Battlestar Galactica - SciFi US broadcast thread (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

It would be fun to get Hatch's pilot on DVD someday as an extra. A&E did that with the Space:1999 "Message in a Bottle". A final episode if you will that said hello and good-bye. Nice to get those kind of gems.

 

[Gordon St Pierre]

It looks like they have decided to go with 20 episodes for the second season according to This Article

 

[Yee-Ming]

"Message From Moonbase Alpha", right?

I suppose if they managed it for Space: 1999, they might manage it for BSG, if they can be bothered to. IIRC, MFMA was initially done for the convention circuit, with all participants (basically producers/writers, Ziena Morton + crew) doing it for free, with IFC (the studio?) allowing them to do it on condition it was only shown at conventions, for free. There were some union waivers involved as well, with I guess similar restrictions. Hence, it was initially thought impossible to secure the necessary clearances for a commercial release, which thankfully proved wrong.

For Richard Hatch's BSG "trailer", I think similar restrictions are in place, but the difficulty I see is that there's little incentive on the part of anyone to try securing its clearance for a release. MFMA was at least seen as being an interesting epilogue to 1999, and obtaining it for inclusion in a complete box set of the series made a lot of sense, both artistically and even commercially, but Hatch's trailer is a prelude to a "next gen" series that was never made. At best it fits with the original series, which has already been released and probably won't be revisited; it doesn't fit at all with the new "reimagined" series, so why would the producers of the future DVD release of the new series bother?

 

[todd s]

Can someone tell me what this "Message from Moonbase Alpha" is?

 

[Yee-Ming]

A short (8 mins?) film in which Ziena Morton reprises her role as Sandra, and it's as if she's recording (literally) a last message from Moonbase Alpha to be broadcast back towards Earth, as the Moon is about to either enter a warp of some sorts, or an area of space where broadcasting anything back to Earth would be impossible. It's a very simple thing, set many years after the events of the TV series, with just her in costume, standing in front of a set that looks like the computers and consoles from Space: 1999, and she reads a message updating Earth on what's happened to Moonbase Alpha in the past years, and why they're sending this message.

It was available on a bonus disc with the "Megabox Set" from A&E that consisted of both seasons, or alternatively as a single disc by mail-order only from A&E direct.

 

[todd s]

Yee,
Thanks for the info. I never watched Space 1999. I do know how the moon left orbit. But, how does it move so quickly between alien worlds every week? And I can only imagine what is happening on Earth after loosing the moon.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

It was called space warps ... (aka worm holes)

Regards

 

[CharlesD]

Well, now we know how to identify Cylons.

 

[RickER]

Yee, thank you for clearing up the left ends i left dangling re. Space:1999. Now, on to tonights Galactica. Another fine episode. I was wondering if we will ever see or rather hear the machine Cylons talk to each other. Or to anyone else for that matter. I would enjoy seeing them as much as our human Cylons. I wonder how they fit in to the plan. They seem to be the worker drones of our human Cylons. Curious how they feel about being at the bottom of the heap again. If they indeed are? Any thoughts?

 

[John Swarce]

Wow, this series just keeps getting better and better. I was thinking after Gaius' photo was revealed that maybe HE is a Cylon (and didn't know it, like Boomer) and that one of his dupes planted the bomb. But the way it turned out was OK as well.

I loved the line he had as he was yelling in the bathroom: "no more Mr. Nice Gaius!!"

#6 is getting a lot more screen time.

I'm still stumped on the Helo sub-plot and where it could be going.

Can't wait for next week....

John

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So does the President trust Gaius again or not?
Fascinating the way she disappeared and Adama's frustration.
More fascinating the focus that Gaius brought without his woman tying him up.
Boomer mk2's spine glowing red while screwing Helo was interesting; guess they're not quite as biological as we all thought.

Overall though, this is still my least favorite episode of the series. Though that says more about how good the series is and less about the poorness of the episode.

 

[Norm]

What with all the smoking? The Doctor was even smoking in the patients room. That would never happen in real life. How much did the Cig companies pay Ronald Moore.

I also wish they could make the show look a little more like its not from Earth. All of the citizens clothing looks like it was bought on Earth.

 

[David Forbes]

Here's my take on how "Shelly" got on board:

The Boomer Cylon on Galactica can shape-shift. That's how "Number 6/Shelly" got on board and was able to vanish into thin air. And on some level the "human" part of Boomer knows this, which is why she wrote "Cylon' in her locker. (At least I'm guessing it was her who did it, in some kind of dream state she doesn't remember.)

Note: I haven't seen the UK broadcasts, I'm just watching the US eps as they aire, but this is the most reasonable explanation to me.

 

[Gordon St Pierre]

She got onboard because they brought her over from one of the other ships.

 

[Rutgar]

Hopefully, they will reveal how she appeared, and then disappeared later on. After all, this is supposed to be "Science" Fiction, not "Magic" Fiction.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

I doubt that there was any morphing or poofing involved.

 

[David Forbes]

Okay, here is why I think Boomer indeed changed into Shelley Godfrey.

Col. Tigh said that she just vanished while being followed by two marines. They came around a corner and she was gone. Where did she go? I would bet that Lt. Boomer was seen in the vicinity when this occurred (perhaps a revelation we'll find out about next week). Also, Boomer had the word "Cylon" written on her locker, which means nothing unless she is up to something (like when she blew out the water tanks), otherwise it simply gives the audience information we already have. It's a clue that something else is going on.

Col. Tigh said no ships had left Galactica, so how did Shelley get away? She existed as a "physical" entity (rather than, say, a hologram or illusion of some kind), because of the glasses Adama found on the command table. Again, a clue. So where did she go? I think the answer is that she didn't go anywhere, she just changed back into Boomer.

Also, think about how Boomer acted when touching the Cylon ship in the hanger bay. She had an almost sensual touch with it, and spoke in a slightly different cadence. Kind of out of character for her, but not out of character for Number 6/Shelley.

The only other possible explanation is that she "teleported" somewhere, but since the universe of Galactica doesn't seem to have teleportation, that is even less likely than the explanation that Boomer changed her form.

Those of you who doubt a transformation happened, what do you think happened? Just curious. As I said, I know nothing for certain. I haven't seen the remaining shows or read about them, so I freely admit I could be wrong. But I think there are plenty of clues in the episode itself that point to the conclusion that Boomer somehow transformed into Shelley and then back again to make her escape.

 

[Gordon St Pierre]

I don't think so either(morphed or TP'ed),She could very well be still hiding on the ship somewhere & it could be somewhere they would never look for her.(Remember Boomer must have spent plenty of Time under water to plant the charges -She could be hiding in the water tanks lol)
The Guys Adama had tailing her were supposed to not be obvious ,so she could have easily lost them.


The only other explaination I'd go for is that She was somehow tied to Six in Baltar's head .Both were never around at the same time .But that's stretching it I think

The Deleted scene for this episode on Sci.fi.com has The Cylon Raider taking a dump lol,I guess it's still biologically functioning in some ways

 

[Kenneth]

The main problem I have with morphing is why would only one model (the Boomer model) have that capability and not another. If they all have it, why maintain the same look (especially once they know they have been identified). I think that is too much of a plot trap for them to fall into.

It's still unclear what the relation between Six and the cylon that accused Baltar of treason is. Although they are the same model, Six appears to have a different agenda and looked to be hiding in Baltar's mind waiting for him to come around to her way of thinking rather than being that cylon.

One possibility could be that Six has the ability to transmit vivid images to minds other than Baltar's. Assuming that the accuser and Six are the same. Thus she was making everyone think she was there.

Another possibility already mentioned is that there could be lots of hiding places on the Galactica. It was built to avoid the problems with the mechanical cylons, not the human models.

That's all that comes to me for now. We'll just have to see how things continue to develop. Having only a twelve episode season will be a bummer since we will probably have to wait to get many questions answered.

Kenneth

 

[Michael Harris]

I think that Shelly found a nice place to hide and self destructed. I think its been fairly established that the Cylons believe that their conscience self will be transferred to another version of themselves when they die. She was put aboard the Galactica for a reason and when her mission was accomplished, she was not needed any more. Poof!