theredeemed.co.uk » The Best Frakin’ moments of Battlestar Galactica.

The Best Frakin’ moments of Battlestar Galactica.

2 February, 2010 (13:22) | The Watcher | By: James Tyler

Right, so after the whole Plan thing, I decided that the next geeky life thing should focus on BSG. Some BSG fans were not keen on the plan, so let’s look at some awesome moments of the series.

And yes, there are spoilers in here. Some big bad spoilers. So if you haven’t seen it, stay the frak away!

Though I was late to the party, Battlestar Galactica ran for four years highlighting the struggles of the remains of humanity after the Cylons nuked the twelve colonies and ran everyone else out of town. Throughout the show we saw the stresses and intricacies of running from an enemy, lacking resources and manpower and generally having a crappy time.

It’s no surprise that it pushes the envelope and one half of the team that brought back Galactica, Ron Moore, manages to channel hints of his writing on DS9, make it a hell of a lot better and stick the middle finger up to the mistakes he hated about Voyager. What we ended up with was a wonderful series with a lot of character, charm and pain.

I loved it. And while some may not like my pics for the five best moments, these were some of my favourite parts throughout the run.

Apollo finds his balls.
Crossroads Part II (Season 3).
For all the heroics and the angst of Lee Adama in BSG, he was always lesser Adama. He was weak and in a job he didn’t really want to be in, which came up in a nice few lines between him and Tigh after daddy Adama was shot.

Leading up to this moment, Apollo wanted to stand for justice against his own father but couldn’t quite find it within him to get in the game. He assisted Romo Lambkin in defending Baltar when he was on trial for treason, but he wasn’t quite ready to push himself. Not until his daddy gave him a verbal spanking and he handed in his pretty little major pins.

Then we got the speech. For all the great stuff and leadership in BSG, it was obvious there were flaws. We’d already seen the cracks form and Tyrol stand up for the people who were suffering to keep the higher classes alive. Which was a brilliant episode on people being forced to remain in a class system with no escape. But the speech put the knife into Roslin’s way of thinking. In one grand moment of finding his balls, he went against his father, he went against his president and he said all the things that no one else would, or could say.

We make our own laws now; our own justice. And we’ve been pretty creative in finding ways to let people off the hook for everything from theft to murder. And we’ve had to be, because…because we’re not a civilization anymore. We are a gang, and we are on the run, and we have to fight to survive. We have to break rules. We have to bend laws. We have to improvise. But not this time, no. Not this time. Not for Gaius Baltar. No, you…you have to die. You have to die, because, well, because we don’t like you very much. Because you’re arrogant. Because you’re weak. Because you’re a coward, and we, the mob, want to throw you out of the airlock, because you didn’t stand up to the Cylons and get yourself killed in the process. That’s justice now.

Gaeta’s last meal.
Blood on the scales (Season 4)
For all the small character moments throughout the four seasons. I oddly found this one most touching.

At first the two were paired together with Gaeta almost like a protege to the genius and soon enough Gaeta saved Baltar from execution by proving he wasn’t a Cylon sympathizer in the first season. All good, but their relationship took a more interesting turn in season three when the frustrated Gaeta lied on the stand about Baltar on New Caprica, incriminating his friend and former boss from the time they settled on the planet which also included a wonderful moment with Gaeta trying to stab Baltar due to some secret he knew about him.

As Baltar went on his own spiritual path, Gaeta’s life became misreble. He was the loyal officer who’s life turned to shit. And eventually, he cracked, tried to take over the fleet and was executed for his sins.

For all the bad blood between the two, it was touching to see Baltar sit down and share a last meal with him. Gaeta spoke of all the things he wanted to accomplish and Baltar cried over his friends schedule death. It’s not just the connection between them that’s touching, it’s the scene that shows despite his actions Gaeta isn’t a bad guy. He isn’t a big evil villian. He’s a victim of war. He snapped under the pressure and for the guy who’s been the bastard in the two parter, you feel so much empathy for him in that moment.

Adama Falls.
Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part II (Season 1)
Right from the start, we knew Boomer was a Cylon. She was revealed as such at the end of the miniseries when we saw multiple copies and all of a sudden, her back story of being an orphan made perfect sense. Thoughout the first series, and emphasized in the Plan, we saw her human cover become distressed as she struggled with her own suspicion and discovery that she was a Cylon.

So it was no surprise we’d see her doing some big bad stuff. But the moment itself was fantastic.

She knew there was a mission programmed into her and when she picked up her gun, she knew it was going to be bloody. Baltar discovered she was a Cylon and tried to cover it up, and when he walked in on her looking a little trigger happy, he had a nice chat to her to try and calm her down.

It was a wonderful moment between the two, and one of the few early scenes Baltar spent with a woman without trying to touch her up, but she knew she would do harm and shot herself. It didn’t quite work out fr her as she missed her target, but despite the suicide attempt, Adama still had faith in her and sent her out on a mission to make a Cylon base star go boom.

It was her heroic return when it all happened. Adama welcomed his victirious pilots home, gave them a big warm thank you and when we reached out to shake Boomers hand, the crafty minx pulled out her gun and shot him a good few times, leaving him laying in a pool of blood in CIC.

The Plan gave more insight into this, into how she managed to pull off the misson despite the doubts and how her emotions got the better of her. But the moment it all happened was golden. From camera angles to music, everything was spot on and the story? Well, the fleet chain of command was already in shambles and relying on Adama to lead on. Without him we’re left with the confidential, drunken Tigh and as the shooting brought the series to a close… we were all left wondering if Adama would survive.

The only down side is that they never managed to get a cliffhanger to match this jaw dropper. Even the Cylons descending on New Caprica or Starbucks return didn’t match up.

The Battle of New Caprica.
Exodus, Part II (Season 3)
Quick background. Baltar becomes president, decides to settle on the first next best thing they find to Earth, which he calls New Caprica. A lot of people settle, a few stay behind up in the air. The Cylons pay a visit, force Baltar to cooperate or everyone dies, things go tits up. Those on the planet are under cylon rule, those in the air including the Adama’s with Galactica and Pegasus run for cover.

Tigh leads a resistance cell, doesn’t go well for him, but they manage to get in touch with Galactica who’s coming to rescue them. Oh, and Adma has a horrible mustache.

So there it is. We have the Colonial settlers on the ground, Commander Apollo and the Pegasus is left to guard whats left of the civilian fleet in hiding, and Admiral Adama charged into a suicide mission to get his people off the planet and into safety. And there we have one of the best action shots Galactica has ever been in when it falls from the skies, above the settlement, launches it’s vipers and jumped out of there before it crashes.

The ground troops begin their evacuation under viper cover and the moment moves on. More Cylon base ships move in, Galactica’s wrecked itself in the freefall and can’t hold off any more. Adama thanks his crew and accepts his fate and just at the last possible moment. Boom! Hero ship moment. Apollo arrives with the Pegasus and kicks the shit out of the Cylons. He knows it’s a one way trip for the ship, sacrifices the Pegasus to save his dear old daddy and the day is saved. Mostly.

From the wonderful free fall to the Pegasus save, it’s possibly one of the best sci fi battles I’ve seen. BSG is one of those shows that makes the most out of space battles where others seem ridiculously slow and pointless. DS9’s battles were great, but it was more like a chess game and I’ll bet you a lot of latinum that while you’re thinking about your next move, the Cardassians would have you in checkmate.

Edward Olmos deserves a hell of a lot of credit for bringing that old man to life. His acting along with the writing and the save made the moment all the better. The moments of the battle were a lot more heroic than most writers can pull off.

Jump.
Daybreak, Part II (Season 4.5)
This was it. The grand finale. It was also the most complained about episode ever. Not everyone got what they wanted, they didn’t get their solid, fully explained answers but out of all the open ended questions, the complaints about Starbuck drove me fraking nuts.

Starbuck was told, and believed, she was meant for something special. She committed suicide in order to to it, she found Earth, returned form the dead, found Earth and led the fleet there. Now the death thing can be summed up in Baltars speach. God, which is later said is not it’s name, is a force of nature. So, God can bring back whoever the frak he likes. So that’s fine.

But Earth was wrecked, nuked and uninhabitable. But Starbuck was still discovering her purpose. There wer a few steps to this I won’t recap. But everything she thinks and experiences all culminates on one moment where her purpose in life becomes clear. She’s the saviour.

When all goes tits up, it’s Stabuck’s visions and story that culminated into the fleet jumping from their own personal hell to the safety of Earth where both Cylon and man can live out their lives as one.

And that scene, for me, makes it the number one spot.

Honorable mentions go to Saul Tigh killing his wife on New Caprica as she’s been in league with the Cylons n order to protect her husband, Dualla losing all hope after we learn Earth’s a shit hole and taking her own life in a shocking scene, the final big invasion into Cylon territory and a good few more.

In four seasons and two specials BSG churned out a hell of a lot of good moments. It was a nightmare picking five to add here, but these are my best moments from the show. I’d love to hear yours.