Battlestar Galactica Rewatch ( Part 12 )

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch ( Part 12 )

Take The Celestra

IMDB

In the penultimate episode of the series the commander of the industrial ship the Celestra is honoured
for it's performance during the flight from the colonies and during the ceremony Starbuck recognises
the pilot of the commanders shuttle. When the commander is returned to his ship a fault develops
in drive system and then some of the workers attempt to steal a ship but are caught between the
guards and Starbuck and Apollo who have taken their Vipers for some "maintenance".
The Commander along with the warriors take the "mutineers" back to the Galactica but are given
faulty navigational data which sends them into deep space and then the Celestra now under the
command of the first officer heads towards the fleet. When the workers explain they were being
treated as slave labour by the first officer the situation becomes clearer and together they manage
to return to the Celestra and a battle for the ship commences.

Ana Alicia as Aurora

This wasn't a bad episode at all and while it doesn't delve into the social and economic elements
of a workforce totally dependent upon who controls the ship and how easy it is to only see the
surface of a situation it did have the seeds which were later cultivated by Ronald D Moore.
I guess for morale purposes honouring a veteran of the fleet makes some sense but it did seem a
little out of place but it did bring in the new character and partially explained how Starback and
Aurora (Ana Alicia) lost contact. It was ridiculous however why any ship would require navigation
data considering everyone is going in the same direction but hey it's human nature to be a jobs
worth and well she's pretty and he was a guy.
I really liked the small touch of having the Viper scanner actually show zero as targets velocity,
didn't need that level of detail but it added so much when the show is based on using a lot of
stock footage. Now the first big battle scene made no sense, we've seen the blasters have a stun
setting yet it was never used and it was a little silly seeing the commander running around the landing
bay when we've seen he's an old guy and isn't as spry as he once was.
The twist as the first officer leads the mutiny once the initial uprising is squashed was nicely
written, we got some some foreboding but it was done well and the story as written made sense.
As for the workers, they claim they were treated as slave labour, limited rations etc etc but hey they
all looked pretty healthy and if nothing else it seems the ships stylist was kept busy working on the
hair off the crew.

It was also pretty amazing how fast the shuttle was, they managed to catch up with the Celestra
and actually vector in ahead of it and remember the Celestra was reputed to being moving pretty
fast in an effort to catch up with the fleet. I suppose we have to ignore that but the drama with the
landing fell a little flat, it's not as if the shuttle would not have lights so a dark landing bay would not
be that big of a problem after all the technology of Battlestar doesn't seem to favour the level
of automation we have today. In that respect it was a little laughable that this huge ship had a
simple joystick for maneuvering but again it aided in the plot as Commander Kronus (Paul Fix)
as he was dying controlled the ship and allowed for the battle to swing in the good guys favour.
I don't think we needed or the Space Soap elements and angst but taken as a whole the
episode worked and it was entertaining.

The Hand of God

IMDB

The final episode of the season and the series prior to it's morphing into Galactica 80 sees

Apollo, Starbuck, Sheba and Cassiopeia in what was a navigation bubble used in Galactica's

early days as a backup system. The sensors pick up a weak signal on a band the colonies

haven't used for a long time and upon investigation they track through a nearby solar system.

Vipers find a Cylon basestar but escape unseen and Adama decides that the best course of

action is to take on the single basestar as it seems to be the only one in the vicinity. To aid

in the mission he offers Baltar his freedom if he provides tactical and schematic information

on the Cylon ship which will help Starbuck and Apollo fly the captured cylon fighter into

the basestar and then help to sabotage the sensors of the ship.

They infiltrate the basestar and when the Galactica engages she does get off the first shot

and while still badly damaged she destroys the basestar which seemingly leaves the path 

clear to their final journey towards Earth.

The final scene of the episode and the show is in the navigation bubble aka Hand of God

as a few seconds of the transmission is received which is the live feed from the Eagle lander

as it descends towards the moon. 

The Hand of God is a very fitting final episode for the season and actually doesn't smack

you in the face so not too bad for the last of the series either. 

I had to laugh that the Galactica didn't seem that advanced in terms of noise cancelling

technology and it seemed strange then when the Colonials built the Battlestars they still

considered the need for some sort of dedicated facility for manual star charting.

I laughed even more when the Basestar turned up, they've made it clear the Cylons were

left well behind and here is another bunch of them and they even strain credibility by 

saying it may be the only one in this galaxy.

Adama takes Basestar out of packaging!

I liked the idea of using the captured cylon fighter and certainly making use of Baltar when

properly motivated of course but the overall plan was very very risky if indeed a Basestar

was more than a match for a Battlestar. I guess the Galactica as it is now being so weakened

and with a reduced Viper compliment the odds are in the Cylons favour so even one volley

could make all the difference. I also think who ever designed the Basestar needs a smack,

the Cylons are not the most athletic to begin with so the narrow corridors and ladders 

seemed a little out of place. It did add to the drama as the boys tried to climb down one of

the said ladders while not being noticed by the Cylon who you would assume would have 

pretty good hearing but it all worked out including the wagging of the wings to replace

the friend or foe transmitter they lost. 

I was pretty close to cheering when the command "fire as she comes to bear" was issued

and large ship combat in space has always reflected the grand tradition of wet navy cannon

combat and the broadside gunning.

The episode closes with a scene of the navigation bubble or Hand of God as Apollo 

referred to it and when it received the transmission from the Earth of the moon landing it

kinda summed up the whole series. It still left a little mystery, as explained in the episode 

the signal could be relatively close or still thousands of light years away but it laid down

a marker in terms of how the Colonials related to the Earth based human race.

Bonus Disk

The Creation of BSG: Glen Larson

Inside BSG: The Cylons

Working With Daggit

Photo Gallery

Documentary

Deleted Scenes

BSG Mini-Series Sneak Peek

The classic Battlestar Galactica and it is a classic of the genre has dated, pretty much everything from that era of television has not aged well thanks to the culture of the time which really was a law unto itself. That said a lot of the ideas and concepts are well grounded in scifi throughout the ages and certainly helped to shape the re-imagining of the series by Ronald D Moore so many years later. The DVD boxset is excellent value at the moment and while the picture quality could be better we're really not going to see money being spent to restore it so it may never look better. That said the theatrical feature of the three part pilot has recently been released under a 35th anniversary Blu-ray which does look better but still not outstanding but allowances do have to be made, the show may have been very expensive at the time but it's still 70's television.

That's my rewatch of Battlestar Galactica done and dusted until next time of course, if you can put aside the dated costuming and production style of the era the story overall is well worth taking the time to delve into. It has it's fair share of lemons but what series hasn't but there are also some gems and for that you should give the show a chance:)

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch ( Part 10 )

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch ( Part 10 )

Greetings From Earth

This story is feature length on the DVD, not sure if it was broadcast as such on
American or British TV since I certainly recall it being two episodes when I
watched yet on telly so long ago.
So another long range patrol which has Starbuck taking a nap, life sure has got
boring since leaving the Cylons far behind but hey the scanners pick up
a sub-light vessel with six life forms aboard. The Vipers take it in tow and as they
return the gossip washes through the fleet in expecatation of meeting people
from the planet Earth.
On arrival they find two adults and four children in suspended animation and
thus begins the political back and forth and power play between Adama and
the council with the warriors and security men as the pawns.
The issues surrounding opening the pods despite the risk of death has
Apollo championing their release to continue their journey unmoloested, the male
awakes and being confused and under pressure stuns a security officer.
The council demands action which allows a small window of opportunity to remove
the ship and it's passengers from the Galactica and send it on it's way.
Apollo and Starbuck escort the ship to the planet Paradeen where they find an
almost empty world but a ranch built for the group over seen by two humanoid
robots.  The history of the world and the conflict with the ominous Eastern Alliance
is then revealed and indeed a warship of this powerful entity is heading for
Paradeen as it has detected unidentifed vessels (the Vipers).  After a little angst and
family drama which leaves the Vipers badly damaged the colonials capture the
Eastern Alliance ship and return to the Galactica leaving this new family behind and
hopefully safe from reprisals.

Ok then a feature length episode which actually went by pretty quickly which is always
a good thing but the episode did feel a little different with the introduction of these
new humans and the power play on board the Galactica. The Eastern Alliance with it's
political overtones of the later 70's and the Cold War mixed with Nazi vibes was certainly
different to the Cylon menace but works pretty well. I'm not sure if someone born after
the fall of the wall and the Cold War ended will get as much out of this as is being offered
but you can never go wrong with a call back to the Nazi regime.
Lets begin with the little nitpicks and they are, you don't get so far into a series from
this era without being able to accept some of the limitations and choices made in television
production back then.
So why such a long patrol, I'm pretty sure having single seater fighters with sleeping pilots
is not a good thing especially given long range sensors the Galactica can deploy and when
they find the lower tech ship I didn't quite understand why they automatically assumed they
were from Earth and not just another remnant of the original exodus.
I did of course love the disco lighting on the sleeper units, very much of the era and speaking
of the social standards of the time Athena a bridge officer is now the school teacher, granted a
hot school teacher but the kids are too young to appreciate her in that respect:)

Party Time

It's strange this is perhaps only the second time the colonial security have made their presence
felt, granted they were needed to enforce the council's decision but it all seemed rather petty
and perhaps indicitive of the time they have for such things with the belief the Cylons are not
a problem anymore.
There were some good laughs with the hide the alien and Jolly got his time in the spotlight but
it all seemed forced especially the callous disregard for the lives of the people on the ship but
then again the powers that be have ignored their own people in steerage for so long so maybe
not that much of a surprise.
The biggest issue with this episode is the manipulation of time, speed and distance when dealing
with all the ships and their journeys, the small shuttle like vessel (repainted for Buck Rogers)
was sublight so really couldn't go anywhere significant in the time scale the story was set in
but we've ignored the issues with  light speed and flank speed etc so shut up Michael:)
So we have the Alliance, great look ship and the uniforms well black and shiny so they much be
bad guys even with when wearing a helmet visor indoors. The ship unlike any other also gave us
the cramped submarine feeling often attempted on other shows but rarely achieved and we get a
very definite dialogue as to how nasty these people really are, no confusion at all.

It was interesting that Terra has given birth to at least two political factions who have achieved
interstellar flight yet someone co-existed for so long to reach that point, not quite sure that is
a reasonable situation unless there is a lot more backstory we are not privy too.
When we finally get to Paradeen we meet the two androids (Hector and Vector) who were awful
in terms of the story, the hunour they were supposed to bring has not aged well and we also have
the issue that sentient androids exist but the rest of the technology seems a little lagging right
down to the appearence of a Laserdisc.
However the use of the Expo 67 building in Quebec was genius and production gold, like many
developments built for exhibition they have an impractical look which is easily substituted for
an alien asthetic. The ravages of the Canadian weather also gave the structures more of an
abandoned look to them so in this respect BSG were blessed to have access to them.

Give they guy a break

The romantic or angst element of the story brought forth by Sarah ( Kelly Harmon ) and aimed
at Apollo seemed a little quick and was resolved just as quickly but the studios love a happy
ending and a group on a frontier world banding together as a family is very American.
The episode closes with the Alliance destroyer landing on the Galactica and the crew being
awed at the size of the Battlestar setting the scene for the inevitable conflict as the fleet could
not and would not avoid getting involved with the humans on Terra who are the next step in
their journey to Earth.

Grettings from Earth IMDB
Greetings from Earth Wiki
Battlestar Wiki

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch ( Part 7)

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch ( Part 7)

Fire In Space

I've treated this episode as a standalone since I wanted to keep the next two episodes
together as they were intended to be although I guess Fire In Space would have been a
more than adequate final chapter in a Living Legend trilogy. They actually did release a
feature "Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack" comprising of those three episodes so
there was a precedent.
However lets begin with a Cylon raiding force targeting the Galactica, the rest of the
fleet seems to be very much absent and since the Cylons seemed to have been on a
very specific suicide mission maybe the fleet wasn't really missed.
After being hit by raiders which were speculated to be filled with explosives/fuel the
Galactica is seriously damaged particularly one of the landing decks and the bridge, Adama
himself is taken to medical and ultimately requires surgery. As the fire rages and slowly
consumes the ship the remaining crew look for solutions to prevent the main generators and
fuel storage from blowing up and taking the ship with it while Apollo and co desperately try
to save the twenty or so survivors sealed behind jammed bulkheads in the rec center or
shall we call the rejuvenation center.

Where is Reford & Newman when you need them?

Fire In Space when you strip everything away is a very good idea, not original as we've
seen similar plots in scifi and particularly submarine movies over the years and of course
being trapped by fire is alas an ever present threat in large structures. Unfortunately the
episode is full of issues and they just tip the balance in favour of a more negative opinion
of the episode. We can begin with the lack of a CAP which I'm sure has been there in
the past, the really lack of effective point defence around two very critical elements of a
Battlestar and while closing bulkheads during a red alert is certainly a practical consideration
we see that some key personnel are prevented from defending the ship.
On that front why waste Cylons and Raiders, don't they have the ability to build long range
and low profile missiles which could very well be fired from outside scanner range and
from multiple sources.
I was also going to criticise the smoke getting into the various rooms through supposedly
air right doors but I suppose if the explosions warped the ships bulkheads then maybe just
maybe some gaps appeared. Of course you have to wonder if those air ducts which seemed
to connect every room to every other could be sealed under battle conditions, they seemed
very very convenient but at least Tigh had the decency to look embarrassed when putting the
substance in the duct to entice the robot daggit.

Busy doing nothing

Now here is a positive, ok it was stock footage but the huge fires raging in what look to
be an industrial setting made the Galactica look like a very real working space ship, maybe
they went for that look in Trek 2009 but BSG pulled it off perhaps thanks to the age, grime and
damage. Right lets return to the negative, why would you use Vipers to fire flame retardant when you
could outfit a shuttle, hover and pump a lot more chemical into the bays with no risk of crashing
into the ship and speaking of that why didn't the vipers dive instead of climb, nothing below but
space. I am going to finish with a positive though, the space walk and idea to blow compartments
was well done, the actual wire work and matt paintings were not convincing but within the limits of
the show they looked good and of course some of the ideas were used in the BSG re-imagining.

So to wrap up, some good ideas and some very bad ones but after everything I've said it still
ain't that bad an episode, it's certainly not one to skip on a series rewatch.

Fire In Space Wiki
Fire In Space IMDB