Terra?

[brokedown77]

http://media.battlestarwiki.org/images/thumb/6/60/Experiment_in_Terra.jpg/180px-Experiment_in_Terra.jpg

If the Demetrius finds "earth" by the mid-season cliffhanger, what are the odds that it is post-apocalyptic Terra (http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Terra), instead of the real earth?

[mdwturner]

http://media.battlestarwiki.org/images/thumb/6/60/Experiment_in_Terra.jpg/180px-Experiment_in_Terra.jpg

If the Demetrius finds "earth" by the mid-season cliffhanger, what are the odds that it is post-apocalyptic Terra (http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Terra), instead of the real earth?


I'll take those odds. I think the final episode has to be the battle for Earth, or the battle to retake Caprica.

[brokedown77]

I'm mainly wondering which elements of the original show haven't yet been "reimagined" into our current series.

Off the top of my head we haven't seen:
Imperious Leader
Lucifer
Terra
John (the Being of Light who lead Apollo to Terra)
The mutinous Captain of one of the fleet ships (Starbuck on the Demetrius when she refuses to leave?)
A cyclon riding a horse (ain't happening)
Aliens (also ain't happening)

Things we have seen
Pegasus
Hand of God
Gun on Ice Planet Zero
Moon Landing (reimagined to "All along the WatchTower")
Boxey (mercifully briefly)
Daggit (Jake the Dog)
Ship of Lights
Resurrected Pilot (Starbuck instead of Apollo)
Angels (Head Six explicitly claims it)
A Charismatic Leader leading large parts of the fleet's people in a cult-like following

Things spoilers ahead say we are going to see reimagined:
Starbuck's dad
Dead bodies in an ancient crashed ship

I just think that some of the keys to what is ahead this season are to be found in the Original Series

[Xenon242]

It's either going to be pre-civilisation (or maybe even pre-historic) or post-apocalyptic. Both have their risks to the Colonials.

Cylons aside for a moment, if the Colonials arrive in pre-history, then what happened to the 13th colony? Died off before getting there? Couldn't adapt to their new planet and went extinct? Decided to move on? Stayed on, but regressed?

And if they arrive in post-apocalyptic conditions, will they be met with hostility from the humans on Earth? Is Earth un-livable because of something like radiation or another calamity? Have they been forced to leave Earth for any reason?

In any case, I count on RDM to not screw this up Galactica 1980-style. :D

[buerger23]

Why couldn't they come to a populated Earth? There is really no reason. But I do agree with you that they are going to come to Earth either pre-historic, early history (ie. Greece, Rome, etc.) or post-apocalyptic (Canticle for Leibowitz style.)

[Leoben]

I'm of the opinion, and hoping for something post 13th tribe. The writers love commenting on the world in which we live. What better way than the original inhabitants of Earth destroying their own existence through say....war?

I also really really don't want them landing Raptors in Time Square.

[cylon_democrat]

I'll cast my lot with Buerger23, though the earth I foresee is not Leibowitz's Canticle, but after Asimov's Robots and Empire. Earth is too radioactive to live for either race (except for Starbuck, so what is she).

I've only seen "Razor" actually (living on battlestar wiki feeds), so I claim immunity, ignorance, or idiocy.

[Georgiotje]

That would be great, if the final battle would be a battle above Caprica to 'kick the Cylons out of their homes' as Cain said.

[suns7474]

I really hope they find earth soon, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the mid-season finale. I am just getting anxious with the last couple of weeks sort of dragging out the whole mutiny/demetrius scenario.

[brokedown77]

There were spoiler pictures (last year I think before the writers strike) that showed a raptor on the beach and Starbuck, Baltar and Apollo and I'm not sure who else were filmed sitting around a campfire in some ruined looking buildings, see pictures below. I have always assumed this meant they get to Earth (or maybe Terra (http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Terra), see top of thread) before the mid season break.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2386/2195633414_1833af1866_m.jpghttp://pics.livejournal.com/cujoy/pic/0001892t/s320x240http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2346/2194846329_87e3ae6a35_m.jpg

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Yeah, they reach Earth around episode 10. That's going to be the "cliffhanger" between season 4.0 and 4.5. Jamie Bamber (Lee "Whaa-Whaa" Adama) basically said as much during the San Diego Comic Con last year.

[brokedown77]

I think it is going to be "not Earth" and that is why in "Someone to Watch Over Me" Starbuck is aboard Galactica in Joe's Bar.

[Xenon242]

Why couldn't they come to a populated Earth? There is really no reason.

Agreed, no real reason, unless it's to avoid any sort of G1980 stuff going on. I'm just going on a hunch, really ... RDM denying the RTF the comfort of knowing they're no longer alone in the universe by making Earth uninhabited.

[Porkshank6]

It seems to me that if Starbuck actually visited Earth's present or future, she should have encountered a good amount of orbital debris confirming Earth as host to a space-faring civilization. I mean, if she had time to orbit and take snapshots, she should have been able to notice satellites in orbit; geosynchrous and graveyard orbits wouldn't decay for millenia upon millenia. This suggests that BSG is either in the extremely far future (or at least a future distant enough that all debris has been swept from orbit), the past (presumably distant - she would have noticed modern cities' lights on the night side and modern space stations and large satellites), or a 'different' Earth.

[pagad]

I do not subscribe to the "pre-historic" theory because Colonial culture and names etc. are just too similar to contemporary culture.

I'm betting on a ruined Earth > Kobol > Twelve Colonies (possibly 13th tribe back to Earth?) sequence.

[empathy44]

It could also be a non-Earth Earth. In that, history being cyclical they must go to Earth several times. Is it always the same place--or the place that the 13th tribe calls Earth?

[brokedown77]

Ausiello of TV Guide posted a spoiler that the 13th Colony is called "Cylon" in the scriptures. This was very early in the process for this year

[crood]

I've never heard that. The show has always referred to it as Earth. However, your post made me see that Cylon is almost an anagram of Colony. Now I'm getting wild thoughts about a Cylon with a number zero.

[brokedown77]

Now rumors going around that the beach set, Starbuck's discovery of her own body in a crashed ship, and the midseason cliffhanger happen at "CylonCity". Anybody heard this? Seen any elaboration beyond that?

[Georgiotje]

Yes, I heard the Starbuck rumor too, but what do you mean with CylonCity?

[brokedown77]

There is a rumor that the place where Starbuck finds the crashed ship that has her dead body is called CylonCity or Cylon City. It may relate to that rumor from Ask Ausiello (1 August 2007 Column) that said the name of the 13th colony in Colonial Scripture is "Cylon". IO9 is linking to this (http://www.coolscifi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192870) in putting out the rumor, and it refers to fan sites. I haven't seen it anywhere but at that CoolSciFi site, and I was wondering if anyone else had seen that.

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Never saw this rumor.

[chair]

I've never heard that. The show has always referred to it as Earth. However, your post made me see that Cylon is almost an anagram of Colony. Now I'm getting wild thoughts about a Cylon with a number zero.

It seems more like "Cylon" was the name of the 13th colony tribe and not the name of where they eventually settled. I think Earth will stay Earth.

[crood]

I suppose the Hub might qualify as a Cylon City, depending on how it's portrayed. However, given all the travel that's occurred since the series started, it seems the Hub must be mobile. Otherwise, why would it be close enough for them to stage an attack on it? If it weren't mobile, wouldn't it be near the Cylon homeworld.

[brokedown77]

I wonder if it is mobile. How would Natalie know where it is if it can jump at a whim of the Ones?

I also wonder if we get more Cylon backstory out of this or if it all has to wait for Caprica.

[crood]

The entry for the Resurrection Hub on the wiki says:

The Hub periodically jumps to a new location in order to prevent its discovery and relays its new location to the Cylon fleets.

It doesn't state where the information comes from.

[brokedown77]

The Hub was where Natalie said it was when the Raptor got there. They expect it to still be there when they get ready to attack. If it can jump per (Battlestar?)wiki, either of those two would appear greatly unlikely, unless, of course it is just an elaborate trap to steal Hera.

[Porkshank6]

Natalie says it's mobile in Guess What's Coming to Dinner. For some reason I thought she also said the Hybrid gets its updated location information after each jump.

It does seem that the Hub could be the Cylon "homeworld", since the whole resurrection thing seems to be pretty central to Cylon society and religion. I get the feeling that the hub is more the owrk of the "Original Programmers" than contemporary Cylons - else couldn't the Cylons just build a new hub after the RTF destroys the current one? It seems further that just having one hub seems very un-machinelike; I would think think the Cylons would have contigency plans and redundancies in the event a random-jumping hub were to meet with catastrophe.

[brokedown77]

No moon. No continental outlines. No view of other planets in the solar system. The temple of Aurora near something that looks like the remains of the Brooklyn Bridge. Could it be that this wasn't earth in Revelations?

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Well, the Moon could've been on the other side of the planet, since we didn't see a whole 360 of it.

We did probably see the Sun, just before they jumped in orbit.

[LSOP]

The moon could really be almost anywhere; behind them, to the side, or eclipsed by the earth. Realize that when you are that close up to the earth, the moon is no where close. See attachment for actual size/distance proportions.

Now, from down on the planet, an easy earth-confirmation in 4.5 would be to have a single moon shining over their beach campfire. But of course, not showing the moon wouldn't mean the opposite.

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

That's no moon... that's a spacestation. :lol:

[Seanathin]

That's no moon... that's a spacestation. :lol:

Its to big to be a space station.

[Pnutmaster]

...Basestars!

It's a trap!

[LSOP]

TOS basestars might look like a tiny moon from the top or bottom. TNS basestars would look like tiny starfish. But maybe the Simons have been building the Cavils a deathstar during their hiatus, and it will come into view on the first night on earth, as they're roasting algae smores around the Kara fire. The Aarons will offer narrated tours.

[brokedown77]

Just seemed like odd choices, given that we saw the continental outlines in Crossroads, Part II and we saw the moon in Starbuck's gun camera pictures, and she described Jupiter (or Saturn). But TPTB chose not to show us those things. The only thing they chose to confirm is that the constellations "matched".

[buerger23]

Could it be that this is not really Earth?

Oh Lords of Kobal, say yes!

[loot87]

The notes from 4.20 on Battlestar Wiki say that they needed many extras of all ages that were in good shape. It was filmed in Kamloops, same as the Algae Planet.
So this means:
1) Just showing lots of people on the ships
2) Fleet people settling somewhere on "Earth" or Kobol.
3) Finding survivors on "Earth" and settling with them
4) Finding more resistance people on the Colonies

[genji2000]

The notes from 4.20 on Battlestar Wiki say that they needed many extras of all ages that were in good shape. It was filmed in Kamloops, same as the Algae Planet.
So this means:
1) Just showing lots of people on the ships
2) Fleet people settling somewhere on "Earth" or Kobol.
3) Finding survivors on "Earth" and settling with them
4) Finding more resistance people on the Colonies

The note says the extras "are required to have an athletic build and a clean-cut look, or to be slim with long hair or dreadlocks."

Is this two distinct groups of people? Humans and Cylons maybe, or the fleet and the Thirteenth Tribe?

I like the idea of shipping them all to Kobol and settling them there; that the whole point of the journey was to rescue these lost brothers and sisters from their war-ravaged planet.

[loot87]

Could it be that this is not really Earth?

Oh Lords of Kobal, say yes!

It just seems like extremely long odds that another blue planet could exist where the stars line up.

[genji2000]

The podcast is quite categoric that it is Earth, and quite clear that it was Manhattan. It says that in earlier SFX shots there were skyscrapers still standing.

However, when they mention the bridge they just call it "the bridge [that is in the SFX shot]", not "the Brooklyn Bridge". It's also not clear that in the development from the skyscrapers still standing to them all being destroyed they still felt that it was Manhattan.

It's possible that they're deliberately speaking from the perspective of the characters who land on the planet, who believe they're on Earth. If they're going to shock us with not-Earth in 4.5 then they're hardly going to give any hint of that in the podcast.

It sounded like there is no reason to question whether it is Earth or Manhattan, but maybe they just don't want us to question it at this point.

[timbo]

It's possible that they're deliberately speaking from the perspective of the characters who land on the planet, who believe they're on Earth. If they're going to shock us with not-Earth in 4.5 then they're hardly going to give any hint of that in the podcast.

This is quite a big possibility to suddenly throw into the mix - that when "they" give podcasts, press releases, interviews, etc. they are deliberately speaking from the point of view of the characters. You know what´s coming next, don´t you? Yes, that´s right, the statements about the watchtower four being cylons might be the same.

[genji2000]

You won't wear me down you know.

[The Dirt]

I think that they are purposely leaving the Earth/not-Earth discussion up on the air. I think that while the characters will think that it is Earth, we will be made to question it (for good storytelling, of course) for at least a couple of episodes. My two cents.