# Battlestar Galactica Question (Spoilers Warning) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151 "2006-07-12T06:38:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/41 "2006-07-14T18:43:20Z")
This passage leaves me somewhat hopeful: > [@](#): > > Whoever said, made that suggestion was brilliant because it suddenly made all the plot threads you start to come together in a nice, clean line. Suddenly all these disparate elements start to line up and you start to feel that it all has a sort of coherence, it all has resonance. It’s not all random events happening for no reason. And that was something I always wanted, I always wanted a sense of, you know, the “Unified Theory of Galactica” that these things are all relevant and that they may not be apparent why they’re relevant and that maybe you don’t understand why they’re relevant for quite a while, but they do. But they are, they do have meaning and they do all sort of track in together. OK, so maybe up to “Kobol’s Last Gleaming” they hadn’t much of a “Unified Theory of Galactica”, but it sounds like it might have been emerging around the revelation of Hera in the Opera House. It also sounds like R.D. Moore has some fucking absurd notions of what a good idea is supposed to be, but also can at least recongnize when another superior idea comes along and should be favored. That’s certainly not a bad thing. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/42 "2006-07-14T18:53:03Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > R.D. Moore …can at least recongnize when another superior idea comes along and should be favored. That’s certainly not a bad thing. Indeed. Thanks for the time tag in the podcast, tanstaffl. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/43 "2006-07-14T20:01:01Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Dirk Benedict. The Face Man. As God. Was he _high_ when he came up with that? It would explain the Hendrix, anyway. And Starbuck on the original _BG_, don’t forget. > [@levdrakon](#): > > You know, I think these Colonial humans aren’t exactly the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. Most of their technology seems to be Earth-style, circa the 70’s & 80’s. It’s almost as if, these mythical Lords of Kobol were the ones who had the technology, and the understanding of it. Or, humans have grown complacent, since the Cylons went away almost two generations ago. The Cylons knew their technology would have to be at a higher level than what they thought/spied out the Colonies’ tech level was when it came time to attack. The stupid humans thought they had won (or at least managed to force the toasters into a draw), and let their petty politics displace progress. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/44 "2006-07-14T21:28:01Z")
I think they did force the Toasters into a draw, as suggested by the prologue in the miniseries, which suggests both sides suffered great losses. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/45 "2006-07-14T21:35:01Z")
> [@](#): > > **Sean Factotum** :The stupid humans thought they had won (or at least managed to force the toasters into a draw), and let their petty politics displace progress. Also in the mini-series when you see Six enter Baltar’s house for the first time he’s giving an interview about how the ban on research in certain fields of technology is an unwarranted holdover from the Cylon Wars-which might lead us to believe that not only is Galactica a deliberately retro-fitted ship but that in the aftermath of the Cylon War, fear-mongering around the advance of science in certain areas stymied progress on different types of tech. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/46 "2006-07-14T21:47:30Z")
Wouldn’t A.I. be the very sort of tech that led to the Cylon war in the first place? My impression was that particular kinds of technology were associated with fatal consequences. It’s quite possible, however, that post-War colonials might have been suspicious of essentially unrelated forms of technology, sort of like cloning gives some members of German society more heebie-jeebies than the norm. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/47 "2006-07-14T21:50:30Z")
Of course they’re winging it! Almost all writing is “winging it!” Great writers are just really good at it. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/48 "2006-07-14T22:05:42Z")
Well, again, it’s quite inconceivable that a long-running TV show could be mapped out completely from beginning to end, but _BG_ is kind of unique in that there’s an ostensible long term goal (finding Earth) and an explicit reference to a “Plan” being hatched by the baddies. I think we’ve deliberately been given the impression that this is all building up to something, something really big, and eventually we’re going to find out what it is. Once again, we were given the same impression during the course of the X-Files, that somehow we were going to learn all the deep, dark secrets behind the aliens, the men in black, what the Smoking Man was up to, how deep the govt. conspiracy ran. We sort of did, but the execution of the resolution was such crap it was quite clear Carter et al. were just flailing. They didn’t fucking know what the “Truth” was in “The Truth Is Out There”, they just kept heaping on the paranoia and plot twists, milking it and milking it until the concept was so contrived and diluted you not only didn’t give a shit anymore, but were left entirely incredulous at the supposed revelation. I think the reason X-Files ended with a whimper instead of a bang was because there was no defined end. They didn’t know when to quit, and, hence, didn’t, until it was too late to redeem it. I’m hoping quite fervently BG doesn’t end up the same way. I think it’s important that the great writers behind this series _not_ wing it completely, because it’s likely the whole thing will just fizzle out and die long after any of us care rather than build up into some appropriately well-conceived and mind-blowing climax that leaves us, of course, hungry for more, but with no bitterness over ending. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/49 "2006-07-14T22:46:18Z")
> [@](#): > > **Loopydude** :Wouldn’t A.I. be the very sort of tech that led to the Cylon war in the first place? I’m not too sure on what type of tech they specifically banned after the first Cylon wars-no doubt A.I., but since most of the ships aside from Galactica are networked etc., they couldn’t have been too leery of everything (now I want to go back and check what Baltar was giving the interview on prior to the destruction of Caprica!!). I think possibly their tech shortfalls vis-a-vis the Cylons can be attributed to a combination of both First Cylon War leeriness AND the fact that they’re just not great at keeping up tech-wise. After all, Gaeta’s plan to be networked for just a minute allowed the Cylon’s to plant bugs within their system. > [@](#): > > They didn’t fucking know what the “Truth” was in “The Truth Is Out There”, they just kept heaping on the paranoia and plot twists, milking it and milking it until the concept was so contrived and diluted you not only didn’t give a shit anymore, but were left entirely incredulous at the supposed revelation. I think the reason X-Files ended with a whimper instead of a bang was because there was no defined end. They didn’t know when to quit, and, hence, didn’t, until it was too late to redeem it. Oh word. For me also, there’s the delicious satisfaction of knowing it’s going SOMEWHERE, that the mythology is taking some sort of a direction that you can guess at even while you don’t ultimately know what’s going to happen etc… When you’re just heaping bells, whistles, sideplots but there’s no overwhelming purpose or direction to the plot, I inevitably end up getting bored. I mean, I assume each season has it’s own sub-plot, but I’d like it to be linked to some overwhelming arc. If there’s no overarching “plan” for the Cylons…then it’s just like, yeah, 1 episode might be great, another might be crap, eventually the desperation begins to show… It’s the same reason I gave up on Robert Jordan but continue to be a sad-sack Harry Potter fiend. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/50 "2006-07-14T23:50:21Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I’ve always been curious as to how Sharon II told Helo that she had “memories” of the Chief based on Sharon I’s experiences with him. Doesn’t that defy the principal that they aren’t networked copies-that they have to “die” prior to their memories being uploaded into the new clones? Sharon I didn’t “die” until Callie shot her, at which point Sharon II was already in existence-so I thought only the newest Sharons and those back on Caprica would have memories of Sharon’s times with the Chief. Who knows, though, I guess since Sharon I was being remotely controlled somehow they might have been taking her memories as time went on. Resurrecting this question, because this has been bugging me too. Any theories on this one, or is it a plot hole? 'Cause it seems like a big frakking plot hole. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/51 "2006-07-15T00:14:38Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > Resurrecting this question, because this has been bugging me too. Any theories on this one, or is it a plot hole? 'Cause it seems like a big frakking plot hole. When a toaster croaks, it’s RAM goes into the big memory pool in the network, available to every other toaster or all of the same model toasters, I’m not sure which. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/52 "2006-07-15T00:19:50Z")
> [@Alistair McCello](#): > > Slightly off-topice but despite the fact that she is one of my favorite characters in the show I thought that the whole recovery from cancer plot point was a big mistake on the part of the writers. It seemed to completely destroy her position as the prophet/religious zealot which is what made her character so interesting. What, prophets don’t get cancer? ---
**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:** [July 15, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/53 "2006-07-15T00:26:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What, prophets don’t get cancer? The prophecy (their’s work differently than ours ;j ) was that a sick leader would show them the way to Earth and croak. (I seem to be overusing that term this evening.) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/54 "2006-07-15T00:33:18Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > When a toaster croaks, it’s RAM goes into the big memory pool in the network, available to every other toaster or all of the same model toasters, I’m not sure which. But so far as we know, the original Galactica Boomer never croaked, and was thus not able to upload, and share with the other Boomers. If they can upload without dying, then it renders stupid scenes like the ones with Leoben when he says something like, “go ahead and kill me. I’ll just wake up in a new body and when I do, I’ll tell them where you are.” Why bother saying that, if he could voluntarily upload anytime he felt like? ---
**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:** [July 15, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/55 "2006-07-15T00:41:32Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > But so far as we know, the original Galactica Boomer never croaked, I thought she was the one who shot Adama and was in turn killed by Callie? Ellie? the Chief’s GF. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/56 "2006-07-15T00:48:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought she was the one who shot Adama and was in turn killed by Callie? Ellie? the Chief’s GF. That was later though. In the mini-series she left Helo behind on Caprica so they could fit Baltar on board the Raptor and bring him to the Galactica. She hadn’t died yet. The other Boomer shows up to “rescue” Helo and has all the other Boomer’s memories, without the other one having died. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/57 "2006-07-15T01:04:23Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > That was later though. In the mini-series she left Helo behind on Caprica so they could fit Baltar on board the Raptor and bring him to the Galactica. She hadn’t died yet. The other Boomer shows up to “rescue” Helo and has all the other Boomer’s memories, without the other one having died. Hmmm. Maybe she had a carrier pigeon. Maybe she had a message in a bottle. They were obviously making her do things, like dump the water. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/58 "2006-07-15T03:18:15Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > That was later though. In the mini-series she left Helo behind on Caprica so they could fit Baltar on board the Raptor and bring him to the Galactica. She hadn’t died yet. The other Boomer shows up to “rescue” Helo and has all the other Boomer’s memories, without the other one having died. It needn’t be one way or the other - they may download when they die, but _also_ can be downloaded while alive by means of special equipment ( but can’t just broadcast a download ). So deep cover Galactica-Boomer may been programmed to go into a trance and connect with a terrestrial agent once every shore leave. There you could download valuable military intel as well as memory implants to be used to create other Boomer infiltrators. - Tamerlane ---
**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:** [July 15, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151/59 "2006-07-15T03:53:37Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > So deep cover Galactica-Boomer may been programmed to go into a trance and connect with a terrestrial agent once every shore leave. Good point. That solves my problems: They must obey Einsteinian mechanics; signals cannot travel faster than light. If signals cannot travel FTL, Cylon agents on the Colonial fleet cannot send the Cylons their location. Sharon couldn’t send info from a Galactica location unknown to the Cylons; they would be able to attack and destroy the fleet. If her “The Chief I’m Screwing Now” info got to the Cylons and the other Sharon in some “programmed shore leave” situation, the problem is solved. Good job! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-question-spoilers-warning/364151.md?page=2)