On Friday, January 16, the first of the final ten episodes of BattleStar Galactica aired on SciFi. As some of you may know, this is one of my favorite shows of all time. Considering the cliffhanger that the last episode left us on back in June of 2008, and how SciFi feels the need to split these “mid-season breaks” into huge 6-month gaps, the anticipation was high. This is going to just be some quick impressions, not a detailed review.

Overall, I thought the episode was very good. Yes, we find out what’s up with Earth and why it’s so desolate (not a huge mystery), as well as who used to be there (that was more surprising). There were lots of new twists in this episode, good ones I think, that will be explored through the final nine shows I’m sure. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell are amazing dramatic actors, and they really carry the emotional weight of this show. The Adama/Roslyn scenes were always so powerful. In contrast, the scenes with Lee and Dualla, in which they’re rediscovering their romantic attraction to each other, were less enjoyable. They felt forced and campy. I never liked that matchup.

Although the mix-in of the newly discovered cylon allies with the regular colonial crew — and the members of the crew who were just outed as cylons — provided a different and quirky “elephant in the room” kind of atmosphere, this show did in some ways represent a return to roots for several characters. Baltar was being a scientist again — no more creepy followers and weird religious rants. Laura was being herself — a strong presence around others yet emotional and fragile in private. Even Tigh seemed to have gotten over the fact that he’s a cylon and tried to be his old self again — his old self when he wasn’t drunk, that is. In that respect, one of the most powerful scenes was when Adama was the raging drunk and Tigh had to talk him down. For all the times that Adama was there for Tigh, now the roles became reversed. It was a very interesting reflection.

Among the many new pieces of information and surprising twists and turns, the most shocking was the sudden — and graphic — loss of a major character that has been with the show from the very beginning. We don’t even yet know why this character died.

Most important of all: we now know who the 5th cylon is.

Battlestar remains excellent television and, I think, one of the best stories ever told on the small screen. If you haven’t watched it and you like human drama, give it a shot. Start with the 2003 miniseries, then move to season one and watch it in order. The DVDs can be had from Netflix or any other video rental store.

There’s a fun little easter egg in the latest version of the popular FireFox browser (currently in Beta 5 for version 3, final release due out very soon): if you type “about:robots” in the address bar, you get the above screen with some fun info about our mechanical friends. All the “facts” are references to various books, movies, and TV shows — The Day The Earth Stood Still, Asimov’s I, Robot, Blade Runner, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and my personal favorite at the end (“And they have a plan”) is an homage to the cylons in Battlestar Galactica.

The mid-season movie/long episode of Battlestar Galactica aired over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Fans of the show may be interested to read a review of Razor I wrote for Indy.com.

Overall, it was pretty good. A somewhat different feel than the episodes in terms of pacing (it felt like producer Ron Moore might not have gotten all the time he wanted in the editing bay), but very entertaining and a fascinating look at, for the most part, what made Admiral Cain tick. Great writing, of course, and cinema-level special effects, as always. The quick homage to the 1978-80 show’s very classical robotic Cylons (complete with the voices) was pretty cool. And of course the scene where Cain deals with her XO’s refusal to obey an order is every bit as chilling as you’ve imagined. Razor is disturbing, gritty, and intense — all the things we love about this show. Check it out.

This page has been archived. It no longer is an accurate representation of my home network, but it is kept for informational purposes if anyone is curious about the setup.

[ Updated in October 2006. Three PCs were removed and replaced with an iMac. File server capacity increased to 1.6 TB. ]

I have a rather complex (for a home) network setup in my apartment, and often am asked questions by visitors and members of online forums about how different parts of it work or are setup. I’ll attempt to explain each part as best I can so even a networking novice could put this together if they had to.

Overview

The primary goal of my home network is not just to provide Internet access but to distribute media and files. You’ll notice that the main file server has a storage capacity of 1.6 TB (1,600 GB), and the combined resources of the network total up to 3.0 TB. We’re a very media-centric household. I hate conventional media, for the most part. I don’t want to have to go find a DVD to watch one of my favorite TV shows, and unless I’m watching the movie for the digital 5.1 sound effects I’m just as happy loading it from a video file on the server. Same goes for all my music and software. If anything I had ever existed in physical form — DVD, CD, etc — once it’s on the server the physical media gets stashed away and hopefully I never have to touch it again. I can access anything I want, from anywhere I want, without having to insert any disks. I can even reformat a computer and get all my applications back on it without using any CD except for the operating system (Windows, Linux) one.

Here’s a diagram of the entire network. Click on it for the full size.

Current network diagram. View past diagrams.

Now that you understand the purpose behind the network, we can look at each part individually.

Base Star (primary router/DHCP server/primary wireless access point)

Before anyone asks about the names I use for computers and managed devices (like routers), they’re all space or sci-fi based (mostly from Battlestar Galactica). I’m sure that’s no surprise to anyone at this point.

There are actually three routers on the network, but Base Star is the only one truly functioning as a router (more about that later). It is a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G router using WPA authentication for wireless security — that means that for anyone to get on my wireless network, they must enter a password. Base Star is also the DHCP server for the entire network. That means that any device that doesn’t have its IP address set manually (called a static IP) obtains its IP by requesting one from Base Star. You’ll notice on the network diagram that every computer and device has an IP address specified by it, so you might be wondering if they’re all set statically. In fact, only a couple are (like my main workstation, Galactica), and the rest are automatically assigned the same IP address every time by the router via address reservation. I have specified which computer (through the MAC addresses) gets which IP; that way, it is simple to leave all the machines on DHCP but I can still be sure which IP they’re all getting.

Switches and uplinks

You can see two switches, a Linksys and an SMC, connected in series below Base Star. Switches are, essentially, smart “splitters.” The green lines on the diagram indicate that the cable between the two is connected to a regular port on the parent device but the “uplink” port on the child device (the one farther down in the diagram). This is how switches must be connected in order to trasmit data upstream. If you want to know more about how switches work, there’s lots of other good articles out there. Google is your friend.

Raiders 1 and 2

These two routers, as I mentioned before, are not actually functioning as routers. They’ve been dumbed down and essentially only act as switches now. This is done by deactivating their DHCP servers and connecting them to the rest of the network via their fourth port (which automatically switches to an uplink port). You do not use the WAN or Internet port on routers in a situation like this. If you do, you won’t be able to communicate with computers connected to them. Why are we using routers as switches? Well, it’s because we needed switches, but all we had were extra routers. Rather than buy a switch, why not use what we have?

Galaxy (file server)

Galaxy, the 1,600 GB beast. The best use of old hardware is to turn it into a file server. For a home network, a file server doesn’t need a lot of horsepower. That good old 500MHz Pentium III I have in there works wonderfully; you would never know it by accessing the files over the network. Linux is, of course, the only option for a real server. These days I have Ubuntu 6.06 server on there, using Samba to share to the local network and secured SSH and FTP servers so I can access my stuff from the outside world. It also pulls double duty as a web site test bed for me, with Apache/PHP/MySQL installed. Its hard drives consist of: 160GB, 250GB, 250GB, 250GB, 300GB, and 400GB. The bulk of the space is taken up with TV shows and movies. We also have software, picture albums, a huge computer wallpaper collection, operating system ISO images (Windows, Linux), music, audio books, video clips (humor, cars, aircraft, commercials), drivers for all the hardware I own, games, and just about anything else you can think of. At the moment, of the 1,600 GB available, roughly 1,000 GB is occupied.

Client devices (TiVo, Xbox, workstations, laptops)

The rest of it is pretty self-explanatory, I think. These computers and devices have various operating systems, but they all connected to Galaxy for one reason another to get their content (except for the TiVo of course), or in the laptops’ case connect wirelessly to Base Star to get online.

Conclusion

I hope I’ve adequately explained my home network without boring anyone with too many details. I avoided discussing most of the mechanics of networking because there’s plenty of other information about that out there; my aim was to explain how I employ it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post below.

Despite the agony of waiting nearly 10 months between seasons, there’s good news for fans of what is perhaps the most fascinating and dramatic show ever to grace the small screen. From a press conference about the upcoming season 4:

The brain trust behind Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica on Friday announced plans to wrap up the critically acclaimed cult series after its upcoming fourth season.

“This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and, finally, an end,” executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick said in a statement.

“Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end, and we’ve decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there: We’re going out with a bang.”

This fall, to soften the blow of having to wait until January of 08 for new episodes, there is going to be a direct to TV release movie which is to encompass the events surrounding Battlestar Pegusus several months prior to the Battlestar finding Galactica.

Once again, as I always do, I urge anyone who has not watched the show to rent the DVDs and give it a chance. Start with the miniseries, and then get a few episodes into season 1 and see if you can quit.

Thanks to James for pointing this out to me. PartiallyClips is a creative comic strip by an author that uses a single image across three frames, and invents dialog to fit the scene (instead of actually drawing a scene to fit dialog). I’m still laughing at this one (you have to know something about Battlestar Galactica for it to be truly funny). Check it out if you appreciate a laugh, it’s a cool site with good stuff.

WARNING: I’m going to try not to be specific, but there might be spoilers in here.

At the end of the most recent Battlestar Galactica episode, Maelstrom (which is a hugely significant moment in the storyline of the entire series), a main character is killed. Edward James Olmos, the amazing actor who plays Admiral William Adama, has the final scene alone in his quarters, and he is reacting to the death of the character. The actors and crew of the show were all incredibly upset when they read this script and found out one of their family would be gone after Maelstrom, so it was somewhat easier for Eddie Olmos to portray the incredible emotion he did in that last scene.

The interesting (and funny) bit comes from the last few seconds, when Adama, who had been crying, suddenly snapped and utterly destroyed a beautiful model sailing ship we had seen him working on over the course of several years. That in itself was not funny; it was an amazing display of rage and frustration, and conveyed how angry and tortured Adama was at the death of someone so close to him. According to Ron Moore (executive producer), that was not scripted! Olmos has done things “in the moment” before, things that weren’t on the page, but this was quite an explosion. He was sad and upset, in the moment, and completely destroyed the model ship.

Now, here’s the punchline: that ship, Moore said, was on loan from a museum and was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Oops.

Obviously, Eddie didn’t know where the ship had come from — he thought it was a prop — and fortunately it was insured. But the faces of the prop masters off camera were apparently, as you can imagine, completely white when that scene was shot. No word on how Olmos reacted when he found out what he had destroyed, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to tell him after seeing what he did to that ship.

I have been watching NBC’s new hit action drama Heroes since it started, and have been continually entertained by the show. It’s got a lot of interesting characters, some good action, and pushes everyone’s fantasy buttons with the heroes’ superhuman abilities. While I consider it a “good” show, it did have its weak points — like questionable dialog at times (can you say “dumb it down for the lowest common denominator network viewer”?) and horrible, horrible acting by a couple guest actors (like the FBI agent that Parkman was hanging out with for awhile; I’ve heard more believable lines delivered at a 6th-grade play). And while the writing is usually pretty decent, there’s been nothing that really stands out.

Until now.

I just watched episode 17, “Company Man.” Wow. Wow, wow, wow…some of the most amazing writing for television I have ever seen. Great story, great acting, wonderful emotion brought upon you, the viewer, throughout the episode. By the end of the episode I knew I had seen something extraordinary — I can count on one hand the number of things I’ve seen in my life that were that good. My opinion of the show has changed dramatically. I don’t want to ruin anything for you, but I will say that I now strongly recommend this show. Superb episode; it gives the story so far a whole new depth.

Which brings me to my note of caution: if you do decide to start watching Heroes, you really have to see it from the beginning. Like most new television dramas (Battlestar Galactica, Lost, etc), Heroes is highly serial — you have to see it in order to appreciate the story. Some of the episodes can be viewed right on NBC’s web site. If that doesn’t work for you and you need help figuring out how to get ahold of them, let me know.

This one was too good to pass up: an artist has remade most of the main characters from Battlestar Galactica within the Simpsons archetype. Pretty amusing, even more so if you ever watch the (best) show (ever).

And just in case some of you still aren’t watching BSG, let’s sum up the awards they have so far (from Wikipedia):

* 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. “33″ (Season 1, Episode 1)
* 2005 American Film Institute’s Top 10 Television Shows of the Year
* 2005 Time Magazine’s Best Television Show of the Year
* 2005 TV Guide’s and TV Land’s The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments for “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part 2″
* 2006 George Foster Peabody Award
* 2006 American Film Institute’s Top 10 Television Shows of the Year
* 2006 Time Magazine’s Best of 2006: Television (Position: #7)
* 2006 Scream Awards, Best Television Show

Read this. Yes, you. The one who doesn’t even watch the show.

Let’s get something out of the way: this isn’t a sci-fi show. It’s not driven by technology or special effects or gadgets or technobabble that no one understands. It’s a drama. It’s the most human, gritty, imaginative, stunning, beautifully written drama ever to grace the screen, in my humble opinion, and in the less humble opinion of a few other people. The show was also the winner of the 65th annual Peabody Award, the oldest electronic media award, which recognizes distinguised achievement in electronic media.

You can find tons of reviews about the first two season all over the web. You’ll consistently hear terms like “powerful,” “gripping,” “gritty,” and read endless paragraphs extolling the quality of the writing and the incredible way the show makes you think about real world issues, and the complexity of characters and the emotion of identifying with those characters when no one’s perfect and there’s not always a good guy and a bad guy. So I’m not going to spend more time on that — just get the miniseries, and then get seasons 1 and 2 and watch them. It just gets better as it goes on. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Even Amanda loves this show.

Which brings us to season 3. The horrendous cliffhanger we were left with and the end of season 2, combined with the extended break (the show ended in March and isn’t on again until October 6th), has whipped the fast-growing fan base into a frenzy. Lately, the cast and producers have started to do interviews about the upcoming season and have said some interesting things, Edward James Olmos (William Adama) in particular:

And Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, who got to see the season 3 opener already:

This show is truly stunning, and what we have heard about the upcoming season only whets the appetite even more. I have yet to meet a single person who — having actually given the show a chance by watching a few episodes to really get into the story — does not like it. It’s moving. I think most viewers will think, many times throughout the show, “What would I do in such an impossible situation? How would I feel?” Because on BSG, there’s rarely black and white, rarely definitely right and definitely wrong. And the show can surely be taken as an interesting slant on a slew of modern issues. As my roommate watches the series for the first time (so far he’s done almost the whole two seasons in about five days), I have been catching episodes here and there with him, and I still sometimes pick up subtle meanings I didn’t see before, and still get shivers during certain scenes (especially toward the middle of season 2 — I’m sure some of you know which ones I’m talking about).

To get ready for season 3, you might want to check out the “Story So Far” recap special on SciFi’s web site. But if you can, watch the episodes. Rent them, buy the DVDs, download them, whatever you can do. Stop wasting your TV time with half-baked sitcoms and crappy reality shows. Get your news from the Daily Show, and get your dramatic entertainment from Battlestar Galactica.

UPDATE: There’s lots of links to YouTube videos of the season 3 previews on Galactica Sitrep.