Starbuck is Special

[rabid1st]

This was crossposted at Beyond_Insane and two yahoo groups. But I'll put it here, too. So we can discuss.



It occured to me while rewatching Home 2 why the Cylons might think Starbuck has a destiny. Why her ovaries might be more important to them than those of the other women they simply hooked up to baby making machines. Maybe they were going to hook Starbuck up later...but maybe it's genetic. Pregnant Sharon says at one point during home that "Whatever" Athena was she existed. And that got me thinking okay WHAT was she...an advanced being of some kind? And then I started thinking about the nature of so many of our myths...in them the Gods interact with mankind. Specifically...the Gods gift, curse or impregnate someone.

What if Starbuck's missing father is one of the Lords or Gods of Kobol? It would explain on some levels the brutality of her mother...because most of the mythical women were taken against their will...forced or more commonly tricked in some way into sleeping with the God...and many of the children had to be rescued from the situation later. It would also explain Starbuck's uncanny luck and the burdens she carries as well as some of her sexual appetites. In this scenario she would be more like a demi-god...more Hercules or Perseus than say...Apollo (son of Leta and the Swan...and why wasn't Adama's old Viper called "The Swan"...that would have been so very neat...uh...only to me? Okay!).

Anyway, if all of the Galactica humans have SOME influence (via genetics) from the Gods...Starbuck wouldn't be SO much better than anyone else...just enough to be Starbuck. And important to the whole cylon breeding program because...it is far better to have God dna than plain old human stock. This might even turn out to be why Sharon is helping Galactica escape...maybe some of the cylons hope that Earth has even closer ties to the Gods and better genetic material.

I should go write fic, huh? ;-D


What do you guys think?

Rae

Comments

Have I Mentioned How Annoying I Find Special People?

[allyv.livejournal.com]

Well, whatever Jesus was, he existed too. It's the same thing - the person existed and that can be proven, it's the religious stuff that's in question. I don't think that necessarily takes us to a place where Athena or the other 'gods' were superhuman. And believing that Starbuck is the daughter of a god is a bit too much for me. I'm already on the edge of not liking her because she's so damned special - if they add one more thing to it, while continuing to make Lee all around less than her in every way, I may just turn my tv off.

I understand wanting to make her this strong woman character, and turning the cliche on its head and everything, I do. But she's the best pilot, the best shot, the best tactician, the best teacher, she can plug a hole in a Raider with her space suit and then make it fly. She's rarely punished for her mistakes - she runs off to Caprica to get the arrow and she's treated like the savior when she gets back, instead of sitting in the brig like Lee did, she tortures Lee and everyone else on board in Flight of the Phoenix and everyone just laughs when all I wanted to do was punch her.

Her big flaw, as far as I can tell, is supposed to be that she's a hothead, that she doesn't think before she acts - but it never turns out poorly for her (except in the mini when she ends up in the brig for punching Tigh) and she seems to look down on Lee for thinking things through. And when he doesn't think things through, it ends like crap for him. On top of it all, Lee is clearly carrying a torch for her and he makes himself vulnerable all the time and while I'm sure she loves him, at least as a friend, she just ignores it or makes a joke out of it or sleeps with someone else. So, adding a magical destiny because she's decendant from god(s) pushes me over the fence from tolerating her for the sake of Lee and Bill into just loathing her (which is part of why I hate the whole destiny storyline since it's bound to tick me off).

I mean, at the end of the day, the most interesting story to me is the completely screwed up father/son dynamic and since I want them both happy, that means putting up with Starbuck. But Lee is supposed to be a hero too. Just once I'd like to see them both go out on a mission and have him save her ass. Have him have some knowledge she doesn't that saves the day, have him do some super cool maneuver that she didn't think of. Having him only in the running to save the fleet when she's unable to fly or off on another planet just ticks me off especially when he screws it up and you know that his own men are thinking Starbuck could have done it better.

It's like how Spike was the slayer of Slayers and a kickass fighter and then he joined the Scoobies and became a weenie; how he protected Dawn and Sunnydale all summer while she was dead but became worthless in season six. Lee obviously did something right since he's a Captain at such a young age and Tyrol seemed pretty impressed with him when he landed on Galactica in the miniseries but since then he's always been second to Starbuck in everything and that drives me crazy. I mean, I can't even remember them acknowledging that he's a good diplomat, a good leader, and a good CAG.

Sigh. While I love this show, I'm really starting to be annoyed with the creators for their Mary Sue take on Starbuck. Guys, she's got to be bad at something, she's got to screw up sometime, or you just make everyone else look like idiots.

Anyway, back on topic - I think it's possible and it's an interesting idea for a fic, but if it happens on the show, it will make me very, very, cranky.

See...though...this is why my theory works...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Like you I cringed at the "destiny" crap on Caprica. I was all...oh, isn't she special. But when you think about mythos...the Demi-Gods had to suffer all these losses and Starbuck has had a few in her time. I don't think it will make her BIGGER and BETTER. Or it least it wouldn't do that if I was writing it. It would make her feel alienated from everyone.

"I understand wanting to make her this strong woman character, and turning the cliche on its head and everything, I do. But she's the best pilot, the best shot, the best tactician, the best teacher, she can plug a hole in a Raider with her space suit and then make it fly. She's rarely punished for her mistakes - she runs off to Caprica to get the arrow and she's treated like the savior when she gets back, instead of sitting in the brig like Lee did, she tortures Lee and everyone else on board in Flight of the Phoenix and everyone just laughs when all I wanted to do was punch her."

This is why I wrote to Ron Moore about the Dee/Lee foreshadowing...(and included a little of your last e-mail to me...hope you don't mind...now that I already did it, especially). I think people are very close to having the Buffy-esque backlash of hate against Kara for her careless treatment of our sweet Lee. Lee definitely needs to cut her to the quick and the audience needs to see it. But we don't want to go soooooo far overboard that the audience isn't sympathetic to her pain and feels she deserves it.

I personally...think Starbuck is a big screw up at love and relationships...she lies to the people she cares about...and she sleeps with people she barely knows to compensate for the deeply held belief that anyone she loves will hurt or abandon her. I also believe that while she loved Zak...she probably respects Lee a lot more. Lee is man enough to keep up with her and poor Zak...he just wasn't. I discuss this in my new fic...coming soon.

Rae