[continued from previous message]   
      
   the male Cylons and almost as sensitive as the Sharons, so I am not    
   surprised over what he did.    
      
   To step out of the show's reality for a moment, I think I know why    
   the writers had that character die out of Resurrection ship range. I    
   think his experience adding to the collective memory of the Cylons    
   would had had them questioning the righteousness of destroying    
   humanity before even Sharon Valerii and Sharon Agathon downloading    
   their experiences, especially Sharon Agathon's. The writers had to    
   have the Cylons being unrelenting at least a little longer.      
   >    
   > Ultimately this is the story of the two Cavils which we see spaced on   
   > Galactica. One has spent most of his time in the fleet, trying to   
   > organize terrorist attacks to destroy the fleet. The other spends most   
   > of his time on Caprica alternately trying to help kill humans while at   
   > the same time trying to observe Sam Anders who is one of the final   
   > five Cylons. Their personalities diverge with Galactica Cavil growing   
   > bitter as his attacks, which seemed devastating in the series, turn   
   > out to be clumsy failures from his perspective. Doral's suicide attack   
   > does minor damage to a minor corridor,   
   ---   
   It almost worked in killing Adama. Tigh saved his ass.   
   >   
   > Shelly Godfrey's attempts to   
   > discredit Baltar only make him more popular,    
   ---   
   I totally forgot that Shelly was proven to be a separate entity form    
   Virtual Six (Head Six) of Baltar and thought Shelly and Virtual Six    
   were the same and "framed" Baltar to get him to cooperate. Ironically    
   before I developed that theory I suspected that Shelly Godfrey went    
   out the airlock. I should had stuck to that as it turned out LOL!   
   >   
   > Simon kills only himself.   
   > And Sharon's shooting of Adama which left him near death and seemed so   
   > devastating in the season one finale? She could have easily made the   
   > shot truly fatal but didn't because she loved the old man.   
   --   
   Not surprising since Sharon "Boomer" Valerii was fighting her    
   programing at least since "Water" when she woke up inexplicably    
   soaking wet fully clothed and later learning one of the fresh water    
   tanks were blown up. She successfully fought off her programing to    
   set off a grenade in a Raptor so her last minute altering a clean    
   kill shot is no surprise. Boomer is truly the tragic figure of the    
   entire Galactica series. She was ripped from her human family, her    
   efforts to bring Cylons and Humans together on New Caprica failed and    
   she turned against them when she wanted to stop feeling the pain of    
   lost of her friends and her boyfriend Chief Tyrol and the prospects    
   of having children and a home, turning to Cavil to be a better Cylon.    
   Then she almost help destroy the rest of humanity by snatching Hera.    
   She finally redeemed herself saving Hera's life and giving her back,    
   but wasn't able to find forgiveness with the Colonials. Very sad. I    
   felt deeply for her and despite all she had done I understood why she    
   did it and the unique mental strain on her. She is the one person I    
   wanted to survive to see New Earth besides Dualla it was had been    
   her. I think she deserved it better than Baltar. Yes she was a    
   sleeper agent but she wasn't a traitor more culpable in the    
   destruction of humanity like we learned Baltar was in the series    
   Finale.         
   >    
   > Caprica Cavil by contrast begins to see the plan as a doomed,   
   > ill-conceived enterprise. Cavil initially derides Four model who   
   > served as the team doctor for the Caprica City Buccaneers and becomes   
   > the doctor for Anders's resistance cell for his inefficient methods of   
   > fighting the humans by giving overdoses of "morpha" and under-doses of   
   > antibiotics. But Cavil's own attempts to lead the human resistance   
   > fighters to their doom seem to fall by the wayside as he becomes   
   > obsessed with observing Anders' as he fights the Cylons. All of the   
   > Cavil models obsess about proving to the original five Cylons (which   
   > ironically are known as the "Final Five" throughout most of the   
   > series), that the human race is irredeemable and Caprica Cavil is no   
   > exception. In one scene, acting in his capacity as a priest, he tries   
   > to convince Anders that he needs to forgive the Cylons -- a thought   
   > which causes Anders to recoil in disgust.   
   ---   
   Just like Helo did when Caprica Sharon-the future Sharon "Athena"    
   Agathon-suggested truthfully that the Cylons were "brainwashed" into    
   hating humans and perhaps they can be forgiven for what they done.   
   >    
   > The growth of Anders's resistance cell from a group of jocks to a   
   > group of battle-weary veterans is a nice angle which doesn't get   
   > enough time in "The Plan." Their attempts to fight the Cylons are   
   > clumsy at first as the try to improvise their tactics -- in one scene,   
   > they use a Pyramid ball packed with explosives as a grenade. Seeing a   
   > team of ex-professional athletes as resistance fighters was one of the   
   > things that stretched my ability to suspend disbelief in the series,   
   > so seeing Anders's resistance cell fleshed out was a nice touch.   
   ---   
   Actually I don't find it so unbelievable at all. I know there is a    
   "dumb jock" stereotype but being part of a sports team is much like    
   being in the military. Both have leaders, Managers/Coaches, for    
   Generals and Admirals; Team Captains in sports, Ship Captains in the    
   Navy and the equivalent Colonels in the Army; soldiers and in sports    
   regular players to carry out the intricate plans of plays and    
   deception of the opponent/enemy and, especially in games like    
   football, soccer, hockey, rugby, basketball or Pyramid, attacking and    
   infiltrating enemy territory in order to win the battle/scoring    
   opportunity and later the war or contest/game or series of games.    
   There is both intelligence and counter intelligence work in which you    
   try to discern what the opponent/enemy is going to do from their    
   behavior or learning their codes for their plays/war plans. And the    
   players/soldiers try to keep their own plans/plays from the    
   enemy/opposing team. The individual soldier/player has to be capable    
   and competent and work as a team but also show individual initiative    
   to do this. So no, I don't see it as implausible at all, not in the    
   least. The real life Army and Navy understand this. It is not just    
   because it is fun that they maintain football programs. It is a way    
   to discern leadership abilities as well as group cooperation to    
   literally achieve a goal.    
      
   Now that is NOT to say you can automatically take a sports team and    
   send them onto the battlefield. A sports team is a good basis for a    
   military unit but they do lack a couple of critical tings: The hard    
   discipline that is drilled into you at boot camp to follow orders to    
   the letter and they were going into the fray with the mentality of a    
   player of if their play fail there will be others. The worse they    
   will get is injured. In war you can get killed, with no replays. And    
   that is what sank Anders's resistance on Caprica. They lacked hard    
   discipline and the realization that they will die if they were    
   "intercepted". Otherwise I think Anders's resistance cell would had    
   done well. All they need was time for a learning curve which I think    
   would had been much shorter than if you had a bunch of civilians with    
   no sports team experience.       
   >    
   > Of all the Cylons in BSG, Simon was probably the least developed as a   
   > character.   
   ---   
   Agreed. After "The Farm" they were hardy heard from. but as I said    
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)