Battlestar Galactica's Final Season
By now, many of you scifi enthusiasts have probably heard that the show Battlestar Galactica is going to call it quits after its fourth season. This is very disappointing news - with a stellar cast, good special effects, and (usually) excellent writing, it may be that we're stuck without a good scifi (space) series on television. We've had spells like that before, but this time, it doesn't appear to be the station pulling its support (a la Farscape - you SciFi channel bastards).
"This is a decision that took some time to arrive at, and like all decisions this large, there were a number of questions we had internally and a creative agenda we wanted to serve. I think we all had to collectively decide when we wanted to be definitive about it. That time is now," [Daivd] Eick [executive producer] says.
The network wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of giving up its most buzzworthy show, but [Ron] Moore [fellow executive producer] says once he and Eick made their case, Sci Fi didn't stand in their way either.
"They didn't really fight with us," Moore says. "They expressed concern that the show might be able to go on longer and wanted to make sure we weren't passing up opportunities to continue telling stories, but they were very accommodating. When David and I were very clear that this was what we really, definitively wanted to do, they supported us."
Frak it all anyway. Glenn Garvin of the Miami Herald suspects Cylon manipulation... Good interview with Mary McDonnell (President Roslin) here. I suppose there are a few potential scifi shows to hold us over (Eureka is coming back, Bionic Woman - new show, others).
Bah. I'm glad it's going to end. The series was fairly good, until the stupid alien baby plotline surfaced. It fully jumped the shark in the abortion episode, and the last season was so full of mystical bullshit (shades of Star Trek: Voyager!) that I happily skipped most of the season, and missed, er, no real plot development. Oh, and they killed Starbuck, in a very lame comic book cliche. Yawn.
Hopefully knowing it's the last season will help them get their shit together and actually, you know, tell a story. Or something.
Posted by: No Nym | 06 June 2007 at 09:25 AM
I will agree with you that the last season was kind of disappointing - they've lost the momentum that they had in seasons 1 and 2. That's why I'm hoping that they will get their act together and pull off a finale - if that's what it has to be - that's worthy of the potential of these actors. We'll see.
Posted by: J. | 06 June 2007 at 10:43 AM
BSG did begin to run out of steam during the last season for the same reason any series does. No more surprises.
It's still parsecs ahead of any other show on the tube, and I'm anticipating a slam-bang last season when the creators can use up all their material...
Posted by: Clausy-Witz | 06 June 2007 at 01:09 PM
It's not the lack of surprises that made is suck, it's the pissant writing. Babylon 5 and Firefly, the other recent serial SF adventures, both had well-developed plotlines for the whole story arc, not just season by season. I'd say BSG became episodic rather than serial, and it's running on goodwill more than talent.
Posted by: No Nym | 06 June 2007 at 03:46 PM
What about Caprica?
Posted by: Younghusband | 06 June 2007 at 08:17 PM
You mean Caprica 6 right? Shit, I'm going to miss that actress on that show...whoo!
Posted by: NVH | 06 June 2007 at 10:09 PM
While in many ways more is better, despite the fact that I very much like BSG I am of the opinion that knowing this is the last season and allowing the writers to finish the story without simultaneously trying to artificially extend the program is almost certainly a good thing.
Posted by: Steven Taylor | 07 June 2007 at 02:27 PM
I've been a BSG uberfan and that last season was like watching the show die of a debilitating disease. I hate to see it go but something had to happen. That love triangle garbage was the worst (I mean all that Starbuck & Lee junk, not the business with Baltar and the cylon babes, which was plenty weird and that made it ok). I'll give Caprica a try but if it's a soap opera I'm outta there.
Posted by: BGG | 08 June 2007 at 10:50 AM
im excited to see it wrap up is all i can say .. look at what happened with the xfiles when that dragged on way to longl
Posted by: SectionZ | 10 June 2007 at 10:34 PM
Caprica sounds like some boring ass TV. I'm going to miss BSG simply because there isn't anything else. As hokey as it was getting, it was still better than "Drive" or "House" or any of the other drivel on TV. At least I still have the Dresden Files.
Posted by: Mick | 26 July 2007 at 10:33 PM
This time between seasons or half seasons is really pissing me off, i dont want to wait 7 monthes to resume a show in which by that time I've lost allmost all interest in.
COME OUT WITH SEASON 3 and 3.5 ON DVD ALREADY!
Posted by: Kevin | 08 August 2007 at 02:45 AM