The Final Cylon
Apr. 16th, 2008 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrigirlI was originally just going to respond to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greenblackevil but then I decided it would be worth it to share my thoughts with all the other Battlestar Galactica fans out there.
The question at hand: Who is the final cylon?
This is a query I've been turning around in my head for months, and I think the quickest way to go about answering it is to rule out those characters who absolutely cannot be cylons. How do we do that? We look at biology, and reproduction in particular.
Cylons are mechanized clones. It has been made clear from episode one that they do not have the ability to reproduce the way humans do. Ron Moore and David Eik have confirmed this in numerous interviews. Two cylons cannot have intercourse and breed a baby cylon. "Baby" cylons do not exist. Cylons are made, emerging from their watery chrysalises fully grown.
Knowing this, there are a number of characters we can rule out right away. The first two are Helo and Cally. Helo and Athena have a daughter, Hera. We know Athena is a cylon, therefore Helo can't be since cylons can't reproduce. It was only with the purposely orchestrated conception and birth of Hera that it was confirmed that humans and cylons could produce hybrid children.
The same logic applies to Cally and the Chief. They are married and have a son. We know Chief is a cylon, therefore Cally must be human otherwise they would have been unable to produce offspring.
We can also rule out Adama and Apollo. Why? Because thier very relationship, father and son, indicates traceable lineage. Cylons can't have children, therefore they can't have sons or be fathers. Not only is Adama a father (of not one, but two children) he was also a son himself, evidenced by the extensive discussion of his father, legendary lawyer Joseph Adama, at the end of season three.
Starbuck can be ruled out for the same reason. In the season three episode "Maelstrom" Starbuck has numerous flashbacks to her adolescence, highlighting her relationship with her mother who happens to be dying of cancer. Since cylons can't have mothers, let alone mothers susceptible to cancer, we can assume Starbuck is human. In the same episode Stabuck indicates that she has been drawing the Eye of Jupiter pattern since she was a little girl, another clue that Starbuck is human since cylons don't have childhoods.
President Roslin can't be a cylon because she is dying of cancer and cylons, being machines and all, are impervious to human diseases.
It can't be Gaius because that's too obvious. Moreover, Six and D'Anna have pretty much told him he's not one of them.
There is also the infamous Last Supper picture published in Entertainment Weekly a few months back that supposedly contains clues to upcoming plot twists. Hint number 10 draws attention to an empty seat at the table, one reserved for the final cylon. As Ron Moore himself admits, if the final cylon has yet to join the table that means none of the people already at the table can be the final cylon.
Having ruled out all of the major characters, who is left in the suspect pool? There's Dee, Mr. Gaeta, Ellen Tigh, Doc Cottle, Romo Lampkin, any of the peripheral viper pilots.
I don't have a firm theory of who the final cylon might be, but, as I told Matt last night, I have two fun theories. There's the person who I WANT to be the final cylon and the person I think SHOULD be the final cylon.
I really really really WANT Billy to be the final cylon. Remember Billy? President Roslin's original aid who was killed off in season two and replaced by Tory? I loved Billy. I thought he was a very simple and pure character. I thought he and Dee were adorable. I was horrified when the writers killed him off all because they didn't know what else to do with him. Billy got a raw deal and I would love to see him come back and be the climax we've all been waiting for.
Of course, I know enough about BSG to realize this will never happen.
So, since the final cylon isn't going to be Billy, I think Tom Zarek, AKA Richard Hatch, AKA the actor who played Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica, SHOULD be the final cylon. How fucking awesome would that be? Turn the original Apollo into a cylon! It would be poetic justice, shock value, and a nod to the original series all rolled up into one genius plot twist.
What are your thoughts? Who do you think is going to be the final cylon? Who would you like it to be?
greenblackevil but then I decided it would be worth it to share my thoughts with all the other Battlestar Galactica fans out there. The question at hand: Who is the final cylon?
This is a query I've been turning around in my head for months, and I think the quickest way to go about answering it is to rule out those characters who absolutely cannot be cylons. How do we do that? We look at biology, and reproduction in particular.
Cylons are mechanized clones. It has been made clear from episode one that they do not have the ability to reproduce the way humans do. Ron Moore and David Eik have confirmed this in numerous interviews. Two cylons cannot have intercourse and breed a baby cylon. "Baby" cylons do not exist. Cylons are made, emerging from their watery chrysalises fully grown.
Knowing this, there are a number of characters we can rule out right away. The first two are Helo and Cally. Helo and Athena have a daughter, Hera. We know Athena is a cylon, therefore Helo can't be since cylons can't reproduce. It was only with the purposely orchestrated conception and birth of Hera that it was confirmed that humans and cylons could produce hybrid children.
The same logic applies to Cally and the Chief. They are married and have a son. We know Chief is a cylon, therefore Cally must be human otherwise they would have been unable to produce offspring.
We can also rule out Adama and Apollo. Why? Because thier very relationship, father and son, indicates traceable lineage. Cylons can't have children, therefore they can't have sons or be fathers. Not only is Adama a father (of not one, but two children) he was also a son himself, evidenced by the extensive discussion of his father, legendary lawyer Joseph Adama, at the end of season three.
Starbuck can be ruled out for the same reason. In the season three episode "Maelstrom" Starbuck has numerous flashbacks to her adolescence, highlighting her relationship with her mother who happens to be dying of cancer. Since cylons can't have mothers, let alone mothers susceptible to cancer, we can assume Starbuck is human. In the same episode Stabuck indicates that she has been drawing the Eye of Jupiter pattern since she was a little girl, another clue that Starbuck is human since cylons don't have childhoods.
President Roslin can't be a cylon because she is dying of cancer and cylons, being machines and all, are impervious to human diseases.
It can't be Gaius because that's too obvious. Moreover, Six and D'Anna have pretty much told him he's not one of them.
There is also the infamous Last Supper picture published in Entertainment Weekly a few months back that supposedly contains clues to upcoming plot twists. Hint number 10 draws attention to an empty seat at the table, one reserved for the final cylon. As Ron Moore himself admits, if the final cylon has yet to join the table that means none of the people already at the table can be the final cylon.
Having ruled out all of the major characters, who is left in the suspect pool? There's Dee, Mr. Gaeta, Ellen Tigh, Doc Cottle, Romo Lampkin, any of the peripheral viper pilots.
I don't have a firm theory of who the final cylon might be, but, as I told Matt last night, I have two fun theories. There's the person who I WANT to be the final cylon and the person I think SHOULD be the final cylon.
I really really really WANT Billy to be the final cylon. Remember Billy? President Roslin's original aid who was killed off in season two and replaced by Tory? I loved Billy. I thought he was a very simple and pure character. I thought he and Dee were adorable. I was horrified when the writers killed him off all because they didn't know what else to do with him. Billy got a raw deal and I would love to see him come back and be the climax we've all been waiting for.
Of course, I know enough about BSG to realize this will never happen.
So, since the final cylon isn't going to be Billy, I think Tom Zarek, AKA Richard Hatch, AKA the actor who played Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica, SHOULD be the final cylon. How fucking awesome would that be? Turn the original Apollo into a cylon! It would be poetic justice, shock value, and a nod to the original series all rolled up into one genius plot twist.
What are your thoughts? Who do you think is going to be the final cylon? Who would you like it to be?
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-16 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 01:14 am (UTC)And OMIGOD it would be fucking FANTASTIC to hear Edward James Olmos say that line! Ever since I added the "Addicted to Battlestar Galactica" application on Facebook I've been getting really into the show's trivia. Did you know that Olmos improvises at least half of all the really interesting stuff Adama does? Like, destroying the model ship he was making after Starbuck "died." That wasn't in the script. Neither was the line "So say we all." The man is made of gold.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 01:58 am (UTC)Okay, that really raises a whole bunch of questions. First of all, if the gods are taken from stories and metaphors for facets of human consciousness to real beings and people, then who the hell are they? And why do the Cylons know jack about them? And for that matter, why are there twelve models of cylons, corresponding to the twelve Olympian gods? It's too much, I say!