Battlestar Galactica

If you have already seen Friday’s amazing Battlestar Galactica episode, The Hub, then you might enjoy this humorous YouTube clip based on the episode. I know I did! If you have not already seen The Hub, however, do NOT click this link as you will definitely be spoiled!

Last week we saw another a puzzling prophesy from a Cylon hybrid: 

“It’s really coming to pass.

A dying leader will know the truth of the opera house. 

The missing three will give you the five, who have come from the home of the thirteenth. 

You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace, you will lead them all to the end.”

The hybrid said all of this while smiling at Starbuck and stroking her face, which made the prophesy even creepier than normal. 

Anders, Natalie, Leoban, and Athena all heard these words as well and immediately latched on to line three, struggling to puzzle out the meaning of that part of the prophesy.

Their interpretation is that D’Anna, the boxed Cylon model which is also model number three, is the three.  The five is “the final five,” which only Anders knows is really “the final one” at this point.  And the thirteen is the thirteenth colony, the lost colony of Kobol, also known as “Earth.” 

Makes sense to me, but it also makes me suspicious.  This line seems oddly easy to interpret, but perhaps the hybrid set her speech on “easy mode” since there were humans in the chamber.

Why they ignored the fourth line of the prophesy is not clear, because if I had heard the person I am traveling with is “the harbinger of death” I would be a bit concerned.  Especially given the usual clarity of line three. 

But as many people have pointed out, the prophesy may not mean death in the sense of a second holocaust.  Kara could bring death to the dying leader, something that has to happen for the prophesy to be fulfilled.  She could also bring death to a way of life, or to the war between the Cylons and the humans.  What do you think?

We are now halfway through the Battlestar Galactica episodes we will be able to see in 2008, and things are really moving.  Friday’s episode, “Faith,” was one of the vocally loud and visually soft episodes to date.  Click below if you have seen the episode, or if you do not mind being spoiled a bit.  If you have not seen the episode, feel free to watch the embedded version above.

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So much happened in this episode! Some quick thoughts below, and I will be on the ShaunOMac show again this evening to talk about Battlestar Galactica if you want to call in.

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Last week’s episode made it very clear to me:  that creature is not Starbuck.  That is my theory anyway … it’s still a mystery on Battlestar Galactica, but in my humble opinion Starbuck would not do the things this thing has done.  If you have seen “Six of One” or don’t mind being spoiled, click below.

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Battlestar Galactica has always been about the questionable choices people make in terrible circumstances, but last night’s episode “Six of One” seemed to take that to a new extreme.  If you have not watched it yet, the entire episode is embedded above … if you have watched it, feel free to add your thoughts to my first impressions below.

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One of the most popular questions fans are asking after last week’s Battlestar Galactica episode, “He That Believeth In Me,” has to do with the Cylon raiders.  Or, more specifically, a certain Cylon raider in particular and a certain moment.  For those who have seen the episode, click below.  For those who have not, beware of spoilers.

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Bear McCreary’s compositions add amazing layers to Battlestar Galactica, and it seems his talents are only growing in season four.

Bear recently blogged about the various pieces he composed for last week’s dramatic season four premiere, and included the translation for the haunting chant/prayer that is part of his new theme for Gaius Baltar.

The combination is designed to highlight Gaius’ new mental, emotional, and spiritual journey and the lyrics combine Cylon and Fleet sayings with images of suffering and redemption:

We gadriaþ in nihtscuan (We gather in shadow,)
Neoðan þin gledstede, (Beneath your altar,)
þin liċfæst in blode ond lieġe. (Your image in blood and flame.)
Nu þin ġebann, æþreddaþ us (By your command, deliver us)
To þæm anliċum æltæwan gastcyninge (Unto the One True God)
Gaius Baltar, ure dryhtweorþ nergend (Gaius Baltar, our divine savior)
Nu ond æfre to alder. (Now and for eternity.)
Swa we ġehwilc ġehalsiaþ. (So say we all. )

Bear also blogs about how he uses his compositions to highlight the complicated nature of the Battlestar Galactica characters, playing music that may not seem appropriate for the dialogue to increase the drama of a scene. I love Bear’s music, so it’s a damn effective technique if you ask me!

Below are some thoughts about the oft-mentioned Cylon plan, and a theory about some of the things that happened in the first episode of Battlestar Galactica’s fourth season.

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Fans who have watched the first episode of Season Four, “He That Believeth In Me,” might be curious about the bevy of beautiful women who are suddenly keeping company with Dr. Gaius Baltar.

Tracey Anne is the young woman who shows Dr. Baltar the benefits of his new life situation, using the language that Baltar understands the best.  She is played by Leela Savasta, a Canadian actress who grew up in Vancouver and has appeared on Smallville and Stargate: Atlantis.  The photo to the left was taken from Leela’s official web site, which reports we have not seen the last of her character.  Leela will also be a regular on Atlantis during its upcoming fifth season.

Click the link to read more about Baltar’s new friends, but beware of spoilers if you have not seen the episode yet.

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I was perusing After Elton’s recent list of Top Ten Gay and Bisexual SciFi Characters this evening and realized I had always assumed that Gaeta was gay. 

I know, this is not a revolutionary thought as Gaeta’s devotion to Gaius Baltar inspired similar speculation from legions on fans during the first two seasons.  His nicknames among fans include "Gay-ta" as well as "Lt. Gaydar" and many others. 

And yet, we have never learned for sure whether Gaeta is a gay man … an odd omission from a series that is otherwise very comfortable with the ambiguities of sexuality and the soul.

If you are interested in some spoilers/speculation on Gaeta on Season Four, click the link to send you to the rest of this post.

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Much has been written about the violence of Battlestar Galactica, and how the show does not cringe away from the brutal and invasive horror of sexual assault. From the opening moments of the miniseries, when a ruthless version of Number Six brutally kisses a fleet officer after telling him he is doomed, to the frequent story lines about rape … Battlestar Galactica is not afraid to show the audience the dark and violent aspects of human nature. The violence and viciousness is not confined to the Cylons, either: officers on the Pegasus used rape as a torture device and we saw that the underground economy of the fleet included selling small children as sexual slaves.

It is important to remember that while these brutal scenes are part of the narrative of the story, they depict actions that are throughly unacceptable in real life. These behaviors are effective dramatic devices for the writers because they are so repellent. They shock the audience with their invasive cruelty, with the concept that one human being could be so horrid to another. It is difficult, then, to stop and think that this type of horrific treatment of women, children, and men is not simply confined to the world of science fiction:

One in three women around the world has been the victim of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or husband.

A third of the women in America admit that they have been physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or a boyfriend in their lifetimes, and at least three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.

Children who witness violent acts between their parents are much more likely to grow up to become abusive themselves.

And men are not immune from violence: twenty five percent of the victims of domestic violence are male.

Domestic violence is a devastating epidemic and silence is its friend. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month in the United States, and a time to stop the silence that surrounds this epidemic and open our eyes to the cruelty that is close to home. If you know someone you suspect is being abused, please take the time to educate yourself and reach out to them … you may be the person that helps break them free of their painful prison.

Many of the bloggers around the 451 Press network are taking time to promote domestic violence awareness during this first week in October. April has some compelling posts over on Her Daily News, while Susan at Home Computer Talk has a list of online resources for victims or people wanting to learn more about the issues. Beth at Astrology Explored has written about how to recognize the signs that someone is a violent individual and the manipulative traits of an abusive personality.

KD at WatchingCSI.com was kind enough to showcase CSI’s partnership with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a national organization that works with abused and neglected children in foster care.

If you are interested in helping with the issue of domestic violence in a hands on manner, becoming a CASA is an invaluable way to help children who have been removed from violent homes. CASA volunteers get extensive training before they are assigned specific cases by juvenile judges, and they work alongside the attorneys and social workers involved in the case to investigate the child’s situation and make recommendations about what is in the best interests of the child. If you are interested in learning more about CASA please go to NationalCASA.org or contact the CASA office in your area.

Domestic Violence, purple ribbon, awareness, October, CSI, CASA, astrology, Battlestar Galactica, Pegasus, Number Six, sexual assault, rape, Cylons

On a good day, my overarching thesis of Battlestar Galactica is one of hope. Hope that the humans will learn something from all they have been through, that they will look up from the day to day struggle to survive and hope for more from human nature in addition to their hope for a home on Earth.

The complex interweaving of pity and pain, hatred and hubris, and similarities with sabotage that we saw in Season Three of Battlestar Galactica seemingly reinforced my theory that only way the human race will survive is if the members who sympathize with the Cylons strive to form a mutually cooperative peace with the “toasters.” The plotlines about genocide, the mutual quests for answers, these things and so many others seemed to reinforce my theories. And of course the revelations of the four Cylons in the final episode of the season, All Along the Watchtower, made me even more firmly convinced I was correct.

But I still wonder. And leave it a comic strip, that simple yet potentially provocative medium, to succinctly express one of my primary doubts about this idea.

The blog Galactica Sitrep recently linked to Frakking Toasters, a very cool BSG webcomic. And the December 8, 2006 panels described many of the reasons why this hope of mine may be futile. The Cylons and the humans hate one another, and even the members of each group that sympathize with the others tend to so on an individual, not a mass, level.

If one of the ongoing themes of the series is that being self-destructive and prone to mistakes is what makes the humans so gloriously, imperfectly, human … then perhaps it is too much to expect them to set aside mass murder for an ideal. Perhaps it would be very BSG for the audience to realize there is potential for peace and continued existence, but the characters on screen do not. The character development certainly supports this idea, taking the human characters to increasingly darker and more desperate places as the series progresses. President Roslin’s slow deterioration from idealist to angerball is fairly strong evidence that hoping for peace between the groups may be hoping for too much … this generation, anyway.

Webcomic, toasters, cylon, armistice, peace, Battlestar Galactica, Roslin

With Katee Sackhoff’s new show Bionic Woman set to premiere next month on NBC, this seems like the ideal time look back on her best moments in the past three seasons on Battlestar Galactica. Or if you prefer to see what happens when Katee becomes part machine, check out WatchingBionicWoman.com.

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The first “official” episode of the new Battlestar Galactica is also the episode when the impish nature of Kara Thrace’s Starbuck becomes apparent to the viewers. The scene where she tells Jamie Bamber’s Lee “Apollo” Adama “You’re the CAG, act like it” is one of the defining moments for her character. Simultaneously defiant and loyal, sexy and stubborn, Starbuck’s fiercely feral way of chewing her “stims” set the tone of the relationship between the star-crossed characters, and let the audience know that while Starbuck is in total control of her surroundings, she is not quite in control of herself.

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An interesting question was raised Sunday night on The Two Doctors internet radio show, whether Starbuck is the daughter of Col. Saul Tigh. Kara Tigh? A stunning thought, but it would make sense given what we know about the two characters.

From the opening scenes of the miniseries, when Starbuck punches Tigh and ends up in the brig, the two characters have shared a connection that spanned animosity to admiration. Their strong reactions to each other and to the situations they are faced with speak to their similar passions, reactions, and tempraments. Until now those similarities could have been attributed to the fact that they are both alcoholics, both come from abusive backgrounds, both were tortured by the Cylons on New Caprica, both are rebellious and ornery in their loyalty to the fleet … but the thought that Saul Tigh could be Kara Thrace’s father makes one wonder if it could be more than that.

The idea also meshes with what we know about the history of both characters. We know Kara Thrace’s mother was abusive, but we know little about her father … and it is not much of a stretch to see Saul Tigh having a one night stand.

It also makes sense now that we know that Col. Tigh is one of the original Cylons. Starbuck has always shared an inexplicable bond with the Cylons, known certain things by instinct, and been told she has a “destiny” of her own. If she is Tigh’s daughter she would be a Cylon/human hybrid … perhaps the first Cylon/human hybrid, adding further significance to her role on the show given the Cylons’ emphasis on reproduction.

But at the same, Starbuck is in many ways one of the most “human” members of the fleet. Angry, self-destructive, masochistic, surly, petty, vicious, noble, self-sacrificing, funny, contemplative, seductive, serene … Starbuck is all of these things, and more. If Starbuck is part Cylon, doesn’t it add strength to the idea that hatred is the primary thing separating Cylons from their human creators?

Cylon, Starbuck, Kara Thrace, Tigh, destiny, Battlestar Galactica, BSG, daughter, father, alcoholism, Caprica

Thanks to Tubular for the photos.