Battlestar Galactica | Helo Saves the Cylon Race

Helo betrays the plans of Galactica in order to save the Cylons from extinction.
Season 3, Episode 7 "A Measure of Salvation" - D'Anna Biers believes Baltar is hiding information that could be crucial to the survival of the Cylons, and she is willing to take extreme measures to uncover it. Meanwhile, Adama and Roslin decide whether to follow through on Apollo's plan to use a biological weapon against the Cylons.
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[@cerahjoselet7423]

helo: *slowly storming around brooding during action stations* everyone who's worked beside him for years: guess there's nothing to worry about here!

[@GeoBGO]

dude asked to go to toilet lol

[@KeeperCharlie]

"One has to be worthy of surviving." pretty sure Adama did not agree with his son's idea but understood his intent obviously.

[@tuxedotservo]

1:08 Who knew that the life support for a section of the ship depended on the reliability of what looks like a Molex 4-pin power connector.. (edit: fixed spelling)

[@jakeg3733]

You'd think at least a 6-pin from Galactica's PSU would be required for that

[@mattstorm360]

@@jakeg3733It's very efficient!

[@stephenbeagle2239]

I always felt that while there was an entity that manipulated events, it all hinged on certain tests that certain characters had to pass (and the state of their mind when they were being tested),to "pay" for that help. This was one the main ones.

[@DS1Infinite]

Yes How Very "Fortunate" For Such An "Accident" To Happen.

[@alexandericeshade6302]

IF you watch very closely, adama smirks just as galactica initates its jump. Adama is FULLY aware helo killed them. He knows and sympathises with helo's stance. Thats why there wasnt a punishment because it couldn't be proven helo did something. But knowing Adama, He was Fully and completely aware.

[@AnonD38]

I‘d go as far as to say that there wasn’t even an investigation *because* Adama knew it was Helo

[@andrewnlarsen]

@@AnonD38 In a deleted scene in a later episode Helo and Adama do have the conversation regarding this incident.

[@jakeg3733]

Yeah and he pushed back against Roslin (in his typical cryptic, William Adama manner) when she first brought up the plan. At this point I think humans and cylons had been in contact enough to start seriously influencing each other. There's something to be said for his family ties to the cylons as well. It is never stated exactly how much he knew about the origin of cylons but he may well have known a great deal. The writers (BSG and Caprica) intended for his dead sister Tamara to be the template for the 8s, which would explain the weird infatuation he has with Sharon and she with him, and that moment where she repeats something he said over the corpse of another 8 model

[@THEMAX00000]

not true

[@markanderson6923]

Given that the Cylon’s had Hera and Baltar on the base Star.....you would think they would have come up with a cure.

[@starflame34]

Given Baltar already lied about the virus, the Cylons probably weren't ready to trust him for a cure. And they were long gone by that point.

[@thedoctor4327]

Cylons are kind of idiots in terms of medical issues. They have this elaborate plan to create children yet they didn’t have any data on children’s health or pediatrician training lined up for when they got one so they had no idea what to do when Hera got sick and yet didn’t notice her intestinal pain u til Athena put her hand on her belly

[@jamesxiaolong2199]

@@thedoctor4327keep in mind they didn’t build their resurrection tech, they copied it from the Final Five, and those Cylons were natural births from a Tech Utopia. It probably didn’t occur to the Significant Seven that infant mortality could be an issue for machine races.

[@dreamcore]

_Next up:_ Flushing Helo out of the Airlock

[@samsoncrosswood7259]

They should have - and I like Helo

[@m8956]

In that moment he showed himself to be a traitor. If they planned had worked they could have stopped being hunted by the Cylons, instead he allowed the further death of humanity.

[@cardiac19]

@@m8956 funny. IMO he showed real humanity in this whole situation. Everyone else forgot their humanity and gave in to the darkness within. Helo wasn’t willing to commit genocide. Not even to his enemy that was hunting him. Some lines shouldn’t ever be crossed. Not if you want to keep your soul.

[@Fordo007]

@@cardiac19 Yeah, didn't Adama himself say something about needing to be 'worthy of survival'? That type of warfare was against human rights, and 'human' essentially means sapient. Cylons are sapient, ergo the same rules should apply to them. We only use 'human' with human rights because we've not met another sapient species to warrant the change. using the argument 'they aren't human, the rules don't apply' is bull.

[@jenshep1720]

@@Fordo007 yeah, but this wouldnt have been genocide. it would have just killed off the taskforce pursuing them, there was no way for the virus to travel back to the colonies and the rest of the cylons, that distance is why they needed the resurrection ship in the first place.

[@Sephiroth144]

The Cylons did seem to asphyxiate awfully godsdamned quickly...

[@jakeg3733]

In a vacuum you have 15 to at most 30 seconds of useful consciousness. However, they looked sick as hell and were in a weakened state, possibly hypoxic already so it would happen faster. The more interesting question is at what point does the resurrection tech kick in. When the heart stops?

[@byzantiphile7630]

"If you kill your enemies, they win." This guy should run for PM of Canada.

[@stramey8866987]

Who has he killed?

[@byzantiphile7630]

@@stramey8866987 The PM of Canada? I'm referencing a rather infamous statement attributed to him (that he probably didn't actually say by all accounts, but merely sounds like something he would.) to point out the foolishness of Helo here.

[@the_biggest_chungus7508]

Same bullshit as that famous quote from Star Wars Episode 8

[@colvamoon6962]

​@@the_biggest_chungus7508while that movie was terrible, the quote isn't bullshit (the comment's quote, not the Star Wars one). War doesn't decide who's right, only who's left.

[@sedar3417]

😂😂

[@mrbadger6043]

Space molex cables.

[@chvzm]

This guy disconnected the 5.25 floppy on BSG's computers LOL

[@Zoomer30_]

Oh, buy the way sir, I'm going to lose my leg and take your ship and then you're going to execute me. Jusr FYI

[@cmj0929]

Helo definitely should’ve been punished severely after this

[@Arkalius80]

Yeah, we can't have moral individuals going around saving the human race like this.

[@errhka]

He was - demoted and spends a huge amount of time trying to work his way back to earning adama's respect again (with The Woman King)

[@lewstone5430]

Arkalius80 and if you’re ever physically attacked you’ll just let it happen right? Wouldn’t want to stop your attacker or anything.

[@cmj0929]

@@Arkalius80 moral ? They committed Genocide against the human race, killed billions. Literally a little over 50k humans left and on top of that they are chasing what’s left to finish the job and you wanna talk about morality? Give me a break

[@Arkalius80]

@@cmj0929 Yes. Moral obligations do not disappear just because someone else has ignored them in a way that negatively impacts you. Given that, in this storyline, the survival of the human race depends on Humans and Cylons cooperating, you can't even argue that there is some utilitarian value to them undertaking this course of action. It would have doomed humanity if they'd done it.

[@ZorroComputers]

MOLEX plugs never been too reliable. That's a fact.

[@angel2901]

Helo is a traitor.

[@romancultist6089]

Ladies and gentlemen, this comment section features a bunch of nerds who don't know how to write a good story. Our next stop is the weirdo dress up shop.

[@AnonD38]

Of course it’s for the story, but complaining is part of being a fan. If you never complain you’re not a real fan, because it shows you’re not actually emotionally invested.

[@Ares99999]

Helo was a Cylon Sympathizer.

[@jakeg3733]

Oh, he more than sympathized...

[@scottmatheson3346]

good

[@Saltydogg909]

another reason I never like Helo. the one time Lee Adama is not a wussy and Helo takes that from him.

[@matttiberius1900]

Everything about this was stupid.

[@Spiderbloke]

No cameras or armed guards watching the prisoners cells to make sure your time sensitive plan doesn't go awry? Even though its already been established in multiple episodes that they do that regularly with detainees? How convenient...

[@Mikorobyo]

I'd say they got epsteined

[@lewstone5430]

@NotmyName IKR! This situation was poorly handled IMO.

[@joaothomazini]

They were Hillary's prisoners

[@jeremysears4263]

@@joaothomazini LOL

[@jakeg3733]

Well just look at what happened when they tried that with Caprice Six. Those poor marines had to endure the trauma of Tigh screaming about the fragile body of Gaius Frakkin Baltar, and then banging a cylon. I wouldn't want cameras around either

[@Oneofakind123]

I never understood why they didn't have the prisoners tied up in a room with multiple guns to their head to be able to carry out the task with a moments notice...

[@TurKlack]

Because then this scene wouldn't have happened.

[@jameseichinger7262]

This show was ultimately about characters struggling to hold on to their humanity while potentially becoming monsters. Helo and Athena are the only characters that consistently stayed true to their humanity. They really are the heroes of Battlestar Galactica reboot.

[@yxydyxx]

Thats the longest ive heard the galactica's FTL spin down for before spooling up. Love it :).

[@MrWisjew]

I wonder how knowing about the resurrection hub would have affected this plan or not

[@Ubu987]

The point was to make sure the infected prisoners never got resurrected so they could not pass on the plague, so it makes no difference.

[@alduintheanti-dragonborn]

I'm pretty sure they kept the resurrection ships away from the disease because they feared that not only would it affect that ship, but that it would also link back to the hub and then it spreads to the other resurrection ships before them knowing what is going on. Maybe they thought every Cylon linked to a resurrection ship would get infected. They didn't really want to test that, so they just left everyone who was infected for dead.

[@jakeg3733]

It is explicitly stated that they had moved all resurrection ships out of range of the "disease". The Colonials deduced this by watching how the Cylons reacted to the outbreak, noticing that for the first time they actually seemed terrified, and concluding that all resurrection tech would be at a safe distance

[@bcmm1880]

What’s the soundtrack for this? Bear did an AMAZING job with this show’a soundtrack

[@cloudstone123]

Did they cover what happened to the beacon the virus came from? Didn't they have it? If so, what would have stopped them from just getting the virus from it and trying this plan again by capturing another cylon? If not, didn't they have a sample of the virus from the prisoners when they were testing them?

[@LtCatscratch]

Spoilers The doctor had a request but they didn't wanna risk bringing the beacon to galactica because they did not know it wouldn't affect humans at that time. Just as they were returning to galactica, the base ship which had the beacon exploded behind them. As for the virus in a tube, i don't think they had any spare cylons :D Also, i think what helo did kinda killed their mood for genocide.

[@jakeg3733]

Dude brah, it was 2008. People were less inclined to pick everything apart than we are now. Don't get me wrong, I love the demand for consistency, realism, and attention to minute details... But there is something nostalgic about plot holes being ignored just to enjoy the show First thing they would have done is take sample. It being a virus, it would've been very difficult to replicate in quantity in Galactica's cut rate laboratories, but they'd have had enough from the cadavers to do the job probably. The implication is that fleet was on the fence about this one and their heart wasn't in it, so they decided not to pursue the plan further. That and the sizable risk involved to humanity's only remaining military assets to make a second attempt, I'd imagine Adama could overrule Roslin pretty easily on this one

[@cloudstone123]

@@jakeg3733 So we lost the ability to think in 2008? It was a drama series. If it was a Michael Bay level action series that dazzled us with explosions so we didn't have much time to think then maybe you'd have a point. My point is the writing and lore was lazy which is not unique to 2008. 'The implication is that fleet was on the fence about this one and their heart wasn't in it, so they decided not to pursue the plan further. ' What implication? One person objected to this plan, Helo, because of his attachment to Sharon. Even Apollo was all on board and given his anti-military feelings which was super surprising to me. I didn't get the feeling they were divided at all. To me it seemed clear they were setting Helo up to be the lone dissenter and underdog fighting to be the moral center of the human race. A very common theme. "That and the sizable risk involved to humanity's only remaining military assets to make a second attempt, I'd imagine Adama could overrule Roslin pretty easily on this one" What risk is that exactly? It is a virus they already have where all they need to do is infect one cylon and then execute them near a basestar. Then the war either ends or the Cylons have to think twice before even thinking about attacking. The writers basically screwed this story over with this episode. They were so focused on trying to make Helo out to be something more that they opened a giant bottomless pit of problems like they did with many different aspects of the show. The only redeeming quality for me was the level of acting. Their performances were great.

[@GameslordXY]

They always escape less than a second before nukes hit them😄

[@AnonD38]

Well A) the Cylons just shoot a ridiculous amount of nukes and B) it‘s cooler that way ;)

[@KPJ25Up]

they always use the same scene, return, vipers, to the hangar

[@williamyang7611]

It sorta makes sense aside from TV drama stuff. If they can compute whether or not the missiles will hit them before they finish the jump then why waste ammo.

[@CDbiggen]

Guy thinks he's married to the whole production line or something.

[@ethangavrilmoreno8479]

2:55 this should be a meme gif tbh. the way Lee acts when he screamed "FRAK!" makes me laugh.

[@HooDooBrown]

It's weird they have all these great costumes, scenes, etc. Yet the camera man really can't put down that speed.

[@S1erra107]

I think it's the aesthetic they're going for, more of a live documentary feel than cinematic

[@denneledoe873]

yup this is intentional style as the other guy said. even the space battles have a handheld feel

[@jakeg3733]

@@denneledoe873 Now that bit of 2000s filmmaking style I do not miss

[@Powerhaus88]

@@jakeg3733 sucks for you

[@Akaeus]

"Agathon, meaning "good," implies virtue when used to describe human beings." He always does the right thing. One of the best characters on the show.

[@jakeg3733]

He irritates me sometimes but that's because even when he's seemingly being an idiot, he's doing it for the _right_ reasons. He made a great XO. Adama can be very cold and stoic, I'd say his single big flaw is a lack of ability to introspect. Helo was a great counterpoint to that. Great character, great writing, great acting

[@808Goose]

@@jakeg3733finally!! Someone else who also believes the Helo made for an excellent XO.. then they throw him to Dog Town (ep. S3E14 ~ “The Woman King”) where once again he proved to be invaluable.. he wasn’t appreciated because he loved a Cylon imo.

[@jakeg3733]

@@808Goose I'll grudgingly say I understand because cylons were THE enemy, an existential threat that had recently wiped out their civilization. But still, he had every ideal quality for leadership and that one thing got him sidelined and marginalized when he could have done so much more

[@kalidah8431]

They could had take blood sample from the deads one and wait to infect another cylon

[@gasgano8255]

Imagine how stupid this series would become if there was a hyper space tracker

[@rvaughan74]

You mean like in 33?

[@ReddwarfIV]

@@rvaughan74 That was a device on board the Galactica. "Hyperspace tracker" refers to the device in _The Last Jedi_ which could track other ships in FTL from a distance, without having anything on board them.

[@jakeg3733]

Interesting though, because it seems that while the Colonials haven't developed FTL communication technology yet, the Cylons already had it in the first war. But I agree

[@lewstone5430]

Where Helo turned traitor.

[@Ares99999]

Yup.

[@davidharvestgivan989]

Highly fortunate turn of events

[@ikosanweee8203]

Well correct me if I am wrong but I think would have been easier if the cylons "died" then. No civil war which means no rebels and no mutiny. Boomer is dead so she can't take Hera, plus Galactica would have survived a bit longer imo without the battle of the ionian nebula. They can just park on some habitable planet and that's it. Even if galactica is beyond repair they can just unload everything into the fleet, there will be no Cylon threats present anyrhwre

[@Talon3000]

@@ikosanweee8203 Easier yes. But at the cost of genocide of a whole species of sentient beings... that tried the reverse not two years earlier but a sentient species nonetheless. It's morally grey and I really like this about the show.

[@moteroargentino7944]

@Talon One It's not about vengeance, even if the majority of the survivors felt that way. It's about survival. Pure logic, no gray zones in this case. Realistically speaking, they had very low chances of finding a new home as it was. But doing so with that "entire race" constantly trying to cut their throats? No way. It's obviously morally wrong and I would avoid it if possible, but if they themselves keep jumping at you, you'll have to neutralize the threat the best way you can.

[@Arkalius80]

@@ikosanweee8203 Except it wouldn't work. Infected cylons wake up on resurrection ship, inform others there they're infected. Ship is quarantined, and then probably scuttled. Infection is contained, and all they lose is a resurrection ship. Once a new one is ready, now the Cylons are united in their certainty that the human race is deserving of destruction, and barely the worse for wear.

[@Arkalius80]

@@moteroargentino7944 A big theme of the show is that it isn't enough to survive, one must be worthy of survival. There is no justification for genocide, not even a misguided belief that it is necessary to survive.

[@BPond7]

Helo should have been spaced, for treason.

[@andromeda7394]

But he prevented genocide on the other hand.

[@rydermccall3590]

Adama disagrees.

[@Anarchizer]

@@andromeda7394 You cannot genocide a race of toasters.

[@keithziegler8881]

@@Anarchizer they aren't toasters. They are sentient self-aware being, as such they have every right to exist that any other sentient self-aware being has. The Cylon attempted genocide of humanity was 100% WRONG. The attempted genocide by humanity of the Cylons is wrong with the exact same reason. If humans have a right to exist then so to the Cylons

[@Ubu987]

@@keithziegler8881 If Cylons are actively trying to kill all humans, then it is permissible to use any means necessary to prevent this.