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Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 12:58 AM
I was a big fan of the re-imagined series.Unfortunately there was the briefest of moments, when the series took a left turn and never quite recovered.
I'm going to relate who the final 5 really should have been, along with a few other key points that needed to be changed.


Spoilers from the entire 4 seasons of BSG will follow.


The Moment...

Everything right up to the end of season 3 was great.In season 3, episode 17 (Maelstrom) Starbuck's ship blew up and she died.She returned in episode 20 of the same season, far too fast in my opinion.
They barely grieved for her in episodes 18, 19, other than Edward James Olmos breaking some models and of course crying.

Episodes 19 and 20 of season 3 were actually a 2 part episode entitled Crossroads.In it, we find out who 4 of the final 5 cylons are.Every final 4 cylon was a bad choice.Tory and Anders were characters that
were introduced later in the series, expendable ensigns at best.Even with Anders having a maybe-relationship with Kara Thrace in season 2, he seemed stupid and insignificant compared with the rest of the cast.
Chief Tyrol could of been a good choice and Saul Tigh was an abysmal choice.He was far too old and entrenched into the life of Bill Adama.More on that later.

Let's go back to the Crossroads and have 4 different people serenaded by the cylon song.Of course we must leave in the little part featuring Starbuck coming back from the dead and saying hello to Lee in the vipers.
It was creepy, mystical and a hell of a shock.


First, let's examine some cylon math...

There are 12 models
1.Cavil
2.Leoben
3.D'anna
4.Simon (black doctor)
5.Aaron (news reporter guy)
6.Caprica Six
7.
8.Boomer
9.
10.
11.
12.

What do you notice about the list above? There are 5 spots left for the final 5, completing the 12 models.There was absolutely NO NEED for a Daniel, or the lame backstory that accompanies his name.I'm still not sure what Ronald D. Moore was thinking, his math was horrible.

The real Final 5....

Forget the lame backstory of the 5 being on some planet 2000 years ago and just recently activated as the technology was 'lost' or 'forgotten' regarding resurrection.
That was another portion of the series that seemed tacked on or like the writers painted themselves into a corner.

7.Billy - he died and was close to the president in life, this was by design
9.Gaeta - he dies as well and had intimate knowledge of fleet ships and navigation
10.Tom Zarek - he died (peer pressure) and was known for going against the system, both in politics and law.
11.Baltar - he should of died.Him being cylon explains everything from falling in love with another cylon to letting her see the defense codes, to his discussions with the Head Six.
12.Kara Thrace - she died.And she is also the final cylon.

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 01:06 AM
In order for my final 5 to exist, only one of them can die.That would be Starbuck and she should go exactly the same way we saw.

Let's lose the old Dylan song in the bulkheads to notify the final 4.Instead it should be an internal thought process that switches on (and gives them blinding head pain) to activate them.
No angel stuff either.There will be a higher power, I'll get to that in a minute.This higher power will be responsible in part for the cylons, the final 5, Starbuck's death and uniting the humans with cylons.

Dee does not shoot herself, especially after reuniting with Lee.She's too positive and too strong a character.Let's have someone like Cally do the suicide thing.We'll leave in the false Earth scenario,
exactly as we saw, only we'll take out the flashback parts with people touching walls and swimming in the surf.They still find what they think is Earth, it's toasted and depression sets in.They don't really
know where they are at that point.

Starbuck does find her charred corpse and burns it on the false Earth, as that was one of the most awesome scenes on the show.When she was asking Leoben - What am I? What am I? and he was backing away in fear,
that was brilliant and disturbing.

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 01:20 AM
The final 4 are exposed, paranoia and fear set in.There would be no Gaeta/Zarek mutiny, Baltar's storyline of becoming a prophet will be left in, with some slight tweaking.
The higher power will contact him at one point, after the crew exposes him as a false prophet through a series of incidents.At this point the higher power will explain everything
about cylons, the final 5 and His Plan to Baltar.It would be a pivotal scene in the series, perhaps 1/2 of an episode.Baltar then would have a tough time relaying the message to the crew
after his former disgrace as a prophet.

Starbuck will return in a new viper as before, this time it will have the course setting for Earth on the navigation system and Tyrol will discover it immediately when checking the ship.

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 01:28 AM
The cylons and the humans will have a huge space battle...the entire fleet against the cylon armada.Near the end only a handful of ships from both sides will have survived.
This group of ships will find their way to Earth, arriving as we saw, 150000 years in the past.

There will still be a cylon/human pairing.As much as I like the characters of Helo and Athena, it won't be them.Certainly not Saul Tigh and Caprica Six :lol:
The hybrid will be the daughter of Kara Thrace and Lee Adama...

Speaking of...leave the hybrids in the story, powering the cylon ships and living in the goo baths.They will turn out to be early pairings of cylons and humans, when the cylons
were less organic.And we'll leave in the morbid little ditty about Kara Thrace that the hybrids would relate (usually before swallowing goo and expiring)

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 01:46 AM
My reasons for the final 5 and the Higher Power...

I didn't use the tequila shots and dartboard method to choose my final 5.One is a presidential aid, one a fleet navigation specialist, one is a political activist trying to affect worldwide change,
one is a brilliant scientist and one is an exceptional pilot.All of them key positions and all of them exceptional at what they do.

When the higher power appears to Baltar, he's a form that's everchanging.One second a human, then a tree, then a metallic cylon, then a bird, then an organic cylon, then a smokey mist....his form never settles on one image.
He explains the cyclical part of Battlestar Galactica - we have done this before and will do it again.Only this time we are viewing the first cycle.

Humans evolved on Earth, created the cylcons, the cylons rebelled and war ensued.He explains that man has lost his belief in the spiritual and as a result, that which he created has turned against him.
The final 5 were created to bring the message of peace to both the humans and cylons.They were given the ability to understand that cross breeding was not only possible, but necessary in order to survive.

The higher power foresaw the apocalypse of both races and has returned them to another planet similar to Earth, to start again.This is where Lee and Starbuck's kid figures into the story.When Starbuck returns from the dead
she is a cylon, as well as pregnant.By the time the other characters discover that she's the final cylon, it's quite late in the progression of the 4th season.Their child proves that humans and cylons can live and love together,
as well as procreate between species.

Their child would be the remains we see in the flashforward on the final episode.

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 02:01 AM
We can leave in the part about the 12 planets and colonies...and the legend of a planet called Earth.The 12 colonies would have formed from the original Earth and so that helps validate the search for 'old Earth'.
Throwing in Kobol and events that transpired 2000 years ago on some planet like Earth, just muddied the waters in the story.Dead ends if you will...

The reason I wanted Starbuck as a cylon is because I envisioned the scene with her finding out, and this of course happens after she finds out she's pregnant.
In the scene she's sitting alone rubbing her baby bump and contemplating shooting herself in the head.Finding out she is cylon, then final 5 cylon and realizing
that her baby is part cylon, almost prove too much for her.

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 02:04 AM
Bill Adama only cries once in 4 seasons of my BSG....when he's in the CIC and finds out that Starbuck crashed and burned.He does it in front of the entire crew :thumbsup:

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 02:57 AM
The music/course coordinates relationship can still be used.Kara's father is a composer and he dies.I would use one of his songs as the mystical connection, not some famous 60's song from our history.

The higher power will appear as Starbuck's father, guiding her closer to the relationship of the notes/coordinates.The Opera House could be found on the burned out Earth, for no reason in particular other than
to drive Starbuck crazy and also help her understand the connection.The penultimate scene on the Galactica can be left, with Kara typing in the final jump heading.


In my BSG there would still be a cylon faction not wishing to cooperate with the humans, but there would be no cylon outpost near a black hole.To me, the part with Cavil and the final resurrection outpost
seemed tacked on.I won't even comment on the missing 18 months that involved Ellen and Cavil on the basestar.Other than the whole progression sucked, just about ruined the series for me.I did love the final battle on the show...
we could recreate that between the two fleets in space.

One of my favorite scenes in BSG was when Boomer first understood she was cylon and tried to kill herself.After she was activated, the old implanted human memories conflicted with her new set of orders and I loved the dichotomy.
She was a machine after all...yet not quite able to follow her imbedded commands because of? Becoming a little human, evolving slightly?

In my series, each of the final 5 will have a moment like that.They won't accept it as RDM's final 4 did.Except Baltar.He'll understand it's what he should have been all along and the reason for his conflicted allegiances.
They also won't immediately understand everything after being activated.It will take crazy ol' Baltar after his encounter with the higher power to try and convince them and fill in the blanks.

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 03:12 AM
So I guess I've pretty much retooled the last episodes in season 3 and the entirety of season 4 :lol:




:oops: miles from perfect but at least my version has some logic and purpose....and people just don't vanish after 4 seasons.....

DemonGeminiX
06-15-2011, 03:24 AM
Bill Adama only cries once in 4 seasons of my BSG....when he's in the CIC and finds out that Starbuck crashed and burned. He does it in front of the entire crew :thumbsup:

You forgot when Dee killed herself. He was pretty jacked up at that point as well.

Softdreamer
06-15-2011, 10:20 AM
Sound logic, when you get the go ahead for the re-shoot. let me know..

Hal-9000
06-15-2011, 06:56 PM
You forgot when Dee killed herself. He was pretty jacked up at that point as well.

I forget nothing on this show :hand:

In my series, he will only cry once. I'll allow one stringy slobber of saliva if I decide to kill off Roslin before her usual time :lol:

Hal-9000
06-21-2011, 05:24 PM
damn hal...you make some excellent points there :thumbsup:

DemonGeminiX
06-21-2011, 05:39 PM
I forget nothing on this show :hand:

In my series, he will only cry once. I'll allow one stringy slobber of saliva if I decide to kill off Roslin before her usual time :lol:

Your series sucks. Dee was good enough for Bill Adama's tears.

[-(

Hal-9000
06-21-2011, 05:45 PM
DGX will be one of the goo bath hybrids...


all hoses from the ship will go straight up his ass :lol:

DemonGeminiX
06-21-2011, 05:46 PM
:lol:

No wonder why they all acted like they had tourettes.

Hal-9000
06-21-2011, 05:50 PM
JUMP!!! :shock:












:lol: