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Marek

Battlestar Galactica Final Season Thread

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I like the cyclical idea, but it's been done and I'm not entirely sure if it fits with what the show's been doing so far.

So ... have you missed them hammering "all this has happened before and will happen again" into our heads since early season 1? I'd be absolutely amazed and baffled if it wasn't cyclic. I've been harboring much of this theory since long before mass effect appeared ¬¬

I share many aspects of dan's theory, but with additions:

With the importance of Hera and the distinction between cylons and humans blurring more and more, I think the ultimate purpose of the cycle is iterative evolution. The humans of the current cycle are the progeny of the last cycle's hybrids, they create a new type of life which grows beyond their control and is then re-absorbed to advance the species.

Also I was thinking the Lords of Kobol may be the 12 cylon models of the previous cycle, although I'm not sure why these seemingly advanced societies revert to religious idolatry every time ....

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Also I was thinking the Lords of Kobol may be the 12 cylon models of the previous cycle, although I'm not sure why these seemingly advanced societies revert to religious idolatry every time ....

Makes for a decent disguise?

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I'm sorry I keep hijacking this thread for this, but I'm at episode 7 of the first season now and it's so delicious. I'm having a blast watching this, a few episodes every day. I can't wait to catch up with you and join in on the anticipatory fun!

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So ... have you missed them hammering "all this has happened before and will happen again" into our heads since early season 1? I'd be absolutely amazed and baffled if it wasn't cyclic.

Like I said, it's more of a "hope"ful wish than a prediction. I'd prefer if the show ends on more absolute terms. Ending back at square one, which is where it could definitely go, would be lame.

I've been harboring much of this theory since long before mass effect appeared ¬¬

So, a Babylon 5 fan then? ¬¬ ;)

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I don't think I've ever seen a story about cycles told without being the turn that breaks the cycle, the final result sort of thing.

So from that perspective I would be much more pleased if BSG didn't go that route and did just end in a "this is what happens, it's not finished" kind of way.

I wouldn't really call Babylon 5 a cyclic story either, it contains an important time travel loop, sure, but the major bulk of the story is completely linear.

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I didn't see most of Babylon 5, but I gathered that much of the plot involving the

shadows and vorlons was the manifestation of a cycle, with species evolving and eventually going out past the rim of the galaxy?

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The summary I got from B5 was that

most of the early races had left the galaxy to go wherever it is things go, Vorlons and Shadows stayed behind to shephard any new races toward that same goal. They ended up bickering about how best to encourage evolution, so never got anywhere, until the plot of Bablyon 5 where all the races banded together to tell them to shove off, so they did.

I guess the bickering part is the main cycle, but it's really just an ongoing ideological argument to me, considering it I can totally see where you are coming from as the shadows kept popping up every 1000 years to start some wars. I just don't think it's really shown how much correlation there is between past events.

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Erm. I guess I sort of assumed Kara was the 5th because of this:

I felt they tried to hammer the idea that Kara was 5th/hybrid pretty heavily at the start of the episode, with her sensing which direction earth is and the whole babbling crazy talk <roll starting credits , followed by> hybrid babbling crazy talk. Plus the points Marek made. I think they are pushing the idea that she is the 5th far too heavily for it to be true.

Another great ep.

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Holy shit this week's episode was great. Best in I don't know how long.

I take back everything I said.

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That was a pretty damn dark episode alright.

No Gaius either, which might make Marek happy :D

Not sure where I like where they're going with the Lee vs Roselyn thing though. It feels wrong somehow.

Oh, and I really hope the Sixes and Eights survive the attack.

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Yeah. A lot of good in that last episode.

The death was a surprise, and I'm glad they're finally starting to flesh out all the secondary characters a bit more (specifically, the murderer).

Although, on a down note, I agree with DanJW that a few of the character conflicts are beginning to feel forced, arbitrary, and familiar. I'm more interested in the cylon civil war at this point than anything that's going on on Battlestar.

Still, great television. I'd love to see where it's all going.

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Wasn't a huge fan of the episode myself, for one it was painful on my ears - primarly because of that fucking child (:frusty:) - but also because of the musical score which was both too prominent and annoyingly poor. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood to watch it but I felt like turning the audio down every time that demon child was on screen and/or the music kicked in.

Cally snuffing it was predictable, they bring her our to abuse her it seems, and with it being the last season I would have been more surprised if she had survived and the undercover cylon had not succumbed to just killing her.

I wonder though, will there be a criminal investigation? At first I thought it's going to be easy to discredit her on account of the stress and drugs - but getting flung out of the ship like that? Seems a bit of a stretch. Also why is there no survailaince on these military ships...

Secondly the whole starbuck thing... *groan*

For starters you don't let some of your best men take off on a secondary mission - it's completely inane if you ask me, and no I don't have any experience commanding a battlestar but I'm not sure you need any to come to that conclusion! I honestly thought I'd seen a double of Gaita as a result of this (!), they show him talking to starbuck on the garbage collector thing and then cutback to fighter pilots, Helo (etc) and there's Gaita... whoa I thought, there's two!... but no they've just let all their key personnel take a side trip :eek:

I'm guessing the trip to earth would have been potentially too boring without these familiar faces which I guess is fair enough but I think it would have been nice to accentuate that isolation by not having these faces around.

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Yes, the Battlestar segments are pretty soap-like at the moment.

That was a pretty brutal way to kill off a character though, a lot of writers wouldn't have the balls to put that in.

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Yup.

I was pretty convinced she was going to take the child with her (hence removing the plot problem of having a second hybrid child). And it kind of makes a nice symmetry that she would choose that method of suicide, having been sucked into space once before. I think the weird score was meant to make us feel Cally's nausea.

Looks like the murderer is going to be the bad one of the Five bunch. Looking foward to some conflict there.

And agreed the Starbuck sections were pretty meh. I hope she starts to actually do something soon rather than just whine and feel isolated. She's much more likeable as a figure of action. I too wondered what all their top pilots were doing there. Who do they have left commanding the Galactica squadrons?

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Thought it was good,

Her suicide wasn't worthy of an investigation, she was on anti-depressants, seemed to have post natal depression, which can be an incredibly intense form of depression, and had believed her husband was having an affair. She's a technician so could open bay doors so it’s highly likely and fully feasible. Plus chucking yourself into space is probably one of the nicest ways to go.

Lee is such a fool, he might as well have “manipulate me” written on his chest, I really don't like him, but if I was in his position with a president disregarding democracy the way she is, I’d challenge her (regardless of how much of GILF she is.)

I love the idea of the Cylon civil war but feel the implementation was rushed (probably having to force it into the 12 eps) and the female (lead) faction were bloody idiots.

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Yup.

I too wondered what all their top pilots were doing there. Who do they have left commanding the Galactica squadrons?

Are they their top pilots or just the ones we know best? A few of them were rookies, boomer isn't a viper pilot and Thrace had to go, I was supirsed Gaita went but they needed someone with his skills and it was better to have a known character than a random.

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Hey, I love Gaius! But yes, the total absense of his stupid cult made me happy. :)

Wasn't so pleased with some of the technical execution of this episode. I didn't like the radial blurring effect used when Cally entered the bar for instance. They were clearly trying to make you feel what the characters feel in many of the scenes (the chaotic Quorum meeting also comes to mind) but in some cases I think they were using visual tools they normally don't use.

The Demetrius is definitely overpopulated... 4 senior characters, plus 3 or 4 minor pilot characters. Maybe they were all on crap inspection and were caught by surprise when the ship took off. :shifty: I guess we just have to accept that the future stories require all these characters plus the Demetrius and its 4 vipers and raptor.

Cylon civil war continues to rule totally.

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Ooh, I forgot to mention how awesomely menacing the centurions have suddenly become now that they are fully sentient. :tup:

The Caprican hard-boiled detective story that Adama read was a nice touch of flavour too.

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Marek, I thought the visual stuff worked pretty well. The mobile effect (you know what I'm talking about, right?) was especially great.

I was also expecting a 'clean' solution with the suicide, so the murder in the end did surprise me.

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Yeah, I also thought that this episode was shot quite well. I especially liked the shot of Starbuck standing on the grating. The scores have definitely seemed heavy handed, though I noticed it more in the previous episodes than this one. Am I remembering the first two seasons through rose colored glasses? Has the music always been so cheesy?

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I realize watching these new episodes that I really don't know what roll Gaeta plays in the series.

Everyone else seems to have clearly defined personalities which give them appropriate entrances throughout the seasons. Gaeta is just... there, at least for 1 and 2. I thought season 3 Gaeta was by far the most interesting because of his interesting position in the first half of the season. I hope that Gaeta is on the Demetrius not just so that the audience recognizes a familiar face but in order to flesh out a character that didn't really get his fair chance to shine.

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Gaeta's perjury made me hate him. I'm pretty sure he's gonna bite it.

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Just generalising (and taking) your comment (out of context) and more than likely misinterpreting it; I don't think a character needs to play a roll in a series for it to be a good character. In fact that's what I liked so much about the Sopranos, in that there was this large list of secondary characters of which some would come and go at random but their personalities weren't stunted by having to have some higher purpose or linkage to the main storyline.

Gaeta has had his character fleshed out sufficiently already. If memory serves he was going to be jettisoned from the bay doors himself last season - with Starbuck first in line to end him. What I can't remember was whether they resolved this conflict between them? Maybe it will be a talking point, but it's hard to guess where things are going, so I'm doubtful.

In so far as his role on the ship, it's quite obvious he's one of the more intellectual, skilled members of the crew, assisting Baltar through much of the series (to his detriment :D). Sometimes ambiguity is a good source of drama but I'm not sure I agree that Gaeta lacks that definition. He has shown his character in season 3 especially.

Gaeta's perjury made me hate him. I'm pretty sure he's gonna bite it.

He helped them, without him they wouldn't have succeeded :grin:

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