[Polpolion]

Winter does that sizzler.  It gets all gray and cold and such.

Nuclear winter does do that, but generally if it's overcast then there aren't cumulonimbus clouds for the ships to fly through as they are descending from space.

[Ford Prefect]

Nuclear Winter does that sizzler.  It gets all gray and cold and such.

Fixed

I suspect you've never endured winter in New England.

[WMCoolmon]

I think arriving at Earth after World War 3 was probably the best choice for the writers.

* The Star Trek: First Contact theme is faintly heard

[IceFire]

Wow...everyone...and I mean everyone looks so displeased in that last scene.  Wow.

Why shouldn't they be displeased, they just ended up trading one nuked out hell hole for another. It's a big question what they are going to do now, either settle on Earth in places were the radiation isn't dangerous or find somewhere else.

Well...yeah...obviously.  That wasn't what I was getting at.

[MP-Ryan]

As long as the ending doesn't end up too 'Foundation and Earth', where the 5th is some kind of Daneel Olivaw character who has manipulated everyone back to Earth to save the galaxy or the like...

You missed it.  Four of the final five were in the Colonial fleet.  The reason Deanna didn't ask for the fifth was because it was already on her base ship and didn't necessarily know it.  At least, that's my shaky guess.

Of the main characters, that includes:  Roslin, Baltar, Helo, and IIRC Racetrack.  Adama seems unlikely as he was allowed to leave with Deanna.  The only problem is that the fifth didn't get activated in the nebula, which seems to bring out some sort of special significance of the last Cylon.

[Blue Lion]

If she has the 5th, why not out him or her? What's the point in keeping it secret if the possibility exists they could go back to Galactica?

[Eishtmo]

Nuclear Winter does that sizzler.  It gets all gray and cold and such.

Fixed

I suspect you've never endured winter in New England.

I live in upstate NY.  So yeah, I meant ACTUAL winter.

[MP-Ryan]

I live in upstate NY.  So yeah, I meant ACTUAL winter.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta.  You have no idea what actual winter is

[Mars]

Nice thing about Colorado is that we don't get any ice...

just lots and lots of snow.

[blowfish]

Meh.  I live in San Francisco where the worst we get is a little frost.

[watsisname]

ITT:  We argue over who has the worst winter weather.

Winter does that sizzler.  It gets all gray and cold and such.

Nuclear winter does do that, but generally if it's overcast then there aren't cumulonimbus clouds for the ships to fly through as they are descending from space.

Who say's they were cumulonimbus?  I didn't see any rain coming out of 'em...
Nitpicking aside, from orbit we saw landmass mostly covered by big cloud decks, so why the heck not have it be overcast when they land?  And if you look at an orbital view of earth in general it's mostly cloud-covered so this shouldn't come as a surprise.  We also don't know exactly how much time has gone by since the nuclear catastrophe so the weather patterns might have had time to adjust.  I agree with you that I'd imagine the general color pallete of earth from orbit to be different though, maybe not so much in clouds or ocean but at least land and vegetation and such.

[Flipside]

Maybe the 5th WAS activated but is in no position to make people aware of the fact? No-one said that they all had to be adults, after all?

Edit: 3's visions depict an adult, but the thing about 'visions' is that they cannot be trusted 100%.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Of the main characters, that includes:  Roslin, Baltar, Helo, and IIRC Racetrack.  Adama seems unlikely as he was allowed to leave with Deanna.  The only problem is that the fifth didn't get activated in the nebula, which seems to bring out some sort of special significance of the last Cylon.

        It's probably Baltar. The whole buildup in the show has been pointing at Rosalyn or Adama and diverting attention away from Gaius so in the end it's probably just Gaius anyway. It wouldn't be Helo, that would invalidate his entire role which as being the father of the first human/cylon lovechild. If it's Adama, what happens, Rosalyn loses it. Cries for a while. If it's Rosalyn, Adam loses it, and never comes back this time because the only person who brought him back from the Tigh revelation was rosalyn. So it's probably Baltar in the end afterall. Like he said "I could sense you were a cylon" to the bad-chick. Torie or whatever her name is. Or how Deanna basically listens to him at the end . . . there's a lot of stuff that's subtle but which kinda hints that maybe he is.

[Hellstryker]

You know, who says we nuked ourselves? Maybe somthing else did... 

[Mars]

Cyclons nuked the 13th tribe as well?

[Flipside]

Well, I haven't been following the series microscopically, but take the plague in the Nebula, was that a weapon of some sort? Was it supposed to be protection to make sure that only humans would survive finding the beacon?

If it was deliberately designed to kill cylons, but not harm humans, then (a) Baltar is human and (b) the 13th tribe knew about Cylons.

[Mefustae]

Well, I haven't been following the series microscopically, but take the plague in the Nebula, was that a weapon of some sort? Was it supposed to be protection to make sure that only humans would survive finding the beacon?

If it was deliberately designed to kill cylons, but not harm humans, then (a) Baltar is human and (b) the 13th tribe knew about Cylons.

Nope, it was an accident.

When the beacon was first placed in the nebula by the 13th Tribe, someone coughed on it. Seriously. Humans had long since become resistant to that particular illness, but the Cylons had never encountered it before. It wasn't engineered, it wasn't a weapon, it was just a case OSHA dropping the ball.

[Flipside]

Why did I just hear Richard Burtons voice saying 'No-one would have believed in the latter half of the nineteenth century...'

[Mefustae]

I feel quite cultured for having got that reference.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Well, I haven't been following the series microscopically, but take the plague in the Nebula, was that a weapon of some sort? Was it supposed to be protection to make sure that only humans would survive finding the beacon?

If it was deliberately designed to kill cylons, but not harm humans, then (a) Baltar is human and (b) the 13th tribe knew about Cylons.

         It was, as the other guy said, just an accident. Some ancient cold which disappeared around the same time as the 13th tribe, validating their possible existence.
         I've not seen the episode since it's aired, but if I were to guess I'd say that Tigh probably came into contact with the infected cylons at some point. And he didn't get sick. Maybe when I pick up ep3 DVDs I'll check it out to see if he did or not. Of the four he's the only one likely to have done so.