Battlestar Galactica

Today is Bastille Day in France and a good opportunity to comment on “Bastille Day,” the famous prison riot episode from Battlestar Galactica’s first season. Looking back, this was one of the first episodes where the threat from within the fleet loomed as large as the threat of the Cylons, and where viewers started to understand that the challenge of building a stable society after the Cylon attacks was even more daunting than the challenge of simply surviving day to day.

The first episode of the series, “33″ focused on the survival aspect. The second episode, “Water,” introduced viewers to the idea of an internal threat. “Bastille Day” cemented the concept that death and destruction could come from within the fleet as easily as from the Cylons, as there is an intrinsic violence in human nature that even a nuclear holocaust cannot purge.

Battlestar Galactica has always been dark and violent, but “Bastille Day” took the violence to an intimate and personal level that was new to the series. It also continued the theme of sexual violence that was present from the first scene of the series, when a Number Six model Cylon appears in the Armistice Station and sexually assaults the officer waiting there while murmuring “It has begun.” It makes sense that this would be the point in the plot where threats become personal, because a series that starts with the deaths of millions of people naturally makes its audience numb to wide-scale violence. Like Jericho, over time the audience comes to accept that those in the outside world are most likely dead or dying and comes to care more about the safety of the main characters of the show.

The plot of “Bastille Day” surrounds one of the ongoing conflicts of Battlestar Galactica, the constant struggle to do what is right while also doing what is needed to survive. The fleet desperately needs water, but extracting it from the only water source available at the time is a labor intensive process. A delegation led by Lee “Apollo” Adama is sent to a prison ship traveling with the fleet in the hopes of convincing them to provide the labor, but the prisoners have other goals in mind. Their selfishness leads to violence that threatens the fleet visitors, and also threatens the very delicate political stability that is holding the new society together.

One of the most disturbing subplots involves the attempted rape of Cally, and commentary by producers David Eick and Ronald Moore reveals that originally she was supposed to be raped and murdered in this episode. In the final version of the script she fights back, bites the prisoner’s ear off, and avoids actual forced penetration by her attacker … but she is shot and wounded in the fight. This is another theme of Battlestar Galactica, this type of “consolation violence.” Being sexually assaulted and shot would be devastating under other circumstances, but on BSG it is better than the alternative. Throughout the series, the characters are written as being grateful for having lived through whatever trauma may befall them. That alone takes its toll, the way the characters on Battlestar Galactica do not have time to absorb whatever traumas occur because they are too busy trying to survive.

When compared to the episodes and characters of BSG’s third season, it is clear how this push to survive is taking its psychological toll on the characters. Perhaps the most striking contrast is the President Roslin of “Bastille Day,” who refuses to force the prisoners to work as slave labor even though the very survival of the fleet depends on it. Her attitude in this episode is striking when compared to the President Roslin of Season Three’s “Dirty Hands,” who is willing to force innocent children to work long hours doing manual labor and is not concerned about condemning them to a life void of choice and personal freedom. It has been a long three years for Roslin, three years of personal loss and horrible choices. Watching “Bastille Day” after Season Three really shows how the stress of these seasons has taken its toll on the characters… and how much of humanity has been lost along the way.

“Bastille Day” also lays the foundation for many of the plot points that still are being played out in Battlestar Galactica: who are the Cylons within the fleet, the importance of presidential politics, the animosity between Adama, Roslin, and Baltar, the way violence erodes psychological stability, and a myriad of other themes that have yet to be resolved even after all this time.

Battlestar Galactica, Bastille Day, Water, 33, Cylon, violence, rape, Jericho, Apollo, Jamie Bamber, Mary McDonnell, Laura Roslin, David Eick, Ronald Moore