I just got Season 2 on DVD and I watched it all already
I wish I had American cable TV

Mike

Has the curse of the Star Trek: Enterprise struck Battlestar Galactica as well in season 3? Perhaps, that is the most pressing issue for the viewers of Battlestar Galactica who were also viewers of Star Trek: Enterprise? Are we in fact watching the same sort of cut-rate writing from Ronald D. Moore and his writing room as we saw from Berman and Braga’s writing room during the entire run of the Star Trek: Enterprise. One of the problems that Berman and Braga liked to proclaim was franchise-fatigue: that simply 700 plus hours of Star Trek placed an unreasonable burden on the viewer and creators to develop new and exciting stories to tell each week. Does Ronald D. Moore have the luxury of this excuse? Moore’s franchise is still relatively new, it had only 20 episodes of the original series starring the original cast between 1978-1979 and 8 more with the 1980 rebirth cast. In short Battlestar Galactica has already gone through a stage of revising and re-imaging long before the claims of Moore’ and his re-imaging that was going to “make it new”, as if the specter of Ezra Pound is firmly attached to his shoulder during the writing process. And yet, I cannot help to think that perhaps, writer fatigue and a general malaise has been always present in the writing room of Battlestar Galactica 2003.

Moore has claimed as the story creator that this is the sort of space-based sci-fi saga he’s wished to tell each week for some time now. And I have to ask is it really? I like to think of Battlestar Galactica like a building; a building that is old, perhaps something of a fixer upper, where in 1970’s it was a split level building with earth tones, and then in the 1980’s a new atrium was placed on the rear, and in the 1990’s a large decking was placed off one side, and now in the 21st century the home looks like a hodge-podge of stylistic choices that highlight the thoughts of each owner of the home in the last 30 plus years. However, when taken as a whole the building’s choices seem incongruent with each other and the final image is a poorly laid out home with sprawling features. And in many ways Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek went through a similar period between Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman on the TV and between others on the big screen. Where stylistic conventions were adopted that contradicted or negated previous decisions in the series before it. Moore has done the same thing but on a larger scale, instead of writing an addition to the Battlestar Galactica saga, he instead attempted to have the best of both worlds in his remake: continuation of the original motifs within a new framework.

Moore has attempted to be both a remake and new entity under the banner of Battlestar Galactica, and it has created a sharp divide in the market share that Moore attempted to harness as his with the limited scope of his re-imaging. For example in the mini-series there isn’t a vast difference from that of the original series, where a bunch of genocidal robotic life forms attempt to destroy all of humanity with the help of a traitor. Now in the re-imaging we see that the traitor Gauis Baltar is not a traitor, as so much as he is a playboy super-genius with penchant for women and easy living. Thus, he isn’t as culpable as the original series Baltar that knowingly betrays his fellow humans to the Cylons for power! In Moore’s vision the Baltar of his society is more like Maxim Hariam in that he doesn’t realize that his actions of inventing the first practical machinegun will not set the world on a peaceful track but one of more bloodshed. In this case Baltar, doesn’t realize that the ulterior motives of this woman that he desires is beyond that of just fast and easy living from a helping hand in the defense ministry for the next big contract. Baltar believes that essentially all motivations in the world are like his own hubristic intentions of self-promotion and self-achievement. Therefore a person who is selfless, or acting for a cause that is beyond his or her own self interest for a core believe system that may not benefit them but others is beyond Baltar’s frame of reference. Yet, essentially this change in villainy is not a fundamental change in the story itself it only places the world of Galactica in a state of uncertainty. The story is still forced into a scenario that is nearly verbatim that of Glen A. Larson’s original Tele-movie in that after the destruction of the 12 Colonies by the Cylons the few humans that survive flee for the mythic 13th colony of Humans on a planet known as Earth! Of course there are other minor changes as well, characters like Boxey that show up in the mini-series to endear themselves to the older demographics of the market-share that remember little Boxey and his daggit named Muffit, are soon dropped in the season. Moore’s new BSG while having some new characters intermixed with classic characters now played by new people in the roles of core cast still create the dymanic that essentially drives the show still exists in the same formula to that of Glen A. Larson’s BSG. There’s Boomer, Starbuck, Apollo, Adama, and Col. Tigh; Calopiea and few others have been replaced for other more militaristic roles to give a sense that essentially this new Battlestar Galactica is not going to be the campy funny of Battlestar Galactica 1978! And yet while not campy fun in the same sense as the Original the New Series is still rooted in many clichés of Camp.

However true to a degree it is about the campy roots, there are plenty of things that Battlestar Galactica 1978 would never do that Battlestar Galactica 2003 would attempt to do. One is that Battlestar Galactica 1978 would never attempt to say that perhaps American foreign policy is in error, it was a show that up held the feel good memories of the Cold War error. Battlestar Galactica 2003 has attempted to do just that. Perhaps, this is why so many of the fans of Battlestar Galactica 1978 are so displeased with Battlestar Galactica 2003? It is too familiar, too similar to there memories of the other series that a comparison cannot be avoided. While I think that Battlestar Galactica 1978 is beyond crappy, it is purely the filth on the bottom of shoes, Battlestar Galactica 2003 has not vanquished the specter of the predecessor yet or completely, and it is this specter that I feel that robs Battlestar Galactica 2003 of being its own series.

One of the problems as I see in it remsembles the problem of Enterprise, in that Battlestar Galactica attempted to be both a re-imaging of one creators’ thoughts and continuation of another’s creators thoughts. In this case Battlestar Galactica was a continuation of the original series, set in a framework where the original series had to become a sort of prequel. Once Moore acknowledged that the original existed and incorporated elements of that story into his own story he essentially created a framework of storytelling antithetical to his own vision of a gray world with anti-heroes and heroines that couldn’t possible exist within the framework of Glen A. Larson’s concept. In fact this exact same issue occurred in Star Trek: Enterprise; when Berman and Braga attempted to place there fixed view of the Star Trek formula onto the prequel series of Enterprise with the result that the show was antithetical in style and content to that of the series it was supposed to be a prequel to and felt as if it was designed to expunge the original series of Star Trek from the record and create a new foundation for the storytelling of the previous series that would make Rick Berman and Brannon Braga’s vision of Star Trek a continuous vision of Star Trek excluding the influence of Gene Roddenberry’s original series altogether. The same is true for Moore; by incorporating the original series of Battlestar Galactica into the saga as a sort of prequel to his series he not only rewrites the book but also does so in a way that appears false. I think that if Moore had completely thrown away the book: all the characters new, all the scenarios new, all the ideas new, he would have been able to say look this is Battlestar Galactica but it is not the Galactica of Glen A. Larson’s creation it is mine! By doing what Moore has done he is always forced to in some sense create a linage between his re-imaged series and that of Larson’s to gain legitimacy within the audience base that has knowledge of the original. However, unlike Berman and Branon’s dilemma where a complete rewrite of the saga from the start would lead to a disconnected series that felt as it usurped the role of the original creator’s work that is the foundation of the sequels; I think that due to the limited scope of Larson’s original series Moore could have easily rewritten the entire saga and created a more coherent plan of action for his own saga. Instead of this piece meal idea of melding the old with the new!

The perfect example of the old and the new not fitting together is the idea of occupation. The idea of the occupation is antithetical the goal of genocidal-rage, especially since the Cylons have proven to have more then enough will power, military strength and capabilities to destroy the remnants of humanity!!! The chase has been the lynch pin of story, the Colonials run while the Cylons chase. However, this dynamic cannot be maintained; in fact it is nearly unsustainable for any period of time greater than a few episodes. That is due to the fact that the chase has to end in a climatic moment where in some fashion resolution can occur. However, that means in this case one party of the chase must be vanquished. This is the goal of the chase, and the problem is that he cannot maintain this level of intensity in a chase for a long period of time. Soon the audience realizes that much like a Wiley Coyote and Road Runner cartoon that the Coyote doesn’t lose because he’s not smarter then this opponent or better equipped because everyone knows thanks to Acme Products the Wiley Coyote is always kept well stocked with: bird feed, cannons, rocket powered roller skates and the latest devices of technology and his opponent the dim witted Road Runner lacks all of these! Yet, still the Road Runner wins out! Why? Simply because the humor is that the Wiley Coyote cannot and will not understand that he is simply written to never win! He will always run off the cliff, the painted tunnel on the rock face will ways be a real tunnel for the Road Runner but squash the Coyote flat when he impacts with it. The catapult will always malfunction no matter how flawlessly designed it is. The Rockets will always cause him to fall off the cliffs and so on. The point is if Moore wishes to have creditable villains he needs to avoid the writing conventions that place the Cylons’ in the shoes of the Coyote and the Colonials in the shoes of the Road Runner.

Occupation did just that: it placed the Colonials in the shoes of the Road Runner. The Cylons had ever advantage possible, they had overwhelming firepower, and the Cylons had time, a civilian population with no external support system and so on. They had a population that was both limited in size but with a fixed decreasing technology base. The Cylons on the other hand have a population of reincarnating cybernetic beings and robotic drones. The Cylons neither have to worry about death or even worry about population decreasing, as the humans are the only members in the society in this equation that cannot increase their population faster then their losses.

There was no logical reason as to why the Colonial Insurgency would attack the human aspect of an enemy they already knew to be unaffected by such attacks. It would be far more logical for Colonials to use a more direct attack against Cylon technology and use the Cylon technology as a weapon against them selves. For example the Cylon Centurions provide a ready-made vehicle to strike fear into the hearts of the cylons. The Centurion is a technological asset to the Cylons, it also an asset that is mechanical and not biological in its construction which means that it can be fundamentally altered in function by the Colonials. It can be turned into a weapon against the cylons on the baseships and even the ones on the surface of New Caprica if properly reprogrammed! That is the issue we never see a sci-fi series that plays its resistance movement out more in the terms of human v. human conflicts or at the very least human v. mortal alien conflict without understanding the fundamental difference in the logical strategy one would adopt to attack an enemy’s greatest asset when it is their own technology base. To eliminate the Cylons the Colonials should have adopted a technological based solution to fighting the enemy. As any strategy that adopts a program of losses in human assets would make the Cylons stronger not weaker.

The Cylon policy of a massive show of force seems to be contradictory to their goals of peaceful coexistence with humanity. And it seems to emphasize the real intentions of the Cylons as being anything but peaceful. While this might be historical accurate of many occupations, there is also another historical paradigm of occupation through specific cultural infiltration processes that weaken and destroy an opposing culture’s resistance to the occupier. In this model of occupation the goal is to destroy cultural barriers between the occupier’s culture and that of the occupied culture. The Peace Corps can be seen as method of westernizing potential anti-western states and supporting specific cultural programs that lessen the impact of pro-western governments in the view of the general population. It would seem that the Cylons would wish to change their Occupation tactics from a direct conflict to that of a position similar to the one adopted by the United States after the complete surrender of the Japanese in WWII. Instead of an Armed Occupation the United States created a provisional government, and restructured the government and economy to create a new Pro-American Government and Economy. Unlike the more troubled Occupation of Germany during the same period that saw an actually partisan movement operating in the nation during the early part of the Occupation. The Japanese, a totally beaten and defeated people by the American war-machine did however have one advantage a leader that they still believed in. In this sense the United States used the Japanese Emperor as a means to create legitimacy for the Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan after WWII. It would seem that the Cylons would want to use a method less similar to the occupation of France by the Germans and more like that of the Occupation of Japan by the Americans after WWII. As this model of Occupation would offer them a more effective means to achieve the Cylon goals of Occupation whatever they may have been.

This leads us into another direct comparison between BSG 2003 and Star Trek: Enterprise. In both series the classic formula of the chase in the case of BSG 2003 and the Planet and Alien of the Week combination had lead into a predictable and stable dynamic of drama that was simply not dramatic anymore. The goal by both writing teams: Braga and Bermans’ and Ronald D. Moore’s in their third season became the same alter this paradigm of storytelling that each show adopted respectably. However, in the effort to do so the Braga and Berman team seized upon a quest vision where the Enterprise’s crew was sent into the unheard of region of space called the Expanse full of dangers and ripe with new experiences. However, the real issue that Berman and Braga never really touched on or attempted to reconcile with the idea of the bold new single season storyline of immense proportions was a reason of why! The stated reason was paper thin, that some alien race called the Xindi, with information from the future are developing a weapon system capable of destroying an entire planet after their weapon test on Earth. This was the season’s primary goal but Berman and Braga never developed the reasons behind the Xindi’s original plan of destroying Earth and their final action of joining Archer and the Enterprise against their future allies/guardians called the Sphere Builders. In this respect we see a major shift in the Xindi plan that was supposed to have been voted on with concrete evidence form the Sphere Builders and written in stone by the Xindi Governing Council that the Humans had to be destroyed! Yet, by the end of the arc the Xindi and the Humans are acting out of collective self-interest to destroy Sphere Builders but why? The act of the Xindi switching alliances with almost no proof from the enemy that their allies/guardians from the future are really evil is nearly verbatim what happened in the episode of BSG 2003 “Lay Your Burdens Down Pt. II”, where out of thin air the Cylons declare an armistice and call the war off only to return 380 days later as conquerors.

This of course is then completely contradicted by the act the act of Occupation! Which again smacks of Berman and Braga’s attempt to create drama from the overtly shocking “Xindi attack on Earth with the Probe”. Again the goals of each writing team seemed to be the same and each seemed to be falling into the trap that “shock and awe” is the essential element in the creation of drama. In some respects Berman and Braga had a simpler issue they merely only had to reconcile a reason for the Xindi to not succeed in there plans to destroy Earth. Ronald D. Moore and his team however had to reconcile not only the Cylon Genocide plan but also the Cylon breeding program and reasons why the Cylons wouldn’t or couldn’t maintain an Occupation of New Caprica for a sustained period of time. It was a far more complex problem then Ronald D. Moore really realized I think when he entered into Occupation because it essentially destroyed the space-based nature of his show. And since he’s already created a linage between himself and his saga with that of Glen A. Larson’s saga, Moore is still forced to in many respects to accept that ultimately a radical shift in the paradigm such as Occupation really offered to the saga couldn’t be supported as a series with a legacy to that of Glen A. Larson’s saga. It would be in essence a new series totally devoid of the Battlestar Galactica legacy in anything but its name. This position voided any attempt of BSG 2003 to really shift the dynamics of the story from that of a chase. Instead what Occupation was at its heart in the end was a “shock and awe” moment where producers and writers placed the two diametrically opposed creations of the story in direct conflict and yet didn’t allow this dynamic to logically progress. They truncated it to avoid the issues of resolution that would essentially be created in this dynamic to regain the chase again. This is essential the route that Berman and Braga did with the Xindi, instead of having a point of resolution in the final conflict between the Xindi and the Humans they instead did a time jump, switched Aliens and went into a 2-episode arc about WWII and Purple Aliens with Nazis Uniforms in the United States! The same occurred in Battlestar Galactica in that of Occupation for the Cylons. The two previous plans of total annihilation; or, hybrid-births leading in the destruction of the Cylons and Humans as separate species leading to a unified third species of hybrids that would later bridge the gap between humanity and cylon is not reconciled in the Occupation Arc. Nor is the total annihilation plan completely realized in this Occupation arc. This Occupation Arc like that of the ending of Enterprises third season brings the audience into a completely new dynamic of peaceful coexistence with the Cylons as masters and guardians of the Human Race which is antithetical either of the previous plans. In short this Occupation is to Battlestar Galactica what the conclusion to the Xindi arc was for Enterprise a “What the hell moment” in that it avoided building on the previous plans of the Cylons in a coherent manner as to indicate that perhaps something more then placing the text: “and they have a plan” has been at work in BSG 2003 from the start.

Of course much of this confusion I think dealing with the Cylons’ plan is not essentially an issue of Moore’s rewriting the saga but the product Moore’s unwillingness to explore the Cylons in any depth. The third season that placed the Cylons and humans in such close proximity clearly developed nothing substantial in the growth of the two factions in the story. Well perhaps, not totally unsubstantial to some viewers who I’m sure are rather impressed with the manage trios between Baltar, “Caprica Six” and “New Caprica Three”. And yet with all this contact between Baltar and his captors that was insisted upon by Moore and Eick as being the focal point of season three; this development in Battlestar Galactica seems to be nothing more than a gimmick similar to that of Berman and Braga’s bold relationship between “Trip and T’Pol”. In fact the same hollow empty excuse for developing the manage trios in BSG 2003 seems to be the one Berman and Braga’s concept of that he have popular characters now lets seem them get naked with each other on screen! The same has been true for Baltar and his muse Six.

The problem however is basically one of understanding the essence of the Cylons, while I’m not claiming I know more than the creator the problem I feel is that the creator is trapped in a terrible dilemma in the case of the cylons. That dilemma is essentially that if he elaborates on Cylons the fabric of his storyline, which is held, together on the strength of “shock and awe” alone all drama would be lost. In Ronald D. Moore’s extra pod-cast featuring his wife Terry Moore, Jamie Bambi, Timoh Pinkett and James Calis, Moore makes it clear that his view is that the episode “33” is the perfect episode; in that its primary plot device the enigmatic strategy of attacking the Colonials every “33 minutes” as being the perfect “shock and awe” tactic of writing. It is this relentlessness and the unknown nature of the Cylons that draws Moore to the Cylons. And yet it is also why Mr. Moore didn’t capitalize on the Occupation arc, because to do so would lift the veil of ignorance to the viewer about the Cylons to such a degree that it would be impossible to simply “shock and awe” the audience again. Which would have been a good thing for the direction of the saga to take. However, Moore and company in the writers’ room felt otherwise and the Occupation arc was totally castrated into a truncated mess of Erectile Dysfunctional Human Lovers of Cylons and Parade Ground Suicide Boomers!

In this respect the Cylons should be considered the victims of bold cartoon plots of doom that so plagued the third season of Enterprise with their equally cartoonish villains the Xindi. During first three episodes of the “Occupation Arc” I couldn’t help but get the chills of déjà vu in the sense that once again I was seeing the futile but bold plans of villains who would not or could not actually achieve their objectives even though they had every advantage to do so. The Cylons like “Wiley Coyote” should have learned long ago, that no matter their advantages they will always be written to lose the battles and their weaker opponents will always win the day. It is the legacy of Glen A. Larson’s simplistic writing of the original series and Mr. Moore’s inability or unwillingness to sever the ties between the two series so completely that has led to this issue with the Cylons in conjunction with Moore’s “shock and awe” writing style.

Yet, I feel we must look deeper into the Occupation arc and the lack of development to fully understand what Moore’s vision lacked and why these missing elements in the story created ossified villains in final analysis. To quote Mr. Moore much of the “development of the New Caprica Colony and early days of the Occupation were left out in the cut in between the season finale and the season premier”. This was done because essentially this bored Eick and Moore. Why? Why did the critical elements that develop the characters in the new environment bore Moore? When the audience returned to the saga in the season premier the audience received a work in progress as if their TV show had been preempted for news broadcast of importance that when finished started up as if nothing at all happened to the viewer. Instead of pausing the show the feed is allowed to run to and the audience just simple rejoins the show already in progress yet misses substantial portions of the information. It is these substantial developments that are never developed that elucidate my point about Moore’s truncated vision of Occupation that harmed his series the most. In one respect the character of Baltar the President that gives up Humans to the Cylons in an act of surrender is never given any development in real time with his muse and tormentor in the Flesh Caprica Six.

In fact it is amusing that one my major complaints about “Six” in various fashions is that the specific member of the model’s known as “Six” doesn’t not have a name known to Baltar also plagued James Calis in the Mini-Series as unbelievable. It is especially troublesome considering the type of person Baltar is and the subsequent two-year relationship with her that somehow he never mentioned that he was unaware of her name? Baltar is the sort of man that likes to be seen in public and having a woman like “Six” on his arm is a major ego boast for him because it makes him a desirable commodity in the social world. It speaks volumes about his prowess as ladies man and man of desire. And it also means that Baltar as a playboy and the biggest keeper of his own image he needs to be seen in public with her, which means social graces like introductions and so on, all things that require a name for “Six”. And so we never even get the name that “Six” so rich deserves as a character. I guess a name is not needed because in Moore’s mind “Six” and Baltar as he himself has stated in the pod-cast called the round table on Sci-Fi.com is playing out an infantile “Sienfield” type scenario in that Baltar is aware he doesn’t know this woman’s name and is now attempting to see how far it can go. I’ll tell you this in “Sienfield” the entire gag would last an episode perhaps two because once George Castanza forgot the dates name he would run to Jerry and tell him how date went and rest of the episode would Geroge attempting to find out her name and failing to do so. Thus the comedy! However, Baltar isn’t a comic he is serious, perhaps even pompous in nature and to think he some how forgot her name after the introduction is as believable as Baltar being lousy at politics… His entire pre-mini series persona is that of the consummate politician and self-promoter not the hapless social blundering super-genius that is more comfortable with computers then with people. He is rennaisance man in the vein of John Wilmont the Second Earl of Rochester not a reclusive with poor social graces like say Adam Smith. Thus this brings into a decusion of relationship proper.

Never, do we get a period where “Six” and Baltar actually talk about their relationship together. If Baltar is the love of “Six’s” existence then why won’t Moore develop this relationship beyond the physical? In the Mini-Series “Six” asks Baltar does he love her. In the episode “Downloaded” “Six” declares to her specter Baltar that she loves him totally. It would be useful for Baltar and “Six” to explore this relationship perhaps the physical. Why aren’t we as an audience seeing the important aspects of relationship blossom? In Baltar’s head “Six” and “himself” have a child, in the real world “Six” wishes that Baltar loves him. If we are to believe the hypothesis of the Cylons to be true as stated in episode “The Farm” that love is the missing factor in cylon procreation why hasn’t Baltar and “Six”’s relationship resulted in a pregency yet? This seems to be a fundamental question that any viewer who has been watching the series should be asking himself or herself? Why did love produce a child once between Sharon “Athena” Agathon and Karl “Helo” Agathon and not with Batlar and “Six” or even again with the Agathon’s? All you need is love according to Moore seems to be a rather simplistic vision of the process and it also seems to be a rather incongruent feature of the plot in that if it is love that is needed why aren’t there more pregencies going around? Again, perhaps, if as an audience had a clue as to the depth of the Relationship between Baltar and “Six” in the sense is he in love with the figment of his imagination or in love with the real “Six” does or he love only himself? Is “Six” unable to love him? Does she confuse obsession with love? Is that really all that holds “Baltar and Six’s relationship” together is a twisted obsession with one another? If so then perhaps it is similar to the Penelope – Ulysses’ relationship in that Baltar is on an Odyssey to return to “Six” who has been basically faithful to the idea of being in love with Baltar, but on Baltar’s way he’s run into the sirens and Clysto all of which have forced Ulysses into compromising positions. However, the lovely Penelope the dutiful wife has been faithful for ten years spurning all the suitors that knocked on her door and engaged in wifely duties of spinning cloth, until finally after ten years she gives up hope for Ulysses and moves on. Now in many ways “Six” is the same sort of character in that she has for nearly 2 years up to the reunion point awaited for that moment of reuniting with Baltar. She has journeyed literally across the cosmos and now has found her love. And yet, this seems to be an empty relationship does she still love him? Was it purely a quixotically ventured journey by “Six”? Was she no longer in love with Baltar in form prior to the reunion? In the same sense that finally “Penelope” gave up all hope to love Ulysses was it the same result with Baltar and Six? Did the relationship just cease to exist? If so, then we the audience have been duped, as we have not see anything more grow between Six and Baltar other then sex. And everyone knows that “sex” is not “love” and relationships can have plenty of physical contact but lack any form of love. The Occupation arc offered the perfect framework to explore this relationship within the context of Baltar the human within the cylon power structure. Yet nothing developed in any sense. This idea of Baltar being dividing a factor in the cylon society between “Six” and her self is not explored at all. In fact nothing is explored in the relationship at all.

This brings us to the idea that what is happening with Sharon “Boomer” Valeri? What is her role now? Does she have one in the society? She was a major factor in the Cylon’s new occupation plan and yet for the entirety of Occupation Arc she was nothing more then a wall flower spouting off trite dialogue here and there but nothing of importance. What was her role in the changing of the Cylon Society’s ironclad acceptance of genocide? What was her reaction to seeing Galeen “Chief” Tyrol with Cally? No one knows because this was avoided completely. She merely echoed the same boring dialogue as the rest of the intellectually challenged Cylons echoed through out the plot line. It was clear to me that Mr. Moore and Company never watched the film [u] The Battle of Algiers [/u]; if these writers had watch it they would have understood what they could have done with the Occupation arc as a political polemic. Instead what we got was the tickertape on the bottom of a CNN or Fox News report.

I think now it is an appropriate time to discuss the last episode in the first half of season three in the context of the general formula found in BSG 2003 and Star Trek: Enterprise. The Enterprise formula was simple in season three to create a season centered around one simple premise of an enemy with a plans for the human genocide and in BSG 2003 the entire storyline has been that from the start, but what is interesting is this in both views third season hinges upon a quest. In BSG 2003 it is a quest to find clues on the way to Earth. In Star Trek: Enterprise it was a quest to put to together the clues that will lead to the Xindi’s location and their super-secret weapon. In it is here where we find the last episode of season three’s half waypoint for BSG2003 is exactly like that of Enterprise’s episode “Azati Prime”.

It was “Azati Prime” that created a direct standoff between the Enterprise and the Xindi and in essense created the same sort of Mexican stand off between Galatica and the fleet of Clyons. It is in this predictable stand off mode that Mr. Moore and Mr. Eick see tension building but it has failed! We’ve seen this same stand off before it happened in season 2 of BSG. It is an act of brinkmanship on the part of Adama and it cannot succeed because for season three to continue on in a meaningful way with an ensemble cast they have to be living! Therefore the audience has known since the end of the episode that Starbuck will not die, Lee, Dee, and all the rest will not be victims of nuclear weapons. So the dramas is really all a thin veil of pretenses there’s no actual threat to the main characters because instead of just one potential main character loss in scenario Moore has contrived he has 2 primary characters Lee and Starbuck from Galactica and 2 more from the Cylons D’Anna Biers and Gauis Baltar, plus 4 more auxiliary characters like Cally, Chief Tyrol, Samuel T. Anders, and Anastia Dualla. There is just no way that Moore is willing to destroy this much of his cast in this manner. So like Enterprise’s “Azati Prime” where the beaten and heavily damaged Enterprise is allowed to escape the enemies clutches because Archer is captured something drastic will occur that will avert this nightmare and the characters will be spared in a true moment of “dues ex machina” writing.

However, let look at the internal formula that Moore has adopted for season cliff-hangers and there is a noticeable formula that is at work here:

Season 2:
1) Ends with a standoff between Cain and Adama.
2) Has a love triangle issue between Chief Tyrol and Lt. Agathon and Sharon.
3) Sharon is in trouble and Chief Tyrol and Lt. Agathon save her but in the attempt kill one of Adm. Cain’s setting off the standoff.
4) Threat of total annihilation of Galactica and Pegasus.

Season 3:
1) Standoff between Cylons and Humans.
2) Threat of total annihilation of planet and Galactica plus heavy losses to the Cylons.
3) Starbuck love triangle with Lee and Anders not sure how this will end yet.
4) Starbuck in trouble and in need of rescue not sure how this will end.

Season 3, however has added these other similarities between the season final episodes:
1) Discovery of a planet that can support human life that is connected to exodus of Humans from Kobol. As seen in the end of season 1.
2) The issues of Cylons either being present prior to the Human arrival as seen in “Kobol’s Last Gleaming Pts I and II” or arriving to the planet later on as seen in the episode “Lay Your Burdens Down Pts I and II”.
3) The issue of the loyalty of a character: In season one it was Sharon “Boomer” Valeri in season two it was Baltar’s loyalty to Humanity or to “Gina” the former Cylon prisoner of Pegasus.

What we are witnessing is a direct formula being used to create the drama of BSG 2003. These similarities are occurring not because Battlestar Galactica like that of Enterprise had 700 episodes behind so the path that Enterprise took was already well worn, no, this is do to the fact that BSG 2003 never accepted the ramifications of Occupation!

If Moore had not foolishly thrown away all of the possibilities of Occupation in a pathetic half-measure polemic about resistance and occupation that sad nothing BSG 2003 wouldn’t be locked into the flimsy plot device of the chase! Nor, would the Cylons be the “Wylie Coyotes’” of the Robotic Genocidal world! Instead they might be characters instead of these comic book villains. In fact after watching “The Eye of Jupiter” with Dean Stockwell’s character Brother Cavil giving his best “Destroy Humanity speech…” Pinky to the corner of his mouth in true Dr. Evil fashion I nearly laughed my self out of my chair as I watched it. This big round table meeting felt exactly like many of the Xindi meetings of the council of Doom that spoke of Earth’s destruction with sinister laughs and chuckles but failed to even destroy one little ship like Enterprise all season long. But beyond this fact the question becomes of one reconciling the greater issues of writing that have occurred in the Cylon Plan… What is the plan? Dean Stockwell speaks of the human pestilence and ridding the universe of it forever. Well that was the original plan of the Cylons and there Genocidal attack on the twelve colonies in the mini-series. However, what of the breeding programs? In some sense you could say that breeding hybrids is still an attempt to destroy humanity but really by hybridizing the species the cylons in fact not only make the target humanity obsolete but also themselves in that this new hybrid species is not fully cylon nor is human in nature; it is a bridge and as such it is stuck between the two polar extremes and actually creates a wedge between itself and the cylon society, further more it forces humans into a position of being needed in Cylon society. As the humans are integral parts of the hybrid process. This makes the destruction of humanity contrary to this plan of action that requires humans to succeed. So what happened to breeding? Also what is the point of the Occupation now if it wasn’t to save humanity, breed with new test subjects, or manufacture an easier means to destroy humanity what was its goal? And can it all be part of the same plan from the start?

In war they say the plan goes out the window as soon the soldiers march and engage each other. Well that is true to some extent, but in reality the objectives of the plan often do not change in a strategic sense until the plan is thoroughly proven to be lost. For example Germany’s plan for winning WWII was basically a strategy of joint forces in massive pin point strikes (known as the Blitzkrieg) that created openings in the enemy lines that are exploited by fast moving panzer and infantry support along with Air Power! It was a brilliant strategy and while this strategy remained the same for all of the early parts of WWII’s advances by the Germans into Western and Eastern European theaters the actual tactics employed in this strategy varied greatly but the strategic objective never altered all that much. It was always the same break the enemy lines by using armor and airpower to spearhead an attack and move through the hole in the line as fast as possible thorough it until you reach heavy resistance. That is the way the Germans exploited the weaknesses of the less organized enemy forces that often greatly out numbered German forces and were often equipped with better equipment. The Germans however used their resources early on in the war more effectively than any other force in the world. That is why Germany took over most of Europe in 2 years flat.

Now some are saying what does this have to do with the Cylons? Well if the Cylons had planned to destroy the colonies of Humanity all along why do they bother to play the cat and mouse games! Why not just destroy them all in one blow? Instead we see the Cylons play guerilla-fighter in season one’s episode “33” and then they play the mad scientists in the episode “The Farm” from season 2. They play the dichotomy of roles as savior and oppressor in the Occupation arc in season 3 and now again back to the destruction of humanity first seen in the episodes of the “Mini-Series” and now in the episode “Eye of Jupiter”. The problem is the objectives for each of these plans are completely different! What is the Cylon Plan? What is the goal of the big picture? Say what you will about Dick Cheny and Donald Rumsfield but the truth is that they have plan, perhaps it isn’t the one they made public but they have a plan and their using the methods they feel will best achieve these objectives. They might seem misguided to us outside of the inner circle but the truth is these objectives are being met or nearly achieved and if we the general public knew the entire story we would see what is they want to achieve. The problem is that their plans are probably impractical and border on imperialist power-base creations within the unstable region we call the middle the east with little or no regard for the inhabitants as always. I am not a supporter of the War in Iraq but I do not think that the war is for nothing just that the real intentions of the war wouldn’t correspond with the vision that the general population has with American Foreign policy and position in the world. That being said the Cylons have no plan were as the US Foreign policy is planned and it is the intent of these plans that the general population lacks information about not the US Government itself.

And that sums up the issues I have the plan in this context, however let us look at the “ The Eye of Jupiter” in greater depth. How is it that the Colonials know anything about 13th tribe’s exodus to the planet Earth anyway? Where did they get the material evidence like the Arrow of Apollo that gives them the map to Earth? How is this map on Kobol? Shouldn’t the map be lost on Earth leading the way back to Kobol? If the exodus of the Thirteenth Tribe is at the end of Kobol’s time the same period that the Twelve Tribes make an exodus from it then how can the Twelve Tribes know anything other then that the Thirteenth Tribe headed out in a different direction from their own? That is puzzlingly feature of Moore’s and Eick’s mythos is it not? The only resolution is this, the Thirteenth Tribe left long before the fall of Kobol. Then a member of the thirteenth tribe returned to the rest of the humans and handed down the artifacts this of course happened while the other Tribes were still on the planet Kobol. Then the fall occurs, humans flee Kobol for good and the stories become the scriptures of the modern day religion. However, the possible reading is that a higher power inspired the stories but that doesn’t explain the artifacts. So that wouldn’t explain the eye of Jupiter or the Arrow of Apollo as physical artifacts and so on. Which brings us to the Cylons…?

The Cylons were stated in season two to have much greater knowledge about the scriptures then the Humans have. They had more sources, more information and understood these things better then the humans. All they needed the humans for was some sort of gateway into the Promised Land. So then if they destroy the humans what happens to the Cylons? How do the Cylons propose to progress to the Promised Land without the humans aiding them in some fashion either by providing the genetic material and or providing the physical trail to follow? Without reconciling the two diametrically opposed concepts of: the hybridization of cylons and humans into one new and unique race with that of pure genocide that ends with only Cylons existing in the Universe the question of the role the Cylons play in the universe is left up in the air. It is as if the Cylons in episode “Eye of Jupiter” and most of season 3 seemed to blink and ask well who cares about getting to Earth with the “Hybrid Baby” who is the sign of things to come about the what the new universe will look like. The question is the plan has been and always will be the systematic destruction of the Human race what is there to be gained by going to Earth? What is missing is the Cylon need to get earth? Why do they need to go to Earth? What does the thirteenth tribe and Earth hold for them that their own home world doesn’t? Until Moore and Eick feel the need to explain the Cylon religion and prior enslavement at the hands of the humans of the twelve colonies I doubt any of the Cylon motivations will seem realistic or natural. Instead like Berman and Braga’s overtly contrived creation of the Xindi the two villains are presently in the same state of being which is nonexistent as real characters. The cylons need to be developed if this series is going to continue.

If the “Eye of Jupiter” is the best that Moore and Eick can do they should just hang it up now!