Well, it's official, I will watch this show regularly. I set it to keep untill I delete, and I'm transferring them to my computer (TiVo To Go) so I can burn them. God this is a good show. Sci-Fi or not, best show currently running.

ganthet (nice nick by the way, HUGE GL fan here) are there any links to the old UK theme? And thank your lucky stars, at least we didn't get Enterprise's theme. I'd have shot myself.

Several questions, is the #6 that's running around, does she have a link to Balthar, or is it just a neural clone? (Albeit WAY better than having Nosferatu in your head.)

I was watching Water, and they said they had 45,000+ people. Did I fall asleep? Cuz it seems they just dumped 2000+ people from "33" with no big explaination. Wut happened?

And could someone explain (even if in spoiler tags if need be) how the multiple copies of the same template human Cylons thing works?

I liked it, will keep up with it. Thanks to those who spoilered their comments up thread.

I hate the name #6 (but like the character) and hate that they spoil the episode in the opening theme sequence (producers, please don't do it for season 2). Watching "33", I thought it was clever to watch the fleet at the point of exhaustion. I was wondering why they didn't do stims and sleep shifts earlier, before realizing that they were shorthanded, and that fighting the exhaustion wasn't the point - having the characters start from that point was. The memorial walls reiminded me of the posting boards for the tsunami and 9/11.

My reactions after watching "33": I love it. Love. IT. I guess that's all I have to say so far.

I saw it TWICE. TWICE! There were two things I didn't get. One, how come they couldn't scan the Olympic Cruiser for people? Two? how come when they were walking around the blowed out tanks it didn't seem like they were magnatized to the floor or tethered(sp) to the ship? I was surprised we didn't see floating debris when they walked in.

All and all I really liked this and I can't wait for next friday. How come the UK got this before us? Is it a UK production?

I like how the Cylons or at least number is all about God and Redemption. I wonder if she's part of his psyche or if there is a ship.

I don't think this show has "life scanners" in the Star Trek sense. The ships seem to have some sort of radar, and some sort of radiation detectors.

They do, however, have artificial gravity, which is why they don't need to wear tethers or magnetic boots when walking around inside the blown out water tanks. Once the tanks had been blown out into vacuum...well..that's it. It's vacuum. No more pressure imbalance, no more "sucking" force. They came in through an airlock, and they wore sealed suits. That's all they'd need.

Thanks Hugin!

I loved it and will definitley watch! I hope it got good ratings because it is a great show. I like all of the storylines except for Baltar, the Scared. I find him amusing, but his frequent interactions with 6 are kind of lame and seem to stop the action.

I never saw the original show or heard anything about it. I wouldn't mind Apollo and Starbuck getting together. In fact I encourage it. They are two pretty people why not? Zack is dead and he is not coming back. In the normal run of things, this would not be as acceptable, but their civilization has been decimated.

I love the President's geeky sidekick who seems to have bungled his way into a position of power. How 18 year old Timmy became part of the Cabinent is confounding, but whatever. I'm not sure I understand what Boomer2 is doing on Caprica with Helo. It seems like a waste of time as he will surely die of radiation soon, but I'm willing to follow it.

What was up with Boomer not being able to say she had found water until she touched the bomb. Then she did not detonate the bomb. That makes sense because she would have been blowing herself up, but what the hell was it doing on her ship to begin with?

Holy cow, I have a giant crush on this show. So much with the angst, and the terror of dying alone in an unfeeling universe, and the creepy music- if they would just dump the annoying small boy (I bear him no ill-will, but come on) it would be pretty much perfect.

Wow. Just call me InstaFan.

I got the feeling that was her fighting with her programming. At least, I'm assuming she's a programmed human. Anyway, her programming was telling her to deny the water and blow up the ship, but she fought back and was able to tell about the water and disarm the bomb.

I like this show very much already. The PTB seem to have thought out a lot of the problems that would come up in that situation and have incorporated them into the story. We'll see if they can keep it up.

I"m so glad they have a bible... and I hope Moore is as anal about it as JMS was. Instead of doing the Joss method where you contradict your own continuity.

And I like my Sci-Fi dark and depressing like this. One of the reasons Farscape is still my favorite show ever. BSG is now my second favorite.

Thanks for all the questions answered. And I'd totally forgotten about the equalizing of pressure. I got so used to Trek force fields that I'd dumped all my vacuum knowledge in the dumpster with Harvey.

As much as I like SG-1, it's going to look like Sesame Street next to this show.

This was all kinds of awesome. I have a new on-air favorite to obsess over, methinks, as am starting to get disaffected with Lost. I was already sick to death of Sgwun, and Atlantis is fun but not worth delving into.

Heee. So many ways fabulous. I am a happy Bunbury.

Virtually every scripted show has a bible, it's standard practice when you're pitching to networks and hiring writers.

Yet, some shows, seem like they never ever had one. I can't remember how many times I yelled at the screen during Buffy or later seasons of X-Files. That was the point I was really trying to make.

I'm just glad to see things like food, water and clothing being discussed on na show about survival. Oh, and loss. That scene with Dualla and the pictures... so clearly meant to jerk our strings with 9/11 (with more recently the tsunami coverage though that can't be intentional) and it worked. Same with the whiteboard headcount.

i think one of the reasons why this is effective is because instead of making everything look special, and "scifi", they *did* pretty much get all the civilian stuff at target. it's hard to put yourself in the place of a long flowing gowned man with a cool holographic display, but you can understand a normally suited guy with a whiteboard. I think it made me pay more attention to the story and less attention to the scifi flash.

Yeah, I agree that's a strength SmokingCatamite. Much as me and my husband giggled over the Future!Whiteboard and Future!Markers, I think over viewers, who don't get into sci fi as much would find flashier technology to be distracting. I understand that they are trying to make a drama that happens to be set in space, rather than a space show.

Re. Show Bibles. Its my understanding that all shows have Bibles, but no show ever actually stays %100 close to it. Even if they intend to, things happen. Actors get movie deals, producers and writers burn out, shows evolve as they move into production. Even if they have an entire ten year plot arc mapped out, from Caprica to Earth, with many wack adventures in between, its not set in stone that they'll ever get there.

I appreciated how every single character, from Adama and the Prez right on down to the supporting bridge officers and the ground crews, got their own bits of dialogue and closeups and reaction shots. This show will be more than the Amazing Adventures of the Fearless Five. Looks like they'll have a pretty rich cast of supporting characters to play with. And to make us like, so that they can then be killed horribly and suitably angstily.

So, go Billy, World's Dorkiest Aide de Camp! "Dear Mom: When I joined the Caprica Community College's intern program and was assigned to be the Secretary of Education's gofer, I never dreamed that someday I would be helping shape the future of civilization, and all with only 36 credit hours under my belt. Thanks, CCC!"

I'm pretty certain that B5 (with the exception of having to compress everything into S4, that would have been S4-S5 stuck close to the bibles. But some shows go out of their way it seems to ignore the bibles, and even it's own canon. I'm just hoping this won't ever be one of those shows. I'm so into continuity porn.

One thing, I imagine (though I'm not sure) that they are in unfamiliar space, meaning there aren't any colonies [of the colonies] out there, so do they have ways to fabricate fuel and ammo, given the proper natural resources? Cuz it's not like they're going to find a BP, or an Ammu-Nation.

I'm surprised that the two hour-series opener was just two separate episodes slammed together, on the other hand, two-parters are a pain in the ass for syndication so perhaps (nowadays) they are only used as a last resort. Anyway, the continuity on this is air-tight so they can do shit like that and have it work.

All things considered, this show transitioned from mini-series to series pretty seamlessly.

The only major continuity glitches that I could spot:

1) Mary McDonnell's (PrezRoz) hair grew about 6-8 inches in the time between when they shot the mini-series and when they picked up the shooting for the series. Unfortunately, "33" picks up right where the mini-series left-off, just some days and hours later, so her Doo switching and growing (while nice-looking) is a slight distraction.

2) There looked to be one ship in the convoy which looked like the Silent Running Agro-Ship which got wasted in the mini-series because it wasn't FTL Equipped.

3) Thank goodness they remembered to pull in and push out the Galactica's Landing Bay Pontoon's for each start/finish of the FTL Jumps.

Having watched "33" and "Water," I'm fairly stunned by the quality of this show. The only other outer-spacey scifi show I've really gotten into in the last 10 years was Firefly (not to rain on Scapers, it's great stuff, just not something I relate to particularly well). BG is marvelously intense, visceral stuff. I love its dirty, lived-in quality (well, except for Baltar's porn-backs, yuck), and the characterization so far is top notch. Others have noted how the focus on the impact of the seemingly mundane (water supplies, a new baby, etc.) really humanizes the drama. I couldn't agree more--this show is all about the struggle, and effectively so. Great, great stuff, I can't wait for more! I'm fully prepared to obsess over this one. :)

re: the low-tech look of the show (discounting wardrobe)

Of course, the canon explanation for that would be that the retro-tech look is deliberate - after all, Galactica was designed without computer networking, and as low tech as possible to prevent Cylons hacking into it - as they did to many - in the great Cylon War and they did so again in the sneak attack in the mini-series.

My $0.02 (adjusted for inflation and currency conversion) :)

Does anyone else get a Dr. BAshir vibe from Baltar?

My eyes! I really love this new version but I hope that don't go down this tired road. Let's keep it buddy-buddy.

eta: Here are several reviews of the series.

I watched this with a bunch of friends of mine and we've started referring to Baltar as the not-Julian.

Loved this show, too. This is a great excuse to stay home on Fridays--except that the Das Boot atmospherics might get a little too much to engage in week after week.

Yeah, Baltar brings the Bashir in a big way, for which I am thankful. Also, I LOVE the man's suits. Why can't current men's suits look that sharp?

The new opening music sucks.

The Starbuck rant at Apollo, followed by their snorting with laughter was excellent, and well acted.

I thought Apollo was a complete drip in the miniseries ... how come now I think he's hot? Damn.

Ditto on the Julian-vibe. And also a Wesley from Angel vibe. Maybe because of the scruff.

Why is this show so freaking slow?

Ron Moore was the showrunner behind Carnivale Season 1. 'nuff said.

Wow, I must watch a lot of boring stuff, because the new BG seems relentlessly fast-paced to me--one tense moment after another.

Carnivale, on the other hand, is indeed creepy crawly slow--I love its pacing, actually, but I don't find it as instantly compelling as BG.

I don't care about anything else - this show is so well written I can scream. As an SF fan I am in heaven!

womba, I am a SF pig in slop too! I'm loving the pacing of the show, the writing, the direction, and the SFX. I don't really have much to say about the opening credits (as far as I'm concerned anything's better than the crappy credits over on Enterprise). At first, I was very hesitant about this "reimagining" of the series, but having seen "33" and "Water," I'm quite satisfied.

Baltar= "NotBashir." hee! Maybe PsychoBashir?

I really liked the first two episodes. I love the President she really seems like a real person who can hold her own in room where clearly not everyone respects her or takes her seriously.

I'm really getting used to Starbuck as a woman and like the character, I loved her and Apollo laughing after her little tirade. But please do not make these two an item. (I actually wouldn't mind seeing a little something between Apollo and the President, they have great chemistry).

I thought Adama would irritate me, but he didn't. I was just a little irritated with Number Six but I'll give the character time.

All in all I was pleased and am looking forward to new episodes.

Re: Hannibal Khan's question, " was watching Water, and they said they had 45,000+ people. Did I fall asleep? Cuz it seems they just dumped 2000+ people from "33" with no big explaination. Wut happened?"

I noticed this too, but I think that Baltar was referring to "the civilians". The run down on needed foodstuffs/water was for the "other" ships. This would then suggest that there is "only" some 2000 or so military types on the Galatica.

Yes, he was specifically talking about the civilians.

NotBashir is so very Bashir-like that it's distracting.

Last night was the first time since...well, since Peacekeeper Wars that I was that tense and involved in a SF show. I really hope that the writing keeps up at this level.


I can handle Starbuck as a woman, but not necessarily this woman. I still don't like her all that much, although I did laugh when she and Apollo giggled over her tirade.

After seeing the first four eps (which Sci Fi sent out to the press), this is officially right up there with THE SOPRANOS, THE SHIELD and THE WIRE as creme-de-la-creme dramatic television. I'm floored that a science fiction show this good is being made, to say nothing of it being based on something as cheesy as the original BG.

That said, something ocurred to me a few days after I saw 33 that really annoyed me: The clock with the "33" taped onto it. Think about it for a second: Let's say the Cylons' first strike is at 3:33pm. If they return 33 minutes later, it's 4:06pm. The next attack comes at 4:39, then 5:12, etc., etc. for the next hundred and some-odd hours. The 33 clock is a very cool visual, to be sure, but it makes no sense at all if you think about it.

I believe that all the clocks with the 33 marked on it were reset by hand at the end of every jump (as we saw Lt. Gayda do after Adama told everyone to reset the clock).

After all, in that situation, what did the actual time have to do with anything? The only thing that mattered were those 33 minutes.

Yeah, the clocks were reset. The "33" was so they could visually tell when it was. It was a neat yet odd contrast between the analog and digital clocks there.

So does anyone have an answer about replenishing fuel/ammo? Because they were spending it like crazy. I would assume that they are beyond any forward bases the colonies had.

Hannibal,(spoiler marked just in case) that issue will be addressed sooner or later, don't worry.

Just keep in mind that before they left they hit an ammo depot and they have a fuel refinery ship as part of the convoy (if you watch the mini, you can hear the chatter about it arriving just before they are forced to abandon the slower than light ships).

Echoes my thoughts exactly. Mary McDonnell is awesome. What are they going to do about her terminal cancer? (Don't answer that, I'm just expressing that I want her to stay on the show.) I was feeling thick about her heart-to-heart with Apollo. Was she trying to reassure him that he wasn't responsible for carrying out the order she and Adama had agreed upon? Was she trying to say she now felt it was the wrong decision? (It didn't seem to be. Since the Cylons ceased to be able to find them every 33 minutes, didn't that mean they had done the right thing by blowing up the... um... big ship? Can't remember the name.) I liked the parallel soul-searching, by Comm. Adama who was all 'don't ever second-guess yourself, just blow shit up and move on.' Then Madame Pres., who seemed to be saying 'always second-guess yourself when you blow shit up, even if you had to.' Apollo is going to be one confused little boy.

Baltar is so wonderfully cracked. The actor does a great job talking to someone who's not really there. I love how they write in the dialogue so that it fits what's being asked of him and what #6 is saying to him. But he's in a bind. Now he has to come up with something to 'splain how he fingered that sleeper agent. So, is there some god watching over him, is that why the ship with the man who could finger him was targeted by the Cylons? Some Cylon super-consciousness?

(Boy, I have a lot of questions--a good sign! I caught some of the original show with the dog made out of duct-tape and teddy-bear fuzz, and I'm grateful for this new version.)

So was Boomer going to blow herself up to keep them from finding water? I mean, was that the plan? Because wouldn't they have found the water eventually anyway? And did the Cylons want to blow one of their best imbedded agents so soon? And did Boomer start sleeping with the guy originally so he would be more likely to help her cover up later? I was completely confused by the Boomer who was back on the home planet, but I'm guessing that'll become more clear at some point.

I was surprised to find out Jamie Bamber is British. He does a bang-up American accent.

I guess we have to assume that there is no RealBoomer out there, for now. GalCyBoomer seems to be breaking her programming, but I bet there's another Cylon somewhere amongst them. CapCyBoomer seems to be there just so they can flush out whatever resistance is brewing on the homeworlds.

On the special before the episodes they had "Baltar/Apollo" reading fan mail asking if there were any gay characters, and then they looked at Baltar all funny. Is this a reference to the Lt. Assistant assigned to him. Is there gonna be some sort of mancrush on NotJulian?

Keep watching the show. Questions are answered - sometimes obliquely - in the fullness of time. That (among many things) is why this show is *so* good. You are supposed to think and to question, and to discover.

Having said that, on a purely facile note: Jamie Bamber is not doing a US accent, it's Caprican ! And he does a darned good one.

I would ask that you put any Bashir/Baltar comparisons out of your mind - apart from their facial resemblance, they are nothing alike.

Re: Baltars Lieutenant, well how shall I put it ... yes, he not only *pings* the gaydar - he sends up flares to signal the fleet !!

Gah, now that you mention it I totally remember it. Silly me.



Maybe he's gay in real life? Or it could have just been a reference to his role as a gay dude in the Bridget Jones movies...

Ooooooh, I just caught the Canadian encore airing (just "33", the second episode is next week so I guess we are a week behind). That *was* good! You people -- in fact -- are *not* dirty liars! I really dug the 33 minute jumpity-jump-jump device and I'm happy whiteboards have a role to play in the future.

The new robotic Cylons look like crap though.

So guys, do we think this show is a hit? It seems to be getting an excellent response. I just hope the ratings were good. I would hate for this show to fail while SG:1 and Atlantis stayed on the air. (They are fun shows, but not nearly as good.)

I thought the President was kind of being a bitch in "Water" when they were having that meeting and she insisted that someone give her a theory. Clearly the guy felt uncomfortable and she could have easily just asked Adama and left the lower ranking guy out of it, but she put him on the spot.

In terms of differences from the mini-series to the series, I noticed that the President has had some work done. If you know what I mean...and I think you do. At the very least, she made time in between those jumps to get botoxed. Billy's hair was also a lot shorter.

My one major complaint about the show is that they injected waaay too much sex waaay too early.

I have absolutely no problem with characters doing it, but, I like to know more about them and more about their relationships before they do.

For instance, over on Alias we had a nice long build-up before Sidney & Vaughn finally did the deed whereas on BG we had not one but two couples doing it before we even knew anything about them.

I think the show has hit potential because of the writing and special effects, however, I need to care more about the characters to get invested.

I'm liking NuApollo, FemmeBuck, PrezRos, Adama, Helo (HeMyHo), Baltar, and Six but I'm not liking the other characters as much.

Super show, I'm so jealous that the Great White North only got one episode and I won't be able to read this forum each week without spoilers.

One question: what was up with the pilots touching that photo before taking off?

Whoever came up with the name Lt. Gaydar deserves a prize. That's spot on and hilarious.

I am so glad they kept Helo on. He was one of my favorite characters in the mini.

So far the series is great. I can't wait until next week.

Why wouldn't there be white boards in the 12 Colonies?

This series is not necessarily set "in the future". These were humanoid worlds who evolved and created society & technologies that are similar and yet different from Earth. This could be our past. This could be our future. There is no way to know the timeline relative to Earth.

They could someday find the 13th colony and see that we are still in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, or just a few years from our present day (2010?).

So, I have no problems with white boards at the same time as FLT, "phone calls ship-to-ship" at the same time as humanoid robots, and I love being able to say "frack" and not get my mouth washed out with soap <grin>.

Friday nights are "stay at home and watch Sci Fi" at my house (and tape other good stuff).

Edit to add: hubby has a theory about Baltar and Number Six (is she in his mind?):
He thinks Baltar is really a Cylon.

[Please don't use spoiler tags for things that are just speculation. -- Strega]

I believe the picture is a symbol of what they were fighting for. It's to, for lack of a better term, "psyche up" the pilots.

For a really weird parallel, it's like how the Notre Dame football team hits that one banner/poster thing as they exit their locker room (for visual example, see the movie Rudy).

Thanks Aurelian, I've seen that done before but I thought *that* picture might mean something. They seemed to spend a fair bit of time on that bit.

Regular series Apollo is ssssmokin! Good googly moogly. And FemmeBuck is growing on me. I thought I would hate her, but she has the potential to be Kira Nerys/Aeryn Sun I'm-Gay-But-I-Love-Her HOT.

I've been trying to get my queer facilitator to watch this show by saying it has Babylon 5 circa seasons 2-4 potential. She's not convinced. But I'm working on it!