Random Thoughts About BSG
Feb. 12th, 2009 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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synecdochic's monumental Stargate Atlantis fic "Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose", she breaks a lot of the rules. She goes over and above the term "post-series", greatly surpasses the idea of "future fic" and even strays into that murky place called 'shipping...all while staying absolutely true to everything the show was about. It's a brilliant piece that has a lot of insightful lines that sort of stick with you.
As I randomly go through old episodes of Battlestar Galactica (The Hand of God, The Pegasus Arc, The Exodus Arc) and think about what's happened more recently, one line in particular is running through my head. In the fic, Rodney is teaching an ethics class where he routinely takes apart his students, and forces them to realize that one day, as physicists in the Gateverse, they might be in a position where their decision will affect the lives of those around. I forget the exact beginning of the line, but the end is "and that 'never' is just another word for 'until'."
I think of this line and BSG not in terms of who you are willing to kill, but in terms of who you are willing to forgive.
The Cylons? Yeah, I'm a hater. I have no pity for them. I hate it when they whine about bad things that humans do to them. Because really. But what started with Gina has come full circle with LEOBEN, of all people, and now it's murky.
Because when they were "Cylons", it was easy to hate them. But now they've got names and if we kill them they won't just come back and, weirdly, I am starting to forget that the whole thing started with Caprica Six snapping a baby's neck and then blowing up the planet. It used to feel like a game with her, that she was just messing the Baltar or humouring Boomer, but now she feels a lot more solid, somehow.
Leoben was the one I held on to hating the longest. What he did to Laura? To Kara? Back when he had crazy eyes? I can't stand people who are convinced of their own right (which is a lot of why I hate the Cylons, I think. If nothing else, Adama's always been a doubter), but all of a sudden he's all...nice. And it's CREEPY. Because I totally thought he was just in it for Kara, but now he's moved past that and it's sort of awesome.
Jacob said waaaaay long ago that the Cylons had won the war as soon as Athena got pregnant. That as soon as you interbreed, replace without (much) violence, it's over. I sort of didn't agree with him then, and I still don't entirely now, but it's a valid point.
(For the record, I still have Cavill and D'Anna. And I will never stop hating them. Until.)
+++
Until I metbeccatoria in real life, I had no idea that there were people who felt that way about Bill Adama. I mean...sure, I knew that there had to be people who didn't love him, but I had no idea there were people out there who HATE him.
I don't, let me assure you, I am only occasionally annoyed by him (which is more than a lot of them can say), but it's made me think.
Adama is old. Old and broken and screwed up...and that was before the Cylons attacked. His people loved him, then, called him "The Old Man", because he was, and they all knew that someday he'd be replaced by someone like Helena Cain, and then all the fun would be over. He talked to everyone (he talks to Cally a lot in the early seasons, you know), and made connections that other commanders wouldn't...because he knew he was leaving and there was *just* enough room inside the chain of command to be friendly, without actually having a Real Family (which he had already screwed up).
And then the world ended.
And he wanted to fight, because that is what he knew. That is what he did last time. But Laura looked at Billy and Dee and decided that they should have babies instead, and he agreed with her. But I think he thought they were all going to die.
Adama's great failure is that he keeps living. If he would just DIE already, then he'd be a hero. One of the saviours of the human race. But he DOESN'T DO IT, and so he just gets older and older, and more and more alone.
When they found New Caprica, Adama made a mistake. He relaxed. He listened to Laura for a fraction of a second too long, and thought that they really would be safe. He let Tyrol and Cally muster out. He tried to be everyone's friend. And everyone paid for it. That is not him being self-centred...that is what happened.
I like that we got to see that in "Unfinished Business". Yes, the boxing metaphor is crude, but it gets the point across. Tyrol wasn't the whole problem, obviously, but he was the beachhead, and I appreciated the effort.
Adama realizes his mistake, and snaps back into The Commander with a somewhat excess of force (I speak here of his "cancer" discussion with Kara...which was EXACTLY WHAT SHE NEEDED though not at all from him). He wants to be The Old Man so badly, but now he knows he can't and it's killing him.
Except he just won't die.
+++
WHY THE HELL does no one ever remember that Anders has led TWO successful rebellions against the Cylons? I suppose most of the crew is still used to thinking of the Cylons as a single entity, but I don't understand why The Final Four didn't hold a seminar or something as soon as their secret got blown.
+++
I was going to say something about Baltar, but I forget what it was...
synecdochic's monumental Stargate Atlantis fic "Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose", she breaks a lot of the rules. She goes over and above the term "post-series", greatly surpasses the idea of "future fic" and even strays into that murky place called 'shipping...all while staying absolutely true to everything the show was about. It's a brilliant piece that has a lot of insightful lines that sort of stick with you.As I randomly go through old episodes of Battlestar Galactica (The Hand of God, The Pegasus Arc, The Exodus Arc) and think about what's happened more recently, one line in particular is running through my head. In the fic, Rodney is teaching an ethics class where he routinely takes apart his students, and forces them to realize that one day, as physicists in the Gateverse, they might be in a position where their decision will affect the lives of those around. I forget the exact beginning of the line, but the end is "and that 'never' is just another word for 'until'."
I think of this line and BSG not in terms of who you are willing to kill, but in terms of who you are willing to forgive.
The Cylons? Yeah, I'm a hater. I have no pity for them. I hate it when they whine about bad things that humans do to them. Because really. But what started with Gina has come full circle with LEOBEN, of all people, and now it's murky.
Because when they were "Cylons", it was easy to hate them. But now they've got names and if we kill them they won't just come back and, weirdly, I am starting to forget that the whole thing started with Caprica Six snapping a baby's neck and then blowing up the planet. It used to feel like a game with her, that she was just messing the Baltar or humouring Boomer, but now she feels a lot more solid, somehow.
Leoben was the one I held on to hating the longest. What he did to Laura? To Kara? Back when he had crazy eyes? I can't stand people who are convinced of their own right (which is a lot of why I hate the Cylons, I think. If nothing else, Adama's always been a doubter), but all of a sudden he's all...nice. And it's CREEPY. Because I totally thought he was just in it for Kara, but now he's moved past that and it's sort of awesome.
Jacob said waaaaay long ago that the Cylons had won the war as soon as Athena got pregnant. That as soon as you interbreed, replace without (much) violence, it's over. I sort of didn't agree with him then, and I still don't entirely now, but it's a valid point.
(For the record, I still have Cavill and D'Anna. And I will never stop hating them. Until.)
+++
Until I met
beccatoria in real life, I had no idea that there were people who felt that way about Bill Adama. I mean...sure, I knew that there had to be people who didn't love him, but I had no idea there were people out there who HATE him.I don't, let me assure you, I am only occasionally annoyed by him (which is more than a lot of them can say), but it's made me think.
Adama is old. Old and broken and screwed up...and that was before the Cylons attacked. His people loved him, then, called him "The Old Man", because he was, and they all knew that someday he'd be replaced by someone like Helena Cain, and then all the fun would be over. He talked to everyone (he talks to Cally a lot in the early seasons, you know), and made connections that other commanders wouldn't...because he knew he was leaving and there was *just* enough room inside the chain of command to be friendly, without actually having a Real Family (which he had already screwed up).
And then the world ended.
And he wanted to fight, because that is what he knew. That is what he did last time. But Laura looked at Billy and Dee and decided that they should have babies instead, and he agreed with her. But I think he thought they were all going to die.
Adama's great failure is that he keeps living. If he would just DIE already, then he'd be a hero. One of the saviours of the human race. But he DOESN'T DO IT, and so he just gets older and older, and more and more alone.
When they found New Caprica, Adama made a mistake. He relaxed. He listened to Laura for a fraction of a second too long, and thought that they really would be safe. He let Tyrol and Cally muster out. He tried to be everyone's friend. And everyone paid for it. That is not him being self-centred...that is what happened.
I like that we got to see that in "Unfinished Business". Yes, the boxing metaphor is crude, but it gets the point across. Tyrol wasn't the whole problem, obviously, but he was the beachhead, and I appreciated the effort.
Adama realizes his mistake, and snaps back into The Commander with a somewhat excess of force (I speak here of his "cancer" discussion with Kara...which was EXACTLY WHAT SHE NEEDED though not at all from him). He wants to be The Old Man so badly, but now he knows he can't and it's killing him.
Except he just won't die.
+++
WHY THE HELL does no one ever remember that Anders has led TWO successful rebellions against the Cylons? I suppose most of the crew is still used to thinking of the Cylons as a single entity, but I don't understand why The Final Four didn't hold a seminar or something as soon as their secret got blown.
+++
I was going to say something about Baltar, but I forget what it was...
