# Battlestar Galactica - 1.1- \*Open Spoilers\* - "33" - the plot **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129 "2011-04-04T11:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/61 "2011-04-06T20:15:37Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > That does make some sense. On the other hand, I think it would be worth a try to say “Maybe one time, if we’re NOT here in 32 minutes, they won’t be able to track us in 33 minutes the next time, because whatever they’re doing depends on them being in visual range each time we jump.” I seem to recall Adama and Tigh did float that kind of idea, which I remember as “next time let’s double-jump and see if they still follow us.” Before they could work on the idea, _Olympic Carrier_ missed the jump… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/62 "2011-04-06T20:35:26Z")
Didn’t they have an idea for the fleet to split up, jump in a bunch of different directions, then jump again to a pre-arranged rendezvous point? But like you say, the _Olympic Carrier_ went missing first. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/63 "2011-04-06T23:11:20Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Why would a stationary museum need comms and FTL 24 hours a day? Gee I don’t know: maybe because it wasn’t a stationary museum? Try as you might you are not going to get around the fact that within minutes of a suprise attack from an enemy that hadn’t been heard of for forty years, the BG was on full alert and a fighting ship able to fight a respectable running retreat against a superior enemy. You think a stationary museum could do that? You’re making stuff up. Also, I know about show don’t tell. The corridors of the ship were packed with people going everywhere. There wasn’t a dusty corridor or empty bunk to be seen. There wasn’t so much as an oblique reference to short handedness. Your whole case is based around the assumption that a warship loses much of its crew _before_ it is decommissioned. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/64 "2011-04-06T23:15:18Z")
It’s a been awhile, but I thought the Galactica got filled up when they recruited staff and fighter pilots in training from other ships. I remember it being pretty clear that the ship had been pretty empty (though not derelict) and from the start you knew they were undermanned. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/65 "2011-04-06T23:40:34Z")
I watched the miniseries on Sunday and ‘33’ on Monday. You’re misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/66 "2011-04-06T23:58:35Z")
Okie dokies. But I clearly remember the feeling of an understaffed, short handed ship. It may not have been explicit, but to me it was clearly apparent. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/67 "2011-04-07T00:17:32Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It’s a been awhile, but I thought the Galactica got filled up when they recruited staff and fighter pilots in training from other ships. I remember it being pretty clear that the ship had been pretty empty (though not derelict) and from the start you knew they were undermanned. You remembering an episode that happens about two episodes after 33. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/68 "2011-04-07T00:44:48Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Okie dokies. But I clearly remember the feeling of an understaffed, short handed ship. It may not have been explicit, but to me it was clearly apparent. Yeah, but it totally doesn’t count unless there’s an explicit statement by a senior officer as well as some blatant exposition between a couple crewmen for no reason other than to inform viewers who need to be spoon fed. Anything else is just lazy writing. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/69 "2011-04-07T00:58:30Z")
It’s been a long time since I watched the mini or season one. At the time, I was active on message boards and Ron Moore had his blogs and answered fan questions when he could. I’ve always known at least half the crew wasn’t aboard when the Cylons attacked, but I could have gotten than off-screen. Much of the crew had already been transferred to other ships or they were on shore leave. The big deal at the time is that this is a fairly lax crew, and far from the best of the best, like you get in Star Trek. Galactica wasn’t a shiny new flagship on which only the best could hope to be assigned. Starbuck of course was the best at everything, but that also included drinking and getting thrown in the brig. Everyone was flawed, intentionally. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/70 "2011-04-07T01:16:25Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Also, I know about show don’t tell. The corridors of the ship were packed with people going everywhere. There wasn’t a dusty corridor or empty bunk to be seen. There wasn’t so much as an oblique reference to short handedness. > [@Merijeek](#): > > Yeah, but it totally doesn’t count unless there’s an explicit statement by a senior officer as well as some blatant exposition between a couple crewmen for no reason other than to inform viewers who need to be spoon fed. I’m not immune to the idea that I might be wrong, but when I see that others have to exaggerate and misrepresent to attempt to make headway against what I’m saying, I tend to think I’m on track. So thanks for that. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/71 "2011-04-07T01:25:44Z")
Okay, so I went and sought out a transcript for this episode. And sure enough, maybe a quarter of the way through the episode: _Tigh: 12 more cases of nervous exhaustion, that makes 61. Adama: Have the doc start pumping 'em up with stimulants. Get 'em back on the line. Pilots too. one out of every three, every other cycle. Tight: That’s gonna come back and bite us in the ass. Adama: **Yeah, well, we have too much work and not enough people to do it**._ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/72 "2011-04-07T01:34:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Not buying it. All they needed was one line to say at the commencement “most of the crew have been sent home.” No long exposition is needed. Further, a key point of the ep is that both the FTL calculating guy and the comms woman are desperately sleep deprived. OK, being short full flight crew I can understand. There were a lot killed. But on the whole shortstaffed ship, there is _one_ guy who can do the FTL calcs, and _one_ woman who can run comms? Really? What were they doing just before the day of the attacks? Was the comms woman working 24 hours a day or did the whole ship just have no one on comms for 16 hours a day while she was off duty? > > Face it, they needed desperately tired for the plot and so they had everyone working continuously even though that isn’t realistic. well, you are entited to believe whatever you want, even if it’s wrong. The fact that the ship was being mothballed and one launch bay was already converted to a museum and a whole bunch of other clues make it pretty clear the Galactica is not operating at full complement. I don’t give a shit about that level of minutiae. All you need to know is the Galactica was short staffed until they could bring on new recruits from the pool of 45000 civilians tagging along. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/73 "2011-04-07T01:57:26Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Adama: **Yeah, well, we have too much work and not enough people to do it**.\* Sure but there is short staffed and too much work, and then there is forcing two individuals to work 100+ hours without rostering them off such that they are becoming patently brain dead when they can between them (a) kill everyone on board with a miscalculation and (b) leave an entire ship behind with a miscommunication. In 5000 people they couldn’t find _two people_ to replace them. _Two people_. And don’t tell me that these were the only two on board who could have done the job: I don’t buy it and even if I did, after the first fifty jumps they could have started giving a freakin’ monkey training at it and given the monkey fifty practice runs before putting them on duty. Out of 5000 people there was no one else smart enough to replace these two whose duties were less important? Yanno, as I’ve said, I like what I have seen so far of the series. All I complained about were some annoying niggles. This debate isn’t dragging out because I really care that much about the niggles. It’s because some of you are hell bent on denying the niggles exist. While I’m simultaneously getting a lecture on how niggles are to be expected. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/74 "2011-04-07T02:05:56Z")
Seriously man, I gave you the words you were looking for and you still reject it? Maybe the people who who could replace them ALSO had other jobs to do? Gaeta and Dualla were basically focused entire on doing the FTL calcs and getting them out to the other ships. And a normal day, they would have other tasks to do. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/75 "2011-04-07T02:13:07Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Gee I don’t know: maybe because it wasn’t a stationary museum? Try as you might you are not going to get around the fact that within minutes of a suprise attack from an enemy that hadn’t been heard of for forty years, the BG was on full alert and a fighting ship able to fight a respectable running retreat against a superior enemy. You think a stationary museum could do that? You’re making stuff up. You are neglecting the size of Adama’s testicles. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/76 "2011-04-07T02:41:06Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Seriously man, I gave you the words you were looking for and you still reject it? Maybe the people who who could replace them ALSO had other jobs to do? Gaeta and Dualla were basically focused entire on doing the FTL calcs and getting them out to the other ships. And a normal day, they would have other tasks to do. Nah, he’s not going to admit being wrong. Note that he blew right by my suggestion that we don’t see the other nav and comms officers because the story is not about those guys, it’s about Gaeta and Dee, the characters we actually care about. So of course the story occurs when they’re on duty, and not when red-shirt-comms-officer is. But no one _told_ us that in a line of dialogue, so it can’t possibly be true. If we don’t see the red-shirt, he can’t possibly exist. A tightly focused story and running times be damned, we should totally bring the pacing to a sudden halt while Adama and Tigh explain to each other why Gaeta and Dee happen to be on-duty and exhausted right then. Because, you know, they’d _totally_ stop in the middle of a crisis to explain that to each other. And Gaeta and Dee couldn’t be exhausted from being in fight-or-flight mode for 5 days straight! They’d go off-duty and sleep like a baby! Oh, and it still wasn’t a skeleton crew. That line of dialogue means nothing! I’d better stop, I’m giving myself hysterics. 😃 Anyway, the audience is capable of filling in their own blanks (and in the commentary, Ron Moore was very explicit in wanting to treat the audience like they could figure shit out on their own); and a 42-minute story doesn’t need to get bogged down in an extra 30 minutes of backstory, minutiae, and exposition, when really we just want to get on with the story. > [@Princhester](#): > > Gee I don’t know: maybe because it wasn’t a stationary museum? Try as you might you are not going to get around the fact that within minutes of a suprise attack from an enemy that hadn’t been heard of for forty years, the BG was on full alert and a fighting ship able to fight a respectable running retreat against a superior enemy. You think a stationary museum could do that? You’re making stuff up. Dude, they _lost._ Quickly. And thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/77 "2011-04-07T03:11:14Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Okay, so I went and sought out a transcript for this episode. And sure enough, maybe a quarter of the way through the episode: > > _Tigh: 12 more cases of nervous exhaustion, that makes 61. > Adama: Have the doc start pumping 'em up with stimulants. Get 'em back on the line. Pilots too. one out of every three, every other cycle. > Tight: That’s gonna come back and bite us in the ass. > Adama: **Yeah, well, we have too much work and not enough people to do it**._ But at no point do they say that they’re short crew members! BAD WRITING!!! No powerpoint explaining it either. Really bad writing. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/78 "2011-04-07T03:30:35Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Yanno, as I’ve said, I like what I have seen so far of the series. All I complained about were some annoying niggles. This debate isn’t dragging out because I really care that much about the niggles. It’s because some of you are hell bent on denying the niggles exist. While I’m simultaneously getting a lecture on how niggles are to be expected. Keep watching the show, by all means, but please, for the love of God, don’t post threads about future episodes. I mean, you did figure out the surprise to ‘The Crying Game’ right? After all, it was never actually STATED OUT LOUD that the girl was a guy. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/79 "2011-04-07T03:45:49Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Note that he blew right by my suggestion that we don’t see the other nav and comms officers because the story is not about those guys No it is stated that Gaeta and Dualla had been working 100+ hours. They had time for that line. They just didn’t have time for dialog that would, yanno, make the ep make sense. > [@](#): > > They’d go off-duty and sleep like a baby! If they took a pill they would. I’ve never been through what those guys are supposed to go through but I have worked on crises before. For the first 24 hours you just go like a train with no thought as to how you are going to keep manning the crisis. Then you start to realise it’s going to go on for a while and you plan your manning. You figure out how you are going to relieve your absolutely key guys. Adama stuffed up if he didn’t pull Gaeta and Dualla off duty and make them take a pill and I don’t thing the story hangs together properly if he didn’t know this. > [@](#): > > Dude, they lost. Quickly. And thoroughly. This comment in context is beyond stupid. Did you even think about what you were responding to before you blurted? You say the BG was a stationary museum. Within minutes of hearing they were under attack from an enemy they hadn’t heard of for forty years they were on full battle alert, and then fighting a retreat. By merely restocking with ammo they were at a point Adama considered taking on several Cylon capital ships. You think a “stationary museum” can do that? Really? > [@enalzi](#): > > Maybe the people who who could replace them ALSO had other jobs to do? You ain’t gettin’ it. Re-read. You think that there weren’t two people out of 5000 who could have replaced Gaeta and Dualla because they _all_ had jobs more important than Gaeta and Dualla’s work, the stuffing up of which could have caused (respectively) the whole fleet and entire ships to be lost. Really? ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129/80 "2011-04-07T03:58:09Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > This comment in context is beyond stupid. Did you even think about what you were responding to before you blurted? You say the BG was a stationary museum. Within minutes of hearing they were under attack from an enemy they hadn’t heard of for forty years they were on full battle alert, and then fighting a retreat. By merely restocking with ammo they were at a point Adama considered taking on several Cylon capital ships. You think a “stationary museum” can do that? Really? I am now convinced that you haven’t actually watched BSG. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-1-open-spoilers-33-the-plot/577129.md?page=5)