Battlestar Galactica: Revelations

June 14th, 2008

Season 4, Episode 10

Battlestar Galactica: Revelations

Synopsis

Starbuck and Lee are in Adama’s quarters where they read about a Temple Of Aurora, on Earth. Starbuck says something about children coming into their own when their parents die.

On the rebel Cylon base star, Number Three orders centurions to hold the humans aboard hostage until the Final Four, hidden within the fleet, hand themselves over. She adds that the fifth is not among the fleet.

The basestar jumps to the fleet, and Number Three and Adama fly over to the Galactica. Adama tells the greeting party that she wants the Final Four to come join her with the other Cylons. Tigh, Chief, and Anders do nothing, but Tory, most comfortable with her Cylon nature, goes to the Cylon basestar to be with “her people” under the guise of needing to give Roslin her medicine. Roslin and Baltar are surprised but Tory dismisses both of them, making her allegiance to the Cylon side quite clear.

Admiral Adama and Lee have decided they need to hold onto the Final Five since they know the way to Earth. They prepare a rescue mission.

Tigh, Tyrol, and Anders meet. Chief is preoccupied with the viper Starbuck return from death in, saying something has changed. Tigh, worrying about the hostages’ lives, walks to Adama’s quarters to tell him face to face that he’s a Cylon. Adama doesn’t believe it, and personally damaged by the thought that his old friend is a skin job. Tigh is arrested and taken to an airlock. Adama hits the bottle, punches a mirror, and Lee has to calm his father down and decide what to do next.

Tigh waits in an airlock for his execution. Lee punches him in the jaw and demands to know the identities of the other three Cylons.

Chief, Anders, and Starbuck scour the viper for clues, but soldiers arrive to arrest Chief and Anders. Starbuck continues analyzing the viper alone, and finds that it is receiving a signal from Earth, pointing the way just as Number Three aims nukes at the fleet.

Chief, Tigh, and Anders are about to be killed when Starbuck tells everyone they have found the way to Earth. Lee gives the Final Four amnesty, and tells Number Three they have a chance to break the pattern destruction and change, and go to Earth together. Both sides stand down.

The entire fleet jumps along with the rebel Cylons to Earth. Gaeta confirms it is their long hoped for destination based on the constellations found on Kobol. Adama happily addresses the fleet that they have finally reached the destination long dreamed of since leaving Caprica so long ago.

A landing party is dispatched and lands on Earth. Adama grabs a fistful of dark soil which sets what is presumably a radiation monitor aflutter. The camera pans along disappointed faces of human and Cylon alike, as they take stock of their surroundings - and come to the realization that this isn’t what they expected - Earth is a radioactive planet, devastated by nuclear apocalypse, with a shattered skyline of a once great city.

Thoughts

Notes: The last of the final five is “not with the fleet” meaning it was one of the hostages already on board the Cylon base star, a dead character, or something else entirely. Second, it seems the viper picked up the radio signal heard by the Final Four implying the signal from the end of Season Three was emanating from Earth.

Next, let me get some general, season-wide gripes out of the way. I still chafe at the Cylons teaming up with the humans, and the way it played out here, was pretty disappointing. I would have preferred much more disagreements, with battles and double-crossing, to where the fleet was torn apart by conflicting loyalties.

Second gripe: the Final Four haven’t done much of anything this entire season, other than stand around, look confused, and lose their minds. Even Starbuck had to help find the last clue to Earth. I had hoped for behind-the-scenes manipulation on all their parts - Tigh and Tory in particular - wheedling Adama and Roslin into bad choices, or Tigh and the others seizing command of ships and breaking off on their own.

Last gripe: I excepted Starbuck to go more ballistic when she learned Anders was a Cylon.

But what did I really love? First, the crushing confrontation between Tigh and Adama, to where Lee had to step in to help his emotionally wounded father. Lee also held out the beacon of optimism to Number Three, stopping the conflict between Cylon and human long enough to reach Earth.

Then the perfect ending, which has re-framed the entire series.

What happened on Earth? Was the thirteenth colony destroyed by Cylons, and a rag-tag fleet of parallel humans wanders deep space, searching for Caprica? Is it the Earth of our distant past? No, I feel it’s meant represent our Earth in the near future, and we obliterated ourselves.

Whatever the reason, this wasn’t expected, and is a crushing commentary on hope and despair. The fleet has searched for Earth since the miniseries, assuming it to be a fertile, new home, perhaps with humans of the 13th colony there, more enlightened than the confused colonists we’ve come to love, who could provide salvation, answers, and peace.

But the thirteenth colonists were humans too, with the same propensity to make mistakes and resort to conflict as a solution. Upon this revelation, I felt a shiveringly obvious inevitability - of course the Earthlings destroyed themselves - just as the Colonies did, by creating robots that obliterated their masters. Why would anyone expect different?

In a wordless moment, the quest for Earth has proved a folly. Instead of salvation, the fleet has found a destruction similar to what they’ve been running from. The rag-tag fleet of survivors has traveled millions of miles only to find a bombed-out planet just like Caprica. They could have saved a lot of effort and simply stayed home.

And so, Battlestar Galactica is reduced to a simple fable - we run from our past, believing the future holds something better for our species, while praying we can rise above our dark “human nature” before we do ourselves in. This episode was a mirror, showing how despite hope for a bright technological future, we’re simultaneously on the knife’s edge of destruction.

In one episode, Battlestar Galactica moved beyond the addictive, nit-picky details like “who is the last Cylon?” and “how did Tigh get Six pregnant?” and reminded me of the big picture - our irrepressibly hopeful yet frustratingly misguided humanity.

It’ll be a long wait until 2009.

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Viewing 18 Comments

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    I do not agree with this analysis for one simple reason. We are forgetting the prophesy that says a dying leader will lead the people to earth, but die before she sees it through. If this is earth, than the prophesy was wrong. I do not believe this is earth, I believe this was the cylon homeworld that was destroyed which explains why the cylons are so keen on finding earth, because they themselves need a new home world.
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    actually that is a possibility that I didn't think of. there is no indication in this Revelations episodes that this in fact, our earth, only Gaeta's mention of the constellations lining up. I wonder if Starbuck led them on the wrong path and to their doom as that hybrid mentioned. What would be really insanely cool is if it turns out this is all some huge Cylon trap to lead them off track and then attack them?
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    > We are forgetting the prophesy that says a dying leader will lead the people to earth, but die before she sees it through.

    We're not forgetting it, but the writers are. The writers have been making this show up on a week-to-week basis since the "two years later" jump on New Caprica. The show has not had coherency or meaningful direction for a long, long time.

    "And they have a plan." They most certainly do not.
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    The prophesy said the dying leader will lead them to the "promised land" but not live to see it. Everyone has just assumed that the promised land is Earth. Maybe it's not Earth but some other place entirely.
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    I agree with boxlight. Total bollocks this series - they've thrown a perfectly good show down the drain.
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    Unlikely. This was Earth. The city had all the appearances of New York City, no less. The plot twist you suggest is the sort of hack writing that so far, we have not seen from RDM.
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    And so, Battlestar Galactica is reduced to a simple fable - we run from our past, believing the future holds something better for our species, while praying we can rise above our dark “human nature” before we do ourselves in. This episode was a mirror, showing how despite hope for a bright technological future, we’re simultaneously on the knife’s edge of destruction.

    In one episode, Battlestar Galactica moved beyond the addictive, nit-picky details like “who is the last Cylon?” and “how did Tigh get Six pregnant?” and reminded me of the big picture - our irrepressibly hopeful yet frustratingly misguided humanity.

    Enter Doctor Zee - The Fifth Cylon

    “The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr
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    I should revisit the original Battlestar Galactica episodes (seems like many are on Hulu). there may be some clues.
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    Battlestar Galactica is just another cheep gimic to fleece a faithful sci-fi flock for their hard earned dollars with a come-on for a movie. This ending leaves the faithful with few answers, and leads us to believe that the answers are forth coming in some distant future. The Sci-fi channel has lost of loyal viewer. Frack you!!!
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    This episode was a little disappointing as we didn't get a lot of answers to burning questions, but there are 10+ more episodes to come in 2009. What really annoys me is how long we have to wait until then. I'd rather get 1 episode a month from now, rather than wait several months until new ones.
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    It's so funny when an internet troll threatens a corporation. It's like the little spoiled kid, who when he doesn't get his way cries out "I'm taking my ball and going home!" Grow up and start thinking for yourself.
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    I also question where they are. Is it Earth? There were no visible continents from orbit, which begs the question, where are they? I had not thought about the Cylon homeworld. This leaves Gaeta's comment about the constellations matching. If Gaeta is the final Cylon, could he in fact be lying? Or, indeed the constellations do line up... with those of his homeworld. Clearly there are some things about Gaeta that we do not know. The one individual that does know something about him is Baltar. Why would Gaeta try to kill him? What did Baltar say to him that sent him into a rage?

    Since there are 10 more episodes to go, I would expect more twists and turns to come. Boxlight and Dewdogg, remember, it's not over and I don't think the writers are forgetting anything. There may very well be some backstabbing and intrigu going on, especially if the Fifth is still in the Fleet, and especially if it is Gaeta. He may be manipulating the fleet to serve the Cylons purposes.
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    It looks like the drawing of the temple of Aurora is that of Plato’s description of Atlantis.
    This would seem to tie alot of loose ends together.
    The 13th tribe finds and settles Earth creating Atlantis.
    When Atlantis is destroyed it scatters humanity all over the earth and without technology they revert to the stone age. The humans that settle around Greece held on to their core religious beliefs and architure styles which would explain how the same gods exist on the 12 colonies thousands of light years away. This would also explain why we on earth do not currently have the technology that the 12 tribes have.
    When the 12 colonies settle on Earth it is hundreds of years from now after WW3.
    Any thoughts?
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    The 13th Colony is on Mars, our dead and mysterious neighbor. Check out the views of the world as the fleet approaches - nothing to indicate the usual continents.
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    just near the very last second of "Revelations", I could of sworn I saw a Steeple. St. Patricks Cathedral,maybe? I still think "visible continents" from space were deliberatly left out just to keep us guessing. Roslin is still alive because that part of Earth is not the "promised Land" they are standing in .I also still think that they are standing on whats left of Atlantis.soon , all humans will agree that all cylons must be destroyed because there will never be peace as long as they are around. The final 5 have been to Earth but have no memory of it.They are the ones who destroyed it.in the end ,even Tighe knows this and he remembers organizing the suicide bombers on New Caprica and decides he will lure the cylons far away from Earth and then destroy them,making himself a Martyr. All the technology left is sent off into space and /or buried on Earth.Technology had to be destroyed for fear that that there might still be some loose cylons still flying around scanning for the last of the human race hoping to "pick up" radio waves , and radiation signatures.
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    do you honestly believe they will go and plot exactly stated in prophecy? NO! and if they did that would be no fun... im glad they have good twists and good suspense... and hopefuly they choose the right canidate to be the 5th... anywho... enough with speculations! just fracking wait til next year!
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    well... they are definitely going along with the prophecies so far., but if they play it out exactly based on their prophecies.... that would be really sad to see Rosilin pass away...

    from the promo i saw for next season.... the main characters reaction... more main chars are dying... cremating... if you believe the prophecy will be fulfilled i hope u frackers are happy... u killed her!
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    Starbuck and Lee are in Adama’s quarters where they read about a Temple Of Aurora, on Earth
 

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