Battlestar Galactica – Sometimes A Great Notion and other thoughts

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Frak and Frak.  In a good way though, Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 is upon us.  Usually I am in bed and asleep before this shows and end up watching it on the DVR, but until the rest of the episodes are shown I will try to make it a point to watch them the night they are on television.  I am also quite happy that Sci Fi Channel HD is now part of my lineup also.  For all the people that watched the webisodes with Gaeta, we were told that while you did not have to watch them, if you did it would play a role.  For me, there were one or two looks that Gaeta gave, that had a little more meaning behind them if you had watched the webisodes.  It did though hold over BSG fans between the long season 4 and 4.5 break so they were worth it regardless.

There is so much to like about BSG from a science fiction fan perspective as well as someone not interested in Sci Fi, which is one of the reasons my wife enjoys the show as well.  I do not want to get all caught up talking just about the show and not the episode that everyone was waiting for, but BSG is a drama/thriller that just happens to be science fiction.  From my understanding and someone on the internet will correct me if I am wrong, that this was not supposed to be a cliff hanger episode, but because of the writers break it happened to work out that way instead.  I thought it was one of the more successful cliffhanger episodes in television because even though there was this huge break in between the season, I still thought about what the heck is happening on Earth in Battlestar Galactica.

<spoilers below in my discussion>

It was a bit like a Lost episode as the writers give with the right hand and take with the left.  Yes we found out all about Earth and what the heck was going on at least on the surface, we also found out who the final Cylon was.  So the 13th colony was a bunch of different Cylons, hmm interesting, but that leads to a bunch of new questions.  Then the fact that the final Cylon is the “deceased” Ellen Tigh.  So these two questions then, the other colony was Cylon, so does that mean that humans and Cylons co-existed?  Were they sent away like the Pilgrims?  How do the final 5 Cylons have the ability to remember things from 2000 years ago from Earth?  All interesting.  The Dualla story was a bit shocking, but overall I do not know how I really feel about it yet.  If it does not have bigger plot issues then just freeing up Apollo I think I will be a little disappointed.  If it was only to serve to show how low morale really was, then again disappointment.  If it holds a larger significance we will find out soon I guess.  Now on to the most interesting and twist of the night.  Starbuck burning her own corpse as well as keeping that fact hidden.  If she is not a Cylon then what the heck is she?  Maybe a human and Cylon child?  Maybe one of the old gods themselves?  So now we have the mystery of the viper she was in as well, I can fathom up some sort of rebirth plot because of how the Cylons are reborn, but the ship?  That is also quite interesting. 

While Katie Sackhoff does look incredibly good playing Starbuck, her acting was also very well done for this episode.  She hits all the emotions perfectly that one would think she should be feeling and expresses them rather well.  I think though Mary McDonnell just killed it from the acting standpoint, her character is so overwhelmed by the let down, by the fact she is dying, by the fact she has to tell the fleet something that she snaps.  Kudos to Mary for really knocking it out of the park by expressing that in her acting.

I have been hearing the talk of maybe Earth has a resurrection hub close by which would account for the final 5 surviving.  Interesting theory.  Why was Earth nuked anyway, just a regular war or is there more to it?

Overall a pretty good start to Season 4.5.  From the start of the show Battlestar Galactica has probably had the least amount of filler episodes or episodes that to me were dull.  So say me all.  (intended)

9 Comments

1. 

   Jay

   January 18, 2009 at 6:28 am

   Outside of 2 seasons of BSG I have kind of been viewing the series as something I’m happy to have ‘saved’ to go back to all at once one day and just be blown away!

   It’s very well done.

   Reply
2. 

   Damon

   January 18, 2009 at 7:44 am

   Yeah I started watching at season 2 at some point and it was nice to have one weekend to just sit and watch the tv movie then all of season one in a weekend.

   Reply
3. 

   Elena

   January 18, 2009 at 10:34 am

   I’ve been watching since the mini-series. you guys don’t know how good you have it.

   Reply
4. 

   Jay

   January 18, 2009 at 10:38 am

   You know the problem I really have is that so many good shows get canceled and go to DVD before I even know they exist (over here). It’s a good problem to have, but I’m constantly being told of shows I missed, and I’m like they never even made it hear for me to miss! Like I still need to see like everything by Judd Apatow.

   Reply
5. 

   Trinuviel

   January 21, 2009 at 12:27 pm

   I have yet to watch the episode in question, but watching “Razor” after a long hiatus really re-opened my eyes to exactly why BSG is such an awesome show. I love the fact that the writers are willing to put some really thorny issues and diffult dilemmas under debate in such an unflincing and unsentimental manner. In “Razor” they examine the actions and motives of some people that have truely committed heinous crimes while at the same time making us see them as “people”. They don’t take the easy route by simply portraying them as evil but rather explores the situation that makes them make these choices however misguided and unethical they are. There’s an unembellished sense of psychological realism in this show that really grabs me and makes me think about a lot of things after I’m done watching the episodes and that is, IMO, the hallmark of truly great fiction, literary or otherwise.

   Reply
6. 

   Damon

   January 21, 2009 at 12:49 pm

   Yeah Razor was an interesting movie because you really did have to feel for them trying to survive by any means necessary as well as trying to maintain some sort of morals. I am looking forward to Caprica as well, but I wonder if it will hold the same appeal knowing the outcome. For me I am not usually a fan of story telling in that sense.

   Reply
7. 

   Trinuviel

   January 21, 2009 at 1:16 pm

   On the other hand, knowing the outcome of the larger arc can leave the creators free to explore other issues. I often have an initial first reaction to this type of stories that mirrors yours, but I also often find myself positively surprised at how well certain writers deal with this kind of story-telling so I have actually trained myself to disregard that kind of scepticism.
   (Sorry but I can’t come up with an example right now since my brain is lazy today).

   Reply
8. 

   Neo

   January 23, 2009 at 5:30 pm

   What if everything is backwards? What if the Cylons are the Masters and the Humans are the slaves?

   What if the Cylons are the ones who created the humans? What if the humans are the ones who rebelled and nuked earth before fleeing and establishing the 12 colonies?

   Reply
9. 

   Damon

   January 23, 2009 at 5:59 pm

   Hmm that is an interesting way to look at it and would explain why Cylon remains were found on Earth. It is possible to create organic life from nothing we have pretty much seen from even our rudimentary experiments so it is possible. I will have more tomorrow after I watch tonights episode.

   Reply