Battlestar Galactica


Battlestar Galactica is one of the most dramatic, well written series on television today. Even though it takes place in space with a science fiction premise, the rich content of the stories told parallel societal issues today, while at the same time not being heavy handed. This month we began the final leg of the journey to earth with the premiere of season four. Will humanity be saved?

I’d like to start by talking about what has come before. The first two seasons would rate in my top five all time epic series. There was enough imaginative draw to tide me over what was at best a latent third season that in my opinion did not deliver.

Ever since the colonists landed on New Caprica, I watched and waited for the pieces to be put back together. Even though I did enjoy some of the plot twists of the second exodus such as the reveal that Kara in fact did not have a daughter or the actual final battle itself, there was a change in the series that has taken almost twenty installments to remedy.

Then there was the finale. The four Cylons reveled blew my mind, but at the same time left me skeptical. How could they possibly be Cylons? Also, now that the Chief is a known Cylon, it is clear that his daughter is half Cylon. This takes away from the special value of Athena and Helo’s child and leaves me to believe that the writers are going to be scrambling to explain the back stories of all these new “evil” robots (especially Colonel Tigh! What the Frak!)

From what I have read, NBC is fully to blame for the turn of events. They wanted to kill the large story arc system that had been in place from the beginning and tell the tales in succinct one episode pieces in order to allow for the show to be a better draw for new audience members. This backfired mightily, and season four will not follow the same path. With the original creative spirit back in force, I expect this to be the best season yet and even though the mess season three created is going to be tough to tie up, I am sure that Ronald D. Moore is more than capable of doing so.

With that being said, I was very happy for the return of the series and the rebirth of Starbuck whom I am madly in love with (quite literally?) Even though it is very suspicious that she just returned out of the blue after going up in massive explosion, I personally am going to cut her some slack. Of course in Razor it was said by a hybrid that she would “end humanity” but I think we can take that with a grain of salt. Those damn hybrids are not always right, are they?

I seem to be in a minority when it comes to Lee and Starbuck. I think they should be together, although I have heard that it will never happen. With Lee leaving the Galactica and Starbuck heading off to find earth, the opportunity looks gone and that final “friend kiss” seems to have sealed the fate of that love story.

Speaking of Lee, I am not sure I am going to enjoy him leaving his flight job. Even though he always bordered on incompetence when in command, it was enjoyable to see him in the cockpit and I was never a fan of the courtroom or political portions of the show which he will now reside.

In Cylon news, the fact that the Sixs took out the “reason inhibitor” in the chrome jobs was sweet! In the preview for next week “new” Six asks a centurion to do something, and then follows it up with, “Please....” I love the look that the centurion gave her! They are now self aware. Crazy!


Overall I am very excited for the new season and have totally forgive the past digressions because this is a once in a lifetime show. I am already counting down the days until Friday!

So say we all...

I absolutely agree with you on this. I was very disappointed in season 3, (Not as much as with season 3 of Lost though) New Caprica was essentially a waste of time, IMO.

OMG, I almost fell out of my chair when they revealed the four. Especially with Colonel Tigh! What the Frakk indeed!

I too, have been wondering about the significance of another half-cylon child. They had spent so much time on Athena and Halo's daughter being special I guess I assumed the child was an anomaly and therefore, couldn't/wouldn't happen with just any human/cylon couple. I don't know about this development.

Count me in the minority as well. I think it should be Lee and Kara all the way. I also am disappointed that Lee is leaving Galactica.

How long do you think we have to wait to find out who the fifth is? Any ideas as to who it might be? I think for it to be Kara is too easy.

I can't wait until Friday either, as this season has me already captivated with what will come next...

I hope it is not Starbuck. I want a real good explanation as to where she was for two months and I don't want that answer to involve the "C Word!"

I have bad news and worse news...

The bad news: Katee Sackoff says that she has read the script for episode 14 (which is counting 2 for Razor so really 12) and she still doesn't know what the frak happened to her! That does not bode well for us finding out anytime soon, unless of course she is lying (which I hope she is!)

The worse news: Moore said that the final Cylon would be revealed in the second half of the season, but not the last episode. Everything is now pointing to this being in 2009 (I have been doing some research today and 19/20 sites say 2009 for the second half of the season.)

This is going to be a long grueling story arc over the next year, but unlike most other shows I think it will be worth the wait.

My best guess for the final Cylon is Lee. Remember Leoben said Adama was a Cylon to the president before she threw him out an airlock. We all thought the wrong one! Then again, Moore said that the final Cylon was not seated in the Last Supper picture, so who knows (as Lee is in it.)

Ugh! I hate that they made us wait so long already.
I agree, let's just hope they don't frak us.

This thought just blew my mind! I had never even considered Lee.

I bet that is why he left Galactica to join the quorum of 12. He is working his way up the food chain. Maybe at some point in the near future he becomes vice president. Then Roslin dies before they reach earth (if the prophecy holds true.) He takes over....and then *flips cylon switch* DOOOOOOOOOOOM!

I have a feeling it is all going to end bad. Really bad. The show has somewhat depressing overtones and the word on the street is that the finale will not be tying up loose ends in a tidy bow. It is going to be gritty, just like it has always been. Maybe the reason Thrace causes the "end of humanity" is because she will not kill Lee (undying love) and he ends the world by nuking earth!

Alright....I am grabbing at straws. Going to have to watch Friday for more clues.

With every great narrative there is a beginning, middle and an end. With the final season of Battlestar Galactica we are going to see a season long story arc which means in the first half (2008) there is going to be much beginning, a little middle and no end in sight.


I have resigned myself to this reality and was able to appreciate the detailed pieces we were being offered in episode 3 as part of a richer rhapsody of storylines that were setting the table for a future feast.

The focus of "The Ties That Bind" was the continuing tale of the recently revealed Cylons and Cally's tortured relationship with the Chief after arriving at the nebula.

Immediately I could see a massive personality shift in Tory as she flirted with Tyrol at the bar. She is obviously the most Cylon of the Cylons in these early days of discovery. Her demeanor was cold and mechanical. It would seem that actress Rekha Sharma is truly embracing her role as a skin job!

Aboard Colonial One, we are given the setup for what I suspect will become colossal battle between Adama Jr. and Roslin. The script for those scenes were directly grabbed from the headlines as we had a president who was consolidating power, ignoring the articles of colonization and manipulating the justice system. Strangely enough, I always saw Roslin as a "Democrat" but she more recently seems to be echoing "Republican" sentiments.

Our time on the "earth bound" Demetrius was short. Starbuck was acting insane and even though the pitch that she is a Cylon ("I no longer human, but like some alien thing") was a bit heavy handed, overall the time was well spent. Especially the use of the word frak and all the fraking. Every good space epic needs gratuitous fraking. I have a feeling in the near future the "quest for earth" segment of the story arc is going to be what drives the show (BTW: The vipers sitting on the Demetrius deck looked cool as hell. Are we going to have sewage ship on basestar action in the near future?)

I am totally loving the Cylon civil war over in toasterville. I have a thing for Sixes so I hope that the "evil" Cavils do not prevail in wiping them out. I have a feeling that the secret attack will not be a success and hopefully the "good" Cylons will somehow escape what looks to be the makings of a massacre. Oh, and I couldn't get over the Cavil & Sharon on screen kiss. I never would have called it.

Sadly, Cally was sucked out of a Viper airlock with the help of newly minted badass Tory and now the Chief is fully free to become a monster. The half Cylon baby was saved and I think that "it" will play a pivotal part in the coming weeks. I was not personally sad to see Cally's frosty death being she never appealed to me as a character, but the way in which she was killed did leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

It is hard to say what is just on the horizon, but I mainly hope that Starbuck snaps out of her funk and begins the march to earth; Please God don't let her be a Cylon!

Yeah, I was like "did that just really happen?". I had to go back to make sure I saw it correctly.

At this point, I am much more interested with the cylons and their realtionships than the humans. Its crazy. With the civil war, the raiders and centurians becoming self-aware and now cylon to cylon affection. Very intereting.

I think the Cylons have always been the best part of the show (not counting the new "made up" ones.)

I know for a fact that Lucy Lawless (Deana) is back this season (she did a top ten list on Letterman and would not be doing so for a show that she was no longer on.) That leads me to believe that the attack is not successful (although their FTL is fraked up so I have no idea how they are going to get out of that situation) and Deana is unboxed. We know there is a number six in the brig on Galactica and also we have Athena on the Dimitrius, so only Leoben of the conspirators seems to not have a clone floating around somewhere if in fact the baseship is destroyed and they are not able to regenerate.