All the questions you must answer in your Galactica theory

Everybody in SF is theorizing, like me, about the mysteries of Battlestar Galactica. I have prepared a list of what I think the major questions that you must answer if you have a theory of your own. There are also a few lesser questions that it's good if you can answer, but which are not mandatory. And indeed, even I don't really answer all of these easily, nor do I suspect the show will tie up all these loose ends. A few minor spoilers about Caprica here.

For my answers see the invented backstory and of course the rest of this blog.

Virtual Beings

  • Who and what are they?
  • How do they get into character's heads?
  • Are they all the same being, or are there different beings? If so, what's their agenda?
  • How did Six pick up Baltar? Who was Shelley Godfrey and how did she vanish? (Godfrey question to be answered in "The Plan")
  • How is it that ordinary humans can receive visions at all? Not just dreams but visions with real external information. (Baltar, Starbuck, Young Bill Adama, Roslin)
  • Why did Head Six say goodbye to Baltar? (Deleted scene.)
  • How could the Elosha in Roslin's head have a conversation with her in the non-time of a jump?

13th Colony "Earth"

  • Why and how was Earth destroyed thousands of years ago?
  • How did it come to be that the 13th tribe was Cylon?
  • Why was the true nature of Earth covered up in colonial mythology?
  • What was the "exile and rebirth of the human race" Pythia wrote about 3,600 years ago?
  • Who took Starbuck to Earth and back?
  • Why this very convoluted way of showing the path to Earth (Arrows and star maps on Kobol, probes, stars going nova, signal on fake Viper) instead of just giving a set of coordinates?
  • Why don't he colonials find it odd that the scrolls say the 13th tribe "saw their 12 brothers in the sky" (ie. tribal flags are Earth stars and names, which is at odds with their belief that Kobol is their homeworld.)
  • Why don't 8 of the Tomb of Athena star maps match the photos Starbuck took? (Deleted lines found on DVD)
  • Why do the stars seen from the gas giant site of the Cylon civil war match the real Earth's sky?
  • Why don't we see any continents or star patterns we recognize in the Earth's sky?
  • Why was the Earth destroyed around the same time that the tribes fled Kobol?

Final Five

  • Is the fifth aware or unaware, and why?
  • What are the Final Five? Who made them?
  • What are the white robe Final Five in the visions?
  • How old are they?
  • Why did they lead full lives as humans, unaware of what they are?
  • Why did they wake up to a Bob Dylan tune?
  • Are there other copies of the Final Five around?
  • How will the ending "blur the line between human and Cylon"
  • Just why were 3 of the Five at Galactica at the start of the war? Are they the reason it survived?
  • Where has Ellen been? Is she behind Starbuck's magic trip, viper and recreation?
  • What have the five been doing for the past 2,000 years?
  • What were they doing between the building of the Temple of Five and destruction of the 13th colony?

Cylon God

  • Is he real? What is he?
  • What's his agenda?
  • Do the Final Five worship him? Is he the "God whose name must not be spoken?"
  • Who is the "jealous god, who wanted to be put above all the other lords of Kobol?"
  • Why would he appear to speak to Dodonna Selloi through the Lords of Kobol to give #3 a message?
  • Who is pulling the strings, if not this being?

Temple of Five

  • Are the Five Priests the Final Five?
  • Was Baltar supposed to activate the temple? What does it mean that D'Anna did?
  • How, as Baltar asked, could all of them have come there on Nova day, in spite of astronomical odds?
  • What poisoned the food processors to force the fleet there?
  • Why did D'Anna say "you were right" to Baltar?

Cycle of Time

  • Since there is no time travel, what can make things repeat so exactly? (Moore declared at the start of the show: "No aliens, no time travel.")
  • Just how exactly are they repeating?
  • How many cycles have their been?
  • What's special about this cycle, if anything?

Predictions

  • How is the First Hybrid able to know Kendra's life?
  • How does the First Hybrid know the story of the Final Five and their current state?
  • How does Pythia know about the visions of serpents?
  • How does Leoben know they will find Kobol?
  • How do Oracles, Leoben, and the Hybrids know about Starbuck's destiny?
  • What is "the truth about the Opera House?" Why is the long-ruined Opera House so important?
  • How does the First Hybrid's life "begin again, in ways uncertain."

Kobol

  • Why is head Six afraid of Kobol?
  • Who were the Lords of Kobol?
  • What are they doing now?
  • What is the meaning of the suicide of Athena?

Hera

  • Why does Head Six say Hera is the child of herself and Baltar?
  • Why is Hera's hair so curly when her parents have straight hair?
  • Is she the Cylon fetus shown in the ads? If not, who is it and what does it mean?
  • Why does Hera draw a book full of pictures of Six?
  • What is the role of Nicholas, and little unborn Six-Tigh?

Starbuck

  • See Earth
  • What is her destiny?
  • To wit, what does, "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the Apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her" mean?
  • What happened to her in the maelstrom?
  • How did she get a new body, a new Viper? Why?
  • What is her connection to Aurora?
  • Who is her father?

The Seven

  • How did the seven acquire their biological bodies? (Aparently the official "Final Five" comic series will tell us this.)
  • Why are the seven programmed not to think about the final five?
  • Why was Cavil (the least spiritual one) so strongly against the quest for the five, and the awakening of the centurions?
  • Why did D'anna only ask for four Cylons from the fleet? What makes her know one is different from the others? If she thinks one is not yet awakened, why does she think that?
  • What happened to the minds of the older, metal Cylons?

Baltar

  • How did Baltar heal that child in his cult? Why does he have a cult?
  • How did Baltar survive the nuke near his house?
  • Why are female Cylon models so drawn to him?
  • What does it mean that the Hybrid identified him as "the chosen one?" What is his role in "God's plan?"
  • Why all the Christ metaphors on Baltar?
  • How did he unconsciously know about Doral, or what to blow up in The Hand of God.

Web site clues

  • "You have heard my voice many times, but you don't know my name."

Other

  • What does Gaeta's song "to have her please, just one day wake" mean?
  • What is "the space between life and death" that Starbuck and D'Anna explore? Why are the Five there?
  • In Caprica, Adama's father helped create the metal Cylons. Adama's sister was the template for one of the first three models. Can this remain unmentioned? What would the fleet think if it knew? Why don't any of the Cylons have her memories?
  • What shut down all power to the fleet at the Ionian nebula? Why? And how did the Cylons know to be there?
  • Why did the power shutdown also make Roslin faint? And why all the visions for her at that time?
  • How did the Cylons keep finding the fleet? How did Hotdog find it?

Comments

Head Six never picked up Baltar. I know what you saw. I saw it too. But RDM clarified on the commentary that it didn't happen (ie - it was a production boo-boo). Therefore, no explanation need be made.

Yes, I heard that. He did not, I recall say that it "didn't happen" but that they overdid it. If he wanted it to not happen it's a trivial edit -- cut out the short snippet where you see his feet. He left that in.

Not all of these really need an explanation:
• How did Six pick up Baltar? Who was Shelley Godfrey and how did she vanish?
As I said earlier, this was a production error and can be ignored.
• How is it that ordinary humans can receive visions at all? (Baltar, Starbuck, Young Bill Adama, Roslin)
Humans have been receiving visions since forever. An explanation might be nice, but not needed.
• Why did Head Six say goodbye to Baltar? (Deleted scene.)
1) Deleted scenes didn’t happen.
2) From Moore’s podcasts, it’s clear that the explanation of the head characters was finalized after this show was filmed, so it may not even fit in the real explanation.
• How could the Elosha in Roslin’s head have a conversation with her in the non-time of a jump?
I’ll toss this back to the visions thing, Rosalin’s drug use, and the general cart-blanche weirdness provided by the process of jumping.
• Why this very convoluted way of showing the path to Earth (Arrows and star maps on Kobol, probes, stars going nova, signal on fake Viper) instead of just giving a set of coordinates?
Because the show will be over in 3 episodes.
• Why don’t he colonials find it odd that the scrolls say the 13th tribe “saw their 12 brothers in the sky” (ie. tribal flags are Earth stars and names, which is at odds with their belief that Kobol is their homewo rld.)
How is this at odds? 13th tribe went to Earth and saw the constellations that reminded them of the other 12 tribes.
• Who are the Final Five?
We do know four of them, and you also asked who was the fifth, so this is a redundant question.
• What are the white robe Final Five in the visions?
Again, visions. Visions rarely need explanations.
• Why does D’Anna say “Four are in your fleet?” If she’s lying, how and why does she tell this particular lie, ie. that one is special?
Four are in the fleet. That doesn’t mean “only” four. Could be that she doesn’t actually know the 5th, or that she can’t sense the 5th because it wasn’t activated yet.
• Why would he appear to speak to Dodonna Selloi through the Lords of Kobol to give #3 a message?
Again, visions. They happen. Move along.
• Are the Five Priests the Final Five?
Presumably yes. No explanation needed unless it is.
• How, as Baltar asked, could all of them have come there on Nova day, in spite of astronomical odds?
I can think of three explanations, one of which is sheer coincidence, but this something else that can go without explanation.
• Why did D’Anna tell Cavil “you’ll see [the five other Cylons] one day, one day” when he’s already seen them?
Because he didn’t see them as the five Cylons.
• Who did D’Anna give her profuse apology to, and why?
Right now, it could be Tigh (for Ellen and his eye) or Tyrol (for Cally’s near execution) or a general apology for trying to blow up the fleet repreatedly.
• Since there is no time travel, what can make things repeat so exactly?
Who says there’s no time travel?
• How does the First Hybrid’s life “begin again, in ways uncertain.”
Presumably was human, and turned into hybrid by Cylons – starting a new life that was unexpected
• Why is Hera’s hair so curly when her parents have straight hair?
You didn’t see Helo’s fro back in high school.
• What is her destiny?
• To wit, what does, “Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the Apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her” mean?
She brought humanity to Earth – its destination (journey’s end). She also brought the alliance that brought death to the Cylons.
• Who is her father?
Some guy. Might be nice to know, but not essential.
The Seven
• Why was Cavil so strongly against the quest for the five, and the awakening of the centurions?
Because he was programmed not to think of them, and he seems happy to accept his programming. As for the Centurians, giving them free will takes away Cavil’s control.
• Why did D’anna only ask for four Cylons from the fleet? What makes her think one is different from the others?
Again, 4 are activated, the 5th maybe not.
• What happened to the minds of the older, metal Cylons?
I don’t think they were ever AS sentient as the skinjobs or humans – just enough to be a pain in the ass.
• How did Baltar heal that child in his cult? Why does he have a cult?
He didn’t. Kid just has a relentless immune system.
• How did Baltar survive the nuke near his house?
Duck and cover.
• Why are female Cylon models so drawn to him?
Females in general were.
• Why all the Christ metaphors on Baltar?
Because he was becoming a religious figure and the writers used imagery that would play on common cultural to reinforce that.
• How did he unconsciously know about Doral, or what to blow up in The Hand of God.
Lucky guess
Other
• What does Gaeta’s song “to have her please, just one day wake” mean? You know it means something.

Making it up as they go along, drama, and retcon can explain a big chunk of BSG. The whole jig is like some magician's trick and might just be impenetrable or left unrevealed if for no other reason that Ron would get himself fired if the execs found out how big a bullshitter he was or we'd never tune in for the next episode. But,hey. That's showbiz.

Brad asks a lot of very good questions. Some of them are very thought provoking and almost deserve an entire essay of their own. In some cases they have. It's almost too much and a great waste of time but compelling and entertaining. I feel myself drawn to read it and Brad loves the attention. So, that's a win-win, I suppose. But, hey. That's showbiz.

Baltar is a narcissist and a fantasist. His interest in AI is an expression of his inability to cope with the world and mold it into his own image. The brilliance and charisma are part of that compelling but sociopathic character. He's the most mental of the bunch but also, in Ron's words, the most human. Life is irony. But, hey. That's showbiz.

I think they did a brilliant job on picking the final four.

If I was given a free hand to choose them (ie - any character, regardless of revealed past history), I would have picked at least 3 of the same characters:

I would have chosen Tori because she's had Cylon written all over her from the start.
I would have chosen Tigh because the irony is just soooo delicious.
I would have chosen Tyrol because of past events - affair with Boomer, sleepwalking, attacking Cally, finding temple- and because he fits the "T" them started by Tori and Tigh.

I would not have picked Anders, simply because I would have went with gender and ethnicity balance, and gone for Dualla, primarily because she fits in with the tendency of the other 3 to put herself in a position to influence a powerful person (note right after the attack she immediately jumps on the new President's aide, and later takes up with the Admiral's son).

Yeah, the've pulled off the retcon thing really well. It's the Mother of all Hacks but you gotta admire it. It would be interesting to know what the behind the scenes story of that was and what sort of creative stimulus that added. Either way, it's a star performance even if I get the occasional cringing disco Lee flashback.

That's some good calls on the Final Five casting thing. I've found Anders a bit bland and Tori is too self-conconciously Asian totty but that's what some decisions and accidents get you along the way. On the plus side they added an edge to the Cylon fighter and Baltar's chamber thing, so what do I know.

It's orthogonal to this blog but I've found Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has similar qualities about it and some of the material cross fertilises quite well. Both are ploughing a groove and I'm gagging for both to return. It's harder to see it when you're older but it must be a TV golden age for kids.

* As an example of fictionalised backstory and analysis, folks might like to check out Rage Against the Machines.

* I've got the other BSG comics and plan to get the final five comics when they come out. Don't know what they'll be about but I'll see if I can feed some of that back to Brad.

I have to believe that they had picked Tyrol as F5 by the time they had him be the one to suddenly find the Temple of Five, and to not blow it up when ordered. They put in other clues too, like him wondering if he's a Cylon and being counseled on it by Brother Cavil. The great line:

"I know you're not a Cylon because I'm one and I haven't seen you at the meetings"

May be a retcon but it's a great one. Cavil is a Cylon of course, but he hasn't seen Tyrol at the meetings as F5 don't come.

Producer's notes say they picked Anders quite late (and debated doing him or Gaeta).

Tory actually makes sense because she is Roslin's assistant, as Tigh is Adama's.

I listened to a podcast for the Season 3 finale, and RDM explained his line of reasoning for revealing the F4 in that episode as dissatisfaction with how it was turning out:

RDM: I can only tell you that when we t— some of this will be repeated on the other podcast, so forgive the listeners at home, but— the idea for turning four of them into Cylons was something that I came up [with] in the room. We were talking about the season finale, and the trial of Gaius Baltar and how it was going to end, and we had various things about the ending, that— y'know, the surprises in the trial and so on, and I had this sense of dissatisfaction, I remember saying to the writers: "I just wish— y'know, I've had this recurring thought of four of our characters walking into a room on Galactica, just drawn— just cutting them walking into a room. And they all walk in, and they shut the doors, and they look at each other and they say: 'OK, we're Cylons.' And it would just click, it just suddenly happens. And we just re- four people that we've known." And as we started talking about who would those four be, and we narrowed the parameters down quickly. [15:57]It was apparent that we didn't want Eddie to be one, we didn't want Adama, that'd seem like it robbed something from the show, so did Mary. And so when you took those two off, then it became, OK Lee didn't— wasn't sure what Lee gave you, we talked about Tyrol, well, Tyrol seemed kind of natural. He had a certain affinity for the Cylons, he was in love with a Cylon, he had started— something was happening to him on the algae planet, where he was drawn towards the temple—

Given the fact that there was a break between the two halves of the season, it is easy to assume that they had not chosen Tyrol as a Cylon yet- indeed, it seems his attraction to the Temple was what helped RDM and the writers choose him, according to the above.

Thanks for posting that. Brad, I like your theory (though I'm more of the mind that the Cylon God is the invisible hand behind everything, not the 5, but mostly because I like the idea of technological singularity), but as this and other podcasts show, they are making up a lot of this as they go. Personally, I feel like a condition a hypothetical theory must meet is "does it still work if the F5 were someone else?" Namely, if the actions of the F5 before they were revealed could be those of "ordinary humans" (whatever that may mean). For example, would Tyrol's actions re. the Eye of Jupiter (or whatever it was) make sense if he wasn't a cylon?

Don't feel a sudden need to wander out into the hills on an overly hot planet and discover hidden temples. But then again, they had not tagged him as Cylon at that point, so who knows what the writers think ordinary folks do in this show.

Excellent list of questions!

I look forward to finding out the truth over the next 10 weeks -- although I suspect that some of the questions will be answered far more directly than others. In fact, I would imagine that they're going to leave a few "soft spots" as a way to set up the Caprica series.

Also, I have heard that there will be some kind of a comic series called the Final Five and a documentary of sorts on the Cylon's "Plan" that will run after the series finale. These hopefully will help clarify and put to rest any lingering questions, although, again, I would be shocked if they didn't kick at least something over to the spin-off.

Finally, I would like to advance a framework that, based on much of what's been written here, might help put some of these questions and their eventual answers into a tighter perspective. Specifically, it seems that there are 4 "species" or types of people in the show: (1) humans, (2) the cylons (toasters and the significant seven), (3) the final five, and, (4) a "god" or AI virtual being.

If I had to put these groups in order of their age, I would say that the final five came first, followed by the AI/god/virtual being, followed by the humans, followed by the cylons.

This would fit with the idea that the final five were a group of human computer programmers living in the late 20th century who created an AI that took on god-like abilities and qualities. These five somehow managed to transfer their consciousness into digital form. Either they, or the AI/god may have the ability to spin the five out into the human race with or without access to their complete memories.

This would also not contradict the idea that the AI/god was somehow responsible for a war that destroyed earth and the original human race, and that the civilization on Kobol was established by this AI/god (and possibly with the help or at the control of the final five). This "second try" was a recognition by the AI/god and/or the final five that the destruction of earth and humanity was a mistake.

It also supports the idea that the Kobol civilization was set up in a way to avoid what appears to be a propensity of humans to destroy themselves. Parts of original human culture were preserved, which is why Hamlet and Bob Dylan make appearances, and of course the Greek/Roman pantheon of gods. In fact, I suspect that the entire Lords of Kobol social construct was designed specifically by the AI/god and/or the final five to allow humankind to live in an Eden-like harmony.

But as we know, the social experiment on Kobol was a failure. Why and how is not at all clear, although it appears to be less an inability of humans to live in peace as it appears to be some kind of conflict among the "gods."

This could be a dispute among the five or by the five against the AI/God. Regardless, the Exodus and resettlement on the 12 colonies does not appear to be a second attempt at another social experiment. Rather, it appears to be just what it is described as -- an Exodus, an escape, and a chance to live in freedom, even if it's ugly.

The creation of the Cylons and the eventual Cylon War seems to be less caused by the humans than by some interference by one or more of the final five or the AI/God, where they facilitated the introduction of AI technology that lead to the war, the resettlement on the cylon homeworld, and the development of the significant seven that are "forbidden" to even think of the five by "the one that programmed" them.

ALL of this, to me, points to some kind of connection between the final five, the AI/God, the cylons, and the humans. This would explain the visions, the intuition, the coincidences, and etc.

In my mind, I see this as something akin to The Matrix. This would mean that, in a sense, everyone is a cylon. Each person's mind and consciousness can be viewed and influenced by the AI/God and possibily by the final five. This "matrix" is what the hybrids tap into, but can't quite make sense of.

This also suggests that anyone could be downloaded and resurrected, provided a body is available, which may explain what happened to Starbuck.

But most of all, this points to an ending for the series that takes these 4 groups -- humans, cylons, the five, and the AI/God -- and brings them all together and pulls back the curtain.

This might be the AI/God's plan all along -- to bring the humans and cylons along a terrible, difficult path as a way to cleanse them and prepare them to accept enlightenment. Because after all, this will not be a pleasant enlightenment. Imagine having your entire understanding of the universe turned on its head. It makes Adama's reaction to Tigh being a cylon look like a small sneeze.

But what's left, ultimately, is the final resolution of the war that destroyed the original human race and the planet earth. It is the final and lasting peace between human and the AI/God -- based on truth and reconciliation, and not some social experiment. It is, at long last, a chance to unify human and AI history and attempt to move foward.

This is a great list of questions. I think my revised Aurora Theory answers most of them.

It doesn't answer why Hera's hair is curly though. Sometimes toddler's hair is just curly.

RE: How does the First Hybrid’s life “begin again, in ways uncertain.”

I think the Cycle of Time refers to the cycle of AI->cyborg->human->AI->cyborg->human. The Lords of Kobol were either one AI that split into 13 or 13 AIs that served as navcomputers when humans first left Earth. Either they wanted to become human or the humans wanted to become AI "gods." Disagreement over that led to the paradise on Kobol being broken.

Reading that page I am not sure why Aurora is so important that you put her in the name.

As for Dualla and "four are in your fleet."

The question that needs answering is, who could D'Anna have seen in the chamber that makes her say "four in your fleet" (which may or may not be a lie) but then to start killing hostages until she gets the four -- which means it's what she really wants, whether she thinks the fifth is also in the fleet or not.

Remember, she's been awake for a short time, and while she may have gotten intel on fleet activity, she doesn't know a lot more. Something she saw in that chamber makes her feel the right strategy is to demand four Cylons, and to threaten to nuke the civilian fleet and kill more hostages if she doesn't get four of them.

So who could she have seen? Well, obviously somebody not in the fleet -- ie. somebody on the base star, or somebody dead.

But I have yet to see any explanation of why, if she saw Dualla or Cottle or Gaeta or anybody else on Galactica, she would have acted as she did. What would have made them different from her viewing of Tigh and the others?

So,who could she have seen? Jake the dog. He's a below the radar sort of pooch. Plus, if you'd gunned yourself up to expect some sort of Nietzsche style superman you'd be a bit downed if the Final Cyclon was some scraggy mutt. Nah, better just to grab what you can and wipe the rest out. It ties up all the loose ends and you can spin the Final Cylon anyway you want after then, get changed, and be at the party in time for the corks popping.

I called it the Aurora Theory because (1) I think Aurora is cool, and (2) Starbuck's association with Aurora is what kicked off my interest in writing posts about the Final Cylon. My previous posts about it concentrate more on Aurora than the latest one does.

I think D'Anna's actions are pretty typical for the personality she has so far displayed. She's confrontational. You're right in that she must know who and where the Fifth is, but killing hostages to get what she wants seems very much in character whether she's only been unboxed for a short time or not.

The Four are different from the Seven. Is the Fifth supposed to be different yet again? Who knows what form she saw of the Fifth. It might not be as straightforward as just looking at a person standing in front of you. Why the bright light?

Although making sense of BSG is difficult work, I have a theory which fits some of the facts revealed so far and suggests the answer to other. Although it does not answer every one of Brad’s questions in detail, I think it's worth thinking about.

I believe there are several generations of cylon we have observed. By “cylon” I mean any entity with the ability, or at least internal mechanism required, to take a new physical form after death such as the final five and significant seven. Each generation of cylon has a different “ability” to take physical form, as they are all created with slightly different technology. The oldest existing cylon, the cylon god, is a purely virtual being that rarely, if ever, manifests itself in a visual form or audio form and is so far removed from flesh and blood that its name “cannot be spoken.” It can, however, speak to and through a hybrid. The next generation of cylon are what we call the “virtual beings”, virtual Baltar, virtual Six, possibly virtual Leoben. These cylons are also very removed from flesh and blood; however, they can and occasionally do take a physical form. This explains the manifestation of virtual Six as Shelley Godfrey in “Six Degrees of Separation.”

After the “virtual beings”, the next generation of cylon gods includes the “Final Five” who were created on Kobol and sent to earth with the “humans.” The final five were created for a benevolent purpose and function as such, created by a society that believed the F5 were persons with all the associated rights. This contrasts with the next generation of cylons produced on Earth, to which Kara Thrace and Gaius (“earth”) Baltar belong. (This generation may also include Roslin, although that is less certain.)

The cylons created on Earth were responsible for destroying Earth, much like the significant seven destroyed the 12 Colonies, and they were reborn in the colonies where Baltar again helped to destroy a civilization. Not all is peaceful, however, because the different generations of cylon may have different agendas. Some generations believe humanity must evolve itself, that suffering helps to drive evolution, while other generations believe an assisted evolution is the best approach. Even the same generation of cylon can split among how to treat humanity.

This isn't all of the theory, and I admit there are a lot of unexplained parts and guessing to fill in some areas. I do believe that generally the concept of several generations of cylon is probably sound, though.

Okay, I'm gonna stop messin' about.

I've just read some spoiler stuff and it looks interesting. The Final Five "pre-date pretty much everyone" and are responsible for the human and Cylon setups. The otherthing is that the skinjobs are a bridge between the mechanical Clons and humanity,and the line between Cylons and humans is blurred. That fits with stuff hinted at in the series and Ron's comments. The theory that's been talked about before is that neither human or Cylon are capable of becoming more than they are. It requires both.

The other interesting thing is that there's a suggestion there *may* be a fifth series. It's too early to say but when the current run has time to sink in the potential in stepping beyond and expanding the BSG universe is there. I've no idea if my comment on Brad's blog has provoked anything or other folks are beginning to develop similar ideas independently but if BSG can break out of its straitjacket and have something compelling to offer I'm sure a lot of folks will be receptive to that.

We haven't even had the Final Cylon revealed so it's jumping the gun to flesh out an entirely new story arc but BSG could develop hints of a more technology and naturalistic variant of the Star Wars universe. In some ways it would be set in a time like just before the Old Republic but in other ways more advanced. My guess is that, like Caprica, it would be sufficiently novel to deserve its own title.

SPOILER ALERT

I just watched the latest BSG episode, and let me start by saying that the show continues to demonstrate why it's held in such high regard by fans and critics... It's not a perfect show, but can anyone tell me of another show on television that offers such consistent and enduring quality?

A few reactions to what happened tonight. FULL OF SPOILERS, so read on at your peril...

Dee -- I did not see this one coming, but I did think to myself, 'this can't be right... they're way too happy.' Such a beautiful woman, too. If it were coked out, one-legged Gaeta, I'd understand. But by making it Dualla, the producers and writers really made it hard to swallow.

Roslin -- I was a little surprised at how she just curled up and shut down like that. Sure it's not what she thought, but, technically, the prophecies were not wrong, per se. It's just that the ending turned out to be a little different. I'm surprised at how quickly she gave up, but then again, if I'd been living on a 747 for the past four years, I'd probably be a little upset that the trip wasn't over, too.

The Old Man -- "FRAK YOU!" Best line of the show, for me. Edward James Olmos is a big part of why this show is so good. I enjoy watching every scene he's in, especially when he gets angry or freaks out.

Tigh and Ellen -- Well done, Brad. And I think well executed, too. The flashbacks were interesting, although I would have liked to have seen Anders' and Tory's. I also would have liked to have seen more of these flashbacks, and presumably we will.

Three/D'anna -- Does she really stay on earth? Is this a contract thing with Lucy Lawless? Or is she really just giving up? And before we leave her, can we please know who she was talking to in the temple? (You, I had not idea. Forgive me.)

Baltar -- Not much from Baltar, except for that silly line about how no one should drink or eat anything because of radiation... Yeah, no shit, Baltar. Glad we have the world's smartest man to tell us that. (Although... if Baltar says not to eat or drink anything, I'd say it's probably best to do the opposite. If you want to live...).

Starbuck and Leoben -- I don't quite get Leoben's reaction... Why run away like that? Doesn't this kinda make sense? I suppose maybe I'm seeing this too much as a member of the audience, but, to me, that "non-cylons" are capable of some kind of download and regeneration only supports the idea that humans and cylons are much more similar than anyone realized.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the "rebirth" of Starbuck and the line from Ellen proving that the final five do (or did) have the ability to regenerate/download and effectively live forever as immortals may be the ultimate nerve center of the show. What I mean is: the ability of certain human beings to achieve immortality may be linked closely with the inevitable destruction of the civilization from which those humans arose. It seems that this it what started it all, and maybe, had they not figured out how to do this, the destruction of earth might not have occurred.

Nine more weeks to go. Can't wait.

It makes perfect sense for Leoben to run from Starbuck! First, she has been the single deadliest anti-cylon force on the entire show, and if you recall she repeatedly killed Leoben on New Caprica. For Leoben to find out that Starbuck has a huge secret of literally cosmic importance that she may want to hide, coupled with the fact that he is no longer immortal himself, could make him run for his life. Also consider that "sleeper" cylons may have been programmed to automatically kill anyone who discovers their true identity. Leoben would be aware of this and assume that Starbuck may be a "sleeper" of some kind, even if he doesn't know exactly what. I hope we find out that Leoben informed the other cylons of his discovery.

As I've posted earlier, I believe Starbuck is a cylon, not one of the "final five" but of a later generation probably created on earth, possibly with Baltar and even Roslin. Her generation of cylon are responsible for nuking earth 2000 years ago. This could certainly cause the cylon god to consider her the harbinger of death! As for Dee, she evidently had some kind of flashback as well, indicating she was either a victim or aggressor 2000 years ago and has since reincarnated. This fits with the hybrid's statement in "The Hub", I believe, that mentioned dead Natalie going "back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream."

Ellen being a cylon does make sense in another way. She was called a whore, drunk, untrustworthy, etc., but if she was created for the purpose of mothering a race of "humans" then she would naturally be programmed with a "healthy" sex drive. Also, she was not necessarily untrustworthy, as I think Tigh knew about her extramarital olympics but still loved her. In fact, I think he has always unconsciously known that she's acting as she's designed to do and accepts it.

Elen has been speculated on as a top candidate for the fifth Cylon by people in this blog but I'm puzzled where all the clues are and how the Last Supper photo is supposed to make sense. The really annoying thing is I was beginning to warm to Elen. Now, she's dead. Ditto Dee. I'm not sure the hype was worth it and the end could've been better executed so I'm not a totally happy bunny. I've read this sets up the direction for the rest of the series. That sort of tease is beginning to get annoying and I don't appreciate it no matter how much the marketing department thinks it's funny.

I guess, the speculation about resurrection technology, the Cylon hub,and Caprica will kick off. That could be pretty interesting as it will touch on the backstory and possible ending, especially with all that stuff about Starbuck, visions, and the blur between Cylon and human. Ellen will be making later appearances but whether that's just flashback or she reincarnates, nobody knows. Also, I'm not 100% convinced we've seen the last of Dee. Same deal, there.

I've been reading, again, about the theory of the holographic universe and, of course, there's various Buddhist theories about reincarnation and reality. I suppose, the series could touch on those as it rolls forward. Stopping the cycle seems to be a big part of this latest strand and Buddhism is all about stopping the cycle. Some of that is down to self-enlightenment or, in some strands of Buddhism, 'enlightened' characters can stay behind to help others develop enlightenment as a way of assisting that process. It seems to fit but I might just be seeing what I want to see.

Yes, Tigh killed her, but as she said, they have the power to be reborn after they are killed. So she's out there, we'll probably see her quite soon. I'm pretty confident they would not make her the fifth and then not have her appear on the series!

Hmmm. I'm hoping they clear up the mess of this episode. I suppose andtend to agree that Ellen is likely to reincarnate. Whether that's on Earth or elsewhere, my guess is Cavil's bunch will pick her up as Adama is moving Galactica out of that frame. Two other points: V6 mentioned that anyone who dies on Kobol is dead for good, and then there's the Caprica thing. I'm wondering if the experiments there kicked off the Final Five's resurrection nor if they floated in on the breeze. Dunno. This is starting to turn into Groundhog Day.

Before, the idea of Tigh and Ellen being Final Five and involved in a relationship didn't work for me but the flashback to the bank scene has changed that. She was a bit of a bitch, like Dee was hard, but as both threw off the baggage in their final moments both characters became more appealing. I could've run with Dee being the Final Cylon and I'm pretty sure that would've worked as well. As the bank scene showed, things change, perceptions change, and what looked daft before now looks more credible.

Y'all don't think that was Tigh trying to get some wish fulfillment? He would want nothing more than to be absolved of his guilt for killing Ellen. I am pretty sure every single skinjob and human is a cylon. Tigh assumes Ellen is the fifth because he recognized her and the fleet hasn't figured out that they are all cylons yet. The 7 models that download are different, but I think they are different in that they should be rebirthing like the other cylons not downloading. While everyone who is reborn is evolving the downloaders never evolve. They are always the same age, the same look, the same everything. This is why old diseases affect them. They are still in the same form as the originals molds. They need to re-learn how to be reborn, or maybe the whole having babies thing is the key to their evolution. Either way, I guarantee Ellen is a misdirection.

I could just mark it down to the choice of child actor they thought was the best fit. However, the simplest in-story explanation is that Helo's hair has always been cut very short. My son's hair is quite curly when it grows out, but if it is cut to the length of Helo's, it stays straight. Therefore, there's no mystery.

Add new comment