Finished the commentary. Moore stays away from politics - except for one little detail. In the scene where Cain and Adama are talking in Pegasus's meeting room, there are no chairs. In a bit that was cut, Cain explains that this is to make meetings go faster. Moore says that he took this bit from - now get this - our UN ambassador, John Bolton. Bolton also has no chairs in his meeting room in order to get meetings with his staff to go faster.

Moore says that he's not going to get into Bolton's politics at all, but you can tell that Moore does not like our UN ambassador - the one who Congress did not approve.

Also, Callis played the scene with the abused Six beautifully. The authority with which he ordered the guards out of the cell was authentic, not his usual bluster at all.

Yeah, Beverly. It was, "I need to be alone." Not, "Ooh, I can make them leave me alone!"

Good morning, all. Although I napped through much of this past evening's TV -- don't EVEN ask what happens when I sleep through the first inning of a Red Sox game -- I managed to watch that 10 o'clock edition of Crimson Tide.

And you know, call me a dummy, but the admiral's strategy was not all that and a bag of chips, you know? I mean, blah blah culture of besieged paranoia, blah blah discipline, blah blah cruelty and crappy ethics -- that stuff is higher-level thinking, and clearly admirals don't ever take psychology classes. Whatever. But, admirals kind of don't become admirals without assessing their strategic situations, you know?

Strategy #1: if you're a female admiral, you don't make rape an accepted tactic. Because, it seemed pretty clear that the men had generalized "rape a not-human" to "rape a human", and I'm thinking, it's a Bad Idea to offer your subordinates the socially-acceptable fantasy of assaulting their boss. I expect this part to figure in the plot's outcome, next January.

Strategy #2: if you absorb and consolidate a large new contingent of crew, get a better debrief. That way, you will know in advance that these new people will dislike you, and you'll be able to plan in advance for how to quell them. Like, if you're going to do Bad Things to somebody, go ahead and arrest that somebody's boyfriend before he kills someone. I mean, you've got martial law on your side, right?

(I was willing to see the whole "Lee gets transferred" thing as subtle hostage-taking, until nearly the very end, when it became clear that this admiral isn't smart enough to be that subtle.)

Strategy #3: Don't leave the means of rebellion in your rival's hands. That way lies Denzel Washington's Resolved Face. Don't you watch movies? Also, see #2 for why you should be able to guess that rebellion was going to be the outcome.

Strategy #4: Go to video store. Rent The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. Go home. Change own name. Take cover to avoid anvils.

For dramatic purposes, I think the whole higher-level stuff is good -- that kind of bad culture does happen, and dealing with it is difficult, and wars have been won/lost via OTT-cruel tactics and the handling of same. But, you know, it's kind of stupid to treat your direct-reports in a manner to which they are unaccustomed, and then be surprised when they turn on you.

Also, and I know this is a chronic problem with that show, what are all the not-military people thinking, when they look out their windows? I mean, obviously, they don't matter (except when they do), but I should think they'd be in a tizzy right now.

The other thing I think it important to remember is that, even beyond military culture in the way we have it here, The Colonial Fleet is not taught to follow orders, they are told to believe in them (yes, sir vs. so say we all), which, IMO, takes the believability of the Peg people getting to the point they are shown to be.

(I was willing to see the whole "Lee gets transferred" thing as subtle hostage-taking, until nearly the very end, when it became clear that this admiral isn't smart enough to be that subtle.)

I think she is. I think there's a reason Lee's in a ship with the Pegasus CAG, and it involves brains on the upholstery or the threat thereof. Kara has conveniently removed herself from the situation.

I think Betsy's right. Isn't it odd to have a CAG in a raptor rather than a viper? I mean, I thought that the vipers led the attack and that the raptors were more workhorses. . . so an ulterior motive seems to be in play.

2 eps of BSG in one night

first Flight of the phonix.

Neither Dh or myself found the shooting of the cyclons with joy and abadon as a comfort - This launched my whole speech about what is the difference between cylons and humans and the consequences... B the difference is the ablity of humans to create - spacifically new and unique life.

of course we create other things ( cool ship) - and our ablility to create gives us hope . ( Not our ablity to destroy)

And then - there is the idea that everything we create has a little bit of us in it. In some cases, this is more metaphorical, in the sense of createing a life - it is more literal.

Cylons - came from some sort of AI . and they have more of us in them than the BSG people are admitting. In fact, there seems to be only the one difference . and therefore the end of the show - when they were playing space invaders with the cylons was painful.

Pegasus:

I just watched . that was way to hard. I am thinking some of the crew of the pegasus was trying to warn the Galactiaca crew.

I see the Caine mutiny - but I also wonder about the other Cain. - not so much in an anvil metaphor, but it seems that she is willing to kill a brother-in-arms, instead of being a comrad. Adama Knows when to be a brother, and when to be a leader. He even gets good work out of Tigh. She'll kill a brother if that is what she needs to do - by the book she follows.

I have to say I didn't noticed how oneside the show was - I am wondering now if something else will be revealed in January.

Cylons - came from some sort of AI . and they have more of us in them than the BSG people are admitting. In fact, there seems to be only the one difference . and therefore the end of the show - when they were playing space invaders with the cylons was painful.

We still don't know how "human" and intelligent the "machine" Cylons (the raiders and centurians) are. I wonder if the producers haven't decided this yet. So far they haven't been portrayed as being anything more than robots (in the common, scifi sense of being machines, as opposed the "intelligent robots" of sci-fi that correspondingly deserve the same rights as any intelligent lifeform would deserve).

Of course, thinking about this quickly gets complicated. If the "human" Cylons "evolved" from, say, the earlier Centurians, then the early Centurians almost certainly were more than mere "mechanical" robots . OTOH, the early Centurians may have been the product of some other Cylon intelligence that later went on to produce both the improved Centurians and the "human" Cylons.

I know I'm not explaining this well, but it's 2:22 AM and I should really be asleep.

I think there's a reason Lee's in a ship with the Pegasus CAG, and it involves brains on the upholstery or the threat thereof.

I guess this question goes back to whether the larger ship had any intention of "joining" the existing group, or was just stripping the Galactica for spare parts. If the former, then it makes sense to control key players. (Live hostages.)

But if the latter, then the intent is either to recruit or kill. Recruiting, that might take a while, but I can think of 20 sinister ways to kill a guy and make it look like a stupid accident, without dragging him along on a mission.

What if he does something heroic in public? Better to make him die via stupidity than intrepidity.

Hello, yes, my name is Borgia.