# Battlestar Galactica 1.5 — "You Can't Go Home Again" (spoilers, natch) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420 "2005-02-04T20:18:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [February 6, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/21 "2005-02-06T02:49:54Z")
> [@Etherman](#): > > See, that’s what I had a problem with though. There shouldn’t be “controls,” there should be muscles. If she’d attached electrodes and made muscles twitch to control things, I’d have bought that a bit quicker. Never thought I’d be an apologist for BG…🙂 I dunno, I bought it easily enough. Maybe it’s like piezeo electric crystals or something. We don’t really know what the hell it was, anyway besides a plot device. Beats the hell out of ripping off _Enemy Mine_ where I thought they were going. I’m not taping this. Do they use control surfaces to maneuver in space, or reaction devices? I’ve seen retros, I think. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/22 "2005-02-06T03:04:36Z")
> [@Etherman](#): > > I am having a hard time not spoiling things for people, since I have seen all but the last episode, but **Levdrakon** , that animal observation is pretty damn insightful, have you seen the other (unaired in the US) episodes? I don’t have any spoiler info that explains this episode, no. I’m really just guessing. What struck me in this latest episode was Starbuck talking to her gods, then moments later finding the Cylon Raider just sitting there, waiting for her. The very first thing I thought was, “don’t stand in front of that thing, it can shoot!” But that’s just what she did. She walked right in front of its guns, stroked it, talked to it, rested her head on its “head.” I’d have approached that thing from the side and been prepared to shoot whatever came out of it, or was inside it. I’ve read a lot of fanboyz & fangirlz rationalizing how Starbuck could have patched the hole, and flown that Cylon Raider off the planet (with no navigational equipment and nothing to see out of but a narrow slit?), but the producers so far haven’t gone for the Star Trek “I’ll just cross link the phase inductors and it should work” thing. If that Raider flew for her, I think it flew _just for her,_ because it wanted to. It’s kinda like in stories where there is an unruly horse that no one can ride, but when our little “hero” walks up to the horse and strokes its nose, and talks to it, it lets her get on, and rides like the wind. Is it because our hero is that good a rider, or because the horse decides to let her ride it, and willing do what she wants? I mean really, she yanks some tendons here, pushes some muscle fibers there, and this thing flies? No way. It interpreted what she was asking it to do, and did it. The same way a horse knows to go forward when you kick its sides. Are you actually causing those “move forward” muscles to activate? Nope. The horse is anticipating what you want it 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:** [February 6, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/23 "2005-02-06T03:22:49Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > with no navigational equipment and nothing to see out of but a narrow slit? FWIW, Lindbergh couldn’t see forwards in _The Spirit of St. Louis_. Navigating probably goes by the board when you have enough energy. The shuttle can’t get away from the Earth’s gravity well. If you have enough energy to fly between planets, I guess you can just point it up and floor it. 🙂 > [@levdrakon](#): > > It interpreted what she was asking it to do, and did it. I don’t buy that. I hope we see more of how it works. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/24 "2005-02-06T04:11:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t buy that. I hope we see more of how it works. You’d rather she just crawled inside this thing and started kicking it in the nads? ---
**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:** [February 6, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/25 "2005-02-06T04:29:41Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > You’d rather she just crawled inside this thing and started kicking it in the nads? She squeezed something and the gun fired. Something else controlled throttle. Other things controlled pitch, roll and yaw. I don’t know why, Hell, it’s Science Fiction! 🙂 _Wanting to_ implies some degree of intelligence and free will. I think the Cylons treated it better than she, who hacked it up quite a bit. I think it was dead, anyway. Neutral question: Why would it soft land if it were able to fly? What kind of repairs did she do? New answer: The fighters land on Galactica like an aircraft carrier to save fuel. They don’t have to match Galactica’s velocity to come aboard. OTOH, if they can get in and out of a planet’s gravity well with ease, they should have fuel to burn with no problem. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/26 "2005-02-06T05:07:01Z")
I had trouble with her controlling the ship as well. I finally decided that here must be some of mechanical controls that she could operate (like pressure sensors or something). The organic cylon inside clearly had some muscle since it flinched when she stabbed it. Maybe the organic parts weren’t fully integrated with the mechanical parts. Instead, they just operated them. It seemed she pressed on something mechanical with her feet to get the thrusters to respond. Maybe the rest of the ship operated in the same way. It still looks like damn unstable craft to control without computer assistance. However, I guess if all she had to do was go straight up, maybe that isn’t such a big deal. Did they really use up 45% of their fuel? I know they mentioned they had to use more to fly in the moon’s atmosphere. Wouldn’t usable fuel be a lot more difficult to find and dangerous to acquire than water? What are they using anyway? Is it something that has to be refined? Did they ever resolve the food thing? That cylon pilot creature is probably going to end up as Galactica barbeque! ---
**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:** [February 6, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/27 "2005-02-06T05:34:20Z")
> [@MaddyStrut](#): > > Did they really use up 45% of their fuel? I know they mentioned they had to use more to fly in the moon’s atmosphere. Wouldn’t usable fuel be a lot more difficult to find and dangerous to acquire than water? What are they using anyway? Is it something that has to be refined? > > Did they ever resolve the food thing? That cylon pilot creature is probably going to end up as Galactica barbeque! Maybe they can buy the methane injector conversion kits from J.C. Whitney and mine the atmosphere of gas giants for methane. Hunting parties on an appropiate planet? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/28 "2005-02-06T08:13:55Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Here’s the thing though, I don’t think it’s entirely unbelievable that she’d be the best shot in the fleet. Remember that the only Marines left would have been the ones on the Galactica. And the Galactica was a museum. It’s likely that the best Marines would have been killed with everyone else and only a skeleton honor guard left on Galactica. Remember that the only reason the two best Viper pilots are still alive (Starbuck and Apollo) are because Starbuck was in the Galactica brig and Apollo was attending the decommission ceremony. Again, most of the trainers and the other good Viper pilots would probably have been on the other Battlestars that were blown up. I’m not saying her being the best shot in the fleet is unbelieveable. I’m saying that her making the ship fly was rather unbelivable. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/29 "2005-02-06T08:40:54Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I’m not saying her being the best shot in the fleet is unbelieveable. I’m saying that her making the ship fly was rather unbelivable. Well, I’ll go ahead and say her being the best shot is horse-hooky. I got no problem with Starbuck being the best at everything, since the original Starbuck character was basically good at everything, but… Best shot? Then why was she using the little red dot to aim? Didn’t that give away her shot? And even if she did have to use the little red dot, why didn’t she take her shot the instant she got the little red dot on her target? No, I think I’ll just shine the little red dot on my target until Apollo notices and yanks my target away, and then say, “frack!” ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/30 "2005-02-06T09:13:41Z")
And Apollo should have told Starbuck that she smelled like a “head” instead of a “latrine” but I’m willing to overlook it. Pick it apart all you want, the last 10 minutes of that epiode was some of the best TV I’ve ever watched. I’ve choked up several times during this series and I’m willing to give it all of the suspension of disbelieve it requires so far. The characters are what is making this a great show and that’s the reason I tune in. At the risk of sounding like a fan-boy I love this series. Great stuff so far. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/31 "2005-02-06T12:24:34Z")
> [@MaddyStrut](#): > > Maybe the organic parts weren’t fully integrated with the mechanical parts. Instead, they just operated them. Seems odd that a race that was entirely mechanical not long ago would make a cyborg to do something a disembodied rat brain can do. But it made good TV. > [@](#): > > It still looks like damn unstable craft to control without computer assistance. Meh. Gyros. > [@](#): > > Did they really use up 45% of their fuel? Tigh said it was “43% of _reserves_”, fwiw. > [@](#): > > Did they ever resolve the food thing? That cylon pilot creature is probably going to end up as Galactica barbeque! No food resolution yet. Keep watching. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Why would it soft land if it were able to fly? What kind of repairs did she do? The raider could still fly; she’d simply killed the pilot. There was a hole in the cockpit, but she had the oxygen tube to breathe with, and let’s assume she put her helmet back on before leaving the atmosphere. I don’t \*care \* if I sound like a fanboy. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/32 "2005-02-06T12:29:13Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > And Apollo should have told Starbuck that she smelled like a “head” instead of a “latrine” but I’m willing to overlook it. And the ship’s CO is a commander and his XO is a colonel. There are other subtle differences in procedures between the US Navy and the Battle Fleet of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/33 "2005-02-06T13:59:07Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Best shot? Then why was she using the little red dot to aim? Didn’t that give away her shot? And even if she did have to use the little red dot, why didn’t she take her shot the instant she got the little red dot on her target? No, I think I’ll just shine the little red dot on my target until Apollo notices and yanks my target away, and then say, “frack!” I agree, but unfortunately, that’s Hollywood for you nowadays. Watch any movie where there are snipers - they always have laser sights, usually resulting in the target noticing and getting out of the way. Which is, of course, why real snipers don’t use 'em. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Seems odd that a race that was entirely mechanical not long ago would make a cyborg to do something a disembodied rat brain can do. Well, they used nukes to kill everyone, maybe they were worried about EMP if they were entirely electronic. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/34 "2005-02-06T16:27:32Z")
They showed a brief clip of next week’s episode showing them detaining Boomer. I wonder if there’s going to be a subplot of Adama wanting to summarily execute/ dissect her, and the Pres insisting that by law Boomer has human rights and must be tried for any accused offenses. That would be rather topical. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/35 "2005-02-06T16:33:01Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I also laughed at the “chrome toaster” bit. Wasn’t there a line from the miniseries, when Number 6 told Baltar she was a Cylon, “I’m sorry I’m having trouble believing you, but the last time anyone saw a Cylon it looked like an animated chrome toaster.” ? Of course when Helo turned on the toaster, it had a red light, just like a Cylon as well. Did anyone notice the commercial for the BSG marathon next week? They showed scenes from episodes that haven’t aired yet, including Baltar being dragged away by some guards and what has to be Boomer 2 and Helo making the beast with two backs (one glowing red). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/36 "2005-02-06T19:08:15Z")
The fuel problem is easy to [solve](http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/ships/). They are bringing along the ships for it. Now the food thing is going to be tricky. Do they have a food producing ship? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/37 "2005-02-06T19:44:09Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > The characters are what is making this a great show and that’s the reason I tune in. I completely agree. Yes, the whole Cylon Raider plot was full of holes and easily nitpicked. How’d they fall so close together? Why does it have mechanical controls? How’d she see where she was going? etc. etc. There’s a reason I didn’t even consider that option in the speculation of my OP. But I guess after a steady diet of TV SF, I expect a little hokiness in the S part. Hey, I love _Firefly_, but it bugs me to no end in the pilot that the heroes cross paths with the reavers at a snail’s pace. Y’know, that kind of thing. All the same, what I really want to see, as should be obvious from my endless harping in the _Enterprise_ threads, is solid characterizations and rich relationships, and _Firefly_ had and now _Galactica_ has that in spades. As a result, I’m apt to be a lot more forgiving of the cheesy elements. In fact, in some ways, I’m pleased that this episode took a step back from the huge epic plot to drill way down on a small event. They’re focusing on the characters and their places in this world, and after years of misplaced SF, I appreciate that to no end. Examples of marvelous little moments in this episode: The fact that the nugget puked in his helmet. The parachute gag. So simple, but so real. And this might be the single best representation of what I expect an alien world like this would really be like that I’ve seen on television. The dry little wisecrack from Gaeta about the “Mark I eyeball,” and the long funny take from Adama where we could read on his face: “What? What’s he talking about? Oh, I get it. All right, that was pretty good, but I’m not going to laugh.” Heh. Also, the moment where Adama barked at the President on the phone, “Frack the odds,” and then apologized for it a moment later. It serves as a bit of self-mockery, winking at the silliness of the curseword, but also to dismiss that silliness going forward, investing the word in some real weight by having the President react so strongly to it. McDonnell was great there, registering genuine shock. Neat. (By the way, speaking of Mary McDonnell, watching her sitting there with a straight face pretending to do paperwork while a lingerie model writhes all over the actor sitting across the desk from her: You suppose she’s thinking, “I have two Academy Award nominations”? :)) And the moment where Adama relieves Tigh was just _electric._ Man, that’s the kind of stuff I tune in to see, and _Galactica_ is delivering it in bucketloads. Not to mention how much it meant for Adama to tell Starbuck at the end, “You did good.” **JCorre** ’s right; even if it’s more than a little hokey, more than a little past the far edge of plausibility, to think that Starbuck could get the Raider working and take it back to _Galactica_, it was worth it for that moment of character interaction, and the little lump in the throat I got for it. That said, I did think that Adama’s attempted justification of the continued rescue efforts to the President was pretty weak. I would have preferred something like this: “Madame President, Starbuck is more than our best pilot. She is the heart and the soul of our defensive corps. She walks around like she’s indestructible, like she’s never going to die. You can’t imagine what an important symbol she is for all of us in uniform. If we lose her, our people will start to give up. And when that happens, we’re all dead.” Still and all, in my view, there is _way_ more to love about this show than to dislike. I suspect we are nitpicking partly out of defensiveness, partly out of having been burned so many times in the past by networks that frack their shows through meddling or premature cancellation or by creators who lose control and can’t bring it to the table in later seasons (_X-Files_, anyone?) that we feel the need to set up a fallback position, a place we can go if the show suddenly starts to suck for some reason. When was the last time we had a genre show like this that started strong, stayed strong, _and_ stuck around? I can’t remember. It’s been years. So I can understand that we’d want to be hypervigilant, so if things go in the crapper we can point to exactly where it started to happen, but y’know, with the songs of rapture coming out of the UK fanbase over the already-viewed complete season, I think I’m willing to put aside my reservations. No, I don’t think I’m willing: I already have. I’m fully in this show’s corner, and I have joined the ranks of the apologists and the defenders. I’ll try not to be obnoxious about it. 🙂 ---
**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:** [February 6, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/38 "2005-02-06T20:21:33Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I have joined the ranks of the apologists and the defenders. Allright Smarty Pants Apologist, how does it come to pass that No. 6’s spine glows? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/39 "2005-02-06T20:44:25Z")
I don’t get hung up on the glowing spine issue as much. It was the first episode and they needed to reveal to the audience that she was not human. It sort of made it a little more chilling that they did it in the act of intercourse. Sure from a functional perspective it was quite hokey, but from a thematic perspective it was a meaningful point. Has anyone also considered the reason that #6 snapped the baby’s neck? It may well have been (from her perception) an act of mercy. Let the baby die quick and not due to radiation poisoning? Another gem from the last episode was when Adama told his son that, if it were him that was lost on the moon, they would _never_ leave. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420/40 "2005-02-06T20:59:28Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > Has anyone also considered the reason that #6 snapped the baby’s neck? It may well have been (from her perception) an act of mercy. Let the baby die quick and not due to radiation poisoning? I suggested that first time around. The idea didn’t fly too well with most. Interesting that Starbuck asked the Cylon raider the same question #6 asked Helo, “Are you alive?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-1-5-you-cant-go-home-again-spoilers-natch/288420.md?page=3)