Battlestar Galactica questions, now that I'm caught up

Cafe Society
1

I’ve taken in all of Battlestar Galactica’s 3-1/2 seasons, various webisodes, and the Razor movie over the last 6 months or so, and while some of it is a bit of a blur, I think I’ve got the basics pretty straight. Forgive me if some of this is stuff that has been hashed to death by those of you who’ve been watching from the start, but I just have some things I want to get straight in my head.

Twelve Cylon models, but no Sevens?
What’s up with there being no Cylon Model Seven? Has any reference been given to a boxed model other than the Threes? When they boxed them, there seemed to be precedent, but no one ever said (IIRC), “We’ll do a special on you like we did on the Sevens.”

Along that line of thought, I can’t help but notice that there are twelve Cylon models (with a missing model Seven) and twelve Colonies of Kobol (with a missing colony Earth). Coincidence?

"Only four are with the fleet"
When the Three gets unboxed, she pretty promptly tells us that only four of the final five are “in the fleet” or “with the fleet” presently. Huh? Who was missing? Is this, along with the “like it just came off the assembly line” stuff about Kara’s Viper supposed to suggest that the Kara who came back wasn’t the Kara who went out?

lymphocytic encephalitis
Kills Cylons dead, we were told. But, apparently, not all Cylons, because there’s no indication that Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, or Foster, had any problem with it. I’ve read where Moore claims that the Final Five are “fundamentally different.” Maybe that’s part of the explanation?

Devastated Earth
Upon seeing the Earth they found when they finally got there, I could only think two thoughts, which alternated back and forth in my head. They were: “All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again” and “You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” :slight_smile:

But, I can’t help wondering, along the lines of the first of those thoughts: The humans have arrived at Earth. Some Cylons are with them and the rest are sure to follow. How soon before the Centurians, tinkered with once already and now, Jebus help them, even more so by Baltar, decide that everything non-shiny looks alike to them and just start killing. Doesn’t that just put us basically back where we started in 1978? Short an Imperious Leader, of course, but still.

Discuss?

2

I’m not convinced Xenabot knows the identity of the final Cylon. If I remember the scene in the Temple correctly, she is shown lifting the veils over four of the five…and she apologizes to one, probably Tigh, but then she’s brought back out of the vision thingy before she sees the last face.

3

My interpretation of the “only four are with the fleet” comment was that the fifth was on the Cylon baseship at that moment and not with the human fleet, which narrows down the possibles for the last model to a very few people – IIRC, Baltar, Admiral Adama (my personal pick), President Rosalind, and only a couple more (I can’t remember) were stuck with the Cylons during that sequence.

4

In what episode do they see Earth? I must have missed it.

5

  1. The final Cylon is presumably Number Seven.

  2. Yes, there is stuff intended to imply that the Kara who left is not the Kara who came back. That is probably a red herring, as it is way too obvious and we know Moore likes his clever plot twists. We’ve been told that Kara went to Earth, though – which may be where her shiny new Viper came from. Or not.

  3. That Cylon-killing “virus” always seemed half-thought-out, anyway. But. It only affected Cylons who had models that we know were on the Ressurrection Ship. (if the Final Five had bodies on the Rez Ship, any number of other Cylons could’ve gotten a peek at them.) So it may be that it only effected Cylons hooked up to the ressurrection hub. Or not.

  4. Yeah, pretty much everyone thought that.

My thought is that the Final Cylon is on Earth, actually. It seems we’re being led to suspect that the Cylons actually toasted Earth, not the Earthlings – possibly because Kara led them to Earth. But the whole thing is rather murky, and is what the final half-season is supposed to be addressing, anyway, so the unclarity is deliberate at this point.

erleichda, it’s in the season 4 midseason-finale.

6

Twelve Cylon models, but no Sevens?
there’s no 9, 10, 11, or 12 either. only the traditional cylons have been shown to have numbers so far (1-6, 8). the extra four haven’t been given numbers yet, and the final hasn’t been identified yet. likely they would have made them 1-7 if they’d known in advance that they were going to make the final five of a different sort.

twelve Cylon models (with a missing model Seven) and twelve Colonies of Kobol (with a missing colony Earth). Coincidence?

7 isn’t missing, we’ve just only put a number to the seven conventional cylons, which skip 7 for some reason, but we don’t know how or if the remaining cylons are numbered yet. in any case the 7 wouldn’t be symbolic of earth, since there’s still only 12 cyclons, whereas there’s 12 colonies + 1 lost earth (13). both are 12 though, probably to symbolize the 12 signs of the zodiac which the colonies are named after.

"Only four are with the fleet"
She meant, only four were in the fleet ships, so they didn’t have to worry about turning over the fifth since the fifth wasn’t where they could get to it. we haven’t found out who the fifth is yet. Supposedly she knows, but it remains to be seen. There’s definitely hinting that something is going on with Starbuck, but that she is the final cylon is probably too obvious to be true, as well as having been somewhat counter indicated by the writers outside of the show.

lymphocytic encephalitis
I’ve read where Moore claims that the Final Five are “fundamentally different.” Maybe that’s part of the explanation?

Yep. They seem to be different in several ways.

7

It was the closing scene of the most recent episode. Adama, Roslin, and a few other people are standing on black gravel or something, looking at the ruins of a city.

8

What the heck is up with the web site? A couple of weeks ago, the last four episodes were available for viewing. A couple of days ago, one earlier episode. Today, nothing.

9

Oslo, there was also supposed to be a new clue on www.scifi.com/youwillknowthetruth posted on January 2, but it hasn’t gone up yet. Maybe they’re having website issues?

10

It’s Brooklyn.

11

It’s only a model…

12

Don’t we also hear a geiger counter “geigering” indicating a high level of radiation in the city?

13

My interpretation of the Final Cylon not being in the fleet means that the character is dead. Or at least dead to the fans and the characters. Someone who died throughout the journey but has resurrected on Earth.

This could be
Cally (Oh lord how I hope to frak it is not her).
Ellen Tigh (unlikely).
Admiral Cain (Would be interesting. She did have a love affair with a Cylon much like Tigh did.
Priestess Elosha (Probably the most likely)
Louanne “Kat” Katraine. (This seems very plausible since they showed her picture in the last episode. Kind of like a throw back to her.
Alex Quartararo a.k.a. Lt. Crashdown. (He was killed on Cobalt, Gius shot him in the head before he shot Callie. This is a long shot but I’d love to see em bring someone who hasn’t been thought of in three years back to the front.

And many more characters. So, I think it is quite possible that the last cylon is a character who has died and we have forgotten.

14

Or, the Final Cylon IS Earth…!

How’s that for a Mind-Frakking ending?

Naaah, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, Number Five is… Boxey! (Og help us!)

15

Theres lots of stuff people haven’t really addressed in BSG, the virus and the cylons being in the fleet being just a smaller plot hole.

Nobody seems to have addressed the “origins” issue with the Cylons. Who created them? If there was a split, then how comes the left over cylons don’t even know who the rest of the cylons never mind how the split happened…

Then theres the other 5 models. Do they have the same infrastructure than the seven cylons? Do they have rez ships? What happens if a seven cylon dies in space near a “Five” rez ship. Do they rez in the “Five” rez ship? In which case in what bodies?

Perhaps this is all to be explained in the final season. I get the feeling not…

16

Probably not. The show’s not really about scientifically explaining things, it’s about faith and fear and stuff like that.

If you want logical explanations, you can’t even explaining Cylon resurrection, which appears to defy the speed of light and which would necessitate some sort of transmittal apparatus that the fleshy Cylons don’t have inside them, or else they wouldn’t be physiologically indistinguishable from humans.

Doesn’t bother me.

As to who the final Cylon is, throw a dart. Who’d have thought Blanders was a Cylon? Talk about picking a name out of a hat.

17

With a gieger counter ticking away. Kind of an important detail. :slight_smile:

-Joe

18

How is that supposed to work? We look at the clues and try to figure out what will happen in season 4.5?

19

Or be misled about what will happen, especially who the final Cylon is. I’m not sure how relevant or helpful those clues are going to turn out to be. Time will tell.

20

If you are interested in the origin, go to scifi.com and look up the miniseries coming in dec 2009 titled “Caprica”

It is the origin story of the cylons. Somehow Joseph Adama (played by Esai Morales), the admirals father and legendary civil right attorney, will figure into their origins.

I point that out because way back in season one, one of the Leobons told the president…“Adama is a cylon”.
What if he wasn’t talking about William or Lee…Maybe ZAK?