The Battlestar Galactica Thread

[Arkan]

Sorry .. I've just read some Calvin and Hobbs - guess that scambled my brain a bit.. heh

 

-

 

But why was Cavil real name John?

 

Maybe it's more biblical allegory?

 

John the Baptist (Arabic: يحيى‎ Yaḥy

Edited February 15, 2009 by Arkan

[Rhomal]

The whole monotheism vs polytheism has a frakload of references to classic scenarios.

 

It's just funny that's it's "upisde down" as in the cylons who worship one God and the humans worship the old Greek Pantheon.

 

Unless it's kind of a wierd retelling of Christianity, were Christians were secondclass citizens and prosecuted, much like the first cylons - who then later take revenge and perfoms genocide on every other religion in it's vicinity.

 

As a modern day pagan (wiccan, witch, pagan wizard.. whatever title you want to assign to me) I have been thinking the same thing... funny you bring it up. Xians at first were killed and treated like outcasts for the first century or two until the first xian emperor came to power and made it the state religion and the tables got turned on the pagans.

 

There certainly are some interesting similarities however like always moore and crew and making a bold statement though out the series. Making the, more or less, 'good guys' poly and the, more or less, bad guys the 'one true god' types. Implying to me hes taking a jab as all the negative and destructive things our mono/xian religion has done to our world and for every good it brings at least 1 ill. The wars and millions upon millions killed in our history over 'god', the suppression of truth, speech and science and so on.

 

The parallels are indeed stark and telling IMO. This is why moore is the bomb, he writes current moral views into BSG and many folks I don't think even realize it.

[Rhomal]

And now it seems clear adama is the 'dying leader' the scrolls talked about not laura.

 

How so.

 

On a final note, while I buy the deck chief job as also in charge of damage control as well I find it hard to swallow its his job to repair the ship on this level as they showed this past ep. Wouldn't that go to the chief engineer?

 

There is nobody qualified left.

 

Adama has been popping pills a lot this half of the season, and how other crew are mentioning how poorly he looks as of late. (Great acting by eddie as always)

 

I don't buy that, they have the merged Pegasus and Galactica crews running the ship. Which should, more or less even with losses since new caprica, have a mostly full compliment crew total. You can't tell me theres no one qualified in the combined engineering teams for someone to be a chief engineer. In fact SOMEONE has to be running the engineering dept...

 

On the topic of new cap, while story wise I understand overruled military logic, I am sure if written properly adama would have taken pegasus to rescue them on new cap, not galactica. As from a pure military standpoint he would have wanted the most firepower to take on the 3 or 4 basestars. If so he wouldn't have this current issue of infrastructure starting to fail as galactica would have been sacrificed not pegasus. However, then it would be odd calling the show battlestar galactica if she ship no longer existed. lol

Who was the head engineer supposed to be, there was the guy brought over from Pegasus who was killed in the mutiny, other than that it was always Tyrol who handled anything repair related. The episode where they were trapped in the airlock, investigating the explosives damage caused by Boomer, even the scene where the damage control team had to kill the workers trapped in the compromised bulkheads in the first episodes.

 

I guess it's a question of practicality, a tv show can't have a character for every imagined major function on a Battlestar, it would grow the supporting cast too large.

 

I don't think we ever seen the galactica chief engineer... EVER in 4 years so I am assuming the reason was logic was tossed out in favor of practicality as you said. But I do need to say I never understood why moore never introduced such a vital character of a ship. Think trek without scotty for example. Even if it was just a supporting role pulled out only when needed like capt kelly or racetrack.

[Arkan]

Artists use lies to tell the truth. Politicians use lies to cover it up...or something like that.

[Arkan]

And now it seems clear adama is the 'dying leader' the scrolls talked about not laura.

 

How so.

 

On a final note, while I buy the deck chief job as also in charge of damage control as well I find it hard to swallow its his job to repair the ship on this level as they showed this past ep. Wouldn't that go to the chief engineer?

 

There is nobody qualified left.

 

Adama has been popping pills a lot this half of the season, and how other crew are mentioning how poorly he looks as of late. (Great acting by eddie as always)

 

I don't buy that, they have the merged Pegasus and Galactica crews running the ship. Which should, more or less even with losses since new caprica, have a mostly full compliment crew total. You can't tell me theres no one qualified in the combined engineering teams for someone to be a chief engineer. In fact SOMEONE has to be running the engineering dept...

 

On the topic of new cap, while story wise I understand overruled military logic, I am sure if written properly adama would have taken pegasus to rescue them on new cap, not galactica. As from a pure military standpoint he would have wanted the most firepower to take on the 3 or 4 basestars. If so he wouldn't have this current issue of infrastructure starting to fail as galactica would have been sacrificed not pegasus. However, then it would be odd calling the show battlestar galactica if she ship no longer existed. lol

Who was the head engineer supposed to be, there was the guy brought over from Pegasus who was killed in the mutiny, other than that it was always Tyrol who handled anything repair related. The episode where they were trapped in the airlock, investigating the explosives damage caused by Boomer, even the scene where the damage control team had to kill the workers trapped in the compromised bulkheads in the first episodes.

 

I guess it's a question of practicality, a tv show can't have a character for every imagined major function on a Battlestar, it would grow the supporting cast too large.

 

I don't think we ever seen the galactica chief engineer... EVER in 4 years so I am assuming the reason was logic was tossed out in favor of practicality as you said. But I do need to say I never understood why moore never introduced such a vital character of a ship. Think trek without scotty for example. Even if it was just a supporting role pulled out only when needed like capt kelly or racetrack.

 

Hell, Pegasus had a chief engineer.

[Arkan]

Well, according to some blog, Moore has said that they are going to leave the Daniel/#7 thing alone until Caprica. Just great.

[Rosbjerg]

The whole monotheism vs polytheism has a frakload of references to classic scenarios.

 

It's just funny that's it's "upisde down" as in the cylons who worship one God and the humans worship the old Greek Pantheon.

 

Unless it's kind of a wierd retelling of Christianity, were Christians were secondclass citizens and prosecuted, much like the first cylons - who then later take revenge and perfoms genocide on every other religion in it's vicinity.

 

As a modern day pagan (wiccan, witch, pagan wizard.. whatever title you want to assign to me) I have been thinking the same thing... funny you bring it up. Xians at first were killed and treated like outcasts for the first century or two until the first xian emperor came to power and made it the state religion and the tables got turned on the pagans.

 

There certainly are some interesting similarities however like always moore and crew and making a bold statement though out the series. Making the, more or less, 'good guys' poly and the, more or less, bad guys the 'one true god' types. Implying to me hes taking a jab as all the negative and destructive things our mono/xian religion has done to our world and for every good it brings at least 1 ill. The wars and millions upon millions killed in our history over 'god', the suppression of truth, speech and science and so on.

 

The parallels are indeed stark and telling IMO. This is why moore is the bomb, he writes current moral views into BSG and many folks I don't think even realize it.

 

As you imply it's not like the polys are that good either.. But it's interesting the parallels he draws, I keep think about the Old Testament and the Exodus - the nebula that kills the Cylons serving the same purpose as Moses dividing the Red Sea so they could pass.

 

And Cavil playing the role of Kain.

 

There are more, but I can't wrap my head around them at this time.

 

Another thing is that the Humans names and callsigns are mostly Greek and the Cylons are mostly Hebrew/Latin/Christian.. Like John, Daniel, Samuel, Simon, Sharon and Aaron.. With notible exceptions being Leoban, D'anna and most of the Final Five.

[Pidesco]

Maybe D'anna was a lesbian apostle found only in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Or something.

[Rhomal]

The whole monotheism vs polytheism has a frakload of references to classic scenarios.

 

It's just funny that's it's "upisde down" as in the cylons who worship one God and the humans worship the old Greek Pantheon.

 

Unless it's kind of a wierd retelling of Christianity, were Christians were secondclass citizens and prosecuted, much like the first cylons - who then later take revenge and perfoms genocide on every other religion in it's vicinity.

 

As a modern day pagan (wiccan, witch, pagan wizard.. whatever title you want to assign to me) I have been thinking the same thing... funny you bring it up. Xians at first were killed and treated like outcasts for the first century or two until the first xian emperor came to power and made it the state religion and the tables got turned on the pagans.

 

There certainly are some interesting similarities however like always moore and crew and making a bold statement though out the series. Making the, more or less, 'good guys' poly and the, more or less, bad guys the 'one true god' types. Implying to me hes taking a jab as all the negative and destructive things our mono/xian religion has done to our world and for every good it brings at least 1 ill. The wars and millions upon millions killed in our history over 'god', the suppression of truth, speech and science and so on.

 

The parallels are indeed stark and telling IMO. This is why moore is the bomb, he writes current moral views into BSG and many folks I don't think even realize it.

 

As you imply it's not like the polys are that good either.. But it's interesting the parallels he draws, I keep think about the Old Testament and the Exodus - the nebula that kills the Cylons serving the same purpose as Moses dividing the Red Sea so they could pass.

 

And Cavil playing the role of Kain.

 

There are more, but I can't wrap my head around them at this time.

 

Another thing is that the Humans names and callsigns are mostly Greek and the Cylons are mostly Hebrew/Latin/Christian.. Like John, Daniel, Samuel, Simon, Sharon and Aaron.. With notible exceptions being Leoban, D'anna and most of the Final Five.

 

hhmmm that's a excellent point I never noticed before about the names. Do you think moore had all these details and allegories figured out at the start or do you think hes been improving as the scripts for this season (and others) progressed?

 

While I was not a huge B5 fan (I like it just not a uber fan; casual fan you could say) I have a lot of respect for the writer. He had the entire core plot all written, figured out from the start and simply spoon feed the audience bits as the seasons progressed until the main story finished. Think moore took a similar route?

[Hell Kitty]

Moore may well have had a vague idea of how he wanted the series to end, but he has been pretty up front about the fact that he's making it up as he goes along. For example, they didn't decide on the final four long before they revealed it to the audience.

[Rosbjerg]

hhmmm that's a excellent point I never noticed before about the names. Do you think moore had all these details and allegories figured out at the start or do you think hes been improving as the scripts for this season (and others) progressed?

 

While I was not a huge B5 fan (I like it just not a uber fan; casual fan you could say) I have a lot of respect for the writer. He had the entire core plot all written, figured out from the start and simply spoon feed the audience bits as the seasons progressed until the main story finished. Think moore took a similar route?

 

I think he has the overall story made - as well as the main themes (like Polyhteism vs Monotheism), with that in place I'm also sure he's making things up as he go along.. And I'm glad they (Moore and the writers) are, because I think the writing is getting more interesting. In the beginning, the story would drag it's feet when it was trying to make a serious point - now it throws them around, sometimes without regards to the overall story (like Daniel).. Which is nice, because it leaves us something to discuss and think about.

[Rhomal]

hhmmm that's a excellent point I never noticed before about the names. Do you think moore had all these details and allegories figured out at the start or do you think hes been improving as the scripts for this season (and others) progressed?

 

While I was not a huge B5 fan (I like it just not a uber fan; casual fan you could say) I have a lot of respect for the writer. He had the entire core plot all written, figured out from the start and simply spoon feed the audience bits as the seasons progressed until the main story finished. Think moore took a similar route?

 

I think he has the overall story made - as well as the main themes (like Polyhteism vs Monotheism), with that in place I'm also sure he's making things up as he go along.. And I'm glad they (Moore and the writers) are, because I think the writing is getting more interesting. In the beginning, the story would drag it's feet when it was trying to make a serious point - now it throws them around, sometimes without regards to the overall story (like Daniel).. Which is nice, because it leaves us something to discuss and think about.

 

I saw he wrote a 'galactica bible' for all writers to follow so they can be consistent in their stories. I would LOVE for him to release it at the end of the series, I would very much enjoy reading in and getting the behind the scenes views of all the various aspects of the mythos.

[Arkan]

No discussion of the last episode?

 

Kind of heavy on the soap opera drama, but it's almost poetic justice that

CAPRICA Six loses her baby when she killed that baby on Caprica at the beginning of the series.

 

Edited February 22, 2009 by Arkan

[Gorgon]

Some of the characters are really suffering under the weight of all this pent up plot that's landing everywhere all of a sudden.

 

Adama arming Gaius' harem, Saul Tigh, Tyrol wanting to fix the Gallactica, and then run away at the next moment.

 

It's made all the worse by the audience not having any idea what motivates the 'final five', the actors haven't got anywhere familiar to ground their characters.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Why the hell did Adama give guns to Gaius Baltar? That can only lead to trouble.

[Rosbjerg]

^ I was really wondering about that too.. no way did that seem believable.

 

 

I thought they were going in an interesting direction, which they did explore a little in this episode, with the human/cylon integration .. Humans and Cylons having to accept that they somewhat need each other to survive...

 

But Gorgon has a point, it really does feel like the actors of the final five seems to lack grounding for their characters..

[theslug]

I was surprised that Ellen turned into a complete c again. Seriously I hated her when she was a shallow stupid manipulative whore and that hasn't changed. Horrible character and I also wasn't digging the whole parents and family deal where the "children" werel ike omg daddy and mommy stop fighting :'( and did anyone else notice when cara was in the bar and shes like "when did you get the piano" and the guy is like "derp?" like there wasn't actually a piano in existence there and then tyrol comes in and i don't remember what he said but it wasnt really important but the point is cara is obviously not a cylon but instead a psychotic b. the end

[Gorgon]

^ I was really wondering about that too.. no way did that seem believable.

It's obviously an ill disguised mechanism to allow Gaius to be a major player again with his cadre of killer concubines. I didn't believe it though, even despite clearly showing Adama's fear of everything Cylon.

[Rhomal]

I was surprised that Ellen turned into a complete c again. Seriously I hated her when she was a shallow stupid manipulative whore and that hasn't changed. Horrible character and I also wasn't digging the whole parents and family deal where the "children" werel ike omg daddy and mommy stop fighting :'( and did anyone else notice when cara was in the bar and shes like "when did you get the piano" and the guy is like "derp?" like there wasn't actually a piano in existence there and then tyrol comes in and i don't remember what he said but it wasnt really important but the point is cara is obviously not a cylon but instead a psychotic b. the end

 

If you listen to moores podcasts about the eps he explains some of what is being complained about here. As for ellen as he explains shes still at the core the same character just with all her full memories. So as he explains don't expect her to be a fundamentally different char. More intelligent and slight altered in her reactions because of that, yes. Totally different no.

[Rhomal]

No discussion of the last episode?

 

Kind of heavy on the soap opera drama, but it's almost poetic justice that CAPRICA Six loses her baby when she killed that baby on Caprica at the beginning of the series.

 

And how baltar goes from helping (indirectly) to destroy the colonies to finally starting to over come his weaknesses and seeming wanting to really do some good. Its like they are all coming full circle to a degree from where they started.

[Slowtrain]

Not really relevant, but it's funny how positive this thread is over all, compared to the BSG forums on the sci fi channel.

 

Man, are they hammering the show over there. Have been for the last couple years, really.

 

 

While I was not a huge B5 fan (I like it just not a uber fan; casual fan you could say) I have a lot of respect for the writer. He had the entire core plot all written, figured out from the start and simply spoon feed the audience bits as the seasons progressed until the main story finished. Think moore took a similar route?

 

 

The concensus on the BSG forums is that Moore and the writers are making it all up as they go along and have no real idea what they are doing.

 

The word retcon comes up more there than any place I've ever seen.

Edited February 23, 2009 by CrashGirl

[TheHarlequin]

Does the chief feel like a total tool now or what? Damn, boomer played him like the piano at joe's...

[Purkake]

Wow, the last episode was epic. The opening montage with Starbuck and piano music was masterfully done.

 

Poor Chief, he just can't catch a break.

[Kaftan Barlast]

This episode was more of a filler than anything else, there were a few key events like boomer stealing hera and Starbucks dad probably being a cylon of some kind, but they didnt have to drag it out for a whole episode.

 

 

AND WHERE WAS GAIUS BALTAR, YOU MOTHERFRAKKERS?!

[Gorgon]

If Boomer could find the fleet without a problem that must mean Cabal knew where it was all along. So, why didn't he do something sooner.

 

Also, the spatial distortion caused by the jump... One wonders why they haven't been using that as a weapon if it can blow huge holes in the sides of ships.

Edited March 1, 2009 by Gorgon