Galactica is tasked to protect a mining operation within an asteroid field, putting a heavy burden on the Viper pilots who must contend with a hotshot Cylon raider they call Scar.
Cast
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama
Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Michael Hogan as Col. Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Grace Park as Sharon “Boomer” Valerii
Tahmoh Penikett as Helo
Aaron Douglas as CPO Galen Tyrol
Luciana Carro as Lt. Louanne ‘Kat’ Katraine
Synopsis
Galactica is tasked to protect a mining operation within an asteroid field, putting a heavy burden on the Viper pilots who must contend with a hotshot Cylon raider they call Scar.
High Points
- The interaction between Starbuck and Kat throughout the episode. They’re a big part of why we’re being shown this story, and they’re done superbly.
- The time-jumping structure of the episode. I know I complained about a similar thing only last week, but this week’s cutting around was extremely effective.
- Starbuck’s conversation with Sharon.
Low Point
The first time the episode jumped backward in time. I really was thinking ‘oh no, not again.’ Thankfully it turned out well, but please, hold off on it next week. It’s getting old. You might argue that this low point contradicts one of the high points above, but they got away with it this time. They might not manage it again.
The Scores
The basic concept of the episode isn’t hugely original. One group of pilots up against a hot-shot enemy fighter is something familiar from many tales of the Royal Flying Corps in France during the First World War, as anybody who’s read any of the Biggles stories will know. It’s not entirely formulaic though, and I never felt like they were retreading familiar ground. Four out of six.
Another visual feast from the effects team. The asteroids, the dust, the ships and the distinctive appearance of Scar’s hull were all excellent. A pity that the mining ship looked like it was constructed in a 3D modelling package instead of in a shipyard somewhere in the twelve colonies. Not that it’s a bad model, it just doesn’t have quite the same realism to it that the other ships we’ve seen so far have had. Five out of six, because everything else was up to the usual standard.
This is a great story. While it moves fairly clearly along the path to its inevitable resolution, it shows us many interesting things along the way. Five out of six.
Once more the acting is tested by a limited-focus episode. In this case, Katee Sackhoff and Luciana Carro were the ones put to the test, and they handled it superbly. Unfortunately they did make some of the other cast look slightly weak at times. Five out of six.
Emotional response was higher than last week, although it’s going to take a lot to live up to the mid-season events with Admiral Cain. Five out of six.
Getting the production right on a nonlinear episode can’t be particularly easy, but everything’s assembled very well. We don’t see much of anywhere really in this episode, just bits of the Galactica we’ve seen before and some stunning new space shots (which I praised under effects). I really can’t find any fault with any of it though. Five out of six.
Overall, five out of six. It’s a great episode, but I can’t forget that initial sense of worry when I realised we’d started off with a future event again. It’s fortunate that this was leading us into a different kind of episode to what we’ve come to expect.
In total, Scar receives a respectable thirty-four out of forty-two.
Low point :)
I saw it coming. :)
Anyways, I was impressed by this episode. It was the second episode in a row we have seen of BSG that shows more of what every-day routine is like on the fleet. In many ways the past two episodes have forwarded the story, but not in such exponential leaps as previous episodes. We’re looking at what happens in the fleet when we’re not saving all of humanity from an outside threat.
In these two episodes we don’t see as much of the high-power players (The Pres, the Admiral, and Baltar.) We see more of the mid-level functionaries, and the very real, sometimes unsavory struggles they face as they carry out the commands from the somewhat detached higher-ups. Did anyone else pick up the fact that Kara’s original plan, the plan rejected by Cat and counterindicated by the communique from command, was the plan that ended up being less costly in terms of lives? Command is that out of touch with the reality faced by Galactica’s pilots?
Last episode we saw the civilian routine when the topic dealt with the black market. This episode we see the military routine when the topic deals with the "routine" risks of the day to day gathering of supplies. Next week, from the looks of the preview, we now start dealing with the threat from within. With all of the back-stabbery problems the humans create for themselves, the Cylons may decide to just sit back and watch the pyrotechnics as humans, pro and con Cylon, battle for control of what’s left of the colonists.
*I* am hopeful we don’t see any more "crew member falls apart" episodes at least for a few episodes. First Apollo, now Starbuck. I’m sure it forwards the story somehow, and I’m certain depression is widespread among Galactica’s crew, but let’s move along …
-Joe
Time Jumping – Oh so much
You’re right, Eldhrin, that this episode used the "back in time" effect much better than the last episode. Interestingly, last week’s ER also did the "now…then…now" thing and, like ‘Scar’, it was actually an effective tool.
While I won’t take back my complaints about this style’s use last week, and my concerns that too many shows are using it, it’s obviously not always a bad thing. It may be that the only requirement to make the time jumping work is that the story should be very good. This episode of BG was better on almost every level than ‘Black Market’ and, again, the ER episode (despite being non-genre, I very much recommend it – excellent work by James Woods) had a good purpose (besides style) for it.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
I had that "Oh, no not again" feeling and it didn’t let up for the entire episode. I think the flashbacks were pure manipulation to build tension about Starbuck, and they did that, but I think it was at the expense of the whole episode. When we finally get caught up, they replay the entire dogfight. It made me think of the original where they replayed stock footage over and over in the battles. This story could have been done directly if they had tried. I think you would have had to add the battle where "BB"? bought it to the start of the episode.
I would love to see them actually do an episode running forward again. It now seems that they have this crutch and are reaching for it _every_ episode. If they do it next week the writers need to get themselves to "Flashbacks Anonymous". Now before anyone says "well Lost does this all the time", I would say that Lost is showing us backstory to fill out the characters, which is different.
While the day in the life aspect of the last two episodes is interesting. They really beat you over the head with the fact that Starbuck, and Apollo are really frakked up. My wife’s comment was that she would like to see a hero on this show that isn’t _deeply_ flawed. Everyone has some issues, but they have picked issues that for my wife make these characters hard to really like. From my perspective, I agree with that somewhat, but I really have more hope than she does that maybe now Starbuck has something to live for and will get out of the bottle.
Also, I was really, really put off by Kat’s behavior at the end. Sure I know she finally _got_ Scar, but only because of her wingman. All I could think of during the battle is the "never leave your wingman" lesson from Top Gun. At the end of Top Gun everyone realizes that they’re on the same team fighting the same enemy. I know it would have been easy to totally rip off the ending of the movie, but what Kat did and said went completely against the concept of being in this together and needing each other.
I remember from the first part of Pegasus how Apollo and Starbuck turned up their noses at keeping track of kills. Now this week we have Kat going well beyond painting a kill on her bird. Apollo (as the CAG) should have taken over the celebration way before Starbuck needed to remind them of what they’ve lost in their fight together (which almost redeemed the scene).
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
Even more important, most of Lost’s flashbacks go back to before they hit the island. They’re not added just to increase tension, though the good ones tend to have that effect; they actually offer information that can’t be provided any other way…well, except long monologue segments which would be super-bad.
To be fair to Apollo, Kat and Starbuck had to get some closure to their issues on their own, even if the result wasn’t perfect. If he stepped into the middle, I think things could have gotten even uglier, even faster.
I also think you’re being a little hard on Kat. Starbuck has to be her – and probably every new pilot’s – role model. She’s the "best stick" in the fleet, so it’s no surprise if the other pilots emulate her traits, good and bad. Given how much smack talk Starbuck has laid down, I don’t think it’s unfair for Kat to do the same when she scores a big victory, and team or not the pilot who fires the killing shot gets the glory.
Finally, as far as the dogfight etiquette goes, Starbuck was the one who left her wingman – Kat was flying lead once they started chasing the raider. Had things gone badly because of it, Kara would have been the one responsible.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
No. Neither one of them left the other. This is what happened:
– Kay saw a raider and as lead, went after it.
– Starbuck stayed back to watch Kat’s 6
– As part of watching Kat’s 6, Starbuck flipped around to watch behind her
– As a result, Starbuck saw Scar coming out of the sun (using the old Pappy Boyington thumb trick) and was forced to engage
It was simply good tactics on Scar’s part – he did exactly what we were told he regularly did, he divided to conquer. Kat and Starbuck were just good enough to regroup and take him.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
Can you explain that thumb trick to me? I kinda didn’t get it :x
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
Closing one eye and putting your thumb in front of the sun eliminates most, or all, of the glare. Moving the thumb slightly, exposing slivers of the sun, can give you a better chance to pick out an enemy using the sun as cover. YOu can try it out by suspending something right in front of an exposed lightbulb.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
You cover the sun with your thumb and then move it around – it eliminates most of the glare so you can spot fighters coming out of the sun’s direction.
Pappy Boyington (of the 214 Squadron in WWII) "invented" this trick, and for a long time just kind of assumed everybody knew it (they do mention this in the podcast, but it’s actually one that I knew. Boyington rocked).
Actually, my biggest gripe with the episode was that it reminded me of a "Black Sheep Squadron" episode. At least Scar didn’t circle around broadcasting, "I see you, Starbuck, come out and fight!"
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
The only issue I’d have with that is that Starbuck was working in Hunchville. Had she been wrong, and had Scar been lying in wait ahead of them (utilizing the same tactic that S&K used to take him out), Starbuck would have been out of position to render immediate assistance. Maybe I misinterpreted what I was seeing, but it seemed like a large distance opened up between S&K before Scar was spotted, and from what little I know about tactics you don’t want that to happen, at least not until the [full] engagement begins and the issue is forced.
Of course, I’m not an expert on fighter tactics, having just read a few books and seen the movies. I’m certainly not an expert on space fighter tactics. :)
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
If I recal, Scar is noted for changing tactics. Didn’t he already do the "ambush from out front" trick on one of the nuggets?
So Starbuck, has reason to suspect that he would try something new. Ideal position for a gun-kill as at your enemie’s 6, so her conjecture that Scar will be coming from between say 4 and 8 is reasonable. Scar also didn’t get this old by being stupid. Pilots have been coming out of the sun since World War I. 2+2 usually equals 4
Somebody mentioned a plan that was poposed and rejected… I don’t remember that part?
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
I don’t get this – I certainly don’t see Bill Adama (or Roslyn, for that matter) as deeply flawed. He’s had to make some hard choices, but he seems to be the one guy who really has his head screwed on straight. He’s almost unrealistically good.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
Yeah, Adama’s a ROCK. I was going to mention that in my post, but didn’t find anywhere where it fit. Roslyn is also a rock, but earlier that was (I felt) because of her condition. We’ll have to see what happens now that she’s cured. But, you’re right, those characters fill out the hero shoes quite nicely.
Kat at the end
Agreed, I’d have thought that, given what they all went through, that she should have made a comment on how she only did what she did thanks to working with Starbuck.
Damien
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
Is that ’cause she’s some kind of SuperSlut, or her whole messed up life with the mysterious broken fingers and related hints?
I personally have somelove-hate feelings with that character. She’s very interresting, but I keep wishing she’ll get killed, even though I know that won’t happen to a main character.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
Specifically its because she got pretty heavy on the sauce this episode.
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
No kidding, they must have some great hangover cures on the twelve colonies! I’m surprised she could even get in the cockpit, much less go all flying ace on us like that.
Gotta love Kat’s comment though, "We already have one Ty on this ship…", burn!
: )
Re: Time Jumping – Oh so much
At the end? How about the beginning, middle, and end?
I’ve not been in the military, I have asthma and they said thanks but no thanks.
But last I checked A LT is lower than a Captain.
She was insubordinate in breifings.
She was insubordinate out of breifings.
She assaulted an officer
And her arrogance at the end…I’m not sure what qualifies you for that mug, but killing one ship?
High point
Was the blood that spattered on the asteroid when Scar died.
That bit of great effects way outweighs the mining platform in the ratings for me.
Re: High point
Yes, that was good, but I can’t forget the mining platform and give a perfect score when I don’t feel it’s all perfect, no matter how good the rest is.
Re: High point
The mining platform was a nod to the original series – it was one of the ships in the "rag tag fugitive fleet" graphics that were so often reused.
So I’m totally willing to let it slide.
Forced Choice
I’m going to hit you with another one of my (in)famous Forced Choice games
I will ask a series of questions, with yes or no answers, and those respondants who chose to particpate, must answer either yes or no, there is no middle ground here.
1. Is it morally conscionable to take the weapon of a captured enemy combatant as trophy?
2. Is it morally conscionable to take a token or piece of uniform from a captured enemy combatant as a trophy?(dog tags, rank insignia, watches, boots, coats, gloves, hats, bags)POW’s would be issued prison uniforms.
3. Is it morally conscionable to take the weapon of a captured enemy combatants for use was war materiel?
4. Is it morally conscionable to take tokens or uniforms from captured enemy combatants for use as war materiel?(dog tags, rank insignia, watches, boots, coats, gloves, hats, bags)
5. Is it morally conscionable to take the weapon of a slain enemy combatant as trophy?
6. Is it morally conscionable to take a token or piece of uniform from a slain enemy combatant as a trophy?
7. Is it morally conscionable to take the weapon of a slain enemy combatants for use was war materiel?
8. Is it morally conscionable to take tokens or uniforms from slain enemy combatants for use as war materiel?(boots, coats, gloves, hats, bags)
9. Is it morally conscionable to make a trophy from the body part of a slain enemy combatant?
10. Is it morally conscionable for war-fighters to celebrate and keep record of their "kills", ie painting kills on their air craft.
11. Is it morally conscionable to collect the wreckage of Cylon Raiders/Heavy Raiders and recycle them for use in the fleet, including the organic bits, as compost on Cloud 9 or something.
12. Is it morally conscionable to go out, collect a few pieces of Scar’s hull and hang them on the wall in the Pilot’s rec room?
13. Is it morally conscionable to collect the wreckage of Cylon Warriors and recycle them for use in the fleet.
14. Is it morally conscionable to go out, collect peices of destroyed Warriors and hang them on the wall in the Marine’s rec room?
15.Is it morally conscionable to make a trophy of a Human-type Cylon, killed in open battle.
Re: Forced Choice
Which everyone pretty much ignores.
Re: Forced Choice
The response to the one I posed for Ressurection ship was pretty good. It is pretty rare that people are comfortable talking about a forced choice exercise. That there were 3 people who actually posted responses is is fantastic. I’ve been in training sessions with less volitile topics than this 30 people and only one person was comfortable talking about their choices. That says a lot about the intelligence and integrity of the people on this site.
But I’ll ask you this, Maggard, did you even look at the questions before deciding they weren’t worth comment?
Re: Forced Choice
I’ve answered inline. Note that some of my answers have spoilers after the yes/no answer, for explanation; these are marked with (more).
Re: Forced Choice
You forgot:
0. Is war morally conscionable?
Re: Forced Choice
Are you asking the humans or the Cylons? Let’s not drag real-world specific analogy questions into what is a fairly straightforward and fictional situation. It just screws up the fun.
Unless you’re making the argument, as some appear to be within the series, that defending the fleet may be morally unconscionable.
Re: Forced Choice
Well, the original questions were directed at us, not at anyone on the show.
It’s clear the cylons think they have the moral prerogative to do whatever it is they’re doing (we don’t /really/ know exactly what it is yet, but it involves genocide in some way). That doesn’t mean we agree with them, as humans or as Galactican-Humans.
Re: Forced Choice
My apologies. The tetchiness of my reply was based on the apparently incorrect assumption that there was a question as to the morality of the Galactican-human warmaking in defense of the fleet.
In further reflection, even if that assumption was correct, that was no reason to get tetchy on the board. Maybe reason to question the basis of that position, but no reason to get tetchy. :-) Further apologies.
Re: Forced Choice
These exercises tend to get people outside of their comfort zones. I like throwing this stuff out because I see the writers chiping away at the longstanding moral safety net of "they’re robots, open fire." It makes me wonder how other views feel about the writers muddying the waters.
And here is the hard part of a Forced Choice.
Question 0: I that unwarranted aggression is not conscionable. I also feel that a group or nation has every right to defend itself. So, How do I answer? What is more imporant to me? My belief that it’s wrong to go around picking fights or my belief that I have the right defend myself to the best of my abilility? Oh, wait it doesn’t matter, beause there are not qualifiers in this exercies.
Yes
Re: Forced Choice
1. No
2. No
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No
6. No
7. Yes
8. Yes
9. No
10. No
11. No
12. No
13. No
14. No
15. No
Re: Forced Choice
i believe the answer to all of the above is "frack you".
Re: Forced Choice
I’d have to answer YES to each and every one of those.