Flash Gordon would be proud

Source: Tubular
Lots of shows use cliff-hanger endings but Battlestar Galactica masters it, and in classic tradition. When we left off last week, a Cylon execution squad was unwrapping its 44 caliber fingers at a couple hundred defenseless humans. As Cally made a break to escape, we heard the shots.

Years before TV, multi-chapter Saturday morning theater serials starring Flash Gordon, Zorro, Jungle Girl, Superman and the like left audiences with cliffhangers every week, the heroes on the point of falling off a cliff or drowning or being shot or some other deadly situation. All to get fans back in the theater seats for next Saturday's chapter.

The next week, viewers learned something left out the week before. Just before the hero fell of the cliff, his sidekick had tossed him a rope. Or, the cavalry was on the way.

On B.G. this week, the cavalry was on the way. With the words ONE HOUR EARLIER, we learned that, contrary to what we were led to believe last week, the undercover agent in the Cylon camp HAD gotten his message through to Galen via the dog bowl drop. Already, the resistance forces were rushing to the execution spot to be on hand to, well, save the day. Some of those shots we heard last week were theirs. No surprise, but you still breathed a sigh of relief, right?

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Do Cylons Dream of Electric Sheep? Now-revered science fiction author Philip K. Dick wrote a novel titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was turned into the movie Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford. The point is, if they dream, are they not pretty much human?

On New Caprica, one Cylon -- Cylons are essentially androids, or bio-androids -- certainly dreams of something. "Everybody dreams," D'Anna (Lucy Lawless) tells the doctor -- did we know this about Cylons? -- but doesn't tell him she's dreaming of Hera, the human-Cylon baby that is supposed to be dead. It's all part of jacking up the importance of Hera -- Sharon's baby, who she thinks is dead -- which seems about to play a major role.

Cheesecake alert: I figured once the show was a hit we would no longer be getting those long, tease shots of Number Six's bare back and almost-see-something shots of her breasts. Wrong again. Even now that Six and Baltar are essentially an old married couple, Tricia Helfer's long limbs and bare skin are obviously still considered a prime asset and attraction for the show.

This week the show spiced up a gloomy marital-style debate -- do you suppose Laura and George W. have these nobody loves me, well, what did you expect Mr. President mornings? -- with an especially long peakaboo look as a nude Six sits up from Baltar's bed, pulls on a short dress, then slithers into her black panties. It's such brazen, bald face cheesecase it's funny. Funny, but still sexy.

What I want to know is, how do they write those Helfer scenes into the script? I mean, do they choreograph every movement and camera angle, or just say:
Scene 7: Six does her stuff. Stand back.

How about that "Always together" ceremony scene before the ships and pilots split up? Didn't you believe they'd done it a hundred times? B.G. is so good at creating a sense of background and cultural depth. If you felt yourself starting to tear up, face it, you're hooked, a Galactica junkie.

"Don't make me cry on my own hangar deck," Adama tells Apollo. He also tells him to wait at the rendezvous for 18 hours, then leave. Apollo tells him don't be late. Uh-huh. Anyone want to take bets on whether Adama will be late? And whether Apollo will wait? I didn't think so.

Another revelation: We learn from Cavil (Dean Stockwell) that with each successive download after a Cylon death, the experience becomes more uncomfortable. "The first was a headache, this one was like a hot poker jabbed through my head," Cavil tells the group.

In the same scene, a Cylon says to Number Six, "Caprica, can you please control him?" (Baltar) He's calling her Caprica? OK someone out there, what have I missed?

Finally: Hidden under all that headwrap, that was Amanda Plummer (Honey Bunny from Pulp Fiction, and a million other things) as the chocolate-caramel-craving soothsayer.

Battlestar Galactica airs at 8 p.m. Fridays on Sci-Fi.

Newshound: SciFi