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.