Flight of the Phoenix

"Flight of the Phoenix" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
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Overview

Galactica is besieged, first internally by Cylon computer viruses, then externally by a large imminent Cylon attack force. Faced with a Viper shortage, Tyrol tackles the difficult task of building them from scratch. Meanwhile, Helo is dealing with the repercussions of his relationship with Sharon Valerii, a known Cylon agent.

Summary

• Laura Roslin's illness has reached a critical level. While she is still well enough to walk, Dr. Cottle gives her approximately one month to live.
• Helo has become persona non grata to many of the crew who distrust him due to his romance with the Caprica copy of Humano-Cylon Sharon Valerii.
• Many of the crew, even the generally level-headed and reliable Lieutenant Gaeta, are showing the strain of the apparent futility and fatigue of running from the Cylons.
• Chief Tyrol, with also little else to do with scrapped Vipers, begins a project to craft a new fighter. Initially many crew are very skeptical, but soon many others help Tyrol.
• Helo suggests carbon composite material for the skin in lieu of the rare plate metal for the fighter. Like the American F/A-22 Raptor Air-Dominance Fighter's low visibility to RADAR, Tyrol's new ship is nearly invisible to DRADIS.
• Kara Thrace and Lee Adama nearly suffocate when the life-support systems on the firing range malfunction.
• A Cylon Logic bomb has attacked ship's systems and will fully control Galactica once an expected Cylon force arrives to activate it by infiltration. Gaeta and Baltar work together to figure a way to rid the ship of it by erasing the hard drives of all computers. Doing this, however, would leave the ship a sitting duck for an attack while time is needed to restore function and data to the computers.
• Adama, after asking the advice of the President, allows the Caprica Valerii to connect herself to the ship's mainframe and communication systems while Gaeta and Baltar erase the hard drives of all computers.
• A Cylon fighter armada consisting of hundreds of Raiders and Heavy Raiders attempts to activate the bomb. However, Valerii responds by transmitting a version of the same bomb to the Cylon fleet, disabling it as the Cylons did the Colonial fleet during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The Viper squadrons annihilate the helpless Cylon fleet in a joyous moment of payback.
• Kara Thrace takes the new fighter, dubbed the Blackbird, for a initially ungainly test spin. This fighter was designed for speed, and delivers it. Lee Adama, in a Viper chase plane, is horrified when the Blackbird disappears, but Kara rises above to face his ship quietly, proving the new fighter's stealth ability.
• In a ceremony similar to the one given to Commander Adama in the Miniseries, President Roslin inspects and christens the new fighter. Many sign the ship. Tyrol reveals the name of this first fighter: Laura.
• The mere work on the new fighter renewed the creativity and hope of the crew--a reason why Adama allowed its construction to continue, despite the logic bomb crisis.

Questions

• This episode was rare in that Baltar's Number Six was completely absent in this episode, despite the Cylon-rich plot. What would she had said about Valerii's aid or the logic bomb?
  • According to RDM's podcast Number Six was in this episode in one scene which was in the end deleted for time; in it Baltar gets up from working on the Cylon virus with Gaeta and has a conversation with Six standing in the middle of CIC.
• It is unlikely that the Caprica-Valerii's presence on Galactica is a secret to her crew since extraordinary measures were made to house her. It is possible that Adama is using a lie-of-omission to cover the existence of the second Valerii to the civilian fleet, since it is very likely that her likeness has been distributed to the rest of the fleet as a warning to keep a watch for other copies, a policy established in a Season 1 episode. While is it improbable that the death of the Galactica-Valerii could be fully contained, it is probable that Adama realizes that rumor and innuendo will disguise the fact that they harbor a second copy for interrogation purposes. In the previous episode, Commander Adama angrily ordered D'anna Biers not to reveal her existence because it could divide the Fleet. There is likely an order to all under Adama's command not to discuss the existence of the second Valerii outside of military circles, although it would not likely stop them from discussing the matter amongst themselves.
• Is Dualla attracted to Apollo (or vice versa)? Dualla seemed to "check out" Apollo's "backside" in "Resistance", and now she's in close physical contact with him. And Apollo has what almost might be called a jealous look when Billy shows up. Yet in "Home, Part I" Lee let it slip in conversation that he "loves" Starbuck (he didn't necessarily say it in more than platonic/fraternal way, however).
• Helo got angry at Chief Tyrol for calling Boomer a Toaster; is this a sign that Helo is thinking more sympathetically towards the Cylons than before? Like the Cylons, does he consider it an "offensive racial epithet"?
• Also with regard to Helo, where did he get the idea to use carbon-composite on the Blackbird? Is that something he thought up himself, or perhaps did Caprica-Valerii 'point' him in that direction?
  • There is nothing to indicate that Caprica-Sharon influenced his decision for this.
• Is order on Galactica starting to break down? In the Miniseries Starbuck was put in the brig for striking a superior officer. Now, Starbuck assaulted Racetrack but there were was no visible punishment, and Tyrol got into a fight with Helo (who outranks him), also with no shown punishment. The deck crews aren't bothering to hide the still they built as much as before, going to far as to have a large "Welcome Back Cally" party with its products in public. Col. Tigh makes a halfhearted verbal chastisement of Tyrol when Tigh finds the still, but doesn't do anything about it and ends up taking a jar of booze for his own use. Also, even Lt. Gaeta is now snapping back at the command officers, shouting and even cursing.
• Was the software code Helo showed to Caprica-Boomer only a virus or did it contain instructions outside the scope of destabilizing and controlling Galactica's systems? Valerii's response to the code seemed to indicate it had affected her on some level. Perhaps was she merely compiling it in her head.
• If the Cylons are so interested and cautious about protecting Caprica-Boomer and her unborn child as stated by Aaron Doral in "Final Cut", why then are they willing to launch a massive assault against Galactica?
• To what extent is Cylon knowledge & experiences shared? We know that Cylon agents can transfer their consciousness to other copies of themselves (Miniseries), but are other Cylon models (such as the drones) interconnected? They would have to be on some level for Caprica-Boomer's trick to work. Is there some 'collective consciousness' at work (similar to the 'Borg' in Star Trek)?
  • Caprica-Boomer seemed to imply in "Home, Part I" that she wasn't involuntarily in constant communication with the other Cylons through some sort of wireless communication net. She probably "switched off" her connection when she went on the run for real in "Flesh and Bone", because two Cylons talking amongst themselves (Six and Doral) said that they didn't know what she was planning (or thinking).

Analysis

• While Humano-Cylons appear human to the cellular level, Sharon could control a fiber-optic connection inserted into her forearm. This suggests that the humanoid Cylon design uses light-sensitive cells disguised as regular cells in their forearms as data access nodes, probably involving the cells interacting with her Silica Relays in her brain, the last vestiges of the humanoid Cylons' mechanical nature. Based on Valerii's extreme discomfort in having to cut herself to interface with the data line in this way, it could be presumed that this is not a typical practice for Humano-Cylons.
• Continuing from "Resistance", Dualla is shown being attracted to Apollo.
• Tyrol's comment to Lee Adama on the lack of miracles, and his answer to the problem, may remind some of another great miracle worker of television science fiction.
• Despite Valerii's belief that she has become a "liability" to the Cylons, the previous episode made it clear that at least some Cylons considered the survival of her baby a paramount concern. The virus, installed before her arrival, was probably oblivious to this, but the massive fleet the Cylons deployed to interdict Galactica could not have been. Additionally, an earnest attack would almost certainly have included a basestar. We must therefore assume that the Cylons had a more complicated motive in making such a massive material sacrifice.
  • Perhaps they hoped to furnish Valerii with an opportunity to demonstrate her loyalty and strategic value to the fleet, thus enabling her to ensure her future safety.
  • Alternatively, perhaps the fleet was sent to remove the logic bomb from Galactica, now that it was putting Valerii in harm's way. However, why so many, and why did one of the Raiders try to activate the logic bomb?
  • Perhaps there are different Cylon factions working at cross purposes.
  • The armada contained several Heavy Raiders as well--perhaps the Cylons were planning on boarding Galactica and taking Sharon by force.
  • Sharon could have just been "assuming" that she was a liability, and simply be wrong. The virus itself was introduced into the ship in "Scattered" and that was before Caprica-Boomer arrived on Galactica. In "Final Cut" it was established that by that episode the Cylons were surprised that Sharon was still alive (they didn't know): perhaps they didn't know she was on Galactica up to that point. But by this point, however, the Cylons knew Sharon was on Galactica when the attack was launched. The virus appears to have just been acting out its function since "Scattered" (ignorant that its actions would destroy Sharon). However, this doesn't clearly explain why the massive Raider attack was launched.
• Our heroes passed up a major opportunity by destroying the Cylon fleet. Adama revoked Roslin's presidency on the basis of the misappropriation of a SINGLE captured Cylon Raider, yet they eliminated dozens of crippled-but-serviceable assets in the name of retribution. After all that work to create a single new fighter, wouldn't a squadron of superior Raiders be worth maintaining in the unused starboard flight pod?
  • A point against the idea of capturing a Raider involves the lucky manner in obtaining the first one. The Raider in "You Can't Go Home Again" was brain-dead from a lucky shot. The Raiders here were turned off by a virus, but it may have been too difficult to remove all of their control mechanisms. Since these are in fact organic mechanisms that could still be fighting to survive, they may have their own ability of causing additional harm if captured alive.
  • Further, Galactica had not idea how long it would be until Cylon reinforcements showed up; they probably didn't want to wait for a Basestar to come. Further, the civilian fleet had jumped away from Galactica in anticipation of the attack, and Galactica probably didn't want to leave them unattended too long. There wasn't enough time and it was too dangerous.
  • At this point, Galactica could have as many as two Heavy Raiders already—the one that crash-landed into the starboard pod in "Scattered" and the one Starbuck, Helo, and Sharon returned with in Home, Part II
    • The Heavy Raider that crash landed in "Scattered" may have suffered irreparable damage.
    • One of the Heavy Raiders' (most likely the one from "The Farm") brains was used in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I" as a means of plotting multiple long jumps back to Caprica.
• As noted below, Helo is now a Viper pilot. This isn't unexpected, as the fleet's desperation in training new Viper pilots has led them to recruit otherwise unqualified candidates (Act of Contrition). Compared to these rapidly trained nuggets, a trained military pilot such as Helo, even if he wasn't qualified and trained as a Viper pilot, would be a great asset. It's likely that he was given some training between "Home, Part I"/"Home, Part II" and this episode.
• It was Helo that suggested the use of carbon composites for the Blackbird, and Starbuck says "Good call, Helo" after it is finished – showing that despite everything, Helo's opinions are still respected, perhaps symbolic of his redemption in the eyes of his crewmates.

Deus Ex Machina Dilemmas in this Episode

Some viewers may express confusion over the amount of time necessary to build the new fighter as well as the time it took to fight off the logic bomb and the Cylon attack. All in all, the whole episode may seem like a series of deus ex machina events to close up the episode.

To the episode's credit, it appears that several days' worth of time elapsed in the episode. This might stretch believability in the fighter's construction, but not in the logic bomb crisis. It must be noted that the breakdown in morale has left many of the crew with very little to do that's worthwhile in their free time. A monumental task such as building a fighter may be easy for a highly motivated, highly skilled and highly bored group of people. (Note the near-cheerful disposition of the workers when Lee Adama and Tigh visit the fighter.)

Further, the fighter was aided by specialists of particular fields in its construction--something that the Chief hasn't the luxury of having while in combat situations. As such, he had more willing and able resources at his command to create the ship than during any Viper repair. The crew also was not under pressure to build the system rapidly; there were many contributors, and work such of this led to a fast build time. It may also be presumed that the Viper design, of which the Blackbird is derived, may have a simple construction of avionics, crew pressure module, engines, and superstructure. These ships are designed for rapid repair and redeploy, so, aside from the Blackbird's initial framework, much of the ship would likely be similar to a Viper. Also, the Blackbird is likely built with more modern technology than that found in the older and harder-to-service Viper Mk. II fighters--the Blackbird is likely descended more from the advanced Mk. VII Viper, of which Tyrol's crew was trained to understand and maintain, not the ancient Viper Mk. II museum pieces.

It was also established in the episode that there were spare spacecraft parts available to Tyrol—at the beginning of an episode he marks a severely damaged Viper for scrap, and Col. Tigh walks in on his still and informs him of some extra engines and other parts that another ship in the fleet is trying to dispose of. Given the ability to cannibalize already-built parts, the assembly of the Blackbird is not as great a task as building a Viper from scratch might be.

Given that the Blackbird wasn't employed in the main plot to, say, take on the hundreds of Cylon fighters in a desperate attack using last-minute technology, the ship was an interesting development. Some viewers may wonder why the Colonials have never built (or why viewers have never seen) a stealth craft to date, or why the Cylons haven't used them in their attacks. Generally speaking, technology usually appears when there is a need for it, and not merely a desire for it. Since both sides are very dependent on DRADIS for coordination and tactical advantage in a fight, the idea of commanding a squadron of ships you cannot see on your own tactical plot can be a bit challenging. Further, while the Colonials still had a standing force in case the Cylons returned, such sneaky technology may seem out of mind to defense strategists when there's no enemy about to test it--especially an enigmatic one such as the Cylons. The Colonials were more intent (at least, up until Baltar's time) to defend itself by using less sophisticated technology and basic war principles such as armor and superiority of numbers, not in making high-tech, fly-by-wire ships with complex evasive ability. As Starbuck seemed to prove in the Blackbird's maiden flight, no amount of technology will compensate for the power of a good pilot and her Mark One Eyeball.

In his podcast for this episode, Ron D. Moore acknowledges the build-time dilemma for the Blackbird, and notes that the vagueness of time elapsed to build the machine was intentional so as to allow it to be built and done with in one episode, instead of drawing out the building into two or three episodes.

Notes

• Population count is 47,853. This is the first time this season that there has been no net change in the count from the previous episode (Final Cut).
• Literary/Film Reference: Flight of the Phoenix is the title of a 1964 novel where survivors from a plane crash in the middle of a desert attempt to rebuild the plane from the wreckage. Two movies, one made in 1965 and the other in 2004, were also made following a similar story line inspired by the book.
• The phoenix is a character from Egypt mythology where, at the end of its lifespan, the bird turns to ash -- only to have another phoenix arise.
• The Blackbird, a new stealth fighter craft, has been constructed by Chief Tyrol with help from the crew.
• The name of new fighter is also shared with the world's fastest known operational supersonic aircraft, the American SR-71, which also has some stealth ability.
• Helo now wears a Viper patch on his flightsuit. He wasn't visibly identified as piloting one of the Vipers deployed against the Cylons, but indeed may have been.
• There is a wide shot when apparently all of Galactica's Vipers are deployed where it's possible to count how many they have: there are 42 Vipers visible onscreen. Oddly, the current count says that there should be no more than 34, and even with Joe Palladino on parole after Final Cut and Helo in a Viper, Galactica shouldn't be able to muster more than 25 pilots.
  • There are at least 7 Viper Mk. VII's visible in this shot. This agrees well with Scattered.
• The first (and so far, only) episode without an appearance by Number Six.
• At the end when Chief Tyrol reconciles with Cally (no longer upset with her for killing Galactica-Boomer), she reaches into a Viper and fixes something he couldn't reach, and he responds "Nice to be small, huh?". This is reminiscent of the scene at the end of the Miniseries, when they have almost the exact same exchange. In that scene, they were reconciling after Cally got angry that Tyrol was having a relationship with Galactica-Boomer.
• President Roslin returns the book "Dark Day" to Commander Adama, which he gave to her back in the second episode, "Water".
• Chief Tyrol and Galactica-Boomer were planning to leave the military together and get married before the Cylon attack. Galen doesn't know now if this is what she really wanted, or if it was just another Cylon manipulation.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Apollo: Nobody's expecting a miracle.

Tyrol: Maybe that's the problem.

• Discussing Helo's return to Galactica:

Duck: So he's the Cylon lover.

Starbuck: You know what? I don't care who or what he fraks. He saved my ass down there, all right?

Duck:How could anyone fall in love with a toaster, though?

Starbuck: Same way I hear everyone was high-fiving our Sharon right before she put two in Adama's chest. The bastards frak with your head.

Hotdog: Yeah. Just ask the Chief.

• Card game in the Viper pilot's lockeroom:

Racetrack: Been playing with these cards for so long, I know every fold.

Starbuck: So life's a bitch. What do you want to do, cry about it?

Racetrack: No, I just want it to end, okay? The bad food, the endless rotations, pretending that a card game is the high point of our day.

Starbuck: It's not going to last forever, all right? Earth is out there.

Racetrack: Right. We could all be chasing our tails over some half-assed planetarium show.

Starbuck: And you guys can all go to hell. I'm going to go find Helo.

Racetrack: Good idea. Maybe that Cylon whore taught him a few tricks.

(Starbuck politely turns around, walks over to Racetrack and grabs her by the neck and slams her head into the card table).

• Helo is sitting in Sharon's old Raptor when the Chief walks up:

Helo: Hey! Look, Chief. I never intended for Sharon and I to-- You know, it just kind of evolved.

Tyrol: Just a couple lovesick kids, huh?

Helo: I know how she felt about you, okay? She loves you.

Tyrol: Did she fill you in o­n the rest of the plan? She and I were going to muster out at the end of our service. You know, then we would get married. Maybe we would have children. I guess I'm just a big frakkin' idiot, though, huh? Probably that goddamn Toaster's plan all along.

Helo: Don't call her that.

Tyrol: Sucker some moron into giving her a kid. Hey, you know, but you know what? I should probably be grateful to you. Probably be grateful. You know why? Because that freak in her belly could have been mine! (Helo and Tyrol fight)

• Lt. Gaeta is starting to lose his composure under constant pressure:

Gaeta: Sir, I'm running every diagnostic we've got. Checking each line of code could take days.

Tigh: I am not interested in excuses. Fix it!

Gaeta: (shouting) It's not an excuse, sir. It's a frakking fact!

• Commander Adama: Months o­n the run, and what do we have to show for it? Casualties. Deteriorating conditions. This crew needs a rest. It's finally hitting them, that's all. Our old lives are gone. The o­nly thing we have to look forward to is this.

• Tigh walks into the tool closet on the hanger deck

Tigh: What's this, Chief?

Tyrol: I'm making solvent, sir, to clean machine parts.

Tigh: Solvent my ass. I know a still when I smell it.

• Starbuck is taking the Blackbird on its first test flight while Apollo follows:

Apollo: Starbuck, Starbuck, where are you? Starbuck, come in. Starbuck, do you read? Kara, are you okay?

Starbuck: (Starbuck turns the lights of the Blackbird on; she's actually got her ship feet away from Apollo's, facing it) Of course you lost contact. It's a damned stealth ship, remember?

• Roslin: Oh, you're much too modest. After what we've been through, it would be very easy to give up, to lose hope. But not here. Not today. This is more than a ship, Chief. This is an act of faith. It is proof that despite all we've lost, we keep trying. And we will get through this, all of us, together. I promise.

Official Statements

• In an interview with BattlestarGalactica.com on December 28th, 2005 RDM was asked about the continuity problems noticed with the number of Vipers deployed in this episode:

"Q: In the battle scene with the Cylons in "Flight of the Phoenix", some think they see more Vipers than pilots, there is the presence of many Mark 7 Vipers, and the Blackbird is in flight before its maiden voyage. Was this effects shot the victim of a script change or something in the editing room? Was the episode originally intended to appear after the Pegasus encounter?

RDM: To be honest, I don't recall the exact number of Vipers in the shot or where we were in the continuity at that point. I do recall the topic coming up in various VFX and production meetings, and I think there was at least an initial rationale for the number on screen -- but it's entirely possible that we cheated a bit in Post in order to make the shot a little sexier. Sorry. It happens."

Guest stars

Aaron Douglas (CPO Galen Tyrol)
Nicki Clyne (SPC Cally)
Leah Cairns (Racetrack)
Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle)
Dominic Zamprogna (Jammer)
Bodie Olmos (Hot Dog)
Jen Halley (Seelix)
Christian Tessier (Duck)
Don Thompson (Anthony Figurski)

Statistics

• USA Nielsen Ratings: 1.9 household rating

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