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Battlestar Galactica
"Taking a Break from All Your
Worries"
TV episode
Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Edward James Olmos
Original air date: January 28, 2007
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Imprisoned aboard the Galactica
and facing charges of treason, Baltar survives a suicide
attempt only to face extreme interrogation by a command staff
desperate for information about the Cylons; meanwhile, the
flight crew sets up a bar on the hangar deck.
Read the summary of the episode at the Battlestar Wiki site
Notes from the BSG
chronology
Starbuck's hands are seen fully healed in this episode after the
burns they suffered in the previous
episode "Rapture". This would tend to indicate many
days (weeks?) have passed since then. And yet, Baltar seems to
be only just beginning his interrogations at the hands of his
Colonial captors in this episode; why would the President and
Admiral wait days, let alone weeks, to begin? The following episode, "The Woman King", also
suggests that Caprica Six's incarceration and interrogation have
only recently begun as well. So, I think we have to accept that
these two episodes take place very shortly after "Rapture";
maybe Colonial medicine has a miracle treatment for the relatively
minor burns suffered by Starbuck.
Didja Know?
The opening titles show the fleet population at 41,403,
up two from the previous episode "Rapture"
to account for the addition of Hera and Baltar in that episode.
The title of this episode is a line from the theme song of the
1982-1993 sitcom Cheers, about a bar in Boston. In this
episode, a bar called Joe's is introduced on the
Galactica. In the audio commentary of this
episode, Ron Moore states that the script was originally written
to be lighter in tone than the darker one which the episode
eventually came to inhabit.
According to the
Battlestar Wiki site, two songs playing in the
background of Joe's bar are original compositions, "Lord
Knows I Would", by Raya Yarbrough, and "All That Remains", also
performed by
Yarbrough, but composed by Bear McCreary. McCreary is the
regular music composer for the show and
Yarbrough performs most of the musical vocals for the series.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode
Baltar
Head Six
Lt. Gaeta
Number Six (in dream-hallucination only)
guard in brig
Apollo
Chief Tyrol
Joe
Cally (mentioned only)
Dr. Cottle
Admiral Adama
President Roslin
Colonel Tigh
Adrien Bauer
(mentioned only, deceased)
Dee
Starbuck
Sam Anders
Racetrack
Layne Ishay
Didja Notice?
As the episode opens, a Colonial lullaby is being sung by Baltar
and Head Six in the Galactica brig. The lyrics are:
"Close your eyes, go to sleep, baby's in the cradle counting
sheep, Climb up to your house of trees, baby's in the cradle
fast asleep..." Baltar then improvises a lyric, apparently
having forgotten the original words, "Should I die before I
wake..." It's possible this is less a sign that he forgot
the lyrics and rather an indication of his intent to commit
suicide. The line is from a Christian prayer often called the
Children's Prayer. It's full text is:
Thank you Lord for another day,
The chance to learn, the chance to play.
Now as I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Please, guard me Jesus through the night,
And keep me safe till mornings light.
But if should I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
And should I live for other days,
I pray that God will guide my ways.
Amen.
This episode has Apollo introducing Tyrol to Joe's bar on the
Galactica as if it is a new
establishment. But the bar was already seen in
"Shelf Life", a story in the
TokyoPop graphic novel Echoes of New Caprica. It
seems unlikely that Tyrol would be unaware of the bar's
existence if it really was present since shortly after the
evacuation of New Caprica. Of course,
"Shelf Life" was written a couple
years after this episode had aired, so it's really the graphic
novel that gets it wrong.
A billiards table is seen in the bar.
Notes from the audio commentary by Ron Moore on the
Blu-ray release
Joe's bar was originally called Why Not? in the script.
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The man in the wheelchair at Joe's at 7:10 on the
Blu-ray was a huge fan of the show who was allowed to
visit the set the day of shooting and it was decided to
put him in the scene. Notice also that the man standing
next to him is wearing a Hawaiian shirt that says Hawaii
on the sleeve! |
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Unanswered Questions
What is that Baltar knows about Gaeta that he
says he'll keep secret? This question is finally answered in the
season four webisodes of "The Face of the Enemy"; Gaeta had
provided a list of important people to a Number Eight on New
Caprica, not knowing that she would subsequently have most of
them killed.
According to Ron Moore in his audio
commentary, the secret was originally to be the killing of a
number of Sagittarons, who are often looked-down upon by the
other Colonies, on New Caprica that occurred before the
occupation. This was to have been a subplot involving the trial
of Baltar as the season progressed, but the plotline was found
to be difficult to work into later scripts and was abandoned
after this episode was already in the can.
Memorable Dialog
