Talk:The Twelve Colonies of Kobol/Archive2

Notes on Culture

All right, has anyone noticed that in the Colonies, virtually everything that would be a rectangle here on Earth (pictureframe, sheet of paper, etc.) is a hexagon? To cite some examples, in the Miniseries Roslin is handed a slip of paper describing the Cylon attack on a networked Battlestar. That slip is a hexagon. Adama's picture frame of him, Zak and Lee is also a hexagon. Even the computers are hexagons. Now, a hexagon has 6 sides (half of 12, which is seemingly a symbolic number in the series), and is a practical shape for use (12-gons would be stupid for paper) so does anyone think that the hexagon is some kind of symbolic shape for the Colonials?

Also, in the Delphi Museum of the Colonies, Starbuck is walking past display cases full of ancient pottery. Culture is transmitted in the form of art and artifacts, so while this may be trivial I feel like it is worth noting.

In addition to this, notice how Elosha's priestess garment is pretty eccentric, while Brother Cavil's uniform is a plain black cassock with some purple decorations. A difference of garb choice for priestesses and priests, perhaps?

Furthermore, in the Miniseries, notice those Caprican mothers carting their babies around the city in those oversized plastic baby carriages that look like they provide too much protection for the tots. Perhaps a link to the Scripture statement saying that life is precious and should be protected? I can't think of any other way for the carriage manufacturer to be willing to put extra money into obtaining more plastic resources for the increased carriage size and safety. No wait, lawsuits... But that still wouldn't explain the supersized babymobiles and extra costs and materials needed for manufacturing.

Cereals! In Sacrifice (I think, I'm not sure), Roslin tells an aggressive Billy Keikaya, "Looks like someone ate their Wheaties today." Okay, so...General Mills was actually a Colonial corporation and they imported it to Earth while we weren't looking. This might just imply that the Colonials also ate Cascadian Farm, Frescarini, Lucky Charms, Chex Mix, Cheerios, Hamburger Helper...the list goes on. Either that or I'm just making a big deal over some trivial prodcut placement.

Finally, in TOS, most of the buildings in Caprica (with exception of Long Beach City Hall where the episode was filmed), were pyramids. In the RDM series, there aren't as many pyramids, but there are a couple in Caprica City (let me get the image). Since there is circumstantial evidence that life began on Earth, does anyone think these pyramids could be a link with the Egyptians, who already had a thriving civilization and the Giza pyramids built by the time Greece (and perhaps the Kobol-sect) became an ancient powerhouse?

Taking all of this into consideration, should I initiate a "Culture" section for the Twelve Colonies (RDM)? --Homeworld616 14:36, 3 July 2006 (CDT)

According the the episode transcript...

Laura Roslin: Someone took their vitamins this morning.

Billy Keikeya: Yeah, I don't know what got into me.

--Sacrifice

There's an "arts and lit article" under construction for the 12 Colonies seriesthat might be a home for some of the architecture, pottery, etc. notes. --Steelviper 15:08, 3 July 2006 (CDT)

Thanks, Steelviper. I'll look into that. --Homeworld616 15:18, 3 July 2006 (CDT)

Here's the image. Look to the FAR right hand side and note the two pyramid office buildings, one with steep lateral faces and the other looking kind of like a glass reproduction of the Giza pyramids. --Homeworld616 14:41, 3 July 2006 (CDT)

Arts and Lit is where we're working on that. Note, that it's really just an in-joke from the Miniseries: they had to "cut corners" on the production due to budget restraints, so it started out as a joke that they were "cutting corners" on everything. The problem was, as this series progressed this became a logistical nightmare, as literally hours of work had to be spent into doing this, i.e. stacks of books in Cain's quarters. As for the image....I'm sorry but it's too vague to actually make out if it's anything. --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 15:24, 3 July 2006 (CDT)

Huh, I just noticed that the pyramid to the far right looks a lot like Ra's pyramid ship from Stargate, especially the way the paneling is set up. --Talos 10:28, 18 January 2007 (CST)

Links

Folks, I've noticed there's some ambiguity going on with the Wiki reference links, and I think we should probably straighten them out. In short, do we want to link to the astrological sign, or the constellations? I note this because I just cleaned up a few of the links before realizing this should be discussed, as (for example), someone had Capricorn point to the WP page there, which is a disambig page, instead of Capricorn (astrology) or Capricornus (the constellation; note the spelling, as there's at least one more constellation that swings this way - Scorpius). Just a thought or two to muddy the waters further. ^_^--み使い Mitsukai 22:00, 8 October 2006 (CDT)

I'd prefer to link to the constellations. --Peter Farago 02:08, 9 October 2006 (CDT)

Done and done, then.--み使い Mitsukai 19:44, 9 October 2006 (CDT)

Libra?

I thought Libron was the name of the colony that corresponds with Libra. I think you can make it out if you freeze framed it in the quorom of twelve in Colonial Day. Or am I thinking of Leon? It's been a while since I checked the episode. --Meteor 04 February 2007.

It isn't visible, sadly. I've been over nearly every frame of that episode. You are probably thinking of Leonis. --Peter Farago 16:31, 12 February 2007 (CST)

Aerelon, stop changing my contribution please

"Farming" when "agricultural" preceeds it, is just redundant. "Accent" is misleading, An accent describes the way people pronounce words of a language that is different from their mother tongue. Dialect describes a regional way of pronouncing wordsin their mother tongue. Since this is only English throughout the Colonies (so far at least), it's quite reasonable to assume that it is in fact a dialect of the 12 Colonies rather than an accent. Additionally, the dialect he spoke as that of a Yorkshire one, a dialect within England. English eing the mother tongue, need I say any more?

Yes "Food Basket" was the term spoken but, in order to maintain utmost clarity, "Bread Basket" ought to be used since that is the correct term to use. eg; "Rhodesia was the "bread basket" of Africa pre-Zimbabwe". Read the wikipedia entry also; bread basket

--Sixu 14:07, 27 February 2007 (CST)[Sixu]

Your points on "farming" vs. "agricultural" and "accent" vs. "dialect" are correct. On the "food" vs. "bread" basket issue, however, I think it's best to stick with what the episode says, especially when viewed in context:

It was considered to be the the "food basket" of the Twelve Colonies. (emphasis added)

If we're saying what people consider Aerelon to be, surely it's better to quote them directly? If you still don't agree, we can always call a vote on the matter... --Catrope 14:16, 27 February 2007 (CST)

I somewhat agree that bread basket is the more common expression. The problem could be solved by just leaving away the quotation marks. Then it's paraphrasing. There is no need to really quote it. But it's also not a big issue; just a trivial word. --Serenity 14:18, 27 February 2007 (CST)

Class in the Twelve Colonies

There has been some serious issues dealing with class over the course of the show. I wanted to add an article about class in the 12 colonies. I wanted to get people's opinions as to whether I should add the article as part of the race and ethnicity article, as that is generally how it works in our culture, although obviously not in BSG or should I create a seperate section in the Twelve Colonies group of articles specifically relating to class? The reason I come here is that what we would term ethnicity, cultural values/traditions, does not seem to be specifically related to race, minor biological differences, in BSG. There have been a plethora of references to character's ethnicities i.e. the cultures from the specfic colonies. These reasons point towards including Class in Race and Ethnicity, but there is such a large collection of references to Class that my preliminary brainstorm makes me believe there is enough information to create a seperate article. Thanks for any and all feedback on the issue.--Zareck Rocks 23:35, 12 March 2007 (CDT)

AERILON spelling CONFIRMED!

In Kara Thrace's records as seen in The Son also Rises,

Spelling noted under Unit of Organizing of Summary Court-Martial "Aerilon DVT" and again in Organization of Convening Authority "Aerilon Cmbt 5th Division. Please make the proper correction to the spelling. --Os 06:47, 13 April 2007 (CDT)

There's been some issue with the spelling, since official sources have used both. If you read the pertinent section of this very talk page, ~~Ron Moore used "Aerelon" in one of his blog postings~~ there have been official instances of the use of the word "Aerelon". However, the official guide on page 86 does indicate that it is spelled "Aerilon". -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 08:17, 13 April 2007 (CDT)

I noticed that too, but as said I wouldn't consider it the definite spelling just because of one occurrence. This is just the prop department doing their thing. The writers might use another spelling in their scripts. --Serenity 09:14, 13 April 2007 (CDT)

And let us not forget the whole "Margaret Edmonson" misspelling in "Final Cut". That mispelling was corrected as his first post by our esteemed Bradley Thompson. Consistency is a bear sometimes. --Spencerian 10:32, 13 April 2007 (CDT)

From the Second Season, Home, part 1,Adama reads the file of a CAG candidate, who enter active duty at "Tulu, Aerilon" (which is repeated twice), then near the broken shells of walnuts, are the words "Aerilon Homebase"

This is another occurrence from a different season that proves consistency. This indicates that "Aerilon" is the correct spelling. --Os 01:48, 14 April 2007 (CDT)

Economy of the Twelve Colonies?

Not enough information to go on for an article as this? There's some information on the cubit that concerns the economy of the Fleet. DrWho42 16:09, 5 May 2007 (CDT)

Gather some info, start writing it, and you'll find out. --Catrope^{(Talk to me or e-mail me)} 15:39, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

I doubt there is enough information to go around. Anything notetworthy can be added as a subsection of this article. --Serenity 15:44, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Aerelon

Couple of comments on the references in the Aerelon Section. When he speaks as an Aerelon in Dirty Hands, James Callis appears to have been adopting the stereotype accent and persona of a "working class" Yorkshireman from the North of England. Accordingly:

1. The accent adopted by Baltar is quite clearly a very broad Yorkshire accent from the the North of England. It is definitely not Cockney !

2. The article refers to the Aerelon culture of going down the pub after work for a "pint and a fight" as similar to the culture in Ireland and Scotland. I can confirm that this is most definitely part of English and Welsh culture as well ! In particular Yorkshiremen are well known as tough, no nonsense, hard working characters who like a pint and a rumble. I guess Yorkshiremen would be the Aerelon equivalent in England which is why James Callis probably adopted the accent. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by AvonKerr (talk • contribs).

I changed the first part. It was already identified as northern English in the language article. So would it be ok to say that the pub thing is a somewhat stereotypical view of Ireland and the British Isles in general? --Serenity 04:19, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Colonial dating

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but Starbuck's disciplinary record shows a reference to a date. It appears to be "22/E4/(?)F3". Anyone know if this is analogous to anything used on Mama Earth, or dare a guess as to how this reflects their own unique method of dating? I also apologise if this isn't the appropriate place for this, as I'm not sure of where else this should be addressed. --Mars 16:08, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Seems to be made up. A similar scheme is also used in Adama's dossier in "Hero". It also has a letter/number pair at the beginning, but then a 5 digit number. The show is a very contradictory and has used several dating schemes so far: Colonial calendar. --Serenity 16:28, 27 May 2007 (CDT)