Of Cylons and Sharks *Spoilers Follow*

Quick one tonight as YHS takes time to perform human sacrifice finalize taxes. So. Saul Tigh, Chief, Tory and Sam all think they are Cylons; Baltar, after being acquitted on charges, is spirited away by a group of religious nutcases and to top it off, Starbuck comes back from the dead to lead the fleet on to Earth…any one of which would have sufficed for a season ending cliffhanger, but all together? Could it be BSG may have jumped the shark, especially with Tigh & Co. claiming they are Cylons (which would account for 4 of the remaining un-ID’d five Cylons?). Or have they, because of their time on New Caprica, somehow become susceptible to long-range mind games fomented by the nearby Cylon fleet? Are the writers making this up as they go along? Hope not — BSG has been a remarkable bit of theater and in light of the untimely demise of Firefly (yes, YHS was a fan of that too), one of the few good post Babylon-5 space-based sci-fi series available.

Babylon-5 was a singularly outstanding series — a case where the writer, J. Michael Straczynski, was able to play out a five year arc despite being bounced about networks and having stories aired out of sequence. It set the bar for series that followed in terms of storyline, character development and special effects (first wide-spread use of CGI effects in a TV series). Realistic modeling of spacecraft motion and use were employed – so much so that NASA sought permission to use the Starfury modeling for studies for a future unmanned vehicle supporting the ISS.

With a direct to video release coming up later this year and 22 episodes for Season Four which starts in ’08 it will be interesting to see if there will be some sound writing to resolve these plot twists without resorting to silly mysticism or another dream sequence…