Battlestar Galactica - Season 1 - Episode 3 - "Bastille Day"
Full details of Battlestar Galactica, season1, episode 3 "Bastille Day" (that's SPOILERS!) can be found on the Sky One Battlestar Galactica episode guide
Well it looks like the prologue is here to stay, starting off the episode again. One thing that made me think was that the last line is "And they [the cylons] have a plan", whether that extends beyond just killing mankind remains to be seen (and destroying mankind is more of a mission than a plan surely?).
The fleet has found water but lacks the manpower to retrieve it. Commander Adama suggests using prisoners. Apollo goes to the prison barge to announce the offer.
The moral issues presented in this episode don't really have much time to be explored fully; from the President's resistance to use slave labour to Zarek and Apollo's discourse on freedom fighters versus terrorists. I guess that some kudos goes towards the series for trying to tackle them but they didn't quite pull it off. The problem is that usually shows that address these story lines come across as preachy, or even pushy, with the show's country of origin opinions (usually America) blatantly over represented.
Oh well, enough of the philosophising, lets concentrate on more important matters; Number Six had changed into a silky negligee this episode. Maybe that's just Baltars sub-concious getting raunchy? Surely it's not an attempt to increase viewers in a certain demographic?!
What of the characters this episode? Richard Hatch put in a good appearance as Zarek, looking grizzled and worn. Probably the memories of the original series of Battlestar Galactica eating away inside him ;-) Apollo was a bit too goody goody. Adama is starting to resemble (in speech and looks) the boss cop from Miami Vice. The feud between Starbuck and Colonel Tigh is getting a bit boring. Baltar is still great, and bonkers. Helo and "Sharon" wandered around Caprica aimlessly a bit more, but the visuals seemed nicely over saturated in an almost Pitch Black way.
The episode finished with lots of loose ends and it felt very short (sounds like classic start of arc building). Which must be a good thing? Either way I enjoyed it. The only downside? No Cylon swarming, fighter, spaceship action.
