Battlestar Fodder

Battlestar Galactica: Key Points from "Islanded in a Stream of Stars"

Well here we are on the eve of the finale (Part 1 of which airs this Friday), and it's fitting that the Galactica is on the verge of collapse, is it not? Watching the crew deal with the tragic loss of their ship delivers the kind of metaphorical catharsis rarely seen on network television.

And by the way, I'm considering skipping this Friday's episode. Scifi is going to air all 3 parts of the finale back-to-back the week after, and I'm thinking it will make a more fitting - and more epic - resolution to the series if I take it all in at once. Will I have the willpower? I'm not sure. I'll notify you via Twitter @bsgfodder if I do.

Now, on to the key points!

Aside: the title of this episode, according to the Battlestar Wiki, comes from "...the book The Outermost House, by Henry Beston, where he chronicles his time spent living on an isolated beach in Cape Cod. In the chapter "Night on the Great Beach" he wrote, 'For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world islanded in its stream of stars-- pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across eternal seas of space and time.' Wow, that nicely summarizes the mood of this episode, no?

Hera's Projection?

In the teaser, we open to a vision(?) of Hera playing with a model of the Galactica in the War Room. In this vision, she crashes the Galactica into a Cylon Baseship. Since we later learn that Hera can Cylon Project, is this a projection of Hera's, or an actual vision of events to come? Will the representation of Galactica colliding with a baseship be Adama's plan, as he says later, to "send her out in style"?

The Colony

Remember how Ellen explained that they offered the Centurions of the Colonies Resurrection technology if they would stop the First Cylon War, and then the Centurions just up and disappeared for 40 years before returning with "skin jobs" and decimating humanity? According to Ellen in this episode, they were living at The Colony during that time.

Ellen believes that the kidnapped Hera is being taken to The Colony so that Cavil can "study" her to determine how Cylon / Human procreation succeeded. Since Cavil earlier threatened to open Ellen's head, this does not bode well for the child.

We later learn that Boomer is indeed taking Hera to The Colony (which looked rather bad-ass, did it not?). When she reluctantly hands the child over to Cavil, what does Cavil mean when he says that she will soon have many playmates? Does he plan on cloning her? Creating more Cylons based on her DNA?

Unfortunately for the crew of Galactica, their scouting party does not locate The Colony since Cavil apparently moved it to another location.

The Opera House returns

The shared vision of the Opera House that has been absent for so long returns in this episode. What's striking is that Roslin confronted Caprica-6 only a few episodes ago, and they both said they had not had the vision in quite some time.

I have to imagine that this is going to be one of the important centerpieces of the finale. You'll remember that the images of the Opera House that we are seeing are the way it looked thousands of years ago in its prime on Kobol. Way back in Season 1's finale (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II), remember when Baltar's Head-6 took him to the dilapidated remains of the Opera House on Kobol, where they shared a vision (a projection?) of a baby in a crib? Head-6 tells Baltar that the child is "first of the new generation of God's children," and that Baltar is to be their protector.

When a #3 (D'Anna) has her vision of the Final 5 in the Temple (accompanied by Baltar, no less), she sees them on the stage of the Opera House.

When the fleet neared the Ionian Nebula where Starbuck "died," Caprica-6 has a vision - accompanied by Baltar again, and carrying Hera - where she sees the robed Final 5 in the Opera House.

President Roslin is even later told by the rebel Cylon hybrid that the "dying leader shall know the truth of the Opera House."

Given that the structure is called the "Opera" House, and that the Final 5 were seen on its stage, and that the Final 5 were "triggered" aboard Galactica by a musical piece, and that Starbuck's father was a composer who taught her the song, and that Hera somehow drew out the notes to the song (shew, that was a lot of and's!), I believe we have the makings of a finale that will coalesce around the Opera House somehow, and could be that all-important location that ties all the remaining questions together for us.

And on a tangential note, will that allow Bear McCreary to reprise his "Battlestar Operatica" composition from the Season 1 soundtrack?

The Death of Galactica (and the series)

Ron Moore felt that it would be fitting to have Galactica going to pieces around the crew as a symbolic gesture that the series was coming to a close as well. As if the heartbreak was't bad enough from the individual character stories, the constantly blinking lights, power outages, and collapsing hull press in upon our subconscious and remind us of the finality of the show.

The new Quorum hasn't changed much, has it? It's typical humanity at play here, already negotiating which pieces of Galactica they will take when the Battlestar goes under. It's rather fitting that the new Cylon delegate, a #6, gets wrangled into the debate as well. It serves to put an exclamation mark on the point that the mingling of humanity and Cylon culture is not going to create some kind of paradise for both sides.

And how precious are those scenes between Adama and Roslin? We know that Roslin will die, and Bill is also forced to confront the fact that both of his "girls" are dying. Roslin's line to him that he'll need to abandon the ship or risk losing both of them at once is truly one of the most heart-breaking lines in recent memory. As much as he doesn't want to let go (to either of them), he knows he must listen to her.

Roslin's stern advice could apply to us as well. Like Adama, we the viewers will need to make our peace with the loss of Galactica when this is all over. Will we melt down, as Adama does when he tries to re-paint the wall of his chambers, and sit around looping the DVDs over and over with tears streaming down our face? Will we sit on our couches, scotch in hand, staring vacantly at the television as the credits close, like Adama and Tigh at the end of the episode? Or will we ultimately come to terms with the loss, and let the old girl float out of our lives gracefully? Roslin may as well be Ron Moore saying a gentle goodbye, taking our hand and saying that everything is going to be ok. Come to terms with the loss. Enjoy the journey, instead of the destination.

And with that, I present you with a preview of Part 1 of that catharsis:

Be sure to tell us how you're feeling as we head into the final hours of BSG!

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Posted by Perrin on March 12, 2009 10:37 PM
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