Battlestar Galactica's End Officially After Season 4

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."

Re:We always planned it this way!

[Zarhan]

Well, at least Babylon 5 actually did it for real.

Re:We always planned it this way!

[drinkypoo]

B5 was forced to make numerous course corrections due to funding/network shifts and the departure of at least one major actor. But in general they were as true to the arc as possible...

future tech

[Elfich47]

There are two reasons for the pieces of paper/table top battle mock ups etc: 1. The in story version is because the humans had to restrict the amount of computer networking etc etc etc because of cylon infiltration and network destruction that could occur. So the Battlestar was designed to run 'low tech' and not be able to be infiltrated by the cylons that way. (Also if you want the shiny happy future-go watch Star Trek with all of their touch screen goodness). 2. It is a concession to the viewer. Viewers can relate to having to shuffle paper and push models on a table in order to gain perspective. This is used so the viewers can related to the characters a bit more.

Re:Good

[gobbo]

Sending pieces of paper around the ship as a futuristic method of communication??? And you gotta love how they use that 2D table top with the little plastic models of space ships to plan out their 3D space missions. Instead of using a computer for simulation, they move the ships around with their hands!

The entire premise for the show is that this museum piece, Galactica, was built in an age when humans were extremely paranoid about infected networks, as they nearly lost the previous war due to their computers being too powerful and thus, vulnerable to intelligent machines. Galactica is the only ship that survives the Cylon attack precisely because of its low-tech configuration, and it is their major playing card in strategic engagements. In their rebuilding efforts after taking damage, they struggle with this rule to keep it dumbed-down and non-networked. I take it you've missed some key episodes, like the pilot.

Re:Ok but...

[saforrest]

what about Pegasus then? How did it manage to survive? It was a modern ship and yet seemed to have networked computers. Clearly they managed to secure their networks because they survived encounters with the Cyclons.

They survived because they made a random FTL jump to the middle of nowhere and had time to figure out what went wrong (i.e. Six's virus in Baltar's program). They had also already been tipped off to the fact that something was wrong with their computers by the fact that the rest of the fleet had been slaughtered.

As implausible events go in BSG, the explanation here is one of the most sensible.

Re:BS

[the phantom]

Babylon 5 does not belong on that list. The show was planned for five seasons. Fox announced that they were canning it at the beginning of the fourth season, so the last two seasons were written into season four, then the show was moved to another network for a fifth season. The fourth season was, arguably, the best. The fifth season was not nearly as good, but you cannot blame the show being canceled when it was on the fifth season, as it had already been announced, before the season started, that the fifth season would be the last.

Re:Ok but...

[amabbi]

what about Pegasus then? How did it manage to survive? It was a modern ship and yet seemed to have networked computers. Clearly they managed to secure their networks because they survived encounters with the Cyclons.

Why not watch the show? They explain all of this.

Gaius Baltar devised a brilliant new command and navigation program that was installed on all computers in the fleet. Six put in a backdoor in this program that allowed Cylons to r00t the new system and disable them. That's why the entire Colonial Fleet was sitting ducks, except for Galactica (because the "Old Man" refused to have the network computers needed to run the new software) and Pegasus (which was being refit and hadn't had the new software installed yet).

In other words, Watch The Fucking Show.