With the airing of the third episode last Friday, Battlestar Galactica is down to only 17 episodes left before it ends forever.
Will they find Earth or wont they? And if they do, who is going to make it? Will anyone be living there? If so, what year will it be in our terms? The future, or the past?
Whatever the case, Ron Moore knows what’s going to happen. It’s sort of ominous to realize that at this moment, Moore is writing the final script for BSG.
In other news, I’ve begun writing the finale. It’s strange to think that this is the last Galactica script I’ll be writing, but at the moment that’s overshadowed by the anxiety surrounding the start of any first draft. (Blank pages tend to give writers all sorts of maladies. As in, “Is that a head cold or a brain tumor…?â€Â?)
We’re up in Berkeley for a few days, which has now become my preferred writing retreat. I’ve written three pages of the finale, and I’m already thinking about rewriting them, so this must be a good start.
First let me say that I think anyone who writes for television is amazing, and thinking about the fact that a show like Battlestar Galactica begins with one guy sitting down and writing an initial script is inspiring.
Second, it’s kind of sad to think that when this script is done, that’s it. Sure, we aren’t going to see it until possibly 2009 sometime, but it’s still feels like it’s all coming to an end.
The only reason I look forward to the finish line is that I feel this could be one of the greatest conclusions to a television show ever done. Followed closely by Lost down the road.
I like the idea of shows ending. Maybe it’s this new world of serialized television that makes it appealing, but having a show start, run 4-6 years and end on a high note is pretty awesome.
What do you think? What shows out there have had a great ending to an overall story?
ugh… finale in 2009, man thats a long time…
Friends had a great finale… Seinfeld, not so much.
Seinfeld had left an inkling that it was possible they might be back after a year… they were only going to jail for a year, that would have been cool if they came back…
I guess any finale works, but I sort of meant like a serialized show’s ending…The X-Files would be one that pretty much sucked.
If you ignore the weirdness of season 5 (because they didn’t think they were going to get that final season until it was too late to fix things) then the season *4* finale to Babylon 5 was right up there.
Buffy’s season 5 and season 7 finales (both of which were written to serve as series finales) also rocked. Nicely completed stories, though completion meant different things in each of those two.
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..She must give a mighty good blowjob
I also meant series finales, but whatever
If we’re talking season finales, last year’s Lost with the flash-forward was mind blowing.
No Mike, I knew what you’d meant. I was talking about shows that *thought* they were ending forever. So Buffy’s season 5 finale was written as a series finale. Same with B5’s season 4 finale.
It just turned out that both shows got reprieves and had to do it all over again.
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..She must give a mighty good blowjob
Yeah, it’s hard for a show that doesn’t know for sure when it’s going to end to do a great ending. BSG and Lost are the exception and not the rule. They are lucky to know exactly when they will be ending and are able to build the show to the ultimate climax of the series. It sucks for us, the fans, but in the end it’ll be much better for us too knowing that it’s going to end.
I just had this thought after I read you say “new world of serialized television.” I remember back when movies were good and not just means of setting up potential franchises. In other words, they wrote movies to be good. Now, it seems they are more likely to create TV shows with finite plans (4-5 years) just for the sake of being good. If thats the case, we are on the cusp of a golden age of television.
Agreed Adam, and I’m enjoying it.
Just look at the slate of shows coming out next year, like Dollhouse, Fringe, etc.
The problem is, they aren’t all going to be good.