For three and a half seasons, "Battlestar Galactica" kept fans on edge by parceling out little bits of information from its complicated back story. But now that the show is wrapping up, creator Ronald D. Moore and his writing staff have opened the floodgates, and on the February 13th episode, "No Exit," Cylon secrets came pouring out. In fact, so much information was unleashed in that hour that it left many fans confused as to how the pieces all fit together. So I'm going to do my best to reconstruct 4,000 years of Cylon history into one (sort of) brief blog post. Naturally, this is spoiler-heavy stuff, so if you haven't seen the past few episodes, you should watch them first.
Watch the entire "No Exit" episode here:
Humans and the humanoid Cylons originally lived together on the planet Kobol. The Cylons, also known as the "Thirteenth Tribe," left Kobal between three and four thousand years ago (there are some discrepancies in the dialogue in earlier episodes) and landed on Earth. Then the humans left Kobol and founded their 12 colonies.
The Cylons of Earth originally resurrected in baths of goop like the ones we're familiar with. But eventually they began to reproduce biologically, and the resurrection technology was lost. However, they did create metallic Cylon Centurions who then rebelled. The Final Five -- Ellen and Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster and Sam Anders -- were scientists who saw "messengers" that foretold Earth's destruction. Together, they rediscovered resurrection and downloaded themselves into a ship when the Centurions unleashed their nuclear attack. They decided they needed to go to the remaining 12 colonies to stop the same fate from befalling them (yes, all of this happened before, and it did in fact happen again).
The Five didn't have FTL (faster-than-light) drives, so it took thousands of years to reach the colonies. And when they got there, the humans were already at war with their rebellious metal Cylons. So the Five brokered a deal with the Centurions: end the war, and they would share the ability to make humanoid Cylons that can resurrect with them. The Centurions had experimented with hybrids, but had not been successful in replicating humans. They agreed to the plan and ended the war, disappearing into space for the next forty years.
The first of the new humanoid Cylons created was Number One -- who we know as "Cavil" but Ellen Tigh calls "John" after her father. Cavil helped them create the other models, but was unhappy with being confined in a human body with all its limitations. He also became jealous of model Number Seven, called "Daniel," who was Ellen's favorite. He sabotaged the entire Seven line, destroying all the copies (which explains the gap in numbering between Number Six and Number Eight, aka Sharon).
Ellen had hoped that the Cylon Centurion's belief in the one true God would end the cycle of human/Cylon violence. But Cavil believed that humanity had to be eliminated, so he murdered the Five. When they resurrected, Cavil erased their memories and implanted them with false ones. He sent them to live in the colonies so they could experience firsthand what he saw as the worthlessness of human life. But they all survived the attack on the colonies and ended up together on the fleet, and in the process, developed strong emotional bonds to humanity.
Cavil kept the identity of the Five from his fellow seven Cylon models, and only he knew they were leading the resistance against the Cylons on New Caprica. He had replacement bodies for the Five locked away on his baseship, which is where Ellen resurrected after being poisoned by Saul. After the civil war within the Cylon race led to the destruction of the Resurrection Hub, Cavil now needs the Five to help him rebuild it and continue living life after life.
For the rebel Cylons who broke away from Cavil, it looked like they had a hope of continuing their existence when Tigh and Caprica Six conceived a child, but her miscarriage cast doubts about this. Seeing that Hera -- Sharon and Helo's daughter -- is the only living offspring of a Cylon, it would appear that coexistence with humanity is their only option.
There's one big question that still remains: Who -- or what -- is Starbuck? We know she died and came back in another body. When she heard there was an eighth Cylon model, she thought it could be her. But that Cylon turned out to be Daniel, who didn't survive. Could she be a Cylon from the 13th colony? A lone holdover from Earth? Or is she something entirely different?
There are only four episodes of "Battlestar" left to answer this and a truckload of other open questions. But even after the show ends, more stories will still be coming our way. They have completed another full-length movie, called "The Plan," which apparently delves further into the Cylon back story. There are also plans for a comic book that will retell the exodus from Kobol and hopefully straighten out the timeline. And, of course, there is "Caprica," the spin-off prequel series that will be launched with a DVD of the pilot on April 21st. (See exclusive "Caprica" images.)
Talk About It: Do you think "Caprica" will be able to fill the void of "BSG" when the series comes to an end?
Watch a sneak peek of "Caprica" here:
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