Open Thread: 413 Sometimes A Great Notion

OK folks, here we go with a first for Sitrep this season - we'll put up open threads every Friday for discussion of the episode.

Please read our spoiler policy before you post on the threads.

All 4.5 open threads will be collected in an index that will sit on our blogroll rightside column, for handy access. (Here's the thread for the webisodes, btw.) If you know of other fun sites or forums that are having lively non-spoilery episode discussions, please feel free to post links here as well.

The hiatus is over forever. How are you feeling today?



EPISODE 413: SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION
Writers: David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Director: Michael Nankin

Hulu embed:

Season 4.5 Open Thread Index

This post is the index for all our Season 4.5 Open Threads.

BSG 4.5 WEBISODES - THE FACE OF THE ENEMY

EPISODE 413 - SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION

EPISODE 414 - A DISQUIET FOLLOWS MY SOUL

EPISODE 415 - THE OATH

EPISODE 416 - BLOOD ON THE SCALES

EPISODE 417 - NO EXIT

EPISODE 418 - DEADLOCK

EPISODE 419 - SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

EPISODE 420 - ISLANDED IN A STREAM OF STARS

EPISODE 421 - DAYBREAK, PART 1

EPISODES 422-423 - DAYBREAK, PART 2


[Note that Sitrep uses the episode numbering that SciFi and BSG Production used for season 4, with the RAZOR telefilm counting as eps 401 and 402. Also, here's some really frakkin important stuff you should know about watching season 4.5.]

Staffing Caprica

Bear McCreary in studio at a “Caprica” scoring session this week!
[photo: Andrew Craig]

From various sources right now, we can confirm that BSG crewmembers Richard Hudolin, Gary Hutzel, and Bear McCreary have joined the crew of the CAPRICA series to do, respectively, the production design, the special effects, and the musical score. Great news. (That Hutzel link is a terrific interview; here's another.)


This piece discussing CAPRICA, part of Variety's special BSG edition on stands today, has some interesting perspective from Ron Moore and SciFi's Dave Howe:

"It's about a society that's running out of control with a wild-eyed glint in its eye," says "Galactica" mastermind Ron Moore, who penned the "Caprica's" two-hour pilot with Remi Aubuchon.

"You can just feel it running out of control, with its youth culture and its moral choices. There's doom in the air, but not doom in terms of the human spirit," Moore says.

...

In short, the show's stories and settings will be more congruent with Earth in the very near future than "BSG" has been.

Moore and the Sci Fi Channel are hoping that will help "Caprica's" appeal.

"We want people to come to this who've never heard of 'Battlestar Galactica,' " explains Sci Fi prexy Dave Howe, whose network has ordered 20 hours of the new series. "I think there was a barrier to entry for some viewers (for 'Galactica'), since it had the backdrop of space and spaceships."

Moore concurs, saying "We had viewers say that if they were able to trick their wives or girlfriends into watching 'Galactica,' they loved it."

But with the name "Battlestar Galactica" "screaming science fiction," he adds, "there was just such a high hurdle to get female viewers to even try it."

David Eick's Video Blog: Inserts Action & FX

All the videoblogs are here...there was another one posted earlier in the week, but it's not on Hulu.

BSG episodes on SciFi.com

Pop Candy got this from the horse's mouth today:

Do you know if the Sci Fi Channel will have the new season of BSG online? -- Liz D.

Yes, and I just got the exact schedule for you: According to a Sci Fi spokesman, for the first five weeks, the Season 4.5 episodes will go on SciFi.com and Hulu at 2 a.m. ET the day after they air. They're also available on iTunes and Amazon beginning at 3 a.m. ET each Saturday, so you really have no excuse to miss 'em!

Only the first five weeks...but it's something.

The View of the Apocalypse

Eddie and Mary on The View:


The clip shown on The View:


Herc of Ain't It Cool News gives "Sometimes A Great Notion" 5 stars, and does so without spoiling the episode, but does provide some interesting teases.

Mark A. Perigard of the Boston Herald walks the same line, praising and teasing the episode, without ruining it for us all.

Variety has a slew of BSG articles today, including reflections from director of Sometimes A Great Notion, Michael Nankin, and co-writer of the episode, David Weddle.

Variety also presents thoughts and observations from friend of the Sitrep, and Daily Show writer Rob Kutner, who imagines a Daily Show in the fleet. Others pondering the meaning of BSG including members of the military, clergy, scientists, a political blogger, and a PBS TV show host all here .

Two Fans...And A Hybrid?

I was emailing back and forth the other day with fellow BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fan Rob Kutner…and things got a bit dense, BSG-fandom-wise. We geeked all over the place, called in An Expert (his DAILY SHOW cohort John Hodgman), and then I even quizzed Rob a bit about his day job. Wasn't it nice of them to let me publish our chat. Enjoy.

-------------------------

ProgGrrl: Hey RK, what's up. Happy new year. We haven't talked in a while…how's it going these days with our chances of apocalypse? Still looking good?

I've been having some serious geekalicious happy lately, watching the new BATTLESTAR season 4.5 promos, the webisodes…and today even a cool new clip of the way-before-the-apocalypse CAPRICA series. Great stuff to tide us over till our own apocalypse hits. We BSG fans…we KNOW apocalypse.


Rob Kutner: Come on ProgGrrl, war in the Middle East? A smart Black man elected President? How could anyone interpret either of those as signs of the End Times? At the very least, that means there must still be five to go. Actually, I'm tremendously enjoying the leadup to season 4.5. Right now, the whole show is sandwiched between two apocalypses -- like the meat in an Armageddonwich. Which, if you made it out of human-cylon hybrid flesh, would be guaranteed not to give you cancer!

But yes, I'm full of questions. Like, which gender – or species – Gaeta is going to smooch next? Where on Earth is Tigh going to find an ambrosia still? And what exactly is it that – in the trailers – Kara freaks out upon seeing? I'm guessing it's the smoldering remains of a Starbucks. Talk about "There are many copies…"


PG: Mmmm, Armageddonwich.

Have you been checking out those mindbender clues over on www.YouWillKnowTheTruth.com? If you play this one backwards, it may reveal that the walrus was Adama. As for Gaeta...who knew about his thing for architecture? All that, and such a fine singing voice.

So I suppose an Armageddonologist like yourself must have enjoyed the final scene of "Revelations," the last episode from 4.0, when the rag tag fleet makes it to Earth..."Earth?"..."Earth!" (we fans aren't quite sure). What was your reaction?


RK: Gaeta truly is a Renaissance man. I bet he could talk your ear off about fine Leonis Estates wines. And a lotta good stuff in those teases. For instance, who knew that Adama actually washes his face? I half-expected all the crags to fall off and him to be the smooth-skinned Adama from Razor. Baltar seems to play a key role in the events to come -- meaning he's going to continue getting laid like a madman. Also, from the looks of it, there's a human-cylon hybrid baby born with a case of heartburn so bad, you can see it from the outside.

As far as the end of "Revelations," wow. It takes a special kind of armageddon to turn everything that precise shade of brown. Sort of Ron &co's way of saying, "Earth? You ain't found shit." And after seeing Earth, you have to imagine the humans and "good" cylons are pining for the verdant lushness of New Caprica or even Old Caprica. Speaking of which, I assume they wouldn't just hightail it back there because Sharon and the 1s, 4s, and 5s (great name for a band, btw) would find them there? It's a pity, because I love its oddly 50s-style cars. Do those come equipped with FTL drives? How cool would the new "Caprica" series be if characters were saying, "Hey baby, wanna jump with me to the drive-in?"


PG: That’s not all they’re jumping on Caprica, from the looks of this.


RK: Yowza. Based on that clip, you get the feeling if the Cylons hadn't done Caprica in, Holo-chlamydia would have.


PG: Who is your favorite character on the show? Or do you have more than one?


RK: My favorite characters... I would say Roslin, the Old Man, I kind of dig Cavil in a strange way, and I'm endlessly amused by the Hybrid. Talk about a multi-tasker! ("...shall spell the doom of all mankind 'ere his first blossoming... oil low - check engine soon")


PG: Who do you love more: funny, clever scientist Gaius, who is always hanging with cylons and getting laid…or Christ-like, suffering, guilty preacher Gaius who is being either tortured, imprisoned, or getting laid?


RK: As much as I enjoy seeing Gaius get the frak beaten out of him, I do enjoy him more when he's talking fast to save his own skin - I particularly enjoyed him in "Torn" way-too-easily blurting out how to get to Earth to the Cylons, and trying to talk his torturer D'Anna into reconciling science and faith -- while simultaneously having projected-sex with #6. No wonder he can go head to head with the Hybrid!


PG: Let’s talk burning questions. I have some, our readers certainly have even more… What are the things that keep you awake at night about this show? I come up with new questions every few days. Right now I want to know if Gaeta will begin randomly slaughtering Number Eights whenever he sees one around the ship… if Adama’s going to punch that dude who spray-painted FRAK EARTH on his wall... if Tigh will decide he wants to settle down and raise a family with Six…if Kara will ever find out why The Hybrid was throwing all those big words at her, like “harbinger,” and stuff.


RK: So, my questions: I, too, wonder whose ass Gaeta will claim next - let's not forget Sam "the leg-shooting toaster" is also on the list. If Tigh and Six do settle down on Earth, how will he be able to grow a lawn that he can yell at kids to get off of? Will Bill Adama ever be able to settle down even anywhere on land, or will he be forced to grow another "orbit patrol 'stache?"

As far as outstanding series questions (ie: Truth I Hope Will Be Known): Who/what saved Starbuck and sent her to Earth and back with coordinates and shmancy new Raptor? How could a skinjob like Tigh have been created so long ago, and with such an alcohol problem? How did the birth of cylon-human Hera spark such mystical awareness among both Roslin and D'Anna, yet his fellow cy-man (or is it "hum-lon") Nicky did not? Why were the Five separated, how is it they've "seen the way to earth" yet the lone models we know have no clue where it is, and why are they suddenly switched on now? And how did young Bill Adama in Razor come upon the original Cylon prototypes and Raiders, yet not one Daggit? (Sorry, new-BSG purists.)


PG: Good stuff, big questions...we're both pretty stumped here. My head is spinning. What we really need is...an expert.

What about your friend John Hodgman? I bet he could help us. I know he's incredibly frakkin busy with non stop book tours, Daily Show appearances, Mac ad shoots, and twittering...but...there's just *so many questions*, my gods.

[It takes a bit of time to adjust the signal here… Rob waits… I wait… then, suddenly, we received the following.]

THIS IS HODGMAN ACTUAL

Hello friends. I am writing to you from the fabled lost colony of Park Slope, where I have been catching up on all the Gaeta-sodes, and it was a marvelous experience. I got to watch the movie "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" ten times! (At least, I presume it was the whole movie. There can't be much more to it than that, can there?)

As an added bonus, I got to enjoy the BSG material itself, which as you know was co-written by Kevin Seamus Fahey and the very lovely, generous super-genius Jane Espenson. As you may also know, it was Jane who gave me something to say on my very fleeting appearance on one of those last 10 episodes. (Do not ask me about it. I would not say a word to spoil it, and I am hardly sure I will end up in the finished product anyway).

But it leaves me in a strange position. Through the palimpsest of partial scripts, I have glimpsed at least some of the answers to some of my biggest burning questions. But these answers lead only to more questions, which also burn. And so, like you, I am equally looking forward to the cooling answer-poultice of the new episodes.

Until then, I will recline, hybrid like, speaking cryptically, knowing more than I can say, but traveling with you, and bathed in glowing slime.

But I can ask these questions:

1. WHEN DID THEY DECIDE TO TURN UP THE LIGHTS IN THE CIC? Did someone just discover the dimmer switch finally? A cache of old fluorescents they forgot about?

2. WHY DID GAETA PUT A BOOT ON THE END OF HIS PEG LEG? I'm sure it aids his getting around, but it is hardly as stylish as plain old pirate gear (as Tigh figured out some time ago). And I really think it increases the chance of him tripping every time he walks through a pyramid door.

3. IF THE GAETASODES DO OCCUR AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF EARTH, where is Earth now? If they are still doing long jumps all over space to evade hostile cylons, does that mean they have abandoned earth already?

As for my favorite characters, I agree with Espenson's assessment in her commentary for Gaetasode 10. Michael does more acting with his one visible eye than a lot of people do with their whole body. Like Gaeta, Boomer8thena, Tyrol, and Cottle, these are all really amazing Canadian actors whom I probably never would have seen were it not for this show.

Another reason I am grateful almost everyone on Caprica died.

For now, THAT IS ALL


PG: Hmm…I always suspected Hodgman might be a Hybrid. Ain't it always the trouble when chatting up a Hybrid: cryptic statements, full of promise, and most of your questions remain unanswered.

So we shall have to wait and see if, where, and when Mr. Hodgman appears on BSG. Meanwhile I see he has already gone back to twittering...like you said: those Hybrids sure can multi-task.


RK: First off, I want to echo what John said about how - in addition to being a great yarn - the Webisodes gave us 10 exciting glimpses at "Underworld." As it happens, I'd been wondering what we could be, instead of being slaves. I now know the answer: "LYCANS!!!!"


PG: You know Rob, seeing as you are a writer on another one of my favorite shows, THE DAILY SHOW, I can't resist asking: are there any other TDS staffers who are BSG fans? We've heard that BSG is loved by the entire Late Night With Letterman writers' room. This summer I was waiting for you guys to make the McCain/Palin -- Tigh/Roslin connection…but no dice.


RK: I took a poll, and about half of us are into it. The rest are clearly lesser-evolved Centurions. But I resist that political analogy – even Laura Roslin knows way much more about 21st Century U.S. foreign policy than Palin.


PG: There've been a few passing mentions on THE DAILY SHOW this year of BSG…is Jon Stewart in on this? Stewart has always had a bit of geek cred. Not as much as Stephen Colbert, but not bad.


RK: Jon doesn’t watch it, but he has this eerie all-knowing sense of what’s in the ether. However, there have been legions of BSG pitches that never made air. For example, that Rod Blagojevich’s censored wiretapping remarks were actually him repeatedly saying “FRAK” – bleeped out because CNN doesn’t want to get into copyright violation territory. We tried to get Jon to ask Education Secretary Margaret Spellings if she hoped for a global nuclear holocaust so she could become President. When Biden was making those ominous remarks near the end of the campaign about how an Obama administration would get “hit within six months,” I worked with Jane Espenson to find suitably disturbing Hybrid clips to intercut with that.


PG: When are Katee Sackhoff or Tricia Helfer gonna guest on the show? I'm amazed Helfer hasn't been on yet…can you possibly make a case to your producers on behalf of BSG/TDS crossover fans everywhere?


RK: You know our show – they’d have to first write a book about Iraq. Actually, my strong preference would be Grace Park. Shouldn’t be that hard to book – there’s like a hundred of her, right?


PG: Well Rob…and John (wherever you are)…thanks so much for taking time away from Apocalypse Research, Generally Being an Expert, and skewering the body politic with the DAILY SHOW crew to talk Galactica with me. It's always a pleasure talking BSG with other addicts.

-------------------------

Rob Kutner is an Emmy-award-winning writer for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and lots of other things. His book “Apocalypse How” is available. Right now. You should buy it. He twitters too.

John Hodgman is currently a Famous Minor Television Personality, the Resident Expert on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” and the author of “More Information Than You Require” and “Areas of My Expertise.” We BSG fans might recall that he wrote this, back in the day. You can also read a bit more from him about BSG here.

The Really, Really Frakkin Important Stuff

Generally Frakking Important: Sitrep has collected a ton of info over here to take the discerning BSG TruFan far into the future.

Help Bear Curate the Season 4 CD: Bear McCreary would like all of us to comment here on his blog throughout the final season, and tell him which musical pieces we would most like to see on the Season 4 soundtrack. Pretty cool, eh?

Ron Moore podcast commentaries: Hulu and Scifi are posting full episodes with Moore's commentary track overlaid weekly. You can also download as an audio podcast from iTunes here or from SciFi here.



How to watch BSG season 4.5 on TeeVee:

USA: SciFi

SciFi is broadcasting all 10 webisodes tonight (Thursday night) during the airing of the film PITCH BLACK. On Friday beginning at 8:30am ET/ 7:30 CT, they will air an all-day BSG season 4.0 marathon leading up to the premiere.

Canada: Space

Starting at 10am ET, Space will be running 14 hours of BSG programming this Friday, including all the 4.0 episodes and a “fandom forum” discussion.

UK: Sky One

Sky 2 is running 4.0 eps this week leading up to the 4.5 premiere on Sky One on January 20th.


How to watch BSG season 4.5 on Teh Internets:

SciFi.com (free): last year, SciFi’s own site posted new episodes 1-3 days after their Friday broadcast, along with “enhanced” versions containing Ron Moore’s commentary tracks. They also streamed the full episodes for the first few weeks starting on Fridays at 9am EST – but there has been no indication that is happening this year.


Hulu (free): the final four eps of BSG 4.0 are currently on the site, and here’s a statement from Hulu on new eps…

New episodes of BSG return to Hulu 1/17. The first five episodes will be posted on Hulu the day after their TV broadcast. Subsequent episodes will be posted 8 days after their original broadcast date.

We are able to offer five older episodes from the previous season; they will be available until 5 a.m. PST on 1/31/09.

iTunes: there is already a very nifty BSG home page on the iTunes Store site, which contains pages for each season in both standard and high-def formats. They have posted the entire set of The Face of The Enemy Webisodes (in 720p HD) for free download; this is the first time any BSG webisodes have been available in HD. Also available for free are the catch-up specials. They have bundled a set of “Best Of BSG” eps from past seasons, curated by Ron Moore. In the past, new eps of BSG have appeared on iTunes the morning after first US broadcast.

Xbox Live Marketplace: the entire series is on their site, and we are assuming new eps will be there too. If you know something different, speak up. One element that makes us nervous though: as of this morning, they only have 7 of the 10 webisodes posted. Are they going to be slow to keep up with posting new series eps?

Amazon VOD: you can watch all of season 4.0 now, and we are assuming you can get new ones starting this weekend. There’s a discount for subscribing for a season pass. Their VOD system allows the following compatibilities: Mac and PC online viewing, Windows PC download, TiVo DVRs, Sony BRAVIA Internet Video Link, compatible portable video devices.


Off Topic: I’d like to also put in a plug for another TV show that begins its 3rd season run on NBC Friday night, which is FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. A lot of us FNL fan(atic)s are wondering if this will be the last season for the show because, much like BSG, the ratings have always been kinda low. FNL director/producer Jeffrey Reiner, who directed the CAPRICA pilot, directed several of this season’s best episodes (which just finished running on DirecTV). You can watch the first two seasons online here. For a nice look at some of the reasons you should watch this show, check out Tim Goodman’s piece here about BSG and FNL, and Alan Sepinwall’s piece here.


ONE. MORE. DAY.

The Auction is Here

It’s actually pretty hard to believe, but the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Props & Costumes Auction has finally arrived. Did you buy your auction catalog yet?

Have you checked out the online-only auctions on eBay that are already underway (and will apparently continue throughout season 4.5)? As Pop Candy explains:

A special pre-auction auction has been posted on eBay and includes 200 items from the show. It closes Jan. 19. On Jan. 20, check eBay again for another auction of 200 items.

And wait, there's more! Starting Jan. 23, eBay will hold weekly auctions starting at 9 p.m. ET. They'll include items "relevant to the particular episode that just aired." Awesome.

If you are planning to attend the live auction this weekend in Pasadena, California, all you need to know about it can be found here.

If you are going to bid online, you should go here and read this. Note you must pre-register if you want to bid this way…and you can make proxy bids if you cannot actually watch the live auction.

Meanwhile, in case you guys didn’t know this before:
“A portion of the auction's overall proceeds will benefit United Way. Additionally, several cast members have designated specific items that will be auctioned off to benefit other charities.”

I’m going to be there for sure this weekend, twittering away, taking photos of myself leaning on the blackbird... and hoping against hope to win the Zak/Kara/Lee photo, Tigh’s flask, Baltar’s presidential portrait, the War Room chalk board, or the Unknown Soldier photo. Good hunting everyone.

1 Day Left…Let’s Do a Frak Party Update!

It’s time for a Frak Party update, in case you are considering leaving your house on Friday night. Please feel free to chime in about other public Frak Parties in your area.

LOS ANGELES
The BSGcast Frak Party in Pasadena, California – site of the Official BSG Props and Costumes Auction. These guys are screening the show in HD on site at the auction location, and there will be a party as well. They are also doing other events throughout the auction weekend. To RSVP, go to their Facebook page, or send an email to MattAndNat@YourGeekNews.com. This is just a one-weekend event.

PORTLAND
Radio personalities Cort & Fatboy, longtime fannish supporters of all things BSG (especially Katee Sackhoff), are hosting weekly frak parties at a theater that has a brewpub next door! How fun is that? You can download here a big, printable version of their cool poster for the parties (above), designed by Fatboy himself. Mark Verheiden will be attending the Jan. 30th showing of his final episode “The Oath” to watch and do a post-show Q&A.

AUSTIN
The Alamo Drafthouse will be screening BSG throughout the season. I’m jealous of you Austin folks, I hear the Drafthouse is one awesome hang.

VANCOUVER
The 13th Colony is having weekly gatherings for the entire season. They also made a very cool poster for their parties….


Those are the big ones we know about…if you know of others near you, please share!

And for those of you holding your own more intimate gatherings – can we suggest a few BSG drink recepies? And some drinking games to go with them; but don't get too blitzed -- this season is sure to be complicated...

Has VIRTUALITY just been “Foxed”?

As several of you have emailed us to point out, Fox did their TCA presentation in Los Angeles the other day, and BATTLESTAR fans (as well as those poor Whedon fans) are soaking up a short but ominous statement by Fox exec Kevin Reilly about the 2-hour pilot for Ron Moore and Michael Taylor’s new SciFi show VIRTUALITY:

"It could air as is, and there's a certain segment of the audience that would flip over it, but it is, I think, right now a little bit too dense," Reilly said. "They shot a two-hour pilot, and I think the storytelling probably would have been served as a one-hour, so they're going in, and they're recutting, and we're going to look at it. It's pretty cool."

As we have mentioned before, there are signs on the wall that Fox has lost their appetite for this adventurous and smart pilot, even though they seemed excited about the great script that went into production last summer. Meanwhile, Fox is completely reshooting the pilot for another SciFi show they had been even more excited about publicly, BOLDLY GOING NOWHERE.

Are BSG fans getting their first taste of yet another case of a cool new sci-fi show “getting Foxed”? (Whedon fans: please don’t start crying, I can’t take it anymore. Seriously.)

It will be a darned frakkin shame if this project doesn’t make it to air. The script we got our hands on last year was pretty terrific and definitely something BSG fans will be interested in. Is Fox’s recent recommitment to SFF programming wavering already? Let’s hope not. And if they dump VIRTUALITY? Well…it sure would be great if HBO did a Sci-Fi show…look what they just did with vampires.


Meanwhile, Televisionary has procured an exclusive statement from Michael Taylor responding to this TCA news:

"Ron and I think the show is great as is. A lot of people definitely would dig it, and not just the Battlestar audience; this could have an even wider appeal, and as a network show it should. And we've also already cut it down quite a bit from its original two-hour run time to satisfy network concerns about pace and to prune some storylines.

But at the same time, Reilly's right about it being a little dense. It's dense in the same way Battlestar was/is, in that it introduces a bunch of complex, intriguing characters, along with a compelling sci-fi scenario with several layers to it. In other words, it's dense in the way good science fiction often is. The pilot puts a bunch of balls in the air but I think it does a great job of juggling those balls and setting up the scenario up in a way that makes it easy for the audience to understand without having to be hit over the heads with a lot of heavy-handed exposition. That said, it's definitely challenging material, the kind of story you need and want to pay attention to, especially in the pilot. But to us that's what made it so much fun to create, and what will ultimately pay off in series, by allowing us to tell exciting layered stories in the mold of shows like Lost (and Battlestar, of course)…”

What about you, dear readers? As some of you know, the pilot script was recently made available at SpoilerTV for anyone to see. Have you read it, and what did you think?

3 More Days. Keep Your Head Down.

ETA: It is the next morning...and another commenter posted a response to Adam's comments saying this is a bunch of baloney. Then again, I just read this. So...I say: you could survive for a few more days staying away from the danger zones...just in case. :)


I hope our reader Adam doesn't mind if I repost here something he just wrote in the comments section on an earlier post:

The identity of the Final Cylon has apparently leaked due to the Sci-Fi Channel letting the relevant episode's script be put on eBay. Pictures of the script seem to confirm who the person is.

As a result, if you don't want to be spoiled about the big reveals in this week's episode I would suggest avoiding any spoiler sites at all for the next few days. Duck and cover!

We have no idea if this is true. But be careful out there, spirgins...You may want to stay off the SciFi.com boards, io9.com, SpoilerTV, etc.

Presidential Spectacles

We're very pleased to present an original essay for the Galactica Sitrep by Sam J. Miller, who brings us studious observations on BSG's use of a particular prop we've seen on the faces of Adama, Baltar, and notably on Laura Roslin:

The Eyeglasses of Laura Roslin
by Sam J. Miller

One source of Battlestar Galactica's overwhelming narrative strength is the level of attention paid to very aspect of characterization. Katee Sackhoff is a great actor and Jane Espenson is a great writer, for example, but that's just part of the story. The producers have created an artistic environment where props, background elements, camera angles, and lighting are all skillfully exploited to enrich our experience of these characters, with a success generally only attained by the most skilled novelists and filmmakers. To help me process my grief as we prepare for the end of the series, I would like to take a retrospective stroll through the series, from the miniseries to “Revelations,” with an eye on one specific prop: the eyeglasses of Laura Roslin.

When we first meet Roslin, she is seated in her doctors office—passive, patient, afraid. Without her glasses. A Cylon nuclear strike wipes out twenty billion people, catapulting her into a position of power that the schoolteacher-turned-Secretary-of-Education never wanted. Her whole civilization has been destroyed, and she is surrounded by panicked people desperate for leadership she is not prepared to provide. The moment when we finally meet her glasses is significant. Cylon raiders attack the newly-christened Colonial One, and President Roslin, finally confronted with her foe, strides into the cockpit. Putting on her glasses, she becomes the steely strong leader whose own fear is irrelevant.

This is the drama at the heart of her character. She's the president, and the survival of the entire species depends upon her, but she's also a human being, with all the fear and weakness that come along with that. This internal duality—between being human and being the president—is reinforced by the back-and-forth of Roslin-with-glasses vs. Roslin-without.

As the show progresses, Roslin relies on her glasses more and more in the moments when she's forced to make difficult decisions. Early in season one, in the episode “33,” she's not wearing them as she wrestles with the decision to authorize the destruction of a civilian vessel possibly carrying 1300 passengers. Her face is stricken; she's overwhelmed by the magnitude of what she's doing. By season 2.5's “Resurrection Ship,” when she tells Adama that murdering Admiral Cain is their only option, she's got her glasses on. She's not paralyzed by the moral consequences of the action. When she announces the ban on abortion in “The Captain's Hand,” her voice breaks several times, and she's blinking back tears. No glasses.

Roslin's glasses come to signify power, confidence, and leadership. Baltar's act of bringing Roslin her glasses when she's held in a New Caprica prison is a gesture meant to make her feel less powerless—and it obviously impresses her, because she returns the favor when he is in Galactica's brig in “Taking a Break From All Your Worries.” Romo Lampkin takes Roslin's glasses during Baltar's trial, to make her more vulnerable. Later on, when Apollo's cross-examination becomes antagonistic and threatens to expose the fact that her cancer has returned, she reflexively grabs her glasses and puts them on.

Yet her glasses also represent the constant risk she runs of losing her humanity, of becoming inflexible and mechanical. Her harsh treatment of the mysteriously-returned Starbuck in “He That Believeth In Me” and “Six of One,” and her double-crossing of her renegade Cylon allies in “The Hub” are all carried out with her glasses on. Paradoxically, her glasses do not help her to see. She has to take them off to admit that “for all his crimes,” Baltar is “still one of us” or to finally tell Adama that she loves him.

On New Caprica, Tigh tells Roslin “sometimes I think that you've got ice water in those veins... and other times, I think you're just a naive little school teacher.” The development of her character entails mastering both—reconciling the human and the inhuman. The human and the mechanical. Just as the Cylons are simply and purely evil at the start of the show, and slowly come to exhibit the moral equivocation and free will that signifies humanity, Roslin begins the show as a human being who must master the art of being mechanical. Not only does she need to set aside her own personal feelings, she must go against her whole understanding of right and wrong. In “Lay Down Your Burdens,” Admiral Adama is correct when he says she'd never be able to live with herself if she stole the election. Roslin is prepared to sacrifice her soul, to become the evil she opposes—because the alternative might mean the end of the human race. Her own desires and happiness and even her life are secondary.

Roslin and Admiral Adama, two leaders who obsess over the discrepancy between human instinct and military necessity, both wear glasses. Admiral Cain does not. She has no such internal conflict. For her, holding onto the civilized side of human life was never a priority. Quite the opposite—she was determined to be an unflinching tool of violence, unconcerned with questions of morality or fear. A razor. Brutality is seamlessly integrated into Cain's humanity, and her strategy for saving the human race.

I don't mean to imply that this use of Roslin's glasses is some explicitly-staged narrative device that the producers and writers arranged at the start, and is applied consistently throughout the run of the show. It wouldn't take much digging to turn up a moment where Roslin expresses her humanity through her glasses, or orders a human being airlocked without them. And yet it speaks to the show's incredible storytelling atmosphere that this kind of pattern can evolve organically, as a result of occasional directorial decisions or a simple instinct on the part of an actor (and it's worth noting that the glasses were not provided by the producers or the wardrobe department—they're Mary McDonnell's real glasses).

To be human is to be a big sloppy mess of contradictions, and it isn't just the Cylons who spend the entire series taking the measure of their own humanity. Admiral Cain and Kendra Shaw perish because they are mired too deeply in the mechanical and the inhuman; Apollo and Baltar consistently make terrible decisions because they are too deeply “human” (Baltar because he's selfish and vain, and Apollo because he's self-righteous and unrealistically idealistic). Yet it's worth pointing out that all four of these characters “ring true” and are often quite likable, in spite of—or because of—these flaws. And if Battlestar Galactica has touched its audience in a way that puts it alongside Ulysses and Citizen Kane as the absolute pinnacle of its art form, it's because of the way every piece reinforces the central theme of balancing the contradictory aspects of human reality. Big things like the brilliant soundtrack and the special effects, and little things like the eyeglasses of Laura Roslin.




Sam J. Miller is a writer and a community organizer. His work has appeared in literary journals such as Fiction International, Strange Horizons, AlterNet, and The Minnesota Review—who nominated him for a Pushcart Prize. Unabashedly obsessed with the re-imagined BSG, he's the author of “Battlestar Galactica vs. Star Trek,” available at mental_floss. Visit him at samjmiller.com, and/or drop him a line at samjmiller79@yahoo.com

4 More Days.

Webisode 10 (Hulu & YouTube) - Open Thread

The final webisode is up.

This is also an open thread to discuss the entire webisode series. Knock yerselves out...but keep our spoiler policy in mind please. I'll be posting my thoughts a bit later today here in the comments.





Plus, Webisode 9 with Writer Commentary:


By the way if you still need to watch all 10 webisodes, follow our tagged posts to see all the links.

UK Promo

BSG promo on Sky:


Promos for the Battlestar Galactica Props & Costume auction.

Off the wireless

[photo: LA Times]

The first season 4.5 videoblog is up…"The Fifth Is Among Us."

The Los Angeles Magazine waxes poetic about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA this week. The Star has 10 Tips for The Battlestarved (great new word!). This blogger penned a thoughtful essay. And this gentleman at The Atlantic twists the knife one last time – yet I couldn’t stop reading his piece. Maybe because he likes to complain about TV shows that “become the culture’s homage to vertigo—to the suspicion that we live in a universe of surfaces, pointlessly arranged, whose invitations to depth or transcendence are all red herrings, shaggy dogs, wild goose chases, and decoy ducks.” ...Does he know something that we don’t?

Time Out and Live@7 interview Katee Sackhoff.

Access Hollywood interviews Tricia Helfer. (Yeah Tricia, I'm gonna be a soppy mess too, when it's over.)

IGN interviews James Callis and Katee Sackhoff.

Comic Book Resources and Cort and Fatboy interview Mark Verheiden.

The New York Times Syndicate and FanCast interview Jamie Bamber.

SyFy Radio interviews Jane Espenson.

The L.A. Times interviews Michael Hogan and Rekha Sharma.

Tahmoh Penikett, with two shows about to go on air, has been interviewed recently by The L.A. Times, TV Guide, and Watch With Kristin.

Fear.net interviews Bear McCreary.

The Space podcast interviews Alessandro Juliana and Nicki Clyne, and in this other show, claims to have director Andrew Stanton revealing a WALL-E/BSG connection.

Slice of SciFi interviews Aaron Douglas.

Darth Mojo has begun blogging again, and has put up a very cool post about VFX radiosity, including a ton of great renders of BSG ships that I’m sure we’ve never seen before. Well, OK – maybe only SOME of you guys are with me on how cool this is. The rest of you, move along.

The UGO TV Blog posts an explanation written by auction CEO Alec Peters of why there are TWO arrows of Apollo on auction.

The Star and Wired’s Geekdad blog mark geek territory as they proclaim the crucial nature of BSG’s final season for geeks everywhere. Duh.

Entertainment Weekly has a Guess Who’s the Final Cylon bracket game up…and has put the BSG 4.0 DVD (and the return of 4.5) on this week’s Must List.

There is apparently a BSG-themed rollercoaster being developed for the Universal theme park in Singapore (see 12/3 & 12/8 entries).

The Hero Complex blog things J.J. Abrams’ STAR TREK owes a massive debt to BSG and STAR WARS for its battle scenes.

You can watch Rekha Sharma guest starring on SANCTUARY here.

If you have a Tivo DVR or a Windows PC, you can watch the film MY NAME IS BRUCE, written by Mark Verheiden, on Amazon VOD.

In this Vancouver Sun piece, Ron Moore discusses how fraktastic the Vancouver BSG crew is and how they helped the show excel. Moore also confirms that BSG Production Designer Richard Hudolin is working on the CAPRICA series. Thank the gods!

The Straight has some updates on CAPRICA casting in Vancouver.

For those of you who enjoyed the “Battlestarbook” this week…the fan who created it is going to do more.

Trying to get your friends hooked on BSG? Show them this fantastic primer written last year by Salon, just before the start of 4.0. Combine it with these vids, for the perfect prep session.


[Thanks to readers Kate and Stu for tips]

6 More Days.

According to this very attentive fan, Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell are going to be on The View this Thursday morning. Several other TV listings have the same info...although the show's official schedule doesn't include their names. Keep your eyes peeled...

[graphic by readers Ally & Patrick]

Know the Truth

All the latest promos via SevorTB.

Speaking of marathons, be sure to read Mo Ryan's detailed and in-depth reflections on season 2 of BSG she recently compiled for her latest rewatch Battlestar Galactica-thon in the Chicago Tribune.

And in Time Magazine James Poniewozik looks at Galactica's life after earth.

7 More Days.

Feeling nostalgic today. Let's revisit some classics...

• Ack_Attack's TOP 43 BSG MOMENTS OF ALL TIME
  

• The fandom masterpiece known as THINGS I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO ABOARD THE GALACTICA [ page one / page 38 ]

• THREAD BOMBS.

• BEST. RECAPS. EVAR. The BSG 4.0 Recaps of Gawker's Ian Spiegelman [ one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten ] *
  

* Yes, OK...this may be a tossup between Ian's recaps and the James-Joycean-splendor that is Jacob's recaps.