[QUOTE=They’ve already explored it somewhat in 33 with the Olympic Carrier (though not fully since you never really knew if any humans were alive aboard that vessell) and twice in the mini series: once when Tigh vented the burning portions of the Galactica and then when Roselyn left the ships without FTL capability behind.
[/QUOTE]
Those aren’t sacrifices as in “Let’s toss some virgins in the volcano so that the gods will make it rain, pick the ugly ones.” It’s “we must do this, and I’m afraid some of our people will be killed”.
It’s starting to bug me. I still like the show, but I’m starting to be bothered by some of the sloppy writing. Whenever I start to see, “Well, maybe it’s because of X, Y, or Z strange and unlikely scenarios, because it can’t simply be that they’re winging it and don’t really have a good reason why that happened,” I start to get concerned.
Good show, but I could do without the damn near omnipotent Cylons. They could be a deadly and scary enemy, and still have weaknesses. As it is now, there is no reason that they couldn’t have simply crushed the humans, and I don’t want to have to go to unlikely reasons why they are “letting them live” to explain things.
No offense against you; I get your point. I’m just hoping that things sharpen up a bit in the next few episodes.
It would really be interesting to see , as was speculated upthread, some kind of Cylon factions going on. Or maybe they could be better termed denominations.
I could see how there might be one group which wants to kill all humans (the Bender denomination?), and another that wishes to redeem them through immolation/union.
Which makes me wonder: is there (or will we see) some kind of Cylon leader? (An imperious one, even?*) Right now, Six seems to be in charge.
Well there certainly seemed to be some issues between Caprica Boomer and Caprica Six a few episodes ago.
I have to think that the Cylons are very much herding the humans. The definitely allude to some grand plan.
Really there’s no reason the humans should be able to beat the Cylons. They are machines - they SHOULD be bigger, stronger, faster, smarter. They should have every battle planned like 200 moves ahead. A Cylon fighter should be able to perform at a level that would turn humans to pulp. They should be experts at manipulation because all they would need to do is reference their database of humans reactions to various expressions and mannerisms.
I managed to freeze it with a Dish Network DVR. THere’s only a few frames where you can see the plate, but it consists of a series of six alphanumeric characters (three groups of two), with the “state” DELPHI printed in orange or brown on the top right portion of the plate.
Pretty nice touch. The producers and set designers definitely knew pviewers would be freezing frames. I was just disappointed that Starbuck drove a Hummer with an internal combustion engine (and, from the sound of it, a 1970s-era Chrysler starter.) I would have expected a vehicle that didn’t look so familiar (maybe a Pinzgauer or an Indian/Russian SUV) with an engine that didn’t sound so conventional.
From the looks of things, it seems like the technological level of the Colonies is like that of Earth, circa 2020, except with far more advanced aeronautics.
In the podcast, Moore says they actually spent some time trying to figure out what a Caprica car should look like before saying (essentially) “aw, frack it; just give her a humvee”.
What’s stupid, using a password to make sure the humanoid coming back to camp is actually one of your own people? The Galactica crew already knows that Cylons can look human.
This shit with foiling the Cylons at the last moment (Gaeta getting the jump solution just as the last firewall broke, the last toaster being sent to its Manufacturer just as it was about to get to the control panel) is getting old already. What’s next, defusing the bomb just as the timer reaches 001?
I’m curious what Helo & Starbuck are going to get up to. All last season it was important for Helo & Boomer to move on foot, as stealthily as possible so as not to alert the Cylons.
Now Starbuck shows up and she’s all, “let’s ride in my loud hummer!” Surely that thing will immediately get the attention of every Cylon for miles?
Didn’t Starbuck, (or was it Helo) say, “maybe we can find a Raptor” so they could get off Caprica? I hope the writers aren’t going to suddenly forget that Raptors can’t jump very far.
I’m thinking Boomer’s gonna show up with a better ride, something that seats three a bit more comfortably?
I hope they’re also not going to forget that Caprica is radioactive, and the radiation meds Boomer was giving Helo were more effective than normal anti-radiation meds.
No, what’s stupid is using the SAME EXACT challange / password that the Allies used on D-Day. This ain’t Band of Brothers.
All in all, I don’t really mind the mixing in of conventional Earth with sci-fi. It kind of grounds the show in realism the way that silver jumpsuits and laser dishwashers can’t.
All in all, I would say that Battlestar Galactica doesn’t suck in all the ways that Space: Above and Beyond did.
A few random thoughts. I didn’t watch this one until the repeat last night.
Yea, Balthar’s definitely a few cards short of a deck, and losing cards fast.
Does anyone else think that the “invading toasters” from this ep was a diversion and that the real purpose here was to plant a new cylon spy?
I think there is a split developing amongst the cylons. Specifically, the Boomers are becoming too sympathetic with their human … er … “projects”. Maybe #6 will decide that all the Boomers are a risk and will order them destroyed!
The cylons are herding the humans, alright. From what we’ve seen of Cylon capabilities, the humans should all be dead by now. But herding to what? For what purpose?
I don’t buy the “herding” theory. Don’t get me wrong, they may end up using it, if for nothing else to explain the plot problems. I almost think they used the out of place, “Where are the dead bodies,” discussion last week to answer some people who raised that obvious question.
But the Cylons’ actions have not really been consistent with herding. You do not fire a slew of missiles that would absolutely destroy the human fleet, with the humans only able to jump out of the way with a few nanoseconds to spare, if you are “herding” them. Time and time again, the Cylons have taken actions that would annihilate the humans, but for a last second and unlikely act or intervention that even the Cylons could be uncertain of timing. If your goal is herding, I don’t think you would cut it so that one absolutely minor slip up means total destruction as opposed to meeting your goal.
In other words, I think that herding is a fan attempt to make sense of some increasingly weak story design. I’m starting to get a “soap opera” feel myself, where the writers just fling shit against the wall, and if it doesn’t make sense, they can alway come up with some bogus reason why it was done that way (or let the fans do it for them).
I hate to sound like a broken record, but this series just gets better and better. I thought the “haunted ship” subplot was done incredibly well considering how often it’s been tried in other shows. The human relationships that link various people in the groups just gives added interest.
Starbuck’s little pitstop at her old apt was really cool. The theme music, from her father no less, worked really well in linking the various sub-threads of this episode.
The tragedy on Cobal was not schmaltzy at all, even though it could easily have been. The tension felt real, and the acting made the characters very sympathetic.
“This is the greatest nanosecond of my life! No, THIS one is! THAT one…was…slightly worse.” - Bender
A nanosecond is a long time to a machine. Besides, they never really have a “nanosecond to spare”. It seems that way because the missles and fighters always swarm through the area the Galactica just occupied, but I think in reality they are being held back by the AAA fire.
See I think that’s the thing that’s really well done. Most “evil robots” generally behave like videogame AI - repetitive, slow, easily fooled by stupid tricks. You pretty much always have a sense that the Cylons are in control. They’re always smarter. They always “make the humans look like idiots”. I have to think there’s some sort of grand reason behind it.
Based on Six’s conversation with Balter, I have to assume it’s some sort of blending of hu-mons and cylons.
I almost hate to post this because it gives a crap load of credit to the writers but.
its possible the Cylons are testing the Humans and testing them harshly, if they fail they die. the raiding party? if it succeeds then the humans werent worthy. the virus (however the hell it gets in) same deal. Cylons are like a God in many ways and the one thing they arent is merciful. if you ever read God Emporer of Dune you know what kind of testing I am talking about.
and I’ll restate my opinion that Boomer is the Cylons Judas/Baltar equivilant. I think the Caprica Boomer will show up with a bigger and better ride off planet, and they will meet up with the Galactica on Cobol…the only possible place where the 2 story lines can meet without some stupid ass fluke.
I loved it when Baltar “woke”, looked up, saw Adama, and said “God”. It was just ambiguous enough to be less like a form of address and more like the way you wake with a bad headache.
I laughed seeing that Starbuck’s next great talent is painting. What’s her great talent next episode? Opera? Origami?
I thought the griminess of the fight in the corridors was more realistic than most shows. At first I thought it stupid that the Toasters showed up only after the heroes got settled in. Then I realized that I don’t know how many corridors the humans and the Cylons each had to cross; so that’s okay. Then I wondered why they didn’t just come through the doors and advance while firing. But then that would get their limited invasion force destroye before the mission was complete. So, the fact that the Toaster just dived in “at the end” for hand-to-hand combat seems an appropriate tactic. I just wonder where they store all that ammo?!
This also is my feeling. It is easier to develop relationships from episode to episode (and sadly easier still to ignore them) than it is to develop an all encompasing plot from episode to episode. I mean that if the plot is “Herd Them To Earth To Wipe Out Mankind” then that is hard to advance in each episode. What does seem to fit is that they are harshly testing Mankind. Like the trials of Job (not Steve … then again … 8-)).
Six speaks of all of this happening before and that it will happen again. Mankind created the Toasters “recently” and the Toasters evolved. The Toasters are not talking about what they have personally witnessed over the millenia. So they must be buying into a philosophy. They may see themselves as players in the grand design or as the next step in the evolution of Mankind.
After rewatching, I have a different take on the silly challenge/password scene. I think we may have whooshed ourselves. Tyrol meant it to sound really lame.
See, the Lt. is supposed to be alert, standing guard, but he’s actually just standing there with his thumb up his butt. Baltar walks up right behind him and startles him. Baltar, of all people! What if Baltar had been a Cylon? So while the Lt. is busy, and noisily, pissing all over Baltar’s shoes, Tyrol walks right up behind the Lt. Again.
“Flash.”
“Flash? Uh… oh, thunder!”
Tyrol is right there with a weapon pointing at the Lt. I think that was Tyrol’s way of letting the Lt. know what a frak-head he is.
Back on Caprica, I agree Helo’s explaining what happened to all the bodies might have been worked in a bit more smoothly, but I was still really glad they added it. It shows the writers are paying attention to the message boards, and if enough people harp on the same question like, “where’re all the bodies???” they take note and actually address it.
So I’m going to keep watching the show, enjoying the heck out of the show, and keep right on bitching about things that don’t make sense, in the hope Ron Moore will fix 'em.
