Re: 4th Season Battlestar Galactica - The Road Less Travelled - 5 star poll - SPOILERS AHOY !

On Sat, 03 May 2008 18:35:40 +0100, Stephen Fairchild
<somebody@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>cloud dreamer wrote:
>
>> Why oh why didn't Starbuck shoot Helo in the head!!!
>> 
>> That would have been so poetic!
>
>In any sane universe Helo ought to have been given direction by Adama to
>terminate Starbuck's command at any point he sees fit. Better yet, sealed
>orders to wave under her nose. 

Sane, perhaps, but mind-bogglingly stupid.  I know that Hollywood likes
to work stories like this for dramatic tension, where X is in nominally
in command but nominal subordinates Y and/or Z are secretly in command, 
or have the explicit authority to remove X from command or something
like that.  But no competent military service *actually* does it like
that, and for very good reason - they absolutely cannot afford, when it
matters, for there to be any uncertainty about who is in command.

If Adama thought it was necessary to include any sort of, "And Starbuck
is only in command so long as Secret Real Commander Helo thinks she's
doing the right thing", then he should never have sent the mission in
the first place.  Or he should have sent it with Helo officially in
command and Starbuck only an advisor.


However, it does seem that pretty much everyone, here and in-story,
has forgotten what the point of the mission was in the first place.
Star maps, they've already got, or can get much easier and safer.
A trajectory to Earth with specific coordinates and a guarantee of
no Cylon trap at the other end, that they do *not* have.

What they have, is a crazy woman who may or may not be Starbuck, who
has a bunch of hunches and vague memories that were given to her by
an unknown agency.

Of *course* they're going to be jumping off to God only knows where
for no better reason than that it sort of matches the starscape the
crazy chick has been painting on her bedroom wall[1].  Of *course*
it might be a Cylon trap, with nothing but "I've got a hunch" to
say otherwise.  And of *course* there's a really good chance that
they are going to be jumping off to oblivion, following the crazy
lady's lead.

Because there's a slight chance that the crazy lady will find a way
to get the entire fleet to Earth, which compared to the much higher
probability that a decrepit old rustbucket full of junior officers
will simply be lost without a trace, is kind of a good bet.  

But only if you actually *make* the bet, i.e. arrange for the Demetrius
to actually go wherever it is the crazy lady wants it to go, and don't
expect to ever see it again.  Ordering the Demetrius to go out a few 
jumps and then turn back as soon as it is discovered that the crazy 
lady is, gasp, kind of nuts, is just a waste of fuel.


[1] Ok, someone should have told Starbuck that it looks a lot more
scientific-like and will thus alarm the crew less if she sticks to
black ink or pencil in the pages of a notebook, but still...


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