The alternative ending suggestion for "Passage", Before BSG jumped the shark.

[djlithium]

Hi there.
I used to work on BSG, and way way back when they decided to kill Kat off, it came as a shock to several of the cast and crew. Some of us, including me, played around with re-writing the end of that episode as we (well I certainly did) thought it had some major plot holes in it went against some established "realities" in the BSG Universe.

So, I dug this up after reading Luciana's interview talking about the death of kat where she mentioned this stuff and I thought I would post it here.

Now, I am not a professional writer, and this was never done up in proper script format whatsoever. But I do dabble a bit from time to time (having written a pilot which if I am so so lucky, Luciana will appear in if I could get it made). I also wrote this while waiting for files to come up from LA late at night (they never arrived, they went home at 5 and forgot) for rendering in the VFX department where I worked.

Anyway, here it is. Comments welcomed and appreciated, again this was a quicky to get it out of my head as I was really pissed off Luciana's character, which I felt added some grit to the show that was desperately needed, like bad, via KAT, was being killed off in such a silly way.

When you need to find out more, if you care, check out www.battlestarvfx.com
For all your trance needs go here www.blacktigerrecordings.com


Take it easy, enjoy, and Luciana, you rock! All the best!
And remember to thank me (for what I dont' know) at the Oscars okay? heeh.

Kel "the other Kat" Myers


309 “Passage”
Ending re-write or alternative ending for this episode.
Kelly “Kat” Myers
VFX Consultant/Artist Season II, III
And other various duties here and there.





SETTING:
Battlestar Galactica Interior Sick Bay:


Kat, Adama conversing while Kat is extremely ill and near death from radiation sickness.

KAT
(coughs)
"At least I'm not a frakking Cylon"
(coughs again in pain, her lungs are filling with liquid from damaged tissue.)



The expression on Adama's face goes from sharing the dark humor of Kat/Sasha to a realization that causes his smile to fade thinking to all the warriors he has not been able to be there with at their times of death.

CU of Adama's hand holding Kat's with an IV tube and pulse meter. His grip loosens on Kat's hand.
We cut back to Adama unable to look Kat in the Eye as she fades in and out of consciousness - on the edge of death, hallucination and reality.

Kat pulls back for a moment...


KAT

"You know, I would have liked to have seen Earth. Just once. To know we made it. That would've made this okay. Me dying I mean."



She coughs again and the meters start to blip. Dr. Cottle comes in from outside of the curtain. Cut to Kat's eyes rolling back into her head as she passes out again this time what seems like for good... but her pulse holds... for now.

DR. COTTLE

"She's close to the end. Could be here and now, could be a few hours. It's up to her now to hold on as long as she can, but she's not going to make it.”

There is nothing more you can do here now Admiral. I think it would be best if you let her be."

Adama contemplates letting go of Kat's hand and softly releases it, partially...

Flash back to Episode 215 (Sacrifice) with Adama looking onto the dead body of Sharon in the morgue. His tears.

Flash back jump cut white blast transition to Adama and Sharon speaking about how many cylons are in the fleet.
Same deal to Episode 220 on the crew deck as brother Cavil appears out of the raptor, where Tyrol jumps him and says he is a cylon and Adama has Boomer taking back to her cell with the line "She knew". Check with episodic cut to confirm.

Jump forward Flashcut to beeping alarms. Kat is weakening.


DR.COTTLE

"Admiral, please!"

Cottle is trying to hold Kat down after she starts to convulse, having a med-tech inject her with an anti-convulsing drug, she settles down and the meters taper off of their excitement but the pulse weakens on the monitor as we whip pan over to it off Kat's contorted face.

We cut back to a CU of Adama whose direction of his stare we follow back down to Kat's hand. We cut to a close up of his loosening grip.

Then, as she settles down a bit more, we snap out to see Adama turn to Cottle.
Adama has the tellings of tears in his eyes. But they are tears of rage for what he is about to ask of Cottle, as he is in deep conflict with his morality.


ADAMA

"I need to ask something of you."

COTTLE

"This is a hell of a time to ask for favors."

CU back to Adama's hand holding Kat's. The grip is tightening. Then he lets go and puts it gently to rest on her stomach. Adama wants to play gods.

Adama gets up from the side of Kat’s bed and motions for Cottle to follow.

Cottle
(To MedTech)

"Try and keep her from thrashing about like that."

MEDTECH

“Yes Dr. Cottle.”

Camera pulls back on tracks to lead them both away from Kat's Bed and...Cottle follows Adama to outside the white curtain area.

We still see Kat' and the med-tech out of focus between the separation of the curtain.

Cut to Adama over shoulder of Cottle.

ADAMA
"I made a mistake, asking you to hide Herra.
And I am afraid I am about to make another one. But this time I am asking you for help to not only protect the fleet... but to try and make things right for someone who deserves a chance to see what she might be dying for."

Cut to Cottle over shoulder of Adama


Continued…

DR. COTTLE

“In case you weren't paying attention she IS going to be dead
in a few minutes, maybe more, maybe less and unless earth is around the
corner I can't help you.

(Pauses while reaching into his jacket for a smoke).

DR. COTTLE

“She's dying, and there’s nothing I can do to
stop that."


ADAMA

"I understand. However I need you to keep her alive.
No matter what it takes."

The Dr. finds his smokes and pulls one out and taps the end on the back of his lighter, and he pops it into his mouth to only react to Adama’s last sentence in a matter of fact way.

DR. COTTLE

"This doesn't seem to be sinking in for you.
She's beyond saving."

Cut to Adama and Cottle with Kat in the BG through the curtains.

ADAMA

"I don't want you to save her.”

Cut back to Cottle who is about to light his smoke and reacts to Adama bizarre statement. Keep her from dying and not save her? Has adama been smoking that stuff the ‘civies’ started trading around on New Caprica?

Dr. Cottle cuts him off half way before Adama can begin breathing out his next sentence.

DR. COTTLE

“Then what?!”

Adama looks at him like a child would, asking the vet to not put down his kitten who has just been hit by a car.

ADAMA

“I want you to put her into SANDS. Immediately.”
(Sustained Autonomic and Neural Dampening System.
(What effectively could be called suspended animation or hypersleep)


Continued…


Cottle has lit his lighter and looks up towards the Admiral with shock in response to what he is hearing, knowing full well what the Admiral is suggesting - although dismayed to try and find a decent reason for it. Dr. Cottle’s response is to light his smoke while he turns away hoping to end the conversation.

Cut to camera position pointing up towards the two men looking from the POV of a bed pan or the wheel of a gurney.

Adama is enraged.

The Admiral spins Cottle around - we have only seen this kind of rage once with him - on Kobol when he confronts Boomber- pushing Cottle against a tray of instruments causing a clutter of stainless steel to fall to the floor. Pulling him up against the tray Adama twists up the collar on Cottle's white lab coat around his fist, the same hand that held Kats's.
The other hand rips the lit smoke from Cottle’s lips pulling skin with it, and thows it to the floor. Bouncing into frame of the camera or landing in front of the lens still smoldering. (slow mo impact?)

We cut back to the two men framed on either side of the camera’s edges barely making out the shadow of the MedTech dealing with another of Kat’s convulsions.


ADAMA

"She doesn't have time for this and neither do I. Neither does the fleet! I am not going to explain myself or this order.”

CU of Adama looking back at Dr. Cottle holding back the urge to punch the Dr. out.

Adama searches Cottles eyes for a yes sir. He’s not getting one.

Cut back to previous camera angle.


ADAMA

“And it is an order.”

(beat)

“NOW DO IT!"

Cottle is a dear in headlights, just now processing how serious Adama is while thinking about the procedures on SANDS, trying to remember how it is even done. No one has used it on a Battlestar since the first Cylon wars.



ADAMA

"Now!"

Adama let's go of Cottle. Pushing him away into the tray a bit more. Cottle unruffles his feathers. And clues in. He’s got to start the process right now and he’s trying to collect the list of steps needed to start in his head.

Cottle obeys, puts his lighter back in his pocket forgetting about the smoldering cigarette on the floor which he really wanted to finish.

Camera locks onto Cottle as he rushes past Adama back through the curtains following focus as Adama turns around to watch and see if Cottle actually complies with his demand.


Cottle orders some strange type of shot, that the Med-tech has to think about, puzzled as to why it would be needed at all let alone what Adama's orders for Cottle require them for. Cottle displays his impatience and directs the MedTech to a cabinet off screen.

Kat starts to convulse again.

Cottle
(to Med-Tech)

"DO IT NOW!"

Med-tech complies, having to race out of the curtained off area off camera while Cottle observes Kat's worsening condition while trying to keep her pinned down to the hospital bed.

We refocus on Adama and follow him across the room to a wallphone.

Picks it up and waits for a beat.


ADAMA
"This is the Admiral, have Kara Thrace meet me with Mr. Gaeta
in engineering section 4 immediately."

Adama slams the phone down. Turns back to the curtain area. Reverse angle from Cottles POV to the slit opening in the curtain.

ADAMA

"Get her ready to move in 5 minutes and bring her down."

Cottle

"If she holds on that long."

ADAMA

"Do your best. She just has to be alive."

Adama turns away and moves to leave sickbay but before he does, he notices the smoldering cigarette on the floor. He picks it up. Takes a drag and then drops it back down (close up on the burning embers as Adama inhales, slow-mo impact on the floor again when it hits) stamps it out and leaves sick bay.


Cut to Dr. Cottle who is looking up at the pulse and vitals monitor then back to Kat. Kat’s eyes flicker with just a touch of life.

Cottle whispers under his breath to Kat knowing she can't hear but does anyway.

DR. COTTLE

"Do us both a favor sweatheart - and go to the gods."

We cut away on the entrance of the Med-Tech back into the room to Kat’s POV. She’s going through the tunnel and the words “go to the gods” echoes in her ears as Dr. Cottle and the Med-Techs figures become white silhouettes.



End Scene.

The idea behind this re-write and where it could have lead the series.

There is much more to this plot twist that can be introduced later into season 3, 4 or 5 which can be shot later or now and cut into the current episode or not that will provide greater flexibility for the writers should the need arise while remaining plausible and helping to further develop the Characters of "Kat", Adama, Starbuck and Helo. Including a potential plot line that will reveal the years of silence between the cylon wars as well as what caused the first Cylon Rebellion (there was a second but not against humankind, or at least colonia humankind - a Cylon Civil war). This may provide for a way to finish the series at the end of Season 5 while crossing points of history into "Caprica" merging both audiences and creating a larger base of viewers and interest in the property as a franchise.

The purpose of this scene being written in this way is simple. Adama can't chance Kat being a cylon and her blood was never tested (as we find out later) and the colonials cannot put faith into the cylon detection technology developed by Baltar. Indeed, with the current tactical and positional information Kat is aware of with respect to the fleet and its new heading - she must not be permitted to download if she is, would be significantly detrimental to the Colonials. That would put the fleet and ultimately the 13th colony at risk.
On the other hand, and this is what is ripping Adama apart in doing this, maybe Kat isn't a Cylon, but she fought as hard as anyone else and deserves the chance to see earth even if it is to die within sight of it. Yet if Kat is human, is trapping her soul in stasis immoral?

A kind of torture for being suspected, or one last trial by fire for this rebellious pilot who has fought for something she can never enjoy, but would hold on if she could just to see it. Even once.

Starbuck comes into play later debating the morality and the implications of putting Kat into stasis like this. In later episodes, I did play with the idea that Starbuck, remorseful of her treatment of Kat and going through her own dilemmas that question her own faith vs. duty vs. loyalties to the Admiral and others attempts to pull the plug on Kat, but with a hand gun. Shot through the status chamber window. Cylon or not, she should be set free, the morality and questions of humanity and such, rip starbuck apart, but when she goes to actually do it… Kat is gone. Or is she?

StarBuck soon finds out, and the destiny of the fleet and humanity is changed forever.


Give me a month, some cash, food, water and some redbull and I could have written the entire series story line around this path from this episode onwards.
It would have been my pleasure.

Kel (the other Kat) Myers

[Gnisten]

I honestly thought this was a really good read,I think it was an interesting plot/storyline and I would've loved to see it.

[Solium]

I agree it was rather compelling and a dramatic read. Interesting take. I agree Kat was extremely important as a counter weight for Starbuck. There was not one but two bad @ss female pilots and Kat was Kara's equal at the very least. It made superstar Kara Thrace "human" again. The direction they were going with the Kara Kat relationship and character development was far more significant than the juvenile love affair with Ander's.