Template talk:Cylon evolution tree

There is a step before the Centurions, which Caprica will go into. Maybe call it "prototype Cylons" or something? The First Hybrid could be added between the Centurions and the Hybrid. It could even mention the experiments on humans depicted in "Razor" (like "Experimentation on Humans"), thus not simply listing the different Cylon models, but explaining their creation a bit. -- Serenity 23:03, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Good points. I will make the adjustments. :) Shane (talk) 23:26, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Ok... review please :) Shane (talk) 23:49, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

The problem with this template is that we just don't know enough to construct anything of the kind with any degree of accuracy. The "prototype cylons" remain non-canon until Caprica airs. The implication that mechanical and organic Cylon types descend in parallel from this source is reasonable, but the show has also implied that the humanoid Cylons were developed by sentient 0005-type models. Basestars, which have organic parts but lack sentience, seem like a borderline case for inclusion on a chart like this, but it is not at all clear where they fit.

In my opinion, the most obvious development tree/timeline, from what has been revealed in canon sources to date, goes something like this:

• Mechanical 0005-type cylons developed by humans.
• Sentient 0005-type cylons rebel from human control using non-organic basestars and raiders (as depicted in the Miniseries and Razor flashbacks)
• Sentient 0005-type cylons develop prototype, techno-organic types, such as the Raider. These are borderline sentient - "like a pet", as Sharon tells us.
• Sentient 0005-type cylons develop hybrid types - still not useably sentient, as demonstrated by their mad, incoherent behavior, but useable as basestar CPUs.
• Sentient 0005-type cylons develop fully sentient, fully organic humanoid cylons. All 0005-type cylon consciousnesses are downloaded into organic bodies; new 0005-type cylons are now produced as non-sentient slave robots.

Of course, the upgrade from the 0005-type cylons to the modern centurion would have taken place in parallel with the development of organic tech, and continued after the "switchover" of the Cylon leadership from mechanical to organic host bodies.

The problem is, both my theory and yours are not really substantiable by more than rumor and logical inference; and thus neither one deserves the sort of authoritative treatment that a template like this presupposes. --Peter Farago 00:30, 12 April 2008 (UTC)