BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Season 2A Part 10; NSCR/9.23.2005. Mid-Season Ending

[Storm Raven]

My GF watched the show and had a blunt and other perspective of the pegasus assault. "The pegasus crew doesnt see the cylons more as robot blow up dolls". This made me rethink how harshly I've been dondoning the pegasus crew. Rape is always a vile act, but they don't see it as rape. They see it as taking advantage of nothing more than a machine. If I'm correct, didn't the cylons early design use to be to serve mankind before they took on sentience?

Here's a question though - if the Pegasus crew views them as nothing more than clever machines, what is the point in torturing them? I don't torture my oven when it burns the roast chicken, it makes no sense. If the "humlons" are seen as nothing more than machines, why do they think torture and acts that would be degrading if performed on a human will work to begin with?

 

[Atridis]

Here's a question though - if the Pegasus crew views them as nothing more than clever machines, what is the point in torturing them? I don't torture my oven when it burns the roast chicken, it makes no sense. If the "humlons" are seen as nothing more than machines, why do they think torture and acts that would be degrading if performed on a human will work to begin with?

I think it says a lot about how f'ed up the Pegasus crew are (or at least many of those we've met). Think about it this way: If your oven actually reacted to being tortured in a convincingly human-like way, would that make you more or less inclined to torture it?

 

[Storm Raven]

I think it says a lot about how f'ed up the Pegasus crew are (or at least many of those we've met). Think about it this way: If your oven actually reacted to being tortured in a convincingly human-like way, would that make you more or less inclined to torture it?

Maybe more, but then again, that would be humanizing it (or, to use the fancier term, anthromophizing it). That seems to run counter to the idea that the Pegasus crew sees the humlons as little more than "blow up sex dolls".

 

[Rykion]

Think about it this way: If your oven actually reacted to being tortured in a convincingly human-like way, would that make you more or less inclined to torture it?

If my oven was an accomplice to the genocide of millions or billions of people, I would be sure to torture it if it felt pain. I can't stand murderous appliances. It might be different if it were also sentient, but even Cylon sentience is debatable.

Edit: I am in no way endorsing the actions of the crew of the Pegasus. I find their actions repugnant.

 

[TanisFrey]

Having just rewatched the episode, there's no way the Pegasus CAG is one of the already-identified Cylons. He doesn't even look similar, to me.

I already deleted the epsoid, so all I can say is what I thought it was at the time. I did think that he looked like and sounded like Doral. I will have to be wait for a reairing to be shure.

 

[Phaedrus]

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
--Jack Handy


I never thought a Deep Thought by Jack Handy would ever approach relevance in a real conversation. Maybe it still hasn't...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Maybe more, but then again, that would be humanizing it (or, to use the fancier term, anthromophizing it). That seems to run counter to the idea that the Pegasus crew sees the humlons as little more than "blow up sex dolls".

We could simply see their behaviour as irratonal and not entirely sane. In that case, it is quite possible that they manage to accept these two conflicting views on Cylons, just to suite their own feeling of moral superiority and to justify their behaviour.
They could also see torture as a way to push buttons on a complicated machine, not "real" torture...

 

[LightPhoenix]

Yes, the Boomers we've seen have clearly been intended to act human in every way, more so than some of the other models. Do we even know that she has superhuman strength?

It's somewhat implied when they're all down on Kobol, and she shoves Apollo off of her rather roughly after a brief struggle.

 

[Altalazar]

Here's a question though - if the Pegasus crew views them as nothing more than clever machines, what is the point in torturing them? I don't torture my oven when it burns the roast chicken, it makes no sense. If the "humlons" are seen as nothing more than machines, why do they think torture and acts that would be degrading if performed on a human will work to begin with?

Not to make light of this, but have you seen Office Space? The scene where they take the crappy printer that always jams out into a field and beat the crap out of it with baseball bats? I've had to deal with really crappy copy machines in various offices and I could totally identify with that. So even if they see them as just machines, torture still makes sense.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Did anyone notice this wasn't the first attempted rape in Battlestar Galactica? Bastille Day, anyone?

Both attempts happened because the rapist wanted to control the victim, and both ended with the death of the perpetrator. I guess both aspects reflect the authors' opinion on rape...

What I found interesting was that Dee said to Billy that they have been trained in such situations - I wonder if rape was a common "method" in Colonial military history (especially before they fought united against the Cylons).