Battlestar Galactica Takes Over the United Nations

This post comes from Io9.com.




"Last night, I sat among the Twelve Colonies with Admiral Adama and President Roslin at the United Nations' ECOSOC Chamber, to talk about human rights issues, and fill the space with "So Say We All." Backed by the bizarre red-and-white U.N. curtains, Ronald D. Moore, Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell and David Eick gathered to discuss the direct correlation between Battlestar Galactica and the present day work at the United Nations. Whoopi "Guinan" Goldberg moderated the entire panel and I have to say, even though I'm not the biggest View supporter, Goldberg's grasp of current issues and encyclopedic fan knowledge of BSG combined perfectly to give a bit of levity to the night's presentation.
The panel launched into a moving discourse, prompted by a collection of retrospective clips from BSG about human rights in both the science-fictional and modern day worlds. United Nations workers sat next to the Admiral, and spoke from the heart about extreme human rights abuses around the world, after viewing a scene from the first season, with Starbuck torturing Cylon Leoben with a water bucket and a smirk, and the brutal abuse of Pegasus Six. For every clip, the "real world" speaker shared how these shameful and violating acts continue across the globe, and sadly aren't limited to dark space operas. Human Rights Deputy Director Craig Mokhiber lamented that even the utopian ideal the United Nations was formed around was considered, by some, science fiction. "We look at it in a different way," Mokhiber explained. "It's true that we are an idealistic organization... but we are focused on international law and diplomacy to settle disputes. We don't see it as utopian, we see it as the only reasonable alternative to what inevitably would be a horrific dystopian society."
At one point the discussion lit a fire under the Admiral, and the talk of human rights turned personal for Edward James Olmos. The "Old Man" launched into a passionate speech about casting off the idea of race as a cultural determinant, and said we were one race, the human race. His voice echoed throughout the chamber growing louder until - I kid you not - he was yelling, "So Say We All," and the crowd answered right back. Hell, even I yelled it, I was in the fraking United Nations with Adama, the gods themselves could not have stopped this moment. It was surreal - the entire audience turned into one massive optimistic/role-playing/saddened goosebump, because who knows when we'll ever hear those words again? And then we were doubly geeked out when, as if on cue, Mary McDonnell turned to Olmos and put her hand on his cheek. But the real chills came from realizing that this treasured television show had actually opened up the lines of communication between the audience and the United Nations. BSG has made people think about the troubling deeds happening in darkened rooms in the present day, not just on a spaceship in the future. And this was just the beginning of the night. The UN continued to screen clips from BSG and the conversation moved on to outlawing the right to choose aboard the Galactica, and how difficult it was for Mary McDonnell to get through filming those scenes. And then, to suicide bombings in the resistance on New Caprica. The show's producer, Ronald D. Moore, discussed writing Saul Tigh's troubling pro-suicide bombing lecture where he tells the ex-president to leave her moral scruples about his terrorist actions at the door, because he's got a war to win. The rationale that they gave Saul to justify his actions was, "more frightening and more disturbing because he wasn't crazy," Moore said. "I felt like it was important to put that idea out there and make people think about it because people who do these things are human beings." And he was right.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning, Robert Orr, admitted that he hasn't talked about terrorism or nuclear armageddon in a social situation since 1982 (although he talks about those issues daily at work). "We don't like to confront these issues in our lives, but they are real," said Orr. "If a show can get us thinking about it and talking about it, then Amen, because it isn't easy." Ahem, I think you meant, "Thank the gods." But he's got a point, and I don't think there is another show on television that could recreate last night at the United Nations, by addressing current issues in such a manner.
It was chill-inducing to see how far BSG had come. What was once a struggling miniseries now sits front and center in the Chambers of the United Nations, creating a dialogue amongst fans, 100 attending high school students (who all came prepped with astounding questions), politicians and activists. Let's hope that BSG'snight inspires future scifi series to at least attempt to address the reality of the world we live in today, you'll be missed old girl."

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BSG Recap: 2/27/09 episode

Ok, so here is the latest episode recap and I promise this one will not be as long as the previous.

OPENING SEQUENCE: Recap of previous episode
We learn that the Cylon organic resin that they have put in the ship isn't working as well as hoped. Ellen & Boomer arrive on the Galactica and Boomer is promptly arrested. Starbuck finds her dead self in her Raptor on Earth.

New Episode-
Scenes bounce back and forth between Kara getting ready for the day's pilot briefing, the briefing itself and her in the bar drinking listening & bickering with a man composing music at the piano. This is going to be a heavy Kara/Starbuck episode.
Kara sees her dead self in the mirror.

Tyrol, Tigh, Lee, the Admiral and Laura meet to discuss the status of the Galactica. Lee congratulates a 6 for being elected to the Quorum. She promptly informs them that as soo as she takes office, she is going to officially ask that Boomer be turned over to the cylons to face charges of treason, with the death penalty on the line. Of course the Chief doesn't take too kindly to this news.

OPENING CREDITS: Nothing new here although more flashes from what looks like this weeks episode.

The ship is rattling and apparently things are going from bad to worse pretty quickly on the Galactica. Showers not working correctly, ship is shaking, electrical issues.

Sam is still unconscious in the hospital with Kara & the doctor at his bedside. Tory, Ellen & an 8 are hovering discussing what might be going on with him and suggesting hooking him up to the data stream. Doc throws them out.

More Kara in the bar and more bad piano playing. She derides the piano player to play something or quite. He is composing so keeps playing the same few notes over and over. Something tells me that what we are seeing is not really what is going on. Meanwhile, the chief is having dreams of him and Boomer. It won't be long now before he goes to the brig to see her. Recap of some of the death scene of Boomer when the Chiefs first wife kills her.

Flash to Helo's quarters. Hera is drawing and in comes Kara. Helo has bought back some of Kara's personal belongings from when she disappeared. A locker is full of it. Helo gives Kara a copy of a tape of her father, Dreilide Thrace "Live at the Helice Opera House". Apparently that is all she wants, 'cause she tells Helo to keep the rest. Hera gives Kara a drawing of stars....or so we are led to believe at this point.

Tyrol visits Boomer in the brig. They talk a little, try to touch hands and WHOA...Boomer tried a cylon projection of a scene of them on Picon in a house living a perfect little fairy tale life. Tyrol pulls back, freaked out and runs away.

More piano playing in the bar. Kara moves up to the piano and sits next to the piano player. Is this piano player her father? Meanwhile, Tyrol, Tory, Ellen & Tighe are sitting and discussing the Boomer issue. Tyrol wants them to stop the cylons from taking her and trying her for treason. None of them are in favor. Ellen says she will testify that Boomer helped her escape, but that is it. This is not something they should interfere with. Back to the brig and Tyrol/Boomer. They do the Cylon projection again, this time Tyrol is willing and she shows him the life she has dreamed up in her head based on their plans before everyone found out she was Cylon.
He likes it this time...a very sweet life which includes a daughter. Tears and determination to not let Boomer die.

Piano playing. Now Kara talks about her father teaching her to play the piano. Talks about a song her father taught her.

Tyrol asks the president not to sign over Boomer to the Cylons. Amazing how the regular Cylons no longer have such respect and awe for the Final 5. Should Tyrol be able to demand they not do this? Then it starts to get a little sticky. Tyrol knocks out an 8 working on the ship and substitutes her for Boomer. Uh Oh.....I see trouble coming.

Piano Playing. Now Kara joins in when the piano player in a duet after complaining that her father left and never came back. Wasn't Daniel and artist? Didn't Cavel do away with all the Daniels? I'm beginning to believe more and more that Kara is the daughter of Daniel. Kara begins to try to play the song that her father taught her. Tears, hesitation....then she asks the piano player to play.

Aethena is washing up and in comes Boomer. Boomer beats her and ties her up. Then Helo comes home and is in the mood for a little "fun". Boomer plays along and they have sex on the floor with Aethena looking through an slight opening in the door. Nothing like watching your husband screw a you that isn't you.

More piano with Kara. She can't quite remember. He draws out soem music notes. It looks just like the stars that Hera drew. She pulls out the drawing and they lay the "stars" under a blank sheet of music so that they can see the notes through the page (thin paper obviously) then begin to play. The final 5 Cylons here it and it's the song that drew them all together when they realized they were Cylons. Boomer, disquised as Aethena, goes to the nursery and get's Hera, stuffs her in a trunk and she and Tyrol put the trunk in a jumper. Boomer is about to make a getaway with Hera. They say a tearful, smooch goodbye.

Piano playing. Kara looks closely at the man and imagines her father with her. Just then Tighe comes up and grabs her and asks her " Where did you learn to play that song?" "I played it as a kid, my father..." she turns to the man on the bench next to her and he isn't there. Never was. It was all in her head. Tory sees the drawing on the piano and asks "who did this?".

Briefing room...in staggers Aethena and she tells Helo that Boomer has Hera and it was Boomer than he screwed. Meanwhile, Boomer is sitting in the jumper waiting to launch. Everyone knows who is really is and they are trying to delay her. The Admiral tells her to shut down, but she fires up her engines and starts to power up her FTL drive. She tells them that Hera is on board. They retract the flight pods but Boomer starts moving the jumper towards the opening while firing up her FTL. Just as she exits the flight bay, she jumps and tears a hole in the side of Galactica. Explosions throughout the ship. Just then in the flight bay, Tyrol sees Helo & Aethena screaming at the officer in charge of the flight bay about how did a 3 year old child get by him. Another crew member tells Tyrol that Boomer took Hera out of the nursery and that Hera was on the ship with Boomer. Tyrol is stunned when he realizes what has happened. How he was played. The president faints in her quarters upon realizing that Hera is gone. The entire thing was orchestrated. Helping Ellen escape, getting to Hera and taking her back to Cavil.

Kara is laying on the bed with Sam listening to her father play the piano and the music is playing in the backgroud. Tyrol goes to the Cylon projected house he shared with Boomer and it's empty...daughter gone too.

I am believing more and more that Kara is the daughter of a Daniel. That when Cavil boxed them, that was when her father disappeard. How she was "recreated" after visiting earth...not sure. The resurrection ship still existed, but they would have had to have a Kara model. However, it is apparent that alot is still going to happen in the last 3 episodes. That we are not done with the other Cylons and there are still plenty of surprises to come.

Only relevant to geeks like me....BSG tonight!

Ok, so this post is only relevant to geeks like me who watch BSG religiously. I don't use the term "religiously" lightly either. Some episodes have been so good this last season, it has almost been like a religious experience. Ok, so last week was not up to par with the previous week (which in my opinion was the best episode ever!!!), but I have high hopes for tonight. Boomer is back, although in the brig, Tyrol is aching/longing to be with her and the other cylons, specifically the 8's and 6's, are out for her blood. This time she could be really dead (she's already died twice for those of you who don't watch) since there is no longer a Resurection Ship. The previews look really good but we only have a couple of episodes left before it goes away for good. Does anyone know the status of the series "Caprica"? It's suppose to be a pre-qual to BSG? Last I heard it was on for the fall, but info has not been easy to come by.

Did everyone see the new PETA ad with Jamie Bamber (Lee/Apollo Adama)?

Battlestar Galactica Recap and Analysis

This past weeks BSG was chocked full of eye & mind opening information. But read below to get caught up on what happened and will/might happen if you missed this past week.

All of this has been confusing before, and all of this will be confusing again. Instead of the previous lies, we begin with yet another new prologue, and as is appropriate for this show, it’s all cycling back to the beginning. The question is, as you’ll see, “what, exactly is the beginning?” Weirdly enough, I actually think that we find out in this episode. Cue the beginning of the episode:

It's the familiar white lettering on the black background: 

THIS HAS ALL HAPPENED BEFORE AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN

A shot of Earth. Sucking. 

THE CYLONS WERE CREATED BY MAN

Scary-ass Centurions. 

THEY REBELLED

War! 

THEN THEY VANISHED
FORTY YEARS LATER, THEY CAME BACK
THEY EVOLVED

Caprica Six walking on the planet Caprica, which is then nuked.

50,298 HUMAN SURVIVORS

The Fleet 

HUNTED BY THE CYLONS

Being hunted by the Cylons 

ELEVEN MODELS ARE KNOWN

Shown in order that we discovered them 

ONE WAS SACRIFICED

That, of course, would be Ellen Tigh, who was poisoned by Saul after he discovered that she almost gave them away on New Caprica. He never even knew that she’d been banging Brother Cavil . . .Ellen is resurrected, with only a single Centurion for company. She initially freaks out, and then comes to a realization – about everything. Showing us Ellen Tigh realizing her true nature is just the beginning of the wonderful work from Kate Vernon throughout this episode. She asks for the Centurion to help her out of her resurrection tub. Present day. We’re hanging out in surgery with Kara Thrace and Sam Anders, and he is chanting gibberish like a Hybrid. Last episode, he took a bullet to his brain, so they need to drain it and then bring in the Fleet’s Foremost Authority on Brains to remove the bullet. Meanwhile, Sam is giving us foreshadowing of the rest of the episode, even mentioning Ellen. Nobody pays any attention. This is an incredibly dialog-heavy episode -- in every sense of the word -- where we learn a shitload of backstory and mythology. So I’m going to summarize a lot of scenes with the information presented, as opposed to the dialog itself. Otherwise, this becomes 10,000 or 20,000 words (instead of the 3,016 that it is)
For example, 18 months ago, the then recently resurrected Ellen Tigh is sitting naked on a Cylon Basestar, when in strolls Brother Cavil, and they instantly start sniping at each other. What we learn is this:

• Ellen created Cavil.
• Cavil has always known who the Final Five were.
• Cavil’s first name is John, but it should be Oedipus.

Back in the present day, aboard Galactica, Tyrol shows Adama the big scar that runs through the length of Galactica. Adama almost instantly reinstates Tyrol as Chief and tasks him with fixing it. In Sickbay, post-drainage, Sam is beatific, and asks Kara to bring the others. Kara’s thinks that Sam is so confused that he’s talking about the wrong show entirely. Sam, still with a huge smile on his face, says: “Not those Others, silly. The other Cylons.” You know, Tigh, Tory, Tyrol, Ellen. After Kara gently corrects Sam with the fact that Ellen is dead, Sam says: “I remember everything. Earth. Why we’re here. Everything.”
Oh. That. And we’re into the opening credits. 39,556 survivors searching for a home. Home. We’ve lost over 10,000 souls since the original attack.

12 Months ago. On the basestar, Ellen is a prisoner of Brother John Cavil and his new girlfriend Sharon “Boomer” Valeri. Boomer, you might remember, is the only Eight out of her entire line to not rebel against Cavil, and it was the single vote by this single model that led to the Cylon Civil war. Here’s what we learn:

• The belief in God comes from the Centurions, not the Skin Jobs.
• Cavil claims that he is driven to destroy humanity by his outsized sense of justice for the enslavement of the Centurions.

What Cavil doesn’t say is that he wants to destroy humanity because he resents being made in the image of humans. He’s a self-hating android. Data would be so disappointed. Lore, on the other hand, would totally approve. Cavil leaves Boomer alone with Ellen, who offers her an apple. After Boomer refuses, Ellen tells her to think for herself, and crunches into the apple. Symbolism! Also: juicy! In Sickbay, Tigh, Tory, Tyrol & Kara gather around Sam, who tells them this:

• The Final Five all worked together (in a “Research Facility”) on Earth.
• Tyrol & Tory were doing it. Sex, I mean. As were Ellen & Saul.
• There was resurrection -- “organic memory transfer” -- on Kobol, it became a lost art after procreation started.
• Resurrection had only recently been reinvented; Ellen was a driver of that process.
• They knew that the nuking was happening – because of warnings from beings only they could see (!) -- and had themselves downloaded to a ship orbiting Earth when it got blowed up real good.

Sam’s round of series-altering exposition is interrupted when Cottle walks back in from his cigarette break, and notices that Sam looks like crap. So he breaks up the memory party. One of the secretly funny things about this episode is that Cottle & his people are around the whole time Sam is spilling the beans about their crazy Cylon adventures. It’s not like this is secret, closed-door testimony. He’s in a semi-public place the whole time. Over on Colonial One, Lee Adama & President Laura Roslin are in the Quorum room, mourning the recently-massacred members of the Quorum. Lee points out that this might be a good time to change their entire system of representation: instead of being planet-based, it could be ship-based, as reflecting their currently reality. Given the fact that there are 35 ships, they’re going to need a bigger room. Roslin agrees, and taps Lee to put it all together. She’s going to step aside and let him run things for the rest of the series, but warns him: “You’re so hell-bent on doing the right thing that you sometimes don’t do the smart thing.” And that’s pretty much it for Roslin and Lee this episode. See you next week! Elsewhere aboard Galactica, Tyrol is telling Adama that the damage is worse than they thought. Apparently, the contractors who built Galactica cut some corners. Shocking! If they can sit still, and not jump for awhile, Chief thinks that he can “squeeze some more life out of her.” But you really don’t care about this sub-plot, do you? Nope, you’re really waiting for some more of those Sam Anders mind-fraks. So, let’s head back to Sickbay – though not as fast as Tyrol, evidently – and find out some more cool, but confusing, stuff. To wit:

• The Final Five all downloaded to their ship orbiting Earth, and headed back to the 12 Colonies.
• But they didn’t have any jump drives, so the trip took thousands of years – luckily, time slowed down for them.
• When then got there, the Colonials and Centurions were already at war. The war from 40 some-odd years ago.
• The Centurions were already experimenting with creating humanoid Cylons: the hybrids. But they weren’t fully successful.
• So the Five struck a deal with the Centurions: you stop fighting with the Colonials, and we will help you build your Skin-jobs.
• The Five created Eight humanoid models, and gave them Resurrection.

And then, Sam has a seizure, so it’s time to call the Fleet’s Foremost Authority on Brains to take a look at him. OK. Too much to chew on right here, but let’s take a hunk. First off, I have no problem with the trip taking thousands of years from the standpoint of, er, time, but only taking a few years from the standpoint of the Five. That’s just classic Sci-Fi. What I have a bit of a problem with is the fact that they didn’t have FTL technology. I mean, how did they get to Earth in the first place? Or did the colonization also take thousands of years? So my working theory is that the FTL was lost in the same way that Resurrection was lost: they didn’t need it, so they stopped using it. Much in the same way that pocket calculators have robbed future generations from being able to do math in their heads. But here’s the bigger question: why was Earth a myth to the Twelve Colonies when it clearly wasn’t the other way around? At first, the Fleet had no idea how to find Earth; but the Five knew exactly where to find the Colonies. Oh, and for anybody doing the math, we’ve got an extra Cylon model unaccounted for. Kara got that almost instantly. Maybe it’s her! (Or maybe . . . we’ll get to that.) Supernova! It’s 12 months ago, and Cavil and Ellen and Boomer are talking again. Cavil tells the story about D’anna and her visions of the Final Five in the Temple, and how they had to box her because she was going crazy. Ellen then points out that boxing isn’t permanent; not like what happened to poor Cylon #7. This is a cue for Cavil to monolog again about how limiting it is to be human – he’d rather experience things like supernovae as a machine -- and he places the blame for that at the feet of the Final Five and storms out. After his hissy fit, Boomer asks Ellen if she is remorseful for how badly Boomer’s boyfriend feels about his sucky human body. Ellen says not at all, because in making them human, she gave them free will, and sings “if you choose not to decide; you still have made a choice.” Outside of Sickbay, Tigh, Tyrol & Tory are trying to deconstruct what Sam just told them. Get a whiteboard! They argue over whether they lead humanity to its destruction by creating the Skin-jobs, or just bought humanity some extra decades by making the deal with the Centurions. Tory points out that it’s really all the fault of the humans on Kobol for making them in the first place, and Tigh finally says that there’s plenty of blame to go around: everybody is complicit. Society’s to blame. All right, we’ll arrest them, too. In Sickbay proper, the Fleet’s Foremost Authority on Brains says that the seizure was a hemorrhage and another one could happen any time. So despite the fact that we’re getting all of this great exposition, we really oughta get that bullet out of Sam’s brain, already! Four months ago, on the basestar; Cavil tells Ellen that the Resurrection Hub is all gone. He wants her to rebuild it. Make it better, faster, stronger. Ellen says that it would take all of the Five to do it, not just her. She’s pretty insistent on this point. Cavil, sensing the need for a parallel plot structure, says fine, if you don’t want to tell us, then we will cut your brain open, poke around, and just find the memories. But it might take a few months to get it all put together. Back in the Galactica Sickbay; Sam has one more round of plot points to exposit before Kara finally gets him operated on by the Fleet’s Foremost Authority on Brains. Ready? No? Tough:

• John Cavil was the first skin-job; he helped build the others.

• Ellen’s gamble was that since the Centurions believed in God; maybe they would embrace the God of Love and Mercy and not the God of Judgment and Revenge. Sure, because that’s always how things are done in the name of God.
• Cavil, who doesn’t believe in any kind of God whatsoever, did the following:
              Suffocated The Five.
              Boxed the Five.
              Implanted the Five with false memories.
              Loosed the Five one by one into the Colonies in order for them to have ringside seats to the                           holocaust. Tigh first, and then the others.
• Kara is not Number Seven. We know. (Or is she?) The Number Seven was named Daniel. Definitely named Daniel. He died. That was the Number Seven. Daniel. Who is now a star in the face of sky.

As he is being wheeled into surgery, Sam has one more piece of advice for Saul, “Stay with the Fleet. It’s all starting to happen. Right here, the miracle. It’s a gift from the angels. Stay with the Fleet!” Tigh goes to his quarters, where a very pregnant – and a catalyst for the situation they all find themselves in, don’t forget – Caprica Six asks him what Anders said. Saul Tigh lies with the truth: “Cottle kicked us out; he never got to finish.” Also: Tigh hasn’t had booze in his quarters for weeks, now. Because he mind-melded his alcoholic tendencies to Adama. Apparently, my prediction last week of Caprica, Baltar & Hera all being in the same place at that same time – and the fireworks that would ensue -- was just wrong. Hera’s obviously back with (the absent from this week’s episode) Athena & Helo, with no further developments. I’m beginning to wonder if the Hera plotline is just a red herring. It’s two days ago, and Cavil has finally rounded up enough Simons – Dr. Skin-job to you -- to cut open Ellen’s brain, and dig out the resurrection information. Why did it take so long? Apparently, there were insurance issues delaying what is, after all, an elective surgery. Cavil & Boomer walk in, and Ellen is unconcernedly drawing a picture of Saul – man, that’s going to be good times when she and Caprica Six come face to face! – and seems utterly unconcerned that they’re about to split her head open like a pumpkin. But first, some more plot points:

• Cavil sent the Final Five to live amongst the humans so that they could see how sucky humans are as compared to the perfect machines the Cylons could be.
• Which is part of the reason that he never killed the Five all of the times he could have: he wanted them to apologize to him for making him humanoid.
• Number Seven, the Daniels – who had better be important, somehow – were artists. And they were all killed in a jealous rage by Cavil, who thought that they were loved more by Ellen than he was.

BTW, I should point out that Cavil seems wayyyyyyyy more one-note on paper than he does when he is embodied by Dean Stockwell, who knocks every single scene right out of the park. Even when he throws one more temper tantrum; claims that he is somehow a mistake, and it’s all her fault, because she made him. Ellen reacts like mommies have throughout time when a selfish and petulant child makes that claim. He’s not a mistake; he can be a good boy if he only chooses, and she loves him. He rejects her, and storms out to get ready to watch the rooting around in her brain. Back aboard Galactica: Chief tells Adama that remember how the damage to the ship was worse than they thought? Well, its even worse than they thought when they thought it was worse that what they originally thought it was! Luckily, the Cylons happen to have some organic technology that will fix everything. Of course they do. Adama, who just risked a civil war trying to put Cylon technology on every ship in the fleet, doesn’t want this on Galactica. Oh yeah, you don’t care about this, so lets just wrap it up. A little bit later, Adama sees a big-ass scar on the war of his quarters, and eventually drunk dials Chief and tells him to do whatever he needs to fix Galactica, his girl. That said, the fact that they are essentially doing surgery on Galactica, and making it a organic-machine compound, dovetails nicely with the rest of the episode, and the confusion of human and machine that permeates nearly every single bullet point I’ve listed above. Right. So which brain surgery do you want to know about, Sam’s or Ellen’s? Sam’s. Not good. Hours and hours under the knife, has left him with very little brain activity. The final diagnosis from the Fleet’s Foremost Authority on Brains: Sam has the Blue Screen of Death. Ellen’s. Good. Remember all of that stuff about free will? Boomer exercises some of her own, and instead of leading Ellen to surgery, spirits Ellen from the basestar, jumping away at the last second. So that’s where we are. Are you confused? I was too so this is how I interpret the sequence of events.

• Humans and Skin-jobs both existed on Kobol, for reasons unknown. The Humans went to the Twelve Colonies; the Skin-jobs went to Earth, also for reasons unknown.
• On Earth, the Skin-jobs created Centurions; who rebelled and nuked them. However, the Final Five escaped via downloading and headed towards the Colonies. Slowly.
• Meanwhile, Colonialists also created Centurions, who rebelled against their creators. Oh, and got religion.
• The Final Five met up with the Colonial Centurions, convinced them to stop the war and helped them create the Eight Skin-jobs.
• Cavil killed Daniel; killed and boxed the Final Five, and rebooted the war effort, seeding the Colonials with Skin-jobs. Some knew who they were; some needed to be activated.
• At some point, he reintroduced the Five into the Colonials, but without memories of their true nature. They needed Bob Dylan to activate them. (I am assuming you saw the episodes leading up to their realization that they were Cylons, if not this reference makes no sense)
• Finally, who is Daniel?  There seem to be two big Daniel theories out there:
                  Daniel is Starbuck’s father. This would somehow help to explain her mysterious disappearance                     and reappearance.
                  Daniel is Baltar. This would somehow help to explain his ongoing visions of Six.

Both theories are good; both theories have flaws. Hell, maybe Daniel is Baltar AND Starbuck’s father. My head hurts

Less Than 24 Hours to BSG