Frak me! It's another Battlestar Galactica thread!

[The Stranger]

news on my Racetrack fetish:

a barrista at the local coffee shop, who I'd never really noticed before, has come to remind me vaguely of Racetrack. I think I shall marry her. She will have little choice in the matter.

[tzanth]

I wasn't a huge fan of tonights episode. Any sane person would take party in the mutiny against kara, which sorta took a bite out of the suspense in that plot line. As for Baltar/Tyrol, it was well done and imo well acted, but how important was all that in the big picture of things? Frankly it seemed like a "filler" episode.

[Werthead]

I think the idea is that the Final Four have a final shot at redemption, which Tory has embraced (a little too enthusiastically, I think) and now we're seeing Tigh and Tyrol move in the same direction. I thought the Anders/Leoben conversation was interesting, but was waiting for a bit more of a reaction from Leoben. If he picked up on that the fact that Starbuck was different, I'm surprised he didn't do the same for Anders.

I missed the final bit the of the episode. Did anything else happen after Starbuck relieved Helo? I think there was about a minute at the most that I missed out on.

Interesting article on the Cylons, Faith and other stuff [url="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/166/story_16650_1.html"]here[/url]. I think those expecting the Cylon God to turn out to be a giant computer or something are going to be disappointed.

[Ran]

Gaeta refused to jump. Anders, in support of Kara, tells everyone that they need to think about what they're doing. Kara says they have, that they've all thought about it. The end.

[burnt hound]

Ahhh, not enough Cylon shenanigans... But next episode looks to be a corker. A low-key episode that is setting things up nicely for later episodes.

Am I the only one that is seriously creeped out by the whole Baltar/Tory thing? Yikes, sex and religion is not a good thing in my book. Cultish and weird...

The cultmember with the blue shirt was pretty fit though :P

Bring on the next episode!!!

[Guy Kilmore]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1340594' date='May 3 2008, 05.31']I think the idea is that the Final Four have a final shot at redemption, which Tory has embraced (a little too enthusiastically, I think) and now we're seeing Tigh and Tyrol move in the same direction. I thought the Anders/Leoben conversation was interesting, but was waiting for a bit more of a reaction from Leoben. If he picked up on that the fact that Starbuck was different, I'm surprised he didn't do the same for Anders.

I missed the final bit the of the episode. Did anything else happen after Starbuck relieved Helo? I think there was about a minute at the most that I missed out on.

Interesting article on the Cylons, Faith and other stuff [url="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/166/story_16650_1.html"]here[/url]. I think those expecting the Cylon God to turn out to be a giant computer or something are going to be disappointed.[/quote]
I don't think Leoben can think about the Final Five in his prophetic, bermuda triangle kinda way. I remember them saying this year and most of last season there is a prohibition (programming?) about thinking about the final four, if a Cylon could wander into them randomly and figure it out, I think they couldn't remain hidden as they have. 3 had to kill herself repeatedly to get a hint at images, I think it would take pretty drastic measures for a Cylon to seek them out.

[Werthead]

[quote name='burnt hound' post='1340656' date='May 3 2008, 13.19']The cultmember with the blue shirt was pretty fit though :P[/quote]

That the one who took a length of pipe to that guy back in the first ep of the season? Yeah, she's looking like the 'new Racetrack' of the show.

Crazy Starbuck is so old now. We've been doing this since the start of Season 3. Can we have (relatively) normal Starbuck now, doing dogfights and blowing stuff up. I almost can't bear it when she's on screen due to ANGST OVERLOAD.

[Mr. X]

[quote name='Ran' post='1340598' date='May 3 2008, 05.36']Gaeta refused to jump. Anders, in support of Kara, tells everyone that they need to think about what they're doing. Kara says they have, that they've all thought about it. The end.[/quote]
Didn't Helo also relieve Kara at the very end?

[Ran]

Oh, yeah, that. Heh. They stretched out the "They thought about it" a bit too long.

[potsherds]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1340594' date='May 3 2008, 10.31']Interesting article on the Cylons, Faith and other stuff [url="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/166/story_16650_1.html"]here[/url]. I think those expecting the Cylon God to turn out to be a giant computer or something are going to be disappointed.[/quote]
Oooooer. That was a nifty article. I wish it had been longer. I have to say, that this show's take on religion and spirituality are something I like very much, unlike a lot of people here who have bitched about it. Approaching the show as an atheist, the way religion has shaped the actions of the characters really feels quite believable, seeing as I live in that sort of world as an outsider looking in, every day.
Anywho, I'm not terribly surprised that we're not going to get any answers about the religious drive of the Cylons or the humans, or seeing the 'man behind the curtain' as it were. The various gods and goddesses worshiped here on Earth never do reveal themselves, and whatever drive people have to do what they do is not because they are driven by their gods, but because they are driven by their [i]belief[/i] in their gods. Same as on the show. :)

I quite liked this ep. Probably mostly just because of Leoben. :drool:
It was a bit of a filler ep, but I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[EHK for Darwin]

[quote]Oooooer. That was a nifty article. I wish it had been longer. I have to say, that this show's take on religion and spirituality are something I like very much, unlike a lot of people here who have bitched about it.[/quote]

My problem isn't so much the inclusion of religion, but that its too often used as a writing crutch. Either to drive the plot or Deus Ex out of impossible situations. And because the producer says so, the religious 'visions' and prophecies are always proven right. You over use that shit and it just becomes really lazy writing. You no longer need creative solutions, you just wave your hands and say 'magic/god', and BOOM, problem solved. A little more ambiguity would be nice.

[Wouter]

Interesting article on Cylon religion, Werthead. However, Moore only spoke about their beliefs, not about the truth there may be behind it. Allthough the present course of the series appears to say there is something to this one God (but like on ASOIAF, it's kinda left up for grabs if the Gods are real, at least so far).

I liked this episode (except that it ended; this screams part-1 of a 2 parter); after last week's nearly depressing episode, this one flowed very nicely IMO. Dialogue was spot-on; Gaeta had some funny lines, Leoben said just the right things, to be in character and influence both Kara and Anders (the dialogue was duplicitous enough that one wonders if he suspects Anders is a Cylon, or not). The alliance between Cylon rebels and humans that will come is quite believable this way, especially as it won't come about without major trouble).

While Baltar's whole cult thing is quite unbelievable, it was played out well in this episode. Chief accepting the handshake at the end was a nice moment, giving hope that things will come right for him (it doesn't have to mean he is now a convert; he was just happy with the attention and support and he could forgive Baltar and hopefully himself). As it turns out, just like with Boomer, Chief didn't really mean his rejection of Cally and that is a good thing. And he has suspicions about her death - Tory better watch out.

It seems like Lee didn't tell anyone about Tory, yet. No suspicion on her.

[Edward the Great]

Better to talk about this here where the average IQ is obviously much higher than on most sci-fi/fantasy message boards.

The storyline as has been deciphered so far, partially gleaned from a leaked script or something for the proposed Capria series:

First off, you don't need to know anything about the story to figure out who the final cylon is. Given the ethnic makeup of the cylons so far it is obvious that the final cylon must be an African American female. There is only one in the cast. Most fans are still in denial about this; it reminds me of most of the dufusi on the Star Wars forums denying that Palpatine and Sidious were one and the same person.

Anyway, the "final cylon" was the first one made, and she has the memories and DNA of the daughter of the scientist who made her. It was Adm Adama's father who had blocked the development of humanoid cylons, which led to the development of the walking chrome toasters that we all know and love. How the resurrectable seven came into being is not known. Nor is it known why discussion of the final five is (or was) forbidden. It is quite clear that the "final five" are absolute enemies of the other seven as they are all the most virulently anti-cylon characters. But the resurrectable seven aren't aware of this, except perhaps for Al. The 3 rebel models seamed genuinely surprised that the five were found in the human fleet.

Another thing that isn't clear is the role that religion is playing in this conflict. Supposedly, the real human model for the "final cylon" was a monotheist as are all the cylons. And Dr. Baltar has been thoroughly oonverted to monotheism by Head Six and is now leading a religious conversion in the fleet. At the beginning of season 2 Head Six prophesized that he would be the only human who survived to see Earth. This has some speculating that Baltar is Jesus Christ. His new hairstyle lends credence to this hypothesis. But it's probably just RDM and Eick playing with us.

However, the final cylon hates Baltar, and was willing to fix an election to prevent him from becoming president. This is where things don't fit together nicely. And you can't quite believe in Baltar's redemption completely - his line "you are perfect just as you are" sounds like easy self justification.

What about Starbuck? Knowing how cylons first came into being - they are all based on real human originals - it's quite possible that the Starbuck we are seeing now is a cylon - a 13th cylon; created from DNA that was taken when she was captured in season 2. Ah, but she has the memories of the moments just before she died. So perhaps the Starbuck we have seen since season 2 is a cylon? The notion that Starbuck has been a cylon all along isn't possible because we know the identities of all of them, and none of the five are resurrectable. If Starbuck is a cylon, she is a 13th cylon. She could be something else entirely - there was that crystal ship from TOS.

[Shryke]

The BSG thread is already in existence, and fairly extensive.

[EHK for Darwin]

We've actually got a full fledged BSG thread up and running which I'm sure this will be merged with pretty soon. Worth browsing if you're interested in the show and its only down on page 2.

[Xray the Enforcer]

merging...

[HokieStone]

Edward the Great -

You seem to be taking quite a bit of stuff as fact that seems to me to be wild speculation. Care to explain any of these theories further?

[Edward the Great]

[quote name='HokieStone' post='1342098' date='May 4 2008, 22.45']Edward the Great -

You seem to be taking quite a bit of stuff as fact that seems to me to be wild speculation. Care to explain any of these theories further?[/quote]

C'mon people, get up to speed. [url="http://www.cellounge.com/2008/04/27/the-final-cylon-will-be-revealed-now/"]http://www.cellounge.com/2008/04/27/the-fi...e-revealed-now/[/url]

Everything else follows from algebraic reasoning. Anyone who is good at math or logic puzzles can figure the rest out.

Oh, and I think Baltar is an Anti-Christ.

[EHK for Darwin]

The 12 Cylons have been chosen by writers who have displayed a chronic inability to plan ahead or foreshadow, and an irritating tendency to make things up as they go along. 9 times out of 10 any allusion to later events that you may have seen in early episodes is either coincidence or tacked on by the writers in that particular way in order to create the appearance of consistency and foreshadowing from a previously pointless event. One thing that has been abundantly clear throughout this series is that the writers certainly DO NOT have a plan.

They probably do now, seeing how this is the last season. So they better have an idea of where they're going. But to draw any conclusions from their largely random array of Cylons is foolish and unsupportable. Those final four certainly weren't originally intended to be Cylons. And their choices were pretty much the result of a 3rd season sitdown where the producers/writers mused over the fact that they needed 5 more Cylons, so who can we pick from the cast? (because bringing in someone completely new at that point would be rather lame)

The fact is if you're looking for any consistency or grand design in most of what the show does you're in for some disappointment because they tend to pull most of it out of their collective asses when needed. As such, trying to divine the final cylon from any past events or from the current setup of the existing cylons is a process doomed to failure before you even start. You might guess right. But its going to be nothing more than a guess because the writers themselves most likely didn't know who the final Cylon was until this season. And at best, sometime late last season.

[Shryke]

[quote]Oh, and I think Baltar is an Anti-Christ.[/quote]

His new rhetoric since last episode IS one of the core tenants of (modern) satanism.