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Post by Alan on Dec 13, 2004 23:17:50 GMT -5
I think it has some kind of RL analogue relating to New York and 9/11, but I can't remember exactly. I suspect this has come up on one of the high traffic boards, you might msg ernestborg9 or Alan to see if they know, I think both of them are involved on other boards as well as this one. Nobody knows exactly what the picture is, it doesn't seem to be anything recognizable. A poster on the scifi board said that some military briefing rooms had posted "never again" photos of the fallen twin towers which the pilots touched on their way to fly missions. It could be a photo of some famous Colonial site in flames, or some such...
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Rain
Dec 22, 2004 18:41:53 GMT -5
Post by Alan on Dec 22, 2004 18:41:53 GMT -5
Therefore, we have to conclude that the colonies saw each other as rivals and there is just no evidence to prove or disprove that assumption. Sure there is! Remember (from "Bastille Day") that Sagitaron was systematically oppressed for centuries by other colonies. Furthermore we know that there was a domestic "freedom fighter" movement that had popular support and destroyed at least one government building. Also, we know (from the miniseries) that there are black market arms dealers within the colonies, and they even deal in military-grade weapons including warheads. Arms dealers cannot exist without a market, so there must be substantial armed conflict occuring somewhere.
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Rain
Dec 22, 2004 17:16:52 GMT -5
Post by Alan on Dec 22, 2004 17:16:52 GMT -5
We do not know that. We have no idea what the Cylons the Colonials built looked like. After learning that modern Cylons have human appearance, Baltar comments that "the last time anybody saw a Cylon, they looked like walking chrome toasters." Adama and Tigh (who both fought the Cylons forty years ago during the first war) are surprised to find out that Cylons look like humans now. This tells us that the chrome-toaster models came before the humaniform models. It's possible that there were other models before the chrome-toasters, but they certainly didn't look human. Why are you assuming that? It's entirely possible that the colonials were using Cylons as their military forces, just as our modern military is depending more and more upon unmanned units today. The US military is building stuff like Predator drones and cruise missiles. Why couldn't the colonials have built the first Raiders?
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Rain
Dec 22, 2004 16:45:31 GMT -5
Post by Alan on Dec 22, 2004 16:45:31 GMT -5
I believe that the Human Cylons intentionally programmed the Centurions with limited abilities for the very reason you outline above. Except that the "chrome toaster" models came FIRST, and the humaniform models came AFTER! "What if we make a really sexy model? That would be cool!"
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Rain
Dec 15, 2004 19:22:33 GMT -5
Post by Alan on Dec 15, 2004 19:22:33 GMT -5
If the bomb that destroyed Caprica City (and yes it's a crater) was the bomb that destroyed Baltar's house (assumption -- the blinding flash in the mini about 18 seconds before) The bomb that destroyed Baltar's house definitely isn't the same bomb that destroyed Caprica City. We get to see the flash from both explosions (one on TV and one through Baltar's windows) and they happen nearly a minute apart. Also consider the view through Baltar's window: a peaceful lake and lots of trees. Doesn't look anything like the shots we get of Caprica City, which is an urban scene dominated by skyscrapers. Baltar's house is definitely NOT close to Caprica City. It's possible, but there's been no evidence presented either way. Given that Baltar's house was far enough away from Caprica City to be hit by a separate bomb - and that Helo and Boomer landed in a fairly unspoiled rural area - I lean towards believing that Helo and Boomer are not near Caprica City. Perhaps a future episode will drop more hints!
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Post by Alan on Dec 12, 2004 17:23:20 GMT -5
Why is Starbuck holding a lightsaber behind her back? Ohmygosh, she's a JEDI! "No wonder she's such a great combat pilot!"
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Post by Alan on Dec 11, 2004 16:11:57 GMT -5
he [Moore] should have passed on Nu galactica for his talents as a writer are wasted here. Wasted? This is the most dramatic and complicated sci-fi that I can remember seeing on TV. Regardless whether you like it or not, the intricacy and depth of the story are clear. Not sure how you think that a writer is "wasted" by writing something like this! Personally I didn't enjoy Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) but I acknowledge that it's a worthy film even if not my cup of tea. You don't necessarily have to enjoy something to recognize its deeper artistic merit. I respectfully disagree with your assumptions. Universal owns the rights to BSG. They could reproduce the original word-for-word and scene-by-scene if they wanted to do it. They could have made all the characters carbon copies of the originals, had they chosen to do so. They can (and do) steal characters, they can (and do) steal plot elements, they can (and do) steal storylines, heck they could directly steal and re-shoot the identical scripts if they wanted to! Moore wasn't restricted by some bizarre application of copyright law from having the top three characters be men. He didn't do it because he DIDN'T WANT TO. He thought the story was more interesting with President Roslin added and Starbuck as a female, and (personally) I agree with him. It changes the Starbuck/Apollo and Starbuck/Adama relationships in interesting ways, and Laura Roslin adds a balance to the command structure which TOS severely lacked. Even as a child, I was struck by the fact that Adama was always right and the Council of Twelve was always wrong. This show is a bit more complicated.
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Post by Alan on Dec 10, 2004 18:15:27 GMT -5
He blames his father for Zach's death. Well accidents do happen in training I don't care how great a pilot or not Zach was. You missed the point. Sometimes accidents are predictable and preventable. Apollo perceived (correctly!) that Zack wasn't really good enough to fly a Viper; he feels (correctly!) that an impartial assessment of Zack's skills would have put him into a safer posting; and thus he concludes (correctly!) that somebody was pulling strings to give Zack a combat job for which he was unqualified. Whoever pulled those strings got Zack in over his head. Putting people of limited skill into dangerous situations is not an "accident", but it sure can cause one! His only mistake was assuming that Adama was to blame. Aside from that, he was spot-on. His brother's death was preventable.
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Post by Alan on Dec 21, 2004 2:57:30 GMT -5
I liked the episode but have one small niggle/question. Did Boomers test take 11 hours? Cos it didn't seem like it... Boomer's test was interleaved with several other storylines through the episode. The scene cuts make it difficult to estimate the total time used in any single storyline.
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Post by Alan on Dec 16, 2004 17:51:28 GMT -5
EJO's directing notwithstanding, it seems like a mistake to introduce different styles of story so soon in the series. Star Trek could get away with different directors and explore comedy and farce because the characters weren't recovering from the recent destrucion of their civilization or living under the continual threat of extermination. Perhaps next season when they've put a little distance between themselves and the Cylons but, right now it seems to me that it's a little to soon for the tension, weariness, and shell-shock (that was driven home so well in "33") to be giving way to farce. I disagree. One of the dangers in a show like this one is that it will get so depressing people won't want to watch it. They can fix that problem either with happy endings (the standard Hollywood answer) or by maintaining the desperation but adding a little dark humor to lighten the mix. Given what's been happening with Baltar's character, they appear to be going for the bit of humor. Good decision IMHO. It allows them to continue down a very dark path without their entire viewer base going into clinical depression or (even worse! ) turning off the TV.
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Post by Alan on Dec 14, 2004 23:24:03 GMT -5
like his invisible bunny. That's about your fourth mention of rabbits in the past week! Is there something you want to share with the class? ;D You remind me of Anya, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She could face down demons from hell-dimensions, but was terrified of bunny rabbits...
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Post by Alan on Dec 13, 2004 23:09:41 GMT -5
Any idea why Baltar has decided that all tests will be "green"? That seems absurd to me. Doesn't he want to live, and to escape the Cylons? Baltar can't "escape from the Cylons" without literally cutting off his own head. ;D
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Post by Alan on Dec 11, 2004 22:03:06 GMT -5
How did you get your hands on a draft of the miniseries script? Enquiring minds are dying to know. Here are the scripts for both the miniseries and the TOS pilot. These aren't the final broadcast scripts; both were modified before filming began.
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Post by Alan on Dec 11, 2004 20:24:01 GMT -5
When they are leaving Ragnar Adama says something like, 'We have to get the fleet out of the Solar System' Adama says "we're gonna leave this solar system, and we're not gonna come back," however that doesn't necessarily mean that all the colonies are in the same system. The exact meaning of the "red line" isn't discussed on film, but in the draft miniseries script Tigh explains that the "red line" is a navigational term related to jump distance. Beyond a certain distance, you start losing precision in your jump coordinates, so that direct jumps back to your starting position get difficult. This explanation was (wisely) cut from the broadcast version. Personally I like the fact that the show doesn't explain every single thing to the viewers. In the real world, people use terms without explaining them. We're smart enough to figure out what Starbuck's little sensor does in "Can't Go Home" without a voiceover. Likewise, it rings a little false if Tigh starts telling everybody what the "red line" is, since they would all presumably know it already.
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Post by Alan on Dec 11, 2004 19:37:39 GMT -5
At the very most, the 12 Colonies are split arcoss a triary star system. Actually I was rather assuming that the twelve colonies were split across several star systems. Certainly Caprica and Virgon are in the same system (because they say so in the miniseries) but no location is given for any of the other colony worlds. Having twelve habitable bodies in the same solar system seems pretty unlikely. Did I miss something in the mini or first season that leads you to conclude the colonies are all in the same solar system?
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