Battlestar Galactica

While some fans were disappointed with Battlestar Galactica's shocking mid-season finale, the episode left most of us in awe and hungry for more.  Two days before "Revelations" aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, the Los Angeles Times gathered together executive producer Ronald D. Moore, television critics, Emmy voters, famous fans, and numerous cast members to screen the episode.  The folks over at Entertainment Weekly were able to attend the screening, and they reported back with all sorts of juicy tidbits from the Q&A session with the cast and crew.  Read on for news on the upcoming series finale, as well as an intriguing fact about the final five Cylons.

Though Battlestar Galactica's series finale won't air for over a year, the script has been written for quite some time.  Moore admitted that he had trouble crafting the final episode, stating,  "I was getting caught up in the wrong plot in my head, and I was getting annoyed with myself, and with my writers, and life in general, and my children, and cats.  I was in the shower and just sort of had this epiphany that I was concentrating on the wrong thing.  It's really not about the plot, it's about the characters.  I came back into the writers' room the next day and wrote ‘It's the characters, stupid' up on the board."

While Moore may have struggled with the script, the cast members admitted to being blown away by the final product.  Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol) and Edward James Olmos (William Adama) both cried while reading it, and Number Six herself, Tricia Helfer, said she felt as if she'd been punched in the stomach. Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin) also commented on the big send-off, telling E!Online, "I'm satisfied completely with the complete saga of Battlestar.  I don't even want to begin to talk about any of it, because I'm afraid I'll let it slip.  But I will tell you that I personally feel that now that I know the end of the story, it has an even deeper resonance as a complete saga than it had in weekly episodic installments."

One subject that has always been important in the BSG universe is religion, though it's truly moved to the forefront in season 4 as Baltar (James Callis) has embraced the idea of a Cylon god.  According to Moore, the series wasn't always meant to be steeped in theology.  "When I wrote the miniseries, the first draft didn't really have much to do with religion," he admitted.  "There was actually only one line -- I just had [Number Six] say 'God is love.'  I thought it was an interesting thing for a robot to say.  I didn't really know what it meant.  I didn't really have a context for it.  I just thought it was cool."  Moore was then surprised to get a note from the network asking him to incorporate more of the religious subtext.  "That's a note I don't get very often" he said, "so [I thought] we'll just seize that and run with it."

On a geekier note, Moore also revealed that the final five Cylons don't have model numbers like their fellow toasters.  The reason for this is anybody's guess, but my theory is that the final five are much older than the seven models we're most familiar with.  It's also possible that they don't have any duplicates, and therefore a model number isn't necessary.

It's going to be a long wait for fans who are looking forward to Battlestar Galactica's 2009 return.  However, at least we can rest assured that the series will go out on a high note.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: Entertainment Weekly, E!Online
(Image courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel)