The second half of Battlestar Galactica's fourth and final season is set to debut on Friday, 16 January. Before the first half began, I posted a piece on scifi.com/battlestar in which I tried to make sense of the saga up to that point. Here it is, dated 4 April 2008:
I haven't read anyone else's thoughts or predictions. I don't have any "inside information" from the producers. I don't know anyone connected to the show. These are my ideas. If you don't like potential spoilers, then please don't read this.
The gist of BSG's opening text is true:
1) "The Cylons were created by Man." This refers to the Centurions.
2) "They rebelled." During the first war.
3) "They evolved." Or they were evolved … by the "skin jobs," who were not Cylon, but nevertheless adopted the name for themselves.
4) "There are many copies." Yes, 12 of the "new" humanoid Cylons.
5) "And they have a plan." The skin jobs do, as you'll read.
Who transcribed the exodus of the 13th Tribe from Kobol? How did the Sacred Scrolls find their way back to the 12 Colonies?
The 13th Tribe probably was composed mostly of the gods, or Lords of Kobol, who would later inspire the Greek and Roman cultures on Earth. In Greek mythology, there are 12 "major" Olympian gods, who directly translate back to the 12 Lords of Kobol. They are Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Demeter and Dionysus = 7 males and 5 females. The Lords do not share a similar biochemistry with the humans of the 12 Colonies.
There are 12 Cylon models patterned after the 12 Olympian gods: Six, Sharon, D'Anna, Cavil, Leoben, Simon, Doral, Tyrol, Tory, Tigh and Anders = 7 males and 4 females. The 12th and final Cylon is female. The Cylons do not share a similar biochemistry with the people of the 12 Colonies.
[The Centurions did not evolve into skin jobs. After the first war, they left the 12 Colonies and eventually were met by the 12 emissaries of the Lords of Kobol: the skin jobs.]
Laura Roslin may be the 12th Cylon model. Within the fleet, she has no ties back to a family. That's because she was programmed with a history. She has a deep faith in the Lords of Kobol. Her model may have returned from Earth with the Sacred Scrolls. She has a destiny foretold in the Sacred Scrolls and fulfills it. However, for some reason, her model is malfunctioning from a cancer that can't be destroyed by Colonial medicine. Baby Hera's hybrid blood only appears to have done so. The waking "projection" she shares with Caprica Six and Sharon strongly indicates her true ancestry, despite the hallucinogenic effects of chamalla.
Starbuck may be the 12th Cylon model. Within the fleet, she has no ties back to a family. That's because she was programmed with a history. She has a deep faith in the Lords of Kobol. Her model may have returned from Earth with the Sacred Scrolls. She has a destiny foretold in the Sacred Scrolls and fulfills it. In "Maelstrom," she's sucked into and destroyed by the vortex, which is really some kind of "wormhole" back to Earth. Her history is downloaded into a new body and sent back to the Galactica. She may lead the humans to Earth to be reunited with the 13th Tribe.
[In Battlestar Galactica: Razor, the Centurions are creating a Male Hybrid using human parts. That's what young Bill Adama witnessed, not the creation of the 12 skin jobs.]
Why does the Male Hybrid predict that "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her"? Who are "they"? How long has the Male Hybrid known this? Does such knowledge further indicate that Starbuck is a Cylon?
Answer: This Hybrid is old and forgotten, tended by obsolete Centurions. How does he know about Kara Thrace? From the Leobens, who revere every word spoken by the new Female Hybrid. There's some fragment of a connection between the Male and the Female Hybrid. The Leobens believe that Kara has a destiny. One Leoben even told Kara the same prediction repeated by the Male Hybrid: "All of this has happened before, and it will happen again."
This is either: 1) nothing more than a hodgepodge of ideas pieced together by the doddering old Male Hybrid, who's "in" his deathbed; or 2) a true prediction by the Leobens, who are "drawn" to Kara Thrace, believing her to be kindred, and believing that her leading mankind to its destruction is OK as long as "they" — the Cylon skin jobs — don't follow her, but rather wait for her to "reunite" the 12 Cylon models.
Why did the skin jobs orchestrate the violent destruction of the 12 Colonies and most of the human race? This speaks to why the 12 Lords originally left Kobol: A schism — ideological, theological, etc. — developed between them and the humans. Perhaps the humans also were divided. When the Lords left Kobol, they may have engineered an "apocalyptic scenario" or "scare" that soon drove the humans away from Kobol to settle the 12 Colonies in peace. On Kobol, the Lords left behind clues as to their whereabouts for the people of the 12 Colonies to find and follow to Earth someday, after they'd "grown up."
[There are 12 signs of the Zodiac as seen from Earth. The 12 Colonies are similarly named. On Kobol, the 12 Lords left behind images of these constellations for the people of the 12 Colonies to find and follow to Earth.]
Unfortunately, when the Lords sent back 12 artificial emissaries to check on the Colonies' progress, they learned of the war and how the humans had become even more divided. In their "deified" minds, the Lords decided to teach humanity a lesson. They allied with the Centurions and assumed the identity of Cylons. They advanced Cylon technology and created their own cloning process using the Resurrection Ships. They were going to scare the hell out of the 12 Colonies.
Then something happened. The 12 skin jobs themselves became divided. The Seven wanted to unleash a real apocalypse on the Colonies, while the Five believed that plan to be too harsh. The Five programmed five clones to secretly infiltrate the Colonies and save at least some of humanity, but these clones would neither recognize the Seven nor each other (probably for security reasons). The Seven, livid because of the schism, reprogrammed their clones to forget the Five. The Seven carried out their deadly plan, not knowing the Five were among the humans.
[The "recognition de-programming," however, wasn't entirely successful. Cylon Number Three later learned that, between life and death, it was possible to catch glimpses of the Five.]
Another byproduct of the Cylon schism was a loss of faith in themselves as "gods." This filtered down throughout the Seven's clones. Their attack on humanity was also an attack on themselves and their imperfection. They began calling themselves the "children of humanity." And they came to believe in one God, based on Earth memories that had filtered down from the knowledge of the 12 Lords.
"All of this has happened before, and it will happen again." First spoken by the Male Hybrid in Battlestar Galactica: Razor, and later repeated by Leoben. It's the story of humanity.
I haven't read anyone else's thoughts or predictions. I don't have any "inside information" from the producers. I don't know anyone connected to the show. These are my ideas. If you don't like potential spoilers, then please don't read this.
The gist of BSG's opening text is true:
1) "The Cylons were created by Man." This refers to the Centurions.
2) "They rebelled." During the first war.
3) "They evolved." Or they were evolved … by the "skin jobs," who were not Cylon, but nevertheless adopted the name for themselves.
4) "There are many copies." Yes, 12 of the "new" humanoid Cylons.
5) "And they have a plan." The skin jobs do, as you'll read.
Who transcribed the exodus of the 13th Tribe from Kobol? How did the Sacred Scrolls find their way back to the 12 Colonies?
The 13th Tribe probably was composed mostly of the gods, or Lords of Kobol, who would later inspire the Greek and Roman cultures on Earth. In Greek mythology, there are 12 "major" Olympian gods, who directly translate back to the 12 Lords of Kobol. They are Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Demeter and Dionysus = 7 males and 5 females. The Lords do not share a similar biochemistry with the humans of the 12 Colonies.
There are 12 Cylon models patterned after the 12 Olympian gods: Six, Sharon, D'Anna, Cavil, Leoben, Simon, Doral, Tyrol, Tory, Tigh and Anders = 7 males and 4 females. The 12th and final Cylon is female. The Cylons do not share a similar biochemistry with the people of the 12 Colonies.
[The Centurions did not evolve into skin jobs. After the first war, they left the 12 Colonies and eventually were met by the 12 emissaries of the Lords of Kobol: the skin jobs.]
Laura Roslin may be the 12th Cylon model. Within the fleet, she has no ties back to a family. That's because she was programmed with a history. She has a deep faith in the Lords of Kobol. Her model may have returned from Earth with the Sacred Scrolls. She has a destiny foretold in the Sacred Scrolls and fulfills it. However, for some reason, her model is malfunctioning from a cancer that can't be destroyed by Colonial medicine. Baby Hera's hybrid blood only appears to have done so. The waking "projection" she shares with Caprica Six and Sharon strongly indicates her true ancestry, despite the hallucinogenic effects of chamalla.
Starbuck may be the 12th Cylon model. Within the fleet, she has no ties back to a family. That's because she was programmed with a history. She has a deep faith in the Lords of Kobol. Her model may have returned from Earth with the Sacred Scrolls. She has a destiny foretold in the Sacred Scrolls and fulfills it. In "Maelstrom," she's sucked into and destroyed by the vortex, which is really some kind of "wormhole" back to Earth. Her history is downloaded into a new body and sent back to the Galactica. She may lead the humans to Earth to be reunited with the 13th Tribe.
[In Battlestar Galactica: Razor, the Centurions are creating a Male Hybrid using human parts. That's what young Bill Adama witnessed, not the creation of the 12 skin jobs.]
Why does the Male Hybrid predict that "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her"? Who are "they"? How long has the Male Hybrid known this? Does such knowledge further indicate that Starbuck is a Cylon?
Answer: This Hybrid is old and forgotten, tended by obsolete Centurions. How does he know about Kara Thrace? From the Leobens, who revere every word spoken by the new Female Hybrid. There's some fragment of a connection between the Male and the Female Hybrid. The Leobens believe that Kara has a destiny. One Leoben even told Kara the same prediction repeated by the Male Hybrid: "All of this has happened before, and it will happen again."
This is either: 1) nothing more than a hodgepodge of ideas pieced together by the doddering old Male Hybrid, who's "in" his deathbed; or 2) a true prediction by the Leobens, who are "drawn" to Kara Thrace, believing her to be kindred, and believing that her leading mankind to its destruction is OK as long as "they" — the Cylon skin jobs — don't follow her, but rather wait for her to "reunite" the 12 Cylon models.
Why did the skin jobs orchestrate the violent destruction of the 12 Colonies and most of the human race? This speaks to why the 12 Lords originally left Kobol: A schism — ideological, theological, etc. — developed between them and the humans. Perhaps the humans also were divided. When the Lords left Kobol, they may have engineered an "apocalyptic scenario" or "scare" that soon drove the humans away from Kobol to settle the 12 Colonies in peace. On Kobol, the Lords left behind clues as to their whereabouts for the people of the 12 Colonies to find and follow to Earth someday, after they'd "grown up."
[There are 12 signs of the Zodiac as seen from Earth. The 12 Colonies are similarly named. On Kobol, the 12 Lords left behind images of these constellations for the people of the 12 Colonies to find and follow to Earth.]
Unfortunately, when the Lords sent back 12 artificial emissaries to check on the Colonies' progress, they learned of the war and how the humans had become even more divided. In their "deified" minds, the Lords decided to teach humanity a lesson. They allied with the Centurions and assumed the identity of Cylons. They advanced Cylon technology and created their own cloning process using the Resurrection Ships. They were going to scare the hell out of the 12 Colonies.
Then something happened. The 12 skin jobs themselves became divided. The Seven wanted to unleash a real apocalypse on the Colonies, while the Five believed that plan to be too harsh. The Five programmed five clones to secretly infiltrate the Colonies and save at least some of humanity, but these clones would neither recognize the Seven nor each other (probably for security reasons). The Seven, livid because of the schism, reprogrammed their clones to forget the Five. The Seven carried out their deadly plan, not knowing the Five were among the humans.
[The "recognition de-programming," however, wasn't entirely successful. Cylon Number Three later learned that, between life and death, it was possible to catch glimpses of the Five.]
Another byproduct of the Cylon schism was a loss of faith in themselves as "gods." This filtered down throughout the Seven's clones. Their attack on humanity was also an attack on themselves and their imperfection. They began calling themselves the "children of humanity." And they came to believe in one God, based on Earth memories that had filtered down from the knowledge of the 12 Lords.
"All of this has happened before, and it will happen again." First spoken by the Male Hybrid in Battlestar Galactica: Razor, and later repeated by Leoben. It's the story of humanity.
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