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« Asking 'So What?' | Main | Rice in '08 » February 19, 2005Galactica BloggingAs I believe I've confessed before, I have managed to get addicted to the SciFi channel's new Battlestar Galactica, so every Friday night I'm in front of the TV getting my fix for the week. The show has created a number of interesting situations and the characters have grown on me (well, at least some of them have). Last night's episode was a blend of the good and the bad, however. For those who don't watch the show (and don't mind spoilers), read on. The new Cylons are seriously different from the original show. In 1978, the Cylons were interstellar Terminators who sought to wipe out the human race and had nearly succeeded. The current versions, however, while they have nearly wiped out the human race, don't actually seem to see destroying humanity as their mandate. One Galactica pilot trapped on Caprica has been permitted to roam free across the planet in the company of a Cylon he believes is his fellow shipmate from Galactica while other Cylons watch their adventures. Meanwhile Gaius Baltar, inadvertent enabler of the Cylon attack that destroyed the Twelve Colonies has a Cylon in his head who constantly attempts to convince him of the existence of God. (Apparently the Cyclons are no longer Terminators, but instead interstellar Jehovah's Witnesses.) So last night Baltar annoys his internal Cyclon because he won't accept God as his savior, and she vanishes only to appear on Galactica as a woman with evidence that Baltar betrayed the human race and allowed the Cyclons to destroy the Twelve Colonies. Baltar eventually incriminates himself by trying to destroy the evidence (even though he knows its forged, since while the charge is accurate, the details are not) and has a conversation with the President in which she confesses that as soon as she heard the news she knew it was true. Yet as soon as Baltar gets down on his knees in his cell and prays, it turns out that the evidence is faked and Baltar is cleared of all charges and the Cylon woman has vanished into thin air. The implication is that she has somehow emerged from Baltar's head to torment him in person, and now she is back in his head. So I've got a few problems with the whole concept. There is no discussion at all of Baltar's actions, which certainly seem to be those of a guilty man. Both Adama and President Roslyn clearly have their suspicions about Baltar, although neither had probably considered the possibility he'd had anything to do with the destruction of the colonies prior to this. Still, add in his attempts to destroy the evidence and I think I'd have a hard time just sending him back to his laboratory to work on the nuclear weapon he asked for. After Roslyn admitted she believed the charges as soon as she heard them, you'd think she might be just a touch less credulous even after the evidence turns out to be faked. Instead we're left with the impression Baltar has actually profited from this episode, because he has been tested and came through successfully. And don't get me started on the vanishing Cylon. I've got no heartburn with her if she's been with the fleet since day one and just emerged to strike at Baltar (as last week's Cylon apparently did), but her disappearing strained credulity. Is she just hidden well enough that they can't find her (implausible on a military vessel), did she space herself, or did she just pop back into Baltar's head? Galactica has done a reasonably good job of keeping the pseudoscience consistent thus far, I'd hate to see them throw out that consistency to no good purpose. One other thing: the Cylons have built artificial people so realistic you can't tell them from humans on a cellular level. But now we're to believe that a red light runs up their spine when they're having sex? Granted that Helo was in no position to notice in that instance, but always have sex face-to-face in well-lit places to avoid discovery? I realize why they showed the red light, to emphasize Boomer's nonhuman origins, but it was still more than a little silly. Posted at February 19, 2005 06:28 AM
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