Battlestar Galactica

Episode #213 - "Epiphanies"

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

49,598 survivors in search of a home called Earth.

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

Synopsis

Starbuck informs CIC that the CAP is away, and Dualla wishes Kat and Starbuck a safe flight. Kat remarks, "Safe and twenty frakkin' minutes late. Did you have a rough night, Starbuck?" "You're way out of line. Just follow my lead and save the attitude for someone who cares." Kat receives permission to clear her guns, but the port gun has a weapons malfunction, misfires and explodes, sending shrapnel into Starbuck's window. "What the hell just happened?" "Your wing gun's out. Just keep it steady, we're going home. Galactica, this is Starbuck. I'm declaring an emergency. We've got two bent birds. Requesting priority clearance to land."

Starbuck is arguing with Tyrol in the hangar bay. "Why don't you just shoot us in the locker room, Chief? Save the wear and tear on the ships." "Kat's guns are clean. I checked 'em myself." "Yeah, well I don't believe in accidents." Cally tells Tyrol that something's not right and hands him two rounds. One of them breaks when he squeezes it. "The weight's off, it's too light." "I found three more just like it. Mixed in with the regular rounds." "Casing's been weakened. Falls apart in the barrel. Next one hits it, bang she's lucky she didn't lose her whole wing. One bad round's a fluke. More than one, sabotage. Pull 'em all!"

In sickbay, Adama asks Cottle, "How's the President doing, Doc?" "She's dying, and she knows it. I offered her a shot of morpha to ease th epain, but... she wouldn't hear of it." Laura is flashing back to President Adar's office. "Mr. President, we should at least speak with the strikers before sending in the troops. They're teachers, not terrorists." "They're acting like thugs. Their last demonstration put two policemen in the hospital. Six of them have chained themselves outside the hall fo education. As far as I'm concerned, they're criminals." "Their pay is substandard, their schools are falling apart, and the strike action has been gaining momentum for months, and you know that. I don't undestand why we're not at least talking to them." "One of the most interesting things about being President is that you don't have to explain yourself, to anyone. You've already set a meeting with Stans, haven't you?" "Obviously, only if you approve, Mr. President."

Baltar, Billy and Adama have assembled in sickbay. Baltar comments, "She's not really in a fit state to do anything, let alone conduct any government business." "Don't talk about me as if I'm not here. There'll be plenty of time for that soon enough... Gentlemen, I called you here to discuss the Cylon. Dr. Cottle, would you please tell them what you told me this morning?" "I'm not expert in genetics, but I can read a blood teset. The Cylon fetus is showing some very peculiar genetic abnormalities." Adama comments, "I haven't seen any of this on your report, Doctor" Baltar adds, "He's not an expert, and I am. I've been through the tests and I wouldn't say that there was anything conclusive." "Didn't say conclusive, just damned odd." "Right. Madam President. As you know, the Sharon Cylon is of considerable tactical value to the fleet."

Laura responds, "Perhaps you've gotten too close to your subject, Doctor. This is difficult, so I'm going to cut right to it. Allowing this thin to be born could have frightening consequences. For the security of this fleet, I believe the Cylon pregnancy must be terminated before it is too late." Adama tells her, "I don't understand, this makes not sense." She quotes from Adar. "One of the interesting things about being President is you don't have to explain yourself to anyone." The meeting ends.

In the hallway, Baltar is questioning Laura's decision with Adama. "I don't want to seem alarmist, but I am perturbed. I think that the President's illness is affecting her judgment. Especially when it comes to the subject..." "She seemed reasonably coherent to me." "Well, then I'll have to appeal to you on scientific grounds. Destroying this child would seriously impact my studies of the Cylon subspecies." "The President made the call and I'm backing her." He also tells Baltar, "Pull yourself together, you're about to become President of the Colonies. You're going to be asked to make some very hard decisions. Act like you can handle it."

Number Six appears and he asks, "Where have you been?" "I never left you, Gaius." "Yeah, metamorphically speaking. It's just that it was weeks ago, and I..." "I'm sure you've suffered mightily in my absence." "You know, jealousy is a really ugly emotion. What is this lingering controversy over my affair with your three-dimensional duplicate." "I'm not jealous, I'm concerned." "About what?" "Our child!" "Oh, now you're concerned." "Well, for your information, the President wants to kill it. Once Roslin's gone, you'll be President. You can use your new authority to save our child." "Did you see the way Adama looked at me? The contempt on his face? I will be the President, all right, but without the military support, I might as well be an anointed dog catcher." "Yes, well, you have your own resources if you'd use them." "I don't know what you mean." "The nuclear device. The one Adama provided for your research." He flashes back to the request he made to Adama in "Bastille Day". "You're totally insane." "I'm trying to help you, you idiot. If Adama remains committed to the destruction of our child, it may be our only hope."

Helo is in Adama's quarters, when Adama breaks the news. "There's no easy way to say this. It's about the Cylon. The President has decided that her pregnancy will be terminated... Doc Cottle discovered some anomalies in the fetal bloodwork." "Isn't thatepxected." "Maybe. But the President believes that to allow the baby to come to full term constitutes an unacceptable risk to the fleet." "I don't understand. Sharon's only helped us since she came back from Caprica. She even turned on her own." "To save her life. Don't mistake the will to live for genuine conversion, Lieutenant. She's still the enemy." Helo asks to be the one to tell Sharon. "Helo, I don't expect you to agree to the decision. But I need you to accept it." "We're talking about my child, sir. Part of me. But I guess it's easier to kill when you call it a Cylon."

Kara and Lee are in CIC with Tigh and Adama. Tigh asks, "So you're saying someone's been tampering withur ammunition." "Shells don't unload themselves." Tigh takes issue with Lee ordering the Galactica and Pegasus fighters down as the reinstated CAG. Lee says, "We've been sharing stories between the ship. And nobody flies combat until our ammo supplies check out." "Leaving us defenseless if the Cylons decide to pick a fight." Adama tells them, "We were defenseless before this, we just didn't know about it. Lee, find out who did this."

Kara and Lee are backed up by Marines as they look for Asha Janik in the munitions shop. Lee wants to do this quietly and walks over to her. She says, "I have a message for your father. They may take me! But I am one of many! We have declared war against Galactica's armies of death! The Cylons aren't our true enemy! It's the military that refuses to negotiate! All we want is peace! Demand peace!" The Marines take her away and Kara comments, "So much for being discreet, huh?"

In Adama's quarters, Adama tells the senior staff, "We found these pamphlets in Janik's quarters. Some kind of a manifesto." "Demand peace from the Cylons? Who the hell are these people?" Baltar replies, "Cylon sympathizers. Just had no idea they were this organized." "I want to know how she got aboard my ship." Lee replies, "The hangar deck's short staffed. We've been forced to import civilians to handle some of the grunt work. Apparently she's a Picon, worked maintenance on the Greenleaf, no known criminal affiliations." Tigh interupts, "Until now. Now listen to this. 'Do not be afraid. We are not terrorists, but we will not sit back while Adama's war machine continues to press us until cruel and futile conflict.' Gods damn it!" Lee reads, "'Our demonstrations worked. News is already spreading across the fleet.'" Adama replies, "I know. We were contacted by a person claiming to speak for the subversives demanding a meeting on the Galactica... I've agreed." Tigh is incredulous. "We're not negotiating. I just want to know what we're up against."

Laura is flashing back to her meeting with Stans. He comments, "Considering the stakes, you don't seem particularly engaged." "The stakes are what we decide to make them, Mr. Stans. If the President urges troops to enforce this back to work order, people will get hurt, even die." "Some causes are worth dying for." "Not this one." She comes out of it and asks for the doctor.

Adama and Tigh are interrogating the guest. "Admiral, I am Royan Jahee. You have a unique way of welcoming visitors to your ship." Tigh tells him, "Visior, my ass. We shoot people like you for treason." "Colonel, I'm only an interested party trying to prevent more bloodshed. I deplore what happened aboard your Vipers." Adama asks, "How many sympathizers do we have aboard this fleet?" "If you're trying to crush an organization, you can stop now. The people in this movement are following an idea, not a leader." Tigh asks, "What the hell do they want?" "Peace, with the Cylon." "You want us to surrender? They attacked us." "Only after we'd enslaved them! You call yourselves military men, strategists. Explain to me how our current course of attack and retreat leads to victory?" "You can play innocent bystander, but I think you know more than you're telling us. Either way, you're a danger to this fleet." "Admiral, arresting me isn't going to stop any of this." "Maybe not. But it's a start. Take him away."

Lee and Kara are in the hangar bay, loooking over Janik's things. "All right, get your rubber gloves on. This is everything from the Janik woman's quarters. Somehow the Admiral thinks looking through this crap's gonna tell us something new about their so-called movement." Kara mentions she hasn't seen much of him since the space walk. Lee finds a device and Kara asks, "What's a deckhand need with a portable library reader?" Lee has identified what Janiks was looking it. "The Daru Mozu. A tylium refinery. And Janik's used to explosives. This is the CAG. Get me a TAC team ready, right now."

In the brig, Helo breaks the news, and Sharon asks why they're doing this now. "I don't know. The Admiral said they found something in he baby's blood. Somehow, President Roslin considers it a threat to the fleet." "It can't just be that. I've done nothing but help them since I've come here. I've held back my anger. I've tried to show them that Cylons are not all the same. That we're not all murderers." "Deep down, I think they're still afraid of you." "They wanna be afraid of something? Just let them try to take my baby!" She starts banging her head against the glass wall. "Sharon, stop! Please don't do this!"

A Raptor heads over to the ship. Lee tells the team, "When we land, move fast. We're looking for explosive devices set near the Daru's FTL drive." They're too late, as a woman broadcast's a message on the wireless. "None of us wants to die, but the fighting must end. If my sacrifice sends a signal to the Cylon that brings peace, then it was worth it. I do this for my children, and for the children that will follow them. Gods willing, demand peace." An explosion goes off, but the Raptors pull away in time. Bodies from the hull breach float into space. In the brig, Adama is angry with Jahee. "People are dead." "I grieve for them, Admiral. And I assure you, the tylium ship's just a taste of what's in store, unless someone starts listening!" Adama starts to choke him. "You listen and you listen well. I don't care if I have to interrogate every civilian on board this fleet. This is gonna stop. Do you understand?" "Yes."

Aboard Colonial One, Billy gives Baltar a tour and hands him a list of Cylon agent suspects. Baltar looks at the whiteboard and Billy says, "That number means everything to her. Represents hope, tha t's our future." He explains, "It's tradition for outgoing Presidents to leave a letter for a successor. It's usually opened on the first day of the new term, but the next few days are liable to prive hectic, so..." "Well, let's just pray that she gets better." The conversation is interupted when Baltar gets a phone call. Later, Baltar has a meeting with Gina, the former Cylon prisoner from the Pegasus. "So you've become a member of the peace movement?" "Well, despite what you may think, I've always abhorred violence." "Do they have any idea what you are?" "Of course not. Even their dedication has limits."

He says he misses her and tries to kiss her but she resists. "I haven't stopped thinking about you since the second I left the Pegasus. I can't get you out of my head." "Don't... do this. Not yet." "I can't help myself." She bites his lip, drawing blood. "I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm not ready." "So, is there any reason in particular for inviting me around here?" "Because you saved me. Let me save you." "Oh, here we go again. What are you talking about?" "You must sense it. Gaius, the fleet's crumbling. People are turning on each other. There are serious misgivings about the military. When you're President, you can use the office to turn them against Adama, paving the way for the Cylons to save us." "I would love to be with you always, but..." "I know it's hard, but it's the only way." "No. I am not who you think I am. And I will not be responsible for the destruction of mankind."

Laura is flashing back to a meeting with Adar in his offier. They hold each other and kiss. She tells him, "I just met with Stans. The education alliance is going to back off." "Back off? Laura, what did you give them?" "I made them a promise that we would seriously hear out their grievances, Richard. I thought you'd be happy they're going back to work." "Laura, you've put me in a very awkward position." "I don't see how. Both sides gave ground." "It's not just about your teachers. It's the next strike I'm worried about. You just showed them that if they hold out long enough, this adnministration will cave." "You expected me to fail." "I expected you to hold the line. This doesn't have to be the end of the world. You can stay on in an advisory capacity. Gods know we need your ideas." "You're asking me to resign" "I didn't have any choice. This isn't about you and me any more." "You're right, it's not. You were willing to attack these people and up until a few hours ago, I was prepared to let you. I am on my way to the Galactica to represent this administration. When I return, if you still want my job, be prepared to fight."

Laura is losing ground, and Cottle orders, "Notify the Admiral." Adama then makes a speech over the loudspeaker. "This is Admiral Adama. As you know, President Roslin has been aboard Galactica for the last few days. She's a fighter. But as of this moment, her prognosis is grave. I know that many of you believe in the power of prayer. If that is your way, then I urge you to pray for our President. As for the others, I hope you will join me in keeping her in our thoughts."

Elsewhere, Sharon swings a chair at guards entering her cell. She is sedated and they bring her toward sickbay. Adama and the guards are intercepted by Helo holding a gun. "Admiral, please don't do this... I'm a father, like you. Please sir, give me a Raptor, let me take her off the ship. I'll get her away from the fleet." "I can't do that, son." "Admiral, Admiral!" Baltar enters and tells Adama he may have been wrong about the Cylon child. In sickbay he informs Adama of his findings. Cylon blood is virtually impossible to differentiate from human, and that the Cylon human is carrying an amalgam.

"The Cylon's fetus contains no antigens. It has no blood type. That's what Dr. Cottle was talking about when he said it was damned odd. Except it's not damned odd, it's astonishing. Now, knowing as we do that the Cylons are built slightly better to endure than their human counterparts, I wonder could the Cylon blood also be blessed with a heightened resistance to disease? So.I applied a sample of sharon's fetal blood to some cancer cells I took from the President." "What am I looking at?" "Nothing. That's the whole point. The cancer was gone and it was gone within a matter of hours." "Are you saying you found a cure for the President's cancer?" "Well, it's obviously untried and therefore extremely dangerous. But, yes, it's possible. If you abort Sharon's fetus now, you'll never know."

Later, Baltar extracts the blood from Sharon's stomach. Cottle complains, "I don't like what you're doing. I think it's unnatural and damned dangerous." "Yes, well, given the patient's current condition, I am not sure that I see the downside." "Maybe it's just her time." "Then for once, perhaps I am the beacon of hope around here." Laura has another flashback, a meeting with Stans. "If you want to settle this, your people have to disengage. No more civil disobedience, no more acts of violence. I want our students back in school." "Don. I'm glad you called, Madame Secretary." "Me too." Laura's body is convulsing on the operating table and stabilises. Cottle remarks, "I'll be damned." "Madam President?" "Dr. Baltar?" "It's so very good to see you."

Later, Adama asks Cottle how she's doing. "I've never seen anything like it. It'l'l be a while before she's a hundred percent, but... her scansare clear. Cancer's gone." "Are you sure?" "It's gone." "Thanks you." "Thank you. Admiral." Adama tells Laurs, "You seem better." "Much. Are you still holding the spokesman from the new faction in the brig?" "Yes." "Would you take me to him, please?" "Certainly." "Thank you." Adama wheels her into the brig in a wheelchair. "Mr. Jahee, isn't it? I thought it was time we met." She gestures for the guard to open the door. "All these people want to be heard. A member of your group nearly destroyed our tylium refiner. Before we can even begin to talk, I need your personal assurance that there will be no more attacks." He denies having direct contact with them. "Genuine negotiations require trust. Do not lie to me." "I'll talk to my people. Make them understand." "Excellent. And I'll lilsten, maybe even act. But if you renege, I'll insist the Admiral hunt you and your friends down, without mercy."

In Baltar's lab, Number Six tells Baltar, "You seem very content." "Sharon's child is safe. Adama and Roslin have agreed that more study is required before any drastic measures are taken." "Yes, but by saving Roslin, you've denied yourself your rightful place of leadership. There are many aspects of you, Gaius, I will never understand." "You wouldn't. Neither, would I suspect, your corporeal counterpart." "Do you love her?" He doesn't answer. She asks about Laura's letter. "What is that?" "The letter Roslin wrote me. To be opened upon the event of her death." Number Six then starts reading it. "President Baltar. I offer my sincere congratulations. I say that knowing we've had our differences and that you take office despite my many reservations. You may be the most brilliant person I've ever met, but your intelligence is unleavened by compassion. You must be reminded of your ethical responsibilities and challenged to rise above your own selfish needs. I don't write this to hurt you, but to beg you to open your heart. Understand that the people in the fleet look to you not just for leadership, but for solace... justice. Find a way to give them that, and you will be a great leader. Laura Roslin."

"After all I've done for the fleet. After all I've done for her." "Roslin's never trusted you. She's undermined you at every turn, and now..." "So now we know she's never gonna trust me." "This is not a political struggle any more, Gaius. This is quite literally life and death." On Cloud Nine, Jahee reports back to Gina. "The President assured me that as long as there are no further acts of violence, she's willing to bring our concerns to the quorum and Admiral Adama." "She's trying to buy time (sighs). She'll never be open to negotiating with the Cylons." "I disagree. I think we've made real progress today, and so does the Vice President." "Baltar?" "Yes. Just before I left, he asked to meet with me. He encouraged patience while he works with Roslin from within. And he offered the contents of this case as proof of his sincerity." "What's in it?" "I don't know. He said that you should be the one to open it." She opens the bag. "Frak!" It's the nuclear weapon from Baltar's lab.

Ron Moore's Commentary

1/4/2006 -- Laura's health comes to a crisis point in ["Epiphanies"]. It opens on her being rushed into sickbay. Her time is almost up and Doc Cottle says she's not going to make it. This gave us the chance to do some flashbacks to Caprica before the attacks. We see the president she worked for and there are some surprising revelations about their relationship. We see where she gets some of her philosophy of governing. As the fleet prepares for Baltar to take over, he's actually the one who figures out a way to save Laura's life, at the last moment. It comes from his study of Sharon's unborn child, that provides the key to curing Laura's cancer. (source: Chicago Tribune)

1/20/2006 ---- Epiphanies is our biggest Laura Roslin show to date. We've been talking about doing an episode like this since way back in the first season. A lot of the roots of this episode come out of things that were in the backstory of character ever since the miniseries. Mainly, we wanted to deal with things like, who she was before the attack, what her life was like, and getting a glimpse into what she was like as Secretary of Education before she became President. Some of the elements of this episode were actually suggested by Mary McDonnell. In early conversations with Mary on the script of the miniseries, she started talking about President Adar.

There was a line in the miniseries where she was talking about how she got into politics and how she didn't really want to be a politician, but she had worked for Adar, and he was the kind of man that you just couldn't say no to. And Mary took that to mean, he was sort of a Clintonesque kind of figure that you couldn't say no to, and of course, being a Clintonesque kind of figure, also raised the possibility that perhaps there was something more between the two of them than just the professional relationship. And that stuck in everybody's heads, and whenever we would talk about Adar throughout the course of the first season, we always jokingly talked about the fact that she had an affair with him. And then it became something more than a joke, and we started to seriously consider the possibility that maybe she had had an affair with the President. And that that would be an interesting insight into the character of Laura Roslin. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- Galactica's been out on the run for a long time, they have a lot of people in all these ships, and we hadn't played anything that really dealt with various factionalization among the people, or different points of view, or people who might believe, for one reason or another, that the military was wrong, that they had all been betrayed, and that maybe they'd made bad decisions, and that maybe there was a way for them to get along with their enemy. So we went at this from the approach of, let's go with a radicalized element of that, of the peace movement as it were, and say that essentially, they're starting to sabotage the fleet itself. They're starting to get into places and do things and to actively promote an agenda that is designed to force the Colonial government and the military to stop making this all about war, and try to deal with their enemy, negotiate with them and achieve some kind of peace. What was interesting to me was, it's so antithetical to this kind of show to make the peaceniks, as it were, to make the peace movement the antagonists, to make them the villains.

A lot of the show feels very liberal in its output, there's a lot of political statements within the show that deal with the war on terror that you could take to mean as criticism of the right. But the show is not meant to be a polemic. The show is not a direct allegory to all the events that take place in the United States and in the world of Galactica, it felt like, the people that were advocating a peaceful resolution to the Cylon conflict, that were actively trying to stop the military from achieving that goal, would be the antogonists. And it's interesting to spin the expectations of the show and the political structure of the show in such a way that, I think you come out of this episode wondering what is the point of view of the show? What is the show really trying to say, what does it think in terms of its politics? And the answer is, the show is fairly agnostic, The show occasionally tilts you in one direction or another, but overall, the show is meant to make you think. It is meant to make you question things. It is meant to keep you off balance and unsettled more than anything else. And this is a good example of, you're kind of playing different parts of the political spectrum throughout this episode. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- Laura's decision to abort the Cylon baby is a pretty tough decision, but I think she felt rightly so that she could not leave this decision in the hands of President Gaius Baltar. And so, she moved to the edge. She's realized that time is short, I've got to make this call, I won't take the risk, I'm going to do this while I still can. It's a tough-minded decision. It's certainly in line with all the other decisions that Laura has made, and I think it speaks to the larger character movement of Laura Roslin since we saw her in the miniseries. She was the Secretary of Education and yet she was then thrust into this position where she had literally the fate of the human race on her shoulder.

And I had always thought that that experience of taking a person who never had ambitions to become President and had no greater ambitions on power and who had a series of fairly safe beliefs, a fairly locked in political ideology of her own that we assume was something of the liberal end of the spectrum, put her in the presidency, put all these positions on her desk and force her to deal with the consequences of her actions, and say, "Oh, by the way, if you make a mistake, the entire human race might be wiped out." That that would change that person, and that that person would start to make tougher and tougher decisions. And some of those decisions might be questionable, and she might start making choices that she would have been apalled at only a short time before. And certainly just aborting this child is one of them. But it's a logical extension of where she's been. Once she starts chucking people out airlocks because she's decided that that's how you deal with Cylons, this is simply the next step along that road. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- Some of the inspiration for this comes out of things in World War Two and other conflicts where there was forced labor that the Nazis used. And there were people who were working within the ammunition factories of Nazi Germany that managed to sabotage shells and managed to do things that would not get caught in the manufacturing process, that would ultimately blow up on the battlefield much much later. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- By and large, writer's rooms tend towards the liberal side, at least in my experience. And it was an interesting exercise and it was I think a healthy exercise to move against your own political instincts, and make the positions that you might personally be advocating in a similar circumstance the antagonistic ones. Which is not to say that I harbor hopes of sabotaging the military myself. But certainly to make the people who are advocating peace, the people that are asking for a better way, the people who are asking for understanding and dialog, to make them villains, is an interesting thing. It was an interesting exercise for us to go through, and I think it keeps the show honest. Because the show should be about these characters in their situation, and how they would really react givein their circumstances, rather than us trying to push a certain point of view. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- This is a great moment in the show. It's Sharon's reaction here, when she starts smashing her head into the glass and leaves the bloodstains. There's something so raw and naked about her. It's really a tribute to Grace Park and what's she's done with this character. She's been pretty fearless with what she's been willing to do and try, and nakedly show emotion and really go into places that I don't know that the character or the actress ever thought that they would go before. And Helo just watches. That's great. That's just so shocking. It's just so disturbing. It's not a human impulse to run into a wall and smash your head into it. It's very literally like an animal in a cage. And there's something so discomforting about that. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- This is a push that nobody recognizes her with the glasses, it's sort of the the Clark Kent disguise of the Cylons. I don't know what to tell you. You talk yourself into believing some things will work when you prep on them and when you're doing them, and then you see them in dailies and then the cut and just go, "What the hell was I thinking?" Somehow I talked myself into believing that no one would recognize Gina if we did her hair differently and put glasses on her. But you'd have to be a moron not to realize that that's the Cylon. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- We had initially written that Baltar and Gina would be getting it on in this sequence, but Trish had pointed out that she just thought that her reaction to being tortured and gang raped was going to put her in a place where she was not really going to be open to any kind of physical contact and was going to be rejecting him. And that already seemed like a more interesting place to put Gaius Baltar, who is all about sensuality. And surely, one of the reasons that he was interested in her at all was the physical. And so to not even be able to consumate that relationship was certainly a source of frustration and put him into an interesting character place. And it's also interesting to see that Gina's agenda is different than Six's agenda. Gina is all about Baltar taking over, Baltar getting control of the fleet and destroying humanity, and not so much about the baby or anything else. She's much more one note in terms of what she's after, because she does come from a specific backstory. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- I believe it was Anne Cofell our staff writer who came up with this notion that something from the Cylon child can cure Laura and that the discovery is made by Baltar who is about to become President. And Baltar sabotages his own presidency by figuring out the key to Laura's survival... We were going to use unborn Cylon baby stem cells. It was always going to be stem cells that saved her for obvious reasons. It's more provacative, it capitalizes on a current day controversy, it seemed an interesting way to go. But as we developed the script further, we discovered there were too many technical problems with it... and a lot more tech talk than I was willing to deal with. And so ultimately it became, you know what, just the ability to say the words stem cells in the show was completely outweighed by the need to get through this section quicker and more efficient and get to the meat of the drama. The show is not a whole debate about stem cell research, the show is about Laura Roslin and Baltar and the completing interests of the two. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- And what's up with Baltar. Why is he driven to do this? Is he so afraid of the presidency that he's willing to do anything, even cure this woman of cancer, in order to avoid it? Is he just not ready for it? What is it? I think it's intriguing that on some level, he ran away from it. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- If you really look back at the miniseries, Laura could definitely have done this all on the same day before she went to Galactica... But Baltar and Six on the day of the attack are actually back at Baltar's house. So that could not be the same day, which was a problem. But we get out of it by not actually, directly saying in the show that it is all the same day. The way all the flashbacks play out, you'll see that there is no direct reference to this being the same day. So it's not clear at what point all those events happened. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- Initially we were going to have a different idea of what the letter actually said, but now it plays much more deliciously. He's done this, he doesn't have to worry about being President, he's a hero in everybody's eyes, he's feeling good about himself. And then there's that letter, and when the letter takes him apart piece by piece, it's the look on his face that is unbelievable. And then he gives the nuclear weapon to the Cylon sympathizers. And he does so partly out of pique, partly out of simple rage at being hoodwinked, out of simple anger of having been affronted by Laura, this woman he just saved, to discover what she really meant. And part of it is driven by Six and her agenda and Gina's agenda and buying into the Cylon agenda, which is also moving him further along the darker aspect of the show... She just really didn't believe he was good enough, that he was up to it, and that really pisses him off. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

1/20/2006 -- It was fun to finally pay off the nuclear weapon. Back in season one when Six tells him to get that nuclear weapon, she says it in such a way that you feel like something's going to come of that. And it always nagged at us that we didn't have the end of that. We didn't have beat that told you why the nuclear weapon was given to Baltar in the first place. And we didn't like the feeling that it was just a dangling plot thread that was never going to pay off. And it was just such a moment of relief when we found the true payoff for it. When he gives it to the Cylon sympathizers here, to Gina, it sets up the place where the nuke does finally get paid off, and that will come in the final episode of season two. You will see how we actually do set up and use the nuke. And you could say that it was in a way that Six him to. Because it certainly helps the Cylons when it gets used. (source: Epiphanies podcast)

2/23/2006 --[Laura's cancer is] essentially gone, but I'm sort of holding it on the table that it could recur, it could come back. It's cancer and sometimes you feel like you're clean and it can come back at some future point... This particular storyline just really couldn't drag on indefinitely. There was a point where it starts to become false, because you realize, "Is she dying or isn't she?" It was a terminal prognosis and she's either going to die or they have to do something about it. And I didn't want it to be [a cure] from within Colonial science, or some new alien who would show up, or some sort of deus ex machina device. And there was a nice symmetry to the fact that the unborn Cylon child, which is where the blood comes from, that there was something in that that would then be used to help Laura. And that Baltar would be the one to figure that out. All the puzzle pieces seemed to play out pretty well, so I like the way that worked itself into the storyline. (source: Now Playing)

2/27/2006 -- Question: I've never understood Roslin's rationale for wanting to abort Sharon's baby in "Epiphanies". Why did she see the hybrid baby as a threat to the fleet? Dr. Cottle mentioned that the blood sample was 'odd', but how does that translate to dangerous? I've never been able to appreciate this episode because I couldn't really understand the character's motivations.

The idea was that Laura saw the upcoming birth of the baby as representing a risk to the fleet. She didn't know exactly what that risk was, but as Adama put it, "If it's good for the Cylons, then it's probably bad for us." The complicating factor was that Laura knew she was dying and that the presidency was about to be turned over to Baltar, whose judgement and abilities she had grown to have less and less faith in over the course of time. Faced with her seemingly imminent demise, Laura felt she couldn't gamble by leaving the decision of what to do with the child in the hands of Baltar and opted for the safer -- if harsher -- choice of aborting the child immediately.

2/27/2006 -- There's ample precedent for admirals to hoist their flags aboard vessels that are not necessarily the biggest and most powerful in the fleet. Sometimes communications gear is better aboard less powerful ships or sometimes the flag officer just feels more comfortable and at home aboard a familiar ship. Raymond Spruance, commander of the US Fifth Fleet in WWII, often kept his flag aboard the USS Indianapolis, a heavy cruiser, rather than one of the fleet's carriers or battleships simply because he used to command cruisers and felt more comfortable there. (The Indianapolis, of course, was sunk late in the war by a Japanese submarine after delivering the atomic bomb to Tinian, but Spruance was not aboard.) So Adama has kept his flag aboard Galactica because it's his ship and he doesn't want to move.

7/27/2006 -- We have had numerous discussions of the fact that since Laura is no longer dying she may not, in fact, be the "dying leader" mentioned in the scriptures. There's also been talk of how that would be reflected throughout the fleet and in particular among the religious community and there will be some follow-up in this area. She isn't taking chamalla any longer, but she will experience some... "experiences" which will indicate that this part of her life isn't necessarily over. Her life on New Caprica will definitely influence her outlook on religion, indeed it will influence her role as President from now on.

3/8/2007 -- Question: Is Hera's blood secretly being used as medicine to treat cancer patients in the fleet? Or are people suffering and dying to protect her secrets?

We actually discussed this at some length in the writers' room. Our feeling was that Dr. Cottle tried had to replicate the treatment on other cancer patients ever since that episode, but had been unable to replicate the results.

Commentary

This is the visible text of the peace group's pamphlet:

DEMAND
PEACE

A MANIFESTO
TO NEGOTIATE
AN END
TO THE
SLAUGHTER

---

DEMAND PEACE

(unreadable)

OUR CAUSE WILL SAVE MANKIND

(unreadable)

---

WE BELIEVE

1. Only open dialogue will save mankind.

2. The military is the servant, not the the master, of the fleet.

3. The Cylons will respond to reasonable dialogue.

4. Democracy is the key to responsible decision making
for the future of mankind.

5. Man and Cylon can coexist together in peace.

5. We are at the dawn of a new beginning for mankind.

6. The enemies of peace are the enemies of mankind.

(unreadable)

DEMAND PEACE