GALACTICA

Hey, you're free to prefer the stark moral divisions of the original series if you want to. But I don't understand why you are bringing up the idea that Lee being a cheating bastard (and the existence of similar sorts of moral transgressions among the humans) mean they are undeserving of existence.

The show has certainly suggested that humanity has crimes to answer for, but the ones they've implied are creating a race of robotic slaves and warmongering, not good ol' run-of-the-mill marital infidelity. Not every moral impurity is a hell-and-brimstone-level offence.
 

I agree with you quite a bit on this.

The most interesting thing to me about the episode is the dissension among the Cylons. Dean Stockwell wants to eradicate all humans, Number 6 wants to make peace, and Xena is somewhere in between. I'm sorry, but I can't take the human "interest" stories anymore. Lee giving Anders a hard time was laughable. And, as you note here, Helo has one f***ing hell of a nerve getting all self-righteous on Adama and Roslin. If I was Adama in that scene, I may have put a bullet through Helo's skull, that asshole.
 

Let me see if I understand this correctly…

They are harvesting algae in the desert.

In 14 days they’ve managed to set up a pre-fab community, complete with an “oil rig” in the desert to harvest algae.

In the 14 days they have had to harvest the algae in the desert they have also built a road. This must have been constructed to help with the heavy equipment used for the “oil rig” which is always incredibly useful for harvesting algae in the desert.

There is a massive 4,000 year old ruin in the middle of the desert that apparently has a mystical power source because it’s complete with spot lights. It’s probably powered by the algae that grows so plentiful in the middle of the desert and has its own built in “oil rig” to harvest the algae for power.

There is a massive 4,000 year old ruin in the middle of the desert with no signs what so ever of any existing civilization anywhere on the planet, or nearby. The algae growing in the desert must have consumed all the remains of the civilization on the planet.

After nearly 2 YEARS in space Tyrol suddenly, mystically REMEMBERS that he grew up in a religious household dealing with the mystical cult of the Temple of the Five. Why wasn’t this ever brought up before? Why didn’t Tyrol two years ago when the search for Earth started with wacky prophecies, say “Hey! My parents were involved in wacky mystical religious rights; maybe I should mention this to Elosha.” I mean after all he also apparently has the mystical ability to read 4,000 year old runes placed on the mystical pillar with magical lights.

I hate this show so much. I’ve played D&D games that have had more creative, intriguing and mentally engaging worlds (and storylines) than this show has shown so far. I get no sense that the writers of this series have any “big picture” with this show, they simply make it up as they go along, pay the PR people huge bucks, and call it “the best show on TV”. In my opinion it’s not, and I’m fully entitled to that opinion, and I am finished watching it.
 

This episode was a mixed bag. Some parts of it were working well, but the melodrama parts were such rubbish that it dragged it down quite a bit.

First, the writers seemed to think that all of these crisis's going on at the same time upped the ante. It actually did the opposite. Were Starbuck getting shot down, the Hera subplot, or Anders wanting to go after Starbuck really that relevant when the big issue was the Cylons heading towards the planet and Galactica preparing to nuke it? Will Anders go search for Starbuck? Who cares, they may all be radioactive dust in a moment. Did Starbuck live (previews say she did)? Ditto. What about Hera? Doesn't matter because if Galactica nukes the planet The Traitor and Athena will be dead along with everyone else on Galactica.

Well, how long before Anders is dead? Right now he is one of the few decent characters on the show. They'll have to abuse him some more and then he'll get a nice senseless death.

Saf, the point isn't that characters can't have flaws. The problem is that the characters are so flawed you can't like them. Let's look at Lee. He's betrayed his position of authority on a couple of occasions. He's slept with a prostitute and was stupid enough to believe it was love. He's sleeping with another man's wife. He beat up the woman he's sleeping with (I don't care if it was a boxing ring. Men don't beat up women except in self-defense). I'm supposed to like this character why? Characters can have flaws and they should play a part in the story. However, characters that are so flawed like these are unwatchable. They're soap opera characters.

As Anon points out below, the Chief's statement just rings false. Had in season 1 or 2, he told the story about his dance (say over a beer or cards), it would have been impressive in this episode to have him mention how he shouldn't have done the dance. That would have shown subtlety and planning.
 

Agreed about Tyrol. The sudden appearance of his religious background is kludgy. I mean, we've seen him spend a whole episode chatting with a priest. And before that, he spent two whole episodes on Kobol! You'd think he could've dropped one of those "if my parents could see me now!" lines there.

Terrahawk, you nailed it with the overdone subplots undermining each other. Much of it, especially the question of Starbuck's fate, seems incredibly contrived: could anybody really believe she'd die like this? I was honestly expecting the big "to be continued" hook to be some sort of revelation about the Temple or the connections between Cylon and human religion.

The whole Lee/Anders rivalry, coupled with Starbuck's refusal to divorce and Anders being mostly out of the picture for the last while, makes me think that Anders is being set up to die a heroic death leading the civilians in battle. I really hope they don't do something that appallingly clichéd.

Adding to the points Anon made, particularly the comparisons to a bad D&D campaign, I am particularly annoyed by the consistently heavyhanded plot direction. Not sure where to go next? Let's just give Roslin/Baltar/Three/Tyrol a mystical vision, that just happens to be directly applicable to the present situation!

At this point, I will probably continue watching the show, but for me to truly respect it the writers will have to show a lot more forethought. How about giving a prophecy with some coded references that will not be expanded on in the next episode? How about allowing the characters to use a little on-camera deductive reasoning to find the next step to Earth, as opposed to blind luck, divine inspiration, and Baltar's fearsome off-camera intellect?

Is it interesting that there are five Cylons who the other Cylons can't recognize? Sure. But everything I have seen so far suggests the writers themselves didn't know that until they made it up for the episode in which it was revealed. It's just no fun guessing what the facts are when they haven't even been decided yet.

To end on something of a positive note: there is at least some evidence of foresight for this episode. Someone on the Battlestar Wiki pointed out that the design from the Temple of the Five looks very much like something painted on the wall of Starbuck's old apartment on Caprica. (Though I am more inclined to believe this is merely oppurtunistic use of past imagery which was never intended to be important at the time.) I do hope they make use of this, and bring Starbuck into the temple at some point.
 

Saf, that is interesting about the previous image. I'm inclined to agree with you theory on it though, which is regrettable. Also, I had forgotten about Tyrol going to the priest. That would have been a perfect occasion to foreshadow this episode. And I also agree with your point that it would be nice to see some actual logic in their search. They had some of that on Kobol where they were consulting scriptures to determine where to go and it worked well.

I know I've been hammering the show on this blog. But, I thought the mini-series and seasons 1 and 2 showed a lot of potential for the show. This isn't to say I thought the show was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but that the show had flashes of being special. The issue was whether or not the show would overcome some of the deficiencies that were holding it back. Instead, this season has highlighted the deficiencies and brought out a new concern that the producers and writers have no idea where they are taking the show. I'll still watch, hoping for a turn around. Plus, there isn't much scifi on anymore.
 

The comments about deduction and logic in regards to the temple are right on. I saw the shot of Starbuck's apartment and hope that it proves to be purposeful. I am very uncomfortable with the adultery. How can we root for Lee and Kara when they behave so? That said, the episode was quite good. Will the star going supernova expose the eye?
Isn't James Callis brilliant as Baltar? I am looking forward to the next half of the season. The opinions expressed on this weblog are always entertaining too!
 

To "THE" naysayer of this show...please. The original series was cancelled as a cheap and poorly written knock-off to Star Trek of the 70's. I'll admit I liked it; but I was 9! If you are looking for glitz and glamour sci-fi with poorly written characters and lot's of explosions, go rent Straship Troopers. The reality of this show, as was the case with Babylon 5, is that the humanity is made up of real people; not black and white cookie-cuter post-ups. The morality of the world may black and white, but people are gray. People make mistakes, find themselves, and often fall down again. That's life. To me, the character developement makes it more real. Not ready for that yet? Well, there's always Saturday morning cartoons. For the adults fans of the episode and this season and A+. As a side note, would you please give it a rest on the sci-fi specification. Here's a thought; the technology talked about in these episodes hasn't been invented yet. How are you an astro-physics expert to disprove it. Is this really the off-site identity for Carl Sagan? Relax a bit and enjoy the show. It's entertainment.

BTW, marginalizing the enemy into the Cylons of the 70's is lame. Every enemy of any country in every war has it's own justifications for actions; be them right or wrong. There is no such thing as a war of pure good of versus evil. That's the same political propoganda for war that's been around since long before Mien Kampf. Another BTW, I am NOT a liberal; but rather a card carrying member of the religious right.
 

Oh contraire, there is such a thing as pure good versus evil. You should know better :) Merry Christmas and Enjoy BSG when it returns in January!
 

Merry Chirstmas to you as well. BTW, I DO miss Boxy. A society without pets is no society at all. Yeah, I know they showed a couple of mangy dogs on New Caprica, but come on. After all, the Cylons have Baltar =)
 

To amend my previous comments on the sudden introduction of Tyrol's religious background: well, it wasn't altogether made up. In the second-season episode "Resistance", when Tyrol is being interrogated by Tigh as a suspected Cylon, he mentions that his father was a priest and his mother an Oracle.
 

When Tyrol mentioned his parents religion, I recalled that during his counselling sessions with the Dean Stockwell cylon, Tyrol's religious parents came up briefly.

Though the dancing nude with porn (thanks BSG, I really needed that image in my head) was new.

This episode was an improvement, but the Apollo/Starbuck affair seems straight out of Jr. High.

I have some additional comments over at my blog
http://inmediasrays.blogspot.com/ on the show.
 

Battlestar Galactica, which began its third season Oct. 6, showed growth among younger and female audiences, and outpaced the hit show's second half of season two by about 8 percent among adults 18 to 34. The series was up 15 percent among teens, 20 percent among women 18 to 34, 17 percent among women 18 to 49 and 14 percent among women 25 to 54. The average age of viewers was younger by more than a year compared to the previous season.

*cough*

I'll always be disappointed that they focused so completely on the little ultra-elite cliques, but I guess you couldn't do TV any other way. I always wanted to see the goldbricking PhD candidate that had suddenly become the foremost chemist in the universe, or see some previously marginalized demographic segment suddenly become a plurality because they were all on a space cruise on doomsday, or whatever.

Instead I get to see the emotional turmoil that other people force on me every Goddamn day anyway.
 

Funny fan film, check it out!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C34IllU5FJY
 

Rapture: Dare I say it? There seems to be reason to think that the rest of the season will be much better than the first half. Some integrity might take hold. I know it's a tall order but, hope springs eternal no?
 

Where's Rapture comments? Better hurry, or you'll get behind!
 

Isn't this turning into the lamest series ever? Can you imagine why anyone would give a uniform and rank to two people as unstable and Apollo and Strarbuck? I am so sick of their making big moon-eyes at each other I think I might wretch. All of that relationship drama masks that fact that there is so little plot advancement from week to week that you could summarize it in two sentences. Too bad - there are some interesting possibilities in this show, but it has gone seriously off track.