Just quickly before I head to bed. Somewhere out in the blogosphere, I stumbled upon this little nugget: BSG 1980 had Cylons that looked like humans!
Furthermore, it sounds like the explanation for such anthropomorphism is brought across from old to new:
Dr. Zee gets a lengthy scene to explain how this came about. His explanation seems a bit long and ponderous until you realize he’s just spent 4 minutes explaining what the new series has taken 4 whole seasons to get around to. Huh.
I might have to watch these episodes. I should have realised that all that nonsense about it all “has happened before and will happened again” was more than just spiritual nonsense from inside the setting. It’s breaking the fourth wall.
Grr.