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Battlestar Galactica's End Officially After Season 4
Ant writes "First it was off, and then it was back on. Yahoo is now reporting on a release put out by David Eick and Ronald Moore stating that they will conclude Battlestar Galactica at the end of Season 4. They said it was a creative decision, and that they wanted to end the show on their own terms. The show was always planned with a definite beginning, middle and end, unlike many other sci-fi shows and dramas. Sci Fi Channel has accepted the decision. The news had been foreshadowed this spring through statements from stars Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. Ronald Moore himself had said that the show was heading into its final act, although he said the final act could be one or two more seasons. Now we know that the final act will last for one season. The special 2-hr. episode 'Razor' starts off the season in November. The first regular episodes of Season 4 will air in early 2008."
It was starting to drag near the middle of last season, I'm glad to see they've identified an endpoint. It'd have been a shame to have to watch that show go into the toilet -- better to burn twice as bright for my viewing amusement.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Interesting. I wonder what the end game is going to be?
My money is on "Earth is the Cylon home world" or something similarly devious.
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
The entire thing has been awesome, with no detectable dragging at all. There has been, on the other hand, plenty of unjustified whining by fans who don't have and shouldn't have creative control over the show.
Unlike some people, I remember when sci-fi on TV was truly awful, for example, 1979.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
It's always good when shows like this _end_ eventually, rather than being cut once the authors run out of random reasons not to get the the goal. Four seasons is an excellent length for this series, and I hope it ends strongly. Or we could have season 5: The cylon invasion of earth.... followed by season six: the escape from earth to find _new heavenly homeworld_ ... and the cycle continues.
Once they found earth the jig was up. If it was a more primitive earth, the cylons would pound them into the ground and it would all be over, a technologically equal earth and they would likely be outnumbered by the cylons and pounded again (thanks guys for coming and bringing all your enemies along!), a more techologically advanced earth would have pounded the cylons and then assimilated the newcomers onto their society. Trying to drag it out after any of these scenarios would have dragged down the series and alas, it would have sucked.
They have a chance to go out on a high note and I am glad to see they are taking it. Sad, but I was p.o.ed that Deadwood and Rome ended too. There is precious little quality TV out there and the best series are winding down. I will be sad to see the Wire go too. Hopefully all these guys will give us some new quality series.
Sure, they may have planned the series to be exactly that long, but I doubt it. After all, these great creative visions tend to go out the window when the money starts rolling in. Any series with a planned timeline will have that timeline stretched with all sorts of filler if the show is popular enough. They start talking up the timeline again when the ratings slip.
The best recent example of this is Lost. That is another show that supposedly had the entire plot (beginning, middle, end) mapped out from the beginning. However, the show became a huge hit, and everything got stretched out to where a large chunk of the episodes are basically filler that doesn't actually move the story forward at all. Now that ratings are declining, they've put an end date on it. However, had the ratings not slipped, I guarantee they would not be talking about end dates now. In my opinion, the show has dragged on at least a season and a half longer than it should have, and it still have 3 more years to go.
Right... were they tired of making money? Or maybe they didn't make any money for the network? That seems more likely. So they creatively decided to stop the series because there were no interest from advertisers.
Sorry, I call shenanigan on the "it was a creative decision" bullshit. It's a business.
SciFi has really shot themselves in the foot by letting this series go.
Keeping a good series on too long can turn it to crap. I like Galactica, but I'm not as excited about it as I was in seasons 1 and 2. As an example, the long, overdone Starbuck/Apollo melodrama has worn thin for me. With a finite time span, the series will likely tighten up and regain some of the focus I feel it lost in season 3.
Also, hanging on to an idea after it has outlived its usefulness is what makes so many viewers disgusted with the studios in the first place. Instead of churning out more of the same thing ("Hey, the Die Hard movies raked in dough, so let's make another one!"), studios need to keep experimenting. If SciFi takes the HBO approach, and isn't afraid to kill off shows *before* they get crappy, they'll be doing the smart thing, rather than shooting themselves in the foot.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Definitely seems like a plausible end. It might not be sentimentally satisfying, but it could be done in a very poignant way.
You apparently don't know that many geniuses.... neurotic, nutso, emo, and unstable is not as uncommon as one thinks
Set out from the get-go to make the show X seasons (preferably 2-5) and end it, especially if the show involves a quest or mystery. American network TV needs to get out of that "milk it for as much money as possible, then cancel it with no resolution as soon as the ratings drop" mentality and realize that they can make a lot more money in the long run if the quality of their shows remains CONSISTENTLY high.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
There's a Cylon troop transport luring her there.
She's been declared dead and was saved by a Cylon ship before.
One of the Leobens is obsessed with getting Starbuck to fall in love with him.
Her henpit pressure had equalized to the atmospheric level due to the hole in her windshield.
She holds on to the very last second, and only when her ship breaks apart do we see her throw her brace for it.
Due to the documentary-style special effects, the shaking camera put her viper at the top of the screen when it explodes.
It's weird how many people believe what the characters are telling themselves (she's dead, Jim) rather than what the filmmakers are deliberately showing us (stuff the characters don't know, but we were shown requires far more effort in prop making, filming and editing than stuff people say).
You can't take the sky from me...
The entire "New Caprica" plot line was pointless if you asked me. Everything in it was predictable with no real insight into the characters and avoiding any real issues. For Example, We never got to see Baltar act as the President on his own. For all the Cylons actions we never really got any insight on WHY they are doing what they are doing. They turned the cylons "with a plan" into simple thugs being brutal just to be brutal.
Frankly for me the show has never lived up to what Season One produced. The show had direction then, to me it lacks it now.
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It might depend on what you like about the show. I happen to think episodes like "And Maggie Makes Three" and "Lisa's First Word" are some of the best episodes of the entire series. And then there's "Homer the Great", "Kamp Krusty", and the many brilliant halloween episode skits. That was back in the day when they could pull off some insightful satire, and occasionally put out a truly heartfelt episode without it coming off corny. These days, it's mainly lowbrow humour and slapstick (though I hear, recently, they've been turning back to satire a bit).
How do you think she came back from the dead? I don't think she did.
I also don't think that the victims of cylon brainwashing (some of whom were alive during the first cylon war, before the cylons evolved into replicants) are cylons themselves.
I'll change my mind when they show me multiple copies (and not in a dream sequence).
You can't take the sky from me...
2- You just called Pythagoras "too stupid for you".
You can't take the sky from me...
Season = future DVD set, natch.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey