Journey's End

One more year and the best science fiction show on television will be over. No, I don’t mean the report in MediaGuardian that Russell T Davies is set to flounce off Doctor Who and take the whole crew with him.

Since that little nugget apparently originated in The Sun, which usually concentrates on tits rather than complete cocks, it probably should be taken with a big pinch of salt – like I care. Though if he did fuck right off the show might actually improve.

Instead the show I’m talking about is Battlestar Galactica and the news today from the Sci Fi Channel confirms that executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick have decided the upcoming fourth season will be the last. After the spectacularly mind-bending third season finale, with four of the final five Cylons revealed and the return of Starbuck, ready to point the way to Earth, it was obvious the show was heading into the final straight.


Winner of a Peabody Award and twice honoured by the American Film Institute as one of the 10 Outstanding Television Programs of the Year, Battlestar Galactica was always about human drama first and genre second. It used science fiction as allegory, commenting on everything from racism, stem-cell research, terrorism and government foreign policy, rather than spunking a good portion of the budget on fancy latex creations.

The real plaudits will come later, and hopefully – finally – Emmy recognition for Mary McDonnell and especially Michael Hogan, on top of the critical acclaim it has already received. I suppose all good things have to come to an end at some point and Moore and Eick’s creation will leave behind the opening three-hour miniseries, 73 episodes, The Resistance web episodes and the two-hour Razor, broadcast later this year, which centres on the Battlestar Pegasus and takes place well before this:


With a lot of shows it’s easy to pick favourite episodes – Star Trek’s The City on the Edge of Forever being an obvious example – but Battlestar Galactica proves more difficult as every episode provides remarkable highlights. That said, I’d go with the quartet that opened the third season, leading up to the escape from New Caprica.

Story and character has always taken precedent over special effects, but in Exodus, Part 2, we were treated to spectacles like this:


Around this time next year, when it’s all over and the characters have reached the end of their long journey, all we can do is echo Lee Adama’s words when he leaves the bridge of the Pegasus for the last time: "Thank you!"