I think what folks are suggesting is that thousands upon thousands of years ago, the "Gods" fled Earth for Kobol, mayhaps because of natural disasters. Then, thousands upon thousands of years later, one tribe decided to try to return to Earth instead of going with the rest of the colonists to what was - until the Cylon attack - the Twelve Colonies.
I mean, look, somehow someone from Earth got in touch with someone on Kobol about the location of the planet ... not to mention the name of the planet. Or maybe they made it all up. Or something. I don't know.
posted
The scrolls of Pythia are 3,500 years old, I think, if I am remembering right.
Couldn't the Kobolians already know where Earth (and for that matter the other twelve colonies) was, before they went to live on it?
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
They certainly had at least our equivilent level of technology -- possibly a bit more. It isn't out of the question that Kobol's space agency sent out long-range probes with an eye towards colonizing other worlds in the event over-crowding and/or enviornmental disasters overtook the planet.
The "map room" may have been based on images sent from Earth by a Kobolian rover of some sort.
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Considering the scrolls begin with the words "life here began out there", that seems an OK assumption, unless, when they were written, everyone had forgotten where "out there" actually was. And the exodus happened 1500 years after that, so...
SF histories or futures without clear timelines totally vex me.
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Mighty Blogger Snay: The "map room" may have been based on images sent from Earth by a Kobolian rover of some sort.
If that were the case only, why would the original Twelve Colonies' flags have included the images of the constellations as viewed from Earth (and not from, say, Kobol, which would be a more logical choice)? (Certainly, dialogue from the episode implies that the night sky on Kobol doesn't look like that on Earth)
Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
quote: If that were the case only, why would the original Twelve Colonies' flags have included the images of the constellations as viewed from Earth (and not from, say, Kobol, which would be a more logical choice)?
Well, a big deal was made about how the twelve constellations could be viewed from Earth. So maybe using them that way is intended as a tribute to their long-lost cousins?
posted
Here's something interesting to consider, though: because of galactic drift and other stellar movements, constellations do NOT stay static, and change over a period of thousands of years.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
Although speaking of archeological investigations, I wonder what happens now, as far as the location of the fleet goes. There are Cylons on Kobol, but a whole planet filled with things you can eat and air you can breathe is worth fighting for, a little, I think. Not to mention the potential of more caches of information and/or technology, like the Tomb of Athena. I'd also want to take a look for things that might be elsewhere in the system.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: Here's something interesting to consider, though: because of galactic drift and other stellar movements, constellations do NOT stay static, and change over a period of thousands of years.
That depends on how many thousands of years you're talking about. In 5000 years the Big Dipper will still look a lot like it does now. 100,000's another question.
In fact...
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
If Earth was the "13th" colony you would logically assume that if the colonies were not founded simultaneously, that Earth must have been the last founded.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
I wouldn't say last founded, just because they refer to it as number 13. When making a list, someone has to be #1 and someone has to be last.
There were 13 original state in the U.S. (from the 13 colonies). All of them would like to claim to be first. If, for some reason, one state or colony was cut off completely from the other 12, I can see how everyone would start referring to it as the 13th, no matter where in the order of colonization/statehood it was.
Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Or even if it wasn't cut off. Sort of like how the commentators on Fox News like to rib Canada with the title of the 51st State
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Easy enough to solve. Just look at the U.S. "statehood quarters" series. Delaware was the first colony to ratify the Constitution, thus becoming the first state. If the other colonies wanted to be the first state, they shouldn't have dragged their heels.
Mucus:
I object to that on common-sense grounds. I've often heard that term applied to Canada, and it's just plain wrong. They are in fact the 51st through 63rd states. Although those numbers may get bumped up a bit if Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, or any of our other holdings get in first... And I'm not even going to bring up Mexico, with its dozens of states. Yick.
--Jonah (here's to the United States of the Americas!)
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Now back to BSG. One thing to remember is that these scriptures are oldoldold. And the Exodus probably happened some time even before that. Even a 100% factual account is going to lose something over transcription and changes in the language(s) over thousands of years. So the description of Earth as the "13th Colony" might be dead-on accurate, or completely wrong. All we can really be sure of is that someone on Kobol had either been to Earth or had the ability to know what the constellations looked like from there in order to construct the Tomb.
Incidentally, why was the Arrow taken to Caprica? And I'm stroking my chin thoughtfully about the possibility of a connection between the maker/owner of the Arrow and the callsign of our CAG...
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
