Sci Fi channel announced that it has ordered 20 hours of the Battlestar Galactica prequel, called "Caprica". The pilot is delayed until 2009, with the full up series landing "sometime in 2010".

Here's a teaser blurb from SFC:

Set 50 years before “Battlestar Galactica,” “Caprica” follows two rival families — the Graystones and the Adamas — as they grow, compete, and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics. “Caprica” will deliver all of the passion, intrigue, political backbiting and family conflict in television’s first science fiction family saga. As the series begins, a startling development is about to occur — the creation of the first cybernetic life-form node or “Cylon” — the ability to marry artificial intelligence with mechanical bodies. Joseph Adama (Morales) — father of future “Battlestar” commander William Adama (Najafi) — a renowned civil liberties lawyer, becomes an opponent of the experiments undertaken by the Graystones (Stoltz), owners of a large computer corporation that is spearheading the development of these living robots: the Cylons.

I dunno.. sounds like windy suckage to me at this juncture.. too much throbbing passions and not enough toasters. I have great faith in Ron Moore, however, and I have seen him turn things around before. I am somewhat excited with anticipation...

The previous (half) a season transpired while I was in a bit of a sojourn from blogging. I thought Season 4.1 was great, albeit flawed in places. Me, I would never, ever, ever have entered into any kind of allegiance with Cylons, but then again, I'm not writing the show.

The teaser looks very interesting. I'm delighted that Earth is as messed up as it is, but the teaser seems to indicate that this may or may not be "the place". Make you say hmmmmmm...

Getting Slack with Reportage.. but then again...

You may have noticed something. I am no longer keeping up with BSG the way I used to. There's a reason for that. Ever since we came back from the mid-season break, the writing has gone from mediocre ho-hum ("Taking a Break from All Your Worries") to just downright BAD ("The Woman King"). Don't get me wrong; I still enjoy the show and still am loyal to it-- a week with a new Battlestar episode to tivo beats one that doesn't by a country mile. Yet, I find myself increasingly disappointed. In particular, with the recent three episodes, some of which had some high points but they were mostly poorly written.

To catch us back up with this week (Maelstrom, Episode 316, which shows some of the old spark and one that I will deal with separately):

Episode 313: THE WOMAN KING (a mediocre word pun, as it turns out). This is almost a solo HELO episode, highlighting that character's struggle to gain acceptance and feel useful again after being demoted from XO to a "Refugee Officer" position. There's some interesting background material about how the colonies viewed each other, particularly the Saggitareons (SP?), but other than that it falls flat on its face. The Helo-centric episode turns out to be a bad notion, as Tahmoh Pinkett grabs so much screen time they have to lard the episode with many, many cliches about the "maverick, but RIGHT hero struggling against disbelieving authority" plotline. Very predictable, the worst BSG ep ever, and I mean it.

Episode 314: A DAY IN THE LIFE. One good thing about this episode: It isn't The Woman King. I only saw this one when it aired and am a bit fuzzy on it, but basically we have another character builder episode where we are interested in the long departed Mrs. Adama (in both sense of the word) as Admiral Adama reflects back on the disintegration of his marriage and his ex-wife's alcoholism problem. Some nice uncomfortable moments as Lee recounts to his father the way it really was in House Adama when he was off seeking glory in the fleet. There's also some low-level sizzle between Laura and Adama Sr. which I rather liked.. nice to see a flirty side of President Rosslyn. There's an accident with an air lock and the Chief and Cally to remind us we are actually watching a show about being in space. Other than that-- the only Cylon in view was Athena. Not great, only marginally good, perhaps even mediocre. Good character development, and that's all there is.

Episode 315: DIRTY HANDS This is the best of the lot of three we're capsule-reviewing. Again, nary a Cylon in sight (except the domestic breed: Caprica 6, "Head 6" and Athena) here. Most of the action takes place in one of those big, creepy factory ships, making fuel for the fleet. Galen (the chief) who was head of the Labor Union back on New Caprica, is sent to troubleshoot the fuel production slowdown. His loyalties are questioned, and he takes action after a rather grim industrial accident. Adama fixes the problem in rather draconian style by threatening to put Callie up against a bulkhead and shoot her. In the end, a compromise of sorts is reached and Galen walks away with some face. A good episode that was poorly placed in the season lineup. On the heals of two intensely character-centric episodes it falls rather flat. There are many GREAT things about this ep, including: Baltar's origins on a working class planet. The Revelation of social strata within the colonial society (Caprica is high class and technical, Saggitariaon low class and agricultural, who knew). And, of course, any episode that pulls back the curtain and reveals how the fleet manages to feed, fuel and maintain itself while on the run is a good idea.

My big issue with the past three episodes is we have no idea of the strategic situation viz the Cylons any more. Are they gone? We haven't seen on in a while, except for the pet Cylon on board. There's no external threat, so the conflicts they use to drive the plot are somewhat contrived and stale as a result.

Two things to look forward to: The Trial of Baltar and some resolution with Starbuck and her "visions"... we can only hop.e.

No Recap/Spoilers this week

The SCI FI network cheesed on us and ran back to back reruns of the last two episodes. There will be a new ep on Sunday.

Art copyright Grant Gould, 2006

Well, is he or isn't he??

Apparently, he's not... didn't I tell you that?

Taking a break from all your worries, 13th aired episode this season, was directed by Edward James Olmos (aka, Admiral William Adama). Edward Olmos ("Eddie") has a far darker, surrealistic vision than I had expected and was quite the dab hand at setting up scenes. Funny thing is, according to Ron Moore's last podcast, this was supposed be a comedy (as initially conceived). I can see a little bit of that, in the bar scenes where Galen and Lee retreat to get drunk and discuss their dysfunctional marriages. But for the rest of it, I would hardly call it a comedy. At least not "funny ha-ha" comedy.

Okay, I'll say this now.. I'm getting sick of who's sleeping with whom on this show. I really could care less if Anders is boinking Starbuck or Apollo is boinking Starbuck. Moore, Eick and company need to revisit those themes that made this show great-- humanity in flight, a merciless enemy bent on our extermination, and lots of whiz-bang. There's been a dearth of whiz-bang since the two part Exodus show at the beginning of the season, and I'm starting to miss it. I understand that the underlying sexual tensions between flight officers is titillating for some people but really, it moves the plot along not a whit and gets horribly repetitive. So I was zoning out a bit on the Lee/Starbuck/Anders/Dualla love quadrangle. They argued a lot, snarled at each other and had some soulful, whistful conversations about their relationships. Kind of like last week, and the week before.

Far more interesting was the almost-suicide of Baltar, foiled by his one-time stooge Gaeta. In Baltar's minds' eye, he hangs himself, and is awakened in a chamber with three number sixes (none of which are Caprica Six, presumably in a brig somewhere). Fantastic performances were given by Mary McDonnell (Laura Rossyln) and Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh, putting in his outstanding performance). They play bad-cop/bad-cop on Baltar, giving everyone (including the viewing audience) the distinct impression that Baltar will very shortly be breathing vacummn. Hogan (as I have said many times) is at his best when playing the bitter, twisted Sol Tigh in just this sort of situation.. loaded with hate. McDonnell was a real suprise. I thought she was serious.

The attempt to use a hallucigenic drug on Baltar in a ploy to get him to reveal Cylon secrets goes somewhat awry; he reveals nothing of value and babbles on incoherently much like he did under Cylon torture (if he can't forward project, like the Cylons do, then what the heck IS going on in that man's head, eh?). Olmos is great here, bringing Baltar down from his "bad trip".

There's a nice twisty, oogy ending with Gaeta that is worth watching twice for the way Callas (Baltar) and Juliani (Gaeta) play off of each other. As usual, James Callas as the ever-madder Baltar steals the show.

Not the best episode, but far from the worst. Definitely NOT the comedy they were looking for.

Fantastic Return from the Midseason Cliffhanger

Yes, I know I've been late in starting this series after the mid-season cliffhanger. Blame it on the new job.


When last we checked in, the Cylon/Human standoff over the Algae planet had come to a head. The nukes are deployed, the triggers set, and all that is awaited is the go signal from Adama. Deanna and Baltar are speeding to the planet in a group of 5 Cylon heavy raiders filled up with Chrome Jobs. Oddly enough, the Cylons blink first, and 4 of the 5 Heavy Raiders return to the base stars. Deanna and Baltar, of course, make it to the planet's surface. Nice to see the humans come off on top of things, for once.

On the surface, the humans are ambushing the chrome jobs. Lee, in a nicely ironic move, deploys his own wife, Dualla, to rescue Starbuck, his lover, from the crash site. Both Dualla and Starbuck recognize the irony. Nice, taught dialogue here. oooogy!

Meanwhile, Athena ('the good cylon') has learned her daughter is not dead and on the base ship. She convinces Agathon to shoot her so she can get over to the Cylons. That's an amazing scene... Especially the ensuing standoff between the Boomer cylon and Athena cylon.

Deanna and Baltar manage to make it to the Eye of Jupiter temple.. turns out the Eye is really, really the rapidly approaching stellar nova. Funny thing that they happen to be there at that exact moment, eh? Deanna manages some mystical mumbo jumbo and yes, she does see the five cylons that are revealed to her, but not us. She says "Excuse me, I had no idea.." I wonder what that means??? Could it mean that it was Baltar all along?

The nova happens to provide the requisite cliffhanger action... and we learn just how serious Deanna's transgressions are in the eyes of Cylons. She gets recalled to the resurrection ship and informed that for going where she should not (the final five) she will now be "boxed" and her entire model retired. Hard guys, those cylons!

During the fracas, Baltar gets coldcocked by Galen and smuggled back to the Galactica in a bodybag. Presumably, for trial or perhaps a trip out an airlock.

Athena and Caprica six overcome the Bommer Cylon on the other ship, who was kind of flipping out because it was clear that the Hannah baby doesn't like Boomer but loves her genetically identical mother, Athena. SOMEHOW, they manage to leave the Cylon ship (how, we are not told) and arrive on Galactica, where Athena and Hannah return and Caprica is put in the brig at gunpoint.

And thus the season ends; very taught, the work of the show's best director and one of the best writing teams. Very good, didn't open up too many holes, and I liked the resolution... we are clearly seeing a dissolution of Cylon Unity and Single Purpose-- they are not all working from the same game plan like they used to.

I realize this one is in just under the wire, I'll try to get a reaction piece done later on this week.

Another Great Cliffhanger!

(permission is given to not read this if you don't like BSG. It's fine by me. ALSO! If you haven't seen the show yet, don't read this post

Okay, this was an excellent little cliffhanger, bringing many disparate threads into play until the show resumes broadcast in late January. The Algae Planet is a source of nutrients that several civilians and a few military types are harvesting for the benefit of the food processing machines, and ultimately, the entire fleet (not very tasty stuff, either.. the Chief says it smells wretched and tastes about as good as it smells).

On the personal front the Kara/Lee affair is hot and heavy, which is apparently an ill-kept secret. Lee, it turns out, is the needy one, and Kara the somewhat cavalier one in this relationship. Lee wants them both to get a divorce and get married, kara will have none of that.. it's a sin, don't ye know. So I think they break it off, it's hard to say. As I've predicted before, I still think Sam Anders (at the very least) is in for a short contract, and real soon.

The Chief (in a very neatly played scene, I thought) keeps hearing some sort of subsonic music or message or something, and is drawn into the hills where he discovers a cave, which contains something called the "Temple of Five"-- no coincidence that there are five unknown Cylons, of course, as they want to find this thing called the EYE OF JUPITER which is somewhere in the temple.

Fascinating stuff that thirteenth tribe keep leaving behind, isn't it?

The Cylons are BIG players in this episode, pulling into orbit with four base stars, and then engaging in a bit of a Mexican standoff.. They'll destroy the Galactica and everyone on it, plus everyone on the ground, if they don't hand over the eye. The parlay, with Cylons arriving on the Galactica to negotiate with Baltar in tow, is easily the BEST scene of the show. Lucy Lawless, Eddie Olmos, Michael Hogan, James Callis, Mary McDonnell, and Dean Stockwell play off each other flawlessly. Standouts: Mary McDonnell listening to the traitor Baltar start negotiations, then cutting him off by saying "the less this man says, the better things will go". And Olmos walking up to Lawless (within an inch of her face) and saying "alright, I'm dictating the terms now..." And of course, we can't forget Stockwell saying "Oh, by the way, we'll throw in Baltar.." and looking at the stricken look on Callis' face. Fantastic performances all around. The sardonic grins on Olmos (and especially Hogan as the bitter Colonel Tigh) were great-- "That's an offer worth thinking about".

Of course, Deanna and Baltar are off on their Cylon prophecy goofiness and now think they will only see the Five if they see The Eye of Jupiter... so they engage in deception to land a team of centurions (cutting off the humans on the ground) and then land themselves.

Did I mention they also figured out that the sun of this planet will be going nova in the near future? When Gaeta brings this news, the audience were agreeing with him when he says "what are the odds that Humans and Cylons would both arrive here virtually at the same moment??? (yeah, we were wondering that too, Felix)...

So the Mexican Standof is tested by Deanna and Adama calls her bluff by filling his launch tubes with nukes, readying himself to blast the temple (and the shore party) to atoms. A great place to end it...

So far, season three has lived up to expectations, boasting three great shows and a number of good ones. Even the bad ones are beat most prime time viewing by a country mile, so I'm happy with the efforts of Mssrs. Moore, Eick and company to date.

Now that's action... and pathos

Spoiler Alert, as Usual.. Big Time!
The recent episode of BSG marked a return to form for the show, featuring action, incredible danger, death, and mayhem. Whereas last week's show was a minimalist exploration into character, this week's show was space opera at its finest.

One of the elements of plot that we all assume is going on is that the rag-tag fleet has some way of generating new food from some form of biomass conversion process-- hydroponics, synthetic food conversion, recycling, or some other oh-gee-whiz device. For once, the writers talk about the infrastructure behind feeding 47000 people, trapped on ships, flying around in space. The situation is dire. The food converter whizbang device has been contaminated, and the whole fleet food supply is in desperate shape. Naturally this calls for a nearly suicidal plan with little chance of success. A planet is found that is teaming with algae required to feed the food processing plants. The only problem is that it's behind some sort of hideous radiation cloud and a trip through the cloud is almost lethal.

The fleet has to make four trips through (for reasons they aren't that clear about). Most of the civilians are cooped up in the Galactica's hold to take advantage of its shielding. And it is there that Kat (aka Louanne Katraine), the crusty, bohemian rival to Starbuck, meets a blast from her past. It's her old boyfriend (and fellow drug runner), Enzo. And Enzo is hungry and looking for the meal ticket that Kat represents. Surprise, it turns out that "Kat" isn't Kat after all. She's a young woman named Sasha, a former trucker and drug runner. When civilization packed it in after the Cylon attack, she saw a natural opportunity to turn her life around, and assumed the name of a recently deceased pilot. Now Enzo will reveal that to the Colonials if she doesn't feed him. Alas, she doen't have anyh food either.

Meanwhile, Deanna and Baltar openly discuss some of the loopy suicide-ressurection antics she has gotten up to lately. Baltar has some sort of status with the Cylons now, apparently from being the meat in the Number 6/Number 8 sandwich he sleeps in every night. Baltar has apparently won her confidence and she openly discusses having seen "the Other Five" cylons we haven't seen in the show yet. Apparently she can see them in the intervening time between death and resurrection, but can't remember them when she wakes up.. this bit was typically confusing and felt tacked on.

Back at the fleet, the ships make the four incredibly harrowing trips through the radiation belt, and this is the best part of the show.. we haven't seen an episode this tense and relentless since "33" back in the first season. The palpable feeling of exhaustion is well acted by all participants.. standout performances from Jaimie Barber playing a near-babbling exhausted Apollo trying to debrief pilots, and Eddie Olmos and Michael Hogan sharing a quiet moment of near-hysteria as they laugh over a trifle. The hands down best performance, in my opinion, was given by Lucian Carro as Kat.. caught between a rock and a hard place, she makes a terrible sacrifice and emerges an unlikely hero.. alas, this is also her death knell.

I realize that a show that depicts dangers this harrowing probably demands some sacrifice of a character, but I was pretty bummed that they killed off Kat like this. She was a great little ensemble character and she added a lot of tension with Starbuck. The show will miss her.

This episode rates up there with "33" and "Exodus part 2" for rock em sock em action, and I loved it. It probably used up the effects budget or two episodes, but it was definitely worth it. Well done, Ron Moore!

Back on track!

Standard Spoiler Alert. Not very serious this week.

NOTE: I'm not sure about the episode numbering. I'm seeing references to UNINISHED BUSINESS as being number 308, but some folks are combining EXODUS and counting that two-parter as a single episode.

Much as I liked HERO (last week), it really falls outside of the story arc somewhat; it could have been there or not been there and it wouldn't have any effect on the continuous progression of the BSG story arc. THIS week's episode, "Unfinished Business" definitely falls within the arc of the show. I also think it might be one of the best WRITTEN shows this season. Ron Moore does wonders on a tight budget. I know (from listening to his podcast) that he has a budget that he has to work with and he can't exceed it. MUCH of his season budget went into the incredible effects that were displayed in EXODUS. This episode demonstrates that in the hands of a talented writing staff, a constrained budget and a looming deadline, wonders can still be worked. Almost ALL of the episode takes place in the hangar bay set (again, inside knowledge from Ron Moore). And all of the footage is framed by a boxing match scheduled by Adama. Apparently it's a tradition in the Colonial fleet to have these things-- it relieves tension and allows the crew to "settle unfinished business" without bloodshed (clever, no?). The tension, mostly, is between those who stayed "upstairs" with the fleet during Occupation, and those that went down on the ground. Many flashbacks filmed back when the New Caprica set was intact are intercut in the show, and we see nary a Cylon throughout.

It was a good decision on Moore's part, to reaquaint us with some of the folks that have been on the periphery of the action lately. We learn (almost entirely from flashback) that Adama didn't want to release the Chief from active duty to become a civilian== being softhearted, he caved in, and he resents the chief for creating situations where lives might have been lost. He then proceeds to challenge the chief to a fight in a very memorable line (Hey, Chief, get your lazy fat ass up here!). The chief is cocky, thinking he will go easy on the "old man".. but Adama (who we already know boxes for fitness) knocks him down and almost out with a single punch. The denouement of this sequence is shockingly gory and very well played by that consumate actor, Eddie Olmos.

We also learn that maybe, just maybe, the Admiral and Laura might have a "thing" for each other, as they gaze at the sky, smoking big fatboys from the local New Caprican wacky tobacky and drinking skullcrack whiskey. And maybe, just maybe, they did something about it. Who knows? We definitely see other sides of their characters as they briefly let the masks down (Mary certainly looks fetching in that red dress... but I've carried a torch for her since DANCES WITH WOLVES, sigh...). MOST startling was that we learn the source of the serious Starbuck/Apollo rift. To nobody's great surprise, they admit they love each other (DUH!) but might be repelled by each other (DUH!). They have their wild romp, even though both are "goin' steady" with other people (Duala and Anders). Lee wants to make their relationship an open matter; Starbuck agrees, then wakes up the next morning and runs off to get married... to ANDERS. Lee's hungover, hostile and betrayed. The actor, Jamie Barber, played this one to the hilt, striding up the ramp to the shuttle in whitehot, hungover fury, and then *seizing* Duala and kissing her at the top of the ramp.

So the Anders and Duala relationships are BOTH rebounds, eh? My prediction: some convenient character deaths are coming up in the show. I wouldn't be betting any money on the longevity of the Anders or Duala characters.

The climax of the show is when Starbuck goads Apollo into fighting HER in an incredibly gory, protracted fight sequence. It's obvious that Starbuck, always mentally unstable, sees this as fitting punishment for her treatment of Apollo-- to have Apollo beat the crap out of her. A very complex, interesting and incredibly entertaining episode, right on par with EXODUS, and without the gazillion dollar special effects budget. Just good writing and good acting. I loved it!

Fun with Flashbacks

Spoilers

A pretty good (not mindboggling great, but good) episode last Friday. The crew of the Galactica discover a burning Cylon Raider on the run from two other Cylon Raiders. The two raiders get smoked and the smoking raider gets escorted onto the Galactica.

Out of the raider drops a human pilot named Lt. Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek, who once served under Adama. He disappeared from sight 3 years previous, during a secret mission at Adama's behest. when Adama was at the helm of another Battlestar named Valkyrie (the third one seen on the new show!).

It turns out that "Bulldog" appears to be exactly what he says he is, genetically (and not a brand new form of Cylon). Which leads to a lot of flashbacks from all parties-- in which we see that Adama senior was once very highly regarded in the fleet, and that his post prior to the Galactica was a bit of a plum-- the Valkyrie being in the same class as Pegasus (apparently). Furthermore we also learn that because of events that transpire with Bulldog as the focal point, Adama was in something like a career exile on the Galactica. There's some serious soul-searching that goes on with all concerned.

The denouement is somewhat anticlimatic, and I don't need to go into it. I'm glad they introduced a new character and I hope he becomes a regular (frankly, the cast is a tad lilly-white in my opinion).

The Cylons were pretty confusing in this episode.. the D'Anna model (Lucy Lawless) has most of the screen time, with Baltar having no speaking lines at all and Caprica 6 only 2 or 3 lines. D'Anna has become somewhat taken with Baltar, if the evidence of a threesome with Caprica and Baltar is any clue (and thank you, Ms. Lawless, for the wonderful walkaway right after that scene.. you are a work of art!). I actually think the "D'Anna's nightmares" subplot seems to be pointless meandering, but you never know with Ron Moore. Everything connects.

In sum, a good not great episode, with some high points. Keep showing us the cylon point of view, Ron Moore! That's what is making this show great.

THIS guy needs to walk out of an airlock, and soon!

Perhaps it was the addition of a lot of beer and watching the episode MST3K style at a FALL-IN convention that made me hostile to this episode's ending, because when I saw it on TIVO later it made sense up to a point.

major spoilers alert

When we last tuned in, the Cylons had discovered the space junk probe left by.. humans? It would appear so as results indicate. This episode opens up with Apollo and the newly christined "Athena" reconning the dying Base Ship from the last episode. They quickly come to the conclusion that something isn't right here. The landing party discovers five dying Cylons, including a Simon model and a Sharon model. Athena (I like that name, I will use it for the Sharon that is an ally of humanity from now on) is very helpful in determining exactly what happened.

Bigtime missed opportunity.. if the 12 colonies didn't leave that probe out there, who did? Did I miss some dialogue? You'd think that would be a major important artifact, yes? Nope, they just leave it there in time for it to be exploded in the Base Star's self-descruct sequence. Oh well, opportunity blown.

They DO bring back the five Cylon prisoners, and discover that:

A) the disease not only kills Cylons, it CAN be transmitted during the resurrection process, or so the Cylons think. and
B) The Simon rats out Baltar, ensuring he won't be welcome in the ranks of humanity forever...

This is all a big setup for classic TV drama manby pambyness. The Cylon disease can be used as a weapon! Lee Adama leaps on the correct conclusion immediately: jump into Cylon space near a resurrection ship, kill the cylons, have them resurrect on the Resurrection ship and infect the whole frackin' Cylon race! Bravo! Brilliant! Way to go, Lee, you are shaping well!

BUT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....
We are then subjected to the standard hand-wringing as Helo (and also Admiral Adama) agonize over "Gee, will it be doing the right thing to exterminate the Cylon race?"... to the point where the only person with gonads sufficient to make the correct decision is Laura Rosslyn!

How realistic is this??? That part of the script was an enormous letdown. When a society is faced with overwhelming might, superior technology, and a relentless adversary that will NOT stop from exterminating YOU, you actually take a couple of seconds to pause and think if God hands you a means of deliverance? I wouldn't.

And THEN... the real capper, after Laura gives an executive order (IN WRITING) commanding Adama to execute the disease attack, Helo sabotages it by killing the prisoners before they get into Cylon space. This is the act of a traitor to humanity FAR more serious than anything Baltar has done (directly). By doing what he did, Helo might have doomed humanity. I say, shove his self-righteous ass out of an airlock and make him breathe vacumn.

End Note: If ever I'm being tortured by a relentless robotic race, remind me to implant a fantasy version of Tricia Helfer in my head. It sure did wonders for Baltar..

It's hard to be a Cylon...

Anne Saunders has really outdone herself. Who's Anne Saunders? The writer on TORN, the latest episode in BSG.

SPOILERS! LOOK AWAY!

(Intercut with commentary COPYRIGHT SCI FI CHANNEL 2006)

Baltar remains a prisoner within the Cylon fleet, alive only because his captors believe that he can lead them to a new home: Earth. Indeed, hoping to find the mythical planet for himself, Baltar has pinpointed a nebula that might have been a navigation point for the thirteenth tribe on their ancient journey to Earth. The Cylons send a base ship to investigate. Meanwhile, aboard the Galactica, Gaeta deciphers Baltar's abandoned research notes and also locates the nebula. Eager to resume the quest for Earth, Roslin orders Adama to explore it.

An outstanding performance by James Callis last week. For the first time, we can actually SEE into the Cylon mindset, if only as a glimmer. We learn of "Forward Projection", the way the Cylons view the universe. We even get introduced to a NEW sort of Cylon, "the Hybrid", a sort of Cyborg construct that guides the ships and operates everything on it. Somehow, I doubt this is one of the human seeming Cylon "other Five" that are left over from the 12 base models. In fact, I can't understand why a Cylon that does this task even has to look human? Where are the design specs on this model?

VERY interesting comments made by Baltar this episode. His lucid daydreams with "fantasy Six" are becoming suspicious. We know that medically, Baltar looks human, doesn't have a chip in his head, and for all intents and purposes, IS a human. Yet.. he "forward projects" just like any skin job.. or at least something that is like it. Caprica 6, Baltar's old flame from the early series, seems to have soured of Baltar. I wish we could see if "fantasy Baltar" is still in her head nowadays.

My take on this: I don't think Gaius is a Cylon. It's just too obvious.

Back on the Galactica, things are falling apart with Tigh and Starbuck.. and what happened to Anders???

Col. Tigh is also at loose ends because Helo has unofficially replaced him as Adama's right-hand man. Tigh and Starbuck — both angry, traumatized survivors of the occupation — soon join forces, deriding everyone who didn't suffer as they did and insinuating that their comrades are too weak-minded to resist the Cylons. They don't suspect how far Adama is willing to go to win them back to his side.

Adama (senior) handles this very well indeed, in a very poignant show. I predict Saul will continue a downward slope, but Starbuck will eventually redeem herself.

And for the best part of the show...

Having reached the nebula, the Cylon scout ship transmits back a garbled distress call. It has been infected with a virus that kills all Cylon life. Horrified, the Cylons realize that they can't even resurrect their dying comrades, because the virus will then be transmitted to the rest of their fleet. They don't know what to do until Baltar volunteers to investigate. By hunting down the virus's source aboard the dying ship, he'll either prove his worth to the Cylons or die of the infection — proving that he's a Cylon himself.

The virus seems to eminate from a piece of space junk left by the original humans who went to Earth. It appears to have been infected as a trap. Baltar refuses to mention this when he gets back, trying to keep a very weak ace up his sleeve. Unfortunately, Caprica 6 is reviewing the pictures and notices the piece of space junk, but doesn't say anything. I wonder why? To protect Baltar? Somehow I doubt it...

Anyway, great show.. far better than COLLABORATORS, and connecting directly to next episode, where the Humans discover the virus. What to do, what to do?

Predictable, but Solid

As I said last week, The folks at the production staff at Battlestar Galactica would have a difficult time topping EXODUS part two, and that proved to be the case. COLLABORATORS was a good, albeit not great, episode with lots of interesting bits in it.



ONLY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW
Predictably, those that suffered under the year of Cylon Occupation are now getting their own back against open collaborators with the Cylon Regime. One (minor) character gets "spaced", and the kangaroo court (filled with people you might recognize) sets their eyes on Mister Gaeta, who had worked as Baltar's executive assistant. Predictable stuff happens, and predictably, he gets saved in the last nanosecond.

(Side note: Ronald Moore had better start thinking about HOW MANY PEOPLE IT TAKES to renew an entire human race.. what are we down to now? How many births are have their been? Can they afford to execute people, even scumbag collaborators?) My friend Peter Card (English Peter in BPD) sent me a link on a paper about DNA Sampling and "population choke points" such as is suggested by the show's 41,000 people (they updated the population stats). It makes for interesting reading-- postulating that the human race might have hit a choke point several thousand years back, and we now have so-called "modern man" as a result of the contracting of the gene pool.

My friend, BSG Ubergeek Don Pierce, suggests that perhaps a population explaosion is going on that we aren't seeing. Lots of people, cooped up on small ships with not a lot to do for months on end.. the predictable might be happening but we're not seeing it. I haven't really tracked that little "population statistic" that flashes just before the credits lately.

In any event, my favorite bits were with Baltar on the Cylon Ship, were he is kept under close guard. No longer pathetic, he's back to being a sniveling coward. I hope we see more of Cylon lifestyles in this season. Do Cylons have art? Interior Decorating? It doesn't look like it.

Maybe Gaius can teach them Feng Shui...

Near term predictions: Apollo will miraculously drop 40 pounds (see David Eick's vidcast "Jaime and the Fat Man"), and possibly take the XO spot on Galactica (Tigh is just a headcase right now, and an embarassment to himself). Starbuck will take the pilot seat again, and have trouble reclaiming her top dog status. The Cylon Baby will fade into obscurity again. For a while.

(speaking of predictions, check out the vidcast of the Cast predicting which one of the "Top Seven" will be offed this season. You know, if you are an actor playing a Cylon, it strikes me that you have a hell of a lot of job security on this show. "Oh, let's kill Boomer!.. uh, big deal.."

Wow. Simply... wow...

SPOILERS WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS EPISODE, DON'T READ THIS

Once again, Galactica astounds us with easily the best episode yet (for this season, possibly for the entire run of the show!)

If the production team for BSG doesn't get an Emmy for this episode, then there ain't no justice.

Since COLLABORATORS is airing tonight, I think it's high time to post some ruminations on EXODUS 2. Plot points will be revealed here.

What an amazing finale to the Caprica 2 experience! It was a great, unique setting that allowed for some amazing plot development and great character building, but I'm glad to see it in the fleet's wake. This is a show about a journey ("Exodus" is a fitting title for this episode), not about colonizing planets. Press on to Earth, says I.

In short GALACTICA comes back to take on (they think) two Cylon Base Stars and recover a huge amount of people from the surface. To execute this maneuver, they needed launch keys to get the grounded ships off the planet. We are not privy to how the word spread around the entire human population of Caprica 2, but we have some hints of it when the guerilla forces stage a demonstration to keep the Cylons occupied while the Galactica jumps in.

The maneuver that the Raptors were practicing last week (that Adama Senior bitched out Adama Junior over) was deploying drones. Now we see why. It was to fake out the two Cylon guardships and have them broadcast the signal for two battlestars. While they are ringing their hands in consternation over this, Guerillas on the ground (led by Anders, Tigh, and the Female marine troop from last week) blow up several buildings and engage the toaster Cylons on the ground. This is all a setup for simply the best visual effect I'v ever seen on BSG or maybe any other SF themed show. At one point, Anders turns to Tigh and says "Where's GALACTICA?" And Tigh says something like "The Old Man will be here, don't worry". At that moment, you look waaaaay up in the sky and see a little smudge. It's the Galactica, a ship designed to never enter Atmo, Jumping in about 11000 feet above the compound. And it proceeds to drop like a rock, with air burning off all around it and heating up from friction. That's when the Vipers launch off of all bays (points to the writers for adding the little bit from the thoughtful pilot saying to himself: "Hmm. This should be interesting"..) As the Vipers rush to engage the Cylon fighters, Galactica jumps out to orbit from about 600 feet above ground! Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be designed to do this sort of thing and we got lots of fizzing, popping, and what not and the jump drive goes down. Uh OH!

At this moment, In jumps two more Cylon base stars. Adama's reaction is perfectly written. "Well, That's it. We can't take on Four. Gentlemen, It's been an honor." What a fantastic little bit that is. He doesn't freak out, he calmly accepts the facts, knowing he's done his duty. At that moment, PEGASUS arrives, guns blazing.. going right into the heart of four base stars. One star goes down... then PEGASUS gets bracketed by three base stars... giving GALACTICA the time it needed to fix its drive and jump away. (Odd note: this is almost exactly a reprise of the OLD series demise of their PEGASUS, if you think on it). The mighty PEGASUS goes down under a hail of gunfire, but not before ramming one star head on and losing an engine nacelle by plowing it into another star, destroying it. What a fantastic ending for the Peggy. I'll miss her, but if you have to go out, it's best to take 3 enemies with you.

Not all the action was 100% sepcial effects. The show began with one of the most heart-wrenching sequences I've ever seen on the series, where Tigh feeds his own wife (who betrayed the resistance, albeit for noble reasons) poison. and holds here while she dies. Quite a tear-jerker. And the little bits with Laura taking "Her ship" over again, and Gaius leaving with the Cylons (where else could he go, after all?) were well done.

It's going to be hard for the BSG creative staff to top the EXODUS PART II episode, but I can hope...

SPOILERS

Okay, it's been a week, so I don't feel guilty about revealing anything.

Episode 2 was far more sentimental that I expected it would be. The crews of the Pegasus and Galactica are each moving off on separate assignments-- Lee is taking the remnant of the humans left (about 12000 people) and leaving for a rendevous spot, presumably to pick up the trek for Earth at some point. Adama is staging a rescue mission for the rest of the human population left behind on New Caprica.

Think on that a minute.

The Galactica is going to rescue the entire human colony, from a planet with a very small amount of arable land mass (providing very little in the way of "safe places to run to") and take them off while they are guarded by 3 base stars.

It's going to be an interesting plan. The Cylons are not quite what they once were, militarily. Still, one base star can take on one Galactica, so how will they deal with three?

Simply put, a bigass massive diversion, and the previews certainly indicate that. My prediction for this evening: Lee will disobey orders and bring the Pegasus into battle, and it might, just might, be curtains for the Pegasus. I hope not!!

The humans, of courss, will be pulled off of New Caprica, or there's not much of a Season Three, is there? Points to ponder: What will the Cylon reaction be once the humans head off? Will they chase and go back to combat operations, or was the "Cylon Perestroika" just a phase they went through? And what will happen to Baltar? How can he be in the show any more? He certainly can't leave with the fleet if he expects to live.

Recapping last week, I am very glad they played with the P.O.V. so much and made a rescue look like an ambush. I also glad they kept Laura around-- she's the heart of the show. They handled the guerilla strike/military ambush element very well by a series of jump cuts and shared points of view. Very nifty-- it's a technique that really draws one into a show.

The Diana/Cylon character is showing more depth and no longer looks simply malevolent. I loved the little conversation she has with Doc at one point, and the fact that they share ciggies and talk calmly about how Cylons dream. (Speaking of which, nice cameo by Amanda Plummer as another "Oracle" type. The implication is that she is *human* but Dianna certainly takes her predictions seriously. Interesting setup for a plot thread).

I'm not crazy about the baby coming back as a major plot thread-- it's a weak straw to hold onto. Oh well, at least it will give Grace Park something to do (and the audience a unique chance to see her give us one more facial emotion other than her standard two: Blank Rage or just Blank).

Did anyone catch Baltar in the "next week's episode" teaser... LAST week? Where he turns to Caprica 6 and says "What are you saying.. that *I* am a Cylon???" What happened to that one?

I won't be listening to the podcast for tonight's episode although it's already up there now. I want this to be a surprise for me, too.

Not so much a bang as a whimper

Only very minor spoilers.. It's not cool to give it away.

A very sedate, yet powerful, first show of Season Three for Battlestar Galactica, the New Series. I've made no secret that I'm a big fan of this show, and consider it one of the best written new shows being made (and it's only coincidentally a SF show)

The cowardly Baltar is now being forced to work with his new "allies" the Cylon occupation force. James Callis gives us his best performance of the series as the tragically haunted (yet incredibly cowardly) Baltar, visibly looking sick to his stomach as he signs orders for the execution of humans at gunpoint.

Humans are being forced to work with the Cylon "occupiers" as their collaborators.. a whole new human police force is being created to keep the peace among the human settlers-- they are the targets of the Resistance, humans that won't give up the fight no matter what. Up to and including suicide bombing.

William Hogan comes into his own as Saul Tigh in this episode. At the start of the episode he is released from prison missing an eye, gaunt, and bearded.. looking 20 years older than when we last saw him in his ridiculous hunting hat, gazing up at Cyclon aircraft streaking by overhead. Here, is a much reduced Colonel Tigh, but not unbroken.. still defiant and full of hatred. I love this character -- not perfect, plenty of flaws, and entirely believable.

Katie Sackhoff's usually powerful performance is quite subdued. The same weird Cylon she spaced a season ago has come back with delusions that he loves Starbuck and she loves him. The appearance of a real human/cylon hybrid as a result of the events of The Farm episode last season is supposed to be a shocker but it plays out in a disappointing way.

Another strong point is Olmos, as always, playing Admiral Adama determined to go back to New Caprica to rescue his people from occupation. The tension between him and his son is quite palpable and at one point he turns on Lee with uncharacteristic fury, shouting -- "You've gone soft.. physically and mentally! If you don't get off your fat ass and perform, I'll find someone who can!" Not bad at all.. Jamie Barber's transformation into a fat-gutted, slovenly Lee (hardly Apollo any more) is quite effective as well. I suspect he will redeem himself soon.

The rather brutal ending is a shocker and it would be totally unfair to reveal the details. I just wonder how certain characters will be alive next week...

I was impressed overall, but not blown out of my seat as I have been in the past. The writing is far more mature than previous years and much more thought provoking, if possible. The parallels between the Cylon occupation of New Caprica and America's occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan are, of course, intentional and rather ham-fisted. That doesn't mean they weren't executed with skill and artistic vision... there is a suicide bomber sequence that really made the show work (setting up the rather brutal reprisal at the end). It's interesting to hear the OTHER side's point of view occasionally.

Can't wait til next week...