S04E01 - He that Believeth in Me

Pepe LeFrits

So...

BSG is finally back!

The first nine minutes was just epic.

The rest... meh. I suppose there was a lot of ground for them to cover, but it was still fairly slow and uneventful. Low key would be the word.

Still, a decent enough start to the season.

Sherifu

It was decent enough, eased us back into it. Was some great battle scenes before the cylons pulled out. After that it was just the baltar messiah stuff and who is cara stuff. Not a bad ending.

KevIRL

I enjoyed it. As has been mentioned the start was excellent, pls frack off with the Baltar rubbish tho.

Looks like a deadly season is being set up:D

Gummy Panda

Yeah great start but baltar part slowed it down.

Loved the scene where Tigh shots Adama but its just Tigh day dreaming

chalkitdown1

Excellent opening episode. The space battle at the start was something else. The new sfx are certainly worthy. Looked glorious in HD.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I loved the Baltar stuff. Hell, I'd watch James Callis sitting in front of a wall, smoking a fag for 40 minutes and still be entertained. Glad he finally cut the hair/beard off, too. Anyone know the name of the actress that was with him in the bathroom when he was attacked? She was hawt! The ending was a bit stupid, though. What's the point in having a scene like that, when it's blatently obvious that what they're trying to make us think is gonna happen, isn't? It's just a cliffhanger for the sake of a cliffhanger.


Might wanna put a spoiler warning in the thread title. There's always some eejit who wanders into a thread like this without having seen the episode and then whinges about something being spoiled afterwards.

Goodshape

Good stuff.

Fantastic prologue! It was short but still some of the best SFX I've seen in the show so far. Really jaw dropping stuff.. hope they maintain that quality throughout the season.

Teigh shooting Adama was great too... Almost for a second thought they maybe might have actually done it. You can never be too sure with BSG.

Rest of the episode was fairly low-key, as others have said, but still good. I generally like the Baltar stuff, though I hope he doesn't go too far down the spiritual leader path. It's fun, but sometimes at the expense of credibility.

Don't like the cliffhanger. Seems out of character for BSG tbh. They don't aim a gun at someone for two minutes while the audience thinks "omg! Will they / won't they?"... they point and shoot and the audience tunes in next week because "OMFG THAT WAS AWESOME!!1!2".

tvnutz

Ye it was an ok episode. Good to have it back mainly.

The first 10 minutes with the battle was great,it looked really good.

Then as someone said the rest was about where Kara has been and about Baltar.

Balter is a great character and the actor is great but where are they really going with this. From what i saw in this episode it seemed to me like they are setting it up that when they find earth,Gaius will actually somehow end up being Jesus. Which would be plain stupid and I also always hoped when they reached earth it would be more modern day times. From his hands together which was mistaken for the way he prays to him talking about one God and his "healing" of the child,it just seems like a stupid way to go with Gauis.

Kara,well gone for two months but to her it was only 6 hours and she has a brand spanking new viper. She is hardly the last Cylon,that would just be very anti-climatic. Speaking of Cylons we had far too few scenes with the newly discovered 4,although that incident with Anders and the Cylon raider was interesting. It made the Cylons call off the attack,but why? Apparantly the other 7 models are programmed not to think about the final 5 so basically I am asking what the bloody hell is going on??

I liked the new opening at the very start thought with the listing of all the known Cylons.

Fenster

Were the effects rendered at a higher resolution? They certainly looked much crisper last night on TV.

Johnny Storm

chalkitdown1 wrote: »

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I loved the Baltar stuff. .

Me too. I like the Balthar humour they had in seasons 1 and 2 and I hope they bring that back.

chalkitdown1

Fenster wrote: »

Were the effects rendered at a higher resolution? They certainly looked much crisper last night on TV.

It was the first ep broadcast in high-def, so yeah, it was much, much sharper than we're used to. No more sci-fi channel blur-o-vision!:D

Fenster

I watched BSG on a standard definition TV. To say it was a HD signal is moot because there's still a fixed reolution on the screen. I'm downloading a HD rip now. Eh, we'll see.

Gonzo_Reporter

I really enjoyed it.
Didnt expect such a cold return for Starbuck. Tigh shooting Adama almost made spill my coffee this morning, so releaved that it wasnt real.
And I for once liked the Baltar storyline, from being a traitor to a kind of messiah is a good career change.
I do have a bad feeling about Tyrol, i think he out of the 4 might be the one that does something bad (if they are that type of Cylon which i have my doubts about). Also what is the deal with Roslin being so damn controlling, she has Adama wrapped around her finger, stayin in his room and all.

All in all a great set up, really looking forward to next week.

jor el

Ah that was some bitch of an ending. Brilliant fight scene to open with and now the Cylons know the final 5 are among the fleet. I wonder did they run becasue they're aftaid of the 5, or just because they didn't want to kill their own?

Everything else has already been said, and I did like the Baltar stuff too. Looks like this "God" may actually exist now, and that Head Six is some sort of angel. Wonder if that makes Head Baltar an angel too?

Sherifu

jor el wrote: »

I wonder did they run becasue they're aftaid of the 5, or just because they didn't want to kill their own?

My money is on that. Along the same lines as not thinking about the 5 as 6 said.

Khannie

Really good episode. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd give it an 8.5 / 10.

Fenster wrote: »

I watched BSG on a standard definition TV. To say it was a HD signal is moot because there's still a fixed reolution on the screen. I'm downloading a HD rip now. Eh, we'll see.

That's not strictly true. At the same (lower) resolution, viewing something scaled down from a higher quality source will result in a better picture quality.

The 350MB hdrips are going to look so so so much better than the DSR crap you were all looking at last year (which I stuck to my guns and refused to watch). Like I said before....even my wife wouldn't watch the DSR ones. They just didn't do the show any justice.

Fenster

I'm DLing a 1gb rip, the quality had better be good!

Khannie

Fenster wrote: »

I'm DLing a 1gb rip, the quality had better be good!

It will be. It will be.

edit: That's the 720p x264 version. I always hold out for that or the (much larger but even _higher_ quality) .ts version.

edit: slight rant: The "scene" use 1.1g files because you can fit 4 on a dvdr. I wonder who really cares about that, but anyway, what gets me is that a 1.5G rip (so 3 per dvdr) would produce an almost perfect reproduction, whereas at 1280x720, a 1.1G file does still have a good few artifacts. </rant>

jor el wrote: »

Head Six is some sort of angel

She looked very devil-esque at one point during the show. I even pointed it out to my wife.

Khannie

Yeah....here's the bit where I thought they wanted her to look like the devil.....



thumbnail version in case they remove the hotlink in the future:

User45701

chalkitdown1 wrote: »

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I loved the Baltar stuff.

Not the only one, since the love triangle ended there is nothing in bsg i dont love.

chalkitdown1 wrote: »

It was the first ep broadcast in high-def, so yeah, it was much, much sharper than we're used to. No more sci-fi channel blur-o-vision!:D

Khannie wrote: »

eThat's the 720p x264 version. I always hold out for that or the (much larger but even _higher_ quality) .ts version.

I got that version and wow looks fantastic on HD monitor

Was very pleased with the first episode but to be honnest i was thinking about waiting a week and then watching two but i just couldent wait - watching pollice academy and just couldent stop thinking about what was going to happen. What a opening scene I cant wait for the 1080p version

Vokes

Superb opening visuals (oh well, there goes the SFX budget for the 1st half of the season ).

The Anders (cool callsign btw, Longshot) and Chief Tyrol stuff was pretty intense with the Chief trying to get him to focus.

Is their also another motive for Roslin not trusting Starbuck (apart from the brand spanking new viper)? Perhaps there's an element of jealousy? - in that Rosling wants to be the scriptured saviour who leads the Colonials to Earth, and here's Starbuck, seemingly back from the dead, quoting scripture, and saying she Knows The_Way_To_Earth. Stealing El Prez's limelight if you will.

Can't wait for next week. I suspect we'll see some scenes with the 7 revealed Cylons discussing the final 5 on their basestars.

chalkitdown1 wrote: »

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I loved the Baltar stuff. Hell, I'd watch James Callis sitting in front of a wall, smoking a fag for 40 minutes and still be entertained.

Oh man, oh man, he gets all the best lines! The mannerisms, delivery, everything.

...

Baltar: Oh Derek, that's your little boy, isn't it - the one in sick bay?
Woman #1: "Right."
Baltar: "Yes, I'm praying... :rolleyes: ...for his recovery."
Woman #1: "Really?"
Baltar: "Yeah."

...

*Baltar places hands on breasts*
Woman #2: "Can you feel God's presence?"
Baltar 1: "Do you know what ....I think I do."

ixoy

Really enjoyed this one, especially when put against another sci-fi showing just opening its fourth season.

The SFX were fantastic (even more so after seeing a very weak SFX of the Doctor waving from a flying TARDIS) and really helped ram home the epic feel of the show.
The Baltar element also re-enforce this with its quasi-mysticism. Baltar, as the reluctant prophet, was fantastic. We got Baltar scenes that we were sorely missing in S3 when he spent too much time locked up in prison. Now we're wondering how far his cult will grow over the coming weeks. As to his healing - any chance Six somehow injected some medicine into the boy and there's going to be a scientific rationale behind the recovery?

The four were handled quite well - really liked the shot of Anders communicating with the Cylon. The way they questioned their circumstances afterwards was great - people trying to understand their predicament, something other shows have Lost the skill of.
Saul also envisioning himself executing Adama (nice callback to the S1 finale there) and then his clamming up is something I liked.
Similarly Starbuck also wondered immediately if she was the original or force grown rather than have this come up later on. Her plans to turn around the pilgrimage though don't seem to be well thought through and it led to a pretty unconvincing cliffhanger.

Nice to see this back and I'm hoping for a good solid season now after upsets last year. Knowing it's the final one can only be a good thing for the tightness and quality of the writing.

Johnny Storm

Khannie wrote: »

It will be. It will be.

edit: That's the 720p x264 version. I always hold out for that or the (much larger but even _higher_ quality) .ts version.

edit: slight rant: The "scene" use 1.1g files because you can fit 4 on a dvdr. I wonder who really cares about that, but anyway, what gets me is that a 1.5G rip (so 3 per dvdr) would produce an almost perfect reproduction, whereas at 1280x720, a 1.1G file does still have a good few artifacts. </rant>
.

I hope I'm not going too much OT here but I downloaded a 1.1 GB .mkv file.
I got it to play in Windows Media Player and it looks good but I'd really like to put it onto a USB stick and play it through my home cinema (so-called :rolleyes:) which has a usb input and supports DivX etc.
Any straight-forward way to get a .mkv file to play on the home cinema DVD/amp? Thanks.

Johnny Storm

ixoy wrote: »

...Saul also envisioning himself executing Adama (nice callback to the S1 finale there) and then his clamming up is something I liked.....

Great ep and I hate to be negative (but it is something I'm good at
But when I think about it, given his training and total committment to the military system, Tigh should have immediately turned himself in to the authorities as a Cylon.

Khannie

This post is off topic.

Johnny Storm wrote: »

which has a usb input and supports DivX etc.

This is the key. The file is encoded using x264 (this is the latest love child of the codecs and the follow on to divx and xvid). You could re-encode it to divx / xvid. Even converting it to straight DVD would have it looking pretty good, but it would require conversion if your home cinema yolkie doesn't support x264.

Johnny Storm wrote: »

Any straight-forward way to get a .mkv file to play on the home cinema DVD/amp? Thanks.

I'd say it'll either support it and play away, or not. MKV is just a container. You could stick the x264 contents in a .avi container very easily (probably 1 minute of processing time) but it would still be x264. Might be worth a try.

User45701

Johnny Storm wrote: »

I hope I'm not going too much OT here but I downloaded a 1.1 GB .mkv file.
I got it to play in Windows Media Player and it looks good but I'd really like to put it onto a USB stick and play it through my home cinema (so-called :rolleyes:) which has a usb input and supports DivX etc.
Any straight-forward way to get a .mkv file to play on the home cinema DVD/amp? Thanks.

If you want to spend money et a HD Multimedia hard drive to play it on, coneects to your TV via HDMI or component video. The LaCie (better) and the Iomega multi media hard drives are in lots of irish shops

Khannie

Or just hook your computer up to your TV somehow. That's what I do. Sexy-rexy!

Johnny Storm

Khannie wrote: »

Or just hook your computer up to your TV somehow. That's what I do. Sexy-rexy!

That sounds doable! Thanks.

Overheal

youre bastards! bastards with your televisions!

/runs away crying

Vokes

Forgot to mention two other favourite bits, featuring Anders...

How cool was the raider-flip and it eye-balling red, glowy-eyed Anders! Lovely SFX.

And the bit where Kara told Anders she'd shoot him between the eyes if he turned out to be a Cylon - the look on his face...Priceless

IamBeowulf

As the shockwave from a nearby impact hurtled towards Baltar, Six told him to get down and she---presumably---died protecting him, as we next see him roaming the countryside lost and frightened. Six is nowhere to be found.

Now I don't think her standing over him would protect him. Never did. But it was a cool idea and I left it.

Starbuck faced a similar death---and seemingly died, only to appear untouched in the new ep.

Is there a connection?

Finally, Six has always claimed to be in direct touch with God: a messenger for Him. She spoke with Baltar as he faced death, questioned his demand to die so that the boy could live. And in so doing, not only spared Baltar's life but also...the boy was magically better.

Does Six have far more control than we know? She and her copies seem to be deeply intertwined in what's occurred throughout the show. How did the boy suddenly recover? If they're ALL Cylons, maybe she asked the last Cylon God to hit a switch of some kind, to make the kid better?

Sorry for the ramble but I'm just dying to find a pattern here and it seems to be there somewhere. Thank God we won't have to suffer much longer. I love a mystery but we need answers:)

PS I think the Final Cylon is waiting for them on Earth. It sent that radio signal. And it instructed the Cylons to attack, so they could follow the humans Home.

User45701

i had a thought, that cylon fleet, we never saw the 7 and in the last confrontation over the temple of five we watched both crews interactions/reactions on the bridge/CIC on both ships.

Also the centurians and the raiders are much less advanced than a human model or a basestar (hybrid). We also know that the 7 dont know what the 5 look like and that they are programmed not to think about them. Several human model cylons have seen and had first contact with the 4 revealed cylons so why would they program the less adanced raiders to be able to spot the 5? What if that cylon fleet was a flleet of the 5?

Overheal

maybe the raider was receiving programming from Agathon. Not the other way around.

Liked this episode a lot. great to see it come back. Wrecked. Sleep now.

Johnny Storm

IamBeowulf wrote: »

...Now I don't think her standing over him would protect him. Never did. But it was a cool idea and I left it.

Starbuck faced a similar death---and seemingly died, only to appear untouched in the new ep.
....

Good point. I wonder will Starbuck be talking to someone in her head?

IamBeowulf

Johnny Storm wrote: »

Good point. I wonder will Starbuck be talking to someone in her head?

Like Leoben, perhaps?

He spoke many times of Starbuck's special destiny. Just like Six spoke of Baltar's. He continued to love and respect her no matter what she did to him (remember the ep where she killed him repeatedly???) and again, Six forgave Baltar for many things.

I realise alot of modern shows deliberately place parallels in their plots to layer them (most come off pretentious when you see how thin their plots really are) but this show is just superb.

I wonder will Tigh start seeing ghosts of his wife. Especially as she's dead for conspiring with his own race, the Cylons. Ouch.

RobbieMc

Heres one for you.

If the current Cylon humans like six have never seem the original 5, what would happen to Tigh or Chief if they died.
We kow that when Boomer got killed whe appeared on the regeneration ship, so what would happen to the other 4 ?
would they regenerate or DIE.
The scene were Tigh puts the gun on the table and nods at the rest, class.

Scruff

holy toasters batman! time to start ringing up the cousins again!!

Khannie

Anyone else think 6 looked deliberately devil-esque in that screenshot below? All she was short of was horns IMO.

User45701

RobbieMc wrote: »

Heres one for you.

If the current Cylon humans like six have never seem the original 5, what would happen to Tigh or Chief if they died.
We kow that when Boomer got killed whe appeared on the regeneration ship, so what would happen to the other 4 ?
would they regenerate or DIE.
The scene were Tigh puts the gun on the table and nods at the rest, class.

Ive suggested a few times that the 5 may ressurect to earth, this could now be supported how starbuck got there (but i dont think she is the 5th)

lostexpectation

is miss ironbar a cylon she seemed a bit knowing a bit lippy

Overheal

User45701 wrote: »

Ive suggested a few times that the 5 may ressurect to earth, this could now be supported how starbuck got there (but i dont think she is the 5th)

Hadn't considered that.

Actually, we have no confirmation that the Cylons encountered in the Nebula were of the 7: they may very well have been of the Final 5. Hence why the raider identified Anders, and signalled a retreat. They may have only been there to keep the Fleet long enough for the signal to wake the 4 cylons on galactica. His retina may have had some information in it which would indicate this.

Can anyone else get over that Viper? Its so shiny I just wanna chew on it.

Baltar's bits are good. Dont know why people are shouting boo. Sure hes becoming a modern day jesus but its working out. I cant claim ive given it a read but in the Bible didnt Jesus claim to be in some sort of communication with the Devil or the other way around? Oooooh....

Praetorian

I really enjoyed it as well. The 1 gig version was nice but the quality didn't blow me away. I liked the Baltar scenes but Roslin really got on my nerves more than usual. Lets hope this final season shoots BSG to new heights!

Overheal

Yeah why does it seem like Rosalin has had a change of character?

Actually, I do recall Rosalin's own head hurt when the Fleet jumped into the nebula.

User45701

and starbucks head hurts as they go away from earth does the prez get headaches as they get closer?

stakey

Loving it!

After watching it though, here's what i'm thinking. The original cylons/centurions/raiders etc are programmed not to kill either the 7 Cylons we know or the final five. They aren't aware of it, it's just like a switch inside them probably put there by whomeever created the skinjobs.

So when the raider sees Anders it backs off, subservient to its programming and all that. I think we're gonna see something of a schism in the Cylon plan. The final five will be a bridge of some sort between the seven and humanity, perhaps leading first to a cylon civil war between the Sharon and Six models that wished to pursue peace with humanity and the rest of the cylons. They're building up to something big happening internally to the cylons... can't wait either!

Overheal

Well the 9s (i think theyre 9's: the Xenas) are all already shut down. So some civil disagreement will be a happenin'

Khannie

Praetorian wrote: »

The 1 gig version was nice but the quality didn't blow me away.

You're adding fuel to my fire. I think 1.5G and you'd really see a difference. Otherwise it may have been just badly encoded. I didn't think it looked that great myself. Barely DVD quality.

Just had a look back at some S2 high def stuff and it does look a lot better. Took a few screenshots if anyone wants them.

User45701

Khannie wrote: »

You're adding fuel to my fire. I think 1.5G and you'd really see a difference. Otherwise it may have been just badly encoded. I didn't think it looked that great myself. Barely DVD quality.

Just had a look back at some S2 high def stuff and it does look a lot better. Took a few screenshots if anyone wants them.

Always

Ive looked myself and have yet to see season two or three in 1080 i have season 1 in HD DVD and it looks amazing.

Overheal

This is borderline piracy discussion.







Carry on.

Praetorian

Just remember folks, don't post any linkies and don't ask for any linkies. I can't wait to see it on Sky on our 48 inch plasma with our lovely Bose sound system

User45701

no i mean i bought it off deepdiscount US sitye because the EU release of season 1 HD DVD was cancelled even though i had it pre booked so i had to get it off an american site.

I dont know if seasons 2 and 3 will be out in bluray anyoine who reeds films will know i hate bluray but i would definatly buyh Star Trek TOS remastered because i found season 1 in hd dvd very good and i would buy bsg for ressurection ship part II and exodus oh and he that believeth in Me

5uspect

I found it a little bit meh.
I loved the opening battle and the general direction of the story but it felt like it dragged out the Baltar story a lot (but there's a lot of potential there!).

I'm kinda uncomfortable with the idea of the 4 new Cylons, but I guess thats the idea.