Anyone see Battlestar? SPOILERS!

[Dead-eye]

So the last episode of Battlestar Galactica was on last night. It was fairly good if you haven't seen it or if you have been waiting to see it.

I really like the whole idea of people on earth are from another planet. I always felt that the bible's interpretations of stuff is too old for me to relate to. I could easily believe something like this over the bible.

[RealLeonWoods2045]

Glad to find a BSG fan on this forum. I haven't had time much to see the entire series. But I read the synopsis of the final episode. I love reading about the fictional universes sometimes more than just watching was is made from them. For example, reading the series bibles more than how the series bible was translated into the media medium. Anyways, my question is: I was reading the synopsis of the final episode, and the end has something called Inner Baltar and Inner Six. I understand there conversation, but I don't understand what they are supposed to be. I mean it has been over 150 million years. So are they spirits or are they artifical ghosts of the machine type. I am confused, and never found an answer as to why Baltar could see a Six without her being there. Teach me, and prove yourself a master of all things BSG.

Also, have they released the BSG series bible? Where could I read it?

[Jim]

dude, you spoiled the series for yourself by reading about the final episode rather than watching it! 　that's a total bummer. that's slap-worthy.

regardless, I didn't really like it all that much myself. it felt rushed, and it just didn't feel right at all. it downplayed every previous major event in the series to near meaninglessness it seems like.

[Mr_Cyberpunk]

and in the final episode they discover what the reapers were truly built for...

Oh wait that's mass effect.

[chris the cynic]

Anyways, my question is: I was reading the synopsis of the final episode, and the end has something called Inner Baltar and Inner Six. I understand there conversation, but I don't understand what they are supposed to be.

They are angels. "Inner Baltar" appeared to Six, and later Baltar, as Baltar. "Inner Six" appeared to Baltar, and later Six, as Six.

[Dark Reality]

And Starbuck? Was she an angel as well? I do believe so, but a very different kind. I'm not sure I buy the random jump (that, folks, is a great example of a deus ex machina) but it beats ST:Voyager's weird "exactly where we want to be" ending. Someone else said it so much better: Battlestar Galactica is everything that Voyager should have been. Now, I liked Voyager (and watched it twice) but BSG was so many times better.

[DDL]

and in the final episode they discover what the reapers were truly built for...

I always figured it was "for shits and giggles".

If it's something more meaningful I'll be very disappointed.

[chris the cynic]

And Starbuck? Was she an angel as well? I do believe so, but a very different kind.

She was indeed. A very different kind given that she started off human and didn't know what she was when she came back.

I'm not sure I buy the random jump (that, folks, is a great example of a deus ex machina)

But it wasn't random. The numbers Kara punched in were notes of the music they'd been hearing, specifically the part that Hera wrote down. Not actually All Along The Watchtower but a theme that was played and heard alongside it. Now it should be pointed out that the melody had two or three variations and Kara picked the right one, but she had been previously sitting around trying to figure out what the music meant, playing with various ways to assign numbers to it and considering variations.

They used the simplest way to get numbers from music do=1, re=2, so on. Click this if you'd like to see what that looks like.

The music started being heard in the first part of the two part Season 3 finale so it's been being set up for a while. Because the first season was the shortest season its actually been there for more than a quarter of the show. So it wasn't exactly set up at the beginning, or even halfway through the series, but it hardly came out of nowhere.

[Dark Reality]

Interesting how hyperlinks violate the spoiler code. Irrelevant to us but interesting for the PHP geeks, perhaps.

OK, it wasn't random, but I don't buy music = code. Not the way it was portrayed. My wife and her brother play (the hell out of some) Rock Band, and while I'll admit the vocals are authentic and accept that the drums translate to how you'd play the song on a five-piece drum set, there is no way expert guitar or expert bass can be accurately transcribed using five notes. This is why they let drummers get away with hammering away randomly during the song and they make realistic sounds, but guitarists and bassists can't, it makes an error sound and counts points against the player/band. Because there's no direct translation. They have the beat and they kind of make a pattern that seems to look right.

Where I'm going with this is that spacial coordinates are supposed to be exact, and Starbuck playing Rock Band on her controls emulating a tune does not a perfect and precise jump make, though it works for the show. And looks cool as hell. I understand all that - I just don't buy it. Still love the series and the finale.

[chris the cynic]

There's a couple of things that are worth saying that don't require this to look like a freedom of information act release.

The first is that The Music in Battlestar Galatica wasn't just All Along The Watchtower, it was that plus an accompaniment. The accompaniment included a prominent theme (known as the Final Four theme due to who heard it first) that was the theme you saw the notes to, and the theme that Kara used. It really is exactly what the audience has been hearing since The Music first appeared.

The second is that FTL in Battlestar simultaneously makes sense and is crazy. On the one hand what makes sense is how the numbers are set up, three for horizontal angle the next three for vertical angle, and all the rest for distance. With an angle-angle-distance set up you can specify any point in the universe provided you know where you are.

What is crazy is that it isn't exactly all that precise. Even if they're using the full three digits for the angles (as opposed to 365 for the first and 180 for the second) at a distance of any size that is far from ideal. The distance would need to be in giant units to be able to get away with using that few digits (six in the case we are discussing) any units that big wouldn't actually put you that close to your destination.

That is, of course, the way its always been in (the new) Battlestar.

-

Interpret that however you like.