Battlestar Galactica: Season 4

Is it just me or have the first two episodes been as boring an empty as possible??

 

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No. I've enjoyed them.

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~String

 

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Disorganized thoughts

Well, I should probably throw my two cents in before I get around to the next episode. Although I won't be seeing it until Sunday.

To work with some elements already discussed:

• Dee's suicide — It is inevitable that someone would check out after finding the Earth devastated. Why Dee? As a character sketch, I couldn't tell you. As a plot device, though ... well, yeah. She's one of the foremost secondary characters. And, although I wouldn't necessarily put money on it, if they're playing a sleight of hand with the final Cylon—and I'm pretty sure they are—we might make a note of the manner in which she shot herself. Yes, her changed attitude—and wasn't she humming?—is a significant event in terms of any progression toward suicide. But even so, the lack of deliberation, the automatic motion of the act, makes me wonder. Pretend for a moment that she is the final Cylon. Perhaps she cannot emerge without this. Sort of a metamorphosis and eventual resurrection, since the writers have a penchant for mixing mythology. Like I said, though, I wouldn't put money on it.

• Earth — When we saw the Earth at the end of Season 3, it looked like the Earth we know and recognize. If it's not the real Earth, then what is it? And where is Slartibartfast? Considering String's question about the importance of Earth, I'd say their cages are just rattled right now. Kobol and the Algae Planet are out because, as Madanthonywayne mentioned, there's still a bunch of Cylons who want to wipe out humanity; best to not go back where they might be found. The continuing significance of Earth probably has to do with the fact that they've reached what they think is the end of the line and found only heartbreak. Were I Adama, I would rally the troops and begin scouring the planet and solar system for any sign that survivors set out from the wrecked Earth, and where any remnants of the Thirteenth Tribe might have gone. Furthermore, knowing that the Thirteenth Tribe was Cylon—something that almost, but doesn't quite, make sense right now—seems to suggest that in order for humanity to be secure, it must also be whole. The Colonies and the Cylons will have to reconcile.

• Final Cylon — I don't want to believe it's Ellen. From a writing standpoint, it seems a bit out of left field, even though they might well have telegraphed the issue when she first appeared in the series. So if Saul is right, and his wife is the final Cylon, the writers have dug themselves a hole to work their way out of. And I don't think it's Kara. It would be too simple, given what they've shown us, to run the next nine episodes that way. And it's not like these writers have shied away from challenges. (Okay, the boxing episode was a bit of a waste, but life goes on.)

• Cylon test — They do have a test that works. Baltar's test did work. To the other, they also have samples to compare the terrestrial remains to. And I'm not sure there's a point to re-testing the whole fleet; Deanna said there were only four of the Five in the fleet. There are no more to find until something changes. Looking back to a point I made about the Earth, the final Cylon must be somewhere. I would propose that when you find that Cylon, you will find what's left of the Thirteenth Tribe.

• Cylons as originators — I'm not sure what to think of Flem's theory. What I can't figure out yet is the design of the wrecked toaster centurions; was that a genetic or cultural memory? In general, how the organic Cylons fit into the genetic scheme is a bit of a puzzle right now. The universal-donor aspect of Cylon blood is important here; intuitively I'm drawing a blank, because it could suggest the Cylons as either a point of origin or a generic end product. But the idea that Colonials and Cylons can reproduce together does suggest a species link (e.g., Thirteenth Tribe). Did the Twelve descend from the one? I don't think enough time passed.

• Kara Thrace — Don't know what to think. I don't think she's the final Cylon, but beyond that, I really don't know what to think.​

And now ... some (more) speculation. Somewhere on Battlestar Wiki (I'm not sure what episode), "spoiler" information informed that they did some filming at Simon Fraser University, which was used for the marketplace scene when Six killed the baby in the miniseries. The suggestion is that it has to do with a vision or memory of Laura Roslin's. So it may well be that she is the dying leader of prophecy, and that in her last moments she will provide the answer to the whereabouts of the Thirteenth Tribe. And she may, in that moment, emerge as the final Cylon. There is, in the trailer footage prior to the premiere, a scene of Roslin announcing, "I will destroy you all!" Could this be one of her own distant memories, perhaps related to the Terran cataclysm?

At any rate, I'm out of this one until Sunday night at least. Enjoy.

(Oh, and I think Caprica will get a pilot plus three episodes, and then another three, at which time the project will be scrapped for poor ratings.)

(Update: I should mention that I was glancing through the Battlestar Wiki, and they, at least, are acknowledging Ellen Tigh as the final Cylon.)

(Update II: I didn't read far enough. Ronald Moore has confirmed Ellen Tigh as the final Cylon. Click the link above, see "Official Notes".)

 

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I don't recall how many people Baltar's test was run on, but I can't believe that any general testing wouldn't have included Tigh! Or the chief. Yet it seems to have missed them as well as all the other cylons in the fleet except Boomer.

 

Why couldn't the Cylons have had the technology to make it work? It seems logical. They are more advanced.

~String

 

I'm not disputing that the Cylons have such a test, I'm just questioning how well Baltar's test worked since it only seemed to have detected Boomer. Perhaps his test only worked for the "new" models, not the final five?

 

So we're the Cylons and the humans are...not us, then. Or is this a parallel world thing?

 

That's a good point with respect to the whole "earth" question. It could be that mankind, having built Cylons that were virtually indistinguishable from humans except that they could be resurrected, decided to upload their consciousness to Cylon bodies thereby granting themselves virtual immortality. That is, until a nuclear war occured that killed everyone at once.

Or, maybe the Cylons wiped out humanity on earth long ago. You'll note that the present generation of robots (I'm talking about in the real world), far from being built with Asimov's Rules of Robotics, are being built by the military specifically to kill humans! We've got literally thousands of robots patroling the ground and the sky in Iraq and Afghanistan, all programed to kill. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=robotics-prof-sees-threat-in-robots

Or, as I mentioned earlier, maybe this isn't the real earth.

 

I've just watched episode 2 (or 12, depending on how you're counting) of SE04.
Something Tigh says to Adama in passing made me think.
Tigh tells Adama he looks terrible. We also see Adama 'struggling' with his daily routine, as well as popping pills.

I'm just wondering if the Pythia porphecy of 'A dying leader shall find Earth but not live to see it' (or whatever it was) isn't about Roslin but Adama...?
He's been a leader from the very beginning after all.
Also, this would make sense if the planet they just landed on wasn't Earth but some other colony?
But then that throws up questions as to the checks they made using their stellar cartography, which confirmed the position of Earth.

I think, as of this point, that Adama will cark it before the end of the series and the rest of them will find Earth during the finale. Either that, or they'll all die in the end and the series will end on a massive bummer!

 

Frack. What an episode. And the preview for next week makes it look like they're going to actually execute Adama!

 

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Stupid me.. why do I come here at all..

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I think it's this option you mentioned: virtually indistinguishable from humans except that they could be resurrected, decided to upload their consciousness to Cylon bodies thereby granting themselves virtual immortality. Tech to make us live longer. Etc. Although Cylons are supposed to be kind of lizardy.

 

PLOT HOLE FOUND AND CLOSED. Looks like there's only one human/cylon child.

Well done.

 

During episode 12.. I find myself missing admiral Kain/Cain.

 

Indeed.
those motherfrackers. So that's what command is, leading your men through thick and thin, and then being shot in the back.
I think Tigh will die, heroically saving Adama. I can see him doing that.
I can't wait till next week.

 

This episode is why I watch Battlestar Galactica (even though it was a bit convoluted).

~String

 

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I could see that too. I think Tigh can't frackin' stand the fact that he's a cylon and would jump at the chance to prove his loyalty to Adama and the human race in general. I also think that these final five cylons somehow have their memories and dna buried in the "humans" genetic code so they they're reborn every generation with latent memories that they can access as needed (often even subconsciously) to ensure their own survival and guide the human race as they see fit.

 

there was a plot hole, where everyone was talking about the shape of things to come in Boomer and Helo... But when Tyrell/Tyrill. was discovered to be a cylon.. what was to be of their son ?

 

Ah true.