Kobol's Last Gleaming

"Kobol's Last Gleaming" is the two-part first season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.

In Part 1, the human fleet discovers the abandoned planet Kobol, the birthplace of humanity in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe. The fleet sends a survey team including Gaius Baltar, Chief Galen Tyrol, and others who crash on Kobol in a Raptor after they are intercepted by Cylon Raiders. President Laura Roslin, convinced that an artifact on Caprica, the Arrow of Apollo, will point the way to Earth,^[1] persuades Lieutenant Starbuck to disobey orders and return to Caprica in search of the Arrow.

In Part 2, Commander William Adama stages a military coup in response to Roslin's actions and places her in Galactica's brig. Commander Adama's son, Lee "Apollo" Adama, is arrested after siding with Roslin during the coup. On Kobol, Head Six shows Baltar a vision within the ancient Opera House of Kobol. On Caprica, Caprica-Boomer reveals to Helo that she is pregnant. Starbuck retrieves the Arrow. Galactica-Boomer destroys the Cylon Basestar orbiting Kobol, but not before seeing incontrovertible proof that she is a Cylon. She returns to Galactica and shoots Commander Adama; the season ends on a cliffhanger.

"Kobol's Last Gleaming" underwent numerous substantial rewrites. It was one of the most expensive episodes of the first season to produce.^[2][3]

"Kobol's Last Gleaming" received favorable critical review. Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi ranked it as the fourth best episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.^[4] Simon Brew of Den of Geek called it "just outstanding television."^[5]

Plot

At the end of the miniseries which served as the series's backdoor pilot, Commander Adama promised to lead the human fleet to Earth but admitted privately to Roslin that he did not know its location and did not even believe it existed. Adama and Roslin agreed that he would make all military decisions and she would oversee the civilians.^[6] In "The Hand of God" Roslin experienced a hallucination, brought on by her cancer medication, that Priestess Elosha identified as a prophetic vision.^[7]

Helo and Caprica-Boomer first had sex in "Six Degrees of Separation".^[8] In "Colonial Day", Helo discovered that Boomer is a Cylon and fled from her.^[9]

Part 1

The teaser intercuts among four scenes: Adama sparring at boxing with his son Apollo, Kara having sex with a man whose face is obscured, Helo running on Caprica, and Galactica-Boomer contemplating suicide. The elder Adama knocks Apollo to the floor and tells his son that he never wins because he never loses control. Kara calls out Lee's name, but her partner is revealed to be Baltar. The encounter ends abruptly, with Kara pulling on the dress she wore in the previous episode, "Colonial Day",^[9] and leaving. Helo encounters Caprica-Boomer. He shoots her in the shoulder at her suggestion but decides against finishing her off with a second shot. Galactica-Boomer regains her composure when she is called for a mission.

Roslin learns she has at most six months to live. Apollo angrily confronts Starbuck in the hangar bay after he figures out she slept with Baltar. Head Six, jealous over Baltar's feelings for Starbuck,^[2] torments him. On Caprica, Helo demands Caprica-Boomer find him a way off the planet despite her pleas of friendship.

On a scouting mission, Galactica-Boomer and Crashdown discover a habitable planet. Reviewing reconnaissance photos from the planet, Roslin at first sees an inhabited city but looks again and sees only ruins. Elosha identifies one of the structures Roslin reports seeing as the Opera House on Kobol and concludes that the planet is Kobol. Roslin agrees and declares her belief in the Scriptures. Adama agrees that it may be Kobol and orders a survey team to see whether it is suitable for permanent settlement. Roslin encourages Adama to use a captured Cylon Raider to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo from Caprica; according to the Scriptures, when brought to Kobol, the Arrow shows the way to Earth. Adama dismisses the Scriptures as "just stories, legends, myths," and refuses to commit the Raider, a military asset, to a mission to Caprica.

Galactica-Boomer again contemplates shooting herself but is interrupted by Baltar. Boomer confides that she is afraid she will hurt someone. Head Six warns Baltar that, though Boomer's model is weak, she will carry out her Cylon mission. Baltar encourages Boomer to do what she thinks is right. A gunshot sounds as he leaves, but Boomer survives the suicide attempt. She later discusses her angst with Chief Galen Tyrol.

Cylons attack the survey team above Kobol. Baltar, Chief, Crashdown, Cally, and several others crash on Kobol aboard a damaged Colonial Raptor.

Roslin meets with Starbuck and asks her to use the Raider to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo. Starbuck expresses reluctance to disobey orders, so Roslin appeals to Starbuck's religious beliefs and reveals Adama's deception about Earth. After a conversation with Adama seems to confirm it, Starbuck defies him and takes the Raider to Caprica.

Part 2

The survivors of the survey team evacuate the burning Raptor. Baltar is frightened by the flames but is led out by a vision of Head Six. Six leads Baltar to the ruins, where Baltar receives a vision of the Opera House as it once was. Six tells him he will be "the guardian and protector of the new generation of God's children" and foretells the coming of "the first member of our family". She leads him to the stage, where he finds a glowing cradle containing, in Six's words, "the face of the shape of things to come." "Isn't she beautiful, Gaius?" she asks.

Viewing Roslin's inciting Starbuck to disobedience as a violation of their power-sharing agreement,^[3] Adama demands her resignation. When she refuses, Adama orders Colonel Saul Tigh and Apollo to lead a team of Marines to Colonial One to arrest her. A standoff ensues between the Marines and Roslin's security detail. Apollo sides with Roslin and threatens Tigh with his side arm. Roslin surrenders to avert bloodshed. Tigh arrests Apollo for mutiny and sends Roslin to Galactica's brig.

On Caprica, Caprica-Boomer encourages Helo to bring the Arrow of Apollo with him back to the human fleet. Helo continues to spurn her until she reveals she is pregnant. Starbuck arrives first at the museum housing the Arrow and retrieves it. She kills a Number Six copy in a brutal fight. Starbuck is delighted to see Helo but alarmed to see Boomer, whom she believed to be on Galactica. Realizing that Boomer is a Cylon, Starbuck tries to kill her, but Helo stops Starbuck.

Adama orders Galactica-Boomer to destroy the Cylon Basestar orbiting Kobol with a nuclear warhead. A captured Cylon transponder allows Boomer's Raptor to penetrate the Cylon defenses. The launch system jams, so Boomer is forced to land the Raptor inside the basestar and release the warhead manually. There she encounters several copies of herself, proving to her that she is a Cylon. She flees in the Raptor and destroys the basestar. She returns to Galactica and, under the influence of her Cylon programming, shoots Adama twice in the torso.

Characterization

According to executive producer Ronald D. Moore, Roslin's character had a secular worldview at the start of the series, but her experience hallucinating the Opera House in "Kobol's Last Gleaming" makes her believe in the Scriptures. She becomes a woman of faith because she considers it logical given the evidence. Nonetheless, it is new enough that she is uncomfortable arguing from religion that Adama should send the Raider to Caprica. Adama is respectful but thoroughly secular by contrast.^[2]

According to Moore, Baltar's scene with Boomer reveals a darker, more manipulative side to his character than had been shown in the series so far. Understanding that Boomer is a Cylon and poses a threat, Baltar encourages her to kill herself, a move Moore says not even Head Six may have thought him capable of.^[2]

According to Moore, Baltar wanted to sleep with Starbuck from the scene when they first met, in the earlier episode "Water", and only became more interested as she continued to spurn him in later episodes. Six's reaction in "Kobol's Last Gleaming" to Baltar sleeping with Starbuck is the first indication that Six and Baltar have a relationship that is not strictly in Baltar's head.^[2]

According to Moore, Starbuck's devotion to Adama is so strong that rational arguments would be unable to persuade her to disobey his orders. Roslin realized that her only option was to show Starbuck that Adama had betrayed her first, and this strategy works.^[2]

Production

Partly because of the large amount of computer-generated imagery (CGI), "Kobol's Last Gleaming" was more expensive to produce than others in the first season. The production team kept costs down on prior episodes in order to have a greater budget available for "Kobol's Last Gleaming". Sci Fi also allocated additional money for it.^[3]

Writing

"Kobol's Last Gleaming" was executive producer David Eick's first time writing for television. According to Moore, Eick mapped out the story while Moore concentrated on rewrites and production details for other episodes. Moore wrote the teleplay.^[2]

Several ideas for the plot of "Kobol's Last Gleaming" were considered but abandoned:

• The cliffhanger was originally going to consist of Apollo, Tyrol, Cally, and others pinned down by Cylons in a temple on Kobol.^[2] The idea was abandoned due to budget constraints. Also, Roslin was going to still be barricaded in her office at the time Adama is shot.^[3]
• It was decided later that Apollo should not be on Kobol at all, but aboard the fleet to participate in the events surrounding the coup and to be present when his father is shot. A plotline that had Tyrol questioning Apollo's command decisions was transferred to Crashdown.^[3]
• Another abandoned idea around the Kobol temple had Baltar traveling through an underground passage in the temple, coming to a room where he would hear and recognize a Jimi Hendrix song, and meeting a character played by Dirk Benedict who would introduce himself as God. Reactions were mixed, and Sci Fi network executive Mark Stern nixed the idea, saying it was too hokey. Moore ultimately agreed with this assessment.^[3]
• An early conception of the Opera House scene had an orchestra onstage playing a piece that would be recognizable to the audience. Baltar would sit in an empty chair, pick up a violin, and start playing despite not knowing how.^[3]
• A scene in which Tyrol persuades Adama to reinstate Specialist Socinus and then berates Socinus was cut due to time constraints.^[3] Socinus was sent to Galactica's brig during a prior episode, Litmus.^[11] Moore expressed regret for cutting this scene in his podcast commentary for the second-season episode "Valley of Darkness".^[12]
• The writers considered narrating some of "Kobol's Last Gleaming" through "interviews" in which characters spoke directly to the camera. The idea was abandoned for lack of time.^[2] Some characters speak to the camera when interviewed by journalist D'Anna Biers in the second-season episode "Final Cut".^[13]

The boxing scene was the idea of actors Edward James Olmos and Jamie Bamber, who played Commander Adama and Apollo, respectively; they even choreographed the scene.^[2]

Eick pitched the idea of a fight scene between Six and Starbuck about halfway through the first season. The fight was present in every draft of "Kobol's Last Gleaming".^[3]

Design

Scenes on Caprica were given a distinct "look" to contrast them with scenes on Kobol; both planets' surfaces appear in "Kobol's Last Gleaming", and the production team wanted to ensure that audiences would be able to tell them apart at a glance. One element of Caprica's "look" is frequent rain, which is also an acknowledgment of the ecological effects of the Cylon nuclear attack on the planet.^[2]

Moore initially advocated for the interior of the Cylon basestar to be a simple white room. Production designer Richard Hudolin and another writer suggested a biomechanical environment, the idea that eventually won out. The design was supposed to resemble but remain distinct from the interior of the stolen Raider. The footage of the Raptor flying through the basestar interior is CGI, but the scenes of Boomer outside the Raptor were filmed on a set.^[3]

Filming

Director Michael Rymer and film editor Dany Cooper made a number of changes from the episode's script:

• Moore originally wrote the teaser as a sequence of extreme close-ups. It also included scenes from Roslin's cancer treatment.^[2]
• A scene of Starbuck testing the Raider was cut and footage woven into the scene in which Starbuck steals the Raider.^[2]
• Starbuck's flight to Caprica was originally scripted to occur during Part 2; they moved it to the end of Part 1 to augment the action in Part 1 and open up more time to tell the story of Part 2.^[3] Moore thought the emotional impact of this scene made it a better candidate to end Part 1 than the original choice, the Raptor crash.^[2]

Moore concedes that Roslin's security detail permits Tigh and his Marines to get much closer to Roslin than a real presidential security detail like the United States Secret Service would. He explained that some realism was sacrificed to enhance the drama.^[14]

In Starbuck's sex scene, actor Jamie Bamber (Apollo) was filmed as Starbuck's partner until she calls out Lee's name, at which point actor James Callis (Baltar) replaces him. According to Moore, this was done "to establish who Starbuck would rather be with."^[14]

In the flaming Raptor sequence in the Part 2 teaser, only the Raptor explosion was CGI. Callis actually reached his hand through flames during the shots where Head Six leads Baltar out of the Raptor.^[3] According to Moore, the actors on Battlestar Galactica disliked filming Raptor scenes generally because the space is so cramped, but this reflects reality aboard military transports.^[2]

The scene where Boomer encounters the Number Eight copies was shot with motion control photography. Actress Grace Park played every copy and had to move and speak according to a precise rhythm in each shot. Moore called the process very time-consuming and expensive.^[3]

Actresses Tricia Helfer (Number Six) and Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) did their own stunts for their fight scene.^[3] They trace the beginning of their friendship to their antics on-set filming this scene.^[15]

Music

Rymer asked composer Bear McCreary to write a classical-sounding piece for Baltar's vision of the Opera House. The result was "The Shape of Things to Come", which is closely connected to "Passacaglia", the piece McCreary wrote for the Part 1 teaser. McCreary recalled that Rymer was unsatisfied with earlier versions of the Part 1 teaser music and encouraged McCreary to stop approaching it as a film score. McCreary stopped looking at the footage for inspiration and produced "Passacaglia".^[16]

Reception

"Kobol's Last Gleaming" received favorable critical review. Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity gave Part 1 of "Kobol's Last Gleaming" an A+ and Part 2 an A.^[17][18] David Thomas of AOL's TV Squad called the Raptor crash sequence "[o]ne of the most superb crash scenes in Sci-Fi television history"^[19] and said, "the only slow part seemed to be the crash victims on Kobol."^[20] Jason Davis of Mania gave Part 1 an A, comparing it favorably with the original series episode "Lost Planet of the Gods", praising the contribution of both Boomers to the emotional tone, and calling the teaser "masterful".^[21] He also gave Part 2 an A, calling it better than Part 1 and expressing particular appreciation for the tension between Crashdown and Tyrol, which he described as unconventional in science fiction.^[22] Simon Brew of Den of Geek said, "the second part of 'Kobol's Last Gleaming' had me screaming at my television set. ... [T]his is just outstanding television."^[5]

Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi ranked "Kobol's Last Gleaming" as the series's fourth best episode.^[4] Kelly Woo of TV Squad ranked Part 2 second best, writing, "Jaw, floor. Enough said."^[23] John Kubicek of BuddyTV ranked Part 2 as the 12th best episode, calling Six and Starbuck's fight scene "one of the best and sexiest fight scenes in the history of television."^[24] Eric Goldman of IGN ranked Boomer shooting Adama #6 on his list of the series's top 20 storylines and moments.^[25]

Series context

• The conflict between Adama and Roslin in "Kobol's Last Gleaming" is the culmination of tension that has been building since they forged their power-sharing arrangement. Although they have developed a degree of mutual respect, their different priorities make a confrontation inevitable, in Moore's view.^[2]
• Adama does not return to command until the fifth episode of the second season, "The Farm".^[26] He and Roslin do not reconcile until two episodes later, in "Home, Part 2".^[27]
• Crashdown is the ranking officer among the survivors of the Raptor crash, but several of the character's actions are intended to cause the audience to question his leadership.^[3] His decisions in the first three episodes of the second season bring him into conflict with the other survivors, especially Tyrol.^[28][29][30]
• According to Moore, the Caprica storyline of the first season builds to the revelation of Caprica-Boomer's pregnancy in "Kobol's Last Gleaming". In his podcast commentary for "Kobol's Last Gleaming", Moore said why the Cylons were so interested in getting Caprica-Boomer pregnant would be answered in the second season.^[3] In the second-season episode "The Farm", Caprica-Boomer explains that "be fruitful" is one of the Cylon God's commandments.^[26]
• In "Flesh and Bone", Leoben Conoy prophesied that the human fleet would find Kobol.^[31]
• In season 3, D'Anna Biers has a sequence of visions of the Opera House, culminating with a vision of the Final Five Cylons in the episode "The Eye of Jupiter".^[32] Roslin, Athena, and Caprica Six begin sharing visions of Athena's daughter Hera in the Opera House in the third-season finale, "Crossroads".^[33] The Opera House's true meaning is revealed in the series finale, "Daybreak".^[34]
• In the following episode, "Scattered", the cradle in the Opera House is revealed to contain a baby girl, whom Head Six describes as her child with Baltar.^[28]

Notes and references

External links