Islanded in a Stream of Stars

Last updated
"Islanded in a Stream of Stars"
Battlestar Galactica episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 18
Directed by Edward James Olmos
Written by Michael Taylor
Original air dateMarch 6, 2009 (2009-03-06)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Someone to Watch Over Me"
Next 
"Daybreak"
Battlestar Galactica season 4
List of episodes

"Islanded in a Stream of Stars" is the eighteenth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica . It aired on television in the United States and Canada on March 6, 2009. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,521. The Region 1 DVD release of Season 4.5 includes an extended version of this episode.

Contents

Plot

Repairs on Galactica continue, but it seems little headway is being made. The ship's systems are fluctuating, and a major hull breach kills 61 people, 26 of them Cylons.

Ellen Tigh states that if Cavil's plan is to study Hera and learn what made her a successful human-Cylon hybrid, he would take her to "The Colony", which is a large biomechanical structure similar in composition to the Basestars (after the armistice, the Final Five and the Centurions retreated to this "home"). Under protest, Adama allows a heavy raider to be sent to The Colony, not wanting to risk the whole fleet. In their room, Helo and Athena are distraught over the kidnapping of their daughter. Helo asks Adama for a Raptor so that he can go look for Hera, but Adama tells him that the Cylons have already reported back that the Colony has moved.

As Boomer plots several jumps to the Colony in order to deliver Hera to Cavil, Hera begins to whine and cry for her mother. Boomer grabs a needle with a sedative in it and threatens Hera with it, but finds herself unwilling to forcibly sedate her. Boomer begins to tell Hera about her dream home with Tyrol on Picon, revealing that it was, in fact, once her dream and not simply a ruse created to manipulate Galen Tyrol. Hera reaches for Boomer's hand and connects with her, allowing the little girl to project the dwelling in Boomer's imagination. This is a welcome surprise for Boomer as she knew not whether Hera, who is half Cylon and half human, possessed this ability. Boomer arrives at The Colony with Hera and delivers her to Cavil. Hera becomes upset when she is handed over, and Boomer also seems reluctant to give her up.

Gaius Baltar meets Kara Thrace in one of the ship's heads, where Kara tells him that she discovered her own body on Earth and asks him to analyze her dog tags. Baltar finds that blood on the tag matches Starbuck's DNA. At the burial of those lost in the hull breach, Baltar reveals what he has discovered and designates Starbuck an angel. Admiral Adama yells at him to be quiet, and Starbuck slaps him across the face. Later, Apollo meets with Starbuck and offers her his unconditional love and support. Starbuck puts a photo of herself on the memorial wall of the dead.

Samuel Anders has been transferred to a hybrid tank in the hopes it would help him recover, but he remains comatose. Kara visits him and decides to shoot him as an act of mercy, but the still-comatose Sam grabs the gun and begins to speak like the hybrid. Arriving in Anders' room, Tigh is informed that Anders has gotten into the ship's programming. The Cylon biopolymer fluid which repair crews have painted upon Galactica's hull has made possible a connection between Anders' hybrid tank and Galactica's electrical systems. When the Eight states that it is theoretically possible for Anders to gain control of Galactica's FTL drive and jump away, Tigh orders that he be taken offline. Kara visits Sam and says they will work out the meaning of the song (revealed to be a rearrangement of "All Along the Watchtower" a real song from 1967) together. She plugs Sam back in and he says, "new command".

Adama informs Tigh that he has made a decision: he plans to abandon the ship. Adama orders a stop to the repairs on the ship, and he instructs the crew to begin stripping down Galactica, start offloading civilians, and transfer the crew and weapons to the basestar. When Tigh objects, Adama states that he can't blame Tigh for being what he is, especially when that includes being the best friend and XO he's ever had. But, that the ship is dying and he wants to send her off "in style". Adama and Tigh both salute the damaged Galactica with a drink as the episode ends.

Production

Director Frank Darabont, helmer of the motion picture adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile , as well as a major fan of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series, was originally slated to direct "Islanded in a Stream of Stars," but was forced to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts. [1]

Deleted scenes

A number of scenes were omitted for time. There was at least one scene of Galen Tyrol in the brig, having confessed to his actions in the previous episode. An extended cut of the episode is available on the season 4.5 DVD. [2]

Ratings

"Islanded in a Stream of Stars" was seen by 1.568 million viewers (live viewing plus same day digital video recorder viewing), about 100,000 fewer viewers than for the previous episode. [3]

Critical reception

Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger praised the performances, noting that "almost everyone went to some new, scarier places in this one." [4] IGN 's Eric Goldman felt the strongest part of the episode were the scenes between Boomer and Hera, praising Grace Park's performance as both Boomer and Athena. [5] Goldman felt the scene in which Adama breaks down over the inevitable loss of Galactica "lacked as much weight as it seemed intended to have" but felt Islanded in a Stream of Stars was "a decent episode overall". [5] Marc Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly felt the episode lacked cohesion, calling it a "collage of moments" though some of those moments were "lovely and heartbreaking and fantastic" and felt Tahmoh Penikett gave his best performance of the series. [6] Paste 's Michael Saba felt the scene between Adama and Roslin in the sickbay was a "surprisingly emotional moment" but that overall the episode was really "about setting up for the finale". [7] The Chicago Tribune wrote that the episode "felt like an elegiac farewell" and particularly praised the performance given by Mary McDonnell. [8] Alan Stanley Blair of Airlock Alpha felt that the storyline concerning Athena and Helo coping with the loss of Hera deserved more airtime but felt that Olmos gave both "fantastic acting and direction". [9]

Related Research Articles

Number Six (<i>Battlestar Galactica</i>) Fictional character in Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The character is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven". Like the others of the "Significant Seven", there are several versions of her, including Caprica-Six, Shelly Godfrey, Gina Inviere, Natalie Faust, Lida, and Sonja. She is the only model that does not use one particular human alias for all copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Adama</span> Character in Battlestar Galactica (2004)

William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series produced and aired by the SyFy cable network. He is one of the main characters in the series and is portrayed by Edward James Olmos. The character is a reimagining of Commander Adama from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series, originally played by Lorne Greene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Adama</span> Character in Battlestar Galactica

Leland Joseph "Lee" Adama is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber, and is one of the main characters in the series. His first appearance was in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Agathon</span> Character in Battlestar Galactica

Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Tigh</span> Fictional character in Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Ellen Tigh is a fictional character from the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot series, portrayed by Kate Vernon from 2004 to 2009. She is the manipulative wife of series regular Colonel Saul Tigh during the first three seasons of the series. In season four, she is revealed to be the last of the Final Five Cylons, synthetic humanoid machines who are the precursors to the Cylon antagonists who oppose the human race throughout much of the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cavil</span> Character in Battlestar Galactica (2004)

John Cavil is a fictional character and the main antagonist from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series. He is portrayed by Dean Stockwell. In the fourth-season episode "Six of One", Cavil's model number was revealed as Number One.

"Litmus" is the sixth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. In the episode, an investigation into a Cylon infiltration comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol and the Galactica copy of Boomer in order to weed out other sleeper agents.

Resistance (<i>Battlestar Galactica</i>) 4th episode of the 2nd season of Battlestar Galactica

"Resistance" is the fourth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 5, 2005.

"Lay Down Your Burdens" is the two-part second-season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on March 3, 2006; Part 2 aired on March 10, 2006, as a 90-minute special.

"The Eye of Jupiter" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. It aired on December 15, 2006, and was filmed in Kamloops, BC, Canada.

The music of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica is a body of work largely credited to the composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs. The music of Battlestar Galactica displays a variety of ethnic influences and generally does not conform to the "orchestral" style of many science fiction scores.

"Rapture" is the twelfth episode of the third season from the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. Aired on January 21, 2007, this episode marked the return of regular broadcasting after the Christmas mid-season hiatus.

Crossroads (<i>Battlestar Galactica</i>) 19th and 20th episodes of the 3rd season of Battlestar Galactica

"Crossroads" are the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season and season finale from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. Neither episode begins with a survivor count.

"Six of One" is the second episode of the fourth season of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The episode first aired on SCI FI and Space in the United States and Canada respectively on April 11, 2008, and aired on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom on April 15, along with "He That Believeth in Me". The episode's name appears to be a play off the idiom "six of one, half a dozen of the other" meaning two presented choices are equal and it does not matter which is chosen. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award.

"He That Believeth in Me" is the first episode in the fourth season of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The episode aired on SCI FI and Space in the United States and Canada respectively on April 4, 2008, and aired on Sky1 in the United Kingdom on April 15, along with the following episode "Six of One". The episode's title is a reference to the Book of John, chapter 11:25-26 in the New Testament of the Bible, which quotes; "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live..." The episode was generally well received and also won an Emmy Award.

"The Road Less Traveled" is the fifth episode in the fourth season of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. It first aired on television on May 2, 2008. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,676. It is the only episode of the entire series in which Bill Adama does not appear, and the first of two episodes not to feature Laura Roslin. It is also the final episode in which Number Six is absent.

<i>Battlestar Galactica: The Plan</i> 2009 television film directed by Edward James Olmos

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is a television film set in the reimagined version of the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe. It consists of newly filmed material as well as a compilation of footage from the 2003 miniseries and 2004 TV series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blood on the Scales</span> 14th episode of the 4th season of Battlestar Galactica

"Blood on the Scales" is the fourteenth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. It aired on television in the United States and Canada on February 6, 2009. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,603.

Daybreak (<i>Battlestar Galactica</i>) 19th, 20th and 21st episodes of the 4th season of Battlestar Galactica

"Daybreak" is the three-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 double-length. The episodes were written by Ronald D. Moore, and directed by Michael Rymer. The Season 4.5 DVD and Blu-ray releases for Region 1 feature an extended version of the finale, which not only combines all three parts as a single episode, but also integrates it with new scenes not seen in the aired versions of either part. The survivor count shown in the title sequence for Part 1 is 39,516. The survivor count shown in the title sequence for Part 2 is 39,406. At the end of Part 2, Admiral Adama announces the survivor population at approximately 38,000.

References

  1. Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion season four guide by Titan Books ISBN   978-1845769383
  2. Maureen Ryan (2009-03-08). "'Battlestar Galactica's' Michael Taylor talks about 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars'". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on 2011-01-14. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  3. "Seidman, Robert. "iCarly, Burn Notice and WWE RAW Top Cable Charts." TVBytheNumbers.com. March 10, 2009". Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
  4. Sepinwall, Alan (2009-03-07). "Battlestar Galactica, 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars': Going down with the ship". The Star-Ledger . Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  5. 1 2 Goldman, Eric (9 March 2009). "Battlestar Galactica: 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars' Review". IGN . Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  6. Bernardin, Marc (7 March 2009). "Battlestar Galactica Recap: Girl Trouble". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  7. Saba, Michael (7 March 2009). "Battlestar Galactica Review: 'Islanded in a Sea of Stars' (Episode 4.20)". Paste . Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  8. Ryan, Maureen (7 March 2009). "Battlestar Galactica: 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars'". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  9. Stanley Blair, Alan (8 March 2009). "Battlestar Galactica - 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars'". Airlock Alpha . Retrieved 10 March 2009.