Season 1, Episodes 3 & 4

Episode 3: Bastille Day

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Loved the scene with Gaius telling the Commander what he needed to make a Cylon detector. I’m just really enjoying any scene with Number Six appearing in Gaius’ mind and the way he (somewhat shakily, and in a way that makes him seem quite mad) manages to have two conversations at once – with her in his head and whoever is actually standing in front of him
• I appreciated and smiled at Tom Zarek’s little speech about Captain Adama’s callsign being Apollo, and then referring to Commander Adama as Zeus
• How messed up is that boy (that Boomer rescued from Caprica) who hangs around with Starbuck going to be?!
• Tigh telling Starbuck that “the difference is, my flaws are personal, yours are professional” sets us up nicely for the next episode

Question

• Despite watching the episode twice, I didn’t understand Tom Zarek’s character and motivations. He was ready to die (so he said to Captain Adama, at least), but when Lee pulled him out of Starbuck’s line of fire, he seemed genuinely grateful and started crying. Did he really believe in democracy so strongly that his only aim was for the government to call elections, or was there more?

Episode 4: Act of Contrition

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Why show clips before each act of Starbuck’s descent in to that planet’s atmosphere before it happens? Again, like the series of flashes of scenes from the episode just after the credits, I don’t see what is added by putting this in before it happens. It’s not like she’s having a premonition.
• The doctor who examines the President smokes and recommends she consider prayer! Ha!
• I really enjoyed how we saw both the beginning (in flashback) and the end (in the present) of Commander Adama and Starbuck’s relationship. Perhaps enjoy is the wrong word, however, because I actually found it quite emotionally hard to watch. It was certainly good story telling though.

Quote

Starbuck: “Pilots call me Starbuck; you may refer to me as God.”

Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2

Episode 1: 33

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• I’m not a big fan of the little flashes of what’s going to happen in this episode right after the opening credits. I’d rather just watch the episode, thank you.
• I loved the music for the opening scene. It built the tension to the countdown so well, and the fact that we have no idea what they’re counting down to made it even more suspenseful.
• I am really enjoying the juxtaposition of Gaius’ atheism and Number Six’s belief in God. I especially like the way that during the visions (or memories) he gets of the two of them back on Caprica (I assume), he is so calm and sure of himself and his beliefs, compared with how he is on the Galactica.
• The scene with Commander Adama running the water to shave while Tigh eats a bowl of noodles feels very luxurious after watching episode 2.
• Starbuck saying of Boomer “cos she’s a Cylon!” Oh the irony!
• The telephone call between the President and Commander Adama feels to me like it might be foreshadowing some kind of relationship between the two. The way she asks “are you there?” after a brief pause, plus the tired whispering between the two makes the way they are talking sound reminiscent of lovers.
• “A baby was born today on the Rising Star.” Symbolism, much?

Quote

Tigh: “Gotta make the old man look good.”
Adama: “I always look good.”
Tigh: “Look in a mirror.”

Episode 2: Water

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Commander Adama’s attempt to make the President ‘feel like the President’ reinforces my (admittedly half-baked) theory that something is going to happen between them.
• As she got out of the jacuzzi, Number Six’s towel in Gaius’ memory (vision/conversation in his head) on Caprica is the same red as her dress in her other scenes. Will this become her signature colour, and/or will it be used (simply) to distinguish her from her other copies, like the one Helo encountered on Caprica in a white coat?
• I was moved by the President using her pocket as her ‘desk drawer’ to remember the Olympic Carrier.

Quote

Billy: “You look good. I like your hair.”
Dee: “My hair?”

Miniseries, Part 2

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• I loved Billy's reaction to Laura's telling him that she had cancer and that it being all she could think about despite what was happening being selfish - "it's not selfish, it's human".
• The scene following in which the FTL capable ships in the fleet jump and leave the sublight ships behind was pretty intense, though in a calm and measured sort of way. The music served to make it somewhat creepy, even.
• The expression on the kid's face when Sharon and Galen were kissing after meeting for the first time since the Cylon attack was priceless!
• We discover that the Cylon models are in (at least synthetic) fact flesh and blood when Adama beats the Cylon who had been living on Ragnar to death and is covered in his blood. This is confirmed by Tigh and Gaius when they tell Adama about the postmortem.

Questions

• Why would Number Six help Gaius by pointing out the Cylon device that had been planted on the Galactica? Because she loves him?
• When is this story set? I had previously assumed that it was set in our future, in a time when humans had left Earth for another solar system. However, I understood it to be implied that it is in fact set in our past since Adama talked about a 13th colony on Earth. If so, it's rather too "long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" for me.
• Why is just about everyone in this show white and have an American accent? Is it simply because it's an American show, or is there a particular reason, like most of the survivors were from a colony that was mostly white because of historical reasons? However, if this show is not set in our future (as I had previously supposed), then the appearance and speech of the characters is merely representative rather than indicative of how they actually look and speak (i.e. they're not really of American descent at all, nor do they speak English), in which case, I'm overthinking.
  
• We still don't have any clue of the Cylons' motives for trying to wipe out the Human race, do we? I don't tend to buy the "they're just evil" story, so I'm looking for more.
  

Quote

"Humanity is not a pretty race. I mean, we're only one step away from beating each other with clubs like savages fighting over scraps of meat. Maybe the Cylons are God's retribution for our many sins."

Could this be a clue?

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By the way, I don't actually want anyone who knows to answer the questions I posed above in order to avoid being spoiled (they were meant as rhetorical), as long as they are answered as the series goes on. If, for example, it is never mentioned when this story takes place, and you have a theory, then go ahead, as long as it doesn't involve mentioning anything that hasn't already taken place in the story this far.

Did I miss anything? Tell me in the comments!

Miniseries, Part 1

Welcome to Galactica Watch!

Each week I'm will be watching 2 episodes of the 2004, reimagined BSG and writing my thoughts about them here. For the first two weeks, I'll just be talking about the first and second parts of the Miniseries that proceeded the television show. Please join in the conversation in the comments below!

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• I was impressed with the first scene after the opening once on board the Galactica. Immediately after watching it, I went back and watched it again, and checked that it was in fact a 3 minute continuous shot. I find these kind of opening shots both effective and impressive, in this instance because of all the characters and story aspects that are introduced in a relatively short space of time and at the same time give us a sense of orientation onboard the ship which I guess is going to be the setting of much of the series.
• In this future, there’s a lot of (literal) paperwork. We are told by the guy giving the tour around the ship that “you’ll see things here that look odd or even antiquated to modern eyes” because the ship is designed to be resistant to infiltration from ‘the enemy’. Is this why people still wear glasses too? I can’t think of any other science fiction future in which people still wear glasses, but I like this one for doing that.*
• Helo: it’s Paul Ballard (from Joss Whedon's Dollhouse), but with a completely different voice!
• What’s a gimble? Stop saying gimble!
• The moment when the Minister of Education went to ask the Captain whether the rumors that Caprica had been nuked were true and held on to his shaking hand as he passed her the paper really touched me. I think it was perhaps at this point that I suddenly became invested in what would happen to these characters.
• The Minister needs a Priest to accept the presidency? Really? No utopian secular future is this.*
• Loved the visuals for the FTL jump right at the end, and also the idea that doing it could be dangerous and is used only as a last resort surprised me nicely.*
  

Thoughts

Overall, I loved the set up of this first part and am eager to know what happens next. The idea of beginning the story on the day that one of the flagships is being commissioned and then it ends up being one of the only surviving ships left to the Human race was just great. This could go in so many directions, and that scope is what I find really exciting; I have no idea what’s coming! 

The whole thing also went against some of the preconceptions I’ve developed about science fiction futures, most of which are shown with an asterisk (*) above. There were a few tidbits, however, that made me think of other science fiction, notably the use of sir to address both men and women (in Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Janeway is routinely referred to as such), and this substitute swearword frak that we hear a couple of times, which was very Farscape - it made me smile! 

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I’d love to hear anyone else’s thoughts on this first part of the miniseries (remember to keep them spoiler-free, please) when you first saw it and if you think I missed anything really important, so please leave a comment below. Thanks!