Everyone, it seems, felt as if they were in a holding pattern this week, with a really good ep of Battlestar Galactica that was totally just the first hour of the end, and answered really nothing at all.

The biggest question seemed to be what the point of the flashbacks was, though the consensus was that they were quite good, whether or not they were necessary.

I would like to make this comment about the Baltar flashbacks – I think that Caprica Six was so solicitus toward Julius Baltar for more than one reason. I think she saw solving that problem as a way to get on Gaius’ good side, and that was vital. But she was, indeed, taken with Julius, despite his crudeness. Was it a matter of having a respect for one’s parents, parents whom Six did not know but, somehow, deep down, knew she had and had respect for?

Or, and this is TOTALLY speculative and I have no reason to think it other than I’m trying to figure it all out, is Julius some frakked up version of Daniel and Six knows on some level that he’s important and should be taken care of? There’s been some speculation in the blogosphere that Kara and Gaius could be brother and sister, both children of Daniel. I find it hard to believe that Julius could actually be Daniel, but don’t forget that Daniel disappeared from Kara’s life when she was quite young, and there were multiple copies of all the “new” skinjobs.

There are a zillion reasons none of this makes sense, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything in the broader scope of BSG.

Oh, and just one more thing: way back when, Ron Moore told Mo Ryan that the ruined Earth WAS indeed our Earth. Not some other Earth. It’s Earth. There’s no Earth they’re suddenly going to discover.

They have found Earth. This is the Earth that the 13th Colony discovered, they christened it Earth. They found Earth.

And with that, I give you the penultimate So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival.

First off, we have two posts from Kenneth Hynek‘s blog. First, he submitted a post dissecting online spoilers about the upcoming finale, in Could this be the way BSG ends? – I am desperately trying to remain spoiler-free, so I stopped reading a few paragraphs in. And then there’s his recap of the first hour of the last three hours of our beloved show, in I’d almost call it “Twilight” myself… He looks at the flashbacks and what we learned about our characters from watching them.

Tru presents BSG – 9 down, 1 this-frakkin-better-be-good series finale to go posted at True Science Fiction. She felt as many of us did – that giving us this one hour without the other two right behind it left us all hanging. I don’t blame the writers, though. I blame the Sci Fi Channel (or SyFy, as they’ve renamed themselves – whatever) for splitting it up.

Norman Doering presents Battlestar Galactica: “Daybreak” – Part 1 posted at A Blog from Hell. Like many, Norman can’t help but wonder what, exactly, these micro-stories have to do with the finale. He fears he’s going to be quite disappointed. He’s hoping he’s not.

Ms. SP presents The Dark Before The Dawn posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All. You know what? Ms. Smarty Pants is gonna be OK with however it goes, so long as the two-hour finale is kick-ass. It’s been one helluva ride, and she appreciates it.

Lisa Paitz Spindler presents Slip the surly bonds of Earth posted at Lisa Paitz Spindler, Danger Gal. She poses this question: What if this all takes place in an alternate universe? Not a Star Trek-type alternate universe where Baltar’s a selfless leader and Adama’s an evil megalomaniac, but just another universe where things are very similar, yet quite different. Where everything just happened slightly differently.

And last, but not least, Nina presents Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Epi. 19: Daybreak, Part I posted at Blog it out, Bitch. She loved the episode, has no idea what the scene with Lee and the pigeon was about and suggests that Hoshi buy a Shamwow – it’ll be a lot easier to clean up spilled coffee that way. Be sure to read her captions – you’ll LOL.

And that’s it for this week.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m going to be away from Friday through the following weekend. When I get to review the two-hour finale and when I get to post the blog carnival depends entirely upon when NBC Universal decides to post the finale on Hulu. They’ve been waiting eight days for the past few episodes, so I might be a week late.

Even so, submit your blog article to the next edition of so say we all using our
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I just realized the other day that I am going to MISS the final two hours of Battlestar Galactica when it airs because I’m going to be on an airplane to Italy.

Yeah, you read right. And the way Hulu’s been airing the last few episodes, they’re not available online for eight days after the original airdate. So what does that mean? Well, it could actually mean no BSG blog from me for more than a week after the LAST TWO HOURS EVER of Battlestar Galactica airs.

It’s like a cosmic joke being played on me. Sigh. I know, I really have no right to complain, it’s not as if I’m going to prison or, say, Des Moines, but still …

Anyway, this episode had mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed liked appreciated it. It’s hard to say I enjoyed or liked something that was so gut-wrenching, but I definitely appreciated it.

So, after the jump, the entries:

Norman Doering presents So, Baltar sees angels, eh? posted at A Blog from Hell. Norman dissects the Christian mythology behind it all and fears that we’re in for another round of exposition dump-itis with Anders in the goo pool.

R.A. Porter presents Battlestar Galactica: ‘Islanded in a Stream of Stars’ posted at dreamloom. Break out the Kleenex, but this show gave us a beautiful relationship between Bill Adama and Laura Roslin and there’s a lot more crying yet to be done over all the folks who aren’t dead yet.

Dawn Raftery presents ‘Battlestar Galactica’ review: Adama, Starbuck finally wake up posted at elan. She asks what many fans have wondered – why doesn’t someone just throw Baltar out of an airlock already?

Tru presents BSG – 8 down, 2 to go posted at True Science Fiction. She wonders if the writers are going to be able to wrap everything up satisfactorily and admits she’s a bit annoyed by how all this is being dragged out.

Kenneth Hynek presents Islanded in a Stream of Stars (and oddly familiar planets) posted at Kenneth Hynek. He looks at several issues here, including the somewhat disappointing ending Helo seems to be hurtling toward, but also the fact that humanity is so utterly corrupt that, once again, the Cylons seem to be the only ones concerned with keeping everyone together. Go figure.

Ms. SP presents A Lamentation for a Television Show posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All. The episode, she opines, was another step in helping prep us for the void that will be left in our lives when Battlestar ends its run, a mere three hours from now.

Roberta presents BSG So Say We All Blog Carnival – When the unthinkable happens posted at CouchSlobs – A Monument To Human Idleness. Things are indeed desperate, but I agree with the lovely Roberta – I really didn’t need to see Bill Adama break down and cry. Again.

Nina presents Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Epi. 18: Islanded in a Stream of Stars posted at Blog It Out Bitch. She was rather … disappointed. But she does provide us with perhaps the best description yet of the Colony (that big weird spider-looking place where Boomer took Hera):

It’s not a base ship, it’s like the thing that poops out a base ship.

And that ends this week’s carnival. Just two more carnivals left, just three more hours. We are moving inexorably toward the end and the tension is almost too much to bear.

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And so we move one step closer to the end.

The fandom seems a bit split by Someone to Watch Over Me, with some believing it advanced our knowledge of what, exactly, is going on and others wondering what the frak they were watching. I started more in the camp of the latter, but with time and pondering, I’m more convinced that we learned a heckuva lot, though I’m still not sure exactly what.

OK, so I’ll just let you read what others had to say, in this week’s edition of the blog carnival:

First off, Tru presents BSG – 7 down, 3 to go posted at True Science Fiction. He points out that now Starbuck also has a head person, the piano player who may or may not be her father (but at the very least represents him). Does that mean she’s a hybrid?

Norman Doering presents Battlestar Galactica: “Someone to Watch Over Me” posted at A Blog from Hell. He outlines the two main storylines and has some interesting thoughts about the musical score and links to Bear McCreary’s excellent blog. As usual, Norman has some excellent turns of phrase, such as “exposition dump-itis.”

Ms. SP presents There’s a Somebody I’m Longing to See posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All. She watched the episode a second time immediately after it ended its first run-through, even though she still isn’t quite sure what happened. But Starbuck and Tyrol, she realizes, were both faced with mirages.

Kenneth Hynek presents Someone to Watch Over Hera & Starbuck posted at Kenneth Hynek. All I can say is, wow. Lots of good stuff here, so here’s what he had to say by way of introduction: ” I was reminded, watching “Someone to Watch Over Me,” of an earlier “Starbuck“-themed episode, which (not coincidentally?) came near the end of one of the show’s seasons (its third). Of course, I’m speaking about “Maelstrom,” in which Kara has to confront one of her personal demons — her relationship with her mother — before she can pursue her destiny to its next stage. This episode puts her through a similar situation, albeit without the apparition of Leoben Conoy guiding her through it; this time, however, the demon she’s confronting is her relationship with her father. ”

Erika presents Battlestar Galactica – “Deadlock” posted at Seriality. She hated Deadlock, as did many in fandom, though I actually liked it. Her reasons are well spelled out, though. But one thing: The last 3 (D’Anna) decided to stay beind on the nuked Earth. She’s done. That was the last episode Lucy Lawless filmed.

Roberta presents BSG So Say We All Blog Carnival – I have a new theory! posted at CouchSlobs – A Monument To Human Idleness. Roberta is on the “Daniel is Starbuck’s father” train, and I’m with her.

Nina presents Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Epi. 17: Someone to Watch Over Me posted at Blog It Out Bitch. As usual, Nina points out some of the best lines in the episode, including Tigh’s oh-so-appropriate “What the frak?!” when Kara is playing The Final Four Theme (which Bear McCreary describes as pretty much All Along the Watchtower, but different).

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of so say we all using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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In blogging last week about BSG, I ignored a huge part of the episode, as I got rather wrapped up in the whole “Ellen Tigh really is as crazy as she seemed, but I love it” part of things.

Don’t worry, lots of Baltar goodness to go around in this week’s carnival, but I thought I’d share some things I’ve been musing on:

Baltar is crazy. Like a fox. He quickly sees that control of his cult has been all but wrested from him. But the ladies still have an eye for our brilliant, possibly insane, doctor, and he has a last chance to get it back.

All he needs to do is appeal to their inner sense of strength. And if that doesn’t work, their desire to have bigger guns than the bad guys. That should do the trick.

Head Six is still totally in on the game. What does that mean? We know that some of the Final Five had visions that preceded the blowing up of Earth, etc., so what does that mean for Baltar? We know that he has some sort of strange connection to the Cylons, but what is it? Is he perhaps a hybrid? And why does Caprica Six hallucinate Baltar?

And, is Baltar and his merry band of insane women going to become the new militia? Sort of the National Guard, if you will? And I simply must ask this (as did, I think, EVERYone else watching the show): WTF did he say to Adama/Roslin/Lee to convince them to give him the big guns? I mean, really?

Anyway, there’s a lot to get to here, lots of entries, so let me get started:

First off, Jayson Peters presents ‘Battlestar Galactica’ finale will be a two-parter posted at Nerdvana: Sci-fi, comics, games & more. Jayson reports that the finale will be three hours, split in two segments. FRAK!

Lisa Paitz Spindler, a first-timer here, presents Among Bright Stars I’m Lost posted at Lisa Paitz Spindler. It’s a recap of No Exit, actually, but has some really excellent points. She caught a few things I heard at the time, but never really registered with me – such as when Ellen asks Boomer about “the swirl,” which I take to be the image that Starbuck painted/sketched/drew her entire life. Connection to Daniel?

Kenneth Hynek, another newbie to our carnival, presents A potential inspiration for BSG? posted at Kenneth Hynek. It’s a fascinating look at a book I’ve never read, “On the Beach,” and the similiarities it has with our beloved BSG. If the show were to continue to echo the book, that could mean things end poorly. Which we expect already, given the show and everything Edward James Olmos has said. I want to read this book now.

Norman Doering presents All My Cylons … these are the days of our fives … As The Galaxy Turns posted at A Blog from Hell. In it, he coins my favorite word of the year: Balcubines, to describe Baltar’s female minions.

Nina presents Battlestar Galactica – Season 4.5 Epi 16: Deadlock posted at Blog It Out Bitch. It’s long, but it’s funny. And she quotes Adama’s best line of the entire series, when he declares he has to go to the head. And like most of us, she can’t figure out what the frak Adama’s doing arming Baltar and his balcubines.

Tru presents BSG – 6 down, 4 to go posted at True Science Fiction. He was a bit disappointed that not more was resolved or moved forward. I’ve heard that from several folks, though I don’t necessarily agree.

Roberta presents BSG So Say We All Blog Carnival – Ellen, Baltar & his blanket and possible BSG movie posted at CouchSlobs – A Monument To Human Idleness. She reconciles the thought that this crazy lady could have been responsible for the skinjob Cylons with the recognition that Baltar is also bat-guano crazy and yet was considered the most brilliant man in the Colonies before, well, he helped get them all ‘sploded. And she also links to an article about Universal considering a BSG movie – based on the original series, because only Glen A. Larson has movie rights.

Ms. SP presents If I Go There Will Be Trouble, If I Stay There Will Be Double posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All. She posits some very interesting thoughts about the idea that one has to be in love in order to procreate, and what kind of person would follow a God who enforced that. It made me wonder if that is the reason the “new” Cylons could never procreate. They tried to procreate to make new Cylons, not out of love. Hera was born out of love between Helo and Sharon. Hmm?

Phew! That’s it for this week. “Someone to Watch Over Me” comes this Friday, and then there just three more episodes. I’m not clear, however, if three episodes counts the two-part finale as one, in which case there are really five hours left. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

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I don’t think I need to repeat how fantastic I thought Friday’s ep was, so I’m not gonna say much here. Let’s just get into the week’s

submissions, no? (I can’t believe there are only five episodes left!!!!!) By the way, if after reading all this, you still want more, head over to Mo Ryan’s blog at the Chicago Tribune and check out her Q&A with the writers. We will find out what Starbuck is and we’ll get more Boomer. Oh, and the devastation on Earth was, indeed, the result of a Cylon Civil War.

Nina presents Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Epi. 15: No Exit posted at Blog It Out Bitch. She has a very interesting theory about Starbuck that actually makes more sense than mine. Be sure to check out the pre- and post-episode questions. Amazing how many questions the ep actually did answer.

Tru presents BSG – 5 down, 5 to go posted at True Science Fiction. John/Cavil’s rebellion against the Final Five is very much the stuff of nightmares for every parent of a teenager, he notes.

Norman Doering presents A few Pieces of a Puzzle posted at A Blog from Hell. “In a way,” he says, “Ellen Tigh is our Doctor Frankenstein and Cavil is her monster. The others making up the final five are apparently just a collection of Igors.”

Jayson Peters presents “Battlestar Galactica: No Exit” — It’s all coming together posted at Nerdvana. He points out that Ellen Tigh wasn’t the Final Cylon after all, and that Moore & Eick were all tricky on us, hiding a No. 7.

Ms. Smarty Pants presents Hell is Clunky Exposition posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All. Not a fan of the exposition dump (as Norman, above, called the episode), Ms. SP still found there to be some interesting answers, not least of which is that the Final Five all had “head angels” like Baltar has. Hmmm. What the frak does that mean, though???

Roberta presents BSG So Say We All Blog Carnival – brainfry anyone? posted at CouchSlobs – A Monument To Human Idleness. She managed to pull her frazzled brain together enough to ponder Daniel (and express relief that my urgent cries of WHY IS SHARON NO. 8??? were finally answered) and express rather interesting thoughts about the Cylons’ desire to be more human.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of so say we all using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

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Friday’s episode was perhaps the finest ever for Battlestar Galactica – in part because it was absolutely the bleakest.

Because we have a mere seven episodes left, and we know this show doesn’t go in for the happy endings, who knows what’s going to happen. We know Adama makes it to this Friday’s episode, but will they kill him? Totally could happen.

I truly looked forward to everyone’s reviews this week because there was so much to consider.

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With only eight episodes left ever of this fabulous show, there’s not much time to waste. Though Friday’s installment didn’t have a lot of action, it advanced many elements toward their painful conculsions.

One thing I didn’t realize at the time was that Ron Moore directed the episode, his first time in the four years he’s co-run the show with David Eick.

And so we round up the action in this week’s blog carnival:

Audra was glad the show finally addressed little Nicky’s parentage and why no one was making a big deal about his half-Cylon-ness, in BSG Countdown- 2 down, 8 to go posted at True Science Fiction.

Norman Doering laments the import given to the Zarek storyline, believing there are more important things to resolve, in Battlestar Galactica: “The Disquiet That Follows My Soul” posted at A Blog from Hell. Norman says, ” Well, it seems Adm. Adama and Apollo are being ignorant and authoritarian pricks. They are not telling people everything they know.”

Ms. Smarty Pants charts the important points of “Disquiet” in This Is Not a Show for the Addle-Minded posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All.

Nina recaps the episode in the only way she can – with style and … attitude, in  Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Epi 12: The Disquiet That Follows My Soul posted at Blog It Out Bitch. I personally agree with her assessment of how Adama is likely to react when he finds out the truth about Gaeta.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of so say we all using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Now that Battlestar Galactica has returned, so has the So Say We All Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival.

There’s been lots of BSG goodness throughout the blogosphere since the show returned Friday (first episode of Season 4.5, thus Ed. 4.5.1), and the only bad thing is that we only have nine episodes left.

Before I link to any submissions, though, I do want to say that Ron Moore has 150 percent confirmed that Ellen Tigh is the final Cylon, so everyone can just stop speculating about it already. Thank you.

We’re going to start with a flashback of sorts, from carnival regular David Bird, who blogs on Thursdays about the previous episode, so is a week behind on the carnival. In this case, however, it works very well, seeing as he recaps the webisodes as a whole, in In The Face Of The Enemy posted at David Bird.

Stephanie breaks down the big reveals from Friday’s episode in Battlestar Galactica!! posted at Dube’s World. In fact, she spotted one MAJOR reveal that went right past me. Read through to the end.

Norman Doering has lots of why and how questions about the origin and nature of Cylons, in Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 posted at A Blog from Hell. Wish I knew the answers to them.

Audra didn’t see anything coming, though some of them she still wasn’t surprised by. It makes sense when you read her thoughts over at BSG – 1 down, 9 to go posted at True Science Fiction.

Nina gives us both the Top 10 Things you need to know about BSG as presented by Moore & Eick, along with her liveblog, which is … very heartfelt, at Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 – Epi. 11: Sometimes A Great Notion posted at Blog It Out Bitch.

Ms. Smarty Pants spends most of her post discussing Dualla and, to a lesser extent, D’Anna, and how two such strong women decided to pretty much end it all there on a destroyed planet, in What Happens to a Dream Obliterated? posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of so say we all using our carnival submission form. Past and future editions can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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