Battlestar Galactica

[Ktrek]

With the news of Battlestar's now imminent demise, I was wondering what the members thoughts are about the show ending after four seasons? Is that a long enough run or do you think the show should continue? Do you think the producers are making the right decision to end it on their terms and not Sci Fi Channel's terms? Perhaps you never liked the show (I can't see how any sci-fi fan could not, but hey) and you're actually glad to see it gone so the time-slot can be used for something better. Anyway, be free to speak up and lets have a good discussion folks!

Kevin

[Geekyfanboy]

Cool poll Kevin... I think BSG is ending too soon. I think they could do another few years, but I am glad that they know it's going to end and can work the entire fourth season towards that end. Same with Lost.. it's nice when a series knows it going to end and can plan a proper ending. I have seen to many TV shows normally sci fi and fantasy shows that just end and most end on a cliffanger never resolved.

[Ktrek]

Cool poll Kevin...

I have seen to many TV shows normally sci fi and fantasy shows that just end and most end on a cliffanger never resolved.

Thanks!

How true how true Kenny! It seems like most of the TV shows I get interested in wind up cancelled. I really got into the show The Agency a couple years back and just when it was getting good in it's second season...cancelled! Firefly...cancelled! Jake 2.0...cancelled! Earth 2...cancelled! Invisible Man...cancelled and the list could go on!

Kevin

[Jobydrone]

Far better to end on a high, as I'm sure BSG will do next season with the best shows of the series, than to drag on like some great shows have done in the past.  I'd much rather see the show end now than see it continue with someone other than Ron Moore at the helm, or compromised in any other way.

[jedijeff]

I am disappointed that BSG will be ending next year, as I believe that there are more stories to tell. I do agree that it is disappointing when they end with out a proper finale. I know personally, I was really disappointed when Earth 2 got cancelled years ago, as so enjoyed it, and saw so much stories to be done. I always feel uncomfortable when I see sci-fi shows on Network TV, as they seem to pull the plug on them very quickly.

[moyer777]

I like the concept of the show, but I must admit, I liked the cheesey original series better.  I know, I know.  But I am the one that liked the first season of TNG too.  Campy science fiction.   hmmmm.

Anyway, I am only dissapointed that it is ending because I like having good science fiction on the air.  I think they can wrap up things nicely with knowing when it will end.  Now let's hope they don't do Galactica 2020.  oooooo.... the space scouts.   That would be bad. :)
:cylon

[MrOsterman]

Here's my thing:

If they go the Whedon route of "no one is safe" and start pulling out random craaaaaaaaap for shock value then we've got a problem.  I like the BSG crew a lot but I always get nervous when they know a show is ending and they want to "go out big".

I'm the sappy sort who likes happy endings.  I wanted to see the crew reach earth or find peace or at least not be so screwed.

Of course if they're smart they'll also leave room for spin-offs.... Racetrack and Hotdog just hopping around the galaxy for example.

Mr. O

[Dan M]

If there had been an "I LOVE the show and I think there are more stories to tell, but I'm glad the producers are ending on their terms" option, I'd have chosen that one.

Mr.Osterman, I don't think the deaths at the end of Buffy were random, as Tigh would say, craaaaaaaaap.  Anya was my favorite secondary Buffy characters, but I think her death added weight to the final battle. 

BSG-R is the best show on TV, or at least the best show not named Lost, but I think the end will be the end.  Maybe we'll get a TV-movie in a couple years, but I don't see a spinoff or a theatrical film in its future.  Ron Moore couldn't even get Sci-fi to greenlight Caprica, and that was at the height of the current show's popularity.

[Darth Gaos]

I'm with Mr O on this one.  I want to see it end on a somewhat upbeat note.  I  HATE depressing endings that serve no purpose.  If there is some uber depressing ending then I will feel.....cheated, I guess that the past 4 years have led up to nothing essentially.   I understand life is not always peachy but I think the trend with recent shows to be "dark and gritty and more realistic" is getting out of hand....I watch TV (sci-fi more specifically) to ESCAPE from the real world, and not escape in a "I need a shrink" sense but , well y'all know what I mean.  Would it kill a couple of producers to end their shows on a high note?

[MrOsterman]

Mr.Osterman, I don't think the deaths at the end of Buffy were random, as Tigh would say, craaaaaaaaap.  Anya was my favorite secondary Buffy characters, but I think her death added weight to the final battle. 

Anya's death was not "random" but it was "shock".  Compare her death to the death of Wesley at the end of Angel.  Wesley had a good death.  Anya just... died.

Now compare their demise to Wash in Serenity.  Bang.  Dead.

Personally my desire to see Whedon stuff is seriously hurt by the way he handles death.  He uses it as a story telling tool to artifically create tension.  He doesn't trust his actors to create the empathy with the audience that we all care about the fate of the characters; instead he uses shock as a weapon to keep us engaged.

Now those are my opinions of the style of writing/ directing he's shown and my personal taste in television is flavored by that.  If RM goes down that road and uses sudden and complete deaths to end the story of BSG then I will be disappointed.  Now I'll probably still watch up to that point so everyone still makes their money but my desire to see more from them goes down.

Cat had a good death on BSG.  I'd hate to see major characters like that go out in a fireball poof in the middle of a space battle without any last words, comments or shots.

Mr. O

[Ktrek]

I highly doubt that they will just randomly kill off main characters. I think Moore has moore (sic) sense than that!

I also want it to end on a happy note and I have faith that they will do their best to see the series resolved to most fans satisfaction.

Kevin

[Geekyfanboy]

Michael Hogan Grants Rare Interview With Entertainment Weekly

One of the more elusive cast members from “Battlestar Galactica” has been Michael Hogan, who plays Col. Saul Tigh. On his podcast commentaries for each episode, producer Ron Moore has praised the work of Hogan but said the star prefers to have his work on the show speak for itself and rarely does publicity interviews for the show.

Which makes this article from “Entertainment Weekly”’s web site that much more special. Hogan recently conducted a phone interview with the magazine. Also included was co-star Katie Sackoff, who plays Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on the hit show. The duo talked about season three and its big revelations, the future of the show and dropped the bombshell that Hogan will be guest-starring on “The Bionic Woman” in the fall.

Here are some highlights of the interview (and they probably include SPOILERS)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start at the end â€" last season’s finale was quite the humdinger. How did you two react when you first got the script?
MICHAEL HOGAN: Disbelief. I couldn’t believe it. And I still can’t believe it. That was my reaction to it.
KATEE SACKHOFF: I think everyone was pretty shocked. My feeling was that it made sense that the four [final Cylons] were all aligned with a person in power who could individually take down the fleet if they wanted to. Col. Tigh’s with Adama, Tori’s with the president, Tyrol controls the ship, and Anders is with, you know, Starbuck.
EW: Speaking of that, Katee, do you know what the heck Starbuck is?
HOGAN: [Chuckles]
SACKHOFF: No. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. I have no idea what she is. I have no idea if I’m alive or if I’m dead.

EW: Can you at least confirm if you’re, you know, corporeal? That you’re not just a figment of poor Apollo’s mind?
SACKHOFF: Well, I do know that I am [corporeal]. Not a figment. And if I am, I’m a figment of everyone’s imagination.

EW: Michael, had you ever thought that Tigh would be a Cylon?
HOGAN: Never. Never at all. Someone told me that there was a survey on the Net and that Tigh was the second lowest of everyone ever involved in Battlestar Galactica [suspected] of being a Cylon.

EW: How are you managing that?
HOGAN: Well, I haven’t had to manage it yet, because we’re [shooting] the flashback movie, but it hasn’t been that much of a problem yet because Tigh doesn’t believe [he’s a Cylon]. He doesn’t know what’s going on. And Hogan’s not convinced that he’s a Cylon.
SACKHOFF: [Cackles] I love it. I love that you can justify anything on a sci-fi show.

EW: Katee, how will you manage your role on Battlestar and your recurring role on NBC’s new Bionic Woman series?
SACKHOFF: I hope to be able to do both well, and to do both as much as possible. That’s every actor’s dream. They’ve certainly facilitated it enough for me, considering they’re [shooting] both of them in Vancouver.
EW: Michael, any non-BSG projects in the hopper?
SACKHOFF: Michael’s in Bionic Woman!
HOGAN: Yeah, man, yeah. But aside from that, no. It’s Battlestar, Battlestar, Battlestar .

EW: Katee, at the end of last season, we’re definitely left with impression that Starbuck could very well be the final unknown Cylon. Any resolution to that question?
SACKHOFF: No. I think there’s better choices out there for the final Cylon, to be honest. Even if she was, I don’t think she’d ever believe it. I just don’t think that she would ever wrap her brain around that. It will be very interesting to find out.

[Geekyfanboy]

Bamber Talks Battlestar's End

Jamie Bamber, who plays Lee "Apollo" Adama on SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica, told SCI FI Wire that the atmosphere on the set is charged with the awareness that the fourth season will be the show's last.

"Inevitably it changes the vibe, because there's suddenly a horizon, and you can see over the horizon," Bamber said in a press conference on the set in Vancouver, Canada, on June 26. "Knowing it's the last time changes everything. So, yeah, it's a different deal."

Despite feeling sentimental, Bamber added that he believes it's the right time to end the show. "There's also a real peace of mind that comes with the fact that we're going to get to finish this story," he said. "And this story has always begged an ending. And we're going to get to give it to you. So there's a lot of excitement and anticipation that's attached to that. But it feels like ... every moment that passes is gone forever now. It's like the last performance of a play on the last night. You start with your monologue in the first scene and you know when you finish it, that's the last time you'll ever do it."

Bamber added: "There are things that my character has done for the last time already. And those are sad, because speaking very personally, this has been just a huge part of my life ... So yeah, it changes everything to know that it's over. But in a good way. I can't say that I'm melancholic about it."

Bamber is looking forward to returning to his home in Los Angeles when the show is finished, but will always have a connection to Vancouver, where Galactica is filmed. "When I first got back to Vancouver I had that real nostalgia thing," he said. "I know what Vancouver will forever mean to me, now. It'll be that Pavlovian response. I will start seeing Vipers and things as I walk down Robson Street, and I'll start remembering those experiences of being in a strange place, starting this journey and being scared of what it might be to play this character. And, no, I'm just grateful that we had this long to do it and that we're going to get to end the stories."

[Jen]

Great poll!!! It looks like many of us are in total agreementâ€"which is a rarity.  :D
I agree with Darth Gaos and Mr. O. I hope the show ends well...no more disasters or deaths just because they can "off" someone. I think if a death happens on a show, it should serve the story.  I HATED that they killed off Trip on Enterprise. It served absolutely ZERO purpose. I think they just did it for shock value. In my perfect little world, Trip didn't die in that scene...and he and T'Pol lived happily ever after.  :)

[Dan M]

Trip's death was awful.