Tag Archives: starbuck

Battlestar Galactica S3 E13

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“The Woman King”

It always amazes me when Battlestar Galactica, a show from years ago, has an episode that is so relevant to the world we live in today.

Vaccines were part of the story today, as a group of people who did not believe in accepting medicine were picked up by Galactica and they were suffering from an illness of some kind. There was a group called Sagittarons whose religious beliefs went against the administration of medicines, specifically this vaccination that could prevent the disease.

The story also took a twist into prejudice as the doctor, Dr. Michael Robert, brought on to help the situation, played by well-known character actor Bruce Davison, was giving these Sagittarons something different, killing them instead of helping htem.

Helo was at the center of this story, as a woman named King approached him with info that Dr. Robert had killed her son. Helo had to work through his own issues and history in order to figure out what was going on. His passion and anger over the doctor’s choices shone through each scene he was in.

Donnelly Rhodes, who is recurring as Dr. Cottle, had a couple of amazing scenes, some of the best work he has given in this series so far. Col. Tigh continues to be the jerk that he is, though he did come through in the end.

This episode was really more about Hel than it was the Sagittarons and I think that part worked well. I found several good performances and liked this for the most part. It is probably not one of the stand out episodes of the series, but it has its place, and as I said earlier, it absolutely has relevance in today’s world.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E9, E10, E11, E12

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“The Passage”

“The Eye of Jupiter”

“Rapture”

“Taking a Break from All your Worries”

Thanksgiving evening, I did a run of Battlestar Galactica season three.

Episodes 9-12 were really great. It dealt with a bunch of things, including the temple discovered on the planet that Galactica was getting food from. The temple where the Eye of Jupiter would be found.

Huge steps in the relationship of Kara and Lee. Both of their marriages are falling apart and it is unclear how they feel about it. Kara and Lee are not very good people, even if they are heroic in their military roles.

Sharon found out about her daughter, Hera being alive and took some desperate attempts to get her back.

James Callis was brilliant in episode 12 as Gaius found himself back on board Galactica and had Adama, Roslin and others went out of their way to find what they could. It was a disturbing set of scenes as they tortured Gaius to find out what he knew. This show has been very much shades of grey through the entire series. I was actually feeling sorry for Baltar during this episode. It wasn’t that long ago that I decided to accept him as a villain.

Sounds as if the trial of Gaius Baltar is our next step in this story, and I am here for it.

I want to know more about Hera. She came over to Galactica because she was sick and Caprica helped Sharon get her out of the Cylon base ship. We have not heard anything else about that since though and I am curious.

This is one of the best sci-fi shows I have ever seen. It is compelling and totally unpredictable.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E8

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“Hero”

Carl Lumbly guest starred in this episode and he brought an old secret for Adama to light. Lumbly, who played Isaiah Bradley in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World, was a soldier that had to do a black ops that turned sour. He was captured by the Cylons after getting shot down past the Armistice Line.

Three years after that, Lumbly, whose character was named Lt. Daniel “Bulldog” Novacek, escaped from the Cylons and was able to return to Adama’s new ship, Galactica.

Honestly, the story of this episode really felt like it came out of left field. The whole Adama did these bad things to “Bulldog” which led to the actual attack of the Cylons on the colonies. While Edward James Olmos is a great performer, this felt very forced to me. This thing just dropped into the story, with Saul Tigh knowing everything too, just did not seem to make a lot of sense. If you have a secret this big, shouldn’t it have been mentioned or hinted at somewhere in a previous episode. This just came out of nowhere and it did not feel right.

It led to the reunion between Adama and Tigh though, which was a nice thing. Lumbly is always great and he does a solid job too.

And then Roslin giving him a medal. Odd.

I am not sure this is going to be referenced ever again. I don’t think that is a bad thing.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E1

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“Occupation/Precipice”

I had an hour to fill prior to the World Series game three this past Monday night so I thought I would kick off season three of Battlestar Galactica. However, there was a flaw in my plan. I was unaware that the season three premiere episode of Battlestar was a two hour event. So I had to pause watching the episode a little over an hour in. The week was so busy with school, Halloween, and other things that I was only able to return to the episode this morning.

Man, what a start to season three.

So much has changed. Battlestar Galactica has taken the status quo from the first two seasons and absolutely ground it beneath its heel. The Cylons took over New Caprica and the situation was unbelievably tense for the remaining humans who chose to settle on the planet.

One year later and everything is upside down.

Some general thoughts

  • I hate Dean Stockwell’s Cylon character. He is such a monster.
  • The resistance of humans, led by Saul, is just about as monstrous as the Cylons. The use of suicide bombers is very questionable.
  • The whole Starbuck is a prisoner would have been enough… and then they tossed in a cute little girl that was supposed to be Starbuck’s daughter.
  • I feel like my hatred for Gaius Baltar has subsided as we see the tortured soul that he has become. He is absolutely a traitor, but he is so pitiful that he is hard to hate right now.
  • Ellen’s betrayal at the end of the episode is horrible, even if she thinks she is doing the right thing, protecting Saul.
  • I can already guess that Ellen’s betrayal will be blamed on Sharon instead.
  • Not sure how Roslin will survive the mass execution at the end of the show. I can’t believe that is how she will go out.

It is amazing how they have reimagined the series and this feels like a truly momentous step for a show that was successful before.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E20

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“Lay Down Your Burdens- Part 2”

Part two of this season finale was rocking. And so much happened, effectively resetting the series for season three and beyond.

Legitimately, there was so much here. The election happened and President Roslin rigged it. As shocking as that was, she wound up getting caught and she decided to make things right, which made Gaius Baltar president of the colonies.

That led to a settlement on New Caprica.

Number six exploded the nuclear bomb that was smuggled on to Cloud Nine, destroying everything.

Starbuck returned from Caprica with the soldiers she had gone to retrieve. That whole thing was strange and I thought for awhile that Starbuck had been replaced with a Cylon and that this was not her. There were some hints that seemed out of character for her, but the end of the episode seemed to not support that theory. I still think something weird is going on because that return from Caprica was so anticlimactic.

Dean Stockwell (two of them actually) turned out to be a Cylon and sent out the air vent (I assume. It was a presidential order).

Then we had a time jump of a year. Shows like this doing a time jump is always complicated, but so many of our characters received a serious reboot during this year. I wonder if season three will include flashbacks to this time frame. Certainly, we will see the conflict between Starbuck and Apollo that seemed to have damaged their relationship and maybe even Apollo and Dualla’s relationship too.

The Cylons arrive at the end of the episode, taking control of New Caprica, after Baltar surrendered to them. The army of Cylon robots marched through the streets as the scattered crew, including Starbuck, swore to keep fighting.

We get a glimpse of the baby given birth by Sharon that had been “killed.” The half human, half Cylon baby seemed to be very happy.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E18

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“Downloaded”

This episode showed us what it was like for the Cylon resurrection. We saw the rebirth of Six after the initial attack on Caprica and the rebirth of Sharon after she was shot aboard Galactica. Both were very traumatic for the Cylons.

Sharon had her baby on Galactica and President Roslin decided that the baby girl could not be raised by a Cylon and so she had the doctor pretend that the baby died, and she had the baby given to another person, secretly. This felt like a cruel decision from Roslin because the show has done such a good job of redeeming Sharon from the early days of her betrayal.

However, Sharon had serious reaction to the baby’s supposed death as she believed that they had killed the baby. She had no idea about the truth of the situation.

We also got some connection between Six and Sharon on Caprica. Funnily, the Six that was reborn after the initial explosion was also seeing Gaius Baltar in her head just like he was seeing Six in his aboard Galactica. That was not what I was expecting and it changed my POV of that character as well. Six and Sharon both admitted to their love for human men and have decided to try and make it better. Not sure how that is going to come about or how the news of the baby’s ‘death’ will change that perspective.

It had been a long time since I saw the last episode of Battlestar Galactica, so it was awesome coming back to the series.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E15

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“Scar”

A Battlestar Galactica Starbuck-centric episode is always great. Starbuck is simply been put through the wringer for this entire series and she has been slipping into the bottle more. Her guilt over Anders and being unable to get a rescue mission back to Caprica, as well as her guilt over the deaths of other pilots have pushed her into being very brittle.

Scar is that Cylon Raider ship that has been targeting and killing pilots in a manner unlike other Cylons. Scar is known as the “Ace of aces” and a master of sneak attacks.

The show featured the conflict between Starbuck and Kat, as the two women showed their anger with one another over just about everything.

Katee Sackhoff was exceptional in the episode, being able to play up the myriad of flaws displayed by Starbuck and still be a dominant force on Galactica.

The show told the story out of order, as it flashed from the confrontation of Starbuck and Kat with Scar, back to the time before they headed out.

There are some great action scenes in the episode too.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E3

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“Fragged”

Adama is still in bad shape, and they had to go back in for more surgery. I liked this since they now have an actual doctor working on him. The emergency surgery performed last episode was not done by a full-fledged doctor. Now that Dr. Butch is there, he should be able to help.

The drama on Kobol was off the charts this episode. I do not know why Crashdown was such a jerk about everything, completely unwilling to listen to anyone else. I understand that it is a military concept of following orders, but this was anything but a typical setting.

I also wondered why Baltar’s comment about being the Vice-President did not carry more weight than it seemed to carry.

Tigh is struggling with the command of Galactica and takes some big swings at the end. Dissolving the Quorum of Twelve because of their demands and insistence for President Roslin’s release and then declaring martial law to the reporters… whoa, that does not seem to be good choices. I am curious how far Adama would have taken the same situation. Tigh is still sneaking those swigs of alcohol as well.

Richard hatch was back, but he felt fairly minor here. President Roslin admitted to her breast cancer in front of the pre-dissolved Quorum of Twelve, who seemed to buy into her as the religious leader to take them to earth.

No sign of Starbuck. I wonder how she is meant to return to Galactica?

Battlestar Galactica S1 E11

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“Colonial Day”

How can an episode from 2005 feel so relevant to the political world of today?

A terrorist making a run at a political office with eyes on the presidency? Hmm.

Richard Hatch returned to the show as Tom Zarek, who had become a representative for one of the colonies by his words and his outsider position. The episode featured a meeting of the Quorum of Twelve, the representative body of the colonies. Zarek proposed that the position of vice president be the first item on the agenda.

Zarek manipulated others into nominating him with the idea of being elected VP and then taking out President Roslin.

I could not help but see echoes of the current day political discourse in this show, which is amazing considering this was nearly 20 years ago.

I am also amazed at how many of these characters on Battlestar Galactica are characters that I truly dislike. I have been going on about Dr. Baltar the last few posts, and his being eventually elected vice president does not put him in a better stead for me. Ellen Tigh is simply a horrendous character that I despise every second she is on screen. Zarek is a terrible character, but at least he interests me more and his compelling performance by Richard Hatch is fun.

Major events on Caprica too as Helo and Sharon were going to steal a ship to escape when Helo saw doubles of Number Six speaking to each other. He then saw another copy of Sharon (Number Eight) and he ran off, putting together what had been happening this whole time.

Battlestar Galactica has been very consistently entertaining this entire first season although I worry what havoc a VP Baltar will bring. I look forward to the eventual return of Richard Hatch once more as he brings an energy to this show unlike any others, as well as an awesome antagonist outside of the world of Cylons.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E9

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“Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down”

Oh, the paranoia… it is so lovely.

This episode did a great job of planting seeds all over the place, making everyone feel as if they could be a Cylon. The concept of making the Cylons look human is paying off big time with this as you are never quite sure who could be a machine.

Before going on, I have had thoughts about Gaius Baltar. His charm and humor has made me want to root for this guy, even though I saw him making bad choices everywhere. That is over for me now. This guy is officially a villain in my eyes from this point forward. Intentionally not revealing the truth of the Cylon identification testing and just making everyone pass the test because it is easier that way is the worst thing I think I have heard. I was willing to give this guy a pass before but that not the case moving forward. He may not be a Cylon sympathizer, but he is not too far away from it.

The character of Ellen Tigh is over the top. She is very unlikable as well. I found her annoying immediately and I had enough of her antics well before Baltar gave her the questionable test. I do not see any real chemistry between her and Saul Tigh. This is not the picture of the character of Saul that I had drawn up to this point. I’m not sure Ellen is someone that will build better story.

I do love the tension between Adama and President Roslin. The questions about if Adama could be a Cylon has affected the relationship and the anxiety building is awesome.

It is fascinating seeing the Cylons starting to wonder about the feelings, particularly love, that humans have, Number six’s response to “Sharon’s” behaviors on Caprica is telling and will probably become a major theme of the show. When will the first Cylon switch sides officially? I think it is destined to happen.

I am very pleased that I have started this series. I can absolutely understand why so many fans loved this show when it aired. It is top notch sci-fi and has already developed a crew of intriguing characters.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E8

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“Flesh and Bone”

A Cylon is captured hiding aboard one of the ships and it falls to Starbuck to try and find out what its mission is.

The Cylon hints that there is a nuclear warhead aboard one of the ships. Starbuck used some “enhanced interrogation techniques” aka torture to try and get the truth out of the machine.

The idea of the episode is wondering what makes one human and how close to human is the Cylon?

Dr. Baltar discovers that Boomer is a Cylon, but his mind Number Six convinces him not to tell her that she is because she may attack him and kill him. Baltar is such a coward. What is he going to do with this information? Just forget it?

Our captured Cylon is using its manipulative tricks and whispered to the President that Adama was a Cylon. She did not believe it, but you could see the slight doubt in her eyes when she was talking to Adama.

The Cylon pretending to be Lieutenant Valerii on Caprica seemed to be maybe falling for Lieutenant Agathon.

This seems to be starting to question how human these machines are now that they have these human bodies. I have a feeling this theme is going to continue over the seasons.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E6

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“Litmus”

It has been awhile since my last Battlestar Galactica episode so it was awesome to dive back into the sci-fi series. Especially with an impactful episode as “Litmus.”

A suicide bomber, who was a Cylon agent who was a copy of Aaron Doral, made it on board Galactica and set off the bomb, killing three and injuring many others. This set off a flurry of events including releasing the information to the public that Cylons can now look human.

It also targeted the relationship between Chief Tyrol and Boomer, as it came front and center. Boomer is a Cylon sleeper agent, though that has yet to be revealed to the crew of Galactica. The tense break-up that this situation led to was a powerhouse scene in the show.

It was fun seeing Dominic Zamprogna as Jammer this episode. I am not sure if he has been there before, but I noticed him for the first time here. Zamprogna has been a long time cast member of General Hospital as Dante Falconeri.

The episode had set up a tribunal to investigate the bombing, but Adama brought it to a close when he started sensing that it was becoming a witch hunt, which President Roslin had warned him about. Adama just ending the tribunal is a major point of this episode and may have an impact over the span of this series.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E4, E5

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“Acts of Contrition”

“You Can’t Go Home Again”

This is a two-part adventure featuring Starbuck that was really epic.

I will state that I had some problems with the first part of the episode knowing what time frame was going on at certain times. As we started with Starbuck in a Viper and spinning out of control, and, as far as I remembered, that was not where we left off with episode three.

Then, they bounced around, kind of like Starbuck was seeing her life flash before her eyes. At least, that is how I took it, though it did not make for easy viewing. Again, I was not sure what was present day and what wasn’t.

However, that did not last for long and once I was able to get my bearing for the episode, this turned into an incredible fight for survival.

Watching Starbuck find that Cylon vessel and figure out how to fly it back to Galactica was exceptional. I do wonder how she wrote her name on the wings of the ship to avoid getting shot by the fleet. I loved how she just kind of flew rings around Apollo while he was mistakenly attempting to destroy the Cylon ship she was piloting.

We learned a lot about our main characters during this attempted rescue mission including Adama. Starbuck confessed her passing of Zach when he should have failed to Adama. Still, you could see how important she was to him and to Apollo as they were willing to put it all at risk to save her.

There was an advancement of Helo on Caprica too as a pair of Cylon machines get into a firefight with him. After this, he cannot find Sharon. This is a still evolving story bit.

I enjoyed this two-part episode even if Starbuck’s ability to fix and pilot the Cylon ship is stretching reality. I just took it as she made herself some great dice rolls (as in D&D). Perhaps some natural 20s.

Or is there more to it?

Battlestar Galactica S1 E2, E3

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“Water”

“Bastille Day”

With just a few episodes in, I can see why Battlestar Galactica was such a classic and beloved science fiction series. These two episodes are very strong.

Whoever stole the detonators and blew up the water containers is a neat little mystery. I, of course, have some ideas, but the fact that I am not 100% sure makes this even more enjoyable.

Then, I was shocked to see Richard Hatch walk into a scene as one of the prisoners that was being held. Richard Hatch was the original Apollo on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series on ABC and seeing him as this terrorist was cool. Even better was putting him face to face with this new series’ version of Apollo, Lee Adama, played by Jamie Bamber.

That third episode, with the basic idea of a prison break with hostages, was well done and it built a lot of suspense as the episode progressed.

Hatch, as Tom Zarek, was a fascinating character and provided a real antagonist outside of the Cylon threat. He was solidly stuck in the grey area as his philosophy seemed to include good things, but he was taking bad steps to reach them. It was compelling.

However, I am already tired of Gaius Baltar and the image of Cylon Number Six that he sees and tells him what to do. I want him revealed sooner rather than later.

The show has been fantastic so far. I am looking forward to continuing on.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E1

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“33”

Starting the actual series with season one of Battlestar Galactica, there was a real tense episode where the survivors only have 33 minutes after they executed a jump away from the Cylons before the would fins them and try to attack again.

I can’t imagine what that would be like for the people on these vessels. Almost immediately after an escape, you would need to prep for another escape.

The Galactica crew had to stay awake in order to execute their plan in 33 minutes. The show had them awake for 132 hours, which is insane.

It led to a difficult decision that had to be made by Adama and President Roslin. One ship was being tracked by the Cylons and, through a twist of fate, they were able to discover the truth. They had to destroy the vessel despite how many lives might be on board.

It was a tough choice and it highlighted the pains of war and the loss of bystanders very well.

This episode shows what a dark and gritty show Battlestar Galactica would be and as an opening episode in the first season, it really laid the groundwork for what would follow.