(originally written for ALARM Magazine in March 2009)
Awhile back I wrote a column for ALARM about the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica. I discussed the “fascinatingly complex story,” and how creator Ronald Moore’s update of the series was like “a good cover song,” in that it was more than just a remake, but a reinterpretation. After watching the series finale recently, I re-read that column, and honestly don’t disagree with anything I said at the time. In fact, it only reminded me why I was so disappointed in the way the series completely fell apart in the last two seasons.
Shortly after that column was published, Battlestar and one of my other favorite TV series, Lost, hit a pretty hard dry spell. Despite obvious differences between the two, they have a lot in common. Both are character-driven, serialized dramas that focus on a central story arc that presents itself in the first episode: Adama has to lead his crew to Earth, while Jack has to get the castaways off the island. Both contain elements of science fiction and fantasy: the crew of Battlestar is chased through the galaxy by robots with mysterious motivations, and the passengers of Oceanic 815 are chased around the island by “The Others” while mysterious stuff happens all over the place. Both seemed unlikely to have even been picked up by networks in the first place, never mind earn huge popularity. And when they achieved success, both had the same problem: they didn’t have an end date.
Unlike sitcoms, procedural shows, or even primetime soaps, the nature of these stories necessitated an end date from the beginning. A network can make as many episodes of CSI, Law and Order, House, Desperate Housewives, or According To Jim as viewers are willing to watch. They just have to come up with a new corpse, a new crime, a new disease, a new drama or… well, there’s no accounting for why According To Jim is still on the air, but you get the point. Many genres of television are built for the business model: try it out and, if it works, ride it until it stops working. Rinse and repeat. But in trying to replicate the success of many cable dramas in the past decade, networks have created series like Battlestar and Lost, which are set up more like movies or mini-series in terms of their stories. There’s an arc that needs to be completed, and the beginning is only as important as the end is satisfying.
So, both Battlestar and Lost started to flounder around the same time. The stories meandered into one-off plotlines that went no where, and without an end date, the writers didn’t know how much to reveal about whatever plans they had to end the series. The shows took weird, unpopular tangents into areas of the stories and back-stories that were both totally unnecessary and extremely unpopular. Worse, the production and air schedules became erratic to the point where most viewers didn’t even know when new episodes were airing or when a new season would arrive.
At around the same time, both Sci-Fi and ABC gave the series hard end dates. At last, fans of well-structured drama rejoiced, and it seemed the writers could stop treading water, and get to the story they’d been dying to tell from the beginning. But unfortunately, this is where their stories diverged. As Lost began to tighten up and take the story in unbelievable directions that amazed critics and audiences, Battlestar faltered. Within less than a season, as obvious as it became that the writers of Lost had a lot in store for their audiences, it became equally obvious that the writers of Battlestar had no clue how to end their story.
Not knowing what else to do in the interim between success and an end date, Battlestar ended up in a plotline in which the fleet was under Cylon oppression on colony they called New Caprica. In order to get us off that rock and back on our trek through the galaxy, the writers and producers treated the audience to the fleet’s escape from the colony. No matter what happened later, the episode where the colonists finally escaped that colony is one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen. It’s action-packed, exciting, and filled with a sense of purpose. It seemed the series was off to a wonderful new beginning.
And then… nothing. With the exception of a cool episode here or there, and a fun little mutiny subplot in the beginning of the final season, the story meandered as badly as ever, except now the meandering was more panicked as we neared the final season. Convoluted mythologies were explored and then abandoned, back stories no one cared about were revealed and then forgotten. Episode by episode it became clear that the creators had painted themselves into a corner, and were frantically trying to paint doors everywhere.
It didn’t happen all at once, but the sense of uncertainty built until the last half of the last season, in which nothing made any sense. Plot points that were abandoned seasons ago were resurrected, only to be written off strangely or abandoned again. For some reason they felt it necessary to further develop characters the audience had known for seasons, two episodes before the end of the series. All of the sudden, flashbacks were introduced that only came off as laughable non-sequiturs.
Keep in mind that this show had a tremendously loyal audience that incessantly dissected the show’s mythology. Plenty of very smart, very enthusiastic viewers spent hours discussing and arguing the finer points of the show, and such conversations always centered around how it would end. The reckless manner in which the show attempted to wrap itself up showed nothing but disrespect for those viewers.
By the time the finale came around, all I personally wanted was an awesome space battle. For whatever it’s worth, viewers got that out of the finale, but not much else. The ending was completely absurd, and even included an extra kick in the groin in which one of the series major characters just disappears without anything resembling an adequate explanation.
In the end, the deftness with which the original Battlestar Galactica was updated for Sci-Fi only mirrored the calamitous way the series ended, and the only reason I care enough to be so torn up about it is because of how much I loved the series to begin with. When I think about other beloved series like Jericho, Carnivale, and Deadwood that never got the chance at a satisfactory ending, it only justifies my disappointment. Battlestar had that chance and totally blew it.
Meanwhile, Lost is still cruising, and somehow seems to be getting better each week. But given the direction that series has been going, I’m hopeful I won’t be let down.
Awhile back I wrote a column for ALARM about the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica. I discussed the “fascinatingly complex story,” and how creator Ronald Moore’s update of the series was like “a good cover song,” in that it was more than just a remake, but a reinterpretation. After watching the series finale recently, I re-read that column, and honestly don’t disagree with anything I said at the time. In fact, it only reminded me why I was so disappointed in the way the series completely fell apart in the last two seasons.
Shortly after that column was published, Battlestar and one of my other favorite TV series, Lost, hit a pretty hard dry spell. Despite obvious differences between the two, they have a lot in common. Both are character-driven, serialized dramas that focus on a central story arc that presents itself in the first episode: Adama has to lead his crew to Earth, while Jack has to get the castaways off the island. Both contain elements of science fiction and fantasy: the crew of Battlestar is chased through the galaxy by robots with mysterious motivations, and the passengers of Oceanic 815 are chased around the island by “The Others” while mysterious stuff happens all over the place. Both seemed unlikely to have even been picked up by networks in the first place, never mind earn huge popularity. And when they achieved success, both had the same problem: they didn’t have an end date.
Unlike sitcoms, procedural shows, or even primetime soaps, the nature of these stories necessitated an end date from the beginning. A network can make as many episodes of CSI, Law and Order, House, Desperate Housewives, or According To Jim as viewers are willing to watch. They just have to come up with a new corpse, a new crime, a new disease, a new drama or… well, there’s no accounting for why According To Jim is still on the air, but you get the point. Many genres of television are built for the business model: try it out and, if it works, ride it until it stops working. Rinse and repeat. But in trying to replicate the success of many cable dramas in the past decade, networks have created series like Battlestar and Lost, which are set up more like movies or mini-series in terms of their stories. There’s an arc that needs to be completed, and the beginning is only as important as the end is satisfying.
So, both Battlestar and Lost started to flounder around the same time. The stories meandered into one-off plotlines that went no where, and without an end date, the writers didn’t know how much to reveal about whatever plans they had to end the series. The shows took weird, unpopular tangents into areas of the stories and back-stories that were both totally unnecessary and extremely unpopular. Worse, the production and air schedules became erratic to the point where most viewers didn’t even know when new episodes were airing or when a new season would arrive.
At around the same time, both Sci-Fi and ABC gave the series hard end dates. At last, fans of well-structured drama rejoiced, and it seemed the writers could stop treading water, and get to the story they’d been dying to tell from the beginning. But unfortunately, this is where their stories diverged. As Lost began to tighten up and take the story in unbelievable directions that amazed critics and audiences, Battlestar faltered. Within less than a season, as obvious as it became that the writers of Lost had a lot in store for their audiences, it became equally obvious that the writers of Battlestar had no clue how to end their story.
Not knowing what else to do in the interim between success and an end date, Battlestar ended up in a plotline in which the fleet was under Cylon oppression on colony they called New Caprica. In order to get us off that rock and back on our trek through the galaxy, the writers and producers treated the audience to the fleet’s escape from the colony. No matter what happened later, the episode where the colonists finally escaped that colony is one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen. It’s action-packed, exciting, and filled with a sense of purpose. It seemed the series was off to a wonderful new beginning.
And then… nothing. With the exception of a cool episode here or there, and a fun little mutiny subplot in the beginning of the final season, the story meandered as badly as ever, except now the meandering was more panicked as we neared the final season. Convoluted mythologies were explored and then abandoned, back stories no one cared about were revealed and then forgotten. Episode by episode it became clear that the creators had painted themselves into a corner, and were frantically trying to paint doors everywhere.
It didn’t happen all at once, but the sense of uncertainty built until the last half of the last season, in which nothing made any sense. Plot points that were abandoned seasons ago were resurrected, only to be written off strangely or abandoned again. For some reason they felt it necessary to further develop characters the audience had known for seasons, two episodes before the end of the series. All of the sudden, flashbacks were introduced that only came off as laughable non-sequiturs.
Keep in mind that this show had a tremendously loyal audience that incessantly dissected the show’s mythology. Plenty of very smart, very enthusiastic viewers spent hours discussing and arguing the finer points of the show, and such conversations always centered around how it would end. The reckless manner in which the show attempted to wrap itself up showed nothing but disrespect for those viewers.
By the time the finale came around, all I personally wanted was an awesome space battle. For whatever it’s worth, viewers got that out of the finale, but not much else. The ending was completely absurd, and even included an extra kick in the groin in which one of the series major characters just disappears without anything resembling an adequate explanation.
In the end, the deftness with which the original Battlestar Galactica was updated for Sci-Fi only mirrored the calamitous way the series ended, and the only reason I care enough to be so torn up about it is because of how much I loved the series to begin with. When I think about other beloved series like Jericho, Carnivale, and Deadwood that never got the chance at a satisfactory ending, it only justifies my disappointment. Battlestar had that chance and totally blew it.
Meanwhile, Lost is still cruising, and somehow seems to be getting better each week. But given the direction that series has been going, I’m hopeful I won’t be let down.
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