Battlestar Wiki - User contributions [en]

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-03-04T19:05:36Z

PrePressChris: /* A Day in the Life */ verified Act 1

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:A Day in the Life Bonus|A Day in the Life Bonus Podcast]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/bonus_edit_session/edit_pod_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Hour 1 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.) [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]
*Hour 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Hour 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Dirty Hands|Dirty Hands]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/316/bsg_ep316_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:42, 2 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:38, 2 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
=====[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]=====
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:A Day in the Life|A Day in the Life]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/315/bsg_ep315_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:18, 27 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 14:40, 3 March 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:44, 28 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:05, 4 March 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:05, 1 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:47, 1 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:12, 2 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]
*[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]
*[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:A Day in the Life

2007-03-04T19:00:13Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 1 */ changed word (18:39)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=|season=3|episode=F}}
== Teaser ==
Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and we're here to talk about what we still refer to as episode fourteen, "[[A Day in the Life]]". The Scotch for today's session is [http://www.bruichladdich.com/ Bruichladdich], with the [http://www.bruichladdich.com/latestnewsarticles/wmd_second.htm "yellow submarine"] label, which I've yet to figure out what that really means, in regards to Scotch. And no smoking today. The smoking lamp is out.

OK. Episode fourteen. This episode does not- did not turn out as well as, I think, we had all hoped that it would. I think there's a variety of reasons why and we will discuss them today, as we often have on the shows that didn't turn out quite as strong as we had initially hoped. What's interesting, to step back and give an overview of the show and the rhythms and currents of the series. This- there's a spate of standalone episodes, some of which are more successful than others, occurring here in the second half of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season three]]. Shows like [[The Woman King|thirteen]], fourteen, and a to an extent [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], although I think fifteen is, in some ways, the strongest of the three. In any case, there's a trio here of standalone episodes that didn't quite come together and aren't quite as strong as I think many of us had hoped. And that parallels certain things that happened in the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] where we also had a spate of standalonish episodes that didn't quite really come together as strongly and I think- we spent some time looking for systemic reasons or managerial reasons why we come to this place in the second half of the season and tend to have trouble. And I'm not sure that there is a reason other than just bad story decisions.

I think that conceptually I liked this idea of doing the "Day in the Life" episode and centering it around [[William Adama|Adama]]. The "day in the life" is a staple of television storytelling and it's always there in the writers' room. It's something that I think writers are always drawn to, which is to break from format and do a character study and the "day in the life" is a structure that provides you with opportunity to detail out all the little minutiae, which is a bit of a redundancy redundancy, but all of the minutiae in a character's day and explicating the how's and why's of their job and their friendships and their pressures and stepping back from plot and narrative and giving you an opportunity to delve into character. I think it's also a very tricky structure that appears on its surface to be simpler than it really is. I've gone at these kinds of stories a couple of times and I'm always attracted to them. They inevitably always turn out to be much more complicated beasts than what you think they would at the outset. You know, the first thing that you run into in structuring a "day in the life" type episode is that, almost by definition, a "day in the life" is not supposed to have anything very dramatic happen in it. Conceptually you're doing a show that is just a typical day and TV episodes and films are all about atypical days. They're all about the unusual thing that happened that day. The dramatic thing that happened that day. The amazing thing that happened that day. The mysterious thing that happened that day. The funny thing that happened that day. Not the typical thing that happened that day. So you're already going into a counterintuitive place when you're approaching the story. And what tends to happen through the story proce- story development process is that in order to tell that story effectively in the television format you inevitably find some device, some plot thing that will happen on a typical day that illustrates the fact that they're- in a place like [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] something dangerous is always lurking just around the corner. And I think that's justified by not only the conflict with the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] but in this case just the danger of the ship itself. I always liked the idea that the ''Galactica'' was- that ''Galactica'' gave you an opportunity to present the life of being aboard a warship, especially an aircraft carrier, which are incredibly dangerous ships. They're very dangerous places to work and they have accidents and fatalities in the best of times and that- so to do a day in the life episode aboard ''Galactica'', it was easy to say, OK, that will be an accident that day. There would be an accident, and this is just one of many things that happens on Adama's "day in the life." I think that, unfortunately, what happens in this- in the structure of the piece is that you can see us leaning over and spending more time on that story, the [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]-[[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] story, the story of them getting caught in a [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] and spending too much time over there, really, on a story that was never designed to be a [[w:Structural engineering|weight-bearing]] member. It supposed to be a small plot device that you're following throughout the show and ultimately explodes into jeopardy towards the end to intersect with the Adama story. But as you watch the episode as aired, we spend a lot of time setting up that story and it seems like it's a story of big weight and big moment and that something's gonna happen, and "Oh my God! What's gonna happen to Tyrol and Cally?" But it's not a very exciting story. It's a small story. It was designed to be a small story. But I think because of certain problems that we were having in the Adama side of things, you start leaning on the other story because it's an easier hook. It's an easier fix to say, "Well, give us more of the Tyrol-Cally stuff because that's a straight-up jeopardy."

The Adama section. I mean, this episode began life as a concept and it was pitched in the writers' room and it might have been my idea. I don't- really recall. I will just say it's my idea because it's not a perfectly executed idea so I will take responsibility for it, essentially. And as I always say on these podcasts, when I criticize an episode or where I'm talking about an episode that I don't think has worked as effectively as we had hoped, ultimately I'm the guy in charge. These are my decisions and so I'm the one who ultimately made the wrong calls in whatever the calls were in this episode. Essentially I was attracted to doing a "day in the life" episode. I love this idea that here's the wo- that we get to know [[Carolanne Adama|the woman]] that Adama was married to. Who was this woman? Who was the woman that is [[Lee Adama|Lee]]'s mother, Adama divorced, and died back on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and here's a person that we've never really dealt with in the story, and I thought, "Well, she's an interesting figure," and, "Who is she?" And I fell in love with this idea that Adama allows himself to think about her exactly one day a year. On their wedding anniversary Adama permits himself to think about this woman and to fantasize about being with this woman and to allow himself that break. To allow himself to let her- thoughts of her enter back into his life. 'Cause he never talks about her. She's not somebody that- he doesn't keep pictures around of her. He wears the wedding ring. And he's always worn the wedding ring in the show. I've always thought that was an interesting subtle touch that said a lot about the divorce man who still is wearing the wedding ring, lo many years later. And so I was interested in this concept that, OK, on the one day, he takes her picture out and she's like a real person to him. He has her in his life for one day and at the end of the day he puts the picture away until next year. And there was something sweet and poetic about that that I responded to and really liked.

I think that some of the decisions that we made, in terms of what- well the first thing that came up was, "How do you portray her." In the initial story documents, and I think the initial script, the intention was for Carolanne, or Caroline in the early drafts, what Carolanne was going to appear with Adama on the ship and we would play her sort of akin to how we play [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Baltar.27s_Internal_Six|"head Six"]] and [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six.27s_Internal_Baltar|"head Baltar"]]. That they're imaginary people that only the character- that the point of view character can see. And so Adama would walk through the halls and Carolanne would be walking with him and commenting on the day and, essentially, it was going to be more about, as structured, the piece was about Ada- going through one day with Adama. And as he went through his day Caroline- Carolanne went with him and commented on the scenes as they happened. So right away the first thing that came up was, "Well, OK, how do you distinguish that from
'head Six' and 'head Baltar' for the audience." 'Cause we have a lot of imaginary people wandering around the ship at this point and here's a device that's meant to convey a character's subjective point of view and really be in his head in a true fantasy sense and not convey the sense of, "Who is this imaginary person who has suddenly- or not- Who is this person who is appearing to only this character? Is Carol-" You don't want the audience to watch it and go, "OK. Is Carolanne related to 'head Six'? Is Carolanne related to 'head Baltar'? Is she a Cylon?" You had to get away from all that quickly. At first we talked about a structure whereby whenever Carolanne appeared and she would have a scene with- like, she would appear in a scene and talk to Adama at length, they would interact and then you would go back to reality and you would realize that no time had passed and Adama- if Adama, for instance was standing in the middle of the room having a conversation with Carolanne and their conversation took them across the room or over to the door, where they had an argument, then the scene ends and you res- Adama is reset back to the middle of the room where he was at the beginning. No one else in the room is aware that anything else has happened. And that was the concept to convey that these conversations and these interaction were com- were taking place completely in Adama's head. That it wasn't the same device that we were using for "head Six" and "head Baltar" wherein Baltar actually reacts and talks to his imaginary blonde partner in real time and people see him react. And so we were trying to make that distinction, but it's a subtle distinction and I think what happened was as we got deeper into the draft and into prep on the episode both [[Rod Hardy|the director]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]], Eddie Olmos, both felt that that wasn't gonna work and they were worried about it being too much like [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] and [[Caprica Six|Six]] and that it- the distinction would be blurred.


== Act 1 ==

Act one. So from there came this notion of doing the house. Let's do a house. [[William Adama|Adama]] goes to a place. Sorta like how Balt- again, you could say, "Well, it's like how [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to his place," but we're tr- at least visually you're setting it apart from what's happening on the [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. So we came up with this idea of the house, which Adama would go to, this is presumably the house he and [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] shared, and he permits himself to think of the house and to think of Carolanne in these moments, to go and be with her one more time. I think that in the drama itself it does break you out of the show. It does get outside of ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s walls, which is always nice, especially at this point in [[season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], in that a location to go to, but it does distance, I think, what's happening. Because when you get back to these shots of Adama in the corridor, we're working overtime to bring her pr- to make her more present in the show. She's- isolated in this other reality that he's clearly fantasizing about, but it doesn't have the immediacy of the initial idea. The immediacy of her walking side by side with Adama as he went down the corridors was gonna feel very different. Also, this scene here, with Adama and with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] would've felt very different if Carolanne had been in the room with them. That's not to say that that would have saved things. That's not to say that that was the perfect solution, but I think it would've made these scenes have a little bit more dramatic impact because I think if you saw this visual triangle of Adama, Laura, and Carolanne, I think it just resonates in a different way than having Carolanne as the off-camera voice or going to the fantasy place in his head.

This storyline, Adama and Laura is- you can clearly see over the course of the past few episodes we're playing a little bit more on their relationship, a little tête-à-tête, that something might or might not happen between these two. This show was the most overt step in a certain direction of a relationship between the two characters. I think that what we're doing is we're playing it very slowly. I don't know that it ever will culminate in the two of them "getting together", but I think that there was always a sense that for Laura and for Adama, realistically speaking, there really weren't any choices for them in terms of a partner, in terms of somebody that they could be involved with in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] 'cause of their positions. Adama is the admiral. She's the President. They are the only peers to one another. She relates to him, he relates to her, in a way that they don't relate to anyone else in the entire Fleet. And it's a- they're a man and woman and they're both attractive, and they're both smart, and they're both passionate and you feel the reasons for why they might be drawn towards one another. But there are so many other obstacles to that that I think that we never wanted to take it too far down the road. But it do- there is a logic to them thinking about it, to at least considering it. And for the- flirtations and the hints along the way and to feel that there really is a pull drove us into directions like this.

The storyline of [[Lee Adama|Lee]] getting involved with Baltar's trial was one that we worked over at length in the writers' room. The multi-step process of setting up a legal system was something that we talked about quite a bit. I think that conceptually this works. I don't know that it works dramatically, to put Lee into- to have Lee become interested in the law or setup his interest in the law in this particular episode. I think that it's a little- there's a little bit- it's a little awkward how we introduct- introduce this idea of Lee's interest in law, that as a child and that Laura would think of him in that capacity. It's a- it's somewhat awkward but I think it's plausible. I think it works, so that's like the best you can do at this point.

Again, we're back here in the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] and we're milking this now. Now we're milking the drama here for all it's worth because- we're, I think, frankly I think we're afraid of the Adama story. It just wasn't playing as strongly as we had hoped. And part of it has to do- there's a lot of reasons why I don't think the Adama-Carolanne story is really hitting on all cylinders here. Part of it is a casting issue. It's nothing against the actress, who's a good actress, well recommended, good body of work, we really liked her. I think she's a good performer. But I don't think there's a lot of chemistry here. I think that there's chemistry is missing between Adama and her, and Carolanne, and I think that's a crucial component. And that's something that's hard to judge from the outside. It's hard, sometimes, to cast important roles in isolation. Ideally you, in a perfect world, you have the husband reading the lines to the potential wife in the casting sessions. But you don't usually get that luxury. Especially in television. And I think that for fifty million reasons why of being busy, of not paying attention, and thinking that everything is OK and telling yourself that you're on top of it, you make a casting decision that ultimately doesn't help you in the show. Again, I'm not criticizing the actress. I'm commenting on the fact that she and Adama are not clicking on a certain level. There's not a sense of rapport. There's not an easy communication between the two like you want in a married couple and there's just not the spark there. You want this woman, Carolanne, to really spark off of him and him to s- to be sparking off of her, and you're not quite seeing that interaction. I think- and I think that lack of chemistry, which, is not- you cannot lay at the feet of the actors, it's just one of those things that happens or doesn't happen, but that lack of fundamental chemistry, in some level, makes us pull away editorially, and on the stage, and ultimately in the show, away from the storyline, looking for other drama.

The story with Lee, and you're coming up here on the scene with Lee. I started to talk about this a minute ago, but Lee getting involved in the legal system. Throughout the season, I've talked about this before, we've struggled with the character of Lee in terms of exactly what we wanted him to do within the drama of the show. I think in many ways he has one of the most difficult roles in the show because he is- he's the hero. He's the most straight-up hero that we have in the series, and I think that's a hard role to play in this context. And I think sometimes it's hard to know what we want to do with that character within the show. We did really like the idea that Lee would get involved with this trial, and that there was something about the character and about the actor that lent itself towards the idea that he was intellectual, that had an interest in something beyond the cockpit and that he wasn't all about the military. That we were also building this family history, in terms of the Adama family, partially because we were developing [[Caprica (series)|''Caprica'']], the prequel that may or may not get off the ground. But in the ''Caprica'' backstory we get more involved in the family Adama, and indeed, Adama's father, Lee's grandfather, who was an attorney. Who did a lot of legal work and had a contr- a charged relationship with his son, William Adama, and that Lee would in turn be informed by that. OK, so there was something with the grandfather who was a lawyer, and the son that then b- went into the military, and then there's the grandson. And that the grandson on some level was split between the two, or at least felt split at times. Who had an affinity towards looking towards the law or was fascinated by what his grandfather did, if for no other reason than the fact that his father did not like what his grandfather did, and that alone would be enough to spark the boy's interest. So that all built the building blocks of getting to the place where we thought, "Well, Lee could get involved with the trial." 'Cause we also wanted some of our key players involved with the trial of Baltar and this was like an- our entrée into it.

I think that one of the other problems with the "day in the life" concept for us, in this particular episode, is that we didn't- we weren't true to that concept. We weren't true to the idea that a "day in the life" episode is about following Adama through his day. Showing the routines and the rituals of his day. And that was an early decision. As we got- it was- you pitch it in the room and we got excited about it and it goes up on the board and then you start breaking it, and I think we let go of what makes "day in the life" work, when it does work. Which is to see the minutiae, the detail, the trivia. The things- where does Adama eat? What does he have for breakfast? What is- what are the rhythms of his day? What are the rhythms that this man has built into his day? What are the things that are built into it for him? And how does he see the world? It sh- you should be looking at ''Galactica'' through Adama's eyes and seeing it fresh, as if you've never seen it before, because his point of view on their lives and on the ship should be different than the audience's point of view. And I think what happens here in the episode it that we get c- so caught up in telling these other stories that we're trying to tell, Lee getting involved in Baltar's trial, tracking Laura and Adama, dealing with who was Adama's wife and what was the nature of their relationship, and of course the [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]]-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] situation going on in the launch tube. You're trying to tell all these other tales that you lose the impetus to do the story in the first place, which is to stroke out the daily life of the c- of one of the central figures in the show. And we don't. I think at the end of the day you don't know more about Adama's day than you really did at the beginning. I mean, some little tiny things, but they're insignificant. The fact that he gets a report in the morning and that he meets with Laura occasionally. And the rest of it just is swamped. I think that's unfortunate. I think that was a mistake. I think- that if I had to do this again we would have to really take a broom to a lot of elements of the show, particularly the launch tube story, and really exam it as a way of detailing out character and that- well, that's the end of the act. I'll come back.


== Act 2 ==

Act two. So you can see right up here from the get-go in this act, our heroes are now charging into action and we've stretched the "jeopardy" of the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] situation as far as humanly possible, but now the rest of the show becomes about this launch tube situation. Which was never what I wanted to do. I mean, it was never that important to me. I thought it was an interesting little plot device. I thought that the conversations between [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] were a little bit interesting, in terms of their characters, and their relationships, and the relation- state of the the marriage, and the fact that they have this child, and what are they gonna do with the child in case they die. I thought those were all interesting ideas and, again, I liked the fact that it illuminated the rickety nature of the vessel and this wasn't the [[memoryalpha: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|''Enterprise'']] and that shit just happens on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and you gotta, like, deal with it. All that said, what- when this- when that story became so important to the episode, I think the episode loses the charm of what we were trying to do. 'Cause the charm is follow the character through the day. See the life. Invest in the- small things in life. Invest in- lunch. Invest in what [[William Adama|Adama]]'s having for lunch, because on some level, his experience of lunch is telling you something about his character that you didn't know before and that it's interesting. I mean, where's [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] in all this? Right now, we're in this crisis situation. If we'd gone the original way we'd pitched this, Carolanne would be in the [[CIC]] with them, commenting on the situation, possibly distracting him. Maybe this is the one time that he doesn't want to think about her but it's like, "Don't think about the elephant in the room," so he has to think about the elephant and you play the conflict of that. But because we've set up this thing with the cottage and being in the fantasy world, you can't cut from the CIC to the fantasy world. It's- he looks like he's completely irresponsible.

So now we're involved in the plot. The rescue attempt and all that is fine. I don't have a problem with it conceptually. I think it's a nice little piece of business. I always like playing some of the realities of being stuck on a spaceship. This all interesting detail work about oxygen masks and vacuums. I do take delight in exploding the myth, the Hollywood myth, about human beings not being able to survive in a vacuum for any length of time. It's like that scene in- oh, I'm gonna blow the name. What's the [[w:Arnold Schwarzenegger|Schwarzenegger]] film where they're on [[w:Mars|Mars]]. It's not [[w:True Lies|''True Lies'']], which is what I want to say, but I can't- It's a Verhoe- It's the [[w:Paul Verhoeven|Verhoeven]] film. Everyone listening to this podcast will probably know the film I'm talking about. But essentially he's- [[w:Total Recall|''Total Recall'']], thank you. He's in ''Total Recall'' and there's a sequence where they're outside in the Martian atmosphere and it's virtually a vacuum. There's very little atmosphere and their eyes explode and all these horrible things happen. And it's a staple of Hollywood productions that people in vacuums just exp- pop like balloons. And doing research on this at [[memoryalpha:Star Trek|Trek]], that's not true. It doesn't happen that way. People can survive in a hard vacuum for a short amount of time. And they even did this way back in [[w:2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|''2001'']]. He's- when the [[w:David Bowman|astronaut]] survives in the hard vacuum for a few seconds to get from point A to point B. So it's always fun to do that, 'cause you're still- people- it's counterintuitive to the audience at this point. They've become so inured to this idea that "vacuum equals death" that when you take 'em through the process like this and really say you're really gonna expose character to a vacuum, the audience goes, "Huh? What? Really?" And it give you this- it's a cheap way of getting you a bit of jeopardy.

But again, I think this story's just working way too hard for what it is. We haven't- the tale was not constructed to really go in-depth on Tyrol and Cally. It was supposed to be a small story that included Tyrol and Cally and their small jeopardy and because of the Adam- problems in the Adama-Carolanne story, we're just leaning heavier on this story to carry- the weight of the show and ultimately that's just not a good- choice.

The Carolanne-Adama story. I think, again, to analyze what we wanted to do, and where I think we went wrong, I think that Carolanne as conscience, or- not even as conscience. Carolanne as commentator on his day, on who he is, as the voice to talk to him and to us as he goes through the routines of his day and deconstructing the man and deconstructing his soul and trying to take him apart brick by brick, because that's what she did in their marriage. I think that's an interesting idea. I think that what we have now is her being a bitch and strange and drinking too much and you don't really get enough time in the relationship to care about her and to care about the fact that he cares about her. You- it's indicated around the corners but it's not really fully realized. And, for instance, here. This in some ways is the most genuine, heartfelt moment of the show. Cally and Tyrol embracing in the launch tube, facing their- the possibility of their death, worrying about [[Nicholas Tyrol|their son]]. That there's honest emotion there. But, the most honest emotion in this show should not be on that storyline. That should- this shoulda been a quick sequence that was done with and over, and we were on the other story. And unfortunately you're heart now, in the third act, is drawn over to this storyline. And the story isn't about them. And- because we didn't h- we didn't really get into deeper things about Tyrol. We didn't get into deeper things about Cally. We didn't get int- explore a lot of fresh territory between the two of them as characters. When you get to this moment of the two of them holding each other in their arms and being very emotional about it, I think there's a feeling of being cheated by the audience. That you're watching it and you're going, "I haven't- they haven't really earned that."

== Act 3 ==

Act three. Again, Gary Hart- Gary Hart. Sorry, [[Gary Hutzel]], and his visual effects team really doing gangbuster service once again for us on all these visual effects of the [[Raptor]] and spotting all the detail work on the hatch, and so on. I think that the toughest thing in this whole concept was- flying these two out of the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]]. And we did 'em on wires, of course. How else could you do it? We put 'em on wires, put 'em in the harnesses, flew them out, and then everything else is CGI. The Raptor is CGI. This shot looking into the Raptor is not, of course. That's the actual actors on the set. But the big catch coming up is an entirely CGI sequence. And you're starting to see the places where CGI is actually starting to become more effective and better, not just from a budgetary standpoint, but actually a reality standpoint, to deliver certain ideas and certain sequences. And one of them is the idea of bodies moving through a weightless environment. Putting actors in harnesses and acting them to act and move correctly in a weightless- and pretend like they're in a weightless environment is really difficult. It's- virtually impossible on a TV schedule, 'cause you need time. It needs practice. There's lots of issues with weight and balance and- it's almost- it's a ballet. They have to do it a believable way. So here we've got- I love this sh- the looking up shot. The shot from below [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] is a great one. So these guys go flying out of the [[airlock]] here in just a second. Blow the hatch. Hatch goes. I like the hit on the Raptor. OK. Those guys fly out. We- we're off it really quick, 'cause it looks terrible. They don't fly out very believably at all. Then this shot of them go- tumbling through space and then hitting into the Raptor. That's all CGI. It happens very fast and we want it to happen fast 'cause we don't want you to look at it too long, but virtually the entire scene from the moment that they- that the actors themselves leave the launch tube until they're inside the ship is virtually all CGI and that's all Gary Hutzel and his guys saving our ass, once again, in the editing room, when you're looking at footage and going, "Oh my God, does this suck? How are the fuck are we going to pay this off and make this work?" And Gary comes through. That's why you have a post-production, because they're supposed to save you.

Back to the [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] story. I think that a mistake that writers often make in rooms, and this is my mistake, and I'm guilty of this, is that you th- you trick yourself into believing that one of your surprises is going to be more surprising than it is. And I th- remember discussing the episode in the writers' room, and we talked about, "OK, well who's Adama's wife and how are we gonna play her. And OK, we're gonna find out that they had a divorce and that the thing about her, actually she was an abusive mother. And actually, she was an alcoholic. And, oh my God, she was all these terrible things. And it wasn't just that Adama left. That Adama was this terrible guy who's too busy and he had to- he was always getting called away to his job in the military and that's why he left. That's what broke up the family." You're gonna learn that actually she was this- huge person. This giant- this larger than life personality, that she was gonna be such a force of nature that ultimately he had to leave her. That was part of it. These two shouldn't have been married and they couldn't get along and that when she left she was a terrible mother. And as writers, I think you talk yourself into believing that that's going to be a surprise, because you haven't indicated it. And you believe that on some level the audience- the audience's assumption proceeds on a straight line. That because you've told the audience early on that Adama is divorced, and that Adama is all work, and that he's committed to his job, and that all he seems to care about is his job. And you- that the audience will continue on that straight line and they will believe that fundamentally that marriage broke up because Adama was a bad husband, and father, and he- and the marriage broke up and it's his fault, and she's perfectly fine. And that eventually the audience will come to accept that as the backstory and will just believe it, and then when you do this episode and you show that actually she's not that. That she's a drunk, and that she's crazy on some level, and abusive, and she was abusive to the kids. That will be a surprise, and that will be the surprise of the episode. I think ultimately that's not true. I mean, the audience is: a) They're smarter than that. b) They've seen a lot of stories and they've seen this particular turn before. and c) There's no reason for them to proceed in a straight line from the initial concept. The audience is much more likely to assume that there- that Carolanne is an unlikeable person, because otherwise why would our hero have- not be still married to her? But... you're in the room, and you're working on these stories. And you're looking f- I think you get caught up in looking for the final twist. You're now in a situation where you're doing the "day in the life" story. Which is a tricky, very detailed concept to deal with, and you're already starting to chicken out. You're starting to chicken out by having more jeopardy than the concept deserves, by that launch tube thing. You're chickening out by introducing all these other storylines that you have to service. And now you're chickening out by saying, "And there's gonna be a big surprise for the audience in the end." And the big surprise about Carolanne, the reason why we're doing this episode, is to tea- tell you that, "Hey, Carolanne was a scary monster." And essentially by chickening out all those times, you've destroyed the fundamental idea of what the show is. And now it's a show about how Cally and Tyrol are almost killed in a launch tube and how Adama was married to this harridan who was a drunk, and an abusive mother, and was really bad to [[Lee Adama|their son]]. And I don't know that that's a story that we should've told. I'm not sure that we- no, I am sure. It's not a story we should have told. That's not really the direction that we should've gone, both for the episode in question and for the series overall. To be clear, I don't think that this episode- this ep- the immediate comparison, I'm sure people listening to this podcast, the [[Main Page|regular listeners of this podcast]], will make- Oh. There's the end of the act. I'll come back.


== Act 4 ==

Coming back here in the top of the act. The comparison a lot of people who listen to this podcast may make is to [[Season 2 (2005-06)|last season]]'s [[Podcast:Black Market|episode]] "[[Black Market]]", which is- now lives in infamy because it the first one I came out and said, "OK. This episode sucks. So we're gonna talk about all the reasons why." I don't think of this as "Black Market" because "Black Market" upset me and disappointed me because we had- just turned out such a conventional piece of television and I knew that we had failed to live up what we- what the marching orders were for the epi- for the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|series]]. For what we were trying to achieve and we had s- somehow convinced ourself that a story had more weight and import than it did and it was- had moved into being pretentious on some level. I feel differently about this episode and you could say that maybe that's just my rationalization. I don't feel that way about this episode. I feel like this is a misfire, but it's a more of an honest misfire. I know, thinking back through the story process and how we got here, I can always remember the intention of trying to do something interesting and in depth and detailed about these characters and their lives. The desire not to do just another episode, to break new ground again. But in hindsight I can look back and say, "Oh, and there's where you deviated from that course, and you deviated from there again. And when you add it all up you just completely went in a different direction." But I know that our intentions were somewhat purer this time out. I mean, I don't know. Maybe they are equally as flawed and equally as bad, but I- in some eyes, but to me I don't intensely dislike this episode. I intensely disliked "Black Market". This episode I just feel disappointed in, regretful, and wish that I had approached it from a different perspective and been more rigorous, I think, with what we were trying to do when when we were going through the initial story break. 'Cause [[Mark Verheiden]] did a fine job of writing the episode. I don't think- he took the notes well. I don't think he delivered an episode that I didn't want. I think it's well directed. I think the performances are good. It just doesn't add up to its premise. It betrays its own premise. I mean, the title, in a real sense, the title was the only remnant of the original idea. If I didn't tell you that this story was called, "[[A Day in the Life]]," you probably would never say, "Well, oh yeah. That's the 'day in the life' episode."

I do like this little beat here. I'm sorry I'm skipping over so much that's actually onscreen on this podcast. I like this little beat with [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] in the iron lung, as it were. I think that's a really interesting juxtaposition of the family and the harshness of the mechanics involved.

Back to [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This storyline will continue. I mean, the idea of Lee's involvement with the trial. Lee's dealing with both the set- helping to set up the legal system and then direct involvement with the trial later, will continue. And I think it's a good way to go with him and I'm very happy to say that I know this pays off in a really cool way, and that it really takes us in a really great direction, so I'm very happy that we did do this. Like I said, initially, I think maybe the setup to it is a little awkward. Maybe somewhat dropping on the audience that Lee has an interest in le- the law, and that he might have any glancing acquaintance with any of these issues might be startling the first time. That said, I think, OK, that one I think you swallow, move on. I think you have to allow a TV show to invent things. You have to allow them to say things about the characters that they didn't intend at the very beginning. And I think you have to allow the show to grow and to evolve over time. And to discover things about the characters that you didn't know. If everything about the character is known or indicated in the pilot or the [[miniseries]] that creates it, then you have nothing left to discover along the way. And so I don't- I would argue that suddenly saying that Lee has an interest in the law, I would argue that that's a perfectly acceptable turn to do as a [[w:Show runner|showrunner]] and as somebody guiding the storyline.

There was a beat that I do regret losing in this that I don't think we ever filmed, 'cause I think I was too afraid, 'cause I was having such a fight about it at the time was- There was an explicit reference to the fact that she- still had a [[New Caprican loco weed|joint]] left from [[New Caprica]]. In the scene from during the "missing year" that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]". That [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] got high on New Caprica and there was a reference, and I think that you saw it in the episode, if I remember the first draft, there was a beat here where she had the- she still had a joint and it was- Oh, no! I'm sorry. I'm mixing that up. I regret that. They did. They did refer to it here, they refer to the fact that she still had a joint someplace, on ''[[Colonial One]]'', but there was another reference in "Unfinished Business". That's right. The end of "Unfinished Business", there was a beat with Laura back in her cabin where she opened something and it was still a- a joint was taped to a piece of paper that she had saved, from her. I think it was in her diary, or something like that. And it was still there. She took it out and smoked it and we- cut that at the time, 'cause we were so- having such a battle with the [[w:Standards & Practices|Standards and Practices]] about it, and- there was a reference in this script to getting high again, or that she might still have it, but it was cut at such an early stage and it was just one more flag, and it- I think I was in the middle of having the fight with them about- with having to fight with Standards and Practices about showing the joint in "Unfinished Business" at all, and I think I didn't want to wave the red flag in front of me by referring to it in yet another script that wasn't even coming before the censors at that point.

I do like this little scene with Laura and Adama. In the [[Podcast:A Day in the Life Bonus|editing podcast]] I think you'll hear me say that I wanted it to be much more simplified. It was intended to be much more subtextual. That I wanted to cut a lot of this dialogue and have- essentially say it with looks. When that cut came in, there was nothing there. I mean, sometimes you sit in editing and you say, "I wanna play all this in looks, and they should just look at each other, and it's all in subtext, and you get it." And sometimes that works, and it plays without the dialogue, and sometimes you just have two people looking at each other and it doesn't mean a damn thing. And this one of those cases when we had to say, "Well, OK. That's Adama and Laura looking at each other." He looks. She looks. He pauses. She pauses. She looks away. He looks away. And it didn't mean anything. So we- ended up going back and restoring a lot of the dialogue and restoring the scene which is unfortunate because I don't think the scene is as effective as conveying the emotion as you want it to be, and I think it would have been more effective if we had been able to do it just subtextually.

See, this scene here. This final scene between [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] and Adama, I wish had this chemistry that I was talking about earlier. I wish there was a- like a true spark between these two people. Because at this moment your heart should be breaking for them. You should be caught up in the fact that she was an abusive mother, and he hates her on some level, but he loves her on some level. And you should be just going, "Oh my God. She's such a- she's such a force of nature and yet he loves her, and I don't know what I think about her, and I'm torn, and I can-" You should just be in this really difficult position where you're n- you can't make up your mind how you feel about Carolanne and Adama. But in the- final cut I don't- know that you feel anything. And ultimately, if you don't feel anything, we have failed to tell you a good story.

So that is going to be the end of the podcast for episode fourteen, "A Day in the Life". I will do the [[Podcast:Dirty Hands|next podcast]] today, because I am well behind on my podcasting duties. Just slap me on the wrists. So in a- after I have my lunch, I will do the podcast for "[[Dirty Hands]]", which is a, I feel better about it as an episode, and I think is a more fully realized episode. Thank you for listening, and I will talk to you on the next episode. Good night and good luck.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-03-03T20:40:38Z

PrePressChris: /* A Day in the Life */ verified tease

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:A Day in the Life Bonus|A Day in the Life Bonus Podcast]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/bonus_edit_session/edit_pod_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Hour 1 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.) [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]
*Hour 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Hour 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Dirty Hands|Dirty Hands]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/316/bsg_ep316_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:42, 2 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:38, 2 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
=====[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]=====
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:A Day in the Life|A Day in the Life]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/315/bsg_ep315_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:18, 27 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 14:40, 3 March 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:44, 28 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:05, 1 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:47, 1 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:12, 2 March 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]
*[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]
*[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:A Day in the Life

2007-03-03T20:36:25Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ typo

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=|season=3|episode=F}}
== Teaser ==
Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and we're here to talk about what we still refer to as episode fourteen, "[[A Day in the Life]]". The Scotch for today's session is [http://www.bruichladdich.com/ Bruichladdich], with the [http://www.bruichladdich.com/latestnewsarticles/wmd_second.htm "yellow submarine"] label, which I've yet to figure out what that really means, in regards to Scotch. And no smoking today. The smoking lamp is out.

OK. Episode fourteen. This episode does not- did not turn out as well as, I think, we had all hoped that it would. I think there's a variety of reasons why and we will discuss them today, as we often have on the shows that didn't turn out quite as strong as we had initially hoped. What's interesting, to step back and give an overview of the show and the rhythms and currents of the series. This- there's a spate of standalone episodes, some of which are more successful than others, occurring here in the second half of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season three]]. Shows like [[The Woman King|thirteen]], fourteen, and a to an extent [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], although I think fifteen is, in some ways, the strongest of the three. In any case, there's a trio here of standalone episodes that didn't quite come together and aren't quite as strong as I think many of us had hoped. And that parallels certain things that happened in the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] where we also had a spate of standalonish episodes that didn't quite really come together as strongly and I think- we spent some time looking for systemic reasons or managerial reasons why we come to this place in the second half of the season and tend to have trouble. And I'm not sure that there is a reason other than just bad story decisions.

I think that conceptually I liked this idea of doing the "Day in the Life" episode and centering it around [[William Adama|Adama]]. The "day in the life" is a staple of television storytelling and it's always there in the writers' room. It's something that I think writers are always drawn to, which is to break from format and do a character study and the "day in the life" is a structure that provides you with opportunity to detail out all the little minutiae, which is a bit of a redundancy redundancy, but all of the minutiae in a character's day and explicating the how's and why's of their job and their friendships and their pressures and stepping back from plot and narrative and giving you an opportunity to delve into character. I think it's also a very tricky structure that appears on its surface to be simpler than it really is. I've gone at these kinds of stories a couple of times and I'm always attracted to them. They inevitably always turn out to be much more complicated beasts than what you think they would at the outset. You know, the first thing that you run into in structuring a "day in the life" type episode is that, almost by definition, a "day in the life" is not supposed to have anything very dramatic happen in it. Conceptually you're doing a show that is just a typical day and TV episodes and films are all about atypical days. They're all about the unusual thing that happened that day. The dramatic thing that happened that day. The amazing thing that happened that day. The mysterious thing that happened that day. The funny thing that happened that day. Not the typical thing that happened that day. So you're already going into a counterintuitive place when you're approaching the story. And what tends to happen through the story proce- story development process is that in order to tell that story effectively in the television format you inevitably find some device, some plot thing that will happen on a typical day that illustrates the fact that they're- in a place like [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] something dangerous is always lurking just around the corner. And I think that's justified by not only the conflict with the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] but in this case just the danger of the ship itself. I always liked the idea that the ''Galactica'' was- that ''Galactica'' gave you an opportunity to present the life of being aboard a warship, especially an aircraft carrier, which are incredibly dangerous ships. They're very dangerous places to work and they have accidents and fatalities in the best of times and that- so to do a day in the life episode aboard ''Galactica'', it was easy to say, OK, that will be an accident that day. There would be an accident, and this is just one of many things that happens on Adama's "day in the life." I think that, unfortunately, what happens in this- in the structure of the piece is that you can see us leaning over and spending more time on that story, the [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]-[[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] story, the story of them getting caught in a [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] and spending too much time over there, really, on a story that was never designed to be a [[w:Structural engineering|weight-bearing]] member. It supposed to be a small plot device that you're following throughout the show and ultimately explodes into jeopardy towards the end to intersect with the Adama story. But as you watch the episode as aired, we spend a lot of time setting up that story and it seems like it's a story of big weight and big moment and that something's gonna happen, and "Oh my God! What's gonna happen to Tyrol and Cally?" But it's not a very exciting story. It's a small story. It was designed to be a small story. But I think because of certain problems that we were having in the Adama side of things, you start leaning on the other story because it's an easier hook. It's an easier fix to say, "Well, give us more of the Tyrol-Cally stuff because that's a straight-up jeopardy."

The Adama section. I mean, this episode began life as a concept and it was pitched in the writers' room and it might have been my idea. I don't- really recall. I will just say it's my idea because it's not a perfectly executed idea so I will take responsibility for it, essentially. And as I always say on these podcasts, when I criticize an episode or where I'm talking about an episode that I don't think has worked as effectively as we had hoped, ultimately I'm the guy in charge. These are my decisions and so I'm the one who ultimately made the wrong calls in whatever the calls were in this episode. Essentially I was attracted to doing a "day in the life" episode. I love this idea that here's the wo- that we get to know [[Carolanne Adama|the woman]] that Adama was married to. Who was this woman? Who was the woman that is [[Lee Adama|Lee]]'s mother, Adama divorced, and died back on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and here's a person that we've never really dealt with in the story, and I thought, "Well, she's an interesting figure," and, "Who is she?" And I fell in love with this idea that Adama allows himself to think about her exactly one day a year. On their wedding anniversary Adama permits himself to think about this woman and to fantasize about being with this woman and to allow himself that break. To allow himself to let her- thoughts of her enter back into his life. 'Cause he never talks about her. She's not somebody that- he doesn't keep pictures around of her. He wears the wedding ring. And he's always worn the wedding ring in the show. I've always thought that was an interesting subtle touch that said a lot about the divorce man who still is wearing the wedding ring, lo many years later. And so I was interested in this concept that, OK, on the one day, he takes her picture out and she's like a real person to him. He has her in his life for one day and at the end of the day he puts the picture away until next year. And there was something sweet and poetic about that that I responded to and really liked.

I think that some of the decisions that we made, in terms of what- well the first thing that came up was, "How do you portray her." In the initial story documents, and I think the initial script, the intention was for Carolanne, or Caroline in the early drafts, what Carolanne was going to appear with Adama on the ship and we would play her sort of akin to how we play [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Baltar.27s_Internal_Six|"head Six"]] and [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six.27s_Internal_Baltar|"head Baltar"]]. That they're imaginary people that only the character- that the point of view character can see. And so Adama would walk through the halls and Carolanne would be walking with him and commenting on the day and, essentially, it was going to be more about, as structured, the piece was about Ada- going through one day with Adama. And as he went through his day Caroline- Carolanne went with him and commented on the scenes as they happened. So right away the first thing that came up was, "Well, OK, how do you distinguish that from
'head Six' and 'head Baltar' for the audience." 'Cause we have a lot of imaginary people wandering around the ship at this point and here's a device that's meant to convey a character's subjective point of view and really be in his head in a true fantasy sense and not convey the sense of, "Who is this imaginary person who has suddenly- or not- Who is this person who is appearing to only this character? Is Carol-" You don't want the audience to watch it and go, "OK. Is Carolanne related to 'head Six'? Is Carolanne related to 'head Baltar'? Is she a Cylon?" You had to get away from all that quickly. At first we talked about a structure whereby whenever Carolanne appeared and she would have a scene with- like, she would appear in a scene and talk to Adama at length, they would interact and then you would go back to reality and you would realize that no time had passed and Adama- if Adama, for instance was standing in the middle of the room having a conversation with Carolanne and their conversation took them across the room or over to the door, where they had an argument, then the scene ends and you res- Adama is reset back to the middle of the room where he was at the beginning. No one else in the room is aware that anything else has happened. And that was the concept to convey that these conversations and these interaction were com- were taking place completely in Adama's head. That it wasn't the same device that we were using for "head Six" and "head Baltar" wherein Baltar actually reacts and talks to his imaginary blonde partner in real time and people see him react. And so we were trying to make that distinction, but it's a subtle distinction and I think what happened was as we got deeper into the draft and into prep on the episode both [[Rod Hardy|the director]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]], Eddie Olmos, both felt that that wasn't gonna work and they were worried about it being too much like [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] and [[Caprica Six|Six]] and that it- the distinction would be blurred.


== Act 1 ==

Act one. So from there came this notion of doing the house. Let's do a house. [[William Adama|Adama]] goes to a place. Sorta like how Balt- again, you could say, "Well, it's like how [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to his place," but we're tr- at least visually you're setting it apart from what's happening on the [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. So we came up with this idea of the house, which Adama would go to, this is presumably the house he and [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] shared, and he permits himself to think of the house and to think of Carolanne in these moments, to go and be with her one more time. I think that in the drama itself it does break you out of the show. It does get outside of ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s walls, which is always nice, especially at this point in [[season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], in that a location to go to, but it does distance, I think, what's happening. Because when you get back to these shots of Adama in the corridor, we're working overtime to bring her pr- to make her more present in the show. She's- isolated in this other reality that he's clearly fantasizing about, but it doesn't have the immediacy of the initial idea. The immediacy of her walking side by side with Adama as he went down the corridors was gonna feel very different. Also, this scene here, with Adama and with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] would've felt very different if Carolanne had been in the room with them. That's not to say that that would have saved things. That's not to say that that was the perfect solution, but I think it would've made these scenes have a little bit more dramatic impact because I think if you saw this visual triangle of Adama, Laura, and Carolanne, I think it just resonates in a different way than having Carolanne as the off-camera voice or going to the fantasy place in his head.

This storyline, Adama and Laura is- you can clearly see over the course of the past few episodes we're playing a little bit more on their relationship, a little tête-à-tête, that something might or might not happen between these two. This show was the most overt step in a certain direction of a relationship between the two characters. I think that what we're doing is we're playing it very slowly. I don't know that it ever will culminate in the two of them "getting together", but I think that there was always a sense that for Laura and for Adama, realistically speaking, there really weren't any choices for them in terms of a partner, in terms of somebody that they could be involved with in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] 'cause of their positions. Adama is the admiral. She's the President. They are the only peers to one another. She relates to him, he relates to her, in a way that they don't relate to anyone else in the entire Fleet. And it's a- they're a man and woman and they're both attractive, and they're both smart, and they're both passionate and you feel the reasons for why they might be drawn towards one another. But there are so many other obstacles to that that I think that we never wanted to take it too far down the road. But it do- there is a logic to them thinking about it, to at least considering it. And for the- flirtations and the hints along the way and to feel that there really is a pull drove us into directions like this.

The storyline of [[Lee Adama|Lee]] getting involved with Baltar's trial was one that we worked over at length in the writers' room. The multi-step process of setting up a legal system was something that we talked about quite a bit. I think that conceptually this works. I don't know that it works dramatically, to put Lee into- to have Lee become interested in the law or setup his interest in the law in this particular episode. I think that it's a little- there's a little bit- it's a little awkward how we introduct- introduce this idea of Lee's interest in law, that as a child and that Laura would think of him in that capacity. It's a- it's somewhat awkward but I think it's plausible. I think it works, so that's like the best you can do at this point.

Again, we're back here in the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] and we're milking this now. Now we're milking the drama here for all it's worth because- we're, I think, frankly I think we're afraid of the Adama story. It just wasn't playing as strongly as we had hoped. And part of it has to do- there's a lot of reasons why I don't think the Adama-Carolanne story is really hitting on all cylinders here. Part of it is a casting issue. It's nothing against the actress, who's a good actress, well recommended, good body of work, we really liked her. I think she's a good performer. But I don't think there's a lot of chemistry here. I think that there's chemistry is missing between Adama and her, and Carolanne, and I think that's a crucial component. And that's something that's hard to judge from the outside. It's hard, sometimes, to cast important roles in isolation. Ideally you, in a perfect world, you have the husband reading the lines to the potential wife in the casting sessions. But you don't usually get that luxury. Especially in television. And I think that for fifty million reasons why of being busy, of not paying attention, and thinking that everything is OK and telling yourself that you're on top of it, you make a casting decision that ultimately doesn't help you in the show. Again, I'm not criticizing the actress. I'm commenting on the fact that she and Adama are not clicking on a certain level. There's not a sense of rapport. There's not an easy communication between the two like you want in a married couple and there's just not the spark there. You want this woman, Carolanne, to really spark off of him and him to s- to be sparking off of her, and you're not quite seeing that interaction. I think- and I think that lack of chemistry, which, is not- you cannot lay at the feet of the actors, it's just one of those things that happens or doesn't happen, but that lack of fundamental chemistry, in some level, makes us pull away editorially, and on the stage, and ultimately in the show, away from the storyline, looking for other drama.

The story with Lee, and you're coming up here on the scene with Lee. I started to talk about this a minute ago, but Lee getting involved in the legal system. Throughout the season, I've talked about this before, we've struggled with the character of Lee in terms of exactly what we wanted him to do within the drama of the show. I think in many ways he has one of the most difficult roles in the show because he is- he's the hero. He's the most straight-up hero that we have in the series, and I think that's a hard role to play in this context. And I think sometimes it's hard to know what we want to do with that character within the show. We did really like the idea that Lee would get involved with this trial, and that there was something about the character and about the actor that lent itself towards the idea that he was intellectual, that had an interest in something beyond the cockpit and that he wasn't all about the military. That we were also building this family history, in terms of the Adama family, partially because we were developing [[Caprica (series)|''Caprica'']], the prequel that may or may not get off the ground. But in the ''Caprica'' backstory we get more involved in the family Adama, and indeed, Adama's father, Lee's grandfather, who was an attorney. Who did a lot of legal work and had a contr- a charged relationship with his son, William Adama, and that Lee would in turn be informed by that. OK, so there was something with the grandfather who was a lawyer, and the son that then b- went into the military, and then there's the grandson. And that the grandson on some level was split between the two, or at least felt split at time. Who had an affinity towards looking towards the law or was fascinated by what his grandfather did, if for no other reason than the fact that his father did not like what his grandfather did, and that alone would be enough to spark the boy's interest. So that all built the building blocks of getting to the place where we thought, "Well, Lee could get involved with the trial." 'Cause we also wanted some of our key players involved with the trial of Baltar and this was like an- our entrée into it.

I think that one of the other problems with the "day in the life" concept for us, in this particular episode, is that we didn't- we weren't true to that concept. We weren't true to the idea that a "day in the life" episode is about following Adama through his day. Showing the routines and the rituals of his day. And that was an early decision. As we got- it was- you pitch it in the room and we got excited about it and it goes up on the board and then you start breaking it, and I think we let go of what makes "day in the life" work, when it does work. Which is to see the minutiae, the detail, the trivia. The things- where does Adama eat? What does he have for breakfast? What is- what are the rhythms of his day? What are the rhythms that this man has built into his day? What are the things that are built into it for him? And how does he see the world? It sh- you should be looking at ''Galactica'' through Adama's eyes and seeing it fresh, as if you've never seen it before, because his point of view on their lives and on the ship should be different than the audience's point of view. And I think what happens here in the episode it that we get c- so caught up in telling these other stories that we're trying to tell, Lee getting involved in Baltar's trial, tracking Laura and Adama, dealing with who was Adama's wife and what was the nature of their relationship, and of course the [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]]-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] situation going on in the launch tube. You're trying to tell all these other tales that you lose the impetus to do the story in the first place, which is to stroke out the daily life of the c- of one of the central figures in the show. And we don't. I think at the end of the day you don't know more about Adama's day than you really did at the beginning. I mean, some little tiny things, but they're insignificant. The fact that he gets a report in the morning and that he meets with Laura occasionally. And the rest of it just is swamped. I think that's unfortunate. I think that was a mistake. I think- that if I had to do this again we would have to really take a broom to a lot of elements of the show, particularly the launch tube story, and really exam it as a way of detailing out character and that- well, that's the end of the act. I'll come back.

== Act 2 ==

Act two. So you can see right up here from the get-go in this act, our heroes are now charging into action and we've stretched the "jeopardy" of the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] situation as far as humanly possible, but now the rest of the show becomes about this launch tube situation. Which was never what I wanted to do. I mean, it was never that important to me. I thought it was an interesting little plot device. I thought that the conversations between [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] were a little bit interesting, in terms of their characters, and their relationships, and the relation- state of the the marriage, and the fact that they have this child, and what are they gonna do with the child in case they die. I thought those were all interesting ideas and, again, I liked the fact that it illuminated the rickety nature of the vessel and this wasn't the [[memoryalpha: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|''Enterprise'']] and that shit just happens on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and you gotta, like, deal with it. All that said, what- when this- when that story became so important to the episode, I think the episode loses the charm of what we were trying to do. 'Cause the charm is follow the character through the day. See the life. Invest in the- small things in life. Invest in- lunch. Invest in what [[William Adama|Adama]]'s having for lunch, because on some level, his experience of lunch is telling you something about his character that you didn't know before and that it's interesting. I mean, where's [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] in all this? Right now, we're in this crisis situation. If we'd gone the original way we'd pitched this, Carolanne would be in the [[CIC]] with them, commenting on the situation, possibly distracting him. Maybe this is the one time that he doesn't want to think about her but it's like, "Don't think about the elephant in the room," so he has to think about the elephant and you play the conflict of that. But because we've set up this thing with the cottage and being in the fantasy world, you can't cut from the CIC to the fantasy world. It's- he looks like he's completely irresponsible.

So now we're involved in the plot. The rescue attempt and all that is fine. I don't have a problem with it conceptually. I think it's a nice little piece of business. I always like playing some of the realities of being stuck on a spaceship. This all interesting detail work about oxygen masks and vacuums. I do take delight in exploding the myth, the Hollywood myth, about human beings not being able to survive in a vacuum for any length of time. It's like that scene in- oh, I'm gonna blow the name. What's the [[w:Arnold Schwarzenegger|Schwarzenegger]] film where they're on [[w:Mars|Mars]]. It's not [[w:True Lies|''True Lies'']], which is what I want to say, but I can't- It's a Verhoe- It's the [[w:Paul Verhoeven|Verhoeven]] film. Everyone listening to this podcast will probably know the film I'm talking about. But essentially he's- [[w:Total Recall|''Total Recall'']], thank you. He's in ''Total Recall'' and there's a sequence where they're outside in the Martian atmosphere and it's virtually a vacuum. There's very little atmosphere and their eyes explode and all these horrible things happen. And it's a staple of Hollywood productions that people in vacuums just exp- pop like balloons. And doing research on this at [[memoryalpha:Star Trek|Trek]], that's not true. It doesn't happen that way. People can survive in a hard vacuum for a short amount of time. And they even did this way back in [[w:2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|''2001'']]. He's- when the [[w:David Bowman|astronaut]] survives in the hard vacuum for a few seconds to get from point A to point B. So it's always fun to do that, 'cause you're still- people- it's counterintuitive to the audience at this point. They've become so inured to this idea that "vacuum equals death" that when you take 'em through the process like this and really say you're really gonna expose character to a vacuum, the audience goes, "Huh? What? Really?" And it give you this- it's a cheap way of getting you a bit of jeopardy.

But again, I think this story's just working way too hard for what it is. We haven't- the tale was not constructed to really go in-depth on Tyrol and Cally. It was supposed to be a small story that included Tyrol and Cally and their small jeopardy and because of the Adam- problems in the Adama-Carolanne story, we're just leaning heavier on this story to carry- the weight of the show and ultimately that's just not a good- choice.

The Carolanne-Adama story. I think, again, to analyze what we wanted to do, and where I think we went wrong, I think that Carolanne as conscience, or- not even as conscience. Carolanne as commentator on his day, on who he is, as the voice to talk to him and to us as he goes through the routines of his day and deconstructing the man and deconstructing his soul and trying to take him apart brick by brick, because that's what she did in their marriage. I think that's an interesting idea. I think that what we have now is her being a bitch and strange and drinking too much and you don't really get enough time in the relationship to care about her and to care about the fact that he cares about her. You- it's indicated around the corners but it's not really fully realized. And, for instance, here. This in some ways is the most genuine, heartfelt moment of the show. Cally and Tyrol embracing in the launch tube, facing their- the possibility of their death, worrying about [[Nicholas Tyrol|their son]]. That there's honest emotion there. But, the most honest emotion in this show should not be on that storyline. That should- this shoulda been a quick sequence that was done with and over, and we were on the other story. And unfortunately you're heart now, in the third act, is drawn over to this storyline. And the story isn't about them. And- because we didn't h- we didn't really get into deeper things about Tyrol. We didn't get into deeper things about Cally. We didn't get int- explore a lot of fresh territory between the two of them as characters. When you get to this moment of the two of them holding each other in their arms and being very emotional about it, I think there's a feeling of being cheated by the audience. That you're watching it and you're going, "I haven't- they haven't really earned that."

== Act 3 ==

Act three. Again, Gary Hart- Gary Hart. Sorry, [[Gary Hutzel]], and his visual effects team really doing gangbuster service once again for us on all these visual effects of the [[Raptor]] and spotting all the detail work on the hatch, and so on. I think that the toughest thing in this whole concept was- flying these two out of the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]]. And we did 'em on wires, of course. How else could you do it? We put 'em on wires, put 'em in the harnesses, flew them out, and then everything else is CGI. The Raptor is CGI. This shot looking into the Raptor is not, of course. That's the actual actors on the set. But the big catch coming up is an entirely CGI sequence. And you're starting to see the places where CGI is actually starting to become more effective and better, not just from a budgetary standpoint, but actually a reality standpoint, to deliver certain ideas and certain sequences. And one of them is the idea of bodies moving through a weightless environment. Putting actors in harnesses and acting them to act and move correctly in a weightless- and pretend like they're in a weightless environment is really difficult. It's- virtually impossible on a TV schedule, 'cause you need time. It needs practice. There's lots of issues with weight and balance and- it's almost- it's a ballet. They have to do it a believable way. So here we've got- I love this sh- the looking up shot. The shot from below [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] is a great one. So these guys go flying out of the [[airlock]] here in just a second. Blow the hatch. Hatch goes. I like the hit on the Raptor. OK. Those guys fly out. We- we're off it really quick, 'cause it looks terrible. They don't fly out very believably at all. Then this shot of them go- tumbling through space and then hitting into the Raptor. That's all CGI. It happens very fast and we want it to happen fast 'cause we don't want you to look at it too long, but virtually the entire scene from the moment that they- that the actors themselves leave the launch tube until they're inside the ship is virtually all CGI and that's all Gary Hutzel and his guys saving our ass, once again, in the editing room, when you're looking at footage and going, "Oh my God, does this suck? How are the fuck are we going to pay this off and make this work?" And Gary comes through. That's why you have a post-production, because they're supposed to save you.

Back to the [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] story. I think that a mistake that writers often make in rooms, and this is my mistake, and I'm guilty of this, is that you th- you trick yourself into believing that one of your surprises is going to be more surprising than it is. And I th- remember discussing the episode in the writers' room, and we talked about, "OK, well who's Adama's wife and how are we gonna play her. And OK, we're gonna find out that they had a divorce and that the thing about her, actually she was an abusive mother. And actually, she was an alcoholic. And, oh my God, she was all these terrible things. And it wasn't just that Adama left. That Adama was this terrible guy who's too busy and he had to- he was always getting called away to his job in the military and that's why he left. That's what broke up the family." You're gonna learn that actually she was this- huge person. This giant- this larger than life personality, that she was gonna be such a force of nature that ultimately he had to leave her. That was part of it. These two shouldn't have been married and they couldn't get along and that when she left she was a terrible mother. And as writers, I think you talk yourself into believing that that's going to be a surprise, because you haven't indicated it. And you believe that on some level the audience- the audience's assumption proceeds on a straight line. That because you've told the audience early on that Adama is divorced, and that Adama is all work, and that he's committed to his job, and that all he seems to care about is his job. And you- that the audience will continue on that straight line and they will believe that fundamentally that marriage broke up because Adama was a bad husband, and father, and he- and the marriage broke up and it's his fault, and she's perfectly fine. And that eventually the audience will come to accept that as the backstory and will just believe it, and then when you do this episode and you show that actually she's not that. That she's a drunk, and that she's crazy on some level, and abusive, and she was abusive to the kids. That will be a surprise, and that will be the surprise of the episode. I think ultimately that's not true. I mean, the audience is: a) They're smarter than that. b) They've seen a lot of stories and they've seen this particular turn before. and c) There's no reason for them to proceed in a straight line from the initial concept. The audience is much more likely to assume that there- that Carolanne is an unlikeable person, because otherwise why would our hero have- not be still married to her? But... you're in the room, and you're working on these stories. And you're looking f- I think you get caught up in looking for the final twist. You're now in a situation where you're doing the "day in the life" story. Which is a tricky, very detailed concept to deal with, and you're already starting to chicken out. You're starting to chicken out by having more jeopardy than the concept deserves, by that launch tube thing. You're chickening out by introducing all these other storylines that you have to service. And now you're chickening out by saying, "And there's gonna be a big surprise for the audience in the end." And the big surprise about Carolanne, the reason why we're doing this episode, is to tea- tell you that, "Hey, Carolanne was a scary monster." And essentially by chickening out all those times, you've destroyed the fundamental idea of what the show is. And now it's a show about how Cally and Tyrol are almost killed in a launch tube and how Adama was married to this harridan who was a drunk, and an abusive mother, and was really bad to [[Lee Adama|their son]]. And I don't know that that's a story that we should've told. I'm not sure that we- no, I am sure. It's not a story we should have told. That's not really the direction that we should've gone, both for the episode in question and for the series overall. To be clear, I don't think that this episode- this ep- the immediate comparison, I'm sure people listening to this podcast, the [[Main Page|regular listeners of this podcast]], will make- Oh. There's the end of the act. I'll come back.


== Act 4 ==

Coming back here in the top of the act. The comparison a lot of people who listen to this podcast may make is to [[Season 2 (2005-06)|last season]]'s [[Podcast:Black Market|episode]] "[[Black Market]]", which is- now lives in infamy because it the first one I came out and said, "OK. This episode sucks. So we're gonna talk about all the reasons why." I don't think of this as "Black Market" because "Black Market" upset me and disappointed me because we had- just turned out such a conventional piece of television and I knew that we had failed to live up what we- what the marching orders were for the epi- for the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|series]]. For what we were trying to achieve and we had s- somehow convinced ourself that a story had more weight and import than it did and it was- had moved into being pretentious on some level. I feel differently about this episode and you could say that maybe that's just my rationalization. I don't feel that way about this episode. I feel like this is a misfire, but it's a more of an honest misfire. I know, thinking back through the story process and how we got here, I can always remember the intention of trying to do something interesting and in depth and detailed about these characters and their lives. The desire not to do just another episode, to break new ground again. But in hindsight I can look back and say, "Oh, and there's where you deviated from that course, and you deviated from there again. And when you add it all up you just completely went in a different direction." But I know that our intentions were somewhat purer this time out. I mean, I don't know. Maybe they are equally as flawed and equally as bad, but I- in some eyes, but to me I don't intensely dislike this episode. I intensely disliked "Black Market". This episode I just feel disappointed in, regretful, and wish that I had approached it from a different perspective and been more rigorous, I think, with what we were trying to do when when we were going through the initial story break. 'Cause [[Mark Verheiden]] did a fine job of writing the episode. I don't think- he took the notes well. I don't think he delivered an episode that I didn't want. I think it's well directed. I think the performances are good. It just doesn't add up to its premise. It betrays its own premise. I mean, the title, in a real sense, the title was the only remnant of the original idea. If I didn't tell you that this story was called, "[[A Day in the Life]]," you probably would never say, "Well, oh yeah. That's the 'day in the life' episode."

I do like this little beat here. I'm sorry I'm skipping over so much that's actually onscreen on this podcast. I like this little beat with [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] in the iron lung, as it were. I think that's a really interesting juxtaposition of the family and the harshness of the mechanics involved.

Back to [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This storyline will continue. I mean, the idea of Lee's involvement with the trial. Lee's dealing with both the set- helping to set up the legal system and then direct involvement with the trial later, will continue. And I think it's a good way to go with him and I'm very happy to say that I know this pays off in a really cool way, and that it really takes us in a really great direction, so I'm very happy that we did do this. Like I said, initially, I think maybe the setup to it is a little awkward. Maybe somewhat dropping on the audience that Lee has an interest in le- the law, and that he might have any glancing acquaintance with any of these issues might be startling the first time. That said, I think, OK, that one I think you swallow, move on. I think you have to allow a TV show to invent things. You have to allow them to say things about the characters that they didn't intend at the very beginning. And I think you have to allow the show to grow and to evolve over time. And to discover things about the characters that you didn't know. If everything about the character is known or indicated in the pilot or the [[miniseries]] that creates it, then you have nothing left to discover along the way. And so I don't- I would argue that suddenly saying that Lee has an interest in the law, I would argue that that's a perfectly acceptable turn to do as a [[w:Show runner|showrunner]] and as somebody guiding the storyline.

There was a beat that I do regret losing in this that I don't think we ever filmed, 'cause I think I was too afraid, 'cause I was having such a fight about it at the time was- There was an explicit reference to the fact that she- still had a [[New Caprican loco weed|joint]] left from [[New Caprica]]. In the scene from during the "missing year" that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]". That [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] got high on New Caprica and there was a reference, and I think that you saw it in the episode, if I remember the first draft, there was a beat here where she had the- she still had a joint and it was- Oh, no! I'm sorry. I'm mixing that up. I regret that. They did. They did refer to it here, they refer to the fact that she still had a joint someplace, on ''[[Colonial One]]'', but there was another reference in "Unfinished Business". That's right. The end of "Unfinished Business", there was a beat with Laura back in her cabin where she opened something and it was still a- a joint was taped to a piece of paper that she had saved, from her. I think it was in her diary, or something like that. And it was still there. She took it out and smoked it and we- cut that at the time, 'cause we were so- having such a battle with the [[w:Standards & Practices|Standards and Practices]] about it, and- there was a reference in this script to getting high again, or that she might still have it, but it was cut at such an early stage and it was just one more flag, and it- I think I was in the middle of having the fight with them about- with having to fight with Standards and Practices about showing the joint in "Unfinished Business" at all, and I think I didn't want to wave the red flag in front of me by referring to it in yet another script that wasn't even coming before the censors at that point.

I do like this little scene with Laura and Adama. In the [[Podcast:A Day in the Life Bonus|editing podcast]] I think you'll hear me say that I wanted it to be much more simplified. It was intended to be much more subtextual. That I wanted to cut a lot of this dialogue and have- essentially say it with looks. When that cut came in, there was nothing there. I mean, sometimes you sit in editing and you say, "I wanna play all this in looks, and they should just look at each other, and it's all in subtext, and you get it." And sometimes that works, and it plays without the dialogue, and sometimes you just have two people looking at each other and it doesn't mean a damn thing. And this one of those cases when we had to say, "Well, OK. That's Adama and Laura looking at each other." He looks. She looks. He pauses. She pauses. She looks away. He looks away. And it didn't mean anything. So we- ended up going back and restoring a lot of the dialogue and restoring the scene which is unfortunate because I don't think the scene is as effective as conveying the emotion as you want it to be, and I think it would have been more effective if we had been able to do it just subtextually.

See, this scene here. This final scene between [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] and Adama, I wish had this chemistry that I was talking about earlier. I wish there was a- like a true spark between these two people. Because at this moment your heart should be breaking for them. You should be caught up in the fact that she was an abusive mother, and he hates her on some level, but he loves her on some level. And you should be just going, "Oh my God. She's such a- she's such a force of nature and yet he loves her, and I don't know what I think about her, and I'm torn, and I can-" You should just be in this really difficult position where you're n- you can't make up your mind how you feel about Carolanne and Adama. But in the- final cut I don't- know that you feel anything. And ultimately, if you don't feel anything, we have failed to tell you a good story.

So that is going to be the end of the podcast for episode fourteen, "A Day in the Life". I will do the [[Podcast:Dirty Hands|next podcast]] today, because I am well behind on my podcasting duties. Just slap me on the wrists. So in a- after I have my lunch, I will do the podcast for "[[Dirty Hands]]", which is a, I feel better about it as an episode, and I think is a more fully realized episode. Thank you for listening, and I will talk to you on the next episode. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:A Day in the Life

2007-03-03T20:33:22Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ changed wording (07:07)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=|season=3|episode=F}}
== Teaser ==
Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and we're here to talk about what we still refer to as episode fourteen, "[[A Day in the Life]]". The Scotch for today's session is [http://www.bruichladdich.com/ Bruichladdich], with the [http://www.bruichladdich.com/latestnewsarticles/wmd_second.htm "yellow submarine"] label, which I've yet to figure out what that really means, in regards to Scotch. And no smoking today. The smoking lamp is out.

OK. Episode fourteen. This episode does not- did not turn out as well as, I think, we had all hoped that it would. I think there's a variety of reasons why and we will discuss them today, as we often have on the shows that didn't turn out quite as strong as we had initially hoped. What's interesting, to step back and give an overview of the show and the rhythms and currents of the series. This- there's a spate of standalone episodes, some of which are more successful than others, occurring here in the second half of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season three]]. Shows like [[The Woman King|thirteen]], fourteen, and a to an extent [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], although I think fifteen is, in some ways, the strongest of the three. In any case, there's a trio here of standalone episodes that didn't quite come together and aren't quite as strong as I think many of us had hoped. And that parallels certain things that happened in the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] where we also had a spate of standalonish episodes that didn't quite really come together as strongly and I think- we spent some time looking for systemic reasons or managerial reasons why we come to this place in the second half of the season and tend to have trouble. And I'm not sure that there is a reason other than just bad story decisions.

I think that conceptually I liked this idea of doing the "Day in the Life" episode and centering it around [[William Adama|Adama]]. The "day in the life" is a staple of television storytelling and it's always there in the writers' room. It's something that I think writers are always drawn to, which is to break from format and do a character study and the "day in the life" is a structure that provides you with opportunity to detail out all the little minutiae, which is a bit of a redundancy redundancy, but all of the minutiae in a character's day and explicating the how's and why's of their job and their friendships and their pressures and stepping back from plot and narrative and giving you an opportunity to delve into character. I think it's also a very tricky structure that appears on its surface to be simpler than it really is. I've gone at these kinds of stories a couple of times and I'm always attracted to them. They inevitably always turn out to be much more complicated beasts than what you think they would at the outset. You know, the first thing that you run into in structuring a "day in the life" type episode is that, almost by definition, a "day in the life" is not supposed to have anything very dramatic happen in it. Conceptually you're doing a show that is just a typical day and TV episodes and films are all about atypical days. They're all about the unusual thing that happened that day. The dramatic thing that happened that day. The amazing thing that happened that day. The mysterious thing that happened that day. The funny thing that happened that day. Not the typical thing that happened that day. So you're already going into a counterintuitive place when you're approaching the story. And what tends to happen through the story proce- story development process is that in order to tell that story effectively in the television format you inevitably find some device, some plot thing that will happen on a typical day that illustrates the fact that they're- in a place like [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] something dangerous is always lurking just around the corner. And I think that's justified by not only the conflict with the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] but in this case just the danger of the ship itself. I always liked the idea that the ''Galactica'' was- that ''Galactica'' gave you an opportunity to present the life of being aboard a warship, especially an aircraft carrier, which are incredibly dangerous ships. They're very dangerous places to work and they have accidents and fatalities in the best of times and that- so to do a day in the life episode aboard ''Galactica'', it was easy to say, OK, that will be an accident that day. There would be an accident, and this is just one of many things that happens on Adama's "day in the life." I think that, unfortunately, what happens in this- in the structure of the piece is that you can see us leaning over and spending more time on that story, the [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]-[[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] story, the story of them getting caught in a [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] and spending too much time over there, really, on a story that was never designed to be a [[w:Structural engineering|weight-bearing]] member. It supposed to be a small plot device that you're following throughout the show and ultimately explodes into jeopardy towards the end to intersect with the Adama story. But as you watch the episode as aired, we spend a lot of time setting up that story and it seems like it's a story of big weight and big moment and that something's gonna happen, and "Oh my God! What's gonna happen to Tyrol and Cally?" But it's not a very exciting story. It's a small story. It was designed to be a small story. But I think because of certain problems that we were having in the Adama side of things, you start leaning on the other story because it's an easier hook. It's an easier fix to say, "Well, give us more of the Tyrol-Cally stuff because that's a straight-up jeopardy."

The Adama section. I mean, this episode began life as a concept and it was pitched in the writers' room and it might have been my idea. I don't- really recall. I will just say it's my idea because it's not a perfectly executed idea so I will take responsibility for it, essentially. And as I always say on these podcasts, when I criticize an episode or where I'm talking about an episode that I don't think has worked as effectively as we had hoped, ultimately I'm the guy in charge. These are my decisions and so I'm the one who ultimately made the wrong calls in whatever the calls were in this episode. Essentially I was attracted to doing a "day in the life" episode. I love this idea that here's the wo- that we get to know [[Carolanne Adama|the woman]] that Adama was married to. Who was this woman? Who was the woman that is [[Lee Adama|Lee]]'s mother, Adama divorced, and died back on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and here's a person that we've never really dealt with in the story, and I thought, "Well, she's an interesting figure," and, "Who is she?" And I fell in love with this idea that Adama allows himself to think about her exactly one day a year. On their wedding anniversary Adama permits himself to think about this woman and to fantasize about being with this woman and to allow himself that break. To allow himself to let her- thoughts of her enter back into his life. 'Cause he never talks about her. She's not somebody that- he doesn't keep pictures around of her. He wears the wedding ring. And he's always worn the wedding ring in the show. I've always thought that was an interesting subtle touch that said a lot about the divorce man who still is wearing the wedding ring, lo many years later. And so I was interested in this concept that, OK, on the one day, he takes her picture out and she's like a real person to him. He has her in his life for one day and at the end of the day he puts the picture away until next year. And there was something sweet and poetic about that that I responded to and really liked.

I think that some of the decisions that we made, in terms of what- well the first thing that came up was, "How do you portray her." In the initial story documents, and I think the initial script, the intention was for Carolanne, or Caroline in the early drafts, what Carolanne was going to appear with Adama on the ship and we would play her sort of akin to how we play [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Baltar.27s_Internal_Six|"head Six"]] and [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six.27s_Internal_Baltar|"head Baltar"]]. That they're imaginary people that only the character- that the point of view character can see. And so Adama would walk through the halls and Carolanne would be walking with him and commenting on the day and, essentially, it was going to be more about, as structured, the piece was about Ada- going through one day with Adama. And as he went through is day Caroline- Carolanne went with him and commented on the scenes as they happened. So right away the first thing that came up was, "Well, OK, how do you distinguish that from
'head Six' and 'head Baltar' for the audience." 'Cause we have a lot of imaginary people wandering around the ship at this point and here's a device that's meant to convey a character's subjective point of view and really be in his head in a true fantasy sense and not convey the sense of, "Who is this imaginary person who has suddenly- or not- Who is this person who is appearing to only this character? Is Carol-" You don't want the audience to watch it and go, "OK. Is Carolanne related to 'head Six'? Is Carolanne related to 'head Baltar'? Is she a Cylon?" You had to get away from all that quickly. At first we talked about a structure whereby whenever Carolanne appeared and she would have a scene with- like, she would appear in a scene and talk to Adama at length, they would interact and then you would go back to reality and you would realize that no time had passed and Adama- if Adama, for instance was standing in the middle of the room having a conversation with Carolanne and their conversation took them across the room or over to the door, where they had an argument, then the scene ends and you res- Adama is reset back to the middle of the room where he was at the beginning. No one else in the room is aware that anything else has happened. And that was the concept to convey that these conversations and these interaction were com- were taking place completely in Adama's head. That it wasn't the same device that we were using for "head Six" and "head Baltar" wherein Baltar actually reacts and talks to his imaginary blonde partner in real time and people see him react. And so we were trying to make that distinction, but it's a subtle distinction and I think what happened was as we got deeper into the draft and into prep on the episode both [[Rod Hardy|the director]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]], Eddie Olmos, both felt that that wasn't gonna work and they were worried about it being too much like [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] and [[Caprica Six|Six]] and that it- the distinction would be blurred.


== Act 1 ==

Act one. So from there came this notion of doing the house. Let's do a house. [[William Adama|Adama]] goes to a place. Sorta like how Balt- again, you could say, "Well, it's like how [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to his place," but we're tr- at least visually you're setting it apart from what's happening on the [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. So we came up with this idea of the house, which Adama would go to, this is presumably the house he and [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] shared, and he permits himself to think of the house and to think of Carolanne in these moments, to go and be with her one more time. I think that in the drama itself it does break you out of the show. It does get outside of ''Galactica''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s walls, which is always nice, especially at this point in [[season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], in that a location to go to, but it does distance, I think, what's happening. Because when you get back to these shots of Adama in the corridor, we're working overtime to bring her pr- to make her more present in the show. She's- isolated in this other reality that he's clearly fantasizing about, but it doesn't have the immediacy of the initial idea. The immediacy of her walking side by side with Adama as he went down the corridors was gonna feel very different. Also, this scene here, with Adama and with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] would've felt very different if Carolanne had been in the room with them. That's not to say that that would have saved things. That's not to say that that was the perfect solution, but I think it would've made these scenes have a little bit more dramatic impact because I think if you saw this visual triangle of Adama, Laura, and Carolanne, I think it just resonates in a different way than having Carolanne as the off-camera voice or going to the fantasy place in his head.

This storyline, Adama and Laura is- you can clearly see over the course of the past few episodes we're playing a little bit more on their relationship, a little tête-à-tête, that something might or might not happen between these two. This show was the most overt step in a certain direction of a relationship between the two characters. I think that what we're doing is we're playing it very slowly. I don't know that it ever will culminate in the two of them "getting together", but I think that there was always a sense that for Laura and for Adama, realistically speaking, there really weren't any choices for them in terms of a partner, in terms of somebody that they could be involved with in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] 'cause of their positions. Adama is the admiral. She's the President. They are the only peers to one another. She relates to him, he relates to her, in a way that they don't relate to anyone else in the entire Fleet. And it's a- they're a man and woman and they're both attractive, and they're both smart, and they're both passionate and you feel the reasons for why they might be drawn towards one another. But there are so many other obstacles to that that I think that we never wanted to take it too far down the road. But it do- there is a logic to them thinking about it, to at least considering it. And for the- flirtations and the hints along the way and to feel that there really is a pull drove us into directions like this.

The storyline of [[Lee Adama|Lee]] getting involved with Baltar's trial was one that we worked over at length in the writers' room. The multi-step process of setting up a legal system was something that we talked about quite a bit. I think that conceptually this works. I don't know that it works dramatically, to put Lee into- to have Lee become interested in the law or setup his interest in the law in this particular episode. I think that it's a little- there's a little bit- it's a little awkward how we introduct- introduce this idea of Lee's interest in law, that as a child and that Laura would think of him in that capacity. It's a- it's somewhat awkward but I think it's plausible. I think it works, so that's like the best you can do at this point.

Again, we're back here in the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] and we're milking this now. Now we're milking the drama here for all it's worth because- we're, I think, frankly I think we're afraid of the Adama story. It just wasn't playing as strongly as we had hoped. And part of it has to do- there's a lot of reasons why I don't think the Adama-Carolanne story is really hitting on all cylinders here. Part of it is a casting issue. It's nothing against the actress, who's a good actress, well recommended, good body of work, we really liked her. I think she's a good performer. But I don't think there's a lot of chemistry here. I think that there's chemistry is missing between Adama and her, and Carolanne, and I think that's a crucial component. And that's something that's hard to judge from the outside. It's hard, sometimes, to cast important roles in isolation. Ideally you, in a perfect world, you have the husband reading the lines to the potential wife in the casting sessions. But you don't usually get that luxury. Especially in television. And I think that for fifty million reasons why of being busy, of not paying attention, and thinking that everything is OK and telling yourself that you're on top of it, you make a casting decision that ultimately doesn't help you in the show. Again, I'm not criticizing the actress. I'm commenting on the fact that she and Adama are not clicking on a certain level. There's not a sense of rapport. There's not an easy communication between the two like you want in a married couple and there's just not the spark there. You want this woman, Carolanne, to really spark off of him and him to s- to be sparking off of her, and you're not quite seeing that interaction. I think- and I think that lack of chemistry, which, is not- you cannot lay at the feet of the actors, it's just one of those things that happens or doesn't happen, but that lack of fundamental chemistry, in some level, makes us pull away editorially, and on the stage, and ultimately in the show, away from the storyline, looking for other drama.

The story with Lee, and you're coming up here on the scene with Lee. I started to talk about this a minute ago, but Lee getting involved in the legal system. Throughout the season, I've talked about this before, we've struggled with the character of Lee in terms of exactly what we wanted him to do within the drama of the show. I think in many ways he has one of the most difficult roles in the show because he is- he's the hero. He's the most straight-up hero that we have in the series, and I think that's a hard role to play in this context. And I think sometimes it's hard to know what we want to do with that character within the show. We did really like the idea that Lee would get involved with this trial, and that there was something about the character and about the actor that lent itself towards the idea that he was intellectual, that had an interest in something beyond the cockpit and that he wasn't all about the military. That we were also building this family history, in terms of the Adama family, partially because we were developing [[Caprica (series)|''Caprica'']], the prequel that may or may not get off the ground. But in the ''Caprica'' backstory we get more involved in the family Adama, and indeed, Adama's father, Lee's grandfather, who was an attorney. Who did a lot of legal work and had a contr- a charged relationship with his son, William Adama, and that Lee would in turn be informed by that. OK, so there was something with the grandfather who was a lawyer, and the son that then b- went into the military, and then there's the grandson. And that the grandson on some level was split between the two, or at least felt split at time. Who had an affinity towards looking towards the law or was fascinated by what his grandfather did, if for no other reason than the fact that his father did not like what his grandfather did, and that alone would be enough to spark the boy's interest. So that all built the building blocks of getting to the place where we thought, "Well, Lee could get involved with the trial." 'Cause we also wanted some of our key players involved with the trial of Baltar and this was like an- our entrée into it.

I think that one of the other problems with the "day in the life" concept for us, in this particular episode, is that we didn't- we weren't true to that concept. We weren't true to the idea that a "day in the life" episode is about following Adama through his day. Showing the routines and the rituals of his day. And that was an early decision. As we got- it was- you pitch it in the room and we got excited about it and it goes up on the board and then you start breaking it, and I think we let go of what makes "day in the life" work, when it does work. Which is to see the minutiae, the detail, the trivia. The things- where does Adama eat? What does he have for breakfast? What is- what are the rhythms of his day? What are the rhythms that this man has built into his day? What are the things that are built into it for him? And how does he see the world? It sh- you should be looking at ''Galactica'' through Adama's eyes and seeing it fresh, as if you've never seen it before, because his point of view on their lives and on the ship should be different than the audience's point of view. And I think what happens here in the episode it that we get c- so caught up in telling these other stories that we're trying to tell, Lee getting involved in Baltar's trial, tracking Laura and Adama, dealing with who was Adama's wife and what was the nature of their relationship, and of course the [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]]-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] situation going on in the launch tube. You're trying to tell all these other tales that you lose the impetus to do the story in the first place, which is to stroke out the daily life of the c- of one of the central figures in the show. And we don't. I think at the end of the day you don't know more about Adama's day than you really did at the beginning. I mean, some little tiny things, but they're insignificant. The fact that he gets a report in the morning and that he meets with Laura occasionally. And the rest of it just is swamped. I think that's unfortunate. I think that was a mistake. I think- that if I had to do this again we would have to really take a broom to a lot of elements of the show, particularly the launch tube story, and really exam it as a way of detailing out character and that- well, that's the end of the act. I'll come back.

== Act 2 ==

Act two. So you can see right up here from the get-go in this act, our heroes are now charging into action and we've stretched the "jeopardy" of the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]] situation as far as humanly possible, but now the rest of the show becomes about this launch tube situation. Which was never what I wanted to do. I mean, it was never that important to me. I thought it was an interesting little plot device. I thought that the conversations between [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] were a little bit interesting, in terms of their characters, and their relationships, and the relation- state of the the marriage, and the fact that they have this child, and what are they gonna do with the child in case they die. I thought those were all interesting ideas and, again, I liked the fact that it illuminated the rickety nature of the vessel and this wasn't the [[memoryalpha: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|''Enterprise'']] and that shit just happens on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and you gotta, like, deal with it. All that said, what- when this- when that story became so important to the episode, I think the episode loses the charm of what we were trying to do. 'Cause the charm is follow the character through the day. See the life. Invest in the- small things in life. Invest in- lunch. Invest in what [[William Adama|Adama]]'s having for lunch, because on some level, his experience of lunch is telling you something about his character that you didn't know before and that it's interesting. I mean, where's [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] in all this? Right now, we're in this crisis situation. If we'd gone the original way we'd pitched this, Carolanne would be in the [[CIC]] with them, commenting on the situation, possibly distracting him. Maybe this is the one time that he doesn't want to think about her but it's like, "Don't think about the elephant in the room," so he has to think about the elephant and you play the conflict of that. But because we've set up this thing with the cottage and being in the fantasy world, you can't cut from the CIC to the fantasy world. It's- he looks like he's completely irresponsible.

So now we're involved in the plot. The rescue attempt and all that is fine. I don't have a problem with it conceptually. I think it's a nice little piece of business. I always like playing some of the realities of being stuck on a spaceship. This all interesting detail work about oxygen masks and vacuums. I do take delight in exploding the myth, the Hollywood myth, about human beings not being able to survive in a vacuum for any length of time. It's like that scene in- oh, I'm gonna blow the name. What's the [[w:Arnold Schwarzenegger|Schwarzenegger]] film where they're on [[w:Mars|Mars]]. It's not [[w:True Lies|''True Lies'']], which is what I want to say, but I can't- It's a Verhoe- It's the [[w:Paul Verhoeven|Verhoeven]] film. Everyone listening to this podcast will probably know the film I'm talking about. But essentially he's- [[w:Total Recall|''Total Recall'']], thank you. He's in ''Total Recall'' and there's a sequence where they're outside in the Martian atmosphere and it's virtually a vacuum. There's very little atmosphere and their eyes explode and all these horrible things happen. And it's a staple of Hollywood productions that people in vacuums just exp- pop like balloons. And doing research on this at [[memoryalpha:Star Trek|Trek]], that's not true. It doesn't happen that way. People can survive in a hard vacuum for a short amount of time. And they even did this way back in [[w:2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|''2001'']]. He's- when the [[w:David Bowman|astronaut]] survives in the hard vacuum for a few seconds to get from point A to point B. So it's always fun to do that, 'cause you're still- people- it's counterintuitive to the audience at this point. They've become so inured to this idea that "vacuum equals death" that when you take 'em through the process like this and really say you're really gonna expose character to a vacuum, the audience goes, "Huh? What? Really?" And it give you this- it's a cheap way of getting you a bit of jeopardy.

But again, I think this story's just working way too hard for what it is. We haven't- the tale was not constructed to really go in-depth on Tyrol and Cally. It was supposed to be a small story that included Tyrol and Cally and their small jeopardy and because of the Adam- problems in the Adama-Carolanne story, we're just leaning heavier on this story to carry- the weight of the show and ultimately that's just not a good- choice.

The Carolanne-Adama story. I think, again, to analyze what we wanted to do, and where I think we went wrong, I think that Carolanne as conscience, or- not even as conscience. Carolanne as commentator on his day, on who he is, as the voice to talk to him and to us as he goes through the routines of his day and deconstructing the man and deconstructing his soul and trying to take him apart brick by brick, because that's what she did in their marriage. I think that's an interesting idea. I think that what we have now is her being a bitch and strange and drinking too much and you don't really get enough time in the relationship to care about her and to care about the fact that he cares about her. You- it's indicated around the corners but it's not really fully realized. And, for instance, here. This in some ways is the most genuine, heartfelt moment of the show. Cally and Tyrol embracing in the launch tube, facing their- the possibility of their death, worrying about [[Nicholas Tyrol|their son]]. That there's honest emotion there. But, the most honest emotion in this show should not be on that storyline. That should- this shoulda been a quick sequence that was done with and over, and we were on the other story. And unfortunately you're heart now, in the third act, is drawn over to this storyline. And the story isn't about them. And- because we didn't h- we didn't really get into deeper things about Tyrol. We didn't get into deeper things about Cally. We didn't get int- explore a lot of fresh territory between the two of them as characters. When you get to this moment of the two of them holding each other in their arms and being very emotional about it, I think there's a feeling of being cheated by the audience. That you're watching it and you're going, "I haven't- they haven't really earned that."

== Act 3 ==

Act three. Again, Gary Hart- Gary Hart. Sorry, [[Gary Hutzel]], and his visual effects team really doing gangbuster service once again for us on all these visual effects of the [[Raptor]] and spotting all the detail work on the hatch, and so on. I think that the toughest thing in this whole concept was- flying these two out of the [[Launch tube (RDM)|launch tube]]. And we did 'em on wires, of course. How else could you do it? We put 'em on wires, put 'em in the harnesses, flew them out, and then everything else is CGI. The Raptor is CGI. This shot looking into the Raptor is not, of course. That's the actual actors on the set. But the big catch coming up is an entirely CGI sequence. And you're starting to see the places where CGI is actually starting to become more effective and better, not just from a budgetary standpoint, but actually a reality standpoint, to deliver certain ideas and certain sequences. And one of them is the idea of bodies moving through a weightless environment. Putting actors in harnesses and acting them to act and move correctly in a weightless- and pretend like they're in a weightless environment is really difficult. It's- virtually impossible on a TV schedule, 'cause you need time. It needs practice. There's lots of issues with weight and balance and- it's almost- it's a ballet. They have to do it a believable way. So here we've got- I love this sh- the looking up shot. The shot from below [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] is a great one. So these guys go flying out of the [[airlock]] here in just a second. Blow the hatch. Hatch goes. I like the hit on the Raptor. OK. Those guys fly out. We- we're off it really quick, 'cause it looks terrible. They don't fly out very believably at all. Then this shot of them go- tumbling through space and then hitting into the Raptor. That's all CGI. It happens very fast and we want it to happen fast 'cause we don't want you to look at it too long, but virtually the entire scene from the moment that they- that the actors themselves leave the launch tube until they're inside the ship is virtually all CGI and that's all Gary Hutzel and his guys saving our ass, once again, in the editing room, when you're looking at footage and going, "Oh my God, does this suck? How are the fuck are we going to pay this off and make this work?" And Gary comes through. That's why you have a post-production, because they're supposed to save you.

Back to the [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] story. I think that a mistake that writers often make in rooms, and this is my mistake, and I'm guilty of this, is that you th- you trick yourself into believing that one of your surprises is going to be more surprising than it is. And I th- remember discussing the episode in the writers' room, and we talked about, "OK, well who's Adama's wife and how are we gonna play her. And OK, we're gonna find out that they had a divorce and that the thing about her, actually she was an abusive mother. And actually, she was an alcoholic. And, oh my God, she was all these terrible things. And it wasn't just that Adama left. That Adama was this terrible guy who's too busy and he had to- he was always getting called away to his job in the military and that's why he left. That's what broke up the family." You're gonna learn that actually she was this- huge person. This giant- this larger than life personality, that she was gonna be such a force of nature that ultimately he had to leave her. That was part of it. These two shouldn't have been married and they couldn't get along and that when she left she was a terrible mother. And as writers, I think you talk yourself into believing that that's going to be a surprise, because you haven't indicated it. And you believe that on some level the audience- the audience's assumption proceeds on a straight line. That because you've told the audience early on that Adama is divorced, and that Adama is all work, and that he's committed to his job, and that all he seems to care about is his job. And you- that the audience will continue on that straight line and they will believe that fundamentally that marriage broke up because Adama was a bad husband, and father, and he- and the marriage broke up and it's his fault, and she's perfectly fine. And that eventually the audience will come to accept that as the backstory and will just believe it, and then when you do this episode and you show that actually she's not that. That she's a drunk, and that she's crazy on some level, and abusive, and she was abusive to the kids. That will be a surprise, and that will be the surprise of the episode. I think ultimately that's not true. I mean, the audience is: a) They're smarter than that. b) They've seen a lot of stories and they've seen this particular turn before. and c) There's no reason for them to proceed in a straight line from the initial concept. The audience is much more likely to assume that there- that Carolanne is an unlikeable person, because otherwise why would our hero have- not be still married to her? But... you're in the room, and you're working on these stories. And you're looking f- I think you get caught up in looking for the final twist. You're now in a situation where you're doing the "day in the life" story. Which is a tricky, very detailed concept to deal with, and you're already starting to chicken out. You're starting to chicken out by having more jeopardy than the concept deserves, by that launch tube thing. You're chickening out by introducing all these other storylines that you have to service. And now you're chickening out by saying, "And there's gonna be a big surprise for the audience in the end." And the big surprise about Carolanne, the reason why we're doing this episode, is to tea- tell you that, "Hey, Carolanne was a scary monster." And essentially by chickening out all those times, you've destroyed the fundamental idea of what the show is. And now it's a show about how Cally and Tyrol are almost killed in a launch tube and how Adama was married to this harridan who was a drunk, and an abusive mother, and was really bad to [[Lee Adama|their son]]. And I don't know that that's a story that we should've told. I'm not sure that we- no, I am sure. It's not a story we should have told. That's not really the direction that we should've gone, both for the episode in question and for the series overall. To be clear, I don't think that this episode- this ep- the immediate comparison, I'm sure people listening to this podcast, the [[Main Page|regular listeners of this podcast]], will make- Oh. There's the end of the act. I'll come back.


== Act 4 ==

Coming back here in the top of the act. The comparison a lot of people who listen to this podcast may make is to [[Season 2 (2005-06)|last season]]'s [[Podcast:Black Market|episode]] "[[Black Market]]", which is- now lives in infamy because it the first one I came out and said, "OK. This episode sucks. So we're gonna talk about all the reasons why." I don't think of this as "Black Market" because "Black Market" upset me and disappointed me because we had- just turned out such a conventional piece of television and I knew that we had failed to live up what we- what the marching orders were for the epi- for the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|series]]. For what we were trying to achieve and we had s- somehow convinced ourself that a story had more weight and import than it did and it was- had moved into being pretentious on some level. I feel differently about this episode and you could say that maybe that's just my rationalization. I don't feel that way about this episode. I feel like this is a misfire, but it's a more of an honest misfire. I know, thinking back through the story process and how we got here, I can always remember the intention of trying to do something interesting and in depth and detailed about these characters and their lives. The desire not to do just another episode, to break new ground again. But in hindsight I can look back and say, "Oh, and there's where you deviated from that course, and you deviated from there again. And when you add it all up you just completely went in a different direction." But I know that our intentions were somewhat purer this time out. I mean, I don't know. Maybe they are equally as flawed and equally as bad, but I- in some eyes, but to me I don't intensely dislike this episode. I intensely disliked "Black Market". This episode I just feel disappointed in, regretful, and wish that I had approached it from a different perspective and been more rigorous, I think, with what we were trying to do when when we were going through the initial story break. 'Cause [[Mark Verheiden]] did a fine job of writing the episode. I don't think- he took the notes well. I don't think he delivered an episode that I didn't want. I think it's well directed. I think the performances are good. It just doesn't add up to its premise. It betrays its own premise. I mean, the title, in a real sense, the title was the only remnant of the original idea. If I didn't tell you that this story was called, "[[A Day in the Life]]," you probably would never say, "Well, oh yeah. That's the 'day in the life' episode."

I do like this little beat here. I'm sorry I'm skipping over so much that's actually onscreen on this podcast. I like this little beat with [[Cally Tyrol|Cally]] and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] in the iron lung, as it were. I think that's a really interesting juxtaposition of the family and the harshness of the mechanics involved.

Back to [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This storyline will continue. I mean, the idea of Lee's involvement with the trial. Lee's dealing with both the set- helping to set up the legal system and then direct involvement with the trial later, will continue. And I think it's a good way to go with him and I'm very happy to say that I know this pays off in a really cool way, and that it really takes us in a really great direction, so I'm very happy that we did do this. Like I said, initially, I think maybe the setup to it is a little awkward. Maybe somewhat dropping on the audience that Lee has an interest in le- the law, and that he might have any glancing acquaintance with any of these issues might be startling the first time. That said, I think, OK, that one I think you swallow, move on. I think you have to allow a TV show to invent things. You have to allow them to say things about the characters that they didn't intend at the very beginning. And I think you have to allow the show to grow and to evolve over time. And to discover things about the characters that you didn't know. If everything about the character is known or indicated in the pilot or the [[miniseries]] that creates it, then you have nothing left to discover along the way. And so I don't- I would argue that suddenly saying that Lee has an interest in the law, I would argue that that's a perfectly acceptable turn to do as a [[w:Show runner|showrunner]] and as somebody guiding the storyline.

There was a beat that I do regret losing in this that I don't think we ever filmed, 'cause I think I was too afraid, 'cause I was having such a fight about it at the time was- There was an explicit reference to the fact that she- still had a [[New Caprican loco weed|joint]] left from [[New Caprica]]. In the scene from during the "missing year" that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]". That [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] got high on New Caprica and there was a reference, and I think that you saw it in the episode, if I remember the first draft, there was a beat here where she had the- she still had a joint and it was- Oh, no! I'm sorry. I'm mixing that up. I regret that. They did. They did refer to it here, they refer to the fact that she still had a joint someplace, on ''[[Colonial One]]'', but there was another reference in "Unfinished Business". That's right. The end of "Unfinished Business", there was a beat with Laura back in her cabin where she opened something and it was still a- a joint was taped to a piece of paper that she had saved, from her. I think it was in her diary, or something like that. And it was still there. She took it out and smoked it and we- cut that at the time, 'cause we were so- having such a battle with the [[w:Standards & Practices|Standards and Practices]] about it, and- there was a reference in this script to getting high again, or that she might still have it, but it was cut at such an early stage and it was just one more flag, and it- I think I was in the middle of having the fight with them about- with having to fight with Standards and Practices about showing the joint in "Unfinished Business" at all, and I think I didn't want to wave the red flag in front of me by referring to it in yet another script that wasn't even coming before the censors at that point.

I do like this little scene with Laura and Adama. In the [[Podcast:A Day in the Life Bonus|editing podcast]] I think you'll hear me say that I wanted it to be much more simplified. It was intended to be much more subtextual. That I wanted to cut a lot of this dialogue and have- essentially say it with looks. When that cut came in, there was nothing there. I mean, sometimes you sit in editing and you say, "I wanna play all this in looks, and they should just look at each other, and it's all in subtext, and you get it." And sometimes that works, and it plays without the dialogue, and sometimes you just have two people looking at each other and it doesn't mean a damn thing. And this one of those cases when we had to say, "Well, OK. That's Adama and Laura looking at each other." He looks. She looks. He pauses. She pauses. She looks away. He looks away. And it didn't mean anything. So we- ended up going back and restoring a lot of the dialogue and restoring the scene which is unfortunate because I don't think the scene is as effective as conveying the emotion as you want it to be, and I think it would have been more effective if we had been able to do it just subtextually.

See, this scene here. This final scene between [[Carolanne Adama|Carolanne]] and Adama, I wish had this chemistry that I was talking about earlier. I wish there was a- like a true spark between these two people. Because at this moment your heart should be breaking for them. You should be caught up in the fact that she was an abusive mother, and he hates her on some level, but he loves her on some level. And you should be just going, "Oh my God. She's such a- she's such a force of nature and yet he loves her, and I don't know what I think about her, and I'm torn, and I can-" You should just be in this really difficult position where you're n- you can't make up your mind how you feel about Carolanne and Adama. But in the- final cut I don't- know that you feel anything. And ultimately, if you don't feel anything, we have failed to tell you a good story.

So that is going to be the end of the podcast for episode fourteen, "A Day in the Life". I will do the [[Podcast:Dirty Hands|next podcast]] today, because I am well behind on my podcasting duties. Just slap me on the wrists. So in a- after I have my lunch, I will do the podcast for "[[Dirty Hands]]", which is a, I feel better about it as an episode, and I think is a more fully realized episode. Thank you for listening, and I will talk to you on the next episode. Good night and good luck.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-23T23:33:21Z

PrePressChris: /* The Woman King */ Stick a fork in it, it's done.

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:A Day in the Life|A Day in the Life]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/315/bsg_ep315_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=====[[Podcast:A Day in the Life Bonus|A Day in the Life Bonus Podcast]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/bonus_edit_session/edit_pod_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Hour 1 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Hour 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Hour 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/314/bsg_ep314_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:08, 12 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:59, 13 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:21, 14 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:44, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:39, 15 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:44, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:01, 17 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:24, 18 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:42, 20 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 17:33, 23 February 2007 (CST).)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]
*[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-23T23:32:22Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 4 */ changed word and punctuation (starting at 41:30)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and that was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|this season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this again. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon and preventing them from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I decided to cut the scene. It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I think this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']] here. Helo- there's a good possibility he might jump up on that desk and drop kick Cottle when he comes into the room.

I'm trying to recall. There were other versions of the backstory and what [[Michael Robert|Robert]] had done. Some of them- there were quite a bit of things back in [[New Caprica]]. There were details of what Robert had done on New Caprica. Also in regards to the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] and how far back his theories of eugenics that been seeded. But, again, a lot of that we had cut back significantly or at least deemphasized because that plotline about the Sagittarons on New Caprica ultimately went away.

I like- it's nice to use Cottle as a bit of a foil here. It's nice to see that Cottle is not really interested in what Helo has to say. That Cottle is tired. Everyone on this ship is tired. There's a bit of- there's a hint here of Cottle having been fed up with Helo. 'Cause I think we, in earlier drafts, or at least in discussion, I know, we had talked about the fact that Helo had come to Cottle in the past on various reasons, again, as part of that [[w:The Boy Who Cried Wolf|''Boy Who Cried Wolf'']] story, and Cottle was fed up with him at this point too. And every- essentially there was this story that everyone on the ship was looking at Helo and going, "This guy- I don't know what's up with this guy, but he's looking to prove somethin' to somebody." And everybody was getting sick of it. So that was also why Cottle got so hot here. But it's nice to just have the officer turn to someone who just says, "You know what? Fuck you. Get out of my office," and "I don't need this shit." And this- and this decision. This thing here of Cottle, of Cottle lying and saying that he's done the autopsy and just flat out lying to Helo is an interesting thing to do because your characters don't typically just lie. Just cover up shit because they're tired and they don't want to deal with you and they just lie to you to get your sorry ass out of their office. I really like that. It's such a small character thing but it's- that's what human beings do. Sometimes human beings lie for dumb reasons. And sometimes human beings lie just because you're being a pain in the ass and they don't want to talk to you anymore and they just tell you some shit to get you out of their office. And in this case it had- potentially has a huge repurccussion. I- we're not being fair to Cottle on some level because we don't see the moment on camera when he dec- he has second thoughts and goes back realizes that, "Well, shit. I really didn't do that. I should look it up and do my job and I am a doctor, after all." And yeah, you can say that's a flaw but it's not his show. You do have to make these kinds of decisions and I think it's just fine. It works just as well. You've set it up. You've established the conversation, and so later on when Cottle does come back and says, "Ok. I was lying. I went back and checked it," it doesn't feel like you've really cheated the audience.

I like Helo's just instinct here that, knock on Helo's door in the middle of the night. This guy has a different response. Espescially given his current mindset. He doesn't just say, "Come on in." There's a real sense of danger. These are people that have lived in dangerous circumstances for a very long time.

Are you sleeping with her? Sharon is shocked. She's finally faced Helo's forbidden lover.

This scene is good that it does touch on the issues here. It does touch on the issues of them aboard the ship, of Helo's self-image and her awareness of- Helo's situation and how they're viewed. In some- measure you can say that this is a g- this is enough in the show. You don't need the deleted scene to tip your hat in that direction. Yeah. It's a subtlety. It's a subtlety. And yeah, see? That's what it's really about. Don't forget that you're a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] because he can't forget that, 'cause no one forgets that. See? And that line- that line is a reference, again, to the deleted scene. "My defining characteristic is that I'm married to a Cylon." And I think that conversation went on. I'm pretty sure there was additional dialogue that dealt with the- idea of what Helo had done in a much more direct way. Talked a little bit more explicitly about that.

These are pickup shots as well that were not- able to get, I think, during the initial shoot with [[Michael Rymer|Mike Rymer]].


== Act 4 ==

RDM: Ok. And we're back. I think there was a bigger role for [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] in this, also, even within this episode. There was a longer discussion of her and her position as a bridge between people on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and the people on that- the people down in [[Dogsville]]. And her going to Doctor [[Robert]] was a bigger character turn with her, 'cause it meant she was embracing some of the older be- some of her family- some of her people's belief systems and was willing to see herself as a [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittaron]] and go to Doctor Robert, who every Sagittaron was afraid of. So it had- there were a few layers of character work involved with what we were doing with her, but those scenes just kept getting dropped and the script was ridiculously long-

Terry: Oh my god! [[Bruce Davison]]!

RDM: -at that point, so it went away. What?

Terry: Bruce Davison!

RDM: Yeah, this is the Bruce Davison episode.

Terry: You didn't tell me you had- he's like one of my favorite actors on [http://www.theplanet.com/ the planet].

RDM: Didn't you see this episode?

Terry: No. I didn't see this episode.

RDM: How could you- you've seen this episode.

Terry: No I haven't.

RDM: You've seen every episode.

Terry: I would have comment- no. I would have commented on him.

RDM: This is the one where they're dyi-

Terry: They know- the people who are listening all know which one it is. No, I've never seen this episode.

RDM: Terry doesn't remember seeing this episode.

Terry: Ugh. I have.

RDM: She's- Terry sees every episode.

Terry: I've never seen him.

RDM: Well, I'll have to have a special viewing for Terry-

Terry: (Chuckles.)

RDM: -later on. She's really seen all the episodes.

Terry: I so have not.

RDM: Don't let her- fool you.

Terry: They already think we fight all the time. So don't-

RDM: NO THEY DON'T!

Terry: Yes they do!

RDM: The back- there was more back- to the backstory between [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and Doctor Robert. He was somebody that Tigh had known in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]], had come to him for help on previous occasions. Had actually, I think, seen Doctor Robert down in- there was something specific between the two of them down on [[New Caprica]] that I can't recall. Oh yeah. I think it was something with the eye. I think Robert actually helped patch up the eye, or something. There might even be a throw-away line that made it into the f- the air.

Terry: He was in [[w:Six Degrees of Separation (film)|''Six Degrees of Separation'']]. I mean, he's just amazing.

RDM: Yeah. He's a great actor.

Terry: He's a great actor.

RDM: I really like Bruce Davison as an actor.

I've gotta go rent [[w:Soap (TV series)|''Soap'']] and watch Doc [[Cottle]] on those early- those old ''Soap'' episodes.

Terry: He was on [[w:The Young and the Restless|''The Young and Restless'']], like in 1972, or something.

RDM: Yeah. He was great-

Terry: He played, like, a young stud.

RDM: He was hysterically funny on ''Soap''. On ''Soap'' he was, like, the escaped convict and it was really good.

Terry: Oh yeah. That's right.

RDM: You remember that?

Terry: Yeah. Yeah.

No, we saw him on [[w:Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid|''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'']], remember?

RDM: Oh, right! He's in ''Butch and Sundance'', that's right. He's done a lot of stuff.

Terry: Mhmm.

RDM: He's cra- he crops up quite a bit. He's a really good actor. Really good actor. I love him in this role. This is even one of my favorite roles. It's such a great little part, and it's such an old chestnut. It's the ship's doctor, and it's usually been done fifty different ways come Sunday, but I love our cigarette smoking Cottle.

Terry: Well it's-

RDM: It's like, you don't wanna end up in his [[sick bay]].

Terry: He's the crusty, old family doctor that everybody wishes they have except that he's got all his- he's got a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

RDM: Yeah. Yeah.

Terry: It makes that character a little scary.

RDM: Just a little scary. 'Cause what's goin' on there? Chester going, "What?" You cannot be in the podcast, dog.

The issue of Tigh's incipient racism regarding the Sagittarons, [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]]'s racism regarding the Sagittarons. Again, I think it's- problematic in the episode, only because we haven't been playing it. It's not something that we'd established specifically in the show. It was, to be fair, something we'd always talked about. We always talked in the writers' room about the fact that there were certain Colonies that were ill thought of by the other Colonies, and I think we had quickly gone to the Sagittarion was one of them. The conditions of the planet being such that [[Tom Zarek]] was a terrorist there and blowing up government buildings. It certainly was a place of unrest and social upheaval and it felt right that that was the planet that had been picked on by the others. The notion of Sagittaron was that it was stripped, essentially, by the other Colonies for its resources over time and it had always been the Colony that the others took advantage of and kicked around and did shit.

Oh this is- I'm sorry. This is where the deleted scene went. I think the deleted scene at the end of tonight's episode is actually an extension of this epis- of this scene. Not the earlier one. Easy to get them confused 'cause the actors are sitting in exactly the same positions.

This scene had a little bit more meaning when there was also the added layer of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s having been the officer that cried wolf all that time and [[William Adama|Adama]] having personally not listened to him, but it still plays. It plays within- the context of this episode. I like that Adama's the kind of leader that apologizes to his men face to face. Yeah, see? See, that's nice. It's nice that he just salutes and leaves, but that was the cut. I think that was the moment where Helo actually told Adama. I'm pretty- I'm positive know that I've seen it again, that that's the moment when Helo told Adama that he had let the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] die.

Now our fair hero back, back in the bosom of his family.

So that's essentially episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]". I think it's a nice episode. I think it's a, like I said, it's a good episode to introduce your friends to, if they've never seen the show, because you don't have to really know much about [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] in order to follow it. We keep the mythology and the multiple Cylons to a bare minimum.

Terry: Don't bother introducing it to your wife.

RDM: Don't bother introducing it to your wife, 'cause she'll just forget it after she's seen it.

Terry: (Laughs.) I so did not.

RDM: 'Cause that's how little she thinks of about the show. She can't even remember the episodes now.

Terry: You know what?

RDM: It's like, "Oh. Have I seen the [[miniseries]]? Did I see anything?"

Terry: You think I've forgotten a whole episode?

RDM: So that's that. Next week's episode will be episode fourteen, "[[A Day in the Life]]", and we will talk to you again, then, so thank you very much for listening. Good night and good luck.

Terry: Bye everybody.

RDM: Bye.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-18T19:24:00Z

PrePressChris: /* The Woman King */ verified act 3

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/314/bsg_ep314_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:08, 12 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:59, 13 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:21, 14 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:44, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:39, 15 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:44, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:01, 17 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:24, 18 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]
*[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-18T19:15:00Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 3 */ + dropped word (30:02)

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-18T19:06:01Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 3 */ changed words (26:00)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and that was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|this season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this again. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon and preventing them from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I decided to cut the scene. It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']] here. Helo- there's a good possibility he might jump up on that desk and drop kick Cottle when he comes into the room.

I'm trying to recall. There were other versions of the backstory and what [[Michael Robert|Robert]] had done. Some of them- there were quite a bit of things back in [[New Caprica]]. There were details of what Robert had done on New Caprica. Also in regards to the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] and how far back his theories of eugenics that been seeded. But, again, a lot of that we had cut back significantly or at least deemphasized because that plotline about the Sagittarons on New Caprica ultimately went away.

I like- it's nice to use Cottle as a bit of a foil here. It's nice to see that Cottle is not really interested in what Helo has to say. That Cottle is tired. Everyone on this ship is tired. There's a bit of- there's a hint here of Cottle having been fed up with Helo. 'Cause I think we, in earlier drafts, or at least in discussion, I know, we had talked about the fact that Helo had come to Cottle in the past on various reasons, again, as part of that [[w:The Boy Who Cried Wolf|''Boy Who Cried Wolf'']] story, and Cottle was fed up with him at this point too. And every- essentially there was this story that everyone on the ship was looking at Helo and going, "This guy- I don't know what's up with this guy, but he's looking to prove somethin' to somebody." And everybody was getting sick of it. So that was also why Cottle got so hot here. But it's nice to just have the officer turn to someone who just says, "You know what? Fuck you. Get out of my office," and "I don't need this shit." And this- and this decision. This thing here of Cottle, of Cottle lying and saying that he's done the autopsy and just flat out lying to Helo is an interesting thing to do because your characters don't typically just lie. Just cover up shit because they're tired and they don't want to deal with you and they just lie to you to get your sorry ass out of their office. I really like that. It's such a small character thing but it's- that's what human beings do. Sometimes human beings lie for dumb reasons. And sometimes human beings lie just because you're being a pain in the ass and they don't want to talk to you anymore and they just tell you some shit to get you out of their office. And in this case it had- potentially has a huge repurccussion. I- we're not being fair to Cottle on some level because we don't see the moment on camera when he dec- he has second thoughts and goes back realizes that, "Well, shit. I really didn't do that. I should look it up and do my job and I am a doctor, after all." And yeah, you can say that's a flaw but it's not his show. You do have to make these kinds of decisions and I think it's just fine. It works just as well. You've set it up. You've established the conversation, and so later on when Cottle does come back and says, "Ok. I was lying. I went back and checked it," it doesn't feel like you've really cheated the audience.

I like Helo's just instinct here that, knock on Helo's door in the middle of the night. This guy has a different response. Espescially given his current mindset. He doesn't just say, "Come on in." There's a real sense of danger. These are people that have lived in dangerous circumstances for a very long time.

Are you sleeping with her? Sharon is shocked. She's finally faced Helo's forbidden lover.

This scene is good that it does touch on the issues here. It does touch on the issues of them aboard the ship, of Helo's self-image and her awareness of- Helo's situation and how they're viewed. In some- measure you can say that this is a g- this is enough in the show. You don't need the deleted scene to tip your hat in that direction. Yeah. It's a subtlety. It's a subtlety. And yeah, see? That's what it's really about. Don't forget that you're a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] because he can't forget that, 'cause no one forgets that. See? And that line- that line is a reference, again, to the deleted scene. "My defining characteristic is that I'm married to a Cylon." And I think that conversation went on. I'm pretty sure there was additional dialogue that dealt with the- idea of what Helo had done in a much more direct way. Talked a little bit more explicitly about that.

These are pickup shots as well that were not- able to get, I think, during the initial shoot with [[Michael Rymer|Mike Rymer]].


== Act 4 ==

Bittamucin

2007-02-17T18:51:36Z

PrePressChris: asymptomatic means showing no symptoms

'''Bittamucin''' is a drug used to cure and as an inoculant against [[Mellorak infection]].

Bittamucin has a high success rate against the infection if administered within 48 hours immediately after the onset of symptoms, in conjunction with a day's bedrest.

As supplies of the drug were relatively low, bittamucin was limited to those who were visibly symptomatic and key crew members of ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'', including [[Karl Agathon]].

This drug was allegedly given to [[Willie King]] and other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]] by Dr. [[Michael Robert]], however blood work done on the deceased showed that Robert administered poison instead of this drug ([[The Woman King]]).

{{drugs}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Resources]]
[[Category:Terminology]]
[[Category:Terminology (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-17T18:44:55Z

PrePressChris: /* The Woman King */ verified 1 & 2

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/314/bsg_ep314_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:08, 12 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:59, 13 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:21, 14 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:44, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:39, 15 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:44, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]
*[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:42:22Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ + dropped words (23:31)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and that was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|this season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this again. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon and preventing them from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']] here. Helo- there's a good possibility he might jump up on that desk and drop kick Cottle when he comes into the room.

I'm trying to recall. There were other versions of the backstory and what [[Michael Robert|Robert]] had done. Some of them- there were quite a bit of things back in [[New Caprica]]. There were details of what Robert had done on New Caprica. Also in regards to the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] and how far back his theories of eugenics that been seeded. But, again, a lot of that we had cut back significantly or at least deemphasized because that plotline about the Sagittarons on New Caprica ultimately went away.

I like- it's nice to use Cottle as a bit of a foil here. It's nice to see that Cottle is not really interested in what Helo has to say. That Cottle is tired. Everyone on this ship is tired. There's a bit of- there's a hint here of Cottle having been fed up with Helo. 'Cause I think we, in earlier drafts, or at least in discussion, I know, we had talked about the fact that Helo had come to Cottle in the past on various reasons, again, as part of that [[w:The Boy Who Cried Wolf|''Boy Who Cried Wolf'']] story, and Cottle was fed up with him at this point too. And every- essentially there was this story that everyone on the ship was looking at Helo and going, "This guy- I don't know what's up with this guy, but he's looking to prove somethin' to somebody." And everybody was getting sick of it. So that was also why Cottle got so hot here. But it's nice to just have the officer turn to someone who just says, "You know what? Fuck you. Get out of my office," and "I don't need this shit." And this- and this decision. This thing here of Cottle, of Cottle lying and saying that he's done the autopsy and just flat out lying to Helo is an interesting thing to do because your characters don't typically just lie. Just cover up shit because they're tired and they don't want to deal with you and they just lie to you to get your sorry ass out of their office. I really like that. It's such a small character thing but it's- that's what human beings do. Sometimes human beings lie for dumb reasons. And sometimes human beings lie just because you're being a pain in the ass and they don't want to talk to you anymore and they just tell you some shit to get you out of their office. And in this case it had- potentially has a huge repurccussion. I- we're not being fair to Cottle on some level because we don't see the moment on camera when he dec- he has second thoughts and goes back realizes that, "Well, shit. I really didn't do that. I should look it up and do my job and I am a doctor, after all."

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:34:44Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ changed word (18:16)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and that was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|this season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this again. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:30:48Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ + dropped word (17:36)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and that was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|this season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:27:46Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ changed word (~16:39)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and that was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:24:56Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ changed words (16:06)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's one of those damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and it was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:20:43Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ changed word (14:26)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually acting on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's what it is. Damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and it was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.



== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:18:39Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 1 */ changed word (12:50)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in this episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually act on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's what it is. Damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and it was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:11:47Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 1 */ changed word (9:14)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been looking for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in the episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually act on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's what it is. Damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and it was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-17T18:09:52Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 1 */ + dropped word (8:50)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Initially the structure of this episode actually began with- we were gonna start at the end of the show. [[Michael Angeli]], who wrote this episode, had structured a draft where in the tease- was going to open with [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in a confrontation with [[William Adama|Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and [[Cottle]] about [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] and making his accusations and essentially being shut down and told to knock it off and that they didn't believe him and he had to go somewhere else to deal with his personal issues, which is what everybody thought was driving him to make these accusations and then he left the room, and then he had the confrontation with Tigh and they had a battle- or Ti- not a battle, they had a fight. And that was the end of the tease. And then it was like, start act one three days earlier. It's valid structure and we've used that structure many times. Usually we do that in post when we're trying to jazz up an episode. Michael did it in the draft, and just because we're perverse, we decided not to that this episode and to make it a little bit more linear and a little bit more straight-line, to take you along the away and walk you through the parameters of what was happening.

The idea of the illness and the illness that the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittarons|Sagittarons]] brought aboard and are spreading, even though it's treatable, was a late-developing idea as we struggled with the Sagittarons and what their beliefs were and why they were different, why they were the victims of prejudice from some of the other [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|colonies]]. There is this developing idea this season of something that we had been talking about within the civilian world for a long time, and had never really- now we bring to the forefront was this idea that there were class structures and hierarchies and different, if not racial, then at least tribal feelings among [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that- what- which colony you were from had meaning within the Twelve Colony structure and that as they were out on their journey, post- the post-[[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|apocalyptic]] journey, that eventually those feelings and rivalries and prejudices would rise to the fore as well, and so we had always been look for ways to start indicating that and this story with the Sagittarons, like I said a couple of times, was intended to eventually illuminate and be part of the backstory that actually happened on [[New Caprica]] during the missing year. And during that time there was an incident. There was a massacre. There was like a whole complicated backstory of what the Sagittarons had done and had done to them. They had essentially isolated themselves on New Caprica, had done their own thing while everyone else was doing something else, and essentially there came a crisis point and people were killed, and I won't give you the whole thing. But [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] was directly involved with it, so was [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]]. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] was around. And it was gonna figure- eventually there was a secret within that that was going to figure prominently in Baltar's trial. So we were laying a lot of this pipe to set up who the Sagittarons were and what was going on.

This scene, for instance, with Zarek and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is a nice scene. It's nice to see [[Richard Hatch|Richard]] back and it's nice to have Tom Zarek back among us, even for a little bit. There was a scene, a follow-up to this scene later in the show, where Zarek went to see Baltar. And when Zarek went to see Baltar he basically was feeling him out to see what he was gonna say, what he wouldn't say, how he could help, under the guise of helping him, and Baltar was essentially gonna get wise to why Tom Zarek was really there, which was to cover his own ass, and that Zarek was involved in the Sagittarion incident- Sagittaron incident on New Caprica and was worried that Baltar might implicate him at a trial, and it was starting to setup the shifting political agendas and these shifting mysteries to raise the idea that there was something up here, that you would be following this for subsequent episodes.

Like I said, like I keep saying, once we got to the trial episode we did structure that in. It was part of the story, initially, and at a certain point I just felt like it was complicating things and it wasn't really paying off. I know [[Michael Rymer]], who directed the trial episode at the end of the season, felt the same way. And we just opted out. At a certain point I said, "You know what? Forget it. We're not gonna do th- just drop the whole Sagittaron thing. Let's make it a different trial. Let's make it a trial on the merits of the story that we do have about Baltar, not make up this new thing in the back." And when that happened, this episode was already in the can. Other episodes were already deeply, well into being done. And this is triage. Now you have to go back. This is what happens when you- when you run a show the way I run it, which is- I like a certain amount of improvisation and I like a certain amount of making it up as you go along. That's how I like to run a show. I make no apologies for that. It does have certain downsides to it, and one of the downsides is that sometimes you make a decision like that later and you shift on the fly because you feel, instinctively, that you have to for the story. And then you have to go back and now you have triage that you have to do on the subsequent epis- on previous episodes that you've already set in motion and you've already set- made certain decision. This is one of them. It fortunately was not a deadly blow to this episode. It was a subplot with Zarek, primarily, but part of the [[w:Raison d'Être|Raison d'Être]] for this episode was to set the Sagittarons up as a bigger presence in the Fleet than they ultimately turned out to be. So in that sense making the decision later actually hurts [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]] a little bit, hurts this episode a little bit. 'Cause you kinda wonder why we're spending all this time with the Sagittarons, and that's a legitimate beef. I think it's legitimate to walk away from this episode and say, "Why did we spend so much time with the Sagittarons in the episode?"

One nice thing about this episode, and about this little cluster of episodes, [[The Woman King|thirteen]] and [[A Day in the Life|fourteen]], [[Dirty Hands|fifteen]], and even [[Maelstrom|sixteen]], are all very much standalone episodes. They don't... they don't really require a great deal of knowledge of the show in order to enjoy them. I think that your enjoyment of these episodes is enhanced if you know the backstories but these are good shows for newcomers to the series to watch to get a feel for the kind of show it is, the tenor of the episodes, what kind of storytelling we do.


== Act 2 ==

We played a lot with [[Michael Robert|the doctor]]'s character and why he was doing what he did and what was really going on there. I think part of the problem of this episode is on some level this episode isn't really saying anything new. I mean, it's- what's the message of the show? Prejudice is bad. Racism is bad. Tribalism is bad. People die. You don't want to be that guy. It's not a new message. It's not a provocative message. It's a standard TV idea. That our hero discovers the truth that somebody is- has hidden racism and that is actually act on it and people are dying, so the hero stops him from doing that. It's a perfectly valid trope. There's nothing really wrong with it. It just doesn't- it doesn't lift the show into a new realm, I guess, is my point. I don't think it's a f- I don't think it's a problem episode. I don't think it's a bad episode. I li- I think it's well executed. I think it's a great episode for [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]. I think that it's great to see [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]- it's great to see Tahmoh carry a whole show.

Here we are, back in [[Joe's bar]]. I love the fact that we're back in Joe's. Ooh, [[Margaret Edmondson|Racetrack]] out of uniform. Racetrack out of uniform looks fantastic. Good to see [[Charlie Connor|Connor]] again. Connor from [[New Caprica Resistance|the resistance]], all of you remember. And this is us starting to use the bar a little bit more. This was another of the justifications for having- for setting up Joe's bar at all was that we could get back to these kind of scenes a little easier if they're on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] than you ever could on ''[[Cloud 9]]''. Of course, we'd always had the rec room. Pilots and people were always hanging out in the rec room to an extent, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

In this scene I feel like- I think we pushed a little too hard in terms of the racial animosity from [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and some of the other guys towards the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], especially as it was something that we had never really said in the show. So I think that's- we pushed a little too hard here, but we had to push hard here because had to make point of it because it was a new idea in the show. So it's what it is. Damned if we do, damned if we don't kinda things.

We had other tales of [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] as Sagittaron. There was a whole other story where it was more of a "Dee story", where Dualla was really the one leading this episode and really- or leading a story. It wasn't even this episode. It was really- we had one that was much more strongly about Dualla as a Sagittaron and her conflicted feelings of being in the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|military]], 'cause Sagittarons didn't join the military, and it was seen as a betrayal by her people, and then she was forced to deal with them in a crisis, and ultimately that story went away too, 'cause we- again, we were looking for many ways to enhance the tale of the Sagittarons, overall in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the series]].

This is interesting because here's Head-Six- [[Cylon-Related_Hallucinations#Six's Internal Baltar|Head-Baltar]] again, which we hadn't seen Head-Baltar in quite a while, and it's great to have him back. I had to push this through a little bit. There some people that- there was some internal resistance. "Why are we going back to Head-Baltar? Aren't we done with him?" And I felt, "Well, no." I mean, she's- if she's- if she is who we've always said she was then she's essentially still seeing him and that there's meaning to that and I wanna keep the idea of Head-Baltar alive with [[Caprica-Six]], not to spend huge amounts of time on it, but essentially keep it going because I have other plans and other ideas for what will become of Head-Baltar, down the line. Not even necessarily in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|season]] but part of the larger plan for the show.

I like this little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] still monitoring these sessions personally. Her invested- her investment, her interest in what happens to Caprica-Six and the prisoners, I think, is an interesting tale that we keep moving along. What's gonna become of Caprica-Six? What will Laura do when [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] goes to trial? But essentially the scene is an excuse to do this. To really get back into Caprica-Six's head and to see that she's still having these conversations with her version of Baltar.

It's always tr- it's been tricky scheduling a lot of this stuff, 'cause Head-Baltar doesn't have a beard and Baltar in the [[brig|prison cell]] does have a beard, and so there's been this- there was always [[w:sleight of hand|sleight of hand]] in scheduling these scenes. When we would shave [[James Callis|James]], don't shave James. Give him time to grow the beard. Fortunately James' beard grows in quite quickly. It's almost like that [[w:The Simpsons|''Simpsons'']] cartoon where [[w:Homer Simpson|Homer]] looks in the mirror and he shaves and then like two seconds later the [[w:Five o'clock shadow|five o'clock shadow]] like (makes sound effect) comes back on his face. (chuckes.) James must have something like that, 'cause he can grow those beards quite rapidly.

I think you could legitimately ask, "Why don't they connect that to Baltar? Haven't they seen Baltar do the same kind of behavior, and they put two and two together?" Well, I guess. I did think about that. I thought, "Well, what does that tell them?" It tells them that they share some strange behavioral thing that maybe you could connect and say that, "Well, that's another indication of how co-opted by the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] he's become or how invested he is in them." Or something along those lines. But it's not really incriminating. And it doesn't really help you or tell you very much. So it just seemed like- I think it might have even been in a draft at some point that she remarked on that, but it felt like once you set that in the script and once you had played that scene for the audience you were essentially saying, "Aaah. That's a clue that's going somewhere and Laura's gonna take that information and she's going to do something with it." And ultimately I didn't think it went anywhere so I just opted not have to- not to really bring it up.

A lot of discussion about the [[bittamucin]] and the medic- medicine involved with this, and what it would and wouldn't do. The medical shows inevitably make my eyes roll back in my head so I was happily to remove myself from a lot of the in-depth discussions of medicine for ''Galactica''. The thing about the Sagittarons is, I think, that is ultimately disappointing to me is that I don't think we ever gave them a distinct enough culture that wasn't clearly- I mean, I think that they're big problem of not going to the doctor and believing in medicine unfortunately has become such a TV thing. There's been lots of episodes of lots of series that dealt with [[w:Church of Christ, Scientist|Christian Scientists]] who refuse medical attention for one reason or another, or for [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/010.html other religious sets] that may refuse medical attention for their belief system. And those, unfortunately, those tend to crop up on hospital shows, they're a staple of that, of the patient who comes in or who is brought in on an ambulance and won't be treated and the arguments between the doctors and the parents and- often comes up in TV procedurals. I'm sure [[w:Law & Order|''Law & Order'']] has done at least twelve of them, that's a joke, I have no idea. But any- I saw unfortunately because unfortunately in the context of this show, it just means that you're familiar with these issues. This is a pretty old issue of when they refuse treatment, in what circumstances, how much do we respect their beliefs, versus the health of the ship and health of other people, etc., etc., etc. And it's not a- because it's not a fresh idea and a fresh discussion we didn't have a lot to add to it. So I'm a little disappointed in terms of what- where the Sagittarions ended up and who they are, in terms of their unique culture in the show. That said, I don't think it hurts the show. I mean, it means the show is not transcendent. It means the show does not really break new ground. It doesn't really transcend the genre and become something interesting, because, oh my God, and there was this culture of Sagittarons and they unlike anything you'd ever seen before. That, to me, would've been a victory. As it is, it doesn't- it just doesn't quite get into that territory.

Now the scene you just watched with- that was not only the scene that was going to open the show, in the original draft, followed by this scene. And this was essentially the teaser in the first draft and then in subsequent drafts we moved it into chronological order. But that scene with [[William Adama|Adama]] and Helo, I believe- now I'm getting myself confused. But I'm pretty sure that that- that the extension of that scene is the deleted scene that is in tonight's episode where Helo confesses to Adama. I could be wrong. I actually apologize, 'cause I don't recall. But the- it's either a continuation of that same scene or it was a later scene (chuckles), nothing to do with that scene, so there you go. Those my memory, for what it's worth.

The deleted scene in tonight's episode is the moment when Helo confesses to Adama that he was the one responsible for shutting down the biological weapon- from using it against the Cylons. I liked that scene a lot. I'm on the fence about whether we should have included it in the show or not. It wasn't cut just for time, although that was part of it. It was also that it raised a huge issue in the show that then ultimately went nowhere in the show. As I said in the beginning of the podcast, it was one of the impetuses for doing the episode was to include that moment and to talk about Helo's subsequent arc since the events of that [[A Measure of Salvation|earlier episode]] how his decision had affected him and his shipmates, etc., etc. But because so many of those elements had gotten cut back, there really was only that scene left in the show. So it became a choice of, well, he has this one moment. He can confess to Adama this thing that refers to several episodes ago and Adama essentially doesn't want to deal with it and let's him know that, "You know, you don't want a- I don't want an investigation here, and I don't think you do either and get the hell out," and it goes nowhere, and I'll come back to this after the act break.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: So, like I was saying, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]'s confession essentially went nowhere, so I could keep that in the show, and then just feel like- have it stick out like a sore thumb, a little bit, because it really was in isolation. There was no followup to it. And didn't really have a play into what was happening the rest of the episode, or I could cut it and thereby excise one of the principle reasons for doing the episode in the first place. And at that moment I think in my view you, as the producer, make the decision of, "What's the episode about for you? What is this episode now about? And is that moment so crucial that the story that's in front of you on the screen doesn't matter any more or not?" And usually that's- that argument loses and essentially you look at the film you have in the cutting room and you say, "Well, whatever I intended to do, whatever the idea that I set out to do in this week's episode, this is what I have." I believe that very strongly. Whatever your intention was in writing the script, this is the film we shot. Ok? And this is the episode you now have. So, the challenge is to make the best version of this. Make the best film you have. Make the best episode of what you have. Instead of hanging on to try to execute what your initial concept was, because that's just- it's water under the bridge and fifty other clichés. So that was essentially, again, the reason why I said, "Cut the scene." It was easy to do in terms of time, to justify, 'cause we were long, as always, and looking for cuts. And also it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it didn't help this episode. It hurt this episode a little bit, 'cause it diverted your attention into another arena and another backstory and another notion, at a time when the show- this episode is asking you to pay attention, 'cause you can feel that we're moving towards revelation. We're moving towards confrontation. You could sense the rhythm and the pace of the episode starting to pick up a little bit. Things are happening. Revelations are being made. And then suddenly this story took this left turn into this other subject. And then it went nowhere after that.

So I- I'm glad it's gonna- it'll be seen by America in tonights episode in the deleted scenes. But I think it was the correct decision not to put it in the show. Which is an interesting thing. 'Cause now we're starting to find the utility of having the deleted scene after the episode, as broadcast, which I'm starting to like, because it give you an opportunity to show certain things to the fans and to the audience, the wider audience, about textures that were supposed to be included in the show and that tell you a little bit more about the characters, but which might have interrupted the show or not played correctly in context and in tonight's episode is- deleted scenes, a perfect example of that.

I totally dig- digging this [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]]. I haven't begun to hallucinate, but I'll let you know if I do. It's an old wives tale about absinthe. Which we studied quite a bit in my days at [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]]. One of our characters loved absinthe, drank it all the time. Always wanted to try it. Now I have the real deal. Why am I talking about alcohol? Because it's absinthe and I'm going mad. I'm going mad, here on the podcast. Sorry.

Here is the actual woman [[King]]. The relationship between Helo and the woman King was an interesting one, I think, in theory more than it was in actuality. I wish- I guess if I could go back and mess around with this episode more, I would try to detail out a little bit more of the finer subtleties of sh- this woman was and her relationship with Helo. I wish she had a little bit more of a relationship with Helo. But that- I don't know. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer to that. But that's an area that I would want to tweak and mess with a little bit.

I like these glimpses of Helo and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]]'s home life. It was- it feels very natural. It feels very real. I believe that this is where they live. I believe that this is their behind closed doors relationship. This is how they hang out and deal with their lives on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and it's nice. I think this- Sharon and Helo are probably the most believable couple that we really have. That's in part because we've watched the relationship develop over such a long period of time and the way it began and the specifics of it all. But it's also just a testament to the natural chemistry between the two actors, between [[Grace Park|Grace]] and [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]]. They really- they've been playing scenes together for so long and they have such an innate understanding of one another's rhythms and who they are that it's really a pleasure to watch them do this kind of work. Oh, and here's [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]]. Home at last with Chester, our dog.

Terry: Hi everybody.

RDM: Hi everybody.

Terry: And the dog.

RDM: And the dog. Chester's tail is now-

This subsequent scene of Helo- I think we cut now to the Helo in the corridor, if I'm not mistaken. 'Cause I this upcoming scene was added later as a pickup scene. No, I'm thinking of a different cut.

Anyway, Helo then goes to [[Cottle]]'s office. This we did have to go back and reshoot later. We didn't have all of this during the time that we shot the episode, so a lot of this material was shot weeks later, well out of sequence. It was important to get this idea of Helo going through- this is where it moves into classic procedural territory, where Helo goes through the files, looks up information. This is your hero moment, hero Helo moment, of him getting the clues, putting it together. This is fill in the blank- [[w:Walker, Texas Ranger|''Walker, Texas Ranger'']]

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-17T18:05:50Z

PrePressChris: /* Taking a Break From All Your Worries */ finished verification

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/314/bsg_ep314_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:08, 12 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:59, 13 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:21, 14 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:39, 15 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/313/bsg_ep313_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:00, 31 January 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 16:28, 5 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:23, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 11:42, 8 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:55, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 11:28, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:20, 3 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:05, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:25, 5 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 12:05, 17 February 2007 (CST).)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-17T17:57:57Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 4 */ + dropped words (41:38)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] dealt with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. Then we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: You can smell it all the way down the hallway.

Go ahead.

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that there are- mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots that we managed to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.


== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, took place after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-17T17:46:04Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 3 */ various

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] dealt with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. Then we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: You can smell it all the way down the hallway.

Go ahead.

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that there are- mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots that we managed to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.


== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-17T17:39:46Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 3 */ more Terry

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] dealt with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. Then we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: You can smell it all the way down the hallway.

Go ahead.

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.


== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-17T17:38:21Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 3 */ decyphered Terry

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] dealt with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. Then we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: You can smell it all the way down the hallway.

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.


== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-17T17:28:32Z

PrePressChris: /* Taking a Break From All Your Worries */ verfied act 2

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/314/bsg_ep314_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:08, 12 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:59, 13 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:21, 14 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:39, 15 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/313/bsg_ep313_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:00, 31 January 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 16:28, 5 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:23, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 11:42, 8 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:55, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 11:28, 17 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:20, 3 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:25, 5 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-17T17:15:24Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ typo

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] dealt with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. Then we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: (unintelligible) smell (unintelligible)

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.

== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-17T17:12:54Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 2 */ typos and dropped words

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] dealt with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. The we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: (unintelligible) smell (unintelligible)

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.

== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-13T21:13:23Z

PrePressChris: /* Act 4 */ changed word (33:44)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckles.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair, and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around, and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That was some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit, two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] probably saw each other a lot anyway. And would naturally talk to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope— why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had, where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season, and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it, and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee, and in some ways with Dualla, will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it, that she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode, that was actually shot, that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God knows where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately it felt like, well, we'd already [[A Measure of Salvation|physically tortured]] him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] deal with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. The we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: (unintelligible) smell (unintelligible)

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.

== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to intercut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2008)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-13T15:59:07Z

PrePressChris: /* The Woman King */ verified tease

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:The Woman King|The Woman King]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/314/bsg_ep314_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:08, 12 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:59, 13 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/313/bsg_ep313_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:00, 31 January 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 16:28, 5 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:23, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 11:42, 8 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:55, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:20, 3 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:25, 5 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]
*[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-13T15:55:47Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ +dropped words (~6:34)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh, we're still on. (chuckles) We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-13T15:51:47Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ changed words (~4:29)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Is it about the Sagittarons? Is it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh. We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-13T15:44:05Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ + dropped word (~3:06)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole little sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Was it about the Sagittarons? Was it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh. We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

Podcast:The Woman King

2007-02-13T15:40:30Z

PrePressChris: + word (1:04)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}
== Teaser ==
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and this week we're here to discuss episode thirteen, "[[The Woman King]]." Coming to you from a small cabin in the [[w:Russian River (California)|Russian River]]. [[Terry Dresbach|Terry]] and I are ensconced for a few days. But the podcast must be served, so here we are. There's no Scotch for this particular gathering. I'm having actual [[w:Absinthe|absinthe]], from a secret location overseas. You can actually get this fine substance in the United States, despite rumors to the contrary. And so absinthe is the drink. (Takes a drink.) From my [[w:Carnivàle|Carnivàle]] days, gave me a taste for it. And we won't discuss- be discussing the smokes this week.

Ok. Thirteen. "The Woman King." This episode came essentially out of our desire to do a couple of different things. One was to setup a long-running plot line that was supposed to last from here until the end of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] that had to do with the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]]. Ultimately that one did not pan out the way that we anticipated, initially, about what we were gonna do with the Sagittarons as a people. It was going to figure prominently in [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial, by the end of the season, and this episode was designed in part to get those storylines going. However, once we actually got into the meat of Baltar's trial, beyond even the first draft. I mean, we did a first draft that had the Saggitarions featured prominently, and what they were doing, and then dropped it in subsequent drafts. And I'll talk more about that as the show goes on.

So here we are in the tease. This sequence of [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] having trouble sleeping was shot much later. We didn't initially have this as the opening to the episode. Initially what we were gonna- what we had was this fly- the pilot banter and chatter of them flying out (phone rings) and of course it has to be a podcast because there's a phone ringing, but I can turn it off here, so, there we go. Anyway it was gonna have pilot stuff going on and people on a mission, chitchat back and forth, giving each other limericks, and so on. And then that didn't really seem like the most effective opening, 'cause it's- it really is a show about Helo. And so I wanted to- start with Helo and let's get into his mindset, right from the get-go. 'Cause one of the things that we wanted to do about the ep- about this show in designing it was to give ourselves a "Helo story." A full-blown story about Helo and his life, to an extent. In a large part this episode is a follow-up- (phone rings) Somebody just keeps calling. And look. It might be my wife so I will actually put this on pause here for a moment, something I never do. And I'm back. It was nothing important, just [[Sci Fi Channel|the network]] with the pickup call. No, no. I'm just joking. But it was really the network.

Anyway. This whole sequence of the pilots coming in and bustin' each other as they walk up the corridor and then jazzin' along. That was an offsh- it came out of the sequence that I said that we dropped at the beginning of the show, which was them all flying and busting on each other and coming up with bad, really bad, limericks (chuckles) as they were bantering back and forth. But it was essentially all to setup this idea of Helo's isolation. And this, in part, impetu- the impetus in part to do this Helo story was to follow-up what Helo had done back in [[A Measure of Salvation|episode seven- six]] when he had prevented [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] from using the biological weapon against the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]], and part of this- part of the backstory and subtext of the episode was Helo having been exiled ever since. That essentially [[William Adama|Adama]] knew that it was Helo, didn't really wanna do a formal investigation into it, but it- had essentially sidelined him. He was given the "shit jobs." [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] was back at the [[Executive officer|XO]] and Helo was assigned to deal with the civilians down in [[Dogsville]]. Some of those textures are still here- bit by bit, though, we just kept losing a lot of that stuff along the way, 'cause the story- there was a split in the story about what this particular show was about. Was it about the Sagittarons? Was it about prejudice? Is it about Helo's exile and quest for redemption? There were a lot of competing interests about what the show was about, and like I said, we were trying to set up this longer-term, long-range, backstory of the Sagittarons overall, so that kept consuming more and more of our attention and bit by bit the Helo- Helo as exile kept going away.

Part of the things that we lost along the way about Helo's backstory here, which I think was a shame, was the idea that he had been trying very hard to make a name for himself and had been sending lots of reports to Adama and had been pestering Adama for weeks, and finding ways of being a hero. That on some level Helo was looking for an excuse to be a hero again, and he kept finding- being "johnny-on-the-spot" who would say, "I have discovered this new problem, sir. And here's my solution to it." And he was that officer who's trying so hard to prove himself that he's becoming a pain in the ass. And that, in turn, informed why his initial warnings about what was going on down here with [[Michael Robert|Doc Robert]] were ignored. That there was a certain "boy who cried wolf" quality to what was happening with Helo and the psychological underpinning for it was that he felt guilty over what he had done by killing the Cylons and preventing ''Galactica'' from using the biological weapon. It raised questions in his own mind of his own loyalties and his own worth as a man and him wanting to still be a hero in his own eyes and in- and to some degree in [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]]'s eyes, and that was propelling him into this need to find a situation to be a hero in. Like I said, it was a complicated psychological backstory and the episode just being too large, you just kept getting sidelined, and sidelined, and sidelined, and now there's not much of that notion really left in this particular episode.

Oh. We're in the main title sequence. I don't know what to say in the main title sequence this week. It's pretty. It's very pretty. So is the fire here in the cabin. Terry's off doing something... in town. In [[w:Kernville, California|Kernville]]. Ok, and we're out of the tease.


== Act 1 ==

User talk:PrePressChris

2007-02-05T22:35:15Z

PrePressChris: /* Podcast verification */ reply--will focus on backlog for now.

== Welcome to Battlestar Wiki! ==
Welcome to the Wiki, PrePressChris. Feel free to tell us about yourself on [[User:PrePressChris|your user page]]. Before you get started on other edits, please read the [[Battlestar Wiki:Standards and Conventions|Standards and Conventions]], which details the policies we use in editing pages (this differs from many other wikis in its particular use of verb tense, abbreviations, formatting, and the like). If you need help in learning how to use the MediaWiki tools supported here, you can check out the [[BW:TUT|tutorial]] and the [[BW:MARK|wiki markup code]] pages for assistance.

Please read the articles [[Battlestar Wiki:What is Battlestar Wiki|"What is Battlestar Wiki"]] and [[Battlestar Wiki:What Battlestar Wiki is not|"What Battlestar Wiki is Not."]] This important information details what contributions are acceptable in this encyclopedia.

We encourage you to participate in any [[Battlestar Wiki:Project List|projects]] on Battlestar Wiki, which work to enhance a particular subject or extension of the wiki. These include the [[Battlestar Wiki:Original Series Article Development Project|Original Series Article Development Project]] and several [[Battlestar Wiki:Translation Project|language translations of Battlestar Wiki]]. If you have a new idea for a new project, visit the [[BW:TANK|Think Tank]], where we hash out large-scale ideas before implementing them.

Also, if you have any questions or suggestions you wish to offer, please feel free to do so either on an article's talk page that's relevant to the subject, the [[Battlestar Wiki:Wikipedian Quorum|Wikipedian Quorum]] or [[Battlestar Wiki:Administrators' noticeboard|the Administrators' noticeboard]]. Remember to sign your posts on any talk pages using four tildes (~~~~)!

We look forward to your contributions to the community!
--[[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:46, 12 October 2006 (CDT)

== Thanks ==
Thanks for the verifications/corrections on the podcasts. As you can see there's a bit of a backlog and we can use all the ears we can get. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:46, 15 October 2006 (CDT)
:I'm responding here for now because I'm still figuring out how MediaWikis work. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm just glad I've managed to step on relatively few toes so far. --[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 17:17, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
::Love all the help we can get. :) --[[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 20:05, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
:::Thanks. You can tell a hell of a lot about a community by how it treats the newbies. Sorry to be responding on my own page, but I'm still trying to figure this all out. --[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 20:18, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
::::We tend to talk on other userpages if it's the same subject. Easier to trask as it is on the [[Wikipedia:Main Page|Big W]]. --[[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 20:20, 16 October 2006 (CDT)

== Questions ==
Geez, thanks guys. OK, I'm just going to use this space to pose questions. Ideally, I'll eventually be able to provide answers for common (and, probably, uncommon) questions that a typical newbie would have.
* First, how and where do you upload pix?
**Answered on the Kasey page. --[[User:Talos|Talos]] 20:43, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
:::Good Kacey pic btw. --[[User:Talos|Talos]] 22:37, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
This is a placeholder:
* Down the left side of the page under the toolbox section, there is a link called "Upload File." Clicking this'll take you too the media wiki where you will have to register again just like you did here. Find the upload file on the left side of the wiki screen there and follow the instructions. To post the pic use [([Image Name|thumb|Image Desc])], just without the (), only the [[]]. --Talos 20:40, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
There's a difference with templates. (This is just here to remind me to point out the difference. (And thanks, Talos, I spent some time finding just that moment of Kayce.))
* Note to self: Users' ''Talk'' Pages are the ''Discussion'' Pages of their User Pages.
* How do you escape square brackets, etc. Talos' comment above shows one way, but it seems less than optimal. [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 18:30, 23 October 2006 (CDT)
* The copyright notice when editing pages reads ''ideas are copyrighted, not the word usage themselves''. That seems backwards. Am I not reading that right? --[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 18:35, 23 October 2006 (CDT)
*Is there any way to fix your editing comments (the ones that show up on the changes pages) ? E.g., I marked a comment with reference to a "pluralizing convention" which should have been a "possesives convention." --[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 18:33, 25 October 2006 (CDT)

== Bullets, etc. ==
Looks like you've got bullets (<nowiki>*</nowiki>'s). As for signing your user page, it's usually unnecessary, since it's generally considered off-limits for anybody to modify your user page except for you. Nothing stops you (software-wise), it's just bad form. So anything on your user page can generally be assumed to be from you. (Admins or people watching are likely to revert any uninvited changes by others.)

Also, don't worry too much about me jumping down your throat on transcription corrections. I trust you, and I haven't been doing my "double check" that I normally do so there are bound to be more errors than "normal" for me. Just glad to see the fixes. Whenever you're comfortable feel free to dabble with transcription too. I'm not trying to press you into service or anything, but I know that verifying was my gateway, and once I got more comfortable I started transcribing. I felt like I was going so slow, but slow and steady will "win" this thing...

If you want to get attention to a question you can hit up the [[Battlestar Wiki:Wikipedian Quorum|wikipedian quorum]] or the [[Battlestar Wiki:Administrators' noticeboard|administrator board]], but most admins and active users are sitting on the recent changes of all pages anyway, and will tend to answer questions wherever they occur. Also, dropping a note on the talk page of someone will get that "you have a message" and fire an email (if entered), so that's a way to get someone's (in particular) attention. I'll be in and out of contact (as indicated on my user page), but I trust the "regulars" should be able to assist you as you learn the exquisite art of Wiki-fu. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 21:20, 16 October 2006 (CDT)
:Thanks. It's been an education to verify your transcripts (and please doublecheck the ones where my comments indicated some trepidation in making changes. I think my interpretations are right, but I'd feel much better having some other feedback.) I'm absolutely going to try my hand at one of the transcripts, now that I realize that Express Scribe is available for the Mac.
::I'll try to take another listen when I get back in town. (You may want to sign your comments on this page, though, as other people are more likely to be making edits here.) --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:38, 17 October 2006 (CDT)

== Suspicions ==
I know EXACTLY what you mean. I suspected Laineylain and Misco of Cylon collaboration, etc., for the exact same reason, when I was barely being able to keep up with verifying their work. Honestly, though, my "speed" has improved dramatically just having you there to go over it with a close ear and make corrections. I don't do the "second pass" at 100% that I used to. This understandably leads to more errors, but I'm not going to put out perfect work to begin with, and you're going to be proofing it anyway, so I just drive on to the new stuff. I appreciate it a lot, though, and the brass ring finally seems to be within reach.

I'm hoping that I can finish "Exodus, Part II" by Friday so that next week there'll just be one new podcast and I can finally start into verifying your podcasts (and maybe even digging into my own season two podcast).

I hate spoilers so I'll never be one to download and start on a "current" podcast until I've seen the ep, and I usually won't start until Monday anyway. Feel free to take point on those if you lack such compunctions, but either way it's just really nice to have another active user on the transcription project. I miss Laineylain and Misco. I never even really intended to get into doing transcripts in the first place, but it seemed like something that needed to be done... --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:37, 25 October 2006 (CDT)

::You're also getting better, then. I haven't noticed an uptick in errors (if anything, the opposite.) I probably won't be grabbing point on the S3 podcasts, since I'm still slow. If I do, I'll skip to Act 4, and try to finish that before you bang out the rest. --[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 16:00, 25 October 2006 (CDT)

== Podcast verification ==

I have taken over the [[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture podcast]] from [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] since he's had very little time lately, and he directed me to you for verification. There are quite a few "(unintelligible)"s in there, since I'm not a native English speaker I don't know some of the more obscure words. So if and when you have time, the Rapture podcast is waiting for you. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 15:11, 31 January 2007 (CST)
:Coincidently, I've been busy too. I'll try to work in an act here and there, though. -[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 14:42, 5 February 2007 (CST)
::Save yourself the trouble. Since Steelviper transcribed TaB and I did Rapture, we've agreed to cross-verify our transcripts. But if you find time to do some verification, it's always appreciated, of course. We've also got the 'week off' due to the Super Bowl, so we're not in a hurry. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]] 14:48, 5 February 2007 (CST)
::No problem. Whenever you can spare the time, feel free to chip in whatever you're willing. You're ear is sharper than mine on details and I'd trust your judgment over mine on verification. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:39, 5 February 2007 (CST)
:::OK, I just did the tease on TaB, but if Catrope wants to run with the rest of it, he'll probably be faster right now. I'll take a backlog act here and there until RL gets more sane. --[[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 16:35, 5 February 2007 (CST)

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-02-05T22:28:54Z

PrePressChris: /* Taking a Break From All Your Worries */ verified tease

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Rapture|Rapture]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/312/bsg_ep312_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]. Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:07, 5 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]. Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]. Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]. Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.) [[User:Catrope|Catrope]]

==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries|Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]=====
[http://media.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/313/bsg_ep313_FULL.mp3 Full Podcast]
*Teaser (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:00, 31 January 2007 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 16:28, 5 February 2007 (CST).)
*Act 1 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:23, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 2 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:55, 1 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 3 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:20, 3 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)
*Act 4 (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:25, 5 February 2007 (CST). Verified: —.)

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]]
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-05T22:18:42Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ +dropped word (~3:39)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckes.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the fleet and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit. Two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] prolly saw each other a lot anyway. And naturally talked to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope with? Why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee in some ways with Dualla will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it. That she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode that was actually shot that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God know where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately felt like, well, we'd already physically tortured him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] deal with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. The we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: (unintelligible) smell (unintelligible)

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.

== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to cut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2007-08)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

Podcast:Taking a Break From All Your Worries

2007-02-05T22:15:03Z

PrePressChris: /* Teaser */ +dropped words (~2:08)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright= and Terry Dresbach}}
== Teaser ==

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], and tonight the smokes are [[w:Nat Sherman|Shermans]], the Scotch is Glenross, and the episode is "[[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]".

This one went through quite a bit of change. Which is, of course, something I'm sure you're shocked by; those regular listeners to the podcast often hear how radical changes have gone through. This one went round and round quite a bit, mostly in terms of tone and in what we were trying to accomplish with this episode. As the title implies, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"- oh, and the trucks are back, as you can see, 'cause it's garbage day and I'm here at home in Berkley- home in Altadena, having returned from Berkley, briefly, to do the podcast. "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is obviously a reference to the [[w:Cheers|''Cheers'']] theme song. This episode was conceived as a lighter one. This was our comedy episode, (chuckles) oddly enough. The irony of that is twofold, considering what the episode- how the episode turned out in terms of tone and feel and also the fact that the last time we tried to do somewhat of a comedic episode, we also handed it to [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]] to direct. And neither one is probably a laugh riot, but I think the Tigh certainly, the "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]" episode Eddie directed [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]], certainly had a lighter- a light comedic touch. This one was not so much a case of Eddie taking the material and turning it dark, it was just over the process of working through this episode, story lines and scenes and then on to performances and then the cut and mood just kept getting darker and darker, just by the nature of the material. But the irony is we all still thought about this one as our light, fun-filled, episode, right up until the point when we saw the finished cut. (Chuckes.) We went, "Oh. Ok. So we won't really put a laugh track to this one."

The network, in fairness to the network, was also a bit surprised, because we had sold this to them as a light episode and we said, "Well, we'll do a light episode and this will be the one, episode twelve," and they were quite happy, as you can imagine, after all the darkness that we do in the show, to have something to look forward to on the horizon that was a little bit lighter and when they saw the episode they too were shocked and not too happy that it had not turned out as light as it was- as light as it had been sold to them, in all fairness. And so there was, there were a bit of discussions about content and mood and graphic issues and so on, but in this case they were certainly within their rights 'cause they had been, from their point of view, they had certainly be sold a bill of goods in terms of what the episode was going to be. From our side of the fence, I don't think any of us ever really intended to turn this as dark as it turned out to be.

We had begun this episode with the idea that- of getting a [[Joe's bar|new bar]]. We blew up ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' at the end of the [[Season 2 (2005-06)|second season]] and when we did that it was with the explicit understanding that eventually we would establish a new bar, a new place to relax- or for characters to go and relax, and enjoy themselves. That was something important to the network, and to us internally, that you had a place to blow off steam and play some lighter moments and so- show the life of the and so on. Once we had brought more civilians aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] because of the escape from [[New Caprica]] and the fact that they lost so many people and they had lost so many ships and we started doubling up and putting civilians aboard ''Galactica'' as a way of helping ourselves with story. It also seemed natural to build the bar on ''Galactica'' instead of setting it off on another ship of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] that we would constantly have to be finding excuses to going back and forth to go see. So the initial draft of this, the initial story draft, the Le- there was always the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] being tortured and interrogated story line driven by [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], predominantly, but the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] storyline had to- was a lighter one and it was inspired by ''[[w:Catch-22|Catch-22]]'' and the character [[w:Milo Minderbinder|Milo Minderbinder]] and his- who is the supply guy in ''Catch-22'' who is always trading one thing to get another and was always a wheeling-dealing classic military type and also there's a famous [[w:M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'']] episode that I always have been fond of where [[w:Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] has a whole in his boot and in order to get a fresh pair of boots he continually has to get [[w:Radar O'Reilly|Radar]] to do something to get [[w:Maxwell Klinger|Klinger]] to do something to get [[w:Margaret Houlihan|"Hot Lips"]] to do something, this long chain of trades in order to get his boots, and it all comes crashing down and this was- a similar idea with Lee was trading getting [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] to do something to get [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] to do something, etc., etc. to eventually save this bar. First, to build the bar and then in subsequent drafts to save the bar that was about to go under. And it was a nice idea and well executed, but it never quite gelled for me, and as we worked through the story line and as we worked through the drafts we kept shaping and molding it and we realized that we couldn't just ignore the things, the events, that had happened in the previous [[The Eye of Jupiter|two]]-[[Rapture|parter]] in terms of their marriage and relationships with [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and Dualla and Lee and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], Lee and Anders having been married by this time, of course. And so we decided to move it further in that direction. Well, moving that storyline further in that direction inevitably meant that it was gonna be more about the relationships, it was gonna be about problems in their marriages, it was gonna be about much heavier kinds of issues.

Baltar's suicide is a topic of much discussion there in the teaser. I think it was Eddie, in a conversation with [[Michael Taylor|Mike Taylor]] and [[James Callis]] that came up with exactly how the hanging was gonna work and how he would get the materials and so on. There is a bit of a conceit. I'll admit that we're conceiting a certain amount of freedom in terms of Baltar's incarceration. That he's not watch on a camera twenty-four hours. He's not in solitary. He's not- well, he's in solitary, but he's not under constant surveillance, and that's a bit of a conceit to make the show work and make us- to allow us to do the different episodes we wanted to do.


== Act 1 ==

So here we are in the bar. This is the reveal of the bar. The "Why not?"{{podcastref|whynot|06:51}}- sorry- [[Joe's bar|Joe's]]. (Chuckle.) I just looked back through the earlier drafts before I got on the podcast. It used to be called the "Why not?" which was an interesting name. Then it became Joe's, after [[Joe|the bartender]]. I love that shot of the Ra- of the [[Viper Mark II|Viper]] hanging from the ceiling.

{{podcastref|wheelchairextra|07:07}}The young man you just saw there in the wheelchair was a visitor to the set who was a huge fan of the show and was actually confined to a wheelchair and the cast and crew took to him and showed him around and really made him feel like he was part of the family, I hope, for the day or two that he was around and put him in the set. Gave him a shirt, put him in. We're happy to include him in the show. So that's a very nice gesture that they made. That some- indicative of the spirit of the cast and the crew on the set. It wasn't really something that I was personally involved with.

This idea of [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]] sharing their problems a little bit. Two married men dealing with the vicissitudes of marriage was an idea that we really liked. It felt natural in that these two, the chief of the deck and the [[Commander Air Group|commander of the air group]] prolly saw each other a lot anyway. And naturally talked to one another.

I was talking about earlier, why does [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] get access to material that he could construct a rope with? Why isn't he watched twenty-four hours a day? It's a conceit. We're pushing a little bit of believability. It's dramatic license if you wanna look at it that way. If he was under constant scrutiny, if they were staring at him twenty-four hours a day, we couldn't do much in the way of story for the rest of the season. And I think that the price that you- if you're gonna do that, you take that dramatic license, to be fair then you don't make them look stupid by allowing him to get materials that he could then escape with or that he could actually injure somebody with, so that there's never a penalty that makes the characters looks stupid for allowing those things to happen. I think that's how you balance the line between realism and dramatic license.

This beat with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], the o- or the story line with Gaeta was something that was in the very initial story document, that Gaeta still has issues. Especially after what he went through in "[[Collaborators]]", was nearly killed for his association with Baltar, now Baltar's back aboard [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and there was something interesting about the fact that Gaeta was having trouble living with that. Was having trouble just knowing that the guy was around and sittin' down there in that cell and probably gonna get his trial and everything. And that he would not be able to quite deal with it.

And, of course, here's a scene that I'm sure many of you at home have had where you come home drunk. The wife is still there, still up. You've been out at the bar. She didn't go with you and she ain't too happy.

This episode probably deals more with their marriage than we have done in previous episodes, mostly because of the stories that we've chosen to tell haven't given us a lot of opportunity to deal with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]]. At this point in [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]], it's starting to feel like we got a firmer handle on the character of Lee, of where he was going. We started to talk seriously about what the f- the rest of the arc was gonna do for Lee for the rest of the season and [[Jamie Bamber]] also had a great deal to do with this story line and molding it and crafting it and we talked to Jamie at length about various aspects of where the character was going over the course of the season and you will see in subsequent episodes, coming up, that the groundwork we're laying here with Lee in some ways with Dualla will ultimately platform him to where we go by the end of the season.

This is a lovely little beat of [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] coming and returning Baltar's glasses to him and then the slight flashback to a similar gesture being done back in [[New Caprica]].

One interesting thing about this episode is both [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]]'s d- well, two interesting things. Eddie's direction and the way the show is cut. Eddie really went for the dramatic jugular in almost every scene and he pushed the actors and pushed, I think, the nature of the show into some really interesting directions. You'll see a lot more closeup. You'll see a lot more charged emotions from characters you're not used to seeing. Laura in particular. I think Eddie pushed [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] into territory that she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to go, but ultimately she went there and trusted him and went there with him. And I think that it's a remarkable performance by Mary in this episode. I think that her ang- her genuine fury and anger and need for revenge on Baltar comes through. The- you get a sense of a great deal of history between these two characters. It's interesting to see that she's back in control and that the positions have been completely reversed from where they were on New Caprica. And how she handles it. That she's still maintaining the veneer of the President, but there's this rage that's boiling just beneath the surface.

It was also an interesting question of how to treat Baltar in this situation. I think early story li- story drafts and script drafts played him more comedically. We had, I believe, more of [[Number Six]] making an appearance, like she does here, and as we went through the drafts we peeled that pack a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit, to emphasize the nature of his confinement and really make you feel like this is a guy in a very bad position.

As we talked about [[Podcast:Rapture|last week]], they snuck Baltar's body aboard ''Galactica'' so that no one in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] even knew he was there, which was intended to give them an option of just chucking this guy out the airlock if things went south or they decided to. They didn't want it really known that he was back, 'cause they didn't really wanna deal with the political fallout of that situation.

It's an interesting question. What is Baltar's guilt? And I think we've played a lot of ambiguity over the last two and a half seasons in terms of what Baltar knows, what he doesn't know, what he did, what he didn't do. There was a whole back story that we started to go into in this episode that was actually shot that ultimately was dropped because we did not pay- we decided not to use it in the trial. And yes, we're heading for- we're obviously headed for a trial of Baltar by the end of the season.

I love Mary here. I love the chaos of the scene. This is really Eddie. This is Eddie sculpting the scene in a way to bring the passions to a boil, to really sense that it's getting out of control. Laura's completely capable of doing what she's threatening to do here. [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] is certainly capable of doing what he's been asked to do here. And when he's dragged out of that cell, I think there is a sense of "God know where this is going. What's gonna happen to this man? What are they really gonna do to him here?" Early drafts had us doing more beatings of Baltar, Tigh was really gonna be in charge of the interrogation early on. It was really gonna be puttin' the screws to him in a literal sense, trying to get him to confess his crimes and to give them information on the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. Ultimately felt like, well, we'd already physically tortured him on the [[Basestar (RDM)|Cylon baseship]] and didn't see a lot to be added to that idea to do it again, so this one became much more psychological. This whole thing about whether they'll throw him out the airlock, drag him away, trying to break him psychologically, the sleep deprivation, and then ultimately, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]].


== Act 2 ==

RDM: Act two. As I was saying, the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] were then more of a mental and psychological way to torture [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] to get information out of him, which was in stark contrast to the way that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] deal with him.

There was a little bit more in the script about the fact that [[William Adama|Adama]] had used drugs like this on prisoners in the past, that we never really addressed who those prisoners were and what they- who they use them on. But the implication was that they were certainly- they were used on other human beings. They were used on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Colonials]] 'cause they had no reason to use them on Cylons, certainly, before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|attack on the Colonies]].

Again, look at the way- look at the faces, look at the energy of the scene and the emotional- we're in tight here a lot. This is a lot of bringing you in to a very tense moment and really feeling the desperation that people are pushed and pulled by. The we start this intercut. I think one of the interesting things that Eddie did in his director's cut was the way he intercut all the different story lines. It was much more aggressive than what we usually do and I would- say that it's thematically intercut instead of cutting on action. I like to intercut scenes a lot. You see that- a lot of the teasers that I write, or that I rewrite, I use that technique a lot of cross-cutting between disparate elements and giving them- discovering a thematic tie as you go along. Eddie's choices, and the editorial choices here by [[Andrew Seklir]], our editor, are much more in tune with the emotion of the scene and sometimes changing up the emotion of the scene by cutting to something to counterpoint it, other times to continue just the emotion of the moment, but a lot of the intercuts and where they occur were not scripted. This beat was not scripted to go in this place. This beat actually occurred much later in the script.

I like the fact that [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] is turning out to be a much more interesting character, I think, than anybody anticipated at the beginning when he was created, in that his feeling for [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] is star- is equaling her feeling for him. That he's not just a very simple jock. He actually has interesting complexities and layers, and that this woman means a lot to him, and that he's seeing bigger pictures. He's aware that she's somebody special. He's aware of her relationship with [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. This is not a stupid man. This is a man who thinks about his life and is trying to make his way through a very difficult situation. He's not a military guy, and so he approaches this entire series from a different perspective than most of our other regulars do, 'cause he's not a man with a mission. He's now a man who's back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and what's he supposed to do with his life? We had talked about in the writers' room various- lots of other ideas for Anders. He was gonna go into the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marines]]. He was gonna go into flight training. There was a lot of different notions that came up of giving him a job, and they just kept falling away by the wayside 'cause they took up time. It didn't seem like they were exploring new ground with him. It didn't quite feel correct for Anders. There seemed to be something right that as Kara was drifting and Kara was unsure what she would do with her life that Anders would not completely leave her orbit and was gonna try to solidify that. That the relationship between those two was as important as it was to her.

And then, again, cross-cutting this with Lee and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] is- was a choice that-

Terry: Are you smoking?

RDM: -Eddie-

Oh. Hello, [[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]].

Terry: You're in here smoking.

RDM: I am in here smoking. I have returned to Altadena, therefore the smoking lamp is on- is lit.

Terry: Ewwww. It's in the hallways.

RDM: We'll-

Terry: Your children are all gonna die of second-hand smoke.

RDM: No, the children aren't even here.

Terry: And the cats.

RDM: Well, the cats might. (Chuckles.)

Terry: Don't approve.

RDM: In fairness to Dualla here, I think that one thing that is lacking in this episode is understanding the circumstances under which she made the decision to marry Lee. There was a scene that we shot for "[[Unfinished Business]]", one of the flashbacks, that had Lee proposing to Dualla in the [[Raptor]] on the way after he had been betrayed by Kara, and when Lee asked her to marry him she actually had this long monologue where she talked about the fact that she knew that Kara was the woman in Lee's life. That Lee was always gonna love her, that that was never gonna change, but in much the same way that Laura in that same episode was talking about the fact that they had to live for now, 'cause they didn't know how long they had until the Cylons came back, and to try to make the most of the lives that they had while they still had them. That was the reason for why Dualla married Lee in the first place. She knew that one day Kara would come back into his life. But she knew that until then she would have him. And she didn't know when they would all die. She didn't know how long the horizon was for any of them. So sh- when he asked her to marry her, she explicitly said, "I know Kara will come back one day, but until then I will marry you, Lee." And Lee was protesting and denying, "No. I'm done. That's all history. It's old- it's old business. It's never coming back." And she was just wiser to know that some day it would. So that informed that scene that you just saw with her alluding to the fact that she knew- she went into this marriage with her eyes wide open.

Again, you see that Eddie has intercut those two scenes in a very interesting way. Now we're back here with Kara and Anders, and watching these two very different couples, but they're both struggling with a lot of the same issues. One of the primary issues being the relationship between Kara and Lee and their inability to let go of these other people or to let go of each other, and it's trapped this foursome, the quartet, as we call them in the writers' room. The quartet is trapped in this dance- dance of doom.

Here you see- what is the [[Layne Ishay|character]]'s name? I cannot- I'm blanking on the character's name. She's played by [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]] who is- Kerry who is [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, of course. {{podcastref|layneishay|22:10}}She had, actually, a bigger role in early drafts, and even as the draft as shot. Part of the scenario was gonna be that she was tending to Baltar. She would come and she was the medic that would come and take care of him in the cell and you'll see that she's like helping him here in the [[sick bay]] scene, in the [[Interrogation drug|drug]] scene. And part of it- her story line was gonna be her mounting disgust with what's going on and her ethical problems with what the doctors and the nurses were being asked to do in sick bay, ultimately driving her to say, "I can't do this anymore." She's gonna step away from the whole scenario. And then at the end, when it's announced on the [[wireless]] that Baltar is- has returned to [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]]- I'll come back to this.


== Act 3 ==

RDM: Just to continue that thought from the previous act, [[Kerry Norton|Kerry]]'s character was going to be the one that leaked the information to the press, and in the scene in the bar, actually, it was supposed to be a shock that the information got out, nobody knew how the information had left [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']], and there was a cut-away shot to her sitting in the bar and reacting to that information, knowing that she had been the one who had leaked it, as a way of saying - she was a whistleblower. That was her function. She wanted to blow the whistle to keep them from just executing this man or torturing him any further. She was gonna let the news be known. And ultimately that was cut because of time and because the shot in the bar didn't really sell. It didn't sell the idea. We had cut it back so much that it was just a shot of her listening to the [[wireless]], and didn't play.

Again, here you see we cut away from the dramatic scene, the scene which you think that you would stay in, which is [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] floating in the nether-world of his mind, under the influence of the [[Interrogation drug|drugs]] and [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] chose to cut away from that and go straight into a scene between [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] and [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. Now I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the director's cut there was this scene happened and then after this the scene that you saw with Starbuck and [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] would- took place after the scene you just saw with Lee and Kara, so that first scene with Kara and Anders was slated, or at least scripted, to be much later in the show. And then either in Eddie's director's cut or in the recutting that myself and [[David Eick]] did, we moved- we swapped those scenes so that you setup the problem with- oh, dear. There's a- somebody's- I'm so sorry. Somebody's backing up their truck somewhere. Think of it as an emergency signal. Ah. There. It went away.

This whole thing with the tank of water and [[William Adama|Adama]]'s interrogation of Baltar, this was crafted in large part with- between discussions with- between Eddie and the writer, [[Michael Taylor]], and I think [[Michael Angeli]], our other writer, pitched in a lot on these sequences. This was a really interesting idea that they really ran with on the stage and- dealing with water is always a really difficult proposition. Water just always brings all these special problems into production and you put some- a character floating in the water in the script and inevitably it's one of the first things that production wants you to take out, just 'cause it's a huge pain in the ass dealing with the water and the mechanics of where it's gonna be, and the special gear, and the time involved in doing anything with water, and it destroys sound, etc., etc., etc. But it's also good if you can stick through that process and keep anything like that in the show, just because it's so unusual to see it in television because it's almost always eliminated from everybody's script. In this case we were really lucky that Eddie really believed in this passionately and just refused to let go of it and no matter what the production difficulties were they always found a way around them and he just persevered. So we have this nice sequence of Baltar in the water, which I think is really effective and really creepy.

There was also a question- yeah. See that moment there where Kerry knocks over the stand, that was then her exit. She was then gonna say, "I can't do this anymore," and she leaves. She left [[sick bay]].

There was also a question of how much Baltar would confess to under the tank and what- how that would affect the trial later on. If he confesses and says he did participate in the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|genocide of the race]], if he deliberately did this or that, or he was- if, essentially, they got the answers they were looking for here, there wasn't much to have a trial about, later. So as we began to do story breaks and conversations about the trial, and what the nature of the trial was gonna be, and what the charges would be, and how he would try to defend himself, that also kept causing us to go back and rework these scenes. Michael Taylor had to do a great deal of rewriting and carving on this particular episode because of decisions made on other episodes. We kept having to go back and play around with things and so on.

Oh, I'm sorry. {{podcastref|leftover|27:38}} This was the moment when Kerry, I think, decided she had to leave. Going from that to the spinning wedding ring is, I think, a really inspired choice that they made in editorial. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the way that Eddie keeps pulling you out of that moment. That traditionally you would just stay with that story and not break it because the theory is you don't want to break up the dramatic tension of what's happening to Baltar in sick bay, and normally the idea of cutting away to these other scenes would be antithetical to the whole notion of what you're trying to do. It's like, why disrupt that mood? Why interrupt those sequences by cutting away? Oddly enough, and it was a revelation to me as I watched it, these cutaways to the Lee and Kara scene that you saw a moment ago and to this scene between Lee and [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] actually in some ways, I think, deepen the scene with Baltar and make it feel more harrowing. It feels like it- it definitely feels like it goes on longer, but it also just feels like there's this nasty awful thing happening to this man that no one else is even aware of. And yet what they're talking about is just as important in their lives as is the th- in some ways, arguably in some ways, as what's going on with Baltar. That they're all deeply involved with their own personal issues and their own thing. And had no idea what's going on- in the sick bay.

[[Terry Dresbach|Mrs. Ron]] has entered and is shooting me another disapproving look.

Terry: (unintelligible) smell (unintelligible)

RDM: I'm not stopping for you, honey.

I like the fact that Baltar admits that the are mistakes were made. I think that- I think that this is a really interesting revelatory moments for the character and how he truly sees himself. He feels bad. He knows that terrible things were done and that he was in on it, but he doesn't want to adm- want to say that he was actually guilty of it. He doesn't want to say he was responsible for it. 'Cause he doesn't truly think that.

And this beat where Baltar's head comes up, and there's the many burned children. This was also an area of great controversy, as you might imagine. We cut the- there was a wider angle that you could see that they were all children, and they were all looking down at him. Oh. There's one of the wide shots in there, just to hold on to. There were more cutaways of the kids. More cutaways of- the kids were symbolic of all the many victims, the innocence of the people that died when he was President and the people that died in the apocalypse of [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the Twelve Colonies]]. And there's the big question, isn't it. Are you a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]? No, or I don't know would be closer to it. I think even there he's lying to himself. I think even there he's- that's what he- that's his honest answer to it, but does he actually know? He doesn't know. He was- still wonders. And then the girl comes down. And this, I think is a great shot. This is one of the best shots in the whole show, of the girl taking Baltar down, down, down in the depths. That's a great sequence. Just a really inspired choice by Eddie. I don't- I might be wrong, but I don't believe that this was in the script at all. I think this was something that Eddie came up with on his own.

This we shot much later. The Lee losing the wedding ring and hunting around for it. We shot later. I think it was always scripted, but we cut it during production 'cause they were running long and we couldn't get to it and there was a hope that maybe we didn't need it after all. But when we saw the cut without this little sequence, you never quite had the beat where Lee made his choice, where Lee had to- where you saw what the marriage meant to him. This gives you the desperation of the man at the thought of losing the wedding ring. It brings it all into focus for him, at last.

I like the fact that [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], who had pushed, and pushed, and pushed for this very thing was willing to do almost anything else, ultimately was the one that was the most moved by Baltar's plight.

== Act 4 ==


Yeah. See, this is where- it's like she's unleashed them to an extent but then she's the one that also pulls them back. Which seemed right.

Oops. Sorry. So you've had g- let's see. You've had garbage trucks backing up, and now you've got the phone ringing, so know that you're in my house.

There was also- this is the scene with [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that I talked about earlier that was always in the show and always- we were always intending to have Gaeta do this gag where he suddenly stabs [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] in the neck. The choice though to, again, to cut that with the personal story with the [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] was something that [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] came up with in the editing room. And it's just a- it's a really interesting example of the power of that technique of- if you know how to intercut these scenes, if you know how to go from emotional moment to emotional moment, in that thematic ties are not screamingly obvious. That you're not going from a certain look to a certain look. If you're not going from a joke to a- from a setup line to a punchline. If you're not going from action to action. If you're not going to counterpoint directly for comedy, but you're going thematically and you're going emotionally, and you're finding these deeper moments to motivate your cut, it really lifts all- this entire show and I have to say if- I pride myself on being able to go in and play around in editing room and playing the scenes and emotions and moments, and I come up with a lot of intercuts sometimes. I could not have cut the show this way. This is something that really Eddie and [[Andrew Seklir|Andy]] came up with and I- it was startling, and it was dramatic, and different, and I think overall this episode has a different mood and feel for the series than we've really experience before, and that's a testament to the director's abilities. It really- this one really is a director's piece, more than I think anybody else's. This is really Eddie's finest moment as a director in the show. Of course, he' only had two, but this is, I think, a great effort. One of my favorite turns as a- of any of the directors that we've had on the show, and I think it's a very effective piece.

Lot of discussion within the staff and with [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie]] about the marriage, where the marriage would go, would Lee stay with her, would Lee finally turn to her, would he let go of her. We had various other ways to go where he opted to go back to [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] just at the moment that Kara opted to go back to [[Samuel Anders|Anders]]. Then we tried the opposite where Lee was back with Dualla, then Kara was- had left Anders, and ultimately we decided not to play either of those structures 'cause they were just a little bit too cute.

There was a dropped scene, as well, that had to do with [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] going to [[Caprica-Six]], which I think, in tonight's episode, for the first time, after the conclusion of the episode you will see a deleted scene that showed the sequence between Laura and Caprica-Six where she went to talk her in the cell and tried to get her to testify or to [[w:Turn state's evidence|turn state's evidence]] against Baltar, in exchange for some kind of clemency on her own part, and that that conversation would be what ultimately pushed Laura to give Gaius Baltar a trial. It was an interesting scene, I- it was in the cut, then it was out of the cut, it was in the cut and out of the cut, and ultimately I think we opted to lose it from the episode, mostly for time and we felt that it was o- we didn't have to really go to that place to justify the fact that Laura was- that once Laura had decided not to kill him, that there was a larger issues to be had to give Gaius Baltar a trial also felt important.

And then back out to [[Joe's bar]]. {{podcastref|ReturntoJoesbar|37:33}}We'll continue to go to Joe's bar over the course of [[Season 3 (2006-07)|the season]] and probably into [[Season 4 (2007-08)|next season]], as well.

This beat is a little underplayed, that- on Kara's side. We don't quite have enough- we didn't quite script enough material here to get Kara back with Anders, or to demonstrate that she was seriously considering being with Lee and then made her decision. It's implicit, it's there between the lines, but I'm not sure it's entirely clear. I think she got- her character got a little shorted, I think, in the cutting of the script and the cutting of the episode.

{{podcastref|Baltarstoryline|38:23}}There was another whole storyline that was going to be setup here that had to do with not just what Baltar is saying here in the scene. There were also allusions to another matter which was going to figure prominently in the trial episode which had to do with a whole storyline that we developed at length, and ultimately dropped, which- back on [[New Caprica]] there was a subset of people, the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Sagittaron|Sagittarons]], which will be dealt with in another episode, and the way the Sagittarons were treated during New Caprica and that they were a colony that the other colonies weren't too fond of. They were the victims of not quite racism but some kind of prejudice, essentially, and that there was a nasty little story that took place back on New Caprica which was one of the few things that they could actually nail Baltar directly on, that he had hand in directly killing somebody and there were witnesses to him killing somebody and Baltar's conversation there with Gaeta was starting to edge into those directions of the guilt about what had happened on- about the Sagittarons and that was also- and that Baltar was also blaming Gaeta for that, and that also was what prompted Gaeta to attack Baltar there in the cell that's coming up, here in a second. That storyline was developed quite a bit, as I say, into subsequent episodes and then later dropped, and so we had to go back and excise all those little bits and pieces from this episode, because ultimately, that was not a storyline that was going anywhere so we didn't want to set up this expectation that there was this whole secret between the two of them that then went nowhere. In fact, I think it might have been part of what Baltar was whispering there in Gaeta's ear. I think part of that had to do with the Sagittarion backstory on New Caprica and the fact that Baltar was gonna implicate him in what had happened if it all- if things really- push came to shove, that Gaeta was really the one responsible, and that pushed Gaeta right over the edge, 'cause he knew that he had nothing to do with that and...

(Laughs.) I like this beat. 'Cause I like the fact that Laura comes up and is doing this- the hostage negotiator talk to him, try to reason, try to reach out to him, and then (Laughs.) [[William Adama|Adama]] just clocks him. Just decks this guy.

What will become of Gaius Baltar? This is a question that we will follow for the rest of this season. What's he guilty of? What are his crimes? What can be proven in a court of law? What does the audience think his crimes are? What should his crimes be? Where does this guy go and what do we do with him?

See? This- This scene, again, after the Caprica-Six conversation that was cut from the show that's now a deleted scene. This is also, in a subtle way, setting up a revelation for Laura that will happen later in the season, just the staging of this scene and the emotion of it and where it's going. This is also foreshadowing certain events that will happen later- later this season.

Eddie, the pragmatist- or Adama, the pragmatist. And I like Laura's just very gentle, "No." She's- she just- this is not in her. She just doesn't want to do that. And that's the big difference to Laura. He's one of them. Give him a trial.

It's an interesting episode. I've watched it now several times and each time I see something new in it, and I take different reactions and feelings away each time I see the episode. I really like it. It's a really intriguing one. The mood of the piece and the tenor of the scenes and the performances always draw me into the show. You could probably tell that I kept checking out during the podcast, just getting absorbed in watching the show again. Hat's off to everybody. Good show. Good job of the writing, directing especially, the acting. Good episode. Be with you again next week for episode thirteen, which will feature our friend and Ka- our friend [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in an interesting chain of events. Thank you for listening. Good night and good luck.

User talk:PrePressChris

2007-02-05T20:42:29Z

PrePressChris: /* Podcast verification */ response

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-01-12T19:26:16Z

PrePressChris: /* Scattered */ verified act three

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====
===== [[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Huh?|Huh?]] 11:15, 23 May 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:14, 23 May 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:01, 29 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:02, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 3 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:32, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:52, 4 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:26, 12 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 5 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Scattered

2007-01-12T18:58:48Z

PrePressChris: /* [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3] */ - word (it's actually "kinda", dropping for S&C)

{{podcast|author=Huh?|emailAuthor2= and [[Special:Emailuser/Steelviper|Steelviper]]|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_1of5.mp3 Teaser]==

Hello and welcome to the first podcast of the second season for the episode "[[Scattered]]". I’m [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new Battlestar Galactica]]. Thank you all for tuning in and for listening to the podcasts, which I will try to continue to do for as much of the second season as I possibly can. <chuckle> This episode of "Battlestar Galactica" to kick off season two went- underwent a great deal of changes all the way from concept on to final broadcast. Initially, we had a different plan to open the second season instead of doing a direct pickup on the cliffhanger ending from last season’s finale "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol’s Last Gleaming]]". I wanted to do something a little different and not come back directly to the cliffhanger and actually do a completely separate sort of episode that was an episode set some time in the distant past. I won’t tell you too many details about that episode, because it’s still sort of on the drawing boards and still something we’re considering doing at a later date. But in essence, what is now "Scattered" and the subsequent episode, episode two, "[[Valley of Darkness]]", were actually going to be episode number two, and then as it worked out we decided not to go that way and decided to open [[Season 2 (2005-06)|season two]] a little bit more traditionally with a direct pickup into the cliffhanger. That said, "Scattered" really wasn’t going to, I didn’t want "Scattered" to directly pickup the cliffhanger.

Still, I was still kind of like fighting against that notion and wanted to really kind of ah subvert the audience’s expectations of what we were going to do. And the episode in script form actually picked up or opened with an open scene in a bar on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]] twenty years ago and you just kind of cut into this scene it was a bar filled with a lot of people, televisions and on in the background giving commentaries on [[Pyramid (RDM)|pyramid]] games etc. And you went over, and there was [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] at the bar, a much younger Colonel Tigh with hair, and he was doodling a [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] weapon systems on a napkin. And some guys came in, you realized they were crewmen from another merchant freighter that he was on and ah they were taunting him in some way and a fight broke out. And the fight got pretty ugly and Colonel Tigh ultimately has a man down and is about to break his neck when another man rushes up behind him and is about to hit him with a bottle and possibly kill him and you hear the chick chick sound of a shotgun and you pan off and there is [[William Adama|Adama]]. And this was how Adama and Tigh first met. They met in a bar in between the wars. The backstory to the series is that the initial [[Cylon War|Cylon conflict]] was fought forty years ago and in that war both Tigh and Adama were young men who did not fight together, they fought in separate ways on separate vessels, had separate experiences. And after the war was over, both men were discharged along with many other service people out into the civilian world and they both sort of happened to sign up aboard the same civilian tramp freighter that was plying the trade routes in among the colonies and that was how they met.

In any case, that’s how I wanted to open this episode. We were going to open this show with just that scene and show how the two men met and then come into the scene you’re watching now where Tigh takes command of [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and Adama’s been shot and there is all this chaos. And the episode was going to continue to sort of flash back onto their relationship of the early days of Tigh and Adama and how the two men met and what meant to each other, what it was that Adama saw in Tigh for the first time and sort of really go through the creation of the friendship. And counterpointing that with events in the current day ''Galactica'' where Adama’s life hangs in the balance and Tigh is making decisions based on, in part on things that he learned from Adama way back in those days. And we shot those sequences. Those sequences were shot and ah edited together, and we looked at them. But ultimately, we didn’t like them. We just didn’t feel, they weren’t quite the show, frankly. And um, and really not through any, you really can’t point your finger at any particular person (missing) maybe me because it was my concept. And you know. I don’t know that I created or had the writers of this episode [[Bradley Thompson]] and [[David Weddle]]; I don’t know that I gave them really a rich enough environment to really tell that back story. In any case, when we watched the cut, we all kind of felt, and the director included, that it was, it would just be a better story to tell the tale in a more linear fashion. And that we would still use that material, still use the flashback material that we had. But instead of making it these objective points of view, we were going to tie them, we were going to change them into subjective points of view. That is, we would tie them directly into Tigh’s experience. They would be from Tigh’s memories instead of sort of the audience watching these events happen as if you were just cutting back in time. We would tie them all to Colonel Tigh specifically. So as you watch the show, you’ll see that there are many places where we're going directly off of Tigh. You know, you’re creating these flashbacks now in a subjective way. Tigh is thinking about Adama. You can see it subliminally there in the teaser. He’s thinking about Adama along the table. He’s remembering the moment he met Adama. It’s informing his decision now. So it really kind of changed the tenor of the episode, instead of it being this sort of dramatic device that was sort of counterpointing present day reality with past events. It became more of a character study of Colonel Tigh because now you’re sort of going inside Colonel Tigh’s head. And sort of, you know, living with him – his experiences as seen through the prism of his relationship with Adama.

Now I apologize, because my DVD, <laughter> my DVD copy of "Scattered" is screwing up slightly. So it’s freezing periodically. And I’m having a little trouble. I think it’s my home system more than anything else. My handy dandy home system that I just got. In any case, I am now at the section where [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]], where [[The Fleet (RDM)|the fleet]] is jumping away in any case. Dualla is just saying jump, there we go. So the roots of this story, even before the cliffhanger, this idea that the fleet would be lost and scattered across a vast section is actually something that predates season two. It actually is something that was in one of the first log lines for the series way back when I was sending up a list of potential storylines to the network saying that these are the shows that we would do if you would take us to series and on them were ideas like "[[33]]" you know the idea that the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] come back every thirty-three minutes was one of them. The riot aboard the [[Astral Queen|prison ship]] was one of them. And the fact that there would be a jump and the fleet would be scattered across a vast expanse was one of them. This is a little slightly different instead of all the ships of the fleet being scattered and lost, it’s essentially that ''Galactica'' is really the one that’s been lost. You know it’s ''Galactica'' that has jumped to a different location than the rest of the fleet. You’ll notice I’m in the main title sequence here. The main title sequence you’ll note has changed this year. We have lopped off the second part, the sort of upcoming scenes section with the drum beats and all that in favor of keeping just sort of the beginning and making it a little bit shorter. And I’ll talk a little bit more about that when we come back on act one. And hopefully my DVD will continue to function. <quiet> Boom… ''Galactica''.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_2of5.mp3 Act 1]==

Ok. Act one. As I was saying, before I get into the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] stuff that you're seeing now, we also changed the main title theme back to the UK version, which was always the preference of the producers and everyone on the show and there was some internal debate about which was the best main title, what's the best theme music. I think end of the day, basically everybody agreed that the theme that we had season one was not as evocative and interesting as the UK version so we all agreed to do that. The reason behind losing the second half was to just make the whole thing a little faster to get through the main title a little quicker, and also there were complaints. There had been- some people just don't like seeing scenes from the upcoming show. I really dug it. I always- I was always a big proponent of it and really liked it. I know that [[David Eick]], my partner, also loved it too, but, there were legitimate people that just said, "Well, we don't wanna be spoiled. We don't wanna see the scenes that we're coming up on." So we decided to lose it.

So there's [[David Weddle|David]] and [[Bradley Thompson|Bradley]], who wrote the episode. And we're back in Baltar's head down on [[Kobol]]. One of the interesting things about this season in the way that this all begins is that there were so many plot threads to pick up from [[Season 1 (2004-05)|last season]], from the end of Kobol. And we made the decision very early on- I really did not want to wrap all the storylines up in a nice, neat little package in the first hour. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel with- it would work within the parameters of the reality we've created and it was just far less interesting to try to bring all these people back to [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']] and get 'em back to where they were. Hit the reset button, as it were. So, we really opted to tease out the storyline. And the storyline kept getting bigger. I think initially there were going to be five episodes that would be dedicated to all these plot threads of people on Kobol, [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and the people on ''Galactica'', and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]] not being President and [[William Adama|Adama]] being shot. All those things, I think, were initially going to be resolved in way or another by the time we got to, like, [[The Farm|episode five]]. As we started developing the scripts, two of the scripts just became unamanagable as single, one-hour episodes, and this is one of them. "[[Scattered]]" initially- oh, and as a side note: If you're listening to this I hope you're into being spoiled because we're going to be talking about not just things coming up in this episode but things coming up in subsequent episodes so, fair warning. There will be spoilers given away here. "Scattered" had encompassed in its storyline not only- it just had this entire piece of material in that most of the action that was going to be in part- in what is now the second episode, in "[[Valley of Darkness]]", most of that storyline was also in "Scattered". All the action that takes place on Kobol in "Valley of Darkness" having to do with what you'll see in that one, the death of the- well, I just gave it away. (Laughs) In essence, what happens to [[Socinus]] in part two is all- was all gonna be in "Scattered". What happens to Kara and [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] in the second episode was also going to be in "Scattered". The eventual wrap-up of all the events on ''Galactica'' was gonna be on "Scattered". But we just couldn't do it. It was too many things to manage in a one-hour episode. An hour- we've always struggled with the length of our scripts and the length of our episodes. There's only, if you look at it, there's really only about forty minutes and change of actual program content and our scripts tend to run in the- in the early drafts they're always in the fifties. Usually we like them to be in the low fifties, fifty one, fifty two, fifty three. Sixty page scripts are not unheard of. An ideal page script for us going into shooting is usually about forty six, forty seven pages. Sometimes we make that, sometimes we don't. But even when we make that, and I think we did on "Scattered", I think we- in the final draft of "Scattered", I think it was around forty seven, forty eight pages. The shows are still too huge. They're still too long. The style of storytelling, I might have talked about this before, just requires spending more time on character, creating moments, really taking your time as you go through the show. And that just expands. And so "Scattered," in its initial draft, was just much too big to sustain one episode so we essentially divided it into two and created another action storyline for part two, which is "Valley of Darkness," which as you'll see at the end of this show the [[Cylon Centurion|Cylons]] are on the ship. The Cylons have boarded ''Galactica'' and that's our cliffhanger ending for episode one. And then that becomes the primary action storyline of part two. But all the other tales that happen in part two, apart from the Cylon boarding, were actually all supposed to be in "Scattered" and there was just no way that the show could really support that. It was just too, too much to have to deal with. So we split them into two shows. Same- similar thing happened with [[Home, Part I|episode six]], which was going to be the place where all the storylines were wrapped up and Laura was eventually restored to the Presidency, and Adama's back, and everybody gets back home. Episode six became much too large to sustain one hour as well, so we split that into two. So now, essentially, season one and the storylines that we began in season one don't really end until episode seven of the second season. Which is great. It's a really, in a way, that's like- we have a twenty episode first season, if you want to look think about it like that.

Ok. Back to what we're dealing with here. This is [[Lee Adama|Lee]] and Laura and their troubled and conflicted relationship now that Lee has sided- Lee very dramatically sided with Laura aboard ''[[Colonial One]]'' last season, and Laura did not back him up and I think that embittered him in certain ways and creates tension in their relationship because Lee was expecting her to be there for him. He put a gun to [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]]'s head and then she immediately went, "Ok, I can't do this. I can't have Colonial officers shooting each other. This has gone too far." She has to stop.

All these scenes on Kobol, as are all the show, all the shows scenes are shot in [[Wikipedia:Vancouver|Vancouver]]. You'll note that Kobol looks greener and more lush and the colors a little bit more saturated. This is a great piece of editing right there. That's actually two different pieces of film. That's really wonderfully done. All the scenes on Kobol are shot, obviously, in Vancouver, but so are all the scenes on Caprica and it's really a question about how you light it and how you digitally color time these shots to make them feel like two different planets. And our [[Wikipedia:Cinematographer|DP]], [[Stephen McNutt|Steve]], is very, very talented and has been able to deliver two completely different looks to what are- what is essentially the same basic group of locations. If you look at this location closely and you went back and looked in the first season on- in say, episode one, "[[33]]", and episode two, "[[Water]]", the scenes on Caprica. They were shot in very similar terrain with very similar trees, very similar foliage. It's not that different. What is different is the way he chooses to light and shoot these scenes which gives you a vibe and a feeling that you are in different environments. Caprica is theoretically undergoing some nuclear winter, or at least drastic climate changes, so it tends to- the lighting scheme tends to be much more blown-out, much more ghastly, for lack of a better word. Whereas here on Kobol, the once home of humanity where it was once paradise, it's much more vibrant, verdant, green environment. Very [[Wikipedia:Garden of Eden|Garden of Eden]]-type.

This storyline of what happens to the people down on Kobol is really one of my favorites of this season. It's a really interesting tale of this [[Raptor]], that the survivors of the Raptor crash, led by [[Samuel Witwer|Sam Witwer]], who plays [[Alex Quartararo|Crashdown]], who was a small character that we established in "33" last season, we just need- essentially we needed a guy to replace Helo because [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]] was a Raptor pilot and a Raptor's piloted by two people. So Sharon needed to fly with somebody and we needed another character so I came up with this guy, Crashdown. And the initial guy- stories on Crashdown were very small, he was supposed to be a little funnier, a little more of a joker, didn't take things quite as serious, and looked a bit buffoonish and silly in some sequences and- but we really grew to like him and to like Sam over the course of the year and started use him more and more. Sam's a very talented actor. Very dedicated to the profession, and really interesting guy. And by the time we got to "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming]]" and this party had gone down, I didn't really know where this story was going, but I was fascinated with the idea that Crashdown would be in command of a infan- what has become, essentially, an infantry unit. They're troops now, down on the ground, and that [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] would be his [[Military Ranks (RDM)|Chief Petty Officer]], who starts to lose faith in him in that Crashdown is not really up to that task. As dedicated as he is as a character and as much as he wants to lead those men, he finds that there are many shortcomings that he can't quite handle, and it's a dark tale of what happens to those people on Kobol, and I just think it's wonderful. And I'll come back to that later.

We're back on Caprica. You can already see that the color tones here on Caprica, even though this is an interior, are very different. It's much more yellows and golden. It's a different color scheme. That brief shot of the exterior of [[Delphi Museum of the Colonies|the museum]] was much more blown-out. The color hues are much different than what you saw on Caprica. There was some debate, internally, about, when we saw these dailies, about how much blood was on [[Katee Sackhoff|Katee's]] face in this sequence. There were some people that were going, "God! There's so much blood. Why didn't you wipe off her face? You look just so horrible and scary and awful." Personally, I love it. I think she looks great in this whole sequence. The fact that she's got blood all over her face from the fight with Six. It just speaks to the violence of the world that she's living in and how desperate things have become and her raw emotion and her anger toward [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)|Sharon]]. I mean, this is an interesting dynamic. He's in love with the enemy now, and is trying to protect the enemy. But he's still a Colonial officer. She just got here, and knows immediately that Sharon is not "one of us" and knows that she has to die. I mean, it's a great, very operatic in many ways, storyline.

This was all shot, I think, at the same location we shot "Kobol's Last Gleaming" at. As I recall, we had to go back in. It was a very difficult to get back into these locations one more time. That's the shot I really like.

I really like her in that angle with the blood and the grime and just the look on her face. I think she looks great, actually, in a twisted, odd kind of way. I think she's really attractive in this whole scene, which might speak to my own strangeness more than anything in the objective reality. As I said, this really the only sequen- the only Caprica sequence in part one. And that was because we only had a few Caprica scenes to go over both parts and we felt like we needed- I think the second scene of- that's great. And this is my (chuckles)- I threw that line out, like, in a meeting and everybody just liked it and I just kept laughing when I said. Ok we're going to go to part two- act two now.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_3of5.mp3 Act 2]==

Ok. Now we're in act two. Just to finish that thought, there was a second scene on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]] in "[[Scattered]]" but we felt that it was better- it was a better scene to use in part two, in "[[Valley of Darkness]]", so that- so we moved it editorially into that episode, so as a result there's only one Caprica scene here.

This whole bit of bus- that's actually [[Jamie Bamber]]'s [[Kerry Norton|wife]], who's playing [[Layne Ishay|the medic]].

Here you see- these are the flashbacks I'm talking about. There were entire scenes that took place in the past where you- where they talked about their relationship. [[William Adama|Adama]] had come back in and kept him from killing another man and alluded to the fact that [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] drinks too much and that they both want to get back into [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] and that that was the driving force that- Tigh had given up any hope of putting on a [[Uniforms (RDM)|Colonial uniform]] again and Adama never had. Adama was determined that he was going to get back into the Fleet. Part of the problem, I think, with the flashbacks when you just watch them as objective cuts as opposed to these more stylized pieces, was that we could only go so far in aging down the actors. We didn't want to get into heavy prosthetics to try to make them look younger because that starts to become its own artifice where you age them down and add so much prosthetic makeup to them that it looks false and then the dig- digitally doing it is incredibly expensive. So part of the problem was they didn't look as young as we needed them to, but we didn't wanna- we didn't wanna just recast with younger actors, even though in an early draft we did say that. We were talking about having "young Tigh" and "young Adama" and then you just go, "Why are we doing this?" You don't want to lose [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] and [[Michael Hogan|Michael]]. That's the whole point of doing the flashback. So it's another reason why the flashbacks beca- are just more effective as stylized pieces.

This quiet walk around of [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]], I think, is just great. I love this moment that Michael and- the two Michaels, Michael Hogan, [[Michael Rymer]], created here. Sharon's fear. Tigh's anger, hatred, loathing, fear, concern, confusion. What is this thing? I can't believe it's Sharon. And then- ooh. That's gotta hurt. I like this scene a lot. It's a dark scene. It's a dark show. This is what would really happen, though, in my opinion. This is how these characters would behave. Tigh would not take a lot of guff off- Tigh doesn't take a lot of guff off of anybody, much less Sharon Valerii who just shot [[The Old Man]]. Oof! Oof. And there's those flashes of the number three on the door.

Now, in a couple of cuts, at that very moment- see right now there's a stylized piece. He sees- he remembers the door, which is a recurring motif throughout the show, that's, "What's the door about? What's the door? What's the door?" and then he sees a flash of Adama. In a few cuts of this we actually made it a more literal flashback, where Adama had literally stopped him from killing another man in the past when Tigh was drunk and Adama warned him, "Someday you're gonna kill someone and you're no- and you're not going to be able to call it back, and you're not gonna be- it'll be too late. And I won't be your friend anymore," he says kinda sardonically. And Tigh says, "Yeah, that'd be a [[frak]]kin' shame." And then you came back to the Sharon scene. It was a little to literal. It was a little too on the nose. It delivered the message a little- it hit you over the head with the message a little bit too much. So this is a much better version that [[[[IMDB:nm0782890|Andy]], our editor, cut. Where it's just subliminal and you know that there's meaning to it and that there's a bit of something from Tigh's subconscious and his past is slowing him down and keeping him from putting a bullet in Sharon's head right there.

This sequence actually we shortened. In looking for cuts he tightened that significantly. There was another [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]- there was a Cylon attack there, where they start taking fire and they barely got away. And then you cut here, still.

This is all improvised dialogue, actually, that the actors came up with as they chatted back and forth. There was something else scripted but the actors went way off book here and with Michael worked out another little piece of banter, which worked out really nicely.

That's great. This is the kind of sequence you don't often really see, I think, where it's just the bolt from the blue attack that takes out somebody that you've started to form a relationship with, and you're just under fire. I like the sound design and all. This flat echo of the gunshots out in the forest feels very realistic. I like the fact that this is not scored with some giant, orchestral, pulse-pounding sequence, which would tell you that it's all ok on some level because, "Hey, there's music- there's action music." It's the agony of actually being shot. It's the terror of, "Where are those guys out there?" There's [[Cally Henderson Tyrol|Cally]] squeezing off rounds. It's just great. I like this sequence a lot. It's a powerful one. It feels very raw. It's like they're out there and, man, the Cylons are out there too. And again, like I said, the [[Kobol]] storyline is one of my favorites because it just feels like we're dealing with real things that happen to real people and not- Things don't always go well for real people.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3]==

-that we had trouble figuring out how to editorially get from the previous scene to this scene for quite some time. A lot of times the scripts are written one way, in a certain structure, in the editing room you play around with exactly where certain sequences fall and how you get from A to B. And for q- there were several cuts where we had those two scenes on top of each other where you sit sort of a dissolve or a quick cut that they had just gotten away and we had a different act one ending at some poin- or act, whichever act it was that just ended, act two. And we shifted things around to make that the act break and then you come back here.

This is an effective little moment, I feel. He's [[Socinus|just a guy]], he's a guy you barely know, but you just start to know him and you try to rescue him, and you pull him out of the line of fire, and he dies anyway. 'Cause that really happens. It's- war is an ugly, bad thing and for all the heroics of it and all the noble causes that can be associated with it, and the camaraderie, these things happen. It's death. It's ugly death. It's death that comes up to people that don't deserve it and people that do. And I like that. I like the fact that our characters have emotions. They're not just stoic. They don't just take death in stride, like so many people on TV do and just move on and just step over the body and, "Oh, it's a tough, tough world you live in, kid," and move on. It's [[Cally Henderson Tyrol|Cally]] that's trying to pull the [[Galen Tyrol|Chief]] off of there. It's not the other way around. Cally's not collapsing in tears in hysterics. Cally's got the medkit and the backpack and she's got the mission, and it's the Chief that has to be pulled away from his man. Which I think is wonderful. I think it says a lot of great things about the innate humanity of these character in the world of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']].

[[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], who's still feeling the guilt associated with screwing up in his- in letting [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] get lost. It's just- this too is a great little beat. It's not much dialogue, it's just character. We've started to find that these two, over time, Gaeta and [[Anastasia Dualla|Dualla]] have developed their own relationship and that it's an interesting- these are the guys that are not in charge. The guys that carry out orders and they have their own shorthand and ease even though there's a gulf between them as a [[Military Ranks (RDM)|Lieutenant and a Petty Officer]].

The bit of the soap... (Chuckles.) And I wrote- yeah, I remember- I think I added this little piece that Gaeta lines up the pieces of soap and gets an idea. It's just a nice little, easy to understand, gag. Then on we go.

And then we're into a bit of a bit of the [[technobabble]], which no science fiction show would be without. It's hard stuff to write. It's unpleasant stuff to watch and film and somehow you still need it. Every once in a while you still gotta do these kinda gags where, just to explain what the hell the idea is, you gotta go into this mumbo jumbo jargon. We try to keep it to a [[naturalistic science fiction|bare minimum]]. At [[MemoryAlpha:Star Trek|''Star Trek'']], when I was working at ''Star Trek'', there were times when we just had pages and pages of this tech kind of dialogue. I've probably ranted about this before on other podcasts, so forgive me if I'm really, if this is becoming a hobby horse, but I think a lot of science fiction, filmed science fiction and film and television, falls down on this front where there's just too much emphasis on all this gobbledygook stuff that doesn't exist and doesn't matter, ultimately. 'Cause it's really about the [[:Category:Characters (RDM)|characters]]. It's about what choices they're going to make.

And for those of you who do listen- who's listened to these podcasts before, it'll be no surprise to you that the gardeners have decided to work across the street in the damn day of the podcast, here in lovely Southern California.

This is a sequen- this- now here you can see much more of the flashback. This ac- that shot right there. This one of [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]], that we just slowed down, is actually stolen from another episode. In the editing room we were try- I needed- I wanted desperately to have another moment of flashback where we would get get a little bit more of their backstory and see more of what happened to the two men, and I needed a transitional element into it and nothing really worked. It didn't have a piece of Tigh by himself in a corridor, or anywhere else that I could really key off of to start this flashback because, again, these are subjective flashbacks, so I needed a Tigh piece. So those shots right there of him walking in the corridor are actually stolen from the end of episode four, "[[Resistance]]", and I went into the editing room as they were cutting four and I asked- I was looking- I was asking for a shot. Is there somebody got a shot of Tigh walking alone in the corridor wearing the [[Uniforms (RDM)|blue uniform]], and sure enough there was a piece, and that- those shots are actually stolen from the very end of "[[Resistance]]". We had to cut around very carefully so that we don't repeat the shots in episode four. But when you watch episode four and you see Tigh walk off down the corridor at the end of that show, you'll see where those scenes were actually cut from.

The beat that you just saw a moment ago of Tigh going in and getting [[Lee Adama|Apollo]]'s parole, so that Apollo can go fly the mission and be [[CAG]], is actually an idea that dates back to, ironically enough, [[Wikipedia:Horatio Hornblower|Hornblower]], for me. And of course, some of you may or may not know that Jamie Bamber was in the [[Wikipedia:Hornblower (TV series)|A&E miniseries]] of Hornblower. In Hornblow there was just- Hornblower is one of my favorite books as a kid. It still- some of my very favorite books of all time. And in there was this whole notion of parole, when an off- there was a point where Hornblower, was a British Naval officer, was captured by the French and was held prisoner, but as an officer and a gentlemen of that time he was- he would give his parole so that he could walk out and be free for a time and parole essentially meant his word, his promise, that while he was out walking and taking in the sea and not being confined to his cell, he promised he would not try to escape.

And there's a great shot. This is one of those great shots that [[Gary Hutzel]] brings in and [[Zoic]] has created, I believe, it's Zoic. That wows everybody and we go, "Oh my god. That's the show."

And I'll come back here in a second.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_5of5.mp3 Act 4]==

Ok. Now we're in the big action sequence of act four. A couple of these shot- there's not many recycled shots. That was one from the [[miniseries]]. That's another from the miniseries. This whole sequence is really, in my opinion, is one of the best visual effects sequences I've been associated with. It's just- that's a new shot. These are repeats of existing shots. That's a new shot. Off towards the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. There's an interesting thing going on here that some of the writers did not like, actually. This dialogue in the cockpits between [[Louanne Katraine|Kat]] and [[Flyboy]]- er Kat and [[Brendan Constanza|Hotdog]], etc., the rest of them, as they're eager for the battle and going into with a different point of view. Some of the comments came back that- that some of the writers felt, [[David Weddle|David]] and [[Bradley Thompson|Bradley]] felt, frankly, that it was really out of context. That it was wrong for them to go into battle, given all the- with that kind of high spirit and competitive streak given that [[William Adama|Adama]]'s life is hanging in the balance and so many serious things have happened. And I understand that point of view. My initial reaction, when I saw it, was surprise too. And at first I didn't like it, either, and they had shot two versions of that whole sequence where one, as scripted, which was much more matter of fact, and then one that was more like this and I started to really like this version because it widen- it opened the world up a little bit more. It told me that there was a different story going on, down in the pilot ready rooms and in their cockpits and in their world, that really wasn't connected with the rest of the show and I liked the fact that they didn't- they weren't involved in the A story. They weren't involved in Adama's life. They weren't involved in all these little things. That they were doing their own thing.

Here's the new [[Heavy Raider]]. And now we start getting into, really I think, just amazing stuff. This upcoming sequence when they go in on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]<nowiki>'</nowiki>s flak cloud I think is amazing. And they spin around. We're gonna go after these guys. There goes Kat. She comes around and there's ''Galactica'' off in the distance.

These are just great shots. And then there's this little interlude here which was much bigger- which was longer in other cuts, but this is really all you need to sell this story, is the emergence of some people starting to look to [[Laura Roslin]] as a prophet and a religious figure and her reluctant embrace of that role. That was a story thread that I did not want to lose as we went through all this.

This ethereal sound cue. It's hard to make these attack sequences more interesting, I think. As you do more and more of them, attacks on ''Galactica'', you start repeating yourself and trying to do the same shots and what do you do to make it more interesting? [[Gary Hutzel|Gary]] and his team really came through for us in this. I mean, it's just a really outstanding job. This sequence is just not something that I've seen before is they go in and then the idea that ''Galactica'' has a flak cloud that they- that wards off missles and incoming [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Raiders]] and it's like this really dense [[Wikipedia:Anti-aircraft warfare|ackack]] that's flying around the ship. It's a great concept and it makes perfect sense, but it's hard- it's never really been visuallized like this. Here we go. I mean, this is- we're coming right up into it. They come down. You can see it- there's the flak cloud forming. Look at that. It's like- they're shooting back.

All these- there's a certain [[Wikipedia:Mobile Army Surgical Hospital|MASH]] quality to these operating scenes, which I really like.

And there- that's- this is what I start to really love. That shot. [[Lee Adama|Lee]]'s try- look at that. Look at that! That's unbelievable. That is such a complicated beautiful shot. That is really, really amazing stuff. I mean, that's just unbelievable. Look at what she's flying into, and then this shot. Whoah! It's just great. And then we have- you have more. This shot of the Heavy Raider, plunging, plunging, and into the [[flight pod]]. Now the thing to remember here is that that flight pod, for those of you in the know, is where the [[Galactica Museum|museum]] was. That's not the active flight pod. And there's a window, you can see its wreckage. But nobody's over there. I mean, it's an empty part of the ship. And they've taken a hit over there and an impact, but Apollo says there's no fire, no damage. The assumption is that a ship crashed into the pod and was destroyed. And they're still in the middle of combat and battle. They're rushing around and this is an undermanned crew. Which is all, essentially, rationale to explain why they don't know that they've been boarded until the next episode. And it's- you could say it's a shaky logic, but there is a logic to it and I think it does work.

So now we're back. Which is great, because it's great to know that [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]]- Colonel Tigh did guide them successfully through this crisis. Which is a salute to his character and the fact that Adama did see something of value in him. That there was a reason why Adama brought this man back into [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] and kept him by his side for many years. And in light of subsequent episodes to this, when things are going to go from bad to worse under Tigh's leadership, it was really important to see that Tigh, in a crisis, in a combat situation, in a wartime scenario, is the guy you do want at the command. He can get you through that and he will guide them successfully through this episode, and through "[[Valley of Darkness]]", 'cause when the [[Cylon Centurion|Cylons]] are on the ship Tigh knows what to do about that and it's only after the guns start shooting, it's only after the crisis passes that Tigh is the man that you do not want in command of your [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]. 'Cause he's not very political and he doesn't think like that and he does drink a little bit too much.

So it's relief... relief. And this is [[Kerry Norton|Jamie's wife]]. [[Jamie Bamber]]'s wife, ladies and gentleman. Lovely lady, lovely actress. Pleasure to work with. It was a pleasure to have her on the show.

My [[Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0 (Region 1 DVD)|DVD]] has paused once or twice here, so I might be slightly behind the rest of you. I have a- and Tigh ends and the [[Layne Ishay|medic]] on screen right at my moment. Pan off to Tigh.

And then we're coming up onto the last flashback here, of Tigh in his hotel room. Tigh looks down at Adama. The idea of the door being a recurring motif through the show is actually, I think, [[David Eick]]'s. I was looking- I was creating this sort of thing in the editing room when we- I was determined to hang onto the flashbacks. I felt like- 'cause I did see a cut without any of the flashbacks in the show at all, when you just played the show straight, just as an action piece and I just felt it lacked heart. I felt it lacked emotional depth. I felt that it lacked complexity. You didn't understand what the show was about. And I did like the idea a lot of using the flashbacks stylistically throughout but we needed something, a hook, you need a recurring image that would lead you into these flashbacks. And it was the- David's idea was that it's the door. The door is what leads you back in. And that you don't- until get here you don't realize what the door is. Now there is a woman lying in the bed behind him, as you- as sharp eyes will note. It's not [[Ellen Tigh|Ellen]]. We did cast another actress and in a longer takes that you see that she's very clearly a brunette 'cause this was not how he met Ellen.

The great thing here is this is- there's a definite homage quality in this to [[Wikipedia:Apocalypse Now|''Apocalypse Now'']] which is one of our- a brilliant film. One of our all-time favorites and we certainly wanted to pay respect to that in certain ways with this scene. But it's not the same scene. They don't put him in the shower and sober him up. It's- he just goes off and pulls himself together. Which, for our story, is more effective. There was something great about him getting ready to light his own medals on fire with the lighter fluid and I wanted to convey this idea that he might- the whole place might go up but we didn't q- we weren't able to quite convey that.

And you don't- who- leading characters don't say this. What leading second-in-command that you can think of has this, "I don't wanna command. I'm not up to it. This isn't the way it's supposed to be. I should have died back there." I think it's true. I think it is was Colonel Tigh really thinks and feels but it's unusual to see that portrayed in television, a sign of honest, "I'm a screwup and I know it kind of quality to it."

And here we're getting ready to go out of the show. There's the big window, as you- which was a part of the museum, for those of you who saw the miniseries. They had a museum in here 'cause the ship was getting ready to be decommissioned. But there's nobody lives in there anymore. Nobody works over there. Nobody's gotten over there anymore to inspect that particular piece of damage. They have other things to do and they're landing pilots. They're- they have other damage. They have actual fires in other areas of the ship. They have things to deal with. And so- and here we go. Very cool. And right into camera. And "to be continued". So, there you have it. There was "[[Scattered]]". Thank you for coming along on the ride and hopefully I'll be talking to you next week on "Valley of Darkness". Take care and I'll talk to you then. Bye.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-01-12T14:53:03Z

PrePressChris: /* Home, Part II */ finished verification

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====
===== [[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Huh?|Huh?]] 11:15, 23 May 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:14, 23 May 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:01, 29 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:02, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 3 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:32, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:52, 4 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 5 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 20:28, 17 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:02, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 11:38, 19 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:28, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:39, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:56, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:37, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:32, 5 January 2007 (CST).)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:10, 31 October 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 5 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:14, 3 November 2006 (EST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 10:45, 8 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:43, 10 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:32, 9 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 20:49, 12 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:06, 11 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:06, 13 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 08:53, 12 January 2007 (CST).)

====Season 3 podcasts====

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Home, Part II

2007-01-12T14:51:20Z

PrePressChris: /* [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4] */ typo

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and David Eick}}

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser]==

RDM: Hello again. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']].

Eick: And I'm [[David Eick]]. I also work the show a little bit from time to time.

RDM: (Chuckles.) And we're here to do the podcast commentary for episode seven, "[[Home, Part II]]". As we said last week, this was originally all one episode. And as development went on we just realized that there was just way too much story to try to tell this entire tale inside of one hour so this got split up into two piece.

We're still in the recaps from last week. A side note is these recaps are endlessly worked over (laughs) in the editing process, back and forth.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: There's endless discussions from everybody. From the editors and us to the studio and the network of exactly which elements should be reprised from last week and it's all having to do with, ok, new viewers to the show who may not understand the storyline versus people who just need to be refreshed and brought up to date. And so these little sequences- actually as I'm watching this I'm realizing that's- I don't even remember which pieces are in the recap anymore because I get so bored with the process of arguing about the recap that at as certain point I just ignore it and it's like, ok, the recap will tell people something.

Eick: Yeah. They'll bring something to the table.

RDM: They'll bring something.

Eick: This is also- this episode is in the category of "be careful what you wish for" in a way, 'cause as Ron was saying we learned early enough that we were able to do something about it the episode was too long or had too much story to tell in one episode, but what it really had was about an episode and a half. And so we were able to come up with a strategy, pitch it to the network, get the network to approve us, extending this to a two-parter, which was, in its own way a victory because it didn't have the kind of definitive plot engine that you would have in last year's episodes [[Act of Contrition|four]] and [[You Can't Go Home Again|five]] to make that case. And they finally said yes. And Ron and I were in Vancouver, "Yeah," high-fiving each other, slamming beers, whatever we were doing to celebrate having gotten this approval, but of course we were about to embark on the first day of prep on [[Home, Part I|episode six]] and realized we had to basically come up with half an epsiode to flesh out episode seven that would also have a backwards domino effect into episode six. So by the time we were sitting at dinner that night, basically rebreaking these two episodes and wondering how they were gonna get accompli- how they were gonna get written before we actually had to shoot them, it was one of those, "Uh oh. What did we just step in."

RDM: (unitelligble) what?

Eick: And so- But this, I remember this scene showed up. This sce- this teaser showed up a few days later. Ron had gone back to LA. I was still in Vancouver and I was so thrilled with it because it was exactly what you want to start an episode like this with. It was a very changeup approach, rhythmically. It was a series of scenes- the cut is really pretty faithful to how it was written. In which we're seeing disparate pieces of activity and business that are, in a sort of magical way, linking these two very far away places. And I just thought it was really powerful and a way of starting an episode that even if you hadn't seen episode six, there's still this compelling mystery being unraveled to you that would make you interested in episode seven.

RDM: And I actually enjoy writing these kinds of sequences. This is reminicent of, in some ways, of the beginning of "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming]]".

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Where we started with a lot of silent, just visual shots of all the different story elements that were happening in that episode. This is a little simpler in that you're going back and forth between two groups of people in- one group going somewhere, the other group looking for them. And there's just some, I don't know, I really enjoy the intercut of it and finding the little thematic ties and what it- you're telling the story visually instead of with dialogue and a lot of tv- so much of tv is just talking heads-

Eick: (simultaneously) Talking heads.

RDM: -and people telling you things endlessly. And it's always interesting when you can try to- especially start an episode just visually. To just make it film. To just tell- show it instead of tell it.

Eick: So although there was a lot of shuffling of scenes, basically what we- and so it wasn't quite this scientific but by and large the first half of this episode was all brand new and the second half of the episode picked up where we had left off the original second half of episode six. So it was a bit of a mental jumble and a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls, a lot of flurry and we were fortunate that episode six was directed by [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan]], who had done episode five [[Season 1 (2004-05)|last year]], and [[Season 2 (2005-06)|this year]]'s episode [[Home, Part II|seven]] was directed by [[Jeff Woolnough]], who'd done episode ten last year, "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]". So we're dealing with directors who knew the show and who were pretty intimate with the characters and with the style and the do's and don't's of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and that helped the process because we were able to continue to refine the script as we went without running the risk of having the director hopelessly confused. This also- this episode was uniquely difficult, production-wise. Probably the most difficult episode we've done of the series, production-wise, with possible exception of the finale last year, because of the exteriors and because of the number of characters in all the scenes. And when you're working on an eight day schedule and just having to cover the dialogue and the reactions and the different points of view of every scene, well, when you've got two or three people in a room it's one thing. When you've got eight people standing on a hillside, you can shoot all day and get a page of film. So it's it was a real challenge.

RDM: How many days out was this?

Eick: This was six days out, two days in, and that was after a lot of struggle. It was originally seven days out, one day in.

RDM: 'Cause there's a pattern that we do in each episode. Generally our pattern is five days in, three days out. But that's just- for budgetary reasons you look it at that way 'cause days out are generally more expensive than days interior on the stage and so you apportion yourself a given number as a pattern, week in, week out. So to really upend it and go- to go six out and two in really changes a lot of the dynamics of how you're shooting the show, how you're budgeting the show and it's hard. And then add rain to the sequence, which I added.

Eick: (Laughs.) It was out, it was in, it was out, it was in-

RDM: It was out, it was in. There was lots of complaining about the rain. Well, can we do the rain? We gotta have these big sprinklers out there and hose them down and it makes the cast miserable and everybody gets miserable. But if they're just tromping through the woods and that's all that there is, it just didn't have the same sense of-

Eick: Well, during the [[Wikipedia:Hercules: The Legendary Journeys|''Hercules'']] and [[Wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|''Xena'']] days, [[imdb:nm0849964|Rob Tappert]] used to say women on horseback was the cheapest special effect. (Laughs.)

RDM: (Chuckles.)

Eick: The second cheapest special effect is rain.

RDM: Rain.

Eick: Rain looks great on film, it adds a whole dimension to the scene, you're pulled into the drama in a different way because there's just this inherent desperation to everything because everyone's wet and trying to survive. And- so I'm thrilled we kept it. It was not the episode you would ideally do that.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1]==

Eick: Now we're watching what is technically a rough cut. This is by and large a locked edit of the episode although we have not done our final-

RDM: Final visual effects or...

Eick: -polish. Watch the-

RDM: Color time. Or any of this.

Eick: Well, I mean, we haven't even like done- On all of these there's at least one watchthrough where you make ten little adjustments and you-

RDM: Oh, that's true.

Eick: You go out on a different beat, you add a closeup, you take out a closeup. And so I think the timing will still be identical, but we'll try not to remark on a scene that-

RDM: Any particular cuts.

Eick: Yeah. (Laughs.)

RDM: This is the best part. This exact time index.

Eick: (Laughs.) So this is more of the mythos that we talked about in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]] where a lot of the stuff flies off the cuff and you hope it works and then you backtrack and you go in and you try to make sure that there's actual integrity to it versus-

RDM: And a lot of this stuff on the Cylon- there's a tremendous amount of information, actually, about the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. What they know. What the mythos is of the show that comes up in these two episodes. And a lot of it are things that we've talked about for a couple years and hinted at-

Eick: Never had the chance to do.

RDM: Just never did. Just never really brought out. And this was like a really good opportunity to do that.

This plot. This [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] plot. It was a late developer in the script. That shot's right out of [[Wikipedia:Scandal (film)|''Scandal'']], which I love. This whole storyline with Six telling Baltar that he's actually just crazy is something that I think dates back to [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]]. We were in love with this idea that at some point Six would change the game and tell Baltar, "You know what?"

Eick: "Just kidding."

RDM: "You're right. Just kidding. You're nuts. There's no chip in your head, you moron. You're just having a psychotic break." And that was a really delicious idea and I always wanted to play it. And for some reason it went in and out of a couple of storylines. And then we forgot about it and we were working on this story- on this script and again, we had to flesh this out and make it a full-blown episode on its own and the question came, "Well, what is Baltar doing during all this?" He's not gonna go to [[Kobol]]. We knew that right up front. We didn't want to play that. Well, what would be interesting to cut back to him and I don't remember how we- we just said, "What about that old story?"

Eick: Well this was in- there was a version of this in the oldest draft of episode six. Remember, he went into the cage and Six wasn't there but [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]] was there.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And we played this whole development where he was seeing Sharon in his head and then Sharon became Number Six and said, "You're just going crazy."

RDM: Oh, right.

Eick: And it the fin- we were finally doing it, but it just didn't it didn't fit, we weren't sure about breaking the law of who Baltar sees in his head. Did we really want to say he starts seeing other Cylons in his head? So we abandoned that and it had been cut but when, again, when we decided to expand what had been one episode into two, we still were in need of some new material to flesh out an entire second episode and it was a perfect opportunity to bring this notion back in because it's hysterical to me. (Chuckles.)

RDM: Yeah, I think this is very funny.

Eick: I love the idea that he's wondering if he's really gone mad.

RDM: I love that he just goes off in such a typical Baltar rant there. Just, [[James Callis|James]] off doing his thing and then suddenly she's like laughing. And this is really closer to how [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]] actually looks. Trish wears her hair in a ponytail quite often and wears sweats and this is kinda who she is and it's fun to just suddenly change the character so completely. And then he would be so taken off stride by just how natural she is and that she seems perfectly genuine. She's telling him that he's just crazy. "Wake up and smell the psychosis."

Eick: Yeah, that was one of my favorite lines.

She's- but yeah Trish is like this in life. She's disarmingly approachable.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: There's that quality to supermodels and it's not stretching it to say that that's what Trish was and is. I mean, she was a big, big deal in the modeling world and is only- that's only in the past tense because she's begun to develop such a talent as an actor now that she's fielding calls from all over the place. But she has this quality to her that it is a- that's a very approachable, very accessible. When you see her she's the first person in the room you gravitate to, not just because she looks like what she looks like, but because there's nothing about her that is that is that quintessential supermodel, get- stay away from me.

RDM: There's nothing offputting about her at all.

Eick: Nothing offputting. And it's great because she's very bright. She's from a farm in Toronto, well, upstate Canada, basically, and she's just very down-home. (Chuckles.) Which you wouldn't necessarily expect.

RDM: The look on James' face. (Laughs.) He conveys fear so well.

Eick: Yeah. Fear and-

RDM: Fear and-

Eick: -confusion-

RDM: -confusion-

Eick: It's really- it's interesting because it takes a lot of guts to play this sort of thing.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: 'Cause you don't know when you're going too far. I mean, he certainly has a natural metronome inside him that knows how to measure these kinds of rhythms but I would terrified as an actor to do some of what he does.

RDM: He's a very brave actor.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: He really is very vulnerable and exposes himself and takes a lot of risks with the character.

Eick: Well, I was on the set with him the first day we did- the first day of production on the [[miniseries]] was the sex scene with he and Number Six.

RDM: Oh, in the house?

Eick: Yeah. So he had just met this woman-

RDM: Oh my God.

Eick: And he's got to go in, get in bed, get naked, and grind with her... topless because we were shooting her from behind and she was topless. And she's very- she's a very free spirit. She's very comfortable with her body, obviously, but James, I was just- I couldn't believe he didn't have a complete panic attack. I just was so shocked. It's like, looking at him in awe, going, "How are you doing this? Isn't this..." He was having a blast.

RDM: And this scene has one of the few times that we've actually run up against broadcast standards and practices and they slapped us back down. We argued to no avail.

Eick: I'm so proud this little-

RDM: Yeah, this is a great little sequence that I added to it to. The original line that Tyrol has coming up here is-

Eick: "Topography's for pussies."

RDM: Yep. "Topography's for pussies." And then I added in the beat later where Adama says, "Yeah, and Adar was a prick."

Eick: "Was a prick," yeah.

RDM: And they wouldn't let us say either one. Which I guess is gender equal, actually.

Eick: Exactly! (Chuckles.)

RDM: They wouldn't let us say "pricks" or "pussies". And I made a very- I actually called broadcast standards-

Eick: I remember, yeah.

RDM: -and made some whole eloquent pitch about, "Well, it's context and he's not calling someone a pussy. It's not used as an epithet. It's really just a general statement of life and that '[[Richard Adar|Adar]]'s a prick,' is a joke. It's not harsh. It's not demeaning." And they just, "Oh, that's really interesting. No, you can't say it." It's just really annoying.

Eick: Yeah. It's a very arbitrary set of conditions-

RDM: Oh, it's so arbitrary.

Eick: They don't really give you a guidebook. You just- you get away with stuff you can't believe you got away with-

RDM: And it's cable, so it's like, they really do just make up their own rules.

Eick: Yeah. There's no one in control.

RDM: There's no [[Wikipedia:Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]. It's just, whatever.

Oh. Now this is not a special effect.

Eick: No. This is a high pressure air blaster I was very adamant about us using. All throughout prep I was being told it was impossible because it can cause an embolism. It's blowing so hard into your flesh that it can cause an air bubble and kill you. But, I had to have it and so- and I felt the actors had lived very rich lives and if something were to go wrong they would go out like (unintelligble).

RDM: (Chuckles.) We'd get good press out of it.

Eick: Yeah, they'd die with their boots on. Come on. So it's basically, I'd seen it in a [[Wikipedia:James Bond|James Bond]] movie the first time called [[Wikipedia:Moonraker (film)|''Moonraker'']] which [[Wikipedia:Roger Moore|Roger Moore]] contraption that's simulating the g-forces that you pull in outer space. Well I didn't know how they did it until we had our prep meeting here I said, "In ''Moonraker'', how does Roger Moore's cheek ripple? How do they do that?" 'Cause that was before CG and our special effects guy said, "Well, it's a high pressure blaster, but they're dangerous." I said, well-

RDM: "How dangerous?"

Eick: (Laughs.) "Define dangerous."

RDM: Dangerous is when I have to sit in front of it. Acceptable risk is when [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] has to sit in front of it.

Eick: Exactly. Well, of course, all you have to tell Eddie is that it's dangerous. It'll make him do it.

RDM: Yeah, then it's like next he'll want to take one home.

This sequence. This is the campfire sequence, the first night. This is a little trick for those of you aspiring writers out there. There's a lot of characters in this scene. This is the enti- virtually the entire- a big chunk of the entire cast shows up for this sequence. Directors hate this. It's a lot of coverage. It's a lot of giving everybody a line, and it's just a nightmare to shoot. To corral all these actors simultaneously and try to stage it. So what I did here, you'll note that these are all grouped off in little pairings. Everybody's off and there's little couplets and there's little miniscenes where you can isolate just a couple of actors at a time which makes it a lot easier to shoot. Director still complains about it, because he got a little pieces to shoot.

Eick: In the rain.

RDM: And the rain. But, in essence, you've just given them a way to make these sequences doable. When you've got like eight major characters and they've all got lines and they're all talking together, directors just want to throw things at you. 'Cause it just really complicates-

Eick: Well, because on a- and not that they want to throw things at you as a matter of principle. It's because when you've got to shoot six or seven pages a day-

RDM: Yeah, when you're moving through this-

Eick: And you've got an eight day schedule, you're only hope of getting out alive is to have tricks like this. And even so we were way over schedule on this episode because it was- you're dealing with the elements, you're dealing with exteriors, you're dealing with loading them up (unintelligble)

RDM: To stay for night too, didn't they?

Eick: Yeah, they stayed for night.

This is [[imdb:nm0001664|James Remar]] who we introduced in the last podcast but who we were very fortunate to get to play the character [[Meier]].

RDM: And I swear to God, somehow he looks younger than he did in [[imdb:tt0083511|''48 Hrs.'']]. ''48 Hrs.'' and the craggy, really all scarred up.

Eick: "I got shot. That's impossible."

RDM: "I don't believe it. I got shot." (Laughs.)

Eick: Oh yeah. "I don't believe it." He- for a guy who's so tied into a particular role, he loves talking about- a lot of these guys they don't want to talk about the thing that their known for-

RDM: Yeah, that they're famous for.

Eick: And James and I spent a lot of time talking about [[imdb:nm0001353|Walter Hill]] and talking about what it was like making that movie.

RDM: Yeah?

Eick: Oh yeah. He was very proud of it, as he should be.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2]==

RDM: We're back on [[Kobol]].

Eick: This is a sequence that had a lot of good stuff but it that had to get lifted for time.

RDM: Yeah, there's a lot of little character beats between everybody's- they're journey through the forest.

Eick: I had this scene where [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]]-

RDM: Billy's not here yet.

Eick: Oh, yeah. But there was just (unintelligble)-

RDM: It was all a principal banter.

Eick: Yeah. I mean, Billy at one point alerts to [[Laura Roslin]] that he's an atheist.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And you go, "Really?" She stops in her tracks.

RDM: "What?"

Eick: "What?"

RDM: Which I loved.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I really regret losing that.

Eick: And he just says, "Yeah. For me it's never been about God. It's never been about that. It's that I believe in you and I believe in [[William Adama|Commander Adama]]." Character beats like that get lifted a lot of time because at a certain point you have a proscribed number of minutes you can do your episode in and the story has to make sense and you often end up having to cut for plot instead of character just so that you can tell a story.

RDM: I like this little thing of [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] haranguing her about going back to [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and it's like-

Eick: She wanted to look at her.

RDM: "You know what? Can I just find this [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]]?"

Eick: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, "What do you want fr-"

RDM: "What do you want from me?"

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: "For crying out loud..."

Eick: "Can I get a bike for Christmas? Please, please, please? I want a bike, please. C-" Yeah. But you know what? And this is gonna sound a little odd, maybe, but I think [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] looks so- it's that [[w:Dances with Wolves|''Dances with Wolves'']] thing. [[Michael Rymer]] was talking about this yesterday. You see her out in the wilderness like that and there's just something-

RDM: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Eick: -right about it.

RDM: I think its-

Eick: Mary McDonnell looks great outside with the trees. She just does.

RDM: I love this, this whole thing, too. What's she grabbing?

Eick: Heh.

Uh. [[Cottle|Doc Cottle]]. He's become quite a fixture in the show. [[Donnelly Rhodes]].

RDM: I love the fact that we don't really give him, like, stories. There's not like the "Cottle story".

Eick: No, no, no.

RDM: He's just this character that shows up and you know- you just look forward to him coming into scene and busting somebody's balls.

Eick: Yeah, there's a great- he's got some really great stuff, actually, coming up. [[Resurrection Ship, Part I|Episode eleven]], which we're- we just started shooting today, which is the second half of [[Season 2 (2005-06)|season two]]. Michael Rymer's directing. Cottle has a scene with Laura Roslin in which she- oh, this may be [[Resurrection Ship, Part II|episode twelve]]. Or, what's the scene where he says, "If you want to psychoanalyze me, you'll spend your last days psychoanalysing me. It's a really big waste of time."

RDM: I think that's twelve.

Eick: Is that [[Mark Verheiden]]? Just a great sense of (unintelligible) that- that he's genuine and he's not doing any of this for effect. This really is him.

RDM: Yeah. It's who he is.

Eick: Although I wish he were a little angrier on that line.

RDM: Yeah, I wish he was a little angrier there. Which is usually not the problem.

Eick: Yeah, exactly.

RDM: It's usually-

Eick: Donnelly is very good with the anger.

So, yeah. This was the plot runner that we were able to make work in [[Home, Part II|episode seven]] as an extension of what had been setup in [[Home, Part I|six]], which is the plan to assassinate [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. And roping [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] into this. In an early draft of this, [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron]] had [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] much more involved. He was basically more- he still is, but in an earlier draft he was in a rock and a hard place to the extent that he knew what Sharon was gonna do, as I recall.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- trying to make th- strike that balance between a guy that you associate with our side of things being so caught up in Sharon that he might actually-

RDM: -help her-

Eick: -yeah, help her, became too much of a stretch to go with a ch- or certainly, if we're gonna go that far with a character, it probably would have doomed Helo to an unseemly demise at some point and it'd been-

RDM: [[Brig|A cell]] next to Lee.

Eick: Yeah. So, [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]], who is such a great actor and is so great for this show, I think we found a way to suggest his culpability or his being seduced by Sharon without going quite that far with it. Although I still think we have in Helo now a character who we have to keep an eye on.

RDM: Yeah, I think he-

Eick: I mean, the (unintelligible)

RDM: He does have conflicted loyalties on some basic level.

Eick: So this was a scene that was originally the end of act two of episode six, which was the return of Adama-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -to. And I was actually- I mean, this was- we talked about this in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]], nothing is ever quite like you imagine it, and this was supposed to be, this moment here, where Adama says, "You can put the [[Kinetic Energy Weapon#Small Arms|gun]] down now, Captain," was supposed to be a moment of Lee just holding a gun on Adama and Adama being (unintelligble)-

RDM: (unintelligible), yeah.

Eick: And saying that line wryly. With some humor. I think [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] wanted to have a gun and he was in the fatigues and before you know it it was, "Put the damn gun down."

RDM: Yeah, he wanted to play it-

Eick: -Yeah.-

RDM: -a little harder.

Eick: So- which was fine. Just a different choice.

RDM: It was also originally gonna be in the middle of the night, which had (unintelligible).

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It was gonna be more creep to it.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: They hear something in the bushes and it's dark and God knows what's coming at- and then it's just- We couldn't do it. We just- it's very hard to shoot at night. We're doing a lot of day for night stuff in this episode already. Day for night stuff you can only get away with for so long before you really begin to smell it. And so we just made the choice to transit- this is dawn. This is- we're playing this as like the crack of dawn so you can see the shadows and we're playing that. And it's probably shot in the middle of the day for all I know.

Eick: A lot of pieces her to try to tether together and I remember in a number of drafts of this, early drafts back when this was in episode six, I didn't really have Adama reacting to Sharon. And it wasn't really until Eddie was talking about a scene he was shooting in [[Fragged|episode three]] or [[Resistance (episode)|four]] where he- we- is it [[The Farm|five]] where he weeps at the corpse of-

RDM: Five.

Eick: In episode five where Adama weeps at the corpse of [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]], and Eddie had just gotten through shooting that. We were on the set and he said to me, "I loved doing that scene, because now I know if I ever saw that character again, I wouldn't stop at anything until she was dead." And I was sitting with my draft of episode six which had him basically showing up at this location and dismissing her presence and he had a line about it, but it kinda went on and Eddie had this notion about how he wouldn't stop at anything before killing her and so this scene came into being and-

RDM: So you're basically saying the actors did your homework.

Eick: Totally and completely did my homework. Yeah, 'cause you just get this cold chill and you go, "Yeah, Eddie, you're right. You wouldn't stop at anything until killing her. I'll be right back." (Chuckles.)

Good editing on this.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: [[IMDB:nm0782890|Andy Seklir]]. He's a- Andy's a- not a guy who's been editing for a long time. He comes out of a different side of the business and- started editing only a few years ago.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3]==

RDM: Ok. We had to start and stop so this is gonna be act three at the trackmark. Ok. So now we're in the aftermath of the- or not the aftermath. We're in midscene, really.

Eick: Have you '''seen''' the episode?

RDM: Have I seen this episode? No.

Eick: Do you know what's taking place?

RDM: I read the script at some point. (Chuckles.)

Eick: It seemed interesting?

RDM: Well, what's interesting is we moved this act break three or four times. What was the act two break? Were you gonna go out? We experimented with going out on the moment of "Rustle, rustle. What's that in the bushes? Ooh, ooh, ooh. It could be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]." We tried going out on, "Oh, it's [[William Adama|Adama]]". Then we tried going out on him choking her. And then there was a version where actually we pushed past all of this, right? We resolved this, and just went out on- and it was- I don't even know how we arrived at this one. We- it was just the best one, was to somehow go out him on her, trying to choke her to death. And the interesting thing in that sequence was [[David Eick|David]] wrote this thing as very internal that I think comes through but it was hard to capture on film, which was the notion that in the midst of choking [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] and Adama clutches his chest, that it's the exertion of-

Eick: -The heart surgery.-

RDM: -of the heart surgery that gets to him in that moment. And [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] pl- I mean Eddie plays it. Eddie grabs his chest and falls off of her and the whole thing, but it's still going for a very internal dynamic on the character.

Eick: Was it Eddie or you that came up with, "And you ask, 'Why?'" 'Cause it wasn't my idea.

RDM: I think it was me.

Eick: Because the creepy thing about that is that I don't think any of us know what that means.

RDM: Yeah. What does that mean?

Eick: I mean, except that on some stellar plane she-

RDM: It just kinda works. It's an interesting, creepy moment. How does she know that? It's legitimate question. How does she know that? I don't know. Write in.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Write in.

Eick: Yeah, write in. Exactly. We'll pick one.

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: (Laughs.) The ultimate moment, which has since been cut, was Eddie saying, "They're stronger than we are."

RDM: Yeah... Why did we lose that?

Eick: Well, it was- it struck a chord of confusion that I didn't really ever see. It was actually a network note that I thought was valid, which is that this, he means she just gave him the heart attack?

RDM: Oh, oh, oh.

Eick: Or is does it like- is he referring to her in a literal sense being stronger than him or in a greater sense being stronger than him.

RDM: Right, I see.

Eick: Had it been covered a little bit differently I think it would have resonated, but we were so limited by the coverage that we had, for good reason-

RDM: Yeah, I did like that. That was a nice- I mean, when you read it in the script it made perfect sense.

Eick: Totally, yeah.

RDM: There's something really (unintelligible)-

Eick: Or at least the extent to which it didn't make sense was compelling, on some level, as opposed to just confusing.

RDM: Yeah. (Chuckles.)

I like this beat a lot. We're watching the Sharon-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] reunion. There was something really great about the fact that she remembers him, but they never met, and look on his face. And I'm continually impressed with [[Grace Park|Grace]]. That Grace really delivers all these different versions of [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]], and so does [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]]. I mean they really- it's a subtle thing.

Eick: Yes.

RDM: It's a li- it's how they carry themselves. It's how they smile sometimes, or don't smile, and just slight inflections in dialogue. I don't know what their internal process is on those two actresses as they do it, but-

Eick: Well, they're very- I mean, Grace, for one, is very- takes very seriously the character's relationship with Tyrol, and that was such a heartfelt scene in a lot of ways because it's a scene I think a lot of people who follow this show been kind of waiting for. When is Tyrol gonna come face to face with the other Sharon? And so, it was a pretty emotional beat for her. I think she pulled it off beautifully there.

This, on the other hand, is a bit more strange. (Laughs.)

RDM: Weren't we gonna put VFX, or visual effects, in here and see them urinating?

Eick: Yeah. Well, that's still to come. And don't cross the streams, of course.

RDM: Don't cross the streams! (Laughs.)

Eick: That's where that comes from, for those of you who don't know.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: So- this is very odd. I haven't done the sound on this yet, but imagine this is gonna be quite-

RDM: Yeah, it'll sound like a waterfall.

Eick: -an entertaining scene to mix. And this was a scene that was probably four times longer, at least-

RDM: Yeah, many times. I think I took a pass at this at some point.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I like the idea that Adama's the one who doesn't want to navelgaze and what's past is past. And that he owes his life to [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is an interesting and unacknowledged truth in the show. That Laura saved all of them.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Back in the [[miniseries]].

Eick: And he's finally admitting that and- it's like that thing where you make the hard decision to do the hard thing, and then in order to justify it, in a way you say things, you accept things, you apologize for things, you acknowledge things that you might not have otherwise because, after all, if he doesn't feel these things why the hell did he get on a- in a [[Raptor]] and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -lead his [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] and travel down here to bring her back. So it's a pre- I've watched this episode with a number of people and it's interesting. This is the most compelling scene to a lot of people because it's a dynamic you've never seen between these two characters before.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: For better or worse. Some people may not like it for that reason, but it's definitely different. You've never seen this, other than the stiff pleasantries that they exchange in the miniseries when they're first meeting, I mean, right away they're at odds with each other.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And it's taken this long to get them to this place.

RDM: Well I remember one of the things that Eddie said early on was, "Well, I don't like this one." It was some note- it was some reaction to something he read in the script at some point and said, "Well, I don't like Laura, so I'm not doing this." I was just like, "Oh. Well, that's right. He doesn't like her."

Eick: Well I think- but I think as equally legitimate, he saw an approach to bringing him around about the character that worked, that had integrity to it, that made sense, that was logical, and that came from character. And so now I think he wouldn't say that.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Because we've taken the character into a good place.

RDM: What I like, too, about that scene with the two of them, it's the first time that they ever use each other's first name. He calls her Laura and she calls him Bill.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It's the first time they ever did that.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: And this is- yeah, we were talking about this earlier. There were different versions of this section where you wan- you felt like [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]- I think in an early draft it was like Helo just made a declarative statement like, "I'm with you, whatever you're gonna do, I'm there to back ya up." And it was really like, "Boom! I'm with the Cylon chick."

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: (Chuckles.) I mean it was just a little bit too much.

And then she bites his neck, and leaves the puncture wounds.

Eick: (Laughs.) Well, you have to be careful when you're looking at shots like this, 'cause you're never quite sure who's back is gonna start glowing.

RDM: (Laughs.) That's right. Yeah, you know we haven't done the old glowing spine in a little while.

Eick: No.

RDM: It might be time.

Eick: Well, when it's time to reveal Helo- well anyway, we'll talk about that (unintelligible)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Why is it that Helo gets along so well with Sharon?

RDM: Yeah? How could that be?

Eick: They seem to have this effortless rapport.

RDM: Wake up Helo. You're one of us.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: You're a really stupid one of us that can't figure it out, but you're one of us, buddy.

Eick: (Laughs.) Can't figure it out...

Yeah. [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tamoh]]'s, although, both these two are local actors and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -not that you shouldn't or can't cast local actors wherever you are but it can be a challenge because if you're not in LA or New York, there's risk.

RDM: Mmhmm.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4]==

Eick: Part of- as an example of limited time to shoot all the stuff that was required, this is a blown up shot that we then backed out of because we had no closeups.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Of what is a pretty important scene between [[Meier]] and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]].

RDM: And that whole walk-up that you just saw a little piece there, of [[William Adama|Adama]] and everybody else walking up, that's- we were talking about that section earlier. There lots of little interludes of Adama reconnecting with [[Lee Adama|Lee]], [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] coming up trying to talk to talk to them, [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]]. It was some great character stuff, but the show was just running absurdly long and a lot of things had to go, so that had to go, too. But they'll be, I'm sure, in your deleted scenes section of your [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNI90Y/qid=1142264746/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1191047-4975841 DVD] and maybe here on the website. You know they put the deleted scenes [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/video/index.php?cat=deletedScenes&vid=22420 on the website], too?

Eick: Yeah? I saw that.

RDM: Which is very cool.

Eick: I saw that. I mean, most of them are just unwatchable, but I guess, you're right, there are some of them like- some of those vignettes that actually pretty good.

RDM: Biggest change here in this whole section, although I guess I'm a little bit ahead of myself, but the biggest change in this whole area was that there used to be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] attack. After this whole thing with Sharon went down there was, like, the [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] came and attack during the upcoming planetarium sequence. And we eventually cut that. And so now the only Centurion attack is in [[Home, Part I|part one]].

Eick: It was the first of two, as a matter of fact.

RDM: Yeah, there were two.

Eick: It was this.

RDM: There was a lot more fireworks.

Eick: And then there was after the reveal of map coming up later.

RDM: Yeah. The Cylons were climbing up the cliff.

Eick: Yeah, so there were a bunch of versions of this and- yeah-

RDM: But actually we changed this very moment, right here, with Adama gets the gun. This is a late change in the editing room.

Eick: Yeah. Yeah.

RDM: Originally he took that gun and put it to Sharon's head and you were playing the beat of, "Will he shoot Sharon or not?" And then we just made that lift, just within the last week, so it plays out more emotionally here instead of with putting another gun to another person's head.

Eick: It was actually an unfortunate bit of staging, because [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] was so close to [[Grace Park|Grace]] that when he drew the gun on her head, his arm was-

RDM: -Yeah, it was-

Eick: -bent in this silly-

RDM: -silly way-

Eick: -position and-

RDM: -and it was a little gun. And it was just-

Eick: Yeah, it didn't look very badass at all.

RDM: It wasn't like the straight arm, [[w:John Woo|John Woo]] angle to the head. He had this bent-arm like creeped up to her forehead.

A lot of struggle with this, too. With [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]] and his responsibility for what happened. Eventually the way this all works, it feels like essentially that because Meier did it in a- went for this assasination attempt, even though Zarek had told him not to, you kinda feel like you can let Zarek off the hook. It's why they don't slap the cuffs on Zarek and throw him in [[brig|jail]]. I mean, they don't- the characters don't know any of what happened and why, but we the audience know that it wa- that Zarek did try to stop it and then it didn't work.

Eick: We were talking earlier about scenes that don't ever quite come together the way you wrote them, and this is said with a great deal of respect for [[Jeff Woolnough]], who does great work on this show, and will direct again for this show. This moment, this scene primarily was about the irony that Starbuck had gone back to get the [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]], had brought the arrow all the way back to Laura, had journeyed down to [[Kobol]] with Laura, and had gotten to the [[Tomb of Athena|tomb]] with it, and unable to figure out how the hell it opens the tomb door as is prescribed in the [[Sacred Scrolls|scriptures]], realizes that it doesn't open the tomb door, and that if you just push hard on the tomb door, it opens.

RDM: You just push it.

Eick: And, in no way do you get that sense from this scene of the absurdity and the irony of that thunderous realization. It's- he says, "After you," and it's supposed to be Kara-

RDM: She's supposed to look at the arrow like-

Eick: You're supposed to look at the arrow like, "What have we- what has this done?"

RDM: "What the hell is this?"

Eick: "How did I waste all my time going after all this?" And I don't think you miss it that it's not there, but it's the kind of thing that-

RDM: It was a nice touch.

Eick: It was something that I remember watching the dailies wanting to (laughs) strangle somebody.

RDM: Now we're into- this whole section here with what they go in and find and how they get to map to [[Earth]]. We- I mean, we began discussions on this, obviously, last season when we came up with the whole Arrow of Apollo mythos and, "What does the arrow do," and there was a lot of discussion about what would the arrow be. I think [[Gary Hutzel]]'s idea, which made a certain amount of sense, was that the arrow itself was the map. That there were like three jewels-

Eick: -jewels-

RDM: -There were three jewels in the arrow. On in the head, one in the shaft, one in the tail, and it was symbolic. It was like- you would eventually figure out that if you knew where [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the twelve colonies]] were and you knew where Kobol was, lining them up like an arrow would point you directly toward Earth. It was this- it was an interesting idea but didn't have any punch to it. There was no like payoff. It was like we went through this whole thing and essentially you could have figured it out back in the [[miniseries|miniser-]]

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Or actually, as soon as you found Kobol, you could have figured it out.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: But there was no journey, necessary. So this notion of the constellations was something I think I came up with. That you would look up into the sky. I wanted to connect it to our present day mythology of the [[w:Zodiac|Zodiac]], which the show is replete with symbols and references to Zodiacal things and the Greek/Greco-Roman myths and also the constellations, and somehow I wanted to take, to bridge over to that step. That somehow these names for these colonies are not random. There really is a connection and here's the connection. It's that these people that are the [[Thirteenth Tribe]] looked up and made up these constellations and assigned them to their bretheren, their lost- the lost tribes. And so there's this-

Eick: So hopefully you'll draw that- you'll- as you hear the- this- the names of the constellations, if you're a real geek for this show, you'll realize that, "Oh, [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Sagittaron|Sagittaron]]-Sagittarius. [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Tauron|Tauron]]-Taurus.-"

RDM: And you kinda get that.

Eick: "-[[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Picon|Picon]]-Pices." And that there's some link between all the various constellations. I mean, it was good having that starting point, but what it didn't answer was what the hell the arrow did.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- but fortunately, 'cause I don't know very much about astrology, or astronomy for that matter, I was looking through research on this which originally was in episode six, I realized that Sagitarron has this very prominent arrow-

RDM: -arrow-

Eick: -and that there is this whole mythological story that goes along with his father and why the arrow was bestowed upon him. So it seemed like, well if the arrow is thing that if you back into Sagittarius' bow is the trigger that gets you the map to Earth, that that would work. And in truth that- none of this changed. This was all-

RDM: -Yeah, this is all pretty much as it was.-

Eick: -pretty much as it was in very early drafts.

RDM: I really like all this. (unintelligible)

Eick: What changed was where, was of course making it the end of [[Home, Part II|this episode]] and also through a number of variations, or a number of early drafts, as they look up into the heavens and they're- this realization is settling in on them, suddenly the heavens break apart because of the incoming mortars-

RDM: -Yeah, the mortars-

Eick: -from the attacking Cylons and that's what stops them at arriving at a definitive conclusion about the location of Earth. It didn't s- "A", we couldn't afford to do that, ultimately when this was all put together. "B", it didn't seem like you needed that interruption. That they're-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: They very clearly don't have the entirety of the answer here. They've got a big piece of the puzzle, but now they've still gotta search for the common constellations in order to come to where you would be standing on Earth. So...

RDM: Technically, and you know some there's some people will say that, "Ok, well if you look up and you actually spot the constellations in the sky, they don't actually- you can't see all twelve constellations in the sky simultaneously." Ok. That's true. Fine, fine.

Eick: It is true?

RDM: It's true.

Eick: Oh. Oh well.

RDM: But there was no way to really dramatically and visually present, like, the heavens as we see them on Earth, which is where there'd be s- ever- the stars in the sky on Earth all circle around the [[w:North Star|North Star]], the [[w:North Pole|North Pole]]. And the constellations dip below the horizon depending on what time of year it is, but there was no way to make that work in this sequence. The sky would have been spinning wildly through the whole thing to make the point. It would have gotten- they would have been dizzy.

Eick: Right.

RDM: It wouldn't quite have worked. So we cheat the perspective a bit and-

Eick: -and then Gary had the idea of the obelisks-

RDM: -the obelisks to help you reference what the constellations are and tie them to the symbols, because the constellations don't look a hell of a lot like the images they're supposed to be-

Eick: No.

RDM: -when you get right down to it.

Eick: Now one of the unfortunate bits of fallout from not having the epilogue with the Cylon attack was that in the early drafts the Cylon attack led you to their slow walk back to their ship and you had a post-mortem about it and you understood. And now we just cut from-

RDM: We just jump.

Eick: -the inside of the tomb to them being back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. I think there's so much emotion tied into this story point that you're not terribly caught up in, "How did they walk back?"

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: "What do they do with Meier's body? Why isn't Zarek in jail? Should he be in jail?" There's a lot of that kind of shoeleather or refrigerator logic, as we used to call it, but I don't think you need it here.

RDM: I don't think they need it.

Eick: I hope not.

RDM: I think you're good going just up here.

Eick: Now Jeff did do a fairly faithful interpretration of the end of the film, [[imdb:tt0080474|''Brubaker'']], which I had it in my office-

RDM: This is a good ''Brubaker''.

Eick: -watching here a couple days before we shot this. It's a direct lift. There's no-

RDM: There's no (unintelligible)

Eick: There's no shame about it. I wanted there to be a sense of a polite applause that-

RDM: It's also nice in the show. It's also harks back to the miniseries. It hearks back to the moment of-

Eick: "So say we all." Yeah.

RDM: "So say we all."

Eick: Well, [[Michael Rymer|Rymer]] saw this yesterday and he said, "Isn't that kind of the same scene as the miniseries?" I'm like, "Yeah, kind of."

RDM: Yeah, kind of.

Eick: But it's- what I liked about in the movie ''Brubaker'', what I like about it now, is it speaks to a sense of tradition or of ritual-

RDM: -ritual-

Eick: -that in a moment of- to demonstrate great respect you would clap in unison.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And I don't really know why that would be, and I don't know that it requires explanation-

RDM: -but it works. Somehow I-

Eick: -but it seems to work, yeah.

RDM: When I watch the sequence it moves me. I'm moved by the fact that it's Adama's gift to Laura. It's really-

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: It's generous.

Eick: In ''Brubaker'' it was [[w:Yaphet Kotto|Yaphet Kotto]]-

RDM: Yeah, it was Yaphet Kotto.

Eick: -for those of who are gonna go get the movie and look at this. (Laughs.) It was Yaphet Kotto's praise for [[w:Robert Redford|Robert Redford]], now it's [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]]' praise for L- [[Mary McDonnell]].

RDM: Yeah.

And then we have our coda with our two star-crossed lovers. There was- this is coming up on the final [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Cylon-Related Hallucinations#Baltar.27s Internal Six|Six]] scene, where of course is all put through right there. There was an- one more Baltar-Six scene that we had to cut in editing. There was more fun. It was more of the same. It followed after the [[Cottle]] scene where he looked at the brain scans and said, "Yeah, you're a hypochondriac. There's nothing there." And there was one more bit of her twisting the knife in him and really torturing him about how it really is- "You really are just crazy," and "Just accept it."

Eick: Well and it's a tonal decision-

RDM: And it's too bad it's gone.

Eick: It's a tonal decision, too, 'cause the original end of this was a coda with Kara.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: You see her walk in her barracks. The first time she's really been home, hence the title "Home".

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And she puts out her peg and figurines and says, "[[Religion in the Twelve Colonies#The Lords of Kobol|Lords of Kobol]], hear my prayer. It's good to be home." And the way Jeff shot it, it's beautiful. It's a really artful moment. [[Katee Sackhoff|Katee]] was magnificent in it. And there's just something about the end with Laura that feels like that's the emotional pinnacle.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And that from there, in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|''Battlestar Galactica'']] form, we want to twist it back towards the darkness-

RDM: -the dark-

Eick: -towards the uncertainty of their futures and that's really what the show is. It's always a balance between hope and betrayal, and people's love for one another and the fact that we'll also betray each other. And so in this particular instance we're ending on that minor chord or that darker feel and I do want to use that Katee moment somewhere.

RDM: I know, 'cause it's a really good scene.

Eick: It's a beautifully shot scene and I was really happy with the way it came out.

RDM: It's nice to see the red dress make a reappearance.

Eick: Yes. Very much so.

RDM: So you used to get overused, and no we've been away from it for so long it's cool to see it back. It very iconi- it's become so iconic for the show.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: "I'm an angel of [[God]]." God, we get away with murder on this show.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Yeah, what's wrong with you people?

RDM: I know.

Eick: Don't you know this is sacrilegious?

RDM: How can we- how can we get away with this?

Well, I mean, that's the end of "Home, Part II". This is it. This this-

Eick: And in a way this is the end of the [[Season 1 (2004-05)|first season]].

RDM: This is the end of the first season so...

Eick: Next week, it all starts fresh.

RDM: It all starts again. We'll see you in a different year, next season.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: Who knows what will be happening in [[Final Cut|episode eight]]?

Eick: Or who will be showing up?

RDM: Who will be showing up? Thank you for listening.

Eick: Alright.

Podcast:Home, Part II

2007-01-12T14:46:34Z

PrePressChris: /* [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4] */ typo

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and David Eick}}

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser]==

RDM: Hello again. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']].

Eick: And I'm [[David Eick]]. I also work the show a little bit from time to time.

RDM: (Chuckles.) And we're here to do the podcast commentary for episode seven, "[[Home, Part II]]". As we said last week, this was originally all one episode. And as development went on we just realized that there was just way too much story to try to tell this entire tale inside of one hour so this got split up into two piece.

We're still in the recaps from last week. A side note is these recaps are endlessly worked over (laughs) in the editing process, back and forth.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: There's endless discussions from everybody. From the editors and us to the studio and the network of exactly which elements should be reprised from last week and it's all having to do with, ok, new viewers to the show who may not understand the storyline versus people who just need to be refreshed and brought up to date. And so these little sequences- actually as I'm watching this I'm realizing that's- I don't even remember which pieces are in the recap anymore because I get so bored with the process of arguing about the recap that at as certain point I just ignore it and it's like, ok, the recap will tell people something.

Eick: Yeah. They'll bring something to the table.

RDM: They'll bring something.

Eick: This is also- this episode is in the category of "be careful what you wish for" in a way, 'cause as Ron was saying we learned early enough that we were able to do something about it the episode was too long or had too much story to tell in one episode, but what it really had was about an episode and a half. And so we were able to come up with a strategy, pitch it to the network, get the network to approve us, extending this to a two-parter, which was, in its own way a victory because it didn't have the kind of definitive plot engine that you would have in last year's episodes [[Act of Contrition|four]] and [[You Can't Go Home Again|five]] to make that case. And they finally said yes. And Ron and I were in Vancouver, "Yeah," high-fiving each other, slamming beers, whatever we were doing to celebrate having gotten this approval, but of course we were about to embark on the first day of prep on [[Home, Part I|episode six]] and realized we had to basically come up with half an epsiode to flesh out episode seven that would also have a backwards domino effect into episode six. So by the time we were sitting at dinner that night, basically rebreaking these two episodes and wondering how they were gonna get accompli- how they were gonna get written before we actually had to shoot them, it was one of those, "Uh oh. What did we just step in."

RDM: (unitelligble) what?

Eick: And so- But this, I remember this scene showed up. This sce- this teaser showed up a few days later. Ron had gone back to LA. I was still in Vancouver and I was so thrilled with it because it was exactly what you want to start an episode like this with. It was a very changeup approach, rhythmically. It was a series of scenes- the cut is really pretty faithful to how it was written. In which we're seeing disparate pieces of activity and business that are, in a sort of magical way, linking these two very far away places. And I just thought it was really powerful and a way of starting an episode that even if you hadn't seen episode six, there's still this compelling mystery being unraveled to you that would make you interested in episode seven.

RDM: And I actually enjoy writing these kinds of sequences. This is reminicent of, in some ways, of the beginning of "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming]]".

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Where we started with a lot of silent, just visual shots of all the different story elements that were happening in that episode. This is a little simpler in that you're going back and forth between two groups of people in- one group going somewhere, the other group looking for them. And there's just some, I don't know, I really enjoy the intercut of it and finding the little thematic ties and what it- you're telling the story visually instead of with dialogue and a lot of tv- so much of tv is just talking heads-

Eick: (simultaneously) Talking heads.

RDM: -and people telling you things endlessly. And it's always interesting when you can try to- especially start an episode just visually. To just make it film. To just tell- show it instead of tell it.

Eick: So although there was a lot of shuffling of scenes, basically what we- and so it wasn't quite this scientific but by and large the first half of this episode was all brand new and the second half of the episode picked up where we had left off the original second half of episode six. So it was a bit of a mental jumble and a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls, a lot of flurry and we were fortunate that episode six was directed by [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan]], who had done episode five [[Season 1 (2004-05)|last year]], and [[Season 2 (2005-06)|this year]]'s episode [[Home, Part II|seven]] was directed by [[Jeff Woolnough]], who'd done episode ten last year, "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]". So we're dealing with directors who knew the show and who were pretty intimate with the characters and with the style and the do's and don't's of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and that helped the process because we were able to continue to refine the script as we went without running the risk of having the director hopelessly confused. This also- this episode was uniquely difficult, production-wise. Probably the most difficult episode we've done of the series, production-wise, with possible exception of the finale last year, because of the exteriors and because of the number of characters in all the scenes. And when you're working on an eight day schedule and just having to cover the dialogue and the reactions and the different points of view of every scene, well, when you've got two or three people in a room it's one thing. When you've got eight people standing on a hillside, you can shoot all day and get a page of film. So it's it was a real challenge.

RDM: How many days out was this?

Eick: This was six days out, two days in, and that was after a lot of struggle. It was originally seven days out, one day in.

RDM: 'Cause there's a pattern that we do in each episode. Generally our pattern is five days in, three days out. But that's just- for budgetary reasons you look it at that way 'cause days out are generally more expensive than days interior on the stage and so you apportion yourself a given number as a pattern, week in, week out. So to really upend it and go- to go six out and two in really changes a lot of the dynamics of how you're shooting the show, how you're budgeting the show and it's hard. And then add rain to the sequence, which I added.

Eick: (Laughs.) It was out, it was in, it was out, it was in-

RDM: It was out, it was in. There was lots of complaining about the rain. Well, can we do the rain? We gotta have these big sprinklers out there and hose them down and it makes the cast miserable and everybody gets miserable. But if they're just tromping through the woods and that's all that there is, it just didn't have the same sense of-

Eick: Well, during the [[Wikipedia:Hercules: The Legendary Journeys|''Hercules'']] and [[Wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|''Xena'']] days, [[imdb:nm0849964|Rob Tappert]] used to say women on horseback was the cheapest special effect. (Laughs.)

RDM: (Chuckles.)

Eick: The second cheapest special effect is rain.

RDM: Rain.

Eick: Rain looks great on film, it adds a whole dimension to the scene, you're pulled into the drama in a different way because there's just this inherent desperation to everything because everyone's wet and trying to survive. And- so I'm thrilled we kept it. It was not the episode you would ideally do that.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1]==

Eick: Now we're watching what is technically a rough cut. This is by and large a locked edit of the episode although we have not done our final-

RDM: Final visual effects or...

Eick: -polish. Watch the-

RDM: Color time. Or any of this.

Eick: Well, I mean, we haven't even like done- On all of these there's at least one watchthrough where you make ten little adjustments and you-

RDM: Oh, that's true.

Eick: You go out on a different beat, you add a closeup, you take out a closeup. And so I think the timing will still be identical, but we'll try not to remark on a scene that-

RDM: Any particular cuts.

Eick: Yeah. (Laughs.)

RDM: This is the best part. This exact time index.

Eick: (Laughs.) So this is more of the mythos that we talked about in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]] where a lot of the stuff flies off the cuff and you hope it works and then you backtrack and you go in and you try to make sure that there's actual integrity to it versus-

RDM: And a lot of this stuff on the Cylon- there's a tremendous amount of information, actually, about the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. What they know. What the mythos is of the show that comes up in these two episodes. And a lot of it are things that we've talked about for a couple years and hinted at-

Eick: Never had the chance to do.

RDM: Just never did. Just never really brought out. And this was like a really good opportunity to do that.

This plot. This [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] plot. It was a late developer in the script. That shot's right out of [[Wikipedia:Scandal (film)|''Scandal'']], which I love. This whole storyline with Six telling Baltar that he's actually just crazy is something that I think dates back to [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]]. We were in love with this idea that at some point Six would change the game and tell Baltar, "You know what?"

Eick: "Just kidding."

RDM: "You're right. Just kidding. You're nuts. There's no chip in your head, you moron. You're just having a psychotic break." And that was a really delicious idea and I always wanted to play it. And for some reason it went in and out of a couple of storylines. And then we forgot about it and we were working on this story- on this script and again, we had to flesh this out and make it a full-blown episode on its own and the question came, "Well, what is Baltar doing during all this?" He's not gonna go to [[Kobol]]. We knew that right up front. We didn't want to play that. Well, what would be interesting to cut back to him and I don't remember how we- we just said, "What about that old story?"

Eick: Well this was in- there was a version of this in the oldest draft of episode six. Remember, he went into the cage and Six wasn't there but [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]] was there.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And we played this whole development where he was seeing Sharon in his head and then Sharon became Number Six and said, "You're just going crazy."

RDM: Oh, right.

Eick: And it the fin- we were finally doing it, but it just didn't it didn't fit, we weren't sure about breaking the law of who Baltar sees in his head. Did we really want to say he starts seeing other Cylons in his head? So we abandoned that and it had been cut but when, again, when we decided to expand what had been one episode into two, we still were in need of some new material to flesh out an entire second episode and it was a perfect opportunity to bring this notion back in because it's hysterical to me. (Chuckles.)

RDM: Yeah, I think this is very funny.

Eick: I love the idea that he's wondering if he's really gone mad.

RDM: I love that he just goes off in such a typical Baltar rant there. Just, [[James Callis|James]] off doing his thing and then suddenly she's like laughing. And this is really closer to how [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]] actually looks. Trish wears her hair in a ponytail quite often and wears sweats and this is kinda who she is and it's fun to just suddenly change the character so completely. And then he would be so taken off stride by just how natural she is and that she seems perfectly genuine. She's telling him that he's just crazy. "Wake up and smell the psychosis."

Eick: Yeah, that was one of my favorite lines.

She's- but yeah Trish is like this in life. She's disarmingly approachable.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: There's that quality to supermodels and it's not stretching it to say that that's what Trish was and is. I mean, she was a big, big deal in the modeling world and is only- that's only in the past tense because she's begun to develop such a talent as an actor now that she's fielding calls from all over the place. But she has this quality to her that it is a- that's a very approachable, very accessible. When you see her she's the first person in the room you gravitate to, not just because she looks like what she looks like, but because there's nothing about her that is that is that quintessential supermodel, get- stay away from me.

RDM: There's nothing offputting about her at all.

Eick: Nothing offputting. And it's great because she's very bright. She's from a farm in Toronto, well, upstate Canada, basically, and she's just very down-home. (Chuckles.) Which you wouldn't necessarily expect.

RDM: The look on James' face. (Laughs.) He conveys fear so well.

Eick: Yeah. Fear and-

RDM: Fear and-

Eick: -confusion-

RDM: -confusion-

Eick: It's really- it's interesting because it takes a lot of guts to play this sort of thing.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: 'Cause you don't know when you're going too far. I mean, he certainly has a natural metronome inside him that knows how to measure these kinds of rhythms but I would terrified as an actor to do some of what he does.

RDM: He's a very brave actor.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: He really is very vulnerable and exposes himself and takes a lot of risks with the character.

Eick: Well, I was on the set with him the first day we did- the first day of production on the [[miniseries]] was the sex scene with he and Number Six.

RDM: Oh, in the house?

Eick: Yeah. So he had just met this woman-

RDM: Oh my God.

Eick: And he's got to go in, get in bed, get naked, and grind with her... topless because we were shooting her from behind and she was topless. And she's very- she's a very free spirit. She's very comfortable with her body, obviously, but James, I was just- I couldn't believe he didn't have a complete panic attack. I just was so shocked. It's like, looking at him in awe, going, "How are you doing this? Isn't this..." He was having a blast.

RDM: And this scene has one of the few times that we've actually run up against broadcast standards and practices and they slapped us back down. We argued to no avail.

Eick: I'm so proud this little-

RDM: Yeah, this is a great little sequence that I added to it to. The original line that Tyrol has coming up here is-

Eick: "Topography's for pussies."

RDM: Yep. "Topography's for pussies." And then I added in the beat later where Adama says, "Yeah, and Adar was a prick."

Eick: "Was a prick," yeah.

RDM: And they wouldn't let us say either one. Which I guess is gender equal, actually.

Eick: Exactly! (Chuckles.)

RDM: They wouldn't let us say "pricks" or "pussies". And I made a very- I actually called broadcast standards-

Eick: I remember, yeah.

RDM: -and made some whole eloquent pitch about, "Well, it's context and he's not calling someone a pussy. It's not used as an epithet. It's really just a general statement of life and that '[[Richard Adar|Adar]]'s a prick,' is a joke. It's not harsh. It's not demeaning." And they just, "Oh, that's really interesting. No, you can't say it." It's just really annoying.

Eick: Yeah. It's a very arbitrary set of conditions-

RDM: Oh, it's so arbitrary.

Eick: They don't really give you a guidebook. You just- you get away with stuff you can't believe you got away with-

RDM: And it's cable, so it's like, they really do just make up their own rules.

Eick: Yeah. There's no one in control.

RDM: There's no [[Wikipedia:Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]. It's just, whatever.

Oh. Now this is not a special effect.

Eick: No. This is a high pressure air blaster I was very adamant about us using. All throughout prep I was being told it was impossible because it can cause an embolism. It's blowing so hard into your flesh that it can cause an air bubble and kill you. But, I had to have it and so- and I felt the actors had lived very rich lives and if something were to go wrong they would go out like (unintelligble).

RDM: (Chuckles.) We'd get good press out of it.

Eick: Yeah, they'd die with their boots on. Come on. So it's basically, I'd seen it in a [[Wikipedia:James Bond|James Bond]] movie the first time called [[Wikipedia:Moonraker (film)|''Moonraker'']] which [[Wikipedia:Roger Moore|Roger Moore]] contraption that's simulating the g-forces that you pull in outer space. Well I didn't know how they did it until we had our prep meeting here I said, "In ''Moonraker'', how does Roger Moore's cheek ripple? How do they do that?" 'Cause that was before CG and our special effects guy said, "Well, it's a high pressure blaster, but they're dangerous." I said, well-

RDM: "How dangerous?"

Eick: (Laughs.) "Define dangerous."

RDM: Dangerous is when I have to sit in front of it. Acceptable risk is when [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] has to sit in front of it.

Eick: Exactly. Well, of course, all you have to tell Eddie is that it's dangerous. It'll make him do it.

RDM: Yeah, then it's like next he'll want to take one home.

This sequence. This is the campfire sequence, the first night. This is a little trick for those of you aspiring writers out there. There's a lot of characters in this scene. This is the enti- virtually the entire- a big chunk of the entire cast shows up for this sequence. Directors hate this. It's a lot of coverage. It's a lot of giving everybody a line, and it's just a nightmare to shoot. To corral all these actors simultaneously and try to stage it. So what I did here, you'll note that these are all grouped off in little pairings. Everybody's off and there's little couplets and there's little miniscenes where you can isolate just a couple of actors at a time which makes it a lot easier to shoot. Director still complains about it, because he got a little pieces to shoot.

Eick: In the rain.

RDM: And the rain. But, in essence, you've just given them a way to make these sequences doable. When you've got like eight major characters and they've all got lines and they're all talking together, directors just want to throw things at you. 'Cause it just really complicates-

Eick: Well, because on a- and not that they want to throw things at you as a matter of principle. It's because when you've got to shoot six or seven pages a day-

RDM: Yeah, when you're moving through this-

Eick: And you've got an eight day schedule, you're only hope of getting out alive is to have tricks like this. And even so we were way over schedule on this episode because it was- you're dealing with the elements, you're dealing with exteriors, you're dealing with loading them up (unintelligble)

RDM: To stay for night too, didn't they?

Eick: Yeah, they stayed for night.

This is [[imdb:nm0001664|James Remar]] who we introduced in the last podcast but who we were very fortunate to get to play the character [[Meier]].

RDM: And I swear to God, somehow he looks younger than he did in [[imdb:tt0083511|''48 Hrs.'']]. ''48 Hrs.'' and the craggy, really all scarred up.

Eick: "I got shot. That's impossible."

RDM: "I don't believe it. I got shot." (Laughs.)

Eick: Oh yeah. "I don't believe it." He- for a guy who's so tied into a particular role, he loves talking about- a lot of these guys they don't want to talk about the thing that their known for-

RDM: Yeah, that they're famous for.

Eick: And James and I spent a lot of time talking about [[imdb:nm0001353|Walter Hill]] and talking about what it was like making that movie.

RDM: Yeah?

Eick: Oh yeah. He was very proud of it, as he should be.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2]==

RDM: We're back on [[Kobol]].

Eick: This is a sequence that had a lot of good stuff but it that had to get lifted for time.

RDM: Yeah, there's a lot of little character beats between everybody's- they're journey through the forest.

Eick: I had this scene where [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]]-

RDM: Billy's not here yet.

Eick: Oh, yeah. But there was just (unintelligble)-

RDM: It was all a principal banter.

Eick: Yeah. I mean, Billy at one point alerts to [[Laura Roslin]] that he's an atheist.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And you go, "Really?" She stops in her tracks.

RDM: "What?"

Eick: "What?"

RDM: Which I loved.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I really regret losing that.

Eick: And he just says, "Yeah. For me it's never been about God. It's never been about that. It's that I believe in you and I believe in [[William Adama|Commander Adama]]." Character beats like that get lifted a lot of time because at a certain point you have a proscribed number of minutes you can do your episode in and the story has to make sense and you often end up having to cut for plot instead of character just so that you can tell a story.

RDM: I like this little thing of [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] haranguing her about going back to [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and it's like-

Eick: She wanted to look at her.

RDM: "You know what? Can I just find this [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]]?"

Eick: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, "What do you want fr-"

RDM: "What do you want from me?"

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: "For crying out loud..."

Eick: "Can I get a bike for Christmas? Please, please, please? I want a bike, please. C-" Yeah. But you know what? And this is gonna sound a little odd, maybe, but I think [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] looks so- it's that [[w:Dances with Wolves|''Dances with Wolves'']] thing. [[Michael Rymer]] was talking about this yesterday. You see her out in the wilderness like that and there's just something-

RDM: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Eick: -right about it.

RDM: I think its-

Eick: Mary McDonnell looks great outside with the trees. She just does.

RDM: I love this, this whole thing, too. What's she grabbing?

Eick: Heh.

Uh. [[Cottle|Doc Cottle]]. He's become quite a fixture in the show. [[Donnelly Rhodes]].

RDM: I love the fact that we don't really give him, like, stories. There's not like the "Cottle story".

Eick: No, no, no.

RDM: He's just this character that shows up and you know- you just look forward to him coming into scene and busting somebody's balls.

Eick: Yeah, there's a great- he's got some really great stuff, actually, coming up. [[Resurrection Ship, Part I|Episode eleven]], which we're- we just started shooting today, which is the second half of [[Season 2 (2005-06)|season two]]. Michael Rymer's directing. Cottle has a scene with Laura Roslin in which she- oh, this may be [[Resurrection Ship, Part II|episode twelve]]. Or, what's the scene where he says, "If you want to psychoanalyze me, you'll spend your last days psychoanalysing me. It's a really big waste of time."

RDM: I think that's twelve.

Eick: Is that [[Mark Verheiden]]? Just a great sense of (unintelligible) that- that he's genuine and he's not doing any of this for effect. This really is him.

RDM: Yeah. It's who he is.

Eick: Although I wish he were a little angrier on that line.

RDM: Yeah, I wish he was a little angrier there. Which is usually not the problem.

Eick: Yeah, exactly.

RDM: It's usually-

Eick: Donnelly is very good with the anger.

So, yeah. This was the plot runner that we were able to make work in [[Home, Part II|episode seven]] as an extension of what had been setup in [[Home, Part I|six]], which is the plan to assassinate [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. And roping [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] into this. In an early draft of this, [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron]] had [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] much more involved. He was basically more- he still is, but in an earlier draft he was in a rock and a hard place to the extent that he knew what Sharon was gonna do, as I recall.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- trying to make th- strike that balance between a guy that you associate with our side of things being so caught up in Sharon that he might actually-

RDM: -help her-

Eick: -yeah, help her, became too much of a stretch to go with a ch- or certainly, if we're gonna go that far with a character, it probably would have doomed Helo to an unseemly demise at some point and it'd been-

RDM: [[Brig|A cell]] next to Lee.

Eick: Yeah. So, [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]], who is such a great actor and is so great for this show, I think we found a way to suggest his culpability or his being seduced by Sharon without going quite that far with it. Although I still think we have in Helo now a character who we have to keep an eye on.

RDM: Yeah, I think he-

Eick: I mean, the (unintelligible)

RDM: He does have conflicted loyalties on some basic level.

Eick: So this was a scene that was originally the end of act two of episode six, which was the return of Adama-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -to. And I was actually- I mean, this was- we talked about this in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]], nothing is ever quite like you imagine it, and this was supposed to be, this moment here, where Adama says, "You can put the [[Kinetic Energy Weapon#Small Arms|gun]] down now, Captain," was supposed to be a moment of Lee just holding a gun on Adama and Adama being (unintelligble)-

RDM: (unintelligible), yeah.

Eick: And saying that line wryly. With some humor. I think [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] wanted to have a gun and he was in the fatigues and before you know it it was, "Put the damn gun down."

RDM: Yeah, he wanted to play it-

Eick: -Yeah.-

RDM: -a little harder.

Eick: So- which was fine. Just a different choice.

RDM: It was also originally gonna be in the middle of the night, which had (unintelligible).

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It was gonna be more creep to it.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: They hear something in the bushes and it's dark and God knows what's coming at- and then it's just- We couldn't do it. We just- it's very hard to shoot at night. We're doing a lot of day for night stuff in this episode already. Day for night stuff you can only get away with for so long before you really begin to smell it. And so we just made the choice to transit- this is dawn. This is- we're playing this as like the crack of dawn so you can see the shadows and we're playing that. And it's probably shot in the middle of the day for all I know.

Eick: A lot of pieces her to try to tether together and I remember in a number of drafts of this, early drafts back when this was in episode six, I didn't really have Adama reacting to Sharon. And it wasn't really until Eddie was talking about a scene he was shooting in [[Fragged|episode three]] or [[Resistance (episode)|four]] where he- we- is it [[The Farm|five]] where he weeps at the corpse of-

RDM: Five.

Eick: In episode five where Adama weeps at the corpse of [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]], and Eddie had just gotten through shooting that. We were on the set and he said to me, "I loved doing that scene, because now I know if I ever saw that character again, I wouldn't stop at anything until she was dead." And I was sitting with my draft of episode six which had him basically showing up at this location and dismissing her presence and he had a line about it, but it kinda went on and Eddie had this notion about how he wouldn't stop at anything before killing her and so this scene came into being and-

RDM: So you're basically saying the actors did your homework.

Eick: Totally and completely did my homework. Yeah, 'cause you just get this cold chill and you go, "Yeah, Eddie, you're right. You wouldn't stop at anything until killing her. I'll be right back." (Chuckles.)

Good editing on this.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: [[IMDB:nm0782890|Andy Seklir]]. He's a- Andy's a- not a guy who's been editing for a long time. He comes out of a different side of the business and- started editing only a few years ago.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3]==

RDM: Ok. We had to start and stop so this is gonna be act three at the trackmark. Ok. So now we're in the aftermath of the- or not the aftermath. We're in midscene, really.

Eick: Have you '''seen''' the episode?

RDM: Have I seen this episode? No.

Eick: Do you know what's taking place?

RDM: I read the script at some point. (Chuckles.)

Eick: It seemed interesting?

RDM: Well, what's interesting is we moved this act break three or four times. What was the act two break? Were you gonna go out? We experimented with going out on the moment of "Rustle, rustle. What's that in the bushes? Ooh, ooh, ooh. It could be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]." We tried going out on, "Oh, it's [[William Adama|Adama]]". Then we tried going out on him choking her. And then there was a version where actually we pushed past all of this, right? We resolved this, and just went out on- and it was- I don't even know how we arrived at this one. We- it was just the best one, was to somehow go out him on her, trying to choke her to death. And the interesting thing in that sequence was [[David Eick|David]] wrote this thing as very internal that I think comes through but it was hard to capture on film, which was the notion that in the midst of choking [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] and Adama clutches his chest, that it's the exertion of-

Eick: -The heart surgery.-

RDM: -of the heart surgery that gets to him in that moment. And [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] pl- I mean Eddie plays it. Eddie grabs his chest and falls off of her and the whole thing, but it's still going for a very internal dynamic on the character.

Eick: Was it Eddie or you that came up with, "And you ask, 'Why?'" 'Cause it wasn't my idea.

RDM: I think it was me.

Eick: Because the creepy thing about that is that I don't think any of us know what that means.

RDM: Yeah. What does that mean?

Eick: I mean, except that on some stellar plane she-

RDM: It just kinda works. It's an interesting, creepy moment. How does she know that? It's legitimate question. How does she know that? I don't know. Write in.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Write in.

Eick: Yeah, write in. Exactly. We'll pick one.

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: (Laughs.) The ultimate moment, which has since been cut, was Eddie saying, "They're stronger than we are."

RDM: Yeah... Why did we lose that?

Eick: Well, it was- it struck a chord of confusion that I didn't really ever see. It was actually a network note that I thought was valid, which is that this, he means she just gave him the heart attack?

RDM: Oh, oh, oh.

Eick: Or is does it like- is he referring to her in a literal sense being stronger than him or in a greater sense being stronger than him.

RDM: Right, I see.

Eick: Had it been covered a little bit differently I think it would have resonated, but we were so limited by the coverage that we had, for good reason-

RDM: Yeah, I did like that. That was a nice- I mean, when you read it in the script it made perfect sense.

Eick: Totally, yeah.

RDM: There's something really (unintelligible)-

Eick: Or at least the extent to which it didn't make sense was compelling, on some level, as opposed to just confusing.

RDM: Yeah. (Chuckles.)

I like this beat a lot. We're watching the Sharon-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] reunion. There was something really great about the fact that she remembers him, but they never met, and look on his face. And I'm continually impressed with [[Grace Park|Grace]]. That Grace really delivers all these different versions of [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]], and so does [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]]. I mean they really- it's a subtle thing.

Eick: Yes.

RDM: It's a li- it's how they carry themselves. It's how they smile sometimes, or don't smile, and just slight inflections in dialogue. I don't know what their internal process is on those two actresses as they do it, but-

Eick: Well, they're very- I mean, Grace, for one, is very- takes very seriously the character's relationship with Tyrol, and that was such a heartfelt scene in a lot of ways because it's a scene I think a lot of people who follow this show been kind of waiting for. When is Tyrol gonna come face to face with the other Sharon? And so, it was a pretty emotional beat for her. I think she pulled it off beautifully there.

This, on the other hand, is a bit more strange. (Laughs.)

RDM: Weren't we gonna put VFX, or visual effects, in here and see them urinating?

Eick: Yeah. Well, that's still to come. And don't cross the streams, of course.

RDM: Don't cross the streams! (Laughs.)

Eick: That's where that comes from, for those of you who don't know.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: So- this is very odd. I haven't done the sound on this yet, but imagine this is gonna be quite-

RDM: Yeah, it'll sound like a waterfall.

Eick: -an entertaining scene to mix. And this was a scene that was probably four times longer, at least-

RDM: Yeah, many times. I think I took a pass at this at some point.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I like the idea that Adama's the one who doesn't want to navelgaze and what's past is past. And that he owes his life to [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is an interesting and unacknowledged truth in the show. That Laura saved all of them.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Back in the [[miniseries]].

Eick: And he's finally admitting that and- it's like that thing where you make the hard decision to do the hard thing, and then in order to justify it, in a way you say things, you accept things, you apologize for things, you acknowledge things that you might not have otherwise because, after all, if he doesn't feel these things why the hell did he get on a- in a [[Raptor]] and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -lead his [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] and travel down here to bring her back. So it's a pre- I've watched this episode with a number of people and it's interesting. This is the most compelling scene to a lot of people because it's a dynamic you've never seen between these two characters before.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: For better or worse. Some people may not like it for that reason, but it's definitely different. You've never seen this, other than the stiff pleasantries that they exchange in the miniseries when they're first meeting, I mean, right away they're at odds with each other.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And it's taken this long to get them to this place.

RDM: Well I remember one of the things that Eddie said early on was, "Well, I don't like this one." It was some note- it was some reaction to something he read in the script at some point and said, "Well, I don't like Laura, so I'm not doing this." I was just like, "Oh. Well, that's right. He doesn't like her."

Eick: Well I think- but I think as equally legitimate, he saw an approach to bringing him around about the character that worked, that had integrity to it, that made sense, that was logical, and that came from character. And so now I think he wouldn't say that.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Because we've taken the character into a good place.

RDM: What I like, too, about that scene with the two of them, it's the first time that they ever use each other's first name. He calls her Laura and she calls him Bill.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It's the first time they ever did that.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: And this is- yeah, we were talking about this earlier. There were different versions of this section where you wan- you felt like [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]- I think in an early draft it was like Helo just made a declarative statement like, "I'm with you, whatever you're gonna do, I'm there to back ya up." And it was really like, "Boom! I'm with the Cylon chick."

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: (Chuckles.) I mean it was just a little bit too much.

And then she bites his neck, and leaves the puncture wounds.

Eick: (Laughs.) Well, you have to be careful when you're looking at shots like this, 'cause you're never quite sure who's back is gonna start glowing.

RDM: (Laughs.) That's right. Yeah, you know we haven't done the old glowing spine in a little while.

Eick: No.

RDM: It might be time.

Eick: Well, when it's time to reveal Helo- well anyway, we'll talk about that (unintelligible)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Why is it that Helo gets along so well with Sharon?

RDM: Yeah? How could that be?

Eick: They seem to have this effortless rapport.

RDM: Wake up Helo. You're one of us.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: You're a really stupid one of us that can't figure it out, but you're one of us, buddy.

Eick: (Laughs.) Can't figure it out...

Yeah. [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tamoh]]'s, although, both these two are local actors and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -not that you shouldn't or can't cast local actors wherever you are but it can be a challenge because if you're not in LA or New York, there's risk.

RDM: Mmhmm.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4]==

Eick: Part of- as an example of limited time to shoot all the stuff that was required, this is a blown up shot that we then backed out of because we had no closeups.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Of what is a pretty important scene between [[Meier]] and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]].

RDM: And that whole walk-up that you just saw a little piece there, of [[William Adama|Adama]] and everybody else walking up, that's- we were talking about that section earlier. There lots of little interludes of Adama reconnecting with [[Lee Adama|Lee]], [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] coming up trying to talk to talk to them, [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]]. It was some great character stuff, but the show was just running absurdly long and a lot of things had to go, so that had to go, too. But they'll be, I'm sure, in your deleted scenes section of your [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNI90Y/qid=1142264746/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1191047-4975841 DVD] and maybe here on the website. You know they put the deleted scenes [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/video/index.php?cat=deletedScenes&vid=22420 on the website], too?

Eick: Yeah? I saw that.

RDM: Which is very cool.

Eick: I saw that. I mean, most of them are just unwatchable, but I guess, you're right, there are some of them like- some of those vignettes that actually pretty good.

RDM: Biggest change here in this whole section, although I guess I'm a little bit ahead of myself, but the biggest change in this whole area was that there used to be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] attack. After this whole thing with Sharon went down there was, like, the [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] came and attack during the upcoming planetarium sequence. And we eventually cut that. And so now the only Centurion attack is in [[Home, Part I|part one]].

Eick: It was the first of two, as a matter of fact.

RDM: Yeah, there were two.

Eick: It was this.

RDM: There was a lot more fireworks.

Eick: And then there was after the reveal of map coming up later.

RDM: Yeah. The Cylons were climbing up the cliff.

Eick: Yeah, so there were a bunch of versions of this and- yeah-

RDM: But actually we changed this very moment, right here, with Adama gets the gun. This is a late change in the editing room.

Eick: Yeah. Yeah.

RDM: Originally he took that gun and put it to Sharon's head and you were playing the beat of, "Will he shoot Sharon or not?" And then we just made that lift, just within the last week, so it plays out more emotionally here instead of with putting another gun to another person's head.

Eick: It was actually an unfortunate bit of staging, because [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] was so close to [[Grace Park|Grace]] that when he drew the gun on her head, his arm was-

RDM: -Yeah, it was-

Eick: -bent in this silly-

RDM: -silly way-

Eick: -position and-

RDM: -and it was a little gun. And it was just-

Eick: Yeah, it didn't look very badass at all.

RDM: It wasn't like the straight arm, [[w:John Woo|John Woo]] angle to the head. He had this bent-arm like creeped up to her forehead.

A lot of struggle with this, too. With [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]] and his responsibility for what happened. Eventually the way this all works, it feels like essentially that because Meier did it in a- went for this assasination attempt, even though Zarek had told him not to, you kinda feel like you can let Zarek off the hook. It's why they don't slap the cuffs on Zarek and throw him in [[brig|jail]]. I mean, they don't- the characters don't know any of what happened and why, but we the audience know that it wa- that Zarek did try to stop it and then it didn't work.

Eick: We were talking earlier about scenes that don't ever quite come together the way you wrote them, and this is said with a great deal of respect for [[Jeff Woolnough]], who does great work on this show, and will direct again for this show. This moment, this scene primarily was about the irony that Starbuck had gone back to get the [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]], had brought the arrow all the way back to Laura, had journeyed down to [[Kobol]] with Laura, and had gotten to the [[Tomb of Athena|tomb]] with it, and unable to figure out how the hell it opens the tomb door as is prescribed in the [[Sacred Scrolls|scriptures]], realizes that it doesn't open the tomb door, and that if you just push hard on the tomb door, it opens.

RDM: You just push it.

Eick: And, in no way do you get that sense from this scene of the absurdity and the irony of that thunderous realization. It's- he says, "After you," and it's supposed to be Kara-

RDM: She's supposed to look at the arrow like-

Eick: You're supposed to look at the arrow like, "What have we- what has this done?"

RDM: "What the hell is this?"

Eick: "How did I waste all my time going after all this?" And I don't think you miss it that it's not there, but it's the kind of thing that-

RDM: It was a nice touch.

Eick: It was something that I remember watching the dailies wanting to (laughs) strangle somebody.

RDM: Now we're into- this whole section here with what they go in and find and how they get to map to [[Earth]]. We- I mean, we began discussions on this, obviously, last season when we came up with the whole Arrow of Apollo mythos and, "What does the arrow do," and there was a lot of discussion about what would the arrow be. I think [[Gary Hutzel]]'s idea, which made a certain amount of sense, was that the arrow itself was the map. That there were like three jewels-

Eick: -jewels-

RDM: -There were three jewels in the arrow. On in the head, one in the shaft, one in the tail, and it was symbolic. It was like- you would eventually figure out that if you knew where [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the twelve colonies]] were and you knew where Kobol was, lining them up like an arrow would point you directly toward Earth. It was this- it was an interesting idea but didn't have any punch to it. There was no like payoff. It was like we went through this whole thing and essentially you could have figured it out back in the [[miniseries|miniser-]]

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Or actually, as soon as you found Kobol, you could have figured it out.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: But there was no journey, necessary. So this notion of the constellations was something I think I came up with. That you would look up into the sky. I wanted to connect it to our present day mythology of the [[w:Zodiac|Zodiac]], which the show is replete with symbols and references to Zodiacal things and the Greek/Greco-Roman myths and also the constellations, and somehow I wanted to take, to bridge over to that step. That somehow these names for these colonies are not random. There really is a connection and here's the connection. It's that these people that are the [[Thirteenth Tribe]] looked up and made up these constellations and assigned them to their bretheren, their lost- the lost tribes. And so there's this-

Eick: So hopefully you'll draw that- you'll- as you hear the- this- the names of the constellations, if you're a real geek for this show, you'll realize that, "Oh, [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Sagittaron|Sagittaron]]-Sagittarius. [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Tauron|Tauron]]-Taurus.-"

RDM: And you kinda get that.

Eick: "-[[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Picon|Picon]]-Pices." And that there's some link between all the various constellations. I mean, it was good having that starting point, but what it didn't answer was what the hell the arrow did.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- but fortunately, 'cause I don't know very much about astrology, or astronomy for that matter, I was looking through research on this which originally was in episode six, I realized that Sagitarron has this very prominent arrow-

RDM: -arrow-

Eick: -and that there is this whole mythological story that goes along with his father and why the arrow was bestowed upon him. So it seemed like, well if the arrow is thing that if you back into Sagittarius' bow is the trigger that gets you the map to Earth, that that would work. And in truth that- none of this changed. This was all-

RDM: -Yeah, this is all pretty much as it was.-

Eick: -pretty much as it was in very early drafts.

RDM: I really like all this. (unintelligible)

Eick: What changed was where, was of course making it the end of [[Home, Part II|this episode]] and also through a number of variations, or a number of early drafts, as they look up into the heavens and they're- this realization is settling in on them, suddenly the heavens break apart because of the incoming mortars-

RDM: -Yeah, the mortars-

Eick: -from the attacking Cylons and that's what stops them at arriving at a definitive conclusion about the location of Earth. It didn't s- "A", we couldn't afford to do that, ultimately when this was all put together. "B", it didn't seem like you needed that interruption. That they're-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: They very clearly don't have the entirety of the answer here. They've got a big piece of the puzzle, but now they've still gotta search for the common constellations in order to come to where you would be standing on Earth. So...

RDM: Technically, and you know some there's some people will say that, "Ok, well if you look up and you actually spot the constellations in the sky, they don't actually- you can't see all twelve constellations in the sky simultaneously." Ok. That's true. Fine, fine.

Eick: It is true?

RDM: It's true.

Eick: Oh. Oh well.

RDM: But there was no way to really dramatically and visually present, like, the heavens as we see them on Earth, which is where there'd be s- ever- the stars in the sky on Earth all circle around the [[w:North Star|North Star]], the [[w:North Pole|North Pole]]. And the constellations dip below the horizon depending on what time of year it is, but there was no way to make that work in this sequence. The sky would have been spinning wildly through the whole thing to make the point. It would have gotten- they would have been dizzy.

Eick: Right.

RDM: It wouldn't quite have worked. So we cheat the perspective a bit and-

Eick: -and then Gary had the idea of the obelisks-

RDM: -the obelisks to help you reference what the constellations are and tie them to the symbols, because the constellations don't look a hell of a lot like the images they're supposed to be-

Eick: No.

RDM: -when you get right down to it.

Eick: Now one of the unfortunate bits of fallout from not having the epilogue with the Cylon attack was that in the early drafts the Cylon attack led you to their slow walk back to their ship and you had a post-mortem about it and you understood. And now we just cut from-

RDM: We just jump.

Eick: -the inside of the tomb to them being back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. I think there's so much emotion tied into this story point that you're not terribly caught up in, "How did they walk back?"

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: "What do they do with Meier's body? Why isn't Zarek in jail? Should he be in jail?" There's a lot of that kind of shoeleather or refrigerator logic, as we used to call it, but I don't think you need it here.

RDM: I don't think they need it.

Eick: I hope not.

RDM: I think you're good going just up here.

Eick: Now Jeff did do a fairly faithful interpretration of the end of the film, [[imdb:tt0080474|''Brubaker'']], which I had it in my office-

RDM: This is a good ''Brubaker''.

Eick: -watching here a couple days before we shot this. It's a direct lift. There's no-

RDM: There's no (unintelligible)

Eick: There's no shame about it. I wanted there to be a sense of a polite applause that-

RDM: It's also nice in the show. It's also harks back to the miniseries. It hearks back to the moment of-

Eick: "So say we all." Yeah.

RDM: "So say we all."

Eick: Well, [[Michael Rymer|Rymer]] saw this yesterday and he said, "Isn't that kind of the same scene as the miniseries?" I'm like, "Yeah, kind of."

RDM: Yeah, kind of.

Eick: But it's- what I liked about in the movie ''Brubaker'', what I like about it now, is it speaks to a sense of tradition or of ritual-

RDM: -ritual-

Eick: -that in a moment of- to demonstrate great respect you would clap in unison.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And I don't really know why that would be, and I don't know that it requires explanation-

RDM: -but it works. Somehow I-

Eick: -but it seems to work, yeah.

RDM: When I watch the sequence it moves me. I'm moved by the fact that it's Adama's gift to Laura. It's really-

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: It's generous.

Eick: In ''Brubaker'' it was [[w:Yaphet Kotto|Yaphet Kotto]]-

RDM: Yeah, it was Yaphet Kotto.

Eick: -for those of who are gonna go get the movie and look at this. (Laughs.) It was Yaphet Kotto's praise for [[w:Robert Redford|Robert Redford]], now it's [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]]' praise for L- [[Mary McDonnell]].

RDM: Yeah.

And then we have our coda with our two star-crossed lovers. There was- this is coming up on the final [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Cylon-Related Hallucinations#Baltar.27s Internal Six|Six]] scene, where of course is all put through right there. There was an- one more Baltar-Six scene that we had to cut in editing. There was more fun. It was more of the same. It followed after the [[Cottle]] scene where he looked at the brain scans and said, "Yeah, you're a hypochondriac. There's nothing there." And there was one more bit of her twisting the knife in him and really torturing him about how it really is- "You really are just crazy," and "Just accept it."

Eick: Well and it's a tonal decision-

RDM: And it's too bad it's gone.

Eick: It's a tonal decision, too, 'cause the original end of this was a coda with Kara.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: You see her walk in her barracks. The first time she's really been home, hence the title "Home".

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And she puts out her peg and figurines and says, "[[Religion in the Twelve Colonies#The Lords of Kobol|Lords of Kobol]], hear my prayer. It's good to be home." And the way Jeff shot it, it's beautiful. It's a really artful moment. [[Katee Sackhoff|Katee]] was magnificent in it. And there's just something about the end with Laura that feels like that's the emotional pinnacle.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And that from there, in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|''Battlestar Galactica'']] form, we want to twist it back towards the darkness-

RDM: -the dark-

Eick: -towards the uncertainty of their futures and that's really what the show is. It's always a balance between hope and betrayal, and people's love for one another and the fact that we'll also betray each other. And so in this particular instance we're ending on that minor chord or that darker feel and I do want to use that Katee moment somewhere.

RDM: I know, 'cause it's a really good scene.

Eick: It's a beautifully shot scene and I was really happy with the way it came out.

RDM: It's nice to see the red dress make a reappearance.

Eick: Yes. Very much so.

RDM: So you used to get overused, and no we've been away from it for so long it's cool to see it back. It very iconi- it's become so iconic for the show.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: "I'm an angel of [[God]]." God, we get away with murder ont his show.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Yeah, what's wrong with you people?

RDM: I know.

Eick: Don't you know this is sacrilegious?

RDM: How can we- how can we get away with this?

Well, I mean, that's the end of "Home, Part II". This is it. This this-

Eick: And in a way this is the end of the [[Season 1 (2004-05)|first season]].

RDM: This is the end of the first season so...

Eick: Next week, it all starts fresh.

RDM: It all starts again. We'll see you in a different year, next season.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: Who knows what will be happening in [[Final Cut|episode eight]]?

Eick: Or who will be showing up?

RDM: Who will be showing up? Thank you for listening.

Eick: Alright.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-01-11T19:06:43Z

PrePressChris: /* Home, Part II */ verified act 3

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====
===== [[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Huh?|Huh?]] 11:15, 23 May 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:14, 23 May 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:01, 29 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:02, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 3 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:32, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:52, 4 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 5 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 20:28, 17 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:02, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 11:38, 19 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:28, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:39, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:56, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:37, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:32, 5 January 2007 (CST).)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:10, 31 October 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 5 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:14, 3 November 2006 (EST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 10:45, 8 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:43, 10 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:32, 9 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 20:49, 12 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:06, 11 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:06, 13 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Home, Part II

2007-01-11T18:34:43Z

PrePressChris: /* [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3] */ changed word (0:35 into act)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and David Eick}}

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser]==

RDM: Hello again. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']].

Eick: And I'm [[David Eick]]. I also work the show a little bit from time to time.

RDM: (Chuckles.) And we're here to do the podcast commentary for episode seven, "[[Home, Part II]]". As we said last week, this was originally all one episode. And as development went on we just realized that there was just way too much story to try to tell this entire tale inside of one hour so this got split up into two piece.

We're still in the recaps from last week. A side note is these recaps are endlessly worked over (laughs) in the editing process, back and forth.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: There's endless discussions from everybody. From the editors and us to the studio and the network of exactly which elements should be reprised from last week and it's all having to do with, ok, new viewers to the show who may not understand the storyline versus people who just need to be refreshed and brought up to date. And so these little sequences- actually as I'm watching this I'm realizing that's- I don't even remember which pieces are in the recap anymore because I get so bored with the process of arguing about the recap that at as certain point I just ignore it and it's like, ok, the recap will tell people something.

Eick: Yeah. They'll bring something to the table.

RDM: They'll bring something.

Eick: This is also- this episode is in the category of "be careful what you wish for" in a way, 'cause as Ron was saying we learned early enough that we were able to do something about it the episode was too long or had too much story to tell in one episode, but what it really had was about an episode and a half. And so we were able to come up with a strategy, pitch it to the network, get the network to approve us, extending this to a two-parter, which was, in its own way a victory because it didn't have the kind of definitive plot engine that you would have in last year's episodes [[Act of Contrition|four]] and [[You Can't Go Home Again|five]] to make that case. And they finally said yes. And Ron and I were in Vancouver, "Yeah," high-fiving each other, slamming beers, whatever we were doing to celebrate having gotten this approval, but of course we were about to embark on the first day of prep on [[Home, Part I|episode six]] and realized we had to basically come up with half an epsiode to flesh out episode seven that would also have a backwards domino effect into episode six. So by the time we were sitting at dinner that night, basically rebreaking these two episodes and wondering how they were gonna get accompli- how they were gonna get written before we actually had to shoot them, it was one of those, "Uh oh. What did we just step in."

RDM: (unitelligble) what?

Eick: And so- But this, I remember this scene showed up. This sce- this teaser showed up a few days later. Ron had gone back to LA. I was still in Vancouver and I was so thrilled with it because it was exactly what you want to start an episode like this with. It was a very changeup approach, rhythmically. It was a series of scenes- the cut is really pretty faithful to how it was written. In which we're seeing disparate pieces of activity and business that are, in a sort of magical way, linking these two very far away places. And I just thought it was really powerful and a way of starting an episode that even if you hadn't seen episode six, there's still this compelling mystery being unraveled to you that would make you interested in episode seven.

RDM: And I actually enjoy writing these kinds of sequences. This is reminicent of, in some ways, of the beginning of "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming]]".

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Where we started with a lot of silent, just visual shots of all the different story elements that were happening in that episode. This is a little simpler in that you're going back and forth between two groups of people in- one group going somewhere, the other group looking for them. And there's just some, I don't know, I really enjoy the intercut of it and finding the little thematic ties and what it- you're telling the story visually instead of with dialogue and a lot of tv- so much of tv is just talking heads-

Eick: (simultaneously) Talking heads.

RDM: -and people telling you things endlessly. And it's always interesting when you can try to- especially start an episode just visually. To just make it film. To just tell- show it instead of tell it.

Eick: So although there was a lot of shuffling of scenes, basically what we- and so it wasn't quite this scientific but by and large the first half of this episode was all brand new and the second half of the episode picked up where we had left off the original second half of episode six. So it was a bit of a mental jumble and a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls, a lot of flurry and we were fortunate that episode six was directed by [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan]], who had done episode five [[Season 1 (2004-05)|last year]], and [[Season 2 (2005-06)|this year]]'s episode [[Home, Part II|seven]] was directed by [[Jeff Woolnough]], who'd done episode ten last year, "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]". So we're dealing with directors who knew the show and who were pretty intimate with the characters and with the style and the do's and don't's of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and that helped the process because we were able to continue to refine the script as we went without running the risk of having the director hopelessly confused. This also- this episode was uniquely difficult, production-wise. Probably the most difficult episode we've done of the series, production-wise, with possible exception of the finale last year, because of the exteriors and because of the number of characters in all the scenes. And when you're working on an eight day schedule and just having to cover the dialogue and the reactions and the different points of view of every scene, well, when you've got two or three people in a room it's one thing. When you've got eight people standing on a hillside, you can shoot all day and get a page of film. So it's it was a real challenge.

RDM: How many days out was this?

Eick: This was six days out, two days in, and that was after a lot of struggle. It was originally seven days out, one day in.

RDM: 'Cause there's a pattern that we do in each episode. Generally our pattern is five days in, three days out. But that's just- for budgetary reasons you look it at that way 'cause days out are generally more expensive than days interior on the stage and so you apportion yourself a given number as a pattern, week in, week out. So to really upend it and go- to go six out and two in really changes a lot of the dynamics of how you're shooting the show, how you're budgeting the show and it's hard. And then add rain to the sequence, which I added.

Eick: (Laughs.) It was out, it was in, it was out, it was in-

RDM: It was out, it was in. There was lots of complaining about the rain. Well, can we do the rain? We gotta have these big sprinklers out there and hose them down and it makes the cast miserable and everybody gets miserable. But if they're just tromping through the woods and that's all that there is, it just didn't have the same sense of-

Eick: Well, during the [[Wikipedia:Hercules: The Legendary Journeys|''Hercules'']] and [[Wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|''Xena'']] days, [[imdb:nm0849964|Rob Tappert]] used to say women on horseback was the cheapest special effect. (Laughs.)

RDM: (Chuckles.)

Eick: The second cheapest special effect is rain.

RDM: Rain.

Eick: Rain looks great on film, it adds a whole dimension to the scene, you're pulled into the drama in a different way because there's just this inherent desperation to everything because everyone's wet and trying to survive. And- so I'm thrilled we kept it. It was not the episode you would ideally do that.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1]==

Eick: Now we're watching what is technically a rough cut. This is by and large a locked edit of the episode although we have not done our final-

RDM: Final visual effects or...

Eick: -polish. Watch the-

RDM: Color time. Or any of this.

Eick: Well, I mean, we haven't even like done- On all of these there's at least one watchthrough where you make ten little adjustments and you-

RDM: Oh, that's true.

Eick: You go out on a different beat, you add a closeup, you take out a closeup. And so I think the timing will still be identical, but we'll try not to remark on a scene that-

RDM: Any particular cuts.

Eick: Yeah. (Laughs.)

RDM: This is the best part. This exact time index.

Eick: (Laughs.) So this is more of the mythos that we talked about in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]] where a lot of the stuff flies off the cuff and you hope it works and then you backtrack and you go in and you try to make sure that there's actual integrity to it versus-

RDM: And a lot of this stuff on the Cylon- there's a tremendous amount of information, actually, about the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. What they know. What the mythos is of the show that comes up in these two episodes. And a lot of it are things that we've talked about for a couple years and hinted at-

Eick: Never had the chance to do.

RDM: Just never did. Just never really brought out. And this was like a really good opportunity to do that.

This plot. This [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] plot. It was a late developer in the script. That shot's right out of [[Wikipedia:Scandal (film)|''Scandal'']], which I love. This whole storyline with Six telling Baltar that he's actually just crazy is something that I think dates back to [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]]. We were in love with this idea that at some point Six would change the game and tell Baltar, "You know what?"

Eick: "Just kidding."

RDM: "You're right. Just kidding. You're nuts. There's no chip in your head, you moron. You're just having a psychotic break." And that was a really delicious idea and I always wanted to play it. And for some reason it went in and out of a couple of storylines. And then we forgot about it and we were working on this story- on this script and again, we had to flesh this out and make it a full-blown episode on its own and the question came, "Well, what is Baltar doing during all this?" He's not gonna go to [[Kobol]]. We knew that right up front. We didn't want to play that. Well, what would be interesting to cut back to him and I don't remember how we- we just said, "What about that old story?"

Eick: Well this was in- there was a version of this in the oldest draft of episode six. Remember, he went into the cage and Six wasn't there but [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]] was there.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And we played this whole development where he was seeing Sharon in his head and then Sharon became Number Six and said, "You're just going crazy."

RDM: Oh, right.

Eick: And it the fin- we were finally doing it, but it just didn't it didn't fit, we weren't sure about breaking the law of who Baltar sees in his head. Did we really want to say he starts seeing other Cylons in his head? So we abandoned that and it had been cut but when, again, when we decided to expand what had been one episode into two, we still were in need of some new material to flesh out an entire second episode and it was a perfect opportunity to bring this notion back in because it's hysterical to me. (Chuckles.)

RDM: Yeah, I think this is very funny.

Eick: I love the idea that he's wondering if he's really gone mad.

RDM: I love that he just goes off in such a typical Baltar rant there. Just, [[James Callis|James]] off doing his thing and then suddenly she's like laughing. And this is really closer to how [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]] actually looks. Trish wears her hair in a ponytail quite often and wears sweats and this is kinda who she is and it's fun to just suddenly change the character so completely. And then he would be so taken off stride by just how natural she is and that she seems perfectly genuine. She's telling him that he's just crazy. "Wake up and smell the psychosis."

Eick: Yeah, that was one of my favorite lines.

She's- but yeah Trish is like this in life. She's disarmingly approachable.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: There's that quality to supermodels and it's not stretching it to say that that's what Trish was and is. I mean, she was a big, big deal in the modeling world and is only- that's only in the past tense because she's begun to develop such a talent as an actor now that she's fielding calls from all over the place. But she has this quality to her that it is a- that's a very approachable, very accessible. When you see her she's the first person in the room you gravitate to, not just because she looks like what she looks like, but because there's nothing about her that is that is that quintessential supermodel, get- stay away from me.

RDM: There's nothing offputting about her at all.

Eick: Nothing offputting. And it's great because she's very bright. She's from a farm in Toronto, well, upstate Canada, basically, and she's just very down-home. (Chuckles.) Which you wouldn't necessarily expect.

RDM: The look on James' face. (Laughs.) He conveys fear so well.

Eick: Yeah. Fear and-

RDM: Fear and-

Eick: -confusion-

RDM: -confusion-

Eick: It's really- it's interesting because it takes a lot of guts to play this sort of thing.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: 'Cause you don't know when you're going too far. I mean, he certainly has a natural metronome inside him that knows how to measure these kinds of rhythms but I would terrified as an actor to do some of what he does.

RDM: He's a very brave actor.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: He really is very vulnerable and exposes himself and takes a lot of risks with the character.

Eick: Well, I was on the set with him the first day we did- the first day of production on the [[miniseries]] was the sex scene with he and Number Six.

RDM: Oh, in the house?

Eick: Yeah. So he had just met this woman-

RDM: Oh my God.

Eick: And he's got to go in, get in bed, get naked, and grind with her... topless because we were shooting her from behind and she was topless. And she's very- she's a very free spirit. She's very comfortable with her body, obviously, but James, I was just- I couldn't believe he didn't have a complete panic attack. I just was so shocked. It's like, looking at him in awe, going, "How are you doing this? Isn't this..." He was having a blast.

RDM: And this scene has one of the few times that we've actually run up against broadcast standards and practices and they slapped us back down. We argued to no avail.

Eick: I'm so proud this little-

RDM: Yeah, this is a great little sequence that I added to it to. The original line that Tyrol has coming up here is-

Eick: "Topography's for pussies."

RDM: Yep. "Topography's for pussies." And then I added in the beat later where Adama says, "Yeah, and Adar was a prick."

Eick: "Was a prick," yeah.

RDM: And they wouldn't let us say either one. Which I guess is gender equal, actually.

Eick: Exactly! (Chuckles.)

RDM: They wouldn't let us say "pricks" or "pussies". And I made a very- I actually called broadcast standards-

Eick: I remember, yeah.

RDM: -and made some whole eloquent pitch about, "Well, it's context and he's not calling someone a pussy. It's not used as an epithet. It's really just a general statement of life and that '[[Richard Adar|Adar]]'s a prick,' is a joke. It's not harsh. It's not demeaning." And they just, "Oh, that's really interesting. No, you can't say it." It's just really annoying.

Eick: Yeah. It's a very arbitrary set of conditions-

RDM: Oh, it's so arbitrary.

Eick: They don't really give you a guidebook. You just- you get away with stuff you can't believe you got away with-

RDM: And it's cable, so it's like, they really do just make up their own rules.

Eick: Yeah. There's no one in control.

RDM: There's no [[Wikipedia:Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]. It's just, whatever.

Oh. Now this is not a special effect.

Eick: No. This is a high pressure air blaster I was very adamant about us using. All throughout prep I was being told it was impossible because it can cause an embolism. It's blowing so hard into your flesh that it can cause an air bubble and kill you. But, I had to have it and so- and I felt the actors had lived very rich lives and if something were to go wrong they would go out like (unintelligble).

RDM: (Chuckles.) We'd get good press out of it.

Eick: Yeah, they'd die with their boots on. Come on. So it's basically, I'd seen it in a [[Wikipedia:James Bond|James Bond]] movie the first time called [[Wikipedia:Moonraker (film)|''Moonraker'']] which [[Wikipedia:Roger Moore|Roger Moore]] contraption that's simulating the g-forces that you pull in outer space. Well I didn't know how they did it until we had our prep meeting here I said, "In ''Moonraker'', how does Roger Moore's cheek ripple? How do they do that?" 'Cause that was before CG and our special effects guy said, "Well, it's a high pressure blaster, but they're dangerous." I said, well-

RDM: "How dangerous?"

Eick: (Laughs.) "Define dangerous."

RDM: Dangerous is when I have to sit in front of it. Acceptable risk is when [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] has to sit in front of it.

Eick: Exactly. Well, of course, all you have to tell Eddie is that it's dangerous. It'll make him do it.

RDM: Yeah, then it's like next he'll want to take one home.

This sequence. This is the campfire sequence, the first night. This is a little trick for those of you aspiring writers out there. There's a lot of characters in this scene. This is the enti- virtually the entire- a big chunk of the entire cast shows up for this sequence. Directors hate this. It's a lot of coverage. It's a lot of giving everybody a line, and it's just a nightmare to shoot. To corral all these actors simultaneously and try to stage it. So what I did here, you'll note that these are all grouped off in little pairings. Everybody's off and there's little couplets and there's little miniscenes where you can isolate just a couple of actors at a time which makes it a lot easier to shoot. Director still complains about it, because he got a little pieces to shoot.

Eick: In the rain.

RDM: And the rain. But, in essence, you've just given them a way to make these sequences doable. When you've got like eight major characters and they've all got lines and they're all talking together, directors just want to throw things at you. 'Cause it just really complicates-

Eick: Well, because on a- and not that they want to throw things at you as a matter of principle. It's because when you've got to shoot six or seven pages a day-

RDM: Yeah, when you're moving through this-

Eick: And you've got an eight day schedule, you're only hope of getting out alive is to have tricks like this. And even so we were way over schedule on this episode because it was- you're dealing with the elements, you're dealing with exteriors, you're dealing with loading them up (unintelligble)

RDM: To stay for night too, didn't they?

Eick: Yeah, they stayed for night.

This is [[imdb:nm0001664|James Remar]] who we introduced in the last podcast but who we were very fortunate to get to play the character [[Meier]].

RDM: And I swear to God, somehow he looks younger than he did in [[imdb:tt0083511|''48 Hrs.'']]. ''48 Hrs.'' and the craggy, really all scarred up.

Eick: "I got shot. That's impossible."

RDM: "I don't believe it. I got shot." (Laughs.)

Eick: Oh yeah. "I don't believe it." He- for a guy who's so tied into a particular role, he loves talking about- a lot of these guys they don't want to talk about the thing that their known for-

RDM: Yeah, that they're famous for.

Eick: And James and I spent a lot of time talking about [[imdb:nm0001353|Walter Hill]] and talking about what it was like making that movie.

RDM: Yeah?

Eick: Oh yeah. He was very proud of it, as he should be.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2]==

RDM: We're back on [[Kobol]].

Eick: This is a sequence that had a lot of good stuff but it that had to get lifted for time.

RDM: Yeah, there's a lot of little character beats between everybody's- they're journey through the forest.

Eick: I had this scene where [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]]-

RDM: Billy's not here yet.

Eick: Oh, yeah. But there was just (unintelligble)-

RDM: It was all a principal banter.

Eick: Yeah. I mean, Billy at one point alerts to [[Laura Roslin]] that he's an atheist.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And you go, "Really?" She stops in her tracks.

RDM: "What?"

Eick: "What?"

RDM: Which I loved.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I really regret losing that.

Eick: And he just says, "Yeah. For me it's never been about God. It's never been about that. It's that I believe in you and I believe in [[William Adama|Commander Adama]]." Character beats like that get lifted a lot of time because at a certain point you have a proscribed number of minutes you can do your episode in and the story has to make sense and you often end up having to cut for plot instead of character just so that you can tell a story.

RDM: I like this little thing of [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] haranguing her about going back to [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and it's like-

Eick: She wanted to look at her.

RDM: "You know what? Can I just find this [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]]?"

Eick: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, "What do you want fr-"

RDM: "What do you want from me?"

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: "For crying out loud..."

Eick: "Can I get a bike for Christmas? Please, please, please? I want a bike, please. C-" Yeah. But you know what? And this is gonna sound a little odd, maybe, but I think [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] looks so- it's that [[w:Dances with Wolves|''Dances with Wolves'']] thing. [[Michael Rymer]] was talking about this yesterday. You see her out in the wilderness like that and there's just something-

RDM: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Eick: -right about it.

RDM: I think its-

Eick: Mary McDonnell looks great outside with the trees. She just does.

RDM: I love this, this whole thing, too. What's she grabbing?

Eick: Heh.

Uh. [[Cottle|Doc Cottle]]. He's become quite a fixture in the show. [[Donnelly Rhodes]].

RDM: I love the fact that we don't really give him, like, stories. There's not like the "Cottle story".

Eick: No, no, no.

RDM: He's just this character that shows up and you know- you just look forward to him coming into scene and busting somebody's balls.

Eick: Yeah, there's a great- he's got some really great stuff, actually, coming up. [[Resurrection Ship, Part I|Episode eleven]], which we're- we just started shooting today, which is the second half of [[Season 2 (2005-06)|season two]]. Michael Rymer's directing. Cottle has a scene with Laura Roslin in which she- oh, this may be [[Resurrection Ship, Part II|episode twelve]]. Or, what's the scene where he says, "If you want to psychoanalyze me, you'll spend your last days psychoanalysing me. It's a really big waste of time."

RDM: I think that's twelve.

Eick: Is that [[Mark Verheiden]]? Just a great sense of (unintelligible) that- that he's genuine and he's not doing any of this for effect. This really is him.

RDM: Yeah. It's who he is.

Eick: Although I wish he were a little angrier on that line.

RDM: Yeah, I wish he was a little angrier there. Which is usually not the problem.

Eick: Yeah, exactly.

RDM: It's usually-

Eick: Donnelly is very good with the anger.

So, yeah. This was the plot runner that we were able to make work in [[Home, Part II|episode seven]] as an extension of what had been setup in [[Home, Part I|six]], which is the plan to assassinate [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. And roping [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] into this. In an early draft of this, [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron]] had [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] much more involved. He was basically more- he still is, but in an earlier draft he was in a rock and a hard place to the extent that he knew what Sharon was gonna do, as I recall.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- trying to make th- strike that balance between a guy that you associate with our side of things being so caught up in Sharon that he might actually-

RDM: -help her-

Eick: -yeah, help her, became too much of a stretch to go with a ch- or certainly, if we're gonna go that far with a character, it probably would have doomed Helo to an unseemly demise at some point and it'd been-

RDM: [[Brig|A cell]] next to Lee.

Eick: Yeah. So, [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]], who is such a great actor and is so great for this show, I think we found a way to suggest his culpability or his being seduced by Sharon without going quite that far with it. Although I still think we have in Helo now a character who we have to keep an eye on.

RDM: Yeah, I think he-

Eick: I mean, the (unintelligible)

RDM: He does have conflicted loyalties on some basic level.

Eick: So this was a scene that was originally the end of act two of episode six, which was the return of Adama-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -to. And I was actually- I mean, this was- we talked about this in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]], nothing is ever quite like you imagine it, and this was supposed to be, this moment here, where Adama says, "You can put the [[Kinetic Energy Weapon#Small Arms|gun]] down now, Captain," was supposed to be a moment of Lee just holding a gun on Adama and Adama being (unintelligble)-

RDM: (unintelligible), yeah.

Eick: And saying that line wryly. With some humor. I think [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] wanted to have a gun and he was in the fatigues and before you know it it was, "Put the damn gun down."

RDM: Yeah, he wanted to play it-

Eick: -Yeah.-

RDM: -a little harder.

Eick: So- which was fine. Just a different choice.

RDM: It was also originally gonna be in the middle of the night, which had (unintelligible).

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It was gonna be more creep to it.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: They hear something in the bushes and it's dark and God knows what's coming at- and then it's just- We couldn't do it. We just- it's very hard to shoot at night. We're doing a lot of day for night stuff in this episode already. Day for night stuff you can only get away with for so long before you really begin to smell it. And so we just made the choice to transit- this is dawn. This is- we're playing this as like the crack of dawn so you can see the shadows and we're playing that. And it's probably shot in the middle of the day for all I know.

Eick: A lot of pieces her to try to tether together and I remember in a number of drafts of this, early drafts back when this was in episode six, I didn't really have Adama reacting to Sharon. And it wasn't really until Eddie was talking about a scene he was shooting in [[Fragged|episode three]] or [[Resistance (episode)|four]] where he- we- is it [[The Farm|five]] where he weeps at the corpse of-

RDM: Five.

Eick: In episode five where Adama weeps at the corpse of [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]], and Eddie had just gotten through shooting that. We were on the set and he said to me, "I loved doing that scene, because now I know if I ever saw that character again, I wouldn't stop at anything until she was dead." And I was sitting with my draft of episode six which had him basically showing up at this location and dismissing her presence and he had a line about it, but it kinda went on and Eddie had this notion about how he wouldn't stop at anything before killing her and so this scene came into being and-

RDM: So you're basically saying the actors did your homework.

Eick: Totally and completely did my homework. Yeah, 'cause you just get this cold chill and you go, "Yeah, Eddie, you're right. You wouldn't stop at anything until killing her. I'll be right back." (Chuckles.)

Good editing on this.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: [[IMDB:nm0782890|Andy Seklir]]. He's a- Andy's a- not a guy who's been editing for a long time. He comes out of a different side of the business and- started editing only a few years ago.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3]==

RDM: Ok. We had to start and stop so this is gonna be act three at the trackmark. Ok. So now we're in the aftermath of the- or not the aftermath. We're in midscene, really.

Eick: Have you '''seen''' the episode?

RDM: Have I seen this episode? No.

Eick: Do you know what's taking place?

RDM: I read the script at some point. (Chuckles.)

Eick: It seemed interesting?

RDM: Well, what's interesting is we moved this act break three or four times. What was the act two break? Were you gonna go out? We experimented with going out on the moment of "Rustle, rustle. What's that in the bushes? Ooh, ooh, ooh. It could be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]." We tried going out on, "Oh, it's [[William Adama|Adama]]". Then we tried going out on him choking her. And then there was a version where actually we pushed past all of this, right? We resolved this, and just went out on- and it was- I don't even know how we arrived at this one. We- it was just the best one, was to somehow go out him on her, trying to choke her to death. And the interesting thing in that sequence was [[David Eick|David]] wrote this thing as very internal that I think comes through but it was hard to capture on film, which was the notion that in the midst of choking [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] and Adama clutches his chest, that it's the exertion of-

Eick: -The heart surgery.-

RDM: -of the heart surgery that gets to him in that moment. And [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] pl- I mean Eddie plays it. Eddie grabs his chest and falls off of her and the whole thing, but it's still going for a very internal dynamic on the character.

Eick: Was it Eddie or you that came up with, "And you ask, 'Why?'" 'Cause it wasn't my idea.

RDM: I think it was me.

Eick: Because the creepy thing about that is that I don't think any of us know what that means.

RDM: Yeah. What does that mean?

Eick: I mean, except that on some stellar plane she-

RDM: It just kinda works. It's an interesting, creepy moment. How does she know that? It's legitimate question. How does she know that? I don't know. Write in.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Write in.

Eick: Yeah, write in. Exactly. We'll pick one.

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: (Laughs.) The ultimate moment, which has since been cut, was Eddie saying, "They're stronger than we are."

RDM: Yeah... Why did we lose that?

Eick: Well, it was- it struck a chord of confusion that I didn't really ever see. It was actually a network note that I thought was valid, which is that this, he means she just gave him the heart attack?

RDM: Oh, oh, oh.

Eick: Or is does it like- is he referring to her in a literal sense being stronger than him or in a greater sense being stronger than him.

RDM: Right, I see.

Eick: Had it been covered a little bit differently I think it would have resonated, but we were so limited by the coverage that we had, for good reason-

RDM: Yeah, I did like that. That was a nice- I mean, when you read it in the script it made perfect sense.

Eick: Totally, yeah.

RDM: There's something really (unintelligible)-

Eick: Or at least the extent to which it didn't make sense was compelling, on some level, as opposed to just confusing.

RDM: Yeah. (Chuckles.)

I like this beat a lot. We're watching the Sharon-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] reunion. There was something really great about the fact that she remembers him, but they never met, and look on his face. And I'm continually impressed with [[Grace Park|Grace]]. That Grace really delivers all these different versions of [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]], and so does [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]]. I mean they really- it's a subtle thing.

Eick: Yes.

RDM: It's a li- it's how they carry themselves. It's how they smile sometimes, or don't smile, and just slight inflections in dialogue. I don't know what their internal process is on those two actresses as they do it, but-

Eick: Well, they're very- I mean, Grace, for one, is very- takes very seriously the character's relationship with Tyrol, and that was such a heartfelt scene in a lot of ways because it's a scene I think a lot of people who follow this show been kind of waiting for. When is Tyrol gonna come face to face with the other Sharon? And so, it was a pretty emotional beat for her. I think she pulled it off beautifully there.

This, on the other hand, is a bit more strange. (Laughs.)

RDM: Weren't we gonna put VFX, or visual effects, in here and see them urinating?

Eick: Yeah. Well, that's still to come. And don't cross the streams, of course.

RDM: Don't cross the streams! (Laughs.)

Eick: That's where that comes from, for those of you who don't know.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: So- this is very odd. I haven't done the sound on this yet, but imagine this is gonna be quite-

RDM: Yeah, it'll sound like a waterfall.

Eick: -an entertaining scene to mix. And this was a scene that was probably four times longer, at least-

RDM: Yeah, many times. I think I took a pass at this at some point.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I like the idea that Adama's the one who doesn't want to navelgaze and what's past is past. And that he owes his life to [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is an interesting and unacknowledged truth in the show. That Laura saved all of them.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Back in the [[miniseries]].

Eick: And he's finally admitting that and- it's like that thing where you make the hard decision to do the hard thing, and then in order to justify it, in a way you say things, you accept things, you apologize for things, you acknowledge things that you might not have otherwise because, after all, if he doesn't feel these things why the hell did he get on a- in a [[Raptor]] and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -lead his [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] and travel down here to bring her back. So it's a pre- I've watched this episode with a number of people and it's interesting. This is the most compelling scene to a lot of people because it's a dynamic you've never seen between these two characters before.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: For better or worse. Some people may not like it for that reason, but it's definitely different. You've never seen this, other than the stiff pleasantries that they exchange in the miniseries when they're first meeting, I mean, right away they're at odds with each other.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And it's taken this long to get them to this place.

RDM: Well I remember one of the things that Eddie said early on was, "Well, I don't like this one." It was some note- it was some reaction to something he read in the script at some point and said, "Well, I don't like Laura, so I'm not doing this." I was just like, "Oh. Well, that's right. He doesn't like her."

Eick: Well I think- but I think as equally legitimate, he saw an approach to bringing him around about the character that worked, that had integrity to it, that made sense, that was logical, and that came from character. And so now I think he wouldn't say that.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Because we've taken the character into a good place.

RDM: What I like, too, about that scene with the two of them, it's the first time that they ever use each other's first name. He calls her Laura and she calls him Bill.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It's the first time they ever did that.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: And this is- yeah, we were talking about this earlier. There were different versions of this section where you wan- you felt like [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]- I think in an early draft it was like Helo just made a declarative statement like, "I'm with you, whatever you're gonna do, I'm there to back ya up." And it was really like, "Boom! I'm with the Cylon chick."

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: (Chuckles.) I mean it was just a little bit too much.

And then she bites his neck, and leaves the puncture wounds.

Eick: (Laughs.) Well, you have to be careful when you're looking at shots like this, 'cause you're never quite sure who's back is gonna start glowing.

RDM: (Laughs.) That's right. Yeah, you know we haven't done the old glowing spine in a little while.

Eick: No.

RDM: It might be time.

Eick: Well, when it's time to reveal Helo- well anyway, we'll talk about that (unintelligible)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Why is it that Helo gets along so well with Sharon?

RDM: Yeah? How could that be?

Eick: They seem to have this effortless rapport.

RDM: Wake up Helo. You're one of us.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: You're a really stupid one of us that can't figure it out, but you're one of us, buddy.

Eick: (Laughs.) Can't figure it out...

Yeah. [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tamoh]]'s, although, both these two are local actors and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -not that you shouldn't or can't cast local actors wherever you are but it can be a challenge because if you're not in LA or New York, there's risk.

RDM: Mmhmm.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4]==

Eick: Part of- as an example of limited time to shoot all the stuff that was required, this is a blown up shot that we then backed out of because we had no closeups.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Of what is a pretty important scene between [[Meier]] and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]].

RDM: And that whole walk-up that you just saw a little piece there, of [[William Adama|Adama]] and everybody else walking up, that's- we were talking about that section earlier. There lots of little interludes of Adama reconnecting with [[Lee Adama|Lee]], [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] coming up trying to talk to talk to them, [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]]. It was some great character stuff, but the show was just running absurdly long and a lot of things had to go, so that had to go, too. But they'll be, I'm sure, in your deleted scenes section of your [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNI90Y/qid=1142264746/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1191047-4975841 DVD] and maybe here on the website. You know they put the deleted scenes [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/video/index.php?cat=deletedScenes&vid=22420 on the website], too?

Eick: Yeah? I saw that.

RDM: Which is very cool.

Eick: I saw that. I mean, most of them are just unwatchable, but I guess, you're right, there are some of them like- some of those vignettes that actually pretty good.

RDM: Biggest change here in this whole section, although I guess I'm a little bit ahead of myself, but the biggest change in this whole area was that there used to be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] attack. After this whole thing with Sharon went down there was, like, the [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] came and attack during the upcoming planetarium sequence. And we eventually cut that. And so now the only Centurion attack is in [[Home, Part I|part one]].

Eick: It was the first of two, as a matter of fact.

RDM: Yeah, there were two.

Eick: It was this.

RDM: There was a lot more fireworks.

Eick: And then there was after the reveal of map coming up later.

RDM: Yeah. The Cylons were climbing up the cliff.

Eick: Yeah, so there were a bunch of versions of this and- yeah-

RDM: But actually we changed this very moment, right here, with Adama gets the gun. This is a late change in the editing room.

Eick: Yeah. Yeah.

RDM: Originally he took that gun and put it to Sharon's head and you were playing the beat of, "Will he shoot Sharon or not?" And then we just made that lift, just within the last week, so it plays out more emotionally here instead of with putting another gun to another person's head.

Eick: It was actually an unfortunate bit of staging, because [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] was so close to [[Grace Park|Grace]] that when he drew the gun on her head, his arm was-

RDM: -Yeah, it was-

Eick: -bent in this silly-

RDM: -silly way-

Eick: -position and-

RDM: -and it was a little gun. And it was just-

Eick: Yeah, it didn't look very badass at all.

RDM: It wasn't like the straight arm, [[w:John Woo|John Woo]] angle to the head. He had this bent-arm like creeped up to her forehead.

A lot of struggle with this, too. With [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]] and his responsibility for what happened. Eventually the way this all works, it feels like essentially that because Meier did it in a- went for this assasination attempt, even though Zarek had told him not to, you kinda feel like you can let Zarek off the hook. It's why they don't slap the cuffs on Zarek and throw him in [[brig|jail]]. I mean, they don't- the characters don't know any of what happened and why, but we the audience know that it wa- that Zarek did try to stop it and then it didn't work.

Eick: We were talking earlier about scenes that don't ever quite come together the way you wrote them, and this is said with a great deal of respect for [[Jeff Woolnough]], who does great work on this show, and will direct again for this show. This moment, this scene primarily was about the irony that Starbuck had gone back to get the [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]], had brought the arrow all the way back to Laura, had journeyed down to [[Kobol]] with Laura, and had gotten to the [[Tomb of Athena|tomb]] with it, and unable to figure out how the hell it opens the tomb door as is prescribed in the [[Sacred Scrolls|scriptures]], realizes that it doesn't open the tomb door, and that if you just push hard on the tomb door, it opens.

RDM: You just push it.

Eick: And, in no way do you get that sense from this scene of the absurdity and the irony of that thunderous realization. It's- he says, "After you," and it's supposed to be Kara-

RDM: She's supposed to look at the arrow like-

Eick: You're supposed to look at the arrow like, "What have we- what has this done?"

RDM: "What the hell is this?"

Eick: "How did I waste all my time going after all this?" And I don't think you miss it that it's not there, but it's the kind of thing that-

RDM: It was a nice touch.

Eick: It was something that I remember watching the dailies wanting to (laughs) strangle somebody.

RDM: Now we're into- this whole section here with what they go in and find and how they get to map to [[Earth]]. We- I mean, we began discussions on this, obviously, last season when we came up with the whole Arrow of Apollo mythos and, "What does the arrow do," and there was a lot of discussion about what would the arrow be. I think [[Gary Hutzel]]'s idea, which made a certain amount of sense, was that the arrow itself was the map. That there were like three jewels-

Eick: -jewels-

RDM: -There were three jewels in the arrow. On in the head, one in the shaft, one in the tail, and it was symbolic. It was like- you would eventually figure out that if you knew where [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the twelve colonies]] were and you knew where Kobol was, lining them up like an arrow would point you directly toward Earth. It was this- it was an interesting idea but didn't have any punch to it. There was no like payoff. It was like we went through this whole thing and essentially you could have figured it out back in the [[miniseries|miniser-]]

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Or actually, as soon as you found Kobol, you could have figured it out.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: But there was no journey, necessary. So this notion of the constellations was something I think I came up with. That you would look up into the sky. I wanted to connect it to our present day mythology of the [[w:Zodiac|Zodiac]], which the show is replete with symbols and references to Zodiacal things and the Greek/Greco-Roman myths and also the constellations, and somehow I wanted to take, to bridge over to that step. That somehow these names for these colonies are not random. There really is a connection and here's the connection. It's that these people that are the [[Thirteenth Tribe]] looked up and made up these constellations and assigned them to their bretheren, their lost- the lost tribes. And so there's this-

Eick: So hopefully you'll draw that- you'll- as you hear the- this- the names of the constellations, if you're a real geek for this show, you'll realize that, "Oh, [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Sagittaron|Sagittaron]]-Sagittarius. [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Tauron|Tauron]]-Taurus.-"

RDM: And you kinda get that.

Eick: "-[[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Picon|Picon]]-Pices." And that there's some link between all the various constellations. I mean, it was good having that starting point, but what it didn't answer was what the hell the arrow did.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- but fortunately, 'cause I don't know very much about astrology, or astronomy for that matter, I was looking through research on this which originally was in episode six, I realized that Sagitarron has this very prominent arrow-

RDM: -arrow-

Eick: -and that there is this whole mythological story that goes along with his father and why the arrow was bestowed upon him. So it seemed like, well if the arrow is thing that if you back into Sagittarius' bow is the trigger that gets you the map to Earth, that that would work. And in truth that- none of this changed. This was all-

RDM: -Yeah, this is all pretty much as it was.-

Eick: -pretty much as it was in very early drafts.

RDM: I really like all this. (unintelligible)

Eick: What changed was where, was of course making it the end of [[Home, Part II|this episode]] and also through a number of variations, or a number of early drafts, as they look up into the heavens and they're- this realization is settling in on them, suddenly the heavens break apart because of the incoming mortars-

RDM: -Yeah, the mortars-

Eick: -from the attacking Cylons and that's what stops them at arriving at a definitive conclusion about the location of Earth. It didn't s- "A", we couldn't afford to do that, ultimately when this was all put together. "B", it didn't seem like you needed that interruption. That they're-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: They very clearly don't have the entirety of the answer here. They've got a big piece of the puzzle, but now they've still gotta search for the common constellations in order to come to where you would be standing on Earth. So...

RDM: Technically, and you know some there's some people will say that, "Ok, well if you look up and you actually spot the constellations in the sky, they don't actually- you can't see all twelve constellations in the sky simultaneously." Ok. That's true. Fine, fine.

Eick: It is true?

RDM: It's true.

Eick: Oh. Oh well.

RDM: But there was no way to really dramatically and visually present, like, the heavens as we see them on Earth, which is where there'd be s- ever- the stars in the sky on Earth all circle around the [[w:North Star|North Star]], the [[w:North Pole|North Pole]]. And the constellations dip below the horizon depending on what time of year it is, but there was no way to make that work in this sequence. The sky would have been spinning wildly through the whole thing to make the point. It would have gotten- they would have been dizzy.

Eick: Right.

RDM: It wouldn't quite have worked. So we cheat the perspective a bit and-

Eick: -and then Gary had the idea of the obelisks-

RDM: -the obelisks to help you reference what the constellations are and tie them to the symbols, because the constellations don't look a hell of a lot like the images they're supposed to be-

Eick: No.

RDM: -when you get right down to it.

Eick: Now one of the unfortunate bits of fallout from not having the epilogue with the Cylon attack was that in the early drafts the Cylon attack led you to their slow walk back to their ship and you had a post-mortem about it and you understood. And no we just cut from-

RDM: We just jump.

Eick: -the inside of the tomb to them being back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. I think there's so much emotion tied into this story point that you're not terribly caught up in, "How did they walk back?"

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: "What do they do with Meier's body? Why isn't Zarek in jail? Should he be in jail?" There's a lot of that kind of shoeleather or refrigerator logic, as we used to call it, but I don't think you need it here.

RDM: I don't think they need it.

Eick: I hope not.

RDM: I think you're good going just up here.

Eick: Now Jeff did do a fairly faithful interpretration of the end of the film, [[imdb:tt0080474|''Brubaker'']], which I had it in my office-

RDM: This is a good ''Brubaker''.

Eick: -watching here a couple days before we shot this. It's a direct lift. There's no-

RDM: There's no (unintelligible)

Eick: There's no shame about it. I wanted there to be a sense of a polite applause that-

RDM: It's also nice in the show. It's also harks back to the miniseries. It hearks back to the moment of-

Eick: "So say we all." Yeah.

RDM: "So say we all."

Eick: Well, [[Michael Rymer|Rymer]] saw this yesterday and he said, "Isn't that kind of the same scene as the miniseries?" I'm like, "Yeah, kind of."

RDM: Yeah, kind of.

Eick: But it's- what I liked about in the movie ''Brubaker'', what I like about it now, is it speaks to a sense of tradition or of ritual-

RDM: -ritual-

Eick: -that in a moment of- to demonstrate great respect you would clap in unison.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And I don't really know why that would be, and I don't know that it requires explanation-

RDM: -but it works. Somehow I-

Eick: -but it seems to work, yeah.

RDM: When I watch the sequence it moves me. I'm moved by the fact that it's Adama's gift to Laura. It's really-

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: It's generous.

Eick: In ''Brubaker'' it was [[w:Yaphet Kotto|Yaphet Kotto]]-

RDM: Yeah, it was Yaphet Kotto.

Eick: -for those of who are gonna go get the movie and look at this. (Laughs.) It was Yaphet Kotto's praise for [[w:Robert Redford|Robert Redford]], now it's [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]]' praise for L- [[Mary McDonnell]].

RDM: Yeah.

And then we have our coda with our two star-crossed lovers. There was- this is coming up on the final [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Cylon-Related Hallucinations#Baltar.27s Internal Six|Six]] scene, where of course is all put through right there. There was an- one more Baltar-Six scene that we had to cut in editing. There was more fun. It was more of the same. It followed after the [[Cottle]] scene where he looked at the brain scans and said, "Yeah, you're a hypochondriac. There's nothing there." And there was one more bit of her twisting the knife in him and really torturing him about how it really is- "You really are just crazy," and "Just accept it."

Eick: Well and it's a tonal decision-

RDM: And it's too bad it's gone.

Eick: It's a tonal decision, too, 'cause the original end of this was a coda with Kara.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: You see her walk in her barracks. The first time she's really been home, hence the title "Home".

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And she puts out her peg and figurines and says, "[[Religion in the Twelve Colonies#The Lords of Kobol|Lords of Kobol]], hear my prayer. It's good to be home." And the way Jeff shot it, it's beautiful. It's a really artful moment. [[Katee Sackhoff|Katee]] was magnificent in it. And there's just something about the end with Laura that feels like that's the emotional pinnacle.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And that from there, in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|''Battlestar Galactica'']] form, we want to twist it back towards the darkness-

RDM: -the dark-

Eick: -towards the uncertainty of their futures and that's really what the show is. It's always a balance between hope and betrayal, and people's love for one another and the fact that we'll also betray each other. And so in this particular instance we're ending on that minor chord or that darker feel and I do want to use that Katee moment somewhere.

RDM: I know, 'cause it's a really good scene.

Eick: It's a beautifully shot scene and I was really happy with the way it came out.

RDM: It's nice to see the red dress make a reappearance.

Eick: Yes. Very much so.

RDM: So you used to get overused, and no we've been away from it for so long it's cool to see it back. It very iconi- it's become so iconic for the show.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: "I'm an angel of [[God]]." God, we get away with murder ont his show.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Yeah, what's wrong with you people?

RDM: I know.

Eick: Don't you know this is sacrilegious?

RDM: How can we- how can we get away with this?

Well, I mean, that's the end of "Home, Part II". This is it. This this-

Eick: And in a way this is the end of the [[Season 1 (2004-05)|first season]].

RDM: This is the end of the first season so...

Eick: Next week, it all starts fresh.

RDM: It all starts again. We'll see you in a different year, next season.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: Who knows what will be happening in [[Final Cut|episode eight]]?

Eick: Or who will be showing up?

RDM: Who will be showing up? Thank you for listening.

Eick: Alright.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-01-09T19:32:51Z

PrePressChris: /* Home, Part II */ verified act 2

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====
==== Misc ====
[[Podcast:The Battlestar Roundtable]]
* Introduction (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour One (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Two (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)
* Hour Three (Transcribed: —. Verified: —.)

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====
===== [[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Huh?|Huh?]] 11:15, 23 May 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:14, 23 May 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:01, 29 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:02, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 3 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:32, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:52, 4 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 5 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 20:28, 17 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:02, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 11:38, 19 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:28, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:39, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:56, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:37, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:32, 5 January 2007 (CST).)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:10, 31 October 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 5 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:14, 3 November 2006 (EST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 10:45, 8 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:43, 10 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 13:32, 9 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 20:49, 12 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:06, 13 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]

Podcast:Home, Part II

2007-01-09T17:57:16Z

PrePressChris: /* [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2] */ + word (0:53 into act)

{{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and David Eick}}

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser]==

RDM: Hello again. I'm [[Ronald D. Moore]], executive producer and developer of [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']].

Eick: And I'm [[David Eick]]. I also work the show a little bit from time to time.

RDM: (Chuckles.) And we're here to do the podcast commentary for episode seven, "[[Home, Part II]]". As we said last week, this was originally all one episode. And as development went on we just realized that there was just way too much story to try to tell this entire tale inside of one hour so this got split up into two piece.

We're still in the recaps from last week. A side note is these recaps are endlessly worked over (laughs) in the editing process, back and forth.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: There's endless discussions from everybody. From the editors and us to the studio and the network of exactly which elements should be reprised from last week and it's all having to do with, ok, new viewers to the show who may not understand the storyline versus people who just need to be refreshed and brought up to date. And so these little sequences- actually as I'm watching this I'm realizing that's- I don't even remember which pieces are in the recap anymore because I get so bored with the process of arguing about the recap that at as certain point I just ignore it and it's like, ok, the recap will tell people something.

Eick: Yeah. They'll bring something to the table.

RDM: They'll bring something.

Eick: This is also- this episode is in the category of "be careful what you wish for" in a way, 'cause as Ron was saying we learned early enough that we were able to do something about it the episode was too long or had too much story to tell in one episode, but what it really had was about an episode and a half. And so we were able to come up with a strategy, pitch it to the network, get the network to approve us, extending this to a two-parter, which was, in its own way a victory because it didn't have the kind of definitive plot engine that you would have in last year's episodes [[Act of Contrition|four]] and [[You Can't Go Home Again|five]] to make that case. And they finally said yes. And Ron and I were in Vancouver, "Yeah," high-fiving each other, slamming beers, whatever we were doing to celebrate having gotten this approval, but of course we were about to embark on the first day of prep on [[Home, Part I|episode six]] and realized we had to basically come up with half an epsiode to flesh out episode seven that would also have a backwards domino effect into episode six. So by the time we were sitting at dinner that night, basically rebreaking these two episodes and wondering how they were gonna get accompli- how they were gonna get written before we actually had to shoot them, it was one of those, "Uh oh. What did we just step in."

RDM: (unitelligble) what?

Eick: And so- But this, I remember this scene showed up. This sce- this teaser showed up a few days later. Ron had gone back to LA. I was still in Vancouver and I was so thrilled with it because it was exactly what you want to start an episode like this with. It was a very changeup approach, rhythmically. It was a series of scenes- the cut is really pretty faithful to how it was written. In which we're seeing disparate pieces of activity and business that are, in a sort of magical way, linking these two very far away places. And I just thought it was really powerful and a way of starting an episode that even if you hadn't seen episode six, there's still this compelling mystery being unraveled to you that would make you interested in episode seven.

RDM: And I actually enjoy writing these kinds of sequences. This is reminicent of, in some ways, of the beginning of "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming]]".

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Where we started with a lot of silent, just visual shots of all the different story elements that were happening in that episode. This is a little simpler in that you're going back and forth between two groups of people in- one group going somewhere, the other group looking for them. And there's just some, I don't know, I really enjoy the intercut of it and finding the little thematic ties and what it- you're telling the story visually instead of with dialogue and a lot of tv- so much of tv is just talking heads-

Eick: (simultaneously) Talking heads.

RDM: -and people telling you things endlessly. And it's always interesting when you can try to- especially start an episode just visually. To just make it film. To just tell- show it instead of tell it.

Eick: So although there was a lot of shuffling of scenes, basically what we- and so it wasn't quite this scientific but by and large the first half of this episode was all brand new and the second half of the episode picked up where we had left off the original second half of episode six. So it was a bit of a mental jumble and a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls, a lot of flurry and we were fortunate that episode six was directed by [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan]], who had done episode five [[Season 1 (2004-05)|last year]], and [[Season 2 (2005-06)|this year]]'s episode [[Home, Part II|seven]] was directed by [[Jeff Woolnough]], who'd done episode ten last year, "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]". So we're dealing with directors who knew the show and who were pretty intimate with the characters and with the style and the do's and don't's of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and that helped the process because we were able to continue to refine the script as we went without running the risk of having the director hopelessly confused. This also- this episode was uniquely difficult, production-wise. Probably the most difficult episode we've done of the series, production-wise, with possible exception of the finale last year, because of the exteriors and because of the number of characters in all the scenes. And when you're working on an eight day schedule and just having to cover the dialogue and the reactions and the different points of view of every scene, well, when you've got two or three people in a room it's one thing. When you've got eight people standing on a hillside, you can shoot all day and get a page of film. So it's it was a real challenge.

RDM: How many days out was this?

Eick: This was six days out, two days in, and that was after a lot of struggle. It was originally seven days out, one day in.

RDM: 'Cause there's a pattern that we do in each episode. Generally our pattern is five days in, three days out. But that's just- for budgetary reasons you look it at that way 'cause days out are generally more expensive than days interior on the stage and so you apportion yourself a given number as a pattern, week in, week out. So to really upend it and go- to go six out and two in really changes a lot of the dynamics of how you're shooting the show, how you're budgeting the show and it's hard. And then add rain to the sequence, which I added.

Eick: (Laughs.) It was out, it was in, it was out, it was in-

RDM: It was out, it was in. There was lots of complaining about the rain. Well, can we do the rain? We gotta have these big sprinklers out there and hose them down and it makes the cast miserable and everybody gets miserable. But if they're just tromping through the woods and that's all that there is, it just didn't have the same sense of-

Eick: Well, during the [[Wikipedia:Hercules: The Legendary Journeys|''Hercules'']] and [[Wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|''Xena'']] days, [[imdb:nm0849964|Rob Tappert]] used to say women on horseback was the cheapest special effect. (Laughs.)

RDM: (Chuckles.)

Eick: The second cheapest special effect is rain.

RDM: Rain.

Eick: Rain looks great on film, it adds a whole dimension to the scene, you're pulled into the drama in a different way because there's just this inherent desperation to everything because everyone's wet and trying to survive. And- so I'm thrilled we kept it. It was not the episode you would ideally do that.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1]==

Eick: Now we're watching what is technically a rough cut. This is by and large a locked edit of the episode although we have not done our final-

RDM: Final visual effects or...

Eick: -polish. Watch the-

RDM: Color time. Or any of this.

Eick: Well, I mean, we haven't even like done- On all of these there's at least one watchthrough where you make ten little adjustments and you-

RDM: Oh, that's true.

Eick: You go out on a different beat, you add a closeup, you take out a closeup. And so I think the timing will still be identical, but we'll try not to remark on a scene that-

RDM: Any particular cuts.

Eick: Yeah. (Laughs.)

RDM: This is the best part. This exact time index.

Eick: (Laughs.) So this is more of the mythos that we talked about in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]] where a lot of the stuff flies off the cuff and you hope it works and then you backtrack and you go in and you try to make sure that there's actual integrity to it versus-

RDM: And a lot of this stuff on the Cylon- there's a tremendous amount of information, actually, about the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. What they know. What the mythos is of the show that comes up in these two episodes. And a lot of it are things that we've talked about for a couple years and hinted at-

Eick: Never had the chance to do.

RDM: Just never did. Just never really brought out. And this was like a really good opportunity to do that.

This plot. This [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] plot. It was a late developer in the script. That shot's right out of [[Wikipedia:Scandal (film)|''Scandal'']], which I love. This whole storyline with Six telling Baltar that he's actually just crazy is something that I think dates back to [[Season 1 (2004-05)|season one]]. We were in love with this idea that at some point Six would change the game and tell Baltar, "You know what?"

Eick: "Just kidding."

RDM: "You're right. Just kidding. You're nuts. There's no chip in your head, you moron. You're just having a psychotic break." And that was a really delicious idea and I always wanted to play it. And for some reason it went in and out of a couple of storylines. And then we forgot about it and we were working on this story- on this script and again, we had to flesh this out and make it a full-blown episode on its own and the question came, "Well, what is Baltar doing during all this?" He's not gonna go to [[Kobol]]. We knew that right up front. We didn't want to play that. Well, what would be interesting to cut back to him and I don't remember how we- we just said, "What about that old story?"

Eick: Well this was in- there was a version of this in the oldest draft of episode six. Remember, he went into the cage and Six wasn't there but [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]] was there.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And we played this whole development where he was seeing Sharon in his head and then Sharon became Number Six and said, "You're just going crazy."

RDM: Oh, right.

Eick: And it the fin- we were finally doing it, but it just didn't it didn't fit, we weren't sure about breaking the law of who Baltar sees in his head. Did we really want to say he starts seeing other Cylons in his head? So we abandoned that and it had been cut but when, again, when we decided to expand what had been one episode into two, we still were in need of some new material to flesh out an entire second episode and it was a perfect opportunity to bring this notion back in because it's hysterical to me. (Chuckles.)

RDM: Yeah, I think this is very funny.

Eick: I love the idea that he's wondering if he's really gone mad.

RDM: I love that he just goes off in such a typical Baltar rant there. Just, [[James Callis|James]] off doing his thing and then suddenly she's like laughing. And this is really closer to how [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]] actually looks. Trish wears her hair in a ponytail quite often and wears sweats and this is kinda who she is and it's fun to just suddenly change the character so completely. And then he would be so taken off stride by just how natural she is and that she seems perfectly genuine. She's telling him that he's just crazy. "Wake up and smell the psychosis."

Eick: Yeah, that was one of my favorite lines.

She's- but yeah Trish is like this in life. She's disarmingly approachable.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: There's that quality to supermodels and it's not stretching it to say that that's what Trish was and is. I mean, she was a big, big deal in the modeling world and is only- that's only in the past tense because she's begun to develop such a talent as an actor now that she's fielding calls from all over the place. But she has this quality to her that it is a- that's a very approachable, very accessible. When you see her she's the first person in the room you gravitate to, not just because she looks like what she looks like, but because there's nothing about her that is that is that quintessential supermodel, get- stay away from me.

RDM: There's nothing offputting about her at all.

Eick: Nothing offputting. And it's great because she's very bright. She's from a farm in Toronto, well, upstate Canada, basically, and she's just very down-home. (Chuckles.) Which you wouldn't necessarily expect.

RDM: The look on James' face. (Laughs.) He conveys fear so well.

Eick: Yeah. Fear and-

RDM: Fear and-

Eick: -confusion-

RDM: -confusion-

Eick: It's really- it's interesting because it takes a lot of guts to play this sort of thing.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: 'Cause you don't know when you're going too far. I mean, he certainly has a natural metronome inside him that knows how to measure these kinds of rhythms but I would terrified as an actor to do some of what he does.

RDM: He's a very brave actor.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: He really is very vulnerable and exposes himself and takes a lot of risks with the character.

Eick: Well, I was on the set with him the first day we did- the first day of production on the [[miniseries]] was the sex scene with he and Number Six.

RDM: Oh, in the house?

Eick: Yeah. So he had just met this woman-

RDM: Oh my God.

Eick: And he's got to go in, get in bed, get naked, and grind with her... topless because we were shooting her from behind and she was topless. And she's very- she's a very free spirit. She's very comfortable with her body, obviously, but James, I was just- I couldn't believe he didn't have a complete panic attack. I just was so shocked. It's like, looking at him in awe, going, "How are you doing this? Isn't this..." He was having a blast.

RDM: And this scene has one of the few times that we've actually run up against broadcast standards and practices and they slapped us back down. We argued to no avail.

Eick: I'm so proud this little-

RDM: Yeah, this is a great little sequence that I added to it to. The original line that Tyrol has coming up here is-

Eick: "Topography's for pussies."

RDM: Yep. "Topography's for pussies." And then I added in the beat later where Adama says, "Yeah, and Adar was a prick."

Eick: "Was a prick," yeah.

RDM: And they wouldn't let us say either one. Which I guess is gender equal, actually.

Eick: Exactly! (Chuckles.)

RDM: They wouldn't let us say "pricks" or "pussies". And I made a very- I actually called broadcast standards-

Eick: I remember, yeah.

RDM: -and made some whole eloquent pitch about, "Well, it's context and he's not calling someone a pussy. It's not used as an epithet. It's really just a general statement of life and that '[[Richard Adar|Adar]]'s a prick,' is a joke. It's not harsh. It's not demeaning." And they just, "Oh, that's really interesting. No, you can't say it." It's just really annoying.

Eick: Yeah. It's a very arbitrary set of conditions-

RDM: Oh, it's so arbitrary.

Eick: They don't really give you a guidebook. You just- you get away with stuff you can't believe you got away with-

RDM: And it's cable, so it's like, they really do just make up their own rules.

Eick: Yeah. There's no one in control.

RDM: There's no [[Wikipedia:Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]. It's just, whatever.

Oh. Now this is not a special effect.

Eick: No. This is a high pressure air blaster I was very adamant about us using. All throughout prep I was being told it was impossible because it can cause an embolism. It's blowing so hard into your flesh that it can cause an air bubble and kill you. But, I had to have it and so- and I felt the actors had lived very rich lives and if something were to go wrong they would go out like (unintelligble).

RDM: (Chuckles.) We'd get good press out of it.

Eick: Yeah, they'd die with their boots on. Come on. So it's basically, I'd seen it in a [[Wikipedia:James Bond|James Bond]] movie the first time called [[Wikipedia:Moonraker (film)|''Moonraker'']] which [[Wikipedia:Roger Moore|Roger Moore]] contraption that's simulating the g-forces that you pull in outer space. Well I didn't know how they did it until we had our prep meeting here I said, "In ''Moonraker'', how does Roger Moore's cheek ripple? How do they do that?" 'Cause that was before CG and our special effects guy said, "Well, it's a high pressure blaster, but they're dangerous." I said, well-

RDM: "How dangerous?"

Eick: (Laughs.) "Define dangerous."

RDM: Dangerous is when I have to sit in front of it. Acceptable risk is when [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] has to sit in front of it.

Eick: Exactly. Well, of course, all you have to tell Eddie is that it's dangerous. It'll make him do it.

RDM: Yeah, then it's like next he'll want to take one home.

This sequence. This is the campfire sequence, the first night. This is a little trick for those of you aspiring writers out there. There's a lot of characters in this scene. This is the enti- virtually the entire- a big chunk of the entire cast shows up for this sequence. Directors hate this. It's a lot of coverage. It's a lot of giving everybody a line, and it's just a nightmare to shoot. To corral all these actors simultaneously and try to stage it. So what I did here, you'll note that these are all grouped off in little pairings. Everybody's off and there's little couplets and there's little miniscenes where you can isolate just a couple of actors at a time which makes it a lot easier to shoot. Director still complains about it, because he got a little pieces to shoot.

Eick: In the rain.

RDM: And the rain. But, in essence, you've just given them a way to make these sequences doable. When you've got like eight major characters and they've all got lines and they're all talking together, directors just want to throw things at you. 'Cause it just really complicates-

Eick: Well, because on a- and not that they want to throw things at you as a matter of principle. It's because when you've got to shoot six or seven pages a day-

RDM: Yeah, when you're moving through this-

Eick: And you've got an eight day schedule, you're only hope of getting out alive is to have tricks like this. And even so we were way over schedule on this episode because it was- you're dealing with the elements, you're dealing with exteriors, you're dealing with loading them up (unintelligble)

RDM: To stay for night too, didn't they?

Eick: Yeah, they stayed for night.

This is [[imdb:nm0001664|James Remar]] who we introduced in the last podcast but who we were very fortunate to get to play the character [[Meier]].

RDM: And I swear to God, somehow he looks younger than he did in [[imdb:tt0083511|''48 Hrs.'']]. ''48 Hrs.'' and the craggy, really all scarred up.

Eick: "I got shot. That's impossible."

RDM: "I don't believe it. I got shot." (Laughs.)

Eick: Oh yeah. "I don't believe it." He- for a guy who's so tied into a particular role, he loves talking about- a lot of these guys they don't want to talk about the thing that their known for-

RDM: Yeah, that they're famous for.

Eick: And James and I spent a lot of time talking about [[imdb:nm0001353|Walter Hill]] and talking about what it was like making that movie.

RDM: Yeah?

Eick: Oh yeah. He was very proud of it, as he should be.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2]==

RDM: We're back on [[Kobol]].

Eick: This is a sequence that had a lot of good stuff but it that had to get lifted for time.

RDM: Yeah, there's a lot of little character beats between everybody's- they're journey through the forest.

Eick: I had this scene where [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]]-

RDM: Billy's not here yet.

Eick: Oh, yeah. But there was just (unintelligble)-

RDM: It was all a principal banter.

Eick: Yeah. I mean, Billy at one point alerts to [[Laura Roslin]] that he's an atheist.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And you go, "Really?" She stops in her tracks.

RDM: "What?"

Eick: "What?"

RDM: Which I loved.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I really regret losing that.

Eick: And he just says, "Yeah. For me it's never been about God. It's never been about that. It's that I believe in you and I believe in [[William Adama|Commander Adama]]." Character beats like that get lifted a lot of time because at a certain point you have a proscribed number of minutes you can do your episode in and the story has to make sense and you often end up having to cut for plot instead of character just so that you can tell a story.

RDM: I like this little thing of [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] haranguing her about going back to [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], and it's like-

Eick: She wanted to look at her.

RDM: "You know what? Can I just find this [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]]?"

Eick: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, "What do you want fr-"

RDM: "What do you want from me?"

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: "For crying out loud..."

Eick: "Can I get a bike for Christmas? Please, please, please? I want a bike, please. C-" Yeah. But you know what? And this is gonna sound a little odd, maybe, but I think [[Mary McDonnell|Mary]] looks so- it's that [[w:Dances with Wolves|''Dances with Wolves'']] thing. [[Michael Rymer]] was talking about this yesterday. You see her out in the wilderness like that and there's just something-

RDM: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Eick: -right about it.

RDM: I think its-

Eick: Mary McDonnell looks great outside with the trees. She just does.

RDM: I love this, this whole thing, too. What's she grabbing?

Eick: Heh.

Uh. [[Cottle|Doc Cottle]]. He's become quite a fixture in the show. [[Donnelly Rhodes]].

RDM: I love the fact that we don't really give him, like, stories. There's not like the "Cottle story".

Eick: No, no, no.

RDM: He's just this character that shows up and you know- you just look forward to him coming into scene and busting somebody's balls.

Eick: Yeah, there's a great- he's got some really great stuff, actually, coming up. [[Resurrection Ship, Part I|Episode eleven]], which we're- we just started shooting today, which is the second half of [[Season 2 (2005-06)|season two]]. Michael Rymer's directing. Cottle has a scene with Laura Roslin in which she- oh, this may be [[Resurrection Ship, Part II|episode twelve]]. Or, what's the scene where he says, "If you want to psychoanalyze me, you'll spend your last days psychoanalysing me. It's a really big waste of time."

RDM: I think that's twelve.

Eick: Is that [[Mark Verheiden]]? Just a great sense of (unintelligible) that- that he's genuine and he's not doing any of this for effect. This really is him.

RDM: Yeah. It's who he is.

Eick: Although I wish he were a little angrier on that line.

RDM: Yeah, I wish he was a little angrier there. Which is usually not the problem.

Eick: Yeah, exactly.

RDM: It's usually-

Eick: Donnelly is very good with the anger.

So, yeah. This was the plot runner that we were able to make work in [[Home, Part II|episode seven]] as an extension of what had been setup in [[Home, Part I|six]], which is the plan to assassinate [[Lee Adama|Lee]]. And roping [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] into this. In an early draft of this, [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron]] had [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] much more involved. He was basically more- he still is, but in an earlier draft he was in a rock and a hard place to the extent that he knew what Sharon was gonna do, as I recall.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- trying to make th- strike that balance between a guy that you associate with our side of things being so caught up in Sharon that he might actually-

RDM: -help her-

Eick: -yeah, help her, became too much of a stretch to go with a ch- or certainly, if we're gonna go that far with a character, it probably would have doomed Helo to an unseemly demise at some point and it'd been-

RDM: [[Brig|A cell]] next to Lee.

Eick: Yeah. So, [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tahmoh]], who is such a great actor and is so great for this show, I think we found a way to suggest his culpability or his being seduced by Sharon without going quite that far with it. Although I still think we have in Helo now a character who we have to keep an eye on.

RDM: Yeah, I think he-

Eick: I mean, the (unintelligible)

RDM: He does have conflicted loyalties on some basic level.

Eick: So this was a scene that was originally the end of act two of episode six, which was the return of Adama-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -to. And I was actually- I mean, this was- we talked about this in the [[Podcast:Home, Part I|last podcast]], nothing is ever quite like you imagine it, and this was supposed to be, this moment here, where Adama says, "You can put the [[Kinetic Energy Weapon#Small Arms|gun]] down now, Captain," was supposed to be a moment of Lee just holding a gun on Adama and Adama being (unintelligble)-

RDM: (unintelligible), yeah.

Eick: And saying that line wryly. With some humor. I think [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] wanted to have a gun and he was in the fatigues and before you know it it was, "Put the damn gun down."

RDM: Yeah, he wanted to play it-

Eick: -Yeah.-

RDM: -a little harder.

Eick: So- which was fine. Just a different choice.

RDM: It was also originally gonna be in the middle of the night, which had (unintelligible).

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It was gonna be more creep to it.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: They hear something in the bushes and it's dark and God knows what's coming at- and then it's just- We couldn't do it. We just- it's very hard to shoot at night. We're doing a lot of day for night stuff in this episode already. Day for night stuff you can only get away with for so long before you really begin to smell it. And so we just made the choice to transit- this is dawn. This is- we're playing this as like the crack of dawn so you can see the shadows and we're playing that. And it's probably shot in the middle of the day for all I know.

Eick: A lot of pieces her to try to tether together and I remember in a number of drafts of this, early drafts back when this was in episode six, I didn't really have Adama reacting to Sharon. And it wasn't really until Eddie was talking about a scene he was shooting in [[Fragged|episode three]] or [[Resistance (episode)|four]] where he- we- is it [[The Farm|five]] where he weeps at the corpse of-

RDM: Five.

Eick: In episode five where Adama weeps at the corpse of [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon]], and Eddie had just gotten through shooting that. We were on the set and he said to me, "I loved doing that scene, because now I know if I ever saw that character again, I wouldn't stop at anything until she was dead." And I was sitting with my draft of episode six which had him basically showing up at this location and dismissing her presence and he had a line about it, but it kinda went on and Eddie had this notion about how he wouldn't stop at anything before killing her and so this scene came into being and-

RDM: So you're basically saying the actors did your homework.

Eick: Totally and completely did my homework. Yeah, 'cause you just get this cold chill and you go, "Yeah, Eddie, you're right. You wouldn't stop at anything until killing her. I'll be right back." (Chuckles.)

Good editing on this.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: [[IMDB:nm0782890|Andy Seklir]]. He's a- Andy's a- not a guy who's been editing for a long time. He comes out of a different side of the business and- started editing only a few years ago.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3]==

RDM: Ok. We had to start and stop so this is gonna be act three at the trackmark. Ok. So now we're in the aftermath of the- or not the aftermath. We're in midscene, really.

Eick: Have you '''seen''' the episode?

RDM: Have I seen this episode? No.

Eick: Do you know what's taking place?

RDM: I read the script at some point. (Chuckles.)

Eick: It seemed interesting?

RDM: Well, what's interesting is we moved this act break three or four times. What was the act two break? Were you gonna go out? We experimented with going out on the moment where "Rustle, rustle. What's that in the bushes? Ooh, ooh, ooh. It could be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]]." We tried going out on, "Oh, it's [[William Adama|Adama]]". Then we tried going out on him choking her. And then there was a version where actually we pushed past all of this, right? We resolved this, and just went out on- and it was- I don't even know how we arrived at this one. We- it was just the best one, was to somehow go out him on her, trying to choke her to death. And the interesting thing in that sequence was [[David Eick|David]] wrote this thing as very internal that I think comes through but it was hard to capture on film, which was the notion that in the midst of choking [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] and Adama clutches his chest, that it's the exertion of-

Eick: -The heart surgery.-

RDM: -of the heart surgery that gets to him in that moment. And [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] pl- I mean Eddie plays it. Eddie grabs his chest and falls off of her and the whole thing, but it's still going for a very internal dynamic on the character.

Eick: Was it Eddie or you that came up with, "And you ask, 'Why?'" 'Cause it wasn't my idea.

RDM: I think it was me.

Eick: Because the creepy thing about that is that I don't think any of us know what that means.

RDM: Yeah. What does that mean?

Eick: I mean, except that on some stellar plane she-

RDM: It just kinda works. It's an interesting, creepy moment. How does she know that? It's legitimate question. How does she know that? I don't know. Write in.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Write in.

Eick: Yeah, write in. Exactly. We'll pick one.

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: (Laughs.) The ultimate moment, which has since been cut, was Eddie saying, "They're stronger than we are."

RDM: Yeah... Why did we lose that?

Eick: Well, it was- it struck a chord of confusion that I didn't really ever see. It was actually a network note that I thought was valid, which is that this, he means she just gave him the heart attack?

RDM: Oh, oh, oh.

Eick: Or is does it like- is he referring to her in a literal sense being stronger than him or in a greater sense being stronger than him.

RDM: Right, I see.

Eick: Had it been covered a little bit differently I think it would have resonated, but we were so limited by the coverage that we had, for good reason-

RDM: Yeah, I did like that. That was a nice- I mean, when you read it in the script it made perfect sense.

Eick: Totally, yeah.

RDM: There's something really (unintelligible)-

Eick: Or at least the extent to which it didn't make sense was compelling, on some level, as opposed to just confusing.

RDM: Yeah. (Chuckles.)

I like this beat a lot. We're watching the Sharon-[[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] reunion. There was something really great about the fact that she remembers him, but they never met, and look on his face. And I'm continually impressed with [[Grace Park|Grace]]. That Grace really delivers all these different versions of [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]], and so does [[Tricia Helfer|Trish]]. I mean they really- it's a subtle thing.

Eick: Yes.

RDM: It's a li- it's how they carry themselves. It's how they smile sometimes, or don't smile, and just slight inflections in dialogue. I don't know what their internal process is on those two actresses as they do it, but-

Eick: Well, they're very- I mean, Grace, for one, is very- takes very seriously the character's relationship with Tyrol, and that was such a heartfelt scene in a lot of ways because it's a scene I think a lot of people who follow this show been kind of waiting for. When is Tyrol gonna come face to face with the other Sharon? And so, it was a pretty emotional beat for her. I think she pulled it off beautifully there.

This, on the other hand, is a bit more strange. (Laughs.)

RDM: Weren't we gonna put VFX, or visual effects, in here and see them urinating?

Eick: Yeah. Well, that's still to come. And don't cross the streams, of course.

RDM: Don't cross the streams! (Laughs.)

Eick: That's where that comes from, for those of you who don't know.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: So- this is very odd. I haven't done the sound on this yet, but imagine this is gonna be quite-

RDM: Yeah, it'll sound like a waterfall.

Eick: -an entertaining scene to mix. And this was a scene that was probably four times longer, at least-

RDM: Yeah, many times. I think I took a pass at this at some point.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: I like the idea that Adama's the one who doesn't want to navelgaze and what's past is past. And that he owes his life to [[Laura Roslin|Laura]], which I think is an interesting and unacknowledged truth in the show. That Laura saved all of them.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Back in the [[miniseries]].

Eick: And he's finally admitting that and- it's like that thing where you make the hard decision to do the hard thing, and then in order to justify it, in a way you say things, you accept things, you apologize for things, you acknowledge things that you might not have otherwise because, after all, if he doesn't feel these things why the hell did he get on a- in a [[Raptor]] and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -lead his [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] and travel down here to bring her back. So it's a pre- I've watched this episode with a number of people and it's interesting. This is the most compelling scene to a lot of people because it's a dynamic you've never seen between these two characters before.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: For better or worse. Some people may not like it for that reason, but it's definitely different. You've never seen this, other than the stiff pleasantries that they exchange in the miniseries when they're first meeting, I mean, right away they're at odds with each other.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And it's taken this long to get them to this place.

RDM: Well I remember one of the things that Eddie said early on was, "Well, I don't like this one." It was some note- it was some reaction to something he read in the script at some point and said, "Well, I don't like Laura, so I'm not doing this." I was just like, "Oh. Well, that's right. He doesn't like her."

Eick: Well I think- but I think as equally legitimate, he saw an approach to bringing him around about the character that worked, that had integrity to it, that made sense, that was logical, and that came from character. And so now I think he wouldn't say that.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Because we've taken the character into a good place.

RDM: What I like, too, about that scene with the two of them, it's the first time that they ever use each other's first name. He calls her Laura and she calls him Bill.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: It's the first time they ever did that.

Eick: That's right.

RDM: And this is- yeah, we were talking about this earlier. There were different versions of this section where you wan- you felt like [[Karl Agathon|Helo]]- I think in an early draft it was like Helo just made a declarative statement like, "I'm with you, whatever you're gonna do, I'm there to back ya up." And it was really like, "Boom! I'm with the Cylon chick."

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: (Chuckles.) I mean it was just a little bit too much.

And then she bites his neck, and leaves the puncture wounds.

Eick: (Laughs.) Well, you have to be careful when you're looking at shots like this, 'cause you're never quite sure who's back is gonna start glowing.

RDM: (Laughs.) That's right. Yeah, you know we haven't done the old glowing spine in a little while.

Eick: No.

RDM: It might be time.

Eick: Well, when it's time to reveal Helo- well anyway, we'll talk about that (unintelligible)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Why is it that Helo gets along so well with Sharon?

RDM: Yeah? How could that be?

Eick: They seem to have this effortless rapport.

RDM: Wake up Helo. You're one of us.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: You're a really stupid one of us that can't figure it out, but you're one of us, buddy.

Eick: (Laughs.) Can't figure it out...

Yeah. [[Tahmoh Penikett|Tamoh]]'s, although, both these two are local actors and-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: -not that you shouldn't or can't cast local actors wherever you are but it can be a challenge because if you're not in LA or New York, there's risk.

RDM: Mmhmm.

==[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4]==

Eick: Part of- as an example of limited time to shoot all the stuff that was required, this is a blown up shot that we then backed out of because we had no closeups.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: Of what is a pretty important scene between [[Meier]] and [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]].

RDM: And that whole walk-up that you just saw a little piece there, of [[William Adama|Adama]] and everybody else walking up, that's- we were talking about that section earlier. There lots of little interludes of Adama reconnecting with [[Lee Adama|Lee]], [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] coming up trying to talk to talk to them, [[Billy Keikeya|Billy]] and [[Laura Roslin|Laura]]. It was some great character stuff, but the show was just running absurdly long and a lot of things had to go, so that had to go, too. But they'll be, I'm sure, in your deleted scenes section of your [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNI90Y/qid=1142264746/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1191047-4975841 DVD] and maybe here on the website. You know they put the deleted scenes [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/video/index.php?cat=deletedScenes&vid=22420 on the website], too?

Eick: Yeah? I saw that.

RDM: Which is very cool.

Eick: I saw that. I mean, most of them are just unwatchable, but I guess, you're right, there are some of them like- some of those vignettes that actually pretty good.

RDM: Biggest change here in this whole section, although I guess I'm a little bit ahead of myself, but the biggest change in this whole area was that there used to be a [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] attack. After this whole thing with Sharon went down there was, like, the [[Cylon Centurion|Centurions]] came and attack during the upcoming planetarium sequence. And we eventually cut that. And so now the only Centurion attack is in [[Home, Part I|part one]].

Eick: It was the first of two, as a matter of fact.

RDM: Yeah, there were two.

Eick: It was this.

RDM: There was a lot more fireworks.

Eick: And then there was after the reveal of map coming up later.

RDM: Yeah. The Cylons were climbing up the cliff.

Eick: Yeah, so there were a bunch of versions of this and- yeah-

RDM: But actually we changed this very moment, right here, with Adama gets the gun. This is a late change in the editing room.

Eick: Yeah. Yeah.

RDM: Originally he took that gun and put it to Sharon's head and you were playing the beat of, "Will he shoot Sharon or not?" And then we just made that lift, just within the last week, so it plays out more emotionally here instead of with putting another gun to another person's head.

Eick: It was actually an unfortunate bit of staging, because [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie]] was so close to [[Grace Park|Grace]] that when he drew the gun on her head, his arm was-

RDM: -Yeah, it was-

Eick: -bent in this silly-

RDM: -silly way-

Eick: -position and-

RDM: -and it was a little gun. And it was just-

Eick: Yeah, it didn't look very badass at all.

RDM: It wasn't like the straight arm, [[w:John Woo|John Woo]] angle to the head. He had this bent-arm like creeped up to her forehead.

A lot of struggle with this, too. With [[Tom Zarek|Zarek]] and his responsibility for what happened. Eventually the way this all works, it feels like essentially that because Meier did it in a- went for this assasination attempt, even though Zarek had told him not to, you kinda feel like you can let Zarek off the hook. It's why they don't slap the cuffs on Zarek and throw him in [[brig|jail]]. I mean, they don't- the characters don't know any of what happened and why, but we the audience know that it wa- that Zarek did try to stop it and then it didn't work.

Eick: We were talking earlier about scenes that don't ever quite come together the way you wrote them, and this is said with a great deal of respect for [[Jeff Woolnough]], who does great work on this show, and will direct again for this show. This moment, this scene primarily was about the irony that Starbuck had gone back to get the [[Arrow of Apollo|arrow]], had brought the arrow all the way back to Laura, had journeyed down to [[Kobol]] with Laura, and had gotten to the [[Tomb of Athena|tomb]] with it, and unable to figure out how the hell it opens the tomb door as is prescribed in the [[Sacred Scrolls|scriptures]], realizes that it doesn't open the tomb door, and that if you just push hard on the tomb door, it opens.

RDM: You just push it.

Eick: And, in no way do you get that sense from this scene of the absurdity and the irony of that thunderous realization. It's- he says, "After you," and it's supposed to be Kara-

RDM: She's supposed to look at the arrow like-

Eick: You're supposed to look at the arrow like, "What have we- what has this done?"

RDM: "What the hell is this?"

Eick: "How did I waste all my time going after all this?" And I don't think you miss it that it's not there, but it's the kind of thing that-

RDM: It was a nice touch.

Eick: It was something that I remember watching the dailies wanting to (laughs) strangle somebody.

RDM: Now we're into- this whole section here with what they go in and find and how they get to map to [[Earth]]. We- I mean, we began discussions on this, obviously, last season when we came up with the whole Arrow of Apollo mythos and, "What does the arrow do," and there was a lot of discussion about what would the arrow be. I think [[Gary Hutzel]]'s idea, which made a certain amount of sense, was that the arrow itself was the map. That there were like three jewels-

Eick: -jewels-

RDM: -There were three jewels in the arrow. On in the head, one in the shaft, one in the tail, and it was symbolic. It was like- you would eventually figure out that if you knew where [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|the twelve colonies]] were and you knew where Kobol was, lining them up like an arrow would point you directly toward Earth. It was this- it was an interesting idea but didn't have any punch to it. There was no like payoff. It was like we went through this whole thing and essentially you could have figured it out back in the [[miniseries|miniser-]]

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: Or actually, as soon as you found Kobol, you could have figured it out.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: But there was no journey, necessary. So this notion of the constellations was something I think I came up with. That you would look up into the sky. I wanted to connect it to our present day mythology of the [[w:Zodiac|Zodiac]], which the show is replete with symbols and references to Zodiacal things and the Greek/Greco-Roman myths and also the constellations, and somehow I wanted to take, to bridge over to that step. That somehow these names for these colonies are not random. There really is a connection and here's the connection. It's that these people that are the [[Thirteenth Tribe]] looked up and made up these constellations and assigned them to their bretheren, their lost- the lost tribes. And so there's this-

Eick: So hopefully you'll draw that- you'll- as you hear the- this- the names of the constellations, if you're a real geek for this show, you'll realize that, "Oh, [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Sagittaron|Sagittaron]]-Sagittarius. [[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Tauron|Tauron]]-Taurus.-"

RDM: And you kinda get that.

Eick: "-[[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Picon|Picon]]-Pices." And that there's some link between all the various constellations. I mean, it was good having that starting point, but what it didn't answer was what the hell the arrow did.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And- but fortunately, 'cause I don't know very much about astrology, or astronomy for that matter, I was looking through research on this which originally was in episode six, I realized that Sagitarron has this very prominent arrow-

RDM: -arrow-

Eick: -and that there is this whole mythological story that goes along with his father and why the arrow was bestowed upon him. So it seemed like, well if the arrow is thing that if you back into Sagittarius' bow is the trigger that gets you the map to Earth, that that would work. And in truth that- none of this changed. This was all-

RDM: -Yeah, this is all pretty much as it was.-

Eick: -pretty much as it was in very early drafts.

RDM: I really like all this. (unintelligible)

Eick: What changed was where, was of course making it the end of [[Home, Part II|this episode]] and also through a number of variations, or a number of early drafts, as they look up into the heavens and they're- this realization is settling in on them, suddenly the heavens break apart because of the incoming mortars-

RDM: -Yeah, the mortars-

Eick: -from the attacking Cylons and that's what stops them at arriving at a definitive conclusion about the location of Earth. It didn't s- "A", we couldn't afford to do that, ultimately when this was all put together. "B", it didn't seem like you needed that interruption. That they're-

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: They very clearly don't have the entirety of the answer here. They've got a big piece of the puzzle, but now they've still gotta search for the common constellations in order to come to where you would be standing on Earth. So...

RDM: Technically, and you know some there's some people will say that, "Ok, well if you look up and you actually spot the constellations in the sky, they don't actually- you can't see all twelve constellations in the sky simultaneously." Ok. That's true. Fine, fine.

Eick: It is true?

RDM: It's true.

Eick: Oh. Oh well.

RDM: But there was no way to really dramatically and visually present, like, the heavens as we see them on Earth, which is where there'd be s- ever- the stars in the sky on Earth all circle around the [[w:North Star|North Star]], the [[w:North Pole|North Pole]]. And the constellations dip below the horizon depending on what time of year it is, but there was no way to make that work in this sequence. The sky would have been spinning wildly through the whole thing to make the point. It would have gotten- they would have been dizzy.

Eick: Right.

RDM: It wouldn't quite have worked. So we cheat the perspective a bit and-

Eick: -and then Gary had the idea of the obelisks-

RDM: -the obelisks to help you reference what the constellations are and tie them to the symbols, because the constellations don't look a hell of a lot like the images they're supposed to be-

Eick: No.

RDM: -when you get right down to it.

Eick: Now one of the unfortunate bits of fallout from not having the epilogue with the Cylon attack was that in the early drafts the Cylon attack led you to their slow walk back to their ship and you had a post-mortem about it and you understood. And no we just cut from-

RDM: We just jump.

Eick: -the inside of the tomb to them being back on [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. I think there's so much emotion tied into this story point that you're not terribly caught up in, "How did they walk back?"

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: "What do they do with Meier's body? Why isn't Zarek in jail? Should he be in jail?" There's a lot of that kind of shoeleather or refrigerator logic, as we used to call it, but I don't think you need it here.

RDM: I don't think they need it.

Eick: I hope not.

RDM: I think you're good going just up here.

Eick: Now Jeff did do a fairly faithful interpretration of the end of the film, [[imdb:tt0080474|''Brubaker'']], which I had it in my office-

RDM: This is a good ''Brubaker''.

Eick: -watching here a couple days before we shot this. It's a direct lift. There's no-

RDM: There's no (unintelligible)

Eick: There's no shame about it. I wanted there to be a sense of a polite applause that-

RDM: It's also nice in the show. It's also harks back to the miniseries. It hearks back to the moment of-

Eick: "So say we all." Yeah.

RDM: "So say we all."

Eick: Well, [[Michael Rymer|Rymer]] saw this yesterday and he said, "Isn't that kind of the same scene as the miniseries?" I'm like, "Yeah, kind of."

RDM: Yeah, kind of.

Eick: But it's- what I liked about in the movie ''Brubaker'', what I like about it now, is it speaks to a sense of tradition or of ritual-

RDM: -ritual-

Eick: -that in a moment of- to demonstrate great respect you would clap in unison.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And I don't really know why that would be, and I don't know that it requires explanation-

RDM: -but it works. Somehow I-

Eick: -but it seems to work, yeah.

RDM: When I watch the sequence it moves me. I'm moved by the fact that it's Adama's gift to Laura. It's really-

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: It's generous.

Eick: In ''Brubaker'' it was [[w:Yaphet Kotto|Yaphet Kotto]]-

RDM: Yeah, it was Yaphet Kotto.

Eick: -for those of who are gonna go get the movie and look at this. (Laughs.) It was Yaphet Kotto's praise for [[w:Robert Redford|Robert Redford]], now it's [[Edward James Olmos|Eddie Olmos]]' praise for L- [[Mary McDonnell]].

RDM: Yeah.

And then we have our coda with our two star-crossed lovers. There was- this is coming up on the final [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Cylon-Related Hallucinations#Baltar.27s Internal Six|Six]] scene, where of course is all put through right there. There was an- one more Baltar-Six scene that we had to cut in editing. There was more fun. It was more of the same. It followed after the [[Cottle]] scene where he looked at the brain scans and said, "Yeah, you're a hypochondriac. There's nothing there." And there was one more bit of her twisting the knife in him and really torturing him about how it really is- "You really are just crazy," and "Just accept it."

Eick: Well and it's a tonal decision-

RDM: And it's too bad it's gone.

Eick: It's a tonal decision, too, 'cause the original end of this was a coda with Kara.

RDM: Oh, yeah.

Eick: You see her walk in her barracks. The first time she's really been home, hence the title "Home".

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And she puts out her peg and figurines and says, "[[Religion in the Twelve Colonies#The Lords of Kobol|Lords of Kobol]], hear my prayer. It's good to be home." And the way Jeff shot it, it's beautiful. It's a really artful moment. [[Katee Sackhoff|Katee]] was magnificent in it. And there's just something about the end with Laura that feels like that's the emotional pinnacle.

RDM: Yeah.

Eick: And that from there, in [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|''Battlestar Galactica'']] form, we want to twist it back towards the darkness-

RDM: -the dark-

Eick: -towards the uncertainty of their futures and that's really what the show is. It's always a balance between hope and betrayal, and people's love for one another and the fact that we'll also betray each other. And so in this particular instance we're ending on that minor chord or that darker feel and I do want to use that Katee moment somewhere.

RDM: I know, 'cause it's a really good scene.

Eick: It's a beautifully shot scene and I was really happy with the way it came out.

RDM: It's nice to see the red dress make a reappearance.

Eick: Yes. Very much so.

RDM: So you used to get overused, and no we've been away from it for so long it's cool to see it back. It very iconi- it's become so iconic for the show.

Eick: Yeah.

RDM: "I'm an angel of [[God]]." God, we get away with murder ont his show.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: (Laughs.)

Eick: Yeah, what's wrong with you people?

RDM: I know.

Eick: Don't you know this is sacrilegious?

RDM: How can we- how can we get away with this?

Well, I mean, that's the end of "Home, Part II". This is it. This this-

Eick: And in a way this is the end of the [[Season 1 (2004-05)|first season]].

RDM: This is the end of the first season so...

Eick: Next week, it all starts fresh.

RDM: It all starts again. We'll see you in a different year, next season.

Eick: (Laughs.)

RDM: Who knows what will be happening in [[Final Cut|episode eight]]?

Eick: Or who will be showing up?

RDM: Who will be showing up? Thank you for listening.

Eick: Alright.

Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts

2007-01-08T16:45:43Z

PrePressChris: /* Home, Part II */ verified act 1

{{project|Podcast Transcripts|image=BSG WIKI Podcast.png|shortcut=BW:POD}}
This project is meant to coordinate and standardize the transcription of [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s freely available episode podcasts. Our goal is to produce a searchable text repository for purposes of citation. At this time, we will only be transcribing freely available podcasts from [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/ SciFi.com], not additonal DVD commentaries. Ron D. Moore and David Eick have recorded commentary tracks for the [[Miniseries]] (also including director Michael Rymer), "[[33]]", "[[Bastille Day]]", "[[Act of Contrition]]", and "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]". However, they have not been put up online for free but are only available in the Season 1 DVD set. Therefore, transcripts of these are not provided here, though relevant quotes may be found sourced in certain articles on Battlestar Wiki.

This project is a daughter of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad|Citation Jihad]].

==Standards==

===Namespace===
Podcast transcripts should be named after the episode to which they correspond with the addition of the (podcast) namespace, for example, [[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]].

===Structure===
Begin each podcast article with the template:
:<nowiki>{{podcast|author=YourNameHere|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=}}</nowiki>

Use first-level headings to divide Teaser and Act breaks. Make each heading an offsite link to the appropriate podcast segment, e.g.

==[<nowiki>http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/109/bsg_ep109_1of5.mp3</nowiki> Teaser]==

Try to break up RDMs comments into paragraphs along topical lines.

For those podcasts that are not [[Ronald D. Moore]]'s, please refer to {{tl|podcastother}} for transcribing other podcasts.

===Transcription===
RDM frequently uses "uh", "um" and "y'know" as discourse particles. For readabilities sake, try to exclude these where they interrupt the flow of an otherwise grammatical sentence.

Where RDM interrupts himself, end the last word of the first statement with an emdash. You may include whatever discourse particles he uses to introduce the next thought. For example:

"I think it's a very good movie, one that I always thought was a— y'know, prime for us to do a riff on."

Generally, you may ignore emphasis except where RDM's tone is critical to the interpretation of a statement (e.g. sarcasm).

===Links===
Where RDM mentions a BSG episode or character, link to our own article. Where he mentions a television show or actor which we do not have (or need) our own article for, offer a link to the corresponding page on IMDB. If another resource such as Wikipedia or Memory Alpha has more comprehensive information, you may link there at your discretion. To avoid overlinking, only link once per act break.

===Corrections===
Except for simple spelling errors, do not offer a "correction" without first having listened to the relevant portion of the recording. Always leave a comment on the talk page explaining your change.

===Application===
[http://nch.com.au/scribe/index.html Express Scribe] is a piece of free software (they give it away in the hopes that you buy the tie-in products) that allows you to playback the podcasts with hotkey controls (so you can edit in the ''Battlestar Wiki'' window but still pause/rewind/play), as well as allowing for variable speed playback (so you can transcribe at a slower rate). Express Scribe also remembers where you left off when you open it, allowing you to resume work at the same spot. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

==Checkins==
When you begin work on a transcription, place your name beside the segment you are working on. When you've completed and uploaded it, mark your name next to "Transcribed". Afterwards, it would be helpful for a second user to verify the transcription.
=== Podcasts Needing Transcribing===
====Season 3 podcasts====
=== Transcription In Progress ===
====Season 3 podcasts====

=== Verification Required ===

====Season 1 podcasts====
=====[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Gougef|FrankieG]] 17:41, 16 August 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 17 August 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:12, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:11, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 18:14, 20 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/113/bsg_ep113_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:34, 17 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 2 podcasts====
===== [[Podcast:Scattered|Scattered]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Huh?|Huh?]] 11:15, 23 May 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:14, 23 May 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:01, 29 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:02, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 3 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]]) 12:32, 27 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:52, 4 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/201/bsg_ep201_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:41, 5 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Valley of Darkness|Valley of Darkness]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 17:42, 28 September 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 06:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 19:21, 9 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:33, 11 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:58, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:34, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/202/bsg_ep202_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:40, 21 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

===== [[Podcast:Resistance|Resistance]] =====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 11:06, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:18, 12 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 08:39, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:08, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/204/bsg_ep204_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:34, 13 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: —.)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part I|Home, Part I]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 20:28, 17 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:02, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 11:38, 19 October 2006 (CDT). Verified: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:33, 26 October 2006 (CDT).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 15:28, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 10:39, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:56, 4 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/206/bsg_ep206_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 14:37, 22 November 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 09:32, 5 January 2007 (CST).)

=====[[Podcast:Home, Part II|Home, Part II]]=====
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_1of5.mp3 Teaser] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 12:10, 31 October 2006 (CST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 15:04, 5 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_2of5.mp3 Act 1] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:14, 3 November 2006 (EST). Verified: [[User:PrePressChris|PrePressChris]] 10:45, 8 January 2007 (CST).)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_3of5.mp3 Act 2] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 13:43, 10 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_4of5.mp3 Act 3] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 20:49, 12 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)
*[http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/mp3/207/bsg_ep207_5of5.mp3 Act 4] (Transcribed: [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 17:06, 13 November 2006 (CST). Verified: —.)

====Season 3 podcasts====

=== Transcription Complete ===
====Season 1 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]
*[[Podcast:The Hand of God|The Hand of God]]
*[[Podcast:Colonial Day|Colonial Day]]
*[[Podcast:Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]
====Season 2 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:The Farm|The Farm]]
*[[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|Flight of the Phoenix]]
*[[Podcast:Pegasus|Pegasus]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part I|Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Resurrection Ship, Part II|Resurrection Ship, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Epiphanies|Epiphanies]]
*[[Podcast:Black Market|Black Market]]
*[[Podcast:Scar|Scar]]
*[[Podcast:Sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
*[[Podcast:The Captain's Hand|The Captain's Hand]]
*[[Podcast:Final Cut|Final Cut]]
*[[Podcast:Downloaded|Downloaded]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
====Season 3 podcasts====
*[[Podcast:Occupation|Occupation]]
*[[Podcast:Precipice|Precipice]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part I|Exodus, Part I]]
*[[Podcast:Exodus, Part II|Exodus, Part II]]
*[[Podcast:Collaborators|Collaborators]]
*[[Podcast:Torn|Torn]]
*[[Podcast:A Measure of Salvation|A Measure of Salvation]]
*[[Podcast:Hero|Hero]]
*[[Podcast:Unfinished Business|Unfinished Business]]
*[[Podcast:The Passage|The Passage]]
*[[Podcast:The Eye of Jupiter|The Eye of Jupiter]]

==Disputes==
Members of Battlestar Wiki with experience in acoustic phonetics are listed below. They may be able to help with pronunciation issues.

*[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]]

[[Category: Podcasts]]