that he must have suspected *something* though. And he repeats that, so he wonders about it, doubts himself at times. In the end, tho, he reasserts his innocence, or at least, his cluelessness, absence of malice.
I really appreciate that Adama spells it out for everyone. That it's acknowledged. He doesn't believe he's to blame. He sees himself as a victim. The Talented Mr. Baltar.
Another interesting bit. He flashes back to the nuke on Caprica levelling his place. He says that Caprica Six saved him. But frickin frackin how?!
*sigh*
Man, when the drugs took effect and he showed up in the water, in the dark, I was *really* hoping that he was being zapped back to the moment he regains consciousness after the nuke's shockwave back on Caprica. That we'd get to see (and maybe he would, for the first time) just how he survived that.
I was really hoping that when Adama said they had to get someone he'd trust, they were talking about Caprica Six. I knew that it would be Gaeta, as we saw him show up at Baltar's cell earlier, but y'know, I do like my irrational longshots.
Too bad Gaeta overplayed his sympathetic negotiator, Clarice Starling style, eh? I'm not exactly sure what scenario they expected Baltar to believe would NOT have him observed and recorded, tho. Baltar playing Hannibal the psychiatrist was pretty fun, and even vicious. That was surprising. I mean, I thought both that Baltar was being honest and harsh about Gaeta, playing on the guilt that kept him from pleading his own case when the secret tribunal were ready to tube him, but also that he was attempting to implicate Gaeta, just to hurt him, tear him down, by hinting at his involvement in New Caprica atrocities on records (fabrications, with baiting unsubstantial whispers into Gaeta's ear).
Nice pen to the neck action.
Was Baltar bullstuffing about The Five? He spoke as if he experienced D'Anna's vision, which wasn't the case. I was glad to get a confirmation flash (I think?) of the earlier Jiminy Six-enabled projection/vision of that stage with the white banners/drapes, the same as, or at least similar to, the environment of D'Anna's experience. Definitely meant to be the same.
I didn't go looking for the bonus clip online (is that really necessary?), but from the clip at the very close of the show, we see that the Cylons know about how Roslyn had Starbuck's stalker skinbag airlocked. How far away from the Cylon fleet were they? Jetisonning a Cylon *will* kill it, right? It needs to breathe? So, stalkerboy dies in space but gets resurrected so that he can tell the reset of the Cylons about what happened...
Does that seem right? Does this mean... something? That there's a ship in the Galactica fleet, or a station or device within a ship, that relays Cylon downloads? A booster of some kind? I can't remember the exact situation the fleet was in at the time of the interrogation of stalker boy, but I hafta think that they were a FTL jump away from any Cylon base or resurrection ships, right?
Or, is the idea that a Cylon *can* survive in a vacuum (and without food or, I dunno, ethanol?) indefinitely, and airlocking him is like the ultimate form of solitary confinement? But, intact and functional, he can be tracked and ultimately picked up by his Cylon brothers, or just know that he's within range and then kill himself to be resurrected in a tip-top skin job?
One sad thing about having Baltar back w the humans—we lose the whole BaltarTV thing. Without his presence in the Cylon fleet (nor even D'Anna and Caprica Six's) we lose our window into life in the Cylon fleet and culture, y'know?
Keep on keepin on~
Monday, January 22, 2007
BSG: do you hear a dial tone?
3.12: "Rapture (2 of 2)"
... cuz BSG is Off The Hook!
=)
"Am I a Cylon? Frak!"
Some *SPOILERY* rambling on the Sunday night BATTLESTAR GALACTICA return episode...
I was hoping that launching the nukes would be part of the Eye of Jupiter prophecy/marker action, y'know? Like Adama doesn't do bluffs and D'Anna won't relent, so the Galactica nukes the continent, but the temple somehow protects everyone who's within it, y'know? Like the flying saucer at the end of HANGAR 18? Of course, that's not the way it went down...
Really excellent opener with Athena and Helo. Helo's steppin up to the President was grand to see. Athena's visit to and escape from the base ship seemed a wee bit convenient, but I suppose that the other skin jobs had a lot on their hands.
It's nice to see Caprica Six still sticking by her "live in harmony" guns, despite Baltar's opportunistic weaselly nature.
Which I love, heh. He totally makes this show fun.
Okay, so "seeing the face of god" is sort of the experience of meeting the five, right? And D'Anna is consistently referring to one god again and again this episode. So, for this week, I'll buy that the Cylon default setting is for monotheism.
Man, I wanted for just ONE of those charges to still be wired when Apollo pressed the button. Then maybe we could see a Cavil get blown to pieces, and a Cavil torso try to prevent D'Anna from meeting her destiny.
Damn. Boxed. But who's to say they got every last one of her, right? Wishful thinking? Yeah, I suppose her "special guest star" or whatever days may really be over... Was great seeing the other six (except for the Doc—where's he at?) discussing her behavior and the need for extreme measures, behind her back. I would've liked some comment about "too much time with Baltar," or "she's even starting to smell human," or something sort of backhandedly complimentary or admiring about how she gambled correctly on human nature, y'know?
I was a little annoyed at Brother Cavil changing his mind about caring whether or not Adama was bluffing about using the nukes. Interesting how D'Anna says, "Never over just one ship." Like it's a lesson she's learned somewhere.
Baltar's got quite an effect on the Cylon ladies. Evidence of some Cylon blood in his heritage? He's part of the cause of a revolution in Cylon culture, and then connected to the boxing of a whole model.
Is Caprica Six now a two-time Cylon murderer? Skull crushing rock for D'Anna on Caprica and neck snapping whiplash for Boomer on the base ship.
Kinda sad seeing that Boomer's backslid into traditional Cylon form. Well, "go our separate ways" detente seems to be her thing, really. She did love the Chief, after all.
I had this random thought when the Chief and Callie were on screen for somethin or other... Is it weird that Callie killed Sharon and then married the Chief? Anyone think the Chief still hits her?
How bout the Chief being somehow "in tune" with the temple? Cylon? Or perhaps just sex with a Cylon? Cylon nanite cooties?
I kinda think that part of Boomer's impetuous behavior—threatening to kill Hera—was some weird transferred/sympathtic post partem depression issue. Exacerbated at just that moment by Caprica Six's pretty pointed rub-it-in-her-face remark about how despite Athena and Boomer being biologically identical in every way, Hera still recognized Athena has her true mother.
Which is also a little sad for Boomer.
So, hey. Pretty good bit of continuity work on Starbuck's supernova painting, eh? Did Starbuck's crazy boyfriend Cylon ever get all "destiny" with her when they were living together? Cuz that's who she's referring to at the end of this episode, right? I couldn't make it out in the audio clearly, but she says SOMEone told her, "My destiny is already written," or something... and I figured it was stalker Cylon when she was interrogating him, right?
So what up with stalker Cylon since the exodus from New Caprica? He hasn't gone rogue looking for her, and he wasn't boxed for his Starbuck fetish. Was that, like, sanctioned by all seven Cylons?
Starbuck. A prophet. So, what do I think of that? Definitely possibly could be a Cylon. =)
I thought that Duala's approach to Starbuck in the downed Raptor would get half the fans thinking that she's a Cylon. She manages to somehow get PAST the sniper and advancing tin men to get to Starbuck's position, and approaches in complete silence.
Or maybe she was just considering offing her?
With a couple of clever strokes, this show could go all INFERNAL AFFAIRS for a good little run. I mean, they could discover among the civilians of the fleet, Duala's long lost twin sister... Or a supernova painting by an accomplished Caprican artist who bears an uncanny resemblance to Starbuck...
I'd really love to see a twin thing used in a story thread at some point.
Who would D'Anna have cause to apologize to? Did she personally wax or torture any humans in the episodes we've seen? She walks up to one of the five in her vision and recognizes him or her and apologizes...
I think Starbuck would definitely be a candidate for an apology. Roslyn, certainly. Adama, definitely. Hunnybunny the oracle...? I don't think that D'Anna ever threatened her, and I think that when she went looking for her in her old tent-hovel on New Caprica, before finding Hera, she had disappeared. So, I don't think D'Anna would believe she owed her an apology.
Man, I was really annoyed and surprised that Baltar wasn't the chosen one. I thought all along that he had caught the hybrid Cylon's eyes on him when she was spouting her "chosen one... enter the temple... see the five" free verse, y'know? Baltar and D'Anna were standing at the foot of her kiddie pool and D'Anna had closed her eyes in some kind of reverent meditation or prayer, and the Hybrid is apparently staring right at Baltar when she speaks of the "chosen one." I really thought that the idea was that D'Anna believed the hybrid was referring to her, and that Baltar knew that she was actually talking about him. Jiminy Six even confirmed it, didn't she? When he was giving D'Anna the "put your faith in god" pep talk?
But no. No "destiny" for Baltar. And he couldn't even get sloppy seconds at the vision.
Some nice bitch slaps this episode. Duala to Starbuck in the Raptor, Caprica Six to Boomer on the base ship, and the Chief to the Ex-President in the temple. No cat fights, tho. Foo.
Well, DUH, the supernova is/reveals the Eye of Jupiter. Don't these humans have movies or television?
And, so many hundreds or thousands of light years away, the light from that nova would be witneesed on earth by three shepards as the brightest star in the eastern sky, a guide to the little town of Bethlehem. Gotta thank Arthur C. Clarke for that one. =)
With FTL drives, the Galactica fleet (and the Cylons) could get there before the light from the nova. Frack, haven't seen a significant Mary among the humans and no Mary model among the Cylons.
Nice to see Caprica Six hitch a ride with Athena. Man, I'd really like to hear her tell the story of the Cylon revolution, even if it's only to Baltar when they're sharing adjacent cells in the brig. And what might Jiminy Six have to say about Baltar being back with the humans?
Conjecture... Aren't the visions—experienced now by both humans and Cylon—at the holy sites of the thirteenth tribe similar to projection, as Baltar's experienced it and Caprica Six described it? Didn't Jiminy Six "take" Baltar to a similar "council" scenario while on Kobol? White sheets and high seats and columns? Maybe it was with the baby hybrid in the center or on an altar? Frack, I can't remember. When it was that planetarium/night sky vision experienced by a group of humans on Kobol, it seemed like it could be holographic, holodeck-ish and immersive, but in this episode we see that D'Anna steps into a beam and experiences the vision within her mind. If the technology is the same, projection may not be unique to Cylons. It could be latent in humans, in that 90 percent that we don't consciously draw on. And the tech of the thirteenth tribe is capable of plugging into it in both Cylons and humans to communicate and bestow information.
So, what did we see tonight? The thirteenth tribe leaves a "destiny" for a Cylon and a supernova of a signpost for the humans. What up with that?
In the scenes-from-next, how annoying is it to have Starbuck rethink her stance on "marriage is a sacrament" already? And after she's given a hint that she might be some kind of prophetess or hand of the gods?
Is anyone mass producing, custom one-offing, those resurrection pods as mods for hot tubs or bath tubs?
My friend Dan tells me fans are networking online to get together for "frak parties." Sounds like poor word choice to me. i'd expect people to be dropping the keys to their vipers or raptors into the fishbowl as they walk in.
Does anyone else see Apollo and want him to say, "Mallory...?"~
=)
Keep on keepin on~
... cuz BSG is Off The Hook!
=)
"Am I a Cylon? Frak!"
Some *SPOILERY* rambling on the Sunday night BATTLESTAR GALACTICA return episode...
I was hoping that launching the nukes would be part of the Eye of Jupiter prophecy/marker action, y'know? Like Adama doesn't do bluffs and D'Anna won't relent, so the Galactica nukes the continent, but the temple somehow protects everyone who's within it, y'know? Like the flying saucer at the end of HANGAR 18? Of course, that's not the way it went down...
Really excellent opener with Athena and Helo. Helo's steppin up to the President was grand to see. Athena's visit to and escape from the base ship seemed a wee bit convenient, but I suppose that the other skin jobs had a lot on their hands.
It's nice to see Caprica Six still sticking by her "live in harmony" guns, despite Baltar's opportunistic weaselly nature.
Which I love, heh. He totally makes this show fun.
Okay, so "seeing the face of god" is sort of the experience of meeting the five, right? And D'Anna is consistently referring to one god again and again this episode. So, for this week, I'll buy that the Cylon default setting is for monotheism.
Man, I wanted for just ONE of those charges to still be wired when Apollo pressed the button. Then maybe we could see a Cavil get blown to pieces, and a Cavil torso try to prevent D'Anna from meeting her destiny.
Damn. Boxed. But who's to say they got every last one of her, right? Wishful thinking? Yeah, I suppose her "special guest star" or whatever days may really be over... Was great seeing the other six (except for the Doc—where's he at?) discussing her behavior and the need for extreme measures, behind her back. I would've liked some comment about "too much time with Baltar," or "she's even starting to smell human," or something sort of backhandedly complimentary or admiring about how she gambled correctly on human nature, y'know?
I was a little annoyed at Brother Cavil changing his mind about caring whether or not Adama was bluffing about using the nukes. Interesting how D'Anna says, "Never over just one ship." Like it's a lesson she's learned somewhere.
Baltar's got quite an effect on the Cylon ladies. Evidence of some Cylon blood in his heritage? He's part of the cause of a revolution in Cylon culture, and then connected to the boxing of a whole model.
Is Caprica Six now a two-time Cylon murderer? Skull crushing rock for D'Anna on Caprica and neck snapping whiplash for Boomer on the base ship.
Kinda sad seeing that Boomer's backslid into traditional Cylon form. Well, "go our separate ways" detente seems to be her thing, really. She did love the Chief, after all.
I had this random thought when the Chief and Callie were on screen for somethin or other... Is it weird that Callie killed Sharon and then married the Chief? Anyone think the Chief still hits her?
How bout the Chief being somehow "in tune" with the temple? Cylon? Or perhaps just sex with a Cylon? Cylon nanite cooties?
I kinda think that part of Boomer's impetuous behavior—threatening to kill Hera—was some weird transferred/sympathtic post partem depression issue. Exacerbated at just that moment by Caprica Six's pretty pointed rub-it-in-her-face remark about how despite Athena and Boomer being biologically identical in every way, Hera still recognized Athena has her true mother.
Which is also a little sad for Boomer.
So, hey. Pretty good bit of continuity work on Starbuck's supernova painting, eh? Did Starbuck's crazy boyfriend Cylon ever get all "destiny" with her when they were living together? Cuz that's who she's referring to at the end of this episode, right? I couldn't make it out in the audio clearly, but she says SOMEone told her, "My destiny is already written," or something... and I figured it was stalker Cylon when she was interrogating him, right?
So what up with stalker Cylon since the exodus from New Caprica? He hasn't gone rogue looking for her, and he wasn't boxed for his Starbuck fetish. Was that, like, sanctioned by all seven Cylons?
Starbuck. A prophet. So, what do I think of that? Definitely possibly could be a Cylon. =)
I thought that Duala's approach to Starbuck in the downed Raptor would get half the fans thinking that she's a Cylon. She manages to somehow get PAST the sniper and advancing tin men to get to Starbuck's position, and approaches in complete silence.
Or maybe she was just considering offing her?
With a couple of clever strokes, this show could go all INFERNAL AFFAIRS for a good little run. I mean, they could discover among the civilians of the fleet, Duala's long lost twin sister... Or a supernova painting by an accomplished Caprican artist who bears an uncanny resemblance to Starbuck...
I'd really love to see a twin thing used in a story thread at some point.
Who would D'Anna have cause to apologize to? Did she personally wax or torture any humans in the episodes we've seen? She walks up to one of the five in her vision and recognizes him or her and apologizes...
I think Starbuck would definitely be a candidate for an apology. Roslyn, certainly. Adama, definitely. Hunnybunny the oracle...? I don't think that D'Anna ever threatened her, and I think that when she went looking for her in her old tent-hovel on New Caprica, before finding Hera, she had disappeared. So, I don't think D'Anna would believe she owed her an apology.
Man, I was really annoyed and surprised that Baltar wasn't the chosen one. I thought all along that he had caught the hybrid Cylon's eyes on him when she was spouting her "chosen one... enter the temple... see the five" free verse, y'know? Baltar and D'Anna were standing at the foot of her kiddie pool and D'Anna had closed her eyes in some kind of reverent meditation or prayer, and the Hybrid is apparently staring right at Baltar when she speaks of the "chosen one." I really thought that the idea was that D'Anna believed the hybrid was referring to her, and that Baltar knew that she was actually talking about him. Jiminy Six even confirmed it, didn't she? When he was giving D'Anna the "put your faith in god" pep talk?
But no. No "destiny" for Baltar. And he couldn't even get sloppy seconds at the vision.
Some nice bitch slaps this episode. Duala to Starbuck in the Raptor, Caprica Six to Boomer on the base ship, and the Chief to the Ex-President in the temple. No cat fights, tho. Foo.
Well, DUH, the supernova is/reveals the Eye of Jupiter. Don't these humans have movies or television?
And, so many hundreds or thousands of light years away, the light from that nova would be witneesed on earth by three shepards as the brightest star in the eastern sky, a guide to the little town of Bethlehem. Gotta thank Arthur C. Clarke for that one. =)
With FTL drives, the Galactica fleet (and the Cylons) could get there before the light from the nova. Frack, haven't seen a significant Mary among the humans and no Mary model among the Cylons.
Nice to see Caprica Six hitch a ride with Athena. Man, I'd really like to hear her tell the story of the Cylon revolution, even if it's only to Baltar when they're sharing adjacent cells in the brig. And what might Jiminy Six have to say about Baltar being back with the humans?
Conjecture... Aren't the visions—experienced now by both humans and Cylon—at the holy sites of the thirteenth tribe similar to projection, as Baltar's experienced it and Caprica Six described it? Didn't Jiminy Six "take" Baltar to a similar "council" scenario while on Kobol? White sheets and high seats and columns? Maybe it was with the baby hybrid in the center or on an altar? Frack, I can't remember. When it was that planetarium/night sky vision experienced by a group of humans on Kobol, it seemed like it could be holographic, holodeck-ish and immersive, but in this episode we see that D'Anna steps into a beam and experiences the vision within her mind. If the technology is the same, projection may not be unique to Cylons. It could be latent in humans, in that 90 percent that we don't consciously draw on. And the tech of the thirteenth tribe is capable of plugging into it in both Cylons and humans to communicate and bestow information.
So, what did we see tonight? The thirteenth tribe leaves a "destiny" for a Cylon and a supernova of a signpost for the humans. What up with that?
In the scenes-from-next, how annoying is it to have Starbuck rethink her stance on "marriage is a sacrament" already? And after she's given a hint that she might be some kind of prophetess or hand of the gods?
Is anyone mass producing, custom one-offing, those resurrection pods as mods for hot tubs or bath tubs?
My friend Dan tells me fans are networking online to get together for "frak parties." Sounds like poor word choice to me. i'd expect people to be dropping the keys to their vipers or raptors into the fishbowl as they walk in.
Does anyone else see Apollo and want him to say, "Mallory...?"~
=)
Keep on keepin on~
Friday, January 19, 2007
BSG: intermission ramble
Before 3.12: "Rapture (2 of 2)"
Before BSG returns on Sunday night (cuz SciFi apparently wants to have Jake 2.0 hold the Friday line...?) this weekend, I wanted to get some of my random zany thoughts out of my head and on screen.
Sunday night BSG. Damn. That's when the original show premiered on TV. I was over at someone else's house, our family was, for a dinner party, and all the kids, or at least, all the boys, were gathered around the telly to watch the pretty cloud tank or whatever slide show, voiced over by Patrick McNee, explaining how "even now, there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive…somewhere beyond the heavens…"
Things were so simple back then.
I love the Cylon "mood" or "skin" they put on the show whenever we're focused on Baltar and the Cylons (band name, anyone?). It's so... porny! A porny PHANTOM OF THE OPERA... or an episode of "The Continental," or... Masterpiece Theater, but without pants! Like an artsy late night Cinemax flick, y'know? EMMANUELLE IN SPACE... volume 6... or something... You've got the moving camera and the cross fades, if only there was a candelabra and a grand piano or pipe organ. Baltar could be hosting creature double feature!
Wait, was there a candelabra?
It's just such a funny but sorta-right feeling atmosphere for "my life with the Cylons." I suppose given that it's thru Baltar's eyes/over Baltar's shoulder, the porniness does logically figure in. I mean, half the episodes since they left New Caprica have introduced Baltar getting out of bed with Xena or Caprica, right?
Although I've heard it from several fans of the show that it doesn't really matter whether Baltar's a Cylon or not—and I believed that for a while, cuz, his actions are what matter to everyone else—I just LOVE watching this guy so much, and it certainly matters to HIM, so I do give a damn. =)
I don't love the projection thing as some remarkable Cylon ability, but I'll buy it. Maybe we'll get an episode in the future that's all or partly from Athena's or Boomer's point of view for some good reason, and we could get some immersive take on what kind of advantages there are to it. Does Athena get to walk around in a projected environment whenever she wants? Or is she somehow cut off?
Ever since I played Quake, I've had an idea for some game tech that resembles projection, and have just been itching/waiting for it to be developed. Maybe Apple + Nintendo will figure it out.
Projection as a sort of explanation for Baltar's "happy place" with his Number Six is acceptable. I wonder what happened to Caprica's Jiminy Baltar?
In general, I'm annoyed that in a year and change, Boomer and Caprica have sort of dropped spearheading the cause of living with or live and let live with the humans. That year gone by can explain it away, I suppose, but I *really* liked the Cylon revolution and the notion and power of celebrities among the Cylons... I wanted to see it played out longer and further. The dissension that we regularly see among the Cylons now *is* a good follow-thru, but there no longer seem to be any true human-lovers, y'know?
WTF with having Honeybunny show up as an oracle on New Caprica to direct Xena to the baby? The only way I'm gonna be okay with that later is if she's one of the Cylon Five. She overtly demonstrates extrasensory abilites, and not just seeing into the affairs of humans, but Cylons as well. She's got to be Something More.
When she appeared and said what she said, did what she did, that felt like writers looking for a shortcut, a way to make something happen, but, like I said, it can be saved if she turns up again. The writers are frickin Good after all. I mean, they even got me to like Kat! Adama gets all the best lines... "While you were CAG, you made your people feel safe enough to be brave..." That's, like, the most perfect thing to say to a leader of soldiers, no?
Xena's turned herself into a Cylon Lifetime movie. "I Resurrect Myself To Feel." Or, as Baltar so eloquently put it, "Death Is Just A Revolving Door."
I wonder if the original organic Cylon, or proto-organic one, I guess, the one who created the skin jobs, also programmed Spanish television. I mean, look at the seven models we've seen. Three hot women and four inconspicuous guys, one of whom, if he wasn't Dean Stockwell, could be a troll. You could mix and match them as partners for a dozen different Telemundo variety and talk shows!
And speaking of Cylon programming, I would LOVE to see the Cylons try some absurd psyOps on the humans by broadcasting the reality channel, BaltarTV, at the fleet. Imaginary Number Six, human-Cylon identity crisis, wacky hijinks, and THREE'S COMPANY!
I'm simultaneously miffed and intrigued by Starbuck's take on marriage. She and Apollo have got a little somethin somethin goin on in a regular way, regular enough for Apollo to feel guilty about it at least, and when he brings up the option of going legit, divorcing their partners so that they can be together, Starbuck won't have it. Something about how, "This isn't a Pyramid game. Marriage is a sacrament." Kooky. Just an episode before, she gave Kat a vial of sleeping pills. She's okay with suicide/euthanasia, but divorce would offend the Gods. Proof that we ARE related to the humans of the rag tag fugitive fleet? =)
What up with the gods, anyhow? Who's worshipping what now? Is there more than one religion among the humans? Or is it the gods of Kobol or nothing?
When Baltar connects with the hybrid, coaxing her to clue D'anna and himself into the "eye of the husband," aka the Eye of Jupiter, and also the hand, which according to Baltar represents the Five, D'anna is struck by the possibility that "our gods" could be connected to "their gods." So she's talking about the Cylons having gods of their own, different from the humans'. Are the Five the gods she's speaking of? Do all of the seven Cylons consider them to be their gods?
So how and why is it we have the idea that the Cylons are monotheistic? It's only Baltar and his Jiminy Six who talk about a one true god, right? His Six has been proselytizing in his head. I can't remember any physical skin jobs explicitly talking about their one god... but dammit, I could swear it was a logical conclusion...
I'll hafta pay more attention moving forward...
Eye of Jupiter. Humans and Cylons in orbit over a planet with a site, temple, and artifact that both have come to consider holy and believe they have a claim to. The two sides are ready to destroy one another, and the site itself, before they'll let the other keep it. One side is ready and apparently willing to unleash its nuclear capabilities.
Don't you just love science fiction? Such a great way to escape reality. =)
Do we think they'll reach earth?
The basics to one possible unsophisticated no-brainer "happy" ending... The Galactica gets to earth just before the time of ancient/classical civilizations, and with their superior tech, are taken for pantheons of gods. The Greeks, of course, but I'm guessing that the Egyptians and Mayans and Aztecs and Toltecs and whoever else wants a god, just like in the original series intro. Maybe the Cylons, or some worse-than-Cylon threat, follows and they save earth humans in some last great battle that wipes out almost all their tech and the survivors, human and Cylon, walk the earth side by side w the natives.
D'Anna will of course close the infinite loop of her life and begin her reign of terror on ancient Greek territories as Xena, Warrior Princess...
=)
And once he survives into the 21st century, Preacher Cavil will become holographic guide to Cylon tech time machine developer Captain Archer...
... or Something.
It's late. I'm talkin crazy talk.
Keep on keepn on~
Before BSG returns on Sunday night (cuz SciFi apparently wants to have Jake 2.0 hold the Friday line...?) this weekend, I wanted to get some of my random zany thoughts out of my head and on screen.
Sunday night BSG. Damn. That's when the original show premiered on TV. I was over at someone else's house, our family was, for a dinner party, and all the kids, or at least, all the boys, were gathered around the telly to watch the pretty cloud tank or whatever slide show, voiced over by Patrick McNee, explaining how "even now, there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive…somewhere beyond the heavens…"
Things were so simple back then.
I love the Cylon "mood" or "skin" they put on the show whenever we're focused on Baltar and the Cylons (band name, anyone?). It's so... porny! A porny PHANTOM OF THE OPERA... or an episode of "The Continental," or... Masterpiece Theater, but without pants! Like an artsy late night Cinemax flick, y'know? EMMANUELLE IN SPACE... volume 6... or something... You've got the moving camera and the cross fades, if only there was a candelabra and a grand piano or pipe organ. Baltar could be hosting creature double feature!
Wait, was there a candelabra?
It's just such a funny but sorta-right feeling atmosphere for "my life with the Cylons." I suppose given that it's thru Baltar's eyes/over Baltar's shoulder, the porniness does logically figure in. I mean, half the episodes since they left New Caprica have introduced Baltar getting out of bed with Xena or Caprica, right?
Although I've heard it from several fans of the show that it doesn't really matter whether Baltar's a Cylon or not—and I believed that for a while, cuz, his actions are what matter to everyone else—I just LOVE watching this guy so much, and it certainly matters to HIM, so I do give a damn. =)
I don't love the projection thing as some remarkable Cylon ability, but I'll buy it. Maybe we'll get an episode in the future that's all or partly from Athena's or Boomer's point of view for some good reason, and we could get some immersive take on what kind of advantages there are to it. Does Athena get to walk around in a projected environment whenever she wants? Or is she somehow cut off?
Ever since I played Quake, I've had an idea for some game tech that resembles projection, and have just been itching/waiting for it to be developed. Maybe Apple + Nintendo will figure it out.
Projection as a sort of explanation for Baltar's "happy place" with his Number Six is acceptable. I wonder what happened to Caprica's Jiminy Baltar?
In general, I'm annoyed that in a year and change, Boomer and Caprica have sort of dropped spearheading the cause of living with or live and let live with the humans. That year gone by can explain it away, I suppose, but I *really* liked the Cylon revolution and the notion and power of celebrities among the Cylons... I wanted to see it played out longer and further. The dissension that we regularly see among the Cylons now *is* a good follow-thru, but there no longer seem to be any true human-lovers, y'know?
WTF with having Honeybunny show up as an oracle on New Caprica to direct Xena to the baby? The only way I'm gonna be okay with that later is if she's one of the Cylon Five. She overtly demonstrates extrasensory abilites, and not just seeing into the affairs of humans, but Cylons as well. She's got to be Something More.
When she appeared and said what she said, did what she did, that felt like writers looking for a shortcut, a way to make something happen, but, like I said, it can be saved if she turns up again. The writers are frickin Good after all. I mean, they even got me to like Kat! Adama gets all the best lines... "While you were CAG, you made your people feel safe enough to be brave..." That's, like, the most perfect thing to say to a leader of soldiers, no?
Xena's turned herself into a Cylon Lifetime movie. "I Resurrect Myself To Feel." Or, as Baltar so eloquently put it, "Death Is Just A Revolving Door."
I wonder if the original organic Cylon, or proto-organic one, I guess, the one who created the skin jobs, also programmed Spanish television. I mean, look at the seven models we've seen. Three hot women and four inconspicuous guys, one of whom, if he wasn't Dean Stockwell, could be a troll. You could mix and match them as partners for a dozen different Telemundo variety and talk shows!
And speaking of Cylon programming, I would LOVE to see the Cylons try some absurd psyOps on the humans by broadcasting the reality channel, BaltarTV, at the fleet. Imaginary Number Six, human-Cylon identity crisis, wacky hijinks, and THREE'S COMPANY!
I'm simultaneously miffed and intrigued by Starbuck's take on marriage. She and Apollo have got a little somethin somethin goin on in a regular way, regular enough for Apollo to feel guilty about it at least, and when he brings up the option of going legit, divorcing their partners so that they can be together, Starbuck won't have it. Something about how, "This isn't a Pyramid game. Marriage is a sacrament." Kooky. Just an episode before, she gave Kat a vial of sleeping pills. She's okay with suicide/euthanasia, but divorce would offend the Gods. Proof that we ARE related to the humans of the rag tag fugitive fleet? =)
What up with the gods, anyhow? Who's worshipping what now? Is there more than one religion among the humans? Or is it the gods of Kobol or nothing?
When Baltar connects with the hybrid, coaxing her to clue D'anna and himself into the "eye of the husband," aka the Eye of Jupiter, and also the hand, which according to Baltar represents the Five, D'anna is struck by the possibility that "our gods" could be connected to "their gods." So she's talking about the Cylons having gods of their own, different from the humans'. Are the Five the gods she's speaking of? Do all of the seven Cylons consider them to be their gods?
So how and why is it we have the idea that the Cylons are monotheistic? It's only Baltar and his Jiminy Six who talk about a one true god, right? His Six has been proselytizing in his head. I can't remember any physical skin jobs explicitly talking about their one god... but dammit, I could swear it was a logical conclusion...
I'll hafta pay more attention moving forward...
Eye of Jupiter. Humans and Cylons in orbit over a planet with a site, temple, and artifact that both have come to consider holy and believe they have a claim to. The two sides are ready to destroy one another, and the site itself, before they'll let the other keep it. One side is ready and apparently willing to unleash its nuclear capabilities.
Don't you just love science fiction? Such a great way to escape reality. =)
Do we think they'll reach earth?
The basics to one possible unsophisticated no-brainer "happy" ending... The Galactica gets to earth just before the time of ancient/classical civilizations, and with their superior tech, are taken for pantheons of gods. The Greeks, of course, but I'm guessing that the Egyptians and Mayans and Aztecs and Toltecs and whoever else wants a god, just like in the original series intro. Maybe the Cylons, or some worse-than-Cylon threat, follows and they save earth humans in some last great battle that wipes out almost all their tech and the survivors, human and Cylon, walk the earth side by side w the natives.
D'Anna will of course close the infinite loop of her life and begin her reign of terror on ancient Greek territories as Xena, Warrior Princess...
=)
And once he survives into the 21st century, Preacher Cavil will become holographic guide to Cylon tech time machine developer Captain Archer...
... or Something.
It's late. I'm talkin crazy talk.
Keep on keepn on~
Saturday, October 28, 2006
BSG: Keep jumping...
3.05: "Collaborators"
A gut-twister of an episode. One of those Shakespearean scenarios, where just the right couple of words into the right ear would fix everything, y'know? Well, not really fix everything, but... a whole lot less would be broken. And why not share those all-important words? A combination of bad timing and potential ulterior motives, colored by vengeance, frustration, and anger, as well as dignity and pride.
Gaeta spills it all—dogbowl!—to Starbuck in the mess hall (and apparently he's told others repeatedly before that). Whatzherhead, who's already in the circle of six, overhears it all from a table away. What she gets out of it: one—that Gaeta claims to have helped the insurgents; two—that Starbuck has got a mad-on for punishing anyone that had anything to do with the Cylons on New Caprica. And how does she choose to act in light of this info? She nominates Starbuck to be the new sixth for the circle.
Excellent having the circle legitimized by an executive order by Zarick. Way to use that window, his not-so-lame-duck period, and such good poetic rationalization coming out of Zarick's mouth in defense. Until the mention of needing six votes to convict, when Anders bails on them, I just believed that this was the post-rescue insurgency council, cleaning house they way the Chief said they would.
Viper launch tubes are lit pretty dramatically considering they're basically to be giant gun barrels, eh?
Man, these humans are so ready to adapt to anything. I mean, they have a name already for this period moving forward, probably complete with a FoxNews set of graphics and music—The Second Exodus. And they're refering to it as such on the third day of it. History while it's happening.
Yeah, nothing like the real world.
I told Josh via IM a few days back, "This show is more about Iraq than OVER THERE was." And the U.S., in policy and politics, too, and doesn't obviously or consistently take sides. It's really amazing.
(FYI, don't know if it's coming back, but OVER THERE was a not-totally-crappy and maybe only half the time cliche FX drama about a platoon of American soldiers on duty in Iraq.)
In the end, I'm glad that Starbuck blabs enough in her kick-him-when-he's-down rant to save Gaeta's ass. Along the way, though, I *did* try to get myself ready for Gaeta's execution. The story power and opportunities that his execution offers is considerable, y'know? And with the show's history, well, you really can't rule out the writers letting Gaeta get wacked...
(And then waking up on a Base Star to deliver some coffee to Baltar. Heh.)
But letting them *almost* make that mistake is more than shocking enough, especially after sending Jammer out the launch tube at the start. And I think it converges well with Roslyn's amnesty proclamation upon her being sworn into office again. I also really dig the idea of the recording of stories.
I think I've heard something on NPR about the Library of Congress doing something like that, not specifically related to any war or wars, but collecting the stories of American lives and citizens. I think it's that NPR plays excerpts from them on Sundays or certain times... Not sure. Stupid brain.
I'll hafta give it another viewing sometime, but I thought Roslyn's speech announcing the amnesty was excellent, acknowledging the difficulty and grey area of vengeance versus justice, with the heat of anger so hot immediately after the New Caprican Cylon occupation, and getting past it, so that their civilization can move on. The definition of rising above it. Putting lofty ideals into practice.
I wouldn't mind it so much if some politician were to rip off a speech from this show. Just so long as s/he means it. =)
Okay, and attributes. =)
Revisiting the mess hall with the Chief and Gaeta was a very fine close to the episode.
Speaking of the Chief, after jetisonning Jammer, he asked Callie if she remembered someone helping her escape on New Caprica. That could be used later to piece together who was on the circle of six. No one but those who participated would or should know. Zarick might know that Tighe was chairperson or whatever, but I'd guess the fine print calls for the identities to be hidden, and Tighe assembled the original six on his own from high-ranking insurgents.
When someone answers the question, "Why do you ask?" with "Oh, no reason," do they ever actually mean it?
HA! I do love me some Baltar dreamtime. Number Six egging on Adama and the President to execute Baltar for betraying all of humanity, then Gaius muttering to her ( SO not-sly in front of the others, heh) something like, "Don't bother, they can't hear you." And Number Six turning on him, "Don't make me angry..." followed by Adama channelling Bixby's David Banner, "You wouldn't like her when she's angry..."
What an incredible and consistent ego, tho, that he should have Roslyn declare her lust for him, no?
Good crack, right there.
So, this Baltar doesn't get one of those high (and mighty) chairs like the old-school Colicos Baltar. He gets some kind of chaisse, a goblet?, and a plush hotel robe. Heh. There should be a "property of Base Star 327" stencilled onto the back of it, donchathink? I didn't see any slippers.
Where's the toilet?
Funny how that one long wall was a Cylon eye.
Cylon Xena is hottt, no? Hotter and hotter. I think she'd be a great Wonder Woman, or if they absolutely need to cast for a younger demo, maybe mama Hippolyta? Queen of the Amazons.
She only mentions the seven models. Where/why/how do I have it in my head that it's twelve? It was a note or something, right? Passed to Adama? Was it from the guy in the armory that he went one-on-one with way back in the pilot? Frack.
Baltar's declaration of love for Number Six... [Nelson Muntz's HA-ha here] =)
Poor Number Six...
Oh, just in case you forget why Baby Hera is so important, besides, y'know, prophecy and Honeybunny saying so and all, I do believe that it was her blood that cured President Roslyn of her cancer somehwere in season 2, or 2.5 or whatever the frack they numbered it. Pretty good for a dumb baby, eh?
Keep on keepin on~
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Adama: | You wouldn't like her when she's angry. |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Adama: | Keep jumping. |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Baltar: | I need you too! Did you hear me...? I need you too... I probably should have *started* with that... |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
Gaeta spills it all—dogbowl!—to Starbuck in the mess hall (and apparently he's told others repeatedly before that). Whatzherhead, who's already in the circle of six, overhears it all from a table away. What she gets out of it: one—that Gaeta claims to have helped the insurgents; two—that Starbuck has got a mad-on for punishing anyone that had anything to do with the Cylons on New Caprica. And how does she choose to act in light of this info? She nominates Starbuck to be the new sixth for the circle.
Excellent having the circle legitimized by an executive order by Zarick. Way to use that window, his not-so-lame-duck period, and such good poetic rationalization coming out of Zarick's mouth in defense. Until the mention of needing six votes to convict, when Anders bails on them, I just believed that this was the post-rescue insurgency council, cleaning house they way the Chief said they would.
Viper launch tubes are lit pretty dramatically considering they're basically to be giant gun barrels, eh?
Man, these humans are so ready to adapt to anything. I mean, they have a name already for this period moving forward, probably complete with a FoxNews set of graphics and music—The Second Exodus. And they're refering to it as such on the third day of it. History while it's happening.
Yeah, nothing like the real world.
I told Josh via IM a few days back, "This show is more about Iraq than OVER THERE was." And the U.S., in policy and politics, too, and doesn't obviously or consistently take sides. It's really amazing.
(FYI, don't know if it's coming back, but OVER THERE was a not-totally-crappy and maybe only half the time cliche FX drama about a platoon of American soldiers on duty in Iraq.)
In the end, I'm glad that Starbuck blabs enough in her kick-him-when-he's-down rant to save Gaeta's ass. Along the way, though, I *did* try to get myself ready for Gaeta's execution. The story power and opportunities that his execution offers is considerable, y'know? And with the show's history, well, you really can't rule out the writers letting Gaeta get wacked...
(And then waking up on a Base Star to deliver some coffee to Baltar. Heh.)
But letting them *almost* make that mistake is more than shocking enough, especially after sending Jammer out the launch tube at the start. And I think it converges well with Roslyn's amnesty proclamation upon her being sworn into office again. I also really dig the idea of the recording of stories.
I think I've heard something on NPR about the Library of Congress doing something like that, not specifically related to any war or wars, but collecting the stories of American lives and citizens. I think it's that NPR plays excerpts from them on Sundays or certain times... Not sure. Stupid brain.
I'll hafta give it another viewing sometime, but I thought Roslyn's speech announcing the amnesty was excellent, acknowledging the difficulty and grey area of vengeance versus justice, with the heat of anger so hot immediately after the New Caprican Cylon occupation, and getting past it, so that their civilization can move on. The definition of rising above it. Putting lofty ideals into practice.
I wouldn't mind it so much if some politician were to rip off a speech from this show. Just so long as s/he means it. =)
Okay, and attributes. =)
Revisiting the mess hall with the Chief and Gaeta was a very fine close to the episode.
Speaking of the Chief, after jetisonning Jammer, he asked Callie if she remembered someone helping her escape on New Caprica. That could be used later to piece together who was on the circle of six. No one but those who participated would or should know. Zarick might know that Tighe was chairperson or whatever, but I'd guess the fine print calls for the identities to be hidden, and Tighe assembled the original six on his own from high-ranking insurgents.
When someone answers the question, "Why do you ask?" with "Oh, no reason," do they ever actually mean it?
HA! I do love me some Baltar dreamtime. Number Six egging on Adama and the President to execute Baltar for betraying all of humanity, then Gaius muttering to her ( SO not-sly in front of the others, heh) something like, "Don't bother, they can't hear you." And Number Six turning on him, "Don't make me angry..." followed by Adama channelling Bixby's David Banner, "You wouldn't like her when she's angry..."
What an incredible and consistent ego, tho, that he should have Roslyn declare her lust for him, no?
Good crack, right there.
So, this Baltar doesn't get one of those high (and mighty) chairs like the old-school Colicos Baltar. He gets some kind of chaisse, a goblet?, and a plush hotel robe. Heh. There should be a "property of Base Star 327" stencilled onto the back of it, donchathink? I didn't see any slippers.
Where's the toilet?
Funny how that one long wall was a Cylon eye.
Cylon Xena is hottt, no? Hotter and hotter. I think she'd be a great Wonder Woman, or if they absolutely need to cast for a younger demo, maybe mama Hippolyta? Queen of the Amazons.
She only mentions the seven models. Where/why/how do I have it in my head that it's twelve? It was a note or something, right? Passed to Adama? Was it from the guy in the armory that he went one-on-one with way back in the pilot? Frack.
Baltar's declaration of love for Number Six... [Nelson Muntz's HA-ha here] =)
Poor Number Six...
Oh, just in case you forget why Baby Hera is so important, besides, y'know, prophecy and Honeybunny saying so and all, I do believe that it was her blood that cured President Roslyn of her cancer somehwere in season 2, or 2.5 or whatever the frack they numbered it. Pretty good for a dumb baby, eh?
Keep on keepin on~
Saturday, October 21, 2006
BSG: Well, *this* oughtta be different...
3.04: "Exodus (2 of 2)"
Frackin A, man, this is some good felgercarb, this is. =)
Just got done replaying tonight's episode. Got home around 1 after hitting the Brattle for SEVERANCE and AUTOMATONS (good crack =). And now, I'm more than a little overtired, so I may not hit all the stuff that I love about "Exodus," but I'll give it a go.
Freefalling Galactica in the atmosphere dropping vipers and FTLing the hell outta there! Vipers launching through the flames caused by friction heat of a battlestar bellyflop! Is it a Boy thing to get so frickin pumped up by that? F'in kickass! =) The only way that could've been even cooler is if they used the vacuum created by the jump to damage some Cylon hardware or infrastructure, y'know?
The entire rescue campaign was put together and shot/sequenced really well. We got to see it from the ground, in the air, and in space, and never lost track of how it's all meant to come together. And, Dr. frickin Z! but we got to see some kickass space carnage, didn't we?
A kickass military victory, but battered and fried in much sadness...
(Note: image is from a previous episode.)
Ah, poor Pegasus... But what a grand two-fer way to go! Too bad we haven't seen another resurrection ship around New Caprica, frack. Y'know, the show went back to the original series well twice this episode, first, with the exit of the Pegasus while taking on base ships head-on, and second, with Baltar being "adopted" by the Cylons, particularly because of his usefulness as a human, with insight into human behavior.
Y'know... assuming he IS human. =)
Oh, and poor mama Starbuck. Cruel Cylon jerkass. But, oh, can you imagine the Starbuck payback wants to deliver? Should be righteous and terrible. Yay! =)
And, poor, poor Mrs. T. Sleeping with a machine to save her man... That's some loyalty right there, that is. Or, at least, a kind of loyalty... And Tighe had to do her in.
What? No, that's where I wanted to end that sentence, really. I know it's with a preposition and all, but really, that's the end of it.
=)
Really, though, that was powerful sad. Damn. And the way Tighe wanders and loses himself in the crowd on the flight deck at the end. What will become of him? Between ordering suicide bombing missions and offing his wife in his arms, and altho he'd be the first to give credit to Adama, returning to Galactica only to play unrecognized second fiddle as leader of the insurgency...
He's gonna be seeing the Galactica shrink for more than a few centons, eh?
Should be interesting when Mrs. T comes back as model #8 somewhere down the line, eh? Or maybe brother Stockwell will commission a model, complete with swirling capabilities?
I don't like the looks of the guy that Zarich pulled aside on New Caprica. Y'know, the guy he gives his gun to and directs to protect Roslyn until she's back on Colonial One.
Poor mama Maya... Guess her EUREKA shooting schedule might've gotten in the way, eh? Well, at least BSG lost her to another SciFi show, and a fun one, at that. Also, she looks pretty damn good in a uniform (as deputy of Eureka).
And what of baby Hera? Cylons don't get sick, right? So what's her blood going to do for them? Maybe it'll distill down to a red dust that will kill all the Cylons, except for the nice ones who will get an antidote, of course.
Loved the double Sixes there for that one moment. When Baltar picks up Hera, his Jiminy Six appears to confirm that this is The Child, then disappears as Caprica Six approaches him. Alas, I don't think we actually got to see both of them on screen at the same time.
Don't be stupid. Watch this show.
=)
Keep on keepin on~
Frackin A, man, this is some good felgercarb, this is. =)
Just got done replaying tonight's episode. Got home around 1 after hitting the Brattle for SEVERANCE and AUTOMATONS (good crack =). And now, I'm more than a little overtired, so I may not hit all the stuff that I love about "Exodus," but I'll give it a go.
Freefalling Galactica in the atmosphere dropping vipers and FTLing the hell outta there! Vipers launching through the flames caused by friction heat of a battlestar bellyflop! Is it a Boy thing to get so frickin pumped up by that? F'in kickass! =) The only way that could've been even cooler is if they used the vacuum created by the jump to damage some Cylon hardware or infrastructure, y'know?
The entire rescue campaign was put together and shot/sequenced really well. We got to see it from the ground, in the air, and in space, and never lost track of how it's all meant to come together. And, Dr. frickin Z! but we got to see some kickass space carnage, didn't we?
A kickass military victory, but battered and fried in much sadness...
(Note: image is from a previous episode.)Ah, poor Pegasus... But what a grand two-fer way to go! Too bad we haven't seen another resurrection ship around New Caprica, frack. Y'know, the show went back to the original series well twice this episode, first, with the exit of the Pegasus while taking on base ships head-on, and second, with Baltar being "adopted" by the Cylons, particularly because of his usefulness as a human, with insight into human behavior.
Y'know... assuming he IS human. =)
Oh, and poor mama Starbuck. Cruel Cylon jerkass. But, oh, can you imagine the Starbuck payback wants to deliver? Should be righteous and terrible. Yay! =)
And, poor, poor Mrs. T. Sleeping with a machine to save her man... That's some loyalty right there, that is. Or, at least, a kind of loyalty... And Tighe had to do her in.
What? No, that's where I wanted to end that sentence, really. I know it's with a preposition and all, but really, that's the end of it.=)
Really, though, that was powerful sad. Damn. And the way Tighe wanders and loses himself in the crowd on the flight deck at the end. What will become of him? Between ordering suicide bombing missions and offing his wife in his arms, and altho he'd be the first to give credit to Adama, returning to Galactica only to play unrecognized second fiddle as leader of the insurgency...
He's gonna be seeing the Galactica shrink for more than a few centons, eh?
Should be interesting when Mrs. T comes back as model #8 somewhere down the line, eh? Or maybe brother Stockwell will commission a model, complete with swirling capabilities?
I don't like the looks of the guy that Zarich pulled aside on New Caprica. Y'know, the guy he gives his gun to and directs to protect Roslyn until she's back on Colonial One.
Poor mama Maya... Guess her EUREKA shooting schedule might've gotten in the way, eh? Well, at least BSG lost her to another SciFi show, and a fun one, at that. Also, she looks pretty damn good in a uniform (as deputy of Eureka).
And what of baby Hera? Cylons don't get sick, right? So what's her blood going to do for them? Maybe it'll distill down to a red dust that will kill all the Cylons, except for the nice ones who will get an antidote, of course.
Loved the double Sixes there for that one moment. When Baltar picks up Hera, his Jiminy Six appears to confirm that this is The Child, then disappears as Caprica Six approaches him. Alas, I don't think we actually got to see both of them on screen at the same time.
Don't be stupid. Watch this show.
=)
Keep on keepin on~
Saturday, March 11, 2006
(way too much on) Battlestar Galactica...
2.20: "Lay Down Your Burdens (2 of 2)"
Cylon Mother Frakkers...
Well! So THAT's how it's gonna be, is it?
Frack.
Frustrating goodness.
What follows is a late late night mess of half-baked meanders and wishful thinking sparked by 90 minutes of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA finale action. I'm still processing, and in the afterglow right now find some great potential in the twists of the story as well as some annoying and disappointing meanness in some turns...
Launch all Vipers!~
Cylon Revolution, anyone...?
No details of the Cylon revolution... Probably just as well, as I'm enjoying imagining a stadium wave-like phenom sweeping the Cylon population of Caprica as the war heros touch heads with their closest Cylon brothers and sisters, Conehead-style, and each of them do the same to their sibs, and so on, and so on, and so on, until it all trickles down via bluetooth to their tin soldiers and flying doggies - the war and occupation was Wrong, go back to doing whatever it is you were doing before.
I wonder what that was, anyhow? First looking to the left, then looking to the right, then back to looking to the left again...?
Anders never mentions his Gildenstern experience in the collapsed underground garage cradle of the revolution, y'know, in the rubble beneath the Cylon (haha) Starbucks? =)
Not that he would necessarily know just what it is he was witnessing, but for frak's sake, at least MENTION it to your Viper jockey girlfriend, why doncha?
I mean, he knew the fembots behavior to be unique and significant enough that he took the time out to ask the Cylon war heros: Who are you? What kind of people are you?
And I think it was Caprica Six who replied: I don't know...
One year later...
Hilarious and entertaining that they do it while focused on Baltar, and landing a year in the future, introducing his little harem-cabinet. The jump is a wonderful device, in my nerd mind mirroring the upcoming (or is it already on? I haven't gotten my fixx in a few weeks : P) "one year later" that the DCU is launching in its monthly superhero titles. I think they're also gonna be spitting out an issue a week for a year of a new title, called 52, that will tell the story of that "skipped" year even as the regular books jump ahead and continue month-to-month. Yet another brilliant scheme to take all my money in 2.99-4.99 doses... The bastards.
My passive radar is always up for little hooks from the original series transmogrified and dropped into the current one (as much as fans might frown on the idea, I do think the writers and creators must keep the original near to their hearts). When the prospect of Sharon Jr. became imminent in this season's storylines, I thought about how the baby could be made a significant PARTICIPANT in what was going on in the human and Cylon societies. I really didn't want the child to simply become a football or McGuffin (at least not for more than a couple episodes), but I also didn't want for some unpredictable accelerated growth phenomenon to zippily age and mature the baby into a character who could be tooling around in a Viper w Apollo or losing cubits to Starbuck in hexagonal poker or whatever it is they play.
The only "solution" I could come up with would be what they SORTA did in the half-baked "revival" of the original series which allowed them to introduce Dr. Z. Between seasons - or was there a hiatus? - the show went from BSG to GALACTICA 1980. The show jumped ahead about 20 years in its timeline, when the ragtag fugitive fleet finally finds Earth's solar system. At this point, Apollo and Starbuck are out of the picture. The show did still lean heavily on a Dylan-Brandon combo for its leads. Boxey, Apollo's adopted son, is now a viper pilot, teamed up w some other pretty-boy blond Starbuck-type wingman, and they drop in on earth trying to ready primitive 20th century humanity for the culture shock of meeting their long lost brothers, and the Cylons who have been trailing them. It basically took on the INCREDIBLE HULK/KNIGHT RIDER storytelling archetype, only not nearly as sophisticated or mature (ha!). They'd fly down to Earth (the U.S.A., of course, at least, I don't recall them dropping in on any other countries?) on their flying turbocycles - that's right! *FLYING* MOTORCYCLES! - to make first contact w sympathetic elements in the military or UFO nuts or academics, stumble onto some misfortune of the Earth locals, use their wits and advanced technology to help them out, make a few friends, leave almost no traces, and fly back to Galactica for a laugh with Commander Tighe and Dr. Z on the bridge.
Dr. Z. I'm not up to explaining the back-story of Dr. Z just now, but will say that it's the only memorable episode of the 1980 series. The short of it - he's the love child of Starbuck and an angel. As such, he's gifted w empathic and/or telepathic powers and superior intelligence. I don't know what abilities he got from his angel heritage. Heh.
Yeah, so, I figure, to make Sharon Jr. some kind of real player in things, the story would have to jump maybe a dozen years, at least until just before puberty, when her mutant powers would manifest themselves.
Felgercarb. I was a decade or so off on that one. O well.
Apollo looked somehow chunkier a year older. Not bad. I like Starbuck better w short hair. At the wedding of Starbuck and Abercrombie, do you suppose Apollo spoke now, when everyone else would rather he held his peace? Sad, that. Let it go, man...
And she was all into Apollo's brother to begin with!
Moustachioed Adama. Not bad.
Gaeta looks to be a bit of a tool, being Gaius's whipping boy and all.
The Chief as union leader... His fist pumping and rallying his fellow workers, with his expecting Cally by his side... that felt like a memorable scene from some famous gangster/political film, didn't it?
I dunno about his inspirational speech about throwing your bodies into the works of the machine. Crayzay extention of metaphor there, no? Wonder if Zarick comes round threatening to break his legs, hrm?
A little creepy, putting the Chief and Cally together only AFTER he gives her a sound out-of-his-mind beating... HONEYMOONERS-esque... only, no laughtrack w your domestic violence...
Right. I'm totally reaching now, just for entertainment value...
Ummm... there's entertainment value, isn't there?
Dean Stockwell, Cylon padre...
Was great seeing him show up on BSG. Was it just QUANTUM LEAP's Al that built up his sci-fi entertainment cred? He's definitely got Hey-It's-That-Guy! status, but I see him on screen in BSG and he feels like a sci-fi heavy to me, an anchorman, y'know? Like seeing Nimoy, Shatner, Boxleitner, or Bakula, y'knkow? Michelle Forbes demonstrated that sort of presence as Kane. And Richard Hatch brings it pretty hard w his Zarick. I was very pleased to see him Cylon up, and *loved* how he nonchalantly handles every bit of his outing as a Cylon.
When Galactica preacher is led down to the brig to meet his Caprican brother, did I hear an ARRESTED DEV Buster Bluth greeting? - Hey, brother! =)
Where did the preacher twins go? Was Roslyn's suggestion to blow them out an airlock to meet their Cylon god taken as an actual order?
That the Caprica preacher was all up on the revolution, but BSG preacher wasn't, shows that skinbag Cylons who are out of contact w other Cylons have only their own will-slash-programming to guide them. There could be Cylons out of the loop, or separated from the mainstream of their society... living among the humans, or Cylon Family Robinsoning it somewhere remote... up to who-knows-what...plotting terrorist attacks... homemaking... babymaking... programming video games... blogging...
Rambling questions and thoughts...
One year later, are there any skinbags living among the New Caprican settlers?
Is Baltar taking those pills to keep Number Six out of his head? Was he able to do that before? Maybe he's having nightmares...?
Where's Helo's Sharon? Are we to believe she's a hater? Helo's on the bridge of the Galactica. Does he keep her on a PDA in his pocket? Would she want to rejoin the Cylons? Couldn't the other skinbags living in the fleet have saved her baby?
Why'd the Pegasus Six get all seducy with Baltar just that once? Did she hope to convince him to not settle humanity on New Caprica? She wasn't Baltar's Number Six, after all. She didn't have feelings for him except perhaps for gratitude (or resentment?) for her recovery and escape. Was she *giving* him something? Biological? Viral? Cylon? She seemed to be ready to off herself regardless of Baltar's first executive order.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see her DO something with the Cylon sympathizers. Turn the movement into something more religious or cultish, y'know? Actually make some human converts with Cylon teachings. And then, at some point, have to confront the Cylon heros and their conclusions about the war, religion, and humanity...
Was Pegasus Six's original Cylon programming at work when she offed herself? Knowing that humanity wouldn't leave the protection of New Caprica's sensor-scrambling cloud, and not knowing anything about the revolution among her people, she blew the nuke to signal the Cylons...?
Did anyone else get a whiff of "Mirror, Mirror" ambience in the characters and scenarios and mood of the finale tonight?
I'll spare you any detailed tangent recollections of the shows, but what's going on with BSG reminds me more and more of bits of the GUNDAM and ROBOTECH Japanese animated series.
Why'd the Cylons come looking for humanity after deciding they should just on about their being-the-best-machines-they-can-be...?
I gotta cogitate some more on that... Too much, y'know? Selfish Cylon heros wanted to be reunited w the humans they miss and love... Maybe they see a danger threatening the humans and arrive to protect/guide them for their own good... Perhaps they still haven't figured out successful procreation... Maybe, with the help of a form of fusion, they've discovered how to turn human beings into efficient power cells?
Yeah, gonna hafta let that brew a while...
Humans mounting a resistance in a society controlled by an alien species with a dark agenda... Hrmmm... Is this gonna turn into V? =)
Longshot...
Anyone else catch a funny, knowing, almost smirk of a look on Felix Gaeta when he turned to live Tighe alone w the Zephyr ballots? Sure, from the get-go he was something of a nerd fanboy of Baltar, but would he really be happy about being able to turn the Presidency over to him? Hrmmm... He gets to play Gaius's whipping boy and whore wrangler a year later. I suppose that could be a motivator.
Perhaps he's a Cylon? Either way, Cylon or Baltar sycophant, think maybe Felix was bluffing to draw Tighe, or any possible conspirators in that chain of custody, out? If you called the whatever officer of the Zephyr that day and asked about misspelled candidate names, would they know anything about it? Or maybe he just wanted to create enough doubt about the ballots that there would have to be a recount or second election that could be pushed to Baltar's advantage? He just happened to hit the jackpot?
Longshot...
I thought maybe the show would DROP the Cylon threat for a season, just show us how humans can be a much worse enemy to humans than Cylons. Go a little Space WEST WING, or perhaps some New Caprica SHIELD action? Maybe have the odd skinbag or twelve trying to make good on New Caprica, a la ALIEN NATION...? But, hardships of humanity living day-to-day... I suppose you can just tune into the news for that. So, they skipped it and rejoin the story when the Cylons return. Still...
What if...?
Did anyone else feel a little bit of DEADWOOD in the crowded muddied streets and alleys between the tents, shanties, and grounded spaceships of New Caprica? Scans revealed something like no (limited?) animal life, right? For a second or two, I was really hoping for the potential for some FIREFLY coolness, seeing sheriff Starbuck herding cattle w the help of a trained/converted Cylon fighter, y'know?
That would also sort of be an adaptation of an old school BSG episode.
How many Cylons...?
Have we seen six models, or seven? There's Number Six, Sharon/Number Eight, that smarmy PR guy, the black doctor from the Farm on Caprica, Lucy Lawless, and Preacher Stockwell.
The smarmy PR guys is NOT the same guy that Adama takes on in the ammo depot in the pilot, right? He's a copy of the dashing religious Aussie type that Starbuck gets to interrogate, right? AND he's the (resurrected) Cylon who shows up in Anders's tent looking for her in the finale, no? I kinda remember that that Cylon got under Starbuck's skin a bit.
My memory for the first season is already slipping in all kindsa ways, bleah.
I keep picturing the Aussie guy in a Hawaiian print shirt.
How many skinbags are there? Are new ones being created/born? What have they got for memories when they do that? Do they age?
I really wish they aged, cuz then it becomes possible that we could've seen the same model at different ages and believed them to be completely different, y'know?
Oh - I can't believe they went and skipped a year without doing my twin story!! Frack.
So tired...
Baltar's Number Six...
Not that it matters after the revelation that Caprica Six has her own Baltar figment, but in regards to Baltar's little Six - how could a figment of his imagination proselytize to him in the name of a Cylon god he consciously knows nothing about?
Contingency plan...?
When the Cylons arrive at New Caprica, do the Battlestars and the fleet have a particular destination to jump to? A secret cache of Cylon-Colonial weapons, ships, soldiers, and pilots? The Colonial fleet and military have been holding back, pulling a "if hours were days" or whatever it was that Spock pulls on Khan in WRATH, y'know? Or something much akin to red and blue squadrons, under the orders of Apollo and Starbuck, do in the old school BSG pilot.
The Colonial fleet encounters these carapacetic dudes what run a mining colony and casino on a human-habitable planet. The civilians and civvie government are ready to stop here and settle down w the friendly Ovions party insects. They plan a big celebration on the surface to honor the military and commemorate the end of their flight. At the festivities, however, Apollo and Starbuck notice a lot of unfamiliar Colonial soldiers, many of them in ill-fitting uniforms. Well, when the Ovions finally reveal that they're in league w the Cylons, the humans are sure to be decimated, their miliary forces lured into the casino trap planetside. However, the reason all those unfamiliar flyboys were at the celebration to begin with is that Adama had the real military hiding out elsewhere on the surface, along with their Vipers and weaponry, laying in wait for the Cylons to spring their trap! Cuckers!
Wow. That's it, isn't it? I mean, that could really be it.
New Caprica is the Ovion mining and casino planet. It takes a year instead of a few days or weeks. And the hidden reserve of military might could be anywhere FTL-able. Where exactly they'd get the new soldiers is kind of fuzzy, but maybe they rotate offworld in a way that doesn't seem too conspicuous. OR... A sympathetic Cylon has helped them build a droid factory, a Cylon bakery...?
Okay, maybe it's crazy talk...
Well, MORE crazy talk...
But I like it.
Geez. I gotta get a life.
Keep on keepin on~
*** SPOILERS *** BSG SEASON 2 FINALE ***
Cylon Mother Frakkers...
Well! So THAT's how it's gonna be, is it?
Frack.
Frustrating goodness.
What follows is a late late night mess of half-baked meanders and wishful thinking sparked by 90 minutes of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA finale action. I'm still processing, and in the afterglow right now find some great potential in the twists of the story as well as some annoying and disappointing meanness in some turns...
Launch all Vipers!~
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cylon Revolution, anyone...?
No details of the Cylon revolution... Probably just as well, as I'm enjoying imagining a stadium wave-like phenom sweeping the Cylon population of Caprica as the war heros touch heads with their closest Cylon brothers and sisters, Conehead-style, and each of them do the same to their sibs, and so on, and so on, and so on, until it all trickles down via bluetooth to their tin soldiers and flying doggies - the war and occupation was Wrong, go back to doing whatever it is you were doing before.
I wonder what that was, anyhow? First looking to the left, then looking to the right, then back to looking to the left again...?
Anders never mentions his Gildenstern experience in the collapsed underground garage cradle of the revolution, y'know, in the rubble beneath the Cylon (haha) Starbucks? =)
Not that he would necessarily know just what it is he was witnessing, but for frak's sake, at least MENTION it to your Viper jockey girlfriend, why doncha?
I mean, he knew the fembots behavior to be unique and significant enough that he took the time out to ask the Cylon war heros: Who are you? What kind of people are you?
And I think it was Caprica Six who replied: I don't know...
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year later...
Hilarious and entertaining that they do it while focused on Baltar, and landing a year in the future, introducing his little harem-cabinet. The jump is a wonderful device, in my nerd mind mirroring the upcoming (or is it already on? I haven't gotten my fixx in a few weeks : P) "one year later" that the DCU is launching in its monthly superhero titles. I think they're also gonna be spitting out an issue a week for a year of a new title, called 52, that will tell the story of that "skipped" year even as the regular books jump ahead and continue month-to-month. Yet another brilliant scheme to take all my money in 2.99-4.99 doses... The bastards.
My passive radar is always up for little hooks from the original series transmogrified and dropped into the current one (as much as fans might frown on the idea, I do think the writers and creators must keep the original near to their hearts). When the prospect of Sharon Jr. became imminent in this season's storylines, I thought about how the baby could be made a significant PARTICIPANT in what was going on in the human and Cylon societies. I really didn't want the child to simply become a football or McGuffin (at least not for more than a couple episodes), but I also didn't want for some unpredictable accelerated growth phenomenon to zippily age and mature the baby into a character who could be tooling around in a Viper w Apollo or losing cubits to Starbuck in hexagonal poker or whatever it is they play.
The only "solution" I could come up with would be what they SORTA did in the half-baked "revival" of the original series which allowed them to introduce Dr. Z. Between seasons - or was there a hiatus? - the show went from BSG to GALACTICA 1980. The show jumped ahead about 20 years in its timeline, when the ragtag fugitive fleet finally finds Earth's solar system. At this point, Apollo and Starbuck are out of the picture. The show did still lean heavily on a Dylan-Brandon combo for its leads. Boxey, Apollo's adopted son, is now a viper pilot, teamed up w some other pretty-boy blond Starbuck-type wingman, and they drop in on earth trying to ready primitive 20th century humanity for the culture shock of meeting their long lost brothers, and the Cylons who have been trailing them. It basically took on the INCREDIBLE HULK/KNIGHT RIDER storytelling archetype, only not nearly as sophisticated or mature (ha!). They'd fly down to Earth (the U.S.A., of course, at least, I don't recall them dropping in on any other countries?) on their flying turbocycles - that's right! *FLYING* MOTORCYCLES! - to make first contact w sympathetic elements in the military or UFO nuts or academics, stumble onto some misfortune of the Earth locals, use their wits and advanced technology to help them out, make a few friends, leave almost no traces, and fly back to Galactica for a laugh with Commander Tighe and Dr. Z on the bridge.
Dr. Z. I'm not up to explaining the back-story of Dr. Z just now, but will say that it's the only memorable episode of the 1980 series. The short of it - he's the love child of Starbuck and an angel. As such, he's gifted w empathic and/or telepathic powers and superior intelligence. I don't know what abilities he got from his angel heritage. Heh.
Yeah, so, I figure, to make Sharon Jr. some kind of real player in things, the story would have to jump maybe a dozen years, at least until just before puberty, when her mutant powers would manifest themselves.
Felgercarb. I was a decade or so off on that one. O well.
Apollo looked somehow chunkier a year older. Not bad. I like Starbuck better w short hair. At the wedding of Starbuck and Abercrombie, do you suppose Apollo spoke now, when everyone else would rather he held his peace? Sad, that. Let it go, man...
And she was all into Apollo's brother to begin with!
Moustachioed Adama. Not bad.
Gaeta looks to be a bit of a tool, being Gaius's whipping boy and all.
The Chief as union leader... His fist pumping and rallying his fellow workers, with his expecting Cally by his side... that felt like a memorable scene from some famous gangster/political film, didn't it?
I dunno about his inspirational speech about throwing your bodies into the works of the machine. Crayzay extention of metaphor there, no? Wonder if Zarick comes round threatening to break his legs, hrm?
A little creepy, putting the Chief and Cally together only AFTER he gives her a sound out-of-his-mind beating... HONEYMOONERS-esque... only, no laughtrack w your domestic violence...
Right. I'm totally reaching now, just for entertainment value...
Ummm... there's entertainment value, isn't there?
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dean Stockwell, Cylon padre...
Was great seeing him show up on BSG. Was it just QUANTUM LEAP's Al that built up his sci-fi entertainment cred? He's definitely got Hey-It's-That-Guy! status, but I see him on screen in BSG and he feels like a sci-fi heavy to me, an anchorman, y'know? Like seeing Nimoy, Shatner, Boxleitner, or Bakula, y'knkow? Michelle Forbes demonstrated that sort of presence as Kane. And Richard Hatch brings it pretty hard w his Zarick. I was very pleased to see him Cylon up, and *loved* how he nonchalantly handles every bit of his outing as a Cylon.
When Galactica preacher is led down to the brig to meet his Caprican brother, did I hear an ARRESTED DEV Buster Bluth greeting? - Hey, brother! =)
Where did the preacher twins go? Was Roslyn's suggestion to blow them out an airlock to meet their Cylon god taken as an actual order?
That the Caprica preacher was all up on the revolution, but BSG preacher wasn't, shows that skinbag Cylons who are out of contact w other Cylons have only their own will-slash-programming to guide them. There could be Cylons out of the loop, or separated from the mainstream of their society... living among the humans, or Cylon Family Robinsoning it somewhere remote... up to who-knows-what...plotting terrorist attacks... homemaking... babymaking... programming video games... blogging...
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rambling questions and thoughts...
One year later, are there any skinbags living among the New Caprican settlers?
Is Baltar taking those pills to keep Number Six out of his head? Was he able to do that before? Maybe he's having nightmares...?
Where's Helo's Sharon? Are we to believe she's a hater? Helo's on the bridge of the Galactica. Does he keep her on a PDA in his pocket? Would she want to rejoin the Cylons? Couldn't the other skinbags living in the fleet have saved her baby?
Why'd the Pegasus Six get all seducy with Baltar just that once? Did she hope to convince him to not settle humanity on New Caprica? She wasn't Baltar's Number Six, after all. She didn't have feelings for him except perhaps for gratitude (or resentment?) for her recovery and escape. Was she *giving* him something? Biological? Viral? Cylon? She seemed to be ready to off herself regardless of Baltar's first executive order.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see her DO something with the Cylon sympathizers. Turn the movement into something more religious or cultish, y'know? Actually make some human converts with Cylon teachings. And then, at some point, have to confront the Cylon heros and their conclusions about the war, religion, and humanity...
Was Pegasus Six's original Cylon programming at work when she offed herself? Knowing that humanity wouldn't leave the protection of New Caprica's sensor-scrambling cloud, and not knowing anything about the revolution among her people, she blew the nuke to signal the Cylons...?
Did anyone else get a whiff of "Mirror, Mirror" ambience in the characters and scenarios and mood of the finale tonight?
I'll spare you any detailed tangent recollections of the shows, but what's going on with BSG reminds me more and more of bits of the GUNDAM and ROBOTECH Japanese animated series.
Why'd the Cylons come looking for humanity after deciding they should just on about their being-the-best-machines-they-can-be...?
I gotta cogitate some more on that... Too much, y'know? Selfish Cylon heros wanted to be reunited w the humans they miss and love... Maybe they see a danger threatening the humans and arrive to protect/guide them for their own good... Perhaps they still haven't figured out successful procreation... Maybe, with the help of a form of fusion, they've discovered how to turn human beings into efficient power cells?
Yeah, gonna hafta let that brew a while...
Humans mounting a resistance in a society controlled by an alien species with a dark agenda... Hrmmm... Is this gonna turn into V? =)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Longshot...
Anyone else catch a funny, knowing, almost smirk of a look on Felix Gaeta when he turned to live Tighe alone w the Zephyr ballots? Sure, from the get-go he was something of a nerd fanboy of Baltar, but would he really be happy about being able to turn the Presidency over to him? Hrmmm... He gets to play Gaius's whipping boy and whore wrangler a year later. I suppose that could be a motivator.
Perhaps he's a Cylon? Either way, Cylon or Baltar sycophant, think maybe Felix was bluffing to draw Tighe, or any possible conspirators in that chain of custody, out? If you called the whatever officer of the Zephyr that day and asked about misspelled candidate names, would they know anything about it? Or maybe he just wanted to create enough doubt about the ballots that there would have to be a recount or second election that could be pushed to Baltar's advantage? He just happened to hit the jackpot?
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Longshot...
I thought maybe the show would DROP the Cylon threat for a season, just show us how humans can be a much worse enemy to humans than Cylons. Go a little Space WEST WING, or perhaps some New Caprica SHIELD action? Maybe have the odd skinbag or twelve trying to make good on New Caprica, a la ALIEN NATION...? But, hardships of humanity living day-to-day... I suppose you can just tune into the news for that. So, they skipped it and rejoin the story when the Cylons return. Still...
What if...?
Did anyone else feel a little bit of DEADWOOD in the crowded muddied streets and alleys between the tents, shanties, and grounded spaceships of New Caprica? Scans revealed something like no (limited?) animal life, right? For a second or two, I was really hoping for the potential for some FIREFLY coolness, seeing sheriff Starbuck herding cattle w the help of a trained/converted Cylon fighter, y'know?
That would also sort of be an adaptation of an old school BSG episode.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
How many Cylons...?
Have we seen six models, or seven? There's Number Six, Sharon/Number Eight, that smarmy PR guy, the black doctor from the Farm on Caprica, Lucy Lawless, and Preacher Stockwell.
The smarmy PR guys is NOT the same guy that Adama takes on in the ammo depot in the pilot, right? He's a copy of the dashing religious Aussie type that Starbuck gets to interrogate, right? AND he's the (resurrected) Cylon who shows up in Anders's tent looking for her in the finale, no? I kinda remember that that Cylon got under Starbuck's skin a bit.
My memory for the first season is already slipping in all kindsa ways, bleah.
I keep picturing the Aussie guy in a Hawaiian print shirt.
How many skinbags are there? Are new ones being created/born? What have they got for memories when they do that? Do they age?
I really wish they aged, cuz then it becomes possible that we could've seen the same model at different ages and believed them to be completely different, y'know?
Oh - I can't believe they went and skipped a year without doing my twin story!! Frack.
So tired...
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Baltar's Number Six...
Not that it matters after the revelation that Caprica Six has her own Baltar figment, but in regards to Baltar's little Six - how could a figment of his imagination proselytize to him in the name of a Cylon god he consciously knows nothing about?
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Contingency plan...?
When the Cylons arrive at New Caprica, do the Battlestars and the fleet have a particular destination to jump to? A secret cache of Cylon-Colonial weapons, ships, soldiers, and pilots? The Colonial fleet and military have been holding back, pulling a "if hours were days" or whatever it was that Spock pulls on Khan in WRATH, y'know? Or something much akin to red and blue squadrons, under the orders of Apollo and Starbuck, do in the old school BSG pilot.
The Colonial fleet encounters these carapacetic dudes what run a mining colony and casino on a human-habitable planet. The civilians and civvie government are ready to stop here and settle down w the friendly Ovions party insects. They plan a big celebration on the surface to honor the military and commemorate the end of their flight. At the festivities, however, Apollo and Starbuck notice a lot of unfamiliar Colonial soldiers, many of them in ill-fitting uniforms. Well, when the Ovions finally reveal that they're in league w the Cylons, the humans are sure to be decimated, their miliary forces lured into the casino trap planetside. However, the reason all those unfamiliar flyboys were at the celebration to begin with is that Adama had the real military hiding out elsewhere on the surface, along with their Vipers and weaponry, laying in wait for the Cylons to spring their trap! Cuckers!
Wow. That's it, isn't it? I mean, that could really be it.
New Caprica is the Ovion mining and casino planet. It takes a year instead of a few days or weeks. And the hidden reserve of military might could be anywhere FTL-able. Where exactly they'd get the new soldiers is kind of fuzzy, but maybe they rotate offworld in a way that doesn't seem too conspicuous. OR... A sympathetic Cylon has helped them build a droid factory, a Cylon bakery...?
Okay, maybe it's crazy talk...
Well, MORE crazy talk...
But I like it.
Geez. I gotta get a life.
Keep on keepin on~
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Starbuck = Snoopy...?
2.15: "Scar"
It's a wild n crazy Saturday evening at home with my stories...
I just got done watching the last two BATTLESTAR GALACTICA episodes... There was a particular piece of music played over the last scene this week. Does anyone know where it's from? I can ALMOST remember... fracknabbit!
I'm sure I know it from a movie, altho of course, it may have been co-opted for whatever movie it was, and originally existed as a classical or at least guitar standard on its own. It's just that that's not how it's coming back to me. Some 60s film... With some soft-touch lighting and lens work when this music is playing... Frack, maybe it was a war movie? No... I'm thinking it's a western! Ennio Morricone? That could very well be...
Nuts. Stupid brain.
It worked well enough for the ending, but the nagging familiarity kind of distracted me a bit. If I could've placed it perfectly, maybe that would've gone away.
I didn't much appreciate the stim-junkie giving Starbuck such a hard time. And then just like eating up all the accolades without so much as a tip of the wrongly-lit helmet to Starbuck for the perfectly executed assist! And AFTER falling for Scar's bait/wingman!
Bitch.
* Wrongly-lit helmets... I suppose it can't be avoided, for the sake of television and the big screen, but it's always just a teeny bit annoying to see cockpit helmets lit up in all manner of futuristic space fighters. It lets us, the audience, SEE the character's face, but likely throws up the character's own reflection, bouncing back at him or her, all over the inside of the cockpit. Even better are space suit helmets that are lit up on the inside. You're not seeing anything out of those! I think maybe ALIEN is the only movie I can remember them not lighting up the helm insides. How does Ridley Scott not rock? =)
Yeah, yeah, okay, so they've got a perfectly non-reflecting coating all over the inside of the cockpits and helmet glass... Fine. Still. Not un-pet-peeving me.
Anyhow...
Great "Red Baron" storyline, tho. I was kinda waiting for one of these. Presenting the Cylon fighters as "individuals," even if they are more trained attack dogs than willful personalities, is a very cool notion. Although if you want to mess with things, you can wonder about Boomer's shared memories and emotions, across bodies, and why Scar's battle experiences can't be shared, or copied/cloned, across multiple fighters, eh?
But hey, it's just the way it is. Maybe the Cylon ethicists have worked out all the what's proper and sacred when it comes to the up- and downloading and replication of essences, spirits, memories, and such...
Or the very able writers will decide they will have, when it ever comes up. =)
Fitting the Red Baron action into Starbuck's dealing with loving dead man Anders (I never once thought it when she was ON Caprica, but the way the flashbacks came to her throughout this episode, I want to say that he's a frickin Cylon sleeper, or maybe one who's gone over to humanity... I wonder if there were any Cylons walking around posing as twins...?) was maybe a little bit forced, along with retrofitting a growing drinking problem... But, well, in a confrontation with any Red Baron type, Starbuck would definitely take center stage, so, it kinda had to be her, and some serious issue or blowback of hers, that had to be worked out w the scarred, yet faceless, enemy.
I thought that there was gonna be some way of DEFINITELY connecting this Scar to the Cylon ship that Starbuck violates to fly herself back to the fleet after getting knocked out of the sky and stranded last season. WAS there a definite/obvious connection presented that I missed? Or did Starbuck SAY as much and I didn't pick it up thru radio static?
Does anyone (besides Jim), remember SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND? It was created by X-FILES brains Morgan and Wong (I'm pretty sure they're also the very fun and sharp ones behind the FINAL DESTINATION series - can't wait to see 3 =), and played, for me, like a not-so-ironic STARSHIP TROOPERS series on Fox. Young space grunts, flyboys and girls, some human, some "tank" (clones), joining the space marines to fight an unknown alien enemy. It was a good candy-like fixx of sci-fi action that would surprise me every once in a while with some really tough decisions and writing.
Also, it gave some very able young acting types, more than a few of them veterans of one-shots or short runs on X-FILES I'm pretty sure, a regular gig. Well, regular-ish. As it disappeared after a season or two on Fox, bleah.
The sorta "primary" pretty boy character also played a young... I think it was Pops Mulder? Opposite the Spengler actor as the young Cancer Man...
The "tank" in the squad was on the X-FILES as the guy whose tattoo spoke to him w Jodie Foster's voice.
Lucky jerk.
And the tough girl w the Jolie-esque lips in the squad, frack... her name... It was alliterative... Kristy Krazinski-like... except it had something unexpected in there in the last name, like eight consonants in a row, or a surprising "th"...? Something just unusual. My lame brain.
Anyhow, AFTER Fox killed the show (I'm pretty sure that's how it went down, and without anything that I can remember feeling series finale-ish?), she ended up on MILLENIUM w Lance Henriksen.
Their tough-ass leiutenant was a "tank," too, played by white-haired CTU boss guy who's butting heads with Samwise on 24 this season. There was an episode where the squad had saved or boarded or something or othered a colonists' transport, and there were a number of cold storage bays, full of tubes of colonists in suspended animation. The ship takes some damage in an attack and it turns out that in order to avoid some gravity well or other that would send the ship into a collision, they would have to drop some of their mass, one of the storage bays would do it.
They discover that one (at least) of the bays is all "tanks." Most of the episode is debate and stories about experiences w tanks, and along the way, hunky tank boy finds out that one of the suspended girls in storage is genetically a relative - a sister. When they have to make a decision about what to do - determined by some mass x speed x distance x commercial breaks formula - the lieutenant convinces tankboy that it's the tanks that have to go.
THEY AGREE THAT THEY ARE WORTH LESS THAN THE HUMANS. Or at least, they agree to follow orders that reflect that notion.
That was frickin wacked. Knocked me out. I don't remember specific references to that in any other episodes, but I hafta admit I don't remember a lot of things (see every other paragraph above =), and didn't watch every episode of the show. Hrmmm... I suspect that SciFi has played it in block form before. It might be a good complement to GALACTICA now, altho... I suppose it might also sort of dilute its power, look like something of a DEEPSTAR 6/LEVIATHAN vs. THE ABYSS latecomer knockoff... even though it was on the air years before and all...
And speaking of latecomer knockoff... The reason I brought up SPACE: A&B in the first place here, is that this episode reminded me of the "Red Baron" episode from THAT series. I'm pretty sure there was an existentialist plot driving that one as well, this one personally involving the lieutenant tank, who I now recall was a... Black Angel, I think it was... An ex-member of an elite squad of fighter pilots. And I kinda sorta, maybe fakely filling in the blanks in a narrative gap sorta way, recall that he was dealing with his right to life, purpose, and identity as a tank.
A running arc throughout the series was that tank-racism, as well as... frack, AI-ism. And comparisons made between tanks and AIs as tools created by true humans, which of course means, that's how they should be treated.
Classic scifi stuff.
Right, well, just wanted to get that off my TV-soaked brain.
If you're not watching BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, you should. It's about a human civilization, a culture, attacked and hunted almost to extinction by an enemy, an artificial race, or species, of machine-organics that it created (and mistreated?) to be its servants. The survivors are on the run in a fleet of spaceships, led and protected by the last remaining military battleship (the Battlestar Galactica) and its soldiers and pilots. The government and order are preserved as best as possible, but an imperfect system in the best of times struggles terribly under the stresses of war with a tireless and sometimes undetectable enemy. Religious fervor motivates factions on both sides, and profit and power drive political and criminal elements within the fleet, at times turning humans against each other.
If only its crazy fantastickal plots and issues somehow related to "real life" here on planet Earth. Then it would be much easier to sell to people, donchathink?
O well. =)
Keep on keepin on~
It's a wild n crazy Saturday evening at home with my stories...
I just got done watching the last two BATTLESTAR GALACTICA episodes... There was a particular piece of music played over the last scene this week. Does anyone know where it's from? I can ALMOST remember... fracknabbit!
I'm sure I know it from a movie, altho of course, it may have been co-opted for whatever movie it was, and originally existed as a classical or at least guitar standard on its own. It's just that that's not how it's coming back to me. Some 60s film... With some soft-touch lighting and lens work when this music is playing... Frack, maybe it was a war movie? No... I'm thinking it's a western! Ennio Morricone? That could very well be...
Nuts. Stupid brain.
It worked well enough for the ending, but the nagging familiarity kind of distracted me a bit. If I could've placed it perfectly, maybe that would've gone away.
I didn't much appreciate the stim-junkie giving Starbuck such a hard time. And then just like eating up all the accolades without so much as a tip of the wrongly-lit helmet to Starbuck for the perfectly executed assist! And AFTER falling for Scar's bait/wingman!
Bitch.
* Wrongly-lit helmets... I suppose it can't be avoided, for the sake of television and the big screen, but it's always just a teeny bit annoying to see cockpit helmets lit up in all manner of futuristic space fighters. It lets us, the audience, SEE the character's face, but likely throws up the character's own reflection, bouncing back at him or her, all over the inside of the cockpit. Even better are space suit helmets that are lit up on the inside. You're not seeing anything out of those! I think maybe ALIEN is the only movie I can remember them not lighting up the helm insides. How does Ridley Scott not rock? =)
Yeah, yeah, okay, so they've got a perfectly non-reflecting coating all over the inside of the cockpits and helmet glass... Fine. Still. Not un-pet-peeving me.
Anyhow...
Great "Red Baron" storyline, tho. I was kinda waiting for one of these. Presenting the Cylon fighters as "individuals," even if they are more trained attack dogs than willful personalities, is a very cool notion. Although if you want to mess with things, you can wonder about Boomer's shared memories and emotions, across bodies, and why Scar's battle experiences can't be shared, or copied/cloned, across multiple fighters, eh?
But hey, it's just the way it is. Maybe the Cylon ethicists have worked out all the what's proper and sacred when it comes to the up- and downloading and replication of essences, spirits, memories, and such...
Or the very able writers will decide they will have, when it ever comes up. =)
Fitting the Red Baron action into Starbuck's dealing with loving dead man Anders (I never once thought it when she was ON Caprica, but the way the flashbacks came to her throughout this episode, I want to say that he's a frickin Cylon sleeper, or maybe one who's gone over to humanity... I wonder if there were any Cylons walking around posing as twins...?) was maybe a little bit forced, along with retrofitting a growing drinking problem... But, well, in a confrontation with any Red Baron type, Starbuck would definitely take center stage, so, it kinda had to be her, and some serious issue or blowback of hers, that had to be worked out w the scarred, yet faceless, enemy.
I thought that there was gonna be some way of DEFINITELY connecting this Scar to the Cylon ship that Starbuck violates to fly herself back to the fleet after getting knocked out of the sky and stranded last season. WAS there a definite/obvious connection presented that I missed? Or did Starbuck SAY as much and I didn't pick it up thru radio static?
Does anyone (besides Jim), remember SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND? It was created by X-FILES brains Morgan and Wong (I'm pretty sure they're also the very fun and sharp ones behind the FINAL DESTINATION series - can't wait to see 3 =), and played, for me, like a not-so-ironic STARSHIP TROOPERS series on Fox. Young space grunts, flyboys and girls, some human, some "tank" (clones), joining the space marines to fight an unknown alien enemy. It was a good candy-like fixx of sci-fi action that would surprise me every once in a while with some really tough decisions and writing.
Also, it gave some very able young acting types, more than a few of them veterans of one-shots or short runs on X-FILES I'm pretty sure, a regular gig. Well, regular-ish. As it disappeared after a season or two on Fox, bleah.
The sorta "primary" pretty boy character also played a young... I think it was Pops Mulder? Opposite the Spengler actor as the young Cancer Man...
The "tank" in the squad was on the X-FILES as the guy whose tattoo spoke to him w Jodie Foster's voice.
Lucky jerk.
And the tough girl w the Jolie-esque lips in the squad, frack... her name... It was alliterative... Kristy Krazinski-like... except it had something unexpected in there in the last name, like eight consonants in a row, or a surprising "th"...? Something just unusual. My lame brain.
Anyhow, AFTER Fox killed the show (I'm pretty sure that's how it went down, and without anything that I can remember feeling series finale-ish?), she ended up on MILLENIUM w Lance Henriksen.
Their tough-ass leiutenant was a "tank," too, played by white-haired CTU boss guy who's butting heads with Samwise on 24 this season. There was an episode where the squad had saved or boarded or something or othered a colonists' transport, and there were a number of cold storage bays, full of tubes of colonists in suspended animation. The ship takes some damage in an attack and it turns out that in order to avoid some gravity well or other that would send the ship into a collision, they would have to drop some of their mass, one of the storage bays would do it.
They discover that one (at least) of the bays is all "tanks." Most of the episode is debate and stories about experiences w tanks, and along the way, hunky tank boy finds out that one of the suspended girls in storage is genetically a relative - a sister. When they have to make a decision about what to do - determined by some mass x speed x distance x commercial breaks formula - the lieutenant convinces tankboy that it's the tanks that have to go.
THEY AGREE THAT THEY ARE WORTH LESS THAN THE HUMANS. Or at least, they agree to follow orders that reflect that notion.
That was frickin wacked. Knocked me out. I don't remember specific references to that in any other episodes, but I hafta admit I don't remember a lot of things (see every other paragraph above =), and didn't watch every episode of the show. Hrmmm... I suspect that SciFi has played it in block form before. It might be a good complement to GALACTICA now, altho... I suppose it might also sort of dilute its power, look like something of a DEEPSTAR 6/LEVIATHAN vs. THE ABYSS latecomer knockoff... even though it was on the air years before and all...
And speaking of latecomer knockoff... The reason I brought up SPACE: A&B in the first place here, is that this episode reminded me of the "Red Baron" episode from THAT series. I'm pretty sure there was an existentialist plot driving that one as well, this one personally involving the lieutenant tank, who I now recall was a... Black Angel, I think it was... An ex-member of an elite squad of fighter pilots. And I kinda sorta, maybe fakely filling in the blanks in a narrative gap sorta way, recall that he was dealing with his right to life, purpose, and identity as a tank.
A running arc throughout the series was that tank-racism, as well as... frack, AI-ism. And comparisons made between tanks and AIs as tools created by true humans, which of course means, that's how they should be treated.
Classic scifi stuff.
Right, well, just wanted to get that off my TV-soaked brain.
If you're not watching BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, you should. It's about a human civilization, a culture, attacked and hunted almost to extinction by an enemy, an artificial race, or species, of machine-organics that it created (and mistreated?) to be its servants. The survivors are on the run in a fleet of spaceships, led and protected by the last remaining military battleship (the Battlestar Galactica) and its soldiers and pilots. The government and order are preserved as best as possible, but an imperfect system in the best of times struggles terribly under the stresses of war with a tireless and sometimes undetectable enemy. Religious fervor motivates factions on both sides, and profit and power drive political and criminal elements within the fleet, at times turning humans against each other.
If only its crazy fantastickal plots and issues somehow related to "real life" here on planet Earth. Then it would be much easier to sell to people, donchathink?
O well. =)
Keep on keepin on~
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