To the Frakking End

So many things to write about, and so little time . . .

We just came off a fantastic Winterail weekend, and I'll be posting pictures soon -- plus photos from the great southern California mini book tour. But that needs to wait for a day or two. Tonight I'm saying goodbye to the best show on TV: Battlestar Galactica.

Five years ago, I never dreamed I'd be saying those words above. All I remember then was the news that Ron Moore (a former Star Trek showrunner) was planning a "reboot" miniseries of the 1978 classic -- OK, "classic" may be a bit much, but for us kids swirling in 1970s Star Wars-mania, it was like getting a weekly fix of a galaxy far, far away. So what if the good guys were on the run and the bad guys looked like walking toasters? The ships were awesome and the characters were cool. And who's going to argue with Lorne Green as Commander Adama?

Take an FTL jump to present-day, and I can't imagine anyone other than Edward James Olmos as the great Admiral Adama. But the entire cast is amazing . . . as are the writers, who have redefined sci-fi with stories about war, politics, terrorism, sex, religion, and more. BSG is the only show that's truly tackled our post-9/11 world, and every week it asks the tough questions: are we worthy of survival? How far do we push our values and morals in the name of survival, without losing what makes us human?

Oh yeah, and then there are mind-blowing space battles, scary metallic Cylons and humanoid Cylons that look like supermodels. There's also Bear McCreary's amazing music, maybe the best EVER in television. (Check out his first-class blog HERE). And of course, there's "frak," the greatest curse word in TV history.

BSG "does bleak well," as one critic has said, so it's not for everyone. Eddie Olmos and Mary McDonnell are routinely robbed of Emmy nominations (she plays President Laura Roslin, the former secretary of education who becomes president after a sneak Cylon apocalypse). Heck, the show won a Peabody and countless other awards, yet the Emmy crew plods along in clueless bliss. But this isn't the time to dwell on such matters.

Bluffing is pretty much pointless

BSG is about a family that's born amid the worst of times, and how they hang onto each other to keep hope alive. These characters -- Apollo, Starbuck, Col. Tigh, Baltar, Helo, Sharon, Six -- have become real to me, and I've laughed and cried with them for five wonderful years. The best shows know when to quit, however, and now it's time to say goodbye. I have a feeling that BSG's legacy will last for decades, long after other shows from the era are forgotten. It's been a frakking good ride. So say we all.

Fun LA Times Battlestar stories:

The Tighs Toast a Final Goodbye (where I learned my favorite new word, "drunkalogue")

The 'Battlestar Galactica' Drinking Game

Public relations, Galactica style, at the HRmarketer.com blog:

Messaging and Mutinies