"Cylon detection" method(s) ?

Vertakill

Don't read on if you haven't seen Season 4 Episode 11, may contain spoilers !!!



Ok, feel free to shoot me down if I'm off the mark here as this is the first time I've ventured to this forum, but this has been irking me for a few episodes and I thought I'd see what other people think.

The only attempt, that I recall, of trying to single out the Cylons within the fleet via DNA tests or whatever was by Baltar and that ended up a shambles. So, I assumed they'd given up on the idea.

But then they land on the remains of Earth and uncover a whole load of skeletons and old Centurions and are somehow, later on, able to analyse the skeletal remains and conclusively prove that they're all Cylons...
How is that possible?

If it were that easy to do (took them what seemed like only hours in realtime) then why haven't they started doing tests on all the crew again in case they've got more Cylons aboard?

Or do they think that they are already aware of all of the Cylon models?

Would it not be worth testing out Starbuck at this stage to see if she's actually a Cylon, considering how perplexed the whole crew were when she arrived back on Galactica with her shiney new Viper?


I hope someone can shed some light on this.

Overheal

The detection methods used on Earth were provided by the Rebel Cylons, not Baltar's method. How this is acheived is unknown, but assuming since Brother Cavil didnt know Tyrol was a Cylon by the end of Season 2 (and Neither did Deana know Tigh was a Cylon when she plucked his eye out) that the detection method isnt a simple case of look and see - im sure they have their own blood screening methods, etc. That they wouldnt have had any need for on New Caprica.

Vertakill

I knew it obviously wasn't Baltar's since that was a bit of a farce, but didn't cop onto the Rebel Cylons part in things though, so thanks for clearing that up!

toxick

But didnt the cylons say that their test's were inconclusive?

Stark

Overheal wrote: »

but assuming since Brother Cavil didnt know Tyrol was a Cylon by the end of Season 2

You sure about that? Cavil seemed to be toying with Tyrol quite a bit, suggesting he was a cylon. And Cavil often gave the impression that he knew more than the other Seven, being particularly keen to silence all discussion of them.

Overheal wrote: »

(and Neither did Deana know Tigh was a Cylon when she plucked his eye out) that the detection method isnt a simple case of look and see - im sure they have their own blood screening methods, etc. That they wouldnt have had any need for on New Caprica.

Was that not Cavil again?

noodler

Stark wrote: »

You sure about that? Cavil seemed to be toying with Tyrol quite a bit, suggesting he was a cylon. And Cavil often gave the impression that he knew more than the other Seven, being particularly keen to silence all discussion of them.



Was that not Cavil again?

I am almost certain the writers didn't know Tyrol would be a Cylon by the end of season 2.

redfacedbear

Vertakill wrote: »

I knew it obviously wasn't Baltar's since that was a bit of a farce,

If I'm remembering rightly Baltar was confident that the detector would work (and did detect Boomer when she asked to be tested) but sabotaged it at Head Six's behest

bazz26

Baltar's detection device appears to have worked alright:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXYolpWBpwA

But at the time we were not told the outcome.

Vertakill

Oooh never seen that youtube video before.. interesting.

I seriously need to rewatch. Forgotten loads of stuff.

DirkVoodoo

Like noodler says, you can't go back to season 1 and start analysing every scene. The writers did not decide on who the final 5 would be until quite late on. They were chosen for story reasons and not because there was a trail of clues leading back to the mini-series.

It was only hinted that Ellen might be a cylon to make an interesting episode. As far as we can tell, at some point after season 1 and possibly even season 2, the writers decided that there would only be 7 known cylon models even in the miniseries we were told there are 12. So then we are told that the final 5 are unknown to the 7, they don't exist in the fleet and it seems that there is a link to earth and the 5 because the temple of jupiter was "created by the 5 to worship the one" possibly the Fallen Lord of Kobol who may or may not be the Cylon God. Maybe Starbuck is the Cylon God, I guess anything is possible at this point.

It's all got very confusing at this point and I maintain it is down to these revisions of the Cylon backstory to fit the revelation that the 13th tribe was cylon. I never for a minute believed that Galactica would stumble upon 1980s earth, but I think the writers have created a few inconsistencies in their construction of this final chapter. Anyway, all will be revealed soon.

DirkVoodoo

From the horse's mouth:

We killed Ellen early that season and we didn’t have an inkling of that at that point. But at the point that we killed Ellen, around the same time frame, I was starting to come up with the idea that there were five Cylons that had yet to be revealed.

At the beginning of the third season, Baltar had gone to live on the Cylon base ship for a string of episodes. And it was really that plot move that threw into relief -- well, once Baltar’s over in the Cylon world, why wouldn’t he see all 12 of them? How could we get around that and parcel that out? Then I had this idea, well, what if it’s not random? What if there’s a meaning to the fact that we haven’t seen the five of them? And that’s how the Final Five became part of the mythos.

Over the course of the third season, Ellen came and went in my thinking in terms of who the final five were. It probably wasn’t until we settled on the final four that I knew it was Ellen. When we got to the final four -- Tigh, Anders, Tory and Tyrol -- then it felt like, “and Ellen has to be the fifth.” Because Tigh being revealed as a Cylon was such a profound shift in that character, such a big leap for the show, that it felt really natural that she was also a Cylon.

Overheal

It was a good choice. Tigh kills her for collaborating with Cylons; Tyrol and Boomer...; Anders made sense; Not so sure about the President's Aide though - just why?

DirkVoodoo

Yeah I don't know either. I guess none of the other main characters were eligibile for what terms they used to decide the final 5, so they needed another character, one who would still be a familiar face so they wouldn't have to introduce a new character and remove some of the shock in the reveal.

bazz26

I think they choose Tori as she was not a main character in every episode. Her and Ellen (if she really is the fifth) were in an out of the show. It would have been too predictable to have all five cylons being main characters.

We already had the other three who were main characters so having two low key type charactors being Cylons added to the intrigue and suspense that it could be anyone and the premise that some sort of plan was in motion from the begining that these five cylons would one day become self aware and meet each other to fulfill their part in this cycle.

Praetorian

I would prefer if they hadn't admitted to not really having a plan for the cylons right from the beginning. It's something I really like about Lost! (the long term show outline that they have)

Khannie

Praetorian wrote: »

It's something I really like about Lost! (the long term show outline that they have)

Same same.

Overheal

Im sorry but last I heard Lost was Lost?

cotwold

Overheal wrote: »

Not so sure about the President's Aide though - just why?

Yeah that was a little too random, like did anyone even pay atenttion to her before that. She just seemed to spring up out of nowhere. Bring back billie

tvnutz

Praetorian wrote: »

I would prefer if they hadn't admitted to not really having a plan for the cylons right from the beginning. It's something I really like about Lost! (the long term show outline that they have)

Bull! Lost in no way had a long term plan from when it began. The writers say they have always had an ending in mind but based on where the show has gone,I seriously doubt that. They were making a lot of it up as they went along and only now that they have an end date have they an outline.

MisterAnarchy

tvnutz wrote: »

Bull! Lost in no way had a long term plan from when it began. The writers say they have always had an ending in mind but based on where the show has gone,I seriously doubt that. They were making a lot of it up as they went along and only now that they have an end date have they an outline.

I concur.
Its quite obvious that Lost is made up as they go along.
Look at the origins of the series and how much time constraints were on the writers to get it started and its obvious that they were flying by the seat of their pants.