Entertainment
Battlestar Galactica's Biggest Mystery Was Made To Torment Fans On Purpose, But There's An Answer
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Battlestar Galactica is a fantastic series that helped revitalize sci-fi. The first two seasons are filled with great character moments and a tense cat-and-mouse chase between the Cylons and the Colonial Fleet. By Season 3, some believe the show started to go off the rails.
As a fan, I grew frustrated with the increasing frequency of moments that ruined years of character development, and that was before the reveal of the Final Five. But as it turns out, showrunner Ronald D. Moore purposely designed the fate of one character, Starbuck, to be confusing and cause fans to fight about it forever.
That isn’t speculation; in an interview with SyFy back after the finale aired, Moore explained, “I felt, as I went into the finale, that the more I defined exactly what she was, the less interesting she became. And so I just made a choice to go out on a more ambiguous note and to let people argue about it perpetually.”
Divine Guidance
The breakout character of the Battlestar Galactica revival, Ronald D. Moore, reimagined Starbuck as a woman, Kara Thrace, casting Katee Sackhoff as the hotshot pilot played by Dirk Benedict in the original series. Though the writers were praised for creating a strong, multi-dimensional character, some of that goodwill went out the window in Season 3’s “Maelstrom,” when Starbuck appeared to die in her Viper as it imploded in the atmosphere of a distant planet. She wasn’t gone long, reappearing without explanation in the season finale, “Crossroads, Part II,” and offering to guide the Colonial Fleet to Earth.
If it seemed like a sudden change from Viper pilot to a Moses-figure offering to lead the colonists out of exile, that’s because it was, and again, Moore explains that “She is what you want to think of her. It was left deliberately nebulous and vague.”
After she died in front of Apollo, Starbuck looked the same, and Katee Sackhoff was still playing her, but as Moore intended, fans were still arguing about whether the character was even human. The show’s creator did weigh in with his own controversial take: “And I think she was a representative of an entity that didn’t like to be called God, but everybody else talked about it in godlike terms. If you want to call her an angel, you could say that.”
There’s evidence of a mystical force guiding her, even years before the start of Battlestar Galactica, represented by the Eye of Jupiter symbol that appears throughout her life, from childhood drawings to strange dreams right before her death. The symbol had appeared earlier in the season on the walls of the Temple of the Five and within the supernova that guided the fleet to their next destination. More directly, Starbuck’s visions before her death of her mother, her apartment, and what appears to be Leoben (Number Two), but turns out to be a spiritual guide.
The Harbinger Of Death
Hanging over Starbuck’s post-resurrection appearance is the prophecy of the First-War Cylon: “Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the Apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her.”
How this plays out during the final season of Battlestar Galactica is a little counterintuitive, as she did lead the human race to its end by taking them to Earth. To the humans, she was a guide to the promised land, but it was to the Cylons that she became Death, destroyer of worlds.
While all of this is entirely up to speculation, and there’s evidence to support nearly any reading of the word “harbinger,” I believe that her destruction of the Cylon Ressurection ship and ending their cycle of reincarnation brought about the Apocalypse. There’s also the argument that her choices led others to their deaths or, as explained in one of Battlestar Galactica’s deleted scenes included as a DVD extra, Starbuck explains to Apollo that discovering the ruined Earth made that part of the prophecy come true.
As Ronald D. Moore intended, there’s evidence for every reading into Starbuck’s nature after she died, from fans thinking she was a Cylon to others that believe she was an angel and even a few that go further and believe she was God. By “going out on an ambiguous note,” it’s as likely she has ties to the founding of Kobol as she does to The Five, but despite Moore’s goal of leaving it truly open-ended, that didn’t stop Sackhoff from chiming in on her interpretation.
No Wrong Answers
Buried in the comments to a photo Katee Sackhoff posted of her relaxing in the sun was her response to a fan shooting his shot and asking if Starbuck was a spirit guide. Sackhoff actually responded, saying, “She was a spirit brought to guide humanity to earth and salvation.”
You can see why, over a decade after Battlestar Galactica went off the air, fans are still arguing over Starbuck. Moore and Sackhoff have two different answers, and based on the evidence presented within the series itself, neither one is wrong.
My belief is that she was an angel sent to lead humanity out of exile in a mirror of the story of Moses, but that’s also because I don’t think the Cylon evidence is particularly solid. The visions of the Eye of Jupiter, coupled with the prophecy, seem to point to a divine, spiritual force nudging humanity along a specific path. The theory that Number 7 was her father, and she was thus a Cylon, hinges on too many other factors, some of which are explained in the show, particularly that Cylon mating can’t produce offspring.
But that’s just my opinion, and thankfully Ronald D. Moore realized that, unlike what’s been happening with Star Wars, not everything needs a nice and tidy explanation. When you go back and re-watch Battlestar Galactica on Amazon Prime, see what evidence you can find to support Team Angel, Team Cylon, or the less popular but still valid Team She Was A Ghost.
Entertainment
Nintendo announces Star Fox 64 remake for Switch 2
Nintendo is remaking Star Fox 64, reviving the retro gaming classic for the Nintendo Switch 2. Announced during a surprise Nintendo Direct livestream on Wednesday, Star Fox will not only upgrade the graphics, but also add new features updating it for modern gamers.
Also known as Lylat Wars, Star Fox 64 is a 1997 rail shooter developed for Nintendo 64. Playing as humanoid fox Fox McCloud, players defend the fictional Lylat star system by shooting down enemies and dodging obstacles in his spaceship. Star Fox 64 was a significant hit that is still fondly remembered today — and also spawned the classic meme “do a barrel roll.”
Now Fox McCloud is back in Star Fox, sporting “a more animal-like design” alongside fellow Star Fox team members Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad.
“Star Fox is based on the Nintendo 64 game Star Fox 64, but the visuals have been completely updated,” said Nintendo senior executive officer Yoshiaki Koizumi, speaking via a translator during the prerecorded livestream. “All of the characters in the game have also been redesigned.”
Nintendo states that level layouts will be the same as in Star Fox 64, and that the banter between the Star Fox team is returning. Star Fox 64‘s vehicles are back too, with players able to pilot the Landmaster land vehicle, Blue-Marine submersible, and Fox McCloud’s trusty Arwing spaceship. And yes, it will be able to do a barrel roll.
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Credit: Nintendo
Credit: Nintendo
The remake does make a few changes though, with new mission briefing cutscenes placed between stages to flesh out the story. Star Fox will have online multiplayer and matchmaking too, allowing players to work in teams and compete against each other remotely. The game will still have local co-op, but rather than the split-screen days of yore, players will be able to share Star Fox from a Nintendo Switch 2 to other local Switch devices via the GameShare.
Interestingly, Star Fox will let players split pilot and gunner controls for a single vehicle if they so choose, which seems like a handy co-op option for getting younger children involved. Players can also use a Joy-Con 2 controller like a mouse for more precise targeting, or go completely old-school with a Nintendo 64 controller.
Star Fox offers character avatars in the Switch 2’s GameChat as well. This feature tracks players’ head and face movements via webcam, animating characters to match it in real time and displaying this to others using Nintendo’s voice and video chat system.
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Reaction to Nintendo’s announcement has been mixed. While some are excited about the prospect of a new game in the Star Fox franchise, others have criticised the hyperrealistic look of its anthropomorphic animal characters, or bemoaned the fact that it’s a remake instead of a new original game in the series.
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This isn’t Nintendo’s first Star Fox 64 remake. The company previously remade the game for Nintendo 3DS in 2011, entitled Star Fox 64 3D. Then in 2016, the Japanese gaming giant released Wii U reboot Star Fox Zero. A decade later, a new version of Star Fox 64 is now on its way, and it won’t be long to wait.
Star Fox launches on June 25 for $49.99, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. Pre-orders are open now.
Entertainment
Mortal Kombat II review: The bar is in hell for video game movies, huh?
How many times do we have to go through this?
Yes, Mortal Kombat has been a massively popular video game franchise since its spawning in 1992. Yes, its over-the-top kills and thrillingly scornful catchphrases make the fighting games incredibly fun. But despite several attempts including 1995’s Mortal Kombat, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and the 2021 reboot, also titled Mortal Kombat, not a single good live-action movie has been made from this IP.
Yet here we are again with another ugly, nonsensical mess, this time called Mortal Kombat II.
Mortal Kombat, the last film in this much-flubbed franchise, centered on Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a descendant of Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), who’s a fish out of water in the titular fighting tournament world. This time, he’s relegated to a tertiary character, so the sequel can pivot to a new fish out of water, Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), a washed-up ’90s action star who’d rather crush a beer than a spine. However, when a malevolent conqueror named Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) threatens Earthrealm, it’s up to Cage and a coterie of super-powered fighters to win a Mortal Kombat tournament to save their world.
Wisely, Warner Bros. led with Cage in their early promos, releasing teasers that showed a cheeky self-awareness of the Western martial arts movie while suggesting Mortal Kombat II would be funnier than its predecessor. Frustratingly, this is another example of good trailer, bad movie. And a big part of why is that Cage feels like he’s been wedged in, rather than centered on, for a new perspective.
Mortal Kombat II is a befuddling eyesore with sub-zero emotional depth.
Adeline Rudolph as Kitana.
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Mortal Kombat (2021) director Simon McQuoid is back with muddy CGI settings, rubbery CGI fighters, and much of his movie’s cast reprising their roles. Along with Tan and Taslim, Jessica McNamee is back as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion.
Joining the fighter line-up opposite Cage are fan-wielding Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), staff-armed Jade (Tati Gabrielle), the many-fanged Baraka (CJ Bloomfield), and Ford as brutish conqueror Shao Kahn.
Now, you might think that’s too many characters to create meaningful story arcs over the course of a 116-minute runtime. And you’d be right!
Sure, screenwriter Jeremy Slater could have narrowed the focus to Cage’s experience to better create a moving narrative, while still folding in the requisite fighting, brawlers, and game allusions. But hey, why not split the story focus between Cage, whose gruff has-been attitude pitches Mortal Kombat II toward a promising Galaxy Quest vibe, and Kitana, whose rebellious warrior princess thread is reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Gamora as she battled Thanos and her “sister” Nebula. But here, Thanos is Shao Kahn, who murders Kitana’s dad in the film’s glacially paced opening sequence. And Nebula is Jade, Kitana’s bestie/guard since she became Shao Kahn’s prisoner as a girl. (If you want more backstory, fret not, there’s plenty.)
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Tati Gabrielle as Jade.
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Cage won’t even show up for the first 14 minutes of Mortal Kombat II. In that time, the sequel plunges into the same grim and self-serious atmosphere that made McQuoid’s first Mortal Kombat a bore. Sure, the fight scenes are really violent and bloody, befitting the film’s R-rating. But the fights feel disconnected from the storytelling. Worse yet, these battles are shot with very little visual logic, meaning some big blows just don’t hit.
And yep, there sure are recreations of memorable characters, their costumes, weapons, and catchphrases. But the major important distinction between this rebooted movie franchise and the games is, the games were fun.
The most fun Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II can offer is Kano, the only character who resolutely refuses to take things seriously.
Karl Urban shines, but Josh Lawson is Mortal Kombat II‘s MVP.
Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, and Josh Lawson as Kano.
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
As Cage, Urban brings with him an American arrogance that shakes up the seriousness of the Earthrealm battlers. He’s snarky where they’re stern, creating a feisty dynamic that borders on amusing. But as Cage’s clichéd plot line demands he become a selfless, brave hero, he becomes more grave and less giggle-inducing. Thank the gods for Lawson’s Kano.
This crusty criminal and unrepentant asshole died in the last movie, but like other MK fighters, he’s resurrected for this sequel. Thankfully, rather than being brought back as another humorless revenant, Kano is as chaotically insulting as ever, slinging barbs with reckless abandon. When he mocks necromancer Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) for his “eyeliner,” I howled with laughter. And for a brief moment I thought that between Cage and Kano, this movie might actually begin to get fun!
Alas, my hopes were squashed like a skull under a warhammer. Kano and Cage get to be comic relief, while Kitana broods and a new quest kicks off to heist a magical gem from Shao Kahn, which he effectively uses as an immortality cheat code. Again, life-or-death battles and a heist into the heart of a tyrant’s castle? This should be exciting and entertaining!
Inexplicably, McQuoid bleeds any tension from these sequences with a mangled visual language that makes fights hard to follow and the quest feel like an afterthought. Suspense cannot build because in every other scene, Slater’s script delivers another exposition drop to explain the tournament, the realms, the revenants — on and on! Video games are a visual medium. Movies are a visual medium. Yet much of this movie feels like I got locked into a tedious podcast.
In the end, Mortal Kombat II feels like the wretched compromise of two movie pitches. One is a sequel that closely follows the saga and dolesome tone of the last movie. The other is an action-comedy in the vein of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Whether it’s Kano reading other fighters to filth, or a sequence where Cage is chased around a village by a rampaging Baraka, there are moments where Mortal Kombat II flirts with not taking this IP deadly seriously. But then McQuoid pivots back to a tone that’s less Shogun and more Iron Fist. And as sloppy and artless as this adaptation is, it probably won’t matter.
Gamers need to demand more of video game movies.
CJ Bloomfield as Baraka.
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
It’s long been a cliché that video game movies are traditionally bad. I was recently disappointed by the Until Dawn movie and moved to consider my own mortality over the vacuousness of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. And yet, studios keep plugging along with these movies “for the fans.”
Don’t be fooled. That’s a cynical sales pitch that assumes gamers love the source IP so much that studios don’t need to bring skilled filmmakers or spend the money on top-notch fight choreography, stunts, or visual effects. They believe the fans will come regardless of what they actually put on screen. And maybe they’re right! After all, critics warned that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was a soulless sequel with more allusions than entertainment. But it’s nearing a billion dollars for worldwide box office. So, why should studios change strategy?
Warner Bros hired a commercial director to make his feature directorial film debut with Mortal Kombat, and now he’s back with a muddled vision that’s an ugly and lifeless slog. But if fans go to the theater or stream this exhaustively on HBO Max, like they presumably did its predecessor, then the bar is in hell, and it won’t be raised.
At least we have more Last of Us to look forward to, right?
Mortal Kombat II opens in theaters on May 8.
Entertainment
This robotic pool vacuum is basically a Roomba that can swim, and it’s $449 off today
SAVE 35%: As of May 6, you can get the Beatbot AquaSense 2 for $849 at Amazon, down from $1,298. That’s a 35% discount or $449 savings.
$849
at Amazon
$1,298
Save $449
I don’t have a pool (well, not a personal one, anyway; I live in an apartment complex), but I do have a robot vacuum, and I know the joy of watching a little machine clean my floors while I do other things. If you apply that same logic to pool maintenance (which I imagine is a lot more annoying than keeping your floors clean), then investing in a robo pool cleaner makes a lot of sense.
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And, right now, you can get one of Amazon’s top-rated models for a fraction of the price. As of May 6, you can get the Beatbot AquaSense 2 for $849 at Amazon, down from $1,298. That’s a 35% discount or $449 savings. It’s also the lowest price we’ve seen this model go for. The only problem? Amazon marked this as a “limited-time deal,” and the countdown clock shows it ends in about 16 hours.
This thing works just like an indoor robot vacuum; it maps out its cleaning path and then uses an onboard 4-core CPU and 16 sensors to navigate using an S-path for the pool floor and an N-path to scrub the walls and waterline. It also has a “Double-Pass Scrubbing” feature for the waterline, so it’ll get the grimiest spots twice per pass. Bonus: When it’s done cleaning (or when the battery runs low), it automatically parks itself at the surface of the water so you don’t have to go diving to retrieve it.
Dodgers RHP Tyler Glasnow (back) exits after one inning
Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo to skip Preakness
