BFFL Best Friends For Life

The title of this episode kinds sums it all up - it took a break from the fast action, hard paced plot line and decided to take a break and explore the human condition.

Gaius is definitely delusional - he thinks he's a Cylon -

We have 4 characters in a marriage that shouldn't really be married to one another

We have a makeshift bar created in a battlestar

LSD or some type of hallucinogen is used to interrogate Gaius

Revenge rears it's head with Gaeta looking to take out Baltar

Madam President plays the nice heavy for once

It almost felt like I was watching a prime time soap opera and not my favorite Sci Fi show. Some people may like the exploration of the human condition and after several weeks high impact tension, it's nice to take a little break. But I need tension in my drama. I really don't give a rat's ass about Lee vs Starbuck Lee vs Dualla Starbuck vs Lee Starbuck vs Anders. One too many loopbacks for me.

So, I guess, I wasn't too hot on this episode, I'd rather see more drama.

Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv

It's been a long time since I've actually spoke to my television screen, but Friday night, right after this episode, I said NO! My wife and daughter both turned and looked at me wanting to know what was wrong, I told them that I just saw the last episode of BattleStar until next January, and there's one hell of a cliff hanger! They both laughed at me.

Brief synopsis: The crew is on algae planet harvesting as much food supplies as possible, when the chief senses something in the mountain. He just walks away to go check it out. When he gets to the top of the mountain, he stumbles across a temple with 5 rather large stone edifices pointing upwards. Now this number 5 seems to be very significant not only to the humans but also to the Cylons. There are 5 models we do not know about and the Lucy Lawless character keeps killing herself just to download and "see the faces" of the 5.

Inside this temple, there's an artifact, the eye of Jupiter, which points the way to Earth. Now, it gets really interesting as 4 Cylon base ships show up in search of the eye. Both Baltar and Lucy Lawless have guided the Clylons to this planet as some sort of divine or spiritual quest. As the Cylon's show up, the rest of the fleet jumps out of space, but the Galactica remains. The Cylons do not launch their fighters but rather want to meet with Admiral and President. In one of those moments you knew it was going to happen, bad Sharon tells good Sharon her kid is alive on the base ship, showing that the President lied to her.

The Admiral cuts the negotiation's short by threating to unleash the nuclear weapons destroying the planet. Now a real nice point was made by Dean Stockwell from Quantum Leap fame, wanting to call the humans on their bluff. He basically said, so what, let them blow up the planet, we are machines, we can look forever.

There are so many cliffhangers left open in this episode

• Is Starbuck ok?
  
• Will Lee and Starbuck finally leave their spouses for each other?
• What is the eye of Jupiter?
• Is it that round object on one of the stone edifices?
• Is Baltar a Cylon?
• Will Athena go balastic and revert to her Cylon ways now that she knows her baby is alive?
• Will Baltar and D'Anna make it to the planet?
• Is the Chief a priest?
  
• What about the nuclear weapons?
• Will the sun go supernova and vaporize the entire solar system?

I am sure there are more, but as far as mid season cliff hangers, this one was pretty gosh darn good.

Now my only complaint deals with the return of the show - Sunday evenings starting at 10:00pm. Don't these people know I need my sleep?

Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv

This show was just too good for me to just comment on Big T's excellent post. I echo all of his sentiments, but to me, what makes this show so topical and thought provoking is the marriage between current events and a make believe world.

The landscape of literature is littered with fantasy stories that on the surface are meant to entertain, but if you dig deeper, the symbolism slaps you upside your head. Animal Farm, Gulliver's Travels, A Christmas Carol, the list goes on and on.

In BattleStar, they have a choice to make - wipe out the entire Cylon race with a biological weapon or not. The character that surprised me the most was the President. If you rewind to the beginning of the series, she became President by default, as the entire cabinet was killed by the Cylons. What was her job? Department of Education - a very lofty liberal point of view.

Throughout the progression of the show, Rosaline has now completed transformed herself to a NeoCon and Commander Adama did not want to use biological weapons! What a crazy mixed up world!

I can see the justifications in wiping out the Cylons, the humans created them, but they evolved, now they are the pursuers. But in their evolution from machine to skin jobs, they have taken on human characteristics and even reproduced a half human half Cylon baby. Is this the future of humanity? Is this eternal life we all seek? When skin jobs 'die' they are resurrected again and again.

Why does Roseline want to kill the Cylons? What is she afraid of? Maybe her belief in God might be proven not true?

In the end - the attempt of genocide was was aborted by the captured skin jobs suffocating prior they got near the resurrection ship thanks to Helo. You'd figure it would be him that would do something as he needs to balance the love for his wife, and the reality of what is facing humanity. I think Helo gets it, he understands that both races must coexist.

Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv

I watch a lot of television. I mean a LOT. Over time, I've seen many many science fiction shows, and they have often tried to make some sort of political statement, or highlight real world problems of today, such as racism (anyone remember the Star Trek episode with the black and white man vs. the white and black man? - or was that Lost in Space?).

But I digress. What I was going to say is that in my hundreds of lifetime TV shows, I have never seen a science fiction show treated as seriously as BSG. And the effect is startling. The Sci Fi element of the show is just a happenstance, and one that doesn't really interfere with the believability of anything that happens on the show.

In this most recent episode, the survivors of the human race are faced with the question of whether or not to commit genocide on their enemy. In a show with heavy religious messages sprinkled throughout, the issue is not handled lightly. The emotions of the players on both sides of the issue are palpable.

In the end, the plan to wipe out an entire race is authorized by the President, but short circuited in its execution by the opposition. After the fact, it turns out that the means to commit genocide, a biological weapon, was not created as a weapon at all, but was merely the result of an accidental sneeze 3,000 years ago.

The war depicted in the show is no doubt for the highest possible stakes: survival. The show does a neat job of examining the cost of fighting such a war, in terms of changing morals, damaged psyches and religious beliefs.

Even if you don't dig sci fi, this could be a show well worth watching.

Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv

Torn was one of the more stronger episodes for me. Baltar might think he's a Cylon, the Cylons are now searching for earth, we know know there are 5 models of Cylons they don't like to talk about - more on that later - we see a Cylon that controls the spaceship with her mind. Didn't the scene of her laying in the liquid pod all connected kinda remind you of a cross between the Matrix pods and the Minority Report pre-cog?

We have a morale issue between the fighter pilots and the survivors from New Caprica. Commander Adama handles it quite well. The two big shit disturbers are Starbuck and Commander Tigh. Adama walks in, asks for Starbucks sidearm, makes sure there is a round chambered and tells them to shoot him. He basically called them out either shut up and get your head out of your asses or just end it. Starbuck decides to get back into the game whereas Tigh finds comfort in his bottle.

Back to the 5 other models of Cylons we don't know anything about. Time for some theories here. My first theory has to do with Alien Resurrection. Remember Sigourney Weaver and all of the botched attempts in cloning her? I think the Cylons don't like to talk about the other 5 models as they are probably failed attempts of flesh bots. Or, at Big T added, maybe the 5 other 5 models are not self aware that they are Cylons so, they haven't been able to show themselves. Remember how the first Sharon didn't know she was a Cylon until a program kicked off in her head?

Again, this is a very strong show with great parallels to what's happening today around us politically and socially. Can't wait until next week when they deal with ethic (Cylon) cleansing.

Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv

What a rescue mission! The plan was very well executed, explosions to create confusion, the rebels attack the detention center, and in one of the most wildest rescue stunts, the Galactica drops down in a low altitude burn and launches its vipers then jumps into hyperdrive. Very cool for you special effects geeks.

So, the story has evolved, and now it is back to its original thread, staying one step ahead of the Cylons in outer space. People have changed though, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Starbuck is twisted now as the child she thought was hers is not.

Saul Tigh is messed up as he had to give his wife a don't wake up cocktail

Apollo is messed up as he sacrificed Pegasus.

One real drama thread put into place is the Cylons taking Boomer's baby. Sharon thinks her child is dead, but this may come back to haunt the fleet.

Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv