BSG
by John Walker on Jan.17, 2009, under Television
No spoilers, promise. Just watched the first episode of the final 10, and it’s important to note, for the record, that Kim and Nick have come up with what must surely be the correct theory that explains the entire show.
Just making the note here now to prove that they’re geniuses later. And to make sure, here’s a cryptic statement – I don’t believe you could possibly take anything from it, but don’t click below if you’re dedicated:
13×2 = 13×2
January 17th, 2009 on 05:05
I love this show.
January 17th, 2009 on 08:15
I really need to get my arse in gear and watch the last few episodes of S4. On top of all the other TV I need to catch up on.
Oh, for more hours in the day.
January 17th, 2009 on 10:59
Hooray for BSG!
January 17th, 2009 on 19:00
Oooh, BSG theorizing. I’m still digesting yesterday’s episode, but wouldn’t mind hearing some surely correct theories. The fact that I can actually come up with some guesses as to what 13×2=13×2 could mean probably indicates that I spend too much time thinking about the show already.
January 18th, 2009 on 00:26
Let’s put down theories here. Spoilers below, people!
I don’t explain this well, but the theory that Kim and Nick came up with is that the Humans are creating the religion they follow. So if Roslyn = Pithia – the dying ruler who leads them to the promised land, etc, then everything else slots in. The Humans will now split into 12 tribes, occupy 12 planets around Earth, and Earth becomes the new Cobol. Dean Stockwell’s Cylons occupy Earth, and the whole thing starts over. Something like that.
However, there are some fairly huge questions asked by the Final 5’s memories of Earth. If they were alive 2000 years ago, then they pre-date the invention of the Cylons. Which is problematic. You have to assume the Humans didn’t create Cylons. So… what then?
If the theory that the Humans are creating their own religion by following it is correct, then it asks a much bigger question about reality – are they the creation of a god who keeps them in this eternal holding pattern, switching back and forth between two sets of thirteen planets?
January 18th, 2009 on 09:13
I hope that’s not right – an endless loop like that is a lazy way of ending the show. They may as well just have someone wake up and for it all to be a dream. A loop would be a [the pointless ruining of the ending of a series of books]). That’s not a good thing.
January 19th, 2009 on 05:15
I think there must be something going on like that, there’s clearly something cyclical happening and being hinted at. A lot. I caught this link from the battlestar wiki (an excellent reference, if you can bring yourself to visit it). I think it’s related to what you (or Kim and Nick) are getting at, and gives it some perspective.
are they the creation of a god who keeps them in this eternal holding pattern
I think this is the key question. Who are the behind the scenes players? Who are the Lords of Kobol, who is the cylon God? Or is someone or something else directing things? Lots of characters see these ‘virtual beings’, or whatever you call them, and they all seem to be directing events to a certain goal. And of course there’s all this other stuff, like the 5 final cylons turning on, the beacon signal to Earth, etc. Who’s doing all this? Why? One big thing I’ve been trying to figure out is is it just one entity or group directing things, or are there 2 groups acting in opposition?
In the original (1978) BSG series there were similar ‘virtual beings’ called ‘beings of light’, who could selectively allow themselves to be seen by just one or a few people, directing them to do certain things. And there was also one fallen (bad) member of their ‘race’ who was acting in opposition to them, with different goals. In that series I think it was basically a religious parable for Angels and Satan. (Glen Larson being a Mormon, and putting lots of Mormon references in the show.)
Hmm, I think I could go on all day about this stuff. Anyway, more to the present point, yeah Earth being populated by Cylons is a toughy to explain. My best guess at the moment is that we are Cylons. I mean the ‘humans’ in the show may be a variant in the way their ‘cylons’ are to them, or the cylon-human hybrid (the baby) is. I mean ‘we’ (us here on earth) created them, they rebelled, nuked the planet, adopted the new vocabulary, flipping what we call human and cylon. Make sense? I mean Kara seems human, and also seems to have been put in a new body the way the cylons can, and several humans see these virtual beings, and Baltar seems to be able to project like the cylons. Are there really any significant differences? In the show they have a very hard time telling humans and cylons apart. (what is it really that makes cylons machines anyway?) I mean they tested the bones to verify that the remains on Earth were cylon, not searched for microchip brain implants or something.
One last thing to note at the moment, if Earth was nuked 2000 years ago, that’s the same time as the 12 tribes exodus from Kobol. Could there be a connection? Could possibly fit in with my theory above, in various convoluted ways. Hmmmm….
January 19th, 2009 on 05:18
Cripes, that didn’t look so long when I typed it up in Word. Believe me, I was actually trying to be brief.
January 19th, 2009 on 14:01
@ Pace: I think the clue there was “typed it up in Word”!
@ botherer: I like the argument, but I thought you meant there were 26 Cylons, yoiks.
Plus: if Starbuck isn’t the last Cylon, but did die, does that mean she is a new Cylon, or something or what?
January 20th, 2009 on 18:27
I often use notepad (I can’t stand these little comment boxes), but sometimes a post is just too fabulous for notepad.
As I was getting at above, my best guess at the moment would be that just because Starbuck seems to have been put in a new body doesn’t mean she isn’t human. Various other humans seem to have had cylon-like experiences (mainly all these visions), so I think we’ll come to see that humans and cylons may have similar capabilities. (Neither humans nor cylons seem to really understand their own origins.)
January 22nd, 2009 on 23:56
I’ve only seen a smattering of S4 but am very much looking forward to the conclussion. On that note, I just thought I’d mention my favourite theory from the BSG Wiki:
The final cyclon model is Adama’s ‘stache. We’ve seen it killed onscreen only to keep re appearing later… COINCIDENCE?