Battlestar Galactica: Who's the Cylon?
We name our top five choices for which characters could be revealed as Cylons.
by Eric Goldman, Dan Iverson & Brian Zoromski
February 14, 2007 - It goes without saying that we here at IGN TV are fans of Sci-Fi Channel's epic series Battlestar Galactica, and have gone so far as to proclaim the program as the best television series of 2006. With pitch-perfect acting, brilliant writing, tense music, interesting characters, and big budget computer graphics, Battlestar has everything that a fan of dramatic science fiction could possible want.
While we're wrapped up in many of the show's storylines, the thing we're most obsessed with on the show these days is the question of who the Final Five Cylons are. We knew from the miniseries that there were 12 human Cylon models in total, and since the 'Final Five' were explicitly mentioned earlier this season, we have been wracking our brains trying to figure out who they will turn out to be.
So far we know of Number Three (a.k.a. D'Anna Biers), Number Five (a.k.a. Aaron Doral), Number Six (a.k.a. Caprica), Number Eight (a.k.a. Sharon), Brother Cavil, Leoben Conoy and Simon. It's likely that the majority of the Final Five will be characters that are new to us, or perhaps someone we've only briefly met. Recently though, we have been promised by the show's creators that we will find out that someone we already know very well will turn out to be a Cylon by the end of season three. With that in mind, we here at IGN have been guessing, formulating, and busting our butts in order to find out who among the trusted Galactica crew is not what they seem. So, after much debate, we have compiled a list of IGN TV's top five suspects for who could be a Cylon.
#5: Samuel T. Anders
Why He Could Be a Cylon: Sure, he was a professional athlete, but Sam Anders had no military background or training. Just how did this guy survive so long on Caprica, after the Cylon attack, when almost no one else did? Could it be because he's not human at all? His love and devotion to Starbuck seem genuine, but so does Leoben's, in his own sick way. Could Anders be yet another way to control Starbuck, who seems rather important to the Cylons (or at least to some of them), for whatever reasons? He has no history with any of the Galactica crew, and hasn't talked much about his own past. Perhaps that's because he has none.
Why He Probably Isn't a Cylon: On both Caprica and New Caprica, Sam Anders has killed a lot of Cylons. In fact, with his guerilla tactics, and bombing everything from cafes to hangers, he's been one of the most pro-active characters (questionable tactics aside), in terms of taking the fight to the Cylons, instead of running from them. It's one thing to have a Cylon soldier in the midst of the humans who might need to sacrifice some of his robotic brothers for a greater cause, and it's another to have someone who is this zealous about destroying Cylons, even when it's not perhaps the safest or smartest thing to do.
#4: Laura Roslin
Why She Could Be a Cylon: President Laura Roslin being a Cylon is a bit of a long shot, but it would certainly be an interesting twist for Galactica. As the leader of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, Roslin in the most powerful political opponent the Cylons have; if she ends being a sleeper Cylon agent, the decimation of the remaining human refugees would be horrifyingly quick. Or perhaps the five remaining Cylons would be peaceful to the humans, which would explain why if she was a Cylon that Roslin had not been "activated" like Sharon/Boomer was.
Why She Probably Isn't a Cylon: If the Cylons wanted to get rid of the human race, they could have activated Roslin a long time ago. Also, Roslin's long public history -- from school teacher to Secretary of Education -- is a big argument against her being a Cylon, as the Cylon Roslin would have infiltrated human society quite a long time ago. But perhaps the biggest reason why Roslin isn't a Cylon is because she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer -- definitely not something one would expect a Cylon to suffer from, since we've only seen an ancient virus named "lymphocytic encephalitis" and certain levels of radiation affect the Cylons up to this point.
#3: Gaius Baltar
Why He Could Be a Cylon: How better to explain Baltar's frequent visions and "imagined" conversations with Number Six throughout the series than to say he's a Cylon? All of his treacheries against the human race -- including giving access to the Colonial defense system to Caprica Six, not telling anyone that Boomer is a Cylon, giving a nuclear weapon to a Six model named Gina, and his puppet regime on New Caprica in which he signed the death warrants of many humans -- would all be as a Cylon, working with his own kind. There would then truly be "No more Mr. Nice Gaius."
Why He Probably Isn't a Cylon: Baltar wants to find out he's a Cylon more than anyone else. Rather than being a murderous traitor to his species, he would be a hero to the Cylons. But to us, that isn't who Gauis Baltar is, or ever will be. He's flawed, manipulative, dishonest, and thinks only of his own survival, not that of Cylons or humans. He talks to a dead Six and as such is a bit mentally unstable, but Baltar is arguably the most fascinating character on Galactica, and his imperfections feel very human, no matter how deplorable his decisions or actions have been.
#2: Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Why She Could Be a Cylon: Fans of the Battlestar Galactica franchise were angry enough when Starbuck was cast as a female in this new adaptation of the series, imagine the fit that the community would have if it turns out that everybody's favorite Viper pilot was really a toaster. While it still seems like a long-shot, there has been some odd behavior and unexplained situations following Kara's character which lead us to believe that she may be a Cylon agent. Other than her impulsive behavior which tends to buck authority, the main reasons for us seeing Starbuck as a Cylon would be: the infatuation which Leoben Conoy has for her and the unexplainable connection which she felt for him after torturing him; her involvement in finding Earth, which both the Cylons and humans have as their main goal in life; the fact that Kara has been described as 'special' - making her a large part of things to come; and finally the most damning evidence being Starbuck's artwork from her old apartment which matched symbols from the Temple of Five.
Why She Probably Isn't a Cylon: The fact that the show came out and gave such a big clue with Kara's paintings matching the Temple's symbols makes us think that we were given a red herring or a distraction to keep us from looking towards other characters around Starbuck. Also Kara's deep history with the Adamas, specifically Apollo's brother Zak, would necessitate long-term undercover work, which we haven't seen quite yet with the humanoid Cylon models. Other examples we were able to come up with were the fact that the Cylons were wanting to impregnate her, which they had only done to humans - as far as we know; and finally one of the biggest tells being the fact that Starbuck hates the Cylons more than any other character on the show (with the possible exception of Tigh).
#1: Felix Gaeta
Why He Could Be a Cylon: Before the situation on New Caprica, Gaeta had sort of flown under the radar among the Galactica crew. However, he'd also been developing quite the hero worship when it came to one Gaius Baltar. Where did this stem from? Was he simply impressed by the man's intellect, or did he actually admire the man because he'd already helped the Cylons quite a bit, and would continue to be an important figure in all of their plans? More recently, when Gaeta was speaking with the imprisoned Baltar, something Baltar whispered in his ear set Gaeta off in a rage the likes we'd never seen. Many have speculated that Baltar told Gaeta he was a Cylon, a fact Gaeta either didn't want to believe or didn't want exposed. Going even further back, moments before Boomer shot Adama at the end of season one, she shared a brief but interesting glance with Gaeta. It could have meant nothing, or it could have been the trigger that set her off. Baltar has hinted that Gaeta has secrets, and there's none bigger than being a Cylon.
Why He Probably Isn't a Cylon: Suspiciously, Gaeta doesn't have as many reasons to back this up as others. In his defense, it's hard to not think of all the times Gaeta has helped Galactica escape from a Cylon attack. And he did help the Resistance on New Caprica, apparently risking himself to get them information. But then there's a murky situation, like when he made a jump navigation blunder that got Galactica separated from the fleet. Making up for his error, Gaeta was the one who came up with the solution that helped save the day in that situation. Yet even that is suspicious, since the plan required Galactica to be briefly networked, and who knows if anyone besides the obvious Cylon attackers could have accessed some vital information… Like say the rest of the Final Five? Sorry Gaeta, we're trying to come up with a good defense, but you look awfully suspicious right now.
hab ich gerade von ign rauskopiert
http://tv.ign.com/ar...4/764586p1.html