The Culture Beat

Those who watched Friday’s grand finale might be interested in several links sent to me by our man in Hollywood, Thom Parham. Here’s a Chicago Tribune blog entry that features numerous elements including an interview with show creator Ron Moore, and several of the stars. It addresses several of the religious aspects of the show now that it’s revealed to have played a key part in the series. This is an another interview that adds more juicy background. For those interested in what I thought about it and who don’t mind spoilers, I’ll say that it was a very satisfactory ending to probably the most ambitious dramatic television series in history. Where else would you see the running themes of examining questions of human nature, war, technology and freedom versus destiny and the unseen but traceable hand of the divine? Battlestar Galactica was intended by Moore to be the antithesis of Star Trek, a franchise he had worked on for years and that he knew needed to be transcended in order to renew the potential of the science fiction genre. Thus, humanity is seen as both blessed with nobility and cursed with venality, often in the same characters. Never was a show able to have such high stakes and try its characters each week in a unending series of thankless choices that dissected their souls. Yes, it was fraught with darkness, but that made the ending that much better, as the name, “Daybreak,” indicates, the show was ultimately about hope and a much better world if we would choose wisely. And though no traditional theist, Moore cannot help but display a central belief that there is some kind of overseeing agency in the cosmos working for our ultimate good, weaving itself into our lives, our decisions, and opening doors we didn’t deserve to go through. He doesn’t want to give us answers he doesn’t have but he served his audience well by treating it like adults and raising a great many good questions few programs have the will to pursue so relentlessly. For that, the show achieved a level of greatness that is singular and indicative of the potential for a medium once commonly derided as mindless entertainment. Television is growing up, thanks to the few shows like Battlestar Galactica.