Who watches over who?

Stream of thought since watching "Someone to Watch Over Me"...

Actually, the meaning of the title is just now clicking. Someone or something is watching over Kara. Or/and is someone watching over Tyrol and Boomer? The Five? Everyone?

Since pretty early in the series, I've made some logical deductions that there are human creators of the Cylons out there that have more to do with this than just making the clankers. I kind of shoved it to the wayside for the most part though, since "They evolved" was nailed into our heads at pretty much the beginning of every episode. I figured they, the Cylons, evolved into skin-jobs on their own, but we've recently discovered that the Final Five, also skin-jobs of some sort, gave the clanker Cylons the know-how to make their own skin-jobs and keep them resurrecting. At this point, I'm trying to imagine who or what exactly the Five were in talks with before they made Cavil and the other models. How did Cavil come to enslave those Centurions which assumably brought him to existence with the help from the Five, and why did those Centurions want to be skin-jobs anyway? Didn't they rebel against the humans?

Anyway, those thoughts of human creators from the 12 Colonies, still out there somewhere, are starting to creep back in, especially since Piano Guy came around.

In the med clinic with Sam, and as the Cylons leave the room, an 8 mentions that she wonders if they might be able to hook him up to the ship's system like a hybrid.

Piano Guy - "The point is to bring a little grace and beauty to an otherwise brutal existence". Kara asks him if his music stopped any missiles when the Cylons attacked the 12 colonies. He calls her POV cynical. "Something happened to you".

Jumping to above theory of human Cylon creators... If Piano Guy perhaps had anything to do with Cylon creation, he would have been the one to add the art element, appreciation for "grace and beauty", and perhaps some of the tactility to be creative. Oh hey, wasn't Daniel an artist too? Hmmmm.

So, Piano Guy ends up being all in Kara's head, since when Tigh disrupts her Dylan (read totally awesome McCreary) jam session, Piano Guy is no longer there. Presumably a younger version of her dad? Here are larger versions of the images of Piano Guy and Dreilide Thrace seen below. Same guy?



Edit - Boing! That says "Opera House" doesn't it? Coincidence?

I still won't presume as to what Kara is since her return. Not yet. That she is just a regular old Cylon seems too easy, and so does the idea that she may have simply been resurrected Cylon-style. I'm definitely not willing to accept that Kara was anything but human before "Maelstrom". It does seem feasible that her father was either guilty enough, or perhaps somehow torn away from his family (maybe to join a covert team of Cylon builders?) but still had the ability to "watch over her", that he would be compelled to recreate her with some form of Cylon technology, again - if he had it and if he's out there somewhere. Just a thought.

I am however, beginning to smell some of the themes promised to us in the Caprica series, mixed with some of the stuff we've learned recently. Organic Memory Transfer was around for a long time on Kobol. It took a group, being the Final Five, to take this technology and re-adapt it on Earth. They also knew how to build skin-jobs apparently. This leads my imagination to think this: On the 12 Colonies, Cylons were developed with some amount of intelligence, reasoning skills, and other human traits ala carte. If this has all happened before, it's not hard to imagine that these creators of the Cylons could have been a relatively small and elite group of scientists, who also figured out how to make skin-jobs. Perhaps they even created skin-jobs first (and covertly) before realizing how to trim them back to something more manageable within human society - that being Centurions, or some form of. Since these human creators were human, they surely had loved ones, perhaps ones that they were desperate to recreate for themselves, or perhaps those loved ones accessed the creators information or were just smart enough to mimic it.

And just what were those old school Cylons and hybrid from Razor?

Speaking of elite scientists with top secret information, what was Baltar back on Caprica really? Way back (season 3?) when Baltar flew away with the Cylons, we already touched upon the theme of Baltar possibly being a Cylon, and whether his head 6 "hallucinations" were proof of that. So maybe Baltar isn't a Cylon (?), but could he have partook in the development of Cylon tech back on Caprica? Does he know how to make a skin-job, and/or could his memory of such somehow been tampered with? Could he have tampered with Cylon tech, even on himself, and had a resulting permanent virtual sex partner in head 6? Does he have a primitive and maybe human version of Cylon Projection? Now Kara has a head Piano Guy/dad. Could this be some kind of Cylon Projection? Is she a sleeper agent since she came back?

Anders in "No Exit" says "Chief... you thought you had a chip in your head" while trying to explain how the Five knew to build resurrection for themselves and leave Earth in the nick of time.

Hera's picture - They're stars *and* the same musical composition that brought (four of) the Five out. Star chart to a new home? Star chart to pending doom? After all, Kara is the harbinger of death and doom and stuff. Speaking of Razor, I ask again - Just what the frak was that rogue old school hybrid and Cylon anyway? Ya think they could've had a copy of Daniel with them, as well as resurrection abilities? Did they get Kara in Maelstrom? Leoben certainly doesn't seem to know what the frak she is, so it's doubtful it had anything to do with the everyday Cylons, except of course if Cavil did something secretly. I have doubts that Cavil is *that* perfect of a machine, and he didn't seem to be in much control over what happened with Kara and the nebula. I'm remembering what Cavil said in "No Exit" to Ellen about it being a "nice trick" with the exploding star/nebula, and Ellen denied having a hand in that or the Temple of Five by saying it must have been "the one true god". We also have yet to discover who exactly named Cavil "John" after Ellen's father.

Anyhew, if this has all happened before and it will again, is it possible that another set of planetary systems exist that are similar to Kobol, the 12 Colonies and Earth? Could this be the star chart Hera drew? Could it be the formula for resurrection? A cure for infertility among Cylons?

Laura Roslin mutters "Hera" as she falls to the floor just at the same time Boomer jumps away from the fleet. It doesn't appear that Roslin had any way of knowing that Boomer had actually jumped away. Is Roslin somehow connected to Hera and this whole cycle? Is it because Hera's blood helped revive her before? Is Roslin part Cylon now?

Sooo disappointed that Helo couldn't differentiate Athena from Boomer. Wonder if he could have gotten Boomer preggers. WHAT is the deal with the Opera House?

Ellen and Tigh in the school room:

E: "It had to be orchestrated from the beginning. The escape, all of it. It was just a means to get Boomer here. Cavil wanted Hera, Boomer got her for him."

T: "How can a 3 year old girl spontaneously write down that song?"

E: "She's plugged into something that's manipulating all of us... Maybe Anders could help us."

T: "If he ever wakes up."

So who is controlling Hera then? Is she connected to some unknown mystical force? A group of humans who originally created Cylons? The old school Cylons and hybrid from Razor? Is it also what gave the Five the message to leave Earth and warn the 12 Colonies? Is it what gives Baltar a head 6, Kara a head Piano Guy, and Chief a chip? Rethinking the meaning of the title "Someone to Watch Over Me".

I really don't think, or at least I don't want to believe that Cavil planned this all out with Boomer beforehand. I really want Boomer to be taking Hera as a hostage for herself, to leverage with Cavil and the Fleet for her own independence, and to give her Tyrol. I hope she's on her way to Kobol and not back to Cavil. I dunno what good that will do, but that's what I hope. Kobol is where it all started after all, at least as far as we've been told and as far back as the history we know tells. Plus, The Opera House is on Kobol, at least the ruins of it are. Sharon is part of the vision, and both Boomer and Athena are derived from the same Sharon memories. Maybe Boomer will go back to Cavil first, but the eventual path to Kobol seems inevitable to me. Everyone knows how to get to Kobol too, which reminds me... How did Ellen and Boomer get from Cavil to the fleet so quickly?

I just want there to be happiness for Chief. Please let him and Boomer live happily ever after! Yeah, like that's gonna happen.

The Questions

Still pondering some of the information we were flooded with in "No Exit", I am compelled to write down the lingering questions (and new questions) having to do with the series that may or may not get an answer or further explaination:

1. Kara. Her destiny. What she is since she returned. The harbinger of death? I think these answers are coming very soon.
2. How/why did Tigh have hair and was presumably younger in the flashbacks to his first meeting with Adama soon after the first Cylon War? From what's been gathered about the Final Five, they download in a similar fashion as the other skin-jobs, "as is". Tigh's physical differences would contradict this.
3. This may not be important to the plot anymore and is tied into the above question, but if Tigh was "sent first", presumably around the time he met Adama back before WW1, when exactly did Tory, Galen and Anders show up on the scene? They all look to be 30 something at best, so perhaps Cavil sent them in closer to the time before WW2 - ? I'm thinking about the movie "The Plan" we have coming up after the series concludes, which will supposedly take a closer look at Galen and Anders, and Cavil!
4. The Opera House. It was almost starting to come together until Caprica Six's miscarriage. But it wasn't really. An aside from this - What is the deal with the "Temple of the Five", the glowy five that D'anna saw, which also appeared in the Opera House? Who did D'anna see if the five were living among the fleet (and how did she see them), and what's the deal with the nebula (which is also somehow connected to Starbuck)?
5. Baltar and head Six's "child of humanity". Which leads to...
6. Hera. Is she relevant other than being the first child born of a human plus Cylon? Seems to me like proof that the Cylons can't live/evolve without the humans if they don't have resurrection.
7."The dying leader" leading them to Earth. Could it simply be a false prophecy? Is it Roslin? Will she die? Will her death prove the prophecy to be true? They did already get to Earth though, and Roslin ain't dead yet. Here's a thought - Was it just her leadership that was dying?
8. Daniel. I "suspect" we aren't going to get much of an answer to this, but I've been trying to stay away from spoiler interviews and commentaries. Could the fact that there are 13 total Cylon skin-jobs be relevant to the 13 Colonies? That thought leads me to wonder whether the 12 Colonies only divided into 12 because they had 12 available planets to disperse themselves amongst, or if they were already 12 distinct groups of humans upon leaving Kobol.
9. This is a question of confusion... Even though Ellen resurrected before the resurrection hub was destroyed, she still seemed to be resurrected in a special separate resurrection pod. It looked to me that she was actually on Cavil's baseship. It wouldn't make much sense for Cavil to allow the big secret he was keeping about the final five to be given up by any of them resurrecting openly in the res hub anyway. If that special res-pod was in Cavil's base ship, then they wouldn't have lost resurrection completely. If Ellen was resurrected in the hub, did Cavil have some way to keep her hidden from the other skin-jobs? Why did Cavil allow her to be resurrected at all? Why does he need to cut her head open to get memories? Haven't we seen other skin-jobs access the memories of the others through other means? Can of worms!
10. I still want to know if or how the final five are different physically from the skin-jobs. Maybe they are just the same. I'm still not clear on that. I have to watch "Sometimes a Great Notion" again, because I'm pretty sure they verified that the skeletal remains found on Earth were the same Cylon skin-jobs as the One through Eight's (skipping the Seven) that currently exist. But still, are the final five only unique because they were the sole survivors of the Earth holocaust? Or are they different, maybe not physically, because the "angels" told them to get the heck out and find help the 12 Colonies. Also, do the five age at all? Time did slow down for them for the thousand some odd trek to the colonies. This leads to another question...
11. Cylon resurrection vs. Cylon procreation. Apparently the Cylons resurrected (on Kobol?), then by the time they got to Earth, they had somehow come to procreate naturally and didn't need resurrection anymore so it became a lost art. Train of thought here: A baby born of Cylon descent must grow old and die. Are they then completely natural and no longer a machine? If a natural-born Cylon dies and is resurrected via "organic memory transfer", then is it only a machine as far as the process of recreating it goes? Do those resurrected Cylons age at all? Eventaully? Slowly? Or is it simply frozen at the point in time/age that it died? Could it be another evolutionary process? This might help explain Tigh's loss of hair ;)
12. Were there simply just humans on Kobol in the beginning, and furthermore are we to believe that the Earth we live on now is hundreds of thousands or billions of years after (or before) the Earth seen at the end of season 4.0? I don't think we'll get anymore clarification on either of these issues, but since "this has all happened before" I'm guessing it has and will happen for infinity, so the inhabitants of Kobol were most likely the result of a previous human split with the Cylons. If that's the case, then we should be able to consider the humans of the 12 Colonies to be distant relatives of Cylons, and the 13th Colony of Earth, who are Cylons, to actually have evolved into full humans. As for the question of when on Earth this takes place, I like to imagine that it was long before and things like Atlantis are remnants that have survived the ice ages as well as volcanic or meteoric catastrophes.

Here's a bonus speculative thought (consider it the 13th question, representing the 13 Colonies, and/or Cylons):

- If the final five were planted amongst the humans by Cavil, with their new memories, there's an assumption that Cavil had reason to do so with the intent to sabotage the humans. At first I wondered if the faulty construction of the Galactica might have had something to do with Cavil's intervention and if Chief could have been a catalyst to that. But alas, Chief seems too young to have been planted in time to see the Galactica built and then experience WW2 so many years later. But could he have existed as a sleeper agent all that time? It would add more meaning to the sub-plot of the Galactica's reconstruction taking place currently, but then again, it might just add more complexity to an already complex mythology.

Aside from these things, I'm anxiously awaiting that big looming space battle that they seem to have been saving up for with the lack of significant FX in recent episodes. Cavil is somewhere just around the corner!

Caprica DVD - Lookie!

With only a few weeks until Caprica prereleases on DVD (April 21), SciFi Wire has posted the cover and a few details (very few really) about the content. And Esai Morales is just as dreamy as ever. Oops. Fangirl slip, sorry.

Colonial Dispatch 2.24.09

Less than a month of Battlestar remains...

Jane Espenson talks to The Watcher about Deadlock. I will hold off on reading this until after March 20, so spoilers are unknown and read at your own risk, but I did hear some interesting notes about this interview and a plot line that had to be abandoned involving Baltar. Guess that's not a spoiler if it didn't happen, right?

Issue #2 of the 4 part comic series Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War came out last Wednesday, I have it, read it, loved it, and expect a review of issues 1 and 2 here soon. Promise. But what I was really getting at was an excuse to segue into news about the upcoming Battlestar Manga series by Tokyo Pop due out this April. Here's a preview of the first edition of "Echoes of New Caprica":



Loving this comparison of Battlestar Galactica to Aeneid by Charlotte Higgins at The Guardian UK.

Even though The Oscars have eclipsed a lot of other awards news, Battlestar is still a winner FYI! At the Visual Effects Society Awards BSG won for best VFX in a broadcast series (Variety), and the show won a Golden Reel for best music short form and foley in a television series (THR.com). Go team!

Over at Bear's Blog

Battlestar composer Bear McCreary has been posting at his blog weekly since 4.5 started, commenting about his process of putting together musical themes for the show, among other cool stuff. Check out his most recent entry for an interview he did with Michael Hogan, and other factoids about the episode "Deadlock"... and a very special cameo! I am reading through this now, so I can't say the full spoiler content, but you should at least have seen "Deadlock" first, and since both Bear and Mike are high-profile kinda guys, you can bet the spoiler level (for future episodes) will be low to nil, at least no worse than what Ron and the writers let fly in their interviews and commentaries - which I actually consider mildly spoilery. I'm just sayin' ;) - Bear's Blog

Polls

Some new polls are coming right up, and this time they will be character polls and what we think some of the key players might be up to as the series finale marches to the end. Make sure to look down the left sidebar to see them all.

As for the previous polls, here are the results...

Most of you loved "No Exit", but at the same time it looks like it took some time to digest. Most are thinking Anders is coming back, while there were a few doubters, and it's also the same with using Cylon technology on the ship - most think it's a good thing while there are a few doubts. The Daniel portion of the poll was a little iffy, and some thought he might be Tigh and Caprica's baby, while a couple think it's someone else, but there weren't a lot of votes either way on that:

Loved it - 12 (54%)

Liked it - 1 (4%)

Still digesting it - 5 (22%)

Confused - 3 (13%)

TMI - 1 (4%)

Anders is a vegetable forever - 2 (9%)

Anders will come back - 7 (31%)

This is all so convoluted - 1 (4%)

This all makes perfect sense - 1 (4%)

Wait, what? - 7 (31%)

BSG fixed with Cylon tech = good - 9 (40%)

BSG fixed with Cylon tech = bad - 2 (9%)

Feeling unsure about Cylon tech - 3 (13%)

Daniel is Tigh and 6's son - 2 (9%)

Daniel is someone else - 3 (13%)

Votes: 22

Dollhouse shows mostly lukewarm feelings, with a love and a hate in there too. Most will continue watching to give it a chance though:

Loved it - 1 (14%)

Liked it - 5 (71%)

50/50 about it - 2 (28%)

Hated it - 1 (14%)

Not sure how I feel yet - 2 (28%)

Intrigued - 3 (42%)

Will continue watching - 4 (57%)

It's bound to fail - 1 (14%)

Haven't seen it yet - 1 (14%)

Votes: 7

The "Blood on the Scales" poll was just fun. It had the most votes for "Best yet" (yay!). Most agree that Gaeta and Zarek are gone for good, and the ownage winner was Chief in the duct system:

Best yet - 5 (26%)

Second best yet - 4 (21%)

Tied with Notion - 3 (15%)

Least favorite so far - 1 (5%)

Undecided - 2 (10%)

Sweetest reunion EVAR - 6 (31%)

The wrath of Roslin owns - 11 (57%)

Gaeta and Zarek = ded - 11 (57%)

Gaeta and Zarek = not ded - 1 (5%)

Quorum = definitely ded - 9 (47%)

Anders can't be ded - 5 (26%)

Anders really can't be ded - 7 (36%)

Gaeta's song sorta makes sense now - 5 (26%)

Where the frak now? - 5 (26%)

Chief in duct system owns - 8 (42%)

Chief is Jack Bauer - 5 (26%)

Adama and Romo owns - 7 (36%)

Romo is a pimp - 5 (26%)

And he owns - 4 (21%)

Votes: 19

A new, new Battlestar is possible

It's hard for a lot of RDM Battlestar fans to fathom right now (at least for this one it is!), but word has it that Universal Studios has "quietly" began talks with the original Battlestar Galactica creator, Glen Larson, to produce a theatrical version of the story, purportedly including Starbuck, Adama, and Baltar. According to SciFi Wire who credits The Hollywood Reporter as the source, Universal had no comments on the matter, which I find kind of hilarious since SciFi Wire is part of the NBCU family. Did they really have to ask in the post title "As SCI FI's Battlestar ends, is Universal adapting another for the movies?"?

I do remember reading from various sources that Larson was never really happy with RDM's re-imagined version of the show, and we know how Dirk Benedict also feels. I can't help thinking that there's a vengeful tone here, and Larson will be trying to put the spotlight back to his version, so conveniently after Battlestar has been revived as a huge hit. It's just really hard to even think about right now, and since they are just "in talks", you can bet that it would be years before anything comes to fruition if at all. If there's one thing that's for sure though, if this ever happens, Starbuck will not be female anymore. What do you think? Could a new, new Battlestar be feasible? Perhaps in a few years?

What Sam and Ellen told us

I just rewatched "No Exit" and took about 10 pages of notes to try and sort out everything that Ellen and Sam Anders, and Cavil, told us. The following is a chronological (as it happened in the episode) list of what we learned from them. This is practically a transcript of the episode, minus the parts with Tyrol and Adama trying to get the ship fixed and the little bit with Roslin and Lee planning to rebuild the government, so it's a little long:

First, I thought it seemed important to note what the pre-opening screen text was telling us...

"This has all happened before, and it will all happen again - The Cylons were created by man - (View of old school Cylons, one of them a goldie - Was this from Razor?) - They rebelled - Then they vanished - 40 years later they came back - They evolved - 50,298 human survivors - Hunted by the Cylons - 11 models are known - One was sacrificed"

- The last two parts are a little strange. Was Ellen sacrificed? I don't think they're talking about Daniel, since that would be a total of 13.

- We are shown Ellen downloading/resurrecting on what seems to be a special resurrection pod on a Basestar, directly after she is murdered (sacrificed?) by Tigh on New Caprica.

- In the present day, Anders is getting ready to have a bullet removed from his head, and is rambling about "all the forgotten faces, all the forgotten children. We seek the great forgotten light which...". The scene cuts to Cavil in the forest on Caprica as Anders says "He whose guile stirred with revenge". Anders continues to ramble as he flashes on memories, and mentions having been on that Earth beach before.

- Cut to 18 months ago, and we're back on the Basestar with Ellen talking to Cavil about how "he" named Cavil "John" after "my" father. Cavil is remorseful that "he made me in his image". Does this mean Cavil looks exactly like whoever made him, or exactly like Ellen's father, or just that it's in the image of a human man? The conversation moves to Ellen telling Cavil "You're the same petulant little boy boy I loved so dearly all those years ago". Does Ellen mean "little boy" metaphorically? I'm under the impression, due to later conversations, that Cavil was always in the physical state he was. Was he named John after Ellen's father, yet physically modeled after a different person? Were Ellen and John the daughter and son of the humans who created the Cylons?

- Back to Anders, and he realizes the memories are rushing in. He asks Kara to gather the others for him - The five. She reminds him that Ellen is dead, and he seems to be pretending to have forgotten that only momentarily (meaning, he seems to know that she is still alive, or alive again somewhere, yet hides it from Kara).

- Back to Ellen on the Basestar with Cavil, yet now we're 12 months ago (Slowly getting closer to present day). The conversation is about Ellen's "mortal experience" among the humans, and Cavil says how "you" wrote sleep into our software. Ellen responds with a "we", so Ellen and company (presumably the final 5 at this point) created the Cylons (presumably the skin-jobs). Boomer shows up with lunch - a plate of fruit so pristine, you have to wonder if that apple is poisoned. Ellen assumes there's "a whole ship full of my children beyond the guards". Is Ellen a prisoner, or is her identity necessarily being protected? Seems to be a combo, but only necessary to Cavil's larger plan. Cavil leaves Boomer and Ellen, and Ellen tells Boomer more of what she thinks about John. Ellen tells Boomer to watch and make up her own mind (about how to be the perfect machine, and/or what the right thing to do is).

- Back to Anders who is now speaking to Galen, Tigh, and Tory. We find out that: They all worked in the same research facility (presumably on Earth), Ellen and Tigh were married then too, Tory and Galen were engaged, they had their own resurrection ship in place in the planet's orbit, they knew the end was coming, they did download, the Earth Cylons could procreate, they reinvented resurrection, and Organic Memory Transfer originally came from Kobol along with the 13th Tribe but fell out of use after their people started to procreate. They (The five) worked night and day to rebuild it, and although Galen's work was brilliant, it was Ellen who made (the intuitive leap? - I didn't quite hear this right) that brought the system back online. Tigh asks "What was the plan?" before a ruckus about Sam's health detracts from the question.

- Tigh asks why they went to the 12 Colonies. Anders says because they needed to find the other tribes and warn them to treat the artificial life they are inevitably creating well, and keep them close, but once they got there the humans were already at war with the Centurions... "again". This "again" kind of confused me, because it seems like Anders had to be talking about the first Cylon War, unless he means again as in - the cycle continues. Tory asks how this is possible since the holocaust on Earth took place thousands of years before. Anders says they hadn't developed jump-drives - "We traveled at relativistic but sub-luminal speed. Time slowed down for us for thousands of years". So, it seems like they went into some sort of hibernation/real-time space travel to reach the 12 Colonies to warn them.

- After telling Kara that he doesn't know if he will remember anything about her place in all this, he goes on to talk about how the Centurions were already trying to make flesh bodies (presumably when they got there and the war had started in the 12 Colonies). "They had created the hybrids, but nothing that lived on it's own, so we made them a deal - Stop the war and we'll help you. We developed the 8 humanoid models and gave them resurrection." Just as everyone freaks out about the 8, Sam crashes.

- Cut to now 10 months ago, with Ellen watching some sort of "slide show" on the Basestar. She says "The Temple of Hopes. Built by the 13th Tribe 3,000 years ago when they left Kobol. They stopped and prayed for guidance during their exodus, and then god showed them the way to Earth". Cavil suggests that it was all a plot on the part of the five to reveal themselves. He goes on to tell Ellen that when the star went nova, one of the 3s saw their faces, so he boxed their entire line. Ellen says that boxing isn't permanent, "Not like number 7", and she goes on to deny that it was a plot - "We backtracked the path of our ancestors and found their temple. The one true god must have orchestrated these events." The rest of the conversation revolves around Cavil complaining about the inadequacies of the human body, Boomer asking Ellen if she has remorse, and Ellen explaining the gift of free will and love to Boomer, who in turn questions who she would want to love (and the scene cuts to Galen on Galactica).

- Back in present day, Tigh, Galen and Tory discuss who is the most guilty - The humans or the Cylons they created. Galen says it was they who ended the first Cylon War and bought time for humanity. This verifies when they came back, but what were they doing for the 40 years until the second Cylon War?

- Now 4 months ago, back on the Basestar, Cavil reports to Ellen that they've destroyed the Resurrection Hub and starts demanding that Ellen help her children rebuild it. He mentions "They've destroyed the hub, but they don't even know about the colony. All your equipment is still there." I'm guessing that this colony and equipment is on Kobol, or perhaps it's on Earth? Is it even on a planet? After Ellen insists she can't do anything with out the other 4 of the 5, Cavil threatens to physically extract the information from Ellen's brain.

- On present day Galactica, Anders has come to again, and verifies that Cavil "was the first one we made". John was treasured by them, and he helped them build the others. When Galen questions whether they thought that building more Cylons was a bad idea, Anders replies that Ellen convinced them that the Centurions had a single loving god which changed everything, and the Cylons embracing love and mercy would end the cycle of violence. Anders goes on to reveal that Cavil rejected mercy, had a twisted idea of morality, turned on them, trapped them in a compartment, and suffocated them. When they downloaded into new bodies, Cavil blocked access to their memories and implanted them with new, fake ones - just like Boomer. After boxing them for awhile, Cavil introduced Tigh first, not long after the war, then Ellen. "Back on Earth, the warning signs we got looked different to each one of us. I saw a woman, Tory saw a man. Funny, no one else could see them. Galen, you thought you had a chip in your head." Anders states with certainty that "The 7 was the... Daniel. Daniel died. He was 7." He then tells Tigh to stay in the fleet, and that the miracle, a gift from the angels, is starting to happen, as he is dragged into surgery. The scene cuts to a pregnant 6 as Tigh walks into the room. The baby just started moving tonight. Seems to me they're trying to make us think the 6's baby is part of the miracle. I first thought the baby had to be Daniel, but perhaps that's too obvious. It also seems unlikely now that we know the five resurrect the same way the regular skin-jobs do. Also, looking back to Ellen's conversations with Cavil, it certainly seems like she is trying to remind Cavil about the "one true loving god" to try and convert him to goodness.

- 2 days ago now on the Basestar, and Ellen is asking Cavil why he didn't just kill them instead of sending them to live among the humans. Cavil says he wanted them to experience humanity up close at the point of the holocaust. Ellen points out that that they never died, but instead were made to suffer by Cavil due to his petty human emotions of rage and jealousy. She claims Cavil has always been looking for approval and that she knows what he did to Daniel. Cavil proclaims that the 7 didn't thrive, then Ellen begins to describe Daniel to Boomer, and how his line was destroyed by Cavil as an act of jealousy toward Ellen's close relationship with Daniel. Cavil blames Ellen for creating him in the first place, and Ellen tries to tell Cavil that he wasn't a mistake and that he could be good if he could accept himself for what he is.

- Cutting to another scene, and Boomer is retrieving Ellen to bring her to surgery. Ellen tells Boomer she should have brought something, then tells her to never mind. I totally couldn't make out what that something was. Anybody else know? It seemed relevant!

- Assuming we are now in the present with Ellen, Boomer takes Ellen into a Raptor, and flees the Basestar, rescuing Ellen. I don't think this is part of Cavil's master plan. I really think Ellen showed Boomer the light of her own free will.

The end! There are quite a few more questions in there now, and it's really hard to put all these pieces together in a timeline. Listing it all here was at least helpful for me. Hopefully it was for others out there. What new questions do you all have? What is answered for you? My biggest left over questions from this episode are about that colony where the equipment is that Cavil spoke about, what the five were doing between the first and second Cylon War (if they really did first show up during the first one), how is Daniel relevant to all this (if you have listened to RDM's commentary or read interviews, please don't spoil here!), I have no idea what to think about Ellen's comment about Cavil as a little boy, and I'm generally a little confused about whether the five went to Kobol on their way to Earth, or it was the 13th Tribe before them they are talking about. Are the five the 13th Tribe? The original 13th Tribe? And what are we supposed to think about Baltar's head Six (and the head Baltars) now that the five had similar experiences? Of course there are still other questions from the series as well. *brain explodes*

Colonial Dispatch 2.16.09

We've got some details on the schedule for the grand finale, thanks to SyFy Portal: The finale will indeed be a total of 3 hours, of which the first hour will air on March 13 at 10pm on SciFi (as usual). The final 2 hours will air on March 30, but will start at 9pm to allow for the extra hour. SciFi is also expected to repeat the first hour of the finale at 8pm on March 30 which will allow viewers to watch the entire finale all together.

Battlestar was this weekend's #1 download on iTunes, according to TV by the Numbers. An interesting addendum to the stats is that the Dollhouse pilot ranked at #19 this weekend on iTunes, but has now climbed to #1 (Guess everyone needed their BSG fix first). Whether or not this will help Dollhouse after their much more dismal than expected broadcast ratings remains to be seen, but it could use any help it can get!

Issue #2 of the four part comic book series Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon War comes out this Wednesday, February 18. I still haven't posted an appropriate review of issue #1 here yet, but let me take the opportunity now to mention why I'm generally positive about it. Essentially I'm most enthusiastic about the potential the expanded backstory allows the Battlestar world. As the TV series comes to an end, and as long as they don't explain the frak out of everything else like they did in "No Exit", there's some pretty endless opportunities for creative expansion, as is the example in the Star Wars expanded universe. Secondarily, this comic series covers an interesting topic (to me at least), which is that it goes into more detail about everyday life in the colonies, shortly before the first Cylon War, and looks at the lives of other characters than the crew we know and love from the series. The art and writing is good and solid too, although some reviewers may disagree with that opinion. Comic Book Resources announces issue #2

Come to think of it, Lee Adama's hair does seem to be growing up to Conan O'Brien proportions. I didn't notice though, since I was too busy trying to absorb the deluge of information in "No Exit". One thing is for sure, Jamie certainly got a lot of flight hours in, in the "moral puzzle" category during his years on BSG, which should have prepared him well for his current work on Law and Order UK. Jamie has some comments on L&OUK for The Press Association.

In our mild spoiler corner today, we have some more awesomeness from The Watcher, with writers Jane Espenson and Ryan Mottesheard answering questions posed by fans in the comment section from Mo Ryan's "No Exit" post. I call it a mild spoiler because I didn't even finish reading it after the first few lines started to explain elements of the show which I would personally rather see play themselves out (or not) in the last handful of episodes. If you want it explained now, then read You asked, they answered: 'Battlestar Galactica' writers take on your 'No Exit' questions

This video has nothing whatsoever to do with Battlestar:

More Polls!

So, I messed up the "Blood on the Scales" deadline by making it two weeks from the air date instead of one. We'll just leave it up there then, but check out two new polls for "No Exit" and Dollhouse. Just make sure to scroll down to find them all, and they will all be multiple choice as usual.

Kate Vernon Speaks

The "one little thing" mentioned in yesterday's post was an interview with Kate Vernon at IGN.com. It was a spoiler for last night's episode, "No Exit", because it basically started out by saying she would be back in that episode. It goes a little more in depth to the episode itself (thanks for not waiting one day to post this IGN!), and if you're an absolute purist as far as spoilers go, you may still not want to read the interview as it verifies story points that may otherwise thus so far be left to some of the more vivid imaginations. Here it is - IGN Talks to BSG's Ellen Tigh

I also held off on linking to another article which speaks to Kate Vernon, and I am actually not going to read this one, since the source, SciFi Wire, says it is a major spoiler. It doesn't say spoiler actually, but it says "massive secrets" which is good enough warning for me. If you just don't care, check out the article Exclusive! Battlestar Galactica's Kate Vernon reveals massive secrets!

Tricia on 'Chuck' will be March 30

I FINALLY found the answer I was looking for - Tricia Helfer's guest appearance on Chuck will be airing on March 30, according to EW.com and Cinema Blend. Phew. That was making me nuts, even though we still can't be sure that something might bump the schedule. Hey, that's TV for ya.

Tonight!

Okay, so this post actually mostly concerns any time after tonight...

Hulu has now posted on the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles page - "Availability Notes: TSCC returns to Hulu February 14", which means to me that they will have the season premiere available to view the day after it airs, or even at 2am (likewise with BSG). The official Fox site for TTSCC seems ready to go with their full episode page as well.

There still is no information about Dollhouse being posted to view online at either Hulu or the official site at Fox, but both sites seem well poised to do so. Hulu has gone through the trouble of making a page dedicated to Dollhouse with pretty much all available clips and previews posted there, and at the official Fox Dollhouse site they have a video/full episodes spot set up just for Dollhouse. The only thing that makes me worry is the fact that barely anything was available for the original airings of TTSCC way back over a year ago. But since then, online services have improved exponentially, even for Fox I might add, and it looks like all the shakes of the magic 8 ball are saying "more than likely" when we ask if our shows will post to the web.

BTW, it's definitely worth a gander at the Fox Dollhouse video/full episode page right now to see some great behind the scenes footage of the making of the show, with Joss, Tahmoh, and the rest of the cast.

As far as the BSG episode tonight is concerned, I have ceased to watch all previews and tried to remain spoiler free, except one little thing that I ended up seeing while browsing the news. I'll hold off on posting that one little thing until tomorrow, for the sake of the other spoiler virgins out there.

Another reminder to fans who can't catch these episodes as they air (or even if they can) - click over to the official sites and show support for the shows!

Something I just thought of that completely puts Friday nights over the edge for me is the fact that the animated Clone Wars episodes also air on Friday nights on The Cartoon Network. Not that I ever actually watch those on Friday nights, but still! Everyone seems to be gambling on the Geeks never going out on Friday nights. That would probably be the case for me if I didn't have to work. The Clone Wars can be viewed after Friday air times on both The Cartoon Network site, and the official Star Wars site.

To end this post - Friday night on Fox, Grindhouse style:

Emissary

Emissary co-creators Dekker Dreyer and Phillip Morris (who also stars) talk about the new upcoming web series. Martial arts are in the mix too? I'm in.

Colonial Dispatch 2.12.09

Let's start with Dollhouse news. It's Tahmoh madness! Just a reminder, a lot of this stuff is relatively Dollhouse spoilery:

The Boston Herald has a nice little feature up about Tahmoh and his work in Dollhouse (Dang! He was in Boston yesterday and I didn't know!): ’Battlestar Galactica’ hunk channels big-time

Hit Fix interviews Tahmoh: Tahmoh Penikett talks 'Dollhouse'

Tahmoh interview posted at TV Guide.com today!

Tahmoh will be appearing at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle Washington (Ooh! As well as Jewel Staite and Ray Park!) this April. via asta77 at Battlestar Blog

io9 has previewed the first three episodes of Dollhouse, and they offer a "spoiler-free" look (no actual events are given away, but it describes the overall theme of the show): We've Seen 3 Episodes Of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse!

Here's the official site for Dollhouse on Fox, which we're hoping will air full episodes. If so, make sure to click there to support the show if you miss it on air. Fox failed to stream episodes for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles until very recently (Fox's official TTSCC site), but they did air them on Hulu (and hopefully will continue to do so). Speaking of, now is a great time to catch up on last season's finale for TTSCC, either at Fox or the Hulu TTSCC page. Hulu has a pretty hefty page built up for Dollhouse, but has not posted as to whether or not they will be featuring the full episodes. I'm guessing... yes?

Hulu will be posting Nip/Tuck episodes 8 days after they air, so if my math is right, we will be able to see Katee Sackhoff in the episode "Manny Skerritt" by this Wednesday there. Here's a place marker for Hulu's Nip/Tuck page

Hulu also has the last few episodes of Burn Notice up, two of which feature Tricia Helfer ("Do No Harm" and "Hot Spot"). They are also available to view at IMDB, which may be more accessible for international audiences. And when the frak are we going to see Tricia on Chuck? It's still not known, and the scheduling for Chuck got a little frakked up since the presidential address aired exactly during Chuck's time slot this past Monday (but thankfully the episode of Heroes aired, which was written by Mark Verheiden - awesome episode I thought!). Perhaps the following video from ET Canada will help tide us over (spotted at Galactica Sitrep and posted to youtube by dudupcc):



Tricia is also scheduled as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live tomorrow night (as if we didn't have enough to watch tomorrow!), according to NewsOK.com and the Jimmy Kimmel site. I get a little confused however, since the show airs at 12:05am EST - so does that mean the Feb. 13 episode is tonight (since it will technically be Feb. 13 at 12am), or does it mean it will be 24 hours from then? Edit - it's confirmed that Tricia will be on the Kimmel show after BSG tomorrow night. Luckily, they do post the episodes to Jimmy's site.

Still on the subject of Tricia, she was elected the official Valentine of 2009 at Esquire.com's blog The Daily Endorsement.

There's a nice big interview with Nicki Clyne at newmobilecomputing.com - make sure to follow the table of contents listed at the bottom of the linked page for the full interview.

Galactica TV has a nice big interview with Grace Park

Some interesting discussions going on over at The Watcher, which came from the comment section of Maureen's most recent post for the episode "Blood on the Scales". Richard Hatch himself showed up in the comments to react to other reader's comments on his character, and writer Michael Angeli, of whom was featured and interviewed in the original post, also had a comment. Read all about it here, and note what Maureen mentions about getting extra content on the season 4.5 DVD.

Friday the 13th!

No, not the movie franchise.... I mean THIS Friday, the 13th of February 2009, will be a complete overload. First, at 8pm on Fox we have our other favorite human-looking robot 'verse - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, returning after a heckuva a cliffhanger and probably one of the best episodes I had seen yet. Then right after that, at 9pm, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse makes it's debut, also on Fox, and we get a fresh new light on Tahmoh Penikett. I was getting a little tired of seeing him with that bloody ear for the past few weeks, so hopefully he cleaned up a little. Lastly but not leastly, the 5th episode of Battlestar is on at 10pm on the SciFi channel, with what will be the half way point for the grand finale season.

Guess what else happens on Friday night? I have to work... and I don't have a DVR. I'll be pretty busy Saturday morning, which reminds me to remind fans out there who can't catch episodes when they air (and maybe also don't have DVRs) - Make sure to pop into your show's official sites and click to view the latest episode... even if you watch it by other means. Viewing online from the official sites counts toward the ratings, so it's like a virtual vote for your show!

Mary and Eddie

We posted part one of this TV Guide interview last month, with a warning that it was spoilery to the extent that Eddie and Mary sort of hush each other and give lots of insinuations as to how the rest of the final season of Battlestar will pan out. Those spoiler warning still stand, and after spotting part 4 of the interview at Galactica Sitrep, it's become apparent that the interview was much longer than I thought! We'll post parts 2, 3, and 4 here thanks to youtube user SprockFan:

Part 2 (still mildly spoilery as mentioned above):



Part 3 (not spoilery at all if you're all caught up - Mary and Eddy talk about the growth of Roslin and Adama's relationship):



Part 4 (almost spoiler-free, except what Eddie says about how his character will or will not change. Not quite sure how to take how he says this, so to be safe we'll just call it a mild spoiler. If you wait until the 1:00 mark, you'll be safe to watch the rest):

Colonial Dispatch 2.8.09

I was just reviewing "Blood on the Scales" over at Hulu, and it seems they may have found a genius symbiosis in advertising. Even though I'm pretty sure the Air Force ads are being shown when you watch anything on Hulu, the fact that they show it with Battlestar couldn't be more perfect. I was never really the type to join the military, at least not until now that it's kind of a little late in the game, especially to start pilot training - but oh man! How frakking cool would it be to fly those jets like they were frakking Vipers?!?

The enhanced version of "Blood on the Scales" isn't on Hulu right now, and I haven't checked SciFi.com because I've decided not to listen to the commentaries until the series has played out.

I also noticed that they had the web exclusive "The Hatch" up at Hulu and Sci Fi Wire. We'll post the Sci Fi Wire version here:



Maureen "The Watcher" Ryan comes through again for us fans, and as much as I want to be suggestion-free from the commentaries, I can't help reading the interviews she's been gracing us with. This week, for 'Blood', Maureen brings us Talking about 'Battlestar Galactica's' 'Blood on the Scales' with writer Michael Angeli. The obvious spoilers should be expected.

io9 caught up with Aaron Douglas at NYCC Friday, and shook him down with a Q&A about Emissary and BSG (okay, mostly BSG). It's spoilery as in it's suggestive of how you might feel by the end of the series, and it also tells us what will be explained in more depth as the series draws to a close. Okay, warning finished. Now read or watch the video and adore the awesome Office meets BSG t-shirt Aaron is sporting.

io9 also reports on the NYCC Emissary panel, with the promo video. No glimpses of Aaron in the promo, but I love ludicrously high-concept stuff!

IGN checked in today from NYCC and gave a little bit of the scoop on Joss and Tahmoh's Dollhouse panel.

Billy lives! In our hearts at least, but Paul Campbell is reported to have taken part in a very interesting tree-planting ceremony in the Yucatan. Read all about it at PR-USA

SciFi Wire has an interview with author Eric Nylund about the new 4 issue comic series Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War. Issue number one is currently in stores, and I promise a review one of these days soon. In short - a big double thumbs up! I think I'll refrain from posting the generally negative review over at IGN, so if you wanna read it you'll have to dig it up yourself :D. Comic Book Resources has the rundown from the Dynamite Comics panel at NYCC, which discusses some of the BSG projects.

Katee Sackhoff talks to Dose.ca as she gets buff for her role in Lost and Found. Don't forget to watch Katee in Nip/Tuck this Tuesday at 10pm on FX.

Kate Vernon talks briefly to The New York Daily News and mourns the show and the end of her work there.

Totally crazy Trylon Viers to be viewed at io9! Read down the comments in the article for a video interview and test drive with one proud owner.

So, I'm really bummed that the Cylon Detector app available from iTunes really is only for the iPhone and not the Touch. I have the latter which lacks a camera with which to utilize said app, even though they say you can use it on the Touch using a stored photo. What the frak fun is that? If you do have an iPhone though, here's the iTunes store link. I'll just have to live vicariously for you.

Take a virtual tour of the Galactica at SciFi.com. It's fun, and I just spent way too much time exploring.

Something many a BSG fan may have pondered is the impact of all the nuclear arsenal and the resulting consequences of their use in the Battlestar 'verse. Being a fan of apocalyptic themes myself (not that I want them to happen!) and more recently an addict to the game Fallout 3, I've been learning up a little more on the subject of a nuclear holocaust, kind of inadvertently. Some have asked why the Cylon-human alliance didn't even try to make a go of it on Earth, since the radiation was "slight" and 2,000 years old. We saw vegetation there, did we not? Will McCarthy posted a rather brilliant post over at Sci Fi Wire discussing what the possibilities might have been with some real-world science. Check out How we'll survive Battlestar Galactica's radioactive future, and when you're done with that, stop over at the Next Big Future blog to check out Brian Wang's research and analysis on the subject in the post The Science of Nuclear War Effects and Battlestar Galactica. After that, I recommend you rent The Day After Tomorrow and get that survival sled packed! Include lots of chocolate ;)

On to the less heavy stuff...

As you may notice, there's a new "poll" up (in parenthesis because the polls here are a little less than normal, and are mostly a fun way to interact). Most of the polls here are left to multiple choice... just an FYI. Here are the results of the last poll, recorded down in history:


"So far... Notion, Soul, Oath"

Good, better, best	1 (7%)
Best, better, good	3 (21%)
Other combo	2 (14%)
Frakkin blah blah	0 (0%)
Humans are dumb	2 (14%)
Viva la Revolution!	0 (0%)
Frak the Revolution	4 (28%)
Told too much in 'Notion'	2 (14%)
'Notion' made more questions	3 (21%)
Good balance of Qs and As so far	0 (0%)
Who dies next?	2 (14%)
Everyone	1 (7%)
No one (of consequence)	2 (14%)

Votes: 14

Frak the Revolution it is!

This is from an old-ish post over at Geek Crafts, but for all you knitters - check out the BSG Nebula hat! Also known as the "Mandala" by pattern contributor quirkyknitgirl.



The quote o' the week from Roslin:

"I swear it. I'm coming for all of you"

Caprica premiere hits DVD this April (?!)

I'm thinking that NBCU is experimenting here... Sci Fi Wire reported today that the series premiere for Caprica will be available on DVD this April (the 21st to be exact), and it will be a feature-length "uncut and unrated" version as opposed to the broadcast presentation due to air in 2010.

Sounds a little... different, no? At first glance, it seems NBCU might be trying to put Caprica out there while people are still riding the BSG wave, which will see it's last episode air in March - the month before this DVD release. The BSG movie "The Plan" is scheduled to air in June, which makes Caprica seemingly staggered into the mix. Perhaps there will be some sort of correlation between The Plan and Caprica.

I think the BSG wave may be part of it, but you would think that perhaps they could have waited at least until the fall, since that's a big outlet for introducing a new series to it's audience. Even waiting until early summer or a little later (or after The Plan?) would stagger the time gap between the end of BSG and regular broadcast for Caprica. As it stands now, Caprica is tentatively set to air in January 2010, but we've all seen those kinds of dates get pushed and pushed. It's quite possible there could end up being a year or so wait between the two series, and sticking a Caprica DVD in there a third or half-way through that wait would ease the pain a little. That thought led me to remember one of the oldest tricks in the book: starvation. Take Nintendo as an example. The Wii gaming console has consistently been the highest selling console since it emerged onto the playing field (I believe it was the fall of 2006). It's been the top seller each holiday season since it's release. At first it was new and exciting... and different. The Wii appealed not just to gamers, but to everybody else. Now today, try going into any given retailer and see if the Wii is in stock, and chances are there are probably none to one or two available (as opposed to the 50 to 100 Xbox 360s and PS3s they have in stock), or people are standing in line early Sunday mornings to get one. Still. Three years after it's release. Or is it four? People still want the Wii, and they want it bad, perhaps simply because they can't get them.

So maybe there are some other genuine counterparts to the delays for both Nintendo production and in the Television industry. One company can only make so much of a product at a time to feed the world. But surely NBCU isn't blind to the fact that fans of BSG and other series go absolutely gaga if their series is delayed, or even threatened to be cancelled. Remember the peanuts. Always remember the peanuts. Since ratings have proven to be an almost obsolete resource with the advent of internet streaming and the PVR, one of the new ways the companies have been getting an inkling of whether there is an audience is when the audience is outraged with hunger and telling the company/studio/media all about it.

So, stock up fans. Eat up all the BSG you can, and have a nip of Caprica. There's another long, hungry winter coming, and when it's over (i.e. when Caprica comes to air in 2010) you're going to want it like you've never wanted anything before. Maybe.

Edited - io9 has some more details on the content of the DVD and some executive explainations from Mark Stern of the SciFi Channel.

Keep checking in at capricadvd.com

Alternate post title: "Let them eat frakking cake"

Aaron on 'Emissary'

Anyone lucky enough to attend New York Comic Con this Friday (February 6) might also be lucky enough to catch the Emissary panel, which is a new series Aaron Douglas is co-starring in. From Comic Book Resources:

"The panel takes place Friday, February 6th at 6pm and will include the first look at Emissary’s teaser footage and a Q&A with the stars... The Emissary cast includes Philip Morris (Smallville), Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Brian Thompson (X-File, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Emmy nominee Thaao Penghlis with additional cast members Yuri Lowenthal and J LaRose in attendance at the NYCC panel."

Also in Aaron news - Here's some video of last Friday's "Geek Out With Wil Wheaton, Yuri Lowenthal, and Aaron Douglas" session at Phoenix Comic Con. I'll post video 1 of 4 here, and you can watch the remaining 3 either at the youtube user's page who posted them, Autolooper, or over at The Chief's Deck.



Aaron will also be attending The Dallas All-Con (March 13, 14, and 15) as a guest of The 501st Star Garrison, the Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas region branch of the 501st Legion. Aaron is not scheduled for any particular event at this con, but will probably be doing autographs as he pals around with the 501 SG. Will Aaron be in trooper gear? Also via The Chief's Deck and All-Con on Myspace

Looking at Gaeta and Battlestar

Over at io9, Annalee Newitz reflects on Gaeta as a character, his demise (okay, so that's relative), and how he ties into the greater web of the story. Interesting stuff. I haven't been posting many other reviews since "Sometimes a Great Notion", but this one is worth a gander (yes, I said that) - Why is Gaeta so Bad?

Another reflection, but this time on the career of Battlestar as a series, and how it's relevant in the scope of television history. Oh, and did you know Eddie Olmos was a Throbbing Gristle fan? I suspected he was punk-rock. Read Kill Your Television Series: The bittersweet, dignified demise of Battlestar Galactica by Mark Holcomb of Moving Image Source (Journal of the Museum of the Moving Image). via Club Jade