If you haven't seen his other images, Grant draws some amazing stuff. Check out his latest BSG image featuring the entire cast!
Battlestar commission pic -- I squeezed as many characters in here as I could (I was gonna add even more, but I knew I had to stop somewhere). Some of the likenesses were tough, but I'm happy with how Adama turned out, and he was the one I was fearing to draw the most. So I'm fairly satisfied. By the way, I documented the various stages of this thing, so if you wanna check it out, click here.
It reminds me of a promo poster for BSG the animated series! (if there was such a thing).
Thoughts on Downloaded
While BSG was recording on my DVR, I happened to turn the TV on during the first few moments. I was doing something else so I really couldn't hear what was happening, but I could sort of see what was going on from across the room. When they showed Baltar appear at Six's side after her "rebirth" I about lost it. I couldn't believe that they had shown his being a Cylon! From across the room with no sound, that is exactly what it looked like.
So, I spent all day yesterday completely thinking that Baltar was another Cylon model. I was therefore surprised (and a little relieved) that he is still human.
I think Anders said it best when he proclaimed "What kind of people are you?" at the end of the episode. I find myself asking that about everyone on the show at this point.
The Cylons
There are some fairly major issues that I have with the portrayal of the Cylons this week. I like to keep my thoughts on the episode positive, but I would like to address two main things:
You can't tell me that if there is an entire planet like Caprica being resettled that we wouldn't see all 12 models involved in the process. If you really wanted to tell this story right, they should have been included, even if it involved strange references to models we haven't met and creative editing to obscure their faces. If that was actually happening, I didn't pick up on it. Maybe it was too early to tell this story then? Maybe they should have waited for some distant season when all the models were revealed? I would have been happy with some sort of explanation as to why the other models weren't involved. As it stands, it seems a bit too convenient.
They made a big deal of playing up the compassion of Number Six and her guilt over causing the destruction of the colonies which lead to what she thought was the death of her lover Baltar, yet make no mention of the infanticide she committed to that little baby in the miniseries. I would have liked to hear some sort of recognition of her past sins, many of them extremely heinous, and learned how she is reconciling those with her new found realization that "a sin is a sin" no matter who tells you to commit it. Her killing that child is such a strong mental image that it causes me to discredit and therefore not fully buy her quick ascension to a moral high ground beyond that of her society.
Other than these two issues, this definitely feels like a turning point for the entire Cylon civilization. On the one hand you have the peace activist colonialists siding with the Cylons against the military/political mechanisms of the fleet. On Caprica you now have peace activist Cylons siding with the terrorist humans against the theological/fundamentalist mechanisms of the Cylons. I can fully imagine both of these dynamics coming into play during the season 2 finale just around the corner.
There has been a conscious attempt to make the Cylons appear more and more human. I guess I would ask why? Why do the Cylons need a coffee shop? Are they driven to leisure just like humans are? Where is the boundary? Is the whole point that there is no difference between Cylon or human except that one is made with biological reproduction and the other with genetically manipulated/digitally augmented cloning? To this end, Doctor Cottle's line about "not bothering to upgrade the plumbing" pushes this even further… if a Cylon can have a detached placenta, what the hell kind of being are we dealing with? The numbers of questions that this episode opens up are too many to fathom. I find myself a bit shell-shocked… forced to simply sit back and wait for the answers.
The Colonialists
It feels like Laura, Adama, and everyone else "running" the fleet are creating an "Old Boys" network. It is funny that in the media we often find ourselves largely critical of secret societies and back room deals, yet here we see just such an instance played out in a science fiction drama. Are we as critical of this decision as we are when we find out similar such decisions are made without our knowledge? We live in a society of information, yet one of the reasons our society runs so smoothly is that there are people whose sole job it is to make hard decisions that we do not want to know about. A large part of success in any environment of control, be it at the government level or the corporate level in your own job is properly controlling the amount of information people receive and when they receive it. We end up relying on this ignorance so that we can go about our lives happily, filtering what we care about and what we do not wish to concern ourselves with. After all, civilization is powered by specialization, even when it comes to what you know, and what you choose not to. There is someone out there chopping the head off of a cow so that I can eat hamburgers, even though if I had to kill that cow, I would probably be a vegetarian. There are people making "morally objectionable" decision that probably results in saving lives, and while I am all for saving lives, would I personally be able to make the same decision devoid of emotional constraints knowing the sacrifices that would be required?
Adama is actually someone who has a pretty difficult time separating emotion from his choices. He risked the entire fleet to save Kara when she was stranded on that planet. It is actually Laura who is rising up as someone who really has the guts to make the tough calls. She is a person of great conviction, but also critical pragmatism. I don't think the fleet would have survived nearly as long as it has without her heavy hand in many of the decisions. It will be interesting to see how the choices she has made come back to haunt her in the upcoming presidential election.
The Mind
As I said in the beginning of this write-up, I almost lost it when Baltar appeared in the room with the Cylons. Again, the line between human and Cylon is blurring as we now find out that even machines can internalize their own remorse through the creation of imaginary friends!
The use of this device was amazingly effective in letting us see how Number Six was grappling with the choices she has made. Just like Baltar's imaginary six, the imaginary Baltar is confident, brutally honest, and a perfect manifestation of inner suspicions, subconscious observations and instinct.
A part of me wonders if using mental projections of people isn't some broader commentary about everyone. It is possible that all of us do something similar in our own minds? For instance, when we go to make a choice, who is it that we have the conversation with? It could be a projection of our parents… it could be our friends… but there is probably someone who we talk to. We think we are talking to ourselves but we are actually projecting the image of someone we can talk with, someone we trust.
We have been thinking this entire show that Number Six is a chip in Baltar's head and now we know that is definitely not the case. Maybe we all have a Number Six in our hear, someone who holds us to task for stupid decisions and gives us the insight we need or the push that we need in those times when we are begging for support. Some people talk to Jesus. Some people talk to their father or their mother or their best friend, or a dead relative. Baltar talks to Number Six. Number Six talks to Baltar.
The Rebel Fighters
Off topic: How come every time I use the word rebel I think of Star Wars?
I am glad to see Anders back in the mix. He is a strong character and offers a lot, bringing a human face to the morally gray actions of terrorism. This show is definitely asking some tough questions… last week abortion… now bombing coffee shops.
I just love this show in how such a simple few lines can really cause you to think about an issue in an entirely different way. It is proof that there is no right answer. I don't think there is anyone out there that would have an objection to Anders blowing up all those Cylons. It is only that way because we are all on the rebel's side. If some great enemy were to suddenly enslave our own country (ala the US Revolutionary War), the Minute Men would be back… striking fast at the vulnerabilities of an established power and fading into the country side… hitting and running… terrorizing.
I was curious as to how Anders and everyone stumbled across the knowledge of resurrection. It is quite obvious that the Cylons are clones, but it seems like fairly specific knowledge that they are downloaded with their memories maintained. It is realistic to think they captured a Cylon and interrogated him… maybe I am forgetting a conversation that gave the rebels that knowledge.
It is obvious by the end of the show, that Anders himself is forced to question his own actions. He learned a lot from CapricaSix and GalacticaSharon that will no doubt force him to re-examine his tactics. Maybe they aren't just machines… maybe they are simply a different kind of people.
Conclusion
While this episode had a few major holes, I had a lot of fun with it. We were able to see things we hadn't seen before, listen to struggles and conversation that ultimately lead to a humanization of an enemy whose motivations we barely understand. The part with Baltar in the beginning was also one of the more exciting bait-and-switch moments of the series. It definitely had my heart beating fast and my mind reeling. There is a distinct feeling that Downloaded marks a huge turning point for the show. It introduced a cover-up to the political ranks of the fleet and introduced a covert moral/religious movement to the Cylons, both of which will most likely play themselves out over the season finale, ending in one hell of a cliff hanger that I am sure will leave us wanting more.
MIA this week: Lee Adama commands the Pagasus?
Principal MVP of the episode is a tie this week, going to the dynamic duo of Tricia Helfer as Number Six and James Callis as Giaus Baltar. I don't think you can honestly credit one performance without recognizing the other. There was that excellent moment when ImaginarySix throws Baltar against the wall promising a reckoning for obstructing God's will, and those tears of sadness and fear rolling down Baltar's cheeks. There was also those superb moments with ImaginaryBaltar calling out all the faults in the Cylons, their lying, their manipulation… and doing it with a smug confidence we haven't seen from his character in quite some time. Simply delightful.
Secondary MVP of the episode goes to Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle. He is known to be one of Ron Moore's favorite characters and it shows. He is being given a lot more to do and he is making sure that he takes advantage of it. His character can convey so much in a simple look. He continually holds his own against when the heavy-weights are in the room. I feel like he is being set up for a pivotal moment in the episodes to come.
Additional Resources
February 27, 2006 in Commentary | Permalink | Comments (27) | TrackBack (0)