BSG Blogging: Exodus, Part I

by Andrew

Someone asked that I move the Galacticablogging over here. If the consensus is that this doesn't really belong at ObWi, I'll discontinue the experiment.

A week after I suggested Moore and company might have finally found their niche by changing from 'humanity on the run' to 'humanity resists the Cylons,' it appears I spoke too soon. Surprise. Last's night's episode, starting with the title, suggests that New Caprica will be only a brief way-station on the way to Earth, although I'll concede that all could changed based on what happens next week. Continued below the fold to allow readers to avoid spoilers.

The start of the episode was, quite frankly, a disappointment. Last week we cut away from two cliffhangers: the Cylons about to exterminate a group of humans and Boomer and Anders were under fire from Cylons tipped off to the meeting by Ellen Tigh. This episode gives us a 'one hour earlier' tag that explains that, conveniently enough, Gaeta managed to warn Tyrol that Cally and the others were going to be killed, so the Chief led a rescue team that saved them just in the nick of time, albeit with a continuity error as I'm pretty sure last week we saw Cally running away and head gunfire at the same time, which changed in this episode. Amazingly enough, Boomer's marine escort had also set up a counterambush for the Cylons before she initiated the meeting, so that ambush fails as well. I understand that both cliffhangers needed to go in the Colonials' favor, but the gimmick of showing that other things had been in motion strikes me as rather cheesy. Presumably Ron Moore was a fan of the Saturday afternoon serials as a child.

After the group containing President Roslyn was rescued, Tyrol mentions that the Galactica is coming to rescue them all soon. He says this despite the fact a Number Five is still alive at the scene, which seems decidedly unwise, but based on later events it appears he did not hear the conversation.

We then cut to Baltar, who is apparently suffering from impotence due to his guilty conscience. Number Six is unhappy with his constant self-recrimination, complaining that he doesn't understand what she has given up to be with him. Baltar bitterly responds that, with the occupation of New Caprica it's a little hard for him to worry about their relationship. Number Six is clearly at least nominally on the side of the humans, but interspecies relationships are obviously a difficult thing, and she may be coming to regret her love for Baltar.

Next up, it's another dream sequence/prophecy, this one for D'Anna Biers, who dreams of Hera, the human-Cylon hybrid child of Boomer and Helo. Biers goes out in search of the source of her dream (doesn't everyone) and discovers a human oracle who tells her that the child lives, and that Biers will hold it in her arms, but that it will cost her all she has built here, presumably on New Caprica. Perhaps this is foreshadowing that the Cylons will get Hera, but the rest of the humans will escape New Caprica.

Meanwhile, the Galactica is preparing to launch a rescue mission, while the Pegasus and the civilian ships prepare to continue the search for Earth. Adama tells Lee to wait 18 hours for them, then initiate the search. Raise your hand if you think that the Galactica will make it back within 18 hours. Keep your hand raised if you think Pegasus will leave without Galactica. If you're still holding your hand up, I just happen to have in my possession a deed to the Brooklyn Bridge that I'm trying to sell. The farewell between Lee and Adama is done well, as the crews perform a brief religious ritual, and Adama tells his son 'Don't make me cry on my own hangar deck' when Lee tries to say more.

Back on New Caprica, the resistance has secured Ellen Tigh, as they have learned she is the source of the leak to the Cylons. We also learn that Hera and her mother are being kept constantly on the move to keep the Cylons from finding them. While I suppose that is prudent, one wonders if it isn't also calculated to arouse suspicion among the Cylons, who all believed Hera was dead until D'Anna's dream. We also learn that the colonists have performed three dress rehearsals for evacuating the colony under the guise of natural disaster preparedness, a wise precaution that will serve them well if the rescue mission goes off as planned. Their plan is to hit the Cylons in multiple places at once in the hopes that will distract the occupation long enough for the citizens to escape. Given some 50,000 humans on New Caprica, it seems implausible any distraction could last long enough to get them all out, but I suppose there are few better options available to them.

Boomer, meanwhile, gets to suck up a little anti-Cylon prejudice, something she's apparently going to live with for the rest of her life, as she is proud of her service as a Colonial officer and clearly intends to remain on the side of the humans. Although that could all still change, as she runs into Biers when she infiltrates the Cylon base to secure the launch keys for the human ships, and Biers tells her that Hera is still alive. Boomer kneecaps Biers, telling her that 'Adama wouldn't lie to me.' That promises to be an interesting conversation, and how Boomer reacts should be fascinating. Her kneecapping of Biers seems rather vicious, though; it seems to me that it would have been far more merciful to simply kill her and allow her to download again than to cripple her in that way.

The episode ends with Adama giving his best 'Band of Brothers' speech, extolling the crew of Galactica to remember their comrades so they can tell their grandchildren about the amazing men and women with whom they served.

All in all, not a bad episode. As a soldier, I find the rushed nature of the rescue jarring; Adama sent the Pegasus away before he even knew that Boomer had the launch keys; what would have happened if she had failed and they needed to delay the mission? Rushed plans tend to go bad pretty quickly, and I suspect this one will as well. We see a lot of Boomer's development in this episode, which was terrific. Her reaction to human prejudices was played very well, and her pride in being accepted by Adama is clear, as is her frustration at not being fully accepted by the other humans. She has a hard road ahead of her, and she's beginning to realize that. Hearing Brother Cavil describe committing suicide in order to download after he was mortally wounded was an interesting look inside Cylon life, particularly his complaint that each new download was more unpleasant; a hint, perhaps, that the Cylons will become more leery of death despite their knowledge they are functionally immortal. The fleshing out of Ellen Tigh's love for her husband was quite intriguing as well; how will he react to the knowledge she betrayed the resistance in order to save him?

The key to this episode, though, will be what happens next week. The first three episodes of the new season have thrown a lot of balls in the air. Now they're going to need some time to explore the consequences of those changes, and that means they're going to need some episodes that are a lot less hectic than the current set. Next week won't be any less busy than this week, but I wonder if it will at least set up the promise of a little down time for the crew to explore their relationships some more.

Comments

[Asteele]

Nit: I know that I thought that in context Adama was saying, once the balloon goes up you'll go to the point and wait 18 hours.

...and keep you hand raised if you don't think pegaseus will come to the rescue of Galatica.

[Anarch]

I thoroughly approve of BSG-blogging here. I'm holding my comments on Exodus until after part II, though, since I don't think this ep can really be evaluated on its own (more's the pity).

That said, a few general notes:

* I cannot help tearing up every time Baltar comes on the screen. He's just so... pathetic. Callis is doing a hell of a job.

* I'm so psyched that I was right: Lucy Lawless is a much better actress in her natural accent than her (bad) American one. I think I was even right as to why: she doesn't carry as much tension in her upper body (specifically across the sternum) when she's using her real voice so she's more relaxed in her physicality and hence more natural in her performance as a whole.

* Love, love, love all the Cylons. Wants more of them, preciousssss...

* When did Anders learn how to act? He's... watchable!

And finally:

* Is it just me or was the break between Exodus I a really odd one? A couple people I've read on TWoP suggested that maybe they should have run Occupation and Precipice as single hours, then done Exodus I & II as a two-hour "Special Event" the following week. I don't know about the Sci-Fi schedule, but I think that might not have been a bad idea -- either that, or they should have recut the ending of Exodus I.

[Hob]

Andrew, where was the BSG blogging previously? I'm curious to see your take on previous episodes.

[Jesurgislac]

If the consensus is that this doesn't really belong at ObWi, I'll discontinue the experiment.

I for one protest.

What about Dr Who?

[Sebastian Holsclaw]

"What about Dr Who?"

I liked the old doctor better.

:)

Which old doctor you ask? :)

[jon]

I can only assume that Boomer have D'Anna the IRA treatment so she wouldn't die as fast. Not knowing how long it takes to download, I think she was trying to guarantee enough time to get out before a re-animated D'Anna could warn the other Cylons.

However, since she eventually will, a thought: could this lead to a witch-hunt among Boomers in the Cylon general population?

Also, Caprica Six + Boomer = a good reason why long-distance relationships run onto the rocks once you're actually around each other and have to deal with the real person rather than your idealized imaginings...

[Gary Farber]

I'm carefully averting my eyes from the rest of the post, and the comments, because I don't have frakking cable tv, and thus won't see these episodes until they come out on DVD.

IJWTS that I suppose I'm the only one here with this plight (and anyone else in it is unlikely to be reading this thread), so I'm sure it's futile for me to ask if there would be any interest in discussing the episodes that, so far as I and others without cable are concerned, just came out a couple of weeks ago, the 2.5 episodes?

Besides, there's all the deleted scenes, and extended episodes, you folks watching the inferior, shortened, cable versions, didn't get to discuss before the real, DVD, versions came out.

;-)

Or we could do a viewing and discussion starting from the mini-series, even....

Post responses, if any, please, in the most recent open thread; I daren't come back to this thread to check for any, lest I learn horrible spoilers, like the death of a major character, or jumping ahead ten years, or somesuch.

[Gromit]

You're not the only one, Gary. My cable service is limited to local stations.

[Anarch]

What about Dr Who?

Eccleston was better than Tennant but Tennant's growing on me. The main problem is that I missed both the Christmas Invasion and New Earth so I'm not really sure where Ten is coming from.

I'm really liking Billie Piper, though, in a way I wasn't towards the middle-to-end of last season. Can't say more without spoilers, alas.

[Jesurgislac]

Which old doctor you ask? :)

The Doctor of my childhood was Tom Baker. Ecclestone was a grand comeback, though.

[double-plus-ungood]

The Doctor of my childhood was Tom Baker.

Infant. I was cowering behind the couch when the Daleks were hunting Hartnell in the London Sewers. In B&W yet.

[double-plus-ungood]

I really should try to watch an episode of BG. It's made two minutes drive from where I live.

[Anarch]

Incidentally, Andrew, if you also wish to blog college football Saturdays, I shan't complain ;)

[Andrew]

I watch neither Doctor Who nor college football, so I have no ability to blog either of those subjects.

[Jesurgislac]

d-u-g: I was cowering behind the couch when the Daleks were hunting Hartnell in the London Sewers.

That's what I really like about Dr Who. The other fans make me feel so young. *snerk*

I am just old enough to remember the gorgeous and ruffly Jon Pertwee, aside from my parents not having a TV then. So I missed most of his tenure.

I didn't hide behind the couch. I just had nightmares a bit, about Daleks mostly.

[double-plus-ungood]

ex ter min ate

**brrrr***

My parents forbid me to watch the show after the scene I made during The Dalek Invasion of Earth. And I got a remote control dalek for Christmas that year. In hindsight, that was pretty sick of them.

[mss]

Eccleston was better than Tennant but Tennant's growing on me. The main problem is that I missed both the Christmas Invasion and New Earth so I'm not really sure where Ten is coming from.

I agree about Eccleston being better than Tennant, though Tennant does get better as Season 2 (or is that Season 28?) goes on.

I still think Anthony Stewart Head would be the best choice. And he kind of has seven years practice.

[Slartibartfast]

Well, on the upside, Purdue won. Downside: Indiana beat Iowa, who absolutely killed Purdue last weekend.

And Indiana? Not so good.

In a holding pattern now, waiting for Florida/Auburn to start.

[liberal japonicus]

I watch neither Doctor Who nor college football, so I have no ability to blog either of those subjects.

You really don't get this blogging thing, do you Andrew. ;)

I regretfully can't add much to the BSG stuff if it stays as a discussion of episodes, since it hasn't gotten here yet, but please don't take my lack of participation as a sort of shunning.

[liberal japonicus]

Speaking of college football, this NYTimes piece entitled The Ballad of Big Mike was very interesting, about orphaned and possibly homeless boy who may be on his way to being one of the highest paid players in the game when he graduates from Ole Miss. It draws a whole range of emotions from me that are incredibly hard to explain.

[Jesurgislac]

Thanks for linking to that, lj. I ended up reading the whole damn article when I meant to be logging off and going to sleep, but... yeah.

[Jesurgislac]

mss: I still think Anthony Stewart Head would be the best choice. And he kind of has seven years practice.

Giles and his army of man-bats? No way!

Penelope Keith would be my choice. :-D

[Donald Johnson]

We just got cable early this year, so I'm a latecomer to BSG. I'm still figuring stuff out. I think I know about 20 percent of the background. What's the best website to catch up on this stuff?

I'm also considering asking for DVD's of the early shows for Christmas, but will wait a bit to be sure I'm really going to be hooked. But I probably am.

[Andrew]

If you go here, look for the 'The Story Thus Far' link and it should be able to bring you up to speed.

[Andrew]

Here's the link to the short tour of the story thus far. They also have a 44 minute video that goes into a lot more detail.

[liberal japonicus]

It's interesting, here in Japan, series like this are available at rental DVD stores. BSG hasn't made it, the last big one to do so was 24. Unfortunately, they are designed for the Japanese audience in mind, and a lot of the extra stuff is different and I can't justify getting the US disks, which used to be easy, but they prevent some sets from being shipped to overseas addresses.

[Anarch]

I still think Anthony Stewart Head would be the best choice. And he kind of has seven years practice.

And he was in the ep that just aired in the US. Though not as the Doctor, alas.

[spartikus]

I didn't see the first two Season 3 episodes. Is it just me or did Jamie Bamber (Apollo) get fat, or fat on purpose?

Also Colonel Tigh = The Cyclops. But Hesiod's Cyclops. Which means Apollo will kill Tigh.

[st]

Two questions: why do the cylons care so much about Hera when they are cranking out human/cylon hybrids in job lots at the farms on New Caprica? And why the constant fascination with alien-human hybrids in modern SF anyway?

[st]

Er, the farms on Caprica, I mean, not New Caprica.

[liberal japonicus]

As for the last, ask Glenn Reynolds, I guess...

[Andrew]

st,

Good question. The creators have been marvellouslly inconsistent with their treatment of Cylon reproduction so far.

All,

For those who are interested, older BSG episode reviews can be found here. There's other entertainment-related stuff in there, but it's 80-90% Galactica.

[mss]

why do the cylons care so much about Hera when they are cranking out human/cylon hybrids in job lots at the farms on New Caprica?

Well, so says one Cylon, who has at least one clear ulterior motive for making up such a story.

[st]

So says one cylon? I seem to remember Starbuck discovering a whole room of women hooked up to some sort of ghastly feeding/sedation apparatus, etc...Or have I missed the point of your comment?

I know Number Six kept going on about how Hera was "the one" or somesuch, but why is Xena so concerned about it?

I know why Roslin cares - cure for cancer and so forth - but as for the rest of the cylons, I'm still mystified. This isn't meant as a continuity gotcha - I just feel like I missed something somewhere.

[mss]

st:

I don't recall anything establishing that the Cyclon's experiments with human woman had actually *succeeded* in producing children, and cylon desperation to get every last woman on Caprica involved suggests things weren't going well.

So at this point, I'm skeptical that the situation with Kara's "child" is necessarily as straightforward as it seems. Perhaps the child is a hybrid produced from Kara's removed ovaries. Or perhaps it is 100% human or 100% cylon, and part of a plot to lure Kara into a sexual relationship with Leoban Conoy (on the theory that either Leoban is obsessed with her---as seems to be established from earlier episodes, and/or on the theory that the cylons suspect natural reproduction will be more likely to produce viable offspring.)

I just think that if the cylons had working technology to produce hybrids, they would be far less obsessed with particular children and their mothers.

There are still more questions here: why aren't the cylons using the general human population on New Caprica in their experiments? Is there anything special about Helo and Kara that made them better subjects for cylon experiments? Or is the focus not on hybrids in general but on the first hybrid, for reasons of prophecy (God I hope it's not the last).

[tarylcabot]

continuity error as I'm pretty sure last week we saw Cally running away and head gunfire at the same time

noticed that continuity error as well - thought it was a cheat.

spartikus: Apollo got fat on purpose to show that he's just sort of drifted during the waiting period. "D" mentions his weight in one scene.

the whole Boomer/Helo child being special does seem a bit contrived - with so many Quislings, they could easily convince some other humans to mate with Cylons (maybe the mating has to be consensual for a child to be special). also, how could Kara's kid be older than Boomer/Helo's? Cylon growth hormones?

despite all that, still a show worth watching weekly & there really aren't many now that i feel that way about.

[Jeff Eaton]

the whole Boomer/Helo child being special does seem a bit contrived - with so many Quislings, they could easily convince some other humans to mate with Cylons (maybe the mating has to be consensual for a child to be special).

If you'll recall, the Sixes talking to Boomer before she left New Caprica to join the humans repeatedly asked her, 'But does he LOVE you?' There were a numbe of hints that the Cylons felt that the emotional and spiritual connection between the two parents would be essential... Also, the 'farms' that Kara destroyed early on in the series had human mothers, not Cylon mothers...

Also, this thread rocks. ;)

[Andrew]

There were a numbe of hints that the Cylons felt that the emotional and spiritual connection between the two parents would be essential

Yes, I well remember that. I also remember wondering if the Cylons were created by Professor Frink. "Brace yourselves gentlemen. According to the gas chromatograph, the secret ingredient is... Love? All right, who's been screwing with this thing?"

[Steward Beta]

I finally caught the last three episodes last night, ah the glorious power of TIVO, and a couple of things really stick out for me.

a) Suicide Bombing as a weapon against traitors.
b) Police having to wear hoods out in public for fear of their lives.
c) Police will be infiltrated very fast by the insurgents.
d) The Puppet goverment has been infiltrated at the highest levels by insurgent sympathizers.

I wonder how much more material the writers stole from our Great Iraqi Adventure, and I hope that the entire season is spent exploring the Cylon Occupation on New Caprica.

continuity error as I'm pretty sure last week we saw Cally running away and head gunfire at the same time

It's an American TV show, nothing bad ever happens to the good guys, no matter what the plot line is pointing towards.

[Jonas Cord]

For those of you without cable, or out of the country, or otherwise unable to see Season 3, if you've got a fast connection and a reasonably fast computer, the iTunes video store has them up for $1.99 each or about $25 for a season pass I think. They used to have horrible resolution (for the iPod video) but now they've bumped it up to a reasonable 640x480.

I say this because my girlfriend and I have been addicted to the show, and we watched it all on DVD in a marathon run, but we really didn't want to get cable, so this summer was dedicated to solving this technological crisis.

(As an aside, it sucks to be watching it now week-to-week, as opposed to in 4 episode chunks. We watched Lost this way too, and it's so much better, and you wind up less bitter than the fans who watch it on TV because the show creators constant taunting with cliffhangers and moving around in time are lesser form of torture this way.)

[Doctor Science]

OT book rec:

I just started reading The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War by Andrew Bacevich, a Vietnam Vet and Prof. of International Relations at BU. I want Andrew to read it and tell us what he thinks, especially of Bacevich's depiction of the military subculture.

[Doctor Science]

OT book rec:

I just started reading The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War by Andrew Bacevich, a Vietnam Vet and Prof. of International Relations at BU. I want Andrew to read it and tell us what he thinks, especially of Bacevich's depiction of the military subculture.

[Andrew]

I don't suppose you're going to buy it for me? :)

I'll add it to the reading list.

[Doctor Science]

arrg, Andrew or whoever, could you delete that first comment from me (7:44), the link is no good.

*covers self in shame*

Also -- No, I won't buy it for you, you can do what I did -- get it from the public library.

[Doctor Science]

Or if you want something to read for free, Andrew, tell us what you think of this dailyKos post on Army recruitment & demographics.

[Andrew]

I should mention that I have a half-dozen books that I still need to read at the moment, since you seem to think that I'm hurting for reading material. ;)

[Raven]

Andrew: You must, you simply must read Jon Swift's review:

On Battlestar Galactica, Heroic Cylons Battle Vicious Terrorists

The heroes are a deeply religious race, called the Cylons, who struggle to bring democratic ideals and Christian values to a planet called New Caprica (Iraq, of course) in the face of an increasingly violent insurgency. ... The terrorists are led by an unscrupulous man prone to violent rages named Admiral Adama, who not only has a name that is clearly meant to evoke Osama Bin Laden, he also bears something of a resemblance to Saddam Hussein. He even has a lazy, playboy son like Saddam had. The insurgency is headed up by the unhinged Col. Saul Tigh, who is locked up in a Guantanamo-like prison at the beginning of the episode recovering from some Cylon alternate interrogation procedures (apparently New Caprica is free of nit-picking Geneva Conventions).

[hilzoy]

OK, Andrew, now you've done it: I am actually going to watch the premiere, which seems to be on tomorrow night.

I almost never do sci-fi. I almost never watch TV, other than the news. In other words, you have accomplished something I thought was impossible.

[Andrew]

Raven,

That is a well-done parody. Thanks for pointing it out, as it gave me a good chuckle.

[spartikus]

Re: Hera

I might have missed someone else making this point, but Hera is the product of a human male - Cylon female. Which would mean the Cyclons would be viable "naturally" as a species, without need of Humans or technology to reproduce.

[Jeff Eaton]

I might have missed someone else making this point, but Hera is the product of a human male - Cylon female. Which would mean the Cyclons would be viable "naturally" as a species, without need of Humans or technology to reproduce.

Bingo.

[Donald Johnson]

Thanks for the links Andrew. I meant to come back, but have been Lancet-obsessing lately.

The Iraq connection really stood out for me, as for Steward. I haven't followed the show enough (I've only seen a handful of episodes from last season and the first two of this one) to fully understand the nuances, but Lord, having one of the good guys (I presume) support suicide bombing against humans who join the occupation police force--well, that's pretty interesting for American television.

And then the human traitor (Baltar? or is it something else?) criticizing suicide bombing to the former human President what's her name. On moral grounds. And then he doesn't seem like a cardboard cutout villain either.

Very interesting show. I definitely think I'm hooked.

[Andrew]

having one of the good guys (I presume) support suicide bombing against humans who join the occupation police force

Actually, I don't think Roslyn supports the suicide bombings at all. I just don't think she wanted to give up any ground to Baltar on the subject. As I recall, she attacked Tigh for the bombings when she was released. While it could well be my own prejudices affecting me here, I think the show doesn't put a very nice gloss on suicide bombing, nor should it.

[Slartibartfast]

Pretty silly for the suicide bombing to have happened in the first place: Baltar wasn't even there. Or possibly some people don't know that Cylons aren't irreplaceable; I don't see how it can make sense otherwise.

[Donald Johnson]

You misunderstood me, though looking at it I can see why. I picked up on the fact that Roslyn was opposed to suicide bombing--she criticized the Colonel for his tactics. She defended it to Baltar, sorta like a lefty who would say that people X (substitute name of oppressed group) are desperate and driven to desperate measures.

Where you really misunderstand me, is on my attitude towards suicide bombing. I'm against it. (Weird and a little annoying having to say that--I didn't lose anyone on 9/11, but that wasn't clear for awhile.) But it's fascinating seeing a TV show having the humans use this tactic and against fellow humans. And then one of the human occupation police seems like a well-intentioned guy, but you also feel sympathy for the guy who talks to him and says how he'd like to string up the collaborators, not knowing who he is talking to. Very complicated for American TV, I think.

[Donald Johnson]

Slarti, I think the bomber was settling for killing the human police recruits--traitors, in the eyes of the suicide bombers. But I'm new to the show.

[spartikus]

Very complicated for American TV, I think.

Thanks in large part to shows like BSG and networks like HBO, American TV doesn't deserve it's unsophisticated reputation anymore.

[Steward Beta]

Pretty silly for the suicide bombing to have happened in the first place: Baltar wasn't even there.

Not at all, if you kill enough traitors/collaborators, you will make the occupation unmanageable. See Iraq as an example.

[Anarch]

Slarti, Donald Johnson: The purpose of the bombing was to kill President Baltar as well as any collaborators they could. The problem was that they didn't find out soon enough that Baltar had cancelled his visitation there (cf the running scene to the jangly music) so the bombing went off anyway.

Also, for those of you who missed S2.5: in the (utterly fantastic) episode Downloaded -- second-last of the season, IIRC, right before the two-parter Lay Down Your Burdens -- Anders and the Caprica resistance had an avowed policy of killing as many "skinjobs" as they could, not because they wanted to eliminate them per se, but rather to make them suffer as much as possible and therefore to reconsider their occupation. [There's a great scene of them casing a joint where Anders says this explicitly to his lieutenant.] The New Caprican resistance/insurgency is at least in part an extension of that philosophy, unsurprising since it's run by a large number of the same people.

[See the beginning (and end) of Downloaded, Cavil's remarks to Baltar in Exodus I, etc., as well]

[Anarch]

Thanks in large part to shows like BSG and networks like HBO, American TV doesn't deserve it's unsophisticated reputation anymore.

There've been a plethora of fantastic shows on American TV for at least 8 years now -- "plethora" in this case meaning that if I were to watch them all when they aired, I would literally not get anything done in the evenings -- it's just been a question of finding them. We're truly living in the Golden Age of Television, which is only obscured by the fact that we're also truly living in the age of The Scraping Of The Bottom Of The Barrel-Shaped Television.

[Andrew]

Slart,

Did you miss the part where Gaeta rushes to try and warn Tyrol that Baltar will not be there? Tigh specifically said to call it off if Baltar wasn't there, but Tyrol didn't get the word in time.

[Doctor Science]

Andrew:

Unless your "to be read" pile is larger than you are, you don't have too big a pile.

Anarch:

We're truly living in the Golden Age of Television, which is only obscured by the fact that we're also truly living in the age of The Scraping Of The Bottom Of The Barrel-Shaped Television.

Do you think it's strictly a matter of Sturgeon's Law applied to a larger base number of TV shows? That is, 90% of them are *still* crud, but 10% non-crud represents a larger absolute number than it did 30 years ago.

I don't watch all that much TV but I keep my finger on the pulse, and I have no reason to doubt that BSG is the best show currently in production. I personally am starting to fall for "Heroes", which features characters *who aren't American*! It's stunning.

[Slartibartfast]

No, I saw that part. I missed where the bomb was set automatically; that doesn't make much sense.

[Anarch]

Doctor Science: Do you think it's strictly a matter of Sturgeon's Law applied to a larger base number of TV shows?

I've been debating that for a while and my conclusion is that there's sort of a generalized Sturgeon's law effect here: the sheer mass of television being produced is so much greater that the amount of really watchable stuff that's on the air has increased to such a degree that normal people can't watch it all. [IOW, the "bell curve" underlying Sturgeon's Law has increased to such a degree that the upper tail now exceeds my viewing capacity.] That said, there's also been a clear winnowing in the top echelons for quite some time; that is, there are selective pressures at work here beyond mere statistical analysis.

Slarti: No, I saw that part. I missed where the bomb was set automatically; that doesn't make much sense.

It wasn't: check Duck's left hand when Three passes in front of him and he says "Nora, I'll see you soon". The commanders (Tigh, Tyrol and Anders) told Duck to execute the order, he did. IIRC, the possibility of cancellation due to Baltar's absence was only raised by the commanders after Duck had gone on his mission.

[Doctor Science]

there's also been a clear winnowing in the top echelons for quite some time; that is, there are selective pressures at work here beyond mere statistical analysis.

My gut reaction is to doubt this -- what are you basing this on? Unless by "selective presures" you mean "CSI: Kalamazoo". (that is, a whole bunch of shows in almost-indistinguishable franchises.)

[liberal japonicus]

I always thought it was the fact that you are going after smaller slices of demographics. Conan O'Brian joked that the best network in terms of emmys this year was HBO just before going into the song and dance number humiliating NBC. There must be some sort of statistical explanation but I'm definitely not the one to make it.

[Slartibartfast]

I can attest as one who has been a follower of the CSI franchise (at least, as far as Miami) that all outlets are suffering from reduction in quality that, if it persists, will lose my attention completely.

It's also possible that they've exhausted all of the likely AND all of the entertainingly unlikely story-lines, and should shut it down in any case. There's only so many biologically six sigma cases that one can stumble across in any given week of law enforcement.

And CSI Miami really ought to have laid off the color enhancement long ago. If I wanted unnaturally bright colors, I'd be mucking with my set. Whose idea was it to occasionally make the sky orange, anyway?

[Slartibartfast]

CSI:Kalamazoo...what's next? CSI:Muncie?

[Donald Johnson]

Whose idea was it to occasionally make the sky orange, anyway?

Mt. Pinatubo's. Sunsets were stunning in that year (forget when it was exactly).

[st]

spartikus - Got it. That makes some sense (and is better than anything I came up with), but brings in contradictions of its own. By your explanation, wouldn't the real holy grail be cylon-cylon sexual reproduction, rather than human(m)-cylon(f)? Presumably cylon males are potent, if they can impregnate human females (the farms). They hardly need the humans to try it out with the female cylons. And what about that anyway? Are the skinjob cylons built, or born, or what?

[Andrew]

They addressed some aspects of Cylon reproduction in season two, I think, when they introduced the farms. They explained that the skinjobs were unable to interbreed, although they were somewhat unclear on the reason for that.

[Anarch]

My gut reaction is to doubt this -- what are you basing this on?

Just the fact that, IMO, there's more really good stuff out than can be accounted for simple chance (i.e. a Sturgeon's Law-type argument). If I had to guess, I'd wager that there's a certain cachet* to be had in having a really good show on one's network and, with certain key producers having demonstrated that it could be done (Zwick & Herskovitz, Chase, Sorkin, &c, as well as Bochco, Kelley, and Carter, kinda), networks were more willing to take chances, which led to writers, actors and producers being more able to create art -- fraught though that term might be -- than they had been previously.

That's just a guess, though. Someone with a better grasp of the TV industry past and present could well shoot me down here.

* Cachet as opposed to profit, here. Keeping a profitable show on the air is a no-brainer; keeping a quality show on the air that hasn't yet found its audience was something the networks only seemed to catch on to after the success of the X-Files.

[Steward Beta]

I think that the fact that a successfull show can be sold as a DVD set for $40 a season creates a major incentive to produce quality TV.

Who is going to spend $40 to buy last season's "Dancing with the Stars"?

[Doctor Science]

IMO, there's more really good stuff out than can be accounted for simple chance (i.e. a Sturgeon's Law-type argument).

We'd need actually statistics to resolve this, because I don't think there *is* a deviation from Sturgeon's Law -- except that it's possible that TV is *worse* than predicted by the SL baseline. Video porn certainly is.

networks were more willing to take chances

Try telling that to an embittered "Firefly" fan, or to a future embittered "Friday Night Lights" fan.

[Jesurgislac]

Who is going to spend $40 to buy last season's "Dancing with the Stars"?

Apparently recent national polls show Bush's job approval rating ranging from 33 percent to 39 percent. Presumably most of these are people who watch nothing but programs like "Dancing with the Stars"... and then watch it again on DVD, if they have $40 to spare.

To quote my favorite American President:
"Tell me: These people don't vote, do they?"

[Anarch]

Try telling that to an embittered "Firefly" fan, or to a future embittered "Friday Night Lights" fan.

Or a My So-Called Life fan, or a Once & Again fan, or a Sports Night fan -- and that's restricting myself only to ABC shows that I watched during their original run. [Given ABC's track record, I'm still astonished that Lost is on the air.] I didn't say networks were willing to ride their shows all the way, just that they were more willing to take chances; the idea of Firefly, f'rex, even getting greenlit in the early 90s (Joss Whedon or no) strikes me as preposterous.

[spartikus]

By your explanation, wouldn't the real holy grail be cylon-cylon sexual reproduction

Speculating: it's a sort of reverse-mule situation. Cylon-cylon coupling (did I actually just write that....) is not viable, but human-cylon coupling is and, presumably, the offspring of the latter is as well.

Re: TV in general. I agree with the point that, as there's a lot more choice now, there's more quality and crap and we are fortunate that the crap can be easily ignored if one chooses.

If you ever catch an episode of one of the top shows from the 80's, they have not aged well. Magnum, for example.

[ScottM]

I broke down last night-- we were planning on waiting until the second part came out and watching them together, but seeing this thread encouraged a rush to watch it sooner. Despite knowing they'd make us wait on a cliff hanger...

I like your recap style Andrew-- did you live blog during the episode?

[Andrew]

Scott,

I took some notes during the show, but I didn't write it all up until the next morning. It gives me a little time to review things in my mind that way.

[Anarch]

In re Exodus II:

Um. Wow.

[hilzoy]

Do we get BSG blogging 2? (After all, this post got me to watch it, much to my delight...)

[Slartibartfast]

I've actually been piecing together the series from reruns. Especially when it's available on one of the HD stations.

Edward James Olmos...I first saw him in Bladerunner (although he had just a small part), but he was the best part of Miami Vice. By far.

[spartikus]

Edward James Olmos...I first saw him in Bladerunner (although he had just a small part), but he was the best part of Miami Vice.

Legend has it he was offered the chance to reprise his role for the movie, and his answer was a 20 minute video that was simply him glaring at the camera spitting out "no" over and over.

[liberal japonicus]

Not meaning to be pedantic, I think that he just stared at the camera for 20 minutes, which seems more in character.

Even before the trailer, there were numerous signs that Mann’s $150 million vanity project was set to be a flop inflated with cologne.... Attempting to net the last glimmer on its '80s twinkle, the filmmakers sent an offer to Edward James Olmos to reprise his role as the never-not-brooding, pineapple-faced Lieutenant Martin Castillo. He declined and reportedly had his agent send a VHS to the offices of Universal Pictures. It contained a 20-minute loop in which Olmos silently stared into the camera in absolute disgust - eerie.

Here

[spartikus]

Even better

[Bruce Baugh]

Andreww, I get the impression from Ronald Moore's podcasts that he's aware of the foolishness of some of the things he has his soldiers do, with two counterbalancing concerns. First, some things he does because it makes for good TV. Second, some things are intended to illustrate that everyone's under a lot of stress and often acting with less than perfect judgment. Some things are little nods and smiles to people picking up on historical allusions and various other kinds of in-jokes. But yeah, he certainly intends that his characters come across as flawed and sometimes downright stupid, and ponders in the podcasts how to convey that without being either too subtle or so blatant that they stop seeming heroic.