33

"33" (credit: Sci-Fi Channel)

Overview

Continuing from the events of the mini-series, the Battlestar Galactica and the fleet must avoid their Cylon pursuers, which happen upon them every 33 minutes after each successful FTL jump.

Special Note: This episode marks the premiere of the series.

Summary

The crew of the Battlestar Galactica have been on continuous alert for some 130.35 hours, during which time the fleet has had to make an FTL jump every 33 minutes to escape their Cylon pursuers
Everyone in the fleet is beginning to feel the strain – particularly Gaius Baltar, who is also distracted by his Six’s repeated conversations about God having a plan for him, and also her wanting to have his children
Vessels in the fleet are also beginning to feel the strain: FTL jump engines and their controlling computers are starting to breakdown or malfunction, requiring the Galactica to linger longer and longer in the Cylon line of fire while the rest of the fleet made their jump
Following jump number 237, President Roslin receives word from a Dr. Amorak aboard the Olympic Carrier that he has information concerning about how the Cylons overcame Colonial defences
Overhearing the conversation, Baltar is worried: he knew Amorak at the Defence Ministry. As Six points out, Amorak might have information on Baltar
There is insufficient time before the next jump to bring Amorak aboard Colonial One, but Roslin wants to see him directly after the jump has been completed
Elsewhere, Boomer Valerii is having problems accepting her new ECO, Crashdown, and is feeling guilty about leaving “Helo” Agathon on Caprica
When the next jump is made, the Olympic Carrier, complete with Dr. Amorak and 1344 other souls, vanishes, and Six tries to convince Baltar that it is because God is watching over him
Thirty-three minutes later, the fleet is ready to jump, but the Cylons don’t show up. Adama orders a stand-down from the immediate alert, but the fleet is to maintain a readiness to jump, in case the Cylons show up
When Baltar continues to refuse the concept of God, the Olympic Carrier reappears; Adama orders the fleet to full alert, fearing the worst, and orders the jump clocks reset in anticipation of the Cylons arriving
A CAP lead by Lee Adama intercepts the liner, but when the Carrier fails to heed orders not to approach the fleet, tensions rise, and a radiological alarm reveals there are now nuclear weapons on the liner
As the crisis deepens, the Cylons show up. Adama wants to destroy the liner, but Roslin hesitates to give the order, no one can be sure whether or not there aren’t still 1,345 people aboard the Carrier. Baltar is terrified she won't give the order.
Six uses the hesitation to push Baltar into “repenting” before God. As soon as he does, Roslin gives the order to destroy the liner. Lee Adama and Starbuck open fire, blowing it up
24 hours later, everyone is living with the consequences of their actions. Only Billy has a small nugget of good news: at some point in the proceedings, a couple gave birth to a baby.

On Caprica

Helo is on the run in woodland, and has C4-type ordinance he uses to blow up pursuing Cylon warriors
However, his 6 days on the run comes to an end when he is captured by the Cylons, after being distracted by the appearance of Six, wearing a white rain coat
He is “rescued” by Valerii, who shoots Six and then leads Helo away into the woods

--Colonial Archivist 06:48, 24 Jan 2005 (EST)

Questions

Billy reports that the number of survivors is down by 300 - some lost through death from injuries, etc., some "lost" through initial inaccurate counts, and the rest of whom have "disappeared". How can people simply "disappear" in the fleet?
Does Doctor Amorak truly have something on Baltar's involvement in the holocaust?
Is Six actually in contact with other Cylons, and thus was involved in the disappearance / reappearance of the Olympic Carrier?

Blooper Moments

During the opening titles, the Galactica is shown to be making a jump with her flight pods extended - not only that, the shot is from the Mini-Series.
Billy may be a good PA but he’s crap at maths. “33” starts with 50,298 survivors. He informs Roslin this is in error by 300 = 49,998 survivors. When the Olympic Carrier is destroyed (1345 people), he reduces the total to 47,972 – that’s a reduction of 2026, or 681 people MORE than listed on the Carrier!
Whatever Roslin taught at school, it wasn’t mathematics – she fails to pick up on Billy’s error.

Analysis

Overall, a good opening episode that cleverly adds to a number of arcs from the mini: is Boomer a Cylon? What is the Six who is interacting with Baltar? Can the Colonials truly escape the shadow of the Cylons?

The opening sequence of shots ending with the Valerii on the Ragnar Anchorage is interesting: is this a hint to the real identity of Boomer on Galactica? Also, is the good-natured teasing between Starbuck and Boomer during the CAP an indication that others have noticed Boomer seems to be handling the lack of sleep a lot better than others. Could this lead to some kind of rumour-mill starting-up about her?

As to Baltar's Six: three possibilities seem to suggest themselves:

She is a working of his own psyche; a reaction to his betrayal of his people to the Cylons. Certainly, his increasing psychosis in the episode would seem to point to this; but then, he has - like the rest - been five plus days without sleep, and some degree of paranoia is bound to result.
She is, as she suggested in the mini, an implant in his head and possibly in communication with the Cylons. However, if this is the case, surely the Cylon hunt for the fleet would continue despite the destruction of the Olympic Carrier - as the Cylons would be tracing the fleet through Baltar. Given the humans are to all intents and purposes "on the ropes", it seems odd that they would break off the attack when they have such a clear advantage.
She could she actually be a complete download of "Six's" personality, captured at the point of destruction of Baltar's home, and now contained in his head, possibily occupying his subconscious, out of contact with her own kind, but able to fully interact with his thoughts and feelings – even manipulate his thoughts and feelings?

Hopefully, these issues will be addressed in time. Meanwhile, the episode builds on some of the relationships established in the mini: Apollo and Starbuck clearly have a past, one that reaches beyond command hierarchies, exhaustion and tempers. The hanger deck confrontation is a valuable byplay not so much for what it says, but for the way in which it is communicated - a large element of non-verbal communication passing between Thrace and Lee Adama prior to her taking the stims.

Similarly, Roslin's mistrust of Adama, as expressed at the end of the mini following his admission that "earth" was a deception on his part, has begun to grow into an edgy respect: she knows full-well that without his leadership, the fleet would not have survived 5 days of repeated FTL jumps - and she is prepared to admit it.

Then there is Adama's relationship with his son. From the scene where they discuss responsibility, it is evident that there is a gulf between them still - one that may well be held open in part by their relative positions aboard the Galactica: Adama is Lee's father and the Officer Commanding the Galactica. While both again appear to want to bridge the gap – the difference in rank still prevents them openly discussing things: hence Lee's act of rebuffing his father's attempt to console him following the shooting of the Olympic Carrier.

Overall the three storylines evident in the episode – escaping the Cylons, Baltar and Six and Helo on Caprica - are cleverly interwoven, with the main storyline; the Baltar / Six relationship in particular intersecting smoothly through the crisis involving the Olympic Carrier, while the Helo subplot is given enough exposure to engage us and deflect attention from the "A" story sufficiently to heighten the drama, without actually interrupting the overall story flow.

Indeed, such is the subtlety of the Helo sub-plot that the questions it raises don't really reveal themselves until a second viewing, and you realise they are related to the central Cylon theme: why does Six ask him if he is alive? He clearly is, and the question is not a reference to either his leg wound or his radiation-induced sickness. Nor is it simply a throwback to her "sister's" first words to the Colonial officer at Armistice Station. It is something that appears to go to the very centre of Cylon reasoning.

Similarly, while it could be over-sensitivity given the amount of time the Valerii on Caprica was on-screen, but one couldn't help but feel she was perhaps a little too human; too familiar with Helo? It seems odd that she is introduced to Helo through the "killing" of the Six construct. Why resort to the "murder" of one of her own? Was this simply to establish her credibility in the eyes of Helo? Could she not have found another way to make contact with Helo? Contrasted with the comments regarding Boomer's heritage back at Galactica, are the writers attempting to imply something? Could it bee that BOTH the Valerii characters are Cylons that believe themselves to be human?

Time will tell - but it will be interesting to see how the Helo/Valerii/Caprica arc is followed-up.

But, in discussing the role of Cylon agents, there is a potentially interesting throwaway comment in this episode that might be an indication that something is amiss in the fleet: in discussing the number of survivors, Roslin asks why the total has dropped by 300. Billy responds that some over-counts were made (understandable), that there have been deaths from wounds (possibly people picked up from the 12 colonies), and some seem to have simply "disappeared" during the last Cylon attack (witnessed prior to jump 237).

"Disappeared"? How? No ships were destroyed during the attack / jump, so how do people just "disappear"? Again, is this simply an error in the script, or are the writers trying to point at something deeper?

All that said, the episode isn't without some flaws.

Nit-picks

Why is Boomer's Raptor launched alongside Apollo's Vipers for what everyone is expecting to be an interdiction exercise against Cylon Raiders? It is a complete departure from previous actions: in the mini, CAG ordered Boomer to get her Raptor out of the way as his squadron went into to face the Cylon Raiders; at Ragnar, the Raptors weren't deployed against incoming Raiders, nor where they in evidence prior to jump 237 at the start of this episode. It is unclear whether Raptors are armed, or whether they would be effectively in an electronic warfare capability against Raiders, but the sudden presence of a Raptor in a Viper interdiction flight smacks of being a somewhat clumsy means of meeting the needs of the plot: obviously, the writers wanted Boomer there to handle the communications with Olympic Carrier & so heighten the perceived tension.

The 9/11 scene is, sadly, something of a misplaced element. Yes, 9/11 is a horror that stunned the world, and will always rightfully have a place in the memories of all Americans, but the use of a scene that so closely mirrors the aftermath of the site around the World Trade Centre to try and convey the sense of loss the Colonials are feeling is somewhat heavy-handed. More should have been done to impart this to the audience back in the mini (where Cylon strikes on the Colonial worlds were restricted to a few scenes of Caprica, and even then the outright and inevitable destruction was barely shown).

Similarly, the failure to openly resolve the issue of whether or not 1345 people were aboard the Olympic Carrier weakens the story. Indeed, Apollo's flyby of the ship is suggestive that she indeed wasn't carrying anyone any more - thus removing our feelings of horror one step further from the drama being played out on screen. In opting to remain ambiguous about the presence of humans aboard the ship, the writers very much weaken the entire “should we / shouldn’t we” argument as to whether the Colonials can fire on and destroy the ship. Should they have shown people clinging to the windows of the Carrier, staring back at Apollo in helplessness as he made his final fly-by? Perhaps; perhaps not - but out emotions would have been better engaged if we had at least seen some evidence that lives were going to be destroyed along with the Olympic Carrier.

A final nit-pick comes with the reminder of Tigh's alcoholism. The by-play here didn't entirely fit, and came across as a clumsy reminder that the writers hadn't forgotten about Tigh's condition and would possibly be returning to it in the future. Better to have kept the focus on Adama's comments regarding driving and managing the crew.

However, all this said, "33" serves as an excellent opening episode: the pacing is smooth, the storylines cleverly interwoven and combined without stepping on one another, and there are no hurried or harried resolutions. Arcs established in the mini are extended and new interactions given birth.

--Colonial Archivist 11:59, 6 Jan 2005 (EST)

Notes

Continuous jumping badly affects the FTL drives and management systems aboard Colonial vessels
The Cylons have the same ability to undertake highly-accurate FTL jumps as the Colonials: 238 times they’ve managed to jump to the Colonial fleet and arrive with precise momentum and trajectory to be able to close the distance and launch an attack
There are 5,251 people in the fleet from Sagittaron

Noteworthy Dialogue

Discussion on Stims between Lee & Kara

Lee: "Hey, um, did you see the note from the XO?"
Kara: "I saw it. No way."
Lee: "Kara, everyone else--"
Kara: "I don't fly with stims. They fudge with your reflexes, reaction time."
Lee: "C'mon Kara, give me a break. Just--"
Kara: "Why are we arguing about this?"
Lee: "I have no idea."
Kara: "Neither do I. You're the CAG, act like one."
Lee: "What does that mean?"
Kara: "It means that you're still acting like everyone's best friend. We're not friends. You're the CAG. (beat) 'Be careful out there?' Our job isn't to be careful, it's to shoot fraking Cylons out of the sky. 'Good Hunting' is what you say. And one of your idiot pilots is acting like a child and refusing to take her pills. So she either says 'Yes, sir' and obeys a direct order, or you smack her in the mouth and drag her sorry ass to sickbay and you make her take those pills."
(beat; Lee bursts out with a chortle)
Lee: "Well, I'm glad I'm not working for you."
Kara: "Damn right you're glad."<br? Lee: "So do I have to smack you in the mouth, Lieutenant?"
Kara: "No sir, I'll take my pills."

Official Statements

Blog Entry from Ronald D. Moore

Source: SciFi.com's RDM Blog

Why 33 minutes?

The truth is, there's no real answer. It's just a random number that felt right when I came up with the idea that our people were under continuous, relentless attack since the end of the pilot. I wanted it to be a short interval, just long enough for them to grab a bite to eat, jump in the shower and maybe try to catch a catnap before dragging themselves back to their duty stations and begin the whole tedious, terrifying ordeal all over again.

A deeper truth is, I was never interested in coming up with an explanation for Why? Never. I mean, I suppose I could've come up with a sufficiently important-sounding bit of technobabble that would've made sense (you see, the Cylon double-talk sensors tracking the Olympic Carrier's nonsense drive signature needed 15 minutes to relay the made-up data wave through the pretend continuum, then the Cylon navigational hyper silly system needed another 10 minutes to recalculate the flux capacitor, etc.) but what would that have really added to the drama? How does explaining that 33 minute interval help our understanding of Laura's terrible moment of decision, or bring us to any greater knowledge of Dualla's search for her missing family and friends, or yield insight into Baltar's morally shattered psyche?

It doesn't, of course. The answer, however artfully it may (or may not) have been crafted can only subtract from the experience we have in watching the episode. Not knowing the how's or why's of the Cylon attack puts us in the same seat as the characters we're watching. They're in the dark, and we're in the dark. The relentless attack is unfathomable in its origin and unstoppable in its execution. It's mortality coming at you on a loop. If you only had 33 minutes before the next time you could die, what would you do? And what about the time after that? And the time after that? At a certain point, you stop caring about why it's happening, all you know is that it is happening, and it's happening to you.

So the mystery of 33 will be permanent on this show. No explanation, not even the attempt. Let it just be a number that seemed like an eternity for five long days on the battlestar Galactica.

Statistics

Guest Stars

Alonso Oyarzun as Socinus
Nicki Clyne as Cally

Writing & Direction

Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Michael Rymer

Production Notes

Series: 1 (2004 / 2005)
Production Number: 1.01
Airdate Order: 1 (of 13)

First Run Air Dates & Releases

UK Airdate: 18 October 2004 (Sky One)
US Airdate: 14 January 2005 (Sci-Fi Channel)
DVD Release: 28 March 2005 (UK)