Battlestar Galactica:Season 2; Part 4 NSCR/8.5.05

[LightPhoenix]

A point that I haven't seen anyone make with regards to Roslin/Starbuck/Adama is the fact that Adama lied to the fleet. Starbuck started off on Adama's side, it wasn't until she found out that he, the man that is almost a father to her, lied to her and everyone else that she chose her side. Starbuck could have just said, "frak you all" and done her merry thing. She chose to believe the person who she thought was being truthful. Is that the case? We'll have to wait and see.

Side point, related to my post above - Starbuck seems to have some degree of spirituality, for her to throw in with Roslin. An aspect of her and everyone save Roslin that is vastly downplayed.

Since I haven't weighed in on the Adama/Roslin conflict, I think the whole purpose of their plot isn't to show one side or the other as bad. I think what is really being shown here is that military and civilians exist in a symbiotic relationship. When they fight each other instead of working together, that causes chaos and destruction. Something that definitely can not be plaguing the Humans at this point in time. Roslin and Adama shouldn't be at odds, they should be working together, and both of them are too damned stubborn for their own good. The upside is, when they do start working together, their leadership will be a powerful force for the Humans. There's going to be differences, and negotiation, those must by necessity exist. Mutinies and martial law are not the answer though.

By the way, there's your new alliterative sourcebook - Mutinies and Martial Law.

 

[wingsandsword]

I believe that the Cylons want the Colonials to lead them to Earth. I'm not sure that they want to wipe out Earth. A cut scene on the first season DVD revealed that one of the lords of Kobol declared himself the only true god and this led to conflict on Kobol. Six's reaction seems to indicate that this is the Cylon god. I believe the Cylons are looking for Earth to see if the inhabitants are worshipping this deity.

I like this theory. It has seemed for a while like the Cylons are herding the Colonials, they have had them at the brink of extermination for some time, and always seem to let them get away.

It does seem like the Cylons are intentionally trying to make the Prophecy come true (not that they specifically wanted Galactica or Roslin to survive originally, just that they knew that some ships would escape according to their battle plan), and once the humans began their search for Earth, the Cylons are following them the entire way. The idea that they are seeking Earth as a place where humans share their religion is very interesting.

I won't go too far into detail to keep this non-religious on this board, but given what the major religions of Earth are, the Cylons would have field day with their own monotheistic belief system if they encountered modern Earth. Of course, we don't know what stage of development Earth is at in new BSG. In old BSG we knew it was "modern day" from almost the beginning when they intercepted a broadcast of the Apollo 11 landing, and of course found Earth in the abysmal "Galactica 1980" second season.

 

[Rykion]

Side point, related to my post above - Starbuck seems to have some degree of spirituality, for her to throw in with Roslin. An aspect of her and everyone save Roslin that is vastly downplayed.

Starbuck has been shown to be very spiritual in the series leading up to making the decision to go after the arrow. She prayed that the lords of Kobol would receive the souls of the dead in the miniseries. When she was stranded on the planet she started talking directly to the lords. In the episode in which she interrogated the cylon, she recognized when he quoted scripture. Later she pulled out two statuettes from her locker and prayed for the cylon's soul. Starbuck has shown more religious belief than any other officer aboard Galactica.

 

[drothgery]

My not-so-loony theory for the basic history of the new Battlestar Galactica universe is
1) FTL technology discovered in the not-too-distant future.
2) Fringe religious group founds a colony on Kobol, located in some obscure corner of the galaxy, and prospers
3) The 12 Colonies founded as secondary colonies from Kobol (though quite possibly few on Kobol remember that Kobol was originally a colony from Earth at this point)
4) Some major cataclysmic event renders Kobol uninhabitable
5) Much later, the main timeline of the series starts with the first Cylon wars

The follow-on to this is, of course, that the Cylons really are interested in destroying all humans. They want to find earth because it's the only lead they've got on where else humanity might be at.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

It does seem like the Cylons are intentionally trying to make the Prophecy come true (not that they specifically wanted Galactica or Roslin to survive originally, just that they knew that some ships would escape according to their battle plan), and once the humans began their search for Earth, the Cylons are following them the entire way. The idea that they are seeking Earth as a place where humans share their religion is very interesting.

So if the cylons' goal is to find Earth, does that mean that Adama is a cylon? It was his idea to go to Earth (based upon his lie that the command staff knew of its location). If Adama is not a cylon, and the cylons' goal is to find Earth, their entire plan hinged upon the chance of someone pulling the survivors together and searching for, or stumbling on, a legend. Unless of course the Cylons all along beleived that by doing what they did, they would set the conditions for the prophecy, and that the prophecy would be true and lead them to Earth.

 

[Storm Raven]

A point that I haven't seen anyone make with regards to Roslin/Starbuck/Adama is the fact that Adama lied to the fleet.

Just to be pedantic, I'll point out that I made this point a while ago.

 

[WizarDru]

Just to be pedantic, I'll point out that I made this point a while ago.

You weren't the only one, either.

 

[PoppaGunch]

About the destruction on Caprica:
If I remember correctly, they noted in the mini-series that nuclear bombs were detonated in the upper atmosphere of the planets. I think the Cylons primarily relied on the radiation to kill the population, trying to keep the infrastructure in a good shape.

Actually while an air blast does do less damage, the raditiation from such an attack dissapates much quicker than a ground blast. Ground blasts create the radioactive fallout that is the most dangerous (long term) part of a nuclear attack.
In tactical planning, a few well places air blasts create an EMP effect that would wipe out most electronic equipment. It does not create much fallout. To get a good long lasting radiation effect you need to turn up some dirt (so to speak). This means a ground burst.
Perhaps the cylons blasted undeveloped areas and let the radiation taint the developed areas. The use of a neutron bomb would cause less physical damage and a ton of more radiation (they don't actually ignore buildings, they simply don't have as large a blast, its the radiation from those buggers thats so nasty). That would actually be more likely since most deadly radiation from a nuclear attack is actually gone in only a couple of months (except the areas they call "hot spots" where more fallout occured). With a Neutron bomb you get a longer life.

Ok, done being a nuke geek. Back to the real discussion.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Actually while an air blast does do less damage, the raditiation from such an attack dissapates much quicker than a ground blast. Ground blasts create the radioactive fallout that is the most dangerous (long term) part of a nuclear attack.
In tactical planning, a few well places air blasts create an EMP effect that would wipe out most electronic equipment. It does not create much fallout. To get a good long lasting radiation effect you need to turn up some dirt (so to speak). This means a ground burst.
Perhaps the cylons blasted undeveloped areas and let the radiation taint the developed areas. The use of a neutron bomb would cause less physical damage and a ton of more radiation (they don't actually ignore buildings, they simply don't have as large a blast, its the radiation from those buggers thats so nasty). That would actually be more likely since most deadly radiation from a nuclear attack is actually gone in only a couple of months (except the areas they call "hot spots" where more fallout occured). With a Neutron bomb you get a longer life.

Ok, done being a nuke geek. Back to the real discussion.

Isn't it just scary, how much stuff we actually know these days...but when it comes to this show...right now, it is just a lot of guess work.

 

[WizarDru]

Isn't it just scary, how much stuff we actually know these days...but when it comes to this show...right now, it is just a lot of guess work.

Actually, I think it's both impressive and fascinating that they put that much thought into it. Although the firefight in the last episode seemed to be lacking in some kickback...but I wasn't watching too closely.