Before 2003, ‘Battlestar Galactica’ was a short-lived TV show that was twenty years old and best known as basically an attempt to capitalize on the success of Star Wars, dated and all but forgotten except by a small but apparently rabid cult following. But by 2003, the sci-fi community was ready to be energized by something new, and “new” ended up being a new interpretation of the idea that rested at the heart of an old one. Some of the more peripheral fans of the resulting show were attracted for a number of reasons beyond the energy and lineage, be it Tricia Helfer (Six, red dress) or Ronald D. Moore, one of the creators, who’d left a definitive mark on the Star Trek franchise (specifically, making ‘The Next Generation’ the best it could be, then joining a terrific team on ‘Deep Space Nine’) and thus had engendered a certain amount of trust. Me, I just wanted to see if I was entertained. After a while, I wasn’t, so I quit watching, tired of waiting for anything but the desperate scheming of Gaius Baltar or the plight of Boomer to interest me. After a while, it seemed like the big thing was just to figure out who the next character to be revealed as a Cylon was going to be. (Sure enough, the final episodes were built around just that question, the final revelation.)

So when I learned about ‘The Plan,’ I figured I was finally going to get what I wanted, an undiluted version of the story, and exactly the perspective I craved. Basically, however, ‘The Plan’ is the same as what you got from the series. It begins, more or less, with the destruction of the colonies, and continues for the next 200-odd days worth of developments. It should be no surprise that those who will derive the most enjoyment from it will be the fans who followed the series. Since the story covers roughly the events I saw for myself, I could follow most of it, but it had been a long time since I’d seen the relevant episodes, the characters. You see (presumably) everyone who was revealed to be a Cylon (Lucy Lawless didn’t participate, so her character is mostly omitted except for a glimpse), even from events not depicted in the story, which goes just past Boomer trying to assassinate Adama. Dean Stockwell’s One is the main character, which means those hoping for a lot more clarity from Six will be disappointed (but I suppose the series covered that territory well enough, and only those who didn’t stick around would have this specific complaint about ‘The Plan’). We follow him as he argues, in two different versions of himself, for against “the plan,” which amounts to the destruction of the colonies (obviously) and the subsequent attempts to utilize various imbedded Cylons to scrape together a more complete victory (i.e. annihilation of humanity, which is seen as holding Cylons back from a broader experience).

So, no real revelation about a plan, or at least not one that would immediately satisfy those who were constantly hoping for a more grand version of one, it being constantly referenced and all. Still, it’s not really a loss. Focusing on the Cylons does invoke greater clarity, for at least half of the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ story (the other being the search for Earth, and oh, survival). It’s illuminating to just spend time watching the Cylon agents struggle with their decision, whether it be Boomer (Grace Park) or Rick Worthy’s character, who at one point sacrifices a human life with a family rather than continue One’s plan that would have, if it had been successful, been a real plan, sabotaging, assassinating, and exploding things toward victory.

It’s not hard, viewing ‘The Plan,’ to see the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ story to be an allegory for our modern world, Cylons as Arabs trying to figure out just where the Middle East is, consistently employing the same sort of tactics, which never seem to amount to much. One serves as a voice, and a useful central figure, and his dual death at the end, if not at the climax of the whole story, a worthy end point for this one.

Whether Moore will be involved with the new movie is unknown. Is the world ready for yet another incarnation of Battlestar Galactica? Will fans of the original series who detested the Syfy channel version boycott Singer’s movie as well? Will the fact that Glen Larson, creator of the original series, is involved as a producer do anything to change their minds? Will Dirk Benedict (the original Starbuck) and Katee Sackhoff (the Syfy Starbuck) have cameos in the new movie alongside the movie Starbuck in an awesome coming together of Starbucks past, present and future?

Only time will tell.

“I guarantee this will not be the last movie on ‘Battlestar Galactica,’” he said. “It’s going to be so successful it will rock their pants off.”

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan supposedly tells the story of the television series from the point of view of the humanoid Cylons (the skinjobs). So I imagine the next movie will be from the point of view of the Centurions, filled with two hours of clomping around on their metal feet, shooting things with their arm cannons, whipping out their nasty claws and glaring at things with their red eye.

Remember when you were excited about new Battlestar Galactica episodes and/or telefilms? I can’t. It’s been that long.

According to this SCI FI Wire article, the television version will run 88 minutes (likely in a two-hour block with commercials) while the DVD version will run 126 minutes. So there’s really no reason to watch it on television. Par for the course with Battlestar Galactica. You have to buy the DVDs to see the “real” story.

An excerpt from the article:

“I gotta tell you, not to give anything away, it is exactly what you think it is,” Olmos said in a panel discussion Thursday night in Hollywood as part of the Los Angeles Times series The Envelope. “You see the complete opposite of the first 281 days of what we went through, … seen through the eyes of the Cylons, and it is breathtaking. It’s fantastic. It’s not fun, but I will say that you will sit there [gasping].”

Perhaps The Plan will also drive sales of BSG complete-season DVDs. “Basically, you will go back to see the series again,” Olmos said. “I couldn’t have imagined this kind of a situation happening at the end of a show, where you would actually start at the beginning. That’s a masterful piece of understanding, Ron [Moore]. Genius. Because after you see The Plan, you’ll want to go back and view the whole series again.”

So the “plan” was to find a way to sell even more DVDs. Devious, SCI FI Channel, but not unexpected.

On Monday I talked about the moment during the Battlestar Galactica series finale when, for lack of a better term, the final episode went off the rails. Simply put, when Cavil agreed to give up Hera in return for resurrection technology, my enjoyment of “Daybreak (2)” began to peter out. By the time the episode ended I was actively not enjoying it. Why? Because what I was watching at that moment wasn’t the Battlestar Galactica I had started watching in January of 2005.

I could write at length about the frustration I felt when Starbuck was revealed to be some sort of angel (or at least a being of angelic proportions?). But I won’t. And I could vent about the weird epilogue with the silly cameo by Ronald D. Moore, the “head” versions of Baltar and Six talking about how “God” doesn’t like to be called “him” and those stupid dancing robots. But I won’t. Suffice it to say, I thought it was a poor way to end the series. That’s actually a bit of an understatement.

No, I don’t see the point it laying out all things that disappointed me about the finale. I’ve accepted that disappointment and I’ve moved past it. I do want to take a moment to explain why I think the concept of cyclical history (“This has all happened before. And it will all happen again.”) actually hurt Battlestar Galactica more than it helped. It’s an interesting concept, I admit, but the way I see it, having history continually repeat itself really destroys any idea that these characters — Adama, Starbuck, Baltar — have had any impact on the events depicted in the series.

The things I don’t understand about the history of Battlestar Galactica could fill volumes. Were the Cylons created by man or was man created by the Cylons? Was Earth — the Earth found to be a wasteland — the birthplace of the Cylons and/or mankind or just another planet they expanded to? I’m not even sure where the Final Five came from, to be honest. I think the Final Five were created by human-Cylons in response to something the Centurions asked for or demanded but I’m not sure.

Still, if the final half of Season Four taught us anything, it’s that the battle between Cylons and mankind has happened before, in one way or another, and despite the best intentions of Adama and Lee and the others, it may very well happen again. If this is true, then doesn’t that suggest that free will is meaningless? Group A creates Group B only to have Group B rise up and destroy Group A. Group B then create their own version of Group A (Group C) only to have that group rise up and destroy Group B. And so on and so forth. Technology inevitably seems to lead to destruction.

No matter what anyone aboard Galactica did, ultimately humanity was going start the whole cycle over again. The Galactica, after rescuing Hera, using coordinates provided by Starbuck, jumps to a beautiful, pristine blue and green planet. Once the rest of the fleet arrives, the planet is named Earth, the fleet plows into the sun and the remnants of humanity and the human-Cylons decide to cast out all their technology and live primitive lives on Earth, interbreeding with the native populace.

The epilogue, with “head” Baltar and Six, suggests that even this drastic measure wasn’t enough to break the cycle. Some 150,000 years after settling on Earth, the resulting human race has once again turned to technology. Those dancing robots are but the precursor to Cylons, it seems. Is there no way to break the cycle, then? No possible decision that can stop humanity from creating a race of robotic beings that will one day turn around and destroy it? It’s a dark thought, to be sure, and a depressing interpretation of the finale. It also appears to makes the rest of the series, in a sense, utterly pointless. And that, to me, is a slap in the face to fans of the series.

I think most people will agree that during the miniseries and the first one or two seasons, viewers were under the impression that they were watching a show that would, eventually, conclude. They would know why what the vaulted Cylon plan was. They would know why Baltar was seeing, talking and having sex with a lovely woman only he could see. They would, in the words of SCI FI Channel, know the truth. As the series progressed and things became more complicated, perhaps there were those who began to wonder if those answers would come.

My point is, when Battlestar Galactica began it was seemingly a straightforward series about a “rag tag fleet” made up of the last remnants of humanity, trying to stay one step ahead of the Cylons, and fighting to survive while maybe looking for this place called Earth. Exactly when this stopped begin the case, I can’t say. I haven’t seen the second or third seasons since they first aired and I don’t remember specifics. But it happened. Somewhere along the line, Battlestar Galactica stopped being straightforward and became something different.

Now, I’m not going to say that this “shift” in tone or atmosphere or direction or whatever was wrong or even necessarily bad for the series as a whole. It was a change, however. I am not convinced that when the miniseries went on the air, writers and producers had any idea what Battlestar Galactica would become. Again, that isn’t wrong or bad or evil. It’s actually understandable. That doesn’t mean viewers can’t be frustrated or disappointed or even upset by what Battlestar Galactica became or how it ended.

Since before it premiered, the series has been divisive. That’s not going to end just because the series is over.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me — or my views and opinions regarding Battlestar Galactica over the years — that I found the series finale disappointing. More specifically, I felt it was maddeningly frustrating. I won’t go as far as to suggest it was insulting to me as a viewer, because I don’t take my television that seriously.

Over the past few weeks as the series was winding down I’ve had time to reconsider my feelings about the show. And while I still maintain that many of my complaints about the series are legitimate, I’m now able to see things in a new light. More on that tomorrow, however. Today, I’m going to discuss when and how I feel the finale went wrong.

As disappointing as the finale was, in all fairness I felt the first hour (“Daybreak, Part 2″) was terrific, following as it did the events in the previous episode (“Daybreak, Part 1″). Having a specific mission at hand kept mindless chatter to a minimum, although flashbacks still managed to occasionally interrupt the flow of the episode.

For me, the moment the finale went wrong was the scene in the C.I.C. when Cavil, after listening to an impassioned speech from Baltar, agreed to release Hera in return for the secret of resurrection technology from the Final Five. Two things bothered me about this. First, the ease with which Hera was rescued. Adama’s plan really shouldn’t have worked. Of course, it was obvious that ultimately the Colonials would succeed but there should have been more resistance.

True, Pod Anders was able to turn off Cavil’s defenses just when it looked like the Galactica was about to be toast. That doesn’t explain how a few dozen Vipers were able to fight off hundreds of Cylon raiders or how the allied forces of the Colonials and the turncoat Cylons were able to get past Cavil’s forces and actually make their way to Hera. Boomer bringing Hera to Athena, Helo and Starbuck sure helped; that Cavil wouldn’t have increased security around her the moment the Galactica jumped seems unlikely.

The second thing that bothered me was Cavil actually agreeing to turn Hera over after going to so much work to kidnap her in the first place. Was he in a tight situation? Perhaps. But Hera was apparently future of the Cylon race and he gave her up without a fight, even though he had a gun to her head.

It’s possible Cavil had always planned to use Hera as a bartering chip to trade for resurrection technology. If so, how did he know a) Adama would find the colony, b) the Galactica would jump to the colony on a suicide mission and c) Adama and the Final Five would be open to the idea of a trade?

Something I found especially difficult to accept Tyrol killing Tory. After Cally died, Tyrol openly admitted that he despised her. The following exchange comes from “Escape Velocity” and demonstrates the depth of his hatred (thanks to Battlestar Wiki for the transcription):

Tyrol: I didn’t know. So I buried my head in the sand, and I took it, and I settled. I settled for that shriek. Those dull, vacant eyes. Boiled cabbage stench of her. And why? Because this is my life. This is the life I picked! And that’s fine. But you know what, it’s not! I didn’t pick this life! This isn’t my frakkin’ life!

Adama: What the hell’s gotten in to you? Don’t do this. Don’t do this to her memory.

Tyrol: You know what? I’m sorry if I’m not doing this the way you want me to, the way you might, but I’m not making an angel out of someone who wasn’t an angel. But I can see you have. And now you’ve come down here to be in my club. But you’re not in my club. You don’t know what frakkin’ club I’m in because you never ask the right questions.

And yet, while sharing memories with Tory and the others, he sees her hitting the button that sent Cally into space and in a rage he kills her. For starters, what are the odds that specific memory would come up? I suppose, under all that pressure, Tory could not help but think about it and Tyrol just snapped. Having never liked the character of Tory, killing her off was probably the best part of the episode for me.

I did like Racetrack, so her being killed by an errant space rock was sad. But somehow her lifeless body later slumps and hits a switch that unleashes a salvo of nuclear missiles that — somehow — manage to hit the Cylon colony without — somehow — striking the Galactica, causing the colony to explode in a spectacular fireball that — somehow — doesn’t damage the already damaged Galactica.

Again, what are the odds of that happening? It sure was incredible luck that Starbuck was able to take the time to punch in the coordinates from the creepy song she and Hera wrote, allowing the Galactica to jump away. It was close but she pulled it off. Whew.

Admittedly, these plot points were simply means to an end, ways to move the story forward. They might have been trite or obvious but they got the job done. Plus, it seems likely that Starbuck would have eventually decoded the notes of the song into jump coordinates, given the right amount of time. The Cylon colony exploding was just the impetus she needed to put it all together. Right?

It was just after all this excitement came to an end and the Galactica, in her final jump, had arrived over Earth, that the finale took a turn for the unbelievable. Up until this point, I was enjoying the finale. The events that took place in the last third of the two-hour episode turned the finale — and the series as a whole — on its head. And to me, at least, they proved that Battlestar Galactica that ended on Friday, March 20th, 2009 wasn’t the same Battlestar Galactica that began on Monday, December 8th, 2003.

I’ll cover that tomorrow on Wednesday.

Starscream2112

OMG!!! THat was???? Not what I was Expecting!… Great final to a great series!!

kazon

that was incredible, the first hour was right up there, the last hour was different but necessary, i way i guess of saying goodbye to all the characters

very sad that it’s now over

so say we all!

Mighty Chin

I guess when the producers created the tag line “All of this has happened before and it will happen again” they must have just thought it was a throw away line. Apparently that is the line that tied the series together because all of the foreshadowing they have thrown at us led most fans of the show think that the Battlestar Galactica along with Adama and Roslin and much of the cast was going to go out in a blaze of glory. Boy did that not happen at all! I for one am very thankful.

Capt.NickSeafort

I was totally satisfied with Moore’s masterpiece… Awesome, and re-watchable.. which ,IMHO, counts when analysing a finale.

Everyone had a moment, even the Battlestar…

teelie

I knew somewhat how it would end but not exactly how it would end, with our Earth still somehow playing a pivotal role in the finale somehow.

Head over to the Observation Lounge to join in on the discussion.

The Cylons were created by man. They rebelled. They evolved. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

More than five years after the two-part miniseries originally aired on SCI FI Channel (way back in December of 2003), the “re-imagined” version of Battlestar Galactica comes to an end tonight. The two-hour series finale starts in a few minutes on the East Coast. Will the Cylon’s ultimate plan finally be revealed? Will we really know the truth?

Be sure to check out forst’s farewell commentary and Waterloo’s tribute to the series. Then head back here to sound off in the comments after watching the finale.

Spoilers for the finale will be allowed as it airs. If you’re on the West Coast or an international fan and don’t want to be spoiled, stay clear of the comments.

A host of properties sought to claim the mantle being vacated by Star Trek over the last decade and a half, from ‘Xena’ to ‘The X-Files’ to ‘Babylon 5’ to ‘Farscape’ to ‘Stargate,’ but none possessed quite the right combination of longevity and perfect timing to truly claim the zeitgeist that BSG found itself with. From the initial mini-series to the launch of the series and a buzz-worthy question in its final year (who’s the final Cylon?), to the introduction of “frak” into the regular lexicon, there hasn’t been a more complete submersion of interest since Spock showed up with his pointy ears and his buddies with their transporters and aliens of the week. BSG wasn’t just trying to be different, it was a culmination, much as ‘The Dark Knight’ was to superhero movies, of the ability of audiences to take outlandish situations seriously.

Because no one took ‘Battlestar Galactica’ more seriously than the show’s creators. Originally a quicky creation meant to capitalize on the success of Star Wars for television viewers, that anyone remembered it at all twenty years later was remarkable, but that there emerged two visions of revitalization perhaps moreso. One didn’t see a problem with the broad, operatic nature of the series. The other saw an opportunity to update what was essential, start the story from scratch, and see what was truly unique about it. Turns out the latter mentality had a good idea after all.

The survivors of a conflict are forced to deal with the same antagonists, who have transitioned into more sinister methods at achieving their goal of complete annihilation, subterfuge, which isn’t going to be hard to work with, because the humans are already working on their last legs, and the robots are well-positioned to exploit it. As a game of human chess, BSG might be among the most successful psychological adventures ever filmed.

Yet I cannot write about its conclusion without mentioning the faults I saw from the start. While certainly a grand vision, the reality didn’t always match the hype. Casting wasn’t spot-on, key roles were bungled (even some the fans adored, and others they struggled with deserved infinitely more credit than they ever got), and the forced grim perspective of the storytelling wasn’t always earned in the writing, which often fought to find something interesting to do, and invariably went too easy to find it. Under the right circumstances and better control, it could have gone from good to great, easily, a success rather than an experiment in getting so many of the elements sci-fi fans loved from the recent past done to perfection.

All the same, ‘Battlestar Galactica’ now stands as a property that has earned its place as one of the great genre franchises.