Webisode 3

Things are certainly getting creepier onboard the raptor. The really interesting part at this point is what kind of relationship Gaeta had with lavendar 8 (who is probably not, but not definitively not) Boomer - another seemingly reasonable guess bites the dust. Black 8 is dead, so I guess we are not going to get any kind of good Sharon / bad Sharon dichotomy. Oh well.

So what exactly did Gaeta do back on New Caprica? Did he give names over to the Cylons? Did he, as Baltar said at the end of Season 3, try to play both sides against eachother? Who is this Sharon and what distinguishes her from all the other Sharons?

I am inclined to dismiss what Baltar said out of hand because, during his meeting with Gaeta in his cell, it is obvious from his expression that he has just figured out that Gaeta was passing along information to the resistance. Anything he says after that is done solely to gain a tactical advantage, and therefore not trustworthy per se.

The webisodes have already told us twice that increased CO2 can wreak havoc with the brain, including paranoia, memories, etc. My "something's not right" alarm went off because in this "memory" that is set on New Caprica Gaeta has white hairs at the temples, but on New Caprica his hair was completely black. So - is there something wrong with this memory?

I am, of course, a big Gaeta fan. So if Gaeta did something morally ambivalent he didn't do it to protect himself, or for any kind of personal advantage. On the other hand, this is the first we are hearing of this - and it appears to be a secret Gaeta has kept - so is he ashamed? In addition, a list of names SEEMS to be handed over - is one of these names seeking revenge (for what?) and responsible for what has happened on the raptor?

Another paranoia point - the grip that is missing from the pliers - Gaeta (and everyone else) seems to think they were intentionally taken off (am I understanding this correctly?). I have, however, replayed the section where the pliers are taken out of the tool case, and I cannot find a good view where I can see that the pliers had the grips on in the first place. So is this paranoia and it was really an accident? Or, was it deliberate and not an accident.

I might add that in the realm of pure logic Galactica tends to fall down on a regular basis. Things happen all the time that can't really be explained. You just have to accept it and go with the flow because it contributes to plot and character development. 

More to come - unfortunately next Webisode is not for another 5 days. 

The Face of the Enemy - Webisode 2

OK, to indulge in more useless speculation - lavender Sharon is NOT good. She is very very creepy and the paranoia has been upped a notch. IMHO there is a 50% chance she is Boomer. Of course, I thought that Boomer died on the hub, but since we didn't see a body, we don't have definitive proof.

I am also wondering if Gaeta thinks he imagined lavender Sharon talking to him, especially once the raptor pilots start talking about the consequences of oxygen deprivation.

It also seems to me that black Sharon seems to be a straight talker, a quality I always liked in Athena.

Another good acting moment, when Hoshi says, "...me and Felix...." and Tigh just squints slightly and you realize that this is news to him. Such a slight facial movement, but it makes everything going on in Tigh's mind completely clear. Pretty impressive.

It also occurs to me that Gaeta's first (and only) scene with Hoshi is one of the few times that Gaeta seems to let down his guard. 

The Face of the Enemy - Webisode 1

I am facing a real dilemma here - I am trying to work my way through BSG in chronological order, but there is no way I am going to be sufficiently complete that I can just roll into Season 4.5 next month (I doubt I'll be even halfway through Season 1 at that point). But this is not supposed to be any pressure, it's something I do for fun.

SO - I will continue on through, and I will incorporate information in my posts on the new episodes as they relate to the topic of any given blog. I do not comb the web looking for spoilers on future episodes, but if you haven't kept up with the show, please bear this in mind as you read.

OK - I have seen the first webisode about 20 times already, in part because it is not close captioned for the hearing impaired. Since I fall into that privileged group I had to play it over and over again to figure out what is going on.

It looks like it's going to be a mystery reminiscent of "10 Little Indians" or "Lifeboat." 

I don't want to do a deep analysis here, but I noticed the following things (and make a few predictions):

• Felix is going gray at the temples. I am willing to bet that this is supposed to be a manifestation of the trauma of losing his leg.
• Given that he and Hoshi will not be seeing eachother for a week, that was a pretty chaste kiss. On the other hand, we don't have a clear idea where they are in this relationship - I am assuming it is just getting started.
• Hoshi is better-looking that I thought.
• Black-clad Sharon is going to be bad Sharon, lavender Sharon is going to be good Sharon.
• To paraphrase Chekhov, if 3 syringes of morpha appear in the first act, then all three will be used by the third act.

I took my macbook into work on Friday and cut over to Starbucks to watch it at noon when it was released onto the web. Can't wait until Monday, when the next Webisode comes out.

In the meantime, I am working on my Gaius Baltar post as part of my review of "33"

Upcoming webisode

If you check out scifi.com/battlestar you will discover, in addition to the season 4.5 teasers, a "SciFi wire exclusive - Gaeta and Hoshi almost kiss." I would just like to point out that I predicted this turn of events in my post on Gaeta, which was written in October. You learned it here first. 

33

I saw this episode before I saw the miniseries (Netflix screw up - in fact it was actually more tha a year before I saw the miniseries, after I finally decided to buy Season One myself). I'm bringing this up because I thought I had missed something the first time I saw this episode - that "33" started immediately from where the miniseries left off.

After I saw the miniseries I realized this was a deliberate choice. Viewers are dropped into the middle of a desperate situation and then learn how the main characters behave under extreme stress.

It says a lot about the writing, editing, and directing that you can figure out quickly what is happening. "33" opens with a series of scenes that quickly cut back and forth between Gaius Baltar's thoughts, vipers shooting out the tubes flown by pilots who are obviously having trouble concentrating, the CIC where Tigh is slapping a soldier on the back to keep him awake, and the deck where everyone is watching the clock. This series of scenes take about 2 to 3 minutes. When the Cylons do arrive we see multiple clocks, digital and analog, showing that time is up (This sequence actually reminds me a little of the pendulum clock in "High Noon.").

In other words, I didn't know much less than anyone who had seen the miniseries knew.

"33" is, without question, the best episode of Season 1, precisely because of this tension and the way the characters' reactions reveal their nature.

OK, to quote Callie, "Why 33?" My first instinct (which reveals my advanced age) is that it is referencing LPs that play at 33-1/3 RPM. Beyond that 33 is divisible by only 2 numbers, 3 and 11 (1 and 33 don't count). 3 and 11 are very cool prime numbers and I am not a geek for thinking this. I remember hearing George Burns say in an interview that 7 is a very funny number. So there.

My only quibble with the episode is that it is simply not possible for the crew to go 5 days running without sleep - they must have had some down time or else they would be incapable of functioning. As Baltar said, "there are limits...." Trust me, I know what I am talking about. When our twin sons were infants they did not sleep at the same time, and I went for about 3 months getting 3-4 hours of sleep at night but only about 45 minutes at one time, which meant that I got little or no REM sleep. Going without sleep is pure torture (although not, apparently, if you are working for the Bush administration interrogating suspected terrorists).

There are two scenes that stand out in my mind. Tigh falling asleep sitting on a sofa in the middle of a conversation with Adama is probably my favorite, but there is also, as usual, a lot of background detail. I especially like one scene in the CIC, while Adama is talking to Tigh, you can see right behind Adama a guy wearing a headset, slumped over fast asleep.

This episode has one of my all-time favorite scenes - Starbuck refusing to take stims. Lee tries to wheedle her into obeying and she bursts out with this speech telling Lee in no uncertain terms how she thinks he should be handling her insubordination. They stand glaring at each other for a short pause that goes just a millisecond longer than is comfortable, ratcheting up the tension a little bit, before they burst out laughing. This dialogue reveals a lot about Kara. The scene also gets a little more texture when Kara glares at the Chief, who has witnessed the exchange, and says "What" and he just rolls his eyes and walks away. The whole exchange is pitch perfect. 

I watched this episode again after Season 4.0 ended, and I was struck by the tentative nature of Roslin's and Adama's relationship in the beginning. At this point they are strangers who have been thrown together by circumstance and now share the burden of protecting what is left of the human race. In this episode they are on separate ships and all their conversations are by radio. In the middle of a discussion about the tactical situation (bad) there's a surprisingly intimate moment. After a pause in the conversation Roslin tentatively asks, "Are you there?" and Adama says, "Yeah."

Galactica has a special resonance in the post-9/11 world. Even in the midst of this exhausting crisis people are trying to find loved ones, and Roslin is trying to get an accurate count of the number of survivors. When Dualla tries to hand over photos of her family to track them down, she is instructed to post them on a wall. As she walks down the long corridor to post the photos she (and by extension we) is overwhelmed by the number of pictures posted, the makeshift memorials, and the messages to the dead. The photos include pictures of babies and children, as well as adults, and convey the remorseless nature of the losses. The camera holds still as she walks further down the corridor, until she is a small figure turning around in confusion, stunned by the magnitude of the catastrophe as expressed in the pictures of lost family members. These types of memorials and photo montages sprang up all over New York within hours of the collapse of the World Trade Center, and became synonymous with the event. Galactic is deliberately recreating these to provide a symbol we can recognize and use to provide a context for the apocolyptic events the characters have survived.

Galactica returns to this corridor periodically so that the viewer never forgets why the ship is wandering in space with no place to go home to. In the last episode of Season 4, when they do find earth, the scene cuts to Starbuck in that same corridor, looking at the photo of a lost pilot, and behind her is a woman standing in a different part of the corridor, crying while she presumably looks at pictures of lost loved ones.

Cool stuff they do with the camera

Honestly, this is the most technical phrase I can come up with to say what I have to say in this post. Sorry.

In any event, I am encountering a real stumbling block finishing up everything I want to say about the miniseries, there is just SO MUCH there. But, enough already, I think it's time to move on. Before moving on to "33" I just want to write a little about the way characters and events are filmed. A lot of these techniques or whatever are used in the miniseries and show up consistently throughout the entire series. 

For example - I didn't pin this one down right away, but I noticed that a lot of time THINGS or PEOPLE seem to be in the way preventing me from getting a good look at what is going on or who is talking. I finally started making connections in the "Collaborators" episode when Gaeta was about to take a one-way rip out the airlock. When Chief Tyrol is talking to Gaeta someone's leg is in the way, obscuring vertically about 1/4 (maybe more) of the screen. I was like, don't these people know what they are doing? I can't see all of Gaeta's face. But I also felt that I was part of the scene, as if I was seeing things from Tyrol's viewpoint while he is crouched down talking to Gaeta, who is kneeling.

So I went back and started looking consciously for this, especially in episodes I really like, and I found that they do this all the time and have done it since day one of the series. The perspective is often like looking over someone's shoulder (and seeing that shoulder, btw) from the back of the crowd.

For example, in the miniseries, right before the nuke hits Galactica (scene 11), there are actually three times, one right after the other, where someone walks in front of Adama as he says, "Brace for contact my friend." Try stepping through the scene and you will see that I'm right. I noticed this when I watched the scene at full speed, but I had something of a visceral reaction. It was only when I started thinking about the way I perceived these scenes that I started to try and figure out how they did it. In any event, this is what happens in real life, you look at someone or something and someone walks in front of you. It gives a real "you are there" feeling as you watch the action.

I would have loved to see them rehearse the scenes in the CIC when the nuke hits, because I think they are really well choreographed. Now, I am assuming that they didn't shake the whole set (as if), so the entire cast must have rehearsed falling and jolting at the same time, because it is really convincing. Moreover there a lot of different shots of the scene so that you view everyone falling from different angles. I kept trying to find a snippet where someone's timing is off, but there just didn't seem to be any. The same thing happens on the hangar deck, when the arm and then the body of a figure off-camera falls into the frame. The result is pretty convincing.

It's fun to compare this to the original Star Trek, when a siren wails and everybody pretends to be jolted side to side. Even back in the sixties it looked pretty silly.

Galactica also uses a lot of hand-held camera type stuff (hey, I am not terribly astute about what these things are called, I just know the effects that they achieve), which creates something of a documentary feel to the show. They are taking a completely artificial environment in a place that is not quite like ours, and giving it a very strong sense of authenticity.

I learned a lot about this approach to filming by watching an excellent, extremely underrated film called "Children of Men" (directed by Alfonso Cuaron), which, coincidentally, is about a speculative not-too-distant future when the human race is on the verge of extinction. That movie has a LOT of scenes with handheld cameras, and I really felt pulled in to the action and the experiences of the characters (the opening scene of walking away from a coffee bar that is suddenly blown up by terrorists is riveting).

Towards the end of the film there is a really long, unbroken sequence where the lead character, Theo, is running through a firefight to get to a building that is under siege. They filmed it with the cameraman running alongside the actor (Clive Owen). Sometimes you can see Theo, and sometimes you can't see him but you can hear him breathing while he is running and you can can experience some of the terror and confusion directly from his point of view. The net effect is to break down the barrier between spectator and participant.

It was pretty interesting to learn how they filmed this scene. Apparently they did a lot of rehearsals because it was so expensive and difficult to rebuild the set after every attempt. I think it took 3 or 4 tries, and in one of the unsuccessful attempts the cameraman actually fell while running (please don't quote me, I just don't have the energy to re-locate the reference for this information). On the last try something red splashes on the lens of the camera when Theo is running through a wrecked bus filled with people trying to hide from the shooting. Cuaron was like, "oh no, we have to do it again," and everyone else said no, this is really great, so they kept it. It adds a lot to the documentary feel.

In fact, as I write this, it suddenly occurs to me that Galactica and "Children of Men" are both about apocalyptic "what-if" situations, and they both use the same techniques to add verisimilitude to what is otherwise a totally artificial construct. The effect of all this camera work is to give an element of gritty reality and draw the viewer in to the action. The setting of Galactica, while not entirely unfamiliar, is nevertheless sufficiently different so that we recognize early and often that this is NOT our world. These effects mitigate the difference by conveying a recognizable documentary evening-news type feel to the series. I think it works really well and, in a lot of ways, Galactica feels more like news than like a television show.

Miniseries - Roslin and Adama and the path to leadership

Roslin and Adama are on parallel paths that converge at the end of the miniseries. Both are minor players in their respective spheres and both are at critical turning points in their lives. Roslin has just learned that she has terminal breast cancer and Adama is on Galactica, preparing to retire and give up the command of a ship so obsolete that it is being turned into a museum.

Their first meeting on Galactica, before the attack, is not a success.

They are on different ships when they receive news of the Cylon attack, and they each take on responsibilities that expand rapidly as the news deteriorates and the existing leadership structures disappear.

On what is supposed to be his last night as commander, Adama is sitting in his quarters reading when he gets a call from the CIC which has just received word of the Cylon attack. He responds in a matter of fact voice, "I'll be right up," and sits for a moment without moving. From that point on, as the situation becomes more desperate he remains calm and even taciturn.

In Roslin's part of the story, she learns of the attack after breaking down in private as news of her prognosis finally comes home. She immediately goes to the cockpit to find out what is going on, and reaches out and holds the pilot's shaking hand while she reads the news transmittal. This single gesture immediately establishes her as the leader, ready to take command when others are  overwhelmed. In the midst of panic and uncertainty she sets a goal (to find everyone trapped in ships above the planets and lead them to safety) and gives instructions necessary realize it.

Both Roslin and Adama make painful decisions with terrible consequences.

Tigh, Adama's surrogate, makes the most painful decision on Galactica when he vents 85 deckhands into space in order to put out fires that threaten the ship. Afterward Adama makes it clear that he would make the same decision himself, and I never doubt that is the case.

I think this scene is also interesting because Tigh, thrust into the middle of the crisis and forced to quickly make a critical decision, hesitates for a few seconds and looks off at Adama, as if for guidance. Once he makes his decision Tigh is clear and resolute, he doesn't look back. This type of moment happens elsewhere in the series (in "Scattered" Tigh must make several decisions immediately after Adama is shot. Once again he takes several seconds to decide and proceeds only after recalling advice from Adama from an earlier time).

I also like these scenes because the perspective moves to a view of Galactica from space and you can actually see the fires and bodies thrown out into space. In other words, the human costs of this decision are immediately made tangible. This happens at other points in the miniseries when ships explode - it's not unusual to see the pilot's body thrown out of the cockpit. (Aside from all the people thrown out of airlocks, take a look at "Epiphanies." It wasn't until the second time I watched this epdisode that I saw bodies thrown into space.) I always contrast this with "Star Wars" where we see ships blow up, but no person in them seems to get hurt, so the special effects of the explosion give a vicarious thrill detached from pain and death.

In Roslin's subplot the human costs are even higher. Roslin's mission is to find as many survivors as possible, and she manages to put together a fleet of ships holding 60,000 people. Roslin visits one of these ships, a cruise ship filled with families with young children. She promises the captain that she will take care of them, and chats with a little girl. Soon after she makes the decision to abandon this and other ships containing 10,000 people to the Cylons because the ships cannot travel fast enough. Roslin decides to break her promise and in the process condemns the little girl (and thousands of others) to death in the interest of saving the other 50,000 survivors. She sits in the cabin of Colonial One listening to the transmissions of people screaming and begging for help as the Cylons appear, attack, and quickly destroy the ships left behind.

Roslin and Adama also learn almost simultaneously that they are the most senior people left alive after the attack.

Mary McDonnell's body language and posture are very effective at conveying Roslin's state of mind at this moment. When she is sitting talking to Lee about her position (43rd)  in succession, we see her from the side. She is sitting with both feet flat on the floor, wearing black pumps and a business skirt. Instead of wearing her suit jacket she has a blanket draped around her shoulders. Her appearance expresses total exhaustion. At this point she learns that all 42 people ahead of her are dead and she must now be sworn in as president. She sniffles quietly, puts on her suit jacket and calmly says, "We need a priest."

An aside about the swearing-in ceremony - it is deliberately reminiscent of Johnson taking the oath of office on Air Force One after President Kennedy's assassination. This is not the only reference to the Kennedy assassination (at least to my eyes). When Callie shoots Boomer ("Resistance") it is strikingly similar to the news clips of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Johnson, btw, did not need to be sworn in, the line of succession meant that he became president as soon as Kennedy died. Johnson arranged for the swearing-in ceremony as a symbolic gesture.

Immediately after Roslin becomes president, Adama learns that the rest of the fleet has been destroyed and he is the senior military officer left alive. This is the last of a series of disastrous military reports conveying news of the annihilation of the Colonial military forces at the hands of the Cylons. Olmos continues to underplay Adama's reactions. Dualla is holding back tears as she gives the last transmission to Adama. He reads it, conveys the news to the crew, announces that he is now in command of Colonial forces, and then carries on with little discernable change in manner. Adama's voice is not quite, but almost a monotone, and it works to great effect in this scene.

Adama and Roslin, formerly low on the totem pole, are now in charge.

Each pursues their own priorities until their ships converge at Ragnar Anchorage, where they meet again, and come into conflict over the next move. Adama, a military man, wants to stand and fight, and Roslin, as a civic leader, wants to secure the lives of the remaining citizens.

The meeting is fascinating. It is noteworthy for its banality in the middle of Armaggedon. Roslin sits at a desk on Galactica listening to a report from Billy on problems in the fleet. Adama steps in, Billy stands up to leave, and Roslin tells him to sit down and asks Adama to wait (a nice little power play). Adama sits down quietly, crosses his legs, folds his hands in his lap, and acts as if this is a normal business meeting. In his turn, he calls her "Ms. Roslin" and not "Madame President," (a small subversive action, although expressed civilly). Even the following conversation, although heated, is well within the norms of polite behavior. In fact, the entire scene is prosaic despite the enormous stakes and the passion behind each character's words.

Roslin's statements are powerful ("The war is over, we lost." And "If we are going to survive as a race we'd better start having babies."), and the audience is on her side. The tension is whether, when and how Adama's priority of continuing to fight the Cylons will switch to Roslin's goal of running with the survivors under Galactica's protection.

In the end, Roslin wins out when Adama looks across the CIC to see two young people flirting and echoes her line: "They'd better start having babies." In one of the great comebacks in television history Tigh asks, "Is that an order?"At that point, Roslin's and Adama's separate paths meet and they start to move forward with one goal in mind - to save the remaining population and find a new home.

Jon this one's for you

OK, so I was at back to school night at my sons' school and each of the parents and teachers were supposed to say something interesting about ourselves (besides being parents). So I said that I was writing a blog about Galactica, and one of the other parents said, I'm writing a blog too, it's about people who blog about Galactica. Har har har. So I told him that just for that, he was going in my blog.

So Jonathan, this one's for you.

Miniseries - Opening Scene

I realized that if I was going to do a single post for the entire miniseries it would be the equivalent of 10 pages long (single space). I am already in version 10 of my post and I am not even close to being complete. To make this all manageable, I am just going to put together a post for every "theme" I want to discuss. All the posts for the miniseries will be prefixed "Miniseries - " (duh). I mean, the miniseries is 3 hours long and covers a lot of territory so I feel that this is NOT going to be typical of future posts where I just review one episode. Also, not all episodes deserve the same consideration (Have I mentioned recently how much I hate "Sine Qua Non"?). 

OK, although I don't want this to be a recitation of events in chronological order, I do want to write first about the opening scene on the armistice station, because it sets the tone for everything that follows.

The first thing that struck me is that in the middle of this bleak, soulless room, empty except for a desk and a chair, the courier pulls out pictures of his wife and child and places them on the table. Both are smiling and look relaxed and happy. Both photos seem to be taken outdoors, in a natural setting. From the beginning the series creates an atmosphere of menace and immediately juxtaposes that menace with images of people who are unaware of pending disaster.

The courier, with nothing to do but wait until the time is up (because no one ever comes), falls asleep at his desk, literally showing that the military's guard is down. Suddenly the doors open and in step huge metal robots, each with a single red light moving back and forth across a slit where we would expect to see eyes, and capable of turning their "hands" into rapid-fire guns. They step aside to allow a beautiful blond, who is dwarfed by the metal soldiers, enter the room and walk straight to the desk.

She is wearing high-heeled boots, a tight red outfit with a high collar that is buttoned at the neck. She walks like a model, and looks like a Nazi picture of the perfect (albeit alluring) Aryan woman.

She asks the courier, "Are you alive?" He says, "Yes" and she bends down and starts kissing him passionately. There's an explosion, the ship docked to the station is destroyed, she says, "It has begun" and continues to kiss him. The courier's eyes widen in terror and the papers on the desk float to the floor. In space a gigantic ship comes to view looming over the station, and the station is destroyed.

We view everything between this scene and the Cylon attacks on the Twelve Colonies with the knowledge that a catastrophe is about to take place that will destroy these world(s) and their inhabitants.

The most disturbing intimation of disaster is the scene where Six meets a young mother and her newborn baby while walking in a marketplace. We know instantly the baby, the mother, and everyone else, for that matter, will soon be dead. As Six holds the baby and says, "Don't worry, you won't have to cry much longer" we know that she is talking about the baby's impending death in the coming Cylon attack, and not comforting the child as it may appear to the mother. Six murders the child by snapping its neck when the mother's attention is distracted. Perhaps it is an act of mercy, although Six appears conflicted when she hears the mother's screams as she walks away. Galactica doesn't gloss things over - the coming attack will kill everyone, including the most vulnerable and helpless victims.

One of the more subtle features of Galactica is placing people in the background to give texture to a scene. In this scene I always notice the young man with dreadlocks and a Hawaiian shirt smiling and ambling along in our direction, completely unaware that he will soon be dead. 

This foreknowledge also lends an air of irony to Laura Roslin's meeting with her doctor. The doctor tells her that she has cancer and leaves no doubt that the prognosis is death. Of course, in a few hours the doctor will die in the nuclear holocaust, and Roslin will be alive and leading the government. 

A good friend of mine told me that there are certain things you don't get to choose, and when and how you die is one of them. This is certainly the case for this doctor, who is so certain of Roslin's fate and so oblivious of his own.

Where's the next blog?

Currently I am working on my analysis of the miniseries. This is a long story, so I anticipate it will take about 2 weeks to complete. Hopefully by next Friday, in time for Halloween.

More to come.... This is not one of those blogs where people do 3 or 4 entries and then never bother to follow up.

Felix Gaeta

Right now (the end of Season 4) my third favorite character is Felix Gaeta. I think he is just someone I would like to have on my side. He doesn't have a big mouth (unlike some Viper pilots I could name), he's smart, he doesn't let his ego get in the way of his decisions, he has good judgment, and he is courageous.

Gaeta starts out as a minor character in the miniseries and Season 1 (according to Ron Moore's podcast Gaeta doesn't even have a first name until D'Anna appears interviewing everyone for the Fleet News Service in "Final Cut"). But he plays an increasingly important role as the series progresses, and I think this is because Gaeta's personality is so different from the Viper pilots, and he and Dualla both give some variety to the cast of characters. (I don't think it hurts that Alessandro Juliani, who plays Gaeta, is a very good actor.)

Gaeta grows up in the course of the series. Although he is an adult, when the series starts he has some childlike qualities that are very sweet. (He looks totally goofy when he is dancing during the celebration of Baltar's election as vice president during "Colonial Day.") He is hardworking and very smart, loyal, and trusting (which gets him into trouble later on). When he makes a mistake he is much harder on himself than any of his superiors would be ("Scattered" and miniseries). He has a lot of responsibility in the CIC (and included in a lot of the decision-making) even though he looks about fifteen. (IMHO he wouldn't get served in a bar without first showing ID.) 

Based on Seasons 1 and 2, several things are clear about Gaeta: He worked very hard to get where he is. His life experience is pretty limited and maybe even kind of sheltered. Like everyone else, his aspirations for the future are destroyed by the Cylons. He is doing on Galactica what most of us did in college (or, if you were precocious, high school) - smoking, drinking, and getting a tattoo ("Final Cut"). BTW, I have a tattoo in approximately the same place as Gaeta and he lies, it DOES hurt.

I would guess that Gaeta is either the only child of older parents or the son of alcoholics, but I'm not sure I know how I arrived at that conclusion. Many characters have backgrounds outlined for us, but Gaeta is not in this group.

Gaeta and Baltar

OK, so who waltzes into the life of this trusting soul? Gaius Baltar, the genius who is also the embodiment of duplicity, narcissism, and about a hundred other bad qualities. Gaeta makes his first (and maybe only) big mistake when he equates Baltar's extraordinary intellect with moral stature. Another way of looking at this is that Gaeta hero-worships Baltar for his achievements and then projects onto Baltar his own ethical values. In "Six Degrees of Separation," after he clears Baltar of the accusation that he colluded in the Cylon attack, Gaeta hugs Baltar and says "I knew you weren't that kind of man." The problem, of course, is that Baltar IS that kind of man.

There has been some discussion on the internet about whether the Gaeta-Baltar relationship has a homoerotic element. Well, duh. However, I think that most of the discussion is putting the chicken before the egg. James Callis is a nice-looking guy, but not incredibly handsome, and Baltar has terrible haircuts. So looks are not the basis of this attraction. I think that Gaeta is gay, so it makes sense that his admiration for Baltar has a sexual undercurrent.

IMHO, as soon as Gaeta starts to see Baltar for what he is (in the last epdisode of season 2.5, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2"), the sexual attraction disappears along with his illusions. At the end of this episode Gaeta looks disgusted with Baltar, his sleazy lifestyle, and his indifference to the responsibilities of political office. As soon as the Cylons arrive Gaeta immediately starts working against both the occupiers and Baltar (and apparently even colludes in an unsuccessful assassination attempt in "Occupation).

During the occupation on New Caprica, Gaeta makes a hard decision to stay in Baltar's administration so that he can pass information to the resistance. He manages to keep his role as the source of the material a secret to protect everyone involved, and has also managed to set it up so that he doesn't know who exactly is receiving the material (the logistics of how he managed this, actually, are a complete mystery to me). He is absolutely vilified for his seeming collaboration with the Cylons, and his frustration is evident after the conversation with Tyrol about Callie's detention, but he sticks to his plan and his actions are critical to the escape from New Caprica. This is a lonely role (the resistance fighters at least have the comfort of camaraderie), and a dangerous one, and Gaeta looks frightened when he leaves a message that Baltar won't be at the NCP graduation (one of the few times he leaves a message in daylight).

I think Gaeta feels complicit in Baltar's puppet administration under the Cylons. In "Exodus, Part 2" he threatens to shoot Baltar, and he reveals his disgust with himself for being blind to Baltar's true personality. I think it is also evidenced by his almost apologetic remark after he is wrongly accused of collaborating and comes close to being thrown out an airlock ("I did everything I could. I don't know what more I could have done."). I also think this is his motivation for waking in the middle of the night and trying to see Baltar ("Taking a Break From All Your Worries."). Roslin is right, Gaeta wants to kill Baltar and finish what he started during the exodus from New Caprica.

After the "Collaborators" episode, Gaeta starts to exhibit cynicism and anger. In addition to feeling betrayed by Baltar, I think he feels let down by his crewmates. Nobody believes him when he tells them his true role. His statements are dismissed out of hand, as if no one gave any consideration to what they know about him from all the years that he served with them. When Tigh returns to the CIC, Gaeta turns his back while everyone else is clapping. He is freer about expressing his own opinions ("The Road Less Travelled"). He becomes sarcastic (when he says "Right" his intonation is dripping with irony). The occupation serves as a painful rite of passage to adulthood.

I know that there has been a lot of discussion about Gaeta's sexual orientation. (In one of the Season 3 videoblogs Alessandro Juliani is pretty funny when he talks about Gaeta's virginity. His remarks are filled with double entendres that make pretty clear his opinion on the subject.) But I want to point out that by the end of Season 4, Gaeta is disabled and thereby joins an even smaller minority. After my experience getting services for my kids I can tell you that parents of disabled children are treated like shit, and the only group treated worse are disabled people themselves. To quote Anne Lamott ("Traveling Mercies," beginning of the chapter "Barn Raising") Gaeta is now a citizen of the Land of the Fucked. 

Whither Gaeta?

I really hope he gets laid in Season 4.5, since he could obviously use some sex, romance, and dare I say, love. Plus his disability makes it harder for him to do everything (I bet that battlestars are not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities act, or its Canadian equivalent), so it would be about time for the poor guy to have something good happen to him.

I am placing bets on Hoshi, based on the bear hug he and Gaeta exchange after the fleet finds Earth, but I am willing to be surprised. It would be just ghastly if it was Baltar. I think it would be kind of fun if Gaeta had a one-night stand with Dualla and she gets knocked up while Gaeta figures out which side of the street he walks on, and settles on men. That would meet the overwhelming necessity to increase the population while still respecting Gaeta's underlying sexual orientation. But it sounds too much like a very bad Madonna film that name of which has gone down in infamy. On the other hand Ang Lee did a very good movie ("The Wedding Banquet") on this same subject.

I also think that it would be hilarious if Gaeta walks into the Mess after his night of joy and everyone gets up and applauds and slaps his back and ruffles his hair like he is the Bar Mitzvah boy (everybody knows that there are no secrets on a battlestar).

But I digress.

I originally though that having a gay character would open the door to analogies with the US military and "don't ask don't tell," but I suspect that angle will not be pursued given that Admiral Caine was same-sex oriented.

When Gaeta lost his leg, my husband asked, "what the hell is this all about?" He then made the intelligent observation (which has been known to happen) that this is going to be a vehicle for Baltar's redemption. Somehow Baltar is going to help Gaeta (maybe save his life?), which will also provide some kind of closure for Gaeta.

In any event, I wish happiness for Gaeta, he certainly deserves it.

Admiral Adama

I found it very difficult to write about Adama in part, I think, because so much of his emotional life is below the surface. He appears to be a tough, dedicated military man, and a great leader. In a lot of ways he is the father to his crew (and they show their respect by calling him "The Old Man"). At the same time he is very complicated and difficult to understand because he so seldom expresses his feelings and is terse when he does so. It is really important to pay attention to what he does, since small gestures will betray more of what he is thinking or feeling than anything he actually says. 

I really like Adama a lot, but it is not always obvious to me why.

His speech is even and concise. Although he may raise his voice he seldom yells or emotes (unlike, say, William Shatner on the original Star Trek, who is sort of famous for that). Adama is in control of his feelings most of the time, the episodes where he does lose control are more significant because they are so rare. (I would also add that I think some of these scenes are a mistake, but more on that when I do my evaluation of each episode.)

In one of the podcasts Ronald Moore says that Edward James Olmos incorporated into Adama a practice of not making eye contact. I was kind of surprised because failure to make eye contact is often a sign of deficit in social behavior (autism mom speaking here). In any event, I started looking for this trait when I was watching, and sure enough, he doesn't make eye contact. In Adama's case it is not a failure in social skills, but a deliberate decision not to provide facial clues while he is taking in what others say and making decisions.

I really noticed this in the CIC where they are always standing around the greenish light board in the middle of the room. Adama is usually looking down and his glasses reflect the light and obscure his eyes more, making him something of a cipher. When he is reviewing photos of the resurrection ship on Pegasus, he talks to Admiral Caine but doesn't look at her until she tells him that she is reassigning his crew to her ship. He looks up rapidly at this piece of news, immediately betraying his disquiet.  His response is clipped and even-toned, although it is apparent that he is angry.

Adama's glasses are also a clue to his state of mind. He usually appears relaxed when he is not wearing them, and he seldom smiles unless they are off. His smiles are warm and genuine, and more significant because they are rare. When he is about to announce a difficult or unpopular order or to disagree with someone he often takes them off and looks directly at the person he is speaking to.

For all his reserve, Adama is not afraid to be honest about his feelings. When Roslin tells Adama and Lee that they haven't gotten over Zak's death ("You Can't Go Home Again"), Lee says, "I think she's wrong, we have." Adama looks right at him and says, "I haven't." He says it clearly and succinctly without a lot of drama, while still conveying the depth of his feeling.

A large part of the miniseries and the first season is about Adama's transition from military officer to a much broader role as leader and protector of the community. After the Cylon attack Roslin immediately grasps the implications for the human race and understands what she must do. I think this is in part because Roslin's background is in the political arena. In any event, Roslin understands her place in the new scheme of things, while Adama must learn his.

The first step in the transition takes place in the miniseries. Adama prepares to take on a hopeless military confrontation with the Cylons (who have already destroyed all other military defenses). I suppose you can say that he is acting in accordance with his programming as a military officer, which is to fight the enemy. Roslin, who has spent the time immediately after the attack rounding up survivors, repeatedly points out the futility of fighting. ("How many times do I have to say this? The war is over. We lost.") Adama finally understands when he sees Billy flirting with Dee and repeats Roslin's statement "We gotta start making babies." From that point forward he is committed to the fleet of survivors. 

Later on in the first season Adama removes the civilian government and imprisons Roslin, the acts of a military man used to giving orders and seeing them obeyed. The last episode of Season 1 ("Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2") and most of season 2.0 are about the frailty of the alliance between the military and the civilian government. The government is disproportionately dependent on the military to keep the civilian fleet safe, compared to the pre-war state of affairs, and Adama has yet to understand his obligations to the civilian government.

There are several themes at work in the episodes, but a critical part is the role played by Adama's expanding insight into his place in the new order of things. His return to Kobol to find the rest of the fleet ("Home, Part 2") is important because it is the second time that Adama has changed his mind and abandoned one course of action to pursue another one. In this case it means swallowing his pride and setting aside the sense that he has been wronged. When he officially welcomes Roslin back into the leadership of the government, he leads the clapping and cedes his position on the podium to her, literally demonstrating the need to have a civilian government with authority over the military ("Home, Part 2"). It doesn't hurt, of course, that Roslin turned out to be right about finding a clue to the location of Earth in the Temple of Athena on Kobol.

From this point on, the military, under Adama, allows the direction to be set by the civilian government (at least as it is embodied by Roslin). This is why he moves to protect the civilian fleet from Admiral Caine, and is also why he is the first to clap when Roslin announces a general amnesty for everyone who has returned from New Caprica ("Collaborators").

When Pegasus shows up, he is unable to go back to the pre-war status quo of limited autonomy and following orders given by his military superiors (of course it doesn't help that Admiral Caine has strong dictatorial tendencies, a contempt for civilian government, and, on top of all that, is a total bitch). Moreover, his first concern is to protect the remaining human population, while Admiral Caine is indifferent to their well-being and ruthless in pursuit of military goals ("Pegasus" - I much prefer the expanded version, and "Resurrection Ship" Parts 1 and 2).

In one of the videoblogs, Edward James Olmos says that after Adama is shot by Boomer he becomes more emotionally vulnerable ("Scattered"). It is hard for me to put my finger on any one event that makes this obvious. I do think that Adama's increasing respect and growing emotional attachment to Roslin is part of this process. I like this relationship a lot - it is a relationship between adults who treat each other politely (old-fashioned, right), and work collaboratively. 

I am really interested in seeing where Adama goes in the last season. What will be his new role after Roslin dies? How will this affect him emotionally? (We already have an idea when Roslin has a vision of her own death in "The Hub.") What will his relationship with the new president?  (The new president will presumably be his own son, but more about THAT later, when I discuss "Sine Qua Non" - the only absolutely horrible episode of Galactica) How will he behave now that some of the action will move from Galactica (a well-defined physical space that he rules) to Earth, where the boundaries will presumably be more amorphous. My only certain knowledge is that he will be up to these new challenges.

Laura Roslin

I think the character of Laura Roslin is fantastic, and I think that Mary McDonnell, and Edward James Olmos for that matter, are far and away the most accomplished actors on the series. (Please don't interpret me incorrectly, because there are a LOT of really good actors in the series, but these two are in a class by themselves.)

The first thing that I like about Mary McDonnell is that she is a woman of a certain age (femme d'une certaine age), like Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini, Meryl Streep, and me. In other words, she looks her age (50-ish), but she looks fabulous, implying that there is still hope for me. Moreover, she doesn't seem to have strolled down the path of plastic surgery or Botox, so she looks authentic. There just  don't seem to be many leading female characters in film or TV that are older than 35 (except for Madonna, and I just don't feel that she is a typical example of women my age).

Mary McDonnell has had leading roles in a couple of outstanding John Sayles' films ("Matewan" and "Passion Fish"), and also in "Donnie Darko" (a very good, very engrossing, and very weird movie). She played the president's WIFE in "Independence Day" so it is especially gratifying to see her playing the president in Galactica. In fact, in "Independence Day," I was kind of surprised to learn that Will Smith's fiancee was an "exotic dancer" or pole dancer, or whatever. I just find it hard to believe that a nice woman with a cute kid and a middle class lifestyle works in the sex industry. Oh, and she's engaged to a hot shot air force pilot who thinks her chosen profession is a good way to save for the down payment on a house. As if. And nursing the president's stoic, dying wife? Hello, I think not. I guess I am not good at thinking outside the box.

On the other hand - a woman president who used to be secretary of education? Now that's thinking outside the box.

Mary McDonnell has given Roslin some subtle trademark gestures that indicate her internal thought processes. If she is seriously considering making a decision, she nods her head and thoughtfully says, "ok." If she is caught out in a lie or backed into a corner, she compresses her lips slightly and says nothing. (Take a look at "Precipice." When she is in detention and Baltar confronts her about the suicide bombings, challenging her to say she agrees with the tactic, she looks off to the side and is completely silent. A subsequent scene with Tigh and Anders makes it clear that she agrees wit Baltar, but she can't bear to give Baltar the satisfaction of being right.)

She is a serious, rational, and politically adept woman. When she comes to believe in her role in a religious prophecy, we take her seriously instead of thinking that she suffers from some messianic delusion. In fact, she doesn't even know that much about the scriptures, stories, and myths of her own religion. As she learns more, we learn more with her - an effective device for conveying information to the viewer without being obvious. (Robert Altman does the same thing in "Gosford Park," btw, with the character of Mary, the newest servant.)

Roslin is not afraid to make tough choices, as when she gives the go-ahead to abandon ships without FTL drives knowing they will be destroyed by the Cylons (miniseries), or for concurring with Adama in the Decision to shoot down the Olympic Carrier ("33"). She makes promises she has no intention of keeping (she throws Leoben out the airlock after promising that she wouldn't kill him if he gave her information - "Flesh and Bone"). She breaks the agreement with the Cylons and has D'Anna brought to her first ("The Hub). She lies to everyone about Sharon's baby, creating unnecessary heartache and potentially endangering the child and the fleet.

She is also dictatorial - after all, she started out as a school teacher. Were YOU ever in a classroom that was run like a democracy? She resists the demands by Apollo and Tom Zarek to hold elections (as Colonial Law would require), and, as she gets closer to death in season 4, she becomes increasingly impatient with anyone who doesn't agree with her decisions.

All of the facets make her a fascinating character, and one who is decidedly human. She is primarily positive (she is an outstanding leader, she is mostly honest, she is completely dedicated to preserving the human race), and yet she ha some negative characteristics, including a few that completely contradict her good points.

Unlike many of the characters, the president very seldom raises her voice, or has big, loud, emotional moments involving being noisily indignant (unlike a certain CAG I could name). She is consistently true to character, which makes her even more convincing. In the course of the entire series she only raises her voice twice. The first is when she yells at corporal Venner to let her out of the cell after the Cylons have boarded ("Valley of Darkness"). The second is when she races through Galactica screaming at Baltar ("Taking a Break from all your Worries") and threatening to throw him out  an airlock. This second example was all an act, designed to get Baltar to get information out of Baltar, so I am not sure that it counts.

Roslin is never maudlin, which is also true to character. After Billy dies (btw, not to digress, but what genius decided not to give this character an adult name? For God's sake he is the president's chief of staff. They might as well name him Jimmy Olsen.), she is sitting by the body, and she reaches out and straightens his hair, and then makes a small whimpering sound ("Sacrifice"). I think she that she makes the scene more powerful by deliberately choosing to underplay it.

Roslin is probably going to die soon (at least I hope so. Not because I want her to die, but because any other outcome would be cheating). This is the second time she has been down this road, and both times she is very courageous but also very frightened. Discussions about mortality and death are intrinsic to the nature of life on Galactica because the enemy can't die (at least not until the end of Season 4). Roslin's impending death adds depth to this theme because we viewers are so invested in the character by the end of Season 4. Natalie gives a very moving talk on this subject ("Guess What's Coming to Dinner"). While she is speaking to the quorum about mortality giving life meaning, the camera switches to Roslin in her wig, looking haggard and ill. She has led the fleet to Earth, but I don't think she is going to be there long. The journey, however, has imbued her life with meaning, and she will live on as a great leader in her people's history.

Who am I?

I am in late middle age and I have 3 kids and a husband. I have a full-time job in New York City, and it takes about 35 minutes by train for me to travel from my home to Penn Station. I have been writing most of my blog on the train, which means that I cart around two laptops (home and work) during the 30-minute walk part of my commute. I am in a state of total exhaustion all the time, which means that you, dear reader, should be very appreciative of all that I do to bestow upon you my profound (and witty) insights about Battlestar Galactica.

It's sad, really, that I am spending what little free time I have exorcising my obsession with a television show that appears on the SciFi Channel. I could, after all, be writing about the effect of existentialist philosophy on late 20th century American literature, but there you go. This is my blog and I get to say what I want.

My daughter is in fifth grade and she is very very smart. She also likes Battlestar Galactica. (She does, however, hide under a pillow and say "yuck" during anything that remotely resembles a sexual encounter, even if it is just a kiss. Alas, I fear that this will come to an end in about 2-3 years). I think, though, that her all-time favorite shows are Dr. Who and Zoe 101. Go figure.

My sons are almost two years younger (they are twins, in case you can't figure that out). They are identical, meaning that they are essentially genetic clones (13th Cylon model, maybe?). They both have autism, and I do not mean they talk all the time about, say, the Civil War, until the person listening just wants to kill them. You know, geeky guys with long hair and really bad taste in clothes, the really smart kids who attend MIT or Cal Tech and go out on their first date when they are 45 (if at all).

They have the really-messed-up-brain autism. They can't talk and can't read or write, although we have made huge progress in getting them to dress themselves and eat at the table using spoons and forks. We are also working to teach them how to watch tv (bet you never heard that one). Their favorite activities are running around screaming while rubbing a piece of string (and then sometimes eating the string), or running around banging two items together. Lately this has been two spoons, although in the past it has been any two objects that come to hand (including two crystal candlesticks which, of course, shattered). When they are upset they tend to bang their heads on any hard surface they can find, including windows, walls, floors, me, etc. They will do this in the house and outside, which tends to upset people if we are, say, in a diner, at Home Deport, or in the grocery store.

I do not believe that autism is cased by vaccines, and if YOU think so, please keep your thoughts to yourself. I also do not believe that (a) God gives special kids to special people, (b) before they are born, babies pick their parents and our kids chose us because they knew we would be such great parents, (c) God gives us disabled children so that we can be better people, (d) God gives people horrible situations as punishment for being bad, or (e) autism happens because parents (especially moms) withhold love from their children (THE most popular theory, btw, until sometime in the late '70's). 

I believe that we have had incredibly bad luck and it just happened. I try not to take it personally. I believe that all children are entitled to unconditional love from their parents, although there are many times when I don't like my children that much. My kids are incredibly good-looking, btw, and that certainly makes it easier to love them (which may not be admirable on my part, but is the truth). They are also very sweet and very affectionate.

I think I am suffering from something I call "The Purple Rose of Cairo" syndrome. In case you don't remember, "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is a Woody Allen movie set in the Great Depression, and the main character is a woman whose life is so shitty that she watches the same film over and over again as a means of escape. I am also not a huge science fiction fan, although I loved the original Star Trek series (I was like 8 at the time) and "The Next Generation." "Deep Space Nine" was pretty good until the last year or so, when I got lost in all the geopolitical machinations. "Voyager" was often, but not always interesting, and I never saw the prequel series. I like all the even-numbered Star Trek films. I don't read science fiction at all, but I like speculative movies and fiction a lot.

In this blog I will be devoting some posts about individual characters. I will also be providing a show-by-show analysis of my observations on the plot, themes, and characters. I will not be provding a synopsis of each show, if you want that go to Battlestar Galactica on the SciFi channel web site. There will be spoilers, so if you haven't seen the entire series you may want to stop right here.

I have not listened to all the podcasts, and I am going to hold off listening to the rest of them since I don't want to be unduly influenced by their content (it feels a little like cheating).

(I also really like parentheses, in case you couldn't tell.)

Enough about me, let us join Battlestar Galactica's quest for Earth.

Why Battlestar Galactica

What makes us human

A big part of Battlestar Galactica is about what makes us human. It's a compelling theme and one that is common to a lot of science fiction. Take a look at Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Mechanical Sheep" or the film version, "Bladerunner," directed by Ridley Scott. (I might add, btw, that I have never been able to actually read a book by Philip K. Dick, although I have tried on several occasions.)

All of the Star Trek shows touch on this topic with at least one character. My favorite is Commander Data from "The Next Generation," who is a mechanical man, but is self-aware and strives to experience human emotions. Data is also a highly moral person, something appears to be programmed into him. The critical question, of course, is how much of him is programmed and how much is something else, whatever that may be.

Karel Capek, a Czech playwright, coined the term "robot" in his 1920 classic "RUR." The essential plot line is the creation of robots that look like people and serve as slaves. They are lacking in affect and obedient, even if obedience means self-destruction.

Eventually the robots rise up in rebellion against their creators (hey, wait a minute, does this sound familiar?) and destroy all of humanity except one person. In doing so, they kill the people who created them, thereby losing any hopes of achieving reproduction and extending their existence to future generations. The last man alive is ordered to solve this problem, but doesn't have the knowledge. At the end of the play he observes a male and female robot (he calls them "Adam" and "Eve") develop an emotional relationship (love), as exemplified by their willingness to sacrifice themselves on behalf of the other person.

I only read this play a couple of days ago, as "homework" for this post. It is really amazing. The story is original and brilliant and the plot and dailogues are wonderfully expressive of the underlying concepts. I suspect that it was an inspiration to Ronald Moore, although its influence on many later science fiction classics is obvious. (BTW, in RUR the robots are not mechanical but based on organic matter that is somehow manipulated to produce beings that IMHO act quite autistic.)

RUR and Battlestar Galactica both examine what distinguishes these man-made creatures from their creators, and their struggle to be more human. For many of the Cylons it is the ability to feel love. (D'Anna holds Hera in her arms and feels true love for the first time, as predicted by the oracle. "Exodus, Part1") Like the robots in RUR the Cylons also strive to reproduce ("The Farm"). In fact, despite their ability to resurrect, the Cylons spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make babies.

Of course, this opens a whole can of worms. Are Cylons programmed to feel any emotions? Well, yeah, I guess. My impression is that they do, certainly Athena seems to have an emotional life. If they can feel other emotions, why is love alien to them, something they strive to feel, but only a few can achieve. There is a poignant conversation between a Six and a Doral on Caprica ("Tigh me up, Tigh me down") as they talk about Sharon's love for Helo and her escape with him. Doral asks Six if she envies Sharon's intensity of feeling for Helo. She says no, but her facial expression says otherwise.

The big question is WHY do the Cylons want to feel love. HOW do they comprehend it sufficiently so that they even know what it is? HOW did they decide that they wanted to feel love? And of course, who the hell created the Cylons? It can't just be humans, where did the Cylon concept of God come from? Who are the final five, and WHY aren't the other seven models allowed to talk about them. How did the final five get to earth when no one else seems to be able to find it? Is there really a higher power at work here?

I will be really interested in seeing how this all plays out in the last season, because I frankly think that the creators/writers have dug themselves into a hole, and I am not so sure they are going to be able to pull themselves out.

One last thought, contemporary medicine is finding out more and more about the brain, so for us humans, some of these questions are increasingly relevant. (I recommend taking a look at a "An Anthropologist on Mars" by Oliver Sacks.) The physiology of the brain, our genetic make up - how does all this determine who we are? Does it determine our soul (whatever that is)? Our emotional responses? Questions about the Cylons seem to be related to questions about who and what we are, and how our physiology determines this, rather than our soul (whatever that is).