I'll watch the show out to see if they can overcome my initial reaction, but I agree an awful lot with what USS Cygnus says. Moore as much as acknowledged that the identity of the final five (at least the four revealed) were only determined relatively late in the game - in the midst of season three! Seems to me that they could have been anyone applying the "fundamentally different" concept as a sloppy solution to explain any prior inconsistencies. Putting aside Tori, who we practically knew nothing about, and maybe Anders, everything we were previously told about Cylons practically ruled out Tyrol and Tigh. Tigh's aging and service in the first Cylon War means nothing. Tyrol's known childhood (parents were priests) and fathering of a child, also non-factors. So instead of twelve Cylon models, we have seven of one kind and five of another (SPOILER ALERT: who apparently are remnants from a prior cycle of the human/Cylon conflict, and akin to Cylon gods. END SPOILER). Never mind the intermingled, random numbering scheme. Color me somewhat disappointed that such an important element of the show's overall mythology wasn't better thought out.

As for Tyrol, he has been in the service since eighteen, including several years under Bill Adama, and he has clearly aged over that time. While his memories of his parents could be a cover story, there is no disaster or other explanation that would account for a fully developed Tyrol popping up without someone noticing. And when Nicholas Tyrol was born, nobody had any visions about him, including the kamala extract doped up Roslin.

Anything devastating to continuity there? Nothing overwhelming, I guess. Making the Chief a Cylon is not like fitting a square peg into a round hole, but maybe more like an oval peg into that round hole. Combined with the Tigh revelation, however, the annoyance level for myself, and many others, on this issue clearly is magnified.

As I pointed out before, the real problem is that the significance of who is a Cylon has been rendered moot by the admission that they came up with the last four at the eleventh hour. And retrofitting characters into such roles after 3 years with the mere explanation that "they're different" feels like a cop out. There is nothing lazy about being consistent and sticking to what has been established as canon over the prior seasons. As it is, this fundamental difference thing has the feel of a mid-course change of direction that has left me and many others miffed.

And if BSG hasn't FTL Jumped the Shark as of the Season 3 finale, then here's looking forward to the Season 4 premiere in 2008. Perhaps Starbuck will sing us a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "You Got Me Floatin'" from inside her cockpit.