Kobol's Last Gleaming (Battlestar Galactica)
Encyclopedia
"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 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, 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.
"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. Simon Brew of Den of Geek called it "just outstanding television."
that 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. In "The Hand of God
" Roslin experienced a hallucination, brought on by her cancer medication, that Priestess Elosha identified as a prophetic vision.
Helo and Caprica-Boomer first had sex in "Six Degrees of Separation
". In "Colonial Day", Helo discovered that Boomer is a Cylon and fled from her.
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", 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, torments him. On Caprica, Helo demands that 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 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.
Cylons attack the survey team above Kobol. Baltar, Chief Galen Tyrol
, Crashdown, Cally, and several others crash on Kobol aboard a damaged 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.
Viewing Roslin's inciting Starbuck to disobedience as a violation of their power-sharing agreement, 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 Galacticas 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.
, 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 it makes her uncomfortable to argue from religion when trying to persuade Adama to send the Raider to Caprica. Adama is respectful but thoroughly secular by contrast.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
'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.
Several ideas for the plot of "Kobol's Last Gleaming" were considered but abandoned:
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.
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".
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.
and film editor Dany Cooper made a number of changes from the episode's script:
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.
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."
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. 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.
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.
Actresses Tricia Helfer
(Number Six) and Katee Sackhoff
(Starbuck) did their own stunts for their fight scene. They trace the beginning of their friendship to their antics on set filming this scene.
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".
's TV Squad called the Raptor crash sequence "[o]ne of the most superb crash scenes in Sci-Fi television history" and said, "the only slow part seemed to be the crash victims on Kobol." 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". 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. 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."
Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi
ranked "Kobol's Last Gleaming" as the series's fourth best episode. Kelly Woo of TV Squad ranked Part 2 second best, writing, "Jaw, floor. Enough said." 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." Eric Goldman of IGN
ranked Boomer shooting Adama #6 on his list of the series's top 20 storylines and moments.
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
television series.
In Part 1, the human fleet discovers the abandoned planet Kobol
Kobol
Kobol is the name of a planet in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe.Within the context of both Battlestar Galactica stories, Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies on other worlds...
, the birthplace of humanity in the Battlestar Galactica universe. The fleet sends a survey team including Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
, Chief Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol is a character on the television series Battlestar Galactica. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard Battlestar Galactica...
, and others who crash on Kobol in a Raptor
Colonial Raptor
The Raptor is a multipurpose military spacecraft featured in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. According to producer Ronald D. Moore, the Raptor is analogous to the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowler.-Description:...
after they are intercepted by Cylon Raiders. President Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
, convinced that an artifact on Caprica, the Arrow of Apollo, will point the way to Earth, persuades Lieutenant Starbuck
Kara Thrace
Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
to disobey orders and return to Caprica in search of the Arrow.
In Part 2, Commander William Adama
William Adama
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...
stages a military coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in response to Roslin's actions and places her in Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (ship)
The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons, whose battleships are...
s brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
. Commander Adama's son, Lee "Apollo" Adama
Lee Adama
Leland Joseph "Lee" Adama is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber. He is one of the main characters in the series.-Early life:...
, 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
Karl Agathon
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.-Background:...
that she is pregnant. Starbuck retrieves the Arrow. Galactica-Boomer destroys the Cylon Basestar
Cylon Basestar
The Basestar is the capital ship of the Cylons in the 1978 science fiction television series and movie Battlestar Galactica along with its re-imagining in the 2003 miniseries and 2004 television series.- Battlestar Galactica :...
orbiting Kobol, but not before seeing incontrovertible proof that she is a Cylon
Cylon (reimagining)
Cylons are a race which appear in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series and its prequel Caprica. They have several forms, some of which resemble and even mimic the behavior of humans, while others are mechanical in appearance and function.In the first DVD, one of the show's creators...
. She returns to Galactica and shoots Commander Adama; the season ends on a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
.
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" underwent numerous substantial rewrites. It was one of the most expensive episodes of the first season to produce.
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" received favorable critical review. Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi
Slice of SciFi
Slice of SciFi is a podcast and website and part of the FarPoint Media Network that looks into the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror...
ranked it as the fourth best episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. Simon Brew of Den of Geek called it "just outstanding television."
Plot
At the end of the miniseriesBattlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...
that 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. In "The Hand of God
The Hand of God (2004 Battlestar Galactica)
"The Hand of God" is the tenth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It shares its title with the last episode of the original series....
" Roslin experienced a hallucination, brought on by her cancer medication, that Priestess Elosha identified as a prophetic vision.
Helo and Caprica-Boomer first had sex in "Six Degrees of Separation
Six Degrees of Separation (Battlestar Galactica)
"Six Degrees of Separation" is the seventh episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:Dr. Baltar and his vision of Number Six have a heated argument about religion. After he mocks Number Six's concept of a single God, she promptly vanishes from his head...
". In "Colonial Day", Helo discovered that Boomer is a Cylon and fled from her.
Part 1
The teaserCold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
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", 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, torments him. On Caprica, Helo demands that 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 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.
Cylons attack the survey team above Kobol. Baltar, Chief Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol is a character on the television series Battlestar Galactica. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard Battlestar Galactica...
, Crashdown, Cally, and several others crash on Kobol aboard a damaged Raptor
Colonial Raptor
The Raptor is a multipurpose military spacecraft featured in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. According to producer Ronald D. Moore, the Raptor is analogous to the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowler.-Description:...
.
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, Adama demands her resignation. When she refuses, Adama orders Colonel Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...
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
Side arm
A side arm is a weapon, usually a pistol but can be a dagger, as used in pre-modern times, which is worn on the body in a holster to permit immediate access and use. A side arm is typically required equipment for military personnel and sometimes carried by law enforcement personnel...
. Roslin surrenders to avert bloodshed. Tigh arrests Apollo for mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
and sends Roslin to Galacticas brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
.
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
Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. She is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven"...
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
Cylon Basestar
The Basestar is the capital ship of the Cylons in the 1978 science fiction television series and movie Battlestar Galactica along with its re-imagining in the 2003 miniseries and 2004 television series.- Battlestar Galactica :...
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. MooreRonald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
, 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 it makes her uncomfortable to argue from religion when trying to persuade Adama to send the Raider to Caprica. Adama is respectful but thoroughly secular by contrast.
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.
According to Moore, Baltar wanted to sleep with Starbuck from the scene when they first met, in the earlier episode "Water
Water (Battlestar Galactica)
"Water" is the second episode of season 1 of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:As President Laura Roslin makes a ceremonial visit to the Galactica, several explosions occur in the battlestar's potable water tanks, venting the bulk of its vital water stores into space...
", 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.
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.
Production
Partly because of the large amount of computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
(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.
Writing
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" was executive producer David EickDavid Eick
David Eick is an American producer and writer, best known as the Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica, of which he also wrote several episodes with Ronald D. Moore, as well as the re-imagined version of Bionic Woman...
'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.
Several ideas for the plot of "Kobol's Last Gleaming" were considered but abandoned:
- The cliffhangerCliffhangerA cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
was originally going to consist of Apollo, Tyrol, Cally, and others pinned down by Cylons in a temple on Kobol. 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. - 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.
- 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 HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
song, and meeting a character played by Dirk BenedictDirk BenedictDirk Benedict is an American movie, television and stage actor, perhaps best known for playing the characters Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck in The A-Team television series and Lieutenant Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica film and television series.-Early life:Benedict was born...
who would introduce himself as God. Reactions were mixed, and Sci FiSyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
network executive Mark Stern nixed the idea, saying it was too hokey. Moore ultimately agreed with this assessment. - 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.
- A scene in which Tyrol persuades Adama to reinstate Specialist Socinus and then berates Socinus was cut due to time constraints. Socinus was sent to Galacticas brig during a prior episode, LitmusLitmus (Battlestar Galactica)"Litmus" is the sixth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. In the episode, after a Cylon suicide bomber gains access to Galactica, an independent tribunal is appointed to investigate. The inquiry comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol and the...
. Moore expressed regret for cutting this scene in his podcast commentary for the second-season episode "Valley of Darkness". - 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. Some characters speak to the camera when interviewed by journalist D'Anna Biers in the second-season episode "Final CutFinal Cut (Battlestar Galactica)"Final Cut" is the eighth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on September 9, 2005....
".
The boxing scene was the idea of actors Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
and Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber is the stage name of Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith , a British actor known most widely for his roles as Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin on the ITV series Law & Order: UK...
, who played Commander Adama and Apollo, respectively; they even choreographed the scene.
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".
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.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.
Filming
Director Michael RymerMichael Rymer
Michael Rymer is a television and film director, best known for his work on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, for which he directed the pilot miniseries and several episodes of the series...
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.
- A scene of Starbuck testing the Raider was cut and footage woven into the scene in which Starbuck steals the Raider.
- 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. Moore thought the emotional impact of this scene made it a better candidate to end Part 1 than the original choice, the Raptor crash.
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
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
would. He explained that some realism was sacrificed to enhance the drama.
In Starbuck's sex scene, actor Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber is the stage name of Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith , a British actor known most widely for his roles as Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin on the ITV series Law & Order: UK...
(Apollo) was filmed as Starbuck's partner until she calls out Lee's name, at which point actor James Callis
James Callis
James Callis is a British actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
(Baltar) replaces him. According to Moore, this was done "to establish who Starbuck would rather be with."
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. 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.
The scene where Boomer encounters the Number Eight copies was shot with motion control photography
Motion control photography
Motion control photography is a technique used in still and motion photography that enables precise control of, and optionally also allows repetition of, camera movements. It can be used to facilitate special effects photography. The process can involve filming several elements using the same...
. Actress Grace Park
Grace Park (actress)
Grace Park is an American-born Canadian actress. She gained recognition as Sharon Valerii on Battlestar Galactica, as well as Shannon Ng in the Canadian television series teen soap Edgemont...
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.
Actresses Tricia Helfer
Tricia Helfer
Tricia Janine Helfer is a Canadian actress and former model, best known for her roles as Number Six in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, "Carla" on Burn Notice, and FBI Special Agent Alex Rice on Dark Blue, as well as for hosting the first season of Canada's...
(Number Six) and Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann "Katee" Sackhoff is an American actress known mainly for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in...
(Starbuck) did their own stunts for their fight scene. They trace the beginning of their friendship to their antics on set filming this scene.
Music
Rymer asked composer Bear McCrearyBear McCreary
Bear McCreary is an American composer and musician living in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his work on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Biography:...
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
Passacaglia
The passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre....
", 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
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
. McCreary stopped looking at the footage for inspiration and produced "Passacaglia".
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. David Thomas of AOLAOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's TV Squad called the Raptor crash sequence "[o]ne of the most superb crash scenes in Sci-Fi television history" and said, "the only slow part seemed to be the crash victims on Kobol." Jason Davis of Mania gave Part 1 an A, comparing it favorably with the original series
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
episode "Lost Planet of the Gods
Lost Planet of the Gods
"Lost Planet of the Gods" is a two-part episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.-Re-Imagining:*This episode was remade into a nine-episode story arc in the new Battlestar Galactica starting with season one's Kobol's Last Gleaming in which Kobol is discovered and ending in...
", praising the contribution of both Boomers to the emotional tone, and calling the teaser "masterful". 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. 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."
Michael Hickerson of Slice of SciFi
Slice of SciFi
Slice of SciFi is a podcast and website and part of the FarPoint Media Network that looks into the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror...
ranked "Kobol's Last Gleaming" as the series's fourth best episode. Kelly Woo of TV Squad ranked Part 2 second best, writing, "Jaw, floor. Enough said." John Kubicek of BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
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." Eric Goldman of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
ranked Boomer shooting Adama #6 on his list of the series's top 20 storylines and moments.
Connections to other series elements
- 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.
- Adama does not return to command until the fifth episode of the second season, "The FarmThe Farm (Battlestar Galactica)"The Farm" is the fifth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 12, 2005...
". He and Roslin do not reconcile until two episodes later, in "Home, Part 2Home (Battlestar Galactica)"Home" is a two-part episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 19, 2005, and Part 2 aired on August 26, 2005....
". - 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. His decisions in the first three episodes of the second season bring him into conflict with the other survivors, especially Tyrol.
- According to Moore, the Helo-Boomer Caprica storyline of the first season builds to the revelation of 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 Boomer pregnant would be answered in the second season. In the second-season episode "The Farm", Caprica-Boomer explains that "be fruitful" is one of the Cylon God's commandments.
- In "Flesh and BoneFlesh and Bone (Battlestar Galactica)"Flesh and Bone" is the eighth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:President Roslin sees a copy of Leoben Conoy, a duplicate of the Cylon that Commander Adama encountered on Ragnar Anchorage, in a dream. Soon afterwards, a copy of this Cylon is caught aboard the...
", Leoben ConoyLeoben ConoyLeoben Conoy is a fictional character portrayed by Callum Keith Rennie appearing in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series....
prophesied that the human fleet would find Kobol. - 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 JupiterThe Eye of Jupiter (Battlestar Galactica)"The Eye of Jupiter" is the eleventh episode of the third season from the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. It aired on December 15, 2006 and was filmed in Kamloops, B.C.- Plot :Survivor Count: 41,402...
". Roslin, Athena, and Caprica Six begin sharing visions of Athena's daughter HeraHera (Battlestar Galactica)Hera is the name of a character in the reimagined TV series of Battlestar Galactica.-Hera in the new BG:Hera is the name of the Human-Cylon hybrid child between Sharon 'Athena' Agathon and Karl 'Helo' C. Agathon...
in the Opera House in the third-season finale, "CrossroadsCrossroads (Battlestar Galactica)"Crossroads" are the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season and season finale from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica...
". The Opera House's true meaning is revealed in the series finale, "DaybreakDaybreak (Battlestar Galactica)"Daybreak" is the two-part series finale of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, and are the 74th and 75th episodes overall. The episodes aired on the U.S. Sci Fi Channel and SPACE in Canada respectively on March 13 and March 20, 2009. The second part is...
". - In the following episode, "ScatteredScattered (Battlestar Galactica)"Scattered" is the first episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 15, 2005....
", the cradle in the Opera House is revealed to contain a baby girl, whom Head Six describes as her child with Baltar.