Battlestar Galactica Deleted Scenes
New deleted scenes from Battlestar Galactica are making there way to the interwebs. I'm assuming these are all from the BSG BluRay box set - if I'm wrong, please correct me. On the set is a quiz and if you answer all the questions correctly you unlock a series of deleted scenes. I've read there are a total of seven clips. The first deleted scene I came across is from The Passage and involves Laura Roslin addressing the fleet inter-cut with shots of Sharon and Helo, Adama, and Kat among others. The scene was long, over four minutes. Unfortunately, the poster has now locked their post and I haven't located an alternate source for it.
kellychameleon3 has posted a transcript (transcribed by ds888) for an extended cut of the scene between Lee and Kara in 'Taking a Break from All Your Worries'. I'm rather glad we only saw what we saw. The extended cut leaves me even more confused as to what is going on with Lee and Kara and a remark about Sam doesn't really gel with what happens in Season 4.
Thanks to various people I was pointed in the direction of the rest of the scenes.
Lee and Kara in 'Maelstrom'
The scene makes me even more sympathetic to what Kara is going through and shows Lee struggling with figuring out what is going on with Kara and how to deal with it, but it doesn't really tell us anything we already didn't know or add to the plot of the episode.
The Pilots Discuss Lee Being Removed from Duty in 'The Son Also Rises'
It's interesting to learn Kelly had a direct role in getting Lee removed from his position as CAG and to hear Skulls (?!) defend Lee's absentmindedness in the wake of losing Kara. And I always approve of more Narcho. ;) But while the scene demonstrated the pilots had legitimate fears of a mourning and distracted CAG having their lives in his hands, again, it doesn't add anything to the episode.
Lee and Dee in 'The Son Also Rises'
This is the one scene I really wish had not been cut. Lee is using Baltar's trial as a reason to keep him away from home. Dee keeps her back to Lee, but we, the audience, see her profound sadness. She knows that even though Kara is gone, she still has lost her husband to her. Lee sneaking the picture from the book serves to reinforce her belief. Dee's walking out on Lee makes A LOT more sense in light of this scene. I'm sure the trial played some part in her decision, but it was this, knowing Lee wasn't really there with her and finding reasons to be away that led her to leave him.
Lee and Adama in 'Six of One'
This was a scene Ron described in the podcast. And it's not as bad as thought it would be given his description! I still wish Adama was more supportive, but he's not coming off as an asshole which, given Ron's setup, I thought he would. I do love Lee's little eye roll. :) Lee's, "I wanna see Kara again", strikes me as a bit odd, as if he's never going to see her again when he's only going to another ship. However, Adama's, "So do I", is an interesting remark. He seemed to have serious doubts as to who or what was in the brig.
Lee Addressing the Quorum in 'Guess What's Coming to Dinner'
I love this scene. Lee defending Laura and supporting her mission. Reminding the Quorum how much she's sacrificed for them. And asking them to wonder how much longer she might have lived had she put herself first and declined to serve as president all those years before. Would they have made the same choice she did? I also adore Lee's line about giving her the benefit of their doubt. While the scene adds, imho, to the Lee/Laura relationship, I have to be honest and say it really wouldn't have added anything to the overall plot. But I'm thrilled I got to see it. :)
In other news, the 2009 Dragon Con is testing me. Now the Shatner/Nimoy panel has been moved to the Centennial I-III with the Q&A being broadcast to the Atrium. Which a) means they know this is going to be the biggest line EVER and b) I have to decide whether to get in line for the panel or the overflow. O_o Or just say screw it and watch it on TV. Tough I really would like to say I was there and nit sitting in my room. Sigh.
kellychameleon3 has posted a transcript (transcribed by ds888) for an extended cut of the scene between Lee and Kara in 'Taking a Break from All Your Worries'. I'm rather glad we only saw what we saw. The extended cut leaves me even more confused as to what is going on with Lee and Kara and a remark about Sam doesn't really gel with what happens in Season 4.Thanks to various people I was pointed in the direction of the rest of the scenes.
Lee and Kara in 'Maelstrom'
The scene makes me even more sympathetic to what Kara is going through and shows Lee struggling with figuring out what is going on with Kara and how to deal with it, but it doesn't really tell us anything we already didn't know or add to the plot of the episode.
The Pilots Discuss Lee Being Removed from Duty in 'The Son Also Rises'
It's interesting to learn Kelly had a direct role in getting Lee removed from his position as CAG and to hear Skulls (?!) defend Lee's absentmindedness in the wake of losing Kara. And I always approve of more Narcho. ;) But while the scene demonstrated the pilots had legitimate fears of a mourning and distracted CAG having their lives in his hands, again, it doesn't add anything to the episode.
Lee and Dee in 'The Son Also Rises'
This is the one scene I really wish had not been cut. Lee is using Baltar's trial as a reason to keep him away from home. Dee keeps her back to Lee, but we, the audience, see her profound sadness. She knows that even though Kara is gone, she still has lost her husband to her. Lee sneaking the picture from the book serves to reinforce her belief. Dee's walking out on Lee makes A LOT more sense in light of this scene. I'm sure the trial played some part in her decision, but it was this, knowing Lee wasn't really there with her and finding reasons to be away that led her to leave him.
Lee and Adama in 'Six of One'
This was a scene Ron described in the podcast. And it's not as bad as thought it would be given his description! I still wish Adama was more supportive, but he's not coming off as an asshole which, given Ron's setup, I thought he would. I do love Lee's little eye roll. :) Lee's, "I wanna see Kara again", strikes me as a bit odd, as if he's never going to see her again when he's only going to another ship. However, Adama's, "So do I", is an interesting remark. He seemed to have serious doubts as to who or what was in the brig.
Lee Addressing the Quorum in 'Guess What's Coming to Dinner'
I love this scene. Lee defending Laura and supporting her mission. Reminding the Quorum how much she's sacrificed for them. And asking them to wonder how much longer she might have lived had she put herself first and declined to serve as president all those years before. Would they have made the same choice she did? I also adore Lee's line about giving her the benefit of their doubt. While the scene adds, imho, to the Lee/Laura relationship, I have to be honest and say it really wouldn't have added anything to the overall plot. But I'm thrilled I got to see it. :)
In other news, the 2009 Dragon Con is testing me. Now the Shatner/Nimoy panel has been moved to the Centennial I-III with the Q&A being broadcast to the Atrium. Which a) means they know this is going to be the biggest line EVER and b) I have to decide whether to get in line for the panel or the overflow. O_o Or just say screw it and watch it on TV. Tough I really would like to say I was there and nit sitting in my room. Sigh.
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annoyed
The Dee one nearly made me cry. It's almost worse now that Kara's dead, isn't it? Because now Lee can remember Kara exactly like he wants to, and she's this ideal, perfect memory, and grief is sacred. Dee can't compete with that- as awesome as she is, she's human. I think that she actually lost Lee when Kara died.
Thanks so much for posting these- you are my DVD goddess!!!
If we take into account the flashbacks in 'Daybreak', Dee never had a chance. I did actually think there was a glimmer of hope for them in 'Disquiet'. If Lee wasn't over Kara I think he seemed more at peace that Kara was going to stay with Sam so he had to move on. Which makes it sound as if I'm saying Dee was his fallback plan once again and I'm not. More like maybe he was contemplating putting the past behind them, starting over, and seeing what could develop. But then Dee killed herself. :/
I agree with you on the first one - it's a nice scene but not an episode-changing one. I'm a little torn on the second, on the one hand it's always nice to see more pilots and get more background, but at the same time, I really do think that Lee had...a slip of the tongue. Grief-induced, yes, but hardly evidence that he's unsafe. Especially considering Cottle's pronouncement just the episode before that if it were peacetime he'd ground them all? So I don't know - I like the idea that Lee's struggling and trying to hold it together and not quite succeeding, but I'm not this is an entirely proportional response from the pilots? Maybe they're just gun-shy after what happened when they didn't ground Starbuck.
Regarding the Lee/Dee scene again I'm torn. It's a good scene and certainly lends some extra weight to Dee leaving him, emotionally. In some ways I liked that it was a political issue she differed to him on and that we'd SEEN her differ on in the past (elections; a broken system doesn't deserve fixing) but it did feel a little odd to pick that as her battleground after everything else when things were, apparently, again as of Maelstrom, the best they'd ever been and I believed it. So yes, it is nice to nod that Kara's death, ironically, threw Lee back toward Kara and away from Dee. BUT, given my sudden reverse-liking-of-them after SaGN, and the way Lee never took off his wedding ring in S4, I kind of...I dunno. I'm torn. :p
The Lee and Adama scene is, you're right, less horrifying than I thought it'd be. I think a lot of it is Lee's eyeroll <3. Because whatever honest point Adama might have about how Lee's gonna have to get used to not being able to go out and DO something immediate during an attack, his method of delivery is more than a little "FOXES! FOOOOOXES! I WANT TO DROWN!"
I did like seeing how he came to give Lee the Aurora figuring though. In the other deleted scene where Lee gives it to Kara I thought it was an odd thing for Adama to give to Lee, but it does really work here.
Also I initially thought his "so do I" comment was intentionally ambiguous, like he wanted to see Kara again, but what's in his brig, he doesn't know. Then again, it might also be him building up to his end-of-episode change of heart. I like the first idea better though.
And the last scene! <3 I do get your point about how it didn't need to be in the episode, and in some ways I suppose I could even frame and argument that it's better to leave it as Laura leaving and the Quorum being swayed by her words rather than Lee's speech on her behalf. But...but...OTP!!! *contented sigh* That's about the sum of my realtime emotional reaction there. ;)
I am (un)surprised that all but one of the scenes you show here or link to descriptions of either feature Lee and his character arc heavily or are ABOUT Lee and his character arc, all from the second half of S3/first half of S4. Poor guy had a LOT of stuff cut that apparently didn't even make the DVD deleted scenes until now. :( But then...given the show often didn't know what to do with him I guess that's not very surprising.
Because they had Cottle make that statement and because the pilots response was maybe excessive - they've all had to deal with loss and are we to believe Lee and Kara were the only pilots to be involved? - it could be why it was an easy cut to make. I also think it's more believable that so soon after losing his 'daughter', Adama would look for any reason to ground and protect his son. This is one of the rare occasions where Adama's selfishness and overreaction makes sense.
Assuming Lee was being truthful to Kara and not deluding himself, I can believe things were "the best they've ever been" between he and Dee at the time of 'Maelstrom' and not good two weeks later. Because he wasn't able to mourn and share his sense of profound loss, he shut down and pulled away and it was the big clue to Dee he was still very much in love with Kara. And it was easier for Dee to deal with Lee's feelings for Kara when she was alive and capable of frakking up and pushing Lee away then with a dead Kara who Lee could idealize for himself.
The wedding ring is easy to explain. It's a reminder of his failures. He failed himself, not being the man he believed himself to be, and he failed Dee by not being the husband she needed him to be. It was actually the one nice parallel the show drew between Adama and Lee.
Because whatever honest point Adama might have about how Lee's gonna have to get used to not being able to go out and DO something immediate during an attack, his method of delivery is more than a little "FOXES! FOOOOOXES! I WANT TO DROWN!"
Hee. Yeah, I agree, the words and sentiment are fine. Hell, I even agree with Adama that it would be incredibly difficult for Lee not to be able to do anything to help defend the fleet. It's the execution that is overwrought? And we know who to blame that for!
I like the first idea better though.
Me too!
But...but...OTP!!!
I KNOW! It's almost like they want us to create an AU! ;p And putting aside it was an exposition heavy scene, you make a good point about it possibly seeming as if Lee's words swayed the Quorum rather than Laura's own words. Then again, I like the idea of Lee softening up the Quorum for Laura. ;)
Yeah, as I was putting this post together it hit me that, with the exception of the Laura scene I couldn't link to, all the scenes involved Lee in some way. And while I wasn't filled with rage over any of the cuts, I was disappointed by the notion that they didn't feel as if Lee's scenes, which did further develop his character and arc, were important. By this point in the series it wasn't so much they didn't know what to do with him, but didn't care?