Sometimes a Great Notion (Battlestar Galactica)
"Sometimes a Great Notion" | |
---|---|
Battlestar Galactica episode | |
Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 11 |
Directed by | Michael Nankin |
Written by | Bradley Thompson David Weddle |
Original air date | January 16, 2009 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Sometimes a Great Notion" is the eleventh episode in the fourth season of the reimagined
The episode continues from "Revelations", where both the colonial fleet and the rebel Cylons finally found
Plot
Both the Human fleet and the rebel Cylons are disillusioned after finding
In the fleet,
Tigh walks into the sea and receives a flashback of his life on Earth. In the vision, Tigh sees his wife
Production
Writing
This episode was written back-to-back with the Season 4.0 episode, "Revelations." According to co-writer David Weddle, the title of episode was chosen as co-writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson outlined their story for the producers. The title is taken from the Ken Kesey novel Sometimes a Great Notion, a favorite of Weddle's.[3] While writing the novel, Kesey made notes in which he urged himself to make the novel's protagonist quit living, and this became the theme of this episode as well. Weddle said that he and the other writers were inspired by the idea of taking a strong, heroic character and piling misfortunes on him or her until finally the character breaks:
What happens in that moment? Does he despair? Does he get up and go on? For me, there is no more defining moment for a character. We tried to do this with almost all the characters in this episode: [Adama], Laura, Kara, Lee. We ripped everything out from under them then sat back to see what they would do. What were their individual breaking points? And if they did break, would they stay broken or grope toward a recovery?[1]
The "fox in the river" story told by Admiral Adama comes from the novel, and also from real-life incidents with wildlife swimming out to sea near Weddle's home in Malibu, California.[1]
The decision to have
There had to be a cost. There had to be a price somebody paid for that discovery. Not everybody could take that. Not everyone could just say, "OK, that didn't work out, let's go on to next week's episode." It felt like somebody would just say, "No, I'm done. I just want to find a little moment of time where I can feel good about myself one last time, then I'm finished with this long nightmare." And that seemed like that would be Dualla.[1]
Dualla fit this best because she had lost two men whom she loved, and all she had left was the hope of finding Earth. Moore also came up with the idea that Dualla's suicide was actually an act of hope and control, not despair.[1]
Although the network had concerns that the script was too depressing, Moore successfully defended the writing by saying that it might be the last episode of the series and that viewers who had stuck with the show for three and a half seasons would not be put off by yet another "dark" episode. Writers Weddle and Thompson considered giving the characters some leeway in interpreting what they had found. Among the options debated were giving the fleet some hope that Earth might be some other planet, allowing a character to discover a new part of the Prophecy of Pythia, giving one of the characters a vision of an Earth-like planet, and placing a clue in the ruins that would direct the fleet to yet another planet.[1] All were rejected.
Weddle and Thompson also worked extensively on the scene in which Admiral Adama tries to provoke Col. Tigh into killing him. Moore encouraged Weddle and Thompson to give the Adama character progressively crueler lines. The writers were the ones who inserted the line in the script in which Adama mentions Ellen Tigh's sexual infidelity. On the set, however, actor Edward James Olmos changed the line from Adama saying Ellen wanted a man with "real blood in his veins" to "main vein," then ad-libbed the line in which the character said, "I could smell her." The scenes where Dualla finds the set of
Cost estimates indicated that the script, as originally written, would be $300,000 over budget (about two-and-a-half times what the studio would have permitted) and a number of scenes were cut. An extensive opening segment which would have depicted the destruction of Earth was changed to the filmed segment in which Tyrol sees a flash of light and his shadow is left on a wall. However, Nankin restored the scene in which Helo, Dualla, Adama, and Roslin ride back to Galactica in the Raptor.[1]
The Fifth Cylon
Ellen and Saul Tigh have "always been Cylons, and there’s something profound about that. They’re a married couple who just have to go at it periodically and just have major issues and major problems. But the bond between the two of them was something that literally could not be broken. And I thought that was a really interesting and ultimately very positive thing to say."
Ronald D. Moore talking about Ellen Tigh being the final Cylon[4]
According to showrunner
A clue to the final Cylon's identity was inserted into several episodes, when Col. Tigh sees Ellen's face on the Number Six model. Moore's decision was revealed to the writing team at series writers' conference which occurred between Season 3 and Season 4. Other characters were considered as the final Cylon model, but the writing staff agreed none had the same resonance as Ellen Tigh. The decision to reveal Ellen Tigh's true identity in "Sometimes A Great Notion" was made because Moore did not want Season 4.5 to devolve into a guessing game about who the final Cylon might be, and because he wanted the final episode of the series to be about issues other than who the final Cylon was.[1]
Writers' strike
The script for "Sometimes A Great Notion" was the only script finished when the
The cast and crew were very emotional during filming, as they were concerned that this might be the last episode ever filmed and the series cancelled if the strike was a lengthy one. Olmos helped to work up the cast's emotions for the shoot by telling everyone that the show was ending. According to co-writer Weddle, Olmos repeatedly told the cast, "This is the end, I think we all feel that. They're not going to bring the show back. They'll pull the sets down. We'll never shoot another episode." Actress Kandyse McClure improvised the lullaby her character hums before committing suicide, and series composer Bear McCreary used the melody for part of the episode's musical soundtrack.[1]
Filming
The producers intended for this episode to be the last to star
The final shots for the episode "Revelations" were filmed in the three hours immediately preceding the shooting of the beach scenes for "Sometimes A Great Notion." Director Michael Rymer, who helmed "Revelations," and Nankin agreed that all Earth sequences should be reminiscent of the work of film director Ingmar Bergman, so wide camera lenses were used, the color was desaturated, and long rather than short takes were used.[1]
The scene in which Adama goads Tigh was scheduled to last a day. Originally the segment was to be shot in small bits and flashbacks edited between each line, but the scene was instead shot as one long take.
Reception
"Sometimes a Great Notion" was seen by 2.1 million total viewers in the U.S, earning the episode a 1.6
Eric Goldman of IGN gave "Sometimes a Great Notion" an "incredible" rating of 9.5 out of 10. The reviewer quoted the episode as "stronger and sadder than ever," and was executed "extremely well." Goldman felt that the episode did not back down from the deeply powerful storylines from the past, and praised the emotions of the fleet after finding Earth in ruins.[8] The Guardian received the episode positively, stating how many events happened during the course of the episode, and felt that the episode played fair with its audience, despite the number of new questions being addressed. It was anticipated that Dualla would play a big part in the episode after her appearance from the cold open. Her suicide was compared with Boomer shooting Adama in the closing scene of season 1 in a dramatical sense. The Guardian also praised the performance between Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell's characters, as well as the standoff between Adama and Tigh.[9]
Matt Norris of Cinema Blend stated that most of the events portrayed in the episode were unexpected, including Dualla's suicide, Starbuck finding her own supposed body, discovering the thirteenth tribe were
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Ryan, Maureen (2009-01-17). "'Battlestar Galactica's' Ron Moore addresses the shocking developments of 'Sometimes a Great Notion'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2009-03-10. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
- ^ a b ""Battlestar Galactica Returns With Double Digit-Gains." Press release. NBC Universal. January 20, 2009". Archived from the original on October 14, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
- ^ Weddle, David. "Foreword." In Steiff, Josef and Tamplin, Tristan D. "Battlestar Galactica" and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? Chicago: Open Court, 2008, p. ii.
- ^ Jed Gottlieb (2009-01-30). "Vernon shines as 'Battlestar' Cylon". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ Ronald D. Moore (2009-01-27). ""Sometimes a Great Notion" Podcast (Act 4)". Syfy.com (Podcast). Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ^ a b BSG Set Damaged in Windstorm, The 13th Colony, November 13, 2007.
- ^ a b Crupi, Anthony. "Sci Fi's 'Battlestar' Gets Time-Shifted Boost." Media Week. February 4, 2009.
- ^ Goldman, Eric (2009-01-15). "Battlestar Galactica: "Sometimes a Great Notion" Review". IGN.com. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ Vine, Richard (2009-01-20). "Episode review - Battlestar Galactica: season four, episode 13". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
- ^ Norris, Matt (2009-01-16). "TV Recap: Battlestar Galactica - Sometimes a Great Notion". Cinema Blend. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
- ^ Bernardin, Marc (2009-01-16). "'Battlestar Galactica' Recap: Ride the Tide". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2009-01-16). "Battlestar Galactica, "Sometimes a Great Notion": I can't fight this feeling anymore". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
External links
- Sometimes a Great Notion at Battlestar Wiki
- "Sometimes a Great Notion" at Syfy
- "Sometimes a Great Notion" at IMDb