Well, if you ever do gather your thoughts on any of this, I'd love to hear more of them! Now, on to see what YOU think! :)
I once thought they had a potential to be something beyond human. Maybe even better than human.
Interesting! I don't think I'd ever say better simply because I don't think that the show supports that kind of absolutist narrative. It's why I dislike the idea that the Cylon must become like humans because that's just as absolute, and suggests we are superior for...no good reason that the show can supply.
Sidenote: One of the only key things in the show that irritates me is the constant harping on about how you have to be worthy of surviving and just surviving isn't enough. It irritates me because I absolutely and HUGELY think that survival isn't an excuse to turn yourself into a monster, and I think that's what they're really trying to get at, but in the show, the question is often used in uncharacteristically simplistic ways. It's like a get-out-of-complex-discussion-while-appearing-to-be-"deep"-free card. I think it irks me because it's so often used not as a way of asking, can we live with ourselves? but of asking did we deserve it? while the quesiton of worthiness is never really laid in front of the Cylon. At least not until Natalie. So yay for that. /LOOONG Sidenote!
But to get back to what you were saying, I'm not sure I'd say the Cylon should be better than humans but different, beyond, absolutely. And that doesn't preclude the wonderfully complex and interesting tales of hybridity we get from Hera, from the Final Five, even from Laura with her Magical Baby Blood. In fact those tales are more interesting if the Cylon are...alien.
A friend of mine mentioned that the first act of cylon-on-cylon violence was when Sharon killed Six (some Six) when Six kissed Helo on Caprica.
Good point. But yes, I think the fact it was sanctioned does make a difference. While they perhaps never used to be that violent, and it's certainly a commentary on the worlds we build, I also have a sneaking suspicion that it may have more to do with mass identity versus individual identity. Which takes us back to the way BSG prioritises the individual identity over the gestalt. It's not a tack I'm opposed to, since it's TV made for individuals, but it's a wonderful and potentially wasted opportunity to explore the gestalt as something other than alien and evil.
Actually if we're counting that way, then the first act of cylon-on-cylon violence was the nuclear attack on Caprica that killed Caprica!Six. She was the first casualty of "friendly fire".
Yes, and our dear Caprica. Where does she fit in the end?
I CANNOT WAIT TO FIND OUT.
Though, I also don't want to get my hopes up. I got excited when she came back in Downloaded and then we didn't see her again until season three. I got really excited about that and then D'anna ate up all her screetime (I mean, I love Cylon!Xena, I really, really do, but she majorly sidelined Caprica's screentime because they had to make use of the bigname guest star). So then D'anna left and Caprica was on Galactica and AGAIN I thought, wow, now they'll HAVE to give us a storyline, right? Nope. So then we get the season three finale and I'm like, OH OH she's sharing visions with the MAJOR PLAYERS so in season four, I won't be disappointed, will I? And...she's in...three episodes of ten, I think? And only one of them has her for more than a single scene?
...that was also the point at which I decided to make a vid about how sidelined she was and how no one pays any attention to how much she loves them.
But I'm babbling now, and the only point I was trying to make was, she'll probably yet again do something really important but only be in a handful of scenes.
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I once thought they had a potential to be something beyond human. Maybe even better than human.
Interesting! I don't think I'd ever say better simply because I don't think that the show supports that kind of absolutist narrative. It's why I dislike the idea that the Cylon must become like humans because that's just as absolute, and suggests we are superior for...no good reason that the show can supply.
Sidenote: One of the only key things in the show that irritates me is the constant harping on about how you have to be worthy of surviving and just surviving isn't enough. It irritates me because I absolutely and HUGELY think that survival isn't an excuse to turn yourself into a monster, and I think that's what they're really trying to get at, but in the show, the question is often used in uncharacteristically simplistic ways. It's like a get-out-of-complex-discussion-while-appearing-to-be-"deep"-free card. I think it irks me because it's so often used not as a way of asking, can we live with ourselves? but of asking did we deserve it? while the quesiton of worthiness is never really laid in front of the Cylon. At least not until Natalie. So yay for that. /LOOONG Sidenote!
But to get back to what you were saying, I'm not sure I'd say the Cylon should be better than humans but different, beyond, absolutely. And that doesn't preclude the wonderfully complex and interesting tales of hybridity we get from Hera, from the Final Five, even from Laura with her Magical Baby Blood. In fact those tales are more interesting if the Cylon are...alien.
A friend of mine mentioned that the first act of cylon-on-cylon violence was when Sharon killed Six (some Six) when Six kissed Helo on Caprica.
Good point. But yes, I think the fact it was sanctioned does make a difference. While they perhaps never used to be that violent, and it's certainly a commentary on the worlds we build, I also have a sneaking suspicion that it may have more to do with mass identity versus individual identity. Which takes us back to the way BSG prioritises the individual identity over the gestalt. It's not a tack I'm opposed to, since it's TV made for individuals, but it's a wonderful and potentially wasted opportunity to explore the gestalt as something other than alien and evil.
Actually if we're counting that way, then the first act of cylon-on-cylon violence was the nuclear attack on Caprica that killed Caprica!Six. She was the first casualty of "friendly fire".
Yes, and our dear Caprica. Where does she fit in the end?
I CANNOT WAIT TO FIND OUT.
Though, I also don't want to get my hopes up. I got excited when she came back in Downloaded and then we didn't see her again until season three. I got really excited about that and then D'anna ate up all her screetime (I mean, I love Cylon!Xena, I really, really do, but she majorly sidelined Caprica's screentime because they had to make use of the bigname guest star). So then D'anna left and Caprica was on Galactica and AGAIN I thought, wow, now they'll HAVE to give us a storyline, right? Nope. So then we get the season three finale and I'm like, OH OH she's sharing visions with the MAJOR PLAYERS so in season four, I won't be disappointed, will I? And...she's in...three episodes of ten, I think? And only one of them has her for more than a single scene?
...that was also the point at which I decided to make a vid about how sidelined she was and how no one pays any attention to how much she loves them.
But I'm babbling now, and the only point I was trying to make was, she'll probably yet again do something really important but only be in a handful of scenes.