The End of Battlestar Galactica
Five years ago when Star Trek was just about ending, Battlestar Galactica swooped in to take its place. Now just as Battlestar Galactica’s ending, Star Trek is coming back. Ironic, yes, but maybe that’s the way it should be. Battlestar Galactica was intended to represent the post-9/11 era. Cylons were stand-ins for terrorists and they could be anywhere. The destruction of the 12 colonies of Kobol was analogous of the destruction of the World Trade Center. Two buildings and an attack on the Pentagon are nowhere near the scale of the destruction of 12 entire worlds, and the human population was also not reduced to 50,000 people on September 11, 2001 as it was on Battlestar Galactica, but the series took what America was feeling at the time and amplified those feelings to extreme degree to see how the characters would cope with such an extreme situation, or if they could even cope at all. We sympathized with them. Battlestar Galactica spoke to us in the post-9/11 world. In a similar vein, the end of Galactica, as it flies to its end, is akin to the end of the era we’ve been living in for eight years. After the remnants of the colonial fleet scatter on Earth, the Balter and Six angels wonder if humanity will destroy itself again. They’re wondering about us: Earth in the present day. This time they have hope. Humanity has a new beginning and has entered a new era. This dovetails back into Star Trek’s optimistic view of the future. As Adama said back the mini-series, we have to have something to live for; it’s not enough to just live.
When the colonial fleet first arrives on the planet they decide to dub Earth, Apollo recommends they not contaminate this planet’s people with their baggage so civilization can begin anew. On a larger scale, this makes sense because if this is supposed to be Earth 150,000 years ago, then the audience would have to wonder why we don’t have technology so much more advanced than we do right now. So technology had to given up or lost. What seems a little too pat is that everyone agrees to completely give up technology. Wouldn’t there be any differences of opinion? But the series is ending, so no time for that. Or, these arguments occur off screen. The fleet has never fully agreed about anything over the course of the series, so start now? And how many of us would honestly be willing to completely give up technology to live the “simple life”? Sure, it might sound great when there’s nice weather out, but what if there’s a storm? Never mind about predators. This resolution is about the idea but not the details, at least not the societal ones. Ron Moore keeps the details about the characters.
Beforehand, I wondered how many characters would be killed in “Daybreak”. No surprise that Cavil died; and he killed himself Hitler-style to boot. Tori had what was coming to her as well. Boomer was a little more complicated. Like Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi, she came out of what could be called the Dark Side to rescue Hera, even though she happened to be the one who kidnapped her in the first place. Between kidnapping Hera, seducing Tyrol, being adulterant with an unsuspecting Helo, and shooting Adama in the blue all the way back in the end of the first season, it’s important to realize how much grief Boomer has caused these people. This needs to be kept in mind when Athena ultimately kills her. To the end, Boomer was heavily conflicted, no matter what choice she made.
It was a surprise to see that Rolsin was the only antagonist to die. Until I saw Helo at the end with Athena and Hera, I thought for sure he was fatally wounded during the battle against Cavil’s Cylons. I was also surprised that Galactica wasn’t destroyed in battle. But then, how could the fleet have found a new home otherwise? In the end, Galactica really was the dying leader that took them to the Promised Land. When I saw Earth, the first thing I thought of was maybe I should rent the documentary series Planet Earth on Blu-Ray. The cinematography of Earth and all of its life was so lush. The music on Earth swells with warmth and augments the real feeling of accomplishment. They've finally found their home. This was hard won and they've earned it. This is the real Earth. I was glad that Roslin got to see it before she died. Roslin is close to the same age my mother would’ve been if she was still alive and she also died from cancer. That was a little painful to watch, and I could see Adama being my father. Very bittersweet. Yet, Adama has become a stronger person after all the turmoil and upheaval he’s been through and continues on, finally in peace, in a quiet area of the world. Living near where he buried Roslin.
Everyone else seems to live “happily ever after” as well. Ellen and Tigh are back together. Baltar and Six are back together. Helo and Athena have their family. Tyrol wants to go out on his own. Apollo wants to explore. What about Starbuck? No questions are answered about Starbuck’s return and everything’s left up to interpretation. Is she an angel that everyone happened to see? Is she something else? Adama says that she’s his daughter and that’s all that matters. Maybe this is in keeping with Ron Moore’s approach to the story being about people, but an important part of being a person is to know what you are. How much should actually be up to interpretation. Did Ron Moore really decide to kill Starbuck and bring her back with no explanation for how? Story first and rationalization second? If no reason is going to sound satisfactory or be acceptable, then why even kill her off to begin with; aside from because you can? This would be like killing Spock in Star Trek II, skipping over III altogether, opening Star Trek IV with Spock back on the bridge with no explanation and then Kirk saying, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go save the whales!” If this were Star Trek there could’ve been plenty of explanations for how Starbuck came back but since Battlestar Galactica wants to be a naturalistic series, they couldn’t really use any of them so the writers wrote themselves into a corner. The only way out was if Starbuck was a Cylon or part-Cylon who could download and nothing indicates that.
I looked up “harbinger” to figure out what Starbuck’s being “The Harbinger of Death” could mean. As a noun a pertinent meaning is, “A person sent in advance of troops, a royal train, etc., to provide or secure lodgings and other accommodations.” As a verb it means, in relation with an object, “to act as harbinger to; herald the coming of.” Its synonyms are: herald, forerunner, precursor, portent, and indication. Did she die in advance? Is she the angel leading them to Earth? Or does she lead this incarnation of the human race to its end because she takes them to Earth where they eventually integrate into the native population? It could be both. The latter makes more scientific sense, but how could the Hybrids prophesize this?
Starbuck’s resurrection and role in the series isn’t the sole thing at odds with a naturalistic approach: another factor is the mythology; the religion. The good news is “Daybreak” reconciles with the end of “Home, Part 2” in the second season, when Adama, Roslin, et al, reach The Tomb of Athena and see a vibrant Earth as opposed to the burnt cinder we saw from earlier this season. But even as far back as “Home, Part 2” I wondered how it was that they were able to be on Earth or seem to experience being on Earth and it was never answered. Just like what Starbuck is was never answered. I was willing to accept artistic license with Head Six and Head Balter, and go along with never knowing what they are. We still don’t know what exactly what they are but they seem to be angels who know God will enough to know that He doesn’t like to be called “God”. Is this Battlestar Galactica or Touched By an Angel? I wasn’t under the impression that the supernatural was intended to be part of this series. Between the angels and Starbuck, maybe it was, but this pushes the series too much into fantasy and away from the almost hyper-realistic, documentary approach I was led to believe we were watching during the first season. Back when it seemed like Head Six just might be a figment of Baltar’s crazy imagination. And, no, she can't still just be a figment of Baltar's imagination 150,000 years later since he'd be long dead.
Even if the series has changed and gone in directions I hadn’t predicted, it’s still been quite a ride. It’s been fun to anticipate what might come next and theorize about what came before. Even at the end, there were still surprises - and the ones that are most surprising are the ones you aren’t expecting because those are the genuine surprises. It’s minor but it still proves my point: who could’ve ever seen Admiral Hoshi or President Lampkin coming? The one important thing that’s remained constant, though, is Battlestar Galactica has always set out to be different from traditional space opera. And it succeeded in its goal. The differences have been what’s made the series so much more interesting and given us so much more to talk about. As Admiral Adama would say, “Sometimes you just have to roll the hard-six.” So say we all!