In nine episodes, Battlestar Galactica will come to an end. The intricately woven Cylon mythology that the creators of the show have developed over the past four years will cease to exist on the screen, and our questions will either be answered, or lost forever. Several recent shows, such as The Sopranos and The Shield, have ended their series with great fan disappointment, and many Battlestar Galactica fans have expressed concern, now that Sci-Fi has green-lit the spin off, Caprica, that BSG producers will leave some questions open on purpose – loose threads to delicately weave into the new Caprica skein. Questions also loom as to whether future Galactica movies will continue the story past the end of the series. At a recent press gathering, I had the opportunity to talk briefly with BSG show runner, Ronald D. Moore, about these very concerns.
“Galactica is pretty much going to settle it. Caprica will be about how the Colonials, the people on The Colonies, developed the Cylons, and that has its own story to tell, about how that came about,” Moore explained of his new Sci-Fi series set to premiere sometime in 2010. “But in terms of the larger mysteries and mythologies, and the hows and the whys of how everything lays out on Galactica, we set out to answer as many of the questions as we could by the end of the show. That’s what we did. We didn’t hold on to anything in reserve and say, oh we’ll deal with that over on Caprica.”
This is certainly good news, and illustrates that the creators feel a real purpose and dedication to wrapping the mythology of this story up and giving us many of the answers we’ve waited years to discover. Moore also implied that while questions are answered, it is still necessary for the audience to be left with some elements to determine for themselves, so undoubtedly some questions will remain.
As for whether there are any solid plans for additional BSG movies, Ron D. Moore had this to say, “Just the one that’s called The Plan that’s already been shot, that Jane Espenson wrote, and Edward Olmos directed.”
Moore went on to say that The Plan is “another 2 hour movie very similar to Razor that we did a couple of years ago. Same kind of idea. It will not take place after the finale. The finale is the end of the…the period at the end of the sentence. And The Plan will take place earlier in the chronology in the same way that Razor took place earlier in the chronology.”
So as we all slowly come to terms with such a great show coming to an end, we can at least rest assured that Moore and the show’s other writers are not holding back on us, and saving material for future series or television movies. When we see the end of Battlestar Galactica after nine more episodes, it will truly be the end of the story. The period at the end of the sentence. Whether or not that ending will include the Galactica crew sitting around a table, enjoying dinner, and then fade to black still remains to be seen. But Gods… I hope not.
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I love how straight-forward the man is. He easily could have evaded any questions or acted mysterious, instead he says this is the period at the end of the sentence. I like this better than, say, Joss dragging out the possibility of a Spike spin-off for all eternity, still hasn’t decided even though James Marsters is 46. A great looking 46, but nonetheless…It is from the mouth of Marsters that we keep hearing Joss brings it up to him every now and then as a possibility.
I definitely agree with you Kripke. He was so open during the discussion. Granted, there were things he couldn’t tell us, and for those things he just said, “I can’t say right now.” or something similar. But he didn’t pretend that stuff that isn’t integral to the final episodes was some super-important secret.
I love how straight-forward the man is. He easily could have evaded any questions or acted mysterious, instead he says this is the period at the end of the sentence. I like this better than, say, Joss dragging out the possibility of a Spike spin-off for all eternity, still hasn't decided even though James Marsters is 46. A great looking 46, but nonetheless…It is from the mouth of Marsters that we keep hearing Joss brings it up to him every now and then as a possibility.
I definitely agree with you Kripke. He was so open during the discussion. Granted, there were things he couldn't tell us, and for those things he just said, "I can't say right now." or something similar. But he didn't pretend that stuff that isn't integral to the final episodes was some super-important secret.