posted
Well . . . I'd say we've found where things went FUBAR. It was off-camera whenever the "farms" were started up.
I'm quite impressed by this episode. Upon discovering that Starbuck, who ostensibly loves Lee, was once again whoring about the countryside (this time literally), I felt virtually no emotional impact upon seeing her fall. However, by the end of the episode, I was actually concerned about her plight once again, and seeing her pouty and teary-eyed at the end actually held some impact.
Meanwhile, Adama is back in command, and somewhat inexplicably seems to be maintaining things in keeping with what his drunken XO "really fracked up" while he was down. I'm sure a certain amount of decision-continuity is desired so that Galactica's command structure doesn't appear to be in disarray with each different guy in the center seat for a shift, but maintaining and even building upon the extreme-hardline approach seems a little absurd under the circumstances. The coup was one thing . . . it was for certain specific reasons. But now, it's becoming a larger conflict, ideologically.
That said, it's made clear that as far as Adama can tell, Roslin is out of her flippin' mind with the religious claptrap. I did find it quite amusing, though, that he felt no one would follow her. To be sure, he did not see the Quorum bowing to her in the jail cell, but to the eyes of a non-religious person in the early 21st Century, I'd say it should've been quite obvious that a significant number of people would. Hell, a significant number of people will follow most anyone . . . Koresh, bin Laden, whatever.
We've had several indications that the society of Caprica and the other colonies has included a non-religious group and a religious group, so I might've expected Adama to have that somewhat cynical approach that comes with being a member of the former regarding the possibility of irrationality in the latter. I can only assume that he felt that was the old way of things, before the End of the Worlds.
In any event, the events on Caprica in this episode seem to call into question the idea that Boomer is knocked up. The Cylons had a peculiar notion that love could be used for hybrid-creation in place of various disconcerting technologies. If Caprica-Boomer is actually pregnant, then this notion is accurate . . . but if so, then we've sort of ventured into the surreal. And, of course, there's the issue of the possible offspring of Gaius and Six, "the face of the shape of things to come". Six does seem to have feelings for Gaius, but during their sexcapades Gaius was too much of a player for me to believe there was love there.
Nonetheless, I still think the notion of love vs. farms is a bit odd, and I hope they revisit this and make it fit better later. Despite the religious leanings of the series, things have been interpretable rationally thus far . . . and while I certainly have a soft spot for the idea that love conquers all, the notion of knocking up a toaster being possible because of love stretches my suspension of disbelief.
Last thing: is this the real Caprica-Boomer that we see at the end of the ep? Last time we saw Cap-B she'd stolen Starbuck's ride. Now she's back, walking out of the forest, claiming to have tracked Helo. What did she do with the raider? And what was she doing between the time she left and the time she popped into view in the woods?
I hope someone asks this soon, because although the presence of the shoulder wound seemed like proof enough when I first saw her, it really isn't . . . any number of Sharons could've been wounded to get the right effect.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
posted
The opening sequence preview is back!!! *does the happy dance*
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
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posted
I got the impression that the problem wasn't that the Cylon's couldn't breed with humans without love, but that they couldn't breed with each other (in their minds because they didn't love themselves). That might be exchanging mystical nonsense for psychobabble, but it may just be the Cylon's method of making human model has rendered them oddly incompatible with themselves, from a breeding standpoint and have interpreted this as a sign-from -god[sup]tm[/sup] that they must learn to love in order to be fruitful. Still an odd situation, but at least the real cause of the apparent infertility could have a real medical cause and the mumbo-jumbo is all in the interpretation of not being able to find a medical solution.
posted
I'm trying to decide whether these "farms" are creepier and more disgusting than the Axlotl tanks in the later "Dune" novels. Visually, they weren't quite as bad as I'd imagined the things from "Dune", but then, Sci-Fi is television, so they don't want to go quite so far...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
I pictured the Axlotl tanks as being much worse than that. If memory serves, they're described as being bulbous, limbless and misshapen, more of a fleshy chemical factory than a recognisable and indeed still conscious person. Weren't they supposed to be able to hold an adult sized Ghola? That's some seriously drastic genetic engineering.
I get the impression that these farms are more experimental, mengele type operations than actual production lines for baby Cylons.
"Upon discovering that Starbuck, who ostensibly loves Lee, was once again whoring about the countryside (this time literally)..."
Well, to be fair, that space-basketball guy did bear a little bit of resemblance to Apollo. I guess.
And is it just me, or did the resistance people (or, at the very least, their leader) seem strangely open to having Sharon the Cylon in their midst? Helo's word that "she's with us" was enough?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Somehow I doubt anyone would question Starbuck's behaviour in the light of her feelings for Lee if the genders of all concerned were reversed. Strange how people seam to expect women to be more faithful than men, or is it that unfaithfulness is more acceptable with men?
For the record I don't think there's anything wrong with Starbuck falling in love with the Pyramid bloke, it's not like she's in a relationship with anyone and she is in a highly stressful situation, with plenty of hormones flying around.
I don't think the group of Resistence Folks realized Sharon was a Cylon -- the Cylons probably kept the Sharon-Cylon's identity a secret so that if she and Helo fell in with them on their "quest to find love" Sharon's identity as a member of the military wouldn't be questioned. I think only their leader knew, and only after Starbuck and Helo filled him in on it and kept him quiet.
posted
If that were the case then wouldn't they have been a bit more careful before about having another Sharon model walk around the landing field for Helo to see.
posted
Does it matter if Helo sees another Sharon? He's known for longer than anyone that she's a Cylon.
Snay: I realize that we only know for certain that the leader knows she's a Cylon. But, that's what I'm saying: Doesn't he seem a bit calm about it? An episode ago, he was gung-ho about gunning down anyone he saw driving down the road, on the off-chance they might be Cylons. Now he's got a self-admitted Cylon walking around freely in his resistance cell, and he doesn't express the least bit of apprehension?
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quote:Originally posted by Guardian 2000: Last thing: is this the real Caprica-Boomer that we see at the end of the ep? Last time we saw Cap-B she'd stolen Starbuck's ride. Now she's back, walking out of the forest, claiming to have tracked Helo. What did she do with the raider? And what was she doing between the time she left and the time she popped into view in the woods?
Well, I'd say people just assume Boomer 2 took the raider because of Starbuck's comment ("Damn b*tch stole my ride!", IIRC), but actually, we didn't see her do it. I've suspected maybe the raider was somehow re-activated after reaching Caprica (with the other Cylons' presence nearby and all that, you know), while Boomer 2 just hid away from Starbuck...
BTW, my friend commented something a few days ago... didn't the raider contain the navigational information necessary to return to Galactica's position?
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posted
That raises an interesting point. If Caprica-Boomer did actually swipe the raider, then she must've either ditched it or somehow made it impossible for the other Cylons to track down Galactica. Which would mean that the Boomer model is flawed indeed.
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