Classic Moment: Cylon Civil War ('BSG')

Relive the tense moment in Battlestar Galactica's fourth season episode 'Six Of One' when the Cylons became split down the middle over ethical reasons - with explosive consequences. This pivotal scene sowed the seeds for the impending Cylon Civil War...

The Context

The increasing 'humanity' among several of the Cylon models had been the cause of conflict in the past, most notably with Number Six's murder of fellow Cylon D'Anna to protect a helpless Anders (who later turned out to be a toaster himself!). Later, on board the Basestars there was to be plenty of conflict between a version of Six called Natalie and the ruthless Brother Cavil. When he started to lobotomise the Cylon Raiders to inhibit their evolving thought processes, Natalie did all she could to force a rethink. A vote went down to the wire, but one dissenting Number Eight backed Cavil. So Natalie opted to go down the cylon-on-cylon violence route - with all guns blazing.

The Moment

Natalie walks into the board room with two gun-toting Cylon Centurions by her side. Cavil is not amused and demands that she leave. "We, the Leobens, the Sharons gave the Centurions the gift of reason," states Natalie as she explains that she has removed their brain inhibitors. "They learnt what you were doing to the Raiders. Can you imagine how they felt?" she asks an aghast Cavil. The humanoid Cylons try to flee, but are immediately gunned down mercilessly by the Centurions.

The Aftermath

More fireworks were not far away, as a new model of Cavil pretended to open to diplomatic means and agreed to the terms of the Six and Eight models. He also agreed to resurrect D'Anna, but instead lured Natalie's Cylon faction into a trap and decimated their Basestars. However, Cylon Leoben was lurking in outer space and found Starbuck's Earth-finding mission, proposing a very intriguing alliance.

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