Nerd Alert!

We have until sometime in 2008 to discuss the third season of Battlestar Galactica. I'll start now since we just finished watching it on the TiVo.

I have a few things to say about this past season:

1. Some of the episodes were kind of lame. I was disappointed because it seemed like the storylines changed from spanning multiple episodes with cliffhangers and suspense to self-contained stories that did little to further the overall plot. While the episodes around the Eye of Jupiter and the Temple of Five offer incredible insight into the connections between humans and cylons it isn't until the last episode of the season, 8 episodes later, that any further questions are answered.

2. The beginning of the season pulled us in with the occupation of New Caprica and eventual exodus, but then Baltar just seemed to switch sides when he was on the Cylon ship and play the same role for them as he did for the humans on the Galactica: he's not entirely included as one of them, but his intelligence is helpful.

3. Baltar's trial only frustrated a storyline already off course and delayed any further explanation of the Final Five Cylons. It seemed to spend more time generating content for a possible spin off.

Which brings me to the subject of the final five cylons.

The creator of BSG has confirmed that the four who revealed themselves in the final episode are in fact cylons: Chief Tyrol, Saul Tigh, Sam Anders, and Tory Foster. The debate remains as to whether Starbuck was revealed as a cylon or not. Personally, I don't think she is, I think it'd be too easy to have all five revealed at once. I am not convinced that she was actually there speaking to Lee in person or if she was just speaking to him, in his mind or from earth.

So I see there are two explanations for Lee's encounter with Starbuck:

Starbuck is a cylon who reincarnated through the goo and flew with a cylon attack to talk to Lee. I find this unlikely since she never claimed to be a cylon, Lee is the only one who saw her, and her ship, a colonial viper, appeared and then quickly disappeared from Dradis.

I more likely think that Starbuck is actually dead and is speaking to Lee from the beyond. She says she has been to Earth. Could that mean what we think of as heaven? Is BSG a story of the humans' search for heaven, here called Earth, and their possible self-destruction along the way?

I am really excited for the next season, especially since it will be the last. I am hoping our questions will be answered and this incredible series will go out with a bang instead of fizzling out over a long period of lamity.

What are your thoughts???