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Final Season of Battlestar Galactica Confirmed
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri May 11, 2007 11:03 AM
from the well-frack dept.
from the well-frack dept.
Ant writes "Via Dark Horizons, IESB reported from the 10th annual Saturn awards yesterday, and spoke with Battlestar Galactica stars Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. Olmos confirmed that, as far as the show that's been running so far, the fourth season will be the last one. It's currently slated to start airing in January of 2008. 'Olmos says "This will probably be the most extraordinary season of 'Battlestar'. It's the final season, so it's definitely going to be the most vicious. As far as we know, in respects of the way we have this show constructed, this is the final season." Sackhoff says "I think part of the problem is that it's an expensive show. It is [a great show], but we don't have the viewership that a great show should get."'"
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Entertainment: Battlestar Galactica To Continue After All 223 comments
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."
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Battlestar Galactica's End Officially After Season 4 356 comments
Ant writes "First it was off, and then it was back on. Yahoo is now reporting on a release put out by David Eick and Ronald Moore stating that they will conclude Battlestar Galactica at the end of Season 4. They said it was a creative decision, and that they wanted to end the show on their own terms. The show was always planned with a definite beginning, middle and end, unlike many other sci-fi shows and dramas. Sci Fi Channel has accepted the decision. The news had been foreshadowed this spring through statements from stars Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. Ronald Moore himself had said that the show was heading into its final act, although he said the final act could be one or two more seasons. Now we know that the final act will last for one season. The special 2-hr. episode 'Razor' starts off the season in November. The first regular episodes of Season 4 will air in early 2008."
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Expensive show, but what about DVD? (Score:5, Interesting)
Shame no one watches it (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Shame no one watches it (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, they had a lot more viewers. Right up until the SciFi channel broke up their powerful friday night lineup [savestargatesg1.com] (BSG->SG1->Atlantis) and tried to launch BSG up against the Big 3 fall lineups. (Urk!) Sorry, SciFi. You're not that big.
The SciFi channel has some of the greatest shows ever made. Yet time and time again they shoot themselves in the foot. Twice. Just to make sure they get both feet. Then they get some prosthetics so they can shoot themselves in the foot again. Twice. Just to be sure.
Parent
Re:Sci-Fi not that dumb (Score:5, Insightful)
Television executives have never needed a reason to can shows before. If they don't like it, *poof* it's gone. Even if there is a massive fan outrage, it won't necessarily change the executive decisions. (Witness: Global Frequency, Firefly, Space: Above and Beyond, Sliders)
The official (and very believable) reason for the change in schedule was that SciFi wanted to stagger the shows so that they'd get massive revenues throughout the year rather than only when the Friday Night lineup was running. BSG was their strongest show, so that's the one they put up against the networks.
Seems less like maliciousness to me, and more of a case of killing the Golden Goose.
Parent
scheduling killed BSG (Score:3, Insightful)
The story arcs got so complex, too, that it became increasingly hard to join the show as a new viewer. How do you just jump in midway into season 3 and feel a connection to
you can always count on the Sci-Fi channel... (Score:5, Insightful)
And then kill them.
Re:you can always count on the Sci-Fi channel... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:you can always count on the Sci-Fi channel... (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:you can always count on the Sci-Fi channel... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Or, go out while they're still hot instead of beating it into the ground (like the Star Trek series)?
Maybe the writers, producers, and actors got together and said, "There's not much more we can before we go stale and become a parody of ourselves." There's some real talent on that show (they're not your typical network hacks) and I think they want to keep their work, I don't know, "true".
Re:you can always count on the Sci-Fi channel... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd rather them kill a show when it's due, than drag it on just because. I can't think of a single science fiction or fantasy show that lasted more than 4 years, that had 4 years of actual good, worthwhile content. Not any of the treks, not Stargate, not Buffy... Heck, as much as I love the show I could have passed on season 5 of Babylon 5. Maybe a 4 year plan is a good thing?
Parent
That's what you get (Score:5, Insightful)
Over the last season and a half, the show has been sucking pretty badly. It feel a long way from the absolute best show on TV ever, to yet another middling sci-fi show where everything gets wrapped up neatly at the end of each episode, no prominent cast members ever die, and they beat you over the head with whatever moral/political point they are trying to make at the time.
I hope they go out with a bang. I hope they are, as Olmos said, vicious. BSG started out as a gritty, dark and hard story about the shit hitting the fan over and over again. Let's hope the writers remember that before it's too late.
And I'd rather the show end nicely than fade into irrelevance by over-staying its welcome (as per Star Gate).
Re:That's what you get (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:That's what you get (Score:5, Informative)
morons whistling Dylan in the bathroom
Hendrix is the just the most famous cover.
Parent
Re:That's what you get (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Good News (Score:3, Insightful)
By contrast, one of my other favorite shows used to be The Sopranos, a show that has floundered for the past two years. They seem to be ending with their weekest run of shows to date. It will be hard for me to remember that show as fondly as I would like.
Rome was a great show that didn't run long enough, but there was no filler. A damn good series from start to end.
Sometimes less is more. (Star Trek, I'm looking at you)
deja vu (Score:4, Interesting)
About the first series... "It was the most expensive television production of its time: $7 million (U.S.). Each weekly episode cost a purported $1 million (U.S.). "
I've been here before for the first series, and am seeing it now. In another 30 years when the third version is made I'll bet it won't last for the same reason.
So how are they tracking viewers? (Score:3, Insightful)
Are they including iTunes downloads and DVD sales? If not, why not? These days, anyone between the ages of 15 and 30 spends more time watching downloads and DVDs than they do tuning into TV broadcasts.
The era of everyone tuning into a scheduled TV broadcast is *over*. Does Nielsen still think it's 1960?
The Cylons Have A Plan (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The Cylons Have A Plan (Score:5, Funny)
- RDM is the final Cylon, and this whole "plan" has been to show everyone what Voyager could have been with decent writing and a little continuity of shuttlecraft, battle damage, etc.
- William Shatner is the ship's cook.
- Scott Bakula will finally get to leap out of Brother Cavell when they find Earth.
- Fry and Leela will be married.
- Q will appear and say that humanity has once again proved itself worthy of existing for at least more study, but that we'll never actually see him again so the storyline is left open but dead.
- The Baltar is a Prophet.
- Adama tells Starbuck he's her father, then cuts off her hand. Due to budget constraints, in the very next scene, she'll get a new hand, and that'll be the end of that.
- A centurion is left on a mid-industrial civilized planet, and they begin to shake their heads around as they walk so their entire lives will be lived in shakey-cam mode.
- FEMA was behind the whole "nuke the colonies" thing so they could take over the government, but when the plot is exposed, everyone just laughs at how stupid it is to think that FEMA could have come up with such an elaborate plan.
- The Fifth Element is Tricia Helfer.
- The Cylons are really the "humans" as we know them, and the humans are really the "Cylons," and they've all been living in an 18th century village with a major highway just beyond those trees over there that noone but some blind chick has been able to find.
- The centurions almost overthrow the human-looking Cylon models, but are majorly nerfed in 2.1 and can't take all those pots at once any more.
- Lee keeps hearing "Save Starbuck. Save the world" but realizes his world has already been nuked a couple times so screw it.
Parent
Good (Score:3, Insightful)
And they'd better have a really, REALLY good reason to explain why Tigh and the Chief are Cylons, or the first episode of the last season just might be the last one I ever watch. Talk about jumping the shark.
In a way, it makes sense... (Score:5, Insightful)
This happens in a lot of shows, where the big point plot that always seems like a distant thing finally arrives. And once it does, there isn't much left to talk about. It becomes an entirely different show, with a different focus, and viewship will decline.
Look at some fine examples from TV's past.
Twin Peaks was a brilliant and weird show, that had a whole bunch of people talking. I still remember going to "Twin Peaks viewing parties" at friends houses, where we would all watch the episode together, and then start to dissect it over coffee and pie. (Those of you that remember the show will remember the line "damn fine pie".) But, once we knew who the killer was, there was nothing left to tell. They tried a second season, and it was a colossal flop. We all got what we wanted.
Moonlighting was another example. Once "Dave" and "Mattie" became romantically involved, instead of dancing around the subject, nobody really cared anymore. The show went into the toilet, ratings wise.
If BSG closes up shop after they find Earth and get things settled in, there is a good chance that most viewers will never say "Damn, BSG jumped the shark".
It is the reason 24 keeps on working. Every year, it reaches its ending, and the next year's season is a totally new (sorta) scenario for Jack Bauer to fix.
Personally, I like the TV show "Heroes", but I worry that it is headed for a Twin Peaks type ending. Once they save New York City, where will they go that will keep our attention? If we all end up feeling satisfied with that ending, then nobody will want to watch season 2.
Re:In a way, it makes sense... (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Good Job (Score:3, Interesting)
Take ST:TNG as an example, it ended at the height of its popularity, and the last season is the most amazing one in my opinion. So rather beat it into the ground (which they did with new series instead) they took it out in grand fashion, with the crazy two-parter with Q and a possible future, and bringing back Yar and all that.
So heres hoping they do it right and its not a show where you can't help but think 'What the hell happened?' years later.
Olmos quote... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I figure, yes - because they were both shown on normal broadcast networks, as opposed to a cable/satellite-only channel.
Plus there's that whole "they're not as good as BSG but, sci-fi-wise, they were about the best thing on TV when they were on" thing.
The nature of BSG's story is that they couldn't keep running forever - as sad as I am that (assuming the actors quoted are correct) the fourth season will be the last, it kinda makes sense.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Seriously though, Star Trek TV series have been notorious for having small budgets.
...then make it... ROCK! (Score:5, Funny)
And what's wrong with wrestling? Open the event with the battle of the MILFs -- President Laura "The Amazon" Roslin vs. D'Anna "I'm Not Xena" Biers. Have Boomer walk the ring in a tight bikini, holding up the round cards. End the series with the grand finale: Starbuck vs. Six, and hold it the landing bay of a Cylon base star's worth of jello!
> there's STILL time!
After sitting through an entire season of budget-constrained character development... "there sure is, buddy, there sure is."
Parent
Re: flashback (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
No, it doesn't (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the way the show should end, on a high note. As pointed out somewhere else further down, the show is starting to degrade. There was a time when you never really knew what was going to happen next. A time when, unlike other shows, they weren't afraid to kill off major characters or have the plot twist 180 degrees in another direction.
Now, though, it's gotten where you know that all the majors will be with us next week, that in the end, everything will work out okay. It's just gotten kind of ho-hum.
If they make this the last season, it gives them incredible freedom to do some really great things dramatically. All characters are fair game. All plots are on the board for major twists. And they can always come back and do movies or mini-series if there's a demand for it.
Here's my prediction, though. They get to Earth, but as it turns out, it's not exactly the thirteenth colony they expected. Think about it. It's all happened before, right? The Cylons and the thirteenth colony have encountered each other just as our ragtag colonial crew and the Cylons are encountering each other now. They intermingled (Eve, anyone?), and the result is that we here on earth are actually the progeny of both colonial humans and Cylons. We even adopted both religions. People here are killing each other over the same ideological differences as the Cylons and the colonials are.
I could be wrong, but I think that's ultimately the ending plot twist. When all is said and done, it turns out that WE are Cylons, too, a fact that has been lost to antiquity.
Parent
Re:This really....sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
These shows will ultimately be more successful with end-points written- the writers will have a clear goal of what to write to and how to make it interesting to get there, instead of just coming up with more ways to string viewers along.
While it sucks that it's going off the air, it'll make for better TV along the way.
Parent
or even WORSE!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
and then... break out.. loosing all end game, and drag it out to suckdom forever.
Parent
Re:This really....sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, I think BSG is the best show on television right now (as much as it's on at all right now, rasm frasm nine month hiatus). But despite the fact that the show has occasionally floundered a bit, I've generally had the feeling that the show is actually going somewhere, that Ron Moore et. al. are actually interested in telling a story. One that has... what's it called? Oh right! An end.
Contrast this with Lost, which I started off watching avidly, but now... well, the four phases of Lost watching:
1. This show is great! I wonder what they'll do next?!?
2. Huh? That didn't make sense.
3. You guys are making it up as you go along, aren't you?
4. God, I hope you guys are making it up, because God help you if you planned it this way.
And Lost just got extended another three seasons.
Parent
Re:This really....sucks. (Score:5, Funny)
Damon note: We have gathered hippies and provided them with Absinthe and pot. They have been prompted to talk.
Hippie 1: Hey, lets have polar bears on an island!!
Hippie 2: Evil companies are bad. DOWN WITH THE MAN!!!
Hippie 3: SO MANY SCARY NUMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hippie 4: (munch munch munch)
Hippie 2: Wars are killing the goodness in the Earth.
Hippie 3: Dude, don't you guys see that man in that chair over there.
Hippie 1&2: No man. There's nothing there.
Hippie 3: I'm serious dudes.
Hippie 4: Anyone want to go to Whitecastle? Might as well get fat as hell, it's awesome.
Hippie 2: What if everyone was interconnected to EVERYONE!
Hippie 1: Man if I crashed on an island, I'd have like no pot.
Hippie 2&3: OH NOES!!!!
Hippie 4: (passed out)
Carlton note: Well Damon, I think we have some good ideas.
Damon note: Yep, let's get started.
Parent
Re:This really....sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
I have no interest in BSG running 10 seasons. You will likely be unable to keep the entire cast together and let's face it, this cast is solid. You will run out of plot ideas to look at and have to make up the next enemy (Gaould, replicators, Orai) and it just gets silly to me. I used to love Stargate but I lost interest simply because I didn't have time to keep track of everything going on (new development x or superevil badguy y and spinoff z) and some of it just got ridiculous to me.
This is the story that they want to tell and thus far, I have yet to be disappointed. Some episodes aren't as interesting. Some twists were ridiculous. But the story is still there and I believe it will end well.
Parent
Re:This really....sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Why is it that. all good things come to an end. (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, most of the American TV viewing public is stupid and couldn't possibly understand or enjoy a show like Battlestar or Firefly for long. I think they should seriously think about either producing these shows direct to dvd. There can be a strong business case given how well the firefly and serenity dvd's sell.
Either that or release them in theaters on a regular basis ala old-school serials.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It's all a matter of opinion.
Re:Why is it that. all good things come to an end. (Score:5, Insightful)
Watching a SF show like BSG, Firefly, Babylon 5, the new hit Heroes, or even the reviled Deep Space 9 requires a good understanding of a large backstory in order to truly appreciate it. Episodic shows like Star Trek (original or NG) is fine for dipping in and out of the make-believe, and so are easier for casual watching.
The more complex the plot arc, the more work required to make meaning as a viewer.
That's exactly why I like those shows: an audacious plot. The hook is the Big Picture. The rewards are a huge amount of nuance inside each episode.
Parent
Re:Why is it that. all good things come to an end. (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't mean to crap on your birthday cake here, and believe me I enjoy Battlestar and Firefly as much as the next slashdotter, but its not as if these shows are pixelated genius. I'm fairly confident that if my 8-year old cousin can hold a lengthy discussion with me about BSG that we're not really straining people's brains here.
And then just as an aside, its interesting when you imply that Reality shows are thusly "stupid." I mean we're definitely talking apples and oranges (reality tv and dramas), but I think anyone who's interested in Game Theory and sociology would definitely find some intriguing aspects in Survivor.
Parent
Re:Why is it that. all good things come to an end. (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of people don't want to be challenged by their entertainment. They saw a TV show that they liked yesterday, and what they want more than anything in the world is to watch that same TV show again. You need to change it just enough that they're not bored by an exact repetition, but core should be as close to identical as humanly possible.
Sci-fi fans aren't entirely immune to it, either. They brought Zombie Star Trek out for years after it should have been given a dignified burial. James Bond film scripts have been (until the most recent one) essentially mad-libs. And they'll even watch the same old movies (e.g. The Empire Strikes Back) until they can quote the dialogue and can spot changes on a frame-by-frame basis (and accuse those of doing so of raping their childhoods).
Poor Battlestar is just too expensive to continue. It must cost nearly as much as Lost, a show which probably has 10 times the viewership. Better to let it die than to compromise their vision.
Parent
Re:Why is it that. all good things come to an end. (Score:5, Informative)
Mike Elgen over at Computerworld has a few ideas on where those viewers have gone. I don't know why so many have left so quickly but I'm sure it has something to do with the poor shows available. "Survivor", "American Idol". These are the shows with the highest ratings?
If you think things are bad on TV now, wait until June when the Writer's Guild of America West and East combine for the first time in a long while to get better contracts from the production studios. The Director's Guild and another couple of Guilds are lined up right after that. TV will be pretty poor for a long while I guess.
Won't bother me though. I watch very little besides BG and the canceled "Daybreak". And why should I when I have access to HD television and excellent shows such as "Planet Earth" on Discovery HD.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, we can't hold SciFi accountable for Dr. Who since they can't touch it other than playing it, thank all that is good.
but seriously, when these go off the air, I'm probably just gonna ditch cable.
Re:You could see this coming (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:You could see this coming (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree. I grew up in the UK with shows that ran for only a season or a few seasons (one season a year and no repeats) - from what I understand that's changed(ing). It allowed the writers to present a good tight story in a concluding arc. Even if the show sucked there was a sense of closure and anticipation to what type of show would replace it. While I hated Enterprise, they had the sense to allow for a written conclusion rather than cliff-hanger ending, which made it a little more tolerable (what can I say, I have a need to watch most SciFi even if I hate it - I even watched Blade: The series *shudder*). The whole nature of Babylon 5 was good. You go back and watch the series again from the beginning and it just comes together so nicely (in the fourth series of course). X-files was a disaster. It started so well, but then they gave up too much plot while intending to push the show further along and ended up with a show that was a joke (the native american season was when it fell apart for me). So when I started watching BSG (and Heroes btw) I really hoped that they would conclude the series after 3 or 4 seasons. Let them find Earth, let them figure out that there are a second unknown set/race/breed of cylons (my personal theory), let it end with dignity and less filler.
Parent
Right on. (Score:5, Insightful)
Tell the story. When the story is over, it's over. Trying to tack on extra seasons is just going to make it suck.
Parent
Parent is not Flamebait... (Score:5, Insightful)
Since the escape from new Caprica in the Exodus two-parter, the show seems to have just drifted into the realm of the weird and pointless at times. Filler episodes have increased (such as the boxing episode - Unfinished Business, and the rogue doctor killing Saggitarans in The Woman King), and the main story has been tangled up in a load of tired existential and spiritual nonsense that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The finale of Season 3 even has Starbuck coming back from the dead, apparently as a figment of Lee's imagination. Oh great, another character inexplicably living in someone's head.
Of course, it's all down to opinion in these matters, but for me I'd like to see the show's main story to get back to the heights of Season 1 and 2 (and the start of Season 3). The desperate and down-trodden survivors of the human race fighting to stay alive and stay ahead of the Cylon fleet hunting them at every jump. Brilliant and touching filler / side-story episodes like Season 2's Rise of the Phoenix and Scar, and more all-or-nothing dogfights with the genocidal toasters.
I'll be watching season 4 whatever happens, it's still a good show. But I do think it has been missing its potential lately - hopefully it will improve next season.
Parent
Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)
On one hand, I love the show, and hate to see it end. On the other hand, you can only drag out the story so long before it gets out of hand, so this may be the best way to end it.
Besides, isn't there a spinoff show planned?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Battlestar Galactica 2010 where the crew hides the ship in orbit and go down to earth and try to blend in with the low tech people that live there. It will be gritty and cutting edge!
I just realized that I made almost all BSG fans that remember the old show spit all over the screen and scream "OH GOD NO!"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
My only question is when CBS is going to get the message and launch there own series? I mean c'mon, The Incredible Hulk is just too campy for my tastes.