Copy of my post on BSGcast.com
My first thought: this episode should have been called "Revelations" instead of Episode 412 lol.
There is so much information to digest that I couldnt fully comprehend the revelations until I watched it a second time and paused and rewinded a few times to re-listen to some parts of the dialogue.
Anyways, I'll take this opportunity to use this message as my personal notepad to collect my pieces of the puzzle, and then I'll attempt to put it together and make sense of it.
Here is what I consider the biggest revelations of this episode:
1) Tory said that the HUMANS on Kobol created the 13th Tribe.
2) The 13th Tribe had "organic memory transfer" technology which they used to procreate before they gained the ability to procreate by reproducing naturally (with babies). Organic memory transfer seems to be a sort of resurrection technology that was lost to them. The Five were scientists which re-discovered resurrection technology, but I'm not sure it was the original technology. I'd think it is.
3) The Five died during the nuke attack and resurrected into a ship THEY PLACED in orbit. Question: Did the rest of the 13th Tribe resurrect also or just those five?
4) Their ship had no jump technology (instant travel) but rather sub-light relativistic travel technology. This means BSG scientific advisor Kevin Grazier convinced BSG folk to believe in Einstein's theory of special relativity which states that the closer you travel to the speed of light the more time dilates (slows down) for the point of reference of the ship compared to a fixed point of reference (the Colonies). That means 2000 years for the 12 Colonies was only maybe 5 years for the Five.
5) The Five helped the Centurions evolve into organic beings by creating the EIGHT models if they agreed to stop the war.
6) The Centurions settled on "Colony" of their own where the Five labored to create the Eight skinjobs. Thus there exists a Centurion/Cylon homeworld still out there somewhere to which Cavil refers.
7) The Skinjobs cant procreate on their own. The Five can procreate with the Skinjobs. Humans can procreate with the Skinjobs.
And finally one of the biggest revelations yet:
The 12 Cylon models are actually 13. RDM and co. have fooled us and kept us at bay all these years making us think there were 12 Cylon models, the Seven and the Five, and they made us assume that the model Seven was one of the Five. We were wrong.
There are actually EIGHT models which added to the Final Five makes 13 total Cylon models. The magic model number is Cylon Number Seven which goes by the name of Daniel. This just happens to be the same name as Daniel Graystone from Caprica, who is the creator of the Cylons.
For those who think they are the same Daniel, it's possible. But we need to remember Daniel Graystone lived (and died) long before the Centurion-Human first Cylon War. The Eight models (and thus model number Seven) were created AFTER the war. So really depends if it's possible that the Cylon race evolved and rebelled and started the war within the lifetime of Daniel Graystone.
What we need to consider here is the Old Hybrid from Razor. From what we had been told, he was part of the experimentation of the Centurions to become skinjobs. But he does say to Kendra that his children think he is their God. If you have seen the sneak peak of Caprica, you get to see that Zoe is the first person to consider the notion of a One True God in a society that firmly believed in polytheism. This would then translated into the birth of monotheism and the transfer of this belief system by Daniel Graystone to the Cylons.
Anyways, right now my main question is what is the 13th Tribe. We've been told they are cylons, and that they first used resurrection of some sort that they called organic memory transfer so I'm thinking some sort of cloning. They then were able to procreate naturally (babies) and lost resurrection. Question is why was the 13th Tribe cylon, how did they get created and why.
I also wonder just how different the Eight are from the Five. The Five could not procreate naturally either at first, and when the Eight had resurrection technology that made them indistinguishable. Both artificial beings who could not procreate naturally and relied on artificial resurrection technology.
As for Starbuck, again, there is the possibility she is Daniel, and thus a Cylon, considering her "rebirth" or "resurrection". It'd explain that since until now only Cylons have been able to come back from death.
Of course the other explanation is that she is some divine being. Like a highly spiritually advanced angelic being.
What caught my attention is that Anders says "a miracle is about to happen, a gift from the Angels".
So that confirms further that Angels exist in RDM's BSG, and that Starbuck is most likely one of them.
I am very glad to finally see an episode with so many revelations. We are much closer to understanding this show. But not quite there yet.
I think to we need to understand Kobol to understand the cycle. And I always said we need to understand Baltar and his relationship with Six and I said they have always been the key to the whole story. And the fact that Baltar has been almost a supporting actor all these episodes in S4 makes me think they are going to unleash Baltar's final story arc on us in these last few episodes.
I think we have seen the last of Baltar's orgies. It was the last and final stimulus to complete Baltar's transformation into a truly self-less and compassionate being.
As for Galactica...we see the beginnings of the next cycle. Galactica will most likely be the first "hybrid" organic-inorganic ship, the first "base star" if you will. As BSG has progressed, one main theme has persisted. The boundaries between machine and human have been blurred and smudged into near non-existence. Galactica being transformed into a hybrid semi-organic entity is yet another big step into merging the cylon and human race together.
I guess that's all I have for now. Next ep's teaser suggests a possible separation between the Cylons and Humans. That would indeed be the first act to go against the general theme of uniting the two races.
We will just have to wait and see.
5 out of 5 Top Gun Mugs from me for Episode 417.
Adalla
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