As for the “superior strength”, it’s superior, not “super”. That is to say, they are still within the realm of a highly fit human, not a superhuman cyborg like the Terminator. When Starbuck fights a Six on Caprica, she gets her ass kicked but eventually wins with a bit of luck. Same with Adama vs a “Leoben” (IIRC). You don’t see Cylons punching through steel bulkheads or ripping humans limb from limb.
The problem with them ever finding Earth is that they use so many props and wardrobe and other conventions that we recognize from contemporary Earth that there would be no way for the viewers to reconcile that in their heads. “Hey! You guys use Humvees and Heckler-Koch machineguns too! And you call your Presidential spacecraft Colonial One, just like our Air Force One! Wowee!”
Here’s another big problem:
So humans built machines (and an AI presumably) so advanced that we are supposed to believe that they could do miraculous things with biology; but those very same humans can’t figure out a cure for breast cancer.
Here’s another - Humans are so advanced they travel between the stars, but they don’t bother keeping records or maps of where they’ve been!! They have these advanced travel capabilities but the existence of important planets is in the realm of mythology and hearsay… Even the Polynesians did better than that without written language.
The show should do a better job of explaining exactly why this advanced society can’t find its way around the galaxy.
There’re some escalating improbabilities in the BSG universe that are starting to irritate me.
a. The sick toddler who needs to be examined by a human doctor. Um…the Cylons were supposedly able to engineer replicants identical to humans, but can’t handle basic medical care? That seems unlikely unless their solution to every disease is to simply let the replicant die and download. Which seems terribly inefficient.
b. Why all this mystical weirdness about the five unseen Cylon models? Why would every Cylon know there were 12 if they haven’t seen the other five? Why are there only 12 models – is producing them a lost art? Weren’t they about to use Starbuck to produce a new model a couple of seasons ago?
c. This deal about Cylons being nearly indetectable from humans is really irritating me. We know that certain kinds of radiation kills the Cylons while proving apparently harmless to humans. How hard would it be to replicate that environment?
The general mysticism also annoys me. Why would Tyrel (?) be drawn to the temple on the planet. Were the original settlers of the 13th colony space travelers or freaking wizards?
(And, btw, with algae planet all blowed up, what are they going to be eating now, eh?)
Finally, it’s becoming more of a challenge to find even one character on the show that I even like, much less care what happens to. OK, I get the whole “flawed but noble” vibe, but do they have to make all the characters so flawed and angsty?
I’m ordinarily the farthest thing from the “spoiler police” you can imagine, but…I hope this isn’t plot information about last night’s episode, because I haven’t seen it yet. Woulda been nice if you’d masked it.
Well, the problem is that they just said the colonists discovered the planet with it’s supernova sun (and doesn’t the supernova process take millenia anyway?) about 4000 years ago in show time. We have to assume they colonized Earth prior to any record of human civilization. That basically means that once if they get to Earth, it would have to be like 100,000 years ago.
I presume they colonized an Earth that already had an indigenous people and began one of the higher civilizations. Maybe they lost their computers and stuff en route.
Of course, you are thinking logically instead of Ron Moore like: “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”
At the end of the last episode it was pointed out that the sun was going to go nova shortly. It would have been incredibly naive to assume that this wouldn’t happen by the end iof this episode.
As for what they can eat now, seems like they would just grow more of the algae since they now have a good source onboard. The old supplies were contaminated, IIRC.
I’m starting to see the current batch of known cylons as being terribly naïve. Maybe the ‘final five’ were actually the creators of the human models we’ve come to know, and set them up with the mission of taking out the colonies—fulfilling God’s will and…what? They don’t seem to know, and are starting to question the whys and whats of their own actions.
I have a hard time picturing any of the current models as being designers of the others, but the idea that the current 7 were put together by the unknown five separates them and begins to explain the seven’s (not Number 7…whoever he or she may be) inability to do anything very well since the initial attacks. The entire cylon race as we know it may have been programmed by the unknown models to carry out their agenda, much like Sharon (Boomer—The sleeper agent) was programmed to carry out an agenda which was not her own.
This could be a set up to make the real villains the unknown 5 cylons, who masterminded everything our cylons have done up till now.
Or I could have no idea what the hell I’m talking about.
My own take on the issues brought up here:[ul][]Humans were originally subjects of an alien race, who were the “Lords of Kobol” to them. When humanity left Kobol and founded the Colonies, one group of people went their own way and ended up on Earth. Alternately, the aliens originally scooped humanity from Earth and made up the story of the 13th colony (although why they’d need to lie about that would be a script-writing dilemma).[]Cylons have advanced cloning technology beyond what the Colonies had, but apparently are only able to assemble duplicates of the original source (no “test tube” babies growing from fetus to adulthood). They do not have enough genetic diversity amongst the 12 models they have for a viable population, so they need to “cross-breed” with humans (which are their biological origins anyway) in order to perpetuate the species. What makes a Cylon Cyloni is not their genetic heritage, but rather the manipulation and enhancements that they have gone through. Presumably these changes are genetically inheritable (and hopefully dominant), which is why they need to cross-breed.[*]Wasn’t there some throw-away line to the effect that “isn’t it sad we can travel between stars but still can’t cure cancer?” I don’t remember for certain.[/ul]Of course, ICHNIWITA either. Certainly, it takes a bit of mental gymnastics to reconcile these ideas with the actual portrayals on the show. Sometimes, I give waaaaaay too much credit to the screen writers.
Baltar is (even now) the Fleet’s leading Cylon-detection expert. How can he be uncertain as to whether he himself is a Cylon or not?!
And what’s this about Cylons seeking the “Final Five” humanoid Cylons? Why don’t they know what those look like? If they don’t know, who does?! There doesn’t seem to be any Imperious Leader . . .
Here’s an idea: The “Thirteenth Tribe” was simply the whole of surviving humanity, which left Earth following some disaster that made it uninhabitable (sometime in our future), and colonized Kobol. Which explains why the Colonial culture is full of recognizable contemporary elements.
But that wouldn’t account for the Colonials worshipping Greek gods . . .
