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Crossroads, Part I: Difference between revisions

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| story=  
| story=  
| director= [[Michael Rymer]]
| director= [[Michael Rymer]]
| production= 319
| production= 318
| rating=
| rating=1.4
| US airdate= 2007-04-18
| US airdate= 2007-03-18
| CAN airdate=2007-03-18
| UK airdate=
| UK airdate=
| dvd=
| dvd=
| population= ?
| population=41399
| oldpopulation=41399
| podcast=y
| prev= [[The Son Also Rises]]
| prev= [[The Son Also Rises]]
| next= [[Crossroads, Part II]]
| next= [[Crossroads, Part II]]
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== Overview ==
 
:''Baltar's trial commences, with the prosecution presenting evidence of treason committed on New Caprica amid controversial testimonies from Colonel Tigh and President Roslin.''
:''[[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]'s trial commences, with the [[Cassidy|prosecution]] presenting evidence of treason committed on [[New Caprica]] amid controversial testimonies from Colonel [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and President [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]].''


== Summary ==
== Summary ==
===Teaser===
===Teaser===
*[[Laura Roslin]], significantly different in dress and hairstyle, is walking through what appears to be the [[Opera House]]. She searches for and finds little [[Hera Agathon]] walking through the hallways, unable to reach her.
*[[Laura Roslin]], significantly different in dress and hairstyle, is walking through what appears to be the [[Opera House]]. She searches for and finds little [[Hera Agathon]] walking through the hallways, unable to reach her.
*Also following Hera is her mother [[Sharon Agathon]], who does not appear pleased to see Roslin in pursuit.  Both women run down the stairs towards Hera.
*Also following Hera is her mother {{callsign|Athena}}, who does not appear pleased to see Roslin in pursuit.  Both women run down the stairs towards Hera.
*As they turn the corner, a [[Number Six]] in white clothing catches Hera and starts a movement as if to turn.  There is a dark figure in the indistinct shadows behind her.
*As they turn the corner, a [[Number Six]] in white clothing catches Hera and starts a movement as if to turn.  There is a dark figure in the indistinct shadows behind her.
*Roslin wakes up.  This has been a dream, though it bears a strong resemblance to Roslin's [[Chamalla|Chamalla extract]] induced visions of the past.
*Roslin wakes up.  This has been a dream, though it bears a strong resemblance to Roslin's [[Chamalla|Chamalla extract]]-induced visions of the past.
*The [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] is en route to the [[Ionian nebula]], but it is still several days away.
*The [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] is enroute to the [[Ionian nebula]], but it is still several days away.
*Colonel [[Saul Tigh]] is trying to tune into [[Talk Wireless]] or music in [[Joe's bar]]. [[Brendan Costanza]], [[Diana Seelix]] and [[Samuel Anders]] are playing [[Pyramid (RDM)|Pyramid]]. Anders notes Tigh's attempts to find the music.
*Colonel [[Saul Tigh]] is trying to tune into [[Talk Wireless]] or music in [[Joe's bar]]. [[Brendan Costanza]], [[Diana Seelix]] and [[Samuel Anders]] are playing [[Pyramid (RDM)|Pyramid]]. Anders notes Tigh's attempts to find the music.
*[[Tory Foster]] speaks with [[Cassidy]], the prosecuting attorney in [[Gaius Baltar]]'s trial. Foster's assertion that [[Epiphanies|Roslin witnessed Baltar and a Six on Caprica]] doesn't convince Cassidy, who stresses the need for hard evidence and the fact that Baltar is only being tried for the charges that can be proved.
*[[Tory Foster]] speaks with [[Cassidy]], the prosecuting attorney in [[Gaius Baltar]]'s trial. Foster's assertion that [[Epiphanies|Roslin witnessed Baltar with Caprica-Six on Caprica]] doesn't convince Cassidy, who stresses the need for hard evidence and the fact that Baltar is only being tried for the charges that can be proved.
*Meanwhile, in the brig, Baltar is visited by a member of the press, who wants to give him a picture of her son, who she claims is sick—she also claims, much to Baltar's bemusement, that Baltar is capable of saving her son by Baltar's simply blessing him. He refuses until she forces it onto him before the [[Colonial Marine Corps|marine]]s remove her.
*Meanwhile, in the [[Brig|brig]], Baltar is visited by [[Jeanne|a member]] of [[Fleet News Service|the press]], who wants to give him a picture of [[Derrick|her son]], who she claims is sick—she also claims, much to Baltar's bemusement, that Baltar is capable of saving her son by Baltar simply blessing him. He refuses until she forces it onto him before the [[Colonial Marine Corps|Marine]]s remove her.
*The [[Virtual beings|virtual Six]] appears to console the emotionally tortured Baltar, noting that 30 to 40 people have written him letters.
*Baltar comments that she is the 5th or 6th person to visit in such a manner while [[Virtual beings|virtual Six]] appears to console the emotionally tortured Baltar, noting that an additional 30 to 40 people have written him letters.


===Act 1===
===Act 1===
*[[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]] and [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]] are conducting reconnaissance to see if any Cylons are following the Fleet's jumps. Her [[Raptor]] hides behind an asteroid as they play [[Triad (RDM)|cards]] and wait.
*[[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]] and [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]] are conducting reconnaissance to see if any Cylons are following the Fleet's jumps. Their [[Raptor]] hides behind an asteroid as they play [[Triad (RDM)|cards]] and wait.
*The trial begins. Cassidy asks the courtroom how loss is measured.
*The trial begins. Cassidy asks the courtroom how loss is measured.
*She notes the number of people who settled on New Caprica, the number who escaped in the [[Second Exodus]] and the number lost: 5,197 left behind, killed or otherwise missing.
*She notes the number of people who settled on New Caprica, the number who escaped in the [[Second Exodus]] and the number lost: 5,197 left behind, killed or otherwise missing.
*The attorney claims that the trust put in Baltar was gravely misplaced, and that the ultimate price must be paid.
*The attorney claims that the trust put in Baltar was gravely misplaced, and that the ultimate price must be paid.
*[[Romo Lampkin]], Baltar's attorney, immediately asks to change the plea to guilty as a ploy to use reverse psychology to claim that the power of [[w:Mob rule|mob rule]] is trying to sway opinion in the court.
*[[Romo Lampkin]], Baltar's attorney, immediately asks to change the plea to guilty as a ploy to use reverse psychology to claim that the power of [[w:Mob rule|mob rule]] is trying to sway opinion in the court.
*Lampkin claims that President Roslin is seeking vengeance on Baltar for [[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|her lost election]], and claims that the [[New Caprica]]ns were victims of a hopeless battle. Baltar's decision to surrender to the Cylons had saved lives, he claims, versus what Lampkin claims Roslin would have done -- stand and fight.
*Lampkin claims that President Roslin is seeking vengeance on Baltar for [[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|her lost election]], and claims that the [[New Caprica]]ns were victims of a hopeless battle. Baltar's decision to surrender to the Cylons had saved lives, he claims, versus what Lampkin claims Roslin would have done—stand and fight.
*Back on Racetrack's Raptor, five [[Basestar (RDM)|baseships]] suddenly appear and attack. Racetrack's [[FTL]] drive barely comes online in time to allow them to escape an incoming missile.
*Back on Racetrack's Raptor, five [[Basestar (RDM)|baseships]] suddenly appear and attack. Racetrack's [[FTL]] drive barely comes online in time to allow them to escape an incoming missile.
*Back on ''[[Galactica]]'', in [[CIC]], Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]] orders a scan for any [[Cylon transponder|tracking devices]] that may have been left on Fleet ships during the New Caprica siege. At the same time [[Tory Foster]] hands Roslin a cup and a thermos can. Roslin insists on asking the incarcerated [[Caprica-Six]] for information. When Tigh objects, Roslin snaps back, uncharacteristically.
*Back on ''{{RDM|Galactica}}'', in [[CIC]], Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]] orders a scan for any [[Cylon transponder|tracking devices]] that may have been left on Fleet ships during the New Caprica siege. At the same time [[Tory Foster]] hands Roslin a cup and a thermos can. Roslin insists on asking the incarcerated [[Caprica-Six]] for information. When Tigh objects, Roslin snaps back, uncharacteristically.
*[[Lee Adama]] enters CIC near Roslin, who is collecting herself in the Weapons Control station. He notices Roslin's cup, which she left on the table, and smells it, detecting something unexpected.
*[[Lee Adama]] moves from his previous position in CIC to the position previously held by Roslin, who is collecting herself in the Weapons Control station. He notices Roslin's cup, which she left on the table, and smells it, detecting something unexpected.
*Caprica-Six is questioned. She suggests that the [[Daru Mozu|fuel ship]] is being tracked by a unique radiation signature emitted by the ship. The [[Virtual beings|virtual Baltar]] appears and convinces her not to cooperate further. Caprica Six retaliates to Tigh's interrogation by recalling [[Ellen Tigh]], inciting Tigh to strike her, and Six to strike back before [[Marine]]s intervene and shackle the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]].
*Caprica-Six is questioned. She suggests that the [[refinery ship]] is being tracked by a unique radiation signature emitted by the ship. The [[Virtual beings|virtual Baltar]] appears and convinces her not to cooperate further. Caprica-Six retaliates to Tigh's interrogation by recalling [[Ellen Tigh]], inciting Tigh to strike her, and Six to strike back before [[Marine]]s intervene and shackle the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]].


===Act 2===
===Act 2===
*In court, Tigh is questioned, and asked if Baltar appeared to help the [[New Caprica Resistance|resistance]] in any way. Tigh is noticeably drunk. When questioned about Ellen, Tigh acknowledges her involvement but becomes more withdrawn.
*In court, Tigh is questioned, and asked if Baltar appeared to help the [[New Caprica Resistance|resistance]] in any way. Tigh is noticeably drunk. When questioned about Ellen, Tigh acknowledges her involvement but becomes more withdrawn.
*Lampkin cross-examines about the [[NCP]] [[Precipice|initiation bombing]] and how the resistance attempted to target Baltar. Lampkin continues to question about Ellen Tigh's [[Exodus, Part I|collaboration]] by asking Colonel Tigh if his wife was a collaborator, muddying the differences between Ellen Tigh and Baltar. Lampkin points out that Tigh appears drunk.  Matters turn to the worst when Tigh begins to hear the music.
*Lampkin cross-examines about the [[NCP]] [[Precipice|initiation bombing]] and how the resistance attempted to target Baltar. Lampkin continues to question about Ellen Tigh's [[Exodus, Part I|collaboration]] by asking Colonel Tigh if his wife was a collaborator, muddying the differences between Ellen Tigh and Baltar. Lampkin points out that Tigh appears drunk.  Matters turn for the worse when Tigh begins to hear the music.
*Tigh is asked the nature of Ellen's death, and Tigh resolutely answers, claiming that Baltar's inaction made him kill his wife. He reflects a portion of his wife's [[Exodus, Part II|last words]] to tell how he would do anything to have Baltar killed. Tigh begins to show increasingly signs of anger as the music in his head continues to increase in volume.
*Tigh is asked the nature of Ellen's death, and Tigh resolutely answers, claiming that Baltar's inaction made him kill his wife. He reflects a portion of his wife's [[Exodus, Part II|last words]] to tell how he would do anything to have Baltar killed. Tigh begins to show increasing signs of anger as the music in his head continues to increase in volume.
*In Joe's Bar, Anders turns a eye to strange noises from the bar's public wireless and shares a look with Foster.
*In Joe's Bar, Anders turns a eye to strange noises from the bar's public wireless and shares a look with Foster.
*Under testimony, Roslin notes the execution of 200 people under Cylon tyranny.
*Under testimony, Roslin notes the execution of 200 people under Cylon tyranny.
Line 58: Line 65:
*Admiral Adama drags the drunken Tigh to his quarters. The Fleet is nine jumps away from the nebula, and repairs are being made to the fuel ship to keep it from being tracked.
*Admiral Adama drags the drunken Tigh to his quarters. The Fleet is nine jumps away from the nebula, and repairs are being made to the fuel ship to keep it from being tracked.
*Tigh says that he can't "smell her anymore" and apologizes for his actions in court. Adama replies that, as his [[Scattered|oldest friend]], he could never embarrass him.
*Tigh says that he can't "smell her anymore" and apologizes for his actions in court. Adama replies that, as his [[Scattered|oldest friend]], he could never embarrass him.
*In the admiral's quarters, Major Adama suggests the idea of sending the fuel ship on a different course to throw off the Cylons temporarily, and the admiral coldly takes it under advisement.
*In the admiral's quarters, Major Adama suggests the idea of sending the fuel ship on a different course to throw off the Cylons temporarily, and the admiral, who appears a little less than sober himself, coldly takes it under advisement.
*The two Adamas verbally spar. Admiral Adama angrily accuses his son of helping Lampkin by telling him about what Tigh did to Ellen.
*The two Adamas verbally spar. Admiral Adama angrily accuses his son of helping Lampkin by telling him about what Tigh did to Ellen.  The major denies knowing anything about that, and his father calls him a liar, and a coward, for not having the guts to face Tigh with the accusations himself.  He further states that Baltar is a guilty traitor, and does not deserve a trial at all.
*In response, Major Adama resigns from military duty, while his father accepts the resignation in anger.
*In response, Major Adama resigns from military duty, stating flatly that he will not serve under a man who questions his integrity.  The admiral accepts the resignation, stating with the same cold bitterness that he will not accept an officer who has none.
*The mood is tense in court when, instead of Lampkin, Lee Adama asks to address the court.
*At the next court session, Lee Adama asks permission to question Roslin himself.
*Lee Adama (in civilian dress) questions President Roslin, but asks if it was Baltar that [[Epiphanies|saved her from cancer]]. When Admiral Adama objects, Lampkin asks for hostile witness latitude, which is given.
*Lee Adama (in civilian dress) questions President Roslin about the number of times that Baltar saved her life. He points out that it was Baltar who [[Epiphanies|saved her from cancer]]. When Admiral Adama objects, Lampkin asks for hostile witness latitude, which is given.
*Roslin tells how the cancer was cured. When asked what medications she was currently taking, she says "I don't remember." Asked specifically about [[chamalla]] use, and if she has had hallucinations recently, Roslin counters in the affirmative but notes how it [[Home, Part II|provided the first clues to Earth]] as well as noting Lee Adama's own involvement.
*Roslin admits that her cancer was cured thanks to Baltar's idea to inject her with the blood of the half-Cylon child. When asked what medications she was taking at the time, she claims that she cannot remember because she was taking a lot of different things. When asked specifically about [[chamalla]] use, Roslin answers in the affirmative but she points out that her use of it [[Home, Part II|provided the first clues to Earth]], and also notes Lee Adama's own involvement.
*Before Lee Adama asks his next question, Roslin whispers to him: "Don't do this."  He then asks if she was taking chamalla again.
*Before Lee Adama asks his next question, Roslin whispers to him: "Don't do this."  He then asks if she is taking chamalla again.
*Admiral Adama tries to overrule the line of questioning but other tribunal judges overrule him, forcing Roslin to answer. She recalls [[Miniseries, Night 1|her fondness for Lee Adama's early leadership]], how calling him "Captain Apollo" way back then had a nice ring to it, but how sad she was at how his behavior has changed.
*Admiral Adama tries to overrule the line of questioning but other tribunal judges overrule him, forcing Roslin to answer. She recalls [[Miniseries, Night 1|her fondness for Lee Adama's early leadership]], how calling him "Captain Apollo" way back then had a nice ring to it, but how sad she is for him now.
*Adama notes that chamalla can be sweetened to mask its bitter taste, recalling the cup of tea that Tory gave Roslin at ''Galactica'''s CIC, which gave him the clue to her use of the drug.
*Adama notes that chamalla can be sweetened to mask its bitter taste, recalling the cup of tea that Tory gave Roslin at ''Galactica'''s CIC, which gave him the clue to her use of the drug.
*Roslin confirms that she is taking chamalla again. She then challenges counselor Adama to finished what he had started with his last question.  When he asks her why was taking the drug again, she tells the court that she is taking the drug again because her cancer has returned.
*Roslin confirms that she is taking chamalla again. She then challenges counselor Adama to finish what he started with his last question.  After being goaded by her to do so, he asks her why she was taking the drug again.  She tells the court that she is taking the drug again because her cancer has returned.


===Act 4===
===Act 4===
*[[Anastasia Dualla]] packs her bags and leaves her husband in disgust over his questioning of Roslin and his usage of the justice system she believes should be dismantled and rebuilt to make it work again.
*[[Anastasia Dualla]] packs her bags and leaves her husband in disgust over his questioning of Roslin and his usage of a justice system that she believes is very dysfunctional.
*On ''[[Colonial One]]'', reporters pepper President Roslin about her cancer, how it will be treated, and if she planned on using Hera Agathon's blood again. The line of questioning infuriates Foster, but Roslin asks her to leave the press conference. When [[Karen Fallbrook]] asks how long the President has to live, an unflinching Roslin repeats the same question at the reporter, leaving Fallbrook speechless.
*On ''[[Colonial One]]'', reporters pepper President Roslin about her cancer, how it will be treated, and if she plans on using Hera Agathon's blood again. The line of questioning infuriates Foster, causing her to lash out at the reporters, and Roslin asks her to leave the press conference. When [[Karen Fallbrook]] asks how long the President has to live, an unflinching Roslin repeats the same question at the reporter, leaving Fallbrook speechless.
*After the press conference, Roslin angrily criticizes her aide, complaining that Foster is off her game. Foster claims that she hasn't been sleeping well.
*After the press conference, Roslin angrily criticizes her aide, complaining that Foster is off her game. Foster claims that she hasn't been sleeping well.  Roslin is unsympathetic, and flatly states that if Foster does not pull it together, she will have her replaced by someone who can "run a comb through her hair" once a week.
*In his quarters, the drunken Tigh still hears the mysterious music and tries to track its source.
*In his quarters, the drunken Tigh still hears the mysterious music and tries to track its source.
*[[Helo]] arrives in CIC as interim [[Executive officer]] and finds Lt. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], who briefs him. The [[tylium]] fuel ship decoy plan is nearing completion, but there are no further reports of Cylon forces. Three jumps from the nebula.
*{{callsign|Helo}} arrives in CIC as interim [[Executive officer]] and finds Lt. [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]], who briefs him. The [[tylium (RDM)|tylium]] fuel ship decoy plan is nearing completion, but there are no further reports of Cylon forces. The Fleet is a mere three jumps from the nebula.
*Helo remembers a certain smell in the air when trouble was brewing, recalling the weather on Caprica. He believes "something over the horizon" is coming, something that doesn't bode well for the Fleet. "A storm is coming," he says.
*Helo remembers a certain smell in the air when trouble was brewing, recalling the weather on {{RDM|Caprica}} before a big storm. He believes that "something over the horizon" is coming, something that doesn't bode well for the Fleet. "A storm is coming," he says.
*The music that Tigh, Anders, and Foster are hearing appears to be coming from the ship itself.
*[[The Music|The music]] that Tigh, Anders, and Foster are hearing appears to be coming from the ship itself.


===Bonus Scene===
===Bonus Scene===


* Lee Adama asks Lampkin, "You know he's guilty, right?". Lampkin appeals to Adama's sense of justice, stating that everyone is guilty of something and there is a difference between guilt and criminality.
* Lee Adama asks Lampkin, "You know he's guilty, right?". Lampkin appeals to Adama's sense of justice, stating that everyone is guilty of something and there is a difference between guilt and criminality.
== Notes ==
[[Image:Bell at Baltar's trial.jpg|thumb|Bell filming Baltar's trial.]]
*The episode has one of the most sparse musical scores yet. The only major pieces are during Roslin's dream at the beginning and the music Tigh keeps hearing. According to a [http://bearmccreary.com/html/blog/blog027.htm blog entry] by composer [[Bear McCreary]], director [[Michael Rymer]] and the editors decided not to use any music during the court room part, in order to let the scenes speak for themselves.
*It is the first episode without an intro sequence, thus increasing the effective running time a little bit. Because of that, no updated [[Survivor Count]] is available. The last known count was 41,398, accounting for [[Henry Cheadle]]'s apparent death in "[[The Son Also Rises]]".
*The bitterness of chamalla and that it can be sweetened to make it taste better, is first mentioned by the oracle [[Dodona Selloi]] in "[[Exodus, Part I]]".
*One of the shots of others listening to the trial on the [[wireless]] shows the [[refinery ship]] from "[[Dirty Hands]]".
*A storm is often used as a metaphor for a battle, conflict, or massive upheaval in science fiction. Helo's final line in this episode is almost an exact duplicate of the ending of the movie ''[[w:The Terminator|The Terminator]]'', and is very similar to the warning issued by the prophetess in ''[[w:The Stand|The Stand]]''. A huge storm (a sandstorm) also takes place during the climax of the novel ''[[w:Dune (novel)|Dune]]''.  Additionally, at the end of the ''[[w:Doctor Who|Doctor Who]]'' episode "Fear Her," the Doctor tells Rose that there's "something in the air. Something coming.... A storm's approaching," foreshadowing the invasion of Earth by the Daleks and the Cybermen in the Series 2 finale.
*A subplot about the prosecution trying to have Caprica-Six testify against Baltar and about his involvement in the Cylon attack on the Colonies was abandoned late during the story development process. <ref>{{cite_web|url=http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=2277157&view=findpost&p=4455731|title=Q&A with Ron D. Moore|date=5 Novemeber 2007|accessdate=11 April 2008|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
* [[Bell]], formerly seen as [[D'Anna Biers]]' cameraman in "[[Final Cut]]," appears briefly as one of the many press people documenting Baltar's trial. The actor, [[Patrick "Flick" Harrison]], is not credited for appearing in this episode.
* Tigh's statement that he would, "do anything, say anything, to see that man die a painful death" parallels Ellen's telling Saul that she would "do it again, frak anybody, do anything" {{TRS|Exodus, Part II}} to protect her husband.
== Analysis ==
* There is a [[Cult of Baltar|growing number of people]] in the Fleet who believe that [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] has some sort of healing or divine abilities.  [[Virtual Six]] doesn't want him to brush off these devoted followers, indicating that his belief that he is the "Chosen One" is coming true.
* [[Samuel Anders]] wears a uniform with rank insignia and hangs around with [[Diana Seelix|Seelix]] and [[Brendan Costanza|Costanza]]. Together with being addressed as "you [[nugget]]s," this indicates that he joined the pilot training program. This fact is confirmed in "[[He That Believeth in Me]]".
* [[Bell]] has apparently suffered no lasting, adverse effects from his association with [[D'Anna Biers]], who is otherwise known as the [[humanoid Cylon]] "[[Number Three]]," given his presence in the courtroom videotaping Baltar's trial.
=== The Ionian Nebula / The Strange Music ===
* It appears the closer the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] is to the [[Ionian nebula]], the more [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]], [[Samuel Anders|Anders]], and [[Tory Foster|Foster]] hear the music with distracting effects. In the case of Foster, it leads her to the point of exhaustion. In Tigh's case, it leads to further emotional distress, and only further discredits him as a witness in the trial due to his outburst to "turn off that music!".
* Tory Foster appears to be losing her composure to some extent based on her declining grooming habits and snappish attitude toward the reporters.
* When [[Karl Agathon|Agathon]] tells [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] that a "storm is coming," it hearkens back to Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]]'s words to him at the end of "[[The Woman King]]," specifically to how Agathon has often been the voice in the wilderness. His ability to sense or remember certain details hails back to the final scene in "[[Rapture]]" when he remembers that [[Kara Thrace|Thrace]] had painted the picture of the mandala. It is also similar to [[Sharon Agathon|his wife]] predicting that "something dark is coming" in "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]".
=== The Cylons ===
* The Cylons have apparently been tracking the Fleet since the destruction of the [[Temple of Five]]. Their strategy was to delay jumping into any system that the Fleet has been until after six plus hours to ensure that the Fleet would not realize that they were being tracked.
* Adama's military experience comes into play again when he orders that the trailing [[Raptor]] stay for a total of 12 hours. This is reminiscent of his previous strategies such as the decision to attack the Cylon tylium factory in "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]". When he changes the regular pattern and stays longer than the Cylons had expected, he finally catches them in the act.
=== Lee Adama ===
* Lee Adama immediately displays signs of fear once Roslin challenges him to "finished what you started" after asking her if she is taking chamalla again.  This indicates that either he suspected that Roslin's cancer has returned or he was beginning to feel that his actions are treacherous.
*This is not the first time that a belief in taking a principled but unpopular stand leads Lee Adama into a morally dubious area. Ironically one such decision also involves Laura Roslin - Lee's decision to mutiny against his father when the then Commander Adama tries to remove Roslin from office during the events of "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]". He almost precipitates a gun battle aboard ''Colonial One'' when he mutinies against Colonel Tigh, who is commanding the strike team sent to arrest Roslin, who ultimately surrenders and does not back the younger Adama's move. This suggests a continuous personality trait of failing to judge the consequences of a headstrong pursuit of a perceived moral cause. Soon after, Lee exhibits a similar late realization of the dangerous moral territory he wandered into when he hesitates and ultimately finds himself unable to advocate a widespread mutiny against his father's leadership over the wireless {{TRS|The Farm}}.
**The tendency to try and stand on principle (and thus assuage one's own conscience) over practicality seems to be an Adama family trait. The elder Adama has also done this on numerous occasions, sometimes with tragic results {{TRS|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II}}.
* Adama's actions towards his father and Roslin have led to another impasse between himself and Dualla. Lee Adama has come to a point where he has been alienated from his father, from Roslin, and his wife, in an attempt to gain some sort of respect from Lampkin and to act in accordance with his noble conceptions of justice by following in his grandfather's footsteps.
* Adama's words to the pilots in "[[A Day in the Life]]" come back to haunt [[Margaret Edmonson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmonson]] when the Cylons jump on top of her Raptor right after the end of a card game.  The ship's systems apparently had been powered down as Edmonson can't even maneuver or evade the missile to give the FTL drive a few more moments to spin up.
=== The Trial ===
* Lampkin's opening statement is another prime example of his rhetorical skill. He uses reverse psychology to goad the mob to respond and eventually lead one man in the audience to state his desire to see Baltar die. This display of emotion plays in Lampkin's favor as it would make the judges wary of giving into the mob mentality. Secondly, he cleverly paints Roslin as a fanatic by proposing that had Roslin been president when the Cylons invaded New Caprica, the entire human race would have been exterminated. However, as [[Precipice|Zarek has stated to Roslin]], if she had been President, the settlement and eventual invasion of New Caprica would have never taken place.
** The opening statement is similar to the opening statement in the film ''[[Wikipedia:The Devil's Advocate (film)|The Devil's Advocate]]''.
* Baltar is only being tried for crimes that the prosecution believes can be proven. He is therefore not being tried for the genocide of humanity that occurred during the [[Miniseries]]. Although the show's audience knows his involvement, none of the primary characters in the series who give testimony have to date any hard evidence of his complicity, beyond Laura Roslin's drug-induced recollection whilst dying of cancer in "[[Epiphanies]]". This is acknowledged before, when she tries to challenge Baltar about the settlement of New Caprica. She tells him that she saw him together with Six, but knows that she has no concrete evidence {{TRS|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I}}.
* [[Cassidy]]'s numbers for the surviving human population are contradictory. It seems that the number the writers arrived at for the surviving humans only refers to the ''civilian'' population of the Fleet, excluding the military personnel. The regular survivor count in "[[Collaborators]]" is higher. The second confusion stems from her saying "the sum total of survivors [...] who settled on New Caprica". This clearly means only the people down on the planet. However her number of 44,035 also includes the ''total'' population left in orbit, both military and civilian. This writing error makes her statement that 5,197 people were lost entirely inaccurate, but aside from that the numbers fit with what has been established before (see: [[Survivor Count]]):
**41,435 (Collaborators) - 38,838 = 2,597 (the military personnel in the Fleet)
**44,035 - 39,192 (the inhabitants of [[New Caprica City]]) = 4,835 (the total population in orbit)
**4,835 - 2,597 = 2,238 (Lee Adama refers to roughly 2,000 civilians who escaped New Caprica in "[[Precipice]]")
**49,550 (count in "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]") - 39,192 - 4,835 (total population in orbit) = 5,523 (the death toll prior to the occupation, mostly incurred with the destruction of ''Cloud 9'')
**49,550 - 5,523 - 41,435 = 2,592 (the causalities of the Cylon occupation and the escape from New Caprica)


== Questions ==  
== Questions ==  
=== Answered Questions ===
* Is there a budding romance developing between Anders and Seelix? ([[Crossroads, Part II|Answer]])
* What will Seelix and Anders's callsigns be? ([[:Image:Viper_3266NC.jpg|Answer]] for Seelix, [[Samuel Anders|Answer]] for Anders)
* What is the mysterious music and where is it coming from? ([[Crossroads, Part II|Partial answer]])
* Why are Tigh, Anders, and Foster apparently the only ones who can hear the ever-increasing music? ([[Crossroads, Part II|Answer]])
* Did Athena or Caprica-Six receive the same vision that Roslin found herself in during the teaser of the episode? ([[#Podcast|Partial answer]])
* Why does Roslin look so different in her dream? ([[Escape Velocity|Possible answer]])
* Will Baltar take the stand? ([[Crossroads, Part II|Answer]])
* Will Caprica-Six take the stand? ([[Crossroads, Part II|Answer]])
* Who is the shadowy figure behind the Six in Roslin's vision? ([[Crossroads, Part II|Answer]])
* Who is the Six in Roslin's vision? Caprica-Six or Baltar's virtual Six? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* How is Caprica's virtual Baltar aware of the details of Saul and Ellen Tigh's relationship and Ellen's death? ([[Islanded in a Stream of Stars|Partial Answer #1]], [[Daybreak, Part II|#2]])
=== Unanswered Questions ===


* Did Tigh continue drinking all the time, or did he stop for a while after he seemingly pulled himself together again?
* Did Tigh continue drinking all the time, or did he stop for a while after he seemingly pulled himself together again?
* Why does Anders pursue being a pilot?
* Why does Anders pursue becoming a pilot?
* Is there a budding romance developing between Anders and Seelix?
* Is the music's volume and clarity increasing because the Fleet is approaching the Ionian nebula?
* What is the mysterious music and where is it coming from?
* Is Roslin back on chamalla extract because of prescription from Cottle or is she attempting to receive visions of the future again?
* Why are Tigh, Anders, and Foster apparently the only ones who can hear the ever-increasing music?
* Does Foster actually hear the music?
* Is the music's loudness and clarity increasing because the Fleet is approaching the Ionian nebula?
* Is Roslin back on using chamalla extract because of prescription from Cottle or is she attempting to receive visions of the future again?
* Did Athena or Caprica-Six receive the same vision that Roslin found herself in during the teaser of the episode?
* Who is the shadowy figure behind the Six in Roslin's vision?
* Would Athena and Helo be willing to donate some of Hera's blood to save Roslin from her cancer?  
* Would Athena and Helo be willing to donate some of Hera's blood to save Roslin from her cancer?  
* Barring any effective treatment, how long does Roslin have to live?
* Barring any effective treatment, how long does Roslin have to live?
* Would Hera's blood have any effect on the cancer now since the cancer has apparently resisted Hera's innate immunology?
* With Helo temporarily assigned as XO, who has replaced him as CAG? Or is he temporarily holding down both posts?
* With Helo temporarily assigned as XO, who has replaced him as CAG? Or is he temporarily holding down both posts?
* Why does Roslin look so different in her dream?
* Will Baltar be cross-examined?
* Where is Zarek in the midst of the trial proceedings?
* Where is Zarek in the midst of the trial proceedings?
* How is Caprica's virtual Baltar aware of the details of Saul and Ellen Tigh's relationship and Ellen's death?
* Why has Adama waited so long to order a sweep of tracking devices throughout the Fleet?
* Why has Adama waited so long to order a sweep of tracking devices throughout the Fleet?


== Analysis ==
== Official Statements ==
 
=== Cast Statements ===
 
* ''[[Mark Sheppard]] discusses the animosity towards Admiral [[William Adama]] seen in this episode:''
: '''Mark Sheppard:''' But I love that Romo is— I don’t know, I think he’s smarter then everybody else. (laughs) I played him like he’s smarter then everybody else. Then there is this wonderful thing that the writers created, which is that he is the protégé of [[Joseph Adama]]. But his age falls between [[William Adama]] and [[Lee Adama]]. To me it’s almost as though Joseph Adama had a second family. You know that with fathers that have a second family there’s always a younger, there’s a middle kid. So the grandson and the father, there is somebody in between them and they are in between in age as well as status. And I thought it was a fantastic thing to play. Most of my antagonism was actually played towards the Admiral, not towards Lee. The entire court room scene, looking at the shots, like whenever they bring [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] to the stand. To bring Tigh to the stand to be a witness, to give evidence, is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. He has no evidence, not any at all &mdash; it’s all anecdotal. So we have a situation by which I’m not performing to the audience I’m performing to William Adama, going to Tigh: "You [[Exodus, Part II|killed]] [[Ellen Tigh|your wife]] and [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]’s responsible, thank you very much now go away," but directed to William Adama: "This is your idea of justice, this is what you are doing with justice." I believe that the system is corrupt, but it’s not unsalvagable. I love the character, Col. Tigh’s character, [[Michael Hogan]] just gives the most amazing performance as his character. If I could play anybody that is who I’d want to play, as Tigh.<ref name="tsw">{{cite_web|url=http://www.thescifiworld.net/interviews/mark_sheppard_01.htm|title=The Sci-Fi World: Mark Sheppard interview|date=1 May 2007|accessdate=24 May 2007|last=Nuytens|first=Gilles|format=|language=}}</ref>
 
* ''Sheppard discusses why [[Gaius Baltar]] is the target:''
: '''Sheppard:''' Yes, [Baltar is] the easy one to punish. He’s like [[w:Daffy Duck|Daffy Duck]] as opposed to [[w:Bugs Bunny|Bugs Bunny]], he represents what we really are, as pathetic, and sad and useless as we really are (laughs) under most conditions. Most human beings are not heroes, most human beings do not behave heroically, certainly not all the time. What an incredible aspiration.<ref name="tsw"/>
 
* ''Sheppard discusses filming the court scenes:''
: '''Sheppard:''' Yeah. It was like ''[[w:Twelve Angry Men|Twelve Angry Men]]''. The takes were nine, eleven, fourteen minutes long. Each piece we did was between nine and fourteen minutes long, and [director [[Michael Rymer|Michael] Rymer]] would put up cameras, three cameras, and we’d shoot. And we’d shoot at the same intensity and the same ferocity from the beginning to end of whatever section we were doing. We’d go as far as we could go. So [[Jamie Bamber|Jamie [Bamber]]]’s [[Crossroads, Part II|penultimate scene]]…Apollo’s penultimate scene – his wonderful speech at the end – actually the beginning of that take is the interrogation of Gaeta. So it starts with [[Chelah Horsdal]], “[[Cassidy]]” starting the interrogation of Gaeta, and it goes all the way through to the end with “No further questions.”
 
: And we did it all in a day. That was a day’s worth of shooting. And it was an amazing piece to do. And I remember Rymer looking at it and going, “Hold on a second, I, uh – our chapters are only nine minutes long. How the hell are we gonna get fourteen minutes into a nine minute chapter?” That’s for the commercials. It was great.<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.buddytv.com/articles/battlestar-galactica/exclusive-interview-mark-shepp-7849.aspx|title=Buddytv.com Exclusive Interview: Mark Sheppard, from 'Battlestar Galactica'|date=3 July 2007|accessdate=13 August 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>


* [[Samuel Anders]] wears a uniform with rank insignia and hangs around with Seelix and Costanza. Together with being addressed as "you [[nugget]]s", this indicates that he joined the pilot training program.
* ''[[Tahmoh Penikett]] discusses his reaction to [[Michael Hogan]]'s performance in the episode:''
* The Cylons have apparently been tracking the fleet since the destruction of the Temple of Five.  Their strategy was to delay jumping into any system that the Fleet has been until after six plus hours to ensure that the Fleet would not realize that they were being tracked.
* Adama's military experience comes into play again when he orders that the decoy Raptor stay for a total of 12 hours.  This is reminiscent of his previous strategies such as the decision to attack the Cylon tylium factory in "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]."  When he changes the regular pattern and stays longer than the Cylons had expected, he finally caught them in the act.
* Lee Adama immediately displays signs of fear once Roslin challenges him to "finished what you(he) started" after asking her if she is taking chamalla again.  This indicates that either he suspected that Roslin's cancer has returned or he was beginning to feel that his actions are treacherous.
* Helo's comment to Gaeta about a "'storm is coming'" highlights Adama's comment to him at the end of "[[The Woman King]]", specifically to how Helo has been many times the voice in the wilderness.  His ability to sense or remember certain details hails back to the final scene in "[[Rapture]]" when he remembers that Thrace had painted the picture of the mandala. It's also similar to his wife predicting that "Something dark is coming" in "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]".
* Lampkin's opening statement is another prime example of his rhetorical skill.  He uses reverse psychology to goad the mob to respond and eventually lead one man in the audience to state his desire to see Baltar die.  This display of emotion played in Lampkin's favor as it would make the judges wary of giving into the mob mentality.  Secondly, he cleverly paints Roslin as a fanatic by proposing that had Roslin been president when the Cylons invaded New Caprica, the entire human race would have been exterminated.  However, as [[Precipice|Zarek has stated to Roslin]], if she had been President, the settlement and eventual invasion of New Caprica would have never taken place.
* It appears the closer the Fleet is to the nebula, Tigh, Anders, and Foster hear the music increasingly, even to the point of exhaustion.
* There is a growing movement in the Fleet that believes Baltar has some sort of healing or divine abilities.  His internal-Six doesn't allow him to brush off these devoted followers aside, indicating that his belief about himself that he is the "Chosen One" is coming true.
* Lee Adama's actions towards his father and Roslin have led to another impasse between himself and Dualla.  Lee Adama has come to a point where he has been alienated from his father, from Roslin, and his wife, in an attempt to gain some sort of respect from Lampkin and to act in accordance with his noble conceptions of justice by following in his grandfather's footsteps.
* Lee Adama's words to the pilots in "[[A Day in the Life]]" come back to haunt Racetrack when the Cylons jump on top of her Raptor right after the end of a card game.  The ship's systems apparently had been powered down as Racetrack can't even maneuver or evade the missile to give the FTL drive a few more moments to spin up.
* Baltar is only being tried for crimes that the prosecution believes can be proven. He is therefore not being tried for the genocide of humanity that occurred during the [[Miniseries]]. Although the show's audience knows his involvement, none of the primary characters in the series who give testimony have to date any hard evidence of his complicity, beyond Laura Roslin's hallucination whilst dying of cancer in "[[Epiphanies]]". This is acknowledged before, when she tries to challenge Baltar about the settlement of New Caprica. She tells him that she saw him together with Six, but knows that she has no concrete evidence ([[Lay Down Your Burdens]]).
* [[Cassidy]]'s numbers for the surviving human population seem contradictory. However, it becomes apparent that the number of survivors she gives only refers to the ''civilian'' population of the Fleet, excluding the military personnel. The second confusion stems from her saying "the sum total of survivors [...] who settled on New Caprica". This clearly means only the people down on the planet. However her number of 44,035 also includes the ''total'' left in orbit, both military and civilian. This is the error in her facts and makes her statement that 5,197 people were lost entirely inaccurate, but aside from that the numbers fit with what has been established before (see: [[Survivor Count]]):
**41,435 (Collaborators) - 38,838 = 2,597 (the military personnel in the Fleet)
**44,035 - 39,192 (the inhabitants of [[New Caprica City]]) = 4,835 (the total population in orbit)
**4,835 - 2,597 = 2,238 (Lee Adama refers to roughly 2,000 civilians who escaped New Caprica in "[[Precipice]]")
**49,550 (count in "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]") - 39,192 - 4,835 (total population in orbit) = 5,523 (the death toll prior to the occupation, mostly incurred with the destruction of ''Cloud Nine'')
**49,550 - 5,523 - 41,435 = 2,592 (the causalities of the Cylon occupation and the escape from New Caprica)


== Notes ==
: I know that last year, some of Michael Hogan's work touched me so deeply that—especially in the court scene—he had this moment where he was being pressed and he breaks, and he looks at Adama...


*The episode has one of the most sparse musical score yet. The only major pieces are during Roslin's dream at the beginning and the music Tigh keeps hearing. According to a [http://bearmccreary.com/html/blog/blogmain.htm blog entry] by composer [[Bear McCreary]], director [[Michael Rymer]] and the editors decided not to use any music during the court room part, in order to let the scenes speak for themselves.
: I talked about that for weeks...I thought about it for weeks...it just broke me. I literally was weeping when I saw that. Just that connection...he was completely mad and he had this switch, and he looked at Adama, his best friend, and he just—he admitted it—it was so horrible and so touching....but there's been so many moments like that throughout the series with so much of the cast.<ref name="acedmag">{{cite_web|url=http://acedmagazine.com/content/view/677/1/|title=ACED Magazine: Battlestar Galactica: Cast Interviews|date=24 November 2007|accessdate=25 November 2007|last=Bensoussan|first=Jenna|format=|language=}}</ref>
*It's the first episode without an intro sequence, thus increasing the effective running time a little bit. Because of that, no updated [[Survivor Count]] is available.
*The bitterness of chamalla and that it can be sweetened to make it taste better, is first mentioned by the oracle [[Dodona Selloi]] in "[[Exodus, Part I]]".
*One of the shots of others listening to the trial on the [[wireless]] shows the [[refinery ship]] from "[[Dirty Hands]]".
*A storm is often used as a metaphor for a battle, conflict, or massive upheaval in science fiction. Helo's final line in this episode is almost an exact duplicate of the ending of the movie ''[[w:The Terminator|The Terminator]]'', and a huge storm (a sandstorm) takes place during the climax of the novel ''[[w:Dune (novel)|Dune]]''.


== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
=== Podcast ===


== Official Statements ==
Notes from the podcast:
Notes from the podcast:


* The opening teaser is indeed set in the Kobol Opera House that has been seen numerous times.  This particular scene in the teaser was a late addition as the director and producers wanted to create a foreboding atmosphere to the episode.  This was influenced by the fact that the studio executives were not favorable to the idea of ending the season with Baltar's trial.
* The opening teaser is indeed set in the Kobol Opera House that has been seen numerous times.  This particular scene in the teaser was a late addition as the director and producers wanted to create a foreboding atmosphere to the episode.  This was influenced by the fact that the studio executives were not favorable to the idea of ending the season with Baltar's trial.


* RDM goes more into the original trial storyline that involved the Saggitarons and Baltar. In summary, during their time on New Caprica, the food supply had been contaminated and a famine had fallen on most of the colonists, except the Saggitarons, who had been very careful with their harvests and supplies. This alienation between the Saggitarons and the rest of the colonies came to a collision when Baltar was attempting to have the Saggitaron leadership share their food with the other colonists.  Unfortunately, Baltar is forced to kill one of the leaders, and thus began the riots and slaughter directed towards the Saggitarons. This killing was to be eventually revealed that it was a necessity instead of an act of genocide.
* Moore goes more into the original trial storyline that involved the Sagittarons and Baltar. In summary, during their time on New Caprica, the food supply had been contaminated and a famine had fallen on most of the colonists, except the Sagittarons, who had been very careful with their harvests and supplies. This alienation between the Sagittarons and the rest of the colonies came to a collision when Baltar was attempting to have the Sagittaron leadership share their food with the other colonists.  Unfortunately, Baltar was forced to kill one of the leaders, and thus began the riots and slaughter directed towards the Sagittarons. It was to be eventually revealed that this killing was a necessity instead of an act of genocide.


* Another component of the original storyline was to have Lee Adama be Baltar's only attorney and Lee's morals come into play when he obtains a video recording of Baltar actually shooting the Saggitaron leader. The cliff hanger of the episode was suppose to leave the audience wondering what will Lee do now that he believes Baltar is guilty.
* Another component of the original storyline was to have Lee Adama be Baltar's only attorney and that Lee's morals come into play when he obtains a video recording of Baltar actually shooting the Sagittaron leader. The cliffhanger of the episode was supposed to leave the audience wondering what Lee Adama will do now that he believes Baltar is guilty.


* Over time, RDM and the director agreed that this storyline involved too many plot elements that the audience had never witnessed about Baltar. Once the decision was made, RDM completely revised the whole trial and rewrote the episodes.
* Over time, Moore and the director agreed that this storyline involved too many plot elements that the audience had never witnessed about Baltar. Once the decision was made, Moore completely revised the whole trial and rewrote the episodes.


* RDM hints that Athena and Roslin did indeed see each other during the dream sequence. A deleted scene had Roslin in the the restroom attempting to cool her head down while Athena comes out from one of the stalls. They looked at each other briefly in a silent acknowledgment that they did see each other in the dream.
* Ron Moore hints that Athena and Roslin did indeed see each other during the dream sequence. A deleted scene had Roslin in the the restroom attempting to cool her head down while Athena comes out from one of the stalls. They look at each other briefly in a silent acknowledgment that they did see each other in the dream.
 
== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
 
*''Cassidy's indictment of Gaius Baltar:''
:'''[[Cassidy]]''': How do we measure loss? (pauses) How do we measure loss? We measure it in the faces of the dead. The faces that haunt our memories and our dreams. How do we measure loss? We measure it in our own faces, the ones we see in our mirror every day, because it has marked each of us. So how do we measure loss? When the scale of it becomes too hard to absorb any other way we use numbers. How many killed, how many maimed, how many missing. And when those numbers become too vast to comprehend, as they did two years ago, we had to turn it around. We began to count the living. Those of us who survived to continue the saga of the human race. (walks to a white board and begins to write down.) 44,035; the sum total of survivors from the Twelve Colonies who settled on New Caprica with President Gaius Baltar as their leader and protector. 38,838; our number the day after we escaped. And the missing number, the one no one wants to face? 5,197. 5,197 of us killed, left behind or simply disappeared. 5,197 of all that remains of the human race; lost. The citizens of the Twelve Colonies entrusted their fate and their lives to Gaius Baltar. What we received was a reign of terror that staggers our mind and breaks our hearts. Instead of guidance, we got tyranny. Instead of justice, we got oppression. Instead of a president, we got a murderer. Today humanity holds him accountable for his crime. Gauis Baltar is not a victim. Gauis Baltar chose to side with the Cylons and to actively seek the deaths of his fellow citizens. For that he must pay the ultimate price.
 
* ''Romo Lampkin's opening statement:''
: '''[[Romo Lampkin]]:''' Your honors, the defense would like to change our plea to guilty.
: '''[[Doyle Franks]]:''' What? Counselor, are you sure you want to do that?
: '''Lampkin:''' No, but what choice do I have? I mean, it's obvious [[Gaius Baltar|my client]] is guilty. He's a traitor, and a killer. He's no better than the Cylon, and what do we do with them?
: '''Audience Member:''' '''''Throw them out the [[airlock]]!'''''
: '''Lampkin:''' That's right! Throw them out the airlock! This man sold us to our enemy. This man ''is'' our enemy. And if there's one thing that's good in war, that is right and just and proper, it's '''''slaughtering'' our enemy! Getting some ''righteous payback''! ''What are we waiting for? Let's just kill him now!''''' (silence, then:) It'd be easier, wouldn't it? Simpler. Justice of the mob. It's what they want. Especially [[Laura Roslin|her]]. She's been wanting this for over a year now. Ever since he beat her in a free and fair election of the people. Now she gets a chance to exact her revenge upon a man whose only real crime is ''bowing to the inevitable''. Gaius Baltar saved the lives of the people on New Caprica, where Laura Roslin would have seen us all dead, victims of a battle we had ''no hope in winning''. I don't know about you, but I'm glad she wasn't the president when the Cylons arrived and said, "Surrender or die." I owe my life to Gaius Baltar and the decision he made that day. So does Laura Roslin.
 
* {{audio|320 integrity.mp3|''The showdown of the Adamas:''}}
: '''[[Lee Adama]]''': I will not serve under a man who questions my integrity.
: '''[[William Adama]]''': And won't have an officer under my command who doesn't have any.
 
* ''[[William Adama|Adama]] helping a drunk [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] into bed:''
: '''Saul Tigh''': I'm sorry about all that in court.
: '''William Adama''': There's nothing to be sorry about.
: '''Saul Tigh''': I embarrassed you. Made you look bad.
: '''William Adama''': You're my oldest friend, Saul. You never embarrass me.
 
*''Conversation between [[Lee Adama]], [[Romo Lampkin]] and [[Gaius Baltar]] after the second court session:''
:'''Romo Lampkin''': You're awfully quiet.
:'''Lee Adama''': Nah. Just listening.
:'''Romo Lampkin''': See, your problem is I'm a really good liar and you're not. So let's have it.
:'''Lee Adama''': Have what?
:'''Gaius Baltar''': My god, he's right. You do know something. You know something and you're not saying it.
:'''Lee Adama''': [[Chamalla|It]] might not even be true.
:'''Romo Lampkin''': I like it already.


== Guest Stars ==
== Guest Stars ==
Line 154: Line 240:
*[[Nicki Clyne]] as [[Cally Tyrol]]
*[[Nicki Clyne]] as [[Cally Tyrol]]
*[[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
*[[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
*[[Jen Halley]] as [[Diana Seelix]]
*[[Michael Trucco]] as [[Samuel Anders]]
*[[Michael Trucco]] as [[Samuel Anders]]
*[[Bodie Olmos]] as [[Brendan Costanza|Brendan "Hot Dog" Brendan Costanza]]
*[[Leah Cairns]] as [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]]
*[[Colin Lawrence]] as [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]]
*[[Mark Sheppard]] as [[Romo Lampkin]]
*[[Mark Sheppard]] as [[Romo Lampkin]]
*[[Ryan Robbins]] as [[Charlie Connor]]
*[[Ryan Robbins]] as [[Charlie Connor]]
*[[Keegan Connor Tracy]] as Young Woman
*[[Chelah Horsdal]] as [[Cassidy]]
*[[Chelah Horsdal]] as [[Cassidy]]
*[[Susan Hogan]] as [[Franks]]
*[[Bodie Olmos]] as [[Brendan Costanza|Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza]]
*[[William Samples]] as Judge Number Two
*[[Leah Cairns]] as [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]]
*Lily Duong-Walton as [[Hera Agathon]]
*[[Jen Halley]] as [[Diana Seelix]]
*[[Colin Lawrence]] as [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]]
*[[Alison Matthews]] as [[Karen Fallbrook]]
*[[Susan Hogan]] as [[Doyle Franks]]
*[[Stephen Holmes]] as [[Unnamed characters (RDM) - Season 3#Reporter|Reporter #1]]
*[[Keegan Connor Tracy]] as [[Jeanne]] (credited as "Young Woman")
*[[William Samples]] as Captain [[Jules Tarney]] (credited as "Judge Number Two")
*[[Colin Corrigan]] as Marine [[Allan Nowart]]
*[[Françoise Robertson]] as Woman
*[[Lily Duong-Walton]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
*[[Patrick "Flick" Harrison]] as [[Bell]] (uncredited)


== References ==
== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>
{{reflist}}


{{Episode list (RDM season 3)}}
{{Episode list (RDM season 3)}}
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[[Category:Episode Guide (RDM)|Crossroads, Part I]]
[[Category:Episode Guide (RDM)|Crossroads, Part I]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Rymer]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Rymer]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Michael Taylor]]
[[Category:RDM]]
[[Category:RDM]]
[[de:Am Scheideweg, Teil I]]
[[fr:Épisode:Croisements, 1re partie]]

Latest revision as of 06:26, 14 July 2024

Crossroads, Part I
"Crossroads, Part I"
An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No. Season 3, Episode 19
Writer(s) Michael Taylor
Story by
Director Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No. 318
Nielsen Rating 1.4
US airdate USA 2007-03-18
CAN airdate CAN 2007-03-18
UK airdate UK
DVD release
Population 41,399 survivors (No population change.)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous Next
The Son Also Rises Crossroads, Part I Crossroads, Part II
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D SkitView
Podcast TranscriptView
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: USA | Canada | UK



Baltar's trial commences, with the prosecution presenting evidence of treason committed on New Caprica amid controversial testimonies from Colonel Tigh and President Roslin.

Summary

Teaser

  • Laura Roslin, significantly different in dress and hairstyle, is walking through what appears to be the Opera House. She searches for and finds little Hera Agathon walking through the hallways, unable to reach her.
  • Also following Hera is her mother Sharon "Athena" Agathon, who does not appear pleased to see Roslin in pursuit. Both women run down the stairs towards Hera.
  • As they turn the corner, a Number Six in white clothing catches Hera and starts a movement as if to turn. There is a dark figure in the indistinct shadows behind her.
  • Roslin wakes up. This has been a dream, though it bears a strong resemblance to Roslin's Chamalla extract-induced visions of the past.
  • The Fleet is enroute to the Ionian nebula, but it is still several days away.
  • Colonel Saul Tigh is trying to tune into Talk Wireless or music in Joe's bar. Brendan Costanza, Diana Seelix and Samuel Anders are playing Pyramid. Anders notes Tigh's attempts to find the music.
  • Tory Foster speaks with Cassidy, the prosecuting attorney in Gaius Baltar's trial. Foster's assertion that Roslin witnessed Baltar with Caprica-Six on Caprica doesn't convince Cassidy, who stresses the need for hard evidence and the fact that Baltar is only being tried for the charges that can be proved.
  • Meanwhile, in the brig, Baltar is visited by a member of the press, who wants to give him a picture of her son, who she claims is sick—she also claims, much to Baltar's bemusement, that Baltar is capable of saving her son by Baltar simply blessing him. He refuses until she forces it onto him before the Marines remove her.
  • Baltar comments that she is the 5th or 6th person to visit in such a manner while virtual Six appears to console the emotionally tortured Baltar, noting that an additional 30 to 40 people have written him letters.

Act 1

  • Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson and Hamish "Skulls" McCall are conducting reconnaissance to see if any Cylons are following the Fleet's jumps. Their Raptor hides behind an asteroid as they play cards and wait.
  • The trial begins. Cassidy asks the courtroom how loss is measured.
  • She notes the number of people who settled on New Caprica, the number who escaped in the Second Exodus and the number lost: 5,197 left behind, killed or otherwise missing.
  • The attorney claims that the trust put in Baltar was gravely misplaced, and that the ultimate price must be paid.
  • Romo Lampkin, Baltar's attorney, immediately asks to change the plea to guilty as a ploy to use reverse psychology to claim that the power of mob rule is trying to sway opinion in the court.
  • Lampkin claims that President Roslin is seeking vengeance on Baltar for her lost election, and claims that the New Capricans were victims of a hopeless battle. Baltar's decision to surrender to the Cylons had saved lives, he claims, versus what Lampkin claims Roslin would have done—stand and fight.
  • Back on Racetrack's Raptor, five baseships suddenly appear and attack. Racetrack's FTL drive barely comes online in time to allow them to escape an incoming missile.
  • Back on Galactica, in CIC, Admiral Adama orders a scan for any tracking devices that may have been left on Fleet ships during the New Caprica siege. At the same time Tory Foster hands Roslin a cup and a thermos can. Roslin insists on asking the incarcerated Caprica-Six for information. When Tigh objects, Roslin snaps back, uncharacteristically.
  • Lee Adama moves from his previous position in CIC to the position previously held by Roslin, who is collecting herself in the Weapons Control station. He notices Roslin's cup, which she left on the table, and smells it, detecting something unexpected.
  • Caprica-Six is questioned. She suggests that the refinery ship is being tracked by a unique radiation signature emitted by the ship. The virtual Baltar appears and convinces her not to cooperate further. Caprica-Six retaliates to Tigh's interrogation by recalling Ellen Tigh, inciting Tigh to strike her, and Six to strike back before Marines intervene and shackle the Cylon.

Act 2

  • In court, Tigh is questioned, and asked if Baltar appeared to help the resistance in any way. Tigh is noticeably drunk. When questioned about Ellen, Tigh acknowledges her involvement but becomes more withdrawn.
  • Lampkin cross-examines about the NCP initiation bombing and how the resistance attempted to target Baltar. Lampkin continues to question about Ellen Tigh's collaboration by asking Colonel Tigh if his wife was a collaborator, muddying the differences between Ellen Tigh and Baltar. Lampkin points out that Tigh appears drunk. Matters turn for the worse when Tigh begins to hear the music.
  • Tigh is asked the nature of Ellen's death, and Tigh resolutely answers, claiming that Baltar's inaction made him kill his wife. He reflects a portion of his wife's last words to tell how he would do anything to have Baltar killed. Tigh begins to show increasing signs of anger as the music in his head continues to increase in volume.
  • In Joe's Bar, Anders turns a eye to strange noises from the bar's public wireless and shares a look with Foster.
  • Under testimony, Roslin notes the execution of 200 people under Cylon tyranny.
  • Lampkin attempts to get Lee Adama to give some insight about Roslin's testimony and Roslin herself, instead of being a passive observer who is simply satisfied in embittering his father.
  • Lampkin attempts to play to Lee Adama's sense of justice by putting him between two difficult decisions. One being the betrayal of Roslin and his father, or putting his words about justice into action by sharing the personal information with Lampkin.

Act 3

  • Admiral Adama drags the drunken Tigh to his quarters. The Fleet is nine jumps away from the nebula, and repairs are being made to the fuel ship to keep it from being tracked.
  • Tigh says that he can't "smell her anymore" and apologizes for his actions in court. Adama replies that, as his oldest friend, he could never embarrass him.
  • In the admiral's quarters, Major Adama suggests the idea of sending the fuel ship on a different course to throw off the Cylons temporarily, and the admiral, who appears a little less than sober himself, coldly takes it under advisement.
  • The two Adamas verbally spar. Admiral Adama angrily accuses his son of helping Lampkin by telling him about what Tigh did to Ellen. The major denies knowing anything about that, and his father calls him a liar, and a coward, for not having the guts to face Tigh with the accusations himself. He further states that Baltar is a guilty traitor, and does not deserve a trial at all.
  • In response, Major Adama resigns from military duty, stating flatly that he will not serve under a man who questions his integrity. The admiral accepts the resignation, stating with the same cold bitterness that he will not accept an officer who has none.
  • At the next court session, Lee Adama asks permission to question Roslin himself.
  • Lee Adama (in civilian dress) questions President Roslin about the number of times that Baltar saved her life. He points out that it was Baltar who saved her from cancer. When Admiral Adama objects, Lampkin asks for hostile witness latitude, which is given.
  • Roslin admits that her cancer was cured thanks to Baltar's idea to inject her with the blood of the half-Cylon child. When asked what medications she was taking at the time, she claims that she cannot remember because she was taking a lot of different things. When asked specifically about chamalla use, Roslin answers in the affirmative but she points out that her use of it provided the first clues to Earth, and also notes Lee Adama's own involvement.
  • Before Lee Adama asks his next question, Roslin whispers to him: "Don't do this." He then asks if she is taking chamalla again.
  • Admiral Adama tries to overrule the line of questioning but other tribunal judges overrule him, forcing Roslin to answer. She recalls her fondness for Lee Adama's early leadership, how calling him "Captain Apollo" way back then had a nice ring to it, but how sad she is for him now.
  • Adama notes that chamalla can be sweetened to mask its bitter taste, recalling the cup of tea that Tory gave Roslin at Galactica's CIC, which gave him the clue to her use of the drug.
  • Roslin confirms that she is taking chamalla again. She then challenges counselor Adama to finish what he started with his last question. After being goaded by her to do so, he asks her why she was taking the drug again. She tells the court that she is taking the drug again because her cancer has returned.

Act 4

  • Anastasia Dualla packs her bags and leaves her husband in disgust over his questioning of Roslin and his usage of a justice system that she believes is very dysfunctional.
  • On Colonial One, reporters pepper President Roslin about her cancer, how it will be treated, and if she plans on using Hera Agathon's blood again. The line of questioning infuriates Foster, causing her to lash out at the reporters, and Roslin asks her to leave the press conference. When Karen Fallbrook asks how long the President has to live, an unflinching Roslin repeats the same question at the reporter, leaving Fallbrook speechless.
  • After the press conference, Roslin angrily criticizes her aide, complaining that Foster is off her game. Foster claims that she hasn't been sleeping well. Roslin is unsympathetic, and flatly states that if Foster does not pull it together, she will have her replaced by someone who can "run a comb through her hair" once a week.
  • In his quarters, the drunken Tigh still hears the mysterious music and tries to track its source.
  • Karl "Helo" Agathon arrives in CIC as interim Executive officer and finds Lt. Gaeta, who briefs him. The tylium fuel ship decoy plan is nearing completion, but there are no further reports of Cylon forces. The Fleet is a mere three jumps from the nebula.
  • Helo remembers a certain smell in the air when trouble was brewing, recalling the weather on Caprica before a big storm. He believes that "something over the horizon" is coming, something that doesn't bode well for the Fleet. "A storm is coming," he says.
  • The music that Tigh, Anders, and Foster are hearing appears to be coming from the ship itself.

Bonus Scene

  • Lee Adama asks Lampkin, "You know he's guilty, right?". Lampkin appeals to Adama's sense of justice, stating that everyone is guilty of something and there is a difference between guilt and criminality.

Notes

Bell filming Baltar's trial.
  • The episode has one of the most sparse musical scores yet. The only major pieces are during Roslin's dream at the beginning and the music Tigh keeps hearing. According to a blog entry by composer Bear McCreary, director Michael Rymer and the editors decided not to use any music during the court room part, in order to let the scenes speak for themselves.
  • It is the first episode without an intro sequence, thus increasing the effective running time a little bit. Because of that, no updated Survivor Count is available. The last known count was 41,398, accounting for Henry Cheadle's apparent death in "The Son Also Rises".
  • The bitterness of chamalla and that it can be sweetened to make it taste better, is first mentioned by the oracle Dodona Selloi in "Exodus, Part I".
  • One of the shots of others listening to the trial on the wireless shows the refinery ship from "Dirty Hands".
  • A storm is often used as a metaphor for a battle, conflict, or massive upheaval in science fiction. Helo's final line in this episode is almost an exact duplicate of the ending of the movie The Terminator, and is very similar to the warning issued by the prophetess in The Stand. A huge storm (a sandstorm) also takes place during the climax of the novel Dune. Additionally, at the end of the Doctor Who episode "Fear Her," the Doctor tells Rose that there's "something in the air. Something coming.... A storm's approaching," foreshadowing the invasion of Earth by the Daleks and the Cybermen in the Series 2 finale.
  • A subplot about the prosecution trying to have Caprica-Six testify against Baltar and about his involvement in the Cylon attack on the Colonies was abandoned late during the story development process. [1]
  • Bell, formerly seen as D'Anna Biers' cameraman in "Final Cut," appears briefly as one of the many press people documenting Baltar's trial. The actor, Patrick "Flick" Harrison, is not credited for appearing in this episode.
  • Tigh's statement that he would, "do anything, say anything, to see that man die a painful death" parallels Ellen's telling Saul that she would "do it again, frak anybody, do anything" (TRS: "Exodus, Part II") to protect her husband.

Analysis

  • There is a growing number of people in the Fleet who believe that Baltar has some sort of healing or divine abilities. Virtual Six doesn't want him to brush off these devoted followers, indicating that his belief that he is the "Chosen One" is coming true.
  • Samuel Anders wears a uniform with rank insignia and hangs around with Seelix and Costanza. Together with being addressed as "you nuggets," this indicates that he joined the pilot training program. This fact is confirmed in "He That Believeth in Me".
  • Bell has apparently suffered no lasting, adverse effects from his association with D'Anna Biers, who is otherwise known as the humanoid Cylon "Number Three," given his presence in the courtroom videotaping Baltar's trial.

The Ionian Nebula / The Strange Music

  • It appears the closer the Fleet is to the Ionian nebula, the more Tigh, Anders, and Foster hear the music with distracting effects. In the case of Foster, it leads her to the point of exhaustion. In Tigh's case, it leads to further emotional distress, and only further discredits him as a witness in the trial due to his outburst to "turn off that music!".
  • Tory Foster appears to be losing her composure to some extent based on her declining grooming habits and snappish attitude toward the reporters.
  • When Agathon tells Gaeta that a "storm is coming," it hearkens back to Admiral Adama's words to him at the end of "The Woman King," specifically to how Agathon has often been the voice in the wilderness. His ability to sense or remember certain details hails back to the final scene in "Rapture" when he remembers that Thrace had painted the picture of the mandala. It is also similar to his wife predicting that "something dark is coming" in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I".

The Cylons

  • The Cylons have apparently been tracking the Fleet since the destruction of the Temple of Five. Their strategy was to delay jumping into any system that the Fleet has been until after six plus hours to ensure that the Fleet would not realize that they were being tracked.
  • Adama's military experience comes into play again when he orders that the trailing Raptor stay for a total of 12 hours. This is reminiscent of his previous strategies such as the decision to attack the Cylon tylium factory in "The Hand of God". When he changes the regular pattern and stays longer than the Cylons had expected, he finally catches them in the act.

Lee Adama

  • Lee Adama immediately displays signs of fear once Roslin challenges him to "finished what you started" after asking her if she is taking chamalla again. This indicates that either he suspected that Roslin's cancer has returned or he was beginning to feel that his actions are treacherous.
  • This is not the first time that a belief in taking a principled but unpopular stand leads Lee Adama into a morally dubious area. Ironically one such decision also involves Laura Roslin - Lee's decision to mutiny against his father when the then Commander Adama tries to remove Roslin from office during the events of "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II". He almost precipitates a gun battle aboard Colonial One when he mutinies against Colonel Tigh, who is commanding the strike team sent to arrest Roslin, who ultimately surrenders and does not back the younger Adama's move. This suggests a continuous personality trait of failing to judge the consequences of a headstrong pursuit of a perceived moral cause. Soon after, Lee exhibits a similar late realization of the dangerous moral territory he wandered into when he hesitates and ultimately finds himself unable to advocate a widespread mutiny against his father's leadership over the wireless (TRS: "The Farm").
    • The tendency to try and stand on principle (and thus assuage one's own conscience) over practicality seems to be an Adama family trait. The elder Adama has also done this on numerous occasions, sometimes with tragic results (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
  • Adama's actions towards his father and Roslin have led to another impasse between himself and Dualla. Lee Adama has come to a point where he has been alienated from his father, from Roslin, and his wife, in an attempt to gain some sort of respect from Lampkin and to act in accordance with his noble conceptions of justice by following in his grandfather's footsteps.
  • Adama's words to the pilots in "A Day in the Life" come back to haunt Margaret "Racetrack" Edmonson when the Cylons jump on top of her Raptor right after the end of a card game. The ship's systems apparently had been powered down as Edmonson can't even maneuver or evade the missile to give the FTL drive a few more moments to spin up.

The Trial

  • Lampkin's opening statement is another prime example of his rhetorical skill. He uses reverse psychology to goad the mob to respond and eventually lead one man in the audience to state his desire to see Baltar die. This display of emotion plays in Lampkin's favor as it would make the judges wary of giving into the mob mentality. Secondly, he cleverly paints Roslin as a fanatic by proposing that had Roslin been president when the Cylons invaded New Caprica, the entire human race would have been exterminated. However, as Zarek has stated to Roslin, if she had been President, the settlement and eventual invasion of New Caprica would have never taken place.
  • Baltar is only being tried for crimes that the prosecution believes can be proven. He is therefore not being tried for the genocide of humanity that occurred during the Miniseries. Although the show's audience knows his involvement, none of the primary characters in the series who give testimony have to date any hard evidence of his complicity, beyond Laura Roslin's drug-induced recollection whilst dying of cancer in "Epiphanies". This is acknowledged before, when she tries to challenge Baltar about the settlement of New Caprica. She tells him that she saw him together with Six, but knows that she has no concrete evidence (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").
  • Cassidy's numbers for the surviving human population are contradictory. It seems that the number the writers arrived at for the surviving humans only refers to the civilian population of the Fleet, excluding the military personnel. The regular survivor count in "Collaborators" is higher. The second confusion stems from her saying "the sum total of survivors [...] who settled on New Caprica". This clearly means only the people down on the planet. However her number of 44,035 also includes the total population left in orbit, both military and civilian. This writing error makes her statement that 5,197 people were lost entirely inaccurate, but aside from that the numbers fit with what has been established before (see: Survivor Count):
    • 41,435 (Collaborators) - 38,838 = 2,597 (the military personnel in the Fleet)
    • 44,035 - 39,192 (the inhabitants of New Caprica City) = 4,835 (the total population in orbit)
    • 4,835 - 2,597 = 2,238 (Lee Adama refers to roughly 2,000 civilians who escaped New Caprica in "Precipice")
    • 49,550 (count in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II") - 39,192 - 4,835 (total population in orbit) = 5,523 (the death toll prior to the occupation, mostly incurred with the destruction of Cloud 9)
    • 49,550 - 5,523 - 41,435 = 2,592 (the causalities of the Cylon occupation and the escape from New Caprica)

Questions

Answered Questions

  • Is there a budding romance developing between Anders and Seelix? (Answer)
  • What will Seelix and Anders's callsigns be? (Answer for Seelix, Answer for Anders)
  • What is the mysterious music and where is it coming from? (Partial answer)
  • Why are Tigh, Anders, and Foster apparently the only ones who can hear the ever-increasing music? (Answer)
  • Did Athena or Caprica-Six receive the same vision that Roslin found herself in during the teaser of the episode? (Partial answer)
  • Why does Roslin look so different in her dream? (Possible answer)
  • Will Baltar take the stand? (Answer)
  • Will Caprica-Six take the stand? (Answer)
  • Who is the shadowy figure behind the Six in Roslin's vision? (Answer)
  • Who is the Six in Roslin's vision? Caprica-Six or Baltar's virtual Six? (Answer)
  • How is Caprica's virtual Baltar aware of the details of Saul and Ellen Tigh's relationship and Ellen's death? (Partial Answer #1, #2)

Unanswered Questions

  • Did Tigh continue drinking all the time, or did he stop for a while after he seemingly pulled himself together again?
  • Why does Anders pursue becoming a pilot?
  • Is the music's volume and clarity increasing because the Fleet is approaching the Ionian nebula?
  • Is Roslin back on chamalla extract because of prescription from Cottle or is she attempting to receive visions of the future again?
  • Would Athena and Helo be willing to donate some of Hera's blood to save Roslin from her cancer?
  • Barring any effective treatment, how long does Roslin have to live?
  • With Helo temporarily assigned as XO, who has replaced him as CAG? Or is he temporarily holding down both posts?
  • Where is Zarek in the midst of the trial proceedings?
  • Why has Adama waited so long to order a sweep of tracking devices throughout the Fleet?

Official Statements

Cast Statements

Mark Sheppard: But I love that Romo is— I don’t know, I think he’s smarter then everybody else. (laughs) I played him like he’s smarter then everybody else. Then there is this wonderful thing that the writers created, which is that he is the protégé of Joseph Adama. But his age falls between William Adama and Lee Adama. To me it’s almost as though Joseph Adama had a second family. You know that with fathers that have a second family there’s always a younger, there’s a middle kid. So the grandson and the father, there is somebody in between them and they are in between in age as well as status. And I thought it was a fantastic thing to play. Most of my antagonism was actually played towards the Admiral, not towards Lee. The entire court room scene, looking at the shots, like whenever they bring Tigh to the stand. To bring Tigh to the stand to be a witness, to give evidence, is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. He has no evidence, not any at all — it’s all anecdotal. So we have a situation by which I’m not performing to the audience I’m performing to William Adama, going to Tigh: "You killed your wife and Baltar’s responsible, thank you very much now go away," but directed to William Adama: "This is your idea of justice, this is what you are doing with justice." I believe that the system is corrupt, but it’s not unsalvagable. I love the character, Col. Tigh’s character, Michael Hogan just gives the most amazing performance as his character. If I could play anybody that is who I’d want to play, as Tigh.[2]
Sheppard: Yes, [Baltar is] the easy one to punish. He’s like Daffy Duck as opposed to Bugs Bunny, he represents what we really are, as pathetic, and sad and useless as we really are (laughs) under most conditions. Most human beings are not heroes, most human beings do not behave heroically, certainly not all the time. What an incredible aspiration.[2]
  • Sheppard discusses filming the court scenes:
Sheppard: Yeah. It was like Twelve Angry Men. The takes were nine, eleven, fourteen minutes long. Each piece we did was between nine and fourteen minutes long, and [director Michael] Rymer would put up cameras, three cameras, and we’d shoot. And we’d shoot at the same intensity and the same ferocity from the beginning to end of whatever section we were doing. We’d go as far as we could go. So Jamie [Bamber]’s penultimate scene…Apollo’s penultimate scene – his wonderful speech at the end – actually the beginning of that take is the interrogation of Gaeta. So it starts with Chelah Horsdal, “Cassidy” starting the interrogation of Gaeta, and it goes all the way through to the end with “No further questions.”
And we did it all in a day. That was a day’s worth of shooting. And it was an amazing piece to do. And I remember Rymer looking at it and going, “Hold on a second, I, uh – our chapters are only nine minutes long. How the hell are we gonna get fourteen minutes into a nine minute chapter?” That’s for the commercials. It was great.[3]
I know that last year, some of Michael Hogan's work touched me so deeply that—especially in the court scene—he had this moment where he was being pressed and he breaks, and he looks at Adama...
I talked about that for weeks...I thought about it for weeks...it just broke me. I literally was weeping when I saw that. Just that connection...he was completely mad and he had this switch, and he looked at Adama, his best friend, and he just—he admitted it—it was so horrible and so touching....but there's been so many moments like that throughout the series with so much of the cast.[4]

Podcast

Notes from the podcast:

  • The opening teaser is indeed set in the Kobol Opera House that has been seen numerous times. This particular scene in the teaser was a late addition as the director and producers wanted to create a foreboding atmosphere to the episode. This was influenced by the fact that the studio executives were not favorable to the idea of ending the season with Baltar's trial.
  • Moore goes more into the original trial storyline that involved the Sagittarons and Baltar. In summary, during their time on New Caprica, the food supply had been contaminated and a famine had fallen on most of the colonists, except the Sagittarons, who had been very careful with their harvests and supplies. This alienation between the Sagittarons and the rest of the colonies came to a collision when Baltar was attempting to have the Sagittaron leadership share their food with the other colonists. Unfortunately, Baltar was forced to kill one of the leaders, and thus began the riots and slaughter directed towards the Sagittarons. It was to be eventually revealed that this killing was a necessity instead of an act of genocide.
  • Another component of the original storyline was to have Lee Adama be Baltar's only attorney and that Lee's morals come into play when he obtains a video recording of Baltar actually shooting the Sagittaron leader. The cliffhanger of the episode was supposed to leave the audience wondering what Lee Adama will do now that he believes Baltar is guilty.
  • Over time, Moore and the director agreed that this storyline involved too many plot elements that the audience had never witnessed about Baltar. Once the decision was made, Moore completely revised the whole trial and rewrote the episodes.
  • Ron Moore hints that Athena and Roslin did indeed see each other during the dream sequence. A deleted scene had Roslin in the the restroom attempting to cool her head down while Athena comes out from one of the stalls. They look at each other briefly in a silent acknowledgment that they did see each other in the dream.

Noteworthy Dialogue

  • Cassidy's indictment of Gaius Baltar:
Cassidy: How do we measure loss? (pauses) How do we measure loss? We measure it in the faces of the dead. The faces that haunt our memories and our dreams. How do we measure loss? We measure it in our own faces, the ones we see in our mirror every day, because it has marked each of us. So how do we measure loss? When the scale of it becomes too hard to absorb any other way we use numbers. How many killed, how many maimed, how many missing. And when those numbers become too vast to comprehend, as they did two years ago, we had to turn it around. We began to count the living. Those of us who survived to continue the saga of the human race. (walks to a white board and begins to write down.) 44,035; the sum total of survivors from the Twelve Colonies who settled on New Caprica with President Gaius Baltar as their leader and protector. 38,838; our number the day after we escaped. And the missing number, the one no one wants to face? 5,197. 5,197 of us killed, left behind or simply disappeared. 5,197 of all that remains of the human race; lost. The citizens of the Twelve Colonies entrusted their fate and their lives to Gaius Baltar. What we received was a reign of terror that staggers our mind and breaks our hearts. Instead of guidance, we got tyranny. Instead of justice, we got oppression. Instead of a president, we got a murderer. Today humanity holds him accountable for his crime. Gauis Baltar is not a victim. Gauis Baltar chose to side with the Cylons and to actively seek the deaths of his fellow citizens. For that he must pay the ultimate price.
  • Romo Lampkin's opening statement:
Romo Lampkin: Your honors, the defense would like to change our plea to guilty.
Doyle Franks: What? Counselor, are you sure you want to do that?
Lampkin: No, but what choice do I have? I mean, it's obvious my client is guilty. He's a traitor, and a killer. He's no better than the Cylon, and what do we do with them?
Audience Member: Throw them out the airlock!
Lampkin: That's right! Throw them out the airlock! This man sold us to our enemy. This man is our enemy. And if there's one thing that's good in war, that is right and just and proper, it's slaughtering our enemy! Getting some righteous payback! What are we waiting for? Let's just kill him now! (silence, then:) It'd be easier, wouldn't it? Simpler. Justice of the mob. It's what they want. Especially her. She's been wanting this for over a year now. Ever since he beat her in a free and fair election of the people. Now she gets a chance to exact her revenge upon a man whose only real crime is bowing to the inevitable. Gaius Baltar saved the lives of the people on New Caprica, where Laura Roslin would have seen us all dead, victims of a battle we had no hope in winning. I don't know about you, but I'm glad she wasn't the president when the Cylons arrived and said, "Surrender or die." I owe my life to Gaius Baltar and the decision he made that day. So does Laura Roslin.
Lee Adama: I will not serve under a man who questions my integrity.
William Adama: And won't have an officer under my command who doesn't have any.
Saul Tigh: I'm sorry about all that in court.
William Adama: There's nothing to be sorry about.
Saul Tigh: I embarrassed you. Made you look bad.
William Adama: You're my oldest friend, Saul. You never embarrass me.
Romo Lampkin: You're awfully quiet.
Lee Adama: Nah. Just listening.
Romo Lampkin: See, your problem is I'm a really good liar and you're not. So let's have it.
Lee Adama: Have what?
Gaius Baltar: My god, he's right. You do know something. You know something and you're not saying it.
Lee Adama: It might not even be true.
Romo Lampkin: I like it already.

Guest Stars

References

  1. Q&A with Ron D. Moore (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). (5 Novemeber 2007). Retrieved on 11 April 2008.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Nuytens, Gilles (1 May 2007). The Sci-Fi World: Mark Sheppard interview (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). Retrieved on 24 May 2007.
  3. Buddytv.com Exclusive Interview: Mark Sheppard, from 'Battlestar Galactica' (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). (3 July 2007). Retrieved on 13 August 2007.
  4. Bensoussan, Jenna (24 November 2007). ACED Magazine: Battlestar Galactica: Cast Interviews (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). Retrieved on 25 November 2007.