Robert, er, Richard Hatch.
Except my money will always be on Starbuck/Roslin/Adama. When they finally quell this ridiculous mutiny, airlocking will be the least of your worries. Just hope Brother Cavil doesn’t show up in the meantime and force you to admit that your enemies were right, just before he destroys humanity.
They’ve done it before. On New Caprica, for instance, after sharing a doobie. And, it has been implied, at several times since, while Laura was on a sleepover on Galactica.
In fact, now that Starbuck isn’t fracking everything in pants, she’s got the most-active sex life we’ve seen. Aside from Baltar, of course.
A gripping, thought-provoking episode. I especially liked that the atmosphere of impending doom kept building and building but was punctuated by the occasional moment of humor – the laundry list, for instance, and Adama’s “sometimes I hate this job.”
Another wonderful thing about this show: Everyone was wrong to some degree, but everyone was acting in completely human, understandable ways. Adama is too proud and too tired to play diplomat. Roslyn is heartbroken and looking for solace. Zarak is greedy for power but has raised a genuine issue. Gaeta is angry after years of loss and pain, ready to lash out at anyone.
I do have one problem with the show, and with some of the posters in this thread. I think that we, the viewers, know the Cylons are human in their way and that some (Tyrol, Tigh) are extremely sympathetic, but that there’s not enough emphasis on the fact that for the average Galactica character Cylons are nothing but inhuman murderers. Forgive the analogy, but a Galactica-Cylon alliance would seem like thousands of Nazis showing up at Israel’s founding and demanding to become trusted citizens.
The nurse in this one is the same nurse who saved Adama’s life after he was shot by Boomer. I remember listening to the commentary on the season 1 DVD’s where they pointed out that that is Jamie Bamber’s (Apollo’s) real life wife. I thought that was interesting.
This episode was interesting mostly because it is setting up a mutiny. I used to like Gaeta but I knew that he was hiding something when he stabbed Baltar in the throat. Then I knew he was a worm when he lied on the stand at Baltar’s trial. But the truth is - he’s totally correct in this case! The Cylons did nuke the 12 colonies. They tried to have a peace with them on New Caprica which was actually an imprisonment. Gaeta’s 8 admitted in the shuttle that the Cylon’s are looking out for their own self interests and will kill humans when needed. From a viewer’s perspective I want to believe that these Cylon’s are different, but if I was actually in the fleet I’d believe Gaeta and Zarek and want to end all alliances and contact with every Cylon in the fleet. Zarek and Gaeta are slimy and self serving, but that’s better than what the Cylons are.
Yeah, but seeing your sprog on ultrasound for the first time does make you feel crazy mushy sentimental things. I loved that scene, it was so…human. “I can’t see it.” “It’s right there, see?!” “I still don’t see it.” Ultrasound technicians must hear that conversation 50 times a day!
Doesn’t the destruction of the resurrection ship go any way to engendering good will here? These Cylons rebelled against their own people, and in doing so, leveled the playing field for humans. In fact, until the Six/Tigh baby, Cylons were a dead race, unable to reproduce, because of the actions of these rebels. That’s a pretty huge concession, don’t you think?
Are they saints? No. There are screwed up, murderous Cylons among them. There are also screwed up, murderous humans. They are all that’s left of their respective races, and they I think humans will deny these Cylons at their own peril, considering what they have to offer. IF the FTL technology makes the difference between the human race’s continued survival and its extinction, would you still agree with Zarek and Gaeta?
Would Earth really be uninhabitable 2000 years after a nuclear attack? Even today on Earth people live in places that had been destroyed by atomic weapons only decades earlier. I know nuclear weapons put out more radiation but after 2000 years that should have dropped to little more than what is normal background. Some life would have survived the attack in out of the way places and by this point in the show should be plentiful.
I suspect the only group of people who’ve ever come close to ultrasound techs in hearing this is book store clerks back during the height of the “magic eye” phenomenon.
Adama will probably turn out right, but why would the Quorum believe that? As far as they know, the rebel Cylons are only using the humans for help in an internal dispute and when that’s over, they’ll go back to their human killing ways. I find it completely plausible they’d fight Adama over a permanent alliance.
Destroying the resurrection ship was in their best interests in their own civil war and they needed the guns and fighters of the humans to do so. Having a shared enemy doesn’t make them allies.
The lesson from the shuttle is that wanting something to be true doesn’t make it true. The Cylons have twice shown (Caprica and New Caprica) that they do not have the interests of humanity at heart. Gaeta truly believes that this alliance will be shortlived and any technology they accept from Cylons will ultimately be used against them.
Gaeta is completely correct, even if it is because he is over compensating for his past failures.
There were plants growing.
You’re likely right, but we don’t really know for sure what the long term results of a really gigantic, global thermonuclear holocaust wouold be, so it’s not a real stretch by the standards of fiction to propose that a planet might be inhospitable after 2,000 years. We don’t know enough to be certain.
I think they offered the destruction of the resurrection ship in return for human help in fighting Cavil. Like I said, a pretty enormous concession for a race that can’t reproduce sexually.
My take on the lesson of the shuttle is that Felix Gaeta is possessed of a truly staggering capacity for denial. The name of the webisode was Face of the Enemy. The enemy’s face is in the mirror for Felix, but we’ve seen that he becomes murderous at the thought of his own failings. While I can certainly understand doubts about Cylon sincerity, they seem to be misplaced in this case.
Obviously, I disagree that he is “completely correct.” He has a valid viewpoint, but is pursuing it in the wrong way for the wrong reasons.
My biggest problem with this episode was the pace; some here have called it “slow” or “off,” but I would argue the best adjective is “indulgent.” It’s the first installment written and directed by series creator Ron Moore, and the opening moments (with Adama hanging out in his quarters, reviewing paperwork, clearing his throat) are a pretty clear demonstration that Moore, as head honcho, gets to do stuff nobody else gets to do. The whole hour was very deliberately paced; it’s a valid choice, considering that a whole lot of plot threads are being introduced or played out, and none of them is being paid off or terminated. The hour was about tightening the screws, setting up the conflicts, and piling up the potential avalanche at the top of the hill. As such, the mounting dread, the twisting motivations, everything worked. Nevertheless, this episode didn’t have the same heart-stopping intensity as when the show is at its best, and based on other responses here I’m not the only one who felt it.
That said, I love the fact that there is so much strenuous argument about the direction and meaning of the story, and the motivations of the characters. The show has no clear heroes or villains, and no clear answers about the right course for these people, so the tangled confusion and lack of direction being felt in the show’s world is mirrored by our debate. That, to me, is the mark of a confident and interesting show.
I mean, that closing shot, with Adama and Roslin together: it’s something viewers have been waiting, even aching for, for years, but it’s not a purely good development; it’s not unstained by complication and darkness. Roslin is not getting herself together: she’s giving up, withdrawing, taking care of herself and turning her back on the world. She is embracing death, and taking advantage of small, transient comforts in her waning days. She may be happy, but her abdication of responsibility may very well lead to the disintegration of the fleet, and the destruction of humanity. There are echoes of Tigh’s poisoning of his wife: for a season and a half, we hated Ellen, and wanted her to die – but then her end brought us to tears. Here, Adama and Roslin finally get together, and it’s not a wholly positive turn.
One of the persistent themes of BSG: be careful what you wish for. It’s as true for the characters as it is for us, as viewers.
Man, I love this show.
If it kept up the intensity any longer, our hearts would stop and their viewership would all be dead, so I think it’s a valid choice.
What I liked about this episode was the undercurrent of doom just seeping into everything, including, as you noted, the Lauradamarama. At first, it seems that all of this infighting is ridiculous, but then we’re reminded yet again that the shadow of a dead Earthican Paradise looms as large as ever. This strange coalition is about to burst at the seams, but everyone is too caught up in their own personal issues (be it pure despair [Roslin], a need to lash out [Gaeta], a chance for power [Zarek], fatigue [Adama] etc.) to really pull the fleet together and focus on the new goals of dealing with the Cavilcade and finding a new home. It’s all so human, and the tragedy of it is that it may be their downfall.
When Tigh first started banging her, he saw his dead wife’s face instead of hers. It’s icky, sure, but it makes sense.
Richard Hatch spent much of the intervening years trying to get the series revived - he even paid for a pilot episode that I’m told makes the rounds of SF conventions. He was a bit put out over the reimagined production we have now, but was given a role in it to appease him. Hey, it worked, even if it’s a little weird to hear him address someone else as “Apollo”.
What happens if the Fleet does manage to find another habitable planet? As long as Cavil’s out there they’d just be trapping themselves like they did on New Caprica.
Oh and it wasn’t a full pilot Hatch commisioned. It was more like a trailer. I don’t even know if he had an actual script, but he did an outline and bactstory set up.
I found it a very meaty episode filled with lots of gristle to gnaw on. I’ve been dying to see movement on most of the plot threads Moore used this ep.
The only thing missing is development on the Cylon fleet side, but damn, there isn’t time for everything.
Gaeta was a Baltar worshipper from the beginning, and he’s on his way towards overtaking Baltar as evil twat of the fleet. Too bad he had to go that way after the webisodes, but that appears to be the way it is.
Poor Hoshi. Hope he doesn’t pull a Dee after Gaeta’s twat-itude.
Cottle is, and always has been, completely awesome. He’s presumably will always be so.
Anyways, as for the FTL upgrades, it’s clearly a military issue and anyone arguing otherwise is just not paying attention. Let’s say half of the fleet (including Galactica) gets upgraded, and half don’t. You’re now looking at a situation pretty much identical to the FTL/Non-FTL situation from the miniseries. Should the ships that were upgraded stick around to die with the ones who refused to upgrade their ships? Was there a good reason not to perform the upgrade? Nope, just racism.
[quote=RubyStreak**Doesn’t the destruction of the resurrection ship go any way to engendering good will here? These Cylons rebelled against their own people, and in doing so, leveled the playing field for humans. In fact, until the Six/Tigh baby, Cylons were a dead race, unable to reproduce, because of the actions of these rebels. That’s a pretty huge concession, don’t you think?[/quote]
And I assume I’m not the only one who noticed the look on her face when all of that was being covered. She’ll be on Zarek’s side when the time comes.
Besides, being able to survive there would be one thing. Gestating the next generation with a high radiation count could be quite something else.
-Joe
Maybe I missed them saying this, but doesn’t the FTL upgrade mean that they vastly improve their chances of running from the Cavilcade (love it) successfully? The advantage the Cylons have had in the past was that they could cover more space when searching, right?