homepage Forums SimHQ Community Outer Space & Science Fiction BSG Easter Egg

The BSG mini-series and series never go into much detail but my understanding is that the cylons were used as slave labor in varying capacities so that could have indeed included military use. It's just one of the several ways BSG was influenced by Blade Runner.

In the original show, the Cylons were made by an alien race who were then destroyed by the Cylon robots, who then hated biological life and wanted to destroy it (the original plan was to make the bad guys reptilian but it was changed to robots during development).

In the re-imagined version, as PM says, it wasn't fleshed out, but they were created by humans and used as laborers, and then revolted. There is a brief mention of that in the opening of the short-lived Blood and Chrome show.

Here's the opening of that show that touches on it:

https://youtu.be/-Zuk3MuGMdM

On a related note, the prequel series "Caprica" would have explored the cylon revolt in much more detail but unfortunately the series was canned after one season.

I would say that is a fair call.

I finished the series this morning, I’m pretty sure it’s the 3rd time I’ve watched it. Overall I like it a lot, it’s probably my 3rd favorite “modern” SF series behind B5 and the SG franchise. My biggest gripes have to do with the military, they’re undisciplined, disobedient, and as eager to point their guns at each other as at the Cylons. “Stand down” was used way too often, I think it’s one of those terms people who weren’t in the military think people in the military use all the time. And repeating “report! Report! Report!” over and over and over again - I’m talking about YOU, Major Lee “Hot Mike” Adama! - quit tying up the comms so everyone else can talk/listen. “Communicate” is the last of the “ate”s for a reason. But at least they didn’t go “hut! Hut hut! Hut!” like in The Blues Brothers.

There were a few huge leaps in the plot, at least it seemed that way to me, but of course I can’t remember a single one now.

I’ve seen where people didn’t like the “Daybreak” series finale, obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I thought it was every bit as poignant as B5’s “Sleeping In Light” and provided all the closure that was needed.

I doubt I’ll watch it again, unless it’s to watch with someone who hasn’t seen it. In that case I’ll just overlook the problems and enjoy the overall story.

For me the series finale was great until the fleet arrives at Earth. Then the narrative wheels started to come off quickly.

1. Oh yeah, let's just unanimously make the decision to abandon all technology. I'm sure the other 40,000 plus survivors will just go along with that plan.

2. William Adama abandoning everyone else including his son so he can fly off with Roslyn who he knows will be dying at any moment so then he can live the rest of his life in isolation? Yup, makes PERFECT sense to me.....

3. I guess Ron Moore forgot to research the human evolutionary record because this so called "Mitochondrial Eve" (Hera) ends up being the mother to all modern humans? Never mind scientific facts, this doesn't even make sense in a hard science fiction context.

Good observations. I had some other issues, mostly around the weird stuff that happened that was never really explained, like Starbuck, and the Baltar/9 "head" characters. And by never really explained, I mean they didn't even suggest any sort of reasoning of what happened, other than perhaps vague references to God's Plan or something. And the final 5 Cylons were a real disappointment to me, and it undercut some of the best scenes from previous episodes, especially with Col. Tigh and his wife.

A lot of fans had issues with the Starbuck resurrection and later disappearance act in the finale. I was ok with it because I understood that Ron Moore was taking the show along the supernatural route and it's my belief that he was letting the viewers decide what it all meant concerning the Head Baltar/Head Six in the finale.

Ron Moore himself has said in interviews that he never had a completely planned out story-arc from the beginning for the series and I think for the most part that hurt the show more than helped it.

letting the viewers decide what it all meant

In the words of Deadpool, " that's just lazy writing."

I was a little surprised that Ron Moore didn't have more structure around it, given that he was in charge of DS9 during its larger story arc, and I thought that was handled pretty well.

1. I’m assuming you meant “unilaterally”, but that’s something Adama did a few times in the series. I’m assuming his handling of the mutiny, the fact that the President backed him up, and having gotten the fleet to a new home gave him enough political capital to be able to make that decision. And there were probably some threats made, with the ones being threatened having learned not to call his bluff. And honestly, what’s anyone who doesn’t like it going to do? Jump away? Good riddance. And what did they HAVE for technology? Canvas army tents and army trucks, if New Caprica was any indication. Surely they would have brought all their technology down with them if they had anything.

2. What’s so nonsensical about that? Why should he stick around as an admiral without a fleet? He’d be a figurehead at best, with people from every faction glad-handing him so they can say Adama supports them or their agenda. If there’s one person in the fleet who doesn’t owe anything to anyone it’s Bill Adama.

3. Mitochondrial Eve is ABSOLUTELY a real thing, the female we can all trace our matrilineal genes back to. There’s a Y-chromosome Adam as well.

It goes back a couple of million years though, not just 150,000 as was the case in the show. That's why I said "I guess Ron Moore forgot to research the human evolutionary record".

Nope, I think you’re thinking of Lucy, the 3 million year old fossil of a female Australopithecus. When the first estimate of when Mitochondrial Eve lived was made in 1987, the range was from 140-200 thousand years ago. The most recent estimates I’ve been able to find are from 2013, one says 99K-148K years ago and the other says 160KYA.