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1. TARDIS
2. Jupiter II
3. Starfury
4. Battlecrab
5. Vorlon Transport
6. Discovery from 2001
Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas miscreations need not apply.
Nor engineering disasters such as the LEXX.Damocles
Question: does anyone see a character or group of characters and think,” Oh God, not him/her/them again.” ???
(For details I refer you to my reviews. D.)
James Callis who “clowns” the part of Baltar.
That execrable actress who hams it up as Ellen Tigh. There is a reason I call her “Ms. Uglyfeet”. That bit was the best “acting” she did on the show to this date.
With more and more Human knowledge being logged into the data storage of computer networks(like the internet) it becomes more and more centralized and accessible to corruption of “truth”.
Check vis the Chinese of the PRC sanitizing their version of the Internet to reflect their “truth” Ditto in the Islamic community where the translation of Western Knowledge into Arabic bears no relation to a true “word for word” or transliteral translation but is “interpretive”.
Books are decentralized. There are so many of them. Even Stalin had trouble covering up the paper trail. Bureaucrats in the Age of Paper kept so many “records”.
For the thirteen lordsa of Kobol, I refer you to the Ron Moore podcasts from Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down onward. You also must need review ALL the materials at the SciFi.com website. Go to their homepage and explore their Battlestar Galactica page.
Pay close attention to all of the outtakes from each episode. You get much of the missing backstory from those sources.
That webpage is here.
Happy hunting and cheers!
Here’s four questions to ponder – from the simple to the complex.
Here are some answers.
1) Will a Cylom Raider (designed to be pilot-less) be big enough to fit all three – Starbuck, Helo and Boomer, for the return to the Galactica?
No, so the three will do what the two originally planned: steal a jump capable Cylon TOASTER MARK XII troop transport. Kara flies it after she gives it her patented “McGyver pocket knife lobotomy”.
2) If so, what would happen upon their return, with two Boomers on board, both known to be Cylons? Or, are Helo and Boomer (or just Boomer – Boomer #2?) meant to stay on Caprica, to start a new race?
That would be telling, but one and possibly two of these four(Kara, Caprica TOASTER MARK IV, Karlo and/or Battlestar Sharon) are going to die.
3) If the colonies were started by a race migrating from another star, then they’ve had space travel and hi-tech for two millenia. So if that is the established premise, then why is everything apparently based on myth and/or religious belief? Wouldn’t they just have actual physical records of all past events as “facts” – having had a hi-tech society with computers, etc. for 2,000 years?
We face exactly the same situation on Earth for nigh more than five hundred years(Books instead of computers.). We, in the West, seem to secularize well enough; but there are still churches, mate. Out in the land of Allah, there is some Paki cleric who claims a giant tidal wave is going to wash the Americans away in 2007. He quotes the Koran to prove it. Guess how many fervent believers he’s ignited with hope?
4) Could the entire purpose for destroying the colonies, just have been used as a catalyst to force the exodus of the fleet, to lead the Cylons to Earth? And for what purpose? To destroy all of mankind, or something greater? Possibly to renew the cycle of time, starting the whole story over again, somehow? Remember, the Cylons are doing God’s will – so what would God have in mind, in doing this?
The Cylons are prodding Helo, and the Ragtag Fleet running from them; both, through the maze. I call it “labratting”. Some reasons for prodding could be:
a. The Cylons want to V’ger with the Colonials to produce a new race for the “next step”?
b. The Cylons want to find the thirteenth tribe using the R/F as a judas goat so they can remodel Earth?
c. Count Iblis, the thirteenth “lord of Kobol” adopted the defeated Cylons as his pets and is deluding them into a genocidal war to exact his revenge on the “tribes of man” as well as the pther “lords of Kobol”?And I just have to throw in a number 5 …..
The more, the merrier……
5) If the migration from Kobol happened only 2,000 years ago, what stage of development would Earth be at, when the fleet finally finds Earth? Remember though, with FTL travel, time is relative. So every FTL jump actually covers hundreds, if not thousands of years, in relative time. So I wonder, would they find an Earth in a primitive setting, thousands of years after the original migrants from Kobol had all died out? Or possibly, find a dead Earth, after a possible global nuclear holocaust. Forcing them to return to Kobol to restart civilization – and possibly populating it with hybrids – who would be known as “The Gods of Kobol”, renewing the cycle of time thing? (This is my guess on how the series will end, btw)
Interesting take, but no; the Earth will be here, and here is where they settle. Whether the thirteenth tribe is still around?….
Incidentally, your theory on FTL time transit is wrong. Tau in a exotic matter expanded micro-wormhole, through which real spaceships would jump, equals zero.
It would be funny though, if they found the original inhabitants from Stargate Atlantis … LOL But that would bring the whole series down to a lower level, in my opinion. So I sincerely hope it doesn’t take that turn, in the minds of the network execs, for ratings on their other sjhows.
I was thinking of a Babylon 5(TM) tie-in. Imagine the TOASTERS’ surprise when they run into an Earth Force Warlock class destroyer!
Anyway, anybody with any thoughts on any of this, jump in.
Thanks for the invite!
MY EDIT >>>
My mistake on the last question. It escaped me for a bit on how short the FTL jumps have been. But I’m still curious as to what stage of development Earth would be at, taking the 2,000 year period since the exodus.
Anywhere from Egypt down to when?
If Moore was smart and he arched the story out(Instead of doing it on the fly, as he seems to be writing it.) he’ll end it in media res just as the Colonials find the way to Sol but not actually entering into close Earth space.
Please no Galactica 2010!
Long live the new flesh!
Well, I’m more concerned about some of these nanobots replicating out of control. But the utility of these machines will probably be restricted to very small, specific tasks.
In other news http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4357613.stm… a US particle accelerator may have created a black hole. I would call that more troublesome news
Man, you don’t begin to conceive how frightening it is!
http://p211.ezboard.com/fbabylon5techmanualfrm12.showMessage?topicID=227.topic
I will leave you to figure out who Thinker is.
D.
Posted: 01 Apr 2005 12:07 pm Post subject:
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To be absolutely honest at this time, i don’t give a felder if it flies or not. I’ve had ENOUGH of the constant bickering of these fans and everyone beating other posters over the head with their slant on it whether that be the technical, or the military or the science, or even jst putting the agenda that’s it’s a good show. I just don’t like this fan base. they don’t agree on much of anything and they fight all the time. i lke LEXX better, the fan base was more fun and more open.
An opinion. You’re entitled.
Good luck, though on getting support. Though you don’t need it now, this show after 20 eps could be in deep doo doo, and you’ll need to unify by then.
Lives or dies on merits. Advertisers decide based on viewer numbers. Optimistic. Quality sells.
I refuse to duel in threads about a fracking TV show, and I learned this from personal experience, just because you write more does not mean you win the arguement. Less is better in our busy world, use more description, lees words.
You put own dog in this fight. Reply to dog, “Bite me!” 😆
Argument.
Less.
Succinct?
Cheers! 😀
David Brin
Bestselling producer of impossible-to-put-down epic adventures in a far-flung future.That fits me, for I am an UPLIFTER!
Quote:
The pilots’ helmets have a long overhead visor, like the bill of a baseball cap, which is contrived to house the lights that illuminate the actors’ faces for the camera. Logically, though, the glare of these lights inside the visor would blind the pilot, and the long bill would obscure the pilot’s upward field of vision. The design makes little sense.
And those sidebar lights on those choosey “Egyptian” helmets didn’t serve the same purpose and have the same effect?
I do admit that Ron Moore cliche #112(2001 A Space Odyssey style pressure suit helmets) skidded right by me.
Quote:
The three things I like most about the old Battlestar Galactia are the music, the cool looking Cylons, and the interaction between the characters. The new Battlestar Galactica has none of these things.Points in order;
1. New “Battlestar Galactica” music is awful.
2. The old Cylons Centurions were better, but the biocylons(created for budget reasons in the writing) add a “fifth column” element of political terrorism that I like.
3. Its a different reality matrix, mate. If you can’t see that the new characters interact-especially Olmos and McDonnell, then you are missing the drama right in front of you. Don’t confuse “charisma” for acting; though Grace Park has “charisma” in spades. Now Tricia Helfer who plays Six, the Heifer on the other hand….can one say MOO?————————————————————————————–
Hear! Hear!
There! There! 😆
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While we’re on the subject of clothing, the civilian clothes are pretty silly looking as well … So, what, we’re supposed to assume that leisure suits and neckties arose by parallel evolution in two unrelated areas of the galaxy? In a crowd scene, one guy is clearly wearing a denim jacket with “KISS” written on the back in rhinestones. Are we to assume that the KISS Army likewise developed in parallel on two unrelated worlds?
Anyone who parallels evolves “disco” fashions who reaches Earth would have to be “re-educated” the Chinese way in my opinion.(Shudder)
…
The Galactica’s control room, however, looks cheap and cheesy. It’s got large stacks of controls that obviously do nothing, and who’s only purpose is to flop over when the ship gets hit by a missile, or what have you.
…Which piece of cheese er Battlestar were you addressing? 😀
The music in the show is the worst kind of keyboard-and-drum machine tripe.
…Addressed-see above.
Cylon fighters basically look like the Batwing from Batman, or a Kilraithi fighter from Wing Commander, or (my choice) a Centauri fighter from Babylon 5, minus the cool purple paintjob.
…The Cylon “goat” has problems I admit-notably its guns would shoot its wings off in the universe we inhabit.
…
There is no ‘character’ underneath their bitching, if you understand what I mean.
…Addressed-see above.
Anyway, Olmos … His character is not particularly smart, nor likeable, nor gruff, nor nothing, he’s just this boring old guy who whispers too much and has really bad skin.
….Obviously I regard this as a superficial analysis of the character of “William Adama” See my review of “The Hand of God” for details.
It’s not about Science Fiction, because SF is fundamentally a genre of ideas, and there’s not one single new goddamn idea in this 240 minute waste of time and money.
Aw (expletive deleted) bias! Don’t you just love it! Points in order again.
1. It is about the social order of an advanced society under the threat of terror and political stress while recovering from a shattering event. The aftereffects of Genocide, plus labratting by a superior enemy isn’t science fiction?
2. Old ideas; new approach? See the Iliad and the Aeneid for details, chum.
3. If it sells soap then in the universe in which I live, it isn’t a waste of time and money! Something has to pay for the actors and sets!————————————————————————————–
Those are all good points!
I suppose, but I HATE sour grapes. I prefer to drink my wine, and save my vinegar for tossed salads. 🙂
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————————————————————————————–Well, it seems that some old fans are just disappointed with how the new series turned out, as well as scifi fans that don’t like the “adult” take on scifi.
On THAT I absolutely agree! 😀
Your view of the world leads to the product you produce.
There are those who believe that Hollywood has lost touch with reality.
There are those who believe that ‘political correctness” infects that creative community.
And then: there are those, like me; who believe that the true explanation for this garbage is that, occasionally, some hacks get hold of a good property that they think they they can remake.
Lacking the necessary talent to do anything original themselves, they re-market someone else’s work.
Being hacks, they hire hacks to do the rewrite to impart “originality” to the remake and release it to the audience. They are selling “The Manchurian Candidate” label.
Of course, there could be some truth to the “political correctness” angle…..
If they can make something of “Your A Good Man Charlie Brown”, then LoTR, the Musical might be a good idea, after all.
I would have to see the book of the play first to judge if they have a shot….or plonk money down for tickets. 🙂
Either way, I prefer to judge for myself. Knowing the caliber of critics these days…. 😆
D.
This is an update on my tactical analysis of the battle in The Hand of God
Walker 957 had some observations about my analysis of The Batle of the Tylium Asteroid.
Good point about the basestars mobility and fuel needs. Although it could have jumped outside the area and sent in raiders, this would have been much less effective.
But on what I remember, it seemed that the freighters and Galactica jumped in on opposite sides of the base. The feint was to put Galactia on the ‘dark’ side of the base to avoid sensors, which is where a patrol might spot them.
Also, the Raiders inbound on the freighters pulled a 180 to acquire Galactica as a target.
The Vipers sent out against the Raiders were the true diversion, meaning that most of the new/less experienced pilots were probably flying them. We do see Hot Dog in that group.
An interesting point is that even though the Cylons lost, the Raiders didn’t just continue to attack, but instead run away. We’ve seen that they have FTL capability, a Raider could just as easily jump away, or serve as a messenger instead of FTL communications.
Creditted to Walker 957
This is my continuation of my discussion with Walker 957. D.
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For those of you who are confused as to the gun camera footage of the battle?When you get the chance to see it again, look at the layout of the Galactica staff’s manual plot of the battle on their “push table” as well as their “plexiglas threat plot”-an obsolete WW II manual plotting method aircraft carrier’s air intercept tracking parties used to use to plot vectors of enemy in-bound “vampires” in The Hand of God.
You will see the battle was laid out in a triangular fashion.
The Colonials played the corners.
It was the Saul Tigh/Lee Adama plan to put Galactica on the dark side of the base to use the base shadow cone to mask Galactica’s in-jump from telescopic as well as active radar observation. Kara pointed out that the Cylons would have a covering patrol to unmask the Cylon base’s blind arc. That was one reason that the Tigh/Adama “conventional plan” was “scuttled.”
Raiders doing a 180 flip was a CGI glitch, and/or “cool”.
Or it could be at the close range approach vector that the Cylons used to set up their attack runs on the freighters, the raiders positioned themselves so that, the relative angle of approach to re-vector on Galactica required them to 180 to achieve the correct new heading. Who knows?
The Galactica strike package was a major feint to draw off the Cylon reserve and their fighting patrol and I never said otherwise. However it was the Galactica, herself, and not Strike One or the freighters that was the main decoy.
Callsign “Chuckles” was a Nugget. He was part of Lee’s flak suppression element in his strike package. He was splashed.
When the Cylon base was destroyed, their base “ground controlled intercept” radar and “positive control intercept” management of the battle space died with the base. Those raiders were vectoring blind.
Could the raiders have jumped? Who knows? Does the standard raider have to have contact with a navigation beacon like a transponder to home in on to aboard a base star?[MAJOR SPOILER TO FUTURE EPISODE!] to obtain jump co-ordinates?
It also, I should mention be an incomplete victory(from the dramatic point of view) if the episode’s writers didn’t have Strike One pursue and destroy the machines once the raider’s “master control” was destroyed.
There is also this. We, now, KNOW that Raptors can jump up to twelve lightyears, and keep a positon/vector fix on Galactica based upon the Lee Adama dialogue in the episode The Hand of God. We know Raiders can jump. We have not seen Vipers jump. What we don’t know is the jump range of the Raiders without transponder support. It must be short. Maybe only a matter of light hours, if the Raiders need base stars to ferry them into attack range of major targets like planets.(I can’t say more than this without giving away MAJOR SPOILERS in the season closers. D.)
Now that I have answered these points, Walker(And I think you for pointimng them out! )…..I can add the following.
Cylon raiders seemed to be slaved to some “master control” communication system with an overall “fighter intercept director”. This seems to be an attempt of the writers to deliberately mirror “Soviet” air battle doctrine that insisted on “positive ground control” of all aircraft in an air battle-leaving little or no initiative to the lead pilots of individual flights.
It was made painfully obvious that the Colonial SWAC Raptor’s crews(Boomer and Crashdown especially) performed the AWACS function in the “Western” air battle doctrine of supplying information, warning, and tactical intelligence to the Colonial Viper pilots so that they could make local decisions themselves based on information they received. The recall from Galactica made in accordance with the information supplied by the Boomer/Crashdown team was in accordance with the battle plan and did not amount to the close battle management style of the “Soviet” system, but rather the generalized battle management style of the “Western” system that left local initiative in the hands of the pilots. Witness Lee Adama’s unconventional tactics in his attack on the Tylium fuel processor and Kara’s pounding into that by-the-book-pilot’s head(before the battle) to show initiative at the point of contact/decision;
“We only get one shot at this. Don’t frak it up by overthinking!”
What’s the point?
Once the Cylon raiders lost their master control, they were unable to handle the situational awareness of their battle space. They became gunnery targets for the surviving Nuggets of Strike One and the returning survivors of Strike Two.
So Ablespacewoman Dualla could say in transmitting the William Adama order;
“Tear them up!”
And Vipers outnumbered five to one had a jolly time splashing Raiders in a frenzy of duck hunting.(Not shown on film.).
That also implies another thing.
Raidsers CANNOT jump without a navigation beacon and positive control.
They lost that when their base went bye bye.
It also suggests that their base stars were beyond communication range.
It also proves that the Cylons and Colonials have FTL radio, but practiced EMCON when necessary to mask their unit locations.(Notice; that the the Boomer/Crashdown team practiced radio silence when they passively detected the Tylium facility? And that they vectored out immediately beyond Cylon raider jump pursuit range and probably used an indirect return vector to Galactica?)
It suggests further evidence that raiders have limited jump range. It also suggests that neither the Colonials, nor the Cylons can locate the positon of a ship after a long range jump without some kind of beacon.(Episode entitled; 33).
These are points I didn’t bring up because: either’
1. I didn’t think of them.
2. You hadn’t brought them to my attention, yet.(Thank you!)
3. The points were too obvious for me to explain.
4. Discussing the points in detail would reveal future episode plot elements.
5. The points were peripheral to the main discussion.
6. The post was already complicated enough for me to keep track of the main subject without bogging the reader down in sidebar details.Still the battle analysis covers a subject episode rich enough that we can keep this thread going(hint hint ); with a discussion, where people can point out my errors and I can update my analysis; as others present new observations and new ideas as to what happened and why.
Who knew that one episode would occupy so much effort?
Did anybody ever do this kind of battle analysis for the old Battlestar Galactica episode Gun on Ice Planet Zero?
Effectively, Gaius Baltar is insane.
It doesn’t matter, if Six is in his brain as a chip, as a bioprogram downloaded when she told him to duck, or whether Baltar exists as a self-made cyborg, a cylon copy or self-deluded paranoic-schizophrenic.
The FACT is that he talks to himself, smashes himself into mirrors twice, and hurts himself in dozens of public displays of masochism.
Despite his obvious skill at masking his illness from others, Adama knows he’s crazy and so does Roslin.
Adama parks Gaeta on Baltar to be a watchdog when Baltar works on the Cylon detector.
Gaeta as the series progress shows is no technical slouch so Baltar will be unmasked soon..
Roslin, herself, judges Baltar to have been involved in the Cylon attack. She just can’t prove it yet.
Incidentally, if Laura has such antipathy for Baltar, what is it about Zarek that she knows that she would prefer Baltar to him?
But back to Six, the Heifer:
My preferred hypothesis is that she is an upload into Baltar’s mind from the Cylon that gave her life as his blast and radiation shield.
Nanites and skin contact are my preferred explanation for the upload of Six, the Heifer, into Baltar’s schizoid mind.
I guess that puts me in the chip camp.
Here is my review for Kobols Last Gleaming Part I
“Kobols Last Gleaming; Part I”
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We begin with a four part montage intercut teaser;
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-Lee and Bill Adama box each other; hitting each other smartly, and asking each other stupidly, “Are you all right?”-Kara Thrace appears in the throws of passion with some schmuck.
-On Caprica, Karlo Agathon runs along, still flashback befuddled; until he is intercepted by Caprica Sharon.
Battlestar Boomer sits with her gun, contemplating a programming loop,-should she or shouldn’t she eat it?
Right away, it is obvious : there is no joy in Colonialville. This will be a grim episode.
Bill knocks Lee on his ass. Lee gets up and Bill(father talking to son), tells him that the reason that Lee was on the floor looking up is “you didn’t let go.” Lee, misunderstanding his father thinks it is praise. It is no surprise to see Lee’s hurt at the correction, when the old battlestar commander explains, senior officer to junior, where Lee’s mistake lies.
Kara cries out “Lee” and surprise(not) we see the same hurt on Gaius Baltar’s face. Six, the Heifer appears, and the same look appears on her face.(Get used to it, folks. It is the episode’s overriding theme.).
After confronting each other, with loaded guns, Caprica MARK IV TOASTER and Helo exchange a painful interlude of recriminations. Sharon holsters hers and urges Helo to shoot her. He does.
Battlestar Sharon chickens out: for the moment…..
BETRAYAL
The theme continues into act one.
Enter Laura Roslin in the old MRI machine. If we didn’t know before, we do now. She has six months to live. This is something that she finally admits to Elosha, the priestess. Elosha, who up to this point has been more or less a secularized protestant type of clergyperson, now has to confront the “facts” of her religion. But we get a little ahead of ourselves.
Battlestar Boomer is called away from her decision loop, to pilot a Raptor reconnaissance mission. If you have been keeping score, our little Raptor pilot has found the Ragtag Fleet’s water, fuel, fought and won a major countermeasures/counter countermeasures battle with the Cylons at the Battle of the Tylium Asteroid fuel processor plant, and has a well deserved reputation as one of the Colonial’s best warriors(^1). Too bad she is a Cylon.
Battlestar Boomer flies her mission with her new favorite DRADIS(^2) operator, Crashdown, into a patented Lieutenant Gaeta in-jump. Lo and behold, amidst a panicky orbital insertion, Crashdown and Battlestar Valleri exchange speculationsa as to the planet they find. Little Sharon knows, “Its more important than Earth.”
Like many things our little Raptor pilot gets right, she gets it “wrong”.
On the “Starbuck”(^3) front, things aren’t so sweet, either. She walks into a cardgame of triad(^4) where the two bantam roosters, Lee and Gaius,(Zach/Gaius(^5) to those who have previously read these reviews.) butt heads competitively. Baltar, who is a card counter, as well as a genius, tells Lee, “You can’t compete with me.” and lowers the boom on Kara by telling her “thats Miser Vice President to you.” The yessir from Kara is suspiciously like the one she will give later to Lee.
Things from here, go downhill fast.
We jump into act two.
Return again to Laura Roslin, who by now has made her religious conversion,(Thanks to her Kamala leaf extract hallucinations.) She pours over some photos from the planet Battlestar Sharon surveyed. With her are Elosha and Billy Keikaya. The Kamala is working overtime. Laura sees the Capital of the “gods” that used to be on Kobol in the photo.
Elosha pulls out the Caprican “bible” and we get an illustration match between Laura’s hallucination and the “Opera House temple” that was on Kobol. At this moment out of left field comes an arrow hallucination.
Later, Billy confronts President Roslin and calls her on the carpet concerning a harebrained scheme involving this “Arrow of Apollo”(^6 ) and the captured Cylon Raider. In effect Billy questions whether Roslin has taken leave of her senses, arguing that Roslin threatens to betray
everything thar he and she tried to accomplish.Back to Baltar we go.
Things for Mister Vice President have been rather routine for him. He goes looking for Kara(Who knows why? Apparently Battlestar Sharon isn’t the only one trying to punch a ticket into the hereafter.) and finds the little Raptor pilot “cleaning her gun”. In a Zachary Smith move that ranks right down there with over the top self-interest, Gaius “suggests” that the poor little Cylon follow her heart’s inclination.
Six, the Heifer, for the second time appears and comments this time to Baltar as she earlier on Caprica to Darlow, that the Boomer MARK IV TOASTER is weak-but she will carry out her programming as she is a Cylon. Baltar ignores her and tries his gambit anyway.
BANG.
Baltar walking away doesn’t flinch, but a surprised and shocked Heifer does .
Caprica Boomer interlude;Poor Caprica TOASTER MARK IV huddles in the rain. A vengeful Agathon has no sympathy for the shivering “toaster”. He rails at her. He won’t acknowledge her suffering, emotionally or physically. In some ways he acts as monstrously as any Centurion he has previously shot. When the wounded Sharon tries to explain that she is more than he imagines or believes, she gets a pistol shot past her eyes for her pleading. Betrayal is on three levels, here, folks. Caprica Sharon betrays her Cylon programming by her love for “Helo”. She betrays the Cylon plan by refusing to labrat her love. Karlo betrays his humanity by acting without mercy-either in killing the “toaster” or showing her compassion.
Yet more Baltar:
The next time we see old Zachary/Gaius, he meets with Laura Roslin and Billy Keikaya for a government in-brief to bring him up to speed as Vice President, if Roslin dies. The Heifer appears to announce to Gaius that her needs to get off the “Galactica” as it is no longer safe.
Gaius goes into a rebellious puppet routine. He rants that he doesn’t work for whom? Both Laura and the Heifer have the same look.(Yes that look again.).
Later in the executive bathroom of Colonial One, the Heifer slams Baltar, headfirst, into a mirror and warns him again to get off the Galactica .(That at least answers the chip question. She is inside Baltar’s head.).
The Second Go-Around at Kobo going into act three
William Adama dispatches a three Raptor(^7) survey group to determine if the planet is suitable for settlement. His best Raptor pilot isn’t going. She shot her cheek out while “cleaning her gun.”
In the planning for the survey expedition: involving Adama , the elder, Roslin, and their respective entourages, Gaius weasels his way onto the expedition. For the third time the Heifer warns him to get off Galactica. Gaius listens at last and acts to save himself-even though he may not understand the why of it.
Meanwhile Battlestar Boomer is visited by Chief Tyrol. She and he, exchange final pleasantries. Foursquare Tyrol doesn’t believe her “clean her gun” story and offers to get Sharon help, but betrayed Sharon “dismisses” him. There is that salute again!
As for the Raptor group, they in-jump next to a Cylon base star and a horde of Raiders. One Raptor dies in a collision, one under orders, out-jumps and guess which one is headed for a planet “crashdown”?(pun intended).
Gaius rides it in, getting in everybody’s way as Crashdown tries to clear the pilot out of the seat and make planetary entry before the canopy fails.
The returning Raptor brings the news of betrayal to the battlestar.
Gee, one wonders who told the Cylons where Kobol was?
On the Lee, Kara front:
The two of them confront each other in the starboard hanger bay. Kara is loading what looks like 12.7 mm machine gun ammunition into the Cylon Raider. She and Lee fight over the Baltar fling.
This is Lee’s second boxing lesson and once again he fails to learn. He gets hit far harder than the counter-punch he threw at Kara.
Later as William and Lee Adama discuss plans for rescuing their shotdown Raptor on Kobol, Colonel Tigh mentions that Kara worked up a plan of rescue(what else would you expect from the Colonial’s best tactician? After the evidence from The Hand of God would you expect less?). Lee, feeling betrayed, goes off to confront Kara, yet again! This time it is his professional pride that is hurt. He dresses her down about the chain of command, tries to humiliate her with “cadet” discipline and generally makes himself look like the small man he actually is. Once more the Baltar incident comes up and we see(all too obviously) the real reason for Lee’s sense of betrayal.
Somehow, in all of this, the captured Cylon Raider has to play a role in the overriding theme.
It will.
For you see, Laura Roslin’s plan involves the Raider and by extension, Kara Thrace.
Laura, at least, has the honor to try and negotiate with William Adama for the use of the Raider. She lays out her reasons and her logic.
The “Husker”(^8) thinks she is crazy. He politely, with reasonable speech, tells her so.
She, in spite of William’s polite warning, plans to impose her will, anyway. Remembering Kara from “Flesh and Bone”. Laura plans to prey on Kara’s religiousness to get her, that is Laura’s, way.
Poor Billy is made the errand boy to get Thrace despite his remonstrations to Laura about the political consequences of such an act.
Seeing the ruthlessness of the President, did anyone doubt that Laura would use Kara’s loyalty and belief in honor to betray “Starbuck” into doing Roslin’s will?
So Kara asks William Adama “How long until we reach Earth?”
He lies.
Comes the weapons test with the Raider, and the scrambled communication to William Adama, “I believed you!”
Kara out-jumps leaving “Apollo” with his Viper and his jaw hanging.
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Good things.
The writing. Enough said.
The acting. Everyone, except James Callis, rose to the challenge-especially the Heifer. Tricia Helfer had little dialogue to screw up, but she has plainly been on a hyperbolic course developing her role over the last three episodes. She still mangles lines, but she no longer looks or acts like a stiff mannequin. There was genuine jealousy and anger emoted; and I believed, it when she portrayed herself as hurt and betrayed by Baltar’s romp with Kara.
The CGI was very good-especially the Raptor/Raider furball.
No obvious Ron Moore cliches or ripoffs for once.(OOPS see the footnotes. D.)
The music is getting better-especially the classical music mixed to the opening teaser.
Bad things.
The camera work needs to compromise a little. I know that Ron Moore that Ron Moore likes the closeup and the free camera style, but if an episode screamed out for tripod mid group shots, this one was it. This was especially true of the chaos in the falling Raptor heading in to crash on Kobol. The chaos of bodies tumbling around in the Raptor needed steady camera work not to lose the eye.watching it.
James Callis, still clowns the part of Baltar. That rant he gave in the scene with Mary McDonnell and Tricia Helfer when he whines about not working for the both of them was pure “Richard the Third” villain scenery chewing and was AWFUL. It was an embarassment to the otherwise superb work put out by everyone-including and especially the Heifer.
Curiosities
If the Colonials left Kobol two thousand years ago and Kobol is within two hundred lightyears of Caprica, how soon after their exodus did they make planetfall?
Did I miss something or did Elosha mention a war among the “gods” that preceded the Colonial’s original Exodus?
Did anybody notice the “bombed” nature of the ruins on Kobol?
Though I never covered it in the body of this review, the importance of those Cylon transponders that Lieutenant Gaeta has finally analyzed forms the basis of Kara’s Kamikaze plan to use the Raider to smuggle a bomb aboard the Cylon base star orbiting Kobol. Did anybody notice that Kara had her plan ready before Gaeta explained the identification friend or foe feature to William Adama?
————————————————————————————-
^1. Its not hard to really cheer for both Boomers. Still, you wonder how much of Battlestar Sharon’s heroics are her own or what the Cylons let her accomplish?^2. DRADIS: Direction, RAnge and DIStance; what the Colonials use for radar.
^3. “STARBUCK” With Kara I am having a hard time resisting the nickname “STARDOE”. Up to the moment EVERYBODY has picked on poor little Kara. Laura Roslin’s bullying on top of the Lee Adama/Gaius Baltar chivying just sent my sympathy meter pegging into the red zone with regards to her. In the past we have seen William Adama turn to her to do ALL of the hard lifting and the dirty work. In this series, the only one who is more dumped on is Boomer(Battlestar Sharon or Caprica Valleri; either one.)
^4. Ron Moore screwed up. He confused the card game of Pyramid with the sports game of Triad. So in the new series when they play the sport of Triad it will be Pyramid.
^5. For those of you who missed it previously, James Callis is acting very much in the vein of the comedic villain Zachary Smith as portrayed by Jonathan Harris of “Lost in Space” fame.
^6. The “Arrow of Apollo”. Where did this come from? Now we get an artifact that once put into an archaeological dig points the way to Earth?(So I was wrong! Ron Moore did have his weekly cliche ripoff. Can one say “Raiders of the Lost Ark”?)
^7. Along with a Viper shortage, the Colonials are soon to suffer a Raptor shortage. Not counting the eighteen so Viper pilots killed to this point and the ten Vipers lost due to all causes, we can now add two Raptors with their pilots from the Galactica flight wing.
^8. “Husker” was apparently William Adama’s callsign when he flew against the Cylons in the first war.
Postscript:
SPOILERS for Kobold’s Last Gleaming Part II
For those of you who hypthesized the the Galactica would be spared by the Cylon transponder that was originally installed in her during the mini-series?
It isn’t so.
For proof I refer you to the Battle of Ragnar Station. The transponder offered no defense there.
The identification friend or foe feature of the transponder allows Cylons to recognize each other at short range. That is all.
As you will discover, it takes a countermeasures platform(a Raptor) and a CYLON to make it work at long range.
(SPOILERS for “Kobol’s Last Gleaming” included in this post!)
The plotholes the writers left themselves were large enough to send the Ragtag fleet through.
The labrat-in-a-maze-being-prodded hypothesis is interesting. I personally think the Cylons know about Earth, and are using the Ragtag Fleet as a Judas Goat. That however is only a sidebar to their main plan which I still find somewhat puzzling.
There is the incident where the whitesuited boomer clone III tries to kill Agathon(and is shot by Caprica Sharon) that makes me suspect that if the Biocylons are trying to labrat Helo, then not all of them have the WORD.
Now as to that Tylium?
Tigh mentions that the Cylons need Tylium as much as the Colonials do if not more.
He also states it is rare.
That means the Colonials have surveyed(at least in their space) for the fuel deposit sources.
Where the Colonials are now is beyond their Known Space. They had to survey for water earlier and fuel now.
The Cylons probably surveyed for fuel and garrisoned the deposits when they went into hiding(See the previous above post for my reasoning.).
The base stars probably have some form of gravidic engine or artificial gravity(The Colonials obviously have it or they would float aboard their ships.) What the base stars don’t have is a reaction drive that allows them free maneuvering independent of a local mass’ gravitational field.(That’s what I see on film.)
I can argue that tactical mobility for a base star is thus restricted.
As to their sublight travel between the Twelve Colonies?
Gravitational slingshot?
FTL radio may be possible, or the Cylons could use couriers as you suggest-BUT:
SPOILERS:
it is implicit in Lieutenant Gaeta’s analysis that those Cylon transponders are akin to a beacon network for the Cylons that allow them to in-jump on a pre-registered locator signal.
The Tylium asteroid base should have had one.
The Colonial Raptors based on the series’ backstory should have been able to jam the base’s transponder.
That is how I explain the lack of those long ranged Raider in-jumps into a rock cluttered environment or the out-jumps of couriers sent to bring help.
The Cylons couldn’t communicate with their navigational beacons to make precision jumps.
It also helps explain the strange Cylon ability to quickly out-calculate the Colonials when computing a jump(“33”) , why the Cylons lose track of the Ragtag Fleet when their bugged freighter goes bye bye, and the
MORE SPOILERS:
curious interaction between that Cylon Scout and either Galactica Boomer or some other Cylon plant aboard the Galactica (“Tigh Me Up; Tigh me Down”-my favorite suspects are Ellen Tigh, Lieutenant Gaeta, or Billy Keikaya at the moment.). Those transponders simplify the Cylons’ navigation and communication problems immensely.
It(the transponders) is also a good argument for suggesting FTL communication-at least among the Cylons.
Something else bothers me.
The Ragtag Fleet made 200+ jumps in “33”.
Those jumps were, from my observation of the story(“33”), were just planned to be far enough to escape local Cylon sublight patrols. That doesn’t mean light year increment jumps for the Ragtag Fleet. It makes a sort of sense as I would expect a major jump(like a twelve lightyear Raptor jump from “The Hand of God”) to be a major calculation for Lieutenant Gaeta(Who appears to be Galactica’s gravigator?) that would take some hours to safely calculate.
If all you have is thirty three minutes then you micro-jump in gravitationally “flat” space to avoid running into planets and other navigational hazards.
I also suspect that the Ragtag Fleet is still relatively close to Caprica.(No more than a few parsecs out. If Kobol is two hundred years by STL slowboat.)
The biggest headache as far as story line goes is that FTL engined Raider. Unless the Ragtag fleet has doubled back on Caprica and is midway between Kobol and their old home then things at that point start to break down storywise.
Based on the slim information available I prefer the following hypothesis.
In the sixty days since the bombing of Caprica, Adama has led the fleet on an outbound spiral. He has resource surveyed and charted within the outer system reaches of the Caprican system or in the space between the system and its nearest neighbors.
The one time the Galactica and the decoy freighters left the Ragtag Fleet, we were given an upper range limit(Tigh and Lee Adama) of twelve lightyears scouting radius by the Raptor hunting parties.
I submit that if the Raptor can jump twelve lightyears, then the Raider should have a similar range limit.(Fuel limit based on the Raider’s size.)
The larger base ships may have longer legs but I doubt it.
Jump capability may be mass related?
For these reasons I suggest that the “huge range” that some postulate for the Raider may be a misread.
If the battlestar is still within the twelve lightyear Raptor radius of Caprica, then Kara could easily one or multi-jump her way to that world.
For rank awful;
-Sea Quest. I kept expecting Rory Scheider to start shark hunting.
-Earth II. I hated those nimrods. The whole show made no sense.
-Earth Final Conflict. I realy thought it was an insipid version of V.
-Any Irwin Allen series besides Voyage to the Botom of the Sea, Time Tunnel, and Lost in Space(before it jumped the shark, i.e. went to color.)For guilty pleasure;(CHEESE 😀 )
-Buck Rogers in the Twenty Fifth Century.
-Battlestar Galactica(either series; but not 1980).
-Flash Gordon-(the movie).
-V.
-Star Trek; DS9.
-Star Trek; Voyager.
-Space 1999.
-Quantum Leap.
-Space Angel.
-Dune(Dino Delaurentis version).For abominations;
-Solaris(that awful movie-not the Russian film)
-Enterprise
-Lost in Space(the movie)
-Star Trek: The Next GenerationBrainfood(Okay so I enjoyed it with fish and chips 😆 )
-Babylon 5(My personal favorite)
-Dune(One of the Science Fiction Channel’s few decent mini series.).
-Star Trek(the original)!
-Red Dwarf.
-Dr. Who(especially those that featured Tom Baker)Ones that should have never seen the light of day;
-Mars Attacks!
-Any Star Trek film after The Wrath of Khan(And the ones before it too!)
-Any Tim Burton film.
-Ditto George Lucas.
-And Steven Spielberg!(Jurassic Park and E.T.? I wanted to kill and eat the buggers!)Ones I didn’t get;
-Futurama
-The Black Hole
-Event HorizonMy all time oldie favorites;
-Commander Cody; Skymarshall.
-Forbidden Planet.
-When Worlds Collide.
-From the Earth to the Moon.This is a review I wrote for the episode “The Hand of God.”
Wow!
Where do I begin?
Do I start with the weird press conference with Laura Roslin seeing the prophecy of the twelve snakes of Pythia?
Do I stay with her weird Moses/Aaron scene with the priestess, Elosha, who explains to her, the Pythian prophecy?
Do I point out the serendipitous heroics of Galactica TOASTER Mark IV, and her amazingly lucky CM/CCM rider, Crashdown, in finding the Tylium asteroid?(^1)
Do I go with the collegiate planning of the raid on the Cylon fuel refinery by the staff of the Galactica?
Do I go into detail; how Adama finally picks on poor little, Kara, and dumps her in the hotseat of operations to come up with the plan?
I loved the scene where Adama gives her a physics and physiology lesson, when she exercises her knee on the weight bench.
Do I rejoice that the Table Lamp has finally joined the cast as a “good” actor, worthy of the name “Apollo”?”(^2)
Do I admit that Zachary/Baltar(^3) when the crunch comes; just like his template namesake of Lost in Space fame, when the chips are down, pulls one out from between his ears, and does show(whether it is out of fear of death; or fear of discovery of his cowardice) a small shred of that quality we Humans call courage?
Do I admit, for once, that Six(^4) didn’t stink up the screen, as she leads Baltar/Smith into complete religious psychosis/conversion(“Was/is an instrument of God’s Will.); as she parallels the explanation of the Pythian Prophecy, like Elosha does for Laura: to Gaius, a prophecy that Gaius/Zachary hasn’t paid any attention to since the Sixth Grade?
Do I describe the hammer and scythe plan; where the Colonials use freighters simultaneously as decoy and Trojan Horse to CM/CCM yoyo the Cylon raider defense force between points A(the freighters and B(the Galactica), taking the Cylons out of the fight; so that Lee Adama can get his strike package into the(Moore cliche of the week)(^5) narrow almost impossible to steer through maze of asteroid canyons and fuel processing plant tunnels; where the heroic “Apollo” lays the missile charges(as mines-see the technology discussion below) right where Gaius/Zachary Baltar/Smith finger-stabbed on a Galactica Boomer supplied recon photo earlier when the operation was being planned?
How do I describe the fight to take the Tylium plant?
How do I describe Caprica Boomer’s hopeless desperation, or Agathon’s discovery that there is more than one Heifer(^6) running around loose? It gives nothing away at this point to say that Caprica Sharon has a little cylon in her abdominal assembly plant.(Courtesy of Helo no doubt). Now there is DESPERATION!
Writing.
Compared to Tigh Me Up; Tigh Me Down, or anything I have seen in this series so far, this was outstanding! This episode was almost as good as anything I have seen in Science Fiction television. It almost reminded me of Endgame of Babylon 5 for the scale of heroics and sheer plot development and character interaction.
The troika of William, Kara, and Lee(especially Lee-[It turns out that wimps can be heroic!]) was the heart of this episode. Each slotted in nicely to his and her slots as commander, staff officer, and strike leader as it is in “real” life during war.(personal experience speaking).
The President(Mary McDonnell) played her part as the political leader(Churchhillian) during the crisis giving the necessary support to her military in the hour of desperation as one would hope the real world clowns would.
Poor Kara Thrace. Not only is she the only Viper pilot instructor in the fleet, charged with training the “nuggets”, but now Adama saddles her with the responsibility of planning the operation that gets half of them(See the ready room pilots she briefs in this episode, for the faces of the dead) killed in battle just to obtain fuel!
The Kicker is that Adama won’t let her lead the strike. Katee Sackhoff captures the inner-despair just right.(Welcome to the Big Leagues.)
How about a kudo for the dependable Colonel Tigh, who points out the real world risks and costs of the operation? That actor talked like a veteran who understands the industrial statistics behind the “glory” of war.
Buried in this wealth of action is the Lee/William father/son story. It was only three minutes of screen time during the whole episode. It was a well spent three minutes between Olmos and Jamie Bambir that rescued the Table Lamp and confirmed Jamie’s hold on “Apollo”. Olmos must have taken that guy to acting school this episode, because for the first time I believed the character. What a good actor can do with a lighter is remarkable.
Grace Park got an entire whole episode to be heroic. She played Galactica Boomer with a light touch that was exactly right and pitched an undertone of desperation in Caprica Sharon that was just a little underplayed; but all the more effective for it. As Battlestar Sharon she pitched the heroics right to the end, flying Raptor cover for Apollo’s strike package and supporting the decoy package with CM/CCM all during the same battle!
Goofs.
The lighter has Josephus Adama quite clearly labelled on it, but Lee says he can barely read the inscription when William tells him, that his, Lee’s, grandfather’s name is inscribed thereon. Supposedly Lee is tearing up and bleary eyed to explain this gaff, but there is no evidence of this in the closeup camerawork on the actor.
Bad things.
The CGI or the prop work with the snakes was dreadful. It looked plastic. Mary McDonnell during the press conference acted stiff, as if she didn’t know what a typical real world reaction to an obvious psychotic episode was supposed to be.
I can’t really dump on the Heifer this episode. It wasn’t her fault: it was the clumsy lines of the dialogue written for her character. Tricia Helfer needs easy flowing rhythmic phrasing that will keep her from tongue tying over her dipthongs and spraying her sibilants. You can correct for this in the writing.
The sound mixing for the episode was shockingly bad. You had to listen closely to catch some of the words that Colonel Tigh and Baltar said. Baltar also needs a speech coach.
He has an outrageous accent that fogs his delivery.
Good things;
The battle, despite the Star Wars Canyon Death Ride ripoff sequence, was some of the best television CGI I have ever seen. It was B-5 crisp and not as muddy and washed out as the earlier CGI work.
It was also contemporary air battle modern and accurate.
Somebody in their art department has flown an A-10 and seen the elephant.
The Vipers flew like ROCKETS!
Aside from the Heifer dialogue problems, the writing and the acting was as Homeric as you can get for this debased age of television. Even Gaius/Zachary and the Heifer, for once, measured up to the standard.
The music, while not American Martial(see John Williams for an example) was still powerful and episode supporting, with a mix of Scotts and Welsh lays selected for the proper dramatic underscore.
curiosities;
The Heifer tells Zachary/Gaius that this has all happened before in reference to the Pythian prophecies. What is she referencing?
What happened to the Colonials 3600 years ago?
What are the Pythian Prophecies, and what is the oncoming confrontation, that the prophecized Colonial “victory” in the Pythian Prophecy at the Tylium asteroid, portends?
Tylium(pronounced like helium) has an outrageous energy density(In far excess of 100 million joules/cm^3). What is it? Exotic matter?
Assuming that the rock was a 15000 meter in diameter lump and five percent of it was Tylium, just how much fuel does an average Colonial ship use over two years?(There are forty “freighters” and the Galactica. Assuming a 20/80 ratio and an even distribution of the eighty percent among the freighters.
Such a rock has approximately 1,767,145,868,000 cubic meters of volume.
So 5% of the asteroid is the volume of refined fuel after mining(I’m using coal out of a coal mined mountain as a model, here, folks) that is 88,357,290,000 cubic meters.
Eighty percent of that allocated to the freighters is about 70,685,833,000 cubic meters of fuel.
Current canon, puts this ragtag fleet at forty freighters.
Dividing the Tylium equally means an average freighter gets 1,767,145,800 cubic meters of fuel.Assuming an iron mass for value for exotic matter fuel density(not unreasonable): that is 8,000 kg/m^3; each freighter is taking on board a staggering 14,137,166,000,000.0 kgs or slightly more than 14 billion metric tons of fuel!
Technology:
We have confirmation of what I now call Dodo’s thesis in honor of the individual who originally pointed it out.
Quote:
——————————————————————————–
Dodo’s ThesisDodo hit it, precisely, when he said that the reason for guns and ballistic weapons in general(at least on the Colonial side) might be the fierce CM/CCM, that the Colonials and the Cylons possess and practice against each other.(This explains the Raptor’s presence as not only the general purpose shuttle but as a support ship in a Viper CAP. Its the Colonial Space Borne Warning and Control Shuttle as well as their EW bird. It is similar in function as to what used to be the EA 6B Prowler’s; used by the U.S. Navy.). That even explains why the Cylons use missiles so much and the Colonials rarely. The Cylons have better CM/CCM warfare capability and thus they have more confidence in their active targeting systems. It certainly explains the short-ranged ship combat.(The further away you launch the longer the CM/CCM has to work.).
——————————————————————————–The Raptor is far more important than I had realized. It is all of the above and it is the necessary support vehicle for any Viper strike to jam and spoof Cylon anti-spacecraft missile and flak defenses.
Without Raptor support the Vipers get slaughtered by the superior Cylon missile technology as is evident in the death-or-glory-ride of Lee’s strike package. Did you see the Colonial missiles spool off from their target locks when the Vipers launched from beyond effective Raptor CCM cover?
I guess the screen cap jockies will have a field day with this battle to determine G loading, missile ranges, gun ranges and weapon yields shown.
Let them have their fun.
It looked to me(without doing the comparisons in depth) about right for close air support as it is in the real world. The only quibble is that the charges that Lee Adama skidded under that Tylium processor were a little small for conventional bombs(200 kg TNT?).
All in all it was an IMPRESSIVE episode.
Notes;
^1. Keeping score on the Biocylons;
Harbinger of Doom-TOASTER MARK I
Cylon gunhand toting Centurion-TOASTER MARK II
Darlow biocylon-nickname “Wiseguy” TOASTER MARK III
Sheri Valleri biocylon-Callsign “Boomer” TOASTER MARK IV
Shelley Godfrey biocylon-nickname”the Heifer” TOASTER MARK VI
Leoben biocylon nickname “Bozo” TOASTER MARK IX^2. Jamie Bambir has up to this episode been inconsistent with his portrayal of Lee Adama. He has either shined or he has failed to illumine the character at all. Hence he earns the Table Lamp tag.
^3. James Callis portrays Gaius Baltar, up to this point, as if he was a comedic psychotic. This is too like the character that Jonathan Harris played on the execrable Irwin Allen TV project “Lost in Space” to escape the obvious tag.
^4. Tricia Helfer(to me) was clearly playing a stiff one dimensional character up to this episode. She reminded me of a guernsey-hence “the Heifer” became her tag.
^5. For those keeping score, Moore has ripped off:
–The Matrix
–In Harm’s Way
–The West Wing
–Patton
–Crimson Tide
–Star Wars; The Return of the Jedi
–Star Trek DS9
–Babylon 5
plus dozens of references that I’ve probably missed.^6. The Heifer is covered in ^1. and ^4. Tricia Helfer tries very hard and she is improving dramatically(Yes that is a pun!), but she is so outclassed by Mary McDonnell, Grace Park and Katee Sackhoff that it is embarrassing and painful to see her act-especially opposite James Callis,(Who has his own problems in character portrayal-though in his case it is a complete misread of the role of Gaius Baltar as the complete narcissist instead of a comical psychotic as Gallis has chosen to play him.)
As I understand it, the Cylons have had forty years to scout and plan since they lost the first Cylon War.
They, as the defeated, probably fled Colonial Space.
In effect, the Cylons, have had their Exodus.
This time around they are the pursuers and with machine logic they probably have decided to make sure that the Colonials won’t do to them what they have just done to the Colonials.
What has this to do with Tylium and that asteroid?
Tigh comments that the Cylons have fortified all the Tylium deposits within reach of the Ragtag Fleet. This means to me all the charted Tylium deposits known in Colonial Space.
Crashdown and Boomer, scouting at extreme range from the Galactica, discovered a new source of Tylium unknown to the Colonials.
This indicates to me that the Ragtag Fleet is beyond Known Colonial Space.
That also suggests to me that the Cylons thoroughly scouted this region of space when they were establishing themselves. The base is well built and the infrastructure shows a reasonably long term investment in fuel processing for Cylon needs.
Lee Adama points out that there is enough processed fuel after the refinery is blown to supply the Colonials’ immediate fuel needs for years.
My other suppositions are based on film evidence.
The Galactica has a reaction drive and is seen moving.
The Cylon base stars, thus far, have shown the ability to in-jump, but haven’t shown any other ability to move.
The base stars are huge in comparison to Galactica.
That means to me that the Cylon base ships are jump capable fuel hogs.
Add to this that machines are “logical”. This is shown on screen.
This means to me, when I see-
-that the machines build to “minimum” requirements for the use of the devices they need.(Note that the Centurions have “pistol” armament; whereas, the Colonials use at the least, combination pistol/rocket gun sidearms as well as some kind of rifle. Note that the Cylons’ Centurions show no armor plating?)
-that the machines have shown no desire or need to build in redundancy or survival into their fighting machines.(Their raiders use a biological processor that is “doglike” and is more like the intelligent software planned for the uninhabited combat vehicle that is the next step in military robotics. There is no bailout pod for that control unit.)
-that the machines(biocylons) show berserker kamikaze tendencies.(Darlow[Toaster Mark III] blows itself up on the Galactica?)it indicates to me that the Cylons neither have a fleet train(not shown) nor do they have the reluctance to accept the one way range limit that a base star might have.
Remember I hypothesized that the Colonials jammed Cylon base communications and that the Tylium asteroid was in terrain too dangerous for base stars to in-jump? So range is not the only consideration.
It was shown in the mini-series that the Ragtag Fleet sought refuge in a nebula? The Cylons didn’t enter there because their sensors were useless and the space was therefore dangerous to them. They were content to wait for the Ragtag Fleet to come out so that the Colonials could be destroyed in open space.
This implies the Cylons are “conservative” in tactics as well as resources. They won’t risk anything unless they are confident of outcomes.
This makes the battle around that Tylium asteroid all the more bizarre. It puzzles me that the Cylons chased after the Colonials once the pattern of engagement was set.
It, also, is surprising to me that the Cylons didn’t have a suicide bomb to neutralize the Tylium as insurance in case the base did fall?
All of this, just indicates, that the Leoben(biocylon model) running the defense was an idiot, that the Cylons didn’t expect that their automated fuel refinery would be discovered, and that it was a base at the outer limits of scouted Cylon territory(-since it had so few defenders.).
The assumption that the base stars have shorter ranges than the Galactica is just that, an assumption based on the actions of base stars as regards the movements of the Galactica.
If you haven’t seen Kobol’s Last Gleaming then you will see further evidence of the one way nature of base stars at work in that episode.
Now the range limitations for Cylon base ships don’t hold for their Raiders. I liken their(the Raiders) failure to appear in numbers as in-jumping re-inforcements solely to be due to the efforts of the Raptor’s jamming deployed by the Colonials.(See above.).
If it turns out that the base stars did have the range to round trip, then I will stick to the terrain/ Raptor jamming hypothesis.
Editted. This is a link to a workup of the history of the Twelve Colonies.
Do you have enough information to do a workup for Picon and Arieon?
I would be interested in Picon especially.
