Battlestar Galactica 2/25/05 SPOILERS!

[Kid Charlemagne]

I think there is room for Baltar's redemption, but I don't know if it will happen.

 

[drothgery]

I'm not seeing traitor at all, yet. Don't get me wrong, I prefer the new baltar over the the old, but he's more a man caught in the middle.

Oh, he's long since crossed the line, even if he hadn't (until this episode) actively done anything beyond trying to cover himself. He's withheld critical information, and unless the next episode opens with his turning Boomer in, then he's letting a known Cylon walk free among the fleet.

 

[Krieg]

No, the real question is, if the Nimitz was being sent to become a museum ship, how many snipers would they have on board? Answer: None.

It was SOP for a Mardet to stay with the ship until it's decomissioning. The full complement of Marines would be present.

I'm not sure just what you mean by Baltar "turning traitor". I mean, it's pretty well-established he already is - just because he isn't actively doing anything about it doesn't mean he's on the Galactica's side.[/i]

But remember that Baltar's betrayal was passive rather than active in nature. He did not set out to betray the human race (unlike the original Baltar) he just let himself be blinded by lust. Now he is just trying to cover his own rear end & take the path that seems most likely to keep him alive. Of course that path of least resistance may end up forcing to actively betray mankind completely, but he is not quite all the way there....yet.

2. Starbuck seems to be a good shot -- and that's what they said, not "sniper". Being a sniper implies training in a lot of things beyond just putting a bullet on a target.

Absolutely.

I can easily see the kind of coordination and "instinct" required for putting a bullet where you want it being equally applicable to flying a viper and shooting a rifle. Besides, I suspect the "best shot" thing was partially justification.

The skills don't directly correlate. I can absolutely guarantee you that from personal experience.

Starbuck wanted to act and not sit around so she used that as a justification. Adama went along with it because he felt better sending someone he knew and trusted and who he knew would watch out for his son along instead of just sending random marines.

Which would you bet your life on? A flyboy (regardless of how skilled) or a "random" Marine who is a rifleman by trade?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Which would you bet your life on? A flyboy (regardless of how skilled) or a "random" Marine who is a rifleman by trade?

In a TV show? Whew, the flyboy everytime. Random is just another word for 'Red Shirt'

 

[Krieg]

In a TV show? Whew, the flyboy everytime. Random is just another word for 'Red Shirt'

LOL Which brings us full circle to the original point..."They did it because it's a TV show."

Ironically enough Starbuck is probably the only character on the show that annoys me to no end.

 

[MaxKaladin]

The skills don't directly correlate. I can absolutely guarantee you that from personal experience.

The skills don't coorelate as the "controls" are completely different. What I said was that the coordination and instincts required for both are equally applicable. By that I mean that I think Starbuck has a talent for figuring trajectories and a lot of physical coordination that would make it easier for her to master either skill.

Why has she mastered both? Maybe the colonial fleet has a tradition not unlike that Marine Corps thing about everyone being able to serve as an infantryman and thus every warrior learns marksmanship. Maybe she comes from the colonial equivilant of Texas and did plenty of shooting before she ever touched a Viper.

Edit: Maybe she came up from the ranks. We don't know much about her background or how the colonial fleet works. Perhaps she started out as infantry and worked her way up somehow. And, I guess I have to add the obligatory "Maybe she's a Cylon" that seems to be such popular speculation about every character on the show

Which would you bet your life on? A flyboy (regardless of how skilled) or a "random" Marine who is a rifleman by trade?

Ah, but Adama didn't have to pick 'either/or'. He sent marines AND Starbuck. I also forgot to mention last night that Adama had another reason for sending Starbuck. He privately told her that if she had a shot at Zarek she should take it. The unspoken subtext being that he wanted her to make sure Zarek was out of the way before he could make trouble. It is becoming obvious that Starbuck is Adama's trusted 'go-to person' that he sends when he needs someone he can rely on. Justifications about starbuck being the best shot in the fleet were secondary to him when deciding to send her, I suspect.

Edit: I should add that it seems Adama views Starbuck as family even if she never actually married Zack and they evidently built up a good rapport before the war started. Given that he doesn't feel he can completely trust his own son (who seems to have divided loyalties on a number of issues) it makes sense for him to turn to someone else who he feels he can trust and who he thinks will be completely loyal to him.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

This is going to be my last post on the Starbuck/Master Sniper/Master Interrogator thing...

Starbuck is the one who says shes "thebest shot in the fleet." Tigh is the one who concurs; neither is probably all that qualified to judge.

As it turns out, Starbuck misses the only shot she takes, IIRC.

She also ends up not doing all that great a job on interrogating the Cylon. Not that anyone else would have done better, IMO. The Cylon was, in my opinion, pretending to be affected. I liked his little smile while being dunked in the bucket.

It is becoming obvious that Starbuck is Adama's trusted 'go-to person' that he sends when he needs someone he can rely on.

I think this is accurate. Adama thinks Starbuck will do the things that need doing, and I think he probably also sees her more human side - she's a bit of a softie, but will follow order when needed - look back at when she and Apollo blew up the ship in "33"; she protested, was not the first to fire, but when Apollo opened up, she followed suit.

 

[fett527]

Regarding Caprica...I'm wondering if the thing they are searching for is more love than breeding. In some texts, Love shows one's soul. And Cylons are rather pre-occupied with their monotheistic beliefs.

Just thought I'd post this here, thought about a new thread.

I watched the first episode again online at scifi.com. There is a very specific scene that must have planted the breeding thing in my head. Six asks Gaius if he wants children. He quickly says no and Six replies that procreation is one of God's gifts and that she wants children. This just supports, to me, that this is what they are trying to do with Helo.

 

[Laurel]

This one -as the other episodes have all been- was cool. And it only took place in mainly one room.

I loved the flip of Starbuck's interrogation. When she first walked into the room, it seemed she had lost the upper hand almost intantly. Then she was able to flip it, or at least seemed to. Things still went as the cylon wanted, and as stated pain is something that just reinforces how human he is. While it would have been cool to see one of the others it does give Starbuck something to do while on injury leave. Also she is one of the few who could have been that cold, yet still cared at the end and be believed.

I thought it strange how starbuck would use a cane one day and not the next. Possibly could have been for phyc reasons with the interrogation, but they seemed more random to me.

I actually liked how she warmed up to him at the end. I also liked her look of disbelif possibly even horror that president broke her end of the deal.

Do I think Adam actually is a cylon- no. Do they have a plan and could pitting everyone against each other be possible- yes. He is still the only one that knows there are only 12 types right or did he tell others?

Helo and Boomer are the adam and eve of the new cylon race? Is it ever explained (or at least up to this point) why Helo specifically? There had to be other males left behind.

 

[Belen]

Given Galactica's population, there are probably a fair number of good shots. In fact, given that they appear to have a fairly large security force (Colonial Marines, or some equivalent force), I'd guess that the security force probably has some sharpshooters who would be better than your best pilot. But hey, it's TV -- suspend a little disbelief. They aren't going to introduce SGT Hathcock, super-sniper, as a character. Easier to make it one of the regulars. Same goes for Columbo, space-interrogator.

Weren't a large majority of the marines aboard the rest of the fleet to guard against water riots?

If I remember correctly, Adama chose Starbuck because she was the best of what he had left.