Here's my review of "Islanded in a Stream of Stars":
This was a terrible episode, partly to do with the story and dialogue, but mostly to do with editing things down to less than understandable levels. This is not a coherent or well-told story; it's a jumble of ideas edited down to a standard TV time format, but it cannot stand as a piece of art the way the series managed to do with all its episodes from Season 1 through 2 and with increasing difficulty in Season 3 after "Occupation"/"Precipice".
None of the dramatic moments felt given their due and were ridiculously reduced not just to the bare essentials but even to less than what was essential -- leaving me in confusion about what exactly the characters were talking about, like the scenes in question were really missing something to bring the drama all home. Some examples are Baltar's talk about angels; this really needed elaboration; so did his melodramatic reaction to Caprica 6; there was no sense of how or why exactly he burst into tears. Lee comforting Starbuck lasted, what, 30 seconds?
I'm sick and tired of the Adama melodrama about his stupid ship. This has been going on for 4 episodes and it's just not moving at all; it feels so forced. All this mourning about the ship, but not a single word about the tragedy of Gaeta -- about what Adama and the rest felt about what happened to him and about how they might have failed him? or not, but we need more closure. There naturally would be some discussion about what happened. Same with Lee and Tom Zarek. Nothing. But we must hear on and on about Adama's pain over his silly ship?
Also, I don't find Roslin/Adama scenes moving at all -- not since "Six of One", when they had that neat argument. It's so overplayed and not moving at all. I just don't care. If there's one flaw in the show, besides Ron Moore's terrible editing job, it's the inability to convey pure joy; it always has a jocular edge to it or feels awkward. The pain of unrequited love or lost love is beautifully conveyed (not in this episode, but in that amazing love quadrangle in Season 3 that made "Unfinished Business" and "Takin' a Break" so incredible), but that ability to communicate subtle romance is something only Chris Carter was able to do on The X-Files.
More than that the story itself was poorly and predictably written. The Boomer/Hera scenes were the least offensive; the little girl acted extremely well; I remember calling for my mother that way. However, there were many other problems.
1. The scene of having the Number 6 save the human who criticized her work was so predictable: It was like they said, "Let's have more evidence of cylons being better than humans." I have no problem with this mission statement; I've long felt that the genius of the show is to depict the dehumanization and homogenization of "the other" and that we are all capable of the same kindness and cruelty. However, a more interesting way should have been found. Also, is it me or do all the Number 6's act in the same boring determined way? I haven't seen any amazing acting from Tricia Helfer since Gina or Head Six (who is my dream woman).
2. Having Adama break down into a fit at the loss of his ship; his breakdown was far more effective when he lost it over Tigh revealing he was a cylon in "Revelations". Even the way Tigh tried to comfort Adama felt like the same old stuff; just dull. The dialogue wasn't the greatest, although it hasn't been since Mark Verheiden's incredible sign-off; he is the series' unsung hero.
*Okay that Helo/Adama scene was beautifully acted by Tamoh Penikett; more of this please. I also liked Starbuck slapping Baltar and how Baltar was riling people up, but we needed more footage to get a sense of why he was doing it and what he was trying to say exactly that was so revolutionary or dangerous to those who knew Starbuck.
3. The numerous references to past moments from other episodes doesn't feel natural. It's too self-consciously done. Starbuck remembers the exact phrasing of how she's "put a bullet in [Anders'] head" if she found out he were a cylon? More than that, it wasn't an interesting thing to say. Also, Adama and Roslin reminiscing about their moment on New Caprica and the way they referenced it felt wrong somehow. I'd hoped Michael Taylor had dispensed with this after the awful "Razor", which committed the same crimes, but he's doing it again in his second worse story; the worst was the unforgivable "Razor". It's sad to see him sign off this way because his stuff in Season 3 was nothing short of phenomenal; even "The Ties That Bind" and especially "Sine Qua Non", which wonderfully explored the revelatory idea to me of suppressed ambition, were some of Season 4.0's bright spots.
Ron Moore should include extended versions of the episodes -- not like "Unfinished Business, which I never thought needed a longer cut and whose cut left in a lot of Dualla crap -- but more like "Pegasus (extended version)" or "Lay Down Your Burdens 2". If he can't do it, ask why the writers and directors can't have their cuts on DVD, too.
This show will live on in DVD; he absolutely must get this right because the show is really sucking nowadays. Season 3 (everything to do with Lee and Gaeta; everything to do with Baltar's trial; working class rights; New Caprica; the whole theme of the complicated politics in an occupied regime and the dispensation of justice afteward; even "A Day in the Life") was so much better!
PS: According to music composer Bear McCreary, he was asked to score more music for an extended version of this episode, as well as Ron Moore's episodes "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" and the finale, "Daybreak". Still, there was 40 minutes cut from "Blood on the Scales", including a proper explanation of how Baltar felt about running away from problems; I also want more of Tom Zarek to show that he wasn't just a killer, but idealistic and well-intentioned in his own way; as it is, the story shot doesn't give him enough moral ambiguity; I also want more of our dear sweet Gaeta; I mourn their deaths.