BSG Preview: “The Oath”

Tonight the "The Oath," the third of the final 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica airs and the tensions are rising. In our weekly BSG Preview we have clips, details, interview links and videos, plus all the latest news on what is up with that frakin’ fleet of colonials.

 

“The Oath” [Season 4 Ep. 13]
US: Airing January 23rd on SciFi at 10 PM (9 Central)
Canada: Airing January 23rd on Space at 10 PM (7 Pacific)
 

Synopsis: Adama continues with his plan to use Cylon drive technology on Colonial ships. The closer ties between the rebel Cylons and the humans sets off a violent uprising in the fleet.


The Chief and Lee don’t really see eye to eye

Preview (SciFi – USA)

Preview (Space – Canada)

Sneak Peek

Post show Q&A with episode writer
Mo Ryan of the Chicago Tribune (the queen of BSG coverage) will be posting a Q&A with Mark Verheiden, the writer of "The Oath" on Friday night. Verheiden briefly blogs about the episode, describing it thusly:

The situation in the fleet takes a grave turn as disagreement over the Cylon alliance grows.

Mo has seen the episode and claims it is "as dramatic an hour of television as you could possibly want." More info at the Chicago Tribune site.

 

Last Week’s Episode Online + Recap
You can watch the entire episode of "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" at Hulu.com (US) or Spacecast.com (Canada). Hulu also has a version with Ron Moore commentary. Lastly here is the recap (US Only):

Ratings update
2.1 million viewers watched the season 4.5 premiere of Battlestar Galactica, mostly on par with its season 4.0 premiere number (down just 1%). But, like past years for the series, week two couldn’t hold on its premiere audience. "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" drew just 1.7 million viewers, down a steep 19%. By way of comparison, week two of season 4.0 drew 1.8 million viewers (after a drop of 16% from the season 4.0 premiere).

New BSG Interviews
Two-part TV Guide interview Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama) and Mary McDonell (Laura Roslyn).

 

 

BSGCast interview with Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh)

more interviews

More Frakin Links


Steampunk Cylon

Even more BSG
If that isn’t enough for you, keep track of all your Frakin needs at our favorite BSG site, Battlestar Sitrep.

Catch up on DVD
If you need to catch up, the  Battlestar Galactica 4.0 DVD set was recently released, here is a promo:

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Cant wait to download it in the morning!

Looking forward to this tonight! Shit is going to hit the fan!

Things should get really interesting. Only 8 to go, including this one.

I’ll miss this show.

But …. I’ll have Dexter season 3 (when released on DVD) and the Star Trek movie. I won’t be bored !!!!

Got to say that this has be a great show, not a happy show but really entertaining. it’s going to be missed when it’s gone!

Well. I am Looking forward to this Show and I hope it is A good one. Should be Entertaining. I do have an Idea and it may be just realy Crazy. Bur I think the Final Cylong is not just one Person. But the Entire Fleet. Everyone Is realy a Cylon. That is a Possibility. I know it is Crazy Idea but I thopught I would Throw that one out there.

If not Everyone is A Cylon then it Has To Be Thrace. Who Is she and how did she Get there.

Umm, Capn’ Mike:

Ellen is the final Cylon. Kara is something else methinks.

Tonight episode looks to be a real popcorn muncher. Can’t wait.

And Lucifer shows up and declares every human will be destroyed! YES!



Dangit. I miss Lucifer.

Maybe Kara is a clone as a result of the egg farm a couple of seasons ago.

Glad Michael Hogan is on the convention circuit now. He’s been my favorite since episode one. His character was so obviously underused early on in the series.

Once again… Great Great show. Love BSG so much.

I’ve made some great leaps forward in my electroshock procedure to erase my memory after the last episode, so I’ll be seeing them again for the first time!

#10

Congratulations!

Michael Hogan is an absolute pleasure to watch. His acting last season when he was still trying to hide his identity as one of the Final Five was brilliant.

Sure doesn’t follow the original story line.

On the rating note, If they didn’t have such a gap between shows and short seasons, the following would not fall off between groups of shows.

Star Trek?

@12: Yeah, instead of building anticipation for the next set of episodes, it seems to cause people to forget about it (except for the hardcore fans). Although there’s only 8 episodes left, if the viewership falls off much more from now to the end, there may not be many folks watching the final ep.

I know some folks I work with are like me in that we pretty well lost interest after season 3.0 (and before season 3.5). Maybe we wanted more space battles or something, I don’t know. Or maybe it’s the drama – too many overlays clogging up the story. Or maybe it’s the way Ron Moore seems to be pulling things out of his – um, hat – and the stories don’t seem all that cohesive.

I think the season structure is a bow to the enormous production costs in this show… and that’s good. I also think the way to watch it is to bear thru the original run and then sit one ep per evening with the Blue Rays. I know I’ve missed a TON of the minor plot points. I certainly can’t keep my number 8’s straight. (Anyone?0

BTW, Mary McDonnel is the cutest bald chick I’ve seen since TMP.

# 7( Ellen is the final Cylon. Kara is something else methinks.) Well. That could be the case but I have this Crazy Idea that it is not just her. But All are Cylons.But you never Know.

#16

I think what you’re saying is possible, but in terms of The Final Five, Ellen is the fifth. Period. They’ve confirmed it on the show and off the show (the writers and Ron Moore).

Lost apparently doesn’t suffer from being off air for 7 months at a time, as they had 20 million viewers last week.

As far as ratings are concerned, I couldn’t give a frak. Shows ending. That’s been decided. But, yeah, with the show being on sci-fi and taking so much time off between seasons added to the fact that this isn’t C.S.I. Denver with an easily packaged individually separate episode per hour I can see how your average attention span challenged TV viewer might not want to invest their effort in BSG. Too bad. They have missed at the very least some great acting performances and at the most the best visual FX on TV along with a truly unique story.

Hate on, haters.

The problem with the ratings is that most people I know have NEVER seen it on TV, they wait for the DVD’s to come out. That number is very low and not representative of just how big the fan base is.

There have been articles in the NY Times, Chicago Tribune, and TV Guide that talk about BSG’s ratings being very low, but even with a high budget is one of the most profitable and popular shows on TV. I don’t have a link, but they were very interesting.

#18 – “LOST” is even more complex and there’s DVD/BD releases, etc.

I think the relentless down nature of the show is what’s turning people off. There’s no one to root for anymore. Everybody’s corrupt, nobody is having any fun. Even during the worst of times it’s human nature to crack a joke, to hope for the best. “BSG” seems intent on making you lose all hope.

A good example is I expect that nurse to try and kill or have someone kill the Tigh/6 baby.

Apples and oranges, I know, but I never got a lot of guffaws out of a Bergman film myself. A lack of comic relief does not necessarily dismiss something as low quality or not worthy of attention.

I personally enjoy the challenges that BSG puts in front of me as a viewer. That entertains me in much the same way a complex puzzle would.

#21 …There’s no one to root for anymore.

I for one am rooting for Apollo, he may be corrupt, but to me he’s the only one who wants to try to uphold certain ideals or morals.

I think the first 2 seasons of BSG were absolutely brilliant. Since then it has sort of lost itself. I still watch it, but I am certainly not as into it as I was in the beginning. I was hoping that it would pick up during the final 10 episodes, but so far nothing is happening. It has turned into too much of a soap opera, too much talk and not enough action.

21 – I don’t think everyone is corrupt, but nobody’s perfect.

And although it can get pretty bleak, there is always hope within the stories.

I also noticed that there are little bits of humor in there, very sublte humor at that.

I’m rooting for Death. He seems to be Ron Moore’s favorite character.

#22 – But you do puzzles because they are *fun*. When they cease to be, you find something else to do.

I doubt a Bergman *series* would do well.

A perfect example of why the low ratings: the Obama campaign stressed hope. The American public responded to that.

Lately it seems BSG wants us to do what Dee did.

Why is there a BSG thread in a forum devoted to Star Trek ?

Look, I know lots of people like BSG, but there are other places on the net for this information and discussion. I know that I’ll probably draw volleys of phaser fire, but I’ll say it – BSG isn’t half the show that even the worst ST series is. It’s cartoon, childish, bubble-gum compared to ST.

“Why is there a BSG thread in a forum devoted to Star Trek ?”

…Because there is. Deal with it, troll.

Love BSG. Talk of it being to dark is not true at all. I liken BSG to Heart of Darkness and the core groups decent into madness. Anyone who has read Heart of Darkness should see some of the similarities.

The show is not to soap opera like as some have commented but rather dramatic. I for one hate tuning into Star Trek and always knowing that everything is going to be A-OKAY in the end. Even when they kill a character (DS9 being the one exception) on Star Trek its always honky dory the next episode. Tasha died… Awww isn’t that hologram sweet lets never mention her again and show absolutely no grieving like real people would go through!!! Data dies… It’s okay and happy we have Data 2.0….. Spock dies… It’s okay we have the fraking genesis planet and are told via the imagery in the very end of Wrath of Khan that he’ll be back. Star Trek aside from the death of Dax has always been very lame. DS9 is the only show that showed a character dealing with it in a even remotely human way and that was Sisko withdrawing and agonizing away. Not that I hate Trek but don’t make comments about BSG’s realistic negative outlook. See how you react when you have everything stripped away and crushed and shattered. Nothing left to hope for and your universe in disarray. Many people would pull a Dee and you know it.

About the ratings. True enough about people not watching for a few reasons.

A – The extremely long hiatus between seasons is unacceptable. People will move on in the interim every single time. Someone mentioned Lost’s long hiatus. True but lost doesn’t have the disadvantage of airing on Sci-Fi channel and is on a real network that everyone gets. You don’t even get sci-fi with the basic cable package in many areas of the country but rather have to pay for a much expanded cable or satellite package which many don’t do.

B – My best friend is just as avid a fan as me but due to no sci-fi on his com cast cable basic plan he waits for DVD. Many people wait for DVD and find other means of watching this show. Someone on here even said they couldn’t wait to download it in the morning… Hmmm imagine… Wheres the ratings going there?

I have a couple more but I am sick of typing to defend a phenomenal show to people who I don’t know or care two fraks about.

The last thing I will say is this. Either you like it or you don’t a good many people love the show. I get the distinct feeling if BSG was on CBS for example it would do tremendously better due to hundreds of thousands of people being able to access it. Life is negative and positive. Life is full of highs and lows and surprises which is exactly what BSG portrays so excellently. BSG in many episodes dwarfs Star Trek in its social/political commentary and metaphors. They may just be to in depth for some to see. Just like my 8th graders can’t see the analogies in ripe through Star Trek because they are above them I think many adults can’t see the same in BSG.

Luckily BSG is going out with a blast and I do believe will continue to be a massive cult favorite withstanding the weathering of time for decades to come.

So say we all……

(p.s. I am not going to flame war with anyone so if you don’t like my opinion frak off. Positive comments are of course welcome!)

That was an awesome episode tonight. And it looks like next week’s will be even better…

13. NX01 – January 30, 2009
Star Trek?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nope, but it was created and produced by Trek Alum

Tonight’s episode was amazing as usual. It’s hard to believe that they could ratchet it up any higher than they have, but they keep outdoing themselves. What a simply fantastic series this has been.

I also enjoyed this one. Nice to see our heroes getting their spines back after wallowing around in their own misery the last few episodes….

All this has happened before and will happen again….Much like Star Trek:TNG episode “Cause and Effect. The way characters change in BSG, at one moment the cylons are evil machines then they are more human than a human, heroic even. I’m hoping all this will somehow be linked into the original series to give it relevance to the new show, because after all – All this has happened before and will happen again!

OMG! What a horrible cliffhanger! I about spit a pepsi all over when the three dreaded words appeared on the screen!

FRAKING EDITORS!

I was so impressed and was on the edge of my couch as I watched each second with anticipation. I find myself siding with Adama and his plans for the fleet, and his siding with the Cylons. Now that’s good Cylons… not those baddies we may remember from back when. I was shocked Geta turned on Adama like he did. And who else to lead the coup d’état than the original Apollo…bravo! Can’t wait till next week.

37….a Pepsi drinker watches BSG? Is that possible?

Wow! Tonights episode was wound up so tight it was almost difficult to watch at times!

Too bad that Gaeta drank Zarek’s koolaid. He had always had a noble, if somewhat flawed character up until tonights episode.

Gaeta was always a back-stabbing little worm. Gaeta played both sides of the fence during the Cylon occupation of New Caprica.

So Adama lives but Tygh may not, and Roslyn is now the Cylon’s Imperious Leader. To quote Stimpy, “Joy!”

I like Starbuck “going rogue” and just killing everyone. She’s finally gone off the deep end. Sort of reminiscent of Ripley in Aliens, frak it all just start shooting, with Lee as Newt.

So do the Cylons nuke the Galactica? Does Adama go out the airlock?

Tune in tomorrow,
Same Bat-Time!
Same Bat-Channel!

“Confused? You won’t be, after this week’s episode of…Soap”

I hope Gaeta is flushed out of the launch tubes, along with Tom Zarek! He was one my favourite characters.

#39 – It’s true… some Pepsi drinkers have been known to watch BSG. Even stranger… some of us enjoy it. ;)

I have ceased thinking of BSG as SCI-FI. It is anthropological allegory. The death spiral between the humans and the deadly bi-products of their own ingenuity is a reflection of the pattern evident through out human history. BSG is a giant mirror sound out a warning to industrialized society to choose our steps forward with great care.

I hear rumors that the Galactica is destined to go down in flames during the 3-hour finally. Could the Colonial loyalists really have to sink their own hijacked warbird to survive?

I’ve always assumed (at least from season 2 onward) that Rosalin and Adama both die before the end. I’m starting to think that all 5 of the 5 die too.

Still, I expect a ray of hope at the end.

And I expect a reverse of “Planet of the Apes.” In the end, the remnants of the fleet settle Earth as we know it and plant the first civilizations. That other “Earth” from mid-season is simple an artifact from a pervious era of a civilization collapsing.

After all, every human civilization eventually implodes- unless it gets conquered first.

This has happened before. And it will happen again.

Ask the Mayans.

My only wish is that there was one more season so the finale would air on 12.22.2012. That would be truly fitting.

I’ve now got the same feeling watching BSG I had when I read Atlas Shrugged. Towards the end of that book, I had totally lost interest in the story and the characters, and only kept reading merely to see how it ended.

It was, I recall, tedious.

#45

Do yourself a favor then and stop watching. And thanks for the report. Show is over in just a few more episodes so I don’t care if it’s only me and my wife and the other 3/4’s of the people posting here watching it at the end.

This show will stand the test of time.

Those wondering about Gaeta… have you watched the Webisodes?

Explains why Gaeta’s gone deep-end. His last words to Hoshi in the webisodes make sense now… plus, it’s clear he was just using Hoshi.

Frakkin’ pirate-legged bastard.

Comcast On Demand has the webisodes. Watched them with my wife and then finished them off online.

And your right, they did explain a lot about Gaeta.

When it’s all said and done, I so look forward to getting the series on Blu-Ray. I mean, watching it on my LCD is nice but Galactica wasn’t broadcast in true HD. Sci-Fi channel isn’t in HD at all, which is sad. I’ve been able to catch the Star Trek Enterprise series in true HD…Finally. And it’s a lot more enjoyable to watch. It’s on the HDNET network. The new format turned the ordinary into extraordinary for me.

#49

Who is your HD provider? DirecTV has SciFi in HD and also rebroadcasts the episodes on the Universal HD channel.