I think the “fundamentally different” cylons (the final five) are different in that they can breed. And I think they can breed because they’ve “gave up” resurrection long ago. Once the “rebel” cylons gave up resurrection, Six got pregnant and it looks like the father is probably Tigh. Which means ...the final cylon could be Helo.

If it’s Helo, I’m not sure why he didn’t hear “All Along the Watchtower.” But maybe that’s because he didn’t need to hear it.

And yeah, I think the new Kara is a clone. So, they question becomes ...who cloned her for the purpose of pulling everyone to Earth?

Yikes. Some bad grammar there. Sorry.

Dualla as last Cylon - I noticed see appeared more than anyone in a flash-montage during a commercial - my wife also called it because as the communications officer she could have easiy played the signal to awaken the Four.

What happened to Earth?  Went kablooey.  I figure there was no Earth-bound expedition - the humans came from Earth to Kobol and then to the Colonies - the legend of an Earth colony was a misunderstanding of the trip in reverse.  Also Cylons as the Lords of Kobol - built to help the colonists cope, but some were destroyed, others went into hiding as the Five - with the myth of the Lords of Kobol growing around them - explains the “differences” they all talk about between the two groups as one are original recipe and the new ones are extra crispy - wouldn’t be suprised if there was a 13th Cyclon, who is the ‘God” of the Seven - created the Seven as replacements but decided (s)he was going to get rid of the humans - heck, I’ll go ahead and assume it’s Baltar: his visions and connection to the Cyclons are because he made them, but is suffering some sort of amnesia like the Five had.

Or its Zarek and he’s gonna turn the Fleet into slag cause it suits his Nataraj-Messiah complex.

From what I’ve heard around the gossip boards (including people who have seen the first several episodes of the last half-season), the Final Cylon reveal comes early. I always got the feeling the Final Five was a throwaway that got picked up and blown out of proportion, in that it’s never been satisfactorily explained, either in plot or in character development, why the first four are who they are.

And the cheap-ass clues lead me believe that once this ‘surprise’ is revealed, there will be a general sense of hollowness in the fan base, given the post-New Caprica episodes’ unevenness. Contrast with Lost, which has gotten better in the past two seasons by cultivating a general sense of mystery rather than focusing on a single one for marketing purposes.

Thanks for the spoiler warning—keep it up. I’m caught up as of last week, myself, but I know I’ll fall behind again in the coming weeks as life inconveniently intrudes on my central purpose of watching BSG.

Theories ... first, there’s obviously a repeating cycle at work, here: Starbuck’s mandelas, “This has all happened before, and it will all happen again”, etc. I think the cycle is one of settlement (of Kobol or Earth), growth/evolution, expansion (to 12 colonies), over-extension, playing god (creation of Cylons), war, peace, exile (the rag-tag fleet is the “13th Colony”), and back to settlement.

But the key line of season 4.1 was also “This has all happened before, but it doesn’t have to happen again,” which formed the basis of the human-Cylon alliance, and indicates that the cycle may be broken. Perhaps now that the Hub has been destroyed, now that the Cylons share human mortality, now that the 268s (plus the 3) have made common cause with the humans, the cycle may be broken. On the other hand, maybe the blending of Cylon and human (including at least 3 instances of interbreeding) is part of the cycle (perhaps part of a creation myth), and it’s less about breaking the cycle than improving on things for the next go-round.

Is it “our” Earth? Between the final sequence in “Revelations” and the clear use of a real song at the end of season 3, it’s a version of “our” Earth—the latest in a cycle, perhaps, where one of the few things that persists from cycle to cycle is culture, music, arts, myths, etc. Not quite the an alternate Earth, but not quite involving time travel either. The cycle, the mandela.

Which brings us to Kara Thrace, and her brand new Viper. Perhaps she’s a Kara from the last cycle, playing her destined part by arriving “back” in the next cycle to move things along.

The final Cylon? No idea. Laura would be the most dramatic choice, further tormenting poor Bill, but her cancer works against it. I’ll wait and see like everyone else.

And yes, the show has been uneven—in every season, there are strong and weak episodes, and within some episodes there are weak A, B or C plots (the one with Nana Visitor playing the cancer patient as a case in point). That’s a fact of life with all shows, even quality ones. But I think BSG’s main arc hasn’t gone off the rails, and is headed toward its set conclusion at the designated end of the season and series.  And that still makes it one of the best shows on TV. So say we all.

last season-and-a-half of suckitude.

THANK YOU Nacho Daddy. As a fan since the mini-series I get railed on whenever I don’t fall in line/love with the last two seasons. I wasn’t a fan of the “final five,” it has been blown way out of proportion, and I would’ve preferred they just dole them out a few at a time and not make it the focal point, especially now that the last five have to be all “special” and they contradicted themselves from the mini series and first season so many times (i.e. We know there are 12, Six said so, Athena said so, and she told Adama that she would not out them, so, all of a sudden, a season later, the Cylons don’t “know” who the last five are? They can’t “think” about them? WTF. And don’t get me started on Baltar’s Cylon detection machine)

I have my money on either Dualla or Doc Cottle. Doc Cottle because it would be a mind frak and he could be the exposition for how all of this ties together. Having said that, a recent interview with the producers revealed that the final Cylon isn’t aware they are a Cylon.

I must say, this is the first time ever that I’m not really psyched about BSG coming back, even last season the previews gave me chills until I actually had to watch the episodes. I’ll watch, and I hope I’m surprised with season one like awesomeness but I’m not holding my breath.

The final cylon is you.  The audience member.

Adama: “The final cylon has been with us the entire time”

*looks at camera*

Adama: It’s you.  You’re the final cylon.

*raises flashlight, camera goes static*

My personal opinions:

i, Zarack is the fifth Cylon.
ii, The Earth is post-human.  It colonised the twelve colonies, and then humanity “ascended”.
iii, The Gods are, or were, real. Some of them are still around.
iv, Kara was resurrected - but not by the Cylons.

Gracchus, when real life makes it difficult, try watching it at hulu.com.  It’s good being able to watch at your own convenience.  http://www.hulu.com/battlestar-galactica

Hulu, schmulu.  Ever hear of BitTorrent?  :^)

I’m predicting a major let-down in the ethics/morality department, e.g. we find out that the human genocide could totally have been avoided if the cylon god had just sent the right people an email (or made a star supernova, or dropped power to the cylon fleet before they could jump to the 12 colonies, etc. etc.).

For the first two seasons, as long as the cylon god was just visions (Head Six and Head Baltar) with no clear omniscience or “magic” (super-advanced technology) there were good ethics in the messiness of trying to survive.  Even the New Caprica story arc was done well IMHO, and Three’s questioning to Baltar about how they prevent humanity from rising again to take vengeance generations down the road provided a good reason the Final Five couldn’t just deus ex machina the problem away.  But after the Temple and the battle at the Nebula the whole show became an exercise in killing human civilians for plotful suspense.

Predictions:

1.  Earth was the first Kobol, humans created cylons who rebelled and humans destroyed Earth ala the Matrix.  A rag-tag fleet of cylons landed on Kobol to start the process again.  No “original” (i.e. us) humans survived the first war on Earth; the Final Five are left over from the first war and are basically programs (ala Agents) that can be inserted into any body.  It’s immortality and resurrection but of a different kind than the Significant Seven.  Kobol was a world with twelve of this kind of cylon (the gods), but they decided to populate with another kind of cylon that did not resurrect (the future humans of the Twelve Colonies), and created a new religion from Earth’s old religions that pointedly omitted the monotheistic ones.  This provided an explanation for their immortality and a system of control for their new human race.  The Final Five came into conflict with the remaining seven original cylons (the Colonial gods) and attacked them leading to war.  Athena, last (maybe) of the seven, turned traitor and helped them take the remaining humans to the Twelve Colonies.

2.  Kara Thrace is Athena reborn (which neatly sidesteps the moral problem of her abuse as a child to prepare her for her resurrection).

3.  Baltar is both the fifth cylon and the cylon god.  Head Baltar and Head Six are both projections from his non-corporeal side.  He will be killed on a Friday and resurrect on Sunday.

4.  Earth provides back story but is otherwise useless.  They are back in space within three episodes.

5.  The cylons offer their homeworld for the remaining humans to settle on.  It’s lush and green just like Kobol and the outskirts of Vancouver.

6.  Bullet-time.

I’m really not too bothered about who the final Cylon is, except in so far as it ties in to the rest of the backstory. I’m much more interested in the sorts of things Phalamir and Gracchus talk about - where does Earth really fit into Colonial/Cylon history, are Colonials really human at all, will there ever be a true reconciliation between the races?

“Earth provides back story but is otherwise useless.  They are back in space within three episodes. “

That certainly seems to be the implication of the webisodes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are back in space by the end of the first new episode.

So what the hell does it even mean to be a “Cylon”, anyway? I mean they’ve done literally everything they could to eliminate any sort of detectable difference between human beings and Cylons, so what does it even mean to be one or the other?

Did the humans of the colonies create the Cylons, or didn’t they? Somehow what started out as “Frankenstein’s monster returns; hijinks ensue” has become an origin story that goes back way, way further than the timeline originally suggested at the beginning of the show by a human origin for Cylons.

I don’t think the writers of that show have a goddamn idea of what they’re even doing anymore. I bet there’s no final Cylon at all, or the final Cylon turns out to be everybody that isn’t already known to be one. Oh, sure, they’ve made a big deal about how many Cylons there have to be, but so what? It’s not like the writers are paying any attention to continuity.

Time travel.

They’re gonna borrow the whole “time travel” shtick from “Galactica 1980”.

Mark my words.

I don’t have any good arguments to support this, just a hunch, but I think Tom Zarek is the final Cylon.

I think the final Cylon is someone who the previously hidden Cylons have murdered (Tory killing Callie or Tigh killing Ellen). This would kind of fit in with the dystopian worldview of the show. Not only are the humans at a dead end, but so are the Cylons, doomed to be incomplete without the missing Cylon.

Oh—and Soylent Green is people.

So what the hell does it even mean to be a “Cylon”, anyway? I mean they’ve done literally everything they could to eliminate any sort of detectable difference between human beings and Cylons, so what does it even mean to be one or the other?

That’s intended to be one of BSG’s main points, I believe.

The interesting thing about the Cylon numbered models as they stand is that each (like pantheistic gods) represents an exaggerated aspect of a human character trait: 1’s are cold intellectualism; 2’s passionate mysticism; 3’s decisiveness; 4’s passive silence, apparently (I don’t claim BSG’s writers are perfect); 5’s project superficial charm and sympatico; 6’s are all about lust;  8’s about compassion and empathy. That some of the models can grow beyond these stereotypes is an aspect of their evolution and growing maturity as individuals.

Another thing I’ve noted is that model 7 hasn’t been identified.

I don’t think the writers of that show have a goddamn idea of what they’re even doing anymore.

From what I understand listening to the podcasts (including one from the writers room), the show is run more tightly than most, with a strong “bible” and a deliberately limited run. That doesn’t preclude continuity errors, but this isn’t “Prison Break” or “Lost” (where the writers apparently did go off the rails despite a strong show-runner).

Gaeta is the final Cylon.

Because I say so.  And also because he fits the prophesies of the hybrid in Razor.  And also because he’s my favorite character.

I don’t know what exactly to make of Earth, but I think it’s in the distant past, because “all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.”

And I do think that’s Kara coming up on her dead body, but she’s not the final cylon, because that would be painfully obvious.

Why are the Cylons so much cooler than that the humans?  Same with the terminaters?

And I do think that’s Kara coming up on her dead body, but she’s not the final cylon, because that would be painfully obvious.

If she finds her dead body, it’s going to be in her old Viper.

Another question: was that Geiger counter ticking so rapidly because the nuclear apocalypse happened relatively recently (say in the past few months)? And if so, could the sudden appearance of a UFO in range of, say, NORAD set off such a war?

Of course, I didn’t see any satellites around Earth, and who knows how a Colonial Geiger counter (Radector?) works?

Whatever your opinion of the show, you have to admit it gives people good raw material for geeking out.

I don’t think the writers of that show have a goddamn idea of what they’re even doing anymore.

I get that sense too.  I was under the impression early on, as Gracchus mentioned above, that Ron Moore had some kind of “bible” where the entire story arc was mapped out.  But with the Final Five business, it has this “we’re just making this shit up as we go along” vibe written all over it.

Since season 3, the show has been hit or miss for me, with a lot more misses than hits.

But with the Final Five business, it has this “we’re just making this shit up as we go along” vibe written all over it.

It could be that, when they saw how popular the show was after season 2, they decided to ride the Final Five to give themselves an additional season. But from what I’ve season of season 4, they’re moving back toward wrapping up the original arc.

The Final Cylon is Keanu Reeves.  They are all in The Matrix.  Laurence Fishburne is gonna kick Tigh’s arse!

Sorry.  Can’t stand the suspense.  Had to break the tension.

I’d like to weigh in as a voice of dissent and say that though season 3 is uneven, it begins and ends very strong - I happen to love the NC storyline and the last 4 episodes very much, but in between is not the best.

Apparently, the reason for this uneveness is that Galactica wasn’t pulling in the ratings Sci Fi wanted, and they blamed the story arcing structure for this problem, so they basically pressured Ron Moore to write episodes that could arguably stand alone and thus, not alienate first time viewers. The result, as we saw, was that the show his a rough patch that didn’t pull in new veiwers and aliented fans and critics, so they allowed him to return to the arcing story style before season 3 ended.

Personally I think season 4 has so far ruled. Though due to the uneveness of season 3 there has been a sense of hurry to it all.

I predict kara will spend 3 episodes thinking she’s the final cylon but it will end up being someone like Lee or Zarek.

Hmm, I’ve got it - the Fifth Cylon is… the Battlestar!

I get the sneaking suspicion that that those who are saying that they “don’t think the writers of that show have a goddamn idea of what they’re even doing anymore” haven’t actually been watching every episode, especially since Razor. There wasn’t a single self-contained episode or subplot in the first part of season 4. If you got up to make yourself a drink, you probably missed something important.

Which wouldn’t be so bad, if Sci-Fi would bother to re-air the show every once in a while.

Assuming that D’Anna wasn’t just fucking with Roslin, the final Cylon isn’t in the fleet, which means that the final Cylon was already on the basestar, the final Cylon is dead, or ???  If the final Cylon is dead, it would have to be someone who was killed before D’Anna was boxed up (i.e. not Cally).

Anyone else think that D’Anna apologized to Tigh in the temple, since he had his eye plucked out and all?

i agree with others that Earth is the planet of human origin and Kobol was settled by rebellious “Cylons” created on Earth, and that Earth will play no further part in the story.

I’m going out on a limb with the rest of my predictions.

The fifth cyclon is a character not yet introduced to the show, but Leoben knows who it is.

Kara was cloned by Leoben in service to the 5th cylon.

Baltar is an unknown 13th cylon model and the cylon god.

On a side note, today’s clues are SUPERFUCKINLAME.

Oh! And Kara’s “special destiny” and “leading humanity to its destruction”? She’s a herald of sort, and once she reveals the truth about the origins of humanity and the cylons, the characters on the show will no longer think of themselves as human but as cylons.

I didn’t remember the exact line and figured it was metaphor. Wasn’t there something more along those lines in Razor?

If Earth was populated between Kara’s first encounter and the Galactaca’s discovery of it, then that changes everything.  I’ll still stand with my predictions about the 5th cylon and Baltar. They’re really just guesses though.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/BattlestarGalactica

She’s the harbinger of death for all the cylons. She shows up and the resurrection ship gets destroyed. Pretty simple. And they have to die in order to give birth, be more human, etc. Six gave a whole speech about it to the counsel.

I differ regarding the “One Year Later” jump.  In fact, that was the point when I really started liking the show.  That was one of the curvier curves I’ve seen thrown on network (even cable) TV.

Also, it appears that Sci-Fi is running a whole crapload of episodes all day on Friday, for those of us who live in our parents’ basements and don’t have jobs (I keed).

I’m still waiting for them to explain the big elephant in the room:  if Earth is OUR Earth, where the hell is Christianity/Islam/Judaism?

I’m almost thinking that the “original” Earth-born cylons were Christian, but felt no need to evangelize to the humans because they had made them and thus considered them without souls requiring saving.  The Final Five were a breakaway sect of Christians who thought the humans had souls and thus could be converted, but they couldn’t manage to penetrate much into the Kobolian population.  So they instigated a religious war and the polytheistic human survivors left for the 12 Colonies.  Eventually they created the new cylons which the Final Five were able to reprogram into a new generation of Christian warriors.  Baltar is not the final cylon, but rather being groomed into a John the Baptist to introduce the final cylon for the humans to worship.  The final cylon is Hera, who will contain the reincarnated soul of Cardinal Law.