Don't Let Me Stop You: Has Battlestar Galactica Jumped the Shark?

We first encountered the new Battlestar Galactica (as opposed to the ancient, Lorne Greene version) in the second season, and have been following it since. We caught the re-broadcast of the original mini-series, enjoyed last summer's new episodes (mostly), and eagerly awaited the continuation of the story. Now, we're starting to think that the best of this show is behind us, or as the saying goes, the show has "jumped the shark."

***Series Spoilers Follow***
For us the downtrend began with the arrival of the Pegasus in (or about) the last episode of the summer season. It was never really explained how the thoroughly modern battlestar, Pegasus, avoided destruction in her first encounter in battle with the Cylons' computer virus. This virus totally shut down the defenses of every other modern battlestar, leaving only the "outmoded" Galactica to carry on. Why wasn't the Pegasus destroyed then? How has she continued to operate since then? These questioned weren't even posed, let alone answered.

How is it that the President (or Adama) didn't think about promoting Adama to a higher rank than the Admiral when things turned sour? Not that the Admiral would have accepted that as valid, but the civilian fleet and the Galactica certainly would have. Considering that Adama's main problem seemed to be that the Admiral outranked him, this would have allowed him more freedom of operation.

The arrival of the Pegasus seems little more than a deus ex machina to solve the plot problem of the Galactica all but running out of pilots, fighters, ammunition, etc. Then there's the oh-so-convenient assassination of the Admiral by the corporeal #6. She just knew exactly how to get to the the Admiral's quarters, and no one noticed the Cylon prisoner wandering around the ship with a gun? Are we to presume that Baldar sent her to kill the Admiral, then spirited her off the ship, a military vessel where he knows no one, right after the Admiral has been killed? Then she immediately becomes a (the?) leader of the "peace movement?" That only makes sense if most or all of the "peace movement" members are Cylons, and there are other Cylons in the Pegasus crew. Why would a Cylon need glasses, and if she does, why don't the other copies of #6 need them?

Then we have the President's miraculous recovery, going from Death's door to roaming around in a wheelchair in (evidently) just a few minutes (hours?). At least give her a couple of days to recover. And why did Baltar get so bent out of shape reading the President's letter to him. It sounded to us like respectful, sensible advice, so it doesn't make much sense to see him going nuts over it like he did. By the way, how long can it be before the men in white coats come to get Baltar, since he's constantly wandering around talking to, and fighting with, a non-existent companion or two in front of numerous passers by? The rest of the characters act as if he's just a little "eccentric," when a normal person would call for restraints.

Excuse me, the lunatic representative from the "peace movement" stops off at the VP's office and Baltar gives him a nuke... in a suitcase... which he easily transports back to the hideout... when the fleet is under a terrorist threat already from this group. If that wasn't deliberately allowed by Adama and the President, it's incredibly stupid on their part. It's hard to believe that the nuke in the hands of Baltar hasn't been constantly on the mind of Adama ever since he gave it to Baltar. How can that possibly have been unguarded? The supposed nuke itself is much too small to hold a critical mass of fissile material, even without the heavy shielding that would be essential to preserving the life of anyone nearby. Don't get us started on Baltar's "chemistry" sketches (or perhaps "biology," would make equal sense, i.e. none).

But other than that, we really like the show. We'll ride this shark a little longer.