Sci Fi Alert

I was so disappointed in last week’s episode, “A Disquiet Follows My Soul,” that I didn’t even feel a need to write about it.  This week’s episode, “The Oath,” is a very different story.  At times, while viewing this episode, I had feelings of tensions, at other times anticipation that things would work out.  But hey, this is Battlestar Galactica, nothing is ever easy.

****SPOILERS***

It was interesting to watch as Gaeta embraced the idea of a revolting against Adama considering how Gaeta has felt about the “old man” in the past.  Hats off to Alessandro Juliani for a beautiful performance.  I have not always been a fan of the Gaeta character, especially following the events of New Caprica when he was accused of being a collaborator.   However, watching his transformation into a revolutionary capable of murdering the president was simply beautiful acting and excellent acting. In fact, this entire episode was filled with excellent acting.

This was also a very thought-provoking episode.  One the one hand, who wouldn’t feel the same way the rebels feel.  Even those who aren’t rebelling also feel the Cylon alliance is a bad idea.  Who could blame them.  these are the people — machines? — who destroyed their way of life.  Now Roslin and Adama want to ally themselves with the “enemy”?  Moreover, they don’t even want to hear the rational objections.  This was bound to happen.

On the other hand, is the way in which they are going about this revolution the right way?  Cylons are being rounded up and threatened with torture and rape.  Senior officers are arrested.  Marines attempt to assassinate the Admiral.  Men and women who took oaths to follow the orders of their Admiral and protect the president have become just like the terrorists who destroyed their lives.

Like I said, thought-provoking.

Now, it’s on to next week where I hope we’ll see a conclusion to this revolution.  The preview insinuates Adama has been killed, but I doubt that will happen.  However, it’s not as if this series is above killing off a well-liked character.  Personally, if they choose to kill Adama I think it will be a huge mistake.  He needs to take this fleet to a new home.  I guess we’ll see next week in “Blood on the Scales.”

***SPOILERS***SPOILERS***

Wow!  It’s been seven months since Battlestar Galactica last graced the small screen and it came back with a vengenance.  This episode had everything that makes BSG one of the best drama series on television.  Drama, stellar acting from a stellar cast, excellent writing, and beautiful direction.  I mean, I was riveted from the moment this episode began until the final reveal and hour later.

“Sometimes A Great Notion” picks up right where “Revelations” left off.  The colonial suvivors and their new Cylon allies land on what they believe to be Earth only to find a post-nuclear wasteland.

The affect on everyone is rather swift; from elation to depression in 60 seconds. Everyone is hard hit by the discovery of this burned out planet, some more than others.< Dualla in particular seems hardest hit at first, but seems to turn it around as she and Lee grow close again, only to take her life in the end. Roslin, who pinned all her hopes and belief on this planet being Earth, secludes herself away from everyone. At her lowest point, she burns the Prophecies of Pythia, which had been her guiding force since the beginning Mary McDonnell once again gives a fine, Emmy-worthy performance

Dualla’s suicide leads Adama down a dark road and ends with him confronting Saul Tigh about being a Cylon. There was so much raw emotion in those scenes. Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan are simply wonderful to watch. There’s a great dynamic between these two actors that has carried into the characters’ relationship pretty much from the beginning of the series. It was a nice change-up see Tigh as the one who has to pull Adama out of the liquor-induced depression and set him in the path to leadership once again.

Of course, we can’t leave out Starbuck. All during this episode she’s searching for the transmitter that led the fleet to this planet and what she finds is one of the big reveals of this episode. As she and Leoben search the planet, they discover the wreckage of a Colonial viper and later a section of the cockpit. In that cockpit they find a decomposed body wearing Starbuck’s dog tags. This was one hell of scene mostly because of Leoben’s reaction. He’s downright frightened by the prospect that Kara may not be the human he’s been pursuing and falling in love with. Hats off to Callum Keith Rennie for an exceptional performance. At this point, the final Cylon hasn’t been revealed so where left wondering if Kara Thrace is a Cylon.

This leads into the next big reveal: the Cylons discover bodies buried in the sand on the beach that turn out not be human, but human-form Cylons. Some of the final four start having flashbacks at this point, as well. Tyrol has a flashback of shopping in an open market when the city is nuked. Anders finds and old guitar and remembers singing a song to the woman he loved. It’s just like the writers of BSG to hit us with a revelation like this. This planet they call Earth was actually inhabited by human-form Cylons! This brings up a lot more questions I hope will be revealed as the final episodes progress. Are humans the descendants of Cylons? If this “Earth” was destroyed 2,000 years ago how did the final five get to the Twelve Colonies? Is there another? For that last question, I think the answer is yes.

Then, at the very end, we get the big reveal. After talking with D’Anna, Saul Tigh begins flashing back to his own memories of the planet-wide destruction. In that scene we find out Ellen Tigh was the final Cylon. It was an interesting scene because Ellen tells Saul that they’ll meet again; everything’s been set in motion. Could it be that Ellen was a creator of the Cylons? Or worked with some group that created them? Time will tell. Perhaps we’ll meet Ellen Tigh again.

While this episode was great, I did have a few quibbles. One, I thought the Dualla suicide was a wasteful and unnecessary death. It came out of nowhere it really didn’t do the character any justice. Two, Lucy Lawless was completely wasted in this episode. She’s a great actress and D’Anna was one of the more interesting Cylon models. After all she went through to discover the final five and ally the secessionist Cylons with the humans she decides in the end to just stay on the planet and slowly starve to death. Lastly, I thought the choice of Ellen Tigh as the final Cylon was the lazy choice. The writers pretty much revealed that when Saul started seeing her when he was talking with the captured Six.

All in all, this was a shining example of why Battlestar Galactica is one of the greatest drams on television.

UPDATE:  According to Ron Moore, “They have found Earth. This is the Earth that the 13th Colony discovered, they christened it Earth. They found Earth.”  We’ll see.  Wouldn’t be the first time he gave a definitive answer that turned out differently.

I have to admit, the more I hear about Stargate Universe the more I become interested.  Author John Scalzi announced on his blog that he’s been hired as a consultant for the series.  This is an interesting turn of events.  I only recently discovered Scalzi’s books and Old Man’s War is easily one of the best book I discovered last year — about two years after everyone else — and I was engrossed immediately in this universe and military setting.  He writes smart SF that is also entertaining and fun; not an easy thing to do.  His follow-ups to those novels, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony, were equally good. I haven’t yet read Zoe’s Tale, but hope to start it soon.

Scalzi has an interesting take on the military and science fiction that could bring something interesting to Stargate Universe.  Part of the problem I had with Stargate Atlantis is that the people behind the series didn’t put a lot of effort into developing the mythology before airing the series.  It carried through with the cast changes that seemed to be caused by a lack of character development.  Hopefully, Stargate Universe will be different.  Bringing in Scalzi could be a step in the right direction.

Ricardo Montalban passed away today at the age of 88.  He had a career that spanned 60 years and will probably be best known for playing Mr. Rourke on Fantasy Island, but for those us who are fans of Star Trek he will always be known as Khan Noonien Singh, one of the franchise’s most well-known villains.  I love his final minutes in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when he give this over-the-top speech taken from Herman Melville’s, Moby Dick: “To the last, I will grapple with thee… from Hell’s heart, I stab at thee! For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee!”  A fitting analogy since Kirk was Khan’s Moby Dick in ever sense.

***SPOILERS***

After what has been, in my opinion, a very mediocre season Stargate: Atlantis ended on a high note.  The final episode of the weekly series had everything:  space battles, Todd the Friendly Wraith, spaceships fighting in the skies over New Mexico, a Wraith ship orbiting Earth, and the city of Atlantis sitting in San Francisco Bay (which was very reminiscent of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).

The problem with this episode was its length.  Too much was crammed into one hour and some of the cast barely had a scene or two.  Instead of the lame Vegas episode from last week I would have preferred a more expanded episode, even another 30 minutes more would have left room for better space battles and a more fleshed out plot.  Even the defeat of the Wraith seemed too quick.  Also, having the city of Atlantis on Earth is a very interesting idea but it seems a little odd considering what a force the Atlantis expedition is in the Pegasus Galaxy.  It would leave a major power vacuum.  Maybe the movie airing this summer will be Atlantis’ return to the Pegasus Galaxy.
Overall, SGA went out with a bang.  Very worthy of what was, more often than not, a really good series and successor to Stargate SG-1.  Let’s hope Stargate Universe can live up to all our expectations.

I haven’t felt a real need to write much about the recent episodes of Stargate: Atlantis because quite frankly they haven’t really inspired me to do so.  “Vegas” inspires me to write something, but not in good way.  Truth be told, this episode had a lot of potential with an alternative universe where John Shepperd is a broken down Las Vegas police detective instead of Atlantis’ strong leader.  Unfortunately, the hokey homage to CSI and bad script gave him little to work with.  The first 30-40 minutes of this episode were boring and very badly acted — even on the part of Joe Flannigan who I normally like.  From the flashbacks, Vegas night scenes, to the music choices, the thing was like watching a cheesy version or CSI, or what is known as CSI: Miami.  Even the final scene was annoying.

What this episode does do is provide a bridge to the final episode of the series where the Wraith find their way to earth.  That should give us an interesting episode and provide for some great storytelling.  Considering Atlantis will be following in the steps of SG-1 and making a two-hour movie to air later in 2009 something tells me we won’t get much resolution in the final episode.

I have to say I’m a little disappointed in the BBC’s choice of Matt Smith to be the new Doctor.  Paterson Joseph wpould have been a more original and outside-the-box choice.  Maybe Joseph was interested in the role, but if that’s not case it’s a shame the BBC and Who producers went with what could be considered the safe choice.