Cylon (re-imagining)
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The Cylons are a fictional race of bio-mechanical beings appearing in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
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[edit] Background
Unlike the Cylons of the original series, they were originally created by the Twelve Colonies of Kobol as robotic workers and soldiers. At some point they rebelled and warred against their creators, vanishing after an armistice was signed at the end of the conflict. Since their disappearance, the cylons have evolved into a complex society which include a variety of 12 models that are biomechanical in nature and nearly indistinguishable from human beings. After approximately 50 years the Cylons returned, and as in the original series destroy almost the entire human race, chasing the survivors into deep space. Along with the humanoid models, cylon society consists of a labor/warrior class of Centurions, often called toasters because of their shiny metal construction, and a transport/air warrior class of Basestars and Raiders. By season three, it is established that Centurions, Basestars and Raiders are partly biological and as such vulnerable to viral infection.
The humanoid Cylons are the leaders of the Cylon empire and the revelation that these infiltrators can perfectly mimic human form, even down to the internal organs and lymphatic system, creates a wave of fear and paranoia among the humans. Some humanoid Cylons are "sleeper" agents, programmed with false memories so they think they are human. Cylons can interact with humans very convincingly, even being capable of intimate emotional and sexual relationships. Although they cannot successfully reproduce with each other, several episodes have shown one successful case of Cylons creating living offspring with humans. The Cylons are also capable of the same psychological and emotional responses as human beings. Nonetheless, they have certain superhuman abilities, such as increased stamina and strength, the ability to physically interface with computer systems and an instinctive understanding of computer software.
Many of the new Cylons also follow a monotheistic religion. Religious fanaticism partially motivates their genocide of humanity, and despite their origins, the Cylons believe themselves to be spiritual beings.
Cylons have the ability to download their consciousness into another body when the body they are currently using is killed or destroyed. The second season of Battlestar Galactica explored this notion in greater depth—the limited range of these downloads required the Cylons to build a "Resurrection Ship" to capture downloads from the human fleet, while the episode "Scar" established that the downloading procedure is shared by the Raider spacecraft. An entire episode, "Downloaded", also centered around the difficulties of two Cylon characters adjusting to their lives after downloading into new bodies.
[edit] History
The first Cylons were built as workers for the Colonies, but after developing sentience, they rebelled against their creators. The Colonial military responded by building Battlestars and Vipers to counter the Cylons. After twelve years of fighting, the Cylons seemed poised to win, when they abruptly disappeared beyond known space. An armistice was signed and a station was constructed for diplomatic means. Each year, the Colonies sent a representative but the Cylons never came, and nobody saw them again for another forty years. Eventually, the Colonial government sent the Battlestar Valkyrie to monitor Cylon activities. This move resulted in an incident in which the Valkyrie's commanding officer, Colonel William Adama attempted to shoot down his own Stealthstar recon ship that had crossed the armistice line. That ship's pilot, Lt. Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek was captured by the cylons and held as a prisoner of war.
During their long isolation, the Cylons began to experiment with biotechnology. As a result, the Cylons were able to masquerade as humans in order to infiltrate Colonial defenses. Their religious beliefs also diverged from those of the Twelve Colonies, switching from polytheism to monotheism. Three years after the Valkyrie incident, the Cylons returned to the Twelve Colonies. With help of the humanoid Cylons, the Colonial defense network was shut down, allowing the destruction of the fleet and nuclear bombardment of the Twelve Colony planets. Battlestar Galactica, due to its un-networked systems, was able to elude Cylon hacking and escape with a fleet of ships and about 50,000 survivors. Another Battlestar, Pegasus, made a blind FTL jump and escaped the initial Cylon attack, while some of the remaining survivors on Caprica organized a resistance effort.
Accelerating their plans, the Cylons made their attempt to "get closer to God". To this end, they captured several human female survivors and infused their ovaries with Cylon "DNA" to create a Cylon-human hybrid, but had no success. They concluded that "love" is essential to achieve such a creation. Knowing that a pilot from Galactica, Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon was stranded on Caprica after giving up his seat for Gaius Baltar, the Cylons attempted to manipulate his love for Sharon Valerii, a Cylon agent. However, the copy of Sharon, who indeed had fallen in love with Helo, betrayed her own kind to save him, and they both returned to Galactica.
After a year of chasing the Colonial survivors led by Galactica, the Cylons received significant losses to their forces, including a Resurrection Ship. Two war heroes of the Cylons, a Six known as Caprica Six and Sharon Valerii, the Eight once known as Boomer, saw that the destruction of the colonies was wrong. As a result, the Cylons left the Twelve Colonies and told humanity they will go separate ways. This was not to last, for the Cylons detected a nuclear explosion a light year away. Traveling to the origin of the explosion, the Cylons found that the Colonials had settled on a habitable planet dubbed New Caprica. The Cylons decided to occupy the new human settlement, and a resistance movement formed, led by former Galactica XO Colonel Tigh. After Galactica rescued the settlers, the Cylons also abandoned New Caprica, carrying along an unexpected guest, Gauis Baltar, former president of the Twelve Colonies and the Cylon-human hybrid child, Hera Agathon.
The Cylons began following the Colonial fleet towards Earth, who also wanted it as their new home. After a trail of markers and the release of a deadly virus that can infect Cylons, they met the Colonials in orbit of an algae planet in search for the Eye of Jupiter. However, one of the humanoid Cylons, a Three, went down to the temple where the Eye was located to see the identities of the "Final Five", the last models of Cylons. As the blue sun of the system began to go supernova, the Cylons jumped away and deactivated the Three line for seeking forbidden knowledge.
[edit] Centurions
The Cylon Centurion is the basic infantry ground unit, less intelligent than human models, and mostly mechanical. Centurions are not sentient or self-aware in the same way as the humanoid Cylons, who chose simpler programming in order to prevent Centurions from rebelling against them. As such they cannot distinguish between different Cylons of the same humanoid model. Centurion retains the silver appearance, robotic body, helmet-like head and oscillating red bar eye of their counterparts from the original series, but are larger, stronger, more agile and have a more streamlined appearance. They also have retractable weapons in their lower arms, bladed fingertips and are often heavily armored.
The miniseries hints that this Centurion is descended from something not unlike the Centurion of the 1978 series. Unlike the original series, these Centurions have not been shown using speech. Ronald D. Moore has commented on his blog that these new Cylon Centurions do not download into new bodies when they are destroyed. Based on a comment by an Eight (probably Galactica Boomer) in the episode "Torn" the Hybrids have something to do with the programming of the Centurions. She states that when the virus infected the Hybrid on the infected Basestar that it caused the Centurions to shut down. However, we know from several instances that the Centurions can function independently even when no Basestars or humanoid models are there to command them. As of now, the extent of the connection between the Centurions and the Hybrids has not been fully explored.
[edit] Cylon Raiders
Cylon Raiders are biomechanical Cylons in the form of small spacecraft, and are also resurrected when they die. Raiders are subservient, and have been compared to dogs by the humanoid Cylons. A Cylon Raider nicknamed "Scar" was shown to have developed a personality, in the episode of the same name.
[edit] Humanoid Cylons
Although they made only a brief appearance in one episode of the spin-off from the original series, humanoid Cylons play a major part in the reimagining. The term 'humanoid Cylon' is a description, rather than an official designation.
Ronald D. Moore has confirmed in interviews that there are twelve different models of humanoid Cylon, with many copies of each model in existence. The Cylons have nonverbal ways of sharing information but do not have a hive mind and are most often shown talking to one another. Even identical Cylons are separate individuals. Moore has also stated that the humanoid Cylons are not based on pre-existing humans: "The idea is not that there was likely an original human model that they were copied from. The idea was that these models of Cylon were sort of developed out of their own study of us. The Cylons on some level looked at humanity and said 'You know what? There's really only twelve of you.' If these are the twelve, and sort of if you look at them they each represent different archetypes of what humanity is."
Cylon society is made up of the seven known, mass-produced humanoid models. For a yet unrevealed reason, the final five Cylons are completely unknown to both the humans and the Cylons, and Cylons are forbidden from trying to discover their identities. When D'Anna (Three) attempts to do this, her entire model is boxed as punishment by the other six models. In the final episode of the third season, four of the final five are revealed to be "human" characters with long histories on the Galactica. Their purpose, and how and why they were hidden from the rest of their kind, will likely be a major plot point of the fourth season.
The humanoid Cylons appear to be responsible for command decisions. While the command structure has not been fully explored, some hints at organization have been revealed. At the end of the miniseries, a group of cylons are debating what to do, and one speaks authoritatively, to which another responds, "by your command", a reference to the original series.
In the episode "Precipice", a Cylon council (made up of multiple copies of several models) appears to cast votes collectively by model, indicating that model plays an important role in the hierarchy of Cylon society and that they make decisions by this is always the case, as Cylons of the same model are implied to have higher or lower ranks than Cylons of other models at various times.
Although little is known about Cylon psychology, it is clear that they share many of the same emotional vulnerabilities that humans possess. This is evidenced by Gina's catatonic state as a result of the severe trauma of her abuse at the hands of the Pegasus crew. This abuse, undoubtedly, was presented in the form of multiple sexual assaults, battery, starvation and outright torture. Number Six / Caprica Six also revealed that Cylons exist by 'projecting' an environment of their choice on the real/physical world.
The eleven humanoid models revealed so far include:
[edit] Cavil (Cylon Model Number Unknown)
Cavil first appears on Galactica, posing as a priest. His nature as a Cylon is revealed when a second copy is thrown in the brig, alongside another copy of Cavil. Within Cylon society he seems to support extreme action in the conversion of humans to the Cylon Religion (suggesting large scale purges of suspected resistance members on New Caprica). Cavil's posing as a priest and support of conversion is ironic, considering he is the only Cylon model to date who is atheist. To date he is the most anti-human Cylon model. Unlike the other models, Cavil sees little good in humanity and advocates a unique Cylon Society, not one that emulates its creators. His sadistic tendencies are only held in check by his fellow Cylons, as his opinions and decisions must be ratified by the others' votes. He seems to be absolutely amoral, and had no problem accepting sexual favours from Ellen Tigh in order to save the life of her husband, Saul. He also had no qualms about having one of Saul's eyes gouged out and shown to him during the brutal torture. Later on, Cavil informs Ellen that unless she provides information on the Human insurgency, he will have her husband arrested again, and tortured to death. He is often seen as somewhat cynical and aloof compared to the others, and also has little regard for them. When D'Anna was "boxed", Cavil was the Cylon to actually perform the action, and, more than likely, the very Cylon that suggested that course of action be taken against her.
Cavil is played by Dean Stockwell.
[edit] Number Three (aka D'Anna Biers)
The Number Three model first appeared as D'Anna Biers, a reporter for the Fleet News Service who is asked by President Roslin and Commander Adama to create a documentary to help the fleet relate to the hard-working staff on the Galactica.
In the episode titled Rapture in the third season, this model is "boxed" by a Brother Cavil for defying the consensus reached by the other six models. It is implied that she has seen the five remaining models, but before she reveals this information she is "boxed". Brother Cavil states in the final scene that her memories will be kept in "cold storage" which leaves the door open for her eventual return.
Number Threes are played by Lucy Lawless.
[edit] Number Five (aka Aaron Doral)
In the miniseries, Doral appears as a public relations worker for the abortive Battlestar Galactica museum. In the episode Litmus, Doral sneaks on board the Galactica and detonates an explosive. This event prompts the fleet-wide announcement that Cylons can have a human appearance. During the Occupation of New Caprica, the Fives seem to be one of the most anti-human and aggressive models.
Number Fives are played by Matthew Bennett.
[edit] Number Six
The first model explicitly revealed to be a Cylon in the miniseries, the Sixes often use seduction to their advantage. Important copies include Shelley Godfrey, Gina, and Caprica Six (seen in the mini-series).
The Number Six has shown itself to be a murderous, violent model with a volatile, unpredictable personality. One of the models, on her way to meet with Dr. Gaius Baltar, murdered an infant by breaking its neck, seemingly for no reason except perhaps sparing it from the impending nuclear strike. From there, she went on to save Baltar's life when his house was struck by the leading edge of a nuclear weapon's blast wave. Earlier, she'd explained that Baltar appealed to her and won her "love", due to his amorality and utter lack of conscience. Years later, she verbally defended President Baltar from another Cylon, only to be shot dead and forced to download into a new body. Afterwards, when Baltar had been allowed to leave New Caprica with the Cylons, she seemed more than content to allow Baltar to face a battery of baseless accusations and even torture, then pursue a sexual relationship with him, again, later on. Another incarnation of Six, while stranded in a bombed building on Caprica, actually committed the first incident of Cylon-on-Cylon violence in order to save the life of a Human insurgent that was facing certain death. And now, with Caprica imprisoned on Galactica after helping a Sharon escape with her ill child (during which she killed another Eight), she is offering to testify against Dr. Baltar and advocated putting him on trial to the President of the Colonies. The Six has proven herself difficult to predict, and impossible to trust. It should also be noted that Caprica has "Head Baltar" which only she sees similar to how Baltar has a "Head Six" which only he sees. Head Six has been able to not only talk to Baltar, but interact with him physcially. Head Baltar has not shown this ability as of yet. No one knows of these alternate personalities (although President Roslin has seen Caprica act strangely, "acting as if she was engaged with someone only she can see", when Caprica was in the brig), even Caprica and Baltar seem unaware the other has these visions. It has not yet been revealed who these personalities are but both have influenced the charecter that sees them and are likely to play a role in the upcoming season.
Number Sixes are played by Tricia Helfer.
[edit] Number Eight (aka Sharon Valerii)
Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii first appears as a raptor pilot aboard the Galactica. Her true nature as a Cylon was only revealed at the end of the miniseries, and the series quickly establishes that Sharon acted as a sleeper agent, unaware of her true nature and programmed to carry out attacks on the fleet without her human side realizing what she was doing. She was revealed to be the 8th model in the episode "Downloaded".
The other significant copy of this model, Sharon "Athena" Agathon, married Karl "Helo" Agathon, rebelled against the Cylons and joined forces with the Colonials. Her child with Helo, a daughter named Hera, is the first natural conception of a Cylon/human hybrid. Such a child is the subject of a Cylon prophecy and therefore very important as it was a 'child born of love'. The child was hidden from the Cylons and her parents; They were told the child had died after birth and was incinerated. During the exodus from New Caprica the child's adoptive mother was killed and the baby was recovered by a Number Three. After being told by another Number Eight that the child was alive within the Cylon fleet, Sharon had Helo kill her, allowing her to download into a new body within the Cylon fleet. Sharon has since returned with the baby to Galactica.
Ostensibly, the Valerii model is viewed by Six models as being "...weak...", and, indeed, some evidence exists that they are less violent than the other known models. However, it should be noted that these models are quite probably present on every Cylon base star, and therefore were willing participants in the invasion of the Colonies, and the near-extermination of the Human Race that resided there. Additionally, in a confrontation with the Human-Cylon hybrid child Hera's actual mother, in her frustration with the child, the Number 8 that was in charge of the baby appeared to be about to murder Hera. Other Cylons of this model, upon encountering Sharon from the Galactica have immediately condemned her with the word "traitor". The Number 8, while capable of more mercy than many of the other Cylon models, is still capable of homicide.
Number Eights are played by Grace Park.
[edit] Leoben Conoy (Cylon Model Number Unknown)
Leoben first appears as a smuggler at the munitions depot at Ragnar Anchorage. His role appears to be one of manipulation and deceit, skillfully mixing truth with lies. Leoben seems to have an obsession with religious mysticism, and is obsessed with Starbuck - he believes that their fates are inextricably united. Near the end of Season three, Starbuck has a vision of Leoben shortly before her Viper explodes. In the vision, Leoben was not his usual creepy self, rather a calming angel of death who helped Starbuck make her peace with her mother, whom Starbuck had a rocky relationship with.
Leoben Conoy is played by Callum Keith Rennie.
[edit] Simon (Cylon Model Number Unknown)
Simon is a tall, slender black male with closely cropped or balding hair. He first appears posing as a human physician treating Starbuck for a gunshot wound in what was supposedly a hospital on Caprica. In reality, he was also performing invasive tests on her reproductive organs. After Starbuck begins to suspect Simon's true nature and kills him, she escapes from the facility, her fears confirmed when a second copy of the model greets her on her way.
At least one other copy is seen on Cylon-occupied Caprica (Downloaded).
A Simon is present in President Baltar's office during the Battle of New Caprica (Exodus, Part 2).
One Simon, assigned as part of one basestar's command crew that witnesses a sister basestar's plight, determines that a decision to rescue the infected basestar cannot be reached scientifically (Torn).
A Simon captured on the infected basestar near the Lion's Head Nebula is interrogated on Galactica. He reveals information about the ship and the Cylons' motives for abandoning it, in exchange for a cure promised by the humans. However, there is no cure, only a treatment. This Simon is killed (permanently) when Karl Agathon sabotages the environmental control system, killing the Cylon prisoners to stop them from being used as biological weapons (A Measure of Salvation).
Of the original seven disclosed models, Simon is the only model that has not been used as infiltration within the fleet. Simon also speaks calmly and clearly, and seems to use logic to solve his problems and decisions.
Simon is played by Rick Worthy.
[edit] The "Final Five" humanoid Cylons
In the Season 3 episode "Torn", Gaius Baltar questions Number Six as to why only seven humanoid models appeared on New Caprica and why he has seen only these same seven aboard the Basestar, yet she had told him previously that there were twelve models. Six says that the Cylons do not talk about the other five models. Baltar, who has become worried that he may in fact be a Cylon himself, presses her on whether they would recognize one of the "final five". Their conversation ends abruptly, leaving the truth of the other models unknown.
In the Season 3 episode "Hero", Number Three has a dream immediately after she dies, where she sees five glowing figures. This leaves open many theories about the last five models being in some way holy or divine. As seen in the episode "The Passage", Number Three tries to hold on to the memory of their faces and draws pictures of them soon after downloading, but the memories fade and the drawings are too surrealistic to be of practical use. It's clear that she does not consciously know what the final five look like. In the twelfth episode of season three, "Rapture", D'Anna and Baltar reach the Eye of Jupiter and she receives a vision of the final five. She seems to recognize one of them, but the vision is cut short before we see any detail of the figures. The shock kills her and upon reawakening on the Resurrection Ship she is "boxed", taking the secret of the final five with her.
D'Anna's final conversation with Cavil confirms that the other already revealed Cylons do not know who the "final five" are. Even more, seeking such knowlege is strictly forbidden, part of the reason why D'Anna is "boxed". Beforehand, hints to their identity include D'Anna's begging forgiveness of one of the "final five", and her telling Baltar that he was right, but in reference to something other than his question of whether he is one of them.
In "Crossroads," four of the final five Cylons are revealed. Samuel T. Anders, Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster, and Saul Tigh discover that they have been hearing the same hallucinatory "music" that no one else can perceive, and become convinced that they are Cylons. They resolve, nevertheless, to continue doing their duty as part of the fleet. Ronald D. Moore, the creator and executive producer of the series confirmed in an interview that the four are indeed full Cylons - however, "fundamentally different" Cylons.[1]
[edit] Hybrids
The Hybrids resemble human beings inside an immersion tank similar to a Cylon rebirthing tank. The Hybrids do not have a completely human body, but rather appear to be more like cyborgs, consisting of conduits and other connectors mated to, or in place of elements of their bodies. The Hybrid is not one of the "twelve models" of humanoid Cylon, but is a separate model that effectively further bridges the gap from primarily mechanical Centurion, to partially bio-mechanical Raider, to Hybrid, to humanoid Cylon. They are similar to the autonomous bio-mechanical pilots within Raiders, specially constructed as living computers that manage the autonomic functions of the basestar, including navigation and FTL jumps and climate control. The Hybrids are so integrated into the basestar's functionality that they are, for all practical purposes, the basestar.
In addition, she continually speaks what most of the humanoid Cylons consider to be gibberish, although there is some difference of opinion on this point. Many Cylons believe a hybrid's conscious mind is completely mad and the functions one performs are part of a deeper state of mind in connection with the ship. Caprica Number Six states that the Leoben Conoy models believe that every word she says is channeled from the Cylon god. The Hybrid is not allowed a vote in the Cylon democratic process by the humanoids, though she sometimes objects to the course of action they take, for example, leaving another Basestar full of disease-infected Cylons to their fates. [2]
In his Battlestar Galactica Podcast, Ronald Moore explained that the Hybrids should be considered a "Model 0" of humanoid Cylons, an intermediate step between humanoid and mechanical model Cylons.
The Hybrids are played by Tiffany Lyndall-Knight.
[edit] Universal vulnerabilities
Cylons are highly susceptible to an ancient virus which can be transmitted by rodents, but which humans have developed an immunity to, "lymphocytic encephalitis". This virus disrupts all organic Cylon technology including Raiders, Hybrids (which in turn disrupts Centurions), and Humanoid Model Cylons. The Cylons believe that a critical symptom of this virus, a harmful "bioelectric feedback", can be transmitted during a download and have so far prevented any Cylons infected from being downloaded into a resurrection ship. The only Cylon found to be immune is a Number 8 model, Sharon "Athena" Agathon, who had given birth to a half-human child.
Dr. Cottle developed a vaccine to the virus, which had infected a number of humanoid Cylons on a basestar near the Lion's Head Nebula. However, this vaccine's RNA was broken down in the blood stream of a Cylon humanoid model by their own immune response, forcing regular injections to keep an infected Cylon healthy. The Cylons themselves have not managed to develop an antidote or vaccine to the virus at this time.
In addition to this, the silica pathways of humanoid Cylons are affected by certain forms of radiation, such as that surrounding Ragnar Anchorage. It is not stated but is assumed that this radiation affects all types of Cylon, as the station was chosen as a refuge by Commander Adama before he learned of the existence of biomechanical models, and the deleterious effects the radiation had on the Leoben Conoy model they found at Ragnar Anchorage.
[edit] References
- ^ Rob Owen (2007-03-26). Executive producer Ron Moore discusses thrilling 'Galactica' cliffhanger. Post-Gazette.com. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ "A Measure of Salvation". Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series).
[edit] See also
[edit] Cylon vessels
- Basestar - controlled by Hybrids
- Raider - individuals in their own right
- Heavy Raider
- Resurrection ship
