Battlestar Galactica, Episode 5: "You can't go home again"

c0y0te

OK - so I thought I'd just annoy fenster and get the poll up in advance of the episode tonight, just for the hell of it!!

c0y0te

Peace

It was OK

Nice job on putting the poll up :rolleyes:

c0y0te

It was OK

ROFL

I couldn't resist. I noticed Fenster was posting the poll while the episode was running (and though to myself how could he drag himself away from the TV during the ep???).. .and so I figured I'd save him the anguish this evening and jump the gun:)

Sorry fenster - just a bit of fun.

c0y0te

Nukem

It was great

Stealing his thunder,cheeky

Scruff

It was OK

You all pale in comparison to User45701. The ultiamte poll boy\girl\animal\vegetable\mineral. i'm surprised he hasnt come round here to sort out the competition yet

Fenster

It was great

Bastard!

c0y0te

It was OK

Don't worry fenster, I won't steal your thunder .. you can play away on posting other eps as early as you wish

I just couldn't resist for this week tho! :cool:

c0y0te

Stark

It was crap

The spam is strong in these ones.

Tonight's episode was pretty average tbh. Didn't make me want to claw my eyes out, but fail unsuccesfully because I was bored comatose like Enterprise did, but didn't get my excited either. Very predictable overall. And how the hell is Starbuck supposed to fly an unfamiliar vessel with far from intuitive control mechanisms better than the intelligent ship itself?

Fenster

It was great

Amazing episode, on so many levels:

Cylons using organic technology

Adama losing the rag

The Cylons in the cafe

And so much more.

And also bonus geek points for the moon's conditions (its basically Titan).

Seven fracking days until the next one is the only downer.

secret_squirrel

It was great

Ok just had to dive in and post - fantastic episode. Could have been so corny but the quality of the acting from all involved was superb. Almost found myself cheering at the end!

Only one critism of the episode was the unlikelyness (imo) of there being bits for starbuck to pull on inside a cylon raider.

Apart from that I thought the whole episode was brilliantly scripted and acted. Im loving the fact that the cylons are only really a catalyst for the episodes - it would be nice for some combat soon - but otherwise Im loving the fact that most of the episodes have been about the humans against a hostile universe and circumstances rather than the cylon.

Nice to see a bit of action in the caprica scene this week - wish they spend a bit more time on it just a couple more scenes per ep.

Good to see such quality acting from the whole cast - including starbuck!

This is definately a series about drama and humanity though - its fairly easy to pick holes in the science. They could try and sharpen it up slightly imo - but not to ST level (no rotate the shield nutation bollocks).

Last thought - Cylons - hard on the outside, gooey on the inside!

Stark

It was crap

Amazing episode, on so many levels:

Cylons using organic technology

Hardly fresh stuff when it comes to science fiction.

Adama losing the rag

Not like he hasn't lost the rag before.

The Cylons in the cafe

Decent enough, I admit I like the Caprica scenes.

Apparently people liked Enterprise :rolleyes:

ixoy

It was crap

Well this was enjoyable as part of a continuing storyline, if not overwhelming. I appreciated the tech bit of the moon's composition but, at the same time, how did Starbuck fly the Cylon ship when there was a gap in the ship (front visor) etc that surely would've had some effect?

I liked the cafe scene but again, bit short. I've a feeling they're stretching Caprica too much although hopefully next week we'll see Boomer being debriefed or reprogrammed (although it'd be interesting if this was somehow a real Boomer).

Now the Cylons being organic - little bit underwhelmed. It's not a new concept. Farscape featured it most prominently, even in its opening voiceover "a ship, a living ship" but Babylon 5 had it with the Vorlons and Trek has featured it now and then as well, as has Doctor Who decades ago. That's not to mention various sci-fi novels. I guess it's a nice departure from the original concept but I've thought all along these ships were alive. We'll see how it develops. I certainly amn't particularly fond of the idea of them retro-engineering the ship, forming their own organic tech to replace lost Vipers...

Characters were pretty good. Adama clashing with the Pres. was fine - given their hard nosed attitudes before, they should have left Starbuck behind (incidental note: her appearing just before they jump? Bit weak. The show should rise above such plot contrivances). More Balter needed NOW and more of CyclonBoomer.

So, all in all, good but I'm not going to be as fanatical as some here are...

Fenster

It was great

I personally thought the organic tech was cool because of the Cylons (Six) asking "Are you alive?" and also the belief in the pilot that they had soul.

Yeah, organic tech has been done before, but it was the implications behind it this time that I thought really great. If the raiders are organic, what about the base stars? What about Boomer and the other infiltrator Cylons. Baltar has already admitted that his orginal method was balooey, what if the Cylons really are alive?

Yeah, its a whole load of pseuo-bullcrap philosophy, but I haven't gotten this much into a sci-fi series since Babylon 5, and its only on episode 5 for christ's sake.

c0y0te

It was OK

Well - I voted 'great' because it wasn't an outstanding episode, but it was terriffic and (even though I could script some of the bits and pieces myself just from watching enough shows).. it still kept my interest.

My usual good, bad and ugly follows

The Good:-

The Confrontation; El presidento having a go at Adama - sheer excellence. Really enjoyed that 'clear your head' scene.
The Biologic Surprise; Yes it's been done in other shows before, but to date in this one we had only seen the metal heads, and the human models. Now we know there is a new twist, cylon raiders on biologic AI or pre-programmed routines. Could lead to interesting scenarios and plot lines.
The Admission; Adama finally admits that she is 'family', that he considers her so.. which goes a nice way towards explaining some of his characters actions.
The Sentiment; "We would never leave" - Adama to Apollo.. a real good scene and evidence of the development of both father/son characters and relationship. nicely done too. Not too much smaltz
The Graffiti; Damn but I laughed my ass off when I saw that scrawl on the underside of the cylon raider. Perfect low tech solution to a perfect problem. Loved it.
The Acting; Every week Eddie and Mary just get better and better. They add a certain gravitas to the show, and the scenes between them tonight just reinforce that. Absolutely perfect casting imho.

The Bad:-

Too Easy to fly that damn ship... and to figure out controls etc. A small gripe, a necessary contrivence to move things along, but still - I can't say I like it.
That Damn Hole just won't stop bothering me. What the hell did she shore up that hole with, and how did it hold in space? Just didn't make sense.
Baltar and 6 scene didn't ring true for me. It might be my imagination, but in previous eps when he spoke to 6, or responded to her in any way - he had to mask this because his actions and words were heard by everyone in his presence. In this scene however, he was quite cheerfully nattering away with 6 while el presidento read the report, and not a bother. No one else could hear??? A possible continuity issue here. It just bugged me for some reason - possibly because I was loving most of the baltar multi-tasking scenes to date, and looking forward to another one.

The Ugly:-

Nutty Logic planetside again. It's not much to gripe about, but the logic of cylons attacking, and boomer vanishing and just dragging the whole thing out escapes me. Hopefully it will lead somewhere - but right now I'm just bored with that story arc.

Overall - I loved it. It's sticking with the same tone, the same pace and it focused on the right things (resource usage, military vs civilian authority, rank vs privilege etc.) with just the odd contrivance to move things along here and there.

Bring on the next one.

c0y0te

c0y0te

It was OK

Sorry for the additional post, but one more small thing I meant to ask... did any one understand the meaning or reference to the title of the episode "You can't go home again"? What exactly did that have to do with the episode this week?

c0y0te

Stark

It was crap

The Cylon ship can't go home again.

Belisarius

I'd rather watch Andromeda

Have to say I had major problems with tonights ep.you have to suspend disbelief a bit in any drama,let alone sci fi but tonight was a bit much to swallow. Star buck ,ace pilot, deadly swat sniper ok.But Xenobiological brain surgeon and rocket scientist is a bit much,I nearly shouted at the tv when she casually lost her helmet to suck on some cylon air.no pressure or corrosive atmosphere ,nothin.I dont mean to be pedantic but it just seems to go against the fairly serious tone of the show.

secret_squirrel

It was great

afaics the hole in the cylon ship was plugged with some/all of starbucks flight suit. - atleast the material looked the same.

I suppose it doubles as a spacesuit and we can assume they would also carry patches for it. Just a quick flash of her putting some gunge around it to seal it would have been nice.

TCamen

It was OK

I actually really enjoyed tonight's episode. The schmaltz was for the most part perfectly judged & balanced nicely with the confrontation scenes. Apollo & Adama's scenes when they decided to abandon the search were brilliant.

The scene in the café with the Cylons was really great-- the sparing use of the CGI Cylons makes them really sinister when they do make an appearance. The chrome toaster made me smile

I was a bit disappointed that Starbuck didn't remain missing for even another episode-- was a bit too neat & tidy that she made it back just before the FTL jump. In saying that, I was really feeling the emotional response by the Galactica crew to her survival, esp. Lee & Adama.

I'm willing to forgive the conceit of Starbuck's flying finesse and the fact that she talked to herself about everything she was doing in the Raider. I mean for one, she is quite chatty/quippy in episodes past, and was talking to the Gods earlier in the episode, plus she is the best pilot in the Fleet, so if anyone can hotwire a Raider, it's Starbuck. Give the gal a fracking stogie pronto

Nukem

It was great

Excellent Ep but a few things wrecking the noggin.
Patchin the ship up with he suit????
Seein through the slit.
Out flying Apollo in a cylon raider first time out and the basically flying the thing?

not ruining the sci-fi effect though,it was a class Ep.ADAMA losing it was class must admit,and would also like a bit more on the Caprica line.

Venom

Interesting twist on the Cyclons. The whole metal/flesh gig has been done before but I wasn't expecting it in BG and I hope the writers don't screw up the idea.

Starbuck was better in this episode than previous but far to many plot holes over all. Flying the raider so well on the first go and out flying Apollo is pushing it a tad, the raider even being in flying condition after the crash landing is a little rich but being able to fix the bio organic ship after all the damage from combat, crash landing and her entrance into it is really just to much.

That episode would of been the perfect place to kill off Starbuck and really shaking up the storyline and the viewer but the last minute rescue totally blew what could have been an amazing story.

The Caprica arc will originally interesting is starting to drag on way to long. Baltar needs some plot time as well. His outbursts and weirdness don't seem to bother any members of the crew and they all seem to accept this is normal behavior for the smartest guy in the fleet!

SprostonGreen

It was OK

I cheered at the end

Last week I thought that there were gonna do a remake of when Starbuck and the Cylon were stranded on the planet, but am glad now that they didnt.

"Guess you'll never know if she's a natural blonde"

Praetorian

It was OK

I still haven't seen this episode! darn Halflife2!

Boro

Only got to see the 2nd half of this episode but the inside of that ship was fairly icky wasnt it? Great series so far though.

ixoy

It was crap

Boro wrote:

Only got to see the 2nd half of this episode but the inside of that ship was fairly icky wasnt it? Great series so far though.

Reminded me somewhat of the whole organic/tech thing that Cronenberg likes to explore, noticably in "ExistenZ" which illicited a lot of "ewwws!" from me. I'm still wary of this development but we'll see how it pans out. As long as they don't retro-engineer the ship and form their own organic tech stuff. Which I bet they will...

Zulu

I'd rather watch Andromeda

Flying the ship/patching it up from the vacuum in space/not getting shot to sh1t by Apollo ruined it for me.

Worst episode ...ever

ixoy

It was crap

Zulu wrote:

Flying the ship/patching it up from the vacuum in space/not getting shot to sh1t by Apollo ruined it for me.

I can live with her dodging Apollo because she's a top class pilot and it's conceivable that the Cylon ships might have good maneovering capabilties although I'd have loved the show forever and ever if he had blown her apart... Alas most fans wouldn't but they're namby pamby wusses.

The patch thing irritated me though, as I mentioned in my previous posts. For a show that prides itself on technical accuracy it failed to explain this and issues of pressureization and oxygen leaking out etc. Maybe they'll retcon it somehow, say something like a field was generated by the ship, but from what we have (given there's a friggin' eye slit in front of her) I'm irritated.

c0y0te

It was OK

Still... when you think that this is episode 5, and so far we only have one or two items to moan about.. thats pretty amazing. I agree with most of the comments made (see my good/bad/ugly post above), and yet still keep the faith that overall it will be worth my indulgence. I like where this series is going, and broadly speaking I enjoy how its getting there.

I guess we can't have truly amazing or innovative episodes every week, so let's cut it some slack and see what happens.

c0y0te

secret_squirrel

It was great

ixoy wrote:

For a show that prides itself on technical accuracy

You think so? I think its a strange mix of the techically accurate (eg the water explosion 2 eps back) and the horribly wrong. Whilst I love the style of the series in terms of everything looking like its more basic than even todays technology - from a believibility/accuracy point of view its laughable. Some of the corridor supports on galacitica look like concrete! Lack of any electronics anywhere is a bit unbeliveable too. On Galatica and the vipers they just get away with it for the cylons EW capability excuse, but in other locations its there's no reason to have that retro style at all.
Like the scenes on the base with Zack - it looked like a base from 'Nam.

And we're meant to believe this is a civilisation with FTL????

Snaga

Boomers disappearance on caprica is easily enough explained I think. She is obviously there to keep her shipmate on the planet. Shes happy enough staying put while he searches for other survivers (searches for a resistance movement?), when he doesnt find any he decides its time to get off world.

Suddenly she gets kidnapped by a cylons, and he suddenly has his 'reason to stay'. Ive a feeling the cylons will be trying to use him for quite some time.

secret_squirrel

It was great

it would be more interesting if they captured him and started disecting him to make a new model cylon tbh...

ixoy

It was crap

secret_squirrel wrote:

it would be more interesting if they captured him and started disecting him to make a new model cylon tbh...

LOL - you'd be one evil bitch of a scripter.

As to the whole retro thing - we've established that, due to Cylon infiltration, they have to use old tech. What locations could they avoid it? What locations are impervious to Cylon attack thus allowing the use of electronics? Even the rag-tag fleet could be attacked so everyone should be toning down their equipment. Or are you saying they could use isolated subsystems? I mean I'm somewhat content to let it be - for example, how does the phone system work. The handsets are clunky but how is the signal transmitted? Digitally? Can't it be messed with then, etc...

secret_squirrel

It was great

I was more refering to the planetside scenes - where there is no reason for it to be low tech.

c0y0te

It was OK

... other than the fact that it's all been wiped out by nukes and EMP

c0y0te

Fenster

It was great

I think an implication in the series (it goes into it in the last two episodes of the series) is that they originally came from Kobol and then lost their technology somehow (look at all the antique weaponry and model sailing ship in Adama's quarters), and then clawed their way back to the stars.

Not the best way to do it, imo-12 solar systems revert to barbarism? Either way, there's a real feeling of the orignal Homeworld in it.

secret_squirrel

It was great

Really? Cant wait for a shipyard to warp in then

Not really complaining about it coz I like the feel the retro look gives the series - just would be nice to see a few more modern bits of technology like the Mk7 Viper.

Also would have liked the cylons to have something better than than a machine gun attached to their arms.

[edit] Maybe they could do an ep with the 2nd surviving Battlestar (Atlantis/Atlantica??) from the original series redone as an ultra modern mofo of a starship - all curves and purple glowing bits :eek:

Im just a fussy bugger tho .. still the best scifi on the telly atm.

Fenster

It was great

secret_squirrel wrote:

Maybe they could do an ep with the 2nd surviving Battlestar (Atlantis/Atlantica??) from the original series redone as an ultra modern mofo of a starship - all curves and purple glowing bits :eek:

There was a brief shot in the pilot as Boomer and Helo are drifting towards Caprica of the remains of a battle. If you look closely, all the destroyed Battlestars look identical to the Galactica.

secret_squirrel

It was great

really? thats not what the pilot implied - I thought Galatica was being retired/turned into a museum coz it was 70 years old and obsolete? My presumtion being that they had moved on from the skeletal look since then

Sooner or Later

It was crap

I reluctantly voted as only ok.

It was a good episode but spoiled by how easily Starbuck flew the Cylon ship. And patching up the hole by jamming her suit in it!

Still, the series as a whole is shaping up nicely. Looking forward to Episode 6.

Praetorian

It was OK

I finally saw the episode yesterday, I clicked the option "great" on the poll. The hole plugged by the suit was a little annoying; perhaps these ships have some kind of very short range deflector shield that keeps space dust etc from damaging the hull...etc. Maybe she just had to block up the hole just to sort her o2 problem. It would have been better if she had somehow bolted the hole shut with a spare piece of metal.

Only a minor complaint!

Peace

It was OK

Just saw the repeat on sky, missed it earlier in the week.

A very good ep. Only problems were ... if she could only see out the slit, how did she manage to invert the foghter and fly in formation with APOLLO.

Also, with only 2 vipers available and loads of pilots... why did they let noob Hot Dog take the bird up. Surely he would have been sidelined in favour of someone with combat experience!

Anyway, cool ep. I'm gonna stop picking holes in it now. The series is turning into something that i could buy on dvd.