Battlestar Galactica

[Martok]

Hmm. Just finished watching the third webisode. Not really sure where they're going with this....

[TevashSzat]

Okay, the 4.5 opener was aired last Friday and boy were a lot of things revealed

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

First of all, I did not see DUalla's suicide coming at all. I suppose I found it a bit wierd how she changed from being really depressed and crying to happy all of a sudden, but didn't think too much of it. Gaeta must really be shaken

Okay, the 13th tribe is cylon. This raises up so many questions, I don't even know where to begin. How did the 7 current models come to be? How did they nuke themselves? How did the final five get ressurected? Etc......

Ellen as the last of the final five. Again, really came out of nowhere. I was like meh, episode was going to end and then BOOM theres ellen with tigh during the 13th tribe's destruction.

I love how Kara isn't telling anyone about what she saw with Leoben. I suppose Leoben will reveal her secret and then there will be a big uproar about it in one of the upcoming episodes.

Thats it for now, I'll post more of my thoughts later

[The_Doctor]

It is not on until tomorrow in the UK.

I want to click that spoiler, thats it I'm doing it, no I have to be strong.

[Kekvit Irae]

Number Six is not a number, SHE IS A FREE MAN!




If you catch where this comes from, you truly are among the cultured of the forum.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Four posts into the new season and I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out the fact that we're all robots.

[cmacq]

Of course, the Prisoner.
You can do better than that.

CmacQ

[Kekvit Irae]

Of course, the Prisoner.

http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-p...-1960s-series/

[TevashSzat]

Some more thoughts:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I can already see what The Plan is probably going to be about. Its going to be an in depth overview of the Final Five's actions that led up to the destruction of th 13th tribe. I'm going to be kinda dissapointed if this comes true since that means many of my favorite chars (Lee, Boomer/Athena, etc...) will either the left out or given little screen time

I thought the whole fleet's mood was captured beautifully. Roslin's burning of her "bible," Adama's attempted suicide through Tigh, the Frak Earth graffitti, the random crew just in the cooridors of the Galactica. The whole episodes, IMO, was just masterfully done.

Ron Moore's official podcast just came out and I downloaded it. I'm positive their is going to be a wealth of knowledge as always.

For now, I don't really see how the webisodes connect the second half of season four. The teasers for the next episodes, however, hint at the upcoming confrontation with Zarek and perhaps more tensions with the Cylongs.

Edit: Something else I forgot to add

Fridays this Winter/Spring are going to be exciting. I'm bit of a SciFi fan so I'll be getting Terminators: The Sarah Connor Chronicles at 8PM on FOX, Dollhouse (Tahmoh Peniket, ie Helo is a main character) at 9PM on FOX, and of course BSG at 10 PM on the SciFi channel.

Virtuality, which is Ron Moore's next project now that BSG is done, is to appear of FOX as well. I don't know when exactly, but I am guessing this upcoming Fall season

For once in my life, I'm actually kinda happy with the FOX executives right now (still cant believe they canceled Dark Angel.....). I bet, though, that Dollhouse and Virtuality are going to somehow never make it pass season 2.....

[cmacq]

You really don't think that the so-called BSG humans were actually the descendents of the tin-man artefacts found on earth, that begot their breed of look-alike-bots who nuked the so-called look-alike-bots that lived on earth, that were actually us, or aka the current humans, and who for their wont of revenge created another kind of tin-man, from where the current look-alike-bots descended, that were designed only to nuke the future so-called BSG humans, who again were just the kinder of just another type of look-alike-bots?

Right, a wee bit convoluted, I will admit, but it seems to explain nearly everything, don't you think? Of course, that is everything but the so-called divine intervention thingy, as even they’re just so bloody sick of watching this endless remake/loop run on and on and on.





CmacQ

[The_Doctor]

That was an interesting episode.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I think that the 12 tribes of Kobol created the cylons(the 13th tribe), who then rebelled and left Kobol and then settled on Earth. It seems that Earth was nuked and the 12 tribes left Kobol at a similar time(about 2000 years before the fall of 12 colonies), I am thinking that the cylons attacked Kobol(maybe with a probe with a virus in, like the one the Galactica found) and then the kobolains nuked Earth in revenge and then left Kobol and founded the 12 colonies. Some of the 13th tribe survived and found the 12 colonies and lived among them or maybe they switched off for 2000 years until the new Cylons where created(maybe then created the human form cylons?).

I have no idea what Starbuck is.

[Graphic]

I just finished watching the entire series. I have to say I was satisfied with the entire thing (except maybe that tedious boxing episode). I'm glad I completely avoided reading anything about it online while I was in the midst of it or I might've been influenced by the nerd rage group think.

CGI was movie quality, action was exciting, plot developments were shocking and epic, and most importantly the characters had very interesting arcs. Col. Tigh's stock went up and down like the tides for most of the show's run, but after the end of season 3 he really showed his true colors as a stand up guy that I really liked.

Gaius Baltar was the best though. In the confines of a TV show he's a sniveling coward but he's really the most human character on the show. It's easy to demand that he act like a selfless superhero in countless situations, but no one knows how far they'll go in order to stay alive. Pretty damn far I'll bet.

They ended the Baltar arc perfectly with probably my favorite moment of the entire series

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I also loved the allusions to the war on terror. At one point Roslin was the spitting image of George W. where any criticism was met with the name dropping of a disaster "Aren't you forgetting about 9/11 NEW CAPRICA!?," and New Caprica itself was pretty obvious with what they were trying to do there but I still thought it was interesting. It kind of makes me want to see a movie from an al-Qaeda terrorist's perspective (it can be done without glorifying or condoning, kind of like Downfall).

I just wish the Leobens and D'Anna's didn't completely disappear from the last several episodes. Leoben was my favorite Cylon besides Athena and Caprica Six. Speaking of, I was very surprised when I read she didn't have much acting experience before tanking the job. She has very emotive eyes.

Blah blah blah. Probably my favorite show ever.

[Greyblades]

Opinion on the ending?

[Lemur]

Opinion on the ending?

Train wreck. A flaming, horrible train wreck. Any show where the ending says,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"They were ANGELS all along!"

has well and truly soiled itself in bed.

Look, BSG gave us two years of excellent TV. After that ...

[Fragony]

Lost interest halfway season 3, first season was really something though, second was ok

[Graphic]

Opinion on the ending?

After three entire series of Star Trek (everything but TOS and ENT), it was nice to have an explanation that wasn't "They're alien Flecktards from the Teetari nebula living between dimension who need to keep humans alive in order to harvest their cellular peptides with molecular decompilers." Brain chips, schizophrenia, Cylon Kara copy, etc. are too mundane of explanations as well.

The show had strong religious inclinations from the start so it was to be expected really. And I don't mean the character's religions being part of their motivation and the plot, but Roslin having premonitions that came true in the very first season.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Train wreck. A flaming, horrible train wreck. Any show where the ending says,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"They were ANGELS all along!"

has well and truly soiled itself in bed.

Look, BSG gave us two years of excellent TV. After that ...

Yeah - but not just Angles, full on YHWH-obeying ones to boot!

I always felt BSG was trying too hard - all that time spent on cutting all the corners off those books and then they just pick up the Civilian clothes from Seers?

Yeah - noooo.

I recently re-watched the original BSG (the first episode) and, you know what? It was just as gritty and the plight of the people was just as heart-rending, for all that it was "soft" 70's Sci-fi.

BSG was ok, but not enough thought was put into it beyond the Galactica itself and her crew.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

When the explosions/Baltar ratio dipped below 1:1 it was time to abandon ship.

[Major Robert Dump]

I only watched it for Boomer. Stopped at season 3 when it got overly corny, but caught bits and pieces until the end. didn't know about the angels thing

[Greyblades]

Well I watched it all in one go over the course of several weeks and I liked all of it up to the point when head baltar+six appear to both Baltar and caprica six, then it started to tumble downhill. Then apollo said "hey guys, lets be cavemen" and it landed headfirst onto a sharp spike. After that I couldn't watch it anymore and just skipped to the end just to rage at the "god is real and humanity's just restarted itself" end scene.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Well I watched it all in one go over the course of several weeks and I liked all of it up to the point when head baltar+six appear to both Baltar and caprica six, then it started to tumble downhill. Then apollo said "hey guys, lets be cavemen" and it landed headfirst onto a sharp spike. After that I couldn't watch it anymore and just skipped to the end just to rage at the "god is real and humanity's just restarted itself" end scene.

Well, to be fair the original BSG was pseudo-Mormon, the reboot was just pseudo-Evangelical.

[Greyblades]

I don't mind the god is real part to be honest, though it seems like they wasted an opportunity by making it a standard Christianity god.
It's the really stupid "50,000 people all agree to throw away technology and become hunter gatherers" bit that infuriates me.

[Graphic]

It's not really the Christian god IMO because:

- First, it doesn't think of itself as a god. When Head Baltar says "he doesn't like that name," I don't take it as the being not liking the way it sounds, but rejecting that identity altogether.

- Following from that, it has no desire to be worshiped. It only used Head Six to get Baltar to believe in it as a means to motivate him. Someone as selfish, arrogant and narcissistic as Baltar needs a something greater than himself to get him to do anything but ensure his own survival, and someone that vain would only accept a bona fide God as being greater than him.

- There's no evidence to indicate that it ever used prophets in order to create religions dedicated to it's worship. The 12 Colonies have believed in "the gods" for millennia without harming it's desire to protect them from extinction. If it didn't attempt to make the 12 Colonies into a monotheistic theocracy, it stands to follow that it's not responsible for Abraham, Jesus, Mohammad or whatever. Baltar's cult was used by it as a buffer simply to protect Baltar from those who wanted to harm him, in order to make sure he survives and stays on his journey, not a genuine ministry of God with the aim to turn humanity to it's worship. Cylon monotheism, the human monotheistic cults of the 12 Colonies and now of "new Earth" therefore were just natural evolutions of theology.

- There's nothing to suggest that it meddles in the affairs of humanity at all except to protect it from annihilation. Each time it LETS the Cylon holocaust "happen again," only stepping in to protect the remnants. The final scene in NYC pretty clearly indicated to me that it stands by and just watches humanity progress each time (Head Six's lines about math and probability and letting things "play out," as well as Head Baltar's question of if it "has to happen again" suggests that the "god" entity takes no part in human affairs.

- It doesn't value Christian morality. It's living agents are a Cylon responsible for murdering countless billions and her sociopathic accomplice.

The thing with gods in science fiction is, they're really just the most advanced aliens, and this one has decided to make humanity it's pet project and keep it going at all costs. This might be due to the fact that there are no aliens in BSG in spite of the countless worlds they've visited in their long history, so perhaps humans are the only intelligent life in the universe besides the Cylons they inevitably create and the omniscient entity itself.

[Vladimir]

I only watched it for Boomer. Stopped at season 3 when it got overly corny, but caught bits and pieces until the end. didn't know about the angels thing

After seeing that 8 became my favorite number.

[Graphic]

Even though she redeemed herself a bit in the very end of her life, Boomer turned out to be a real idiot and an asshole after coming to grips with her Cylon identity.

Athena, on the other hand, was awesome and I really liked her.

[Greyblades]

It's not really the Christian god IMO because:

Sorry I meant a generic god, one who loves you and everyone yet doesn't interfere much etc, etc. We don't really get much characterization beyond what the cylons believe and the chatterings of two of it's angels

[Graphic]

I don't know about that either. I'd think I would help a stranger in public who was in danger of dying but that doesn't mean that I love them. I'd help save someone I hate even.

The impression I get from the show is the BSG "god" is...interested in the outcome of their doings, perhaps as a form of entertainment. It's desire to not see humanity end may be nothing more than a selfish desire to not see it's favorite show get canceled. If there's nothing else in the universe that'd make us the only show running.

[Greyblades]

No, I'm pretty sure I heard head six say god loves you a few times.

[Graphic]

Means to an end. Or if Head Six is an agent of "god" with its own sentience (as opposed to being an avatar of it), it could be it's very own personal belief. Anyone who believes god exists wants to believe that it is kind, benevolent and loving.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I don't know about that either. I'd think I would help a stranger in public who was in danger of dying but that doesn't mean that I love them. I'd help save someone I hate even.

The impression I get from the show is the BSG "god" is...interested in the outcome of their doings, perhaps as a form of entertainment. It's desire to not see humanity end may be nothing more than a selfish desire to not see it's favorite show get canceled. If there's nothing else in the universe that'd make us the only show running.

You're stretching the dishonesty/faalbility of the characters to make a point.

What we know is that this Supreme Being has intervened multiple times to preserve humanity, but all it ever gives humanity is a chance, if the show's characters had just spent the series going "la la la, we can't hear you" they would all be toast. The Baltar-Avatar says "He doesn't like that name" - that statement is very pregnant from the point of view of the current monotheistic religions - God's names are descriptive, "The Lord Who Comes Down From the High Mountain" (El Saddai) and "[My name is] I Am" (Yahweh). In fact, God is a pagan descriptor which is not really appropriate, not least because it has a plural and is gendered.

I'm not saying it's the "Christian" God, but the presentation comes out of Christian and later Judaic and Muslim mystical writings, an essentially unknowable but benevolent Divine Being.

Then if you look at the Agnels and their highly empathic charactarisation, both positive and negative, that implies something about the being they serve. The Avatars do appear to care about their charges, but they treat them like adolescents - in need of guidence but also expected to make their own decision. Again - that's a charactarisation common to Christianity in particular, but which is present in other religions as well.

[Graphic]

I'm not "stretching" anything nor am I trying to "make a point." I'm simply articulating my personal interpretation of the finale.