Saturday, December 20, 2008

I just finished "The Tales of Beedle the Bard", which I thought was adorable, and perfect companion to the 9 other Harry Potter books (including "Quidditch Through the Ages" and "Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them"). Fun.

Another BSG related list. It's been said over and over that BSG is a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. A few days ago I started pondering this, and starting thinking about what episodes constitute each section. This is what I came up with.

Battlestar Galactica: Prologue

Caprica: The Series

Battlestar Galactica: The Beginning

01 Razor Minisodes 1-2, 7.5
02 The Miniseries, Part I
03 The Miniseries, Part II
04 1x01 33
05 1x02 Water
06 1x03 Bastille Day
07 1x04 Act of Contrition (1)
08 1x05 You Can't Go Home Again (2)
09 1x06 Litmus
10 1x07 Six Degrees of Separation
11 1x08 Flesh and Bone
12 1x09 Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
13 1x10 The Hand of God
14 1x11 Colonial Day
15 1x12 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1
16 1x13 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2
17 2x01 Scattered
18 2x02 Valley of Darkness
19 2x03 Fragged
20 2x04 Resistance
21 2x05 The Farm
22 2x06 Home, Part 1
23 2x07 Home, Part 2
24 2x08 Final Cut
25 2x09 Flight of the Phoenix
26 2x10 Pegasus (Extended Cut)
27 2x11 Resurrection Ship, Part 1
28 2x12 Resurrection Ship, Part 2
29 2x13 Epiphanies
30 2x14 Black Market
31 2x15 Scar
32 2x16 Sacrifice
33 2x18 Dowloaded
34 2x17 The Captain's Hand
35 4x01-4x02 Razor (Extended Cut)
36 2x19 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 1
37 2x20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2

Now. In the last 20 minutes or so of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2", the series jumps forward a year. This is where I think the 'Middle' of Battlestar Galactica begins. That missing year. The entire series changes in tone. Everything changes.

Battlestar Galactica: The Middle

37 2x20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2
38 The Resistance (Webisodes 1-10)
39 3x01 Occupation
40 3x02 Precipice
41 3x03 Exodus, Part 1
42 3x04 Exodus, Part 2
43 3x05 Collaborators
44 3x06 Torn (1)
45 3x07 A Measure of Salvation (2)
46 3x08 Hero
47 3x09 Unfinished Business (Extended Cut)
48 3x10 The Passage
49 3x11 The Eye of Jupiter (1)
50 3x12 Rapture (2)
51 3x13 Taking a Break from All Your Worries
52 3x14 The Woman King
53 3x15 A Day in the Life
54 3x16 Dirty Hands
55 3x17 Maelstrom
56 3x18 The Son Also Rises
57 3x19 Crossroads, Part 1
58 3x20 Crossroads, Part 2

This middle section of BSG has more stand alone episodes then any other time in the show's run, and like many middle chapters, this is probably the weakest section of BSG. There are still a number of stand out episodes to keep people watching though. The tone of the series here feels like one of transition...and it's not an easy one. We get new insights into the Cylons. We get to know the characters again and how they've changed in the year that we missed. We see new sides to the fleet than we've seen before. And this section culminates with a trial - giving closure to this middle arc - while revealing several HUGE character revelations that push the series into high gear, from which it never really looks back again...while giving us a glimpse of Earth, and letting us in on the fact that the end of the series begins here.

Battlestar Galactica: The End

59 4x03 He That Believeth In Me
60 4x04 Six of One
61 4x05 The Ties That Bind
62 4x06 Escape Velocity
63 4x07 The Road Less Travelled (1)
64 4x08 Faith (2)
65 4x09 Guess What's Coming To Dinner
66 4x10 Sine Qua Non
67 4x11 The Hub
68 4x12 Revelations
69 The Face of the Enemy (Webisodes 1-10)
70 4x13 Sometimes a Great Notion
71 4x14 A Disquiet Follows My Soul
72 4x15 The Oath
73 4x16 Blood on the Scales
74 4x17 No Exit
75 4x18 Deadlock
76 4x19 Someone to Watch Over Me
77 4x20 Islanded In a Stream of Stars
78 4x21 Daybreak, Part I
79 4x22 Daybreak, Part II
80 4x23-4x24 Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

I'm going to watch the extended cut of "Unfinished Business" now. :0)

   posted by Bald Jason at 09:25 AM
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