Battlestar Galactica {Spoiler Talk} 3/11/05

[Dragonmarked DM]

One thing really bugged me about this episode: they've got FTL drive, but they're doing their battle tracking on a tabletop with models?!? C'mon -- while I've done a lot of battle tracking on map boards with little stickies, our digitized TOCs today can do digital battle tracking on a big plasma screen -- no one moving things around on a table with a stick. You'd think that for a space fight they'd have some sort of 3D holo projection or something. Must have been an FX budget constraint]

The reason for the models is the same reason why the phones and other low tech stuff on the ship exist. The Ship was built during the last cylon war and any super high tech computers where targets for cylon take over. It's also the same reason the newer vipers falled where the older vipers still kick butt in the original mini series.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I spent the end of this episode wondering how many Vipers they actually had left now, and how many pilots. Pretty soon they're going to have to go to the prison ship again just so they get some pilots.

Well, they lost three Vipers and three pilots; Chuckles and I *think* Cat in the backdoor force, and one guy in the initial strike (not Hot Dog). They had 40 Vipers when the 13 pilots got killed, and a dozen or so were down-checked during the Search for Starbuck (as well as the one that Starbuck lost). So, they've anywhere between 24 and 36 Vipers right now, assuming that some or all of the downchecked Vipers get brought back up.

One thing that they mention in the blog is that they're keeping track of how many pilots and Vipers they have, which is really cool.

I'll bet the other guy was a newbie as well. They *really* need a series of baby missions to get the nuggets up to snuff, or to somehow find some simulators; otherwise, they're gonna run out of fighters. Once they get a few missions in, their survival rate's going to go up, but it's getting there that's the problem.

Brad

 

[Pbartender]

It seems the problem most have is the "Starbuck is the best fill in here" mentality. Which last night's episode catered to greatly. I too am becoming sick of this. Best pilot, best sniper, best negotiator and best strategist. Where does it end?

Best Cylon.

 

[fett527]

Best Cylon.

OK, now that was just a gratuitous post to show off the Cylon smiley.

Good show!

 

[fett527]

Wow, I am so going to have to disagree with you on this. I really couldn't stand Nana Visitor most of the time. On the other hand, I tend to enjoy most of Katee Sackhoff's scenes more than most.

I really think Boomer is stealing the show.

We'll agree to disagree on Sackhoff. She's getting better, but it still grates on me most of the time.

Boomer is great. Both of her!

And, Truth Seeker she is so preggers! (Not tagging as spoiler as this whole thread is labled spoilers)

 

[MaxKaladin]

I don't think Starbuck was being shown as the best strategist here, or best anything else for that matter. Her plan was a tactical plan. The strategic plan was to go to this place and take it from the Cylons. The tactical plan is where you figure out the details. Military officers are supposed to know how to make plans like that. It's part of the training. Also, she's not exactly a junior officer. She is "Lieutenant" Starbuck. There is a rank chart for the colonial fleet at scifi.com (in the producer's blog for February). Assuming they aren't dropping "Junior Grade" from her rank for brevity, she has been promoted twice. She's only one rank behind Apollo and is probably an appropriate rank to be a second in command to Apollo, which would mean she should have the skills necessary to step into his job, including planning tactical operations. Further, the fact that she's been a flight instructor would imply to me that she is good enough to teach tactics to pilots as part of training pilots. Granted, ship to ship tactics are different from unit tactics, but I think that would still have been part of her training as she went up in rank.

In fact, I suspect that Starbuck is the one of the highest ranking Colonial officer left unless there are higher ranking officers we don't know about yet. Gaeta is the senior officer of the watch and is also a Lt. so depending on time in rank and the number of Lieutenants on the Galactica, she could possibly be the fourth highest ranking officer left. I don't think it is unusual for Adama to call her in, especially as he's obviously grooming her for higher rank. The fleet will need command officers and he's grooming her for one of those spots.

Is she the "best" because it was her plan? No. Her plan got used because Adama knew the Cylons would be expecting a conventional plan and he knew her thinking would be unconventional. That doesn't make her better, just different. I think a big part of her plan being used is Adama grooming her for command, partially because (as someone else already mentioned) Apollo seems to have divided loyalties and he believes he can trust Starbuck. And, of course, as has been mentioned ad nauseum, she isn't the best. The only shot she took as a sniper missed and her stint in an interrogator was a complete failure. She got both jobs because Adama could trust her, not because she is the best at everything.

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Caprica Boomer has some 'splainin' to do, it seems. Helo has seen Six die and then saw her alive. Oops.

And she seems to be pregnant.

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I really liked Baltar before he started getting all caught up in the whole religious thing.

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I noticed a little undercurrent of mistrust on the military side last night. They didn't reveal the details of the operation to the civilians and said it was just 'old habits dying hard', but I suspect it was quite deliberate.

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Finally, I also think the manual board was used because it is impossible to hack.

 

[Truth Seeker]

We'll agree to disagree on Sackhoff. She's getting better, but it still grates on me most of the time.

Boomer is great. Both of her!

And, Truth Seeker she is so preggers! (Not tagging as spoiler as this whole thread is labled spoilers)

Well shucks, I had to beat people to the punch ...with a spoiler within a spoiler. I won't be doing that again....

I am sarced for Boomer #1 *planetside*, I got a gut feeling, that something will happen this season end, or in the 2nd season. Just a feeling.

 

[Villano]

a lot has been said in past threads about Starbuck. It seems the problem most have is the "Starbuck is the best fill in here" mentality. Which last night's episode catered to greatly. I too am becoming sick of this. Best pilot, best sniper, best negotiator and best strategist. Where does it end?

That's getting on my nerves. I really hate that character. It's funny because, when the DVD of the mini-series was released, every reviewer (I read, at least), said they hated the character, too. One said that you should be rooting for the best pilot in the fleet, but he really wanted to see her shot down.

I have a feeling that they're going to do an episode where Adama is injured and Starbuck is temporarily put in command. She's the best commander in the fleet!

 

[Mistwell]

That's getting on my nerves. I really hate that character. It's funny because, when the DVD of the mini-series was released, every reviewer (I read, at least), said they hated the character, too. One said that you should be rooting for the best pilot in the fleet, but he really wanted to see her shot down.

I have a feeling that they're going to do an episode where Adama is injured and Starbuck is temporarily put in command. She's the best commander in the fleet!

She's the best character on the show, hands down, in my opinion.

 

[Kesh]

Yep, seems Caprica-Boomer is pregnant. I have to wonder just what a human-cylon hybrid is like. Which brings me to an idea I'll hide, just in case:

Spoiler

I wonder if there are any human-cylon hybrids around already? If so, my money's on Starbuck.

And I'm surprised no one mentioned Baltar's semi-Christ-like pose at the end, when he determines he is "an instrument of God."