The Eye of Jupiter

For the artifact contained within The Temple of Five see Eye of Jupiter

This page contains possible spoiler information! This page contains spoilers regarding an unaired episode or published work, which may have an effect on your viewing. Please DO NOT read any content from this article if you wish to avoid knowing events before they are aired or published. Also keep in mind that information based on preliminary reports is subject to change and may differ from what is aired later.

"The Eye of Jupiter" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 11
Writer(s)	Mark Verheiden
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	December 15, 2006
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	? survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Passage	The Eye of Jupiter	Rapture
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
[[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: [{{{itunes}}} USA]

Overview

The crew of Galactica makes a stop at the barren Algae planet.

The Temple of Five is discovered, leading to a standoff between the Cylons and the Colonials over the Eye of Jupiter. Also: the Cylons bring news about Sharon's baby. - TV Guide

Logline: The possible discovery of the Eye of Jupiter on the algae planet leads to a deadly stand-off, as the Cylons and humans risk all for a chance to find the way to Earth.

While working on the algae planet, Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) discovers the Temple of Five, reputed to be the home of the Eye of Jupiter, which will guide the ones who discover it to Earth. His report is intercepted by the Cylons, who request a meeting with Adama (Edward James Olmos) and Laura (Mary McDonnell). Their proposal: let us have the Eye and we will let you leave unharmed. Adama's counter-proposal: make any move to take the Eye and we'll nuke the planet.

The Cylons bring another piece of news: Sharon (Grace Park) and Helo's (Tahmoh Penikett) baby is alive, but not well. Sharon is initially skeptical, but when Adama confirms that Laura hid the baby at her school, she and Tyrol begin to make plans to rescue her.

As the standoff continues, tensions rise in both camps. On the Cylon baseship, D'Anna's (Lucy Lawless) sense that she and Baltar (James Callis) share a destiny that might not include the others sows dissension, while on the algae planet, efforts to protect the Eye are complicated by Lee's simmering affair with Kara (Katee Sackhoff), especially since Lee (Jamie Bamber) is counting on Anders (Michael Trucco), Kara's husband, to rally the civilians to the cause. Then the Cylons launch a flight of raiders, bound for the algae planet, forcing Adama to show he's not bluffing.

Questions

• This episode title is peculiar. After the fall of the Greeks to the Romans in ancient real-world Earth history, the Romans adapted the Olympian pantheon of gods but changed names and some of their stories. The leader, Zeus, became Jupiter, and Hera become Juno. Does this mean that there are Roman-like mythological parallels/influences within the Twelve Colonies?
  • While the title reference could be for the planet Jupiter, this implies that the Twelve Colonies know of the nature of Earth's solar system. This is unlikely since they still haven't a clue of the exact location. However, the fact that the Tomb of Athena's hologram appears to be created from data that could only come from someone that noted the stellar positioning from Earth, this could suggest that the planet's name is of Earth origin (see Religion in the Twelve Colonies).
  • The Mercury class battlestar is another odd occurance of Roman mythos in the Re-imagined Series, as Hermes is the Greek name of this flying god.
  • Mars Day is also another odd occurance, as Mars is the Roman name of the Greek god Ares.

Notes

• According to an interview with executive producer David Eick, the mid-season cliffhanger story, spanning episodes 10 and 11, will center on "discovering the next big clue on the road to Earth."
• There will be a mid-season break between episodes 10 and 11. However it will not be as long as the hiatus between "Pegasus" and "Resurrection Ship, Part I": while that mid-season break lasted four months, this is a normal mid-season Christmas break which will last a single month.
• According to a news report, this episode is being filmed in Kamloops, British Columbia, not Vancouver (and is considered a big economic boon to Kamloops as a result). The episode takes place on an unnamed planet that the Fleet encounters. According to Jamie Bamber, the Fleet is still in search of Earth, but food supplies have started to run desperately low. Galactica encounters a planet capable of supporting life, so Apollo is sent with a team to the surface to set up base camp and scout it out to investigate possible food sources. However, the Cylons then arrive, resulting in "a pitched battle" between the Colonial ground team and Cylon Centurions. Aaron Douglas (Chief Galen Tyrol) and Nicki Clyne (Cally Henderson Tyrol) are also present in this episode in scenes with Bamber, meaning their characters will survive at least this long into season 3.
• Another report has revealed that Michael Trucco (Samuel Anders) appears in this episode, which means he survives this far into season 3.
• Writer Jane Espenson revealed that this episode was originally titled "Eye of Zeus".

Official Statements

Jane Espenson discusses the original name for "The Eye of Jupiter" and references to it in "The Passage":

"When I wrote this episode, the upcoming episode was already well along, and it was called "Eye of Zeus." So all the dialogue in my episode reflected that. It got changed to Jupiter later, and I don't know why. It's always hard to get names to legally clear. All you need is one guy named Zeus who lives in North Hollywood and Standards and Practices is all over you to change the name. (deadpan) That's probably what happened."

Guest Stars

• Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
• Nicki Clyne as Cally Henderson Tyrol
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
• Alisen Down as Jean Barolay
• Diego Diablo Del Mar as Hillard