SPOILER SPACE



























“The Plan”
is a direct-to-DVD film for “Battlestar Galactica” that promises
to answer one of the more obvious questions from the series run: what
exactly was this “plan” that the Cylons had, as referenced
endlessly in the first couple seasons?  Fans have been waiting a long
time for this particular story, as told from the perspective of the
Cylons.  But as the old saying going: while all answers are replies,
not all replies are answers.

So it is
with “The Plan”.

After the
second season episode “Downloaded”, which represented the
beginning of the philosophical changes within the Cylon that would
ultimately lead to their civil war, I noted in my review that it was
fundamentally flawed.  Caprica Six and Boomer had come to an epiphany
that the original Cylon “plan” was wrong, and that they had to
find a new path for their people.  The problem was simply this:
without a solid understanding of what the original Cylon direction
was, any such epiphany carried little weight.  Context is king.

The context
was confusing because the actions of the Cylons were often
contradictory.  The overwhelming suggestion was that the Cylons
wanted to wipe out the human race once and for all.  However, they
never seemed to take the necessary steps to achieve that goal after
the initial annihilation was completed.  The survivors were hunted
down, both on Caprica and the Colonial fleet, but there was never the
kind of relentlessness that could (and, story-wise, should) have led
to a Cylon victory.

More to the
point, the various hints from Head-Six and others, right down to
Starbuck’s experience at the Farm, made it seem very possible that
the Cylons wanted to cut the human population to a small but
manageable size to eliminate a threat, while keeping enough alive to
conduct the breeding experiments.  After all, the Cylons conducted
their experiment between Helo and Sharon/Athena over the course of
the entire first season.  The inability of the Cylons to reproduce
was a vital concern.

That
dichotomy was never explained, even though the creation of Hera was
always treated as an important plot point for the series.  And all
those hints over the course of the series that the Humans and Cylons
could only survive together eventually paid off.  That being the
case, the Cylon “plan” didn’t seem to make a whole lot of
sense, even if it was only valid up until the point that the plan
changed in “Downloaded”.

So this
particular film needed to address that issue.  If the goal was to
explain the Cylon “plan” and fill those plot holes with
reasonable explanations, then the story would have to delve into the
motivations of the Cylon leadership structure prior to the attack on
the Colonies and make sense of the actions that took place afterward. Not so
much what happened on Galactica alone, but rather, the
various activities seen on Caprica: the Helo/Sharon experiment, the
Farm, and so forth.

In that
regard, “The Plan” is a spectacular failure.  It completely
ignores the many inconsistencies within the Cylon agenda as it was
depicted, and instead tries to simplify the Cylon “plan” and
align it with the genocidal verve of the Cavil models.  Some minor
complications are added to the equation, but on the whole, most of
the elements of the story were items that needed little or no
explanation.

According to
this story, the Cylon “plan” all evolved out of Cavil’s desire
to punish his parents, the Final Five.  He sent the Final Five to
live among the Colonies to see how humanity’s sins justified the
judgment of their creations.  He believed that the Cylons were meant
to finish the war that the Final Five had brought to an abrupt halt
without mercy.  As far as he was concerned, he expected the Final
Five to be resurrected among their “children”, ready to
acknowledge that they were wrong.

But that was
already clear from the fourth season of the series itself.  It didn’t
need to be explained.  What needed to be explained was the divergence
from Cavil’s perspective.  Surely there were many more copies of
Cavil back with the Cylon fleet and Occupation forces after the
attack.  Why not focus on the debates between those versions of Cavil
and the models that wanted to experiment with the survivors to foster
reproduction?  That would have allowed the writers to reconcile the
various Cylon activities that didn’t fit the “destroy all humans”
mold.

Instead, we
got a story that served to connect the dots.  All of the Cylon
activities in the first season on Galactica were revealed to be the
product of one Cavil’s orchestrations behind the scenes,
culminating in his conversation with Chief Tyrol at the end of the
second season.  While it does make all of those seemingly disparate
acts more substantial, it also doesn’t change very much.

After all,
the end conclusion is that the other models, even with Cavil’s
urging, couldn’t follow their orders because, like the Final Five,
they came to love humanity.  Cavil didn’t understand the powerful
nature of love, because it was something he associated with humans,
and therefore something he sought to reject.  It makes sense, given
what we know happened and what we know of Cavil.

But that
only makes the error in focus more obvious.  Cavil’s lack of
understanding of love, and the difference between Cavil and the other
models, would have fed beautifully into debates within the leadership
of the Occupation.  The models that oversaw the Helo/Sharon
experiment could have justified their activities in spite of Cavil,
thus placing that subplot within a clearer context.

The writers
had the perfect means of making that happen.  The Cavil that wound up
with Anders and his resistance group could have been in regular
contact with the Cylon Occupation forces.  In fact, it’s hinted
that the Cavil on Caprica is in contact with them.  So why not shift
more of the focus on Cavil’s debates, especially when Caprica-Cavil
ultimately decides that the plan to exterminate humanity was flawed?
For that matter, it’s never entirely clear why or how Caprica-Cavil
changes his mind; he just seems to do so in order to align with what
was seen in “Lay Down Your Burdens”.

I will give
the writers and Olmos credit for taking what could have been a
glorified clip show and weaving it into a suitable story.  Like
“Razor” before it, it manages to tell a side-story without too
many contradictions to the original material.  The approach is
confident, the effects are spectacular, and most of the new footage
matches the original footage very well.  But “Razor” promised to
tell the story of Pegasus and did so.  “The Plan” tells a good
story with a near-perfect lead in Dean Stockwell’s dual-Cavil
performance, but it makes a point to dance around its stated purpose.

So the
bottom line is that “The Plan” doesn’t actually address the
elements that it should, and instead seems to justify the
improvisational nature of the series (and therefore, the apparent
discontinuities) by pointing out that the Cavil on Galactica was
forced to improvise.  In other words, the point of “The Plan” is
there was no plan.  That makes the title about as misleading as it
gets.

  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I just read something extremely interesting not too long ago. I get a sci-fi
newletter in my email, and it linked me to an article that I felt most everyone
here would enjoy reading. Here's a link to the article:
http://totalscifionline.com/news/3852

Enjoy,
Aerial



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

it was almost fun!  the show was fun...
it seems not much more will come out of this...makes sense...

take care, and remember, don't be a robot, k? (i thought that was the point of
the show...)

UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS BEAR MCCREARY: THE MUSIC OF BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA AT COMIC CON JULY 23-25

HOSTED BY EDWARD JAMES OLMOS (THURS/FRI) AND GRACE PARK (FRI/SAT)





La-La Land Records to Release Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 Soundtrack July 28



Burbank, CA - June 30, 2009- Universal Cable Productions presents Bear McCreary
and the music from Battlestar Galactica for three nights at the House of Blues
in San Diego from July 23-25th - during Comic Con! The concerts will be hosted
by Admiral William 'Husker' Adama himself, Edward James Olmos (on Thursday and
Friday) and Grace "Boomer" Park (on Friday and Saturday).  The concerts will
celebrate the July 28 release of a special 2-CD set, Battlestar Galactica:
Season 4.  La-La Land Records is releasing the Battlestar Galactica: Season 4
soundtrack through a license agreement with NBC Universal Television, DVD, Music
and Consumer Products Group.



Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 will be available in stores nationwide and online
on www.lalalandrecords.com and www.amazon.com. The two-CD soundtrack will
feature music from seasons 4.0 and 4.5 and the music from "Daybreak," the
stunning series finale. Also available from La-La Land Records are McCreary's
soundtracks for Battlestar Galactica Seasons 1, 2, and 3, Caprica and Eureka.



UCP Presents Bear McCreary: The Music of Battlestar Galactica will feature
special guest hosts and surprise celebrity appearances. Special Battlestar
Galactica merchandise will also be available for sale at the concerts.  La-La
Land Records will be selling copies of the soundtrack for Caprica, and all of
the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks, including advance copies of Season 4.



In addition to general admission tickets, a limited number of VIP tickets are
available for all three nights.  VIP Tickets include special entry and access to
the hosted VIP-only balcony seating, bar and Delta Lounge, a meet-and-greet and
autograph signing with McCreary and the BSG band, and a VIP gift bag which
includes the Caprica Soundtrack CD.



"Bear McCreary's music was an integral part of the re-invention of Battlestar
Galactica. Its complexity, depth, and breadth helped elevate the series beyond a
simple 'Space Opera.' We couldn't be more excited to see Bear's music embraced
by fans and music aficionados as something to be celebrated on its own," said
Mark Stern, EVP, Original Programming, SCI FI Channel and Co-Head, Original
Content, Universal Cable Productions.



The emcee the first two nights, Edward James Olmos agrees.  "The day has finally
come when I will be able to experience live the sights and sounds of Bear and
his friends.  Wow.... what a privilege!"



"This great series has come to an end, but I'm thrilled that my original score
can live on in soundtrack albums and on the concert stage," said McCreary.  "I
can think of no audience who will appreciate the shows more than the fans at
Comic Con, and I am grateful to UCP for this opportunity to bring the music of
Battlestar Galactica directly to them."



Season 4 composer McCreary was recently called one of the top 10 composers "that
make space adventures epic" by www.io9.com.  His work on the television series
Battlestar Galactica has been described as offering "some of the most innovative
music on TV today," by Variety, and his blog www.bearmccreary.com/blog, which
features in-depth inside looks at the process of scoring Battlestar Galactica,
was called "one of the best blogs in the business. It's a fascinating look at
the process of making music for film and television and the care he takes with
aligning the score with the twists and turns of each character's plot lines," by
The Hollywood Reporter.



McCreary's feature film credits include Wrong Turn 2 and the Rest Stop films. 
He also scores the series Eureka and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and
will be scoring the upcoming SCI FI series, and Battlestar Galactica prequel,
Caprica and the Capcom video game Dark Void.  McCreary was among a handful of
select prot�g�s of late film music legend Elmer Bernstein and is a classically
trained composer with degrees in Composition and Recording Arts from the
prestigious USC Thornton School of Music.



UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS:

BEAR MCCREARY

THE MUSIC OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

HOUSE OF BLUES SAN DIEGO

All shows are 21 and older, doors open at 7PM



Thursday, July 23 (hosted by Edward James Olmos):
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0A0042CB95F42FAC

Friday, July 24 (hosted by Edward James Olmos and Grace Park):
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0A0042CB9FA03078

Saturday, July 25 (hosted by Grace Park):
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0A0042CBA0713083





About Universal Cable Productions:

Universal Cable Productions was established to create a sustainable pipeline of
quality content and derive the greatest value from it across multiple platforms.
The studio will be an industry leader in unique and innovative programming for
USA and SCI FI Channel, and all cable networks.



About NBC Universal Television DVD, Music, and Consumer Products Group:
NBC Universal is a leader in providing entertainment programming to the domestic
and international marketplaces. NBC Universal Television DVD, Music, and
Consumer Products Group manages all global ancillary television business
endeavors for the NBC Universal Television Group, including third-party home
entertainment distribution, consumer products, musical soundtracks, special
markets projects and the NBC Universal Online Store.


# # #



www.bsgorchestra.com








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The world mourns today, for today the President Clipper of Jonathanland has
passed away.  President Clipper was sworn into oath on January 10, 2009 and his
term hadn't even lasted a year.  The prime minister of Jonathanland, Jonathan
McDonald has expressed his grievance over the death of his second-in-command. 
The Americans (United States) have sent a message to Prime Minister Jonathan
McDonald, expressing their sorrow for this most unfortunate accident.  President
Clipper died while in office from a heart attack on June 15, 2009.  The doctors
did what they could, but they unfortunately couldn't save him.  The world mourns
the death of the president of Jonathanland, and so do citizens of Jonathanland. 
Prime Minister Jonathan McDonald hasn't yet appointed a successor to President
Clipper.





---Important Links---
President Clipper Memorial Website =
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Jonathanland/forum/966165/
President Clipper's e-mail address = clipper@...
Jonathanland official government website =
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Jonathanland/index/
Jonathanland official government domain = http://www.jonathanland.me.uk.tc/
Jonathanland official government domain 2 = http://www.jonathanland.net.tc/
Prime Minister Jonathan McDonald's personal website =
http://z11.invisionfree.com/Planet_Mac

Battlestar Galactica has donated a limited edition photo commemorating the final
season to benefit Recording For The Blind & Dyslexic.  You can check it out at

www.ebay.com/mbcharity

Thanks for your support!

MB

Press Address:

Agent With Style
9821 Hawkins Creamery Rd.
Damascus, MD  20872-2339

www.agentwithstyle.com

Editor: Mysti Frank (zines@...)


Zines eligible for 2009 Fan Q Awards:

THE FAMILY BUSINESS 3
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

ALTERNATE TREKS
Star Trek (TOS) -- gen -- anthology, stories by J.M. Lane

THE SCEPTER OF ANNUMINAS
Lord of the Rings -- gen -- novel by Sheila Paulson

WALKING WITH HEROES
Angel -- slash -- novel by K. Ann

CHAOS
Supernatural -- gen -- novel by Kamelion

ALREADY SPRING
House, MD -- slash -- novel by Melody Clark

MISFIT IN MIDDLE EARTH
Lord of the Rings -- gen -- novel by Dee Beetum

THOSE LEFT BEHIND
Stargate SG-1 -- gen -- novel by Denise

SECRETS
Numb3rs -- slash -- novel by Lady Ra

THE OSIRIS LEGACY
Stargate SG-1 -- gen -- novel by Marianne Evensen

FUTURE IMPERFECT
Airwolf -- gen -- novel by Lorraine Beasley

SALVATION
Airwolf -- gen -- novel by Lorraine Beasley

THE URGE TO RUN IN A SMALL WHEEL 4
Stargate: Atlantis -- slash -- anthology

TWO SPIRIT
The Sentinel -- slash -- novel by Melody Clark

SUPERNATURAL CHRISTMAS TALES 2
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

SUPERNATURAL VIRTUAL SEASON 2, VOLUME 1
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

DENNY CRANE! 2
Boston Legal -- slash -- anthology

EVERY POSSIBLE WAY
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

YOU'LL THANK ME WHEN IT'S WEDNESDAY
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

IN THE LIGHT
Supernatural -- gen -- novel by Gaelicspirit

SEASONED TIMBER 4
Starsky and Hutch -- gen -- anthology

SEASONED TIMBER 5
Starsky and Hutch -- gen -- anthology

WRAITH KILLERS
Stargate SG-1 / Stargate: Atlantis crossover -- slash -- novel by Lady Ra

THE STONES REMEMBER
Lord of the Rings / Blake's 7 crossover -- gen -- novel by Sheila Paulson

THE SHADOW OF EVIL
Lord of the Rings / Real Ghostbusters crossover -- gen -- novel by Sheila
Paulson

MOCKINGBIRD
Supernatural -- gen -- novel by Hiyacynth

ROAD TRIP WITH MY BROTHER 6
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

ROAD TRIP WITH MY BROTHER 7
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology

SALT 'N' BURN 1
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology, stories by BJxmas

SALT 'N' BURN 2
Supernatural -- gen -- anthology, stories by BJxmas

HOMEWORLD SECURITY DAYCARE
Stargate SG-1 -- gen -- novel by LRH Balzer

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
NCIS / Stargate: Atlantis crossover -- slash -- novel by Xanthe

TARANTELLA
Stargate SG-1 -- gen -- novel by Livengoo

PAST AND PRESENT
Magnificent Seven -- gen -- anthology, stories by Tammy






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Battlestar Galactica has donated a limited edition photo commemorating the final
season to benefit Recording For The Blind & Dyslexic. You can check it out at

www.ebay.com/mbcharity

Thanks for your support!

MB

I'm wanting to make a Turbo Cycle (a.k.a. Turbine) from Galactica 80....

I have The Series, and can get reasonable Reference from that, and have been
able to find a couple of Sites with Photos (including one for the guy that
actually made them in the first place), but what I'm looking for, if at all
possible, would be a Set of 'Line Drawings'

Anyone know where I might be able to find anything like that?

CREATIVE HEADSPACE: Connecting Dreaming Planning Collectively Creating
--------------------

creativeheadspace

Click the link below to Join:
http://creativeheadspace.ning.com/?xgi=0RukCnN

If your email program doesn't recognize the web address above as an active link,
please copy and paste it into your web browser

--------------------

Members already on CREATIVE HEADSPACE
Miguel Garcia, victoria blicharski, Draco Alexander, Agnes, Bill Hayes

--------------------

About CREATIVE HEADSPACE
A growing studio community that loves to collaborate with other passionate
creative people both locally and from around the world.

145 members
318 photos
39 songs
76 videos
19 discussions
15 Events
86 blog posts

--------------------

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http://creativeheadspace.ning.com/?xgo=EKTsSFnSDf-cVfvrWz4JmZbB4gDdfLifll-Hx55Bt\
2VZrHKkB2V2X1kzBC8RKrbZMZgDogAYS/OKf-sescd0bQ

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi, I'm Kevin McDonald, I have decided to introduce myself to this group.  I am
a 16 year old male who lives in the United States of America.  I am writing a
novel called "Starflight" ( http://s1.zetaboards.com/starflight/index/ ).  My
favorite video games are StarCraft: Brood War, Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition,
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Diablo, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Star
Trek Universe, Hellgate: London, SWAT 3, Tribes 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Total
Annihilation, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.  My favorite movies are Star Trek
(2009 film), Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II:
Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars:
Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star
Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.  My favorite television shows are Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica (RDM), Star Trek: The Original
Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager ,Star Trek:
Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, The X-Files, Code Lyoko, MacGyver,
Total Recall 2070, Crusoe.  My favorite books are "The Terrible Hours" (Peter
Maas) and "Atlantis" (Greg Donegan).  I am not really that into music, but I
listen to it sometimes and ocassionally enjoy it.  I run a website called the SS
Free ( http://s1.zetaboards.com/strikesback5/index/ ) and another website called
Ten Forward ( http://s1.zetaboards.com/TenForward/index/ ).  I have a uncle
named Jonathan McDonald who is the Prime Minister (and founder) of Jonathanland
( http://s1.zetaboards.com/Jonathanland/index/ ).  My uncle Jonathan also has a
website called Planet Mac ( http://z11.invisionfree.com/Planet_Mac ), and is
writing a novel of his own (which he hasn't come up with a title for yet, so we
just call it "Jonathan McDonald's Book").  I am glad to be a part of this
community and plan on being a great member here.

LA-LA LAND RECORDS TO RELEASE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON 4 SOUNDTRACK � THEIR
100th RELEASE

Two-CD Set Is Top 10 Best Seller in Overall Music Sales at Amazon.com

Burbank, CA - June 30, 2009� La-La Land records will release their 100th release
as a label -- the special 2-CD set, Battlestar Galactica: Season 4, on July 28,
2009.  The soundtrack cracked the Top 10 at Amazon's Best Seller list for
overall music sales, topping both the TV and Movie Soundtrack Charts.  The
soundtrack features music from Seasons 4 and 4.5 with one disc dedicated to the
music from "Daybreak" the stunning series finale.  La-La Land Records is
releasing the Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 soundtrack through a license
agreement with NBC Universal Television, DVD, Music and Consumer Products Group.

The music from Battlestar Galactica became an integral part of the series,
interwoven into plotlines and even performed by cast members, like the track
"Gaeta's Lament", sung by Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeta) or "Dreilide Thrace
Sonata No. 1" which was a key plot point in the episode "Someone to Watch Over
Me".

Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 will be available in stores nationwide and online
on www.lalalandrecords.com, www.nbcuniversalstore.com, and www.amazon.com. The
two-CD soundtrack will feature music from seasons 4.0 and 4.5 and the music from
"Daybreak," the series finale. The CD booklet features 20 pages of pictures and
extensive liner notes, including 8 pages of notes from the cast and crew talking
about the music and composer Bear McCreary, who Jamie Bamber (Lee `Apollo'
Adama) calls `the 13th Cylon" and Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin) said "Bear
understands character and plot and action as musical poetry and we were blessed
to have him."

Season 4 composer McCreary was recently called one of the top 10 composers "that
make space adventures epic" by www.io9.com.  His work on the television series
Battlestar Galactica has been described as offering "some of the most innovative
music on TV today," by Variety, and his blog www.bearmccreary.com/blog, which
features in-depth inside looks at the process of scoring Battlestar Galactica,
was called "one of the best blogs in the business. It's a fascinating look at
the process of making music for film and television and the care he takes with
aligning the score with the twists and turns of each character's plot lines," by
The Hollywood Reporter.

McCreary's feature film credits include Wrong Turn 2 and the Rest Stop films. 
He also scores the series Eureka, the upcoming SyFy series, and Battlestar
Galactica prequel, Caprica, the Capcom video game Dark Void, the upcoming series
Human Target and Trauma and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.  McCreary was among
a handful of select prot�g�s of late film music legend Elmer Bernstein and is a
classically trained composer with degrees in Composition and Recording Arts from
the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music.

Also available from La-La Land Records are McCreary's soundtracks for Battlestar
Galactica Seasons 1, 2, and 3, Caprica, Eureka, Terminator: The Sarah Connor
Chronicles, Wrong Turn 2 and the Rest Stop films.

About Universal Cable Productions:
Universal Cable Productions was established to create a sustainable pipeline of
quality content and derive the greatest value from it across multiple platforms.
The studio will be an industry leader in unique and innovative programming for
USA and Syfy, and all cable networks.

About NBC Universal Television DVD, Music, and Consumer Products Group:
NBC Universal is a leader in providing entertainment programming to the domestic
and international marketplaces. NBC Universal Television DVD, Music, and
Consumer Products Group manages all global ancillary television business
endeavors for the NBC Universal Television Group, including third-party home
entertainment distribution, consumer products, musical soundtracks, special
markets projects and the NBC Universal Online Store.
# # #
For more information contact: cinemediapromo@...

SPOILER SPACE





















Looking back on the fourth and final season of "Battlestar Galactica" is
difficult, thanks to the bizarre decision to split the season over such a long
period of time.  It almost feels as if the fourth season was actually two
shorter seasons (which, supposedly, was one way the SciFi Channel wanted to
market it).  Even so, the season works best when viewed as a whole.

After Starbuck's return and the revelation that she had come from Earth, the
fourth season was obviously going to be all about the final push.  Thankfully,
the writers didn't make it a simple situation.  Not everyone trusted Kara and
her semi-crazy mission from "God" (quite literally, as it turned out), and that
led to a lot of the tension in the second half of the season.  There was also
the emergence of Baltar's little cult as a power to be reckoned with, a story
direction that seemed to be going nowhere until it gained momentum later in the
season.

It's hard to remember that the unveiling of the Final Five only took place in
the third season finale, and much of the first half of the fourth season was
devoted to Tigh, Tyrol, Tory, and Sam and their process of dealing with their
true nature.  In the background, there was also the Cylon Civil War, which
ultimately led to the situation that allowed the Colonials to survive.  All
things considered, the first half of the season was more about the truth behind
the Cylons than the Colonials themselves.

Even with all the dramatic twists and turns, the season seemed to be struggling
to hit all cylinders until the mid-season cliffhanger and its resolution.  The
revelations about "Earth", the truth about the Final Five and Kara Thrace, and
the effect on the fleet provide the impetus for some stunning storytelling.  The
mutiny on the Galactica was a high point for the season and the series as a
whole.

The season never quite hit those highs again, even as the writers drove towards
the series' finish line.  The final several episodes were devoted to either
exposition regarding the Cylon backstory (more of which will come with "The
Plan") or pulling together the various character threads to bring them towards
conclusion.

Ron Moore never hid the fact that "Battlestar Galactica" has always been a
product of improvisation.  The third season is proof enough of that; the entire
second half of the season was derailed when the writers realized that their
original ideas weren't panning out, and they had to adjust on the fly.  What
makes Moore a great showrunner is his ability to pull together a writers' room
with the ability to make the pieces fit, even when they were never intended to
do so.

Moore chose to make the end of the season and series more about the characters
than the plot, which is perfectly fitting, when the tone of the series as a
whole is taken into consideration.  This decision was largely controversial
because of how the plot was then resolved.  Most of the mysteries were
attributed to a higher power, ostensibly the Cylon "God".  This led many to
believe that Moore and his writers took the easy way out, rather than making an
effort to resolve the dangling plot threads rationally.

However, I take a different view.  From the beginning of the series, there was a
strong spiritual presence, from the constant talk of the Lords of Kobol and
"God" to endless prophecies and visions.  All of that has to come from
somewhere, and the only difference is that the identity of this particular
higher power is kept anonymous.  Pointing to an entity or a "Ship of Lights" is
just more tidy; conceptually, it's the same.

For all the perceived excesses of the series finale (and the final hour was a
bit of a muddled mess of denouements, from an editing perspective), the fourth
season was strengthened by the inevitability of the end.  The writers took
things much further than I thought they would, and that added to the breathless
anticipation for each new episode, especially in the second half of the season.

The fourth and final season of "Battlestar Galactica" earned a Critical Myth
rating of 8.1, which is a full half-point improvement over the third season, and
comparable with the second season.  It also bring the series as a whole to a
solid 8.0, which is well above average.  Considering the critical acclaim,
excellent acting, and inspired creativity, calling it "above average" seems a
bit of an understatement.  Acknowledging that it was one of the finest science
fiction television series of all time would be more fitting.



  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SPOILER SPACE





















  With "Battlestar Galactica" now all but concluded (only "The Plan" remains),
it's time to turn attention to the new series set in the same universe. 
Ostensibly a "prequel" to the more familiar series, this actually tells a
particular portion of the backstory in the Galactica canon.

As per the final season of "Battlestar Galactica", artificial life is nothing
new to humanity.  Cylons were created on Kobol long before the 12 Colonies were
founded.  But all of the Kobol Cylons ultimately left to become the 13th Tribe,
leaving humanity to form the 12 Colonies.  Thousands of years passed, at which
point the Humans of the 12 Colonies forgot many of the lessons of Kobol and
began to progress towards artificial life once again.  About 50-60 years before
"the Fall", the first Colonial Cylons were born.  These would eventually become
the Centurions that rebelled in the First Cylon War, which ended when the Final
Five survivors of the 13th Tribe arrived and offered the secret of resurrection
in exchange for ending the war with Humanity.

"Caprica" is the story of how those first Cylons emerged.  Considering that this
pilot is set about 58 years before the beginning of "Battlestar Galactica",
there's very little in the way of direct overlap.  The series centers on two
families: the Greystones and the Adamas.  The pilot is essentially the story of
how Daniel Greystone and Joseph Adama (William's oft-mentioned father) end up
creating the first Cylon out of a shared tragedy.

The Cylons are the most obvious connection to the mother series, but there are a
number of other touchstones throughout the story that harken to future events. 
Those undertones are there right from the beginning.  Greystone is apparently a
computer genius, and has managed to create virtual-reality technology.  This
has, in short order, spawned an underground set of "virtual clubs", where teens
and other young people engage in group sex, drug use, and ultraviolence.

This unrated version of the pilot can easily be cut for broadcast purposes, but
it might lose something in the translation.  As it is, the club scenes are just
barely enough to communicate the extent and popularity of the clubs among
disaffected teens (and as with the real world, that is quite the substantial
population).  They could have gone a lot further, because the point is to
deliver a message: this is what lies beneath the civilized veneer.

This ties, however indirectly, into William Adama's speech in the "Battlestar
Galactica" mini-series.  He asks the crucial question: is Humanity worthy of
survival?  It's not just a question of who is being judged, but who has decided
to do the judging.  In this case, that would be the Cylons, and they begin as a
digital copy of Daniel Greystone's daughter Zoe.

This is more important than the technological aspects of her transition to
Cylon.  Zoe is member of a monotheistic terrorist organization, and she sees the
behavior in the virtual clubs as the disgusting product of the stagnant
polytheistic Colonial society.  Her virtual copy retains that moral judgment of
Human society, and therefore retains her desire to change things.  In essence,
this not only explains the genesis of Cylon monotheism, but also serves to
explain why their particular brand of monotheism would lead them to revolt and,
eventually, genocide.

The amoral aspects of Colonial society are not confined to the teenagers, of
course.  The adults are just as bad, if not worse.  Greystone himself ignores
any number of warnings that his plan to "resurrect" Zoe is a Very Bad Idea, but
that's just the beginning.  He convinces Joseph Adama to help him use an
organized crime syndicate to steal a component for the experiment, for example.

Adama's connection to organized crime seems like a bit of a cliche at first. 
However, upon closer inspection, it feels more like history transplanted into
the future.  The discrimination against the Taurons is similar to the prejudice
shown against the Sagittarons, which always felt like any of several historical
examples of anti-immigrant prejudice in American history.  The parallels aren't
hard to recognize, so it makes sense that the usual solution of organized crime
would result.  And the practice of changing names to blend into a new society
continues today.  All of these elements provide a hook for dealing with social
prejudice issues.

What makes it all interesting is how it's all presented.  It looks very much
like the world that was always shown in those short flashbacks to the Colonies
in "Battlestar Galactica".  More importantly, there are tons of little visual
reminders that this is the same universe.  That said, the only blatant
connection is the proto-Cylon technology.  Everything else is just a slightly
more modern world than our own.

The pilot itself could have been re-edited to be a stand-alone film if
necessary.  It's so self-contained in so many ways that I'm still not sure how
this is going to evolve into a series.  I have some faith in the writing staff,
of course, but it's going to be a long wait until the series hits the air in
2010.

While the acting is top-notch, even in terms of the teenage characters, the
pacing, especially at the beginning, is sometimes distressingly slow and
ponderous.  The same was true for the "Battlestar Galactica" mini-series,
however, so it's not necessarily a sign of bad things to come.  And it is
definitely the kind of material that gains on reflection.  Small things that
initially escape notice creep back into awareness after the fact.  I can only
imagine that repeated viewings will draw out more tidbits to ponder.



  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I just made a new message board on April 3, 2009 (at like 11:00 pm). It's called
"The Alliance" and is about all things science fiction (as well as a few works
of fantasy). You can post fan fiction, fan art, discuss a TV show, movie, book,
write a book review, discuss a topic, etc., and the best part is, it's 100% free
(and no e-mail or admin validation is required)! We currently have categories
for Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Star Trek, and Star Wars. We also have
forums for Total Recall, Blade Runner, Firefly, LOST, Heroes, Crusoe, Cleopatra
2525, Code Lyoko, MacGyver, Sanctuary, Eureka, Minority Report, The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, StarQuest, Atlantis, Dune, StarCraft, Warcraft, Diablo,
Alien-Predator, Lost in Space, Metroid, Halo, G-NOME, Descent, MechWarrior, Tom
Clancy, Terminator, Geist, Babylon 5, Jumpgate, Total Annihilation, Supreme
Commander, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, DOOM, Quake, Heretic, Duke
Nukem, K-PAX, Command & Conquer, Odyssey 5, The Lord of the Rings, and Quest for
the Rings. Please come join us at the following URL:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/The_Alliance/register/

SPOILER SPACE





















By the time this series finale come to close, I was torn.  On the one hand, I
could see what the writers were trying to achieve with their decisions for plot
and character resolution.  I understood the notion of tying together the loose
ends with a spiritual connection rather than a deterministic laundry list.  But
despite the understanding, I was disappointed.  I couldn't quite give up on my
desire for discrete answers.  For quite some time, I sat back, thought about
what I had seen, and tried to put my whirling thoughts and objections into
coherent words.

And then I sat down to write this review.

Perhaps this is the kind of resolution that needs time to seep its way into a
person's subconscious.  Maybe a little bit of time provided perspective.  It
could simply be my tendency to reconcile as much as possible, out of a personal
desire to put the best face on it for my own comfort.  Whatever it is, it
doesn't matter.  Because the more I thought about the series, its underlying
mysteries, and how it all come together in the end, it started to make sense.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that this will not work for everyone.  A lot of
people are going to reject what appears to be, on the surface, the use of "God"
as a catch-all excuse for the dangling plot threads that always come with making
the story up as you go along.  That was my initial reaction as well.  But
looking back, I'm not so sure.

Spirituality has always been a critical element of "Battlestar Galactica".  From
the beginning, the Cylons were acting out of their understanding of "God's
plan".  They had come to believe that the survival of the Cylons required the
blending of Human and Cylon, something that for them required "God's true love".
It was this endless pursuit of what they felt God wanted for them that drove
them forward.

The first season saw Roslin and Starbuck acting out of a genuine spiritual
calling.  Humans had visions and inspirations and invoked religious teachings
from generations past.  The writers constantly reminded the audience that "all
this has happened before, and all this will happen again".  That alone was
evidence of a higher order connection, something ephemeral yet pervasive in the
lives of Human and Cylon alike.

Over the course of the series, there were those who sought to reduce that
element into the familiar.  When Kara died and returned to life, how much
speculation was there regarding the "Ship of Lights", as seen in the original
series?  How many times did someone equate the Cylon God to the original series'
Count Iblis?  Even I wondered if the guiding hand behind all these events
pertained to the oft-mentioned but mysterious Lords of Kobol or, just as
obliquely, the Cylon God.

But it's all just labels plastered on the same thing.  The only difference is
that the architect of this grand design is never seen or revealed; its presence
is known only by effect.  Someone had a plan for Human and Cylon alike, and it
meant bringing them together into one species.  To do that, this higher power
decided that it was necessary to push and pull them in various directions,
sometimes contradictory, to push them so far and so long that only mergence was
a viable option.

Regardless of the label slapped on this higher power ("God", "Lucifer", the
Lords of Kobol, aliens beyond our understanding, etc.), the net effect would
have been the same.  And that is, at its heart, a kind of agnostic metaphor for
the modern world.  Some agnostics hold that there may be a higher power, but the
jury is still out on what that power is, if it truly exists at all.  Those
agnostics would say, "something is happening, the effect is undeniable, but the
cause is so remote, so ephemeral, that we cannot yet define it".

It's hard to argue that the Cylons, due to their own issues, took what was given
to them in terms of "divine inspiration" and turned it into a cause for
violence.  One might even say that this higher power knew this would happen. 
The Humans did the same thing, though much earlier, with the Phythian
prophecies: partial information that was designed to lead them down a certain
path, when the time came.

This was a grand design that required, at the critical juncture, near-constant
adjustment on both sides.  Thus the intervention of what Baltar ultimately
termed "angels", though this is no more definitive than calling the higher power
"God".  These "angels", whether it be Head Six or Head Baltar or something
within the Cylon "projections", were there to see that the end result was
achieved.  If they seemed at cross-purposes from one moment to the next, well,
that's part of the equation because that's what happened.  That wouldn't have
changed had something more concrete been identified as the guiding hand.

Of course, the visions, dreams, and "angels" are all relatively easy to assign
to this higher power; the real mystery is Kara Thrace.  She was material, far
more than even Head Six appeared to be on occasion.  By my best estimation, Kara
Thrace was assigned to play a unique role, as evidenced by her introduction to
the music (representative of the guiding influence of this higher power).  Was
her suicide part of the plan?  Looking back on "Maelstrom", it certainly could
have been.  Her restoration, and her quest to find answers, seemed to be part
and parcel of the process of preparing both the Humans and Cylons for their
eventual mergence.

Hera was equally important, because in a way, she was the desired end product of
the mergence and the grand design.  It wasn't to bring Colonials and Cylons
together to propagate a new civilization together; it was to produce Hera and
then ensure that she arrived on the new Earth in such a way that "seeding" the
natives would spread her unique genetic code to a multitude of descendants.

One might say, in very loose terms, that certain Colonial and Cylon traits might
not have been strong enough, genetically, to dominate in the cross-breeding with
the natives of Earth.  But Hera's genetic code, being the product of Human/Cylon
genetic mergence, would resolve that problem.  So the end of the episode
suggests, even if the "mitochondrial Eve" concept was ultimately debunked: Hera,
as the one true Human/Cylon hybrid, was necessary in some way to the viability
of the native Earth population.

Of course, the treatment of this is far from perfect.  It would have been more
fitting if the Colonials and Cylons had landed in a time much closer to the
modern era, perhaps around 15,000 years ago (as opposed to 150,000).  This would
have matched up with the vague timetable given by alternative history theorists
like von Daniken and Graham Hancock.  Hancock in particular likes to point out
possible connections between different emerging civilizations and a potential
"lost civilization".  Linking that to the arrival of Colonials and Cylons, and
their Earthbound distribution, would have been more elegant and would have tied
into the original series in a somewhat more satisfying way.

Along similar lines, it might have been better if there hadn't been natives at
all.  The presence of native Humans is a nagging loose end, unnecessary to the
story.  It would have been equally possible for the surviving Colonials and
Cylons to form small communities around the world, eventually losing what
technology they had to time and wear.  Hera still would have been the first of
the true hybrids.

In terms of the music, while some might have wanted a more specific explanation
for "All Along the Watchtower", I was fine with the explanation that was given. 
It reminded me, in a way, of how the higher-order communication with the Vorlons
took place on "Babylon 5".  Hearing the song had nothing to do with being a
Cylon, other than the fact that the Final Five had to come together at a certain
time to facilitate what Kara was meant to do.  And the fact that the music was
also the key to finding the new Earth, where the Colonials and Cylons needed to
go once the conflict was over and done, was just icing on the universal language
cake.  Given the nature of the hybrids, it certainly seems that they were
attuned to this celestial musical connection as well.  (Many call mathematics
the "universal language", and music is ultimately mathematics.)

Perhaps more importantly, by giving the resolution of the various mysteries a
more incorporeal source, the emphasis was pushed (and rightfully so) to the
characters and their acceptance of the end of their journey.  Those resolutions
were, for the most part, satisfying.  Looking back on the past few episodes, not
only do the more spiritual aspects of the resolution make more sense, but the
emphasis on character is justified.

I can only imagine how much of the post-landing material was left on the cutting
room floor.  I imagine a great deal will end up on the DVD version.  If you add
up all the extra time that was given to the final 10 episodes, you've got
several episodes worth of story, just on screen!  Evidence, in my opinion, that
Ron Moore could have produced a fifth season, had he been more confident that
the SciFi Channel was going to keep it on the air.

But certain scenes never materialized.  The final farewell between Adama and
Tigh is probably the most obvious, but there were so many moments that still
could or should have happened.  I certainly don't begrudge them the time they
took with the epilogue; the series finale for "Babylon 5" is nothing but
epilogue, and it's one of the finest hours of television I've ever seen.  I'm
just not sure there was enough time to explore the ideas fully.  (Also, if the
finale all aired on the same night, instead of the first hour and the rest being
split, it would have worked a lot better.)

The one point that needed clarification was Lee's pronouncement that they were
abandoning the vast majority of their technology.  The reason is simple: if they
want to avoid the sins of the Colonial and Cylon way of life, they can't
perpetuate that way of life.  It has to start fresh.  Also, the technology would
wear down soon enough anyway, so why be reliant on it at all?  It's not so much
where they arrived, so much as the abrupt nature of the decision.

Unlike many, I liked the final scene, because it was not as obvious as it seems.
Head Six and Head Baltar have some degree of optimism as they look upon the
modern human race, but the montage at the end was a little less hopeful.  Not
the presence of the emerging robot population, but the connection to something
Lee said.  Lee noted that it can be a problem when our technology outstrips our
ability to implement it wisely.  The episode ends by lingering on a homeless man
in Times Square, surrounded by the images of shiny new robot toys.  Technology
outpacing the heart of humanity?  Perhaps, and if that was the intent, it brings
the series full circle.

One might notice I haven't said a word about the rescue operation, the
resolution of the Opera House, the final moments between Adama and Roslin,
Boomer's attempt at redemption, or any number of other scenes worth discussion. 
Most of those scenes speak for themselves, particularly the final battle.  It
was one of the most intense of the series, even if it was remarkably
straightforward.  I also think it was obvious that the truce was never going to
work, because they had to eliminate Cavil's forces.  Sending the colony into the
singularity certainly did the trick!

(One caveat: Watching the finale twice now, I think it's safe to say that the
Cylon slugfest was a bit more than the effects crew could comfortably chew.  In
many scenes, the Cylons didn't blend into the background at all.  In one case,
one of the "old style" Centurions looked like he was standing in mid-air over
the floor.  Great idea, but it didn't quite pan out as they had intended.)

I'm not going to pretend that this finale was perfect.  Far from it.  As much as
I can reconcile large portions of the series is it ended, other portions don't
fit at all.  (One glaring problem is "Home", and the constellation projection on
Kobol.  It doesn't fit the timeline or the explanations given this season at
all.)  This can be laid down at the feet of Ron Moore's preferred writing style.
He doesn't plan things out; he sets up situations and lets them evolve based on
character exploration.  While he's often quite inventive, it doesn't allow for a
strong finish.  Contrast this to the style of JMS on "Babylon 5", where there
was always a clear set of end conditions in mind before pen touched paper.

The ideal, perfect finale would have given a bit more resolution to certain
mysteries, and would have been planned out in more detail ahead of the game. 
For that reason, while this gets a much better ratings than my first impression
would have indicated, it's not a knock out of the park.  But it did accomplish
one thing very well: it has left me with a sincere desire to rewatch the series
from the beginning.

  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Beat me to it--I was going to say that.

Also--keep in mind the Colonials are huge Technophobes---- see scenes
from "Caprica" -50 years before their technology was much higher than
anything we see in their 'modern' period. They invented intelligent
robots, and those robots revolted. This provoked a large reaction
against tech in all its forms... and then the robots struck AGAIN and
wiped out 99.9% of them. It's little wonder they blame tech for all
their troubles and are ok with giving it all up.

This all takes place in a group of exhausted, traumatized survivors
who have at long last found a new home. I doubt anybody was much
listening to what their leaders were saying as they trudged off the
ships onto the earth. if they were all polled 6 months later they
might say "we miss the tech!" but by then it's way too late.

** The cylons (robot ones) -- will they even be able to do FTL ? To do
that they need the 'human' type that runs the ship....can they make
any more of those? My guess is no---

On Mar 22, 2009, at 8:33 PM, Langdon Plaster wrote:

> To be fair, if the statement Baltar made about "God" is true, and
> good and evil are human words ascribed to a being to whom good and
> evil are irrelevant, Then the argument as to whether the Baltar and
> Six were angels or demons is pointless, since angels would work for
> good, and demons would work for evil, and those are human concepts.
>
> --- On Sat, 3/21/09, jaded1000 <jaded1000@...> wrote:
> From: jaded1000 <jaded1000@...>
> Subject: [Battlestar Galactica Rec Room] Finale
> To: battlestargalacticarecroom@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 9:50 PM
>
> Well, back in 2001 I anxiously awaited the "reimagined" Galactica.
> On the whole it was a disappointment. It lost me in the first few
> minutes when 6 snapped the baby's neck, Well, here we are years
> later & the show goes out with a whimper, not a bang.
>
> OK, the battle scenes were good, leaving aside the fact it was a
> little stupid to risk all those lives for one little girl. Oh, you
> can rationalize it, but I just didn't buy it. But that was a stroke
> of brilliance compared to the ending,. Finally finding earth,
> everyone decides to go off & become hunter gatherers. Yeah, that'd
> last until the first winter. Putting a population like the fleets
> 'with little more than a little food & the cloths on their backs was
> nothing less than mass suicide. From Starships to the club in one
> easy step MA! Yeah, right!
>
> Why did I watch? well for those few rare moments of beauty. Adama's
> last walk through an empty Galactica to the launch of the last Viper
> was one of those moments. ( I have to say my baser side enjoyed the
> titty bar on Caprica, Finally proof the colonials were civilized)
>
> But the final insult was the ghost Balter & Six that had been
> haunting those two characters for so long. I had hoped it would turn
> out they were demons. Instead we get some kind of confused statement
> that I still haven't figured out. As near as I could tell it was a
> lame attempt to make a statement of faith by a person who doesn't
> believe in anything.
>
> Well, I could say more & I will if I get any comments on this
>
> Thanks!
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

To be fair, if the statement Baltar made about "God" is true, and good and evil
are human words ascribed to a being to whom good and evil are irrelevant, Then
the argument as to whether the Baltar and Six were angels or demons is
pointless, since angels would work for good, and demons would work for evil, and
those are human concepts.

--- On Sat, 3/21/09, jaded1000 <jaded1000@...> wrote:
From: jaded1000 <jaded1000@...>
Subject: [Battlestar Galactica Rec Room] Finale
To: battlestargalacticarecroom@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 9:50 PM












               Well, back in 2001 I anxiously awaited the "reimagined" Galactica.
On the whole it was a disappointment.  It lost me in the first few minutes when 
6 snapped the baby's neck,  Well, here we are years later & the show goes out
with a whimper, not a bang.

    OK, the battle scenes were good, leaving aside the fact it was a little
stupid to risk all those lives for one little girl.  Oh, you can rationalize it,
but I just didn't buy it.  But that was a stroke of brilliance compared to the
ending,.  Finally finding earth, everyone decides to go off & become hunter
gatherers.  Yeah, that'd last until the first winter.  Putting a population like
the fleets 'with little more than a little food & the cloths on their backs was
nothing less than mass suicide.  From Starships to the club in one easy step MA!
Yeah, right!

    Why did I watch? well for those few rare moments of beauty.  Adama's last
walk through an empty Galactica to the launch of the last Viper was one of those
moments.  ( I have to say my baser side enjoyed the titty bar on Caprica, 
Finally proof the colonials were civilized)

   But the final insult was the ghost Balter & Six that had been haunting those
two characters for so long.  I had hoped it would turn out they were demons. 
Instead we get some kind of confused statement that I still haven't figured out.
As near as I could tell it was a lame attempt to make a statement of faith by a
person who doesn't believe in anything.

   Well, I could say more & I will if I get any comments on this

   Thanks!































[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From the previews, during "Caprica" the Colonial tech level is much
higher than in the "Galactica" time period. Which makes sense: they
brought in AI, had a revolt, and in reaction banned all AI, all
networked computers (for a while) and so on.... which also explains
why Apollo thought 'starting over' without tech was a good idea--
they're survivors, shocked by the 'bad' side of tech, and in full
emotional revulsion against it...

Caprica is when they were still believers in progress and all that
stuff.
On Mar 22, 2009, at 11:13 AM, narpin wrote:

> The extreme awesomeness of the final episode has been with me for
> two days now -- I just can't shake it. I've rewatched it twice
> already. I think Ron Moore is a total genius. He's simply one of the
> BEST we have working today -- I'd put him on the same level as Joss
> Whedon.
>
> I think there are three kinds of final episodes. The standard, the
> disappointment, and the one that exceeds all expectations. Cheers
> would be the standard ending -- straightforward, and all ends as
> expected. Seinfeld or Sopranos would be perfect examples of the
> disappointment. And I thin shows like the final Newhart and the
> final Galactica are examples of the ones that exceed all expectation
>
> I can't wait to see what Moore gives us next. Bring on Caprica!
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The extreme awesomeness of the final episode has been with me for two days now
-- I just can't shake it. I've rewatched it twice already. I think Ron Moore is
a total genius. He's simply one of the BEST we have working today -- I'd put him
on the same level as Joss Whedon.

I think there are three kinds of final episodes. The standard, the
disappointment, and the one that exceeds all expectations. Cheers would be the
standard ending -- straightforward, and all ends as expected. Seinfeld or
Sopranos would be perfect examples of the disappointment. And I thin shows like
the final Newhart and the final Galactica are examples of the ones that exceed
all expectation

I can't wait to see what Moore gives us next. Bring on Caprica!

That finale was so frakkin good. It ended the series in a place that was
satisfying, and made sense, and what's more one gets the idea that Ron Moore
knew exactly where this show was going to end the very first time the phrase,
"This has all happened before, and this will all happen again" was uttered on
the series.

This finale was an amazing example of why I have been saying that this is the
best show on TV since season 1 (along with many others!). A great finale is so
hard to pull off -- to wrap up all the fans' expectations in a tidy little two
hour bow? Not easily done, byt DAMN did Ron Moore and crew deliver.

The beginning of the episode, with the rescue of Hera, was great but where this
show really shined was that last hour -- the wrap up of all the shows questions.
Things I didn't think could be wrapped up in the time left such as the truth
about Starbuck, and the imaginary Six and Baltar in real Caprica Six and
Baltar's heads.

My two favorite moments in the whole show:

1) Tyrol's revelation that Tori killed Cally....and his reaction to it. As a
huge Cally fan I think I screamed, "YES!" when Tyrol killed her.

2) The final scene - Angel Six and Baltar in modern day New York city -- even on
DS9 one of Moore's greatest strengths has been his ability to combine the sci-fi
and the spiritual, and he really delivered again in this finale.

I'm so gonna miss BSG --- but what a way to go out!

in his after-series interview, Ron Moore said some on the writing team
wanted to end it another way: arrive at Earth, it's the present day;
mass celebration on Galactica; then the US president says "Nuke 'em!".
End of story. now THAT would be dark.

Minus that part, I'd have preferred them arriving 'today'. It'd be a
lot more interesting.

On Mar 22, 2009, at 10:15 AM, susan hernandez wrote:

> I have to agree with you. I watched the series because I love the
> actors who were in it. I was disappointed with the finale and the
> battle scene went on to long for me. I did like the fact they put in
> the old centurions as the same bad guys and wonder if letting the
> new ones go was a wise decision. Is history to repeat itself in
> 150,000 years?
>
> The walk through the old Galactica was classic but having Sam take
> the fleet into the sun was redundant. Was not a wise decision. Still
> trying to figure that one out. Starbuck disappearing was a good end
> and did  substantiate Baltar's theory. I guess she and Sam were
> again together but why was her whole goodbye scene so teary if she
> knew she would be leaving anyway...who knows. Scenery was beautiful
> in the last scenes and the jump to 150,000 years to the future was
> ok....but were Six and Baltar demons or angels. They seemed benign
> enough....but were they bored and maybe in contact on the where
> abouts of the Cylon fleet. Maybe I should stop writing nonfiction
> books and start writing screenplays. I saw so many ways they could
> have ended the series....... like the TOS, I thought having their
> children take over would be smart to bring back the series....same
> in the instance of this series....showing their children
> rediscovering the ship Adama had and
> not jumping into the future with Six and Baltar....
>
> ok, that is my two cents......
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I have to agree with you. I watched the series because I love the actors who
were in it. I was disappointed with the finale and the battle scene went on to
long for me. I did like the fact they put in the old centurions as the same bad
guys�and wonder if letting the new ones go was a wise decision. Is history to
repeat itself in 150,000 years?�
�
The walk through the old Galactica was classic but having Sam take the fleet
into the sun was redundant. Was not a wise decision. Still trying to figure that
one out. Starbuck disappearing was a good end and did� substantiate�Baltar's
theory. I guess she and Sam were again together but why was her whole goodbye
scene so teary if she knew she would be leaving anyway...who knows. Scenery was
beautiful in the last scenes and the jump to�150,000 years to the�future was
ok....but were Six and Baltar demons or angels. They seemed benign enough....but
were they bored and maybe in contact on the where abouts of the Cylon fleet.
Maybe I should stop writing nonfiction books and start writing screenplays. I
saw so many ways they could have ended�the series....... like the TOS, I thought
having their children take over would be smart to bring back the series....same
in the instance of this series....showing their children rediscovering the ship
Adama had�and
  not jumping into the future with Six and Baltar....
�
ok, that is my two cents......


--- On Sat, 3/21/09, jaded1000 <jaded1000@...> wrote:


From: jaded1000 <jaded1000@...>
Subject: [Battlestar Galactica Rec Room] Finale
To: battlestargalacticarecroom@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 9:50 PM






Well, back in 2001 I anxiously awaited the "reimagined" Galactica. On the whole
it was a disappointment. It lost me in the first few minutes when 6 snapped the
baby's neck, Well, here we are years later & the show goes out with a whimper,
not a bang.
OK, the battle scenes were good, leaving aside the fact it was a little stupid
to risk all those lives for one little girl. Oh, you can rationalize it, but I
just didn't buy it. But that was a stroke of brilliance compared to the ending,.
Finally finding earth, everyone decides to go off & become hunter gatherers.
Yeah, that'd last until the first winter. Putting a population like the fleets
'with little more than a little food & the cloths on their backs was nothing
less than mass suicide. From Starships to the club in one easy step MA! Yeah,
right!
Why did I watch? well for those few rare moments of beauty. Adama's last walk
through an empty Galactica to the launch of the last Viper was one of those
moments. ( I have to say my baser side enjoyed the titty bar on Caprica, Finally
proof the colonials were civilized)
But the final insult was the ghost Balter & Six that had been haunting those two
characters for so long. I had hoped it would turn out they were demons. Instead
we get some kind of confused statement that I still haven't figured out. As near
as I could tell it was a lame attempt to make a statement of faith by a person
who doesn't believe in anything.
Well, I could say more & I will if I get any comments on this
Thanks!



















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I agree the 'no tech' was idiotic --but it was Apollo's "great idea"
-- Admiral Adama was focused 100% on Roslin and just plain didn't care
anymore; it all took place in about a day--and on day #2 when people
would start to complain, it was too late.

Keep in mind there is a very strong technophobic streak in Colonial
culture--see Caprica and how high their tech level was, then see the
start of Galactica series--- because of the Cylon revolt, the
population turned very hard against advanced tech, and blamed it for
all their problems.

Basically--we all thought this was a scifi series--in reality it was a
fantasy series --- seen in those terms, it 'works' it just pretended
to be scifi for most of its existence.

No--I didn't like the ending either. But hey---great battle scene for
first half of the finale.

On Mar 21, 2009, at 9:50 PM, jaded1000 wrote:

> Well, back in 2001 I anxiously awaited the "reimagined" Galactica.
> On the whole it was a disappointment. It lost me in the first few
> minutes when 6 snapped the baby's neck, Well, here we are years
> later & the show goes out with a whimper, not a bang.
> OK, the battle scenes were good, leaving aside the fact it was a
> little stupid to risk all those lives for one little girl. Oh, you
> can rationalize it, but I just didn't buy it. But that was a stroke
> of brilliance compared to the ending,. Finally finding earth,
> everyone decides to go off & become hunter gatherers. Yeah, that'd
> last until the first winter. Putting a population like the fleets
> 'with little more than a little food & the cloths on their backs was
> nothing less than mass suicide. From Starships to the club in one
> easy step MA! Yeah, right!
> Why did I watch? well for those few rare moments of beauty. Adama's
> last walk through an empty Galactica to the launch of the last Viper
> was one of those moments. ( I have to say my baser side enjoyed the
> titty bar on Caprica, Finally proof the colonials were civilized)
> But the final insult was the ghost Balter & Six that had been
> haunting those two characters for so long. I had hoped it would turn
> out they were demons. Instead we get some kind of confused statement
> that I still haven't figured out. As near as I could tell it was a
> lame attempt to make a statement of faith by a person who doesn't
> believe in anything.
> Well, I could say more & I will if I get any comments on this
> Thanks!


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Well, back in 2001 I anxiously awaited the "reimagined" Galactica.  On the
whole it was a disappointment.  It lost me in the first few minutes when  6
snapped the baby's neck,  Well, here we are years later & the show goes out with
a whimper, not a bang.
    OK, the battle scenes were good, leaving aside the fact it was a little
stupid to risk all those lives for one little girl.  Oh, you can rationalize it,
but I just didn't buy it.  But that was a stroke of brilliance compared to the
ending,.  Finally finding earth, everyone decides to go off & become hunter
gatherers.  Yeah, that'd last until the first winter.  Putting a population like
the fleets 'with little more than a little food & the cloths on their backs was
nothing less than mass suicide.  From Starships to the club in one easy step MA!
Yeah, right!
    Why did I watch? well for those few rare moments of beauty.  Adama's last
walk through an empty Galactica to the launch of the last Viper was one of those
moments.  ( I have to say my baser side enjoyed the titty bar on Caprica, 
Finally proof the colonials were civilized)
   But the final insult was the ghost Balter & Six that had been haunting those
two characters for so long.  I had hoped it would turn out they were demons. 
Instead we get some kind of confused statement that I still haven't figured out.
As near as I could tell it was a lame attempt to make a statement of faith by a
person who doesn't believe in anything.
   Well, I could say more & I will if I get any comments on this
   Thanks!

Found at Dvorak.org/blog

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/03/17/battlestar-galactica-heads-to-the-united-n\
ations-no-really/

- OR -

http://tinyurl.com/cshyjt


"Can all the worlds problems be solved by watching Sci Fi Channel? The United
Nations apparently thinks thats a good place to start, and will host a
Battlestar Galactica retrospective and panel discussion on Tuesday to shed light
on how the Emmy-winning show has handled such issues as human rights and
reconciliation, terrorism, faith, children and warfare, and dialogue among
civilizations..."

See link for the rest of the story!

Bill

SPOILER SPACE




















The series finale will encompass a total of three hours.  One would think this
is more than enough time to wrap up the vast majority of the plot and character
threads and give the series proper closure.  The previous episode was a slow but
steady prelude, which logically should have set the stage well enough for the
finale to move things along.  That's not quite the case.

The pace of the finale is surprisingly slow and methodical.  A good portion of
the episode is devoted to the message that we are coming full circle, and the
characters are as well.  Some have changed, some haven't.  But the real
question, at least to the viewer, is why it pertains at all to the series
finale.  Is this important information?  Or is this an attempt to be lyrical at
the end?  This is but the introductory hour of the final tale, so it's hard to
know what the purpose is.

What is surprising is how much is still left to be resolved.  Has there been any
progress since "Someone to Watch Over Me"?  We're still no closer to the truth
about Kara, her connection to the Final Five and Hera, and the meaning of "All
Along the Watchtower".  There's still an enormous suicide mission to conduct as
well.  One would think that this sets the stage for the end of Galactica itself
(rather symbolic), but also for the end of the threat of Cavil's faction of the
Cylons.

Yet it's premature to say that this hour is somehow wasted.  It's the beginning
of a process, and there's still two more hours to go before the picture is
complete.  It could be that the preliminaries are slow-paced to maximize the
effect of the final events.  Still, this is the endgame, so anything that
hampers the ability to wrap things up is going to make fans nervous.

One major aspect of the episode was Baltar's bid for political power.  In an
interesting change of pace, he's not necessarily asking out of self-interest,
even if he does stand to gain if his people want him to represent their desires.
As it stands, Baltar could end up with power as a default, if he does in fact
stay behind.  After all, if Galactica and her volunteer crew fall at the Cylon
colony, Adama, Roslin, and Lee would all be there.  The resulting power vacuum,
and the size of Baltar's following, would place him in a powerful position.

But Baltar seemed to be wavering in his decision, and if the colony turns out to
be the Opera House, he'll be going with them to fulfill his role.  If the Opera
House dream is prophetic, then Caprica and Baltar will end up escaping with Hera
to bring back the future to those left behind.  This also aligns with Baltar's
vision at the end of the first season, and if anyone else dies trying to get to
Hera, it would certainly fulfill the prophecy regarding Roslin.

That still leaves open the question of Kara's resurrection, and how that might
intersect with the Opera House theory.  If there is going to be a last-minute
intervention by some greater power, a look back at the series puts the easy
money on the Cylon God.  It would be very easy to use the Cylon God, or the
personification thereof, to resolve a number of outstanding mysteries.  For
example, as it stands, the revelation of the Final Five doesn't quite match what
was mentioned in "Rapture", but there was an apparent reference to the Cylon God
at the time.  If the writers realized that a "deus ex machina" solution was a
necessary evil, then why not deliver an actual "God"?

All of which amounts to the fact that Ron Moore and company could still stick
the landing for this series, if they pull together the bulk of the dangling plot
threads.  (With the exception, of course, of what will be covered in "The
Plan".)  But after the past two episodes, which did little to move the story
forward, there's still potential for disappointment.

  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SPOILER SPACE




















With only a handful of episodes left, and so many loose ends to resolve, time is
of the essence.  So it's hard not to feel like this prelude to the series finale
wasn't a wasted opportunity.  There were some vague hints as to the resolution
of the series as a whole, but most of the time was spent on lingering character
vignettes.  As satisfying as they can be, and as in keeping with the style of
the series it might be, it's still hard to temper the disappointment.

This episode was essentially the combination of character reactions to the
Galactica situation, the abduction of Hera, and Kara's odd status quo.  The net
effect is a laundry list of the implications of the past few episodes and what
the writers will need to tackle at the breaking of the day.  As already
mentioned, this almost works at cross-purposes.  It's good to know that the
writers have a grasp on the loose ends, but it's a also a reminder of just how
much they'll need to cram into the finale.

A lot of time is spent on Adama's growing realization that saving Galactica is
not a viable option, and the recent efforts have merely been delaying the
inevitable.  That process is painful, to say the least.  For all that the Cylons
have agreed to hand over military authority to Adama in exchange for a voice on
the new council, it's still the loss of the most potent symbol of Human
autonomy.  Defense of the remnants of Humanity will now be dependent on outside
cooperation, and a former enemy at that.

The previous episode tied Roslin's condition to the "health" of the Galactica,
and that metaphor continues.  The flashes of the Opera House, and the suggestion
that Caprica Six is once again sharing those dreams and visions, point to an
explanation for those elements since the first season.  But the emphasis is on
the notion that Roslin will probably die before the human race finds its new
home (if, in fact, that prophecy still holds any meaning), and how that becomes
a compelling impetus for Adama's decision to move people off Galactica.

In essence, Galactica is only good for one more mission anyway, and that's where
the abduction of Hera comes into play.  Hera represents the future for both the
Human and Cylon people, and in that respect, she is a symbol of hope.  The
Cylons don't see a future without her, and The Humans don't see a future without
the Cylons.  Cavil is forcing a confrontation that he assumes he will win.  For
Adama and the Cylons, there is only one mission left: retrieve Hera by any means
necessary or die trying.

Ander's situation has the potential of giving Galactica an unexpected edge.  It
could allow Adama to run the impending mission with a skeleton crew.  It also
had the benefit of reminding the audience that Kara has been termed "the
harbinger of death", which I still believe is meant more in the classical sense
of change.  In other words, survival through mergence of the Human and Cylon
people into a self-propagating population.

At least, that's how it's appeared to be shaping up; with the mystery of Kara's
resurrection still on the table, it could really mean anything.  The "Kara is a
proto-Hera" theory is still viable, but this episode lends credence to those who
see an outside agency as being the connective link between the Final Five
activation, the Roslin/Caprica connection, Kara, and Hera.  I'm still not
particularly pleased with that notion, because it has a great deal of potential
to fall into deus ex machina territory.

Some have speculated that this outside agency could be the Lords of Kobol.  If
the Lords of Kobol were, as speculated, the surviving Cylons of a previous
cycle, it would at least fit the overall foundation for the series.  Another
offered possibility is the "beings of light" theory, referring to a story from
the original "Battlestar Galactica".  If that were true, it would be
unfortunate, because while the effect has been explored in relative detail,
there hasn't been much evidence of someone else beyond the Humans and Cylons
lurking in the background.

Unfortunately, all of these plot and character threads, right down to Boomer's
wavering faith in her actions and Baltar's little speech about Kara, could have
been compressed into a lot less time.  It feels like this episode was a bit too
methodical for its own good.  It's hard to tell, however, because it all comes
down to the finale.  If three hours of finale is enough to cover all the bases
sufficiently, then this episode will be vindicated.

  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 3:05 PM, Adam Gaffen <adam_a_gaffen@...> wrote:

Show IPA Pronunciation
�noun 1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for
political purposes. 2. the state of fear and submission produced by
terrorism or terrorization. 3. a terroristic method of governing or of
resisting a government.
- I'd say that Zarek qualifies.
-----------------------
the duality of it was that Zarek *continued *to see the Cylons as a threat.
he later "became the enemy" and to me that seems to be the main thrust of
the series OVER and OVER -- the idea that humans would get divided and
conquered and turned against themselves over and over again.

what a great *actor*
it all makes me wonder
*what Dick Cheney is doing*
*where he is*
*and how little he wants people to think about him.*
**


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SPOILER SPACE





















This episode is a mixture of beauty and brutality, and in this instance, both
are captivating.  After the mess that was the previous episode, I was a bit
worried that the writers were going to aim high and shoot low with the ending. 
This episode, however, makes it look more likely that the series will have a
strong finish after all.

First, the beauty.  I’ve always been aware of the role of music in this
series, and that definitely helped to enhance my enjoyment of this particular
episode.  It set a mood of melancholy and foreboding from the very beginning,
and it kept me spellbound throughout Kara’s emotional and psychological
journey.

It doesn’t hurt that the essential thrust of the story appears to confirm my
suspicion that Kara’s father was the recently mentioned “Daniel”, perhaps
the only surviving Seven.  That’s not necessarily the only interpretation that
could be made, but it is becoming the clear frontrunner.  With so little time
left, I have reservations at the writers could introduce anything else that
wouldn’t feel like a deus ex machina solution.

“All Along the Watchtower” provides a musical connective thread between the
Final Five, Kara, and Hera.  Where the Final Five seem to hear the music more
directly, Kara and Hera experience it more subconsciously.  For Kara, it comes
out through a kind of Cylon projection, summoning up a version of her father to
guide her to self-awareness.  Hera’s not in a position quite yet to explain
how she knew the music, but this could explain why Roslin seemed to react to
something in “Crossroads”.

Presumably, this brings Kara closer to understanding her “special destiny”. 
If her father was one of the skinjobs, then in a very real sense, she co-opts
Hera as the first Human/Cylon hybrid within the Colonies.  It would explain why
Kara has always been searching for her place in the world; there’s never been
anyone quite like her.

There’s still the matter of her resurrection to consider.  That it took place
on or near Earth appears significant; she didn’t resurrect among the Cylon
fleet, after all.  This implies that Kara was resurrected by the same technology
that brought back the Final Five after the annihilation of Earth.  The location
of that technology could be significant, because as we see in this episode, the
fleet has been searching for a suitable planet to inhabit for weeks, and the
constant grind is getting to everyone.

The anticipated Human/Cylon alliance is in full swing, with the Cylons now
having a seat on the newly reconstructed Quorum (that we haven’t actually
seen).  They’re flying missions together, their working to keep Galactica
space-worthy together, and they’re acting in accord on critical items such as
justice and survival.  Between the mutiny and the Cylon civil war, neither side
has what it needs to make it alone, and they’ve adjusted accordingly.

Internal to the story, Galactica is still falling apart at the seams, and even
before the damage was done by Boomer’s escape, it was only going to make it
through one more jump.  The implication is that this final jump would be to
whatever planet they manage to find.  Between wrapping up the mysteries
surrounding Kara and the particulars surrounding the alliance, that might have
been enough on its own to sustain the rest of the series.  But there’s still
the small matter of the external conflict with Cavil.

It makes sense, based on the ease of escape in “No Exit”, that Boomer was
helping Ellen as part of a plot.  Ellen made it clear to Cavil that Hera was the
future of her plan, so of course his own success would hinge on controlling
(and, logically, eliminating) that asset.  Beyond what Boomer did in this
episode to convince Tyrol to help her with her mission, using their past history
as a pretext, I’m not sure how that was supposed to work.

Cavil couldn’t have known that Boomer would have the chance to twist Tyrol’s
emotions, so the plan was essentially a last-ditch effort.  It never should have
worked.  That makes it a bit of a plot convenience, but it’s the kind that
works because the audience needed a resolution to the Boomer/Tyrol thread.  It
also pushes the final confrontation with Tyrol into the short term, which allows
it to coincide logically with the Galactica’s final days.

There is a certain level of irony here.  Athena seduced Helo by posing as Boomer
on Caprica during the first season.  In a way, Athena co-opted a life that could
have been Boomer’s.  Boomer gets her pound of flesh in this episode, and it is
not at all pretty.  It’s actually one of the more disturbing moments in the
entire series run.  Boomer beats Athena to a pulp, essentially forces Athena to
watch her sleep with Helo, and then steals Athena’s daughter.

What makes this so crushing is the realization that Boomer has been a victim for
so long that her actions must seem justified in her own mind.  Boomer’s
attempted assassination of Adama was programmed into her (presumably by Cavil). 
She tried to atone for that mistake in the past, but it always went horribly
wrong (particularly the New Caprica experiment, which was clearly undermined by
Cavil in retrospect).  Boomer ultimately has been used and abused by Cavil in
more ways than one can count (including their “affair” on the baseship).

This doesn’t excuse Boomer in the slightest, but it does point to the notion
that Boomer is still being used; she’s still not acting out of her own
personal agency.  Either that will never change, and Boomer will end up being a
tragic figure, or the moment that she takes control of her life will be a
critical point of the finale.


  John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
Visit NJPRG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]