Tonight is the final episode, sort of, for Battlestar Galactica, the SciFi television series. Sort of because there will be a film based on events prior to the miniseries event that kicked off the series as well as a new series that takes place 40 years prior the to current series timeline.
This award winning series has been truly noted for its approach to story telling on television. Unlike the original 1979 series, this was not a simple action oriented series set in space. Rather, the series became a metaphor for events and conditions on our earth. Subjects like racism, terrorism, religion all became the basis of the many interconnected storylines.
Except for a period where I thought the series was just getting too grim, I have been a steady follower of the show and followed the story of the band of human survivors flee the machine race that destroyed their home worlds. Successes were hard to come by. A newly discovered world end up being a concentration camp for the survivors. The much sought after planet of earth was found to be radioactive wasteland destroyed by an earlier human-Cylon wasr Mutinies and rebellions threaten to destroy the fragile coalition of people stuck on all manners of spaceships. Some luxurious like the liner Cloud 9 or rather more often like the prison ship. Yet somehow, realising that all they have was each other, they eventually come back together again.
We have seen many characters come and go. All strongly drawn and memorable. Admiral William Adama, Executive Officers Saul Tigh, Kara Thrace, the Cylon Caprica 6, the various permutations of Cylon 8 (Boomer, Athena), President Roslin and Gaius Baltar all shall be remembered.
While it is foremost a personal drama, it does not forget that it is a SciFi action show too so we have seen our share of thrilling space battles. Unlike the original series, this show did not skimp on the special effects.
So with a two hour final episode we will find out the fate of everyone on the show, Will they find a homeworld to settle? Will the Cylons fade away when their reason for existence, to destroy humans can not no longer be attainable? What of the crew, poised for one last mission on a strike against the final Cylon base? Who survives and who dies?
In any event, it has been a good run of four seasons and I am glad I was there to watch most of it.