Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

Well, that was two hours --which felt like four-- I'll never get back.

BSG: The Plan not only lacked any semblance of a plan, it lacked a plot.

The story is a disjointed mess spanning the first two seasons of BSG, where the writers backfill any number of pointless minutiae. I mean, who cares how Shelley Godfrey managed to elude the marines in the Season 1 episode Six Degrees of Separation? Or where Doral gets his dress sense? If anything, these "explanations" take all the mystery and creepiness away from some stellar 1^st and 2^nd season episodes.

Because, as anyone watching 4^th season Galactica would suspect, the Cylons are a pathologically disorganized, whiny race. Cavil spends the whole movie nagging and goading the other models to kill more humans, most of which attempts are too incompetant to succeed. I guess the Centurions must have been the strategic brilliance behind The Fall, huh?

Add to this a lower quality of CGI, laughable transtions betweem new and old BSG footage, horrible voice dubs, and the embarrassingly sloppy scenes involving Chief Tyrol gaining/losing about 30 pounds during the course of a day, and you have one monster trainwreck of a movie.

Now, I'd been hoping the plot was going to center more around the Final Five, as "creators", and not merely earlier points in their "human" lives. How they came to make the models, and how/why they were forced into being human. But the movie actually starts a couple of days before The Fall, so no such luck. Instead it's mostly about a couple of different Cavil and Six models, Anders, with bits of Tori, Ellen, Tigh, and Chief Tyrol thrown in.

And Simon, Cylon Model 4 - this is really the only new ground that's broken. We learn a little more about the previously under-utlized model. But as Chris pointed out, this subplot only seemed good because the rest of the movie was so incomprehenbibly bad. Simon's rocky relationship with his human wife leading to mental instability would be kind of predictable on its own. But his story did have a beginning, middle, and end, and the action (as it were) built to an identifiable climax.

Which is more than can be said for the rest of this wandering, rambling story.

There's more, much more, but delving deeper would mean I'd have to further relive this embarrassment.

Short answer: save your money and your time - give The Plan a pass.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: embarrassed

Change in air date for "The Plan"

"Siffy" bumps Battlestar Galactica: The Plan back to 2010, yet still maintain 27 Oct. DVD release.

Caprica begins 22 January.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: cynical

Collected Sci-Fi Notes

1. Saw District 9 last weekend. I was going to do a full review, but for a couple of reasons I won't. I'll just say that it was very very good...for a movie. Near-perfect CG, interesting storyline, a good characterization of the aliens, etc. But, as it was a movie, it had some "movie"-like aspects that I try to avoid. I tried to explain a bit when I reviewed the Star Trek movie. Suffice it to say I prefer the (modern!) TV format for a sci-fi fix. Nonetheless, it was money was well spent.

2. When there's been time, I've been watching the commentaries on BSG S 4.5, and have covered nearly all of the material in the first 3 (out of 4) discs. What's been learned:

• Sometimes a Great Notion was written before the writer's strike, which could explain why it's still got some of the old BSG "pow" from before.
  
• From the RDM podcasts, it sounds like the writers were in fact (as I suspected) overextended between BSG and The Plan and Caprica. It was admitted that they in fact made Adama throw one or two too many temper tantrums, but it was because they were so distracted that every time seemed like the first.
  
• Islanded in a Stream of Stars makes a hell of a lot more sense in its extended version, both on its own and for developments in the finale.
  
• Edward James Olmos is a man of few words. Unfortunately, this made his director's cut commentary for Islanded very boring indeed.

3. I am going to give Defying Gravity a try this week, as there's only 5 eps to spin up on. If I like it, I'll start reviewing it.

4. I've joked about it, but it's actually true: what I really want to go as for Halloween is The 456. But aside from the fact that its construction may lie a bit outside of my time and abilities, I don't think the organizers of the events I would be attending would appreciate my costume vomiting blood and mucus on the walls of their establishment.

Still, a girl can dream.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: calm

Review of "Caprica" pilot

Non-spoiler quick review:

Perhaps it was because I came into this with hideously low expectations (following the trainwreck of Battlestar Galactica's series finale), but I didn't think Caprica was half bad.

I mean, it can't compare to the pilot of BSG (perhaps it's unfair to expect it to), but it was just fine as a standalone prequel piece. It added texture and backstory to the BSG universe, and although it certainly wasn't perfect, it wasn't boring. It probably could've even been drawn out an extra 30-90 minutes (to resolve open plot lines) and I would've been OK with that.

However, I really think it would be a mistake to go any further with it. There really is no place left for it to go as a series. Well, no place good, anyway. Yet Sci-Fi channel and RDM have Season 1 already in production...

Lightly spoiled detailed review:

So initially I was warned off Caprica for two reasons - the "teen scene" factor and the use of religion.

I can't argue with the teen scream complaint too much - and I have a gut feeling that when the series comes to fruition, we'll see even more of that. But the pilot did keep it in check, to a degree. Although I'm not sure I buy Kelly Osbourne Zoe Greystone as a cybernetics genius who surpassed her father in brilliance.

On the religion topic, it actually seemed like a more appropriate use than it had been in BSG - when it's mentioned, there's no implication about prophecy being filled or whatnot. It was presented more in a sociological light - as in, the crazy things people do/think for their unsubstantiated irrational beliefs. And, I might add, if there is a "main character" to this series, it is Joseph Adama (née Adams née Adama), who declares his atheism very early in the show. Like father, like son (and likely, grandson).

BSG-universe backstory fill-in, in case you missed it:
- The Joseph Adama legal career referenced in BSG started with Joseph being basically a mob lawyer. Also, the Adamas are transplants from Tauron living on Caprica. Joseph's family was killed in an uprising on that world.
- The term "Cylon" was coined by Daniel Greystone as a very clumsy acronym ("cybernetic life-form node") that smacks of rear-view-mirroring.
- The reason monotheism is the religion of the centurions is that Zoe Greystone (the first cylon) happened to belong to that cult.

Nitpick:
This Caprica setting (58 years before the fall, 18-ish before the 1^st Cylon war) is a hell of a lot more advanced, technologically, than Battlestar was. Computers on pieces of paper? Floating robot butlers? Holodecks (in effect)? And the Battlestar world has white boards and tractor-feed printers?

Oh, I know what some might say - much of the technology was lost in the fall, and humans were wary of technololgy after the first cylon war. But I don't buy it - I'm sure someone on one of those luxury liners would've had one of those paper-sheet computers on them, and I doubt the military would pass up the chance to hoard technology for future conflicts. But then again, the population of the BSG universe are a very stupid lot indeed - recall how they sent their ships into the sun and went completely "native" on New Earth, despite what history tells us about survival rates & expected lifespan in such an environment.

So in summary, I enjoyed learning how certain arcs were set in motion, but I don't think a whole series is in order, or even advisable. I didn't find the characters in Caprica as strong as Battlestar's cast, and it seems to me that forcing this pilot into a series would spend more time in teen angst and social commentary than sci-fi.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: okay

Caprica DVD release info

Not that many of you are in the mood to get enthusiastic about this, but:

The pilot for prequel series Caprica is being released to DVD on April 21^st, although it will not be shown on television (i.e., Sci-Fi channel) until early 2010, along with the full 19 episode season. Bass-ackwards? Dunno, perhaps someone overestimated the appeal of BSG's finale and was hoping to cash in on the spinoff before it aired.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: cynical

Battlestar Galactica Series Finale

Sorry for the delay in reviewing the final BSG, but it's been a busy weekend preceeded by an even busier week. There is a lot of material to go over, so let's get started.

I'm going to divide the content up into four separate categorized lists, followed by my take on the series' conclusion vs. other sci-fi. So as not to come off as totally negative, I'll start with the parts of the finale that actually worked:

• Tori's comeuppance. Did everyone cheer when the Chief found out how Tori's murdered his wife Cally, and then strangled her? Aaron Douglas has the "enraged bull" look down pat.
  
• Since I still have a soft spot for the Adama-Roslin story, I did get a little misty at Laura's death and Adama's grief. I didn't full-on bawl the way I did for the comparable scenes in Hub, but it did bring their arcs to a satisfying close.

Well, that was a short list. Now let's move on to the complaints:

• More flashbacks. Flashbacks that in the end, only told us how our characters got to be where they were (as opposed to a revelation that would pay off in present day). At best, they were "oh, isn't that interesting" moments that would have been more appropriate in a 3^rd- or 4^th-to-last story.
  
• Mr. Hoshi promoted to Admiral and Romo Lampkin promoted to president. Seriously?
  
• Cavil shooting himself in the head when he couldn't get resurrection. Perhaps it was shocking in that it was unexpected, but not to say this was anything other than writers quickly writing off a character that they didn't know what to do with.
  
• Racetrack and Skulls (in a final, posthumous display of functionality) blow up the Colony, when an asteroid hits their already-smashed raptor, causing Racetrack's dead hand to hit the "fire" button. OH COME ON.
  
• The whole business with "Angel" Six and Baltar was just weak, from the god explanation to the terrible dialog ("your lives will be less eventful now").
  
• NO WAY IN HELL do I buy that even after 4 years of hell the survivors of the human race would abandon their technology, send their ships into the sun, and just "go native". No way.
  
• For a series with its own science advisor, and one that has gone out of its way to portray a realistic universe (very sparse, no alien life, hardly any habitable planets), they certainly are making a 180 with this whole "being genetically compatible with the separately-evolved humans on New Earth" idea. Why didn't New Earth just have lower primates and no hominids, and Hera +39,000 humans just fill the gap?
  
• So what could have been a compelling story moment was during the raid on the "colony", when Helo is shot in the gut and Hera runs away. Athena has a terrible choice - save her dying husband or rescue her daughter? Helo tells her to leave him, Athena reluctantly complies. The audience figures Helo is dead, because you don't see him again for an hour and a half. Then all of a sudden he's alive on New Earth, walking with a limp. Methinks there was some conjoining material left on the cutting room floor. Still, way to take the wind out of some high-drama, RDM + crew.
  
• Speaking of RDM, some of you may have noticed his cameo in the final scenes of present-day New Earth, reading a magazine about Hera, the Mitochondrial Eve. Now, this scene neither diminished nor added anything, but:
  1. it's already been done on B5 by JMS
     
  2. it would have been more powerful as a signature if the caliber of Daybreak were closer to Sleeping in the Light.
• The "OMG FEAR TECHNOLOGY" montage at the very end, where we're supposed to get the heebie-jeebies for our accelerating advances in robotics. *groan*.

And the confusing:

• What was with the old-school centurions on Cavil's ship? Initially it seemed as though it was BSG:TOS fan pandering (like with the anthem playing towards the end), or perhaps just to distinguish in the battle scenes which centurions were on which side. Then I had an "aha" moment and figured that since the 2s/6s/8s gave the centurions free will, that they would ditch Cavil's side entirely, forcing Cavil to dig up older models. But that hypothesis was blown to hell when later I spotted new-style centurions on Cavil's side. Dunno!
  
• So Kara is, what, a ghost? One that everyone on Galactica saw for a year, and had blood samples taken from, and one that had its own halluncinations? Anyway, I think BSG has played the "disappearing hallucination" card one too many times (e.g., Romo's cat, piano guy).

Lastly, here is my list of unresolved plot arcs. Feel free to add to them if you've got more. I suppose it's possible that some questions will be answered in The Plan, but I'm not holding my breath.

• The creepy spiritual/stalker relationship between the Leoben model and Kara Thrace. This one was dropped like a stone after Kara found her charred corpse, no explanation.
  
• Anders revealed a few stories back that Tori and Chief Tyrol were "madly in love" back in their original lives as the research scientists under Ellen Tigh's leadership. Absolutely nothing further was made of this, despite Tori's murder of Calli and the return of Boomer.
  
• the 13^th model Daniel.
  
• How Kara's father knew the "all along the watchtower" song.

I had lots more, but I've been writing this review for an hour and a half and my brain is tired. Plus a lot of arcs I consider "unresolved" are technically more like half-assed resolved. Mostly where the buck is passed to the supernatural, which of course in my mind doesn't qualify as much of an explanation. Like I said, feel free to tack on your "unresolved"s here too.

---

Looking back on the series in its entirety, my opinion is this - RDM, David Eick, etc, were really good at opening new and compelling plot arcs, but fumbled in attempting to close them. The series was, by their own admission, done pretty seat of the pants, with no planning ahead on how to resolve the mysteries that were pitched. Unfortunately, even though it was brilliant seat-of-the-pants, the chickens did come home to roost. That is why (network/cancellation issues notwithstanding) Babylon 5 was able to successfully tie up 95% of its threads by series' end - JMS had planned this story ahead of time and was working toward that aim the whole time. On the other hand, the BSG crew was left scrambling to tie up dozens of disparate fragments, and also make it all look like they'd been planning it that way all along.

And in that, sadly, they failed.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: contemplative

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5, episode 8

*sigh* I don't want to have to review any more of these awful episodes, dammit.

I'm starting to think Battlestar Galactica died with Lt. Gaeta and Tom Zarek in Blood on the Scales, as that was the last good episode, and the last one that even made sense.

Anders becomes the Galactica's Hybrid? Well, there goes any hope of one of the series' most real characters getting back into the action. It's just going to be incoherent babbling from here on out, eh?

Adama throwing a tantrum in his quarters and inbibing dangerous quantities of alcohol? Shocking & fresh when you did it the first time, E.J.O., but it's beyond old now - it's your schtick.

Oh, and I feel no sympathy for Kara for stupidly trusting Baltar with her secret, given his consistent and well-known duplicity over the past 4 seasons. Likewise, I don't feel sorry for Baltar for getting slapped (seriously, WTF is with the girly-slap, Thrace?) as I would think he would know by now that outing Kara would result in him sustaining some sort of injury at her hands.

All these "developments" are, as Chris pointed out, opening more plot holes than they close. This show quickly has become ridiculous and whiny and lethargic, with all the good characters having been killed off or bled dry of interesting content. There's no one I'm rooting for. Will the final two episodes breathe some life into this bloated corpse of a show? We shall see...

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: disappointed

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4.5, Episode 5(out of order, I realized I didn't post this)

Maybe I'm feeling more post-vacation exhaustion today than yesterday, but let me see if I have this straight:

So, the Final 5 are actually the manifestations of a Cylon research team (headed by Ellen Tigh) that created the other 7 models we are now aquainted with? And the 5 traveled at sub-light speed from Cylon Earth to the 12 colonies to end the first Cylon war, but then Cavil (patterned after Ellen's father* & possessing a reverse Pinnochio complex) decided to alter their programming to make them think they were human, to punish the 5 for programming the others to be so plagued with emotion?

I'll say one thing, I don't think too many people would've guessed that.

But I don't know how much I buy that crew as a bunch of research scientists. OK, I can see Tyrol and maybe Tori, but Anders? A scientist? The actress playing Ellen is doing a pretty good job of "having the switch flipped" and assuming a much different personality, so maybe all her flightiness/promiscuity was something the Cavil model** programmed in out of spite.

I guess we'll just have to see where this goes - I hope that there's an explanation for all the Cylon models, including the lesser-utilized models like Simon and Doral. Then there's the aborted-fetus model "Daniel", which maybe will play into the Kara mystery?

* - a model she slept with on New Caprica? Oh, barf BARF BARF. :-P
** - Is it just the one Cavil, or the whole line of Cavils that knew the Final 5 secret?Tags: sci-fi
Mood: confused

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 episode 7

Seems that sci-fi.com is determined to release BSG episodes on an 8 day delay now. So, for the final 3 episodes, if I'm not squatting at a cable-equppied residence (like I did last night @ Chris' parents house), expect the reviews to come out on Sundays (when I'll have a recorded version to view).

I'm not sure what's the A story and what's the B story in Someone To Watch Over Me, so I'll just arbitrarily designate the Kara stuff as story A. Kara is haunted by the charred corpse they found on Earch, which bore "K. Thrace" dog tags, and has been dealing with it in her usual self-destructive fashion. Enter bar pianist, who Kara harrasses and works on her internal demons with. Lots of hand-wringing regarding Kara's history with her dad and growing up in a broken home. Kara remembers a song her dad used to make her play on piano, which Hera Agathon somehow is tapped into. The little girl draws a picture of the notes and Kara is able to play the tune, which the Final 5 Cylons instantly recognize as the "All along the watchtower" song that activated them. Then it turns out the pianist guy was just a figment of her imagination.

Ugh, it was a lot of hand-wringing to get from point A to point B in this story. There's a good chance that that guy is, or was supposed to represent Kara's absentee father, who is looking more like it's going to be the 13^th model "Daniel" than Leoben as I had theorized. Regardless, we still need an explanation as to why Leobens are so obsessed with Kara.

The A-story was too much of a snoozer for my tastes, but the B-story had a bit more appeal: Last episode, the Sharon model known as Boomer broke Ellen Tigh out of Cavil's base ship and spirited her off to Galactica. But Adama has a long memory when it comes to people who shoot him: upon discovering her identity, he threw her in the brig. In this episode, the newly minted Cylon representative Caprica Six (seeming relatively unaffected by last week's loss of her baby) petitions the President to have Boomer extradited to the rebel base ship. Not to free her, but to try her for treason for siding with Cavil. Chief Tyrol learns of this and flips out, since in the series' beginning, when he thought he was human, had a passionate relationship with her. The Chief and Boomer briefly reconcile, and when Laura grants extradition, the Chief breaks Boomer out and knocks out another 8 to swap into the brig. Confused yet? However, between breaking out of jail and escaping the ship, Boomer steals the identity of the 8 known as Athena, gets a good frack with Hilo, and spirits away Hera Agathon under the noses of everyone, including Chief Tyrol. Which just goes to show that 8's cannot ever be trusted. Or can they - with little time left in the series, Athena is still loyal. Anyway, the Chief is about to be in biiiiiig trouble, because by episode's end Galactica crew is aware of Boomer's escape, and it will be no mystery to figure out where her help came from.

But why did Boomer steal Hera - is it because Cavil has some investment in the half-breed (doesn't seem like he would) or as bait to lure all Final 5 back to Cavil?

Still no word on WTF's up with Baltar's cult getting guns or Adama's pill-popping or any of those other loose ends. Gotta wrap this up fast, there's only 3 episodes left.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: busy

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5, Episode 6

If ever you needed evidence BSG has started to "jump the shark" in season 4, witness: Deadlock.

So Ellen Tigh comes back from the dead (i.e., download-central) and returns to Galactica as the final Cylon model, leader of the Final Five. Ellen starts acting a little more Ellen-like when Saul Tigh is back in the picture, employing more of the old sexual charms and mind game tactics we saw in Ellen of S1-S3.

Most of this story revolved around "love" - who Tigh loved and who he loved most. This is where things got a little ridiculous, when Ellen and Caprica Six start competing for the #1 spot in Saul's heart. When C6 suspects Tigh doesn't love her, she starts having labor pains. In fact, she does eventually lose the baby (Liam) when her faith in Tigh's feelings for her wavers.

But neither Ellen nor Six can claim the #1 spot in Tigh's heart, that place goes to...Bill Adama. That's right, Tigh has always had a major hard-on for his pill-popping commanding officer, even naming the pre-natal toaster a shortened version of "William".

Um, excuse me, but what was all of that? First off, all this "#1 love makes Cylon baby" business doesn't make sense. Secondly, why the compulsive 'shipping? This isn't Melrose Place, it's sci-fi. I mean, I get Adama & Roslin, and Athena & Hilo, and Boomer & Tyrol (oh, and guess what they're building to in next ep), but the Tigh/Six thing I have never bought. Same goes for Cavil/Boomer. Lame - what, will everyone be paired up by series' end? I'm a little disappointed in Jane Espensen (the writer), I thought she usually did better work.

Deadlock's B-story was a little better, but not by leaps and bounds: Baltar returns to his cult after some time (weeks?) away, to find acolyte Paula has taken the reigns and is running things a lot differently. Paula, if angrier and less charismatic, at least has more street smarts than Baltar, who manages to act like a complete loser and get all their food stolen. He does eventually manage to get his weak-willed flock to come around to him, and hatches a plan to get Adama to provide them armaments. Um, why would anyone give Baltar's group guns? After all that has transpired in the past? I presume this will be explained in the next episode, because although Adama is out of his mind on drugs & alcohol, Lee and Laura were in that room and they weren't.

Since I don't want to be a total downer on the ep, I'll mention one high point: the look on Laura's face when Adama produces a flask out of his jacket at Ellen's request. Brilliant.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: confused

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 episode 4

While I did get a chance to watch last week's BSG while in Hawaii, I didn't have the time to write a review until now. Tonight's ep I'll review tomorrow, since I watch it through scifi.com, which doesn't post until Saturday mornings.

The violence from last week culminates in an unsettling climax and resolution in Blood on the Scales.

First off, there is the cold-blooded execution of the entire Quorum of 12 (minus Lee of course) by Zarek, when they do not acquiesce to his coup of the goverment. The heretofore squabbling quorum displays one single moment of bravery and solidarity and rejects Zarek's illegal takeover. In response, Zarek exits, and directs some (very cold, very unquestioning) marines to shoot the lot of them. But not everyone is so unfeeling - Gaeta is appalled, as is Kelly, who witnessed the deed (see below).

One of the higlights in the episode was seeing how attempts to weaken Adama and Roslin through psychological warfare did, in fact, fail flat out. When Zarek lies to Adama, telling him Tigh was killed in an escape attempt, in hopes that the news will break him, Adama responds by shutting down, giving Zarek nothing. Gaeta tells Roslin that Adama had been executed (and for all Gaeta knows, he had been), and she does not fall apart but flies into a rage. Roslin's "I'm coming for you" speech was reminiscint of Hillary Clinton's "No way, no how, no McCain", both in phrasing and in diction.

But ultimately, "the reckoning" came, and by day's end the Zarek/Gaeta coup is unseated. While it seems as thought the foot soldiers in the rebellion will receive some degree of leniency, such is not the case for the heads: Zarek and Gaeta are excuted by firing squad.

Which is not unexpected in one sense - it is, after all, treason, for which death is the punishment. But the special circumstances of the human race (<40K people, limited genetic diversity to carry on) and the fact that Adama usually runs a pretty forgiving ship, made it a little shocking. After all, Baltar ended up exonerated after new Caprica, others on Galactica have pulled some major insubordinate incidents and received little or no punishment.

But also it's unsettling because Gaeta bears somewhat of a resemblance to jeff_industrial, so I tend to root for his character. After they killed him, I kept saying to Chris, "I can't believe they killed Industrial Jeff!"

Anyway.

Gaeta's arc closes with reflection on his life, and the events of the coup, giving confessional to Baltar of all people. Zarek, the more sophisticated player, had driven the coup out of control, and corrupted Gaeta's more idealistic vision. It's clear that Gaeta is relieved things were put to a stop, even at the cost of his own life. His phantom leg pain, which had been increasing since the injury, disappears in his final moment of life, between the calls of "aim" and "fire".

This episode also brought back characters Kelly (former ship officer, who tried to assasinate Baltar at his trial) and Romo (Baltar's trial lawyer). Maybe they're giving all non-dead minor characters a final revisit before series' end. Although slightly contrived, each had their part to play (Kelly as the doubting revolutionary who eventually redeems himself, Romo as lawyer for Adama and to help Kara with neck-wound Anders).

The conclusion of the episode leaves a few loose ends. One is what is going to happen to Anders, who's suffered a serious neck wound. The other is something to do with the ship itself - Tyrol discovers some kind of gash in the engine room that is presumably a big deal. Something that will no doubt be explained in tonight's episode.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: shocked

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4.5, Episode 3

Sorry this is a little late - I watched the show over the weekend but work stuff came up so I didn't get a chance to post until now. This week and next will be hectic to the extreme, so the next review probably won't get posted until close to the 13^th/14^th. After that, life should settle down. :-/

Mutiny on board the Galactica!

The Gaeta/Zarek partnership bears fruit in the form of a plot to break Zarek out of the brig, and results in a full-on uprising to unseat Adama as commander of the military (because of his decision to ally himself with the rebel Cylons). This was not a bloodless coup either. Brutal and violent acts illustrates the fleet's [previously] pent up rage against the Cylons, such as:

- Seelix does a harsh turn to Anders. She approaches him sweetly at first, reminscing about their time spent together and their almost-relationship. Then she nails him about burning her, and his Cylon identity. She then says "even though it's been months, I still can't seem to let it go", and then two guys (on her orders) come up behind him, throw a bag over his head, and beat the crap out of him. To Seelix, Anders' existence is a personal offront; her hatred towards him is palpable.
- Murder of Private Jaffey (trying to protect Adama) by the marines during the coup on CIC. By his reaction, you can tell Gaeta really doesn't have the stomach for the bloodshed, even for supposedly justified "ends".
- But Zarek has just such a stomach, as evidenced when he murders Galactica's new deck Chief (formerly Pegasus deck chief) as he, in the course of doing his job, threatens to uncover their plot. In the BSG universe, being hit over the head with a wrench doesn't always just leave you with a bump on the noggin' - sometimes it kills you.
- Skulls, Racetrack and some other mutineers corner Lee, who was tricked by Zarek into returning to Galactica. They are about to execute him (many hold grudges against Lee for being Baltar's defence counsel) when Kara executes the executioner. Skulls protests, and is instantly shot by Kara. I am not sure if he survived, Racetrack who "functionally" attended to his wound, seemed to indicate he would recover.

Other random notes:
1. If everyone is still complaining about having to eat nothing but algae (algae coffee, algae baby food, etc), why are half of the cast gaining weight? ;-P
2. Adama and Tigh this season have both been getting kind of growly/groggy-sounding voices. Sometimes you can't tell what they're saying. I'm not sure if it's supposed to indicate they're getting old/weary, or that they're drunk and fucking up, but it's started to wear thin for me. Enunciate, just a little, pleeeeease?

Anyway, this episode left on a cliffhanger, when a grenade is thrown into the room Adama and Tigh are holed up in, defending the president's exit. I doubt they will actually die (but you never know with BSG) but how will this be resolved? There's no going back after a full-on mutiny. How will Galactica operate after routing out all these traitors?

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: busy

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4.5 Episode 2

This story mainly seems to be following up on events from A Great Notion or establishing arcs for the rest of 4.5:

- We discover that Hot Dog (Bodie Olmos), not Cylon Tyrol, is the father of Cally's son Nikki. Um, WOT? This kid doesn't even look like Hot Dog. And I just can't see Cally having a sexual encounter during the timeframe this was supposed to be (i.e., New Caprica). She was too hung up on the Chief, why would she want to screw Hot Dog? I don't know, maybe they need to get Tyrol's "human" ties severed so that he can do something evil and Cylon-y later. Or maybe the writers want to put something salacious in every episode to keep people watching. This one didn't jibe, though.

- Baltar's changed his tune with respect to his religious ramblings. Now, after the discovery of the post-holocaust "Earth", he blames the "one true god" for their predicament, and demands that this "god" answer to him. Maybe he's coming full circle to being an atheist again? Maybe he's going to go totally megalomaniacal and have his own Jonestown? Baltar's arc has bored me this whole season, now is closest he's come to regaining my interest.

- Roslin and Adama are still not functioning at 100%. Adama is holding up a little better, or at least going through the motions, alebit popping some mysterious pills. But I don't think he's in the best state of mind for deciding the Cylon-citizenship issue (and no one else in the room - Tigh, Helo, Tyrol, Gaeta, or Lee - has the right stuff to make the call). Laura on the other hand, is totally putting her head in the sand, and going off her meds and cancer treatment. Then they both get naked in bed. Old people sex! But yeah, it seems like a very weak moment in leadership, and you know the fleet is only being held together by the strength of these two individuals. Once they let go, you will probably see:

- A mutinous partnership of Gaeta & Zarek: Poor Gaeta, he's been kicked around so much, from almost being thrown out an airlock for Baltar's misdeeds, to having his leg shot off by a man who would later be revealed as Cylon, to last week's suicide of his close friend Dualla. And where are all those who did him wrong (Baltar, Kara, Tigh, Anders, etc)? Living privileged or powerful lives while he suffers and decays. It's really hard to blame him for plotting against our heros, I'll give the writers credit for that - he's a completely sympathetic anti-hero. I think ultimately though, Gaeta is not going to live to the end of the final episode - his decision to mutiny with Zarek to me says he will meet a tragic end sometime in the next 8 stories.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: nerdy

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 kickoff

If the Battlestar Galactica writers wanted to kick off the final 10 episodes with a bang, with fans salivating for more, more, more, they succeeded.

Also: if they wanted to confuse and depress people, they succeeded. Not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy it, but wow.

On the depressing: Following the discovery of the irradiated "Earth", the fleet's jubilation immediately pivots into chaos and despondency. Fights break out, nearly everyone's on a drinking binge, and those in command (Laura, Adama) take it as a personal failure, and are crushed by the weight of responsibility for leading so many people, a substantial number who have died along the way, to this false end.

But none of their anguish compares to the shocking and disturbing events that happen with Dualla. For her, coming all that way, enduring so much only to be let down: it's too much. While everyone else is on an angry-binge, she tries to carve out one perfect night with Lee (her ex-husband). One last moment of happiness. Then, she says good night, exchanges a few words with Gaeta, hums a happy tune, and shoots herself in the head.

The fallout is intense. Lee & Bill Adama struggle to make sense of it. Gaeta, her longtime bud (but, as I mentioned in the webisodes review, someone who I could've seen her getting together with), has a new look in his eye. His arc is growing ever darker, and I am sure there is more to come.

It was an extremely depressing episode, however I don't expect that things will continue this way. This is likely something that was negotiated with the network for "impact", and subsequent stories will have to be less bleak, even if they're not anywhere near "light" or "happy".

On the confusing: It's sure sounding like everyone's a Cylon these days. Kara apparently crashed/died on Earth, but yet she's also there, alive (Kara discovering her own charred body was creepy). Cylon? Who knows. And why is Leoben frightened of her? Also they seem to think the 13^th tribe was of Cylons, and the final 4 (Tyrol, Anders, Tori, Tigh) have flashbacks to a time when they apparently lived on Earth and their civilization was nuked. Tigh recalls a "memory" (this could be a red herring, given how much he hallucinates) of Ellen back in his past life. He exclaims that Ellen is the final Cylon! The recently-dead was on my list of candidates for the final Cylon, but again, I don't know how far to trust Tigh's visions. Regardless, it's sounding like there's a lot more than 12 models of Cylons.

What it's sounding like is generations of Cylons (perhaps 12 in the current gen?), making basically everyone a Cylon. Either that or something involving time travel, but that would be very new ground for the BSG universe to date. Who knows? Ideally, we shouldn't know. I'm hoping the end will bring a full resolution that I couldn't anticipate - one that isn't cheesy, far-fetched, or unsatisfying. We shall see what comes to pass...

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: shocked

Battlestar Galactica Webisodes, "The Face of the Enemy"

BSG Season 4.5 starts this Friday night! I'd totally throw a viewing party, but I don't have cable and it's no fun to huddle 'round a computer. :-P

That's right, as the icon indicates, it's revealed in Face of the Enemy that in fact Gaeta is gay! Webisode 1 shows our one-legged hero smooching goodbye to Mr. Hoshi! Let me just say this was the most adorable yet unexpected (Hoshi is a bit player) pairing. It is just full of squee for me, unlike recent BSG pairings that leave me creeped out (Tigh/Caprica 6, Boomer/Cavil).

But by the middle of the webisodes we find he's actually bisexual, as he was previously in a creepy relationship with one of the 8's (Sharons) in his time on New Caprica. The writer commentary (which was in the "enhanced" webisode versions) indicated Gaeta had previously been "guessed" by fans as a gay character because he hadn't had any on-screen relationships. And rather than disappoint the fans with evidence to the contrary, they had him in the relationship with Hoshi as well as the 8. Personally, I had taken my clues from the D'Anna interview, that Gaeta was initially very career-focused and had forsworn relationships entirely while he focused on advancement. I had figured he would eventually end up with Dualla, as he seems a much better fit for her than Lee ever was (although I never have forgiven Dualla for cheating on Billy).

Anyway, enough about relationships/sexuality, there was a plot here, right? The webisode format necessarily makes the story kind of simplistic, and with a weird lurching rhythm; Unavoidable due to needing a "cliffhanger" every 3-4 minutes. The setup is that Gaeta is sent to another ship and the fleet makes an emergency jump when he's on route via raptor. Inside are the raptor pilots, several Galactica crew, and two Cylon 8's, one of which he had sexual history with on New Caprica. As they desperately try to find their way back to the fleet, one by one the raptor occupants get killed, starting with the other 8/Sharon.

It turns out that Gaeta's 8 is, and has always been, a sociopath, and she's the murderer. She had messed with Gaeta's mind on New Caprica - claiming she had saved people from extermination camps, when actually she hastened their demise. She kills the other occupants of the raptor so she and Gaeta can have more oxygen. Gaeta hears this and kills her in disgust, leaving himself the sole survivor of the raptor massacre. He almost kills himself with a lethal dose of Morpha (morphine), but chickens out. Gaeta is one damaged dude, and I don't mean physically. And these 8's are nothing but trouble - I just know that the writers will eventually break our hearts and have Athena-8 betray the Galactica, Adama, and her devoted husband Helo.

Finally, the lovesick & valiant Hoshi, along with functional* Racetrack, retrieve the almost-dead-anyway Gaeta. In return, Gaeta dumps Hoshi, "for your own good". BOOOOO! This was supposedly to clear way for developments in S4, which had better mean Dualla, kay? Anyway- upon his return to CIC, a seething Gaeta tells (superior officer) Cylon Tigh to frack off; he now has a plan in his head, and we're going to have to watch season 4.5 to find out what it is!

* Chris and I have a running joke about Racetrack being "functional", because they always put her in the position of discovering something or fulfilling some need that the other main characters cannot be involved in. But yet she never gets any storylines of depth - she's just the go-to-gal for when you need to advance the plot with a convincing extra with a familiar face.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: excited

likely the best thing I'll see all day

OMG fracking hilarious: Battlestar Galactica done as Simpsons' characters.

aaaaaand *right-click-save*.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: amused

BSG "Face of the Enemy" Webisode Schedule

One of these days I'll get around to posting actual content, but not today.

Instead, FYI (and mine), here's the scheduled releases of the ten ~4 minute BattleStar Galactica webisodes that add up to a full-length story called "Face of the Enemy".

Webisode 1: December 12, 2008
Webisode 2: December 15, 2008
Webisode 3: December 17, 2008
Webisode 4: December 22, 2008
Webisode 5: December 24, 2008
Webisode 6: December 29, 2008
Webisode 7: December 31, 2008
Webisode 8: January 5, 2009
Webisode 9: January 7, 2009
Webisode 10: January 12, 2009

Season 4.5 TV episodes will premiere Friday, January 16, 2009.

CAVEAT: At least one major and one minor plot arc from season 4.0 is referenced even in the first 4 webisode, so if you don't like spoilers, don't watch these episodes until you get caught up!

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: working

Upcoming Battlestar Galactica Webisodes

FYI, Battlestar Galactica Fans: There will be another series of 10 webisodes coming up, to bridge the gap between the first and second half of Season 4. It will be called The Face of the Enemy and the first one will air Dec 12^th, and continue through January, right before the 2^nd half of S4 kicks off.
Tags: sci-fi
Mood: sick

Caprica

I have no idea how I hadn't heard of this before just now, but glittachris clued me in on the new Battlestar Galactica prequel series, Caprica. It will have Bill Adama's father, Joseph Adama, in the main role, and will focus on the development of the Cylons. Set to air Dec '08 or Jan '09. Probably won't be as awesome as BSG, and may be just like B5/Crusades, but you know I'll be tuning in.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: curious

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Episode 10

In Friday's mid-season 'finale', the BSG writers "outed" the 4 Cylons living in secret, gave up a fair amount of information on the final model, and had a major change of scenery, but stopped short of revealing all. The major giveaway came on the Rebel Base Star, where newly resurrected D'Anna informs the humans that there are in fact four cylons in their fleet, and not five. Which means: * Everyone in the fleet outside of the known Cylons (Tory, Tigh, Tyrol & Anders) is clear. This includes: Lee, Kara, Gaeta, Dualla, Lamkins, and a whole host of others. * Everyone on the Base Star is fair game, and there were a lot of people deployed there. This includes: Roslin, Baltar, Helo, Hot Dog, Celix, etc, and maybe Adama (I need to watch the episode again for timing). However, based on the way they were planning to execute everyone but Baltar & Roslin after Adama left, I'd say the candiates among the living are narrowed to three. * I still do not rule out the recently dead. Kalli, Ellen, Kat, or whoever could be a Cylon and just downloaded somewhere. Perhaps that person went with the 1s, 4s, and 5s to Earth and nuked the place, since they keep saying the F5 know the way to Earth. So yeah - basically this episode boils down to a tense hostage situation, where everyone fights over custody of the F5. Cylon Tory takes the first opportunity to rejoin her kind, no surprise. Tigh finally stands up and does the right thing, confessing to Adama, and leaving him a broken, sobbing mess. When D'Anna reneges on the deal, Tigh gives up the other Cylons for the good of the fleet. However, Tyrol & Anders gave Kara the nugget of info she needed to figure out the way to Earth. Tragedy is narrowly averted as Kara forcibly gives Tigh a repreive on his spacing. Then they reach a compromise and let the Cylons walk around the ship freely. Adama "rolls a hard six" and humans and Cylons make it to Earth! Too bad it's been nuked. The whole Earth-runup did seem a little rushed; it would've benefitted from another episode. Makes me wish doubly so that in the beginning of S4 they had curtailed Baltar's god-babble. Anyway, we're left waiting on how Earth was destroyed, and who the final Cylon is, and what will happen when the other Cylons show up (and they will)? Tags: sci-fi Mood: tired

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4 Episode 9

As last week's action was confined only to Galactica happenings, this week's was concerned only with doings on the rebel Base Star, and the race to un-box the 3's & destroy the Resurrection Hub.

Figuring centrally to this is President Rosslyn and the question of whether she can ♥ anymore. Whether, in the course of trying to save humanity, she has lost herself. She has already decided to backstab the rebel cylons when they go to rescue Diana, a fact which troubles the perpetually troubled Helo.

But Rosslyn starts getting visions during FTL jumps, where she sees her dead spiritual advisor Illosha (sp?). Illosha tells her she needs to ♥ again, and we see lots of visions involving her dying and Adama grieving. Rosslyn remains somewhat skeptical of what Illosha is saying.

But meanwhile in the real world, the rebel base star destroys the hub (Question: why can't the Cylons build another one? Did they lose the schematics?) and rescues one (1) Diana, the one who knows the identities of the Final Five. For a brief instant, there is a ultra-dramatic turn when Diana says Rosslyn is one of the final 5. But then she goes "Psych! Sucker!!" and we are led to believe Xena Diana was just fuckin' around. However, I am not so sure...Rosslyn is at the top of my list for being the final Cylon, and I'm not going to be pulled off this trail so easily.

But it turns out Diana won't talk about the F5 until her safety is guaranteed (as the Resurrection Hub makes all Cylons mortal now), so Rosslyn's betrayal of the Cylons is for naught. Athena catches wind of this and gets in a snit.

As much as I want to like Athena, every time she gets mad about something I cringe, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The 8's are certainly getting painted as a fickle model, and although Athena is the most resolute of them all, she's still cut from the same circuitboard, so to speak. So I'm just waiting for her to suffer that one last indignity where she decides to ditch her loyalty to the Colonial Fleet. And then who knows how many bodies will hit the floor?

Rosslyn's turning point comes when the base ship comes under attack by the other base ship with the 1's, 4's and 5's (are there now only two base ships of all Cylon-hood??). Baltar (who up until this point was just being a posturing annoyance) gets seriously wounded, and with astonishing dexterity, Laura patches him up . She has to give him [their equivalent of] Morphine, and under the influence Baltar finally admits that it was his lapse in judgement that allowed the Defense codes into Cylon hands, which as we know, resulted in the annihilation of the 12 colonies. Enraged, Laura strips off the bandage she just put on, to let him bleed to death.

But then they jump again, she has another vision, and learns the true meaning of ♥. She awakens, a changed person, and frantically undoes the damage to Baltar.

That is too bad. If there is anyone on this show who needs to be popped (besides Lee Adama), it's Baltar. Oh well, I guess they couldn't really have him die now, eh?

So Laura reclaims her soul just in time. They escape, and meet up with the lovesick Adama, who's floating around in space waiting for them. They meet up, Laura blurts out her ♥, to which he responds in typical minimalist fashion, "it's about time". Aww. Just in time for her to die or be unveiled as a Cylon.

Or both.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: excited

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4 Episode 8

Finally, after a slow simmer, the action reaches a boil in Season 4. In the last episode, when they plugged in the hybrid again, she automatically jumped the base ship without waiting for orders. with President Rosslyn, Gaius Baltar, and several of Galactica's crew that were manning the ship in preparation for their attack on the Resurrection Hub.

Where they went, no one knows. Most assume the base ship is lost, but Adama, who's clearly and overwhelmingly in love with Rosslyn, believes that the Base Ship just completed its mission, and everyone's OK. Even when they discover wreckage of a base ship, Adama won't believe it's that base ship.

Unfortunately, the person who (literally) slaps some sense into Adama is Col. Tigh. Who, we find out, has not only been screwing the Six he's imagining as his wife, but has in fact impregnated her?

WTF?? They are both Cylons! How can they reproduce? They claimed earlier that Cylons could not biologically reproduce with each other.

So Tigh and Adama get it all out in the open, and have a really awesome old-man fight. But in the end, Tigh is right - Adama is too close to the Rosslyn situation and is making seriously dangerous decisions in his search for her. So Adama does the right thing - he relinquishes his command so that he won't endanger the fleet, and goes off on his own to find Laura.

Unfortunately, he relinquishes to Tigh, the worst possible candidate, someone who:
(1) Royally f**ked up his last stint at command (civilian deaths, nearly brought the fleet to civil war, an attempt on his life)
(2) Is having sexual relations with a Cylon prisoner aboard the ship, and therefore a security risk
(3) Is in fact a Cylon.

Too bad Lee isn't in the military anymore, or Dad would've given him command and everyone would be a lot better off.
But Lee has other ill-deserved promotions in store, since Rosslyn's disappearance has left a vacuum at the apex of government. Zarek, the VP, does not have the faith of the military, and instead of making any more than a half-hearted attempt at political inroads, they decide to toss Zarek and find someone else that would have the backing of the military.

Um.....
What. The. Fuck.

So of course, when they came up with this stupid idea, I knew Lee would end up being the guy. Of course he would, did anyone not guess this? Jeebus, he got promoted twice in one episode back in S2, and the 2^nd promotion skipped over rank of Colonel to Commander! Geez-us, I am so sick of golden-boy Lee and his protestations and moralizing and....argh!

Anyway, for some reason, to help in the search, they decide to dredge up Lamkins - the defense lawyer in Baltar's trial. And there's this whole subplot involving the cat that he keeps around him. This part I really don't understand, can someone explain it to me?

The cat is there, we see it. Other people see it (it runs out of a raptor once, and the whole deck crew gives chase). Lee remarks that Lamkins never feeds the cat, and later we find out the cat actually died shortly after the Cylon attacks of Caprica. So what is the cat we see?

A Hologram? AFAIK, the BSG universe does not have hologram technology.
A ghost haunting Lamkins, the way Six haunts Baltar? We know the cat was seen by others, at least during the Baltar trial.
A shared halluncination? Someone else's cat?

That was the part that made me go "WTF", and not in a good way. This doesn't make sense, and it's a departure from the established 'universe' that seems to have little gain for the show.

Tags: sci-fi

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4 Episode 7

This story was another non-starter. Although there are some good parts to Season 4, it doesn't seem as snappy as the last three. They're just not doing as much. Just about everyone is unhappy and confused and navel-gazing. Dunno.

Anyway, as anticipated, Gaeta does lose his leg. It's kind of hard to watch when he forgoes general anesthesia. After that, he sings to help him deal with the phantom limb sensations, and presumably, his own horror at the situation. The actor actually has a really nice voice, haunting really. Normally I find it fake and pasted-in when a show conspires to allow one of their "triple threat" actors to flex their singing muscle (how many stupid ways did they come up with for the Doctor and Seven to sing on Voyager?), but this one was well executed, in my opinion.

However, why isn't anyone disciplining Cylon Anders for shooting Gaeta? That's just about ten kinds of wrong.

But the main focus of the plot was the Rebel Cylons' proposed alliance with the humans to wipe out this new concept, the Resurrection Hub. After that, all Cylons who died would be gone for good (but do cylons age or can they stay forever young?). The Rebels want that because they believe that will bring Cylons closer to the Human Experience, and the humans are in favor for obvious reasons. Adama and the dark-blonde Six in charge of the rebels come to a shaky agreement to eliminat the Hub and un-box the Dianas, who will reveal the Final 5, who will then somehow (still don't understand this part) show them the way to Earth.

But almost as soon as the alliance is formed, both sides start taking steps to reneg. At least the humans came up with a solid plan, that Six is maddeningly indecisive. But she bought it in the end, because Sharon's child, Hera, is in the shared visions w/Rosslyn, Sharon, the Six, and Baltar (crowded party here) and starts showing an affinity towards her bleach-blonde auntie. Sharon flips out when the lead Six says hi to her baby, and shoots her dead. So why isn't she getting in trouble? Can you say "major diplomatic incident"? Discipline on the Battlestar has gotten very lax these days - if you're in tight with Adama, or are married to someone who is, you can literally get away with murder.

I'm still one story behind, Hopefully the relatively slow weekend will allow for getting current so that next week it'll be the story that just aired that I'm talking about...

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: determined

Battlestar Galactica Season 4, Episode 6

So the mutiny onboard the garbage scow didn't last long. Anders shoots Gaeta in the leg, and Kara starts seeing the wisdom of the concept of "compromise". Except now Helo has to wait around while Kara + crew check out the damaged Base Ship and try to find Earth, while Gaeta's leg festers. It's sad, because you know Gaeta's going to lose it, it's BSG. Nothing good happens to the honest people...it's only the raving nutsos that fly through life unscathed.

But back on the base ship, we find that now the fickle 8's (Sharons) have it in for the Sixs. The infighting never ends! Athena's dressing down of the 8's just rocked.

Then there was some more turbulence when one of the blonde Sixs kills a Red Shirt that "killed" her during the occupation (although the Red Shirt's sarcasm was hilarious). The scene where the honey-blonde Six [permanently] kills her blonde sister was just beautiful. This middle part of this story may be the best so far of S4, with the old momentum and the wonderful and tragic twists and turns.

However the end was dominated by more religion speak. The worsening Rosslyn strikes up a conversation with another dying woman (I didn't realise until they cleaned her up that it was Nana Visitor). Again, two very vulnerable people with a high motivation for this to Not Be All There Is. So Rosslyn is softening up to the Baltar ranting because she is scared and desperate and not ready to die. I have no idea whether this series is intentionally painting religion this way, but Christopher Hitchens' main point about the artificality of religion couldn't be expressed better than in the last few stories.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: cynical

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4 Episode 5

Since there was a break in Doctor Who and BSG, and the holiday weekend, I am getting ever closer to being current (only 2 stories behind now).

So this storyline continues the (demoted) Chief's processing of Kalli's death. After last episode's ugliness, Tyrell shaves his head. And jumps rope. Last time we saw a character jumping rope on BSG, it was when Lee was trying to lose weight from his bout with gluttony on New Caprica. In that case, it was the actor in a (very convincing) fat suit, whereas I'm pretty sure Aaron Douglas' (Tyrell) weight gain is real, since he's been slowly putting on weight since the miniseries aired. But maybe the network execs put the screws on him to shed a few pounds, who knows.

Anyway, in Tyrell's time of grief and vulnerability, it's no surprise that a religious figure preys upon him. Which is of course, Baltar, and his message of "everyone is perfect, god loves you". It's sad really. I'm guessing now that Tyrell is going to become a Baltar follower and forget about personal responsibility and ethics the way Cylon Tori did. I would've respected him if he actually went through with shooting himself in the head. But I understand why he didn't (leaving his son an orphan).

Over on the garbage scow, tensions are reaching a fever pitch. Kara makes one crazy decision after another, without bothering to justify it to the crew, even XO Helo, who desperately tries to preserve the chain of command in the deteriorating situation.

Which is made worse when they discover Leoban in a damaged raider (from the Cylon civil war). He of course cannot help being a creepy lech, and Cylon Anders (who seems to have opted for the "denial" course of action with regards to his own Clyon status) is jealous. Now Kara is buying into Leoban's speel, her faith shaken only momentarily when his ship explodes and kills one of the team.

In the end, she's just too off her rocker for this crew. When she decides to defy Galactica's recall order, the crew mutinies. Led, at the last minute, by holdout Helo.

And that's the cliffhanger - it's a two-parter, but the way the content is, I don't see what makes the difference. All these episodes seem to bleed into one another anyway.

Tags: sci-fi

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4 Episode 4

First off, I ended up accidentally watching episodes 4 and 5 out of order, due (1) somehow burning them in reverse order and (2) the DVD player's habit of truncating titles at ~10 characters. D'oh and Grr. Fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot that was lost or given away. This story comes on the heels of Kalli's (the Chief's wife) death via airlock (via Tori). Cylon Tori basically lies, leading everyone to believe Kalli killed herself either because she suspected the Chief of an affair or suspected him of being a cylon. Anyway, he doesn't know the truth. I hope he does, and snaps Cylon Tori's head off. The Chief is of course a basket case, but for different reasons. I suspected he never really loved Kalli the way he did Boomer, and this episode confirms it, with some really nasty things he says about her to Adama. At the end of it, the Chief manages to get demoted and booted off the ship. Otherwise, there's the brewing religious wars between the one-god loonies and the many-god loonies. Just like on Earth. As usual Lee decides to fight for them, "on principle". He has become a rather annoying character since Baltar's trial. And then there's Cylon Tigh and his creepy obsession with Cylon Six, upon whom he's superimposing his wife Ellen's face. At the end they kiss, which makes it 2 for 0 on BSG of hot-young-woman-with-old-man pairings. Yerg. Maybe for balance they should have Rosslyn hook up with Hot Dog? ;-P Tags: sci-fi Mood: caffeinated

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Episode 3

Just a quick update on this one, no time for larger ruminating.

This episode ended on a real shocker, but I'll get to that in a minute. There were three real stories going on in #3:

1. The Cylon civil war (which, by the end, really is a war). One of the Sharons (Boomer) breaks from her model line to vote with the other side. This creates great controversy because it's never happened. But, she is also apparently fracking one of the Brother Cavils! OMG WOT. And, um, ew. That guy is really skeezy (although hilariously sarcastic). But yeah, some brutal measures have been taken at this point (lying, giving the Centurions free will, ships of Cavils attacking Leobans, Sharons and Sixs). This is much better than all that god blather (although that played into the buildup).

2. Kara Thrace's Garbage-Scow Adventure. Not much going on in this story, no room for it, but I imagine with the people on board (Kara, Anders, Gaeta, Celix) that tempers will flare up real fast, real soon. did they really volunteer for this mission? Also Crazy Kara is acting more and more like the other (4) Cylons. A red herring? I suspect *everyone* now.

3. Kalli and the Chief/other Cylons. First off, Kalli always looked dumb with those bangs, so it's good to see her growing them out. Too bad she's DEAD now! That's right, they killed Kalli. Or rather, Cylon Tori did, after she figured out that Kalli was on to their Cylon identities. It seems the one trait these hidden Cylons have is self-preservation. No one's brought up turning themselves in, or killing themselves for the good of the fleet. And some, at least Tori anyway, seem more and more comfortable in their new skin as time goes on.

So I'm really pissed at Cylon Tori - Kalli definitely got more annoying as the show went on, but she still seemed like a lost little girl (who could swing a wrench and knock out a 200+ lb guy). I wonder how the Chief is going to react to Tori now (they ended the episode with Adama delivering the news). I hope he just kills her, but I know nothing like that will happen until the end of the series.

Remember, I'm still not quite current, so don't comment on any content past ep #3!

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: busy

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Episode 2

I'm not gaining much ground in my BSG-watching, and with this coming week (birthday, various related activities), I don't anticipate doing any better than just holding up at the 3-stories-behind position. No problem, worst case scenario is that I'm watching material when everyone else is not. ;)

Erm, this was a little bit of a non-starter episode, as least by BSG standards. Lots of flailing, not a lot of doing. Cylons arguing about free will (although this will probably materialize into something good), Cylon Tigh volunteering Cylon Tori to sleep with Baltar to pump him for information regarding the Final Five. Tori has been really anti-social since she was revealed to be a Cylon, and even for a bit before. I wonder what her story is.

But the main story was crazy Kara Thrace and whether she could find Earth, or that Bill Adama's judgement was getting clouded by his fatherly feelings towards her.

Dunno, Starbuck's just a big train wreck of a person. She didn't seem so much so in the beginning of the series, although she obviously had 'issues'. But now, she flips the Viper Jock and Scared Little Girl personalities so frequently it's a wonder anyone puts up with her. Don't get me wrong, Sackhoff does a great job portraying this personality (I've known people just like that), but Starbuck isn't as much of a fav character as she was before.

So anyway, there's much hand-wringing (and gun-pointing) between Starbuck, Adama, and the President, about the risk to the fleet vs. the possibility of finding Earth, etc. I sorta jumped the gun halfway through when I wondered to myself why they didn't hedge their bets by putting her +small team in a raptor, to break from the fleet to find out.

DING DING DING *we have a winner!* Oh, that's why - they were saving that idea until the end of the episode. Guess it was a slow day in the Battlestar's Strategic Thinking Dept.

Oh, but one awesome part was when Laura Rosslyn called Adama "Admiral Atheist". I loved it.

One last thing - OMG, I really hope they quit it with the subliminal one-frames they have spliced in. I know it's going to have something to do with everything Cylon, but it's reaaaallly annoying to watch.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: club-time...

Battlestar Galactica Season 4, Episode 1

So I decided to expand my blather to BSG as well as Who-related entertainment. However, I was a few weeks behind in my viewing due to other things being in the queue. I have 3 more episodes before I'm current.

First, an exciting new intro:

"Twelve Cylon Models. Seven are known. Four live in secret. One will be revealed."

I'll tell you a secret: I like BSG a lot better than the new Doctor Who or Torchwood. As far as sci-fi goes, BSG has its shit together like no one's business.

This story follows up on the shocking Season 3 finale, where 4 of the Final 5 are revealed. Chief Tyrell, Col. Tigh, Samuel T. Anders, and Tori find out -- to their horror -- that they are cylons.

With the Chief, I am kind of heartbroken, but I saw it coming. Col. Tigh completely blindsided me and it bothers me he's a cylon. Anders I never would've guessed, but mainly because he seems kind of inconsequential outside of his Melrose Place dealings with Kara and Lee. With Tori, I guessed her as cylon he minute I saw her.

Which leaves one to go. Right now, in my mind, the 3 biggest candidates are (1) Kara, (2) Gaius Baltar, and (3) President Laura Rosslyn. Of course for the final cylon, they're likely to give everyone a big "fuck you" and make it someone you least expect. Just please, please don't let it be Bill Adama...

Damn, those cylons sure like to live complicated lives. I hope they do a lot with the conflicting feelings of the 4 secret Cylons before the end (this is the last season, don't you know :( ). And that the four of them react in totally different ways (right now they're more or less in agreement on course of action). Also, I hope that someone (Tigh) brings up the possibility of group suicide, that's what I'd be thinking in their place.

Anyway, so Kara returns from the dead with a 6^th sense on locating Earth, which she is apparently willing to kill for (or at least point guns at people for). This story ended on a cliffhanger, to be completed w/Ep #2, I presume. Basically no one believes Kara's story because they're too busy speculating on her human/cylon state.

Also Baltar gets spirited away to some wacko cult, where he starts becoming all Jeebus like. Maybe I'll follow up more on this when I feel better able to cut through the religious nonsense.

I've got some other BSG topics to write about - gender, all the religious nonsense, character development, various other stuff, but I'll get to it as the storylines allow...

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: okay