This episode essentially wraps up the open plotlines left over from the first season�s finale. In that episode, �Kobol�s Last Gleaming pt. II�, Roslin convinced Starbuck to disobey Bill Adama and take the captured Cylon raider to Caprica to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo; a three-Raptor scouting party including Dr. Baltar, Chief Tyrol, Callie, and Crashdown was shot down over Kobol and stranded; ordered to relieve Roslin of her authority, Lee pulled a weapon on Col. Tigh and was arrested by Colonial Marines; Roslin found herself in the Galactica brig; on a successful mission to destroy the Cylon basestar over Kobol, Boomer M1 (who had earlier botched her suicide) learned for certain that she was a Cylon, and later put two rounds into Bill Adama�s chest.
This led to a situation known as �fucked beyond all recognition�, and considering it took roughly two-hundred and eighty minutes of episode time to �repair� what went wrong in 1/7th of that time, the assessment was quite correct. Things of course didn�t improve with the 2nd season premier � actually, they got a lot worse. And then worse. And then even worse. First, the Galactica inadvertently lost the fleet. Then found the fleet, but got boarded by Cylons. Then Tigh declared martial law and Marines shot up a bunch of civilians and Lee led a rather low-key mutiny on the ship to free Roslin.
There will still be repurcussions from this arc for episodes to come, but I misted when Roslin�s party on Kobol, anticipating a Cylon attack, sent Lee out as a scount, and he stepped around the tree, and aimed his handgun right at �
� his dad.
And there�s Lee, all ready to be disowned for his insurbordination, his mutiny, and instead he gets a big gracious hug and a �Y�know, I never knew until now what my dad meant when he would say �psh, these kids today�.� And there�s Starbuck, looking more contrite then when she told Bill it was her fault (indirectly, anyway) his younger son was dead, and Bill Adama�s all like �Aw, aren�t you cute when you�re not smokin� a cigar and slugging my XO. Shit girl, all�s forgiven. Don�t go stealin� no more ships now ��
And there�s also Roslin�s reunion with Billy, who you�ll remember, refused to accompany her on her secretive flight away from Galactica, unwilling to take further part in an action that could result in massive bloodshed. The real-world explanation is that Paul Campbell had to audition for a pilot and was unavailable � it played well, this way, with Billy coming with Bill Adama as his emissary. I wonder if Roslin had kids � killed on Caprica � and I wonder if, in the wake of the Cylon attacks and the flight for Earth, has come to view Billy as she would her own son.
Bill Adama�s reaction to seeing Boomer M2 is, uh, not unsurprising. �You bitch! I�m going to smash your skull in! Bitch! Oh - oh - my heart! Arrrrr�!�
Boomer M2 is a sly, cunning little con who plays back when bad people try to play her. Too bad for James Remar, who going against Zarek�s orders, plots the double-assassination of the Adamas and tries to enlist Boomer M2 to his cause by telling her Boomer M1 was murdered at the sanction of Galactica�s crew. She�s all like, �Yeah, totally, I�ll take Bill, you take Lee.� Then when he�s like �Now!� she�s like �Eat lead Remar, you motherfrakker!� The lesson contained herein � never try to play a Cylon.
Turns out Baltar doesn�t have a chip in his head which allows him to see Six � so, is it a chip invisible to Cottle�s CAT machine, or is Baltar just out of his friggin� mind? Or is Six, as she claims, really an angel from The One True God? Looking at the evidence, he can�t be crazy � Six has said way too much accurate (if sometimes cryptic) stuff about what later transpired. The mystery deepens � in any case, it was good to see the Julian Bashir lookalike get a bit more screentime this episode, as the last few he�s been stuck in the background doin� not much of anything.
Oh, yeah - Six? With her hair pulled back into a ponytail? Hottest she�s been.
So we finally see the Tomb of Athena we�ve been hearing so much about. It�s a big grassy field. �So where were we before?� someone asks. �The lobby?� Roslin says. See, they were in this big cave-chamber with statues, and Starbuck put the Arrow of Apollo on the statue of Apollo�s drawn bow, and suddenly she, Roslin, Billy, and the Adamas are standing on a big grassy field.
On Earth.
See, it�s complicated, but essentially Earth is located � well, we all know where its located, but the characters don�t � so they figure Earth is located where the twelve constellations which mark the twelve colonies can all be seen. Also, Lee recognizes a nebula which he figures can serve as a directional guide. �That�s a far way out,� Bill Adama observes. On the other hand, now they actually know where they�re going.
Best Scene:
The flight pod, with a ton of Galactica crew and fleet dignitaries present. The deck is scuffed and dirty � interesting to compare with the miniseries when it was polished and clean, y�know? Anyway, Bill Adama introduces Roslin to scattered applause. Before she can speak, he begins forcefully clapping his hands, and the assembled crowd follows his lead. It�s rythmic at first, and then the dam breaks and everyone seems to recognize that things are going to get a lot better and it becomes all freeflowin� and �Woohoo! The Red Sox Win The World Series!�
Things I would have liked to see:
Someone � someone! � be surprised that Helo is still alive. Apollo last episode (granted, he�d only just met Helo before all the shit went down in the miniseries) didn�t say �Oh, wow, Helo, you aren�t Cylon food.� And in this episode, neither the Chief, nor Commander Adama acknowledged Helo in like regards. Also missing: Col. Tigh�s �You gotta be frakkin� kidding me!� when he sees Starbuck. Might�ve been a bit much to pack into the episode � go figure.
Next Week �
What is Sci-Fi doing next Friday that they�re prempting Battlestar Galactica for? I suppose I could check the schedule but � meh � lazy. Anyway, what this means is that it�ll be two weeks to see Xena: Warrior Princess do her �Mean Liberal-Leaning Reporter Demands to Know Why Tigh Ordered Marines to Fire on Innocent Hippies� impersonation, and a month until Michelle Forbes does her guest stint. She�s got her own Battlestar. It�s bigger.
posted
Next week, Sci-Fi's doing their top 6 Stargate episodes that people voted on at their website. It's Labor Day weekend, so I'm not suprised that they're not doing their regular schedule.
Baltar: He doesn't have a chip in his head, but neither do the other Cylons - it's almost indistinguishable from organic stuff. My personal theory is that Baltar IS a Cylon and has been receiving their transmissions.
The scene where they were flashed to the field on Earth really caught my attention. All the colonies have their names based on contemporary constellations. And M8, the Lagoon Nebula, is about where they showed it, but obviously it's not that big and bright in real life.
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posted
Is it only me or if you have a device that can actually transport these people to Earth after laying dormant for so many centuries...wouldn't you think there would be some more interesting MILITARY junk there too?
It always irks me in SciFi when someone comes upon something that hasn't been used in centuries and it magically works perfectly. Crap...I can't let my truck set for a week without it having to really crank over several times just to start and then have to run for a few minutes to operate properly.
I STILL can't shake the feeling this is a herding operation by the cylons. I also have this dark suspicion that the cylons are doing this to "purify" humanity, so to speak. It's pretty obvious that the cylons know exactly where the fleet is. The ONE thing the fleet would definitely need is fuel, so they leave a totally unprotected depot right in their path. Six KNEW that B2 would be there on the G. B2 says that the toasters know MORE about the humans religion than the humans do, yet there are very few cylons on Kobol when obviously B2 knew they were on a quest for the Tomb of Athena. I tell you, its a "rats in a maze" thing the cylons are doing to them.
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They weren't actually ON Earth, it was just a simulation of it.
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posted
Yeah, uh, that Depot wasn't unprotected by any definition of the word.
I don't think the Cylons know exactly where the fleet is -- although I think they have a pretty good idea its general location. I mean, if the Cylons wanted to "herd" them why would they have come on so strong in "33"?
I was curious about the lack of Cylons on Kobol or around Kobol -- you'd think they'd've sent another Basestar over when their first one got nuked.
posted
Lots to ponder, indeed. One small nit, first. Kara put the Arrow on the statue of Sagitarrius. As all the statues in there were representations of the twelve Colonies, there was no statue of Apollo. I'm still miffed however that they've altered some of the Colony names from the original series (Saggitaron instead of Saggitara, for example).
I never even considered that Blatar might be another Sharon Mk.I, a Cylon with no idea he's a Cylon. Oo, icky. And I've yet to hear a satisfactory explanation of the physical Six's presence on the Galactica -- or her almost immediate subsequent disappearance. I've seen all the episodes, haven't missed anything, so I'm pretty confused.
What would get this fan out of his seat doing the Dance of Joy when the Pegasus shows up is to see a ship that looks maybe just a teensy bit more like the realGalactica.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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quote: And I've yet to hear a satisfactory explanation of the physical Six's presence on the Galactica -- or her almost immediate subsequent disappearance.
She'd been hiding out in the fleet. She came aboard Galactica after the ship carrying the scientist - can't think of his name - was killed (in "33") -- remember, he'd claimed to have evidence that could've exposed Baltar. Once the Physical-Six's task was done -- ensuring that Baltar's credibility was established -- she probably flushed herself out an airlock or snuck off the ship.
quote:I never even considered that Blatar might be another Sharon Mk.I, a Cylon with no idea he's a Cylon.
I doubt it. If he was, the physical-Six from the miniseries wouldn't have needed to seduce him in order to gain access to the defense ministry's computers. Besides, how could the Cylons have predicted or engineered the chain of events which led Baltar to Galactica? No, he might be crazy, and his Six might be an angel of god or a really well hidden computer chip, but he's no Cylon.
quote:Besides, how could the Cylons have predicted or engineered the chain of events which led Baltar to Galactica?
Actually, now that I think about it, considering Boomer was a Cylon and piloting the Raptor, I guess it wouldn't be a whole lot of luck ... rather, the Raptor's landing site could've been pre-picked, and Baltar could've been waiting. If Helo hadn't given up his seat, Boomer could have said "Hey, that's Adar's advisor! We're taking him!" or given up her own seat.
So. Yeah.
I don't think he's a Cylon, though.
Maybe everyone is a Cylon and they're just too effin' stupid to know it.
posted
I just had a little giggle over a potential plot point -- wouldn't it be neat if the old Centurion in the museum (wherever that stuff ended up getting stored) got reactivated by one of the undercover Replicants...?
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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I would hope they wouldn't be stupid enough to actually keep a real deactivated cylon as a display piece. More likely it's either a replica or an empty shell, with all the guts ripped out.
Although it would be fun if they ran across a bunch of the old model Cylons at some point.
I like how the new show is really tapping into the mythology of the original, which ironically is something the original didn't seam to do as often. I'm still pondering what timeframe Earth will be in when/if they arrive. The very fact that the simulation of Earth exists shows that SOMEONE must have come back from Earth, otherwise how would the "Book of Vague Mystisisum" know that the 12 colonies are visible from Earth?
Is it possible that the "Gods" took mankind there, or perhaps it was this one God that six keeps rattling on about. That would make sense, if the other Gods took the 12 tribes away from Kobol to the colonies, while the One God took the 13th to Earth. Or perhaps I'm being too literal and the "Gods" were just the leaders of their time and history has since deified them.
posted
Something like the original Star Trek establishing that the Greek gods were visiting aliens who thrived on our worship?
Like those "gods", the gods of Kobol might have been able to bestow a limited godhead on favoured humans. Then those "Lords of Kobol" started getting uppity, things fell apart, and here we are.
Incidentally, how many thousand years either way can we go before those constellations no longer look like that from Earth? That gives us something of a timeframe, at least. Ten thousand years? Fifty thousand? Yeah, I know that's a lot, but ya gots ta start somewheres...
--Jonah (just wants to hear that vocoded "By your command...")
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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Something that's occurred to me concerning the mono-/poly-theism issues in the show...
Obviously this is a gross over-generalization and over-simplification, but couldn't you say that monotheism has a much greater hold in societies on Earth, whereas polytheism is predominant on the other Twelve Colonies? I wonder if that could somehow fit into the Cylons' plans in any way...
(I also would love to see an episode to feature a cameo return of the old-model Centurions and their cheesy "By Your Command"� voices!)
Peregrinus: Personally, I expect the "new" Pegasus to be even more different from the classic ships than the new-Galactica -- remember that new-Galactica was a very old ship that was about to be decommissioned. If Admiral Caine survived on the same ship she was commanding at the time of the Cylon Holocaust, then it's almost certainly a newer ship. (Although possibly it being an older ship would be an explanation of how it managed to also survive.)
-------------------- “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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