ANNE LOCKHART

[LZaza]

Well, the biggest part of being a parent is raising the kid, not having it. And I've never met a devoted daughter who even thought about "perpetuating the bloodline" and having junior for dear old Dad. And while love can certainly stir the maternal instincts, knowing that the child's future would be so uncertain with the Cylons in pursuit, Sheba might think first about her child's happiness--a potential lifetime looking for Earth and maybe never finding it, while stuck in a convoy, not breathing fresh air, or knowing peace--before making that decision. I know I thought about what I could offer my children, and that certainly played a part in when we decided to have our family.

[epaddon]

And the other thing with Sheba in a married state to Apollo that would affect her decisions on children of her own, is how long will it take to establish herself as Boxey's new mother. She would certainly feel the need to succeed at that first.

[Senmut]

That's okay. You can both be wrong.

_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[LZaza]

Just as long as you aren't, Sen. The world would stop turning . . .

[Senmut]

Or at least the BaseShips.
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[epaddon]

Goodness, three long yahrens with nothing to add to this?

I will relaunch the discussion by offering a theory as to why, after setting things up so wonderfully for a possible Apollo-Sheba romance in HOG, would Larson have then so callously prepared a memo killing Sheba off right away in S2? Shouldn't he have appreciated the stoytelling dynamic being set up?

Maybe not when we remember that Bellisario, not Larson, wrote HOG. Maybe it was too easy for Larson to cast Sheba aside when facing the questions of who to cut from the budget for next year simply because he wasn't the one who recognized the wisdom in advancing the Apollo-Sheba relationship forward as HOG did. Athena, by contrast, was "his" character creation, and thus he might have felt a more instinctive need to salvage the character in some way.

All speculation on my part, but the best explanation I can think of to answer that "What were you thinking?" question that popped into all our minds when that memo surfaced, *especially* those of us who see inevitability in an Apollo-Sheba pairing.

[Senmut]

This is Hollyweird. You expect wisdom?
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[epaddon]

Hey, we'd like to think there's *some* wisdom in the guy who gave us Galactica in the first place!

[LZaza]

Wasn't there a major character change in mind for Apollo as a result of one more personal loss? He was supposed to shift into a Starbuckian mode and leave poor Bucko to pick up the reins of responsibility.

[epaddon]

Yeah, that was the other bizarre thing about the memo. Basically picture the two characters swapping their usual dialogue, which we actually did get to see in EIT, in which it was originally Starbuck, not Apollo taken by the SOL. One of the glaring weaknesses of EIT (among many) is that Apollo doesn't sound like Apollo when he's delivering so much "Starbuckian" dialogue (like in his scene aboard the SOL).

[epaddon]

I might as well reiterate the point that *if* the memo does represent a true picture of what a S2 would have been like, we should be glad there never was a S2. It would in all likelihood have been as disappointing as the second season of "Space: 1999" was for so many people (Maya notwithstanding) from a storytelling standpoint and I think so much of the creativity we as fanfic authors have demonstrated, would have been stifled to a good degree (and would Galactica have as big a fan following?)

[LZaza]

Not even tempted to see it, Eric? If you could wave a magic wand and see Season 2, the original cast back together, even with all its perceived warts, would you?

I would.

[epaddon]

I honestly can't say yes, *if* we're talking about S2 according to that memo. I can remember the real shock the impact of that memo sent through the fanbase when it first became public and most of the fanbase was expressing the same "thank God!" sentiment because disergarding a bad S2 *with* the cast would have been tougher to do than disregarding G80 was. I really don't believe episodes like LL, WOTG and HOG could possibly have the same reasonance if you then undo it in your S2 debut by killing Sheba and then Cain. It's like how a lot of people say "Aliens" is ruined by "Alien 3" (the latter of which I never saw).

[LZaza]

Well, I honestly remember being excited about the Return of Starbuck because it was the closest I was going to get to BSG again. Even with my own personal disappointments in that episode (we won't go into the series), at least I got to savour Starbuck in all his glory for just one more hour.

Yeah, I would have watched Season Two. And maybe if it's as bad as they said, I would have stopped watching. Or maybe something could have changed along the way to improve it.

Who knows.

[epaddon]

Return Of Starbuck did produce some warm moments, but I think its appreciated more as the one bright stop of what was such an irredeemably awful effort (even Lorne Greene in the flashback sequence is I think too over the top).

Yeah, who knows indeed, but I think some reasonable inferences can be made, and at the very least, the way we have been able to enjoy Galactica fandom over the decades would have been dramatically different. Given that Galactica was a show where forward momentum was important, I don't think a sub-par S2 could have been treated the same way Trek fans can tend to disregard much of S3 there.