It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that we’re all big fans of Battlestar Galactica over here at the iFanboy offices. Such big fans in fact that we’d thought we’d stretch the rules a bit and create a place here at iFanboy to talk about each week’s episode, like we do with Smallville.
Now you’ve got a home for pre-show analysis, post-show analysis, live blogging and general BSG geekery.
So say we all.
Tonight’s episode – Six of One.
I thought that last week’s season premiere was good, but not great. It lacked a bit of indefinable oomph that the premiere episode of season three had. I am hopeful that tonight’s episode provides a bit more excitement, or at least more opportunities to laugh at Dr. Baltar’s brilliant reaction expressions.
I also hope that tonight we finally find out that the 12th Cylon is Jimi Hendrix.
All in all, though, this is one of the best shows on the air and I’m glad to have it back. It has really raised the bar in terms of sci-fi storytelling and I pity the fool that tries the next episodic sci-fi series. I even kind of wish that they weren’t going forward with Caprica, the prequel series to this one, just because if it should go south on us, I don’t want anything to taint this fantastic series.
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Six of one? What kind of math is this?
Looking forward to some pretty interesting revelations tonight. Six of one seems to be a reverse Cylon reference. It looked like Lucy Lawless’s character is returning, which should prove to be very interesting.
Half a dozen of… DOOM!
It’s weird… I love this show and yet never want to watch an episode a second time as long as I live. Does that happen to anyone else?
That said, I was impressed by the cylon fight last week and would love to see it in hd.
Oh hell, I *knew* I was supposed to call the cable company this week. I guess I’ll have to find a way to watch it later through, um, magic. . .
My predictions: Michael Trucco will continue to be really damn hot, Colonel Tigh will continue to remind me of John McCain, and Baltar will continue to resemble a looney tunes character stuck in a Greek tragedy (or, perhaps in this storyline, a Greek brothel).
I LOVED last week’s premiere. A kick-ass dogfight, the shock Tigh/Adama moment, the Starbuck mystery, Anders going loco, and more comedy Baltar than we had a right to (c’mon, he made love to one of his creepy followers in front of his own shrine! Pure Baltar.).
Looks like a great, and final, season ahead. I just hope they don’t split it and show the last 10 episodes next year. That would suck.
Man, this Yankees/Red Sox game had eight minutes to end…
Well thanks Space channel, that little 5 second preshow teaser showed what happens with Kara and the gun.
Let me guess, she DOESN’T shoot?
"We have to get back to Earth! You don’t understand, they have these awesome things called… burritos."
Was that a warning shot or does the President just need her glasses when she shoots?
So who else closes their eyes during the credits?
@HBD – Laura Roslin.
I wonder how many people actually play those on-line games.
Hmmm… wouldn’t the raiders have sensed the Final Five before? Seems like they would have any any of the previous space battles.
Whoa, and hello to you, Boomer.
@Conor – the 5 weren’t switched on before.
I love how Vavil’s admitted he’s Number One…
@HBD – Yeah, that’s true. Good point.
I feel like if this is 18th Century France, Dean Stockwell wold be getting the guillotine.
@conor Also, they were never in the vicinity of one, that we know of… Ander’s eye went red, didn’t it? He made eye contact….
So Starbuck this season… I missed her so much… Yay Katee Sackhoff….
I miss the Adama ‘stache.
So why would Boomer vote against the eights?… Hmmmm….
Somewhere, Brent Spiner is watching this episode with a raised eyebrow.
Um… fleet orgy?
Fifty bucks says he says Starbuck….
I spent New Year’s 1998 drinking alcohol that color green. It was rough.
Somewhere, Steve Martin should drive by in a car with John Candy, and reply to Starbuck by waving "THANK YOU!"
"You’re going the wrong way!"
Fantastic ascot on Baltar.
Does anyone else love the short hair on Baltar? It’s totally season one…
Glad Balthar cut his hair and got rid of the beard
Wait… Huh buh what huh? Batlater has Head Baltar? What the hell?
Once the fleet reaches Earth and settles in America, the FBI is going to have to raid Baltar’s compound and rescue a bunch of girls.
Baltar’s actually talking to himself now…. This is actually rather entertaining…
That is an amazing ascot/WWI fighter pilot outfit.
It appears they are going with the "slow burn" strategy for the final season…
This is not the Gaius I’m used to. As a fanboy, I’m resistant to change.
Some shows you watch and you get really into the episode and you feel like so much has happened and then you look at the clock and only 15 minutes has passed. With this one I’m shocked this episode is already half over.
My roommate asked if we could change it to Jeopardy for a few minutes… I gave him the slow head turn around of "Are you kidding me?"
Is it just me, or is there a markedly different tone to the writing on this right now? Everyone’s chewing the scenery, and just now, Roslin’s doing noir…
Role reversal! Adama says he believes in the scriptures?
I’m enjoying this odd, crotchety, booze-filled coupling between Adama and Roslin. Not quite lovers and not quite friends.
Wait wait wait….when did Roslin get back to dying again? I think I forgot something.
Ho damn….
I miss Doc Cottle. He is my favorite supporting character. Him and his cigarettes.
@josh In the first part of last season’s finale, Roslin admitted that she’s had a relapse of her breast cancer… That it’s returned.
@GungaDin Thanks. How could I ever forget something that happened so recently? 😉
Self-inflecting mental anguish runs deep in the Adama line.
Whoa, nevermind.
@josh It got backwashed in the crazy precursor to space battle, the reveal of four of the final five, and the return of Starbuck…
Also… Whammy, Lee… Whammy…
ADULTERY!
I’m gonna miss Lee in the cockpit… But I really, really can’t wait to see what they do with him….
Tigh needs to stop shaving and to go back to dressing like Quint.
I just can’t figure out Tigh at this point. He makes no sense to me….and that’ sin a good way.
Also, will we ever care about poor Hot Dog…I worry we will not.
Oh… So that’s what a Raider looks like…
Man this episode is flying by fast… and ew.
And the Lee/Dualla affair I never bought is now over.
@josh Who’s Hot Dog?
@GundaDin – He’s…um…he’s that guy….over…..I don’t know.
Hot Dog is the pilot played by Olmos’ real son.
So they lobotomize the Raiders one at a time? That’s gonna take a while.
@josh Wasn’t that over last season?
And THAT is how you win an election.
@GungaDin – He was right there in that "Goodbye Lee" scene with his pilot uniform on.
Prompting my comment. At one time, Hot Dog was a "nugget."
Oh man they are bumping up the special effects this season.
@y’all Joking… But if they want to make us care, they should use him…
Well, hello.
Why are there 2 doctor models at the voting table? Did that line get D’anna’s vote?
I don’t think the Galactica is going to make it through the rest of the series. I’ll bet it gets blowed apart… Look at the pounding it’s taken….
Cylon chick’s got issues.
So…that’s OK to put on TV?
By your command.
I want Galactica itself to be the final cylon and to form into Voltron.
This new Six is a badass….
Is there any point in killing the one Cylon?
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
God damn………. That sucks….
I love the new Six.
Bills would get passed a lot faster in Congress wtih that kind of action.
@josh – Yeah, that’s all a little murky. He’s just going to get a new body…
Still, I had a feeling the lower classes would rise up.
@Conor you want everything to be Voltron
You know who needs to wear his hair up? Hilo.
@josh They should give him a hardcore Samurai top knot.
Fly the toilet you crazy lady!
Adama wouldn’t be so keen to get to Earth if he knew that Don Johnson was there.
"Yeah, that’s all a little murky. He’s just going to get a new body…"
I imagine they could prevent that.
Over already…?
Adama: Finding a way to have his cake and eat it too since the First Cylon War.
Yeah this episode flew by and not in a good way.
So it’s not just me then?
Well, here’s to next week.
Callie! Noooo!
I really loved this episode, I think the exchange between Adama and Rosalin was something that was a long way coming.
I gave up early last season. Let me know how it ends.
I gave up early last season, too, but I’m back now. Hopefully the final episodes will justify my return. Tonight’s sure did, especially the opening scene and the exchange between Roslin and Adama.
Early last season? Geez. That was some fantastic television.
Am I the only one who laughed at Josh’s "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" joke?
A little bit after they came back from Ira–er uh New Caprica. There was a string of poorly written episodes and I was out. Add to that the SF channel’s apparent disdain for the series (at the time). I’ve been clinging to Lost ever since.
Yeah, I know which ones. There was an episode where Apollo suddenly became a private detective and he had to protect some lady he was apparently boning. It came out of nowhere, but I could never quit Battlestar.
@Ben0Bugenig – Bless you…
That joke is a favorite around the Flanagan household.
So now I’m pretty much convinced that this episode and the last one were ment to be one. Last nights episode seemed to go by in like 15 minutes. I hope this doesn’t become a regular thing this season.
Wow. I thought episode 1 of the new season kinda missed the mark. This episode surely made up for it. Katee Sackhoff deserves and Emmy.
Anyone else think Helo is the new CAG? Kinda seemed like Lee passed the torch onto him in the hangar ceremony. Nice to see some closure to Lee/Dualla. Looks like the cancer is starting to take a toll on Roslin. The new/old Apollo mix seems like it might stir somethings up.
Agreed, the episode flew by, even though I want to savor every last second of this series.
What can I say, I barely made it through the 3rd season premiere without throwing the remote at the television. Can we say jumping the shark? Seriously, why screw up everything that worked so well for 2 season? Of course, I knew people that complained about the same type of thing in Alias’ 3rd season (though I disagreed), so If ya’ll liked the 3rd season, more power to you.
@JD Isn’t Helo going with Kara to go help her find Earth?
@GungaDin, yup – you’re right, it sure looks that way. So who’s left for CAG, HotDog?
@JD I was just about to say that….
@GungaDin+JD I thought Racetrack was CaG, she was standing GaG when Lee was off playing Lawyer wasn’t she?
@Valo: first I heard of that one… makes sense though.
@JD Maybe she was just training in Crossroads pt 2 but she was running around say "my deck" a lot so I figured that she was CaG. Helo took a specal position, I can’t remember it. I know he’s the back up for Tigh though.
@Valo Helo was XO for a bit…. although it’s hard to tell who is holding the position as Tigh lost that spot when he retired to New Caprica, then returned to duty after being a nasty rebel-rousing drunk post-NC…. seemed he had a bit of a relapse in Crossroads during the trial. Tigh’s still very unkempt looking, but he did issue orders as the XO last episode.
I took it that Racetrack was training the nuggets and her comments were as an instructor not necessarily as CAG.
FWIW, Battlestar Wiki lists Helo as current CAG; and he is a Captain… which outranks most jocks currently serving that we are aware of.
I guess I had a few more curiosities I wanted to ask about…
When Lee retired, shouldn’t he retired at his rank of Commander rather than that of Major? Seems like even if it were ceremonious, he should have been allowed to retire at his highest rank.
Speaking of Commanders, why haven’t they promoted Tigh? Seems like a Commander can serve under an Admiral (see Razor). Practically everyone has been promoted at some point during the program but Tigh.
@JD – Tigh’s a drunk. Tends to slow the promotion track.
@JD I don’t think Tigh would take it. He is in a position that he likes and the only reason he took that position is because Adama asked him to be his right hand man.
Oh, Battlestar, how I missed thee! Top marks all around, especially for getting Baltar to utter the phrase "Oh my giddy aunt"… never thought I’d hear that in a major US TV show.
Giving the centurians free will? That’s a can of worms right there and no mistake!
Is Ron not watching this show? Or any show? How come he never comments? Come on, buddy, you can’t have THAT many comics to read. 🙂
@conor – yes, it’s a given that Tigh’s a drunk. But, Kara isn’t far off that mark, disobeyed orders – and Lee has pulled a gun on a superior officer and been mutinous – yet, both have been promoted.
@valo – Tigh could still be his right hand man and hold the rank of Commander, no?
I did have some problems hearing all of what was spoken in this particular episode. Notably one line that Roslin said to Starbuck, and Gaius’ lower voice is particulary hard to make out.
(had to re-login again)
I need to Netflix season 1-3. I use to have season 1 on DVD. But such a long time go. That I need to go back watch them one more time.
I’m getting caught up on the series. I just finished Ep1 of Season 2. Man this show is awesome, why was I stupid and not watching it?
@JD — The new/old Apollo mix seems like it might stir somethings up.
They certainly set that up, though I’m worried it’s going to happen off-screen. Any word on Richard Hatch coming back? Seriously, this was a good episode, but the part that made my night was Starbuck telling Apollo he’s going to be Zarek’s ‘wing man.’ This makes me want an episode in which the entire plot revolves around Lee and Tom in a bar, trying to pick up women. Of course, they do a terrible job of it, and the girl ultimately goes home with Starbuck.
Hey, I’d watch that show.
"Now go … find the way to earth."
This show fucking rules.
@WadeWilson — I loved that scene (Starbuck/Helo road trip, yay!) But I DO have to wonder why nobody suggested that in the first place.
"Hey, I’d watch that show"… You’re awesome!
And where the frak is Zarek? Hadn’t thought about that.
Bonus Question: Is it sad to use the word "frak" in everyday life, even if you know and accept you’re a fanboy?
@ohcaroline — Because then we couldn’t have had two episodes of Starbuck cryin’ and goin’ crazy and taking the President hostage! Where’s the fun in that?
=D
@ohcaroline: Richard Hatch’s been seen in some promo photos.
Wonder if Zarek’s gonna have the bad streak in him that he had in the first season, rather than the VP who gave up the Presidency at the end of the New Caprica saga.
@WadeWilson — Exactly. Everybody being stupid and inflexible as a plot device to help Starbuck get her emo on = kinda lazy writing.
@JD — Tom Zarek is the Magneto of the Marvel universe. You never know what you’re gonna get and it’s awesome.
D’oh. Obviously, Magneto is the Magneto of the Marvel Universe. Zarek is the Magneto of BSG.
For the most part all the promotions on the show have been made to characters who ar moving into a new (higher) position. Lee became a major when he took over as XO of the Pegasus. Kara was promoted to captain when she became Galactica’s CAG. Helo got his captainsy by taking over as XO when Tigh left the ship. Adama was promoted to admiral because that was the posiiton he was fulfilling for almost a year at that point: commander of a fleet of ships.
Promoting Tigh wouldn’t be anything other than a pat on the back as there is no "commander" POSITION for him to move into.
The fact that Apollo and Kara ended up right back in there old jobs with there new ranks is mostly because the writers plot mostly by the "Seat-of-the-pants-wound’t-this-be-cool" method rather than thinking things through.
And how the heck can Helo be the CAG? He’s not a pilot. He was an ECO.
@MikeFarley: at some point Helo got his wings and was shown pilotting a Raptor a couple times.
I don’t pretend to know how the military works… I just assumed that the ship still needs an actual Commander serving on it, even while she carries the Admiral’s flag. Hence, the need/excuse to promote Tigh, even if it were for mostly ceremoniously purposes. With just about everyone else raising up a notch or two, Tigh surely deserves it.
@JD: Technically you’re right. Galactica should have a dedicated CO while Adama would command the fleet as a whole. But I’m pretty sure if anyone suggested such a thing Adama would beat them to death with a flashlight. "Pretty sure that one was a Cylon."
Helo started out as a pilot. He was on a Raptor crew with Boomer-Sharon, way back in the miniseries. I’m pretty sure he was supposed to have died on Caprica, but he was so popular with audiences that the whole Caprica-Boomer plot in season one was written around him. I don’t think there’s any reason the CAG has to be a Viper pilot; I’d think the highest-ranking pilot could be CAG, and since he’d been acting XO, if he got transferred to the air group when they needed every pilot available, he’d be CAG.
@ohcaroline: In the mini Helo was NOT a pilot, he was Boomer’s ECO–Electronic Coutermeasures Officer–he worked the sensors, communications, conducted electronic warfare, and defended against the same.
Out of nececessity he seems to have become a pilot since then but he didn’t start out that way.
And while Helo might be the ranking pilot he certainly wouldn’t be the senior pilot. Any of the first generation of nuggets–like the aforementioned (and unremembered) Hotdog–would have recieved their training while Helo was still running around on Caprica. Plus there are any number of unnamed pilots who were part of Galacticas original flight crew-the guys Starbuck led into battle in the old Vipers.
And, yeah…Helo was supposed to have died orginally. Glad he didn’t as he is one of my favorite characters. I just don’t think that it makes any kind of logical sense that he would be CAG.
I’m a HUGE fan of this series, as well. Some of the best sci-fi in any medium I’ve read/seen, IMO. I liked the two opening episodes. I’m a self-admitted sap and nearly cried this week at the Lee/Kara farewell scene (as well as his military sendoff). I know a lot of fans hate the romantic aspect of their relationship, but I think it works. Also really enjoyed the Adama/Roslin scene, although Roslin has been annoying the hell out of me in her self-righteousness since the end of S3.
@MikeFarley — I think I’m approaching this from a Marvel No-Prize "How-could-this-possibly-make- sense?" angle, and you’re looking at it from a "wanting it to actually make sense" angle. Your earlier explanation about writers not thinking things through is probably the best one; especially considering that Jane Espenson mentioned recently on her blog that BSG has a show-bible, but she had never seen it until last week. There’s also the issue that seems to be pretty endemic in this show, that they write the episodes too long and cut large chunks, that often seem to be the exposition-y ones. So possibly a lot of this did get explained in the script and they decided not to air those parts.
You would think the show bible would be the FIRST thing you hand to an incoming writer.
I remember that late in season 3 they had to completely reedit one of the episodes because after it was already shot they decided to take the series in a completely different direction. I would hate to be the Universal exec overseeing nuBSG.
As far as the deleted stuff you probably are right. I gave yet to figure out how after three complete aeasons plus innumerable years of ecperience in TV there guys haven’t figured out how to write and shoot 42 minute episodes without overruns, sometimes up to 20 minutes!
And back to the who’s the CAG question…Now that Helo’s going off with Starbuck whoes left to be the CAG? There aren’t ANY 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd string characters left to fill the roll. Maybe Hotdog will get lucky after all!
We had a whole ship of other characters that integrated into the Galactica crew…. I’m sure there had to be someone qualified for the CAG spot. Hopefully someone with more experience than Hot Dog.
Despite the crew on hand from Pegasus and those left from Galactica, I gotta say it seems kinda far fetched for Lee to "retire." They’re still in a wartime type situation where any confrontation can cause the loss of a number of pilots… Lee is an asset in the Viper seat: experienced and arguably one of the best fighter pilots left. While initially, the confrontation with the Admiral assured his civillian life was mutually agreed upon, I think it’d be more realistic for the elder Adama to order Lee back into behind the stick of a Viper – "We need you out there, son. What good is the government if we don’t have the qualified people out there to assure it?"
MY comment about Hotdog was mosly a joke. More of a stepping outside the "reality" of the show and looking at it from a production POV. There is no-one left among the regularly appearing cast who is qualified to take the role. If you take
The Pegasus crew into account (I admit I forgot about them) then Stinger, The Pegasus CAG would probably be up for the position. Hell, he should have gotten it before Helo. But the are real world issues with that actors availability.
At this point I see their options as either introduce a new character into an already overcrowded cast or to ignore the issue entirely. I’m betting they ignore it.
Lee’s quitting made me move from being mostly disinterested in the character to overtly disliking him. It’s a time of war and they NEED him in a Viper. It was the height of irresponsibility to quit. Just because he didn’t feel like being a pilot anymore. There are any number of people that can fill a role in the civilian government, there are only a handful than can fly a Viper in combat.