So, back in December of 2003, SciFi Channel started their new Battlestar Galactica series.
I watched that miniseries more out of my love for science fiction than anything else.I had a fondness for the original Galactica, mostly stemming from reading the Glen A. Larsen novels more than the actual show. But I wasn't looking that forward to a reboot. Starbuck a girl? Really? Bryan Singer, who at that point hadn't done Superman Returns was supposedly going to work on it, and that sounded interesting. But then he left and we got Ron Moore, whose work I loved loved loved on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But still, Galactica? Seriously?
But, like I said, I like science fiction. And I was rooting for the show a little bit, because of my love/hate relationship with Sci-Fi Channel. These were the people who cancelled Farscape, which is still one of my favorite shows of all time. And they cancelled it after announcing a two-year commitment. The famous quote that went around was that they wanted "less spaceship shows". (And then they cancelled The Invisible Man, which was a non-spaceship show.) Well, BSG was a spaceship show, and I wanted to see it succeed, if just to mess with them.
The first miniseries was, well, okay. It didn't sing to me. I left it on tape for a while before I actually watched it, I was so not into it. I had a lot going on, and trying out the new miniseries wasn't just on the top of my list. And when I did see it, it suffered from that NBC Universal miniseries glacial pacing. I knew I'd watch it if it became a series, but I knew I wouldn't love it. The miniseries just wasn't that special.
Except…
There were two moments in that pilot that still stick in my mind. When I saw them, they kept me going. They were the little hints that this new Battlestar Galactica wasn't just going to be any show. I didn't know if they'd be able to capitalize on it, but there were these glimmers that jumped out.
First, in the first few minutes, the Cylon we'd come to know as Six was sauntering down the Caprica street. She came up to a baby in a stroller who was crying. She was fascinated. In retrospect, it doesn't just sell the alien qualities of the cover, but it's the first hint of their obsession with procreation. And Six looks at the baby, who's unattended at this point, and reaches out. We don't see it, but we know she's touching it, almost exploring it. And then she snaps its neck.
You could tell she didn't mean to. She was just examining it, and didn't realize its fragility. But still, she killed the baby and then went on her way.
I'm a writer, and I appreciate craft. You want to interest an audience in those first few minutes. Maybe get them on your side. And you know how not to do that? Infanticide. A character we're supposed to be interested in enough to follow just committed one of the most horrible acts one can think of in the first ten minutes. That was brave storytelling.
Second, there's a scene where some old Vipers are doing a flyby over Galactica. It's an airborne military parade. During it, they play the Colonial Anthem, and it's the old Battlestar Galactica theme song.
I've always loved that score. But on top of that, it spoke to the Galactica purists. It was a quick and maybe too subtle way of saying: "Yeah, Starbuck's a girl and so's Boomer, and Tigh is now a drunken Irishman. We changed a bunch of stuff. But we did it for a reason. We know the old show, and we kinda liked it too. Just give me a little trust."
And I did.
So I checked out the later premiere and I don't know what they did, but it rocked. Seriously, it was just two of the most intense hours of TV I'd seen. I was in love with the show. Over the seasons, it's only gotten better. A couple years ago, I made the joke "If they announced they were going to find Earth and do the last season as their remake of Galactica 1980 I wouldn't gripe. I'd just watch it." Except it wasn't a joke. I've just come to trust this writing team so much.
They've rarely missed a step, and sometimes when they have, it was just me being impatient. Yeah, I would have liked the reveal about the Chief's kid earlier, since I wondered why everyone thought Hera was so special and not his kid. They got to that. They've shocked me, surprised me, made me laugh and even made me cry.
Seriously. I don't care how you feel about the New Caprica arc, but watch Adama jump the Galactica into the atmosphere of New Caprica, falling like a rock and covered in flames, and I dare you not to get a damp eye. And then when the Pegasus appears in one of the most beautifully staged special effects shots I've ever seen, you'll lose it again. And while all the actors on BSG have been amazing, special props to Edward James Olmos for selling that "we're all going to die" moment.
Tonight's the last episode of the series. I'll be watching it with some friends. Conventional wisdom says that there's no way it won't disappoint. Expectations are too high, and the movie you see is never as good as the movie in your mind.
Maybe. But if anyone's going to pull it off, it's going to be these guys.