The great irony is that the most effective managers of humanity, save our two leaders, are Cylons. Tigh might have demagnetized his moral compass on New Caprica, but his suicide bombing campaign was devastatingly effective if that one PTSD Six was any indication; she stayed freaked out by humans. Anders had a similar approach on the old Caprica, whereby he would keep people safe and raid supplies for anti-rad meds, but he spent lots of his time inflicting pain on Cylons just because he knew death and rebirth were painful for them. Ultimately, however, he was portrayed as being a much more personal, conscientious leader than Tigh, since he was the one who made all the contact with the bombers (and was friends with at least one). It was a good spot for him since he was more human than Tigh but less than Tyrol. (Who opposed the suicide bombings and has made the case for the working men and women and therefore has a lock on the "Best Person in the Fleet" award, even if he's a robot.)
Part of why I like the Cylons is that they are capable of such greatness while simultaneously being genocidal bastards. Whereas the humans all really kind of suck but never wipe any civilizations off the map. (Or at least they haven't yet.) I was a big fan of humans in the human vs Cylon fandom death match, but not so much any more. The Cylons, for all their bloodshed, are the most innocent creatures, and their failure to understand things about morality is as much humanity's fault as their own.
Also, my rubric for predicting Cylons was biased in that I refused to allow the greatest frak-ups or successes in the Fleet to be Cylons. It would have been far too easy to excuse Baltar for dooming humanity by going, "Oh, well, he was a robot." Ditto Starbuck's amazing ability as a pilot. She went crazy later, but at the start she was an amazing, smart, resilient pilot with a troubled past. I didn't want the collective best and worst of humanity to be entirely robots. I really like the idea that the Final Five are just people, and none of them are superlatively great. Yeah, you have Tory, but she's not the worst evil schemer person (as Zarek and Gaeta proved). To balance her out, you have Tyrol, who is determined to do the right thing. Anders is a great leader but so infrequently seeks that sort of role (both times he was in command of guerilla forces, he had basically fallen into it). Tigh often gets to leads but does spectacularly badly at it. Then there's Ellen who was just awesome and I'll not hear a word against her ever. Stupid that she's the last, yes, but she's still awesome.
The Final Five were the most human folk ever, which is exactly what I wanted, as opposed to the larger-than-life figures amongst normal humans or normal Cylons. I suspect that a great degree of that will be revealed to be a consequence of them being very old. My theory isn't that they are resurrected so much as just moving sequentially through new lives, with all the attendant lessons one accrues as he/she matures. But they are still themselves as much as any Cylon resurrecting would be, if that makes sense.
So, by that theory, Tyrol will have achieved the great long-sight of history, enough to recognize the dangers of societies devouring their underclasses. Tory has become cynical about politics and life and the things that people want because, let's face it, people are stupid and short-sighted and easily mislead, and she would know how to manipulate that. (And have respect for people like Roslin who do the same.) Tigh's understanding has become that no one can do it alone--hence his codependent relationships with just about everybody. People need him to be a hard-ass when they're weak, and he needs the exact same thing. (Hurrah for dependency?) Anders...I'm not sure what he does, honestly. Even if Tory's evil, she's got some character. He's just generally not an asshole but not forceful enough about anything to make much of an impression. There is some clue to his maybe liking transient fame in all his lives (he seems to have been a musician on Earth), so perhaps that's a commentary about finding beauty/perfecting in athletic/artistic achievement. Of course, I'm probably just reaching. :)
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Date: 2009-02-04 08:51 pm (UTC)Part of why I like the Cylons is that they are capable of such greatness while simultaneously being genocidal bastards. Whereas the humans all really kind of suck but never wipe any civilizations off the map. (Or at least they haven't yet.) I was a big fan of humans in the human vs Cylon fandom death match, but not so much any more. The Cylons, for all their bloodshed, are the most innocent creatures, and their failure to understand things about morality is as much humanity's fault as their own.
Also, my rubric for predicting Cylons was biased in that I refused to allow the greatest frak-ups or successes in the Fleet to be Cylons. It would have been far too easy to excuse Baltar for dooming humanity by going, "Oh, well, he was a robot." Ditto Starbuck's amazing ability as a pilot. She went crazy later, but at the start she was an amazing, smart, resilient pilot with a troubled past. I didn't want the collective best and worst of humanity to be entirely robots. I really like the idea that the Final Five are just people, and none of them are superlatively great. Yeah, you have Tory, but she's not the worst evil schemer person (as Zarek and Gaeta proved). To balance her out, you have Tyrol, who is determined to do the right thing. Anders is a great leader but so infrequently seeks that sort of role (both times he was in command of guerilla forces, he had basically fallen into it). Tigh often gets to leads but does spectacularly badly at it. Then there's Ellen who was just awesome and I'll not hear a word against her ever. Stupid that she's the last, yes, but she's still awesome.
The Final Five were the most human folk ever, which is exactly what I wanted, as opposed to the larger-than-life figures amongst normal humans or normal Cylons. I suspect that a great degree of that will be revealed to be a consequence of them being very old. My theory isn't that they are resurrected so much as just moving sequentially through new lives, with all the attendant lessons one accrues as he/she matures. But they are still themselves as much as any Cylon resurrecting would be, if that makes sense.
So, by that theory, Tyrol will have achieved the great long-sight of history, enough to recognize the dangers of societies devouring their underclasses. Tory has become cynical about politics and life and the things that people want because, let's face it, people are stupid and short-sighted and easily mislead, and she would know how to manipulate that. (And have respect for people like Roslin who do the same.) Tigh's understanding has become that no one can do it alone--hence his codependent relationships with just about everybody. People need him to be a hard-ass when they're weak, and he needs the exact same thing. (Hurrah for dependency?) Anders...I'm not sure what he does, honestly. Even if Tory's evil, she's got some character. He's just generally not an asshole but not forceful enough about anything to make much of an impression. There is some clue to his maybe liking transient fame in all his lives (he seems to have been a musician on Earth), so perhaps that's a commentary about finding beauty/perfecting in athletic/artistic achievement. Of course, I'm probably just reaching. :)