Colonial Day

Overview[edit]

It is Colonial Day

Summary[edit]

On Caprica:[edit]

Helo and Valerii have reached Delphi
Helo considers the humano-Cylons to be human "replicants", created by the Cylons using human DNA.
Valerii uses this idea as a means of testing his possible feelings towards her, should she reveal her true identity
Later, as they try to enter the Cylon base at Delphi, Helo first off witnesses two more copies of Six in conversation. After they part, another copy of Valerii comes into view - and sees him
As the "new" Valerii goes for her gun, Helo's Valerii shoot her, and suddenly the pieces fall into place for Helo and he takes off at the run, flashbacks of everything that has happened during his time on Caprica flashing through his mind - Valerii rescuing him; asking her why she never gets tired when running; his comments about the two of them never enountering other humans...
Valerii chases him, calling for him to stop, but he ignores her, and she seems to give up the chase.

Review[edit]

THE CYLONS WERE CREATED BY MAN. THEY REBELLED. THEY EVOLVED. THEY LOOK AND FEEL HUMAN. SOME OF THEM ARE PROGRAMMED TO THINK THEY ARE HUMAN. THERE ARE MANY COPIES.

AND THEY HAVE A PLAN

Re-cap[edit]

33: Valerii shooting Six as she comes to Helo's "rescue"
The Hand of God: Helo seeing Six leading a troop of Cylon warriors towards the famr he and Valerii are hiding in, and Valerii telling him they have to run
Bastille Day: Shots of Tom Zarek over which Billy Keikeya and Dualla are heard arguing about his status as a prisoner of conscience or a terrorist / butcher
Bastille Day: Zarek saying he thought Lee Adama said he respected him, Lee replying that was before he resorted to violence & hostage-taking, over clips of the take-over of the Astral Queen
Bastille Day: Roslin listening to Zarek's broadcast to the fleet calling for her resignation, cutting to a shot of Zarek as he demands elections
Lee Adama holding a gun to Zarek's head, telling him to let the hostages go in return for control of the Astral Queen

Teaser[edit]

Fade-in on a massive starliner, complete with huge domed biome moving with the fleet. As the camera closes on the ship, the caption CLOUD NINE LUXURY LINER appears. The camera closes on the huge, brightly-lit biome come as two Vipers fly by, then the camera is inside the dome, panning down from the white/blue "sky" to trees and a garden over which a sign reading WELCOME QUORUM DELEGATES hangs, and within which a trio of media pundits sit.

The pundits are hosting a new live broadcast show - The Colonial Gang - a show designed to bring the people all the news on the "movers and shakers" within the fleet. During the introduction to the show, it is revealed that the Cloud Nine was damaged during the Cylon Attack and has only just been repaired - and that President Laura Roslin has chosen it for the first meeting of the interim Quorum of Twelve, which has been set to coincide with Colonial Day. The three then discuss the upcoming meeting, and do what pundits do best - disagree with one another, with one of them claiming Roslin has rigged the Quorum with "yes men" selected by her advisor, Wallace Gray, while the remaining two pundits run a counter-argument praising both Roslin and Gray.

As the pundits get into their debate, the scene is intercut with a lone gunman checking and then packing an automatic pistol into a hidden compartment in an atache case, and with Roslin aboard Colonial One, listening to the broadcast with growing disgust, despite the spirited defence of her and Wallace by two of the pundits.

As Wallace is referred to as a "fatuous gasbag", Roslin turns off her radio in disgust - and Wallace himself arrives in her office, requesting 5 minutes. Then exchange small talk about the broadcast, but before they can get down to business, Billy Keikeya interrupts them, and turns on the radio again - in time for them to hear an announcement that the people of Saggittaron have selected Tom Zarek to be their representative on the Quorum of Twelve. As the pundit's debate moves to discuss Zarek's status, Roslin berates herself for not seeing the move coming, and the camera cuts away briefly to the mysterious gunman resuming his preparations before cutting back ot Roslin's office as Wallace notes, "He blew up a government building. Now he's going to sit on the Quorum."

At that moment the telephone buzzes - Adama is on the line from the Galactica. He is drect in his view: they cannot allow a terrorist to sit in government. Roslin replies that her hands are tied: Saggittaran law states that once a convict has served time, they regain their citizenship. Adama offers to place a ban on Zarek's ability to travel within the fleet - thus making it impossible for him to reach the Cloud Nine, but again Roslin refuses. While Adama has a valid point - Zarek represents a danger to the fleet - she can ill-afford to have the crew of the Galactica acting as her personal "goon squad". As the conversation ends, the radio cuts to a live transmission from Zarek himself, in which he claims to be humbled by the honour bestowed on him, accepts the position, and promises to be a "voice for those who have gone too long unheard by a government that serves only the privileged and the powerful, but turns a blind eye to the weak and the poor..." as he continues, the gunman completes his preparations, closes the attache case and walks away with it, with the opening titles replacing him.

Acts[edit]

Following the opening titles, Dr. Gaius Baltar is working in his lab, running tests on the blood samples supplied to him for "Cylon scanning". Kara "Starbuck" Thrace enters the lab to inform him when their shuttle will be departing for Cloud Nine. Baltar is mystified by this news, and Six somewhat put out as she hisses, "A surprise getaway? ust the two of you?" Starbuck breask the news to Baltar: he's been selected as the representative for Caprica on the Quorum - she'll be handling his security. After she has gone, Baltar is less than ecstatic, "Politics is the only thing more boring than blood samples. All those interminable speeches, all that really pomp-". He is interrupted by Six, "...Parties full of young women...drawn to men of power." This gives Baltar pause for thought. "Well when the people call, you must serve," he decides, looking at her.

Later, on the Cloud Nine, Lee Adama and Starbuck catch some sun - Lee enjoying the sensation, Thrace bemoaning the fact the horizon has been terribly well done - the frame of the biome is visible through it. She points out that security is going to ba a pain, with "thousands" of places for a sniper to hide, and Lee conferming they have around 500 people to protect, with each colony sending a delegation of leading citizens. They briefly discuss the machinations of politics - Starbuck pointing out the the move really is the first play in Roslin's game to be re-elected, and the conversation degenerates into water play as she takes a garden hose and starts spraying Lee with it.

Later still, as the delegates begin to arrive, the attache case walks by with the aid of a man in a suit. It passes through a security screen without being detected. Outside the biome's ballroom, delegates are being received - with Colonel Tigh and his wife Ellen on hand to represent the Galactica. Elsewhere, the man with the attache case meets with another and they shake hands without a word. Behind them Zarek arrives. As he passes a spectator, he is called a murderer, a claim that leads to a shoving match between the spectator and the man met by Mr. Attache Case. The confrontation is broken-up by Lee Adama.

Meanwhile Zarek arrives at the welcoming committee, and Tigh refuses to shake his hand. Ellen, on the other hand, not only shakes his hand, she makes sure the media take pictures. Afterwards, when challegned by her husband as to why she did this, she claims that Roslin is the past and Zarek is the future.

Down the line, Zarek arrives before Roslin and asks if she'll shake his hand. She not only does this, she also kisses him on the cheeks. Congratulating her on her "play", Zarek asks her to remember that he is not her enemy.

Once inside the ballroom, the Quroum gets down to business, with Roslin running through the heavy agenda. Most of the delegates are listening - Baltar is bored. That is until Six taps him on the shoulder and points out he is missing an "intriguing opportunity": Playa Palacios isn't wearing any underwear. This gets Baltar's attention as Six further points out that Playa has been eyeing him all afternoon. As Baltar stares at the report, she shifts in her seat suggestively - her move hinting that she is indeed without underwear. "She's only human," Baltar states, his ego coming to the fore. He then glances askance at Six, "You're not jealous?" she looks him in the eye, "Love isn't about sex, Gaius." The comment sets him nodding. "There's an enlightened point of view," he agrees. "I've ben thinking," she continues, "As far as I'm concerned, you can have any woman you want, but always remmeber: I have your heart," and she reaches for Baltar's chest, causing him to look down before he replies, "Yes, of course you do," as he looks back at her. Her look hards, and she appears to dig her fingers into Baltar's chest (although this is off-camera), as she concludes, "And I can always rip it out of your chest if I want to, " a comment which has himtrying to suppress a cough and reaching to his left breast with his right hand as a look of discomfort crosses his face.

On the floor, Roslin concludes her run-through of the agenda and the reasons why it has been set. She then asks for a moment for the agenda to be accepted - but Zarek raises an objection. While he acknowledges that all the points on the agenda are valid, one important one is missing: the appointment of a Vice President, pointing out that "Gods fobid, if anything happens to you, Madam President, we have no designated successor." As he continues, the attache case move through the back of the auditorium, as Zarek suggests that without a successor to Roslin, the door would be "wide open for a military dictatorship". He therefore moves that the first item on the agenda should be nominations for Vice President. As the motion is made, Six tells Baltar to second it. When he fails to do so, she barks at him to second the motion, and appears to hold up his left arm, prompting him to call "Second!" - shocking the room and Roslin.

With the movement made and seconded, Roslin has no cjoice but to put it to the vote - which passes, as is immediately followed by Virgon nominating Tom Zarek; a nomination that is immediately seconded by Gemenon. Clearly stunned by the turn of events, Roslin confirms Zarek's nomination - Zarek himself doing a good turn at looking humbly surprised - and then stating the chair will remain open a further 72 hours for further nominations for VP.

After the sessin, back on Colonial One Roslin is determined Zarek will not be her VP. A discussion then ensues between her, Wallace Gray, Lee Adama and Billy Keikeya concerning Zarek's nomination and Roslin determines she needs a candidate of her own: she selects Wallace, who reluctantly accepts.

Meanwhile, on Cloud Nine, Zarek grandstands before the media. While making valid points about the condition of society in the fleet - where there is effectively no economy, no market, no commerce, no industry and where money is useless, yet people are being held "hostage" by the idea of the way society used to operate - he is clearly making a more public bid for power, offering up some of the basic tenets of socialism in the process.

Listening to the broadcast in a bar on the liner, Lee Adama isn't impressed, and orders the radio turned off. The man he confronted earlier wants the radio on. An argument quickly develops, the man seekingthe support of the people at the bar - one of whom is Mr. Attache Case. The argument escalates to a fight that quickly draws in other members of the bar and Starbuck. In the midst of it all, the attache case is sent flying, scattering its contents and revealing the gun. Starbuck spots it as the owner of the case gathers everything and makes a run for it. As Lee subdues his assailant with the aid of the beer bottle first used on him, Starbuck catches the gunman and brings him down with her walking stick, the case and gun aagin going flying. She and the gunman both scrabble for it - and she gets to it first, cocking it and aiming at him.

Meanwhile, away on CYLON-OCCUPIED CAPRICA, Karl C. Agathon, call sign Helo, has arrived in the vicinity of Delphi, together with Valerii. It is raining again, and Delphi indeed appears now to be a major Cylon base. Deciding to wait until dark before making any attempt to enter the base and steal a ship, they turn their attention to a meal - Valerii apparently ravenous, having got over her "sickness". However, Helo remains oblivious to the likely cause of both her sickness and her hunger, and brings up the subject of the "woman" (Six) they saw back at the farm The Hand of God and her similarity to the woman Valerii shot when resucing him, positing his theory that the Cylons have stolen human DNA, and used it to create clones - replicants - under Cylon control and seeded them throughout the 12 colonies. He determines that this is how the Cylons defeated humanity: by having the replicants infiltrating the colonies and laying the groundwork for the surprise attack to succeed.

Taking this as a starting point, Valerii uses it to probe Helo's potential reaction to discovering she's a Cylon, aby suggesting that if they are "clones", they may be capable of complex emotions - perhaps even love - and as such are simply misguided. Helo will not buy it: they simply are not human, not with the blood of humanity on their hands. They are the same as the Cylons.

On the Cloud Nine, Starbuck and Lee interrogate Attache Case Man, who now has a name - Valance. He tries to deny everything: the fact that he has a copy of Roslin's itinerary, that he was crying a gun in a shielded case to avoid it showing on the scanners, etc. Despite leaning on him to the point of threatening his execution, they fail to tie him to Zarek. Lee appeals to Roslin to kick the Saggittron delegation out of the Quorum on the grounds Zarek may have another assassin waiting, but she refuses, telling him to lean of Valance and eavesdrop om Zarek to get the evidence they need.

In the Quorum itself, Wallace Gray is presenting his mission sttatment for the future of the fleet. The mission statement may well address the important issue - but the presentation is living up to Wallace's name: gray. As it proceeds, Lee drops by Zarek's seat, whispering that they have Valance, and Zarek is next, a comment that causes Zarek a small amount of displeasure.

After the session, Zarek engineers an encounter with Ellen Tigh. They dance around the subject of power and people having an agenda, and the future. The little dance leads Zarek to ask outright about the location of Valance. In a cut-away, Lee and Starbuck subsequently find Valance dead - an apparent suicide.

As they seek out Roslin with the news, Baltar is interviewd by the media. The matter of Valance's death is discussed aboard Colonial One - with Tigh in attendance. It is pointed out that only the people in Roslin's office - the president, Billy, Lee, Starbuck and Tigh - knew of Valance's whereabouts; but Roslin is increasingly distracted by Baltar's interview - which quickly becomes a speech, ever inch as eloquent as Zarek's, but which points out Roslin's inherent strengths and Zarek's own weaknesses.

As Tigh runs through the list of things they no longer have as a result of Valance's death: no assassin, no link to Zarek, etc., Roslin becomes increasingly enamoured of Baltar's speech. Lee repeats his concern that aas attempt will be made on Roslin's life. She is adamant that Zarek won't do anything until he win the VP nomination - and she's not going to let him win, even if she has to do a couple of unpleasant things, and she orders a shuttle to take her to Cloud Nine.

Once there, she meets with Gray, and has him stand down as a nominee for Vice President - something he does none to graciously. She then visits Baltar, who is in the public toilets. Here she congratulates Baltar on his earlier speech, and ascertains thathe is not about to support Zarek. She then informs him that Gray has dropped out of the running, and that she'd like him to take Gray's place. Baltar accepts. After Roslin has left the toilets, Playa Palacios steps out of the cubicle Baltar had apparently been occupying, "Wow! now what?" she asks. Directing her back into the cubicle, Baltar replies, "Now I give you and exclusive!"

On Galactica, Lee and Starbuck discuss the Roslin / Zarek situation in alocker room, which finishes with Starbuck donning a dirct uniform tunic (the result of the fight on Cloud Nine. The conversation ends with jokes about hygiene and Lee asking Starbuck to let him know when it is one of those times she "cleans up good".

Later - perhaps the following day - on 'Cloud Nine', Roslin draws the results of the Quorum's votes for the VP. The vote is split 6 votes for Zarek, and 6 for Baltar - leaving Roslin with the deciding vote - and this much is announced by Playa Palacios. The action jumps to a point later in time, with Laura Roslin announcing the new Vice President at the Colonial Day celebrations: it is Gaius Baltar.

As he is received by the crowd and mobbed by women, Baltar finds himself facing Six. "The perks of power, Mister Vice President," she informs him, draping her arms around his neck. "We're going to do great things together." Baltar, a little dazed and confused, replies that is it hard to fathom. "I didn't aspire to power," he states. "Of course you didn't, Gaius." Six agrees, "But someone had to step up." He nods, "Yeah, well after what Laura told me..." The causes Six to freeze. "Laura?" she replies flatly. "Yeah w're...we're like on first name basis now." A number of genuine female arms reach out for him, and he backs away, apparently talking to empty air. "Now, uh, people, ah, people need me. Excuse us..." and he wraps his arms around two women.

Across the room at the bar, a blonde is drinking on her own. As Lee approaches, she turns, and he is stunned to see Starbuck in an evening gown. "So, ah...that bum knee of yours is looking pretty good," he states, eyes not exactly on her knees. "And, ah the other one's not looking too bad either." He then asks her if she wants to dance. "Me in a dress is a once in a lifetime opportunity," she replies, as they head to the dance floor.

As they go, Zarek meets with Roslin and congratulates her - but warns her there is still the election in 6 months time. He also leans forward and whispers he did not kill Valance, and he wonders who did - a comment that confuses her.

As the party progresses, Adama arrives. He and Roslin exchange small talk around her selection of Baltar ("Better the devil you know", she states) and the nature of politics and war, before he takes her out to the dance floor as well.

Out among the dancers, Ellen Tigh reveals to her husband that she has secured a day in a luxury suite aboard the Rising Star. When he asks how she did this, she is evasive, stating only that she "has her ways"., and that all he needs to do is work out how he can get Adama to give him a day off and - while he's on the Rising Star, think about talking to a few people about his future - a comment she refuses to be drawn on further, but as they continue to dance, she exchanges a look with Tom Zarek, seated at the bar.

Tag[edit]

It is night on Caprica. Helo and Valerii are at the perimeter of the Cylon base. "If anything should happen," she states, but Helo stop her, telling her they are going to make it. Valerii kisses him hard as a patrol ship comes in to land. Using the disctraction it creates as cover, they make it into the base. Once inside they make their way along a ledge on the upper floor of a building - but Six steps out of a door below, and is joined by one of her "sisters". They converse for a short while, then Six steps back indoor and her "sister" walks off. Helo is about to resume his way along the side of the building when Valerii dressed in civilian clothes walks around the corner taken by the 2nd Six and sees Helo. Shocked at seeing her, he fails to react as she draws a gun - but it is "his" Valerii who fires first, killing her twin...

...And suddenly all the pieces fall into place, and Helo return along the ledge of the building, passing Valerii, and takes off at a run, images of his "rescue" of Valerii never seeming to tire during their flight, his commnents to her in the famr about them being the only humans....all of it comes back to him as he runs, Valerii calling after him and pursuing him for a few steps before stopping.

Fade-out.

--Colonial Archivist 20:41, 6 Jan 2005 (EST)

Analysis[edit]

This is the most poorly-conceived and executed episode in BSG's first season. While it does make valid points about the nature and structure of Colonial society within the fleet (or at least Tom Zarek does very briefly), outside of the Helo/Valerii situation on Caprica, the storyline here is ultimately transparent and weak.

Specifically:

There has been no real sight nor sound of the Cloud Nine (admittedly a wonderfully-ironic name) in the fleet until now - and this is being passed off as being because she has been "under repair".

"Wallace Gray" is allegedly the power behind Roslin's throne, setting her agenda and policies, overseeing the distribution of food and medical supplies - essentially performing the role of her Chief of Staff / right-hand-man yet never once has he been previously mentioned or seen!

Further, Wallace Gray is so clearly a plot tool - and a badly-handled one at that: first he doesn't want the VP nomination, but accepts because Roslin needs him; then when asked to step down, he comes off in an embittered huff (presumably never to be seen again).

Zarek's challenge for the position of Veep is an obvious construction to lay the path for Gaius Baltar to become the Vice President.

It is surprising that, after her somewhat vicious words to him in Six Degrees of Separation, Roslin can face off with Baltar without so much as an apology for past actions - it has already been established (Secrets and Lies) that since that event she has barely spoken to him - and it hardly seems likely she'd use their time together in the Galactica'sSituation Room to make her apologies / overtures of friendship (The Hand of God).

It is equally surprising that Baltar's ego doesn't offer greater resistance. True, she is to a degree panderin to his desire to be back in the limelight - but given his nature, such an open "forgive and forget" doesn't entirely sit with his nature.

Baltar's ascendency to the position of Vice President is badly telegraphed almost as soon as Starbuck visits Baltar in has lab at the top of the show (following the opening titles) to inform him he has been selected as Caprica's representative in the Quorum.

The intrigue around Valance and his gun, etc., is heavy-handed and comes across ostensibly as padding for a storyline otherwise short on action.

There is still some excellent acting in the episode - especially where Baltar is concerned (his interview with the press and particularly his "Exclusive Interview") in the toilets), but this still doesn't compensate for the rest of the time spent on Cloud Nine.

Not even the supposed "intrigue" surrounding Valance's death - and Ellen Tigh's possible role in it - fails to fire on all cylinders.

Opposing this is the Helo/Caprica storyline which beautifully encapsulates all we need to know and feel:

Valerii's attempt to probe Helo about his feelings, using his "replicant" theory
Valerii is showing more symptoms of being pregnant
They reach Delphi and the chance of a ship off the planet
Helo is suddenly - and quite unexpectedly - confronted with Valerii's true nature.

This is excellent stuff, but amount to less than 10 minutes of screen time, and again, isn't enough to lift this episode.

Still, every show tends to misfire once or twice through the course of a season - some managing to do so a lot more frequently. We're fortunate that this is the first - and hopefully only - hiccup in what has otherwise been a highly-successful first season.

Notes[edit]

10 days have passed since the events of The Hand of God
The Articles of Colonisation were signed 52 years ago
- Given the 12 colonies have been inhabited for centuries, the Articles therefore don't directly relate to the settlement of thses worlds
- However, given the timeframe (52 years) and its proximity to the first Cylon War, perhaps the original articles were the document that united the 12 colonies to fight the treat of the Cylons, and became the bases for their peaceful co-operation after the war

Noteworthy Dialogue[edit]

Helo and Valerii have arrived in the vicinty of the Cylon base at Delphi, and the talk turns to the two women "helping" the Cylons

Helo: (Standing as Valerii crouches with her back to him, getting some food) I'm trying to make sense out of two women would sell [out] to the Cylons. Valerii: (keeping her back to him) And? Helo: I can't fathom why anybody would want to help the toasters...and they just happen to be twins? It's too weird. Valerii: You got a better explanation? Helo: Do you think the Cylons could be messing with human DNA? (Valerii reacts, mouth opening as she looks away). Cloning people or something? Valerii: (gathering herself and looking over her shoulder at Helo) Could be. Helo: (nodding and crouching) That would explain how they took us by surprise. They had these...replicated humans infiltrating the colonies, laying the groundwork for the surprise attack. Valerii: (pausing, as if considering this) You know, if they were human clones, that measn they're capable of...complex emotions - maybe even love. Maybe they were misguided in the way they were indoctrinated... Helo: (interrupting) Wait a minute! They're not human! No human could do the things they've done - killed billions of innocent people (Valerii looks away, hurt) Helo. They've got to be frakking Cylons, just like the rest of them...

Official Statements[edit]

Statistics[edit]

Guest Stars[edit]

Writing & Direction[edit]

Written by Carla Robinson
Directed by Joans Pate

Production Notes[edit]

Series 1 (2004 / 2005)
Production Number: 1.11
Airdate Order: 11 (of 13)

First Run Air Dates & Releases[edit]

UK Airdate: 10 January 2005 (Sky One)
US Airdate: (Sci-Fi Channel)
DVD Release: N/A