Cylon Says: BSG – Daybreak Part Two
By Lisa Fary
Which came first: Bob Dylan or “All Along the Watchtower”?
We can’t have aliens, but we can have angels and intelligent design? Gotcha.
No. Sorry. Don’t gotcha.
I totally reject the theory of intelligent design. It has no place in our science classes and has no place in my science fiction (because that’s what BSG is, you know. Science fiction). Adding a little “150,000 years later” tag doesn’t change the fact that BSG is talking about intelligent design, and with the subtlety of a meat tenderizer to the head.
If you believe in intelligent design, sorry. I don’t agree with you, and I’d better not hear you propping BSG up as some sort of evidence that it should be taught in public schools. I will picket you.
I also don’t accept Luddites. It’s the natural state of humans to create and to build. We started with simple tools and have worked our way up to the iPhone and G1, which are just as much a part of human evolution as they are a part of technological advancement. Throwing all of that away isn’t going to reboot the species.
Yeah. I’m talking to you, Apollo.
Apollo? What the hell? He’s been all about politics and the voice of the people this whole time and then he makes a decree like this: “We shall throw our ships into the sun and all go camping! Forever!”
If I were thrown into the wild with nothing but a bag and the clothes I was wearing, I would have no idea what to do. I don’t know how to hunt. I don’t know how to make a fire that doesn’t involve a lighter or dinner. I’d be dead in three days. And Apollo wants to throw me out there with the hopes that I’ll have a party with the natives?
Speaking of which, while I noticed the addition of a couple of black red shirts, I cringed at the implications of the technologically advanced white race landing in Africa and intermingling with a pre-verbal society. Maybe that cultural algebra is the reason why RDM and friends chose to have the ragtag fleet spread out and throw their tech into the sun.
Although, it might have been awesome if the fleet arrived and it was 1980. Or if the fleet landed in the Jurassic era and there were dinosaurs!
It would be just as believable as Starbuck being an angel and vanishing.
Is it just me, or was Apollo way too mellow about that? He saw that she was gone and said,
“You’ll be remembered. I shall wrangle this planet’s coffee and name it for you.”
Really? Sure, Apollo has seen a lot, but vanishing people? In a culture that doesn’t include transporter technology? He was pretty nonchalant about Starbuck’s disappearance. About as nonchalant as he was toward Dualla’s suicide.
Heey. . . .
I think Apollo might have some emotional issues.
But, no. I’m supposed to buy Starbuck as an angel. Not the harbinger of death. Not an alien. Not a Being of Light. Not a bastard human-Cylon hybrid. An angel. Presumably of God.
Here’s the thing: I can buy angels in something like Supernatural. A precedent has already been set for that. There have been demons in that mythology for years, so despite whatever Ben Englund may have said, the existence of demons in Supernatural makes it easier to accept the existence of angels.
In a mythos which has consistently pushed man and machine and the non-existence of life other than man and machine, it’s kinda hard to accept angels.
Now that I’ve addressed these annoying aspects, let’s look at the episode itself. Did RDM and friends learn nothing from Return of the King? “Daybreak 2” had like sixteen endings and all that was missing was a homoerotic bed-jumping scene.
Ending with the abandoned fleet flying into the sun would have been appropriate. Ending with Admiral Adama by Roslin’s grave would have been appropriate. Ending with the remaining colonists marching into the wilds would have been appropriate.
But, no. We had to end with In-Head-Six and In-Head-Baltar looking over RDM’s shoulder as he looked at a copy of National Geographic, talking about how similar to the colonies this civilization has become.
First, I love my G1, OK? Unless, of course, my G1 becomes self-aware and kills me in my sleep. Considering mine is a first generation G1, I don’t think that’s on the horizon this year.
Second, what the hell, RDM? When did you become M. Night Shyamalan?
Lastly, if no one could see In-Head-Six and In-Head-Baltar other than Baltar and Caprica Six, why are they floating around New York like the angels in Wings of Desire, commentating on humanity? Are you saying that Baltar’s in-head Six was an angel all this time? If so, why wasn’t Starbuck with them? She was an angel. You guys said so.
And another thing! Isn’t anyone worried about Hera being non-verbal? A child that age should, at the very least, be speaking phrases, if not complete sentences by now. I’m really uncomfortable with that being the ancestor of humanity.
There was one thing about “Daybreak Part 2” that I thought was well done and brought tears to my eyes: Admiral Adama and Laura Roslin. Their story is the only one I felt got its due and showed our capacity for love. I will have more to say about that, and the rest, after I’ve digested this further.
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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.
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"You'll be remembered. I shall wrangle this planet's coffee and name it for you."
This is totally my Facebook tag line for the day! We were making this joke all weekend.
Yeah, I don't buy it. You can have angels when you don't invent them two minutes from the end of your series. The first we heard that Baltar and Caprica weren't the only crazies seeing invisible people was when they shoe-horned in a mention of them through future-hybrid!Sam. It's also a total slap in the face that Starbuck is one of these angels. That means we never got her back and that the last she ever existed was as a troubled, strung-out, suicidal woman who flew into a space vortex. Also, apparently angels can forget who they are. Again, that works on Supernatural, but not on this show.
I also don't buy, after this long battle to finally integrate with Cylons–themselves advanced machines–that technology is the reason there were problems. The reason there were problems was that people behaved irresponsibly and immorally with regards to individual, conscious beings. If humanity hadn't enslaved their technology that could think, none of this would happen. The moral SHOULD have been about that. But no–despite the grievous insult to the Cylons implied by Apollo's loathing of technology–it's all about how computers kill. I'm reminded of a saying: Guns don't kill; people do. I think that's true whether you're shooting bullets or genocidal robots.
And I am relieved that I wasn't the only one who groaned aloud at the Angels going "He doesn't like to be called God" after staring over Ron Moore's shoulder in that coda. Yes, RDM, we know you like to THINK you're God. Leave it at home, please.
You do raise a lot of good points.
But I'm just going to enjoy it anyway because my Baltar got his redemption,. and he and Six got together, which was all I really wanted. 
Bonus that Helo lived. And while I don't believe in intelligent design either (well, not in the Christian variant), I take a certain delight in the concept that (in this series) the evolution of the species seems to be some sort of game Deity is playing with itself, over and over and over. XD In fact, that leans more towards my actual believe about life, the universe, and everything: that "God" is not a perfect being, not something that cares about us one way or another, not moral, that s/he's just as messed up as the rest of us, and making it all up as it goes along — or even just rolling the dice and seeing what comes up randomly. Kind of like RDM's approach to writing. ;D (cont)
(cont) I think that's very in keeping with a Sci-Fi look at spirituality, and it seemes to be that questions of spirituality have always been a part of the show. And it appeals to my life as an artist/writer — I end up writing and rewriting or sketching and resketchuing, only with the best of my work usually ending up being happy accidents, and mye never being fully satisfied. My works kind of take on a life of their own, half my direction and half their own initiative. XD
I am bummed about Starbuck, though
But then, didn't they "kill" Starbuck in the original series? And in the second series, the end of the ep that was spposed to be about Starbuck's life after he went "missing", I seem to recall it being questionable as to whether or not the stpry was true. I'd rather have this end for the character, her leading her people home and then going to be with Anders on the others side — even if I would have preferred she be with Lee, she & Anders were good together too — than her being seperated from her firends/loved ones the way Benedicts's Starbuck was and lived a whole life without them, or else have died a death that ultimately did little good.
“You’ll be remembered. I shall wrangle this planet’s coffee and name it for you.”
ROFL!!!!! XD
I agree with you — the Adama/Roslin plot was the only one that got its due. I don't know WHAT to think about Starbuck except "Gee, THAT wasn't resolved enough for me." …and I can't help questioniong what In-Head-Baltar's little "You know he doesn't like to be called that" comment was when Six mentioned God.
I'm no closer to figuring them out when I started the show, really.
Adama/Roslin plot made me cry! I'm glad its over but I will miss it. Now my fridays are open again
"Apollo? What the hell? He’s been all about politics and the voice of the people this whole time and then he makes a decree like this: “We shall throw our ships into the sun and all go camping! Forever!”"
I didn't have a problem with that. After everything these last remaining human beings have been through, I think they'd be perfectly happy to just sit in one place for 5 minutes in a truly green place and not have to run anymore. Also, I don't think they abandoned all their technology. After all, Tyrol was going to Iceland/Greenland/Antarctica after having scanned the planet for it, and I doubt he was going to walk. Somehow, they're dividing up land and traveling around….they're using technology to do it. They got rid of their big ships, that doesn't mean they got rid of their technology or knowing how to recreate it on their planet. They didn't just suddenly get stupid. I saw the ships going into the sun as a final stamp on the fact that they are home and here to stay. They don't need their spaceships anymore, because they're no longer on the run. They've found their place. I liked that.
"In a mythos which has consistently pushed man and machine and the non-existence of life other than man and machine, it’s kinda hard to accept angels."
Head Six has been calling herself an angel and an instrument of God for much of the show. She's been talking about God since the first episode. Just because you didn't believe her doesn't mean it hasn't been set up. The mythos of this world has prophecies that come true. Why are angels so hard to accept?
"I cringed at the implications of the technologically advanced white race landing in Africa and intermingling with a pre-verbal society."
I cringed at this, too. Mostly because they ASSUMED they were pre-verbal. I was like "Um, have you actually tried to TALK to them? And do you assume they speak ENGLISH?"
"If so, why wasn’t Starbuck with them? She was an angel. You guys said so."
She was only an angel after she left the fleet. And Head Six and Head Baltar clearly had an established relationship throughout. Just because Starbuck's also an angel doesn't mean she's going to pal around with them. All angels don't necessarily know each other!
If they HAD included her with them at the end, I would've been suspicious of that. She was clearly on her own path and had her own mission. Would you rather have seen an angel assignment scene, where all the angels are sitting around in uniforms getting their jobs for the day?
"Is it just me, or was Apollo way too mellow about that?"
He was mellow about it, because it was a part of their world, and now – after all the prophecies have come true – he wasn't surprised by it anymore. He knew Kara was SOMETHING, and now this clinched it. He was finally able to let go of her. After all the bullshit in their relationship, he was finally able to accept that, not only could he not have her, but he was never supposed to. His acceptance of all that made sense to me after all he's been through. It was a really Zen moment I appreciated.
"And another thing! Isn’t anyone worried about Hera being non-verbal?"
I am. I've been joking about that for the entire season.
And I actually thought the last bit with the robots was great. I really did. A nice injection of humor into a show that took itself very seriously. It was the entire series finally letting off steam, and I had no problem with it.
"Would you rather have seen an angel assignment scene, where all the angels are sitting around in uniforms getting their jobs for the day?"
No. I'd rather see tight storytelling. Starbuck entering the picture with Six and Baltar 150,000 years later, not even necessarily interacting with them, may have solidified her angelic nature and given her some closure. Pop her in the background interacting with humans – we'd know she was there doing angelic work and her stint with the Galactica would have been more believable because we see that this was just one of probably many missions. The writers have consistently missed small things like that this season, things that could have made all the difference and made me feel like they care.
Can someone explain to me what this article says? It is totally incomprehensible.
And please, start with the intelligent design argument. I have no idea where that came from.
"If so, why wasn’t Starbuck with them? She was an angel. You guys said so."
The "angels" appeared as visions to certain characters. Resurrected Starbuck was actually not an "angel." At least not like Head Six, Head Baltar or Starbuck's visions of her dad and Leoben. Some characters may have called her an "angel" but she wasn't like the others. RDM has said as much in a recent interview with TV Guide:
TVGuide.com: What exactly is Kara at the end of the series? An angel?
Moore: I think Kara remains an ambiguous figure. Kara lived a mortal life, died and was resurrected to get them to their final destiny. Clearly she was a key player in the events that led to [the fleet's] finding a home. And, I don't know if there's any more to it beyond that. I think you could call her an angel, you could call her a demon, the second coming or the first coming, I guess, chronologically speaking. You can say that she had a certain messiah-like quality, in the classic resurrection story. There's a lot of different ways you can look at it, but the more we talked about it, the more we realized there was more in the ambiguity and mystery of it than there was in trying to give it more definition in the end.
TVGuide.com: So she is completely different than the hallucination/visions of Baltar and Six?
Moore: Yes, Kara was physically among us. Everybody saw her. She was tactile, she flew a viper, she was around. She was with us. And yet, there was a body that died on the original Earth, and Baltar did the DNA analysis and it was her body, so she was literally brought back from the dead by something — by some higher power or other power, and she came back to serve a function.
Here is the full interview: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Battlestar-Galacticas...
She was truly a human brought back, in some way, from the dead.
"I cringed at the implications of the technologically advanced white race landing in Africa and intermingling with a pre-verbal society."
Actually, as Hera's destiny is revealed to be that of her being the Mitochondrial Eve, all current humans trace their Mitochondrial DNA back to her. She is essentially the "mother" of humanity here on Earth. Who she "intermingled" with isn't revealed. So we don't know who the Y-chromosomal Adam was. (And does it really matter?)
Technically, Y-chromosomal Adam may have had nothing to do with the humans that were already on Earth. But I would guess that it was because what would've been the point of showing the aboriginal humans and pointing out that they were capable of "intermingling" with the Colonial humans, and presumably Cylons?
But the point was that it was Hera that was the common "mother" of humanity here on our Earth. And she was a half-human/half-Cylon (non-white) child. If you want to get technical.
mmmmmm………….homoerotic bed-jumping scene
sorry, what?