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Title: 1x03 "Bastille Day"


goth willow fan - January 30, 2005 01:17 PM (GMT)
QUOTE
The fleet has found a source of water, but who will take on the difficult and dangerous job of mining it from the icy planet? Commander Adama and President Roslin send Lee to the Astral Queen, a prisoner transport ship, with an offer for its inmates: Volunteer for this mission and earn "freedom points."

The prisoners not only reject the offer but stage a uprising and hold Lee and his crew hostage. Their leader is Tom Zarek, a freedom fighter convicted of terrorism 20 years earlier. Zarek demands that Roslin step down as president and call for immediate elections to choose a new leader.

While Adama and Roslin organize an assault on the ship, Lee, who read Zarek's radical manifesto while at college, negotiates with his captor. Back on the Galactica, Adama pressures Baltar to develop a device that can distinguish Cylons from humans.

Many light-years away on Caprica, Sharon and Helo struggle to evade the Cylons, unaware that they are being observed by Doral and Number Six.

goth willow fan - January 30, 2005 06:16 PM (GMT)
Another good ep (he said again), guest starring Apollo Mk 1.

Fairly predictable it must be said, but the acting was good, and as has been said before, good to see that events in one ep have reprecussions in later eps.


LoobiLou - February 17, 2005 02:26 PM (GMT)
Good ep, if a little too Americanised with all the talk of elections and freedom, yet it took a gun to the head to sort it all out it the end :lol: Still, some good action scenes and performances. I finally realised where I recognized Boomer from, she was in the S2 opener of Dark Angel - tvtome confirms this :)

TV Yank - February 18, 2008 03:44 AM (GMT)
Clever title. Doesn't make sense until the end.

A prison riot story set in space. Like I said: the writing team knows how to utilize old material.

While I stayed glued to my TV, the drama seemed to wither in the second half once the hostages were taken. And, while it was nice to see Richard Hatch given a major role, as was painfully obvious in the original series, he isn't up to the demands of the role. Bamber wasn't much better. But they weren't helped and probably hindered by the script.

But first, a couple of other issues regarding the premise. Remember, there was a saltwater ocean discovered along with salt-free ice. The decision was to use prisoners as laborers to bring water from the icesheets.

1) It's a fairly simple thing for advanced technology to distill salt water (or water with any impurities) into potable water -- making the reliance on the ice unnecessary.

2) The prisoners really weren't the ONLY option. The writers just wanted to make it seem so.

I'm glad the story confronted something that had bothered me from the beginning. There's no reason to suppose that the government of several deceased planets should automatically assume power over 50,000 survivors in a convoy. It's as fallacious as the many plane crash plots where the pilot automatically assumes command of the survivors.

Somehow, it makes sense that an aging rebel would be the one to bring it to light but the script didn't provide much insight into his thinking (mixing it in with a death wish). However, the script writer made up for that with the scene at the end when Apollo reveals the conditions to the President and Commander. There, the script and Bamber were in top form.

Even better was the more personal scene at the end between Starbuck and Tigh where they appear to be making amends. Tigh's comment was dramatically perfect ("My flaws are personal, yours are professional."). Katee's stunned reaction was even better and uniquely hers.




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