Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 - SciFi US broadcast thread (1 Viewer)

[Michael Harris]

Well, now we know!

 

[Sam Favate]

I hardly think that's a "John Kerry" problem, and I think it's inappropriate to mention that here. Let's just say I don't think there is an objective basis for saying that was Kerry's problem -- or Baltar's, as I noted above. Can we please steer the discussion away from what you or I thought of candidates in real life? That's only going to get us in hot water, and presumably we like the show and this thread too much for that to happen.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I apologize if I offended you. I tried to steer clear as much from partisan politics as possible and only made that statement specifically BECAUSE I didn't think it was under debate from either liberals or conservatives. For the issues that drove that election I'll only say that I personally couldn't see a difference between them and refrain from commenting on real-life candidates in the future.
The only problem with a show with such real world relevance is that it is very difficult to keep the real world out of the discussion. On less political episodes however, I was able to totally keep real world politics out of the discussion. I will do my best to stay on that track in the future.

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Well, Callie did shoot the love of his life in cold blood and was then high fiving the rest of the deck gang once she got out of the brig, moving Tyrol's psychosis and isolation from his "family" along quite thoroughly.

 

[TheLongshot]

Rather than just frame it in the current political paragim, you can just say that anyone can play politics that way. Roslin can get away with it because she knows Baltar is the weaker opponent.

Course, Baltar comes back with the "shiny happy people" approach, which you could also acredit to the Republicans as well, but really is a cornerstone of politics everywhere. People would rather go with the sunnier outlook, even if it isn't reflective of reality.

Jason

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I think that's debatable. To avoid real world parallels, on another show I watch (Everwood) the mayor lost the election because she'd just recovered from cancer. The town's fear of her cancer led to them supporting the other candidate.
I'd say what supported hope over fear for Galactica is the fact that the fleet has lived in constant fear for months upon months. They've largely become desentitized to fear. And ANY alternative will look pretty damn appealing.

 

[Robert Anthony]

I'm gonna try and elaborate on what I meant regarding the political content of this show, without trying to step on any toes here.

Now, we know that both Eick and Moore are heavily influenced by post 9/11 politics and policies and those influences DO go into their writing for the show. It does happen, and that's factual. What's fun is that they don't try to MIRROR what's happening. They play with it. They take a situation and instead of running it down the line like say, "Law and Order" would do (stripped from the headlines!) they tinker with it, and start pursuing alternate paths that people could take. And I find that endlessly fascinating and it increases the punch and the power this show already has. Often this show will hit you with a situation similar to one we heard on the news in the past--and then make a different choice than what happened in reality. The beauty is that all too often, that OTHER choice doesn't actually always change anything for the better. It's not REALLY a better alternative. It does what great fiction does, it takes your "But what if" and makes it painfully real.

And the political debates last night did that masterfully. It was like an old DC Comics elseworlds thing: What if all the arguments people scoff at the right for making--what if they were rooted in a cause you actually DID believe in (finding earth, escaping cylons) What if all the arguments you DO believe in, in the real world, were being spouted by a guy you KNOW is a total shit? The liberal, pro-abortion, union-saving schoolteacher is spouting reaganisms in debates, clinging to bush-like "Faith" arguments, and lashing out like Cheney. I think not only is it FAIR, it's RIGHT that they're not taking the easy way out and wading in demagoguery and cheap stereotypes. They're really fleshing out the characters AND their motivations.

That's all I was trying to say. I listened to the podcast this morning and Moore also touches on this general idea, even going so far as to say he thinks Bill Clinton is very much like Gaius Baltar in this episode. I laughed, not only because it's a good line, but because there IS an element of truth to that. This show was great largely for the fact that it was ALL about altering perceptions and making sure you check that your conventions and your thought process are rooted in a sound place.

I don't think noting these things necessarily means we have to launch into a REAL WORLD political discussion, because while it's obvious the writers are using the real world as a jumping off point, including references like in tonights episodes and scenarios in previous episodes, they never fail to take the follow through and point it in a completely different and unique way. The fact they do this sort of negates any substantial real world comparison, because then your comparison doesn't really have any moorings. The choices can only really be debated in the context of the fictional reality of the show. Which is ANOTHER neat trick of the writing here, and one I really appreciate.

 

[PeterTHX]

But if we don't make political comments the thread is tight?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Anyway, maybe the political point the show is making is that you have to balance hope with the harsh reality. One party accuses the other of preying on fear, while the other says that the other is not living in the real world.

 

[Ty Zucker]

RE: Baltar's fear vs hope argument.
I found myself thinking that Baltar is the one arguing out of fear not Roslin. Ie, settle on that planet because they're afraid they won't find earth, that they won't find a more habitable planete, etc. If they settle on that planet, then they are certain to not find earth. On the other hand, if they keep going their is still the hope they will find earth.

I suppose that just illustrates the power of spin.

 

[Graham Perks]

Wow, didn't like that one.

The Tyrol thread was just so out of nowhere it didn't have rhyme or reason with the rest of the show.

The Starbuck thread - the fleet is short on ships and pilots, so hey, why not send all our raptors and most of our pilots on an expected 20% casualty-rate, high risk, long-range rescue mission for an unknown number of people, whom will all have to cram into raptors. Yeah, I can see Adama buying into that one. This is so ludicrous and the pacing slow enough to be obviously just a lead-in to the finale.

Looked like each raptor had two pilots and two or three marines. In the pilot, Sharon took herself and four civilians, three from the lottery plus Baltar. Seems like every raptor was at capacity anyway- how are they going to expect to haul off the 50 or so people with Anders? I just can't believe anyone in the fleet would sign off on doing this. And I don't see much motivation for Sharon either. Who knows, perhaps she and Helo will end up settling this new world they've found.

I gotta agree with the priest-as-cylon comment above. You know that writers love to put stuff way out in the open where we'll never see it. This character even says "I'm a Cylon" and we think he's just joking but... we'll see him again

I just didn't get the continuity of this episode with the prior episodes. Tyrol was out of nowhere, and Sturbuck leading a fleet back to Caprica? We know she's wanted to do it, but there's never been a snowball's chance of it actually happening.

If they're only ten jumps from Caprica, how long will it take for another Resurrection Ship to get back to Galactica's neighborhood?

This episode ran high on my incredulous meter.

 

[todd s]

Don't worry about Raptors Graham. Since Voyager is off the air. They have the same machine that used to replicate shuttles for Voyager now making Raptors.

Seriously, What happened to the good ole shuttle from the original series? Now that thing had some size to it.




http://www.tecr.com/galactica/miscships/shuttle.htm

 

[PhilipW]

Graham,

I thought in the miniseries they had loaded all children into the raptor and then had a lottery for just the remaining room. Could be wrong tho'?

 

[PeterTHX]

Seems to me the Raptors are the shuttles, slimmed down and updated.

You can see an "retro" style Land-Ram on the mining asteroid in "Scar" though.

PS: Todd: the site you linked is pretty cool, though the Spelling Nazi I am couldn't help but notice that they spelled "fairy" instead of "ferry" for the Rising Star description.

EDIT: hell, there's a LOT of typos on that site. Someone needs a spell-checker!

 

[Carl_G]

Agreed. It was a cool episode, but incredulous at the same time.

Loved Dean Stockwell's character. This was clearly about establishing him, the Chief was secondary. If he's not a Cylon, he will at least be very important in coming episodes.

Yeah, the whole 10 jumps back with captured Cylon tech makes me believe they should be able to pop a Resurrection ship back on the chase in a matter of days. Oops, writers!

It does seem as though the writers realized they only had 2 eps to go and they screwed around too much with the middling go-nowhere episodes earlier that they needed to catch up with the storyline they were losing sight of.

And, again, why don't they just send a note out to the fleet - "please check all personnel's forearms for something that looks like a USB port just below the skin surface to determine if they are a Cylon". Oops, writers!

Finally, I swore I would not watch this and wait for the UHD feed later, but I just could not resist. Fuzzy, block, but it's still Galactica. The Gods curse you, SciFi Channel, for your pathetic transmission quality!!!

 

[David Norman]

You are assuming that there was more than one Resurrection Ship (no evidence to suggest there was more than one) or that a new one could be ready immediately. I assume it is easier for the Fleet to find Caprica since they know exactly where both ends of the map are rather than the Cylons at best know one side of the map and some general direction to point the other end at (how close would they have to be in order to have that ship functional) -- how many Basestars/Raiders did they have at the beginning of the War, how many have they lost, how bloody is their nose after losing a huge amount of ships and does this make them more cautious in chasing the Fleet now that they know there are 2 Battlestars out there.

Also you seem to be assuming that the "USB" port is mechanical or at least detectable by ordinary means and not some sort of Biological Fiber-Optic Neuronal connection which would be indistiguishable from normal tissue. The latter is not even that far-fetched.

 

[RickER]

Damn, i forgot about PeterTHX. It isn't enough to use the spell check i need to proof read before i send! How many times have we been busted on the "loose" thing!:b
By the way, i forgot to say that this season has only gotten better with each episode IMO.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

OK ... I've really enjoyed the last three episodes and all, but what the heck is going on with "Pegasus-Six" and the nuclear bomb she was given by Baltar (now almost two months ago in "Galactica time")?? I hope the writers at least somewhat deal with that plotline next week. It's been dormant far too long.

 

[Travis_S]

In response to the above post:

Ronald D. Moore said in the podcast for "Epiphanies" that the nuke comes in to play in the season finale.

 

[todd s]

Travis,

I really hope its not the end for Pegasus. :frowning:

 

[Yee-Ming]