“Left Behind” on New Caprica
Cavatar writes: “The Number 3 never set off the nuke on New Caprica after Baltar found Hera, and if the Cylons left New Caprica after the humans fled, then it might be safe to assume that they have no reason to return. I bring this up because my question is: Did all the humans make if off of New Caprica? Was it possible that a thousand or so were left behind?
“This might be a stretch, but is there a chance that there could be humans there still trying to rebuild the civilization there? If you assume that Earth has forgotten about Kobol, the algae planet, andtheir true roots, then it might be safe to assume that in two or three generations the surviving population of the 12 colonies might forget about the brief time they spent on New Caprica.
“Could there be a human population from New Caprica 2,000 years from now trying to find Galactica or Earth when their AI rises up against them? Would the people of New Caprica 2,000 years from now think that the Galactica was a myth, or that it was assuredly destroyed by the Cylons and thus looking for it would seem as futile as looking for Earth did in Season One? I mean, like the scriptures tell us: It has all happened before and will happen again.
“Could we even see a story arc on the survivors of New Caprica that were left behind next season?”
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Hmmm. The survivor count after Exodus seems to indicate that they lost (one way or another) two thousand people, so it is possible.
However, I’m thinking that they’re not going to go there for a couple reasons. First, there’s nobody there that we already care about, unlike Helo on Caprica. Second, what would the dramatic point be? With Helo it was his hooking up with Athena and getting off-planet. Since presumeably there’s no FTL ships left, anybody down there is going to be more interested in learning to survive than doing anything that might advance the BSG story.
On the other hand, it IS RDM’s story, so who knows?
i think its a writing flaw, but good theory didnt think of it
I think at least a couple hundred or so got left behind, the rest were probably killed during the occupation or rescue.
Due to a lack of resources, and an inability to build anything other than a tent city…I think they’d slowly die off after a few generations of bleakness.
That’s actually a really interesting idea, Cavatar.
I’ve also been thinking about what happened to those left behind on New Caprica. Although I think it’d be an interesting story arc to develop, I just don’t see it happening. From the way RDM’s been treating the subject of those left behind on both the non-Caprica colonies and those on New Caprica, I don’t think we’ll be seeing those survivors again anytime soon.
However, I don’t entirely disagree with the idea of having a side-arc involving those left behind on New Caprica. Answering your question Pike: I think the dramatic point would be the reference to both the Cycle of Time theme, as Cavatar said, but also to the recurring Adama theme of responsibility. It’s sort of an abstract point, but think of this – Admiral Adama openly took responsibility for mounting the rescue despite tremendous opposition, likely knowing that it’d be near impossible to rescue every single colonist. So, in a way, he’s responsbile for every person the rescue mission didn’t successfully being back to the Fleet. So showing how the stranded colonists survive when Adama’s responsbility to them fell short would be a good way to reference that whole theme, in my opinion.
And so, I think a minor story-arc involving the survivors on New Caprica that are stranded permanently would be an interesting little device to illustrate those two recurring themes. And on the plus side, the writers have successfully done something very similar before, like Cavatar said – anyone remember Helo being stuck on Caprica for the first season?
Anywho, that’s just my two cubits…
By the same logic, isn’t it safe to assume that there are still some survivors left on Caprica and the other colonies as well? (Albeit since more than a year has passed in TV time since seasons 1 and 2, they would all have died from radiation poisoning by now, even at the higher elevations.) It’s hard to think that Anders and his rebels were the only survivors and that they represent all that was left of the Caprican population.
The same is probably true on New Caprica. There, however, there is no threat of radiation poisoning and it is possible that a small human civilization could grow and even, eventually, thrive there. As Thunder Pig (what a great screen name!) points out, however, resources on New Caprica are scant so it is unlikely that they’d be able to develop very far and, in fact, might even “devolve” back into a bronze or even stone age, eventually.
I am of the feeling that this is precisely what will happen once the fleet (and/or the Cylon…Z) eventually finds Earth. They’ll find a rather primitive planet (in our very distant, possibly even prehistoric past) that they will then have to defend from the Cylons, colonize and slowly lead a civilization through the long path of growth.
Hmm. The New Capricans devolve into a very primitive society, which then slowly builds up an indigent technological base. The memories of their origins become embedded in their mythologies.
“There are some who say that life here began out there.”
I just thought of this in a dream last night lol in 2020.
Some lf the survivors go and let all the prisoners and tortured people out of the cells and try to survive and build everything back up.