Boxey: Why bother?

[Buzzvang]

I just wanted to know what the rest of you guys thought. We've seen him in maybe three episodes. He gets a throwaway line or two, and then just disappears to whatever closet they've got him holed up in. He not hindering anyone else's character development, so his presence is benign, but I it just makes me think, "Why even bother to have this kid on the show?"

[Xenu]

One less thing for the purists to whine about?

[MHall]

How could Boxey's role be made better?

I think Boxey should make two new friends: a wolf and a girl.

First, he should get his daggit, which should naturally be a real wolf or as close as Canadian and Colonial laws will permit. When I proposed this before, someone said that such an animal would be a waste of air and would be spaced. No way. This is the end of human civilization, and every animal they have is precious, especially man's best friend, which might have uses in hunting (on Kobol or Earth), Cylon detecting, etc. If they have a few daggit-wolves, then they can breed them. If just one, they can clone it.

Second, Boxey should meet a girl. The actor who plays Boxey turns 13 in a few days. Boxey should be lucky enough to meet Jamie Lynn Spears, the 13 year old sister of Britney.

It goes without saying that both the Daggit-wolf and Ms. Spears are Cylons, turning Boxey's life into a living hell. If you think Tyrol or Baltar have had it bad, that's nothing compared to what will happen to Boxey. The audience will first realize the threat from Boxey's Daggit-wolf when Daggit-wolves are shown on Caprica, falling into step beside the columns of chrome toasters causing Helo problems.

I don't know if humanoid Cylons have to grow up like humans, but if they do, then it should be revealed eventually that this 13 year old girl is actually a young Six. But then either Jamie Spears has to get blue contacts or we need a different actress.

Boxey: You mean there are more out there like you?
Sixlet: There are 12 models. I am Number Six.

If enough of you like the idea, we should start a "'baby' six for Boxey" campaign.

[caseOrange]

How about Boxey decides to join the Cylons, they get whatever info about Galactica that they can out of him, then they lock him in a pod and fire him out into deep space, never to be heard from again!

[Blade Runner]

caseOrange said:

How about Boxey decides to join the Cylons, they get whatever info about Galactica that they can out of him, then they lock him in a pod and fire him out into deep space, never to be heard from again!

What if Boxey is a Cylon

[Crashdown]

If we have a situation where somehow, once the dust has settled, G-Boomer is still a member of the Galactica crew, but with knowledge that she is a Cylon, Boxey could become quite important as link to humanity for her. Or if he turned out to be a Cylon, he could take on a subtle creepy role, keeping his Cylon status secret but playing mind games with Boomer to try to get her to do what the Cylons want.

[caseOrange]

Is Boxey the boy in the picture on the desk at the beginning of the Mini at the Armistice Station? When Boomer and the refugees are leaving Caprica, Boxey tells her, "My dad's in the Colonial fleet. They told me he's missing."

[Blade Runner]

caseOrange said:

Is Boxey the boy in the picture on the desk at the beginning of the Mini at the Armistice Station? When Boomer and the refugees are leaving Caprica, Boxey tells her, "My dad's in the Colonial fleet. They told me he's missing."

[zinfab]

yeah, he is. they say so on the commentary for the mini DVD

[OoohFrak]

MHall said:

How could Boxey's role be made better?

I think Boxey should make two new friends: a wolf and a girl.

I think I know where this is going...



Battlestar Mononoke

[OoohFrak]

Buzzvang said:

I just wanted to know what the rest of you guys thought. We've seen him in maybe three episodes. He gets a throwaway line or two, and then just disappears to whatever closet they've got him holed up in. He not hindering anyone else's character development, so his presence is benign, but I it just makes me think, "Why even bother to have this kid on the show?"

One think that really annoys me about a lot of low budget series is how empty many of their sets are of people. In life, there's people you see every day that take little to no part of your life. Imagine all those people gone from your life. You'd feel like Helo felt walking through Caprica City.

For me, for a drama to look real, it has to have a sizable amount of people passing through the action, and quite a few that you see regularly. Otherwise, scenes just look vacant.

[ViperPilotMomma]

Well, I know I'm missing the point of having that character around!

VPM

[MattLee]

What if Boxey is a Cylon

Well he was brought aboard by Boomer...

sort of an interesting concept that, what do you do when a child threatens your survival? like 'The Midwich Cookoos' in that respect.

I vote Adama brains him with a flashlight & leaves a paper unicorn on his corpse, , I always say that though.

[Spamacus]

Hi all, 1st time posting here, I posted at scifi and Media Blvd for a while after the mini aired, until I heard that the series was a go, but I'd be waiting a year to see it, so I moved on for a bit. But been watching the 1st 3 episodes, and loving it (who knew Hatch could actually act?).

Well, onto the subject at hand.
I like Boxey in his current form. I've enough trust in Mr Moore at this point to believe that Boxey will not be turned into some sort of wesley Crusher, or TOS boxey, or any other already done to death super annoying teenage prodigy that we've already seen too much (once was too much).

I think in the way he has been introduced, and already used he opens up several dramatic possibilities.

1. though he may have been defacto adopted by the Galactica crew, he is still very much an orphan, and this means two things.
a. Nothing drives home the horrors of war on a personal level as an orphan
b. No one knows he is an orphan better than he does, and he looks like he will soon not forget it, as he reminded Col Tigh so succinctly in Ep 3. (can anyone see the possible birth of a fanatic here? the Cylons killed my family, I'll not rest until all the cylons are dead!)

2. Allowing him to bond with Boomer opens up all sorts of new ways to challenge her burgeoning humantiy, her love for Tyrol, may already be effecting her Cylon programming, now you add maternal feeling to that mix? lots of potential to challenge Ms. graces acting skills there.

Yes, i like this version of Boxey, BSG may be an adult show, but that doesn't mean there wont be any children, in fact as we well know, children, their creation and raising therein will soon enough become a mojor focus of their lives. Boxey could be a great charecter, as long as they don't of course screw it up, and I don't think they will.


Yes, my spelling sucks, deal with it.

[MHall]

Boxey is human IMO. We saw that picture of him in Armistice Station in the mini-series. So, the real Boxey had a mother and father, and at least his father was for sure human, since Six asked, "Are you alive?" and he died, rather than being picked up by the Cylons like Doral was. Then there was Six's assertion that "There are 12 models." If true, then it doesn't seem like the Cylons can copy people with a snap of the fingers. Then there are the same arguments used against Baltar being a Cylon... the pre-nuking original was likely real, and we have (almost) no evidence that the Cylons can instantly copy a living human, and why would the Cylons leave a copy on Caprica where only a fluke could save it from getting nuked?

However, the fact that the fluke, a raptor piloted by a Cylon, saved both Baltar and Boxey starts to make you wonder if it was really a fluke, if Boxey is a Cylon. Also, with their soul-transfer capabilities, Cylons have little to lose by trying nearly suicidal things.

I posted a poll on scifi.com, asking if people would like to see a young Cylon on the show. 68% said no, and only 28% said yes, with 4% undecided. And I was accused of being a child molester. So, the audience is rabidly opposed to young Cylons and I hope Ron Moore doesn't step on this landmine.