Battlestar Galactica To Continue After All

turboflux writes "According to executive producer David Eick, Battlestar Galactica is still an open-ended adventure and it will not be ending after the 4th season as previously reported. Evidently Edward James Olmos jumped the gun on confirming the show would be ending while attending the Saturn Awards this month. Eick goes on to say that the fourth season would actually be 22 episodes (2 more than prior seasons) rather than the reported 13 episode order."

Battlestar Craptastica

If the extra episodes are just more of the filler crap they had last season then I wont be watching. Battlestar is a good show when they are actually trying to tell a story. Filler like Black Market sucked. At least Lost had the balls to say the show ends in 48 episodes. If Battlestar keeps the season format they had last season you only need to watch the first 3 and last 3 episodes because everything in the middle isnt related to the story at all.

Yes I liked the show but the drama crap and all the story rewrites to try to find a new audience is pissing me off.

Re:Battlestar Craptastica

It's not a "drama rewrite", it's that the basic premise is extremely limiting. It's about the Battlestar Galactica carrying the last survivors, and they're being chased by Cylons. There's is no BSG (the series) without the BSG (the ship) or the Cylons. You can't make a "BSG: The Next Generation" because it's not a stable universe, it's a tale of that one ship. You can't add new races, it's not an open universe like Stargete with a colorful selection of races. There's just this chase, these players and the ultimate outcomes are roughly:

1) The Cylons destroys the BSG
2) The BSG destroys the Cylons
3) The Cylons leave the BSG and humanity alone
4) They end up in a fairytale peace
5) They find earth and earth kicks the Cylon's ass

In any case, it's pretty much the end of the story which means they can't actually come to a showdown. They've tried every variation of tangling them together with both sides coming out alive but it gets old. I mean the Cylons must be very close to the prize for most indecisive killers in history. So what can you do if you can't have them actually clash in a meaningful way? Well, you get all the tedium of being on the run. Resource shortages, black markets, equipment failure, insurgents and sabotage, Adama's "keep us going at all cost" attitude, a few skirmishes and mourning a few fighter pilots here and there and some religious search for the way but there's no real dynamic in the show. The basic premise is exactly the same as it was in episode one. They're the BSG, and they're being chased by Cylons, looking for Earth.

BSG is a show standing still. The only difference is that as of late it's been bad drama instead of good drama.

Re:Battlestar Craptastica

You missed an outcome:

6) They find earth, the Cylons kick earth's ass, but Adama and the BSG crew head through the Stargate to the Alpha Site to begin construction on another Battlestar. O'Neill, Thor, and Oma Desala get cameos.

Hey, it could happen.

Re:Battlestar Craptastica

There's is no BSG (the series) without the BSG (the ship) or the Cylons. You can't make a "BSG: The Next Generation" because it's not a stable universe, it's a tale of that one ship.

My god, you have no imagination.

Imagine this: Galactica 2010. Galactica reaches earth, and a small scouting party go to Earth to learn about the culture and try to find a place to live. They have cheesy flying motorcycles and the children have superhuman jumping ability. In the last shows of that series, Starbuck, who was presumed dead in the current series, will be found to not have died, but to have crashed on a Cylon-occupied world, and in his effort to survive, repairs and befriends a cylon (maybe they can become mates, who knows?). It'd be a great show! Really!

What? That's been done before? Shit!

Re:Battlestar Craptastica

Galactica 2010. Galactica reaches earth, and a small scouting party go to Earth to learn about the culture and try to find a place to live. They have cheesy flying motorcycles

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA ...

(And you younglings think George Lucas raped YOUR childhoods - at least he waited sixteen years; Glen Larson only waited nine months.)

Re:Battlestar Craptastica

You people are forgetting the most obvious conclusion to the series. I came to this right after the pilot movies.

You see, kobal wasn't the home of the human race. It was a planet colonized by seeder ships from Earth thousands of years ago. We'll call humans from Earth humans 1.0 and the seeded humans, humans 2.0. Well humans 2.0 build a civilization apart from human 1.0 on Earth. Mean while humans 1.0 are carefully watching over humans 2.0 from a distance. When human 2.0 are threatened by a natural disaster humans 1.0 guide human 2.0 to safety at the new colonies. This is where the names of the ancient gods came into play.

During all this or before this the humans on Earth, humans 1.0, underwent a vorlon like transformation and became humans 3.0. Now the new humans 3.0 decided that after they had lead humans 2.0 to safety it was time for human 2.0 to live on their own. So humans 3.0 left humans 2.0 to fend for themselves.

Now when human 2.0 reach Earth followed by the Cylons they will find a civilization so far in advanced that they can barely comprehend them. Humans 3.0 will simply tell them there is nothing for them at Earth and they cannot interfere in their affaires. They will send humans 2.0 to their fate.

As for the thirteenth tribe, they didn't go discover Earth, they just went home.

Re:Battlestar Craptastica

Nah. I hear they're going to do a spinoff focusing on the zany adventures of one of the private freighters in the fleet and its wisecracking crew. They're going to run dubious cargos and take on odd jobs, all while staying just one step ahead of the Colonials and the Cylons. The tentative title is "Lightning Bug."

As if it wasn't overstreched already...

Bad news.

They're going to try to milk it way after its expiration date.

And here I was with such great hopes after the last finale.

excellent

thank god! remember enterpise got canceled in 4th season and that was its best season yet galactica is an order magnitude better with so many loose ends to tie that itll take them years to wrap it ll up also remeber that unlike star trek they managed to have 3 seasons so far without any timetravelling episodes :)

Good, now just go back to blowin shit up, dammit!

No more soap opera garbage.

Time for Adama to bone the Pres, or END IT.

No more Adama father-son drama.

More catfights!

How about a Cylon actually WINNING a dogfight?

Except for Exodus part two, I could barely watch season 3. Amazing that the best-ever episode comes in the worst-ever season.

FIX IT!

Re:Good, now just go back to blowin shit up, dammi

You ARE aware that a Cylon winning a dogfight would lead to at least 10 episodes of mourning, griefing and goth-like navel contemplation, yes?

Re:Good, now just go back to blowin shit up, dammi

Not to mention that they find out about 20 episodes later that he isn't really dead through a dream of a crew member and they start looking for him (5 episodes), find him in some unprobable place (2 episodes), free him from the cylon prison (1 episode) only to find out that he's a cylon imposter (1 episode) and spend a bit of time trying to hunt him all over the ships (5 episodes), until they corner him and he claims he's a traitor and wants to aid humanity (1 episode), leads them to some fuel depots (2 episodes)...

I think I should ask them if they hire new writers.

Re:Good, now just go back to blowin shit up, dammi

I think I should ask them if they hire new writers.

Sounds like you write for them already.

I quit BSG when they cured the president's

cancer with the magic cylon juice.

Re:I quit BSG when they cured the president's

I don't have a problem with a Cylon based cure. It would have been more interesting to have the president need to eat Cylon fetus periodically to stay alive. Then there would always be an edgy back story about her looking for her next fix.

Triumph of Commercialism over Content

In the true spirit of the RIAA, MPAA and other *AAs, where the notable inability of overpaid executives to tell between a good story and a one that simply makes lots of money (Hi Hollywood, you listening?) resulting in thousands of superficial shows with the same mindless plots and heavy application of special CGI effects, all based on a blockbuster two decades ago (actually three, but still).

When audiences get tired of spending their dollars on this, the *AAs then get on their high horse and accuse almost everyone from consumers to vague thirld world nations of piracy and "stealing their profits".

If Battlestar Galactica, which was, up until now, a fantastic show, but which was really starting to show warning signs of producer self overestimation and ego growth in the last series with the drop off over the edge into the supernatural, I sadly suspect that the next series will only get worse if the producers are not under pressure to produce a good finale to the show.

In English there is a saying: "too much of a good thing."

Hopefully things will continue to turn around

The writers boxed themselves into a void in the last season. The cylons as evil killing machines with the capacity to be anyone as a sleeper agent, that was good television--even at times good social/political commentary. The best sci-fi works on all of these levels. So, bringing back the chase and eliminating the soap opera narratives will bring the show back. I don't think they've jumped the shark quite yet.

Re:Hopefully things will continue to turn around

Right now, the Cylons seem not to have any motivation. They wanted to eliminate humanity because, after the last war, they saw it as an 'us or them' situation in the long run, and decided in favour of their own survival. A perfectly logical (if somewhat cold) decision for a civilisation to make.

Now, they want to find Earth because...? They don't seem to consider destroying the Galactica a priority anymore, which is fine. It's not really a threat, and by the time it is even in the position to form a self-sustaining colony the Cylons could have spread out over hundreds of systems. Their growth rate is exponential, and they have a significant head-start on the humans now they've destroyed the twelve colonies. It doesn't seem likely that humanity could ever threaten more than a few percent of the Cylon race again.

But, they want to find Earth. Because, uh, actually, I have no idea. I'm not sure that the writers do either. The Cylons just aren't a believable enemy unless they have some motivation for their actions, and right now they don't seem to. Maybe it will be revealed later, but I don't hold out much hope.

Re:Hopefully things will continue to turn around

But, they want to find Earth. Because, uh, actually, I have no idea. I'm not sure that the writers do either.

During the first season commentary, the producers explain that the entire bit on Caprica was basically done because it was cool. The producer who came up with it (I can't remember which one) had no idea where it was going or why Sharon showed up again on Caprica, he just "thought it would be cool." As the story progressed, they eventually hit on the idea of Cylons trying to procreate, which has never really been well explained.

So, yes, I expect you're completely correct - the writers are doing this by the seat of their pants and have no idea where it's going either. The Cylons may have a plan, I just wish they'd share it with the writers...

Terrorism in space

That's when I hit the power button on my control, when I realized that this is where it's going. Cylons looking like humans, everyone could be one, general distrust and the felt backstab-threat... Sounds familiar?

Doomed to mediocrity

They did something great in the pilot episodes and first season, but now we'll have to see yet another great show die a slow and painful death.

I wish they'd wrap up the show and stop it when they've run out of material and said what they want to say. But even the best show is doomed to drag on our screens, while the rating brings in ad money. It's so sad.

It was especially harsh and sad in Prison Break, originally an amazing 14 episode mini-series. Then in the last moment extended to a full season ("oh shit they changed the pipes, well all we did for 14 episodes now doesn't make a damn sense, does it"), and then to a second season ("don't move or I'll use my tattoo against you! i'm not afraid to!").

Too Bad.

It's the unfortunate tension of television that the business side demands an open ended series that can run as long as possible while the artistic side would usually be better served by a finite length and definite ending.

I am a huge, huge fan of BSG (warts and all) and was actually happy to see the earlier report that the 4th season would be the end. I am one who thinks the writers would be doing a better job if they knew what the hell the point of each episode should be.

Tricia Helfer

I'm really hoping for some experimental episodes where the camera just slowly pans up and down Tricia Helfer's body while she tries on different outfits for 40 minutes.

Open Ended?

Does that comment seem more like damage control than a reversal of statements?

Inaccurate Story

David Eick didn't say that the series would not be ending with the fourth season; all he said was that nothing had been officially announced. Also, it has been known that the season will have 22 episodes for quite some time now, and that the 2 of them will actually be the Pegasus "movie."

Milking that cow

I wish at least once they wouldn't milk the cow until the milk is sour...

And the worst that could happen is if they "think" it will come back, leave us in a cliffhanger, and then end the series abruptly.

They should know that DVD sets of unfinished series sell less.

Big babies

First you want sci-fi, they give it to you... The sci-fi they give you, is the best sci-fi that we have seen on tv... They tell you that they will continue to make said sci-fi... ...and all you do is whine about it. No wonder people make fun of us. -groovyghoul

Wrong Again

For the second story in a row, Slashdot gets it wrong. David Eick said merely that he and Ronald D. Moore "had not decided yet" about the future of the show past season 4, not that there was certainly going to be a season 5.

...and they have a plan

1. Infiltrate key positions on BSG
2. Occasionally let BSG inflict tremendous damage for no real reason (Resurrection Ship, Base Star, etc.)
3. Infiltrate even more key positions on ship and acquire nuclear weapons
4. Establish almost complete information asymmetry
5. ?????
6. Profit (the producers of course)

Moore's Podcast? Anyone?

I guess no body listens to the podcasts. The producer/writer, Ronald D. Moore, mentioned this a month ago on a podcast. The network made him sweat it out with that "12 episodes" thing but finally said ok to a twenty-something deal. He also said the show has TWO seasons left. He hasn't signed two seasons, he just thinks the story arc has two seasons left. I highly recommend the podcasts by the way...

BSG doesn't know how to get to its 'ending'.

BSG is a story based show with a definitive ending, it just doesn't seem to know how to get there.

The last two seasons, particularly the 3rd, have left me hugely frustrated. The show had so much promise at the start, good cast, gorgeous effects, an interesting plot etc. But it seems to me they just don't know what to do with it all, they have their 'ending' worked out, no doubt, but they just don't seem to know how to flesh out the bit known as the middle.

They should have planned this out episodically before filming ever began (like JMS did with B5). Not only would it have ensured consistency throughout (read less filler), but it would also have given them an exact number of seasons to aim for and enable them to better budget themselves as well. As I recall Bab5 was consistently *under* budget as a result of the excellent planning which no doubt ensured that it got it's intended 5 seasons, despite some doubts around Season4. Given how exec's like axing sci-fi, being prudent would be a top priority to me.

I really feel there will be a truckload more filler next season if it isn't the finale. I would rather they just let Zoic create a whole batch of 45 minute space combat sequences, if they can't come up with anything better than love triangles etc - But that would destroy the budget... so no doubt were going to be subjected to more 'Whose in Lee's bed tonight' episodes. At least they blew up the Pegasus, or no doubt they'd go through half a dozen new captains for her as well.

Impressive swing

Interesting how in the comments about season four being the last, the tide was against the Sci-Fi Channel -- about how sorry people were to see it go -- and in the comments on this story, the tide is against the writers for "milking it" -- how sorry people are to see it stay. Different people I trust(and hope), but interesting none the less.

(So far as where I sit -- even with the rather agonizing romantic detour the show took this season, I'm enjoying it. I still trust that the show runners know more or less what they're doing, and that they will, as Ron Moore said, end it when it reaches its ending)

At least get to Earth....

... by the end of the 4th season. The current story is pretty dead end at this point, and they need to finish it soon, otherwise they're going to be left with nothing but filler episodes. If they want make season 5, fast forward 5 years or so, make a second battlestar, and start a new adventure. (The humans finally go after the Cylons, maybe?) If Earth is just an inhabitable wasteland, I'm going to be severely pissed off...

The Cylons have a Plan!

And someday they're gonna share it with the writers! I promise!

Just Don't Make It *Too* Long

I get nervous when great shows turn into open-ended properties. Babylon 5 was able to sustain itself for the most part because of a pre-imagined story arc, that was designed from the beginning for 5 seasons only. DS9, after the first season, seemed to get into gear for the Dominion story arc, which lasted 6 seasons, although only getting into high gear on the latter half. I don't want to see the mostly tight story of BSG turn into the equivalent of spaghetti code for overextending its possibilities.

Remember Sliders?

Anyone remember "Sliders"? You just had to love that show... until they completely ruined it by dragging it out and jumping the shark with unoriginal stories. Based on the show's limited structure I'm wondering what BSG's equivalent to the Cromag is going to end up being...

Sour Grapes

And I was just getting to like them! (Yay...?)

All in how you look at it

"rather than the reported 13 episode order."

So maybe the first 13 will be called "Season 4" and the last 9 will be dubbed "Season 5" and then it will end.

Prattlestar Dramatica

Battlestar started off very well. It was fascinating. It was science fiction, emphasis on the science. Then apparently some network dickhead told the writers that they needed to, I don't know, attract more girls, or go more mainstream, or "be more like that Scrubs program". All of a sudden whole segments of the show turned from space opera to soap opera.

After that, I stopped watching. Call me too much of a male geek, but I don't watch SF for stories about relationships that take place in a futuristic setting.

--Rob

When BSG will end.

Battlestar Galactic, being partly commentary on the War in Iraq, will end when that war does.

I'm looking forward to season 12.

Or maybe EJO's character is getting killed off in the 13th episode of the 4th season; so as far as he knows, the show ends then.

Welll there goes Admiral Adama..

Something tells me that he might not make it to the fifth season. This would be a shame as Edward James Olmos has been my favorite actor in this series with both his acting and the writing making Admiral Adama the most interesting character, for me anyway. As for the future length of the series, well I can think of several spins on this. Many posters have noted that this story is limited by the goals of the respective elements, ie: humans and cylons. I see several interesting things that have already been introduced into the story and more that could be. For one the angst of the cylons about their god, place and purpose. Another cylon issue is their interest in hybrids, perhaps related to a genetic cloning disease, something similar to inbreeding in humans. Remember the obsession with what was it the last seven cylons. As for the humans, what kind of earth will they find? Just who populates it? A post holocaust civilization in ruin, a world with Star Trek level technology, is it populated with humans, cylons or how about hybrids? I can even see several valid spin offs that could easily be better than the average fare on TV.

As for the soap opera type twists and the relation to current events of a controversial nature, well these can both be over done and in my view have been somewhat. However such is what allows for people to feel a connection with the story. All the best stories be they TV, novels, short stories or what ever use this basic method of connecting the everyday lives of the audience with the drama of the story. This requires very extensive and well executed character development and the very best do it very well. The best, like say Hemingway or Blair, I have known do it in such an understated manner that it is almost subliminal. The danger for the writers then is in being to up front and obvious in their approach to using this method. This rule also applies to the acting trade as well, and in my view E.J.Olmos is in the same league as Anthony Hopkins and both are to the acting world what Papa Hemingway or Eric Blair are the world of literature. In whole and especially in the best episodes the writers and actors have done well by this rule. Occasionally both have strayed a bit and come off as being a bit too obvious and thus, well corny.

I do think they have done a pretty good job at staying idealistically neutral on the politically charged topics, mainly by exposing the multiple viewpoints even if the format only allows for shallow explorations. At least they attempt to address these in an intelligent and interesting manner. I find such interesting, I like the shootem up special effect stuff too but there is only so much I can take before I get bored with it. And they have done a pretty decent job with the SF conceptual stuff like the cylons angst and viral like mental transpostions and the humans devolution of networking technology as a defense. Overall I still give the series an A, and hope for several more seasons at a quality equal to those so far.

Wabi-Sabi
Matthew

BSG sucks.

Personal opinion, no need to get high on it or somethin. BSG sucks big time. I stopped after the 5th episode. The constant shouting, the overdramatization, the cliche lines ("hey mr president, we have terrorists; oh my God, our way of life is in danger"), the use of rifles and pistols instead of lazers, people wearing 3 piece suits, even with ties, the constant references to religion, the sucky music, and many other elements, are enough to put off any reasonably thinking person with an IQ better than a pea.

The original was magical: it had captivating characters, an optimistic mood, it was futuristic (ok, silly at times, but in a nice way), Cylons were not humans (why should aliens be humans?), very nice and captivating music, ties to ancient history of Egyptians/Mayans/Toltecs, and great battles, at original Star Wars levels. It wasn't much of science, but it was many times more entertaining than this modern piece of shit.

And, as any self respecting televised sci-fi fan would say, Star Trek is miles ahead from the best of BSG, even in its uglier form (i.e. Enterprise).

That's not what TFA said

It doesn't say that BSG will continue, its what Ben Bradlee would call "a non denial denial" - Eick says he and Moore will decide the future. Which is of course true - right uptil Scifi tells them to decide its over.

Re:I'm sure this will upset people but please end

Sorry all but the first 2 lines refer to the new Galactica. Old one just died because it got corny.

Re:I'm sure this will upset people but please end

Wow, in one breath you're complaining about bad acting and bad scripting, and then you bring out Babylon 5 as an exemplar?!

Please, I overall enjoyed B5, but--IMHO--seasons 1+5 were awful.. and the entire series had HORRIBLE dialogue and acting! The plot etc was badass, but I still *shudder* thinking of some of the acting+humor moments etc.

Re:I'm sure this will upset people but please end

I realise this appears to be an emotive issue for you but "I mean please I've seen better scripting on daytime soapies."... really now... this strikes of hyperbole to me.

Specifically which daytime soapies are we talking about here? If they're that much better than BSG then perhaps some of us would fancy taking a look at them.

Alli

Did Ron Morre kill your dog?

Look, I loved Babylon 5. I even liked season 5, and consider the hate it gets to be typical mobthink (notice how other fans always append "except season five" like a mantra). I also know that this is all a matter of personal taste, but your review here is filled with hyperbole. Porn? A handful of sexually charged scenes is not porn. What are you, an evangelical? The camera work lends a nice feel to the space shots. I dunno, man, it's called artistry and creativity. Should BG be a static 3 camera set piece like a sitcom? And "better scripting on daytime soaps" is where you completely lose it. Seriously, something else has to be at the core of your hate here. Are you a big fan of the original series? Are you a Cylon? What?

Re:I'm sure this will upset people but please end

- the awful cinematography and camera work. I haven't watched since season 1, but are they still doing that awful backing music and quick zooms etc. to try to build tension. Keep the fucking camera still or smooth it out jackasses!


I suggest you not watch lost or other TV shows then. All this "amateur" camera work started with the siezure cam used in the Bourne Supremacy and is incredibly "popualr" right now.

They completely destroyed that movie with the stupid "we cant afford a tripod" film style.

Re:Battlestar Galactica

Wasn't that thing produced by the Brits?

Re:Hmm

We'll never forgive you

Re:Hmm

I still stand by everything I said yesterday [slashdot.org]. As much as I love the show, I really wish they had just closed it a good conclusive season and moved on to the next project.

Re:Which means absolutely nothing...

Yeah, the midseason breaks are full of stupid. Sci-Fi Friday was awesome (two hours of StarGate, then BSG), but they kept dicking with the formula (long haituses) before breaking it up entirely.