For weeks now, I’ve been waiting with bated breath the conclusion to the monumental tv series BSG. I have wondered whether or not they would live up to the rest of the series of if they’d just shove the viewing audience off a cliff.
I needn’t have worried. There’s a reason this show has been called “the finest hour on television.” It eclipsed even the most beloved show M*A*S*H and has proven that the idiot box doesn’t have to cater to idiots. The acting, production, writing, music … all have been top notch from the very start. And they finished it up that way as well.
The two hour finale had me at the edge of my seat, holding my breath, shedding a few tears, shocked speechless, and so satisfied I would have reached for a cigarette if I smoked. They took every single loose thread from the entire series and wove it together into a sparkling tapestry that completed the tale of a lost civilization. They did it without resorting to maudlin tactics, silly references, or “I’m outta here” boredom on the part of the writers.
It was clean. It made perfect sense. They even gave yet another tip of the hat to the original (loathesome!) series. The original Centurians on the Cylon ship bore an odd resemblance to the original series’ robots. They even wove Bob Dylan’s old song “All Along the Watchtower” into the script so that IT made sense as the song that woke the final 5.
There are a number of books that also tie in to the ideas in the BSG universe, among them Zechariah Sitchin’s Twelfth Planet series:
Twelfth Planet: Book I of the Earth Chronicles (The Earth Chronicles)
And Robert Doherty’s Area 51 series which I SWEAR came about because he must have read Sitchin’s books:
And of course, the “granddaddy” of them all, Erich von Daniken:
They also added spiritual commentary that, again, made sense within the context of the story itself. No religious preaching (I was amazed to find out that the original series had ties to Mormon theology) which was refreshing since they could have easily gone that route.
I tell you, this show was one of the finest efforts ever seen on either the big OR small screen and NBC is crazy NOT to run the entire thing on the big network (they own SciFi channel now) so that more people can see it from start to finish.
As for me, I’m saving up my money so I can buy the entire boxed set when they release it which I’m confident they will do. They’d be nuts not to.
Kudos to the entire cast and crew of what is bound to become a classic of not only the genre but television as well.
I hope the new series CAPRICA can live up to its distinguished forebear.
Recent Comments