Originally Posted By fkurucz One thing that distinguishes the two series is that in the new series there is a single story arc that spans from the colonies' destruction to finding Earth 2.0. This differs from the original series that consisted of a series of independent weekly adventures. Also the original series was very campy and to be honest, mediocre SciFi. I don't know what inspired the new show's producers to use the original show as a template. They weren't the first to try this (Lost in Space comes to mind), but I think that they were successful beyond anyone's expectation.
Originally Posted By oc_dean There's a lot for me to learn. Including the cast's names and their respective names in the show. My less-than-lamens understanding: As I look around that wiki page you gave me ... I need to understand what is going on with the tall blonde chic. I watched one show where she was shot dead. Then she's running around with that English guy who was in the "Bridget Jones" movies. Then I see the same blonde chic .. in a red dress .. and in the final shots .. she and the English guy are roaming through NY circa 2009 .. So .. what the frak? ;-) So, there's like three of them???? I don't get it .. but I intend on finding out what is undeniable a much more complicated version of the 1978 tv show with Lorne Green. Wish me luck.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Or .. if you don't mind filling me in .. that would be cool. My guess .... Blonde tall chic #1 is human, and lives through the end of the show. Blonde tall chick #2 is cylon, and gets discovered, and they "dispose" of her. Blonde tall chick #3 is some "devine soul" who appears and disappears all the time throughout the show.
Originally Posted By oc_dean As you can you see .. I only half-tuned into the show .. and have only sat through a few episodes. (The style of the jittery camera moves, the dark, gross grittiness .. all turn offs .. But I bet it looks like it was one of the better Sci-Fi shows to come around in a long time.)
Originally Posted By oc_dean Gee .. after just browsing that site ... there does not seem to be a page that gives like one comprehensive page about the origins of these people .. leading up to the big attack by the Cylons ... and their motif for doing so. fkurucz, if you know of a page on the net that gives a History .. that would be cool. Thanks in advance.
Originally Posted By fkurucz Blond tall chick is a #6 Cylon model. There are literally countless #6's. The one that was shot dead was probably resurrected into a clone. One of them is known as Caprica, and she pairs up with Baltar (the English dude) at the end of the series. There are also two "angels" that only Caprica and Baltar can see, which look just like them. They are the ones who appear in modern NY. <<there does not seem to be a page that gives like one comprehensive page about the origins of these people .. leading up to the big attack by the Cylons ... and their motif for doing so.>> The original Cylons (aka Centurions) were robots that were created by the colonials to do all the dirty work. 40 years before the destruction of the Colonies they rebel against their human masters and start a civil war, which is waged in space. The Galactica was one of the vessels that fought in the first war. Eventually an armistice is signed and the robotic cylons leave the colonies for points unknown. As part of the treaty a space station is set up in a DMZ, and on the anniversary of the armistice the two sides can meet there. Every year the colonials send a representative, but the cylons never come. In the meantime (and this is not learned until later in the series), the earthlings encounter the cylons. In exchange for making them humanoid and organic the cylons promise not to attack the colonies. The 5 from earth give them organic existance and 12 organic cylon models are created and the ressurrecction technology is passed top them as well. Upon receiving this the cylons execute the 5 but preserve their memories (i.e. they are boxed). The 5 are ressurected with altered memories and relocated to the colonies. They have no memory of being from earth. One of the 5 is Col. Tighe, 2nd in command of the Galactica. HIs wife is also one of the 5. The remaining 3 also wind up on Galactica, either as warriors or as refugees. There are also non earth humanoid cylons planted in the Colonies. One of them is Boomer (who in the new series is an asian female). Boomer herself doe snot know she is a cylon, but is programmed to murder Adama. She does shoot him at point blank, but Adama survives. She is later killed a la Jack Ruby and resurrects on a Cylon ship. At this point the colonials are terrified because they have now way to distinguish cylons from humans. Fast forward to the beginning of the series. The #6 that is eventually known as Caprica befriends Baltar, who is a crackerjack computer scientist and also a womanizer. SHe tricks him into giving her the access codes that can disable the entire military fleet. Meanwhile Galactica, being the obsolete piece of junk that it is, is being decommsisioned and converted into an orbiting museum. Since it is obsolete and being decommissioned it is not on the military network. We later learn that a more modern Battlestar, the Pegasus, is in drydock. The cylons disable the battlestars with the codes, leaving them as sitting ducks. Just before the attack a #6 accompanied by two centurians shows up at the armistice station and informs the colonial representative that the colonies are being attacked. She also tells him that the station is about to be destroyed. He asks her if she is not afraid of the imminent death they are both about to face. She laughs and tells him she will be resurrected. The station is then destroyed by missiles. The Battlestarts are destroyed, after which the 12 colonies are nuked into oblivion. There are about 60 billion casualties and only 100,000 humans survive the attack. Galactica is the only Battlestar able to fight back. The Pegasus launches out of drydock and is believed to be lost (but is later found). Only 50,000 can leave the colonies due to a shortage of faster than light craft available (almost all were destroyed in the attack). The fate of the remaining colonials is unknown. MOTIVE? The organic Cylons expressed it in one word: Revenge. Later in the series the Galatica finds the Pegasus and a crummy inhabitable world they end up calling New Caprica. Weary of their search for Earth they decide to colonize New Caprica. Both Battlestars are left in orbot with skeletal crews. At this point they think that they have outrun the Cylons for good, but are wrong. A large Cylon fleet appears and the two Battlestars have no choice but to run, stranding the colonists on New Caprica. The Cylons, rather than slaughter their prisioners insteasd decide to turn the tables on them and treat them like slaves. Their is dissent withing the Cylon leadership whether the humans have paid for their sins or not. This eventually leads to a Cylon civil war, which is why towaqrds the end of the series we see Cylons and humans working together (fear not, the other kind of Cylons are still lurking), Anyway Adama hatches a rescue plan to save the colonists. It succeeds, but the Pegasus is destroyed. ************* You might want to rent the DVDs from netflix. There is just too much to tell here.
Originally Posted By oc_dean OH .. that was a lot. Thank you so much! One thing - >>In the meantime (and this is not learned until later in the series), the earthlings encounter the cylons. In exchange for making them humanoid and organic the cylons promise not to attack the colonies. The 5 from earth give them organic existance and 12 organic cylon models are created and the ressurrecction technology is passed top them as well. Upon receiving this the cylons execute the 5 but preserve their memories (i.e. they are boxed). The 5 are ressurected with altered memories and relocated to the colonies. They have no memory of being from earth. << So .. the 13th colony (who settle on a world that is also called "Earth") find their way back to where the 12 colonies where? I gander the 13th colony were a LONG way from where these 12 colony's star system was.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***I gander the 13th colony were a LONG way from where these 12 colony's star system was.*** Well, it took them 2,000 years to get there. So yeah, pretty far. (talk about a long haul flight!!)
Originally Posted By oc_dean Oops .. let me retract .... the Cylons discover where the 13th Colony were - what they call "Earth". The cylons knock off those 5 ... and those 5 have been remade into Cylons .. and have made their way back to Caprica .. and then .. on a return trip to the Colony13/Earth. I think I'm following you .. right? I just got to say .... Sounds like the producers of the newer show added a lot more interesting twists to the more simpler story from the 1978 series.
Originally Posted By oc_dean So ... lets see if I'm following correctly. So .. the Cylons have warp capability .. light speed .. whatever they call traveling faster than the speed of light .. and the Cylons take their "5" back to Caprica. Whereas the original "13th Colony" people couldn't .. since they did not have "faster than light" capability. What took them 2,000 years .. the Cylons were able to do (from "Colony13/Earth" to Colonies1-12) in the blink of an eye. So .. those 5 ... never tell the others how to find Colony13/Earth .. let them traipse through outerspace like a blind bat. But Starbuck not only finds Colony13/Earth (eventually in season 3)....... but she ALSO finds OUR Earth .. right here .. through "divine intervention"?
Originally Posted By oc_dean OOPS .. strike that part where I say .. the 5 remade into Cylons know where the 13th colony settled. You just told me their memories of their "Earth" were wiped clean. It explains why Col. Tighe is in the water of the remains of Colony13/Earth .. and sees something in the water .. and has a flashback. The few episodes I saw .. I ended up seeing in pieces .. which is why my knowledge is in pieces. sorry.
Originally Posted By Mr X As for the ending... It worked out okay enough for me, except that the whole Adama and Tyrel "I'll just go over here and live by myself" thing didn't really work for me... As for Adama, I always thought he would go down with the ship. A better ending imho, would have been if he'd buried Laura and then hopped into the raptor and jumped to catch up with the fleet, and then gone back aboard Galactica to join "the last cylon" side by side, riding into the sun (mission: accomplished style). Even better if he'd gone back to get his own Viper, and then rode shotgun with Galactica (Seeing "Husher" alongside Galactica once again would've been awesome, and far better than him deciding to live out his life all alone on Earth next to Laura's grave...since their destinies were different enough..her's to lead to paradise, his to command the fleet). That's what I would've done, anyway. But it's hardly a George Lucas fiasco. The ending was satisfying for me...
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<So .. the Cylons have warp capability .. light speed .. whatever they call traveling faster than the speed of light .. and the Cylons take their "5" back to Caprica. Whereas the original "13th Colony" people couldn't .. since they did not have "faster than light" capability.>> Correct. The BSG/Cylon FTL is akin to Issac Asimov's Foundation series FTL: You jump from one spot to another instantly, as opposed to Star Trek/Wars where ships travel at above light speed for extended periods of time. <<It explains why Col. Tighe is in the water of the remains of Colony13/Earth .. and sees something in the water .. and has a flashback.>> Towards the end the start to realize that they are cylons because they hear things. Tighe is devastated, especially since he killed his wife on New Caprica for being a cylon collaborator (she is resurrected on a cylon ship, but we don't find that out until much later). Of the surviving 4 only 1 seems comfortable with this realization (the one strangled in the finale - I can't remember her name - Tara?). Anders is shot in the head during a mutiny, and while still lucid remembers everything. For the others the memories come back as flashbacks.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<Oops .. let me retract .... the Cylons discover where the 13th Colony were - what they call "Earth". The cylons knock off those 5 ... and those 5 have been remade into Cylons .. and have made their way back to Caprica .. and then .. on a return trip to the Colony13/Earth.>> The Cylons do not discover either earth. They do encounter the five while they are in transit to the 12 colonies.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Thank you so much fkurucz! You're the best!!! Now .. I wished I payed more attention to the show, the ENTIRE 4 seasons. Instead of the little fragments I've captured here and there. I'd say the only thing that bothered me .. and probably was one reason that kind of turned me off from watching regularly - Aside from the ships ... Their clothes, decor, bullet/missile technology, their way of life/homes back on Caprica .... didn't care for making it look completely like Earth circa early 2000s. Now that I learn that it is NOT suppose to be a precursor to Earth styles .. AND is ONLY 150,000 years in the past..... It would have been nice if the producers went with a look that put them in their OWN "universe". But I guess this was their way of saving money on sets and costumes!
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<I'd say the only thing that bothered me .. and probably was one reason that kind of turned me off from watching regularly - Aside from the ships ... Their clothes, decor, bullet/missile technology, their way of life/homes back on Caprica .... didn't care for making it look completely like Earth circa early 2000s.>> At first that bugged me too, but after thinking about it, it made sense. I think that there is a very good chance that 500 years from now our descendents will still wear clothing similar to today's attire. I doubt there will be laser guns a la Star Trek or Wars, as they would require power that probably couldn't be genrated in such a small package. Perhaps what will change the most is culture. Also, I think the producers went with the Earth look to simply avoid having to invent a whole new culture for the show. Even George Lucas did that somewhat with the original SW trilogy. A lot of the look and feel was borrowed from the 20th centrury: Imperial uniforms, props that were based on real world items. In the 2nd trilogy he didn't do that and we were regaled with Amidalas ridiculous costumes, etc. What I'm saying is that I found the 1st trilogy to be more "believable" than the 2nd, even though both are fantasy. Lucas often complained about not having the right "tools" when he filmed the original trilogy. Nevertheless I found that all the CGI and the "richness" it created did not make the 2nd trilogy better (a better script and less wooden acting would have helped too).
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<It would have been nice if the producers went with a look that put them in their OWN "universe". But I guess this was their way of saving money on sets and costumes! >> I'm not so sure. Either way the costumes had to be made. So maybe they bought a few suits at the Men's Warehouse, but most attire was still custom made. And I suppose that they were able to film those flashback to Caprica scenes in some nice houses in Vancouver. Still, I think that by "keeping it real" it improved the show. I recall one episode where Adama oversleeps, wakes up, curses for being late (Frak!), takes a shower and brushes his teeth with a worn toothbrush (remember, no supply chain) and toothpaste (which runs out and Starbuck offers the last know tube in the fleet as a prize to the pilot who finds an inhabitable world). The only time I have ever seen any personal hygience in Star Trek was when Picard was having a Borg nightmare and washes his face in a basin with water. As for Galactica looking gritty, well, its a Battleship and not a Cruiseliner. And one that is obsolete and with no access to supplies or repair facilities. If anything I had a problem with the original BSG: They were fleeing for their lives and looked like they were on vacation at a resort.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<They were fleeing for their lives and looked like they were on vacation at a resort.>> If we ever have to flee Earth we mist remember to take DLR or WDW with us
