The final three hours of “Battlestar Galactica” begin tonight at 10 p.m. EST on SciFi. And executive producer has a message for the fans. “This is not going to be the ending you’re anticipating,” he tells TV Guide in this week’s issue.
The issue, which hit newstands Wednesday, features two collectible covers and offers reflections by the cast and crew on this monumental sci-fi series.
One big question Moore discusses is why he’s decided to end the show now.
“My incentive to wrap things up after four seasons came, in large part, from my experience on ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,'” Moore told TV Guide. “By our last season, we were creatively exhausted and pulling cockamamy story ideas out of thin air—’Hey, how about Worf’s forgotten brother?’—and we wound up ending a great series in a dispiriting way. I didn’t want that to happen to ‘Battlestar.'”
“But how to end it?” Moore continued. “As we draw to the close, Galactica itself is falling apart, and viewers are finding that shocking and sad. I liked the idea for all those reasons. It’s an opportunity for the characters to start dealing with The End right along with the audience.”
Of course, many of the actors involved have nothing but praise for their time on the show with Edward James Olmos calling the scenes he worked with Mary McDonnell and the romance between Admiral William Adama and Laura Roslin some of the best work of his long career.
One thing McDonnell liked was that Moore gave her character cancer early and never took an easy way out of it.
“My first question at my first meeting with Ron Moore was, ‘So…when do we get rid of Laura’s cancer?’ He told me she’d have to cope with it throughout the entire saga, and I thought, ‘No way! This is science fiction. Of course you can do something!'” she said.
You can pick up the latest issue on newsstands now and tun in for the penultimate episode this evening.
Can’t wait. I am anticipating 1 of 2 endings.
1. The great Shakesperian Tragedy. Everyone dies, and I mean everyone, as Kara “Harbinger of Death” Thrace leades them all to their end.
2. Kara really is an angel, and the end she leads them to will be the real Earth, our earth, several millenia in our past, and all of us, you and I, and Ron Moore, are all human-cylon hybrids. You frakin skin job!
almost forgot.. Kara as angel makes sense. she shes back from the dead, and has the hint/clue of angel wings tatooed on her arm
I’m hoping for a more sci-fi based explanation to the kara problem. I hope they go with her as an “Angel” only in the metaphorical sense. I’m hoping turns out she’s half cylon and inherreted the ability to upload and her father Daniel has been existing in the cylon upload network perhaps in the dimension between jumps. If it turns out to be religious explanations then I’ll be disappointed. If they leave it open to interpretation then I’m probably cool with that. Can’t wait to see what they’ve done with the story nomatter how it turns out. Woohoo! Easily in MY top three sci-fi shows of all time.
I just want Adama and Roslin to be the heroes at the end. I love all the characters, but no one’s been more self-less and more accepting of
the life they have, just for the sake of saving humanity, like those two.
Everyone else has been selfish and trying to forget that they’re living
in a nightmare. The fact that Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos
are electrifying and beautiful to watch makes me that much more
hopeful they get some reprieve at the end. But who am I kidding? This
is BSG!
How about this one – The only ones to survive the big battle are Kara as the “Angle” ,the kid Harra, and a Centurion. The fly off in a Raptor and the screen fades to black!!!
They will probably leave it “open to interpretation.” But what many viewers may miss if they do that is that could also mean “both a scientific and faith explanation”. That would probably upset a few worldviews on either side, which is precisely why I’m expecting Moore to do it.
It’s only just now starting to sink in that after next Friday, there won’t be anymore BSG.
I am looking forward to Caprica, but it won’t be the same. I wonder how long it’ll be before we get another show that captures the imaginations of so many TV fans, not just scifi fans.
The show will definitely end on a very downer note, but I don’t think RDM will simply kill everyone off. So the question is, how much worse can he make things for our rag-tag fleet without killing ’em all?
Summer: I don’t know, but whenever that show comes around I won’t be watching it. Don’t tell Sam, but I’ve spent the past several years weening myself off of television. AS more and more of my favorites get canceled or choose to end on their own (the latter being the most common), and I’ve been diligent about not starting new shows (Heroes and Psyche being the only new shows I’ve taken on in the past 3 years), though I make exceptions for franchises (I’ll give Caprica and SGU a fair shot, though there is a part that actually hopes they suck), I’m at the point where, while once there were anywhere from 1 to 4 shows a week I watched every single day, I now only have shows come out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And boy I have to tell you, it has been liberating in so many ways. I mean, I miss SG-1, and Charmed, and Gilmore Girls, and Babylon 5, etc. ad nauseum, but still, I have so much time I never felt like I had before.
Why did I bother writing that?
If the last scene is Bob Newhart in a bed, I am going back to drinking.
Tim
I think it will end this way; they are approaching that black hole (and they are known for time travel entries), I think they go through that and end up finding Earth of our past, say BC era or the start of the Christ era. I think it will be a new play on the discovery of Christ and his teachings.
I think this has become one of those things that will never satisfy anyone. I doubt most will consider it a good ending. I’m glad though, that Mr. Moore is willing to think outside of the box. Better to go out creatively than on the same old tired horse.
There are so many things to wrap up, I don’t see how three hours can do it. My only hope is that they can wrap up some of loose ends in the TV movie that’s supposed to follow in a few months.
Does anyone really expect this show to end happy? I think the last happy moment on this show was right before the bombs hit.
As a fan, I have to say other than the show breaks, and maybe the Starbuck/Apollo/Anders/Dee Love square episodes I really enjoyed this show, and will miss its departure.
Set all decks to Condition One, and get ready for the Frakin’ End.