11 posts tagged “blogging the battlestar”

Find out what Kelly took away from this episode here:

I didn't like this episode, mostly because I hate how manipulative and destructive Ellen Tigh is.

So there is mistrust among the leaders.  The Cylon Detector is up and running and Baltar is ready to start testing.  Adama and Roslin have this awkward and slightly joking discussion over who should go first.  Adama looses the skirmish and his test begins.  And then he starts acting secretively.  Roslin finds out he's halted his test and asked for another to be tested, a mysterious "Ellen".  She starts trying to find out what the hell is going on, and her mistrust of Adama grows.  The words of Leoben are taking root.  Perhaps he is a cylon and is running interference.

Turns out he's located Saul's estranged wife Ellen on another ship, and is working on re-uniting them, but wants to make sure she is who she says she is.

Ellen is a drunken hussy.

No other way to put it. 
Saul started drinking because of her infidelity and her wanton ways. 

She even flirts with other men in front of him.  However he holds on and loves her, and is so glad she's back.

Turns out the test says she's not a cylon, but that being said, she's still such a destructive person, I can't imagine her presence is going to be good.

Kelly thinks this of the episode.

I think that this is a fascinating episode where we are forced to look the things we believe. We, in a journey with Starbuck and Roslin, are finding our assumptions challenged, and severe cognitive dissonance is created.

So a Cylon clone is discovered, and claims that there is a nuke on board somewhere in the fleet.  Starbuck, since Adama thinks she's a real hardass, is sent to 'question' him.  She's not nice about the questioning either.  It involves torture, and the whole time she throws in his face what a machine he is.  How his self preservation programming should kick in.  This is all juxtaposed with this 'man' who is beaten, bruised, bleeding and broken.  Instead of acting Cylon like he  begins to quote scripture at Kara.  "All this has been before.  All will be again."  He tells her of her destiny, reminds her of her childhood and it's pain.  He tels her she has a role to play.  He, Leoben, gets under her skin, and Starbuck can't shake it.  Much though she doesn't want to, there is a part of her that is beginning to believe that there is more to the Cylons than programming, that maybe they have a connection to something she doesn't. After his death Kara finds herself searching for her long hidden idols of the 'Lords of Kobol' and says a prayer for Leoben's soul, asking that he have peace and be watched over.

The other place in this episode where this is evident is in Laura Roslin's life.  The medicine she's taking for her cancer is giving her haucinations and dreams.  She dreams very vividly of Leoben before she even meets him, and therefore feels the need to confront him herself.  Leoban uses the encounter to sew discord, and tries to convince Roslin that Admiral Adama is a Cylon.  She orders him out of the airlock, and his actions mimic exactly the dream that she had, and Roslin is forced to stare into the posibility that she is the fulfliment of prophecy that she isn't sure she believes in. 

The other noteworthy point of this episode is to point out that Gaius is just exactly himself.  Out to save himself.  He doesn't reveal that Sharon is a Cylon because the Six in his head convinces him that it is too risky.  Seriously Gaius.  Head out of Ass please.  It shouldn't be too hard, you are a genius after all.

Six Degrees of Separation from what?
We all know this game.  Most have played it with Kevin Bacon.  How can we link anyone to anyone else in six steps or less. As in; you read this blog, I am co blogging Battlestar with Kelly (who's take is here), who met Jon Stewart, who was in Playing by heart with Jay Mohr, who was in Picture Perfect with Kevin Bacon.
So.  What are the places or degrees of separation in this episode? 
Clearly one of the places of separation is between Gaius and God.  Gaius believes in his own genius.  He believes he should survive.  He believes he should be first. Gaius is really all that is bad about humanity.  He's the self preservation at the expense of others we all wish we didn't have. He's the "me first" that even the most altruistic of us have tried to crucify.  He's he center of his own universe, and is unwilling to be unseated, but it's happening.  By Hook or by Crook Gaius is invaded by Six who is dedicated to God.  One degree.  Gaius is going to encounter God.
Then there is the connection between the Six in Gaius's head, and the Six that manifests in real life.  It seems like they both share an awareness, even though one is clearly out to maipulate Gaius and the other to Manipulate his death, and the end of the Cylon detection program.
Then lets look at the degrees between the two Sharons.  Boomer is freaking out because of the blackouts she's having and the end of her relationship with Tyrol.  Mostly life sucks for her because of what she's afraid might be true, but she doesn't really know.  The other Sharon is fine with Being a Cylon, and is reveling in the fact that she's fulfiling her task so well and making Helo love her.
The Cylon Raider is connected too.  Look at the way Sharon strokes, carresses, sings to, and Understands it intuitively. It is both Flesh and Machine.  One degree from the "skin jobs" but also, just a few steps away from Humanity. 
Starbuck in Hospital is connected to Saul Tigh.  I think the two of them are closer than they'd like to admit.  They hate the falseness they see in each other, they hate the carelessness they see in each other, and they hate that they can both see the brokeness they both carry.  They can send each other over the edge, and this episode is one of the few times that they actually work in each others favor.
One of the biggest journeys is found in the question of God/Gods. Most of the people have a plethora of gods they believe in.  The Lords of Kobol etc.are connected to humanity who are the 'parents' of the Cylons who have established Conciousness, and now are preaching about one overarching God. What's the point they're making?  Who are the God's versus who is God?
Six degrees of separation. 
How they're all connected, and what keeps them apart.  So Close, and yet So Far.

This episode starts with a bang, literally.  A Cylon (of the Doral line) blows himself up aboard Galactica. It's only Tigh's quick thinking that saves Adama's life.  The fallout from all this is that it is revealed to the fleet that Cylons now look like Humans. This stirs up everything.  It's bad enough that people hate the cylons so vehemently, but now they're living in the constant fear that the person next to them is also a hidden enemy.  It's opening up the rifts between different people groups, long held rivalries between colonies, and hidden prejudices.
Adama decides that something has to be done to bring a rational voice to the situation. Find a person/thing to blame, to cool the temperature down so to speak. He commissions an independant tribunal.
Against this are two loves stories, both involving Boomer/Sharon.  On the ship, Boomer has an ilicit tryst with Chief Tyrol (whom she's been forbidden to see.  Minor Spoiler: odd isn't it, that this is a 'forbidden' relationship in more than one way? ). This tryst opened the door, litterally, for Doral to get where he needed to to set the explosion. More and more you just get the feeling that this relationship is seriously doomed.  And you wonder when are they both going to just wake up to reality?
The other relationship, on the surface of Caprica, has Helo trying to save Sharon. It is including quite the discussion of love.  Apparently it is very important to the Cylons that Helo love Sharon.  All actions on their part are done to try to cause this to happen.  Which makes me wonder WHY?  What's love got to do with it?  Especially since everything the Cylons have done to this point seem to be working in the opposite direction of love.
So the Tribunal gets underway and you find that Chief Tyrol's staff all love him and will do anything to cover for him having been with Sharon. No one seem to suspect them, not even the tribunal.  They are looking for bigger fish.  They're trying to prove a conspiracy that goes all the way to Adama.
Adama pulls rank, and shuts the tribunal down, calling it a witch hunt, but in the end someone must take the blame. So one of Tyrol's crew who obviously lied to cover for him gets sent to the brig.  Tyrol tries to come clean about it, but Adama tell him "What I can’t do is I can’t let someone who wears this uniform get up on the witness stand and lie under oath. And that’s what your man did. He either lied the first time or he lied the second time. And it doesn’t matter. He’s guilty, and he’ll pay the price. You? You’ll pay a different price. You’ll have to walk out on that hangar every day knowing that one of your men is in the brig because you couldn’t keep your fly zipped. You are the most experienced non-commissioned officer we have left. You keep my planes flying. I need my planes to fly." This drives me nuts.  First of all the idea that we always need to blame someone else. Adama couldn't allow himself to take his own responsibility so someone else bore the brunt.  Tyrol too took the situation so lightly that it wasn't a problem for his crew to lie for him. When is that ever right? And then it become ok to allow someone else to take the blame because the real culprit is not as expendable?  Whatever!
What I do like is that Tyrol took this to heart and very coldly broke things off with Sharon.  It's clear he learned his lesson and bears on himself the brunt of the guilt for the 'crime'. Sad though, because you see this is a man who deeply feels the loss of Boomers love.  However he is now closer to the truth of Boomers true nature.

Kelly's take on this episode.
So instead of trying very hard to summarize each episode I've decided that Instead I'm going to start talking about what I loved and what the episode made me think about. 
This episode is really Starbuck's story, and while I enjoyed it, it's the storms that raged on the periphery that I enjoyed more. 
Can you imagine what is going on in Adama's head?  Here is the woman who is like a daughter to him, who has just confessed that she is responsible for the death of his favorite son, who's face he can't stand the sight of right now, who has just gone missing, possibly is dead. This is the man that has been the most 'rational' and least 'emotional' the entire series, and here he is fighting everything, even the odds, to try and rescue her.  He tries to justify it, and then just shuts everyone out with cold rage.  We're going to find her.  That's it.  I can't believe the range of emotions he must have been going through.  He fought harder for her than he did to make sure his own son was ok, after the attacks. 
Surprisingly Apollo is the only one who's totally with him on this.  The father and son, united to save one woman, arguably the biggest thorn in thier collective sides.
I loved that this allowed the President the upper hand.  She became her most presidential to date when she tells them in no uncertain terms to "Clear Your Heads!" She reminds them that the cost of this one life was too much to pay.
The other story in the background that I really enjoyed is the story of Helo and Sharon on Caprica.  They've found a safe place with meds and stores that they need, beneath a cafe/greasy spoon.  It's clear that Helo is falling for Sharon, and in the morning he goes to make breakfast upstairs.  He pops things into the toaster, and then notices that 'Toasters' (the slang names for Cylons) are patroling the area.  He see's the reflection in the metal of the toaster, and then the Cylon is alerted to his presence by the real toaster doing its job.  That was just Class to use things that way :)  Poor Helo, he doesn't know that he's the rat in the middle of a control experiment.  The Cylons are just playing him Every Which Way, and his life depends on him making the choice they want him to.  I can identify with that.  Poor man!
Then there is Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace on the inhabitable surface she crash landed on.  I love her attitude.  She's annoyed, and really pissed to not be able to figure out a way to make it, especially since her knee is fracked.  She 'prays' the way I do sometimes

“Lords, Kara Thrace here. O2 is running out, could use a little help here.”  Pause “No? Ok. Just thought I’d ask”

Yeah that's how I do it.  "need a little help here." or "could have done without that".  The prayers of a person that has a hard time trusting that anyone or anything is going to help them make it through, that eventually it's going to be all on them. That's part of why I like Starbuck (and Buffy, but that's another story. One we'll eventually blog)

Then Kara Finds a way.  The Cylon she shot down crashed too.  but this is interensting.  She makes an interesting discovery.  Cylon Raiders are half metal half biology.  This "hell of a flying maching", this "toaster" is more like humans then they realized.  This is very portentious as to the ongoing journey of the humans understanding the Cylons.

            Kelly’s take on this is here.

            In this episode we find out the truth behind Starbuck’s bravado, and it’s done in a beautiful way.  We have images of what’s happening currently juxtaposed with stories of the past. Sometimes very beautifully. 

            The story starts with the celebration of Flat Top’s 1000^th landing, something that is celebrated among the fleet, and we all know in a time of upheaval, tradition is very important.  It helps us cling to a semblance of normalcy.

            So Apollo and Starbuck are preparing Flat Top’s helmet with red paint, and are joking and laughing, and paint spill on the floor.  Into this highly portentous scene comes Adama, the only one who remains ‘paint’ free.  So already we’re asking the questions  Who’s blood is on the hands of the people in the room here.  We know that Apollo carries with him the death of the people on the Olympic Carrier, and are beginning to learn of the ‘blood’ on Starbuck’s psyche, and begin to wonder what it is that Admiral Adama is responsible.

            While this is all happening, on the flight deck there is an equipment failure and a drone goes off, killing a number of the Pilots, including Flattop.   This is where the stories start layering. 

            You begin to see the funeral’s of the dead pilots intertwined with another funeral, Zac Adama’s funeral.  You see Bill Adama meeting his son Zac’s fiancée, Starbuck, for the first time.  You see him begin to take her in, cling to her, as she is the last connection to his lost son.  You see her in a much more calm, tame, together fashion.  You realize she’s not always been the hard, crazy woman she is now.  And you begin to see why.  It’s clear she loved Zac.  He haunts her. Even as she’s playing poker she is stroking her lip, smoking, touching her ear, all in remembrance of intimate times with Zac.  She misses him acutely.

            Due to the death of the pilots the need to train new becomes apparent.  Adama asks Starbuck to train new ones, and she flunks all the options on the first day. Adama talks with his son Apollo as to why this might be and Lee drops a big hint that there is something deeper, only to realize that his father has no idea the burden Kara bears.  Adama brings Kara in to get the truth, and Starbuck finally confesses.  She passed Zac in Basic Flight, even though he had no business being in the cockpit of a plane.  She passed him, because she loved him, and he wanted to be a pilot so badly because it was what his father wanted.  She passed him, and it lead directly into his death while flying.

            Adama, the ‘Old Man’ as he’s affectionately called by his crew, is suddenly faced with the perceived betrayal of the one he loves more than almost anyone.  The one he thought of as a daughter.  He tells Starbuck to “leave while she still can” and do her job with the new pilots.

.           This is very much like the situation faced with the Cylons.  Starbuck is the Daughter and yet the Enemy, the destroyer of life.  And this is just like the Cylons, Humanities children, and also their destruction.  The parallel is awesome.  It’s amazing how you can face into a situation right in front of you, but can justify a different approach with someone perceived as a threat.   

This whole story was bracketed with a training exercise that went awry when Cylons showed up.  Kara’s amazing flying saved the day, but is leaving her spiriling down on to the face of a planet, in a destroyed Viper, and we don’t know if she’ll make it.  It’s the cliff hanger of the story.

Other good things: we meet Doc Coddle.  He is Galactica’s Doctor,  rough and no nonsense, almost a chain smoker, you can tell he’s really seen it all, and yet when examining Roslin and her cancer tells her to “seriously consider prayer” as a treatment option. Also we see Roslin begin to admit things to Apollo.  He’s becoming someone she treats with great trust. I also have been enjoying the back story of Helo and Sharon on the Caprica.  It’s so duplicitous.  Helo thinks Sharon came back for him, and that they are running from the Cylons together, however she knows who she is, and is trying to cultivate his love for her for a specific reason. It makes me very sad, as I really think Helo rocks, and I hate betrayal.

            Kelly’s post is here.

            This episode focus’s on both humanities needs for basic things, as they’re fleeing through space to find a new home, and the journey of one person as she discovers she is not who she thinks she is.  We watch Boomer (Sharon on Galactica) in the beginning as she sort of Comes to and discovers herself soaking wet.  She also finds in her bag explosives and a detonator.  As she returns them to the small arms locker she finds that there are more missing.

            She panics and turns to Chief Tyrol for help.  Now the two of them have been having a relationship, which isn’t good as it flaunts military law.  They’ve been taken to task for this, and told to quit, as Boomer is Chief’s superior officer, and they’ve been trying to keep what they have secret since then.  Tyrol covers for Boomer believing someone is setting her up.  Boomer is just freaking out.  She’s suspecting something but can’t quite face into it.

            When a ship of the fleet comes to dock with Galactica to get water, the tank holding 60% of Galacitca’s water reserve blows up sending all the water into space.  This really fracks up everything.  The fleet needs to find H2O ASAP or they’re all dead.  Really Dead.  One of the things that this does is everyone goes on water rations, and water becomes like fine liquor.  It gets served with respect when people visit others, and this carries on throughout the season.  Sorry…rabbit trail J

            Adama sends out searches in nearby planet systems to try and find water, at the same time starts to investigate how this could have happened, and sabotage is clear. 

            Boomer has more episodes, and one of the most crucial is when she’s piloting a Raptor scanning for water.  She sees water but can’t make herself say or even see it as her Cylon programming is warring for supremacy, trying to make her detonate the explosives under her seat.  Some how Boomer wins out, and ‘sees’ the water; Yay humanity saved.

            She tells the Chief about the explosives under her seat, and he turns them over to Master of arms, an act Boomer takes as treason.  Chief Tyroll tells her that this helps their investigation, because she was almost killed so how could she be a suspect?

            This is all going on while we see Helo on Caprica with a Sharon Copy, who convinces him to follow a beacon that they’ve discovered.  He doesn’t know that he’s being manipulated.  He thinks the two of them are just trying to survive.

            Fascinating journey of a person trying to come to grips with what they really are.  It is interesting to me that the Cylon has the same capabilities as the Human to ‘self preserve’. Boomers need to survive was the one thing that saved her from blowing herself up.  Fun eh?

Bastille Day

            Kelly’s take is here.

This is such a fun episode.  One of the best reasons is Richard Hatch. Richard played ‘Apollo’ in the original BSG series in 1978.  It’s really fun in this episode to see him play dirty (for a principle) against the highly principled Lee Adama.

I should probably back up and actually tell the story.

The fleet has found water (see previous episode summary) but it is in ice on a very stormy planet.  About 1000 people are going to be required to bring it up from the planet surface and process it.  It just so happens that one of the fleet is a prison ship with prisoners that have been sentenced to hard labor.  They were all on their ways to parole hearings when the Cylon destruction of humanity happened. 

            This, however, brings up another point of contention between Roslin and Adama.  The Admiral thinks they are prisoners under sentence and they should do as told.  The President believes that we have to start thinking differently now.  The past is over and we’re going to have to do things differently from here on out if we want to survive.  The compromise is this.  The prisoners get a choice, they can choose whether or not they do the work, and the work they do earns them points towards freedom.

            The Admiral sends his son, Apollo, with an emissary over to the prison vessel to share this with the prisoners, who, respectively decline, and then, not so respectively, stage a coup. It turns out that this Coup d’état has been orchestrated by the political Prisoner Tom Zarek. 

            Zarek is a classic example of the adage “One mans freedom fighter is another mans terrorist”.  He fought for the freedom of one of the more oppressed of the 12 colonies.   Zarek bombed a political building, and although his actions brought awareness of the Tauron plight, his reception is mixed.  Some love him, some think he should die.

Zarek is orchestrating the prisoner uprising because he wants democracy in the Fleet.  He thinks that Roslin isn’t elected and therefore shouldn’t be president.  He and Apollo have a great discussion about this.  I think it’s quite fascinating. Seriously.  Your culture is fighting for the most basic needs (water) and yet in the midst of this you want to start having elections.  However, just because we’re in crisis doesn’t mean that we can forget to stand on the principles we have set forth.  It really makes you think, are our principles set in stone or are they fluid depending on the situation?

Apollo comes up with the solution. He binds the government to elections at what would have been the end of the presidential term, had there been no invasion.  This also puts Apollo in a very interesting position.  He’s set him self up as an advocate of the people in direct opposition to his father, who’s goal is the protection of the people, and also to Roslin, who’s goal is the preservation of people. It echo’s Lee’s conversation with Zarek, who mentioned that Apollo in mythology was the son of Zeus, the supreme God, and his rebellion against his father was not the best of occasions.  It’s clear that the show is asking if Adama is becoming God like.  He’s the one with the vision.  His voice is the one people listen to, he’s setting the agenda for the trip to earth.  And now here is Lee, choosing sides, and in the process coming to stand in opposition to his father.

Although this is the first, it is surprisingly one of my favorite episodes. Kelly’s take on it is here. The weariness of humanity is so evident, not only since as far as they know they are the only survivors of the Human Race desperately battling to exist, but they’ve been awake for way too long.  Somehow, despite all the efforts of the fleet to run, the Cylons keep finding them, with peculiar regularity, every 33 minutes.

This really is a fight against Death; one that every person is working to win against all odds. They have to make space jumps to distance the fleet from the danger of the Cylons, having to reboot the Faster Than Light drives each time.  This involves complex equations and setting up of in finicky equipment. And then, in the course of human events, one needs to fail.  Bring on The Olympic Carrier, its 2000 passengers, and it’s malfunctioning FTL Drive.

Trying to figure out what to do about this ship that can’t escape when the Cylons appear, under the influence of extreme exhaustion due to lack of sleep , as it has been days of repetitive jumps with little or no rest for the weary, really amps up the Power struggles that occur.  People start showing the inner ugliness that can emerge when being so sleep deprived you can’t think straight removes the filters one puts in place to prevent anyone seeing the real you. It is clear in the relationship between Starbuck and Apollo, Tigh and Starbuck, but the best of these is the struggle between the government (Roslin) and the military(Adama) over how to handle every situation.  Adama doesn’t want to seem like a usurper, but yet doesn’t trust Roslin’s ability to lead.  I, however, LOVE Roslin, and her wisdom and ability to really work situations to her advantage.  She’s quite the force to be reckoned with, and many people underestimate this.

It becomes clear, mostly through the Hallucinations of the Cylon Six that Gaius Baltar is having, that the Cylons have planted a device on the bridge of the Battlestar that is pretty much like a Homing device that is bringing the Cylons to the fleet.  Gaius is not my favorite person, but he plays insane so well. As I said before I found that he is extremely self-preserving.  His ‘visions’ of Six, and her machinations,  lead him to believe that he’s chosen by God to fulfill a role, which he simultaneously sees as only natural, given his genius, and something to be cynical of, since it requires his repentance and submission to something else other than himself. With the help of Imaginary Six he finds the homing device, and is seen as vital and necessary to the ongoing survival of the Fleet. Even after watching this show several times there are still some days I can’t look at him without thinking of Bridget Jones, and his role in that movie.  Narcissism must be on his SAG card under “things I do with great Aplomb”.

Added bonuses on this episode include the return of Helo, who was meant to die off after the mini-series, but who got resurrected due to his tremendous appeal to the audience.  He’s down on Caprica, trying to survive, not run out of anti-radiation meds, and runs into the Cylon Sleeper agent Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valeri.  His story line is proving to be not only fun, but providing us with much needed action.

The end of the episode comes with a huge cost.  Apollo has to make a choice that might mean he’s responsible for the death of almost 2000 people, and it wears on him. An unlikely ally, President Roslin, gives him some solace he didn’t expect, with a story from life before, and her predecessor, President Adar.  You see again, just what an amazing woman she is.  There is an unexpected gift at the end which, though delivered in the course of just a few sentences, mitigates the horror, disaster, and weariness that has dominated the episode.  We learn that the Fleet has actually grown, by one.  A new life has been born into this turbulent world, and for a moment that small grace is enough to sustain.

In which I say a very lot and promise to not blog anything of this length for a regular episode again.

That post in which Kelly comments on the same miniseries and says things much more succinctly than I do.

Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries

            From the opening sequence I was hooked on this show, and seeing it again captivates me just as much. The story of a History of a far off series of worlds:  Man created sentient machines.  The machines revolted, and there was war.  Of course it was hard fought and bitter, and a truce was reached.  Mankind would get the 12 colonies, and the Cylons, the Machines, would get uncharted space.  Each year a representative of man would go to a far off outpost in space to reaffirm a treaty with the Cylons.  For years the Cylons didn’t show; until now.

            The beginning sequence shows a Stunningly gorgeous woman come in and meet with the human representative, and ultimately be a part of killing him, signifying that a) the Cylons now look like Humans and b) that they’re ready to be at war with humans again, in a BIG way.

            This just opens the door for all kinds of fun, not only is it going to be a new kind of warfare…fighting something that looks exactly like you…. But it is going to open the door to make this series more than just a story but a basis for the creative exploration of philosophical and spiritual questions.  Even from the very beginning in this mini-series, it’s clear that the creators and writers are not going to shy away from these discussions.  It’s also clear that they know you can’t have a good discussion if you don’t have a good story, and you don’t have a good story unless you have good characters. BSG had good [1] characters in abundance.

            The story is deceptively simple.  The Cylons, in a well orchestrated effort, aided by sabotage in the main computer networks and lots of nukes, take out the 12 colonies, on the 12 planets that humans occupy.  They decimate the colonial Fleet of ships, and systematically try to exterminate the human race. But there is a catch (there always is), Battlestar Galactica.  At the start of the miniseries you find that this Battlestar [2] is about to be decommissioned and turned into a museum.  This, combined with its older technology and the paranoid actions of its Captain (who fought in the last Cylon War), has ensured that it is not victim of the same computer failures, and, against all odds, Galactica is the sole ship in the Colonial Fleet to survive. They join with about 30 other civilian ships that have escaped, and unite to try and preserve what is left of the human race.

            What makes this show so different from the run of the mill Sci-fi shows are the relationships between the characters [3], and the questions that these raise.  BSG manages to create a story in space that is engaging and intelligent, but at the same time stirring all kinds of Philosophical musings.  What does it mean to be human? What is life?  Do Machines have a soul?  Is there a God, one or many?  Is life ordained and destined or is fate your own to make?  Is all of humanity responsible for the sins of the past? Is there room for atonement? Later, as the series progresses it takes on issues like liberty, racism, democracy, terrorism, oppression, death and Resurrection, all within the confines of a taut, intense story of survival, intertwined with the complex relationships that these characters have. 

It is enjoyable to re-watch this and still enjoy it so much, and be able to pick up on the things that I missed the first time when I didn’t know what the outcome would be.

Couple of things in this episode I really loved:  When Roslin became president it was on the heels of finding out she was dying.  The woman who really was a Teacher is now becoming the one in charge of Humanity’s survival.  You see her stepping into authority with an amazing mixture of strength and fear.  Her hands shake as she says her oath, but she fights tooth and nail with Adama about the continuing mission of the Battlestar.  I love that she alone is able to convince him of the thing we all comprehend but he’s missed: War is over.  Humanity Lost. She’s intelligent and capable, but on a learning curve few could even imagine.  I like that even within herself she is a metaphor for the show.  She is a battle between life and death. You want to protect her and hide behind her all at the same time.

Starbuck just makes me happy.  She’s a mess.  She’s often an impulsive, self-sufficient spitfire  but dammed if I wouldn’t want her in my corner, and over at my house for parties, even if just to play Guitar Hero with J

Ew….Baltar.  They made him a complete unmittigated Ass!  His sole concern is Numero Uno.  Dr. Gaius himself.  I keep hoping he gets his comeuppance. Every time he’s told God has brought him here I keep thinking ‘Why Him?  Why this joke of a man? Wasn’t there anyone better? Surely you want someone who actually cares for someone else?  Why give him this great gift, this destiny?”  A distinctly Salieri-esque response I know.

The Miniseries ends with a new mission.  To find the lost 13^th colony, Earth.  Adama uses it to motivate the survivors to carry on, and not give up.  It’s clear he doesn’t believe it’s possible, but then we the viewers are given hope we didn’t expect.  This actually may have been prophesied. So, onwards to Earth.  Something (probably the fact that I’ve seen it before) tells me this isn’t going to be the easiest of Journeys, but I’m sure enjoying it, even the second time around.

1. Good meaning well written, complex, engaging, but not necessarily a good person in the moral sense.

2. Flagship style warship of the 12 colonies’ war fleet.

3.    William Adama: Captain of Battlestar Galactica.  On the verge of Retiring. Hardlined. Paranoid. Divorced.  One son Dead, the other, Estranged.  Exacting, but oddly lenient to certain people’s flaws.  XO is close personal friend.  Also has odd relationship with Dead Son’s fiancée, Starbuck.

     Lee “Apollo” Adama:  Fighter Pilot, and officer.  Came for fathers decommissioning.  Has strained relationship with dad.  Excellent, by the books kind of guy. Latent attraction to dead bro’s fiancée.

     Kara “Starbuck” Thrace: Hotshot, pushes every limit, can do anything she wants to, is very free, but also very imprisoned by her own secrets. She can fly like no one else, and is the consummate fighter pilot.  She is also a good flight instructor, but carries with her the fact that she passed her fiancé in flight school when she shouldn’t have, and it lead to his accidental death.  Not afraid of a fight, but also has love/hate relationship with  intimacy. Very close relationship with Captain Adama who is almost like a father figure.

     Laura Roslin: Minister of Education of the Colonies. 43^rd in line of succession to the President.  She is on Galactica for the Decommissioning, after just learning she has terminal Breast Cancer, and a year to live.  Turns out, after the Cylon Attack she’s the most senior ranking official left alive, making her president. The Glorified School Teacher becomes a surprisingly adept leader with the ability to see things that others do not, and is very caring about the human race that is left.

          Colonel Saul Tigh:  Alcoholic, long time friend of Captain Adama, Self Destructive, but good officer in a pinch.  Loathes Starbuck, and the feeling is mutual.  Hates Cylons, has fought in the last cylon war.

     Various other ones that will be important are ‘Helo’ Agathon, a pilot who is stranded on Caprica, and falls in love with Sharon Valeri, another Pilot, who has a tremendous secret.  Gaius Baltar, a Genius and lothario and has had an affair with a Cylon, Six, who concrete hallucinations only he can see/feel. Chief Tyrol, who heads up ship maintenance, and has also been in love with Valeri much to his detriment. Gaeta, who works in the command center.  Also important are several of the revealed Cylon models.  We know 4 at the end of this miniseries.  Two Males, and Two females, one of whom it turns out is Sharon Valeri.