Battlestar Fodder

Battlestar Galactica: Key Points from "Deadlock"

Apparently there is a Cylon uprising all over the internet from fans that are pissed about this episode. While it didn't blow me away, I believe some people's overblown statements about this being a filler episode and their ensuing outrage is a bit silly. I mean, in the end, BSG is like pizza - even when it's bad it's still pretty good.

One thing that did stand out to me, however, is how scenes seemed to be missing. I had no foundation for this until Mike Murphy of Press Democrat pointed out the following:

"...Apparently a fairly important plot element was cut from last week's "Battlestar Galactica," a development that would have added a whole lot to the confusing and disappointing episode. Writer Jane Espenson mentions it in this interview, and so have online commenters on Television Without Pity.

The whole deal with Baltar and his cult giving out food and getting guns confused me. It lacked context. Turns out, in the episode's original cut, all was explained. But that cut was 11 minutes long, so it had to be trimmed for TV. Here's what I've been able to cobble together of what ended up on the editing room floor:

In the wake of three years of war and a failed mutiny, there are no longer enough Marines on Galactica to maintain order. Sensing a riot over food distribution, the outnumbered Marines retreat from Dogtown and the Sons of Ares swoop in with their guns and take over the abandoned food supply. But the Baltar-less cult manages to secure a stash of food, effectively letting them be self-sufficient.

Meanwhile, Adama and Roslin debate the merits of bringing Cylon centurions on board to provide security and patrol civilian areas. (Wow, huuuuge plot point there.) Adama's staunchly against it, even though his ship is slowly becoming assimilated with the Cylons.

...Effectively, the question for Adama is, allow a criminal gang to control the food supply, or allow Baltar's crazy cultists to control it. And Baltar's group, now armed to the teeth, would also serve as a civilian security force, which Adama figures is better than using centurions. In the end, the Baltar's militia is the lesser of two evils.

That would have been nice to know..."

Hopefully this is footage we'll get on the season 4.5 DVD set. I for one can't wait to watch the entire DVD series from start to finish with my wife (who saw some of season 1 but that's it). I think seeing the entire series with extended episodes is going to greatly enhance the pacing and narrative flow of the show.

But that's enough blabbing - let's get recappin'!

The Beginning of the End?

Even though it may not have been the best structured episode, I believe the big takeaway from "Deadlock" is how much intermingling of Cylon and Human culture is going on. First we have Galactica being injected with Cylon goo, and since the stuff is alive who knows what the ship will become. Then we have Cylons actually flying formation with Galactica pilots. At the episode's end, we see that the Cylons are also placing pictures of their fallen comrades on the memorial hallway.

As much as Adama is trying to resist having Cylons and Centurions onboard, he knows as well as the others that Galactica needs their help. The number of enlisted people aboard Galactica has dramatically dwindled, so they need to recruit from somewhere, and what better place than a ship filled with essentially cloned robots? I think the real question remains whether this mixture of Cylon and human will work in the end. Is Ron Moore going to deliver us an epiphany that causes both sides to realize they need each other to survive, or will the relationship devolve into more violence?

Baltar is Back to His Theatrics

Having read the quote about the missing scenes at the top of this article, it makes sense now why Baltar's storyline seemed so disjointed this week. We have so few moments with the Dogtown plotline that we really never got why Baltar was trying to use it to his advantage.

Without the missing scenes, Adama's order to equip Baltar and his followers with high-grade military weaponry seems a bit foolish. This will definitely be one to rewatch on DVD, but that doesn't discount the fact that Scifi is screwing its live viewers by shorting all the episodes.

The Return of Ellen

With Ellen's introduction from last week, we expected to see another side of her when she returns to Galactica and into the embrace of Tigh and the other Cylons she helped create. But alas, it appears her programming is tainted by human hands as well - inserted into familiar company, Ellen reverts to her old catty self, and it is only when the hope of the Cylon race (Tigh's baby) is in danger that she manages to put down her pettiness for a moment. Her emotional reversal is a tad late however, since Tigh and Caprica 6's baby dies.

While I first wondered what had happened to the cool, calm, collected Ellen we had seen the week before, after some thought it really makes sense to me now. Flawed humans create flawed machines that can't rise above their innate programming. I think we're going to see more of these kinds of themes explored in the prequel series "Caprica," as the human colonies create the first Cylons out of grief (which sounds like a bad idea).

So, did Tigh truly not love Caprica 6, which is why the baby died? Is all the Cylon mumbo jumbo about love being what leads to Cylon procreational success going to be handled in a mystical fashion, or explained by some sort of software embedded in their brains? What will be the true nature of survival for both sides? We only have 5 episodes to find out (the two hour finale counts for 2 of these)!

Here is a preview for the next episode, which is all about Starbuck:

That's all I've got! What did you think? Leave us your comments below!