Flex’s blog

The season finale of Battlestar Galactica (BSG) was just awesome. I could have downloaded and watched all the episodes of the first season of BSG but I’m very glad that I didn’t. I won’t reveal what happens at the end of this episode (which is a real shocker for me) but I will comment on this series a bit.

One of the major reasons BSG is so successful is because of Ronald D. Moore. Star Trek fans will recognize that name because Mr. Moore was a major force behind Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek Deep Space Nine. If you watch many of Moore’s stories, they tend to be very character driven. In fact, Star Trek DS9 is one of the most highly regarded Trek series ever because of the characters developed in the series. When Moore left the Trek series with Voyager and Enterprise, the series took a turn for the worst. Come on now.. take a look at Trek with characters like Seven and T’Pol. They were some of the most one dimensional characters ever developed with really no purpose but to draw the guys to the scene.

I’m not here to say that some of the characters and scenes in BSG aren’t provocative either. In fact, Number Six is definitely a hottie… but she’s also three-dimensional. On one hand, she’s one of the major forces behind the Cylons; a cold hearted killer. But she’s also Baltar’s lover - someone compassionate enough to want to have a baby with a faulty human man. And finally, she’s extremely religious - believing that everyone and everything has a purpose.

Number Six epitomizes BSG - it’s all about the characters on the show. Think about the complexities of the show for a second:
1. You have the relationship of Apollo and Adama - a tenous relationship built around commander and captain and father and son. There’s a deep sense of blame that Apollo lays on his father but there’s also a immense amount of respect because of the military
2. The relationship between Starbuck and Apollo. This is one based on friendship and the military and also .. possibly love? Starbuck who was once with Apollo’s younger brother, Zach, is now under the command of Apollo. She’s a troubled young woman who has a thing for Balter but is probably really in love with Apollo. She blames herself to some degree to the death of Zach and she feels like she owes everything to Adama.
3. The President and Adama. This one’s interesting. On one hand, there’s a certain amount of respect that the President and Adama share for one another - mostly because of politics and the military. On the other hand, there’s a power struggle between the two individuals. While the President tries to maintain a sense of democracy with this fleet, Adama tries to maintain some sort of order. It’s not quite clear who is in charge at times.. and this bears its teeth in the season finale.
4. Baltar and Number Six. What can I say about this one? He’s not your normal evil man. In fact, one can argue that Baltar isn’t evil at all. Baltar starts out as a brash young selfish man. A person that only cares for himself and his goals. Unfortunately for him (and for the human race), he becomes the unwitting victim of the Cylon master plan to destroy humanity. But perhaps it is his destiny to be a part of all of this. His relationship with Number Six starts out as a fling with Baltar thinking he is manipulating her every single step of the way. Little does he realize that it’s Number Six who is the one doing all the manipulating. Throughout the series, Baltar turns from a person in denial of everything, to a person who realizes that he is all part of a master plan. But is this master plan a plan of God or a plan of the Cylons? Baltar is clearly walking down a path of madness.. but it’s not necessarily madness that is associated with evil. It’s madness from having so many voices inside of him. And now that it’s revealed that he has a son, it’s not so simple to just hate the Cylons. Can you kill someone that gave birth to your son? It’s not so simple anymore is it?
5. Sharon and the Chief and Halo - my goodness this one is crazy. Sharon has two different relationships at the same time because .. well there are two of them. But it goes further than that. She’s got a relationship with her shipmates, and she has an innate relationship with the Cylons which she can not shake. No matter how much she tries to deny things, she is still a part of the overall plan. Does the plan include the destruction of that base star around Kobal? Does it include helping them find the eye of Apollo?

Phew.. I’ve gone on for some time, but as I write this, it’s clear that BSG is complex. It’s not just Sci. Fi. … it’s a story - one that is large and complex with many intricate avenues. You look at BSG and you look at shows like Trek and you realize that the missing element in Trek now is the characters. For BSG, fans actually seem to care about these characters and what happens to them. I quite frankly don’t give a “frak” about Captain Janeway.

Ronald D. Moore - keep up the awesome work!