The saga has ended. The threads woven over the past several years have all been tied together in a racing staccato that is inadequately called the series finale. It was a literary end to a literary series.
The story has been told and the tale of the Battlestar Galactica is finished at last. Be warned: in some of what follows there are serious plot spoilers. Do not disservice this story by reading further if you have not seen the series in its entirety!
The series has been called a 're-imagining' of a science fiction concept by the same name. This must be an understatement. I have never seen the old BSG except by chance, and then only a few random snippets. From what I can gather, the old incarnation is much more straightforward: the machines of man's creation, encouraged by some unscrupulous humans, are at war with human civilization.
And so this Battlestar Galactica opens - humanity's robot creations, the Cylons, have rebelled against their erstwhile masters. The ensuing war results in a stalemate, and an armistice is declared. Forty years later, the Cylons launch a surprise nuclear attack on all twelve colonies simultaneously. And so the story begins. I do not intend to recount the plot: indeed, my mind is still reeling from the series finale. Instead, I want to pay tribute to what is by far the best thing I have seen come out of television in my life.
Overstatement? I am no culture critic, and for that matter, I don't watch that much television. My other favorite shows are South Park for its incisive political humor and cultural invective, and House in equal parts for the puzzle drama and its title character's personality. Nothing comes close to BSG in its scope, its drama, its perfect melding of the science fiction genre with a mystical, historical epic that spans galaxies and ages.
Let me get this part out of the way: the sci-fi part of the show is really cool. The consistency in aesthetic and attention to detail in creating the social setting are matched with panoramic space battles between massive battlestars, dogfights between attack craft, nuclear bombardment of massive spacecraft and installations, and some awesome sets where one begins to feel at home. When Gaius Baltar returns to Galactica after his stay on the Cylon baseship, one empathizes with his feeling at home.
Atomic weaponry launches in fulfillment of prophecies recorded on ancient scrolls. A pseudo-historical lore lies behind the establishment of the Twelve Colonies, an established federation of planets that is an unbelievably convincing human civilization. The pinnacle of human technology, the sentient and intelligent machine, rebels, and is almost its demise, except for the heroics of a small contingent of the Colonial Fleet, led by Commander William Adama.
And Commander Adama, who for the better part of the series is known as Admiral Adama, is a true hero. His faults only contribute to his character - a model officer. A man of his word, one of his first acts as the leader of the remnant of humanity is to lie to them about his knowledge of the mythical Earth. Part of the lore of the Twelve Colonies is that thirteen originally set out from the original home of humanity, a planet called Kobol. The thirteenth tribe went its own way and the Twelve settled a particular solar system. The Thirteenth is said to have settled on a planet called Earth, though this is actually the line where the history bleeds into the lore.
It is sort of akin to the Garden of Eden. While we (as a people) refer to it commonly, many among us do not believe it ever actually existed. It is a convenient paradigm for us to use when referring to our common experience, but most are unconcerned with its veracity as a historical location. I believe it is real, and in fact probably is still where it was originally created. Whether the book of Genesis means it as narrative history or moral history is a discussion for another post. But imagine everyone on Earth dying except ten thousand people, and with them survives prophecy and lore about the Garden of Eden and its role as a sanctuary for life. Suddenly the question becomes a bit more pertinent.
The threads of prophecy and destiny are weaved skillfully throughout the tale. Cylons that look like humans - skinjobs, as the Colonials call them - are discovered. Seven models are eventually identified. But Cylon lore (yes, really) speaks of twelve models, and the so-called "Final Five" are an object of reverence and apprehension among the seven known models. This is perhaps the major plot device in the series, as the revelation of these final five and their role in the origin and destiny of the other Cylons stretches from at least two thousand years before the opening of the series and plays well through to their final disposition at its end.
The characters are deep, and they develop. Lee Adama, the admiral's son, is perhaps the finest officer in the fleet. The show moves him deftly from soldier to field grade leader to battlestar commander to civil defense attorney and finally to principled but capable politician. Laura Roslin, a schoolteacher and former Secretary of Education, evolves from a reluctant president at odds with Admiral Adama (he arrests her at one point!), to shrewd and undisputed political leader of the fleet whose best friend is Admiral Adama. Gaius Baltar and Kara Thrace are the show's enigmas - both obviously have destinies, but neither of their destinies is even remotely clear until the end of the series. Every character in the show has depth and appeal - Felix Gaeta, Karl Agathon, Caprica Six, Romo Lamkin, Tom Zarek, both of the named Eights Boomer and Athena, Anastasia "D" Dualla, Saul Tigh, and even minor characters like Roslin's first assistant Billy and Adama's brief foil Admiral Helena Cain.
And the romantic drama between these people! The characters in this show are so multidimensional, so compelling, that I find myself mourning that I can learn no more of their story. But, of course, there is no more.
My fingers would dance across this keyboard all night in tribute to this most excellent of productions. What would have made for great entertainment were it simply a science fiction war-based series ascends to formidable heights by weaving in epic poetry, infusing the entire storyline with mysticism, and steering the series towards a literary and definable conclusion that leaves one feeling like Lee Adama, standing on the grass plains of Africa in wonder and excitement, realizing that all of these people have now gone away from you: just minutes after your father leaves for the last time, your old friend and beloved Kara Thrace leaves you for her higher destiny.
Alas, as the story was written with a conclusion, so too must this tribute of it. I doubt that all of this will happen again!
