Webloggin » Battlestar Galactica Reaches Its End With Season Four

Fans of Battlestar Galactica will be saddened to learn that season 4 will be its last. The cast and crew are working to finish out the series with its final production that is currently underway in Vancouver. The show’s executive producers confirmed the speculation with the following press release.

“This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and finally, an end. Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end and we’ve decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms,” Eick and Moore said in the statement. “And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there –- we’re going out with a bang .” (LA Times)

As expected this news prompted further inquiries so executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick held a conference call over the weekend to explain the decision further.

“There is a creative agenda we wanted to serve,” Moore said during a conference call Friday afternoon with reporters clamoring to know why the producers had chosen to preemptively draw the series to a close. “We feel the show has reached its third act. The storyline is propelling us.”

He added: “If we don’t start paying this off and if we don’t reveal those secrets, you feel like you’re jerking around the audience.”

The producers were naturally tight-lipped about what would happen in the upcoming 22 episodes, but did promise that the search for Earth will be resolved in some way.

“Battlestar Galactica” is the most high-profile of Sci Fi Channel’s original series, but according to the pair, the network’s programming executives were ultimately supportive of the decision to end the show next year. “They expressed concern that the show would be able to go on longer,” Moore explained. “But when we were clear this is what we wanted to to, they were supportive.”

Eick said the cast reactions to the news of an end date were split. “Some of them understood…others believed that the show had a longer shelf life and were surprised.” But everyone now is really “sinking their teeth in” for the last hurrah, he said.

Moore echoed the description, adding that being in Vancouver last month for the show’s last start of production “felt like the beginning of senior year.” (LA Times)

News of the series end has been met with mixed reaction by readers of the LA Times showtracker.

From a personal standpoint I also have a mixed sort of reaction. The show is absolutely the best acted and well written show I have watched in years. It is easy to understand how the show garnered so much success in such a short period of time. But there were times when the last season felt a little thin; especially when the show focused primarily on plots that did not include rich cylon story lines. The internal conflict of the crew with undertones of the current political atmosphere in the U.S. was at times a bit unnerving. I felt that the show could descend into a one sided political statement that is all too common for Hollywood. Thankfully that didn’t occur and I look forward to the new season that will air in the fall.

Season 3 opened up on a new night and enjoyed a record 2.5 million viewers. Overall the series saw its viewer base increase by 8 percent in total viewers that included a doubling of its female audience. This is good news for creators of television shows and movies that deal with escapism. It is clear that many people are tired of the constant political bickering and the everyday realities of the War on Terror. Perhaps a pro-military show that demonstrates the human spirit with a desire to defeat evil is just what the doctor ordered.

The series finale won’t be the last call for the concept however. Back stories such as the story of the Battlestar Pegasus and a potential new show called Caprica will provide plenty of fodder for prequels and spin offs. Let’s hope that any of that will be done with the same sort of quality that makes Battlestar Galactica one of the most loved television shows in sci-fi history.