27

In Battlestar Galactica (2004) - a common derogatory term for a cylon is a "toaster" (as in implying they are nothing more than simple common machines). However, since the characters are in a futuristic civilisation that does things a little different to we do here on Earth, I have often wondered - should they even know what a toaster is? I know the obvious answer could be "Why wouldn't they?" but I'd still like to know:

Is there any evidence of a toaster, or a character eating toast in Battlestar Galactica?

Improve this question
12
  • 57
    I’m curious why having a word for toaster isn’t enough evidence for having toasters.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jan 23 at 12:16
  • 14
    It could be that toasters are archaic technology, but the term has stuck around. Maybe people are saying "toaster" without knowing where the term originated
    – T Hummus
    Commented Jan 23 at 17:59
  • 38
    We say "upper case" despite the fact that approximately no one keeps their letters in cases anymore.
    – Plutor
    Commented Jan 23 at 19:05
  • 29
    In cases like this I always assume that the language spoken in-universe is not mutually intelligible with present-day English (even if descended from it) and the dialog is a translation that captures the spirit of the word more than its literal meaning in the in-universe language.
    – Theodore
    Commented Jan 23 at 19:13
  • 13
    Howdy doodly-do! Talkie's the name, toasting's the game. Would anybody like any toast? (maybe in BSG, Talkie Toaster - from Red Dwarf, which constantly badgers people into eating toast - is a thing. In that case, calling someone a toaster would be a perfectly derogatory term)
    – user25730
    Commented Jan 23 at 21:35

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
88

Season 1, Episode 5 you see Agathon make breakfast for Boomer, this includes a toaster seen about 1 minute in to this clip:

enter image description here

Improve this answer
6
  • 35
    I am sure that somewhere (director's commentary maybe) it's stated that they deliberately chose a particularly chrome-y toaster for that scene to bring to mind a cylon.
    – Darren
    Commented Jan 23 at 10:50
  • 24
    For those not in the know - that is the famous [& very expensive] British-made Dualit Classic toaster, with a clumsy bit of card stuck over the rather large logo - dualit.com/products/2-slice-newgen
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jan 23 at 14:32
  • 3
    This may be a spoiler, but Helo is not making breakfast for Boomer. He’s making it for Athena who is impersonating Boomer.
    – Ben Murphy
    Commented Jan 24 at 5:59
  • @BenMurphy May be? I don't know what the feeling is for spoilers on this site (and yours is not the only one I've seen even on this page), but that's definitely a spoiler. But perhaps I shouldn't be reading this page if I haven't seen it yet.
    – bornfromanegg
    Commented Jan 26 at 9:45
  • 3
    @bornfromanegg- It's not a spoiler, we know this isn't boomer as she's still aboard Galactica, and she can't be on Caprica and Galactica at the same time.
    – Charemer
    Commented Jan 26 at 11:24
29

I want to tackle a different route than the given answer which found a toaster in the set. Not because that answer is incorrect (because it does solve the issue), but rather than I think your question derives from how you've defined your own words.

should they even know what a toaster is?

You've sidetracked yourself into defining a "toaster" to very specifically use our real life technology, which is leading you to assume that a more futuristic version of the same device would not be a "toaster".

Bread exists. Bread can be toasted. The machine that toasts bread is called a toaster. This remains true regardless of the technological level of this machine. Whether it uses heated coils, kyber crystals, miniature dragons, nanotechnology, or opens a microportal to the sun.

Unless you are alleging that toast (whether bread or anything else that can be toasted) does not exist in the Battlestar Galactica universe, I see no reason to infer that toasters do not exist.

What's more important to understanding the insult is what a toaster represents relative to a Cylon.

The reason "toaster" is an insult is not because it's referring to a device with heated coils (i.e. how we build toasters in real life), it's because a toaster is a common everyday machine incapable of any other purpose other than what its designer intended for it to be capable of, which is significantly simpler than the capabilities of a living machine, which would be able to learn new things and through its learnings start to self-identify.

The word "toaster" debases the Cylons and devalues any shred of capability or identity that they have. This is no different from calling a human a meat sack or a knuckle dragger. This is the same principle as e.g. referring to women as cooks or maids or mothers, i.e. stating that they are limited to a small scope and either incapable of achieving other things or willfully ignoring any of their other achievements.

The reason "toaster" is used here is because of the dime-a-dozen nature of the device. If toasters were expensive state-of-the-art machines that are considered to be a impressive technological feat, it would not be an insult.

For example, if I were to refer to a Cylon as a Ferrari, that is technically still the same insult (because it's still a machine built for a single purpose), but it doesn't quite cut the same way because a Ferrari is an exceptionally well-made machine, hard to come by, and revered by many.

Improve this answer
14
  • 2
    Yesss, but... it's also quite clear the insult "toaster" also refers to the appearance of the chromed Cylons as compared to the look of a classical/retro toaster (you can still get them chromed, too). It's not ANY expensive single-purpose device, it's specifically a device that looks like a chrome toaster. The heated coils themselves don't matter, but the specific look does.
    – Andres F.
    Commented Jan 24 at 18:17
  • 3
    @AndresF.: "Toaster" is a very common insult hurled at machines in real life and other fictional worlds; this is not unique to BSG by any stretch. Example 1 Example 2 I do agree that they likely picked a toaster in BSG (shown in the other answer) that resembled a Cylon. Whether that's an in-joke or a serious justification for the origins of the insult is arguable.
    – Flater
    Commented Jan 24 at 22:22
  • 1
    I understand why it's an insult, and also that even a futuristic toaster is still a toaster, but I don't but I don't recall seeing a character eating toast (at least I didn't prior to A.bakker's answer). While to us, the notion of having a single appliance for grilling bread seems obvious, we are talking about a civilisation from a completely different planet. e.g. I recently heard that many Americans don't have electric kettles (as inconceivable as that seems) so a Sci-Fi with Americans calling robots 'kettles' would be inappropriate. Is 'toaster' just for the audience's benefit?
    – komodosp
    Commented Jan 25 at 9:40
  • 1
    @komodosp: A "toaster" could be a translation convention for the audience. Perhaps this society doesn't have Earth-style "bread" produced by grinding Pooideae-family grains into flour, mixing it with water, kneading the dough, and baking it. But it's not too far-fetched that they'd have some staple food that is browned by a heat-induced Maillard reaction, a process which can reasonably be called "toasting". Which makes the machine that produces it a "toaster".
    – dan04
    Commented Jan 25 at 19:18
  • 2
    I must disagree with the concept that the existence of toast implies the existence of toasters. Star Trek--food made by replicators. Yes, the pattern had to come from somewhere but that could have been long ago, toasters now being extinct. And you can toast without a toaster.
    – Loren Pechtel
    Commented Jan 25 at 19:37

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.