So Say We All

Previous generations had Mash, ER, Seinfeld, and Mad Men…all well written shows with rabid fan bases.  Tonight at 9:00 pm on SciFi Channel, another amazing program comes to an end.

I can remember, when I was a kid, watching Battlestar Galactica, the original series.  I loved the story and the effects, I was a huge Star Wars fan, and here was a television show, just like Star Wars!  It was great, of course, some of the acting was a little silly, and you couldn’t always understand the Cylons, but hey, it was the 70′s and it rocked.

So, in 2003, when I heard that SciFi was bringing it back, I was excited and thrilled.  When I heard that Ronald D. Moore, one of the writers from Star Trek was involved and writing the show bible, I was amazed.  When I heard that 2 of my favorite characters, Boomer and Starbuck, were going to be changed to women….I was…skeptical.

But I had nothing to fear.  The mini-series was amazing and something like I had never seen before.  It was truly stunning.  The images were rich, the soundtrack was unique and emotive.  The story held me captive and as the mini-series ended, I joined with with BSG Geeks all over the world, and prayed that SciFi would pick the series up…and they did.

Flash forward 6 years, many amazing story arcs, some screwy season divisions, and some truly shocking twists and turns later, tonight brings us the very last Battlestar Galactica will at at 9:00pm.  Before we all start shedding tears, we already know that there is a BSG, Cylon-centric movie that will play on SciFi over the summer and a new mini-series, Caprica, that will air some time later, so it’s not COMPLETELY over…

Ronald D. Moore and David Icke have created a harsh, real-to-life world that is full of sacrifice and loss, tempered with resolution and hope.  All of the BSG writers have wonderfully intertwined politics, religion, sex, and culture into a tapestry colored in shades of gray.  No one character is fully right or wrong, fully good, or bad.  Everyone has different motivations and beliefs, it’s very much like our lives today. Through this fictional portrayal or war and destruction, we discover more about ourselves.

I will miss the anticipation of watching Battlestar Galactica.  I will miss the intrigue, the cliff-hangers.  I will also miss the hand-held quick-cut shots.  I have no idea what is in store for tonight’s last episode, but I know that my life has been enriched by having watched this entire series.  I will miss it and there may never be another show like it.  But then again, all this has happened before, and it will happen again.