Some general "Battlestar Galactica" questions...

[Don Draper]

So this week I have been immersed in BSG season 4 DVD's, intent on getting up to speed before the new, final season begins (tonight). I have some random idle questions about various aspects of the series' mythology that I thought I'd throw out there. Some of them I'm sure the Cafe Society can easily answer, some are merely speculative:

1. How much time has elapsed on the series thus far? (Basically, how long since the Cylons destroyed the 12 colonies unitl the first survivors touched down on the post-apocalypse Earth?)

2. How far was Earth from the 12 colonies, and where in the galaxy were the original 12 colonies, Kobol, the Eye of Jupiter, etc.? (Of course, this Q was suggested by the last scene of season 4, with the zoom-out from Starbuck's ship, showing the galaxy, Earth's location, and the location of BSG's fleet - is there a fan- or official site that charts the BSG's journey through the galaxy?)

3. Were the 12 colonies located in one solar system? Or were they scattered around a particular spiral arm? (I'm assuming there was one colony per planet here.)

4. Are the humans or Cylons aware of the existence of other sentient species aside from themselves?

5. What personality archetypes are the Cylons modelled after? (A while back, I started a thread suggesting that the Cylons modelled themselves after the 12 Lords of Kobol, i.e. Olympian Gods, but that doesn't seem likely anymore at this stage in the storyline.)

6. Did Adama and Roslin frak on New Caprica?

7. Where does Doc Cottle get his endless supply of cigarettes from? (Given that they left the 12 colonies in a big hurry, I doubt there was time to horde or store away any quantities, it's not a necessity that would likely be produced within the fleet - and at the rate Cottle goes through them, he should've exhausted his supply of them by the end of the miniseries.)

8. What's with the Eights prancing around naked on the baseships? (Not complaining mind you, but it seems like they're the only Cylons who do this.)

9. Given that the Galactica fleet did not know that the Pegasus had escaped the Armaggeddon as well, is it possible that there were other ships, even battlestars, that escape and have scattered to other points in the galaxy - or is this the truly the last remnants of humanity following Adama, Roslin & crew?

10. What are the Cylon model designations for Tighe, Anders, Tori & Tyrol? Is it just me, or is it strange that one of the 'Final Five' must be designated a Seven, thereby sympbolically seperating the Eights from the other common model Cylons?

11. Why was Six afraid of Seven? (Because Seven Eight Nine! Ahahahahahaa!)

12. Feel free to throw in your own idol questions/speculations here.

[Oakminster]

4. Nope. No other known intrelligent life in the BSGverse.

6. Yes, like bunnies. After smoking dope together.

9. Possible, but unknown to the Fleet, and apparently unknown to the cylons we've seen, as well.

[ElvisL1ves]

1. Three years, per Adama's speech to the fleet when reaching Earth
2. Many FTL jumps worth, well beyond the colonists' prior max travel limits
3. Not stated (but they were in the old series, science be frakked)
4. No, not even of mechanical doggies
5. None in particular
6. They even had their cabin hideaway site picked out
7. He steals them from the patients he kills. Or else they were able to grow a batch on New Caprica.
8. You already know.
9. Maybe, but it's getting late in the series to introduce that kind of story line.
10. Not known - but they're a different type of Cylon too, not just different models
11. That's Seven OF Nine
12. Do the humans leave the (radioactivity-proof) rebel Cylons on Earth before heading off to infinity and beyond, or do they do more "hybridizing"?

[Ethilrist]

1. How much time has elapsed? A couple years. They spent at least a year on the planet...

2. How far was Earth from the 12 colonies, and where in the galaxy were the original 12 colonies? I don't believe this was particularly answered, but am prepared to get trumped by fans.

3. Were the 12 colonies located in one solar system? I believe they were.

4. Are the humans or Cylons aware of the existence of other sentient species aside from themselves? They SHOULD be, but they AREN'T. Idiots.

5. What personality archetypes are the Cylons modelled after? No idea.

6. Did Adama and Roslin frak on New Caprica? I don't believe so.

7. Where does Doc Cottle get his endless supply of cigarettes from? "Valuable medical supplies." Plus, they were growing... something on New Caprica.

8. What's with the Eights prancing around naked on the baseships? They're the emotional, touch-feely ones.

9. Given that the Galactica fleet did not know that the Pegasus had escaped the Armaggeddon... It's possible, but given my opinion that it all started in one huge system, not particularly likely. The only reason the Pegasus survived was because they did a blind jump.

10. What are the Cylon model designations for Tighe, Anders, Tori & Tyrol? I'm not up on these numbers. I've always felt that this is one of the things they really didn't think out too clearly ahead of time, and they probably didn't expect the series to run long enough for them to have to answer all these questions.

11. Why was Six afraid of Seven? (Because Seven Eight Nine! Ahahahahahaa!) Ah. Humor.

12. Why did Cylons stop glowing in the dark when they had sex? You'd think Callie or Ellen or Starbuck or Balthar would have noticed...

[WhyNot]

Originally Posted by Ethilrist

12. Why did Cylons stop glowing in the dark when they had sex? You'd think Callie or Ellen or Starbuck or Balthar would have noticed...

According to Commentary: It was just too expensive to keep up as an effect that added nothing to the plot really. It was just done for fun at first, but then when the whole "Cylon Detector" plot started, it was problematic for obvious reasons. Being both problematic and expensive meant that it got cut with no on-screen acknowledgment.

[Cervaise]

3. All the colonies in the same star system: If I recall correctly, Ron Moore has acknowledged that this is kind of dopey, scientifically speaking (though it can just barely be fanwanked if you allow that only a couple of the colonies were on planets, and the majority were on moons, which to the best of my knowledge is neither confirmed nor contradicted by canon narrative), but he kept it because it was part of the original series, and was one of the easier elements to gloss over.

8. Why the Eights dance around naked: There isn't really a good reason, but it's probably something not worth delving into too deeply, lest one spoil the magic, sort of like cutting open the goose with the golden boobies. Oh, wait, sorry. Panties. Oh what a giveaway.

[Lumpy]

1. How much time has elapsed on the series thus far? (Basically, how long since the Cylons destroyed the 12 colonies unitl the first survivors touched down on the post-apocalypse Earth?)I believe series time is held to match real-world time = 3-4 years.

2. How far was Earth from the 12 colonies, and where in the galaxy were the original 12 colonies, Kobol, the Eye of Jupiter, etc.? (Of course, this Q was suggested by the last scene of season 4, with the zoom-out from Starbuck's ship, showing the galaxy, Earth's location, and the location of BSG's fleet - is there a fan- or official site that charts the BSG's journey through the galaxy?)When they saw the planetarium display on Kobol, IIRC Starbuck said something like the position given was "on the other side of the galaxy".

3. Were the 12 colonies located in one solar system? Or were they scattered around a particular spiral arm? (I'm assuming there was one colony per planet here.)I don't know what the canon is. The fact that the Colonies have regular traffic using jump-equipped ships seems to indicate that they need them. Perhaps you have the near-miracle (or planetary engineering?) of multiple habitable planets in three or four adjacent systems.

4. Are the humans or Cylons aware of the existence of other sentient species aside from themselves?NO ALIENS. That's an absolute. Of course there's whoever or whatever is staging this whole return to Earth deal.

5. What personality archetypes are the Cylons modelled after? (A while back, I started a thread suggesting that the Cylons modelled themselves after the 12 Lords of Kobol, i.e. Olympian Gods, but that doesn't seem likely anymore at this stage in the storyline.)Couldn't say. A fanwank guess is that Sixes are the most sexually-oriented, the Cavills are the hardheaded rationalists, etc.

6. Did Adama and Roslin frak on New Caprica?A gentleman does not kiss and tell.

7. Where does Doc Cottle get his endless supply of cigarettes from? (Given that they left the 12 colonies in a big hurry, I doubt there was time to horde or store away any quantities, it's not a necessity that would likely be produced within the fleet - and at the rate Cottle goes through them, he should've exhausted his supply of them by the end of the miniseries.)One of the freighters in the fleet was carrying a whole cargohold full of tobacco.

8. What's with the Eights prancing around naked on the baseships? (Not complaining mind you, but it seems like they're the only Cylons who do this.)It's an Eight thing. Sort of why one of your kids runs around in the buff as a toddler when none of the others did.

9. Given that the Galactica fleet did not know that the Pegasus had escaped the Armaggeddon as well, is it possible that there were other ships, even battlestars, that escape and have scattered to other points in the galaxy - or is this the truly the last remnants of humanity following Adama, Roslin & crew?Possible but a lone ship would have long since run out of fuel by now. The fleet would not have survived except for the luck of having a mobile Tylium refinery with them.

10. What are the Cylon model designations for Tighe, Anders, Tori & Tyrol? Is it just me, or is it strange that one of the 'Final Five' must be designated a Seven, thereby sympbolically seperating the Eights from the other common model Cylons?Dunno; is it that important?

11. Why was Six afraid of Seven? (Because Seven Eight Nine! Ahahahahahaa!)When was that?

12. Feel free to throw in your own idol questions/speculations here.[/quote]I know they're polytheists, but I gather that other than personal beliefs they've developed a fairly secular society.