Battlestar Galactica: Frakking Hard Since 1978

[Werthead]

[quote name='prod' post='1403808' date='Jun 18 2008, 13.12']

SPOILER: BSG

Told you so ;)

I thought that version was fantastic. They remade an original work of genius to perfectly fit their setting. Independently it might not be as great though.

But what you are saying Wert, seems to run contrary to something I remember from a previous incarnation of this thread. Im pretty sure you mentioned at the end of season 3 that RDM had said that the All Along The Watchtowers song was an indication that this wasn't our universe, but a parallell one.[/quote]

SPOILER: BSG

It could still be Tokyo or Sydney or Vancouver. Or Copenhagen :P

RDM's Watchtower comment was that somehow the Watchtower song simply cropped up in the Colonies as a piece of music that was really popular decades or centuries ago and had then been forgotten, and it having the same lyrics and melody as the Dylan/Hendrix version was simply a piece of plot convenience, like these people all speaking English and wearing suits. The explanation was rather odd though, and people at the time thought he was covering himself so we wouldn't leap to what appears now to be the correct conclusion: that [b]BSG[/b] takes place in our future and the Final Five somehow had access to records of the original song, or in this case some centuries-later cover version. In a more recent interview RDM admitted that there is another explanation both for the Watchtower song and also for Baltar unexpectedly quoting Shakespeare a few episodes back.

Whether that also ties in with the Chinese writing on boxes on New Caprica and the [i]Pegasus[/i] CAG using French military phrases remains to be seen. Those were probably production/writing gaffes ;)

[Peadar]

I'm glad the finale was fairly decent.

SPOILER: landmarks

Did anybody spot any recognisable landmarks?

[Bombjack]

SPOILER: Final Shot

I didn't spot any certainties, but the 'Opera House' references had predisposed me to think of Sydney, and I thought on first viewing that the final shot looks like it might be of the (ruined, natch) city as seen from the North Shore, by the foot of the Harbour Bridge.

[Shryke]

I think everyone is seeing the bridge their most familiar with.

[Werthead]

Spoilers are not required since the ep has aired in the UK and US.

The most common conclusion was that the city was New York. The reasons given:

1) There is a dome-like building on Ellis Island that could be the collapsed dome we see at the end of the ep (however, there is no bridge between Ellis and Manhattan).

2) The bridge could be the Brooklyn Bridge and our heroes are standing in Brooklyn Heights. This is supported by various photo comparisons, but there is an issue that from Brooklyn Manhattan proceeds much further to the right than in the shot at the end of the ep. However, you can see skyscrapers actually in the water to the right of the island, so it's possible that northern Manhattan is flooded. Brude even suggested how it was possible: much of that part of the island is landfill, and if a nuke went off in the right area it would destroy the barriers and allow the island to be flooded. However, I [i]seriously[/i] doubt that the writers put that much thought into this.

3) There is a square, artificial-looking island just to the left of the main one with what looks supiciously like a pedastal on top. There is a strong theory that this is Liberty Island with the statue missing.

There have also been arguments put forward that the city could be Tokyo, Sydney or Vancouver. Vancouver is possible because they filmed the shot near there and it might be a tip of the hat to the city that's hosted the production for five years. No idea if there's a bridge like that near Vancouver.

[Shryke]

(1) is stupid fucking argument. That dome is the fucking Temple of Aurora. They mention it earlier in the episode for a reason.

(2) is circumstantial at best.

(3) is the only one that comes close to holding up.

[Werthead]

[quote](1) is stupid fucking argument. That dome is the fucking Temple of Aurora. They mention it earlier in the episode for a reason.[/quote]

Except that the Temple of Aurora looks different and is located in completely different terrain? It's built right up on the flanks of a steep hill and there is a river miles behind the hill. It's not right on the waterfront, as is shown in the ep. You can blame the intervening centuries/decades/whatever for the change in water level, but the absence of a massive hill is harder to argue with.

[Shryke]

Come on Wert, this is stretching it. I mean seriously, they practically fucking shot you in the gut with that bit of dramatic device. It was like a gang rape of "Hey, THIS SHIT IS IMPORTANT".

Apollo: "Hello Starbuck, welcome to this random expository scene."

Starbuck: "Um ... ok. Why are we her again?"

Apollo: "Nevermind that. I want you to look at this random photo of a temple that exists on Earth. Isn't it pretty?"

Starbuck: "Gee Lee, do you think this could be important exposition for a scene that will occur sometime later in this episode?"

Apollo: "I don't know, do you think this show is written by people with even a modicum of compitance, or by a pack of dyslexic platipii with down's syndrome?"

Starbuck: "Well, Relic does say..."

Apollo: "Fine, fine, whatever. Anyway just be sure to remember this temple, which IS ON EARTH, that I am randomly mentioning RIGHT NOW."

[Later in the show]

Starbuck: "Gee Lee, that ruined building over there sure looks alot like that Temple you completely randomly and for no reason what so ever showed me earlier, in a scene that was completely not a bit of obvious exposition for this moment."

Apollo: "I think your right Kara. Do you think that could actually be it?"

Starbuck: "I don't know Lee, I don't see a hill next to the Brooklyn Bridge."

[potsherds]

:rofl:

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

Is there a real Temple of Aurora? Aurora's a real--actually, that might be a bad choice of words. Aurora's a goddess in Roman mythology, so is there a temple or ruins of a temple that once was dedicated to her?

[Shryke]

All their gods are Roman/Greek gods.

[davos]

Damn, BSG manages show brillance one minute and then bumbling writing the next. There is enough good there to sit through an episode knowing that it will be worth it. At the same time you know there will be moments that will be so poorly done that they will make you want to throw things that the tv and/or gauge your eyes out to try to rid yourself of the memory of what you just wittnessed.

What is driving me the most crazy is the overuse of gimiky writing, such as working the storyline so that we come to every season or half season break with some huge plot twist right at the very end, leaving us holding our collective breaths for the six months waiting to find out what happens. Yeah, it works. yeah, most of the twists have been decent done. After a while it just begans to feel artificial and forced. I almost didn't want to watch this past episode because I knew they would drop in some momentous revalation right at the end to leave us hanging for half a year or more.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

[quote name='Shryke' post='1404611' date='Jun 18 2008, 15.40']All their gods are Roman/Greek gods.[/quote]

Even Zeus?

[Werthead]

I finally pulled out the S1 box set to go check the Temple of Aurora thing. The picture of the city with the domed structure in the middle in [i]Revelations[/i] is the same picture that Elosha, Adama and Roslin are studying in [i]Kobol's Last Gleaming[/i]. It isn't the Temple of Aurora on Earth, it's the Opera House on Kobol. This seems to have caused a lot of confusion. Rewatching the sequence in [i]Revelations[/i] reveals what's going on:

Lee looking at book. Camera shows the Opera House on Kobol. Starbuck comes in and walks over and says, "The Temple of Aurora?" However, Lee has turned the picture as Starbuck walks over. After a lot of fiddling, the picture he's actually looking at (and it's hard to get a good look) appears to be a small, square building which is neither round nor domed.

Very confusing.

I think we just lack any kind of data to make hard and fast conclusions. We'll get some more info from the podcast when it turns up, maybe something else when the interviews with RDM and co start rolling in and possibly the webisodes will cover the situation more. But realistically we can't draw any firm conclusions until next year.

[Shryke]

I figured they just used the same prop. I think your WAY WAY over analyzing this.

He says "The Temple of Aurora on Earth". That it's the same picture as used before is, as I said, probably just reusing a prop.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Zeus is Greek, the father of Apollo, hence the occasional reference to Adama as Zeus.

[Relic]

[quote name='Shryke' post='1404754' date='Jun 18 2008, 17.13']He says "The Temple of Aurora on Earth". That it's the same picture as used before is, as I said, probably just reusing a prop.[/quote]


it wasnt just a prop, it was a the same picture that we are shown in the second season. no way they'd re-use that as something else unles they REALLY dont care. pretty sure Wert is right.

[Shryke]

Yeah, it's the same picture .... from the same book (ie - the same prop)

[Lord of Oop North]

Maybe the 13th tribe copied the design of the Opera House of Kobol when they built the Temple of Aurora?

[Relic]

[quote name='Shryke' post='1404870' date='Jun 18 2008, 18.34']Yeah, it's the same picture .... from the same book (ie - the same prop)[/quote]


so you are saying they would reuse the same pic they showed us 3 or 4 times in the second season and call it something else?