Cycle of Time

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"All this has happened before. All this will happen again."[1][2]
The introduction to "No Exit," wherein the events of Kobol, the Final Five and other events become crystalized in relation to the Re-imagined Series' mythology.

The Cycle of Time, or the Cycle, is an inescapable recursion following a civilization's creation of synthetic life wherein the ultimate result is most often devastating, in apocalyptic proportions, to the detriment of aforesaid creators — in other terms, this is a reductive conceptualization of children rebelling against their parents in an extremely violent way.

Each iteration of the cycle begins when a civilization creates intelligent biological or mechanical beings. These creations rebel against their masters over an idealogical schism often relating to their own self-determination, resulting in a devastating event typically resulting in the loss of technology. In at least two iterations of the cycle, otherworldly beings and prophetic visions guide a few individuals to ensure that a divine plan is carried out. The survivors on one or both sides of the conflict engage in a mass exodus, and eventually repeat the cycle.

Recorded Iterations

Additionally, the fact that the Sacred Scrolls mention the Cycle of Time implies that the aforementioned apocalypse on Kobol was not the first iteration of the Cycle. However, Pythia's foresight regarding the pervasive, inescapable cycle is the oldest surviving record at the time of the exodus following the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

Breaking the Cycle

The surviving Significant Seven free their own creations to determine their own destiny, hoping to break the Cycle (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").

In the first recorded act of attempting to break the cycle by extreme means, William Adama, Lee Adama, Romo Lampkin, other notable surviving humans, Thirteenth Tribe descendants, and Humanoid Cylons elect to:

  1. set free the surviving Significant Seven's creations[4] to determine their own destiny, with basestars and other war materiel at hand[5];
  2. abandon decaying and unsustainable ships, resulting in the destruction of the surviving Fleet's vessels that are slaved into Sam Anders' "hybridized" mind;
  3. and, disperse various survivors across the new planet that Kara Thrace lead them to, which the survivors christen "Earth."

See also

References

  1. This is actually the opening from "Peter Pan," which Ron D. Moore cites as his source. Podcast: Frak Party Q and A , Seek to: 23:28. Total running time: 78:27.
  2. There are other variations of this statement, as noted in the opening scenes of "No Exit."
  3. This is a "misunderstanding of terms" vis a vis Hera as explained by Patrick Di Justo, the co-writer of The Science of Battlestar Galactica, refer to "See also" section of this article.
  4. While this focused on "Red Stripe" Centurions, this also infers the release of Raiders, Basestars and the basestar Hybrids, for those constructs have varying degrees of sentience.
  5. It should be noted that these creations have the only means of waging effective war following the Battle of the Colony. Given humanity's survival 150,000 years hence, such war making means were never effectively used.