So, picking up from last week � Roslin, already escaped from a Galactica holding cell with the help of Lee Adama and a bunch of Galactica servicecrew, and hiding in the fleet, plays the religious card and makes her move to Kobol. Predicting only a handful of ships will follow her, Bill Adama and Tigh are surprised when nearly 1/3rd of the fleet follows. �They believe this religious crap?� Adama mutters at one point, but given the state of things over the past few episodes, I don�t know if its quite so much that as it is �Hey, those nuts on Galactica have lost it! I�d rather face a Cylon Centurion - naked! - then deal with those morons anymore.�
It isn�t an unjustified feeling � Tigh�s tenure as acting-commander was nothing sort of disasterous � what with troops firing on civillians, the establishment of martial law, and an actual mutiny on Galactica � it�s a wonder only a third of the ships left. Then Adama gets back on his feet and in this episode is to the point of threatening to throw reporters in jail if they publish rumors that he lied about knowing Earth�s location.
Even with Adama�s continuing grief over the betrayal of his son, there are still rapidly compounding problems � notably with his new choice of CAG, a nice if green lieutenant who gets confused during Viper training and nearly gets one of his pilots killed and who later nearly crashes a tanker into a freighter. There�s a scene at the end of this episode where Adama is building a model ship and talking about betrayal and for several shots they don�t show who he�s talking to, and I was convinced Adama was busting this guy back down to �non-CAG.� Shows what I know. More on that conversation later �
Back over Kobol � James Remar guests as Zarek�s #1 Goon! � Starbuck shows up with the Arrow of Apollo � and Boomer M2 in tow. Having stolen her Cylon raider last season before Boomer M1 put two in Bill Adama�s chest, she�s probably a little surprised when Lee rams Boomer M2 into a steel pillar and sticks his weapon into her face � which of course prompts Helo to pull his gun on Lee. This leads to an interesting exchange as Roslin orders them to lower their weapons. Helo says to Lee, �Are we going to listen to the nice lady?� and Lee responds, �Helo, you moron, that�s the President.� Because, of course, Helo kept up with the news during his season-and-a-half on Cylon occupied Caprica. (�Former Education Secretary President of the Colonies-in-Exile� was the headline on The Cylon Weekly). Boomer M2 escapes �death by airlock� only by promising to show Roslin to the Tomb of Athena, one of the neccessary steps to locating Earth.
The leaders of this seperatist fleet, throughout the episode, talk about the prophecies which relate to their current situations � in specific, that while the Tomb of Athena will bring them one step closer to Earth, it will also carry a price in blood. At the beginning of a Cylon ambush, Lorena Gale�s Priest Elosha is killed. The writers are really being ruthless to the recurring characters lately � Crashdown was killed a few episodes ago (probably because with Helo�s return there wouldn�t be much for him to do anyway), now Elosha � I�ve got my doubts as to if Zarek will survive Kobol.
Boomer M2, in cuffs and a red-prisoner suit, makes a bolt during the ambush and is hotly pursued by Lee, no doubt anxious to blow her brains out. He�s right on her when she jumps on a grenade launcher, but she�s able to restrain him and blow the hell out of the remaining Cylon Centurions � and then tosses him the launcher. His, �You�ve gotta be kiddin� me�� is a bit hilarious, hard not to see how much he wants to blow her brains out.
One of the problems with such a large cast of characters is that, inevitably, some folks won�t get much screentime. In this episode, that�s Baltar, who is in one scene. I think he had the same amount of screen time last episode. Not seen at all is Chief Tyrol, or Billy (who, you�ll remember, refused to accompany Roslin off Galactica).
This episode would�ve been a let down after the previous five. Let�s face it � the pacing is slow, yeah we get Lee and Kara�s long anticipated reunion, but the episode itself is a bit of a drag. But I said would have been a let-down, not �was�. What makes this episode is the scene in Adama�s quarters where he talks about betrayal and the rage he feels. He�s talking to Petty Officer Dualla, and when she sees her opportunity, she tells him a piece of her mind � he�s not happy about this, ��You thought a Petty Officer wouldn�t have anything worthwhile to say,� she criticizes. But she does, and its a damn good speech, and it works � not long later, Adama is in the CIC asking for all information on Kobol.
�I�m putting the fleet back together,� Adama announces to the crew. �I�m putting our family back together.�
Next Week:
Everybody�s on Kobol, and Boomer seems to be planning to shoot Adama � again. Fancy editing? I hope so. Like Adama told Tyrol last week, �You�ll see [Boomer] again.� And I think a Cylon-renegade would be an interesting addition to the show as a regular.
Also - I don�t see how Roslin will survive the season.
Tech:
Is this the first time we've seen Vipers deploy missiles?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Dualla is clearly a Cylon. Everyone is a Cylon!
Survivors: 47,858
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
There's some small insight into the nature of Cylon interconnectivity, when Roslin says that Sharon is relaying everything to the Cylons on the surface (if any should be there), and Sharon says that it "doesn't work like that." I guess that isn't really so insightful, but consider:
Unless her decision to flee, and to get Helo off Caprica, was all part of the Cylon plan, individual Cylons can apparently avoid being pinged, as it were, by the Cylon network. (Since if she couldn't, their escape attempt would have been doomed.)
Last week she said, in regards to the exact numbers and locations of the Cylons reproductive experiments, that she "hadn't accessed that data." ("Hadn't" instead of "couldn't?") So they can, apparently, link up in situations outside the consciousness upload process.
I didn't think the episode dragged at all, by the way.
Were the armed ships in the splinter fleet armed before the beginning of the series, or is that something that's happened sense?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I'm wondering whether after part 2 next week we'll see a lot of this ep, in retrospect, as filler. You had various reunions yet perhaps the most significant - Apollo and Starbuck - seemed really draggy. Meanhwile on Galactica you had a series of pratfalls by the hapless new CAG. And they killed off the Priestess of Vague Mysticism.
Amd, yes, it's James Remar. That was really starting to bug me.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
I'm wondering if they killed Crashdown because they wanted to add to Baltar's development or because the writers didn't need two Raptor pilots in the mix of regular characters ...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
So, as far as the survivor count goes, was someone born, or did one person die and Starbuck and Helo weren't being counted until they (re)joined the fleet?
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
Well, I mean, did the count include from the original fleet or that plus the second fleet? I'm so lost.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
The new person was Helo. The survivor count is only for people in the fleet, and it's irrespective of which side of the fleet they're on, at the moment. At least, that is my understanding.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Even though Boomer Mk2 did just save their lives, I still wouldn't trust her. Boomer Mk1 blew up an entire Basestar, but she still plugged Adama. You'd think Apollo would realize that.
I'm not certain if we've seen the Vipers deploy missiles before, but I do remember Apollo dropping some ordnance after doing the "Death Star II" run. It probably all fits in the same bay, depending on loadout.
WHY is the CAG manually directing refueling operations? I wouldn't think that would be anywhere near his job description.
Initially, I thought Richard Hatch's character was going to be a one-time "look who we've got!" thing. Boy was I wrong! He's trying to stage his own takeover, so there's not two but at least three different factions wrestling for control.
Should prove interesting when Tyrol and Helo w/ Boomer meet, not to mention Callie! (And I don't think Callie has a thing for the Chief - I think it's more of a big brother/little sister relationship.)
Some of the other ships are armed! Since when? And why? I don't think they've had time to add any armament themselves yet (Zarek wants to arm the other ships), so they must've been there before the attack on Caprica.
B.J.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
B.J.,
Yeah, but they mention that the Vipers were specially outfitted for the mission with those bombs. I might've misinterpreted that dialogue -- it's been awhile since I saw the episode -- it could be that those bombs just aren't usually on the ordinance package of a Viper.
quote: WHY is the CAG manually directing refueling operations? I wouldn't think that would be anywhere near his job description.
Takin' a stab at this here ... but I think with Galactica being so short handed, everyone is doing more than their "job description", and remembering that Galactica's losses to their pilots have been particularly high, the new CAG is -- scary as this is -- the guy best qualified for the operation. I think its something that any of the regular "old school" pilots we've seen could do in their sleep -- i.e., Starbuck, Helo, Boomer M1, Crashdown, Apollo* -- but how many of those are on Galactica this episode? In fact, I wonder just how many "old school" pilots remain ("old school" as in, 'not drafted at the last minute because a missile accident killed twenty experienced pilots).
*And remember that Apollo was only CAG because he was the ranking officer. The previous CAG was most likely the rank of Colonel or Commander with the same experience and length of service as Adama and Tigh.
quote:Initially, I thought Richard Hatch's character was going to be a one-time "look who we've got!" thing. Boy was I wrong! He's trying to stage his own takeover, so there's not two but at least three different factions wrestling for control.
Y'know, in "Colonial Day" I was certain his goal was to become President. But after this episode, I think he's after the true source of power -- guns! -- Adama's job (as Apollo said, "Hold no illusions, if Galactica wants to take us, they will.") Remember, he and Remar are all "Oh, I can be Commander of this fleet!"
He's a slippery fuck. I wonder how long he'll survive.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
According to that Battlestar wiki, the previous air group commander ("Air" group?), who lead the ill-fated attack in the miniseries, held the rank of Captain too.
Posted by machf (Member # 1233) on :
quote:Originally posted by B.J.: Even though Boomer Mk2 did just save their lives, I still wouldn't trust her. Boomer Mk1 blew up an entire Basestar, but she still plugged Adama. You'd think Apollo would realize that.
Hmmm... but Boomer 1 was under the impression that she was human, and was "programmed" to do Bad Things she couldn't remember later, while Boomer 2 knows that she is a Cylon but took a conscious decision to switch sides.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:According to that Battlestar wiki, the previous air group commander ("Air" group?), who lead the ill-fated attack in the miniseries, held the rank of Captain too.
I saw that, but I don't see how that can be right. It seems to me that the CAG of a Battlestar is one of the most important jobs on the ship -- in real life, on aircraft carriers, CAGs are usually fairly senior officers ... and "captain" in BSG's rank structure seems rather junior (or at least, mid-grade). It seems to me the CAG's rank should be closer to Tigh's or Adama's ... (but what do I know?)
I wonder if Tigh ever flew Vipers ...
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I bet he was a Raptor guy-in-back. Seems the type.
Interesting how the ambush took out the one person who knew all the scripture stuff - yet it also made a hero of someone else who also knows all the scripture stuff. Being a Cylon, Boomer2 could become Roslin's new Priestess of Vague Mysticism. She's a walking Wikipedia, after all.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...and 'captain' in BSG's rank structure seems rather junior (or at least, mid-grade)."
Well, aside from "commander", the other ranks seem pretty close to US non-naval military ranks. So, I'd guess that, between captain and colonel, there's probably at least major, if not lt. colonel (have they mentioned either of those yet?).
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
In the second season premier, during the flashback when the Shore Patrol arrives to inform Tigh that he's been brought back into the fleet, Tigh is told he's being brought back at the rank of Major.
I also think Dr. Cottle might have been identified to be a Major at some point.
So, presumeably, the rank structure is:
Lieutenant (possibly two grades?) Captain Major Colonel Commander
Various Grades of Admiral
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
The presence of a Lt. Colonel would probably be a resonable assumption, given that we're dealing with a near copy of the US army structure.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Unless lt. colonel has been replaced with colonel, while colonel has been replaced with commander. Otherwise, commander = brigadier general. Or they've inserted a rank. Regardless, we know it doesn't match perfectly, so one can only speculate about lt. colonels.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
quote:"What is the rank structure? It doesn't seem consistant with the Navy."
The rank structure is derived from the original series. I didn't want to change Commander Adama to Captain Adama or Colonel Tigh to Commander Tigh, so I elected to simply embrace the co-mingled nature of the original rank structure. For our internal purposes, we've decided that the ranks are indeed a mixture of naval and army nomenclature and are basically as follows:
Just to complicate matters further, there are also Marines aboard Galactica which conform more closely to the traditional enlisted Marine ranks, with Sergeants, Sergeant-Majors, etc. Unresolved is the question of whether the Marine officers would also adhere to the mixed rank structure (which sounds odd) or if they are strictly army equivalents (which makes no sense given that the "Navy" ranks seem oblivious to there being any such distinction). Aren't you glad you asked?
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
And from the same link Simon provided, confirmation that Cottle is indeed a Major:
[blockquote] The character's name is Major Cottle...[/blockquote]
Okay, $$$ here for upcoming episodes ...
The Battlestar Pegasus is going to show up before the end of the 1st half of the season. I've been wondering if this ship is a newer Battlestar ... with Galactica we've got this old ship, be nice to see a newer Battlestar and what features they've got. Also, I'm betting this'll be a good way for Galactica to beef up her limited complement.
Posted by machf (Member # 1233) on :
From what I remember reading ($$$ ahead!!!), the Pegasus episode (1st of 2 parts) is going to be episode #10 (the end of the first half, indeed), and the Pegasus is a newer Battlestar. As for beefing up Galactica's complement with Vipers from Pegasus... apparently, it's going to be the other way around.
link Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
Galactica's going to have new Vipers soon ... as (spoilers!!!) Tyrol is apparently going to be put to the task of building more. I wonder if he'll be trying to replicate the Mark III, or the Mark VII, or even antoher model ...
Posted by machf (Member # 1233) on :
My friend was talking about something called a "Strike Viper" from the videogame, wondering if that's what Tyrol is going to come up with...
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
HOORAY BEER!
Sorry, I seem to have been momentarily blinded by the commercials.
Posted by StarLord (Member # 1430) on :
I liked the latest episode, but I'm skeptical that they will find full directions to earth. Considering how they can jump (has it ever been said how far they can jump?) it would make it too easy to find the planet Earth.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
Yeah, I don't think they will. I think it would be neat if what they find on Kobol is the first in a series of markers leading to Earth ... that would allow the writers to drag the search for Earth out over several seasons.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Assuming there is an Earth.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
There is.
I'm living on it.
You too.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
But I'm not a character in Battlestar Galactica.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :