Final Cylon theories (Possible Spoilers)

[xerex]

That's retarded.

That's like if i had a scene in Lord of the Rings where they listen to "I'm Already There" by Rascal Flats and say, "Oh no, it's not MODERN, it's a contemporary Middle-Earth folk song! Elves wrote it!"

I'm not saying that's not what he said, or you're wrong, i'm simply pointing out that's fucking retarded.

the firearms the Colonials use are East European. (so I'm told) you think Galactica stopped by Poland before the series started ?

[xerex]

additonally when Starbuck listens to the piano piece created by her father didnt they also use a real piece of music ? Salis I think people said ? Does that mean that particluar real life composer somehow travelled to Caprica ?

[Sam Or I]

That's retarded.

That's like if i had a scene in Lord of the Rings where they listen to "I'm Already There" by Rascal Flats and say, "Oh no, it's not MODERN, it's a contemporary Middle-Earth folk song! Elves wrote it!"

I'm not saying that's not what he said, or you're wrong, i'm simply pointing out that's fucking retarded.

the firearms the Colonials use are East European. (so I'm told) you think Galactica stopped by Poland before the series started ?

Lets not forget Starbuck owns a Hummer.

[Stormin]

Well the way it is going so far this season it looks too likely that the series will end with Galactica flying towards Earth then "Produced by Berman and Braga" gets stamped over it.



Now, if it turns out it's modern Earth they need to play this in the background for the credits of the last episode

[avatarxprime]

As far as any common music goes, Moore has said that if you hear it, it is Colonial in origin, but that doesn't mean the Earth version doesn't exist. He says for those cases the same "musical inspiration" hit both the Earth and Colonial artists behind those pieces.

Here's the relevant quote

I happened to catch Ron Moore in the hallway at Universal and, in a brief conversation, got everything I needed to know. I learned that the idea was not that Bob Dylan necessarily exists in the characters’ universe, but that an artist on one of the colonies may have recorded a song with the exact same melody and lyrics. Perhaps this unknown performer and Dylan pulled inspiration from a common, ethereal source. Therefore, I was told to make no musical references to any “Earthly” versions, Hendrix, Dylan or any others. The arrangement needed to sound like a pop song that belonged in the Galactica universe, not our own.

[Nephtys]

You know, I just realized. Battlestar Galactica the show is ending this season, at the end of the 4th season. Earth will be found, and the Final Cylon will be revealed.

But... that doesn't mean they can't continue. After finding earth, they can naturally have a spinoff show called Galactica: 2010.

It'll be awesome.

[CaptJodan]

But... that doesn't mean they can't continue. After finding earth, they can naturally have a spinoff show called Galactica: 2010.

It'll be awesome.

Yes. I too would tune in to see 95% of the characters get their asses thrown in an insane asylum.

That's retarded.

I agree. Just go with a made up song if you didn't want there to be a connection to Earth in that manner. It's a real cheap shot to the audience the way they did it.

[Ryushikaze]

You know, I just realized. Battlestar Galactica the show is ending this season, at the end of the 4th season. Earth will be found, and the Final Cylon will be revealed.

But... that doesn't mean they can't continue. After finding earth, they can naturally have a spinoff show called Galactica: 2010.

It'll be awesome.

That's just cruel and unusual, but the sick, twisted part of me says it should be done anyways.

[FSTargetDrone]

Ugh, I don't lilke that explanation from Moore or McCreary about the song at all. Quite irritating.

The instrumental pianao piece that Starbuck's father recorded is by Philip Glass called "Metamorphosis I." True, it is a "real" historical song, but it also has the advantage of not being as widely famiiar as Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower." Lots of people have recorded it Dylan's song, notably Hendrix.

I wish they had used original compositions throughout the series if they are going with this explanation. The possibility of a connection to Earth culture via a historical song (not to mention the gods worshipped by Earthlings) was a nice touch.

Now, it's just a coincidental recording? Bah.

I can happily ignore the fact that real Earth cars and trucks and even (modified) firearms were used because it's expensive to make a prop vehicle and that money is probably used better elsewhere in the production of an episode. That doesn't bother my SoD as much as the song because it's so obviously a real historical song.

Damnation...

[Johonebesus]

As far as any common music goes, Moore has said that if you hear it, it is Colonial in origin, but that doesn't mean the Earth version doesn't exist. He says for those cases the same "musical inspiration" hit both the Earth and Colonial artists behind those pieces.

Not quite.

I learned that the idea was not that Bob Dylan necessarily exists in the characters’ universe....

That's the key phrase. Dylan does not necessarily exist in the BSG universe, and therefore the song might not exist on their Earth at all. Rather, I think what he was getting at is that the song might exist in a sort of Platonic ideal realm, and was picked up on by Dylan in our universe and some Colonial artist in the BSG universe. That is, if we want to imagine BSG as taking place in an alternate reality.

I agree it's stupid, but that's the way it is. Based on the above quote, either Dylan didn't exist on their Earth, or he never wrote the song. What he's really getting at is that the song has no practical significance in story as any sort of link to Earth. It was chosen by the producers only for the sound and poetic relevance. The fact that the song already existed in the "real world" should be ignored the same way as we ignore that the Colonials wear modern Western fashion, speak and write in English, drove identifiable car models, use real world weapons, use years and minutes instead of yahrens and microns, etc. He was just giving a barely acceptable explanation so fans would stop obsessing over it and trying to figure out its significance. He might as well have sung the MST3K theme.

[Themightytom]

I don't think it is. Your ME example is far more absurd because - you know - it's a Medieval-type-fantasy-place. The version of that song in nBSG isn't nearly so out of place. nBSG is basically the modern day but with SPACESHIPS anyway.

I dunno they went through a lot of effort to convince us this is a different culture, inventing expletives, religions different card games different physical sports, eight cornered books, all so that they can showcase a song that is identical to an earth song.

For no purpose relevant to the plot.

?????

Is there a source for the RDM quote?

[Ryushikaze]

He might as well have sung the MST3K theme.

::Desperately resists urge to download episode for express purpose of redubbing the song with the MST3K Love Song...::

[DPDarkPrimus]

In a shocking twist, the viewer is the last Cylon.

[avatarxprime]

I agree it's stupid, but that's the way it is. Based on the above quote, either Dylan didn't exist on their Earth, or he never wrote the song. What he's really getting at is that the song has no practical significance in story as any sort of link to Earth. It was chosen by the producers only for the sound and poetic relevance. The fact that the song already existed in the "real world" should be ignored the same way as we ignore that the Colonials wear modern Western fashion, speak and write in English, drove identifiable car models, use real world weapons, use years and minutes instead of yahrens and microns, etc. He was just giving a barely acceptable explanation so fans would stop obsessing over it and trying to figure out its significance. He might as well have sung the MST3K theme.

I don't think I'd necessarily say that Dylan doesn't exist of that he didn't write the song in the nBSG universe. To me the key statement was

Perhaps this unknown performer and Dylan pulled inspiration from a common, ethereal source.

That they both got their inspiration for the song from the same place and then had different interpretations of it since they have very different surroundings (Earth vs Colonial society). The nBSG wiki notes that the song is structured slightly differently with the "All along the watchtower" verse at the beginning and ending with "'There must be some way out of here,' said the Joker to the Thief." rather than the reverse and that it doesn't feature the final stanza. This leaves room for the "they got the same inspiration, but different interpretation" theory. However I certainly agree with the rest of your assessment.

[TheMuffinKing]

In a shocking twist, the viewer is the last Cylon.

I could see that if the series were directed by M. Knight "ITS A TWIST" Shyamalan.

[FSTargetDrone]

I think that the idea proposed above that both Dylan and the nBSG composer were both influenced by a common "Platonic ideal realm" is somewhat more palatable than it being a coincidental, if not somewhat improbable (but not impossible) creation of the artists.

I don't know, I still wish that the producers had written their own songs if they insist that there is no connection between the Earth we know and the Earth the Colonials may find. It's not as if they don't have a creative composer in McCreary who has already written numerous and quite appealing compositions of his own.

Are the gods (Zeus, etc.) to be "different" ones, yet coincidentally named with those once-prominent deities formerly worshiped on Earth? There is seemingly some distant connection implied between the humans of Earth and the Colonials. Whether or not it is our Earth is a different matter, of course.

On a related note, there are lots of interesting scenarios. If the Colonials reach Earth, will they find a contemporary (with respect to our Earth) society that has a dominant worship of their (the Colonials') gods? Or will they find Christianity and the other major religions? Will they find a United States, A Europe, an Asia? Will they detect derelict lunar landers on the moon, satellites orbiting Earth?

Or, will they encounter transmissions from Earth? If so, will it be a similar sort of situation seen in Contact, in reverse, running into the oldest radio and television transmissions as they near the Sol system (I tend to feel this will not be shown)?

Or will they run into a solar system with human settlements on Mars and some of the planetary moons? Will they be met by patrols of spacecraft at a similar technological sophistication as their own?

I suspect not everyone will be satisfied at the state of Earth's population (or lack of it) when we see the end, but the possibilities are interesting.

[weemadando]

I want to see them land in 1890s England, then have the pursuing Cylons deploy massive tripod centurions.

The last Cylon is Oscar Wilde. He hooks up with Baltar.

[Penfold]

I'm going to have to say the Final Cylon is Dualla.

Why?

Well, first of all, "Anastasia", her first name, means "resurrection". We've seen another character with a name with the same meaning. Gina's last name meant "resurrection" in Old Gemenese.

Second, look at the other members of the Final Five: Tigh is XO and a close friend to Adama, Tyrol was the Deck Chief and union leader, Anders is a former celebrity, two-time resistance leader, and married to Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny, and Tory is the aide to the President.

Except that she wasn't always that. For the first season and a half, that was Billy's job. Who dated him? Dualla. How did Tory get the job? Billy was killed shortly after Dualla rejected his proposal, and spent the evening with the CAG of Galactica. Said CAG, the Admiral's son, is made CO of Pegasus, and she is eventually made her XO.

Then Lee used Pegasus as a battering ram and became a lawyer. She dropped him like a hot potato.

Also, note that she's never very far from Gaeta, especially during some of his big frakups. The exception is the fixing of the election, where she worked with Tigh on a plan created by Tory.

As for Earth, I'm probably the only one who thinks that Starbuck and the Hybrids are right. Think about it: the Lords of Kobol are similar to, and in fact have many of the same members as the Olympians, of which there are twelve at any one time. Presumably, the Twelve Tribes, at least on Kobol, formed from the people who dedicated themselves to a particular Lord.

Except there are Thirteen Tribes.

There are hints that the unspecified disaster that forced the exodus from Kobol was actually a war. It was outright stated by Elosha in a deleted scene. While such a scene isn't canon, it is reinforced by Roslin's comments after Baltar's interrogation. The pillars in the Temple of Five are fashioned after the five priests dedicated to "The One Whose Name Cannot Be Spoken".

Why does Roslin's comment reinforce Elosha's? Let's assume that the Thirteenth Tribe, dedicated to the Thirteenth Lord of Kobol, decided that their particular Lord should be worshiped above all others. A holy war begins. The Thirteenth Tribe loses, and flee/are banished, heading for Earth. The war leaves Kobol uninhabitable, and the other Tribes leave in a different direction, becoming the Twelve Colonies.

How do the Colonials deal with the war? They strike the name of the Thirteenth Tribe's patron Lord from their religion.

How does the Thirteenth Tribe's religion change? If they didn't before the war, they begin to refer to their patron Lord as "The One True God."

Millennia later, someone from Earth finds the Colonies or the Cylons. If they found the Colonies, they infiltrate and either create or corrupt the original Cylons, leading to the first war. If they found the Cylons, they give them the technology they have at the start of the miniseries. Either way, the Thirteenth Tribe gives the Cylons their religion, in a ploy to get them to do the dirty work in settling a four thousand year old grudge.

Long story short, Starbuck knows where Earth is, and, as the Hybrid said, leading the Colonials there will lead them to their doom.

Or Galactica could make it to Earth... after trading in the refugee fleet for an armada of Basestars determined take down the Thirteenth Tribe.

Hey, it's better than what oBSG did.

[tim31]

Don't you dare sully the good name of Galactica 1980. I defy you to find me something cooler than a rocket-powered flying motorcycle, chainsaws nonwithstanding.

[Parallax]

My guess...

The last cylon is the Battlestar Galactica itself.

It reaches Earth, and an initiation program activates to eliminate all human life on board, and then eradicate life on the planet.

You forgot how the ship would transform into a giant robot and destroy the fleet first!

Anyhow, my guess at this point would either be Dualla or the ship's Doctor (whose name escapes me right now).

[FSTargetDrone]

Anyhow, my guess at this point would either be Dualla or the ship's Doctor (whose name escapes me right now).

That's Doc Cottle.

Dualla. There's a character who's seen less screen time than Cally so far this season. Maybe that's a setup to something big.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Maybe it'll be Zak, who will make his revenge by killing Starbuck.

[Sam Or I]

All this happened before, all this will happen again. The most logical conculsion is Bob Dylan is a Cylon!

[Sam Or I]

Geata and Dulla seem very anti-climatic, and I just do not see it as good story telling. Dr. Cottle could work, but it is hard for me to see.

Dirk Benedict would be awesome.

[FSTargetDrone]

It would certainly be interesting to have Dirk Benedict.

On the topic of Dualla, she is one of my least favorite characters. "Anti-clamatic" is right on. I don't need to see her have a bigger importance in the overall story. Pass on that.