Point two: Love Dean Stockwell as a new Cylon model. Always was a sucker for him as Al in "Quantum Leap".

Point three: Kara Thrace with long hair? Totally hot...

What they have done is opened up a whole new direction for the entire show. In the original series, you had strong leaders who never wavered from their pursuit of Earth. (Boring) Here, though, we have weak, selfish, flawed leaders who push their own agendas or bow to the people. Realistically, the running through space theme could only last SO long; pretty soon, I would say about halfway through season 3, if they had stuck with it, I think the viewers would have gotten really tired of watching the Cylons chase the humans as they jumped from place to place. I mean, how many different fight scenes could you have anyway? They would have had to find Earth pretty soon or lose viewers, and once they found Earth... shows over, go home.

This turn of events, however, opens up a HUGE Pandoras box of possibilities. Think about it - Sharon's baby could be used as a pawn against the Cylons, Kara could be used as a pawn, Baltar's relationship with Cap Six could finally be revealed (which made me wonder why Roslin and Adama didn't pursue that angle over the course of a whole year, but I get the feeling that everyone is just TIRED), the fleet is going to come back eventually and, Whamo!, have a run in with the four or five base stars, or maybe the fleet will go in search of the Cylon home world, or back to Caprica? Will Sharon go apeshit when she finds out her baby is still alive? Now we'll have an sparse fleet with a hooptie battlestar that is falling apart, a fleet that is out of shape (Lee looked a little paunchy), tired, sick, and looking at their president and regretting their decision! (Can anyone see the parrallels with Iraq here?) Once the people find out that Baltar and Six had a thing, it will surley go nuts! And then there is the whole Union uprising! Classic human behavior - workers demanding better treatment from selfish leaders - there was never a Union uprising when Roslin was president!

There are still many, many story possiblities from the original series to explore. Remember when Starbuck met his Dad? Or when the Evil guy with telekenetic and hypnotic powers seduced Sheba, and then the angelic-like beings ran him off? (I just hope the don't do the Red-Eye episode!) Or the secret base with the Human clones?

What a gamble the writers must have felt like they were taking when they came up with this one. The premise of the Cylons wanting to DESTROY the humans has been changed to them wanting to CONTROL the humans! How great is that!? And is this the feeling of all the Cylons, or just a faction? Brother Cavil said that they realized their error, but obviously they are going to get more out of using the humans for some as-yet unknown purpose. And judging by the size of the fleet that jumped in, I would say that most, if not all, of the Cylons are on board with this program.

Shows in the seventies and eighties were too perfect, and if the viewers judge this show by the cheesy original series, they will surely be disappointed. Let this story unfold and see it as being reshaped, not retold!

Reed - I agree with aDaMsKi. The "peace" is like a Pax Romana - a forcible peace from a conquering people.

* Good cliff hanger on the cylon that was looking for starbuck.

* Lots of good analogies between the baltar and bush presidencies.

* I also like the following likely outcome: Next season baltar dies, but not before he redeems himself by finding a more exact path to earth - thus resolving the paradox introduced by having roslin not die and that "a dying leader will show the way to earth".

And Helo - isn't it funny how he's now in the CIC with Adama? From the get-go, I've noticed how different Adama is with him almost an issue of trust - at the Tomb of Athena - Adama orders Chief Tyrol to guard everyone (including Helo) while Roslin and crew enter the tomb - and how when Helo explains to Sharon how long it has taken to earn the Admiral's trust and she's ripped it in a second by not revealing Cavil.

If there is a season three - this is the critical season in the re-inventing of BSG. We now can wipe the critiquing against the old series in similarities etc. If the show is canceled, we are left to assume that the humans are being forced to co-exist with Cylon and the role is reversed - man created cylon, now cylon is re-creating man...either way the writers have great position on the storyline. HOPE THAT THE SHOW CONTINUES!!