Slashdot Mirror
Final Season of Battlestar Galactica Confirmed
Ant writes "Via Dark Horizons, IESB reported from the 10th annual Saturn awards yesterday, and spoke with Battlestar Galactica stars Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. Olmos confirmed that, as far as the show that's been running so far, the fourth season will be the last one. It's currently slated to start airing in January of 2008. 'Olmos says "This will probably be the most extraordinary season of 'Battlestar'. It's the final season, so it's definitely going to be the most vicious. As far as we know, in respects of the way we have this show constructed, this is the final season." Sackhoff says "I think part of the problem is that it's an expensive show. It is [a great show], but we don't have the viewership that a great show should get."'"
I wonder if they would have gotten more viewers if the show were on a "major" network as opposed to the SciFi Channel. I guess the problem with a major network is that the show could not be as edgy as it is. I guess its best asset is that it flies under the radar. Unfortunately, it's also its downfall.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Over the last season and a half, the show has been sucking pretty badly. It feel a long way from the absolute best show on TV ever, to yet another middling sci-fi show where everything gets wrapped up neatly at the end of each episode, no prominent cast members ever die, and they beat you over the head with whatever moral/political point they are trying to make at the time.
I hope they go out with a bang. I hope they are, as Olmos said, vicious. BSG started out as a gritty, dark and hard story about the shit hitting the fan over and over again. Let's hope the writers remember that before it's too late.
And I'd rather the show end nicely than fade into irrelevance by over-staying its welcome (as per Star Gate).
--- Tao
How quickly everyone forgets FOX - Firefly, Family Guy, Futurama.......Married with Children
I just hope they've finally decided to share it with the writers.
Best Slashdot Co
This is the way the show should end, on a high note. As pointed out somewhere else further down, the show is starting to degrade. There was a time when you never really knew what was going to happen next. A time when, unlike other shows, they weren't afraid to kill off major characters or have the plot twist 180 degrees in another direction.
Now, though, it's gotten where you know that all the majors will be with us next week, that in the end, everything will work out okay. It's just gotten kind of ho-hum.
If they make this the last season, it gives them incredible freedom to do some really great things dramatically. All characters are fair game. All plots are on the board for major twists. And they can always come back and do movies or mini-series if there's a demand for it.
Here's my prediction, though. They get to Earth, but as it turns out, it's not exactly the thirteenth colony they expected. Think about it. It's all happened before, right? The Cylons and the thirteenth colony have encountered each other just as our ragtag colonial crew and the Cylons are encountering each other now. They intermingled (Eve, anyone?), and the result is that we here on earth are actually the progeny of both colonial humans and Cylons. We even adopted both religions. People here are killing each other over the same ideological differences as the Cylons and the colonials are.
I could be wrong, but I think that's ultimately the ending plot twist. When all is said and done, it turns out that WE are Cylons, too, a fact that has been lost to antiquity.
From a writing standpoint, I think it's great. BSG and Lost both have the same problem... they have a very definite end-point... for BSG, it's finding and populating Earth. For Lost, it's getting off the damn Island. These are the driving forces behind the shows, and on one level or another the action and drama come out of these arcs. However, if you keep stringing them along for two long, they start to suck... there's only so many ways you can delay the end-point before the audience gets tired, and you jump the shark.
These shows will ultimately be more successful with end-points written- the writers will have a clear goal of what to write to and how to make it interesting to get there, instead of just coming up with more ways to string viewers along.
While it sucks that it's going off the air, it'll make for better TV along the way.
I have to disagree.
Look, I think BSG is the best show on television right now (as much as it's on at all right now, rasm frasm nine month hiatus). But despite the fact that the show has occasionally floundered a bit, I've generally had the feeling that the show is actually going somewhere, that Ron Moore et. al. are actually interested in telling a story. One that has... what's it called? Oh right! An end.
Contrast this with Lost, which I started off watching avidly, but now... well, the four phases of Lost watching:
1. This show is great! I wonder what they'll do next?!?
2. Huh? That didn't make sense.
3. You guys are making it up as you go along, aren't you?
4. God, I hope you guys are making it up, because God help you if you planned it this way.
And Lost just got extended another three seasons.
As much as I take issue with the SciFi channel canceling amazing shows (see: Farscape), this is not one of those times. The 4th season is, I'm almost positive, a 22 episode season. Well, Ron Moore is on record saying that he'd do 2 more 13 episode seasons, or a single 22-23 episode season, and in that time he felt like he could bring the story to the conclusion that he'd been working towards. Now, I suppose part of that might be ending early to make sure they GET an ending, but this is not just SciFi killing a great show. They've had a definite climax planned for the story, and if they can reach it in one season, and not have as much filler as in season 2.5 and 3.5, I'm all for it.
Slashdot needs a "-1, Wrong" moderation option.
The Urban Hippie
I'd rather them kill a show when it's due, than drag it on just because. I can't think of a single science fiction or fantasy show that lasted more than 4 years, that had 4 years of actual good, worthwhile content. Not any of the treks, not Stargate, not Buffy... Heck, as much as I love the show I could have passed on season 5 of Babylon 5. Maybe a 4 year plan is a good thing?
When asked about the end of the show, Olmos said, "Too bad it won't live but then again what does." He then proceeded to leave oragami unicorns all over the set.
The only thing worse than ending a series is dragging it on past its natural conclusion.
Tell the story. When the story is over, it's over. Trying to tack on extra seasons is just going to make it suck.
paintball