So Say We All

Battlestar Galactica is now over.

The new one. I'm assuming you knew there was a new one.

Friday night was the final episode of the five-year series. When the final script was written, it was meant to be a two-hour event. But there was too much. It ended up three hours and twelve minutes, and was split over two nights. But the final two hours (and twelve minutes - and note that fifteen to twenty minutes were cut from that and will be added back in when the DVD set is released) was Friday, and the faithful gathered around their TV sets - or computer screens - and watched the end of a most amazing journey.

Television did NOT see this show coming. No one expected anything from a remake of a gloriously campy sci-fi show of the 70s but kibble for nerds. They had no idea that soon, against all expectation, TV Guide would be calling it (and I quote...as you'll be able to tell by the quotation marks), "The Best Show on Television". It sidelined everyone. It wasn't campy. It was gritty. It was dark. It was heartbreaking. It was challenging. It was controversial. It was, at times, uncomfortably sexy. And it was nothing anyone had imagined it would be.

One of my favorite writers, Joss Whedon, gave this as a piece of advice to anyone trying to tell a story: have something to say. Even if you're writing a Die Hard ripoff, he says, have something to SAY about Die Hard ripoffs. Battlestar Galactica had something to say. A lot of things to say, actually. About human beings. About religion. About racism. About 9/11. About the war in Iraq. About torture. About history. About Bob Dylan (?!). And yet, I'm sure there were some who casually watched the show to see the shiny spaceships and didn't even realize it was saying all those things. Science fiction, at its best, has always been philosophy masquerading as candy. It's held up a mirror to humanity, and if humanity didn't always like what it saw, then it was doing its job right. Galactica carried that standard high, and waved it proudly. It reminded us of what genre television can be if we're willing to let it.

If you're one of the people who missed Galactica - and I'm going to assume that you are, which is why I'm not discussing the finale's content at all - then I'm going to challenge you to seek it out. Even if you don't find some grander meaning behind it all, I can at least guarantee you a journey you'll never forget - gripping stories, mind-blowing twists, wrenching drama that will haunt you long after the credits roll, performances that will stun you (from actors like Edward James Olmos, who referred to BSG as the "best frakking job I ever had")...and, yes, shiny spaceships, and some of the best special effects you've ever seen on television. And if watching it makes your head hurt? That just means you're watching it right.

Thank you, Ron Moore and David Eick, for giving us this show. Thank you, cast and crew, for bringing it to life. Thank you, Katee Sackhoff, for that smile you gave me in San Diego - I'm sure it meant as much to you as it did to me (it could happen...). We'll miss you, Battlestar Gallactica.

Nothing but the rain, sir.

Nothing but the rain.