Battlestar Galactica

Episode #110 - "The Hand of God"

This document is ©2005, John Larocque. All rights reserved.

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They look human. Some are programmed to think they are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

Synopsis

Boomer and Crashdown are performing sweep 87 of an asteroid field in search of of Tylium ore. Boomer makes a remark about Ensign Davis. "Oh, you haven't noticed how she always sits next to you in the mess... Damn it, there's so much debris in this system the dradis is useless." Crashdown reports a dradis hit. "Jackpot, Boomer! That asteroid dead ahead is a mountain of Tylium." "Thank the gods, we're heroes!" As they get closer to the asteroid, she discovers something else. "Cylons. The rock's crawling with them." "We are well and truly frakked. The only Tylium within twelve light years and we gotta kiss it goodbye." "Along with our asses if we don't get out of here fast." They turn around and head back to the Galactica.

In CIC, the senior staff discuss their options. Tigh remarks, "It figures the Cylons would be sitting on the only source of fuel within our reach." Gaeta replies, "Yeah, it's like staking out every waterhole in a desert." "Only this time it's a lake, with enough Tylium to last us a couple of years." Lee advises, "So we forget this asteroid and find another source." "You can bet your ass the Cylons will be guarding that one too." "So we send the Raptors out farther -- 10, 15 jumps. Find a source they haven't reached yet." "And use up all our fuel doing it." Adama weighs in. "We take the Tylium from the Cylons." Tigh tells him, "This is hardly the time to attack a superior force." "This is exactly the time. We know where they are, they don't know where we are. Catch them with their pants down." Laura asks, "What if we fail?" Tigh answers, "End of game." "So we don't fail."

In the Ready Room, Starbuck takes a brief break from addressing her troops when Adama drops in. She tells him, "Rumor mill has it that you're planning an op." "Rumor mill's right for a change. Captain Adama and Colonel Tigh are working up a plan now and I need some serious out of the box thinking." "Out of the box is where I live." Aboard Colonial One, Laura is meeting with Elosha. "I've been taking chamalla for a medical condition." She tells her she had seen dreams of Leoben, before they captured him. "The images were..." "Prescient?" "Uncanny. And now I'm seeing things while I'm awake... There were snakes crawling all over my podium during the press conference?" "How many?" "About a dozen." "You're kidding me, right? You read Pythia and now you're having me on?" "No. Who is Pythia?" "One of the oracles in the sacred scrolls. 3600 years ago, Pythia wrote about the exile and rebirth of the human race. 'And the Lords annointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland, and unto the leader they gave a vision of serpents numbering two and ten as a sign of things to come.' ... She also wrote the new leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. But you're not dying, are you?"

In the war room, Lee makes his presentation and Starbuck dismisses it. "It's a textbook perfect plan. Which is why it won't work." Tigh offers a sarcastic comment. "Of course, we bow to your vast experience in strategic planning. Refresh my memory, what year was it when you graduated from war college?" Adama interjects, "We're not gonna win this one by the book. I want Starbuck in here because she's not weighed down by conventional thinking. All due respect, gentlemen, we're not as crazy as she is."

This is Starbuck's plan. "What we need to do is make their patrols part of our plan. You know, make their tactics work for us. Here's what I would do. At position code Deacon, we'll need three civilian freighter ships to use as decoys... The decoy ships will jump into the enemy star system at extreme radar range from the Cylon asteroid. Galactica will jump here, close enough to launch its Vipers at the base." Apollo adds, "As soon as the decoy freighters arrive in the system, they'll break wireless silence. They'll be posing as a mine fleet coming after the Tylium and pretend to be unaware of the Cylon presence." "The Cylons will hear the messages and send out a force of raiders after them. This will leave the base relatively undefended. We'll have Raptors prepositioned to keep an eye on the Cylons. When the Cylons move toward the decoys, Galactica's Vipers will come in from behind and obliterate the base."

Lee continues, "Without the base, they will be unable to rearm, refuel." "We'll mop them up, and then we'll take the Tylium." As for the civilians on the decoy ships, "They'll keep their FTL drives spooled up and just jump clear, first sign of trouble." Laura asks, "How many casualties do we anticipate?" Tigh responds, "It'll cost us." As Adama sees it, even if they come back with reinforcements, knocking out the base will buy them some time. "If you keep running from a schoolyard bully, he keeps on chasing you. But the moment you turn around and stop and you punch him really hard in a sensitive spot, he'll think twice about coming back again." As Laura sees it, it's a stark choice. "So, it's either this, or run out of fuel and be annihilated." "Sometimes you have to roll the hard six." "Well, the freighters are yours. Good hunting everyone." "Operation starts in 48 hours."

Tigh and Starbuck discuss their options with the resident Cylon expert, Dr. Baltar. The mission is to destroy the Cylon military base without harming the Tylium or the ore under the surface. Baltar's advises using a conventional warhead, as radiation from a nuclear weapon would render the ore inert and unusable. Tigh says, "All we need to do is hit the right spot." Baltar now is imagining he is at his house on Caprica and admits to Number Six that he doesn't know the first thing about Cylon refineries. "I suppose God doesn't want me to destroy the base because he's the Cylon god?" "God doesn't take sides, he only wants your love. Open your heart to him and he'll show you the way." "Be a lot simpler if you came out and told me." "You must remember to surrender your ego. Remain humble." He wakes up as Starbuck asks where to find the staging tanks. He points to a target and without equivocation tells them that's where to strike. "Hit any one of them and the place will blow up like a three kiloton bomb." In the hallway, Number Six later comments, "Well done. So forceful so decisive. Delivered with such élan." "You didn't speak to me. God didn't speak to me. So I was totally lying. I just picked that spot at random." "He doesn't always speak in words, Gaius." "So, the fate of the entire human race depends upon my wild guess."

Starbuck is lifting weights with her injured leg, and Adama stops by and asks, "How's the knee, Starbuck?" "It'll be ready. I'm not missing this party." "Apollo's leading this strike force. You're gonna have to sit this one out." "I'm the best pilot that you have." "Not right now. Combat you gotta pull 6, 7 G's. Doc says your knee won't take it." "Well, then he's wrong." To illustrate his point, he adds more weight to the machine. He tells her that in her attack run, she'll need to jam the pedal into the firewall, and hold a 6 G turn for ten seconds or die. Then he starts counting down from ten, but she can only keep the weight up for six seconds. "This is only 3 G's, Starbuck, not 6. I'm sorry. It's a tough one but you're staying home." The next scene she's in the war room giving Lee instructions on what to do. "You don't think I'm up to this." "Of course I do, you'll do fine." "Look, you're worried that I'm not going to pull it out of the fire with some high-risk retina-detaching move, the way Starbuck would. But Kara, I'm sorrry, you're not suiting up. Because, believe me, everyone would feel so much better, me included, if you were riding along with us. But this isn't an ego trip, this is my job. And don't think for one moment I will not get it done." "I hope so, 'cause we've got one shot. Don't frak it up by overthinking."

It's the night before the op and Lee is alone in the hangar bay in his Viper when Adama pays him a visit. He tells his father, "Can't sleep." "I couldn't either before a big op. Mark II. Good ship. Got me out of a lot of tough scrapes."Adama hands him an object. "Got something for you. Belonged to your grandfather. My mom bought it for him when he was in law school. See the engraving on it?" It's a lighter and the lettering reads "Joseph Adama." "He was a better father than I was. Dad used to carry that into court cases, claiming he never lost, unless he left it behind." "So, you're worried too." "About what?" "You know, sometimes it feels the whole ship thinks Starbuck would do better." "I don't." "How can you be so sure?" "Because you're my son. Get some rest. You're gonna need it." "Dad, I'll bring it back." "You better, or I'll kick your ass. It's a good lighter."

On Caprica, it's day 37. Helo and Boomer make their way through some horse stables. "It's odd isn't it? That we haven't seen a single human being since the one you shot, when you rescued me. I mean, we're still alive, why nobody else?" They enter a hay loft and he offers her some food. "What do you got?" "Peanut butter, baked beans, corn. How about some chili?" She purges and he asks her if she's been taking her anti-radiation meds? "Think it was those cold beans we had this afternoon." "How far you figure to Delphi?" "Eight, maybe ten days if we move fast. If we start early, we can be there in no time." It's starting to rain when Helo looks outside and sees Number Six in a white ouftit, being followed by several mechanical Cylons. "You killed her!" She tells them they have to leave right away. "What the hell is going on?" "I don't know. We'll figure it out later."

The decoys have jumped to Deacon and break radio silence. "Ball's in play. You can bet they heard that. Now they'll try to locate the decoys." Laura asks, "And when they do?" "If they take the bait, all hell breaks loose." Boomer's Raptor reports that 90 plus raiders have left the base for Deacon, speed 250. "They've launched most of their fighter force." The Galactica launches a strike force heading towards the base. Starbuck still wishses she were with them, and Adama tells her, "I had to go through the same transition. When you're in the cockpit, you're in control. It's hard to give it up." "I never wanted this kind of responsibility." "The Cylons never asked what we wanted. Welcome to the big leagues." Baltar has a very worried look on his face. The Cylons have now spotted the attack force and has sent out 50 raiders. Baltar remarks,"That means we're outnumbered now, five to one." Laura asks, "Weren't the decoys supposed to take care of that?" Adama replies, "Cylons are too smart for that."

The Vipers meet heavy resistance and there are casualties. Baltar reacts, "This sounds frakking awful." Starbuck comments, "They're getting torn to pieces out there." Adama aborts Strike One and orders them to return to base. The first set of raiders has turned away from Deacon and are now heading for Galactica. Baltar asks, "So when are we going to launch the reserve Vipers to defend the Galactica?" "There are no reserve Vipers. Everything is on the board already. Now we play for all the marbles. Starbuck, it's your plan." She orders CIC to send Apollo a scrambled signal, "The back door is open." One of the decoy freighters opens up and inside is another group of twelve Vipers. Apollo acknowledges and heads for the base. Laura asks, "Why didn't you tell me you had another attack force hidden in the freighters?" Adama replies, "It was my decision. I routinely restrict tactical details to those who need to know. Old habits die hard." Adama heads off to CIC.

Apollo's strike team has reached the base and they launch guided missiles, which veer away from the target. "They're jamming the guidance systems." "We have to blow this thing manually." Apollo then informs them, "I've got an idea, I'm gonna take a closer look." On CIC, Tigh reports that the Cylons are three minutes away from the Galactica. "Notify the Strike One Vipers that they can stop running and blast those bastards to hell." Apollo announces, "The conveyer tunnel's clear. I'm going through it." In the war room, Gaeta comments, "Captain Apollo's flying into the conveyer tunnel, hoping it'll lead him to the refinery." Baltar asks, "Has he gone raving mad? There's no way to ensure it does anything of the kind." Apollo has reached the end of the tunnel and points his Viper upwards and out. "I'm through the tunnel. They can't get a firing solution on me." He drops a bomb and the refinery explodes. The war room erupts into cheers. "You can tell Dr. Baltar he was right on the money. It's one hell of a fireworks show. And there's plenty of ore for us back in the canyon, once this place is history" Gaeta gives Baltar a hug and Starbuck also hugs Laura and then apologises. "No need to apologise, Lieutenant. Thanks to you, we have enough fuel to last us a few years." Adama orders Strike One to pursue and destroy the fleeing raiders.

The celebration extends into the hangar bay. Starbuck greets Apollo, and they have a toast. "Apollo, you magnificent bastard, that was one hell of a piece of flying, and I couldn't have done it better myself." "Well, thank you." "I had my doubts." "So did I. I wasn't sure that crazy ass plan of yours could even possibly work." She gives him a cigar, which he lights with Joseph Adama's lighter. Apollo then throws it into the direction of Adama and Tigh, where his father catches it. Elsewhere, Ensign Davis embraces Crashdown.

Baltar imagines he's back on Caprica. Number Six asks him, "Have you read the Pythian prophecy, Gaius?" "Not since sixth grade. I can't say ancient history was my favorite subject." "You should have paid closer attention... 'All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.'" "Everyone knows that verse. What are you getting at?" "Remember this one? 'Led by serpents numbering two and ten.'" "The Vipers! They're the serpents." "There's a later verse, Gaius. You should read it. 'Though the outcome favored the few, it led to a confrontation at the home of the gods.'" Are you telling that God guided my finger to that target for some... arcane scriptural purpose?" "You are part of God's plan, Gaius." "So God wanted me to destroy the Cylon base." "You did did well. You gave yourself over to him." "Yes, I suppose I did. Yes, there's really no other logical expalantion for I was..." She corrects him, "Am." "I am an instrument of God."

Ron Moore's Commentary

3/11/2005 -- This scene between Elosha and Laura is moving Laura Roslin along a path that ties into the larger Battlestar Galactica mythos... [The Von Däniken "Chariots of the Gods" theme] was something that was built into the original series. As I approached Galactica, I decided early I wanted to keep that part of the mythos. I didn't want to play it too heavily up front in the miniseries, or the first couple of episodes, because I felt it was more important to establish the characters... and hook the audience into the show, before we start to introduce the more grandiose mythological concepts. But it was very important... mythological concepts. But it was very important... In the latter episodes of the first season you'll start to see more and more pieces of Laura starting to realize that... there is a larger, more eternal tale that all of them are wrapped up in... In "Flesh and Bone," there is is a quote of scripture that is used time and again, "All of this has happened before and all of this has happened again." If memory serves me correct, I believe these are the opening words to the Disney animated version of "Peter Pan." (source: The Hand of God podcast)

3/11/2005 -- Part of Starbuck's backstory is that she was a pyramid player, which is a physical game, an homage to the original [Triad], a sort of racketball/handball/basketball game that we haven't seen yet. She had joined the Colonial Fleet Academy on some kind of athletic scholarship, primarily to play pyramid, and she saw it as a means to an end. And when she was there, she blew out her knee, could not be scouted by the pros, and her career was over. [She] had to find other employment. And when she flew for the first time, she realized she found her true calling [and] decided to become a Viper pilot. In any case, someone with that kind of backstory who suffers another injury shouldn't just get up and walk away from it. I wanted to play out the ramifications and the impact of that over the course of many episodes. In this episode it gave us a chance to make our best pilot stay behind when we have the "Big Mac" mission to go on. (source: The Hand of God podcast)

3/11/2005 -- Here's this handsome, heroic lead pilot character in the drama, who starts to realize that the people around him, his own father, his best friend, don't really think he's up to snuff. His dad think he's not going to come back, and he gives him a lucky charm to guide him back and spunk him up. And Starbuck has to stand in rooms and walk him through all the tactics. And I think it's a weight that the character weighs with him. It's the determination in Lee, I think, is most telling. He's tenacious, he's not someone who gives up easily, and I think that probably throughout his life, many people have underestimated Lee Adama. (source: The Hand of God podcast)

3/11/2005 -- There are many homages to the original Galactica, contrary to the views of many of our detractors who think that we spend our time dancing up and down on the grave of the original, and that we enjoy chances to put a stake through the heart of the old show. Actually, we're quite fond of the old show, we mean it no disrespect, and there are many fans of the original in the visual F/X department in particular, who delight in sprinkling our rag-tag fleet with models and ships from the original. And coming up is one of those ships... I believe that was called the Colonial Movers. And it's hiding our Vipers. Which I think is such a cool gag... This whole sequence [on the asteroid] in large measure is a salute to the efforts of everyone at Zoic, and many other artists and artisans beyond Zoic, who aided in this episode in the visual effects department, and Gary Hutzel, who is our visual F/X supervisor. (source: The Hand of God podcast)

3/11/2005 -- This is an homage in some ways to Star Wars, there's no doubt about it. It's go down into the trench and fly your Viper, and do something, hanging it out there over the edge... And it's really a character gag. We wanted Lee to do something crazy like Kara would do. That was the whole point, Apollo doing a Starbuck sort of move to prove to himself and everyone else that he's capable of doing these kinds of things. (source: The Hand of God podcast)

3/11/2005 -- [Baltar] as a rational, secular scientist has to look around him and realize that things are maybe not what they seem. As much as he wants to deny the existence of God, and certainly the Cylon God, things do tend to work the way Six tells him. God's hand does seem to be be in play in many ways in this episode and in this series. And what does that say to Gaius Baltar, the skeptic and secularist? How does he start to put this all together in his mind, as evidence piles on top of evidence, that perhaps there is a God? And perhaps it is her God. And perhaps he is being visited, by not just by a chip in his head, or by a subconcious psychotic break, but perhaps God is speaking to him in some bizarre way. (source: The Hand of God podcast)

3/11/2005 -- I don't care what the anti-smoking folks say [about lighting cigars], I like it. We're going to keep doing it. People smoke. They're human beings. It's their choice. Let 'em. (source: The Hand of God podcast)

Commentary

In "Flesh and Bone," Laura attributes her dream of Leoben to side-effects from the chamalla therapy. In this episode, she has a waking dream of a dozen snakes. This occurs when Laura sees a dozen snakes surrounding her podium during a press conference.

"And the Lords annointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland, and unto the leader they gave a vision of serpents numbering two and ten as a sign of things to come." This is the scriptural passage that Elosha relates to Laura's vision. "Led by serpents numbering two and ten." Number Six mentions this passage to Baltar, who immediately links it to the Galactica's Vipers.

"Though the outcome favored the few, the few, it led to a confrontation at the home of the gods." Number Six quotes this scriptural passage. Earlier, in "Flesh and Bone," Leoben predicted, "You're going to find Kobol, birthplace of us all. Kobol will lead you to Earth." The Galactica finds Kobol in "Kobol's Last Gleaming."

"All this has happened before and all of it will happen again." First uttered by Leoben, now it's Number Six's turn to say this. It's a passage from the Colonial scriptures, apparently connected to the Pythian prophecy. According to Elosha, the Pythian prophecy, written 3600 years ago, referred to the exile and the rebirth of the human race. Pythia also wrote that the new leader suffered from a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land.

The Pythian prophecy refers to current events but could it also be connected to the exodus from Kobol thousands of years earlier? How is it that both Elosha and Number Six focus on this prophecy? And what is the source of Laura's visions? To what extent are the Cylons manipulating this prophecy to suit their ends?

Baltar makes a "wild guess" in choosing the target that the Colonials are supposed to strike on the asteroid, and yet it turns out to be the very thing they were supposed to destroy? How did he know this was the right place?

"God doesn't take sides, he only wants your love. Open your heart to him and he'll show you the way." This is what Number Six tells Baltar just prior to him choosing the target. If Number Six is correct, the Cylon "God" is also god of the humans. Baltar attributes his "guess" to God and now refers to himself as an "instrument of God."

Baltar mentioned the philosopher Galen. According to Number Six, his axiom is "Surrender your ego. Remain humble."

On Caprica, Helo wonders why they haven't encountered any other human survivors. Sharon also purges in the hay loft, a clue that she may be with child.

Starbuck has not recovered from her leg injury well enough to lead the patrol, but she is assigned to plan the operation, because of her use of "out of the box thinking." Key to her plan was a secret reserve of Vipers on board the freighter ships. Where did these come from?

Adama tells Kara that he also had a tough transition as a former Viper pilot.

Joseph Adama, the civil liberties lawyer, is the name of Commander Adama's father. It is his name on the lucky lighter that he gave to Lee.

Lee has trouble believing his father thinks he's a better flyer than Kara Thrace. There may be some hidden jealousy here, simlilar to "You Can't Go Home Again," where he asks his father if he would do the same thing for him that he did for Kara. According to Commander Adama, Lee is a better flyer, "because you're my son."

Lee's maneuver flying through a tunnel was based on an unfinished F/X scene which made the cutting floor of the miniseries but appeared as a bonus on the miniseries DVD.

Thanks to Lee, the Galactica now has fuel to last them for a couple of years.

There are Viper pilots named Fireball, Deadbolt, Spinner, and one of the Raptor pilots is named Stubbs. Some of them died during the attack, including Chuckles and Fireball. Racetrack and Chuckles accompanied Apollo on the asteroid. Three of the twelve fighters from strike force two were destroyed. According to the official SciFi website, there were 35 remaining Vipers aboard Galactica after the attack.

"We were going to do a scene in a barn, which was originally about seeing multiple Cylons and versions. That had been in the script since second draft. Grace Park said, 'We've never had this conversation, Helo [Tahmoh Penikett] has no idea there are multiple human Cylons, in fact he doesn't even know about human Cylons period.' That was an instant last minute re-write. That was the actors keeping track of their characters." -- Bradley Thompson (story editor) on 4/3/2006 (source: iF Magazine)

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