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Battlestar Galactica
"Maelstrom"
TV episode
Written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
Directed by Michael Nankin
Original air date: March 4, 2007
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Stalked by dreams, visions, and
prophecies, Starbuck teeters on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Read the summary of the episode at the Battlestar Wiki
site
Didja Know?
The opening titles show the fleet population at 41,400, the same
as the previous episode, "Dirty Hands".
Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode
Starbuck
Leoben Conoy (in Starbuck's dreams/visions only)
Hot Dog
Helo
Hera (mentioned only)
Yolanda Brenn
Socrata Thrace (in Starbuck's memories only, deceased)
Sam Anders
Admiral Adama
Dee
Lt. Gaeta
Colonel Tigh
Apollo
Chief Tyrol
Specialist Figurski
Athena
Racetrack
Dr. Cottle (mentioned only)
Kat
(mentioned only, deceased)
Duck
(mentioned only, deceased)
Nora
(mentioned only, deceased)
President Roslin
Didja Notice?
Starbuck's apartment seen in her memories/visions is the
one introduced (chronologically) in
"Buck the Stars" in the
Caprican city of Delphi. It was first seen in the TV series in
"Valley of Darkness".
During the flashback at 2:07 on the Blu-ray, besides her
eponymous "maelstrom" painting, we see a few more of
Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's paintings leaning against the
wall of her apartment on Caprica. The painting in the
middle looks to be of an animal with a star-shaped
head...a star buck??! |
 |
 |
Starbuck's
paintings |
A star buck |
At 2:50 on the Blu-ray, a Bances cigar box is seen in Kara's
apartment. Bances is a real world brand of Cuban cigars.
Helo recommends to Starbuck she might want to see a certain
psychiatrist on the Inchon Velle. This is the first and
only mention of this ship in the series.
When Starbuck visits the oracle Yolanda Brenn in Dogsville, she
is attracted to and picks up a figurine of the Kobollian goddess
of dawn, Aurora. Later in the episode, she gives it to Admiral
Adama. When Starbuck dies, he puts the figurine on the prow of
the model sailing ship he's building as he struggles against his
grief.
As Brenn gives her reading to Starbuck at 7:16 on the Blu-ray, a
tear track is visible on her face. What is it about Starbuck or
her destiny that brings the prophetess to tear up?
Starbuck tells Anders that her mother was stationed on a world
called Medra during the first Cylon War.
Colonel Tigh remarks, "That planet's synchrotron radiation has
been kicking the crap out of every DRADIS in the fleet since we
got here." Synchrotron
radiation is a real world effect in which electromagnetic
radiation is emitted from charged particles that are subjected
to radial acceleration.
As Starbuck fires at the Cylon Heavy Raider she thinks she sees
in the gas giant's maelstrom at 14:10 on the Blu-ray, her
rounds' orange tracers give the appearance of orange laser bolts
as seen from the Vipers of the original
BSG70.
At 18:45 on the Blu-ray, Starbuck tells Apollo she wants her
photo pinned right next to Kat's when she dies. Apollo tells her
he wants to be next to Duck and Nora. Later
in the episode, Apollo does pin Starbuck's
photo next to Kat's. Kat died in
"The Passage". Duck died as a
suicide bomber for the resistance against the Cylons on New
Caprica in "Occupation". Nora was
killed in a raid by Cylon Centurions on New Caprica in
"The Resistance".
During Starbuck's flashback to life with her mother at 22:45 on
the Blu-ray, one of the cigarettes in her mother's ashtray
appears to be Marlboro brand!

Starbuck's vision at 27:34 on the Blu-ray implies that she did
not have an actual bed in her old apartment in Delphi; she
simply slept on top of a pad on the floor of the living room.
Starbuck's mother, Socrata Thrace, earned a Colonial Medal of
Honor during her time in the Colonial Marines. Notice that the
medal looks rather similar to Starbuck's mandala image.

The medical form seen in
Socrata Thrace's hands at 30:10 on the Blu-ray shows that Kara
and her mother lived on Red Rose Blvd., Caprica City. It also
shows the Colonial Veterans' Medical Assistance Program address
as Government Square, 1023 Twin Building, Caprica City.
The fact
that Socrata's medical report comes from the oncology department
implies she has cancer.
A bottle of
Virgon Brew beer is seen in Socrata's
apartment at 34:23 on the Blu-ray.
The childhood photo of Kara at 35:40 on the Blu-ray appears to
show that she wore braces on her teeth as a child.

One of Kara's school essays kept by Socrata is about Kara's
grandmother, titled "The Person Who Most Influenced My Life", it
reading that her grandmother always made her feel special.
At the end of the episode, Admiral Adama places the Aurora
goddess figure on the prow of his model sailing ship, then
partially destroys the model in his grief and anger over
Starbuck's death. He has been very gradually working on the
model since the start of the series. It is also seen in the
background of his quarters in later episodes, visibly damaged.
Notes from the audio commentary by Ron Moore on the
Blu-ray release
Moore remarks that the model sailing ship Adama was building
since the start of the series was an expensive rental prop. The
damage done to it by Adama in this episode was real and was an
unscripted action by Edward James Olmos in the moment.
Memorable Dialog