Battlestar Galactica: Revelations

Damn you! Gods damn you all to hell!

Cast and Crew

Director: Michael Rymer
Writers: David Weddle, Bradley Thompson

Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Michael Hogan as Saul “Whosatoaster?” Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Trace
Grace Park as Sharon “Athena” Valerii
Lucy Lawless as D’Anna
Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
Tahmoh Penikett as Helo
Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
Kandyse McClure as Anastasia “Dee” Dualla

Expect Spoilers

Synopsis

After disturbing revelations, genocidal threats, and unexplained signals, members of the Human/Cylon alliance find earth.

High Points

1. The episode raises real doubts about the outcome, brings us to extraordinary scenes of the fleet’s reaction, and then gives us a familiar, but still impressive conclusion.

2. The conclusion precludes the possibility of next season looking anything like this:

Low Points

1. Does it seem both odd and absurdly convenient to anyone else that Starbuck only realizes at the last possible moment what makes her Viper different?

2. Continued in 2009????? You maniacs!

The Scores

Originality: 3 out of 6.

Effects: The effects remain strong, and this episode features some impressive space shots. 6/6.

Story: This may be the best episode of a somewhat disappointing season. I felt genuine suspense, and the grim ending could serve as a conclusion to the series– if so many questions didn’t remain about the circumstances that have taken the characters to this point. 5/6.

Acting: Edward James Olmos, in particular, puts in a memorable performance. Is it just me, or has James Callis been uneven this season? 5/6

Production: 6/6

Emotional response: 5/6.

Overall: 5/6 The season finally takes us somewhere. Of course, many questions remain unanswered. In particular, we’re in the dark about key issues concerning Starbuck’s disappearance, the Fifth, and Cylon/human history.

“Revelations” receives a grand total of thirty-five out of forty-two.

Notes

D’Anna insists that only four of the five were in the fleet. Does that mean the fifth was already with the Cylons, or….?

56 replies on “Battlestar Galactica: Revelations”

  1. SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS
    on the base star already? only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

    • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

      on the base star already? only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

      Sorry, but that theory isn’t possible if there are, indeed, only 12.

      • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

        on the base star already? only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

        Sorry, but that theory isn’t possible if there are, indeed, only 12.

        The final one could be one of the human hostages.

        However, I think we’re going to find the last one somewhere else. This season, of course, has led me to wonder whether the show’s creators actually know the answer yet.

        • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

          on the base star already? only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

          Sorry, but that theory isn’t possible if there are, indeed, only 12.

          The final one could be one of the human hostages.

          However, I think we’re going to find the last one somewhere else. This season, of course, has led me to wonder whether the show’s creators actually know the answer yet.

          I’m absolutely positive that they have a whiteboard with a list of names that could be the final one…..

          They don’t know any answers, they’ve proven that.

          • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

            I’m absolutely positive that they have a whiteboard with a list of names that could be the final one…..

            They don’t know any answers, they’ve proven that.

            I would have argued this with you, then I went and watched some of the latest interviews on scifi.com. That’s what the writers did with at least four of them. Everyone’s name went up on a white board and they took votes.

            I’m not so upset I will quit watching the show, I’m just not sure who or what I care about any more. I don’t think *the writers* care about any of the characters, and it shows. In reflecting on this past arc, I guess this *is* the first time a series has ever left me feeling this numbed.

            I wanted to cheer when the resurrection hub went up. I will remember the image of Laura sitting at the side of the hybrid looking happy for a long time, but I didn’t cheer, because D’Anna had decided to be a bitch. I wanted to cheer when the fleet rejoined, but there was too much else going on. Only thirty thousand humans left, so let’s just go ahead and do it. I wanted to cheer when they jumped to Earth, but Adama’s hand lifting soil in front of a ticking Geiger counter threw water on that.

            I’ve had emotional reactions, I’m just not sure they’re what the writers wanted. This is such a powerfully written series that I actually *do* feel things when I watch it. What I’ve learned over the past arc is that I can’t trust these writers with my emotions.

            Frak that.

            -Joe

            • Evil Writers Ruin the Lives of Viewers!
              really sorry to hear that the writers have you in such a tailspin. Hope you can manage! i’m not sure if the writers should actually ‘care’ about any of the chars. what they should care about is the best story line…and i think they’ve chickened out on making bold decisions with the 4th season. couldn’t they top a burned out earth cliche for their last cliff hanger? bummer, but still look forward to 2009 redemption.

              I’m absolutely positive that they have a whiteboard with a list of names that could be the final one…..

              They don’t know any answers, they’ve proven that.

              I would have argued this with you, then I went and watched some of the latest interviews on scifi.com. That’s what the writers did with at least four of them. Everyone’s name went up on a white board and they took votes.

              I’m not so upset I will quit watching the show, I’m just not sure who or what I care about any more. I don’t think *the writers* care about any of the characters, and it shows. In reflecting on this past arc, I guess this *is* the first time a series has ever left me feeling this numbed.

              I wanted to cheer when the resurrection hub went up. I will remember the image of Laura sitting at the side of the hybrid looking happy for a long time, but I didn’t cheer, because D’Anna had decided to be a bitch. I wanted to cheer when the fleet rejoined, but there was too much else going on. Only thirty thousand humans left, so let’s just go ahead and do it. I wanted to cheer when they jumped to Earth, but Adama’s hand lifting soil in front of a ticking Geiger counter threw water on that.

              I’ve had emotional reactions, I’m just not sure they’re what the writers wanted. This is such a powerfully written series that I actually *do* feel things when I watch it. What I’ve learned over the past arc is that I can’t trust these writers with my emotions.

              Frak that.

              -Joe

              • Re: Evil Writers Ruin the Lives of Viewers!

                really sorry to hear that the writers have you in such a tailspin. Hope you can manage! i’m not sure if the writers should actually ‘care’ about any of the chars. what they should care about is the best story line…and i think they’ve chickened out on making bold decisions with the 4th season. couldn’t they top a burned out earth cliche for their last cliff hanger? bummer, but still look forward to 2009 redemption.

                If the writers don’t ‘care’ about the characters, then they’re not good writers….

                If all you care about is the storyline AND you’re always trying to go for the most shocking story, you get what we’ve seen. Characters that act completely different to their nature to move along the plot and back stories for characters that become meaningless.

              • Re: Evil Writers Ruin the Lives of Viewers!

                really sorry to hear that the writers have you in such a tailspin. Hope you can manage! i’m not sure if the writers should actually ‘care’ about any of the chars. what they should care about is the best story line…and i think they’ve chickened out on making bold decisions with the 4th season. couldn’t they top a burned out earth cliche for their last cliff hanger? bummer, but still look forward to 2009 redemption.

                Thank you. I’ll choose to view that as concern, not as an attempt at sarcasm. :) I’m not in therapy over the thing, it’s just a TV show. :)

                The thing is, BSG’s writers have done so well in the past creating people (and storylines) we care about. To degrade them by having them be untrue to their natures is unfair to the characters that they (and we) have invested time in. Let’s have the (green) Hulk turn into an anger-managed pacifist. David Banner becomes something less than Incredible if he turns green and bulgy, counts to ten, says the Serenity Prayer, and sits down to counsel the villain, doesn’t he?

                Actually, there’s one character I do still love: Saul Tighe. Assuming the writers do not do a 180 and have him destroy the fleet some time in the final episodes, he will continue to be one of my favorite characters in sci fi television. I rank him up there with Susan Ivanova from B5. I guess the question I ask myself is: do I trust the writers to keep Saul true to himself? Nope.

                I do believe that if any group of writers in television are capable of pulling something amazing out of this, the writers of BSG can do it. I’m not expecting it now, but I still have some faith, which is why I will continue to watch. If the writers succeed, they will have done something extraordinary, and they had better get lots of Emmy’s, à la Peter Jackson, ROTK, and the Oscars.

                I give the writers the benefit of the doubt if I view the events of this season so far as a crucible from which much stronger alloys will emerge. Lee Adama has emerged from the other side of crisis much stronger. Maybe this is humanity’s lowest moment.

                We’d best start having some true, unequivocal good moments.

                Hang in there yourself. Maybe we need to start a support group for disaffected BSG fans? :)

                -Joe

                • Re: Evil Writers Ruin the Lives of Viewers!

                  Hang in there yourself. Maybe we need to start a support group for disaffected BSG fans? :)

                  -Joe

                  I kinda feel that that’s what this site has been at times…. :-)

        • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

          on the base star already? only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

          Sorry, but that theory isn’t possible if there are, indeed, only 12.

          The final one could be one of the human hostages.

          However, I think we’re going to find the last one somewhere else. This season, of course, has led me to wonder whether the show’s creators actually know the answer yet.

          I was more referring to the second part I isolated for my reply – only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

          That would require both Cally and Helo to be Cylons, bringing us to 13 skinjobs..

          Personally, I’m thinking it might be someone that is "dead" – Cally, Billy or Ellen Tigh would be my leading candidates. As long as it’s not someone who was essentially a "throw-away" to this point.

          • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS


            The final one could be one of the human hostages.

            However, I think we’re going to find the last one somewhere else. This season, of course, has led me to wonder whether the show’s creators actually know the answer yet.

            From what Deanna said I think it has to be someone currently on the Basestar. Deanna doesn’t know who is on Galactica (even when they were on New Caprica there was a skeleton crew on Galactica so she can’t claim to know the full complement) so the only way she can know they are not on Galactica is if she knows they are somewhere else.

            On the other hand, because Starbuck’s Viper triggered something in the other three it makes sense that the remaining one of the five had some hand in giving the Viper to Starbuck.

            only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

            That would require both Cally and Helo to be Cylons, bringing us to 13 skinjobs..

            Perhaps "final five" Cylons can breed with both humans and Cylons. That would make Helo a prime candidate. However he’s mostly just a foot soldier, so it wouldn’t make a terribly interesting reveal.

            My personal theory is that the Cylons embarked on a plan to produce human-like Cylons but got too good at it. The final 5 models were more human than they intended which scared them in some way so they stopped making any more. However at that stage they wouldn’t kill fellow Cylons so rather than killing them they agreed to wipe the final 5 model’s memories of being cylons and let them go their own way at the same time as wiping their own knowledge of the final 5.

            • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS


              The final one could be one of the human hostages.

              However, I think we’re going to find the last one somewhere else. This season, of course, has led me to wonder whether the show’s creators actually know the answer yet.

              From what Deanna said I think it has to be someone currently on the Basestar. Deanna doesn’t know who is on Galactica (even when they were on New Caprica there was a skeleton crew on Galactica so she can’t claim to know the full complement) so the only way she can know they are not on Galactica is if she knows they are somewhere else.

              On the other hand, because Starbuck’s Viper triggered something in the other three it makes sense that the remaining one of the five had some hand in giving the Viper to Starbuck.

              only cyclons can breed with other cyclons

              That would require both Cally and Helo to be Cylons, bringing us to 13 skinjobs..

              Perhaps "final five" Cylons can breed with both humans and Cylons. That would make Helo a prime candidate. However he’s mostly just a foot soldier, so it wouldn’t make a terribly interesting reveal.

              My personal theory is that the Cylons embarked on a plan to produce human-like Cylons but got too good at it. The final 5 models were more human than they intended which scared them in some way so they stopped making any more. However at that stage they wouldn’t kill fellow Cylons so rather than killing them they agreed to wipe the final 5 model’s memories of being cylons and let them go their own way at the same time as wiping their own knowledge of the final 5.

              Except that Tigh predates all of the other human hybrid models.

              • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

                Except that Tigh predates all of the other human hybrid models.

                In what sense? Tigh’s human "history" predates all Cylons. We don’t know when Tigh the Cylon was "born" and introduced to humankind. Tigh and Adama didn’t meet until well after the Cylon war.

          • Re: SCI FI DUH WANT VIEWERS

            Personally, I’m thinking it might be someone that is "dead" – Cally, Billy or Ellen Tigh would be my leading candidates. As long as it’s not someone who was essentially a "throw-away" to this point.

            That’d mean they’d have to have resurrected somewhere, gotten off the hub unseen, and done something else.

            Not that they couldn’t do it, they’ve tossed enough lame crap around …

            Honestly, i’m pretty much finished with this ‘wait until 2009’ bullshit. I waited to 2008 and was extremely disappointed. Out of the episodes we’ve seen all of them pretty much are kinda stinky. yes there were a few good points here and there but in general I’m left with a ‘what just happened?’ feeling instead of ‘sweet!’ like I was at the ending of season 3 15 seconds before it said ‘returning in 2008’

  2. Absolute Crap
    All spoilered, not holding anything back….

    This episode, or rather, its ending was pure and utter shit. This ending ranks right up there near the top of endings of episodes that I loathe. It fits in with all those "too clever by half" endings that series like to always throw at you, AND THIS SHOWS NOT EVEN OVER!!!

    They’re definitely right, this has happened before and will happen again. The first time was the fabulous original "Planet of the Apes" of course, and the second was the remake with the abysmal ending, and now THIS.

    Galactica is and always was, even with the original, about Earth (Us, the viewer) being the one last ray of hope for these poor lost humans that have suffered so much. It was the only thing driving them on in a seemingly hopeless quest. Buts its more than that. The premise of Galactica was always one of brothers and sisters in humanity on a quest to unite humanity. And as the viewer we are drawn in to the story for their quest for US.

    For both the original series (before 1980) and for this series there was always the question of _when_ they would arrive at Earth. And honestly I’ve always believed that the answer WE the viewers all wanted was, right NOW, in our time. In fact Galactica 1980 delivered on that premise, but then decided to try out a bunch of other times on Earth.

    The final scene of this whole series was SUPPOSED to be, as far as I was concerned, a pan of the fleet arriving at Earth (our Earth, with lights visible from space) and then a fade to black. No 1980 style interaction, no extra stuff. Just fade to black, let the viewer believe that they could walk outside and see the bright speck of Galactica passing overhead in the night sky.

    That’s how I, the nine year old kid wanted the original Galactica to really end, and that was also how I, the 38 year old kid now wanted the new Galactica to end. I am SOOOO pissed. Fuckers……

    This episode was very good right up until the point where in the pit of your stomach you could feel that they were going for the sucker punch you. It was too happy for the new edgy dark Galactica wans’t it?? The writers on Galactica are way too hip to have anything happy on their show, right? Even if they have to rip off a 40 year old sci-fi classic to do it. Yes I know, why should I be upset at Galactic and love Planet of the Apes? Its because Charelton Heston’s character has no HOPE of getting back to Earth, his quest at the end of the movie is to survive, not to find Earth. He just ends up finding there’s no earth to go back to. But Apes is a feature for its time. Its a tale of warnings of the threat of nuclear war. Galactica isn’t that. Galactica is as I’ve alluded to before Moses and the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and finding the promised land, the prodigal son’s return home (or the father’s quest for the son actually), or the lost sheep.

    THAT IS ALL GONE NOW!!! Galactica won’t find US. There is no us in this story anymore. They’ve written us out of it. Why the hell should we care what happens to the Humans from the colonies now, we’re gone, it DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER.

    I’ve always been a big fan of Star Wars, and I always think that everyone who goes on about "Lucas ruing my fond childhood memories of Star Wars with the prequels," is being too serious. Sure the prequels weren’t great, but 2 and 3 were still good in my book. But no matter what, no matter what anyone says, what Ron Moore did to Galactica’s story and the whole concept of the Galactica story goes way beyond anything Lucas did to us with the prequels. Moore’s fuck up would be akin to Lucas having Padme and Obi-wan having an affair and having Vader not even be Luke’s father.

    I am so very pissed. They’ve taken everything Galactica was an RUINED it. The plot contrivances to lead us to the four of the final five, we bad, but I could keep watching. Lately the contrivances have just kept on piling up. So much so that many here have hinted that the series was jumping the shark. Well, I thought before that it could still manage not to, but…..

    That shark landed with an enormous SPLASH in the water tonight.

    Absolute shit. The worst episode of Galactica ever (1980 included).

    The only way to fix this is to pull out the 1980 time travel contrivances. Although they could conceivably only time travel once, but it would still be lame. But the creators have paid homage to all of the past Galactica series including 1980, maybe time travel is in the works. They’ve proven tonight theres nothing they wouldn’t do if it could be made "shocking" enough.

    I am convinced now there’s nothing there. Theres no real plan from Moore for this story. Its just, see how shocking we can make the show and try to top that next time. Unlike B5 the final episode never existed in his head, and hell it still probably doesn’t. It would have been as simple as knowing that you were going to fade to black over a lit up Earth, that would have been enough. They don’t even have that. They’ve been pulling stuff out of their ass all along. Of course we new that before with the cylon detector, the extraordinary coincidental identities of four of the final five, but this one takes the cake. This ending was the MOST dramatic, it outshines all of the revelations we’ve seen so far….

    It also ruins the show.

    Fuckers…..

    There’s a real good chance the rest of Galactica could go the way of Smallville. Recorded, but unwatched on my DVR.

    Yeah, I thought tonight’s episode was that bad.

    • Re: Absolute tres tres Crap…
      I would feel like I am spoiling.. But I am just speculating:

      The transponder signal they receive in the beginning might hint of a part of the story of the original bsg that is still missing. Most probably the nebula starbucks went into is where the light-people live. Will they go through the nebula and be brought back in time to the time starbucks left the transmitter from her classic ship ? Even so I do agree about the total contrivance in this final (?) season.
      I liked the religious co notations the series begun with, only they made it too thick at a certain moment.
      I do believe many of the worst scripts in this series where written in the middle of the writers strike because of contractual pressures and under protest. Or a non-talented writer was hired to write some scripts because of the writers strike. And thus the real writers killed off the series.

    • Re: Absolute Crap
      could someone please replace the quote for spoiler tags in my last comment ?

    • Re: Absolute Crap

      All spoilered, not holding anything back….

      This episode, or rather, its ending was pure and utter shit. This ending ranks right up there near the top of endings of episodes that I loathe. It fits in with all those "too clever by half" endings that series like to always throw at you, AND THIS SHOWS NOT EVEN OVER!!!

      They’re definitely right, this has happened before and will happen again. The first time was the fabulous original "Planet of the Apes" of course, and the second was the remake with the abysmal ending, and now THIS.

      Actually, the ending is much older than the obvious source we’ve both referenced. It was a standby of written SF for many year before its most famous use.

      However, we still don’t know the specific circumstances they’re in, and I believe this gives us several interesting directions for the final season. I find this potentially more interesting than the "Final Five."

      • Re: Absolute Crap
        Spoiler: They’re not on Earth – The President’s still alive.

        "Elosha: She also wrote that the new leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. (The Hand of God)"

        At least Adama has "Time enough at Last" to finish reading his book. :p

        • Re: Absolute Crap

          Spoiler: They’re not on Earth – The President’s still alive.

          "Elosha: She also wrote that the new leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. (The Hand of God)"

          At least Adama has "Time enough at Last" to finish reading his book. :p

          All of this has happened before, all of this has happened again.

          What if they only found what has happened before? This isn’t Earth at all, it’s where we blew it all up the last time around with nukes.

          In order to break the cycle, we have to understand why it happens.

          At least we can visit the library while we’re here, right? Something is left from this planet of value, and it points in the right direction. Nobody said this was Earth, they just all assumed it.

          • Re: Absolute Crap

            Spoiler: They’re not on Earth – The President’s still alive.

            "Elosha: She also wrote that the new leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. (The Hand of God)"

            At least Adama has "Time enough at Last" to finish reading his book. :p

            All of this has happened before, all of this has happened again.

            What if they only found what has happened before? This isn’t Earth at all, it’s where we blew it all up the last time around with nukes.

            In order to break the cycle, we have to understand why it happens.

            At least we can visit the library while we’re here, right? Something is left from this planet of value, and it points in the right direction. Nobody said this was Earth, they just all assumed it.


            They used the position of the zodiac constellations, our constellations, to determine position. They saw the constellations in the cave back on Kobol.

            Now in the general neighborhood, perhaps the zodiac constellations are much the same, but you can’t go too very far before they get different.

            • Re: Absolute Crap

              The ruins look like the temple Lee Adama showed in the book just before (Temple of Athena?).

          • Re: Absolute Crap

            Nobody said this was Earth, they just all assumed it.

            Starbuck actually described Earth, the planet with one huge moon, and the solar system with one big planet with the ring. I will be very disappointed if that scorched place turns out to be some planet of the week. It must be Earth, but the ruins actually doesn’t resembles any current city. So, it’s some different time, my bet it’s our past.

            • Crap on a cracker. The after taste isnt so bad.
              Could be earth after Starbuck was there…who could incidentally have led to the events that caused the cataclysm. And who says it was earth that Starbucks went to in the first place.

              Nobody said this was Earth, they just all assumed it.

              Starbuck actually described Earth, the planet with one huge moon, and the solar system with one big planet with the ring. I will be very disappointed if that scorched place turns out to be some planet of the week. It must be Earth, but the ruins actually doesn’t resembles any current city. So, it’s some different time, my bet it’s our past.

    • Re: Absolute Crap

      All spoilered, not holding anything back….

      Yeah, I thought tonight’s episode was that bad.

      It’s not really healthy to hold back your feelings like that. C’mon! Tell us how you feel about the episode.

    • Re: Absolute Crap

      All spoilered, not holding anything back….

      I don’t disagree that the writers/producers seem to be playing some (needless) games with us in the name of "SHOCK!", but just for arguments sake:


      We don’t know for sure that they found earth. The shots of the planet were very careful to not show any recognizable features of Earth, I doubt that is just a coincidence. Likely what we will find when ’09 rolls around is that this is just another colonized planet; perhaps ones colonized by the first humans to venture off of Earth (The Lords of Kobol???), and what we’re getting here is a "we need a cliffhanger to bridge the gap between ’08 and ’09 episodes".

      • Re: Absolute Crap


        We don’t know for sure that they found earth. The shots of the planet were very careful to not show any recognizable features of Earth, I doubt that is just a coincidence. ….

        I disagree. When they landing party were on the ground the broken bridge looked like either the east pier of Brooklyn Bridge or they landed in Liberty City by mistake.

      • Re: Absolute Crap

        All spoilered, not holding anything back….

        I don’t disagree that the writers/producers seem to be playing some (needless) games with us in the name of "SHOCK!", but just for arguments sake:


        We don’t know for sure that they found earth. The shots of the planet were very careful to not show any recognizable features of Earth, I doubt that is just a coincidence. Likely what we will find when ’09 rolls around is that this is just another colonized planet; perhaps ones colonized by the first humans to venture off of Earth (The Lords of Kobol???), and what we’re getting here is a "we need a cliffhanger to bridge the gap between ’08 and ’09 episodes".

        We never got a clear shot of the place from space like we did at the end of Season 3. And they could’ve shot two endings for this episode in case they couldn’t continue on due to the writer’s strike.

        The strike ended, therefore we got the Sad Earth ending.
        Had it went on, we could’ve got the 5th Cylon and Happy Earth ending. Just an idea, I don’t know if they did that.

    • Re: Absolute Crap

      All spoilered, not holding anything back….

      Yeah, I thought tonight’s episode was that bad.

      Yeesh, you sound like a munchkin whose favorite character just got killed. It’s not fair to assume that accomplished writers are going to take the route you assume they will – that’s your assumption, not an agreement they ever made.

      This is actually not the ending I expected, either – the one I expected had them finding either the non-rebel cylons already there, or thousands of copies of the "final" cylon dominating Earth.

      If they did what one could expect, it would not be as creative.

      All I can say is, I’m happy that they did what they did and I’m really, really interested in what happens next.

      • Re: Absolute Crap

        All spoilered, not holding anything back….

        Yeah, I thought tonight’s episode was that bad.

        Yeesh, you sound like a munchkin whose favorite character just got killed. It’s not fair to assume that accomplished writers are going to take the route you assume they will – that’s your assumption, not an agreement they ever made.

        This is actually not the ending I expected, either – the one I expected had them finding either the non-rebel cylons already there, or thousands of copies of the "final" cylon dominating Earth.

        If they did what one could expect, it would not be as creative.

        All I can say is, I’m happy that they did what they did and I’m really, really interested in what happens next.

        Yes, my favorite character did, after a fact, get killed. I mentioned in my original post that I bring a lot of emotional attachment to the old series through to the new series. To that end I still want a better ending to this show then we got back then (however I did watch EVERY episode back then, but even as a kid realized how bad 1980 was, except for the ep with Starbuck and the crashed cylon, I loved that episode).

        Anyway, you are making the big assumption that the writers on this show are actually accomplished. I’m beginning to question that. Sure they’ve written some good stuff, but they’ve also dug in to the big bag of soap opera tricks quite often lately as rickyjames has noted.

        These writers only seem to have a knack for telling stories full of darkness. Or for telling stories of success only with dark clouds for every silver lining.

        I think its a crutch the writers are hanging on because they’ve gotten so many kudos for "dark and edgy", they can’t work themselves away from it.

        What is really needed from this show is some CONTRAST. We need to see some victories that shine against the darkness. We’ve had that with the attack on cylon outpost, the escape in Exodus, the escape from the algae planet, and heck last weeks destruction of the hub. The best episodes are the ones that show light coming through the darkness.

        • Re: Absolute Crap

          These writers only seem to have a knack for telling stories full of darkness. Or for telling stories of success only with dark clouds for every silver lining.

          I think its a crutch the writers are hanging on because they’ve gotten so many kudos for "dark and edgy", they can’t work themselves away from it.

          Man, I read your posts and get the feeling you were molested by an episode of Galactica or something. Get a grip on yourself, they aren’t writing this series JUST for you. There are a lot of us out here. I personally have no problem with the over all feel of the show. In fact, I would be irritated if it WASN’T dark and gloomy. It is a dark and gloomy subject. 99% of the human race was wiped out in a single act of genocide, and you want them to be all light and cheery? They are living their lives on a bunch of ships that are slowly falling apart. They are constantly being harrassed by the beings that wiped out the rest of humanity and lack sufficient quantities of the resources they need. And YOU want it to be happy and cheery? It is appropriately gloomy.

          I, for one, find the most recent episode appropriate. I liked it. The thing I DON’T like is having to wait to ’09 to get the rest of the season. The people at Sci-Fi should be flogged for pulling that crap AGAIN. I hope I never get that invested in another show on that channel.

          • Re: Absolute Crap

            These writers only seem to have a knack for telling stories full of darkness. Or for telling stories of success only with dark clouds for every silver lining.

            I think its a crutch the writers are hanging on because they’ve gotten so many kudos for "dark and edgy", they can’t work themselves away from it.

            Man, I read your posts and get the feeling you were molested by an episode of Galactica or something. Get a grip on yourself, they aren’t writing this series JUST for you. There are a lot of us out here. I personally have no problem with the over all feel of the show. In fact, I would be irritated if it WASN’T dark and gloomy. It is a dark and gloomy subject. 99% of the human race was wiped out in a single act of genocide, and you want them to be all light and cheery? They are living their lives on a bunch of ships that are slowly falling apart. They are constantly being harrassed by the beings that wiped out the rest of humanity and lack sufficient quantities of the resources they need. And YOU want it to be happy and cheery? It is appropriately gloomy.

            I, for one, find the most recent episode appropriate. I liked it. The thing I DON’T like is having to wait to ’09 to get the rest of the season. The people at Sci-Fi should be flogged for pulling that crap AGAIN. I hope I never get that invested in another show on that channel.

            What can I say. I really didn’t like it. That is my choice. That is just my decision. I’ve been discussing this series on this site for years. At times I’ve liked, hated, been perplexed, been amazed, and frustrated with this show. It makes good TV. I’ve followed it for three and a half seasons. AND this was the most disappointing episode so far and I came here to discuss how I felt about it – and spur on discussion amongst those who feel the same and those who feel differently.

            I’m worried these writers are pushing their story to its breaking point. To the point where it just doesn’t work anymore. I feel that that kind of discussion is appropriate to this site.

            I know my first post on this episode contained my true, strong feelings on this episode, but I am kind of surprised at some who have resorted to personal jibes and sarcasm directed at the people like me who just plain didn’t like this episode, many of whom have been discussing this show here for quite some time as well.

            • Re: Absolute Crap

              What can I say. I really didn’t like it. That is my choice. That is just my decision. I’ve been discussing this series on this site for years. At times I’ve liked, hated, been perplexed, been amazed, and frustrated with this show. It makes good TV. I’ve followed it for three and a half seasons.

              What perplexes me is that you seem to think that you’re in some kind of privileged place with respect to reviewing this. I’m the same age you are, I was a rabid BSG fan (had the lunch box and can even bear to find the good in BSG’80), and have been a huge fan of the new show too, since the first unveiling at DragonCon.

              I’m not sure why you think that these factors matter. If anything, they bias us against the new independent vision of BSG’03 – and it really seems to me that you’re letting that bias control your reactions.

              Sometimes, "Dude, you’re overreacting" isn’t an insult but is instead constructive feedback.

              • Re: Absolute Crap

                What can I say. I really didn’t like it. That is my choice. That is just my decision. I’ve been discussing this series on this site for years. At times I’ve liked, hated, been perplexed, been amazed, and frustrated with this show. It makes good TV. I’ve followed it for three and a half seasons.

                What perplexes me is that you seem to think that you’re in some kind of privileged place with respect to reviewing this. I’m the same age you are, I was a rabid BSG fan (had the lunch box and can even bear to find the good in BSG’80), and have been a huge fan of the new show too, since the first unveiling at DragonCon.

                I’m not sure why you think that these factors matter. If anything, they bias us against the new independent vision of BSG’03 – and it really seems to me that you’re letting that bias control your reactions.

                Sometimes, "Dude, you’re overreacting" isn’t an insult but is instead constructive feedback.

                I’m don’t consider myself privileged. It’s their show, I’m just along for the ride. But its my choice whether to watch or not. In fact I’ve beeen making that decision all along. I really weighed whether to give this new version a chance or not. I even contemplated not watching the mini-series, as I would have personally preferred that Richard Hatch be allowed to do his new version of Galactica instead.

                But I came along and watched anyway. However, my bias towards the original has always been part of how I view this show. That’s just me and how I view this show.

                After further thinking about this episode, I’m becoming more convinced that they just aren’t at Earth. Time travel would be a stupid trick for this show to resort too, but they’ve already done things that aren’t what they seem many times.

                I also have an idea as to why they aren’t really at Earth.


                Gaeta’s the final cylon. He was in control of both the coordinates of the jump and the location verification. He lied. I think he’s really pissed and I think that he (as THE final cylon) has been pulling strings for quite some time now. Remember that Sharon activated in season one after shaking hands with Gaeta. Also his singing a few weeks ago was representative of the other fours hearing singing.

                I think as the final one he doesn’t want these humans to find Earth and will actively be in their way until he is found out….

                See even now I still (eventually) give this show a chance…

    • Re: Absolute Crap

      Galactica is and always was, even with the original, about Earth (Us, the viewer) being the one last ray of hope for these poor lost humans that have suffered so much.

      I’ve never thought that, and don’t see how the story ever suggested that at all.

      I’m sorry if they’re not telling the story that you want told. If you want to tell that story, you’re free to write a series about a lost tribe of humanity fleeing an enemy and coming to Earth so we can save them with our mighty fleet of Space Shuttles and Soyuz capsules.

      But I don’t see the fact that they’re not telling the story you want to be a reflection of the quality of the story they are telling.

  3. On A Different Note…
    …from a cinematic standpoint, I will say that I thought the final scene was extremely well shot…pure, distilled instant classic noir.

    I must be suffering from BSG fatigue. The McGuffin that led them to the end was so ridiculous that all I could muster was a Mal-from-Firefly-like "Huh". And actually, who is left as a sympathetic character the viewers can really care about and follow with a sense of empathy? I still have an intellectual curiosity about where they could possibly be going after this, but actually CARING? Um…sorry, nope.

  4. It was disappointing.
    We have been waiting for three years for the fleet to have some sort of victory, some sort of triumph.

    In the past three weeks we have destroyed the resurrection hub, making the skin jobs as mortal as the rest of humanity. Baltar has confessed to his enemy and been forgiven. The fleet has arrived at Earth.

    Gimme a hurray.

    Louder, I can’t hear you.

    You up front, could you quit talking about Star Trek so we can hear if anyone in the back said "hurray"?

    One more time, all together.

    Only three of you?

    Oh, you were standing up to go to the bathroom?

    One more time.

    Only one this time? Oh, you changed your mind.

    All of the successes have been so tempered by grief and loss they’re barely even blips.

    I was hoping we could get one unadulterated success out of this. I was hoping they might reveal the fifth model. I was thinking the "mystery of the opera house" would be explained.

    Nope.

    Next "season", the end of 08 or the beginning of 09, what is there left to do? To paraphrase JWW’s discourse, who cares?

    These people have been crapped on. Adama has been broken, Roslyn is about to croak, Baltar is almost nothing more than a cheap womanizing televangelist, the secret four were treated as an afterthought by the fleet. Starbuck has been majorly frakked with by the Earth Cylons. The known final four are all questionable, and do we care what’s with this whole "final" thing? What does it prove other than the writers read the discussion forums?

    So who here thinks Boomer is the fifth model?

    Why should it matter? And what has become of the other seven models other than window dressing?

    :(

    It could be worse. Starbuck’s not in a cat suit yet. We don’t have a view of Galactica from the perspective of the maintenance crew. Still.

    I guess they *are* pulling this out of their collective asses. :(

    -Joe

    • don’t be silly

      IS STARBUCK’S VIPER!

      Think about it. Makes sense.

      The 5th Cylon is Galactica.

      In the final episode Starbuck is being a hot-shot and does a fly-by of the bridge. She get’s it a bit wrong and accidentally hits the front of the ship, dislodging a loose panel and revealing a pulsating red light.

  5. My take..
    All of this has happened before..


    The 13th colonists travel to earth and start construction of their colony, but decide they need help so they construct the first cylons. These cylons rebelled and one of them, the ‘fifth’ decides to nuke the humans. In the intervening years these original cylons slowly awaken to the magnitude of what they’ve done as they become more and more ‘human’, so the ‘fifth’ decides to try to redeem himself by staging all the events which have led to now. A new human/cylon colony where they all live for a peaceful future, interbreeding to make a more radiation resistant hybrid to survive on their new home.

  6. The ridiculousness!
    The ridiculousness has been quite entertaining! At any rate, if they’re all buddy-buddy with the Cylons now and Earth sucks, they can just go back to Kobol. It was nice there. But some other random @#$% and a no-holds-barred barrage of 180º character reversals is gonna happen instead. :)

    Billy’s the final Cylon!

  7. Wow. You folks really want to hate, huh? :-)
    I mean, come on. You *knew* there were ten episodes left. You *knew* it couldn’t ‘end’ here. If it hasn’t ‘ended’ – no happy yet!

    I personally never thought it was about them meeting *us*. That was what made Gal1980 so damn bad. It was about tying them into the known history of Earth, yes – either in the future, or in the past, but not ‘US.’ That dates it, and makes it not about them and what they’ve been through but about our need for wish-fulfillment.

    I always saw them as arriving long ago, which is why the Lords of Kobol resemble/are the Mediterranean pantheon. I always saw an ‘epilog’ scene of them building a recognizable Parthenon building while visibly losing their tech to overuse and lack of spares, but finally on a planet that would support them and allow them to flourish.

    Hey. Could still happen.

    I really liked this episode, and I guess I’m in the minority. I agree that the Viper is a little ‘deus ex’ but really – at this point, what wouldn’t be? I thought the resolution of the Cylons ‘secret identities’ was perfect. Torrey was revealed to all as a willing ‘traitor’, Saul kept his Fleet uniform on to the end, even standing in the lock, telling Apollo to ‘DO IT’ for the good of the fleet, and Galen and Anders – they tell Kara where to look. They’ve all chosen.

    Now, what happens when Galen finds out Torrey killed Calley…woo.

    Yeah. I *did* like it.

    • Re: Wow. You folks really want to hate, huh? :-)
      I’m with you, I like it a lot. Not knowing where they could go with it was part of the satisfaction. I’m tired of TV cliches, especially in Sci-Fi. As someone mentioned, Apes wasn’t the first to do this and BSG won’t be the last. I didn’t feel they hamfisted it in there at all though, this was a perfectly good ending and a good jumping point to an exciting finale.

      I can’t wait :)

    • Re: Wow. You folks really want to hate, huh? :-)

      I mean, come on. You *knew* there were ten episodes left. You *knew* it couldn’t ‘end’ here. If it hasn’t ‘ended’ – no happy yet!


      Now, what happens when Galen finds out Torrey killed Calley…woo.

      Yeah. I *did* like it.

      I agree. This isn’t the end, they still have wildcards to play. Example: Babylon 5 Season 5 was one of (if not the) weakest seasons, but the last 5 episodes, were the strongest of the series.

      And now that Tory has ‘swapped sides’, I think that secret will come out. Who is going to mind if Galen kills Tory. I won’t, I liked Cally the Grease Monkey.

    • Re: Wow. You folks really want to hate, huh? :-)

      I mean, come on. You *knew* there were ten episodes left. You *knew* it couldn’t ‘end’ here. If it hasn’t ‘ended’ – no happy yet!

      I personally never thought it was about them meeting *us*. That was what made Gal1980 so damn bad. It was about tying them into the known history of Earth, yes – either in the future, or in the past, but not ‘US.’ That dates it, and makes it not about them and what they’ve been through but about our need for wish-fulfillment.

      I always saw them as arriving long ago, which is why the Lords of Kobol resemble/are the Mediterranean pantheon. I always saw an ‘epilog’ scene of them building a recognizable Parthenon building while visibly losing their tech to overuse and lack of spares, but finally on a planet that would support them and allow them to flourish.

      Hey. Could still happen.

      I really liked this episode, and I guess I’m in the minority. I agree that the Viper is a little ‘deus ex’ but really – at this point, what wouldn’t be? I thought the resolution of the Cylons ‘secret identities’ was perfect. Torrey was revealed to all as a willing ‘traitor’, Saul kept his Fleet uniform on to the end, even standing in the lock, telling Apollo to ‘DO IT’ for the good of the fleet, and Galen and Anders – they tell Kara where to look. They’ve all chosen.

      Now, what happens when Galen finds out Torrey killed Calley…woo.

      Yeah. I *did* like it.


      If what you say is true, then yes, all can end well. But then that reduces this moment to another "psyche" moment like three’s "revelation" about Laura last week. They really don’t need to throw us red herrings every episode either.

      Actually you’re right about the part where Galactica doesn’t have to arrive at now and about how bad that was in the 1980 series. But I did say that they had to arrive and fade out. It was proven impossible with 1980 to have the show work on a level where the colonials and earthlings interacted. Your past idea is good, but speaks to them finding Earth and then showing a montage of them building our ancient societies, then a fade to black. I’d gladly accept that too.

      What gets me so upset is that they seem to have no ability to tell any of this story in a "straight ahead" manner. Everything is so contrived to coerce the most drama out of the events, to put characters in the right place so they can call the shots at the right time (like President Adama, c’mon). Nothing is linear about this show, its all curve balls all the time. And now they’ve started consistently missing the strike zone.

      Sometimes the story being told needs to be told without being twisted over and back on itself all the time. As others have noted, character development on this show is shot. You can’t predict what any characters going to do anymore, because they’re all changing their nature to fit all the plot twists.

      Whether they’re really at Earth or not they’re getting pretty weak at telling the story, but they are telling a SHOCKING story. Eventually like was said above, without characters you care about in the show, who cares??

      I actually don’t want to hate this show. I really, really want to like it. I’ve given it chance after chance. Sometimes they’ve pulled through amazingly (as in Exodus), but a lot of times they haven’t.

      I only wanted one thing out of the new incarnation of Galactica when it started, and that was for them to find Earth and have (at least a relatively) happy ending. Who knows maybe they still can through some other plot device. I’m just not sure I want to risk being disappointed again.

    • Re: Wow. You folks really want to hate, huh? :-)

      Torrey was revealed to all as a willing ‘traitor’, Saul kept his Fleet uniform on to the end, even standing in the lock, telling Apollo to ‘DO IT’ for the good of the fleet, and Galen and Anders – they tell Kara where to look. They’ve all chosen.

      Now, what happens when Galen finds out Torrey killed Calley…woo.
      [/spoiler]

      Tighe’s still my favorite character. Tyrol and Anders are right up there. When Chief finds out what Torrey did, oh yah. I want to see that moment. Assuming the writers allow us that pleasure.

      -Joe

      • Re: Wow. You folks really want to hate, huh? :-)


        Torrey was revealed to all as a willing ‘traitor’, Saul kept his Fleet uniform on to the end, even standing in the lock, telling Apollo to ‘DO IT’ for the good of the fleet, and Galen and Anders – they tell Kara where to look. They’ve all chosen.

        Now, what happens when Galen finds out Torrey killed Calley…woo.

        Tighe’s still my favorite character. Tyrol and Anders are right up there. When Chief finds out what Torrey did, oh yah. I want to see that moment. Assuming the writers allow us that pleasure.

        -Joe

        Oh nuts. I blew that spoiler tag all to hell. :/

        -Joe

  8. The Ruins
    SPOILERS PRESENT!!!

    I think the ruins of Earth the key characters see at the end of the episode are the ruins of the OPERA HOUSE in the visions!! There are obvious shots of the window areas on the stage, and the dome roof. (I live in Vancouver, where BSG is shot, and I’ve been in this building many times) Im almost totally sure its the opera house.

    What this means though??? I have no clue…

    • Re: The Ruins

      SPOILERS PRESENT!!!

      I think the ruins of Earth the key characters see at the end of the episode are the ruins of the OPERA HOUSE in the visions!! There are obvious shots of the window areas on the stage, and the dome roof. (I live in Vancouver, where BSG is shot, and I’ve been in this building many times) Im almost totally sure its the opera house.

      You mean THIS opera house? Interesting theory…but I’m going with Manhattan…

  9. Wither Richard Hatch???
    On another topic regarding this episode.

    Why couldn’t Tom Zarek have filled the role that Apollo did in this episode?? There is no reason that Zarek coulnd’t have done the lifting required in the plot for this week.

    The question then is: Did perhaps Richard Hatch read the script for "Revelations" and decide he just didn’t want to be involved anymore?? Thus leading to a scramble and a fairly weak episode designed purely to put Lee in the role of President….

    Just a thought…

    • Re: Wither Richard Hatch???
      Tom Zarek had no personal investment in any of the remaining final 5. He may have just killed them.

      Also I’m not sure he wouldn’t have just buckled. Would he have cared if they were handed over to the Cylons, he may have been happy to get rid of them? Not to mention he might not mind seeing Roslyn being bumped off and the old man being rendered impotent. Zarek might have seen too much benefit for himself in the situation.

      • Re: Wither Richard Hatch???

        Tom Zarek had no personal investment in any of the remaining final 5. He may have just killed them.

        Also I’m not sure he wouldn’t have just buckled. Would he have cared if they were handed over to the Cylons, he may have been happy to get rid of them? Not to mention he might not mind seeing Roslyn being bumped off and the old man being rendered impotent. Zarek might have seen too much benefit for himself in the situation.


        Nah, the colonials really held all the cards. Diannna had no choice but to back down once they had the other three of the four. Plus she had a losing hand in the fact that Tigh would never have willingly gone to her anyway.

        Zarek could have negotiated a win out of that…

  10. Um…Something I just realized…
    …which others probably did first. But:

    The ‘other side’ of the Cylon civil war (the Kavells, Simons, and whatsisfaces – ones, fours and fives?) – assuming that some of them survived the hub blasts, which I do – are now a dead end. They don’t have any female cylons (even if that was viable) other than *possibly* Boomer (man she’d be busy). That assumes she didn’t die on the hub where she ran from Deanna, Helo and the other Eight.

    So anyway, it seems that Cylons and humans can both reproduce with ‘Final Five’ cylons. They’re the key. (Tighe/Caprica for Final/Cylon, and Helo/Athena and Calley/Galen for Human/Cylon). Hence, the force on ‘Earth’ is a breeding population for both sides, but the sausage party on the other side of the cylon rift, now that they lost the hub, can’t resurrect *or* play clever games with reproduction, AFAICT.

    Anyway, I just realized that and had to blurt. Resume discussion.

    • Re: Um…Something I just realized…

      …which others probably did first. But:

      The ‘other side’ of the Cylon civil war (the Kavells, Simons, and whatsisfaces – ones, fours and fives?) – assuming that some of them survived the hub blasts, which I do – are now a dead end. They don’t have any female cylons (even if that was viable) other than *possibly* Boomer (man she’d be busy). That assumes she didn’t die on the hub where she ran from Deanna, Helo and the other Eight.

      So anyway, it seems that Cylons and humans can both reproduce with ‘Final Five’ cylons. They’re the key. (Tighe/Caprica for Final/Cylon, and Helo/Athena and Calley/Galen for Human/Cylon). Hence, the force on ‘Earth’ is a breeding population for both sides, but the sausage party on the other side of the cylon rift, now that they lost the hub, can’t resurrect *or* play clever games with reproduction, AFAICT.

      Anyway, I just realized that and had to blurt. Resume discussion.

      A minor nit. Calley/Galen would be a Final/Human which would mean that the finals can breed with humans as well as cylons. What we don’t know is whether Cylon/Cylon is possible or not.

  11. season not yet over..
    don’t forget they have renumbered the razor special to episode 1 and 2 of current season, that brings the current season to 12 episodes.. with still 10 to go.

    My guess is that they are going to use those episodes to clear the way for the up and coming prequel-series .

Comments are closed.