Talk:Cylon (Battlestar Galactica)

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Contents

[edit] Old Discussions

  • /Archive1 - (January 2005 - July 2006; inclusive)
  • /Archive2 - (August 2006 - ; inclusive)

[edit] Ways to Shorten This Article: Please Vote

User:SGCommand recently split this article into 1978 and 2003 versions based on the ever-lengthening size of it. While I merged them back together primarily because I think the past series design decisions are very much a part of what we currently see, I didn't disagree with SGCommand that the article has stretched to quite an unweildy size. I'd love to hear some votes or suggestions on ways to streamline this article. A couple possible suggestions here:

  • Re-splitting the 1978 and 2004 articles with a more comprehensive disambiguation page and cross-links
  • As much as possible removing the detailed entries for the humanoid cylon models. Each of them has their own article (which is linked). In the case of the entry for Number Six in this article, it's not particularly shorter than her own specific page. Why not simply link her article to this main one and limit ourselves to a one-or-two sentence description here.

- You can split off Cylon Centurion to a separate article, and shorten that section up to a stub. That would also make it easier to expand.

- You can split Humanoid Cylon to a separate article, and shorten that section up to a stub. That would very much make it easier to expand.

[edit] Merges

A number of merges into this article are under discussion at Talk:Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series). — Philwelch t 05:33, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

There's also a survey at Talk:Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) about these merges, and will be open for 7 days. [1] Dionyseus 05:50, 20 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] This article is in a terrible state

This article is pretty poor in its current state - it's too long, it rambles, it does not cite its sources, its tone is wrong in sections ("Amazing!").

It requires a significant clean-up.

--Charlesknight 19:09, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Excised Section: Trivia

Image:Cylon futurama.jpg
Cylon and Garfunkel on Futurama
  • In the novelization of the Battlestar Galactica pilot (released as a movie in Canada and the U.S.), the Cylons are described as being three eyed creatures inside metallic armor. This contradicts all other accounts of the Cylons being completely robotic. Producer Glen A. Larson did originally intend to make the Cylons living alien beings wearing full body armor (similar to Star Wars stormtroopers) but changed his mind in the interest of sanitizing the violence in the show as many Cylons would be "killed" in battle during the course of the series.
  • In the classic arcade video game Berzerk, the playing character is pursued by armies of robots in every room with electronic walls, which could kill the character instantly as well as the robots themselves. The robots in pursuit do resemble the classic Cylon Centurions, except they appear to be wider and bulkier, and the red eye circles the head instead of the traditional back and forth.
  • Sci-fi fans traveling through Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta were always quick to note that the automated voice on the trains connecting the passenger concourses to the main terminal was a perfect match for the voice of a Cylon [citation needed]. However, in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics, the airport was renovated and the Cylon voice was retired in favor of a pre-recorded "human" voice. The voice heard going down the escalator to the trains, however, still reminds them of Box, the robot guarding the path to sanctuary in Logan's Run[citation needed].
  • In the source code of Mozilla (and its Netscape predecessor), the "undetermined" progress bar that slides back and forth -- rather than filling up the bar from left to right -- is referred to as the "Cylon".
  • The classic Cylons have also appeared on The Simpsons on several occasions, the most notable in Mayored to the Mob during a sci-fi convention. There's a quick gag in a boxing arena where three Centurions square off against R2-D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars. ("See the mighty robots from Battlestar Galactica fight the gay robots from Star Wars!") They easily pin C-3PO to the floor, and R2 refuses to help.
  • In the FOX Animated Series Family Guy, the host of 'KISS Forum' also hosts 'Battlestar Galactica Forum' on Quahog's public access channel. He introduces the forum by putting a classic Centurion mask on and saying "Welcome to Battlestar Galactica Forum" in traditional Cylon computerized-monotone.
  • In the opening credits of certain seasons of The A-Team, Dirk Benedict watches a Cylon walk past (while at the Universal Studios tour), initially expresses concern, and then decides to ignore it. Dirk Benedict played the character Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica series. This scene is later recreated on the animated show Family Guy.
  • In the television show Knight Rider, the car KITT features the "roving LED", similar to the Cylon eye. Some fans of Knight Rider speculated that KITT was designed using "Cylon technology". Both shows were created by Glen A. Larson.
    • In a third season episode of Knight Rider, "Halloween Knight", the episode villain is shown briefly in a Cylon mask.
  • In his podcast, Ron Moore revealed that the Pegasus cylon based on Number Six was named "Gina" as a back-handed reference to the numerous fans of the original series who had referred to the reimagined series as "GINO," or "Galactica in name only."[citation needed]
  • Although the term "Centurion" for Cylon warriors is commonly spelled as such, several sources from the original series, as well as the "Cylon datasheet" in the opening scene of the 2003 miniseries, actually spell the term: "Centurian" .
  • Cylons were the focus of a short skit on the Adult Swim program Robot Chicken in which it is said that the original cylon actors had so many problems walking around in their suits that they were constantly falling down.

[edit] consistency in naming of human cylons

There have been zillions of naming conventions used in this article: "Number numeral," "Name (number #)," "Name (number numeral)," "Name aka Number #," "Number #, aka Name," etc... I suggest people with strong opinions on this state them here, and then we standardize it, and stop reverting each others minor tweaks of this. Debivort 02:15, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I think the Cylon number should be the primary item in the section headings, when known. If it were a discussion of characters, using various names as a first choice might be acceptable, but since it's a list of Cylon models, I feel the model number is better. The number should be written out according to WP:MOSNUM. As for the "aka" stuff, I think putting (aka name) is good, when the character is primarily known by a single name (e.g. the Colonials referring to the copies of Dean Stockwell's character collectively as "Brother Cavils"). -- Fru1tbat 02:31, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Split?

Ways to better this article, include splitting certain sections off, and splitting the article in two. Note that Imperious Leader is a separate article already.

[edit] Split article in two: BSG Cylon 2003 and BSG Cylon 1978

Cylon (1978) and Cylon (2003)
I think this is the most obvious split. With links back and forth where neccessary ("Unlike the in _original series_ the cylons in...").
Duggy 1138 03:17, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I think that splitting off the reimagined Cylons from the original ones is the best way to go. The new mechanical Cylons can be combined with an article containing brief descriptions of the humanoid ones, because there isn't so much to say about the mechanical ones. Each of the humanoid ones (I think) has its own separate article too.--Kyoko 06:11, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Well, I think we'll cross those splits when we come to them, but the splitting shows is a good start.
Duggy 1138 09:16, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Seems likea good idea to me, as the series grows so does the ammount of information, as it stands the page at present isnt in a great state so splitting it may help somewhat as well. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 09:31, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I prefer this split as well. -- Fru1tbat 13:08, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Even if this is split into the two eras, Centurions and Humanoids should get their separate pages as well... Centurions because we do the same for raiders, and a centurion and a raider are not really any different accoring to the new continuity. Humanoids should be separate because they are a major plot point, and would otherwise overwhelm a general Cylon article (as they currently do here). 70.55.84.98 23:06, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
I feel that the Centurions in New Coke would end up being a stub. As I said earlier "splitting shows is a good start" and if necessary split the New Coke article when it is needed. Duggy 1138 09:33, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Split off Cylon Centurion

I think this split should be made, so we can contrast the mechanical Cylons of the two eras, and the fact that Raiders, Heavy Raiders and Basestars all have separate articles, so Centurions should also have a separate article, accordingly.

[edit] Split off Humanoid Cylon

Humanoid Cylons are a large component of the new show, it would make sense to have a separate article on them, with only a stub here.

[edit] Canon/Non-Canon images and information.

Non-Canon information is still information. If it is from an official product and not fan-fic, it's worth adding.

It isn't part of the original series and isn't cited as such, so there is no problem with it.

Duggy 1138 09:47, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Like you said.. its not a part of the serious.. take that to the game article. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 09:50, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
Yes, but it is part of the information about Cylons. It needs to be said here.
Well, not here, so much any more.
Duggy 1138 10:49, 31 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Original intention of Larson to make cylons living beings?

For those of you who really have a problem with this uncited info, here's a fact sheet I found on BSG! http://www.blast.net/hart/Facts.htm And if you read the novelization of the pilot, it is clear that the Cylons were originally imagined as living beings underneath metallic armor. It doesn't take a leap of the imagination as to why it may have been changed. Only it was ABC's idea, not Larson's.Mr. ATOZ 02:01, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Origins of the Cylons?

The article says that the Cylons were created to serve a race of reptiles, I'm sure that I remember Apollo telling Boxy that the Cylons were once been an organic race who replaced their bodies with more and more machinery until in the end they were just brainwaves in metal bodies.

perfectblue 10:50, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merger proposal

I think the article 'toaster' should be merged into this one, Cylon (Battlestar Galactica), seeing as that is what both articles are about. The term toaster is a slang term for Cylon in Battlestar Galactica. Perhaps a whole section could be made? ✬Dillard421✬ (talk • contribs) 07:50, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't necessarily agree. It's about a "real world" term that was inspired by the series, so doesn't fit here.
Although, I think the Toaster article could possibly be deleted.
Duggy 1138 (talk) 07:32, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
I wrote the article 'toaster' and even I am not really happy with it, the word 'toaster' is only one of several that may be used interchangeably for 'expendable robot', the term gets blurred even further because it can often apply to humans as well.
Maybe a merger with or a new article on robots might be more appropriate. - I note that the current article(s) are in need of some work. Lucien86 (talk) 19:51, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Museumcylon.jpg

Image:Museumcylon.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 19:36, 2 January 2008 (UTC)