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Sep. 25th, 2005 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethBattlestar Galactica 2 09 & 10
I watched these both in a row, so in my head they've fuzzed together
I've read a very strong reaction that seemed to be 'Pegasus bad Galactica good'
but it seems to me they're making no such statement
it is more of a compare/contrast
Galactica tortured a Cylon prisoner and threw them out an airlock when they were done
it considered the murder of a Cylon 'improper discharge of a weapon'
the crew considered Cylon's 'toasters' and wouldn't even talk to Helo because of his association with a Cylon
and it *wasn't* moral issues that changed any of that
Helo was welcomed back because he had a handy technical hint and pitched in on a big project
Helo protects a Cylon because she carries his child, not because she, herself, is a person
Helo and Tyrol were the *only* two Galactica officers to protect that Cylon, for reasons of the heart, not the head
if they had called Adama and he had ordered the rape stopped they could have achieved the same end without the violence and death
why didn't they do that?
did they have good reason to believe he would give no such order?
he hates the Cylon that shot him, threatened her with a gun to her head
but let her protect his ship
he said he was relying on common ground - they both want to live
wrong ground
Cylons believe they upload elsewhere
why would she be afraid, if she really was still working for the enemy?
the new variable is protect the child
(if it was Apollo they'd never leave)
(I suspect that after the cliffhanger Pegasus will attempt to use Apollo as a bargaining chip and Starbuck will save him. This might involve film footage of illegal actions.)
(I also reckon the big thing the Cylons are protecting is a spacegoing hybrid baby farm, or possibly a human-form Cylon farm. If they're going to colonise Earth they need to find it and they need to have the numbers when they get there.)
So the earlier brutality carried out aboard the Galactica is brought into sharp relief by this one step further on the Pegasus.
Rape and enjoyment of rape, as a method of torture.
Is that the line? Is the fact that it is that kind of worse on the Pegasus supposed to mean what Galactica did was okay?
Hell no.
If anything the reverse. If it *isn't* okay to rape them, it isn't okay to treat them as sexbots, it isn't okay to treat them as *things*.
Plus there's the compare/contrast on the whole protection of the law issue.
Tyrol and Helo should have been protected by the law, but Adama decides their trial was unfair, and goes out to rescue them apparently guns blazing.
Leoben got no trial. Neither did Sharon, far as we know.
I believe that the Pegasus admiral believes she is following the letter of the law and doing what is necessary in a time of war.
The letter of the law says nothing against raping toasters, so it has to be okay
(tangent - funny-but-tasteless cartoon just sprung to mind, with a regular and plugged in toaster and a bad and stupid man...)
Apollo has repeated taken a stand on the side of the constitution - the law of the land - against the law of chain of command. That was why his mutiny.
I read someone saying that what saves Galactica is a willingness to bend the law. I don't agree. Adama was bending the law when he decided the military could remove the president.
If anything what I get from the show is that war and hate are seriously bad reasons to erode the protection of the law.
And that seeing people as things is a slippery slope.
I watched these both in a row, so in my head they've fuzzed together
I've read a very strong reaction that seemed to be 'Pegasus bad Galactica good'
but it seems to me they're making no such statement
it is more of a compare/contrast
Galactica tortured a Cylon prisoner and threw them out an airlock when they were done
it considered the murder of a Cylon 'improper discharge of a weapon'
the crew considered Cylon's 'toasters' and wouldn't even talk to Helo because of his association with a Cylon
and it *wasn't* moral issues that changed any of that
Helo was welcomed back because he had a handy technical hint and pitched in on a big project
Helo protects a Cylon because she carries his child, not because she, herself, is a person
Helo and Tyrol were the *only* two Galactica officers to protect that Cylon, for reasons of the heart, not the head
if they had called Adama and he had ordered the rape stopped they could have achieved the same end without the violence and death
why didn't they do that?
did they have good reason to believe he would give no such order?
he hates the Cylon that shot him, threatened her with a gun to her head
but let her protect his ship
he said he was relying on common ground - they both want to live
wrong ground
Cylons believe they upload elsewhere
why would she be afraid, if she really was still working for the enemy?
the new variable is protect the child
(if it was Apollo they'd never leave)
(I suspect that after the cliffhanger Pegasus will attempt to use Apollo as a bargaining chip and Starbuck will save him. This might involve film footage of illegal actions.)
(I also reckon the big thing the Cylons are protecting is a spacegoing hybrid baby farm, or possibly a human-form Cylon farm. If they're going to colonise Earth they need to find it and they need to have the numbers when they get there.)
So the earlier brutality carried out aboard the Galactica is brought into sharp relief by this one step further on the Pegasus.
Rape and enjoyment of rape, as a method of torture.
Is that the line? Is the fact that it is that kind of worse on the Pegasus supposed to mean what Galactica did was okay?
Hell no.
If anything the reverse. If it *isn't* okay to rape them, it isn't okay to treat them as sexbots, it isn't okay to treat them as *things*.
Plus there's the compare/contrast on the whole protection of the law issue.
Tyrol and Helo should have been protected by the law, but Adama decides their trial was unfair, and goes out to rescue them apparently guns blazing.
Leoben got no trial. Neither did Sharon, far as we know.
I believe that the Pegasus admiral believes she is following the letter of the law and doing what is necessary in a time of war.
The letter of the law says nothing against raping toasters, so it has to be okay
(tangent - funny-but-tasteless cartoon just sprung to mind, with a regular and plugged in toaster and a bad and stupid man...)
Apollo has repeated taken a stand on the side of the constitution - the law of the land - against the law of chain of command. That was why his mutiny.
I read someone saying that what saves Galactica is a willingness to bend the law. I don't agree. Adama was bending the law when he decided the military could remove the president.
If anything what I get from the show is that war and hate are seriously bad reasons to erode the protection of the law.
And that seeing people as things is a slippery slope.