[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF]
On a possibly related note, Here is the map Lee was looking at at the beginning of the episode.
[/QUOTE]
I was a bit confused by this. The Colonial’s “Book of Pythia” has detailed information about a temple that was built on Earth? I had thought that they had little or no knowledge about Earth at all; that it was barely one or two lines mentioned in their holy books. Sort of the way Genesis mentions things in passing with no further info.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
-
They never find Earth at all. Lame.
-
They get to Earth, and…
A. It’s our past.
[indent]i. Recent past, geologically speaking. Star-Trekky story about Napoleon or Rome or something. Lame.
ii. Ancient past: dinosaurs etc. Serlingesque story about Cylon and Human acting as Adam and Eve. Lame.
B. It’s our present. That is, Galactica 1980. Supremely lame.
[/indent]Which leaves…
C. It’s our future.
[indent]i. Powerful high-technology future. Our heroes are largely irrelevant in such a world. Potentially interesting, but probably unsatisfying.
ii. Post apocalyptic. Isolated tribes, or no survivors. Potentially interesting, but a major anticlimax and letdown for a series finale.[/indent]
As levdrakon asks: What else could they have done? I don’t really see any other plausible outcomes for their quest. It’s not exactly predictable, because we don’t know which item will be picked, but it’s multiple choice, so it’s not unpredictable either. And as the series neared its conclusion, speculation about this mystery would have become enormously distracting. We know they’re going to get to Earth, so what do they find? Everything else becomes secondary, merely filler and padding to delay the inevitable.
[/QUOTE]
Dammit, I want a happy ending to this. Not puppies and rainbows happy because that’s BSG80, but defined by the humans and the Cylons who wish to come along with them find a home and flourish, and the Caviliers are blown to interglalactic dust.
I could have handled the earth civilization in ruins a lot easier if the scene wasn’t sterile and ticking, and there were a couple of survivor descendents to be found.
In other musings, Tigh proved what a big pair of brass ones he has, by coming out AND by suggesting to Adama that he be potentially sacrificed to call D’Anna’s bluff. A fleet man to the end, contrasted by Tory going over to the other side. But this has been discussed before.
[QUOTE=VunderBob]
But this has been discussed before.
[/QUOTE]
And it will be discussed again.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
…
Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect move. As Troy McClure says, they rushed past a whole lot of stuff. Consider, for just one example, all the dramatic meat that could have been chewed when the rest of the fleet discovered that the military man who has been in charge of everything, not just once but twice (and, his first time up, supervised the massacre of angry protesters), is a Cylon. And then Acting President Adama decides to roll over and join forces with them. By all rights, this should have seriously fractured the fleet. How many ships arrived at their destination? How many said “aw, frak this” and bailed out? And that’s hardly the only thing that got glossed over by putting the story on fast forward.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I don’t Tigh’s true nature would have been that big of a deal. Yes, he frakked up with the massacre way back when. But since then he’d been the de facto leader of the Resistance on Caprica, imprisoned and tortured by the Cylons. His cred is probably still running pretty high. Enough that his being secretly a Cylon would’ve provided fodder for conspiracy theories and whisper campaigns, but by this point probably not enough for the fleet to revolt or schism. Heck, they’ve gotten used to Athena as a Cylon loyal to humanity willing to betray her own kind. It just doesn’t seem like new enough ground for spending more plot time on.
What they really had needed to spend more plot time on this season was Lee’s character arc. Baltar’s arc had barely enough time to show his change. But Lee got tossed into the sub Presidency as part of a B-storyline with Romo Lampkin. If they were going to show the fleet’s reaction, I’d be more interested in what probably looked like a coup de etat in Zarek’s removal from power in favor of the neophyte Quorum member who happens to be the Admiral’s son…
There’s still a chance to get some of this covered in flashback, or at least referenced in the final episodes. But right now, RM is looking like Melvin-bait.
Especially if his deus ex machina really is!
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
(Snip)By all rights, this should have seriously fractured the fleet. How many ships arrived at their destination? How many said “aw, frak this” and bailed out? And that’s hardly the only thing that got glossed over by putting the story on fast forward.
[/QUOTE]
In regards to this, if ships wanted to bail out, where are they going to go? They have been promised Earth as a new home for so long, what other choice do they have? Where else could they go?
And even if they did decide to leave, Cavil & company are still out there, and without Galatica, they have basically no defense. Am I right? Perhaps there should have been more bitching about this, but still, I think they are all in this together at this point.
Hey, just thought I would give a heads up to anyone who hasn’t yet seen Jane Espenson’s letter, posted over on TV Squad:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/06/16/jane-espenson-on-battlestar-galacticas-mid-season-finale/
[QUOTE=miamouse]
I was thinking that she was the harbinger of true death to the cylons, since they are now mere mortals.
[/QUOTE]
But the male Hybrid said “She will leave the human race to it’s end, they must not follow her.”
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
But the male Hybrid said “She will leave the human race to it’s end, they must not follow her.”
[/QUOTE]
But then the female hybrid said “You will leave *them all * to their end,” right? And after talking about the Cylons, 3 will give you the Five, etc.
Maybe she will lead them both to their “ends,” whatever that means…
[QUOTE=Jillyvn]
Hey, just thought I would give a heads up to anyone who hasn’t yet seen Jane Espenson’s letter, posted over on TV Squad:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/06/16/jane-espenson-on-battlestar-galacticas-mid-season-finale/
[/QUOTE]
A rather large speculative leap follows, based on something fairly strongly implied by what Espenson says in this link; she doesn’t come right out and say it, but it can be read between the lines, so I’m hiding it:[spoiler]This might not really be Earth.
If that turns out to be the case, I’ll be frankly disappointed. I think revealing Earth at this point in the story is exactly the right move, for the narrative-structure reasons I gave above. They can save the Final Cylon mystery for the last episode, but making this last episode a fakeout and holding back the multiple-choice-revelation about Earth would be a major mistake, I think.[/spoiler]
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
A rather large speculative leap follows, based on something fairly strongly implied by what Espenson says in this link; she doesn’t come right out and say it, but it can be read between the lines, so I’m hiding it:[spoiler]This might not really be Earth.
If that turns out to be the case, I’ll be frankly disappointed. I think revealing Earth at this point in the story is exactly the right move, for the narrative-structure reasons I gave above. They can save the Final Cylon mystery for the last episode, but making this last episode a fakeout and holding back the multiple-choice-revelation about Earth would be a major mistake, I think.[/spoiler]
[/QUOTE]
Most certainly not spoiler box-worthy, but:It’s earth. Got to be. Otherwise, they need to explain yet another planet with evidence of an advanced civilization having lived on it.
[QUOTE=miamouse]
I cheated. Scifi had the ep running all day on the site. So should I be sitting on my hands or what?
[/QUOTE]
Where the hell is it? Do they take the latest ep. down after the first night? The latest I can see on scifi.com is “The Hub.” I’m dying to re-watch the ending scene.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
A rather large speculative leap follows, based on something fairly strongly implied by what Espenson says in this link; she doesn’t come right out and say it, but it can be read between the lines, so I’m hiding it
[/QUOTE]
Where does she strongly imply what you claim? I reread the letter than I don’t see it at all.
[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
I reread the letter than I don’t see it at all.
[/QUOTE]
Nor I. She just waxes eloquent on how cool the show is.
[QUOTE=JayRx1981]
OMG, Kara Thrace appeared from a wormhole in Earth’s orbit. Her appearance triggered all the nuclear powers to think they were all being attacked and to nuke each other. They all died. Later, BSG showed up to a nuked planet Earth. Kara was the Harbinger of Death who destroyed Earth!
What, it’s no more hairbrained than Dualla being a Cylon, frack it. 
[/QUOTE]
Actually, what if you’re only kind of wrong? Kara was the harbinger of death for Earth, because Cavill followed her to 20th century earth and wiped out all the helpless earthlings?
-Joe
Could someone summarize the specific differences between humans and Cylons?
Of course the big thing was the resurrection capabilities and retained memories, but that is no longer the case. They’re emotional and make stupid mistakes based on those emotions. Some are power hungry. Some are loving and loyal while others are purely science and bottom line. So like humans. What is the difference?
[QUOTE=running piglet cheese]
Could someone summarize the specific differences between humans and Cylons?
[/QUOTE]
I’ll take a shot at this. These are the ones I came up with off the top of my head:
Cylons were created by humans. The skin jobs were made sometime in the last 4 decades. There are possibly billions of identical copies of them on the Colonies. All the members of one model at least used to be all of the same mind; they seem to have the same basic personality template. They have been programmed (not to think about the Final Five, not to know they’re Cylons, to commit acts of violence they wouldn’t commit if they weren’t programmed).
They cannot reproduce sexually (with humans or other Cylons, since the Final Five can apparently impregnate both other Cylons and humans) unless their partner loves them or they love their partner. This is why they haven’t reproduced on a large scale outside cloning.
Cylons can stick lowjacks in their arms when they need to communicate with the mother ship. Sharon did it that one time, at least.
Hmmm, well if it’s not Earth, then it must be a hydrated and (formerly) colonized Mars.
Right solar system…wrong planet??
[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Where does she strongly imply what you claim? I reread the letter than I don’t see it at all.
[/QUOTE]
Okay, maybe I’m overstating, based on the introduction where the writer talks about the specific questions asked of Ms. Espenson. She addresses most of them at least indirectly, but skips over the one I’m referencing. That was either an oversight or an omission.
And for the record, I don’t think there’s anything to my speculation. Just !!!-ing a bit. I’m better now. 
[QUOTE=running piglet cheese]
Could someone summarize the specific differences between humans and Cylons?
Of course the big thing was the resurrection capabilities and retained memories, but that is no longer the case. They’re emotional and make stupid mistakes based on those emotions. Some are power hungry. Some are loving and loyal while others are purely science and bottom line. So like humans. What is the difference?
[/QUOTE]
What Moore has said, the twelve Cylon models were based on the Cylons saying “listen, when you look at all you humans, there’s basically only twelve types of you all.”
The twelve skinjob models are supposed to embody human archetypes. So it is no surprise that Eights are loving and loyal, or that Ones are cynical. That is how they were made.