Downloaded

"Downloaded" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 2, Episode 18
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson David Weddle
Story by
Director	Jeff Woolnough
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	Lucy Lawless as Number Three
Production No.	218
Nielsen Rating	1.8
US airdate	2006-02-24
CAN airdate	2006-05-13
UK airdate	2006-05-02
DVD release	19 September 2006 US 28 August 2006 UK
Population	49,579 survivors ( 5)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Captain's Hand	Downloaded	Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
Podcast Transcript – View
Continuity Errors Present – View
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Listing of props for this episode
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Cylon society is revealed when a Cylon's consciousness is downloaded into a new body following her death. The conquerors of occupied Caprica hail two "heroes of the Cylon," who both resist their new celebrity status.

Summary

Teaser

• The episode begins with a flashback scene entitled, "Nine months ago - Caprica".
• The scene recalls Baltar's house being destroyed in the Cylon attack as the mysterious blonde he dated for two years tries to shield him from the blast ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.
• The scene reforms to show the Cylon's consciousness is downloaded and reborn in a resurrection tank. Surrounding the tank are other humanoid Cylon models who act as midwives to this Number Six's "rebirth."
• One face that the Six sees is very unexpected. Someone that appears to be Gaius Baltar is at the edge of the tank, but before Six can talk to him, this Baltar warns that he is not really there: He is someone only she can see and hear and tells her not to reveal his "presence".
• Still in the Cylon version of birth trauma, Six attempts to relax as the other Cylons comfort her and answer her questions about Gaius Baltar's fate.
• The scenes shifts to another flashback: "Ten weeks later". The scene shows a busy hallway on Galactica as Cally Henderson shoots and kills the traitorous Cylon agent, Sharon Valerii ("Resistance").
• The scene follows Valerii's point of view as she also downloads, waking up totally disoriented in a resurrection tank.
• A Number Three comes to comfort her. As Valerii sees a copy of herself, reminding her once more of her true nature as a Cylon, she screams.

Act 1

• On Caprica, present day, the Cylons are rebuilding the city of Delphi for their own use, including gardens. A Three sits down to talk with the recently downloaded Six.
• Six continues to be "haunted" by the virtual Baltar, who gives scathing retorts on the Cylon's progress of inhabiting their city after their genocide of the human race.
• The Three congratulates Six, who is considered a "Hero of the Cylon" for her work as the prime agent that was personally responsible for gaining the information that allowed the virtual destruction of the Colonial Fleet. The Three tells Six that her celebrity has given her a specific name: "Caprica".
• Three asks Caprica-Six to visit another recently downloaded Hero of the Cylon that is having trouble adapting: A Number Eight that still refuses to think of herself as anything but her human alias, Sharon Valerii.
• Three warns that if Valerii cannot be fixed, there is talk of "boxing" her.
• Caprica-Six visits Valerii's apartment. Valerii refuses Caprica's courtesies, denying the Cylon God or his "love," noting that the only real love she had was with Galactica crew.
• Valerii expresses intense guilt at betraying them. Caprica-Six starts to manipulate her by trying to empathize with her, saying that she loved a man too — Gaius Baltar. Startled, Valerii says that Baltar is not dead, but is the new Vice President of the Colonies.

Act 2

• Moving their conversation to a cafe on the ground floor of Valerii's apartment, Caprica-Six and Valerii wonder why Number Three never told Caprica-Six that Baltar was alive.
• Caprica-Six (through conversation with her virtual Baltar) realizes that Number Three manipulated her by hoping that her interaction with another Cylon with strong (and, to the Cylon collective, undesired) emotional ties with humanity would cause her distress sufficient enough to justify having them both boxed.
• Elsewhere, outside the building, Samuel Anders and two other members of the human resistance movement reconnoiter the apartment building as they plan to demolish the building with explosives.
• While the team realizes that the Cylons will not permanently die, Anders believes, based on the insight of a benevolent Eight, that Cylons remember their horrifically painful memories of being killed, which may show them that nowhere on Caprica is safe and that leaving Caprica is their only option.
• Number Three shows up at the cafe. Realizing Three's deception, Caprica-Six lies, telling Three that Valerii will move out of her apartment and start adapting back to Cylon life. Valerii follows Six's lead.
• Visibly disappointed, but not showing it through her speech, Number Three offers to help her move out right now. After a moment's hesitation, the three Cylons leave the cafe for Valerii's apartment.
• The resistance members arm the bomb in the underground garage, where many abandoned cars sit, gathering dust. Anders is preparing to leave when a patrolling Cylon Centurion arrives, blocking Anders' exit.
• When the Centurion sees the bomb, Anders shoots it to distract long enough for the bomb's cigarette fuse to drop, creating a massive explosion that levels the entire building. Anders manages to take cover under a car.

Act 3

• Caprica-Six, Three, and Valerii survive the blast as the stairwell protected them on the higher floor. Caprica-Six is injured and buried under some rubble. When Three (who takes off her coat) insists that Caprica-Six is dead, Caprica-Six speaks in the negative and calls for help.
• Six's knee is dislocated, and Three again suggests that it would be easier, if Six wanted, to just kill her so she'll be reborn. Realizing Three is trying to have her boxed, she declines the "offer."
• The Cylons find someone else under some rubble, and Number Three clears it off to discover Anders. She takes his gun away and prepares to kill him, but Valerii protests. Caprica-Six agrees, but to avoid suspicion from Number Three, claims pragmatically that they shouldn't kill him so he can be interrogated.
• Valerii notices that Anders is wearing Kara Thrace's dog tags. Number Three explains that she was on the planet a few weeks ago. Valerii realizes Anders is someone important to her former comrade.
• Number Three cruelly toys with Anders, putting his gun on the ground and daring him to take it. When Valerii asks her to stop, Number Three retorts that Valerii is a broken machine that thinks she's human, but isn't.
• Valerii states she has a conscience, but Three counters that Valerii is a murderer.
• Caprica-Six realizes that murder and the genocide of the human race cannot be the path of their loving God.

Act 4

• Caprica-Six realizes why Number Three wanted her and Valerii boxed: they are celebrities in a culture based on uniformity. Three knew that their heroes had a different perspective on the war. Due to their celebrity status as Cylon heroes, they could actually cause a change the Cylons view about their conflict with the humans, upsetting the status quo which Number Three upholds.
• Number Three says that Six and Valerii are a waste, corrupted by their experiences. Caprica-Six explains to Valerii that that is why Three wanted to get rid of them, because Six and Valerii understand that murder, vengeance, and genocide are sins in the eyes of God. Valerii realizes that their knowledge could convince other Cylons that the slaughter of mankind was a mistake.
• The rubble of the building shifts as Cylons outside try to clear their way to any survivors inside.
• Anders grabs his gun and tries to escape, shooting at Number Three before Valerii knocks the gun out of his hands.
• The gun lands near Three. As she is about to shoot Anders, Caprica-Six hits her over the head with a large rock of stone, then bashes Three in the head again, killing her.
• Caprica-Six tells Anders to leave, and gives him back Starbuck's dog tags. Valerii gives him back his gun as he leaves, alive but confused at the Cylons' benevolence.
• Six realizes that with all of the Cylons dead in the cafe, it should be at least 36 hours before Number Three is resurrected and tells the others what happened.
• Caprica-Six and Valerii believe that there is sufficient time to start a new beginning for the Cylons: A way to live in God's love, without hate or lies. Together, the two Heroes of the Cylon agree to a new plan as their rescuers arrive.

On Galactica

• Caprica-Valerii has gone into labor; she passed out and her placenta had detached.
• Dr. Cottle delivers the baby by surgery. However, the child is premature and is taken to an incubator.
• As Caprica-Valerii predicted, it is a girl. Karl Agathon and Caprica-Valerii adore it together, naming her Hera.
• Meanwhile, President Roslin, Baltar, Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh debate what to do with the child. Baltar points out that it is half-human. Adama realizes the Cylons want it, and that the Cylons still hiding in the Fleet will try to make a move for it if they know about it.
• President Roslin has decided, secretly and unilaterally, to hide Hera to protect her. She has Cottle convince Agathon and Caprica-Valerii that their baby has died using other remains. Caprica-Valerii becomes hysterical and nearly chokes Cottle before breaking down, sobbing.
• Roslin has given Hera to a woman named Maya, who lost her baby in the Cylon attack. Maya believes that the child is a normal human child from a Pegasus officer.
• Agathon, helped by Chief Tyrol, spreads the ashes of "Hera" out the hatch of a spaceborne Raptor.
• The virtual Number Six is devastated that Baltar could not protect "their baby," although he says he did all he could.
• Number Six says that God's will was that Hera should survive and "would lead the next generation of God's children." In a rage, she says that Baltar has committed a sin, and his entire race will suffer God's vengeance.

Notes

• This episode was nominated for the Hugo Award for "Best Dramatic Presentation (short-form)" aired in 2006.
• This episode reveals three Cylon model numbers: the D'Annas are Number Threes, the Dorals are Number Fives, and the Sharons are Number Eights.
• Anders refers to humanoid Cylons as "skin jobs" in this episode, another reference to Blade Runner by the Re-Imagined Series (which Edward James Olmos also co-starred in). The Cylon Centurions are being referred to as "bullet heads".
  • When episode writer Bradley Thompson was asked by Battlestar Wiki how it was decided to incorporate this reference into the episode, he said:

"There was no real "decision" as such. We were writing "Downloaded". Barolay and Anders were on the roof and we needed a quick way to categorize. We remembered the term from Blade Runner and put it in. The drafts went through the usual pathways of approval and nobody shot it down. So now there are skin jobs along with metal jobs, clankers, and bulletheads (that last is credited to Gary Hutzel)."

• Rick Worthy (Simon) and Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy) do not actually appear in this episode. In several brief shots, body doubles dressed as their characters are seen from behind or in the distance, but these actors did not return for the episode. Ron Moore noted in his podcast of the episode that body doubles were used because the production team felt it would just be a waste of Worthy and Rennie's time having them only appear in the background of shots and not have any dialog.
• Much of the dialog in the episode recap is entirely new, and dubbed in to better summarize the segment.
• Caprica-Six assumed residence on Caprica two years prior to the Cylon attack, which matches both the beginning of her relationship with Baltar ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")} and the date that Sharon Valerii was assigned to Galactica ^{(TRS: "The Farm")}.
• There are three cars in the underground garage. One clearly visible is a Citroën DS. When the Cylon enters the garage, the car on the right appears to be a Rover P6. The car on the left with a central headlamp appears to be a 1930s Tatra 87. According to the podcast, older European cars were used to make them somewhat more alien to American viewers, but this can have the opposite effect on European viewers.
• The license plate on the front of the car crushed in Anders' bomb attack reads SEXYMOM, and has a "C-Bucs Rule" bumper sticker (for the Caprica Buccaneers, the core of Anders' resistance group).
• Whenever Baltar's internal Number Six appears on Galactica during the series, Number Six's distinct soundtrack theme is played (plunking staccato notes on a xylophone, accompanied by violins). There is a subtle twist on this for this episode with Caprica-Six's internal Baltar: whenever Six's hallucinatory Baltar appears, the normal "Number Six theme" is played in reverse. The xylophone notes are played in reverse order, though the violin overlay is still played "forwards".
• Different music plays during the two downloads at the beginning of the episode. A variation on the "Number Six theme" is heard during Caprica-Six's flashbacks, while Boomer's flashbacks are accompanied by a more militaristic tune.
• The image that Sharon throws against the wall is from the episode "Water," done after Sharon lands the Raptor and asks Tyrol to take care of her ejection seat. While a picture from her time on Galactica could be in her apartment, it is an error that she has one from after the fall of the Colonies.

Analysis

• Interestingly, the Baltar in Caprica-Six's head seems to be rather sharper-tongued, more cynical, and more harshly moralistic than the actual Baltar. He spends most of the episode playing conscience to Caprica-Six.
• In the Miniseries, Leoben claimed to Adama that Cylons are superior to primitive humans, who are only "one step above beating each other to death with clubs". Ironically, Caprica-Six savagely beats Number Three to death "primitively" with a rock.
• Apparently the documentary broadcast from the Fleet in "Final Cut" was not made widely available, since if Caprica-Six had seen it, she would have already known about Baltar's survival.
  • However, Number Three states at one point that Kara Thrace's arrival on Caprica (as seen earlier in the season) occurred only "a couple of weeks ago". Unless this is an error (as clearly the birth of Hera has to have occurred months after Starbuck's return to the planet), it may suggest that the Caprica scenes in this episode occur months earlier than the Fleet scenes shown in parallel. If this is the case, the Final Cut documentary likely hasn't been made yet.
  • The others seem to have kept the news from Caprica-Six, out of concern for her attachment to Baltar. When she resurrects, she immediately asks if Baltar is alive and the Three & Eight exchange glances. Three asks if she would be troubled if Baltar were dead, and never answers Caprica-Six's question. Apparently, they believed that knowledge of Baltar's survival would impede Caprica-Six's reintegration into Cylon society.
• There does not appear to be any pattern to the numbering scheme of the 12 Cylon models: Three (Biers), Five (Doral), Six (Shelley Godfrey/Gina), Eight (Valerii), e.g. not all females are an even number, males an odd number.
  • From Ron Moore's blog on July 27th, 2006: "Number Six was specifically a homage to "The Prisoner," but the rest were assigned their numbers randomly.
• Cylon society on Caprica appears to consist of mostly mimicking human behavior; clothing, apartments, cafés, parks for relaxation, etc. In essence, the Cylons are merely trying to be what they have just exterminated: humans.
• The Cylons did not expect their initial attack to be anywhere near as successful as it was. This would explain the apparently large number of Cylon military vessels showing up everywhere as the Cylons expected to fight a more protracted war against a larger surviving human military force.
• While it is not explicitly known in this episode, Admiral Adama was kept in the dark about Roslin's decision to fake Hera's death. The only people who know the complete truth are the President, Tory and Doctor Cottle. The episode "The Eye of Jupiter" later confirms this point.
• Tyrol accompanies Helo to his and Sharon's daughter's "funeral," but who exactly is he there in support of? Helo or Caprica-Valerii? The easy answer is "both," but it seems likely that his presence is more on Helo's behalf. Having been effectively marginalized in Caprica-Valerii's eyes ^{(TRS: "Resurrection Ship, Part II")}, and his later fears of being a Cylon, his feelings for her are on the downswing.
• In a deleted scene (included on the Season 2.5 DVD), Gina dubs Hera "Number 13".
  • Future developments in the series contradict this deleted scene. The final five remaining Cylons do not have model numbers, so the next designation would be Number Nine, not Number Thirteen. This is because the writers did not come up with the idea of the Final Five until Season Three.

Questions

Answered Questions

• What will Number Three do when she is resurrected? (Answer)
• What model numbers are "Simon" and "Leoben Conoy"? (Answer 1, Answer 2)
• Given that Caprica-Six now has a virtual Gaius Baltar, what are these virtual beings? (Answer #1, #2)
• Does death hold any meaning to the Cylons? (Future Partial Answer)

Unanswered Questions

• Given that Baltar's home was destroyed and Caprica-Six "died" in a nuclear explosion, how did Baltar survive?
• Several Cylons are seen in conversation in the park and cafe scenes. What do they have to talk about?
• Why do the other Cylons see Boomer as a "war hero" despite the fact that she wasn't conscious of carrying out her mission(s) and her attempt on Adama's life ultimately failed?

Official Statements

• David Eick's video blog shows the crew preparation for filming the Cylon rebirthing scene for this episode.
• According to RDM's podcast, there was an entire subplot in this episode in which Lucy Lawless's character "D'anna Biers" interviews President Roslin about rumors that the pregnant Cylon prisoner's baby had been born. Then "Galactica-Three" tries to kidnap the baby off of Galactica in collusion with Gina Inviere (Pegasus-Six). The subplot was cut for time (they wanted to spend more time focusing on events on Caprica), and also because they felt it made the episode very confusing; cutting between many different Cylon copies both on Caprica and Galactica.( These scenes were filmed then cut; they are provided as deleted scenes on the Season 2.5 DVD sets).

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Caprica-Valerii has gone into premature labor with her Hybrid baby:

Cottle: I find it absolutely amazing you people went to all the trouble to appear human, and didn't upgrade the plumbing.

• "Caprica-Six" and a Number Three-copy walk past a crowd of other Cylons of various models, and they all keep turning their heads to look at Caprica-Six:

Caprica-Six: I still can't get used to this.

Three: Well, you're a Hero of the Cylon now. You're our first celebrity!

Caprica-Six: Oh, I'm just another Six.

Three: You're too modest. I'm just another Three... and they're Fives (motions at a Doral-model)... and Eights (motions at a Sharon-model). But you, everyone calls you "Caprica-Six"... like you're the only Six on the planet!

• President Roslin, Baltar, Admiral Adama and Col. Tigh discuss what to do with the Hybrid baby:

Roslin: If the baby does survive, the question is — what do we do with it?

Baltar: Do? What are you suggesting? That we throw it out of an airlock?

Roslin: I don't make suggestions, Mr. Baltar - if I want to toss a baby out of an airlock, I'd say so.

• Number Three prepares to execute Samuel Anders:

Three: Humans don't respect life the way we do. (loads pistol)

• Anders' gun is knocked out of his hands, and it miraculously lands near Number Three, who picks it up, stands over Anders and gets ready to execute him:

Number Three: God loves me. (Caprica-Six pops up behind Number Three and bashes her over the head with a big rock of debris)

Caprica-Six: See you again soon! (Caprica-Six bashes her head with the rock a second time, killing her current body, while her consciousness will soon download into another)

• Sharon Valerii picks up a photograph of Galactica crew to make a point to Caprica-Six about love:

"This is love. These people love me. I love them. I didn't pretend to feel something so I could screw people over. I loved them. And then I betrayed them! I shot a man I love, frakked over another man, ruined his life, and why? Because I'm a lying machine! I'm a frakking Cylon!"

• Caprica-Six's internal Baltar recites verse

Life is short, but the next one's not

Let your heart adrift, and your soul will get caught

Believe the lies, ignore the truth

Listen to me, I will show you the proof.

Speak from your heart: say the things you know to be true

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
• Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle
• Matthew Bennett as Number Five
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Kerry Norton as Paramedic Layne Ishay
• Alisen Down as Jean Barolay
• Erica Cerra as Maya
• Diego Diablo Del Mar as Hillard