walls of the city » 12 tribes

’round and ’round we go

Linoge — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:23:28 +0000

I really, really want to be excited at this news, but it just is not happening:

Battlestar Galactica is getting the big-screen treatment. Universal Pictures has confirmed blog speculation that Bryan Singer, director of Valkyrie, will take on directing and producing duties for a BSG movie. Glen Larson, who created original series back in 1978, will produce as well. The film is not expected to be a continuation of current popular television show that’s running on the SyFy network but will be a complete re-imagining of the sci-fi lore that was invented by Larson back in the 70s.

Departing from the original series’ characters, universe, and overall feel was difficult for the new season, but it not only succeeded at doing so, it excelled at it. The new series of BSG successfully grabbed people’s attention, and will probably go down as being one of the most popular science fiction television shows of American history.
But now Hollywood wants to do another complete 180, and return to the way things were? Given the dismal failures of such things as Enterprise, Episodes 1-3, and similar “back to the beginning” movies/shows, I am going to have to withhold judgement until I can actually see the product…
Oh, and the SciFi Channel’s new name is still stupid.

and so it ends

Linoge — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:20:27 +0000

Well, after all this time, my short-and-sweet review of the Battlestar Galactical finale is this: “That was predictable.”
For those who are concerned about spoilers, I would recommend against reading any farther, because I am going to get all manner of spoileriffic. But, suffice to say, this series could have ended a year ago, and not really a whole lot would have changed. I certainly enjoyed the last season, simply because I enjoy the universe, and the show was generally just that compelling, but, in all seriousness, nothing was really added by the last season.
At any rate, here there be spoilers.
Earth: So they found Earth. No, not the mythic thirteenth-tribe Earth, but our little sphere, orbiting around our little sun. Anyone who did not see this coming raise your hand…. Yeah, if you did not know that this was how the series was going to end, you have been sleeping for the past four years. Sure, it could have gone another direction, but the second then-Commander-Adama told the human survivors that they were headed to a place called “Earth”, the ending was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Abandoning technology: So, I will be a man an admit it – when it comes to the ships, the only thing more heartbreaking than seeing the Galactica try and rip herself apart after her last jump was seeing her guide the rest of the fleet into the sun. That said, one would have to be an idiot to believe that all 25,000-or-so survivors would be willing to go along with the whole “abandon all technology and go back to our roots” thing. The skinjob Cylons would probably be all over it, just because they are that whacked out in the head, but the humans? Yeah, how many of those people from the colonies would know how to farm, hunt, gather, build, give birth, tend to wounded, purify water, or do really anything without the assistance of machines, equipment, power tools, devices, antibiotics, clean water, and electronics? Hell, think of taking away all the technology you enjoy right now, and leaving you in the middle of nowhere. How many people would survive? How many people would voluntarily agree to such a thing? (Hell, you can count me out.)
They pretty much all jumped onboard with species suicide, and while some of them (like Lee Adama and Romo Lampkin) either wanted it that way, or were ok with it that way, I cannot imagine that everyone was.
Of course, speaking of, what did they do with the Raptors and other transport vessels necessary to land all of the tens of thousands of people on the planet? Given that the Galactica’s own autopilot was not trusted to just fly the ship down the gravitational incline and into the sun, I doubt the smaller ships’ computers were capable of lifting out of the Earth’s gravity well and heading off into the fusion-reactor-in-the-sky on their own.
The Centurions: I consider it very fitting that the Centurions were given free will and left to go on their own devices – they were, after all, barely-self-aware slaves for the better part of the last 50 years. God help us if they ever decide to come back. Also, it was nice to see the chrome-toaster variants show up again as well, though it would seem as though the brushed-and-streamlined versions were not a whole lot more capable than their older bretheren.
Hera: Ok, I give, what was with the damned kid? Sure, she was the first human/skinjob-Cylon hybrid. Big deal. There seemed to be no shortage of humans and Cylons willing to see how this whole “propagation” thing works out, and given that they all just jetisoned all of their technology into the sun, it is not like they are going to be able to figure anything out about the girl. If we were rescuing her because she was an innocent, and the evil Cylons took her, and it was the right thing to do, I would be onboard with that. But because she was the first of her kind? From that cold, analytical point of view, there would be others to replace her. The “I believe” button would have been a lot easier to mash if they sold that aspect of the story a little better, or at least used a more-human reason as the leverage.
Starbuck: So Kara Thrace also falls under the “Who did not see that one coming?” category. Seriously. She was not a Cylon, given the lack of any signs of a Cylon-style resurrection, and she did find something that bore a striking resemblance to her own charred and destroyed corpse (that was later proved to be just that). So, in that universe, when something is not a Cylon, and somehow resurrected, the only other alternative is divine intervention, which is pretty much what she boiled down to – a manifest, corporeal angel, sent back to finish something she had started, but got lost somewhere along the way. Nothin’ wrong with that (apart from the blatant deus ex machina overtones), and certainly not unprecedented in this show, but certainly a bit odd.
That said, what happened to “Kara Thrace, you are the harbinger of death and will lead mankind to destruction.” Granted, setting up shop on a foreign planet with no modern conveniences would certainly rate as a species-level destruction, but I hardly believe that is what the Cylon hybrids meant – and if there was one character in this show that pretty much had a red phone set up on God’s desk, it was those things.
Angel Hallucinations: Not sure what else to call these guys, but while we are on the topic of angels, we should, of course, address the hallucinations that Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six have… which turn out not to be hallucinations at all. Given the religion-centric aspect of the show, it should come as no surprise that those hallucinations were, in fact, emissaries from God (though He apparently does not like being called that), and were there the entire time to help ensure that things worked out the way they did. Of course, that raises an interesting point of God effectively committing genocide on the entire Cylon species, but that is another argument for another time. More topically, through these angels (which is the wrong term, but the best one available to work with at the moment), humanity found our-Earth, saved the first human-Cylon hybrid, and ended up forming the basis for our current culture and species. Oh, and on the way, Baltar had the chance to finally, really redeem himself.
You know, after he was the one who boinked the hot, murderous robot and doomed millions upon millions of humans to the fiery deaths of nuclear war. Yeah, he is definitely the character to be rooting for.
The Last Battle: Ok, that was positively glorious. Unfortunately, though, I did have a few quibbles about the whole scene… Throughout the series, the destructive superiority of Cylon weaponry has been stressed time and time again, and the humans have admitted repeatedly that going toe to toe with even just Basestars is a Very Bad Idea (TM). That said, the Galactica somehow manages to weather 30 to 45 seconds of merciless beating from a structure that undoubtedly has more weapons than a normal Basestar, with a damaged superstructure and no defensive counterfire. Something does not measure up there. Honestly, I half-expected one of the Galactica’s hangar pylons to get blown off… and, if it had, I might have found the scene considerably more believable. In the same vein, the gun crews on the Galactica did not open fire the second after the ship jumped in. It would seem as though the Galactica was getting the everloving crap beaten out of her regardless, so why not try and shoot back, as opposed to waiting until the colony’s gun emplacements were taken offline? Finally, why was the Cylon colony apparently hollow, and how did the humans know that? Seems like a strange design “feature”, especially for a structure hanging out in the accretion disk of a black hole – I would think “compact” and “reinforcedouttheass” would be the defining architectural styles.
And once the battle got inside the Cylon colony, what happened to the human bullets just kind of bouncing off the Cylon Centurions, like they did way back at the beginning? I seem to recall an instance where the Galactica was boarded, and it took some kind of special “explosive” bullet to effectively drop a Centurion, with everything else being pretty much useless. When did the humans have the time to research, perfect, and deploy all new cartridges that can cut Centurions down with just short bursts?
(This observation is made all the more poignant by the fact that the main weapons available to the humans appear to be 9mm SBRs and carbines, and 5.7mm pistols. While Beretta, Heckler and Koch, and FN all probably appreciate the free publicity, those are hardly the chamberings, or the weapons, I would be using against alloy-skinned, armored, mechanized Centurions.)
Admiral Adama and President Roslyn: We knew it was going to happen, but it was still sad. ‘Nuff said.
History Repeating Itself: Did they really have to end with the whole “humanity is creating the seeds of its own destruction in the form of technology” schtick? Have not the Terminator and Matrix empires sufficiently turned that horse into glue already? Einstein is undoubtedly right, and, after all, this whole show was all about machines turning on their masters, but… come on!
Flashbacks: Alright, I will admit it – I did not see the point of any of those gorramed flashbacks. They seemed entirely and expressly designed to simply take up time in the last two episodes, and how is that useful? If you have not adqeuately fleshed out your characters in the past four years of war, death, stress, joy, anguish, life, struggle, and victory, then you are doing something frakking wrong, and some brief, disjointed flashbacks to an earlier, “better” time sure as hell are not going to fix it.
Cavil: After all this time, after all the duplicitousness, after all the building-up of him as the mastermind of the “evil” Cylons, after all the anger, sadisticness, destructiveness, and purebred hatred, he goes and plugs his own happy ass through the roof of his mouth?
Weak.
Genetics: I seriously doubt we could breed with our ancestors from 150,000 years ago. And given how the humans of the Galactica universe bear a striking resemblance to us, right here, right now…
Bob Dylan: It is a good piece of music, I just do not get the fascination…
Like I said back at the beginning of this… the first Earth the humans found a year ago could just as well have been our Earth, the series could have ended right there, and things would not have change significantly… Sure, some of the finer details of the Last Five Cylons would remain speculative, but that might have almost been better than the reality.
In any case, it is a shame to bid farewell to what was the last good science fiction series on television these days, but if this is how they chose to end it… perhaps it was for the best.

the answer makes itself known

Linoge — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Yesterday, I complained at the lacking quality in the penultimate Battlestar Galactica episode.
Today, we find out why they were doing what they were doing… and I cannot say as though I am encouraged. Once you scroll down through the text of the news article, you stumble across this gem:

Next year’s “Battlestar” prequel “Caprica,” which is a terrestrial drama rather than an outer-space adventure…

Please, please tell me they are joking? Pretty please? It would certainly explain why fully half of the last Battlestar Galactica episode was spent bouncing around four or five years in the storyline’s past, but I cannot say as though this sounds like a good idea. Battlestar Galactica was about the battlestar – you know, the big grey thing, with lots of guns, aerospace fighters, and trooops onboard? Kind of hard to have one of those in a “terrestrial drama”, especially considering that they just auctioned off her skeleton. Granted, they could try forging a new path, but if you ever wanted a surefire way to dilute the brand identity, piss off the fanboys that comprise your primary target demographic, and generate a television series that is inherently uninteresting to those types of people who typically watch “dramas”… well, this would pretty much be it, guys.
Even worse, if you take a look at the IMDB page for this proposed “Caprica” concept, you see that they are apparently planning on this hypothetical series not only predating the current incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, but also the previous one (i.e. 50 years before the current show). Hm… let me think… I seem to recall when some entrepreneurial executives attempted to capitalize on the name identity of a television show by creating a new series that predated all of its previous incarnations, and this endeavor somehow managed to not only re-write the entire history of the story’s universe, but also stylistically rape it in the process? Oh, right, Enterprise – the longest-running Star Trek travesty in history. Or, on the big screen, we can even look at a situation wherein the primary creator of a universe tried to generate a set of prequels to his already-standing movies, and the entire trilogy turned out to be a walking nightmare for just about everyone involved – Episodes I, II, and III of Star Wars.
And here we go, with the same failed equation, on a different story universe.
Bravo.
Oh, and as for the whole name-change from “SciFi” to “SyFy”… yeah, that is just retarded, plain and simple. ‘Nuff said.

well… frak

Linoge — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:30:27 +0000

I have been following the newest incarnation of Battlestar Galactica near-on religiously since its first episode, despite moves, deployments, forest-fires, and whatever else might have come along. And after over four years of spectacular special effects, compelling stories, and a generally impressive epic, I have this to say:
What the frak?
With all due respect to the authors, this is a horrible way to end an otherwise amazing series. Here we are, the second-to-the-last episode with no habitable planet in view, no hope for the human species (much less the strange, bastardized Cylon one – speaking of, what will happen to the Centurions once they start rusting out?), and no real direction for the fleet or story, and we spend half of the episode wasting time on effectively meaningless jaunts into the characters’ histories, and the other half of the time building up to a suicidal assault on a massively superior force (that just happens to be occupying the flipping accretion disk of a gorramed black hole).
Do not misunderstand – I love that we are ending the series with a bang (possibly literally, in the case of the Galactica)… but what the frak? Did the writers get bored and just start going off on tangents they had not explored yet? Did they really need to find filler material for what is the first of the last three hours of the series? Do we not already have more than enough ground to cover before this all comes to an end? I mean, hell, at the rate we are going, you can hardly even fit a bittersweet ending to the series in, much less a good one (and we all know how much better those sell).
They are going to have to cram a metric crap-ton of closure into those two hours next Friday, or I am going to be thoroughly annoyed…

the little things

Linoge — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Heard on last week’s Battlestar Galactica:

Reveille, reveille. Up all bunks and turn to. Sweep down all compartments. Empty all trash cans. Make a clean sweep fore and aft. Lay below to the Master At Arms office at once, all restricted personnel.

It may not be verbatim out of the BM’s manual, but boy did it bring back memories…

after all this time

Linoge — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:44:21 +0000

All I have to say about the new Battlestar Galactica episode is this: I am not amused.

…

[...]

out of the resurrection creche

Linoge — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:02:49 +0000

For those (like me) who have been patiently (or not-so-patiently) waiting for the return of one of the few good science-fiction television shows still producing new episodes, be sure to set up your TiVos/VCRs/schedules/what-have-you for either 2200 on 16JAN08 or 0000 on 17JAN08.
Additionally and thankfully, there will be a short marathon preceeding this airing, which is probably a good thing for those of us who have completely forgotten what the frak is going on.

viral cylons

Linoge — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:57:05 +0000

You will know the truth.

(Personally, I am not going to make any speculation or guesses whatsoever… Time to see how they wrap this thing up.)

…

[...]

strike the colors

Linoge — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:12:56 +0000

As if I did not already have enough things trying to steal my money away, I go and stumble across this.
I do not know about you, but I definitely could do with the Unknown Soldier photo, or the Raptor flight manual. Of course, given my current buying spree, I honestly doubt I will have any spending money left over come 16 January, when the auction starts. Such is life, I suppose.
On another note, am I the only one who is quite disappointed that this coming half-season really will be the end of the new Battlestar Galactica run? I mean, they are striking the set, and when that happens, it is pretty much all over… While the story is looking like it will wrap up relatively well at the end, it still would have been nice to have at least one quality (or at least semi-quality) science-fiction show still producing new episodes periodically…

what a rush

Linoge — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:18:48 +0000

So, thanks to some leftover credit from hooking up my TiVo to Amazon‘s Unbox service (a concept which, by the way, still blows my mind – I hop on my computer, go to a webpage, order up a TV show, and it appears on my TiVo, and eventually my television… gotta love technology), I was able to catch up on all of the Battlestar Galactica episodes I missed, including Razor, and I have got to say… woah.
First, Admiral Cain would have shot me. There is no rutting way I would have followed her orders when it came to the Scylla, and since she tended to get in a killing mood when people disobey her… yup. Tactically, she was correct – the Pegasus needed crew and equipment to continue its battle against the Cylons, there is no doubt about that. But she was thinking on too short of a scale – yes, it is their mission, as military officers, as a ship’s crew, and as the ship itself, to take the battle to the enemy, especially after said enemy just glassed twelve whole planets and killed God alone knows how many people. But considering the fact that they received no word of survivors form the colonies, they have to treat the situation like they are the last humans in… well… the universe. And taking those humans into repeated and increasingly deadly combat, while simultaneously shooting, and killing-through-stranding, some of the few civilians you happen to come across? Yeah, you might win the occasional battle against the toasters, but you sure as hell will lose the war.
Second, I find it all manner of amusing that the humans got to Earth after someone glassed it. And, yes, that does have to be Earth – granted, the stars projected in the Tomb of Athena on Kobol were possibly thousands of years out of date… But considering that Battlestars plot their FTL jumps and other navigation based off constellations, something tells me they can account for drift. Furthermore, the probability of different stars happening to align to perfectly represent those twelve constellations from some other planet are so small as to be effectively zero, so we are just going to have to accept this is Earth. The real questions are who nuked it, when, and why… And I guess that is what the rest of the season is for.
Third, what is the deal with Starbuck? Dead (as in ship-exploded-on-gun-camera-footage-dead), not dead; harbinger of death, guide to Earth… And what is with Adama 1 and Adama 2 just going along with it? Hope is one thing, but, damn..
For only having half a season left, this show has a lot of loose ends to either tie up, or chop off.

Technorati Tags: battlestar galactica

it is the little things

Linoge — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:55:29 +0000

You know, I really might be nitpicking and overthinking this entire situtation, but I have been watching a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica (the new series) recently, and reached an odd conclusion.
Namely, their personnel armaments changed considerably as the show progressed. Initially, their sidearms were predominantly odd, rather large pistols, with no real analogue to modern day firearms. Basically, it was a prop, through and through, and did not appear to be based on anything made in these days, except in basic form only. As if to make matters more fun, it possessed a standard pistol barrel on top, and then a single-shot mini-rocket launcher slung beneath the barrel. Of course, the prop guy seemed to occasionally get the barrels mixed up, and you would see gun blasts coming out of either… Details. When it came to long guns, the troopers generally used silenced FN P90s. That much was patently obvious, due to the forearm-friendly bullpup-ish (how would you qualify that, anywise?) design, unique grips, and almost complete absence of any exposed barrel on the unsilenced models.
Moving on, however, things changed. The sidearm suddenly appeared to be based off the Five-seveN pistol. Ok, sure, I can live with that (even with the continuing thread of the rocket launcher underneath the barrel), considering it is made by the same company that produces the P90, and also uses the same ammunition. It would make sense that one’s sidearm and rifle use the same ammunition wherever possible, assuming you are not looking for some massive, armor-piercing, tank-dropping round (generally a bad thing when you live in a tin can floating in space). Except the P90s are, predominantly, gone. Instead, in their place are a plethora of Beretta CX4 Carbines. Now, I will be the first to say that those are definitely futuristic-looking firearms, but they got nothin’ on the P90s, and use completely different ammunition to boot (once again, pistol-friendly, but only in 9mm, .40, and .45 ACP caliber flavors – not the 5.7mm the P90/Five-seveN use).
Yeah, I admit it, I am splitting hairs… I am not going to argue with any of the choices from a realistic firearm standpoint… I like all of the firearms in question aesthetically, I love the idea of rifles and pistols sharing ammuntion, and I doubly love the 20-round capacity of the non-Kalifornistan Five-seveN. But I have to wonder why they went from a rifle that uses one type of round, to a pistol that uses the same type of round… while simultaneously dumping the rifle. Yes, I know this is a science fiction TV series, and the calibers of the firearms portrayed could be completely different. But regardless, the question remains, and one has to wonder why the changed props mid-stream… it is not probable that the fleet has a firearm factory with them, and you may as well use what you have. That, and no matter how you look at it, the, the P90′s magazine design will yield it a much larger capacity than the CX4, no matter what caliber you use. And, finally, why change the props at all? I mean, only firearm-interested types like me would eventually notice, but still.
Ok, it was a slow day. Sue me. As an aside, does anyone know if the controversy over the 5.7mm round was ever resolved? I seem to recall something about it having tumbling problems…

whimper

Linoge — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:55:31 +0000

Due to the spoiler-laden nature of this post, the rest of it is continued below the fold.

First off, anyone who had a clue knew that Starbuck was not dead. Unfortunately, this lead to the corollary that she was a Cylon, since her Viper pretty much splatted all over the high-pressure "floor" of the gas giant. Granted, she could have punched out, but since the Vipers themselves had a hard time escaping the gravitational well of the planet, I doubt an escape seat could manage it either. So that accounts for one of the five.

Her hubby, Colonel Tye, the Chief, and the President’s aide… they certainly fill out the rest of the five, and were relatively unexpected. Personally, I was aiming for the President Herself, Admiral Adama, Apollo, and… well… I could not come up with a fifth. Maybe Gaida? However, considering how obvious those options would be, in retrospect, they were nothing more than red herrings for the real problems – people who are not actually in positions of authority, but instead in places to very easily influence those positions. Of course, now certain things make a lot more sense… like Chief Tyrol’s discovery of the Temple of the Eye of Jupiter and other such things.

Third, what is with the power blip when the ships jumped into the Ionian Nebula, as well as the President’s sudden headache. The latter could be nothing more than a convenient coincidence, but all of the ships in the human fleet simultaneously losing all but emergency power, just as they jump into the nebula? Dunno. One would think that a group who used to have a hold-out outpost and armory deep within an anti-Cylon nebula would know better than to jump directly into another interstellar dustcloud, but I guess they were in a hurry… and overly cocky… and complacent to boot.

Fourth, the Cylons seem to have beat the humans to third base. Bummer. And considering that the Starbuck that showed up in the nebula claimed to have been to Earth itself, I think the Cylons beat us to home base as well.

Fifth, considering the massive presence of the Cylons in the immediate area, one has to wonder if they are back in "kill all the humans!" mode, or want to help out with the whole "find Earth" thing. Although, since they have decided that Earth is going to be their new home… Once again, bummer.

Sixth, it is good to see that the Earth in the show is the Earth we know… in orbit around what appears to be a G-type star, having a small greyish moon in orbit around it, and with landmasses that are relatively identifiable as things we know, so the timeframe has to be within the past few millenia. Not exactly useful, no, but at least now we have a relatively narrower window in which to work.

Finally, I love the use of Bob Dylan’s "All Along the Watchtower" for lines, as well as a modified version providing the soundtrack at the end. Very appropriate indeed.

But not-so-finally… we have to wait until 2008 for the next season? What the unoholy flying frak? I know it takes a while to put television seasons together, but making us wait a whole nine months for the next one? Ouch. Waiting that long is going to be all manner of painful…

At least the last episode of this season was outstanding… If there is one thing to be said for this series, it has definitely maintained its quality over time, and you really cannot ask for more, considering how great of a show it started out as.

public service announcement

Linoge — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:30:21 +0000

For those of you who turned on the old-skool electronic god (otherwise known as a "television", though who calls it that?) yesterday evening, and had your world shattered by the complete and utter absence of Battlestar Galatica, take heart. It turns out that the various executives of the SciFi Channel decided to move its airing to Sundays, starting tomorrow, and holding for the forseeable future. I would not venture to guess as to why they would do this - I never particularly understood how ratings and airtimes and the such worked – but, since I have TiVo, it really does not matter a whole lot to me. Just be prepared for my insightful, thought-provoking, and educational posts (only in my dreams) about the show to be a little late, since I will likely be watching it Monday evening.

However, if you are yearning for one of those aforementioned posts before Monday (and this one really will be insightful, thought-provoking, and educational), take a look at this one written by Rebecca Cusey. Suffice it to say that I agree with her writings almost entirely, and her last three sentences, quoted below for convenience, are dead on the mark.

By moving our current situation from the front page of the newspaper to the recesses of space, the show engages us in a national conversation about war, democracy, and commitment. It may not give all the answers, but it asks the right questions. This is what makes it the best show on television.

I would venture to add that it is because it does not give all of the answers that makes it so great, but that might just be me. Regardless, here’s to Sunday evenings.

marathons are good things

Linoge — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:42:25 +0000

At least when they are marathons of Battlestar Galactica. Not so sure about "normal" ones.

One of the more interesting things going on during this marathon is that the SciFi channel decided to do a viewer poll while the aired the entire third season of Battlestar Galactica, back-to-back. People could either get online to vote in this poll, or use their cellphones to text in their responses. Being the cheap little bastard I am, I definitely opted for the first choice. Regardless, I figured I would go ahead and give you the questions here, as well as my answers and rationale, just for the fun of it. Bear in mind that my answers may bear absolutely nothing in common with the multiple-choice answers provided by the SciFi channel… some of them I just consider far too constricting, or the right answer, but wrong explanation. Before we embark upon this journey, however, a small gripe – what is it with television stations thinking I give a flying damn what people think of the show? Or their opinions on certain matters? Now, I admit, a lot of the time I do. However, when I watch the show, I want to watch the bloody show, not have a fifth of the screen taken up by the blatherings of some nidgets. G4TV started it with the Star Trek 2.0 and ST:tNG 2.0, and now SciFi is doing it with the BSG marathon… Really gets on my nerves, serves no purpose, and gets in the way of me enjoying my damned show. Stop it, already!

As for the questions, first off, we have the one from the "Collaborators" episode: What do you think should be done with the collaborators? For those of you who do not remember the specific details, the question is referring to those humans who decided to work with the Cylons occupying New Caprica, whether it was by joining their "police force", or feeding them information, or other such activities. The options the SciFi channel provide are "Execute them for the safety of the fleet," "Give them a fair trial by jury," and "Pardon them to reunite the human race." Again, if you are unfamiliar with the turn of events, President Roslyn decided to pursue the last course of action, granting a blanket pardon to anyone and everyone who worked for or with the Cylons… unfortunately a little late for a few people, but still a nice gesture. What would I do? I strongly believe in the rule of law, and due process, and all of that related jazz, but I believe I would probably follow the same course of action. It would be remarkably hard for me to ignore the actions committed by some of those people – I could probably forgive, but I would never, ever forget – but in the interest of keeping the fleet together, keeping our numbers high (a real consideration for the human fleet at this point), and preventing undue strife, I would probably pardon them as well. A trial would provide justice, but it would take time, it would bring up old memories that should likely be forgotten, and the justice it would dole out would probably be better supplanted by forcing those individuals to live with themselves… and their guilt.

The second question is drawn from "Torn": "Who do you think will win the race to Earth?" The provided answers are, "The Cylons," "The crew of the Galactica," and "Neither – Earth is a myth." I confess that the last answer does hold a certain attraction for me… all of the evidence, stories, and metaphors provided in the Scroll of Pithia do seem to be coming to pass, or at least the popular interpretation of all of those does… But it would be a wonderfully annoying story quirk for both forces to be trying their damnest to find Earth and get there first… only to fail miserably after finding out it does not exist, and never did. However, my honest answer is that the Cylons will probably find it first. Superior processing power, superior numbers, superior knowledge of the Scroll (as well as other aspects of the human pantheistic religion), superior (if somewhat dogmatic) faith, no need for rest, no real death… Oh, and Gaius Balthar, the consumate bastard, to boot. All of their advantages are just too numerous, and too substantial to ignore. Granted, the humans have been finding and understanding the breadcrumbs left by the mythical Thirteenth Tribe faster than the Cylons, but once they get the information, it does not take long for the chromedomes to catch up. The real question is what is going to happen when whoever gets there first, does so. Will it be the Earth we know now, a more advanced society, or an empty Eden, with no signs of what happened to the Tribe? Of course, the additional question is why the Cylons, after taking over all Twelve Colonies, spontaneously decided that Earth was going to be their new home… Granted, nuclear wastelands are far from being the most hospitable, but that hardly seemed to slow them down considerably.

Moving on to the fourth question, related to the episode "Measure of Salvation": "Would you order the use of biological weapons to wipe out the Cylons?" The answers the boob-tube provided were, "Yes, it’s either us or them," "No, it’s akin to genocide," and "I would put it to a vote." Alrighty, we will tackle these answers starting with the last, and moving forward. First, the current human arrangement, when related to this question, is not a democracy, or even a republic. Yes, the humans do have a government, with its duly elected representatives and the like, complete with its own Constitution-analogue and everything. That has nothing to do with what is a military decision. Exterminating the enemy is always a military decision – the very fact that the question came up indicates that diplomacy has already failed, and badly at that. Second, while the term "genocide" has been grossly, grossly misused in the past, mostly to promote one political stance over another, I give the SciFi channel webmasters credit in using it properly this time around. That said, the only thing that saves them, however, is "akin to". Genocide requires the existence of an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group, and the Cylons arguably possess none of those. To boot, it could easily be argued that Cylons, in fact, are not alive as we know it now… the whole inability to propagate, as well as the fact that they never really die except in certain situations kind of eliminates that possibility. As you can probably figure from that statement, I do not find the Cylons to be humans, either, which makes the genocide argument even more difficult. Machines are machines, even if they happen to be bipedal, humanoid, and comprised of organic cogs, and destroying them by means of a virus is not really any different than doing so to your computer. So, as should be obvious, my answer to this question would be, "Yes, without a moment’s hesitation." The Cylons have proben themselves to be immense threats to the continued existence of the human species time and time and time again, and show no signs of slowing in the forseeable future – in fact, it seems like they are trying to step it up. Yes, there were two notable exceptions to that rule, but the percentages in that case would be so remarkably low… And are you willing to pay the immense cost, in terms of human lives, to figure out which Cylon can be trusted, and which cannot? The humans only have so many people, and a numbers game will always result in their loss – time to level out the field.

And now for the lastion question, as framed by the "Hero" episode: "Should Adama feel guilty about the attack on the Colonies?" The answers include "Yes, his actions provoked the Cylons," "No, he was just following orders," and "Maybe – but for every action there is a measure of doubt." Well, first off, I positively despite "maybe", fence-sitting answers, so that eliminates that one right off the bat, and we all know that eliminating one answer always makes multiple-choice questions easier. Except for this one, because the SciFi channel screwed up. My answer to the question, in short, is "No," and that is it. None of this nonsensical excuse-by-reason-of-orders, none of this "provocation" nonsense… none of that. As the Nuremberg trials demonstrated, orders are absolutely no excuse to execute an order you know to be wrong, especially for someone as high-ranking, experienced, and ethically/morally-minded as Commander Adama. Additionally, while the Cylons probably are not alive by our understanding of the concept, they have demonstrated, by means of the Turing tests inherent in any human’s interactions with a Cylon, conscious, sentient thought. Assuming that postulate, the thought that they are still responsible and accountable for their own actions follows logically, so no matter the provocation, they are still at fault for their actions, and their subsequent decision to invade and destroy the Colonies. Now, my rationale for why he should feel no guilt? He made the appropriate decision at the time, both in the case of taking the mission (the humans needed the information), as well as when deciding to shoot down his own man. And while his mission may, very well, have provoked the Cylons, that does not lay the blame upon his shoulders, nor does it make logical sense. A single ship poking at their borders would not normally be sufficient reason for them to completely destroy their human counterparts, I would believe – in all likelihood, they had already planned out their assault, and the wheels were in motion… the scout mission simply provided a handy excuse, and starting point.

So there you have it… my two cents, or credits, or however you want to look at it. But wait, there’s more! Throughout the marathon, they have been showing preview commercials for the next season, and if you want to avoid some undue (and atrociously spoiling) spoilers, I would suggest that you do not read the rest of this post. Either way, just remember that the new half-season starts on the 21st, a Sunday, at 10pm EST. A new night, and a new time, so change your schedule (or TiVo, in my case, which automatically figured it out) to fit accordingly. And before you run off entirely, this post was trackposted to Right Wing Nation, just for the giggles of it, as well as Stop the ACLU, in an attempt to get them to watch something other than 24.

Now that the disclaimers are over, on to the fun part. The SciFi channel has a horrible tendency of showing a cliffhanger-esque episode, and then, either during or immediately afterwards, showing a preview for the next episode that completely removes any cliffhanger-like qualities of the episode you were just watching. Case in point: When the Cylons occupied New Caprica, they dragged off a group of humans, including President Roslyn, to be shot due to "crimes warranting the death penalty". The episode ended with the humans being lined up, the Cylon toasters coming over the ridge, the turncoat humans scurrying off, and then a scenic shot with the sound of gunfire. The obvious conclusion the producers wanted you to draw is that the humans just got gunned down by the Cylons, and it would somehow be clarified/explained next week. Well, that assumption lasted all of five seconds until the next-week-preview clearly showed President Roslyn in more than a few shots. So much for that.

With the impending season 3.5, the SciFi channel has announced this byline: "One will die, one will realize they are a Cylon, and one will find Earth." I cannot really weigh in on the first or last, but the middle appears to have already been explained. In one of the commercials providing highlights from either the next new episode, or episodes throughout season 3.5, there was a clear shot of Dr. Gaius Balthar sitting completely immersed in a Cylon resurrection tub, and acting like he had just woken up, and realized where he was and why. These "tubs" are where the meatbag Cylons awaken from their resurrection cycle, and are greeted by their fellow bretheren… the actual resurrection/reconstruction process appears to take place in tubes/capsules/containers, but the awakening, as has been shown many times, takes place in these tubs. Additionally, the "hybrid" meatbags – one of the 12 models that provides the CPU for the Cylon Basestars – spend their entire lives in these tubs… one can only presume for life-support purposes. So, the only reason Balthar would be in one of those things is because he is a Cylon… or he decided to take over for the "hybrid"… or he just needed a dip. Me, I find the first possibility the most likely.

So there you have it – the spoiler… what most of us had already expected a long while back… that Balthar is a Cylon. Who’da thunk? Anywise, you can look forward to more Linoge-rambling on BSG episodes next week… Cannot wait to see how this story is going to play out. The only bad news is that there is a built-in end-of-story point, and I am starting to wonder just how quickly they will reach it. Considering just how much other good TV there is at this point (not a lot), losing BSG would hurt… Especially considering how damned expensive the boxed sets are.

glow in the dark!

Linoge — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 19:04:12 +0000

Once more into the breach!

"Algae Planet"? Could they have not come up with a slightly more original name? Certainly meets the "descriptive" requirement, though.

Inflatable buildings… Interesting concept, and it certainly saves on space. I wonder how well it would survive under heavily inclement weather, though.

As for Apollo and Starbuck… Did anyone not see this coming? Sure, they are married – to people other than themselves. It obviously does not matter that much… or at least did not matter until one decided that she could not get a divorce, and the other decided that he could not continue cheating on his wife. Of course, then there is still the tiny matter of a chain of command, and a superior-subordinate extra-curricular relationship, but, as a married man myself, I tend to think that the wedding vows should carry a little more weight. Especially more weight than Apollo and Starbuck seemed to believe. Sure, they still have feelings for each other (and still obviously want to feel each other), but they made their decisions (impulsive and un-thought-out as they may have been), and it is time to fess up and live with them, because this is just not fair to the other halves of their relationships. That, and their own relationship will undoubtedly suffer due to this constant strain of their mutual attraction, and we all know how poorly that ends.

As for Chief and his room… the second I realizedit was not a naturally occurring formation, I would have definitely gone back for a little friendly firepower… Who knows may have been there before you, and who knows what kind of active or passive defensive systems the original creators, or any intermediate squatters, may have installed. That said – holy crap, that room is enormous. Offhand, I would say it looked like a projector system, designed to generate a beam directed up into the ceiling, and maybe the sky beyond, but that could be due to me playing too much Halo recently. Offhand, I would say that the runes on the Temple look distinctly like the Dwarvish language found in Lord of the Rings… Homage or plagiarism?

It has always got to be disturbing how the Cylons are aware of the situation almost as much as you are, and without having experienced all of it, by just gauging your reactions to certain situations. They were, of course, correct – besides the point of assuming that the Humans had already located the Eye of Jupiter (anyone else thinking that they are really misunderstanding that reference?) and were attempting to remove it, but were unsuccessful. Given their increased efficiency of operations when compared to the Humans, it was an understandable error for them to make, but put the Humans at something of a disadvantage. It is still somewhat strange that the Cylons are negotiating, instead of just annihilating the Battlestar Galactica (Four Basestars? Yeah, that would be no problem at all…) and securing the Eye for themselves. Possibly they have progressed past that point… Of course, they supposedly did that a little while ago, and then decided to occupy New Caprica and subject the Humans to near slave-gerbil states… Details, details. I do like how quickly the Cylons were willing to sell out Balthar – falls in line with their lack of understanding the concern the Admiral and President had for their Humans on the surface. But where would the Threesome be without him?

It is always interesting to watch the infighting that occurs throughout the meatbags of the Cylons… One would think that since they are all machines, and all Cylons, they would reach a concensus much faster, and much more easily than they do (if they do at all). But their individual experiences really do seem to shape their lives considerably, creating distinct, separate segments even within the numbered series (like the "Caprica" entities of the 6′s and 8′s). The inidividual initiative of putting a raider on the surface, complete with Centurions, without telling your fellow governing-Cylons? That is certainly interesting indeed – and may prove to pay dividends.

So Starbuck plays around a lot, eh? Kinky. And her husband knew about it going into the relationship. What an interesting family we have going here.

And now the Threesome falls apart… It is interesting that the 6 gets left behind, though, considering there is still the remnants of one bouncing around inside of Balthar’s noggin… or is that maybe why the flesh-and-body one was abandoned?

And, as usual, the guy on point finds the enemy – by being shot at by said enemy. It seems somewhat buggy that a Raptor – arguably the Wild Weasel of the Human fleet – got tagged by a shoulder-launched SAM, but I guess the range was short enough, decoys would have been too slow. That said, considering that Centurions are pure metal and silicon, one would think the humans would have a better way of detecting them from the terrain around them than just the standard Mark 1, Mod 0 Eyeball. Radar (Draedus, in this case) would be completely useless in those ravines, but still… Something? Pick up power sources? Magnetic signatures? Anything?

For the record, I never once doubted that Admiral Adama was not bluffing when he threatened to nuke the planet. Given the situation, it is the only option they have available to them. I am just amazed that he can single-handedly order and initiate a nuclear strike… So much for two people, keys, codes, and all the rest of that good stuff we use. Of course, the bridge crew only opened four launch tubes, but loaded six. And then the graphics showed six missiles popping up… Oops. I like the quasi-VLS system on the upper deck of the Galactica, though… Seems strange to have the missiles stick up out of the hatches like that. It does not strike me as something you would want to use in a combat situation, especially considering the lack of shielding, and the amount of beating the Galactica’s hull takes. One of those missiles certainly looks large enough to make everyone’s life on the planet a lot shorter – six should definitely do the trick. Now, the only question is whether or not the Cylons think putting their own people on the dirt is worth losing their chance at the Eye of Jupiter. They really do seem to think so, but I am doubting they will continue on this path – either that, or Adama folds, and I really, really doubt that. And why do I think that pushing, or somehow manipulating, the sun/eye-shaped design on the Temple will somehow activate it? Is that just me? I mean, it is the only eye-shaped thing in the entire room… come on people!

Of course, this episode is a to-be-continued… Granted, the previews clearly show Starbuck and Apollo (as well as everyone else), so they could not have nuked the planet, but it is still annoying. I guess we will have to wait and see whether or not Starbuck’s hubby gets whacked, too… My vote is on yes, simply because it makes the story simpler, but I have been wrong in the past. Not that I really blame him… if my wife had been shot down, my ass would be grabbing the nearest firearm and getting out there to help her, but I can also see Apollo’s point of view. Anywise, I guess we will just have to wait until January 21st to find out for real… And, in case you were not paying attention, BSG is moving to Sunday nights now. Kind of aggrivating, in my book, since it is a night before work, but whatever – I have TiVo now .

pretty shiny lights

Linoge — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 12:24:16 +0000

Well, unfortunately, I have gotten out of the habit of reviewing Battlestar Galatica episodes as I watch them… Too many other things going on all at once. However, now that I have a TiVo and can watch them at my liesure (yay Season Passes), and now that the episodes have gotten really, really interesting, I figure I will pick up the pattern again. The review is after the break, to avoid providing spoilers to those who do not want them.

On an aside, am I the only one who will never tire of the series’ opening pattern?

And speaking of the last episode… I certainly did not forsee a Cylon meatbag ordering a bullethead to shoot the former in the head. I could have sworn that the Cylons had something against suicide, and even though the bullethead executed the actual action which terminated the meatbag, it was still the meatbag who gave the order – the bullethead was nothing more than a tool in this particular case. I was never particularly sure if those mechanical types had free will to begin with, but it is relatively obvious now that, if they do, it can be turned off, or at least supressed, when given the appropriate orders.

Well, at least they are portraying the situation rather well in this episode… In space, there are a few things you fear more than anything – loss of oxygen/pressure, fire, loss of water, and loss of food, probably in that order. The first is probably the easiest to replace (assuming planetary bodies nearby, or a Bussard ram scoop), and easiest to store (yay pressure bottles). The second … well, the second is something to fear regardless. It is relatively easy to put out in space – just open the compartment to the void – but then you lose more of what the fire was eating – just at a faster pace. The pilot of the series dealt with that problem rather adequately, I believe. Water, that one is hard. It does not reduce in volume when you increase its pressure, and it tends to break down to its elements given half the chance. And the last… the last is probably the hardest to replace. With the destruction of Cloud 9, arguably the largest green-space the human fleet had, they lost their biggest chance at being self-supportive when it comes to food. It appears that they can process algae into a useful material, but which one of those ships was specifically designed to be an algae farm? Sure, all it really boils down to is a pool of water, some light, and some kind of nutrients; but in the deep of space, the former is expensive, the middle is rare, and the last might be better used directly on the humans.

And what the bleeding hell is with the Cylon/Balthar threesome? Betray the human race, get two Cylon sex slaves? Kinky.

Stupid question: How does a planet survive at the core of what is obviously a very high-density star cluster, full of lethal radiation, all manner of gravitic influences, and enough light to bake an egg? I guess the planet is on the far side, but what is it orbiting around?

I like the inclusion of the radiation-detecting badges, especially since it is yet another piece of technology (like sound-powered phones) that is in use today. Granted, most of ours have to be read by a specific piece of equipment, and not just looked at, but still, it is kind of nifty – and an easy way for the pilots to realize when they are about to turn into microwave dinners. That said, why on earth are there not polarization screens on the windows of the Raptors and the helmets of the pilots? That technology is easily available to us even these days (granted, BSG is not related to current human history in any way, but there are obvious parallels to be drawn), and it would certainly cut down on the glare they are experiencing in the star cluster… as it is now, they are just about completely blind. One has to wonder why they cannot simply dock the Raptors against the hull of their "sheep" ships, and thus never lose track of them, and provide instantaneous jump coordinates. I suppose it has to do with the shortcomings of whatever jump system it is BSG ships employ, as well as perhaps the coordinate sensors on the Raptors (otherwise they could just provide information from save inside hangars)… That, and it makes a better show this way .

"Find the hand that lies in shadow of the light, in the eye of the husband, in the eye of the cow." So the hybrids are not entirely off their rocker, are they? Just a litte… disjointed from the rest of reality.

Ahh, I wondered when the hair falling out would kick in… That is pretty much the sure-fire giveaway of way too much radiation exposure, and considering that these pilots have been going "into the black" way too much, I guess it was no surprise. One hast towonder how they are able to so quickly scrub their ships of the radiation damage, but cannot provide their organics better protection against it. I am relatively sure that even we have pills that help slow the body’s absorbtion of radiation – and indeed we do: potassium iodide. Granted, it does not protect you entirely – only your thyroid gland – but it would at least be something. I suppose we can assume the pilots are being given the pills in the background, but it would have been a nice touch to include, since they are generally so good about all the rest of the details.

I definitely respect Commander Adama for making Kat CAG for her last few hours. A death by radiation poisoning is never a pleasant one, and one can only hope that she had enough courage to take the sleeping pills offered to her by Starbuck. Despite her history as a drugrunner, and despite her past addictions, she proved her worth in the stellar cluster.

Yet another in a series of good episodes, and I definitely appreciate the illustration of more aspects of the Cylons. I always wondered what happened to the other five models (speculating that the basestars, fighters, and toasters qualifed as three of the five – evidently I was wrong), and they seem to be working up to telling us. As for the themes of the show, sacrifice, loss, unadulterated bravery, and conflict are certainly nothing new to this series .

at what price the species?

Linoge — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:14:18 +0000

A double-post on Battlestar Galactica? I would not put it past me… Bloody good show, from any direction you look at it.

Initial, off-the-cuff reactions to the first scene: Let us see… we are two ECM-type ships, out on a training exercise, without a useful offensive weapon to speak of (although Raptors are, apparently, armed… they just never seem to use those weapons), there is some really bad radar (well, Draedus, but same idea) interference, as well as communications interference… we are in the middle of nowhere, without any real map or idea of what is out there…. and we are separating from the fleet. And this is a good idea?

Moving on. Kind of sad that Z was able to move on that quickly from Billy proposing, into Apollo’s bed. Granted, the boy is quite cute, but still… month turnaround time? I guess in that kind of environment, you do not have much time for grieving. Of course, for those really in a hurry, a cargo container seems to be a good way to get to the Galactica… though possibly not the best when one just happens to be pregnant. What do I know though?

Now the teaming up of Zarek and Balthar… this promises to be an interesting political alliance. The terrorist and the supergenius (who also happens to have sold out his entire species) combining forces and working together. *quirks an eyebrow*

… Wow. I have to admit that I am somewhat surprised that Battlestar Galactica would take on a topic as mine-ridden as abortion. I mean, extra-maritial sex is so prevalent among the characters (especially the pilots) that it is somewhat assumed some means of highly-effective birth control exists in the universe, and here a girl has an unwanted pregnancy. Regardless, both the President and Adama have a very good point – if abortion was legal before the attacks, it would have to take serious thought to change that after the attacks. However, the President’s tally of the fleets numbers… so rarely increases, and often spirals down rapidly. Something would need to be done to stem that fall, and soon.

Ouchies. Well, given the data that the species would be extinct within 18 years… yeah, problems are going to arise. At least slightly less than 50 thousand individuals is a sufficient population base to have a sizeable gene pool… relatively low chance of inbreeding and the according problems. But if no one is breeding in general, well, then you have an issue.

Of course, you also have something of an issue when you refuse to listen to those placed in your chain of command beneath you. Command probably is not the easiest thing in the world, and it does put a tremendous weight upon your shoulders, and having your people out there, in the black, possibly dying is not exactly an easy situation to find yourself in. But neither is being outnumbered three to one, with nukes flying, and your FTL drive down. I have to give the commander of the Pegasus credit though – he went in and fixed the problem. And became the third commander to die on that ship. They are going to hvae a very hard time finding a fourth, I wager. He caused one hell of a frak-up, and paid the ultimate price himself, rather than forcing his people to do it. There is a considerable amount of dignity in that, though committing the action which created the frak-up… that was just plain idiotic. Always recon the area you are about to drop a very large, juicy, not-easily-defendable asset into. Tank warfare throughout the ages has shown us that, as has all other manner of warfare with these kinds of ships/vehicles/vessels. He jumped blind, and had his legs shot out from underneath him.

As for making Apollo the commander of the "Beast"… crappo, that is going to garner all manner of flak as charges of nepotism and favoritism come charging in. Judging from President Roslyn’s newfound titanium spine, she will have a few things to say about it as well. Regardless, Lee has shown the capabilities for taking command, and making the hard decisions, and standing by what he does – all of which, in my eyes, are outstanding qualities for a leader to hold. However, one must also demonstrate intelligence and forethought when making those decisions… The previous commander of the Pegasus had the first set of leader skills, but obviously lacked the second. Here’s to hoping that Apollo has both.

And back to the abortion issue… Gaius certainly does have iron balls to use that platform to catapult him into the presidential race, both slapping Roslyn in the face, as well as making his stance on a very touchy issue quite clearly known. Of course, now we have the problem of one’s vice president running against one’s self in a presidential election that will probably govern the outcome of the future of humanity… Gaius is right – every time we take away a right we consider inherent and inalienable, we are becoming more and more like the Cylons. However, that said, he also proved that, at the current rate, the human species is going to go belly-up in very short order. People die… and more often, people get whacked, and no one is being born to replace them, or at least not nearly fast enough. Short of constructing cloning tanks (is that technology even feasible in the BSG universe), what other choice do they have but to outlaw abortion, legality or morality aside? I mean, honestly… ignoring the annoying legal and moral underpinnings of the topic of abortion, it certainly does get in the way of the continuation of the species. Now, it is not a problem, because for every family (or single mother) that has one, there are multiple other families having multiple other children. But in an environment that is stressful enough that sex is uncommon, conception is even more irregular (who would want to bring a child into that kind of situation), and people die on a daily basis… on top of a limited population pool… Not a whole lot of choices left.

In other news, it is interesting, (somewhat enjoyable – seeing the humans bonking each other is getting depressing) to see the Cylons fighting once again… The destruction of their Resurrection Ship certainly put them out of the ballgame for a while, but since they decided to start baiting Battlestars, they must have another one nearby, or at least en-route. Of course, using three basestars would certainly reduce their casualty numbers… unless Apollo happens to be in command of one of them.

This episode does not rank in the "great" category (though they all fall under "good"), but it definitely showed the problems, difficulties, and responsibilities of command… Something people should think about when trying to second-guess the decisions of others.

negotiations and bodies

Linoge — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:21:00 +0000

Yeah, so this is a little late, what can I say? I have not been able to spend nearly as much time in front of the television as I had hoped (mainly because spending time in front of the television means I could spend time at home), so I cannot keep up with Battlestar. However, after a few smacks upside the head, my source of backlogged episodes is once again functional, so here we go.

First off, nice placement of the Logitech optical mouse in the opening sequence… I was somewhat amused . Strange to see it placed next to such an old-skool keyboard, even if the keyboard is attached to a laptop.

I do like how the President’s aide, Billy, has developed through the course of the series… he started as a bashful, shy, and somewhat quiet person thrust into the role by the force of the situation, and has since turned into a remarkably useful asset, and the occasional voice of reason. He went from a relative no-one, to a forceful, if somewhat blunt and naive, spokesperson for an oft-unheard perspective. If other shows have any indication of the future of this one, it means Billy should be dying shortly, but I can hope… Granted, he still has the naivtee of an idealist, but the strength of his convictions is admirable. And, of course, my favorite aspect of BSG revolves somewhat around him – the fact that life goes on. Of course, it kind of sucks that Z turned him down… But I guess that decision, and recovering from it, is just another part of life going on. His response after seeing Z and Apollo "together", while understandable, is somewhat unfortunate as well… may cause problems later. (If you have not picked up yet, I am writing this post as I watch.) Of course, a fair amount of my interest in his character may be due to the fact that I see a good deal of myself reflected back, but such is life .

As for keeping the Cylon Sharon onboard the Galactica… Yeah, it is definitely falling under the "necessary evil" category. While she is a Cylon, and the same model who shot the Commander (now Adrmiral), and has all of the possible threat and danger associated with her… She is also an invaluable source of very useful information. What with the baby still on its way, and her considerable emotional attachment to it, it is easy to hold the child’s life over her head and say, "Tell us this." Is that necessarily the right thing to do? No. But considering the situation of the fleet, and their untenable information as well as resources… it is necessary.

I am still somewhat amazed that firearms and ammunition are so easy to come by within the Galactica fleet… one would think that most of such things would have been snagged up by the military to replace whatever they were losing, as well as bolster their own supplies. Not to mention, cut down on the possibility of… you know… some group of people with an agenda taking an entire bar hostage… Of course, Secha is fooling herself that this is not about what she wants… The personal vendetta is obvious. But the fleet should probably know about a Cylon in their midsts – granted, a pregnant, secured, guarded, and contained Cylon, but still a Cylon. However, holding a bar hostage does not strike me as the best means possible.

Apollo certainly does find himself in more than a few hostage negotiation situations… One can only hope he is getting good at it. Unfortunately, he has not yet learned the necessity to pull the trigger from time to time… Maybe I am a little too hot-headed and gun-happy, but there are times when the application of small pieces of metal speeds up the negotiation process. Granted, one has to be fast, and he is only a pilot ("only"… heh), but… meh. That said, the trick with the O2 sensor and the dry ice from Mrs. Tye’s drink was perfect… I do not think the sensor would have quite worked like that – the displacement of the O2 by the CO2 from the drink would have been almost instantaneous, and would have decreased over time as the ice melted, not increased… but those are just quibble points .

Unfortunately, Admiral Adama’s first reaction to the terrorist was right – no negotiation. His son introduced into the equation… *sigh* I hate to come across as bastardish and cold-hearted (well, not really), but I still have to come down on that side of the fence. Does that mean you abandon him to his fate? Hell no. Starbuck and her strike team can make quite a nice entrance, that has been proven before. But negotiation will only start a precedential path you do not want to follow.

And leave it to Starbuck to "volunteer"… That girl has balls bigger than her boobs (which, granted, with her is not saying a great deal, but the point still stands). Of course, it is somewhat… inconvenient that she shot Adama… right in the chest… as well as lost almost the entirety of her marine squad. Sometimes, being gun-happy ends poorly for the good guys, that is for sure. Eat my words, I will.

Interesting proposal the Admiral came up with… but he is right, while still being somewhat wrong – the information source, right or wrong, is still useful. Whether she is playing you or not, she could still provide you with some valuable data that could be used at some later point. Now, separating the truth from the fiction… that is the trick. But I can understand the need to salvage your son… and your friend’s wife… and your President’s "son"… What defines us as being human over the Cylons?

… and I saw that coming! Wrong body – the one provided by the model of Sharon that shot the Commander. Nicely played. Unfortunately, dufus grunt noticed. And now Billy gets whacked too… Something tells me that being Z’s boyfriend is not a good position to find yourself in. Now… which one survives? Oh. Damn. Now that is just sad. Did I not call that too? I honestly wrote the bit about Billy dying before I saw the entirety of the episode… I am somewhat disappointed to see his character go – the development of his storyline would have been quite interesting to follow. But I guess that is part of what makes this show so good – the sheer, in-your-face, rip-out-your-guts realism of it. Sure, you can make a pretty reasonable argument that any television show about a massive ship in the middle of a massive fleet of ships travelling through space chased by human-looking robots could never be "realistic"… but then episodes like this roll along.

The truly unfortunate thing about any manner of civil unrest or war within the Battlestar Galactica population is that, like all civil wars, you are doing nothing more than depleting your own population – but in this, specific, situation… there is no way to replace them. No nations who’s individuals may emmigrate over… no trade to rebuild your supplies and damaged materiel. Nothing. What they have is what they have, and the narrowmindedness of someone who would willingly and knowingly sabotoge that… somewhat sad. And it reminds me of more than a few people, politicians and citizens, within America…

Regardless, outstanding episode. One of many found within this series.

scar

Linoge — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 23:41:18 +0000

Once more into the Battlestar Galactica breach.

In all truthful honesty, I am not exactly sure what to think of this particular episode. I had kind of figured that the Cylone fighters resurrected upon destruction… Since they have organic brains, and sinc ethe Cylons still seem to be relatively bound by most normal bilogical constraints, I do not think they could pop out with a full-formed sense of how to engage in ship-to-ship combat effectively. Basically, they would have to learn. And even if they did not necessarily have to learn, it would be a horrible waste to simply let them die when they were destroyed, especially when the Cylons already have the capacity to resurrect members of their elite. That one fighter decided to get a little vindictive over getting blown out of the sky at every opportunity… well, I guess that was only a logical chain of events. I mean, I would be somewhat pissed if every time I got a shiny (literally) new body, some jackass organic went out of his way to make it riddled with all kinds of new holes. But that might just be me .
As for the rest of the episode… BSG is great because of the reality of it, the emotion of it, the way it catches your attention, holds it, and absolutely refuses to let go. It was perfectly believable for Starbuck, being the on-the-edge-of-the-edge-of-the-edge pilot she is, to turn to booze, “quick lays”, and the like when the reality of the situation because far too much for her to deal with. Was it an acceptable course of action, especially considering the circumstances of the mining ship and Galactica being under constant attack? Of course not. But it was understandable.
And about the little spat between Starbuck and her trainee… yeah, we all saw that coming, but it was played out so very well, especially with Starbuck taking the ostensible fall for the team. Sometimes, it is better to put aside one’s pride and self-image for the sake of everyone else’s. In the end, Starbuck lost nothing, except for a really cool-looking mug.
It is definitely a good thing that one of the ships of the fleet is finally producing Vipers… I was starting to wonder where they were getting all of their spare parts, pieces, and ships should all else fail. Granted, the ships of the rag-tag fleet have a variety of capacities and abilities (even a ship that latches itself to an asteroid and strip-mines it), but we have not yet been introduced to a ship that is capable of producing other ships (besides the experimental Blackbird thingie). Thankfully, the Pegasus has such facilities.
Not a whole lot else to say about this particular episode… the reality of it, and the impact of it, is not something that shoudl be quantified by words.
“Here’s to them all.”
“So say we all.”

further forgetfulness

Linoge — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 22:38:28 +0000

Well, I just realized that I had forgotten yet another relatively important aspect to a previous post. The episode was relatively good, definitely, but what was best about it was the quote uttered by Lee Adama when faced against Colonel Tigh… (I will leave this post in its normal format, simply because the information presented here is not entirely a spoiler, and if you have not seen the episode already, you are not likely to regardless .)
Regardless, Apollo was hunting down all of the individuals who had been partaking of the violent black market, and had traced a gold bracelet back to Colonel Tigh. Tigh was hemming and hawing and trying to find any way to direct blame and attention away from himself, and finally came up with the tried and failed line of something approximating, “But everyone else is doing it!” He proceeded to cap it off with an unfortunately true, “Hell, so are you!” or words similar to that (those two lines are relatively unimportant – they only serve to set up the next). Apollo retorted with a tired look, and the line of, “Doesn’t make us right. Just a whole lot of people wrong.”
You have no idea how many other times I have heard the phrase, “Well, everyone else i sdoing it, so what is wrong with me doing it?” Just because a lot of people do something, it does not at all make that action the correct course. And just because the person who is currently hunting down all the offenders took part in it as well, it does not mean he is wrong either. A hypocrite, yes. But he is still correct.
The American populace seems to have developed the attitude that if enough people do something, then there is no point worrying about it – you cannot stop them all, so why even bother trying? What is more, the same populace seems to have developed the distasteful attitude that if enough people do something, then it must not be that wrong of a thing, or why would they do it? Well, I hate to break it to all of the utopians out there, but the average person cannot be trusted to do the right thing when doing something else would better suit his or her interests. Yeah, cynical, I know. But considering how much of an instant-gratification, touchy-feely, if-it-feels-good-do-it society we have become, do you really blame me? So yeah, I get a little concerned when someone’s personal goals do not necessarily jive with society’s goals, and what is arguably the correct thing to do…
Do I blame Apollo for partaking in the black market? Absolutely. Even though it saved the life of his prostitute’s daughter, and turned out to create a “good’ end result, the action itself was still “wrong”, even though he was unaware of the finer points of the black market’s policies at the time of the decision. Stealing food to keep from starving is necessary, yes. But still wrong. But do I consider Apollo to be a “rat”, or “nark”, or whatever for searching out and destroying the black market, or at least the unsavory parts, when he had the opportunity? Absolutely not. Hypocritical, yes. But still right.
As the saying goes, all it takes for evil to succede is for good men to stand by and do nothing. And while good men occasionally do lose their way, there is nothing to say that they cannot find it once again. Yes, what Apollo did was wrong, and he is equally culpable for all of the disastrous actions the black market decided to take. However, the fact that he was able to stand up against the establishment, and break it down to its knees, alone indicated that he had not really succumbed to its darker sides. And through that one act of defiance, even with his own life on the line, he brought the evil of the black market to an ostensible end, while still retaining its usefulness. In the end, a single act of contrition can make up for a hell of a lot of wrongdoing in the past. Not excuse it, but certainly compensate for it.
Trite though it may sound, we need more people willing to make that stand.