BattleStar Galactica:Season 3.0--12/08/06--Arc 9

[Arnwyn]

The Colonials are pantheists who worship the Greco-Roman deities (they have used both Greek and Roman names, but the Greek ones far more often). The Cylons are monotheists who it has been implied worship the Abrahamic deity (some of their quotes on Cylon scripture and doctrine have been paraphrased from real-world abrahamic texts).

Thanks, wingsandsword! Very much appreciated.

The speculation of Baltar and his Cylon friend was that there is some tie between the two deities, or they are somehow the same or related.

I know this is probably asking too much, but do you know off-hand what the hybrid said that led them to that conclusion?

Notably, a scene cut for time

Sounds like one giant "whoops" to me (especially if it's that important and is part of the mysticism that permeates the show). The lack of information on this particular aspect of BSG has been extremely frustrating to me, so when I didn't understand that mumbo-jumbo coming from the hybrids mouth (and knew it was important), I was pretty unhappy.

While there is a significant amount of mysticism in BSG, there was actually far more in the old one. Literally angels and devils appeared and were recurring characters. This is just another aspect of old BSG that got redone in the new edition.

Thanks again! You have been very helpful. I can further see why that BSG 1980 is loathed.

 

[atom crash]

Here's the relevant exchange between Three and Baltar, in the Hybrid chamber:

Basestar: Hybrid Chamber

Hybrid: one degree angle nominal seascape portrait of the womanchild cavern of the soul under pressure-heat ratio ides of evolutions have buried their fears…
Baltar: So this is where you got the idea to start intentionally downloading.
Hybrid: Gestalt therapy and escape clauses.
Baltar: Right, let's see what we can find out.
Hybrid: Throughout history the nexus between man and machine has spun some of the most dramatic compelling... and entertaining fiction.
(Gaius leans down.)
Three: Gaius. What do you think you're doing? [Gaius sticks his hand in the water.] Don't touch it!
Hybrid, grabbing his hand: Intelligence. A mind that burns like a fire.
Baltar: Yes, I'm here.
Hybrid: Find the hand that lies in the shadow of the light. In the eye of the husband of the eye of the cow.
(Gaius falls back, overwhelmed.)
Three: You all right? It just speaks nonsense, doesn't it?
Baltar: I don't think anything it says is nonsense. The husband of the eye of the eye of the -- Hera. Hera, sometimes referred to as cow-eyed Hera. And the husband of Hera ...
Three: …Is Jupiter. The eye of Jupiter. Well, that's written about in the ancient texts. My God. Could their be a connection between their Gods and ours? What does it mean?
Baltar: It's a location. A planet hidden in the shadow of light -- probably a cluster of stars -- that'll lead us to the eye of Jupiter. And to the hand … hidden in the shadow of light. Probably some type of artifact.
Three: Hand.
Baltar: As in five. Five faces. Now all we have to do is find the right planet. In a star cluster.

I don't quite follow Three's leap in thinking that there may be a connection between the gods of the Colonials and the Cylon god from what was said, but then again she's fairly irrational and delusional from downloading over and over.

Hmmm, come to think of it this scene revolves around three creatures -- a human, a biomechanical Cylon and a hybrid -- who are all experiencing varying degrees of delusion and madness, so perhaps we aren't supposed to actually believe there is a connection as implied, just that some deranged minds are seeing a connection.

 

[Arnwyn]

. But from what I've read Hot Dog, Kat and a couple of ships all went down.

Hot Dog is still hanging in there, actually. (Aside: So is Racetrack, of the other "kind of mentioned, but still on the periphery" pilots.)

 

[Arnwyn]

Here's the relevant exchange between Three and Baltar, in the Hybrid chamber:

Wow, atom crash. You rock.

Hmmm, come to think of it this scene revolves around three creatures -- a human, a biomechanical Cylon and a hybrid -- who are all experiencing varying degrees of delusion and madness, so perhaps we aren't supposed to actually believe there is a connection as implied, just that some deranged minds are seeing a connection.

I'm not so sure these are throwaway lines, or a throwaway sequence (since the lines are pretty much key to the scene, IMO). And with the fact that we see some sort of artifact-with-an-eye in the next episode, I think that scene is there to further educate the audience.

Thanks again, everyone. You've been really helpful in getting me to understand some of the more... *ahem*... "esoteric" sequences of BSG.

 

[atom crash]

I'm not so sure these are throwaway lines, or a throwaway sequence (since the lines are pretty much key to the scene, IMO). And with the fact that we see some sort of artifact-with-an-eye in the next episode, I think that scene is there to further educate the audience.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply these were throwaway lines, just that you can't necessarily follow them with logical reasoning. Perhaps madness is the key to making the connection.

 

[wingsandsword]

Thanks again! You have been very helpful. I can further see why that BSG 1980 is loathed.

Oh, further exposition then:

Battlestar Galactica (Old): Space Opera from 1978, released in the wave of Sci-Fi that came after Star Wars (Lucas tried to sue saying BSG was a copyright violation, but it was thrown out, he was essentially trying to copyright the entire space opera genre). Based on a late 60's draft script called "Adam's Ark" (Note how Adama is Adam with an "a" on the end, the Adam thing is intentional), but nobody in show business wanted to make it until Star Wars hit big and there was a rush for Sci-Fi scripts. The show had a lot of parallels to Mormon theology (the creator is a member of the LDS church), some of which survive vestigially to new BSG. Late in the show, a devil named "Count Iblis" appeared to try and tempt the Colonials, while angelic "Beings of Light" appear and ressurect Apollo after he gets killed and then give the Colonials the exact coordinates of Earth.

Galactica 1980: Spinoff/followup series made in 1980 instead of making a second season of Galactica. To cut costs they had Galactica find Earth, but it was woefully unprepared for the Cylon menace, so a handful of Galactica personell stay on Earth to try and quietly help Earth get ready by giving Earth scientists Colonial technology, while the fleet leaves and stays on the run in Earth's general part of the Galaxy to distract the Cylons and act as backup if needed. It was hated because it was really, really cheesy (and had some significant continuity problems with the original BSG). Examples of cheese included Colonials having superhuman strength because apparently on Galactica and the colonies and everywhere else but Earth the gravity is really heavy, so they can super-jump if they need to on Earth. Or, despite having to sneak around physically on the regular series, apparently now they have personal cloaking devices, so on Earth they can touch a button on their wristwatch, fade to invisible, and sneak around, and it was the generic A-Team/Knight Rider mold of wandering around Northern California getting into adventures in small towns and helping good-hearted local folks out (while being on the run from The Man, since the US Air Force wants to capture the Colonials as extraterrestrials), occcasionally flashing to the Galactica and very occasionally dealing with Cylons. Continuity problems included saying the show was set in 1980, but it takes place 30 years after the regular series (i.e. Regular BSG happening circa 1950), but in one episode of BSG they intercept transmissions of the Apollo 11 moon landing from Earth. The creator of original BSG has said if he ever revisits the setting with any project, Galactica 1980 is definitely non-canonical.

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

etcetera, etcetera.

I know this is suppose to cover everything else but since you listed Algae Gumbo I've got to mention:

-Spicy Algae Etouffee
-Cajun Algae Jambalaya
-Blackened Red Algae

Now that's Cookin' !!

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Ah, you uncultured barbarian. Think of all the things you can do with algea.

-Algea with salt
-Algea with pepper
-Salt with pepper
-Salt with algea
-Pepper with algea
-Soaked algea (with salt and/or pepper)
-Fried algea
-Cooked algea
-Baked algea
-Algea soup
-Algea Gumbo
-Grilled Algea burgers
-Algea ice cream

etcetera, etcetera.

I'm having Bubba-Gump shrimp flashbacks now

 

[Joker]

I'm having Bubba-Gump shrimp flashbacks now

I can see some marines on the Galactica talking to each other while assembling their rifles:

"You know what I'm gonna do when we get to Earth?
I'm gonna go algea-fishin'. Algea is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute* it. There's algea-kebab, algea creole [cleaning shoes] algea gumbo, pan fried, diep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple algea and lemon algea, coconut algea, pepper algea [cleaning floor with toothbrushes] algea soup, algea stew, algea salad, algea in potatoes, algea burger, algea sandwich."
[He's quiet for a moment and stop brushing] "That's...that's about it."[Continues brushing]

*does anyone know how to get the little accent on the 'e'?

 

[LightPhoenix]

Overall I liked it. Basically I think this episode was a set-up for the two parter next week and when the show comes back after the break.

Kat was mentioned at Galactica CAG in one of the first episodes of the season, IIRC.

Three's use of "ours", as in Three's plus Baltar. Alternatively, she could have been talking about The Five, but I doubt that. I think it was just an unintentional ambiguity brought on by the line - it's not retconning the Cylons as pantheistic.

Algae may be mostly protein, but they're going to need a LOT of it, even for such a small group of people. Hopefully that's the excuse for them being there long enough for Balter and Three (and possibly others) to show up.

Also, the biochemist in me takes umbrage at the idea all we need is protein - carbs and fats are important too. It's a relatively minor technobabble (biobabble?) handwave though, and Cottle says it, so I suppose it can be forgiven. I'll just assume by processing, they process part of it to carbs, or extract glucose and what-not.

Haven't listened to the podcast yet.