Editing Podcast:Exodus, Part II
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There was a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] control center that we had structured in, in early drafts, where you'd see the Cylons in some sort of high-tech control room with data streams and things playing on their faces as they dealt with the battle up above. It was gonna be an expensive set. I didn't think it was money well spent at a certain point and these things are wildly over budget, and I just said, "You know what? Screw it. Keep 'em in ''[[Colonial One]]''. That's the nerve center of the Cylon occupation. That's where they will stay." And som- I really liked that they were picking up the phones. That they continue to pick up the phones. | There was a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] control center that we had structured in, in early drafts, where you'd see the Cylons in some sort of high-tech control room with data streams and things playing on their faces as they dealt with the battle up above. It was gonna be an expensive set. I didn't think it was money well spent at a certain point and these things are wildly over budget, and I just said, "You know what? Screw it. Keep 'em in ''[[Colonial One]]''. That's the nerve center of the Cylon occupation. That's where they will stay." And som- I really liked that they were picking up the phones. That they continue to pick up the phones. | ||
Ok. This little bit was something that I came up with in a rewrite. That, ok, ''Galactica'' can't just jump into low orbit. It's going to jump into the fucking atmosphere and fall like a rock. And that's- this is just, like, tremendous effects work. There was something really delicious about the idea of the battlestar jumping into the atmosphere. It can't manuever. It can't fly. It wasn't designed for this. It'll be a miracle if it makes it out. But it's just falling. It's just falling, and falling, and falling. And this shot, straight out into the atmosphere. I love this. This is, like, tremendous effects work by [[Gary Hutzel]] and his team. And it's just going, going, going, going. And then at the last second it jumps out. Now watch all this. This is, like, visual effects a-go-go. And we better win the fucking [[Wikipedia:Primetime Emmy Award|Emmy]] for this, this year, or I'm gonna, I swear to God. The Vipers and that- these little pickups. These are all pickup scenes here in the Viper cockpits here that we shot much later 'cause we didn't know that we- I didn't know how much time we had for this sequence and none of this was really scripted. There's the big | Ok. This little bit was something that I came up with in a rewrite. That, ok, ''Galactica'' can't just jump into low orbit. It's going to jump into the fucking atmosphere and fall like a rock. And that's- this is just, like, tremendous effects work. There was something really delicious about the idea of the battlestar jumping into the atmosphere. It can't manuever. It can't fly. It wasn't designed for this. It'll be a miracle if it makes it out. But it's just falling. It's just falling, and falling, and falling. And this shot, straight out into the atmosphere. I love this. This is, like, tremendous effects work by [[Gary Hutzel]] and his team. And it's just going, going, going, going. And then at the last second it jumps out. Now watch all this. This is, like, visual effects a-go-go. And we better win the fucking [[Wikipedia:Primetime Emmy Award|Emmy]] for this, this year, or I'm gonna, I swear to God. The Vipers and that- these little pickups. These are all pickup scenes here in the Viper cockpits here that we shot much later 'cause we didn't know that we- I didn't know how much time we had for this sequence and none of this was really scripted. There's the big passby's. Boom goes the [[Guard towers|guard tower]]. And then right in. That's just, like, tremendous work. If I do say so myself. It's just, it's great looking stuff. And then they go and they attack the- and get into the shipyard. | ||
We had some internal questions about the technical feasibility of ''Galactica'' jumping into the atmosphere and falling through the- falling like a rock through this. You could argue it either way. It's all s- it's science fiction so who knows what ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s made of and the structure integrity, etc., etc. My logic was, "Look. If ''Galactica'' can take hit from a nuke, and keep on moving, which we established in the [[miniseries]]. If it can take a nuke and still be ok on some level, this is a tough motherfuckin' machine." So that means if it- I can buy that it has enough structural integrity to fall through that atmosphere. It couldn't maneuver. It can't fly. That's not what it's designed to do. But I bought the idea that it could hang together long enough to just fall straight down and then launch its Vipers and then get the hell out of there. | We had some internal questions about the technical feasibility of ''Galactica'' jumping into the atmosphere and falling through the- falling like a rock through this. You could argue it either way. It's all s- it's science fiction so who knows what ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s made of and the structure integrity, etc., etc. My logic was, "Look. If ''Galactica'' can take hit from a nuke, and keep on moving, which we established in the [[miniseries]]. If it can take a nuke and still be ok on some level, this is a tough motherfuckin' machine." So that means if it- I can buy that it has enough structural integrity to fall through that atmosphere. It couldn't maneuver. It can't fly. That's not what it's designed to do. But I bought the idea that it could hang together long enough to just fall straight down and then launch its Vipers and then get the hell out of there. | ||
This beat of [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] finding Kara, unco- she's unconscious because, in terms of plot, you don't want him to come in right here and that she's awake and she says, "Hey, I've got [[Kacey | This beat of [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] finding Kara, unco- she's unconscious because, in terms of plot, you don't want him to come in right here and that she's awake and she says, "Hey, I've got [[Kacey|my daughter]]," and "Take her too." So this is a bit of a- this is a bit of manipulation that she's been laying unconscious all this time. | ||
This shot. Now this doesn't quite sell the story point enough 'cause we only had one visual effects shot to sell this with. The idea was after they jumped out to the atmosphere, they jump up above, and they really only jumped into pretty low orbit again, and they're, like, clawing for altitude all the way up. | This shot. Now this doesn't quite sell the story point enough 'cause we only had one visual effects shot to sell this with. The idea was after they jumped out to the atmosphere, they jump up above, and they really only jumped into pretty low orbit again, and they're, like, clawing for altitude all the way up. | ||
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Ok. Now this, I think, is a key moment. This tells me a lot about William Adama. When he knows that the end is here and he really is facing that moment, there's a moment in every person's life, or at least in every character's life, when they face death. Truly face it and truly believe that they're gonna die. How do they react? And when you answer that question you have said something fundamental about that character and who they are and what they're about. And when William Adama's answer, when he felt he's really going to die, what did he do? He stopped. He looked around to the men around him, and he said, "Gentlemen, it's been an honor." And that to me defines that character. You can't redefine the character. You can't have him face that situation and react differently again. He can face a different situation. He can have other people in jeopardy. There's situations in which he would continue to fight. But in that circumstance, when everything fell apart, he just turned to the men around him and said, "It's been an honor," and accepted it. And went out- was going to go out in a quiet way, instead of raging against the light. And I thought that that's an interesting choice. It's not the traditional way that a key- a hero reacts to these circumstances and that's really what attracted me to it. And I think as a writer you fit, especially in a tv show, you have to choose. You have to make choices and live with them. And that's a choice. That is a choice about who Adama is and when you take a character to that place and you answer that question you've now, like, rounded out the definition of that character in a very fundamental way. [[Kara Thrace|Kara]]'s answer in a similar situation would not be the same. | Ok. Now this, I think, is a key moment. This tells me a lot about William Adama. When he knows that the end is here and he really is facing that moment, there's a moment in every person's life, or at least in every character's life, when they face death. Truly face it and truly believe that they're gonna die. How do they react? And when you answer that question you have said something fundamental about that character and who they are and what they're about. And when William Adama's answer, when he felt he's really going to die, what did he do? He stopped. He looked around to the men around him, and he said, "Gentlemen, it's been an honor." And that to me defines that character. You can't redefine the character. You can't have him face that situation and react differently again. He can face a different situation. He can have other people in jeopardy. There's situations in which he would continue to fight. But in that circumstance, when everything fell apart, he just turned to the men around him and said, "It's been an honor," and accepted it. And went out- was going to go out in a quiet way, instead of raging against the light. And I thought that that's an interesting choice. It's not the traditional way that a key- a hero reacts to these circumstances and that's really what attracted me to it. And I think as a writer you fit, especially in a tv show, you have to choose. You have to make choices and live with them. And that's a choice. That is a choice about who Adama is and when you take a character to that place and you answer that question you've now, like, rounded out the definition of that character in a very fundamental way. [[Kara Thrace|Kara]]'s answer in a similar situation would not be the same. | ||
And she has to go back for [[Kacey | And she has to go back for [[Kacey|the child]]. And the chaos- I mean, it's all just this chaos of trying to get out, and who's gonna get out, and what's the time. In the middle of it, Kara has to go back. | ||
And I love this. This feeling of- this is, not quite, but this is sort of [[Wikipedia:Death of Adolf Hitler|Hitler in the bunker]]. It's the Russians are out there. We're losing. We're not gonna make it. What do we do? If you commit suicide on some level. And they're gonna nuke the city. And that there's a place for [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]. I mean, that was a key question. How could Baltar escape with them? Well, he's only gonna escape with them if they want him to. And that there was a sense of, yeah, well you could call it loyalty. You could call it recognition of their own shortcomings. [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] are learning and changing and they have different points of view on things than they did at the beginning. The fact that they're willing for Baltar to come with them now says alot. I love that the [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] beat, with the gun. | And I love this. This feeling of- this is, not quite, but this is sort of [[Wikipedia:Death of Adolf Hitler|Hitler in the bunker]]. It's the Russians are out there. We're losing. We're not gonna make it. What do we do? If you commit suicide on some level. And they're gonna nuke the city. And that there's a place for [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]. I mean, that was a key question. How could Baltar escape with them? Well, he's only gonna escape with them if they want him to. And that there was a sense of, yeah, well you could call it loyalty. You could call it recognition of their own shortcomings. [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] are learning and changing and they have different points of view on things than they did at the beginning. The fact that they're willing for Baltar to come with them now says alot. I love that the [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] beat, with the gun. | ||
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Now [[Caprica-Six]] has already been shot once, so she certainly doesn't want to be shot by Mr. Gaeta. This may be the first time that we've seen Gaeta with a gun. This was also a scene that was- [[James Callis]] had a great influence on. One of James' ideas was that he would- as he's challenging Gaeta, it wouldn't just beg for his life, and say, "I have to save the world. Let me go save the world." It was also there was a fatalism to it and a sense of a man at the end of his rope who had done things, said things, experienced things, who was really ready to check out for the first time. And Gaius Baltar, up until this point, has never been ready to check out. He's always blinked. He's always found a way to get away from danger and his own survival, his own self-preservation instinct, always came out on top. But there's a moment here where he's- he walks up to that gun and he wants Gaeta to shoot him. And part of him, I think, really does beg for death. It wants release. That he's been tortured, he's gone through so much that the bullet through his would really end it for him and in many ways would be more mercifull. And I think that was an interesting impulse on James' part. He really saw that part of the character. And James keeps us very honest about Baltar. And he's stunned. He's stunned that Gaeta let him go. That's the great thing about it. There's no victory in that moment. It's not, like, "I've convinced you and I'm gonna go save the world now." It's like, "Holy shit! You didn't shoot me. Holy shit! Really? I'm really gonna live and now I have to go disarm this nuke?" | Now [[Caprica-Six]] has already been shot once, so she certainly doesn't want to be shot by Mr. Gaeta. This may be the first time that we've seen Gaeta with a gun. This was also a scene that was- [[James Callis]] had a great influence on. One of James' ideas was that he would- as he's challenging Gaeta, it wouldn't just beg for his life, and say, "I have to save the world. Let me go save the world." It was also there was a fatalism to it and a sense of a man at the end of his rope who had done things, said things, experienced things, who was really ready to check out for the first time. And Gaius Baltar, up until this point, has never been ready to check out. He's always blinked. He's always found a way to get away from danger and his own survival, his own self-preservation instinct, always came out on top. But there's a moment here where he's- he walks up to that gun and he wants Gaeta to shoot him. And part of him, I think, really does beg for death. It wants release. That he's been tortured, he's gone through so much that the bullet through his would really end it for him and in many ways would be more mercifull. And I think that was an interesting impulse on James' part. He really saw that part of the character. And James keeps us very honest about Baltar. And he's stunned. He's stunned that Gaeta let him go. That's the great thing about it. There's no victory in that moment. It's not, like, "I've convinced you and I'm gonna go save the world now." It's like, "Holy shit! You didn't shoot me. Holy shit! Really? I'm really gonna live and now I have to go disarm this nuke?" | ||
And the death of the [[Pegasus (RDM)|''Pegasus'']]. Interesting story. When I came back for, I don't remember where this was. It was before we started shooting the premiere, but I came back to the office at the Universal lot and I went back to the | And the death of the [[Pegasus (RDM)|''Pegasus'']]. Interesting story. When I came back for, I don't remember where this was. It was before we started shooting the premiere, but I came back to the office at the Universal lot and I went back to the bungalos where my office is, and across the way, literally outside my office window on the opposite building there was a giant banner hanging out the windows that said, "Save the ''Pegasus''." It was like, "What the hell is that?" And I went up there, and turned out that our visual effects team, our in-house visual effects unit, had taken over that floor and they put this big banner outside that nobody else on the lot even knew what the hell it meant, but I could see it, and it was, "Save the ''Pegasus''," and I went up there and met the guys. And they showed me around and it was very funny and it was really endearing but we destroyed the ''Pegasus'' anyway. So goodbye ''Peggy''. This is just visual effects a-go-go. And let's just run it into one of the [[Basestar (RDM)|basestars]] was, like, an early idea. Let's really give her the heroic death. This is all a little bit out of style. This is a little- this shot, particularly, the landing pod swooping by camera with the name ''Pegasus'' and we track into the other basestar. So it takes out two basestars in its death throes. It was something Gary Hutzel wanted and advocated and I thought was great. Yeah, it's a little- it's a hyper-real idea. It's not staying pure in our documentary point of view and what would really happen. The fact that the wing flies off and smashes another ship is a complete dramatic conceit. But there's the satisfaction of that too. There's a point in the show where you don't want it to be so "real" that it leaches all the drama and all the satisfaction of it. And the death of the ''Pegasus'' you want some drama and you want some satisfaction. You really want it to feel like it was worth it. | ||
== Act 4 == | == Act 4 == | ||
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