Okay, that’s it. I saw that movie a couple weeks back.
Yeah, Balter is a rather scary VP, particualry considering he considers himself the hand of God and is more then a little nuts.
Hell, he was talking to invisible people right there in the assembly room. When the hell is somebody going to notice?
He’s only slightly less repugnent then Zareck(who is a known terrorist).
Come now. That sort makes for the best President.
ducks and runs…
This series RAWKS.
Thought the examination of the social order in the fleet was fascinating and first-rate. On the one hand we’ve got socialist types like Zarek arguing for wholesale restructuring of society, on the other we have the politically astute but rather unimaginative Roslin attempting the maintain a societal status quo that, it can be argued, simply doesn’t apply any more. I like the way the series acknowledges the pitfalls involved with following any particular political model, with the potential for a bloody internal conflict if Zarek wins power weighed against the potential abuses of an increasingly reactionary Roslin administration and the clearly fascistic tendencies of the military.
The Baltar stuff was pretty good overall, and a serviceable punchline to his “instrument of God” statement at the end of the last ep. I’m not sure Roslin’s reasoning in selecting him as VP nominee was explained as well as it could have been, but I suppose it makes sense from the standpoint that she (erroneously) thinks that as a political neophyte he’d be easy to handle and would take away a potentially dangerous prop in support of Zarek. OTOH, would Baltar really be that popular amongst the voters? Since when do people want effete, lisping intellectuals as their political leaders? 
Laugh-out-loud line of the week: Baltar to female reporter, in the toilet: “And now I’m going to give you an exclusive”.
Cloud 9: so at last we get the BSG version of the Holodeck. As a means to open the episodes out from the claustrophobic spaceship sets, they could do worse, I guess.
I second the fight scene as being realistically staged; good continuity in having Starbuck struggling to catch the guy due to her bum leg.
They tried to hide the label, but there was a bottle of Jack Daniel’s clearly visible over Richard Hatch’s right shoulder in the bar scene.
What the hell is up with all the paper having the corners cut off? Less risk of paper cuts?
Finally some sort of movement on the Helo-Boomerbot thing. One question: was that Galactica Boomer or Caprica Boomer shown eating her pistol on the coming attractions loop?
Galactica boomer eating the pistol. (From what I saw.)
What’s scarier, that Balthar may be nuts or that he may be acting perfectly rationally to reality as he sees it? 
If he were truly nuts, what worth would he be to (speculated) brain-chip six? Perhaps she is counting on his rationality and self-preserving predictability to control him.
There are, what, 2 episodes left? Anybody else hoping for a two-parter
I love how this show plays with genre while maintaining its own identity. It’s been able to encompass space adventure (last week’s raid on the fuel station), hardass drama (the interrogation episode), comedy (the reappearance of Tigh’s wife), and now it goes into West Wing territory and actually pulls it off.
This show should be a lesson to other SF producers, that this is the way you do it. Last week’s show, with all the space battles and effects, would have been fairly expensive; this week’s show, from a practical production standpoint, is a dialogue-and-character hour designed to keep costs balanced and under control. The most expensive thing in this episode was simply hiring all the extras for the crowd scenes, some location work on the new set, and a little extra time to shoot the fisticuffs; otherwise this is a comparatively low-budget hour. (Note how even on Caprica the most elaborate effect was the Cylon ship coming down onto the pad.) And yet it turns out to be one of the most compelling episodes so far, where all the dramatic threads are being woven tighter and tighter, because they’re focused on the story instead of cutting corners on the budget. (Compare the unbelievably crappy Enterprise episode “Carpenter Street,” the one where they time-travel to modern Detroit, to see how you don’t save money.)
Laugh-out-loud moments: When the reporter emerged from the stall and said “Wow!” after Roslin left. Baltar’s “exclusive” was the button, but it was the appearance of the reporter and the perfectly stunned delivery of her one word that put me on the floor. Also great: the look of death Roslin gave Baltar when he seconded the motion to nominate a successor. McDonnell has just been aces on this show; her reactions are priceless. Remember her flinching when Adama said “frak” to her a few weeks ago? This is more of the same pure gold. Casting her was a real coup for the show.
I’m also really impressed with Richard Hatch. The years have given him a weight and gravity he lacked when he was a younger leading man, and he’s playing it for all it’s worth. He’s really embraced his role in this new incarnation; far from stunt casting, he’s truly making a contribution and making the show better. Just great stuff.
It says a lot, I think, about how good this show is that we didn’t notice the almost total absence of Cmdr Adama, easily one of the most compelling characters, until he shows up at the very end. It’s like, wait a sec, he hasn’t been in this at all. And for this hour, at least, we didn’t miss him, because there’s so much other stuff going on.
(One tiny, tiny nitpick: It bugged me a little bit that the pundit guy used “frak” on the air toward the beginning. How offensive a curse is it, anyway? How would people react if Sean Hannity said “no fuckin’ way” on his show?)
Two more episodes to go, and then only a short wait before the second season starts this summer. Man, I hope they don’t frak it up.
I believe that’s exactly what we’re going to get.
Not nearly as much as by the picture of a human civilization, not derived from any on Earth (so far as we know at this point), where the people wear recognizable modern-Earth clothing styles – including jackets and neckties for the men. Also, their music is recognizable. In the final scene, at the Colonial Day Ball, they were dancing to plain ol’ swing music.
I know they’re trying to distance themselves from the campy original series and its Colonial culture, with its Mormon overtones and its silly pseudo-Egyptian trappings and time units like “yahren” and “centons.” But I think they’ve gone too far. They should have made some effort to create a perceptibly alien human culture.
Is Zarek a “socialist”? We know he was a terrorist/freedom fighter, and that he’s a populist demagogue, but beyond that I’m unclear about the content of his politics, or his plans for the surviving human society. All we know is that he’s discontented with the status quo.
I asked this question on the thread for the previous BSG episode, but it seems I’m the last poster and no one answered my question. Will episodes from the previous series be updated in this series? For example, there was an episode where a wealthy, eccentric woman (Brett Somers, IIRC) is in possession of a device that Adama desperately needs. However the woman refuses to give it to him unless he has dinner with her (and possibly more!). I’d like to know if Commander Adama is going to get some nookie anytime soon.
Well, just one line in the ep to hang my assumption on, but Zarek, speaking to the journalists, was saying something about replacing the goods and services-based economy of the fleet with a collective. Which I guess makes him more a Marxist, actually, but whatever. The main point, I guess, is a contrast between a progressive vs. regressive political structure, and, to the show’s credit, how power, or the potential of gaining power, can corrupt either.
That should be no suprise. The assasin looked like he was carrying a glock and we’ve already seen Hummers on that military base in Episode 5(6?).
Well, as someone else has pointed out, he mentioned moving towards a more “collective” society, which struck me as being communist/socialist/marxist/leftist or some strain thereof. Not nearly enough to pin down, but I guessed before he actually said it that his comments were going to be biased in that direction.
Yes! It’s a human show, not just a “space opera.” As EJ Olmos says in this week’s TV Guide, “It’s a drama, period. If they bring on any four-eyed monsters, I’m leaving.” That’s why I like it so much. Like the best literature, BG is about people.
Spoiler for this show: Colonial Day[Spoiler]I was sort of disappointed with this week’s episode. I wasn’t proud of Apollo, Starbuck, or Roslin. Zarek was making some good points (whatever his agenda may be), and they seemed to want to silence him, rather than listen. Didn’t Apollo agree with the “elections in 7 months” idea back there on the prison ship?
I’m very impressed with the Caprica story arc. The drama there keeps increasing with each week. Seeing the other Boomer model must have killed Helo. And killing the other Boomer was a tremendous choice that Our Beloved Caprica-Boomer will agonize over for a long time. Apparently the Cylons can feel. She’s by far my favorite character of the series (Adama boys - tied for second).[/spoiler]
Speculation for future episodes:[Spoiler]I’m thinking that there are “machine” cylons and “human” cylons. Some of them are sentient, emotional creatures!!! Because of this, some of the “human” cylons may refuse to cooperate with the Colonials extinction. Like Our Beloved Caprica-Boomer. And maybe Baltar’s Number Six. My guess is that some of the cylons will turn against the majority. At least, I hope so.
I’m also guessing that Zarek will become a revolutionary again, or at least a pain in the side, because the writers need some on-board tension and unresolved plot points for the next season. And maybe President Roslin will find some magical/spirtual cylon-assisted cure for her cancer. And maybe Commander Adama will give her “an exclusive.” Offscreen, hopefully.[/spoiler]
I’m wondering how Ellen Tige will end up affecting everything. She’s already a tragic character.
Yep. It’s a two-parter, entitled:
Kobol’s Last Gleaming
The two episodes have been available in the murkier corners of the internet for quite a while now.
It’s available on internet gambling halls and animal porn sites? :eek: 
I suppose that legitimate sources might include British friends who invite you over to watch episodes they’ve taped…
So am I to assume as the title of the episode indicates:
(speculation)
They find Kobol but can’t stay for whatever reason
Well, since we’re discussing this episode, it’s not really a spoiler now, is it?
I get the animosity toward Tom Zarek as being like suddenly having Tim McVeigh in Congress. He blew up a government building! I see their point in resisting any power grab he makes. If something like this happened to us, how many Americans would stand for Osama Bin Laden being appointed to the highest level of government?
There’s another selfish dynamic here- the crew has gone through so much just to keep the race alive, and now the populace is almost ready to hand over power to a former enemy of state. It seems like a slap in the face, since without their heroics no one would be around to exist, let alone vote.
I’d like to see where they go with Roslin’s cancer. Mary McDonnell is doing such a good job portraying the character, how can they justify killing her off? Then again, I’ve had a crush on her since the old ER series, where she mooned over Elliot Gould.
My spoiler was referring to the title of the next episode and included speculation based on that, just to clarify.
Well one thing that the writers seem to have made clear of the series, is that it is providing more of a social and political message than it is a sci fi story. There are a few things Ron Moore has stated regarding his writing of this series that bothers me now. He is trying to minimize all sci fi trappings and wants to focus on the socialogical elements. To this end he has stated that he wanted the audience to be able to indentify with the cast by not making their surroundings and dress seem somehow familiar and not alien. He actually talks about it in his podcast of this episode, going as far as stating that he really wanted to put the old swing song “fly me to the moon” in the show. Explaining that he wants to present the concept that maybe things here are somehow connected to events on earth.
He wanted to present the notion that there is some kind of “cycle”, that “things cycle back through” and “all this has happened before and this has happened again.” “That all the events we see now have played out before, under various guises, with various players…things will start to be the same” He goes on to say that they may not be the same in every reiteration of the cycle, but the same things do crop up time and time again like clothes, language, and ideas that maybe last time they wore togas, but this time they do wear suits and ties, etc. He then conveniently adds the hook that you have to watch the series play out to understand this. All I have to say is that now that he has said this, he better go somewhere with it.
As for Zarek, it is my understanding, from what Ron Moore said, that he is trying to put a rational face on the concept of middle east terrorism(or terrorism in general), to demostrate that they do have a point of view. I don’t know how far they will actually go into his actual politics, other than as you stated, he is a populist political demagogue, that is dis-satisified with the status quo, that “his people” were somehow oppressed and possibly abused back before “the worlds ended” and that is where his anger stems from.
The thing about Roslin’s cancer, she’s got six months to live, plus she’s on that extract stuff. Last episode was day 36 for the fleet, and that took 10 episodes. So, if Moore keeps going at this pace, Roslin should have a couple more seasons in her. Her character may outlive the show.
Roslin’s life expectancy will be a direct function of Mary McDonnell’s contract demands. It happens on a lot of shows to a lot of major characters - you can tell who’s in negotiations by seeing who’s comatose or in a plane crash or a shootout in the season-ending cliffhanger.
I’m kinda glad we’ve only had about 30 seconds of Boxey so far, but I kinda miss that mechanical dog.
The producers are doing that intentionally.
I like how they are starting to get into the economics of the fleet. One has to question how long a closed self-contained ecosystem can exist in space like that.
Also, one might wonder why the frontier of their civilization doesn’t extend furthur out. 30 something days does not seem all that far to travel.
Has it ever been specified how fast the fleet is moving, or can move?